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Anna N

Manga the Week of 11/14/18

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SEAN: Here we go again, folks. 62 titles next week. Please cry with me.

ASH: Those are tears of joy, right?

SEAN: Dark Horse has a 7th Blade of the Immortal omnibus to start us off.

ASH: A great way to collect the series since many of the single volumes are out-of-print.

SEAN: J-Novel Club debuts My Next Life As a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!. They’re marketing this to men as well, and it does have a sizeable male fandom here, but Bakarina (as it’s known) is actually from a female-oriented publisher. The premise might seem familiar – a woman wakes up in the body of the villain of the otome game she’s been playing, and has to figure out how not to die or be exiled – but I’ve heard very good things about it.

ANNA: Hmmmm.

SEAN: They also have the latest in the Ao Oni series, subtitled Grudge, a 2nd Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles, and a 2nd volume of Amagi Brilliant Park.

In terms of print, there’s no debuts from Kodansha, but they do have Frau Faust 5 (which Amazon seems to be shipping a bit late on Amazon), Golosseum 4, L*DK 12, Land of the Lustrous 7, Nekogahara: Stray Cat Samurai 5, the 2nd Sailor Moon Eternal Edition, and the 9th Waiting for Spring.

MICHELLE: I’ve been eagerly anticipating the final volume of Frau Faust!

ASH: Oh, I didn’t realize it was the final volume! I’m definitely picking it up, though.

SEAN: Digitally the debut is Alice’s Diet Quest, a Bessatsu Shonen Magazine title about a priestess in a fantasy world who wants to lose weight using any method she can. This… sounds a bit too similar to Plus-Sized Elf for my tastes.

ANNA: No thank you!

SEAN: And we have Boarding School Juliet 6, Kamikamikaeshi 5, The Prince’s Black Poison 8, Tokyo Alice 5, and The Walls Between Us 2.

MICHELLE: I’m already behind on the latter two. Sigh.

SEAN: One Peace has the third volume of the Mikagura School Suite manga.

Seven Seas has only one title, believe it or not: the 2nd Devilman Classic Collection.

ASH: I really liked the first collection, so I’m looking forward to the second.

SEAN: And Vertical Comics has the 9th Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.

Viz debuts Record of Grancest War, which is a fantasy manga based on a light novel with lots of warring states and the mage and knight who try to stop it. It runs in Hakusensha’s Young Animal, so I suspect will also have fanservice or gore.

There is also The Complete Art of Fullmetal Alchemist, which is… what it says.

ASH: Should be great, is what!

ANNA: Yay!

SEAN: Speaking of Fullmetal Alchemist, we have the 3rd Fullmetal Edition omnibus, a 2nd Radiant, a 9th Requiem of the Rose King, and a 28th Rin-Ne.

MICHELLE: Hooray for Requiem of the Rose King!

ASH: I really love this series.

ANNA: Me too!

SEAN: That just leaves Yen, who are shipping most of their titles a bit early this month. JY has the 2nd volume of Little Witch Academia.

Yen On has, believe it or not, only the 2nd silliest light novel debut this month, with The Hero and His Elf Bride Open a Pizza Parlor in Another World. I believe this is just one volume, and corners the market on pizza isekai stories.

Yen On also has A Certain Magical Index 17, Magical Girl Raising Project 5, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected 6, Sword Art Online Progressive 5, and WorldEnd: What Do You Do at the End of the World? Are You Busy? Will You Save Us? 2. So Elf Pizza is not the longest title this week.

On the manga side, we debut Interspecies Reviewers, a monster girl title that runs in Kadokawa’s Dragon Age and looks… um… designed for teenage boys needing to relieve some stress. If you know what I mean.

There’s also two spinoff debuts, as we get the first volume of the manga adaptation of DanMachi’s Lyu sidestory, and also Sowrd Art Online: Hollow Realization, a manga adaptation of the video game that runs in Dengeki Maoh.

Speaking of light novel adaptations, next week we also have the 4th Goblin Slayer manga, an 11th High School DxD, the 4th Hybrid x Heart Magic Academy Ataraxia, a 7th KonoSuba, the 10th Log Horizon: The West Wind Brigade, the 8th Overlord manga, and the 5th volume of Re: Zero’s 3rd arc.

