Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Anna N

Pick of the Week: Beloved Creators

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MICHELLE: I mean, it has to be Blank Canvas doesn’t it?

SEAN: I love Blank Canvas, and have reviewed it. But I’m still going to make Ascendance of a Bookworm my pick, even though J-Novel Club has told me it’s more “for isekai lovers who also like books” than “for book lovers”. I just… reincarnated sickly little girl resolves to make her own paper, so she can make her own books, so she can fulfill her dream of being surrounded by books. That’s hardcore.

ASH: I suspect Ascendance of a Bookworm has a strong chance of being my pick once the print edition is released, but I adore Akiko Higashimura’s work so the debut of Blank Canvas is my choice this week, even considering that new volumes of 10 Dance and Ooku are coming out, too!

MJ: I feel like I’m supposed to be the one who gives the boost to Ooku or 10 Dance (how did I somehow blip over both of those during Manga the Week of??) but I’m also going Blank Canvas this week. Can I ever be forgiven?

ANNA: I’m going to join in on the Blank Canvas love!

Manga the Week of 5/22/19

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SEAN: Buckle up, kids, it’s another one of THOSE weeks next week.

Dark Horse debuts a new series in omnibus form, Elfen Lied. This one may actually be more familiar to older anime fans, as it had an infamous anime in 2004, and the manga is apparently just as noteworthy. It ran in Weekly Young Jump, and this has the first three volumes. It’s a brutal, violent, dark manga. But it has a lot of fans.

MICHELLE: I seem to recall hearing that a lot of amputations occur in this series, so that’ll be a pass for me.

ANNA: Yeah, amputations are not my thing.

MJ: I watched the anime way back and survived, so maybe?

SEAN: J-Novel Club debuts Ascendance of a Bookworm (Honzuki no Gekokujou), one of the more begged-for LN license requests of the last year or so. The subtitle has “I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!”, so this one may also appeal to the Manga Bookshelf folks too. A book-loving girl gets her dream job as a librarian… only to be killed and reincarnated in a fantasy world with low literacy. So to fulfill her dream of being surrounded by books, well… that’s the plot. I really want to read this. The print version is coming in the fall, but digital is out next week.

ASH: Perhaps because I’m a librarian, I really want to read this, too! I’m always interested in fantasy interpretations of my chosen profession. (I’ll probably wait for the print edition, though.)

ANNA: I am also interested in this as a librarian, but I tend to only like certain kinds of light novels. I’m definitely curious though!

MJ: This does sound kind of interesting.

SEAN: Kodansha, making up for two light weeks, has quite a bit next week. In print we have 10 Dance 3, Grand Blue Dreaming 6, Love in Focus 2, The Quintessential Quintuplets 3, and Yuri Is My Job! 3.

MICHELLE: Hooray for more 10 Dance! I did enjoy the low-key shoujo title Love in Focus, too.

ASH: 10 Dance definitely has most of my attention out of that bunch. Though, like Michelle, I also enjoyed the first volume of Love in Focus.

SEAN: Digitally, there’s Ao-chan Can’t Study! 7, Defying Kurosaki-kun 9, Kakafukaka 7, and Tokyo Revengers 7.

Seven Seas debuts an autobiographical manga by Akiko Higashimura, creator of Princess Jellyfish. Called Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artistic Journey (Kakukaku Shikajika), I reviewed it earlier this week, and it’s a must-read for fans of her work.

MICHELLE: SO EXCITE.

ASH: I got my hands on the first volume and it is VERY GOOD. I really love Higashimura’s work.

ANNA: OOH, this wasn’t on my radar at all.

SEAN: Seven Seas also has the print debut of Mushoku Tensei, as well as the 2nd volume digitally. There’s also the 3rd Make My Abilities Average! manga, and Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho 6.

Udon has a 10th Persona 4. We are apparently getting close to the end.

Vertical has the 4th volume of My Boy.

Viz has Children of the Whales 10, Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt 11, Ooku 15, Ran and the Gray World 3, and Urusei Yatsura 2. I’m most interested in the last, but I know the MB team wants its yearly dose of Ooku.

MICHELLE: I do, but I’ll also be reading Uruseu Yatsura one of these days.

ASH: Yes, I need more Ooku! While I’m following a couple of the other series, too, Ooku is the priority for me.

ANNA: I’m excited about both Ooku and Uresei Yatsura.