And in titles not based on a novel, we have ACCA 5, Akame Ga Kill! ZERO 8, Angels of Death 5, Chio’s School Road 2, Delicious in Dungeon 6, Dimension W 12, Forbidden Scrollery 5, Fruits Basket Another 2, Laid-Back Camp 4, Love at Fourteen 8 (honestly, they’re almost 16 by now), Mermaid Boys 3, No Matter How You Look At It, It’s You Guys, Fault I’m Not Popular! 12, The Royal Tutor 10, Tales of Wedding Rings 4, Trinity Seven 15, and last but not least, a 14th volume of Yotsuba&!.

MICHELLE: There are several things in that list that I’ll be checking out, but Yotsuba&! for the win!

ASH: Indeed! Delicious in Dungeon and ACCA are very high on my list, too.

ANNA: Been a long time since there was a new volume of Yotsuba&!.

SEAN: This is a lot. (Yen pushed back eight titles two weeks, or it would be even more.) Are you getting anything, or just staring in horror and disbelief?

Water Dragon’s Bride, Vol. 7

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Water Dragon’s Bride, Volume 7 by Rei Toma

I suspected that when the Water Dragon God sent Asahi home, she wouldn’t stay there long, and that was definitely the case. She struggles to feel at home back in her own world, with a younger brother that she’s meeting for the first time, and her parents, especially her mother who desperately missed her. This brief story line shows how The Water Dragon’s Bride is a story of a family tragedy, in addition to exploring how human rules fight for power and resources. Asahi misses her old life, but back in the realm of the Water Dragon God, the young king is struggling with drought and the idea that he’s lost the favor of the heavens since Asahi’s disappearance. Subaru even attempts to intervene with the Water Dragon God in Asahi’s absence. When the Water Dragon God does intervene, in his cold and calculated way, Subaru reflects that Asahi was incredibly powerful to make a god change.

Water Dragon's Bride 7

Asahi’s disarming way of talking with both the Water Dragon God and Subaru show that she doesn’t regret her choice to leave her family behind, and the way the Water Dragon God is actually able to articulate his emotions and even show a sliver of a smile shows how far he’s become from a god who would dispassionately watch a human starve. While so far the elemental gods that we’ve seen seem content to observe and occasionally make some cutting observations to the Water Dragon God, now that Asahi has returned the next storyline for this series looks like it will be even darker than before. When will hte suffering end????

I’m delighted to keep reading this manga, but there was such a great artistic leap for Toma between Dawn of the Arcana and Water Dragon’s Bride (which makes sense given when they were released in Japan), I’m also extremely curious to see other series of hers.

Pick of the Week: We Enjoy Wide Variety

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ASH: For me, it’s a shonen sort of week. In addition to a number of ongoing series from Viz that I’m following (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Haikyuu!, and so on) there’s also the new one-shot That Time I Got Reincarnated as Yamcha which looks like it should be a ridiculous amount of fun.

KATE: As hard as it may be for me to say this… I’m not really jazzed about anything arriving in stores on Wednesday. I think this is going to be a tackle-the-stack week for me. But that’s OK — I have new volumes of Dead Dead Demon, Again!!, The Promised Neverland, and Silver Spoon on my nightstand, as well as a pristine copy of My Favorite Thing Is Monsters that begs to be read.

ANNA: I thought the first volume of Shortcake Cake was super adorable, so volume 2 is my pick this week.

SEAN: I’m still greatly enjoying Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, a very funny take on two overly intellectual nerds and their attempts to understand love. I’ll make that my pick this week.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to more Haikyu!! and to checking out Shortcake Cake, but it’s gotta be Chihayafuru for me!

Idol Dreams, Vol. 5

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Idol Dreams Volume 5 by Arina Tanemura

Idol Dreams is a fun, if a bit uneven, soapy series about a repressed office lady reliving her youth in the best way by occasionally taking magic pills that turn her into a teenage aspiring teen idol singer! People fall in and out of love and deal with show business shenanigans, but will Chikage’s teenage adventures translate into any newfound maturity in the real world? Indications in this fifth volume are promising!