SEAN: And now we have Yen. So much Yen. And not even all the Yen, as they delayed 7 titles to the week after next.

JY has the third and final volume of the Little Witch Academia manga.

Yen On debuts Torture Princess (Fremd Torturchen), which is (try to contain your surprise) where our hero ends up contracted to the title princess, who has to kill demons. The artist also does Black Bullet’s art. I hope this is slightly less bleak than Black Bullet.

In lighter fare, we also have Wolf Children: Ame & Yuki, whose manga already came out via Yen. It’s another in the ‘adaptations of movies’ line.

There’s also Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 8, Goblin Slayer 7, Overlord 10, A Sister’s All You Need 4, Strike the Blood 12, and Sword Art Online 16.

As for manga, the debut is Happy Sugar Life, which… I hate to use the word “yandere” in describing a manga, as it’s very over-and-badly used, but this series about a high school girls who falls for a sweet and pure kid and makes sure nothing gets in the way of their happy life, even if it means murder, probably justifies the term. It runs in Gangan Joker.

MICHELLE: Ugh.

ANNA: No thank you!

SEAN: Ending with its 7th volume is Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro, a series which debuted in 2006 but has only just now reached its 7th volume, which tells you a lot about its erratic publishing history. I love each volume, though I must admit “will Kuro survive?” is my primary question.

In other Yen manga news, we have Angels of Death Episode.0 2, Anne Happy! 9, Chio’s School Road 4, Dimension W 14, Graineliers 3, Hinowa Ga CRUSH! 2, DanMachi Familia Chronicle: Episode Lyu 3 (manga version), Kiss & White Lily for My Dearest Girl 9, Laid-Back Camp 6, Overlord 10 (manga version, out the same day as Overlord 10 the light novel, no doubt causing Amazon to have an aneurysm), Re: ZERO Arc 3 Volume 7, and Though You May Burn to Ash 5.

ASH: That is a fair bit!

SEAN: Aside from everything, what are you getting next week?

Pick of the Week: Everything’s Coming Up Rose Kings

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SEAN: Pretty much Requiem of the Rose King for me. It consistently amazes.

ASH: Like Sean, it’s Requiem of the Rose King for me, too. I’ve actually been saving up a few volumes to read all at once because I’m always wanting more after I finish one. It’s such a dramatic and engaging series!

MICHELLE: I think I’ll have to buck the trend and go with the final volume of A Strange & Mystifying Story. The series started out with a couple of problems but improved dramatically by its third volume. Ever since, I’ve enjoyed it quite a lot! It contains one of my favorite BL couples, and though there’s a dramatic cliffhanger in need of resolution it’s their fate I most want to see.

ANNA: Requiem of the Rose King is so special, it is my automatic pick of the week.

MJ: I can’t possibly choose anything but Requiem of the Rose King. I send my apologies to everything else!

Manga the Week of 5/15/19

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SEAN: This is… a relatively light week, at least compared to the rest of May.

Dark Horse has the 3rd Gantz Omnibus.

J-Novel Club has another debut, with The Greatest Magicmaster’s Retirement Plan. A teen prodigy retires from the military, but is still the greatest magician in the land, so winds up teaching his gorgeous young successors at a magic school. I’m getting Bastard Magical Instructor vibes here.

They also have Amagi Brilliant Park 5 and In Another World with My Smartphone 14.

Kodansha has, believe it or not, no debuts. They have Sailor Moon Eternal Edition 4 (which has been on this list before, it keeps getting delayed) and The Seven Deadly Sins 32 in print.

And in digital, we have Kira-kun Today 7, Love Massage: Melting Beauty Treatment 3, Ran the Peerless Beauty 3, and Tokyo Revengers 7. Definitely getting more Ran.

MICHELLE: Me, too!

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts the Sorcerous Stabber Orphen manga, based on the recently licensed light novels. No, this isn’t the manga ADV put out eons ago. It’s a 2016 version that runs in Famitsu Comic Clear.

They’ve also got Classroom of the Elite’s 2nd novel digitally, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord’s 4th manga volume, Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka 6, and the 5th Toradora! novel.

Sol Press has a 3rd volume of Battle Divas, reassuring readers it will not be a full year between each book.

SuBLime has a debut with Love in Limbo, about an ex-soldier who’s not a shikigami in limbo. It runs in Frontier Works’ Daria, which may be the most unintentionally hilarious title for a BL magazine I’ve ever seen.