Chikage is much more assertive and resourceful in her teen idol persona as Akari. She’s trying to gain more recognition through a sing-off battle and manages to dodge a series of mean girl attacks and come out on the other side victorious even though she’s just a slightly better known aspiring idol singer. One of the things I’ve been wondering about is when Chikage’s old classmate and magical teen pill supplier Tokita was going to get a bit more focus, because so far he seems to be mainly pining in silence. My patience was rewarded with this volume, as it focuses on him. The real world is much more complex than teen idolland, as Chikage learns that Hanami who one of her workplace mean girls is also Tokita’s girlfriend, and she’s been cheating on him. Chikage is able to stick up for Tokita in a way that she’s never managed for herself, but she doesn’t realize what her own feelings are for Tokita until it is far too late. There is more time spent on the characters’ backstory in this volume, especially Tokita, which was a nice change of pace. I’m a bit worried that Chikage is going to bury herself in her teen persona in the next volume to distract herself from her pain as an adult.

It is all breezy fun although I’m slightly terrified about what might happen with Akari and Hibiki. I think that the series would also seem a bit less disjointed if I was reading it all with less time in between volumes, where the quick pace of people falling in and out of love might be less noticeable in a larger chunk of story. Still, I’m always up for an Arina Tanemura manga, and I’m hoping that Chikage becomes a more self-assured woman by the end of the series, and I’m glad that she’s showing some signs of assertiveness, even though she still needs more self-awareness to match.

Manga the Week of 11/7/18

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SEAN: It is election week, and I urge everyone in the United States to please go vote. Meanwhile, on the manga front…

Cross Infinite World has another series, this one apparently from some creators who’ve also done Final Fantasy. emeth: Island of Golems is the title, and the e is small, e.e. cummings style.

Ghost Ship has a 5th Yokai Girls.

J-Novel Club continues to dole out light novels for the hungry fan, as we see Demon King Daimaou 8, Invaders of the Rokujouma!? 17, and The Master of Ragnarok and Blesser of Einherjar 4.

Kodansha is in something of a state of flux – its site’s release dates are not matching Amazon’s, and there have been some schedule slips. But we definitely get the debut of Hiro Mashima’s new manga next week, Eden’s Zero. It’s hard not to make the “Fairy Taiiiil… iiinnnnn SPAAAAAAACCCCEEE!!!!” joke here.

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: Other print titles are Boarding School Juliet 2 and Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth Side: P4 Volume 4 (it hurts me typing that title).

ASH: It does hurt, but it’s a fun series for Persona fans.

SEAN: Digitally we debut Can I Kiss You Every Day?, a Betsufure title whose synopsis, alas, sounds incredibly similar to a lot of other shoujo digital-only titles we’ve seen recently.

MICHELLE: That synopsis earns a hard pass from me.

SEAN: And there’s also Can You Just Die, My Darling? 6, Chihayafuru 12 (yay!), My Boy in Blue 4, and Peach Girl Next 3.

MICHELLE: Yay, indeed!

ANNA: Yes!!!

SEAN: Seven Seas has no debuts, but they do have several of their ongoing series. There’s The Bride and the Exorcist Knight 2, The Dungeon of Black Company 2, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid 7, Sorry for My Familiar 3, and The Testament of Sister New Devil STORM!! 5.

Though release dates on Amazon for Tokyopop are even more fluid than they are for Kodansha, there is apparently a 2nd Futaribeya out next week.

For those who missed the two-volume Summer Wars manga, Vertical Comics is releasing it as an omnibus.

Viz’s debut combines two incredibly popular trends: Dragon Ball and reincarnated into another world stories. That Time I Got Reincarnated as Yamcha is exactly what it sounds like, which is to say silly.

ASH: This is supposed to be fantastic.

ANNA: Sometimes very silly is a good thing.

MJ: I’m down for this.

SEAN: Some excellent ongoing series. On the shonen side, we have Black Clover 13, Black Torch 2, the 3rd Bleach Box Set (not sure if it’s black or not), the 3rd Demon Slayer, a 2nd Dr. STONE, a 29th Haikyu!!, the 9th JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders hardcover, an 88th One Piece, and the 4th volume in Yu-Gi-Oh: Arc V.

MICHELLE: I need to check out Dr. STONE.

ASH: Oh yes, there’re some great series in there!

ANNA: I enjoyed the first volume of Dr. STONE.

SEAN: On the shoujo side, we see Anonymous Noise 11, Idol Dreams 5, and Shortcake Cake 2.

MICHELLE: I also need to check out Shortcake Cake.

ASH: The first volume was quite enjoyable!

ANNA: Shortcake Cake is super cute, and I enjoy Idol Dreams.

SEAN: And on the ‘seinen marketed as shonen’ side, we have Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 5.

Did you vote? And what did you buy?

MICHELLE: Last Friday! And I got a sticker!

Pick of the Week: We Are So Predictable

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SEAN: An excess of Yen Press this week. I suspect my colleagues will be going for Silver Spoon, as they should. And I admit to being intrigued by High School Prodigies Have it Easy Even in Another World, which sounds silly if nothing else. But my pick this week is the 2nd volume of Teasing Master Takagi-san, which is adorably cute and funny.

MICHELLE: I also am going to trust someone else to pick Silver Spoon so that I might weigh in in favor of Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts. I started the first volume this week and it’s pretty fun, kind of like a more light-hearted The Ancient Magus’ Bride sort of feeling. I am enjoying it so far and keen to see how the story develops.

MJ: I will set Sean and Michelle’s minds at ease by openly and wholeheartedly choosing Silver Spoon! Silver Spoon always. Silver Spoon forever.

KATE: I’ll bite: read Silver Spoon! It’s funny and real and just plain awesome, and deserves a bigger, more enthusiastic reception from American manga readers. (How’d I do, Michelle?)

MICHELLE: You get a gold star!

ANNA: I’m going to randomly pick Versailles of the Dead. I haven’t read it at all yet, but it sounds like the spookiest debut manga this week.

ASH: I will not so randomly pick the debut of Versailles of the Dead as I’m very curious about the series, but Silver Spoon definitely continues to be at the top of my list, too.

Black Torch, Vol 1

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Black Torch, Vol 1 by Tsuyoshi Takaki

I was surveying my stacks of manga and decided that I needed to make more of an effort to get into the Halloween spirit. I figured that Black Torch was an ideal candidate since it features supernatural beings and a black cat, who is also a supernatural being. Spooky!

Jiro is the plucky protagonist of this manga, who has some unique abilities. He has the ability to talk to animals and is descended from a long line of ninjas. He also has absolutely no tolerance for animal cruelty, as the opening scene in the manga shows him driving of a gang that was bugging a stray cat and raven. Jiro’s Grandfather seems to mainly enjoy yelling at his grandson about ninja traditions. Jiro finds out about a cat in distress and goes to rescue it. He finds Rago, a demon (or mononoke) trapped in the form of a black cat. Jiro learns that Rago was caught up in a demonic struggle, and doesn’t remember all the details of his past. Jiro is determined to help Rago, even though the demon attempts to leave Jiro, he is relentless in his desire to help. This is one of the more endearing aspects of Black Torch, even though Jiro ends up getting trapped in a deadly mononoke battle. Rago and Jiro end up being fused together, as Rago goes to help his reckless ninja friend. There are elements that are somewhat predictable in most shonen manga, like a supernatural protection agency and the hints that Rago and Jiro will soon join a team fighting evil.

Black Torch 1

The art in Black Torch has a slightly scratchy quality that I enjoyed. Rago’s surprised cat faces were hilarious, and when his mystical powers manifest in the form of swirling black tendrils surrounding his cat form, the effect is suitably dramatic and mystical. The action scenes are dynamic. While Black Torch doesn’t stray far from the typical shonen manga formula, Jiro’s devotion to animals, the odd couple relationship between him and Rago, and Rago’s hilarious cat expressions go pretty far in making it an enjoyable supernatural action manga.

Manga the Week of 10/31/18

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It’s Halloween, and the trick is being able to stand under the weight of all this manga.

Ghost Ship has a 7th volume of “porn or not?” series To-Love-Ru Darkness.

J-Novel Club has a trio of ongoing titles, as we get the 8th Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, the 7th The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind!, and the 2nd Sorcerous Stabber Orphen.

Kodansha’s print debut is Hiro Mashima’s Playground, which as you might guess is a collection of short stories from the creator of Fairy Tail.

Speaking of short story collections, we also get Battle Angel Alita: Holy Night, which collects previously unseen one shots from the Gunnm universe. (What’s Gunnm?, I hear you cry. Well…)

ASH: Oh, I had missed this one being picked up, though I’m not surprised that it was.

SEAN: There’s also the 14th and final volume of Animal Land, a series whose first volume came out in North America sometime in 1643.

MICHELLE: I legitimately forgot this series existed.

MJ: Same.