And there’s also Vol. 7 of A Strange and Mystifying Story.

MICHELLE: It’s also the final volume.

ASH: I’m still happy that the license for this series was rescued, though I am a couple volumes behind in my reading.

SEAN: Vertical has a 2nd manga volume of Kino’s Journey.

MJ: Hello, THIS.

MICHELLE: I’m definitely reading this one.

SEAN: Viz has no debuts, but who cares, because Requiem of the Rose King 10, baby. There’s also the 5th Fullmetal Edition of Fullmetal Alchemist, Radiant 5, Record of Grancest War 3, and YO-KAI WATCH 11, whose title doesn’t know not to use all caps.

MJ: REQUIEM OF THE ROSE KING FOREVER because I apparently also have an all caps problem. Also, totally into any edition of Fullmetal Alchemist, anytime, so there’s that.

MICHELLE: I haven’t read volume nine yet so now I get to have a fun little mini-marathon.

ANNA: Me too, it is such a great series!

ASH: I’m always happy to see more Requiem of the Rose King!

SEAN: I believe MB will breath a sigh of relief, Pick of the Week-wise, to see Rose King. But what are you getting?

Pick of the Week: Long Awaited Series

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ASH: This week features the debuts of several series which I have been looking forward to a great deal — Diamond Is Unbreakable, Snow White with the Red Hair, Emanon — but Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare happens to be one of my most anticipated releases of the entire year, so that’s my pick! I have heard nothing but wonderful things about the series.

SEAN: Having just read the first volume, the hype is entirely valid. I really want to read Snow White with the Red Hair as well, but the pick has to be Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare.

MICHELLE: I plan to read both in the week they are released, which is saying something given the towering size of my to-read stacks, but yes, the edge must go to Our Dreams at Dusk this time.

KATE: I’ll carry the banner for Kenji Tsurata’s Emanon, which debuts this week. It’s a shame that Tsurata’s work isn’t better known in the US; though he isn’t prolific, his manga are beautifully drawn and populated by the kind of feisty, independent female characters that make any kind of story — mystery, adventure, romance — more enjoyable for grumpy old feminists like me.

ANNA: I’m not going to pass up the chance to celebrate a new shoujo title, so Snow White with the Red Hair for me!

MJ: There are a number of interesting titles debuting this week, but Sean is pretty persuasive, and I think I’ve gotta go with Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare. I am a sheep.

Dr. Stone, vols 3 and 4

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Dr. Stone Volumes 3 and 4 by Riicharo Inagaki and Boichi

Dr. Stone’s premise of a post apocalyptic world where the heroes have to invent their way back to human civilization while battling factions of Luddites is much more of a higher concept than one tends to get in shone series, and so far I’ve been enjoying seeing how Senku attempts to invent his way out of sticky situations. In volume 3, the cast of characters for Dr. Stone expands as Senku stumbles across a small village of people who are to him, the missing manpower ingredient need to power even more ambitious science experiments.

He meets Kohaku, the daughter of the village chief who promptly becomes an ally when she realizes that the power of science might save her sister and tribe shamaness Ruri from a terminal illness. Chrome is another villager who is a self-styled sorcerer due to knowledge gained from his own scientific experiments and rudimentary mineral and chemical gathering. With allies in place, Senku decides to build a new “Kingdom of Science” and power his inventions even further out of the stone age, in an attempt to get in a better place to deal with threat posed by the anti-science Tsukasa. The villagers are naturally extremely suspicious of the newcomer, but Senku has a unique solution in the form of food science. He decides to reinvent ramen in order to woo people to his side.

The village brings with it extra drama, as Senku races through inventing electricity, iron, and glass in order to have a functional chemistry lab to produce medicine, Kokaku has to worry about the battle for Riri’s hand in marriage that will determine the next village chief. Her friends prepare to fight to save Riri from the thuggish Magma. Even Senku’s ability to synthesize energy drinks might not be much of a help in a bracket-style fighting tournament that will decide Riri’s future. These two volumes were plenty diverting with the struggles of recreating inventions full of dynamic adventures, but I can’t help but wonder what on earth Taiju is up to! Hopefully in the next few volumes Senku’s expanded science team will come together again.

Manga the Week of 5/8/19

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SEAN: Sometimes one book sort of takes all the attention, like a black hole. We’ll do our best to mention everything else as well, though.

Dark Horse debuts Emanon, by the artist of Spirit of Wonder (anyone remember that series?) and based on an award-winning novel. It looks quiet and mysterious. It runs in Comic Ryu, so that may not be the case, but…

MJ: Hm. Interested.

ASH: I’ve been enjoying Wandering Island, the creator’s other series in English, so I’ll likely be giving this one a look.

SEAN: They also have a World Guide for the NieR: Automata series.

J-Novel Club debuts Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill, another in a series of light novels whose plot is in its title.

They also give us I Shall Survive Using Potions! 2, Kokoro Connect 5, and Lazy Dungeon Master 5.

Kodansha does not have a debut, though the first week of the month is always dangerous to say that about – apologies if they announce something after I post this. In the meantime, in print we get Hitorijime My Hero 3.

And digitally there is Blissful Land 3, Can You Just Die, My Darling? 8, Momo’s Iron Will 2, and World’s End and Apricot Jam 4.

Seven Seas has, technically, other things out next week. Let’s actually mention those first. There’s the print debut of Classroom of the Elite, The Dungeon of Black Company 3, High-Rise Invasion 7-8, and Mononoke Sharing 4.

But no one cares at all, because they are debuting Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare. One of the most highly anticipated manga debuts since I don’t know when (well, OK, since Saint Young Men two weeks ago), this manga deals seriously with LGBTA themes, contains superb writing and character work, and is highly recommended by everyone I know. I can’t wait to start it.

MJ: Okay, want, want, WANT. WANT. WANT.

MICHELLE: SAME.

ASH: YUP!

SEAN: Tokyopop has a third Yuri Bear Storm, which… is not quite the same sort of series.

Vertical has a 12th volume of Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.

I feel badly for Viz, as any other week I’d be falling over myself praising them for picking up Snow White with the Red Hair (Akagami no Shirayukihime), which has similar plot and characters as Yona of the Dawn but is its own delightful series. (And honestly, who wouldn’t want to be compared to Yona of the Dawn?). It runs in LaLa.

MJ: I’m in!

MICHELLE: Same again!

ANNA: Me too!!!

ASH: I’m also looking forward to this!

SEAN: Other shoujo? Anonymous Noise 14, Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast 3, and Shortcake Cake 4.

MICHELLE: I’ll read all of these eventually!

ANNA: Me too!

SEAN: On the shonen end we debut the new arc for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable. Unlike other new arcs for JoJo’s, this has the same cast as the previous arc.

ASH: I am incredibly pleased that this is being released, especially since it’s a fancy hardcover edition.

SEAN: There’s Black Clover 15, Black Torch 4, Demon Slayer 6, Dr. STONE 5, Dragon Ball Super 5, Haikyu!! 32, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 8 (I’m giving in and making it shonen, as that’s how it’s marketed here), One Piece 90 (Christ, ONE PIECE NINETY!!!), One-Punch Man 16, and Twin Star Exorcists 15.

Seriously, buy Shimanami Tasogare. I want to see it sell like hotcakes. What are you getting besides that?

Manga the Week of 5/1/19

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SEAN: Please join us for next week’s crush of titles. Yes, another one.

Ghost Ship gives us To-Love-Ru Darkness 10 and Yokai Girls 7.

J-Novel Club has a lot of debuts coming up, but this one is a license rescue. Tokyopop released a few of the Full Metal Panic! novels back in 2007 or so, but only got five books in. Now J-Novel Club has the rights, and is releasing new translations. The first volume is out digitally next week, with print omnibuses coming early next year. Please enjoy the only angry tsundere male anime fans never tore apart, Kaname Chidori.

J-Novel Club also has How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 8, Infinite Stratos 7, My Next Life as a Villainess 3, and The Unwanted Undead Adventurer 4. Everyone should be reading Bakarina.

Kodansha has quite a bit. There’s Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle 6, Fire Force 15, and Toppu GP 4 on the print side.

ASH: As a whole, I think I’ve been enjoying Mars Chronicle more than I ended up enjoying Last Order. If nothing else, the action sequences are engaging.

SEAN: Digitally we see Kounodori: Dr. Stork 11, Lovesick Ellie 8, The Prince’s Black Poison 9, Princess Resurrection Nightmare 3, and The Quintessential Quintuplets 7.

Seven Seas has a light novel digital debut with Reincarnated as a Sword, which… aw, you can guess. He’s reincarnated. As a sword! There’s also a catgirl, apparently.

ASH: There have been so many of this particular type of ridiculous premise of late!

SEAN: There’s also a spinoff manga debut with the first volume of Mushoku Tensei: Roxy Gets Serious. With a soundtrack by Jon Astley.

Seven Seas also has Generation Witch 4 and Plus-Sized Elf 2.

Vertical has Arakawa Under the Bridge 6, the title that ISN’T Saint Young Men.

ANNA: I’m STILL EXCITED for Saint Young Men!

ASH: Same! Though, I do enjoy Arakawa Under the Bridge, too.

SEAN: They also have Tsukimonogatari: Possession Tale, the latest in Nisioisin’s fan-friendly novel series, this time focusing on deadpan corpse Ononoki.

Viz has a picture book. Why mention it here? It’s a Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind picture book.

ANNA: I am confident it will be gorgeous.

SEAN: Yen time. JY has a 3rd volume of Zo-Zo-Zombie.

Yen On gives us another of the seemingly endless Final Fantasy novels, this one Final Fantasy XIII: Episode Zero: Promise.

The closest thing Yen has to a manga debut this month is the start of the 8th and final arc of Umineko When They Cry. Titled Twilight of the Golden Witch, this omnibus has the first three volumes, and features some of the best and worst of the series.

And then there is… to the tune of some Gilbert and Sullivan song…

Akame Ga KILL! ZERO 9
Angels of Death 6
Aoharu x Machinegun 15
A Certain Magical Index (manga) 17
Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody (manga) 7
DIVE!! 2
The Elder Sister-Like One 3

(takes breath)

Goblin Slayer (manga) 5.
Hakumei & Mikochi 5
Hatsu*Haru 6
High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World 3
Is It Wrong to Try To Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon: Sword Oratoria (manga) 7

(I hope you’re taking notes, there will be a quiz next period)

Kagerou Daze (manga) 12
Murcielago 10
Nyankees 2
The Royal Tutor 11
Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts 5
The Saga of Tanya the Evil 6 (manga)

(we’re in the home stretch, folks)

Sekirei Omnibus 8
Silver Spoon 8

(pause for MJto scream “SILVER SPOOOOOOOOOON!”)

MJ: SILVER SPOOOOOOOOOOON!

SEAN: Teasing Master Takagi-san 4
Today’s Cerberus 12
Yowamushi Pedal 11

MICHELLE: Yen’s releases are where my attention is this week. Most of that goes to Yowamushi Pedal, of course, but I continue to have the best intentions for reading Silver Spoon and a couple of their shoujo offerings, too. One of these days!

MJ: I’m a little stunned by how little there is for me here in a week with SO many releases. But Sean made it all better with his G&S joke. Honestly, that’s worth the weirdly uninteresting (to me) glut.

ASH: I was likewise greatly amused! Out of the bunch Silver Spoon and Yowamushi Pedal are what interest me the most. I’ve also been enjoying Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts. And while I wasn’t as taken with their debuts as I had hoped, I would love to see DIVE!! and Nyankees live up to their promise.

SEAN: And that’s it! See? You can probably buy all of it easily. What will you be getting?

Pick of the Week: Buddy Manga

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MICHELLE: I’ve wanted to read Saint Young Men for probably a decade. I had given up all hope of it being licensed here, so my gratitude to Kodansha is immense. I simply can’t even consider picking anything else.

ANNA: Me too, I’m absolutely amazed it is being translated.

SEAN: Yeah, Saint Young Men is my pick this week because it’s an Easter Miracle we’re even getting it.

KATE: I’m 200% on board with Saint Young Men, but I also think it’s worth reminding MB readers that VIZ will be releasing digital versions of the first seven volumes of Banana Fish. For folks who missed it the first time around, or who saw the anime and wondered how it compared with the source material, the new digital edition is a wallet-friendly way to dive into the manga.

ASH: Typically I can safely ignore digital releases since I have more than enough print manga to keep me busy, but when something like Saint Young Men is licensed even I have to take note! It’s definitely my pick, but I sincerely hope it might get a physical release in the future. We’ve proof that miracles can happen!

MJ: I feel like me choosing Saint Young Men while Kate is the one to bring up Banana Fish is the shocking plot twist nobody saw coming, but that is what’s actually happening, right now, today. I’m very happy that Viz is releasing digital versions of Banana Fish (though what I really want is a fancy, deluxe print edition), but Saint Young Men is something I genuinely thought we could never see in North America, and I can’t let that go. Not even for Eiji Okumura. And that’s saying something.

Yona of the Dawn, Vol 17.

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Yona of the Dawn Volume 17 by Mizuho Kusanagi

I’m always curious when a new arc of Yona of the Dawn starts, because Kusanagi manages to create situations and plot elements that seem new and fresh in the context of a long-running series. At the same time she continues to explore themes that are present throughout the series with more depth, like Yona grappling with the legacy of her father’s lack of consideration and thought for the people who he used to rule.

Yona and her companions head towards the border of Kai, where they meet a young boy named Kalgan who proposes marriage to Yona after she shoots a bird to provide him with with some money. Kalgan wandered over from the Kai empire and is stranded, so Yona decides to escort him back to his village, a border town that has been fought over between Kai and Kohka for years. Yona’s Dragon Warriors begin to fall ill, and they need to recuperate for a time in the village where most of the residents are deeply suspicious of them. War is drawing near as well, as Su-Won and his army start to attack the Kai empire.

So far, most of the Dragon Warriors have gotten some solid character development and backstory in Yona of the Dawn, but Zeno has largely been an enigma. This volume finally showcases his unique abilities and role as Yona’s protector. For the Hak fans (and who isn’t a Hak fan!?) there are some great scenes of him taking on a wayward army, determined to take out their anger at losing a battle on innocent civilians. As Yona learns more and more about the dark side of human nature, she becomes more resolute about helping people. I’m curious to see how she manages to resolve the current crisis, I’m not sure if even she can pull of pacifying an angry army. This series is consistently rewarding to read, and one of the best fantasy shoujo series that Shojo Beat has published.

Manga the Week of 4/24/19

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SEAN: Sometimes publishers surprise you.

But before we get to the surprise, Cross Infinite World has the 2nd novel for Obsessions of an Otome Gamer. I found the first volume far better than expected… and far longer than expected. I look forward to this, but may have to set aside extra time for it.

J-Novel Club has a 5th volume of An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride.

Kodansha, print-wise, has Attack on Titan: Before the Fall 16, The Heroic Legend of Arslan 10, and To Your Eternity 9.

ASH: To Your Eternity continues to be an excellent series.

SEAN: But let’s face it, it’s all about the digitals this week. Another “this will never get licensed” title has been licensed, digital-only. Saint Young Men is a typical slice-of-life comedy about two men sharing a small apartment in modern Japan. Oh, yes, and they’re Jesus Christ and Gautama Buddha. Which explains why this was not licensed for so long. It’s by the creator of Arakawa Under the Bridge, and is (believe it or not) far less weird than that title.

MICHELLE: Finally! I’m so excited for this.

MJ: I can’t remember the last time I was so surprised/thrilled about a release. I mean, I never thought this could happen in the US, even as a digital release.

ANNA: Me too! It is so nice to be surprised like this!

ASH: This really is fantastic news! Kodansha is technically calling this a digital-first release, so there may be a slim possibility that a print edition may eventually be released. It’s like a miracle that it was licensed at all, so I’m hoping for another one!

SEAN: In less controversial digital titles, we see Ace of the Diamond 22, Ao-chan Can’t Study! 6, Asahi-sempai’s Favorite 2, Blissful Land 3, Defying Kurosaki-kun 8, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 12, Kakafukaka 6, Mikami-sensei’s Way of Love 4, My Boy in Blue 8, and Tokyo Alice 10. That’s a lot.

MICHELLE: Forsooth.

SEAN: Oh yes, and Kodansha license rescued Initial D and are releasing about 30 million volumes of it digitally. Which is, as Initial D fans known, only about 1/4 of the total volumes.

MICHELLE: I was literally thinking about Initial D earlier today!

SEAN: Seven Seas gives us Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter 3, Captain Harlock: Dimensional Voyage 8, How to Train Magical Beasts 3, Sorry for My Familiar 4, and Species Domain 6.

ASH: How to Train Magical Beasts has been a nice series so far.

SEAN: Tokyopop lists Aria the Masterpiece 2 and Konohana Kitan 4 as coming out next week, though Amazon seems to disagree.

Viz has, in a digital debut, the first seven volumes of Banana Fish, a somewhat obscure old shoujo series that I’m sure the rest of Manga Bookshelf has never heard of.

MICHELLE: *snerk*

MJ: What kind of title is that? “Banana Fish.” Huh. Though, okay, I wish we were getting a deluxe print reissue instead.

ANNA: Sweet, maybe I will finally read it!

ASH: I would absolutely buy the series again if it was getting a new print deluxe edition. But I’m really happy that it’s back in print at all, and now available digitally, too.

SEAN: It also has a 9th volume, digital-only, of élDLIVE, from the creator of Reborn! (remember Reborn!? Years ago? Cancelled by Viz?).

MICHELLE: I am really hoping VIZ does more digital-only titles.

SEAN: Yen has a digital debut of its own, as if to say that those other two aren’t good enough. ALL of Fruits Basket is out next week digitally. That’s twelve omnibuses. Now you can read it on your phone (and also probably start crying in public, so don’t do that).

MJ: This is pretty sweet.

SEAN: Yen’s print manga is the week after next, but we do get this month’s novels. The debut is Penguin Highway, another in Yen’s ongoing series of “license the novel with a recent popular movie”. The novel is apparently really good, though, and has won the Nihon SF Taisho Award. Expect coming-of-age adventure!

ASH: I’ll be picking this one up!

There’s also Baccano! 10 (we promise, Monica is in the one after this, Baccano! fans), The Devil Is a Part-Timer! 13, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years 4, KonoSuba 8, Re: ZERO EX 3, and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime 5.

Jesus Christ, that’s some good manga. (Sorry.) (OK, not that sorry.)

Pick of the Week: Easter Manga Treats

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SEAN: Some good stuff this week: a 2nd Ran the Peerless Beauty, the Restaurant to Another World novel, a new Dead Dead Demon’s Dededededestruction and Golden Kamuy, but I’m going with the pretty debut, Go with the Clouds, North-by-Northwest, because man, it looks pretty.

MICHELLE: And it appears to be a mystery! Thus, it’s my pick as well.

ANNA: I’m halfway into the second volume of Ran and the Grey World and I’m probably going to drop that series, so I’m hoping that Go with the Clouds, North-by-Northwest has a better story to go with the beautiful art.

ASH: While I’m certainly interested in Go with the Clouds, North-by-Northwest, a new Junji Ito collection is being released upon the world in English this week. I can’t help it, Smashed is my pick! (Though I would guess it will likewise be visually striking, but for entirely different reasons…)

KATE: I’m gonna need a bigger boat–that’s an amazing manga haul! Ran and the Gray World didn’t do much for me, but I’m loving just about everything else on the MB Battle Robot’s shopping list, from the latest Dead Dead Demon’s Dedededestruction to Go With the Clouds, North-by-Northwest and Smashed.

MJ: I was a huge fan of the artwork in Ran and the Gray World, so I’ll join a number of my colleagues here and go with Go With the Clouds, North-by-Northwest as my pick this week! I’m very interested in this!

Manga the Week of 4/17/19

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SEAN: A Week of much excitement and prizes!

Dark Horse has a Berserk light novel (light? Berserk?) called The Flame Dragon Knight.

ASH: Ha! Surprising no one, I’ll be picking this up.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has a 13th Little Apocalypse and an 8th Outbreak Company.

Kodansha doesn’t seem to have any debuts, but we do get Aho-Girl 12 and Sailor Moon Eternal Edition 4.

Digitally there is All Out!! 9, Altair: A Record of Battles 10, Back Street Girls 10, DAYS 13, Kira-kun Today 6, Ran he Peerless Beauty 2, and Tokyo Revengers 6. I’m definitely reading another Ran.

MICHELLE: Me, too!

MJ: Okay, I still haven’t read the first Ran, but I need to!

MICHELLE: It has a certain Kimi ni Todoke quality about it.

One Peace has a 10th manga volume for polarizing title The Rising of the Shield Hero.

Seven Seas has a digital light novel debut with Restaurant to Another World (Isekai Shokudou). I’ve read the manga on Crunchyroll’s site, so am looking forward to a prose version. You can probably guess the premise.

ASH: You can probably guess that I’ll be giving the series a try later this year (when it debuts in print).

SEAN: They’ve also got the 4th Clockwork Planet novel (print edition), Getter Robo Devolution 3, Himouto Umaru-chan 5, and If It’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord 3 (manga version).

This should have been on last week’s list, but Sol Press have 2nd volumes for their light novels Battle Divas and Strongest Gamer.

ASH: I’d forgotten about Sol Press!

SEAN: Vertical Comics debuts Go with the Clouds, North-by-Northwest (Hokuhokusei ni Kumo to Ike), the newest series from the creator of Ran and the Gray World, runs in Harta magazine, and is apparently as gorgeous as its older sister manga.

MICHELLE: Ooh, neat!

ANNA: I haven’t read the second volume of Ran and the Gray World yet, but I suspect that series is going to be too male gazey for me, I’ll be checking out reviews of North-by-Northwest.

MJ: Sign me up for this!

SEAN: Viz, as if to say to hold off on Pick of the Week till they show up, debuts a Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind artbook, as well as a new Junji Ito Story Collection, Smashed.

ASH: Smashing!

MJ: Oooooooh that artbook…

SEAN: And they have the 5th Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, the 6th and mercifully final Fire Punch, a 9th Golden Kamuy (which can be as disturbing as Fire Punch was at times, but draws me in far more), and Tokyo Ghoul;re 10.

ASH: More Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction and Golden Kamuy for me!

ANNA: I’m excited for more Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction!

SEAN: Are you excited. I’m excited. (And I just can’t hide… sorry.)

Pick of the Week: Witches, Maidens and Yokai

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MICHELLE: Well, I guess I’ll be predictable and go for the big debut this week—Witch Hat Atelier looks very charming. I desperately hope that, unlike a certain other seinen series with a young female protagonist with magical powers, there are no adult creepers in sight!

SEAN: I agree, but I think the rest of MB will as well, so I’ll go for O Maidens in Your Savage Season, though I may be jumping the gun as only Kodansha’s own site lists it as coming out this week. It has a great pedigree, though, and I can’t resist a title like that.

ASH: There are plenty releases this week that I’m looking forward to, including the two that have been mentioned so far, but my pick actually goes to Kitaro’s Yokai Battles. It’s been so long since the last volume was released, and I’m always delighted by the series.

KATE: My comic shop got Witch Hat Atelier last week and it’s every bit as good as I hoped it would be. I’m getting a strong Miyazaki vibe from it — no squicky seinen overtones, no sappiness. If anything, it reminded me of Howl’s Moving Castle, as it has the rhythms and dramatic conflicts of a great children’s fantasy novel.

MICHELLE: That’s a very encouraging comparison!

ANNA: I think I’m going to throw in for Witch Hat Atelier as well, it sounds very appealing!

MJ: I feel like a sheep, but honestly I’m all about Witch Hat Atelier, especially since Kate has confirmed an absence of smarm which, like Michelle, was the only question giving me pause. So that’s my pick, too!

Ao Haru Ride, Vol 4

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Ao Haru Ride Volume 4 by Io Sakisaka

Oh, the agony of teenage love triangles! Ao Haru Ride explores this in the form of two best friends having crushes on the same boy, but the unique twist here is that they actually manage to remain friends as they wrestle with their emotions. The fact that one of the characters is dealing with profound loss creates a backdrop of melancholy that makes the teen romance have a timeless and nostalgic quality.

Ao Haru Ride 4

This volume delves more into Kou’s backstory as the recently formed friend group of Futuba, Yuri, Shuko and Aya are determined not to let Kou fail out of school. Kou’s issues are not because of a lack of ability, but he has difficulty getting himself to truly try at anything. Kou is still struggling with the death of his mother, and the reader gets a flashback to see how he was put into a caregiving role during her illness at a young age. Kou’s walls of isolation from his friends don’t last forever as Futuba is determined to get through to him. There’s some great paneling and action sequences as they tumble together down a hill in a scene made for a romantic movie. As Kou embraces Futuba, she stays still so he won’t be embarrassed by her seeing him cry.

One of the earlier themes in Ao Haru Ride is Futuba’s difficulty relating to traditionally feminine behaviors, and this is brought out again when the group decides to attend a summer festival together. Yuri shows up looking strategically adorable in a yukata, and Futuba starts to feel jealous. But when Kou sees another boy talking to Futuba it is clear that he’s not as indifferent as he pretends to be. Yuri observes his reactions, but the girls continue to affirm their own friendship even while navigating their crushes. Overall, this series just continues to be wonderfully executed shoujo. Sakisaka excels at capturing quiet moments between the characters that show the glimmerings of first love.