ASH: It really is a shame that this series hasn’t gotten more attention. It’s a little strange, but quite good.

SEAN: The digital debut is a sequel, as we get the first volume of Princess Resurrection: Nightmare, the sequel to… well, Princess Resurrection. It still runs in Shonen Sirius, and seems to be more of a Tokyo Ghoul-style reboot.

Also out digitally: Beware the Kamiki Brothers! 6 and Heaven’s Design Team 2.

MICHELLE: I read the first volume of the latter and it was.. odd. We’ll see if the author varies the already established formula at all with volume two.

SEAN: Seven Seas is hitting us with lots of stuff. The debut is Versailles of the Dead, which does not feature Oscar but does feature Marie Antoinette and zombies. I think it’s currently running in Hibana, though it’s changed magazines a few times.

ANNA: I have to admit I am intrigued by the title, along with historical zombies.

ASH: As am I! It’s by the creator of Afterschool Charisma, too.

SEAN: There’s also The Ancient Magus’ Bride Supplement, yet another in-depth guidebook to the series.

ASH: I’ll be picking this one up!

SEAN: And we have an 8th Dreamin’ Sun, the 8th Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash novel in print, the 2nd manga adaptation of If It’s For My Daughter Etc., the 3rd Mononoke Sharing, the 13th My Monster Secret, the 8th Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary, and 2nd True Tenchi Muyo! novel, and the 4th and final Yokai Rental Shop.

ASH: I wasn’t as enamored with the beginning of Yokai Rental Shop as I was hoping I would be, but I have been meaning to read more of the series.

SEAN: Udon has a 3rd volume of Infini-T Force.

Vertical has Onimonogatari, which theoretically is about Shinobu but Mayoi is going to steal the show.

That leaves Yen Press, but that’s still a lot.

ASH: It really is.

SEAN: Starting with Yen’s digital-only manga, we see Corpse Princess 19, Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun 8, and IM: Great Priest Imhotep 9.

JY is Yen’s imprint for younger readers, and we have two titles to point to. The first is Crush, the 3rd in Svetlana Chmakova’s series that began with Awkward and Brave. It is sure to be as awesome as both of those were.

JY also has a Japanese title debuting. Zo-Zo-Zombie is from the kids’ magazine Corocoro, and is the most adorable zombie manga you’ll ever read.

ASH: D’awww.

SEAN: Yen On debuts Mirai, the latest ‘novelization of a popular movie’ title. There’s also Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile, in which Aerith is, like Francisco Franco, still dead. Though given these are short stories, possibly not in this volume.

Goblin Slayer, now a hit anime, also gets a side story novel, called Year One. I expect goblins.

Yen On also has new volumes of The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria (4), Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (12), Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Sword Oratoria (7), Re: ZERO (8), Spice and Wolf (20), and its sequel Wolf and Parchment (3).

Theoretically there is also the long, long, long delayed 7th volume of No Game No Life, but I won’t believe this without actual evidence.

And then the manga. So much. Only one debut, which is High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World!. Based on an unlicensed light novel, it’s another isekai, as you can see, only the kids finding themselves in another world are all insufferable geniuses. How will they cope? Easily, apparently.

That leaves the ongoing series. Let’s divide it, as I tend to do, in half. First, NOT based on light novels. There’s Anne Happy 8, Aoharu x Machinegun 13, Demonizer Zilch 5, Gabriel Dropout 5, Hakumei & Mikochi 2, Hatsu*Haru 3, Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler 7, Kiss and White Lily for My Dearest Girl 7, Murcielago 8, Prison School 11, Sacrificial Princes and the King of Beasts 3, the 5th Sekirei omnibus, Shibuya Goldfish 2, Silver Spoon 5, Spirits & Cat Ears 7, Taboo Tattoo 12, Teasing Master Takagi-san 2, Triage X 16, and Val x Love 4. … I’m actually getting a lot of that. Yikes, that’s a lot.

MICHELLE: Hatsu*Haru, Sacrificial Princess, and Silver Spoon for me.

ANNA: You know, if I don’t read any of this, I’m not behind. That’s what I will tell myself. Although somewhere I have first volumes of Sacrificial Princess and Silver Spoon squirreled away.

MJ: Obviously Silver Spoon. Always Silver Spoon.

ASH: Silver Spoon is likewise at the top of my list, but I’m reading (and falling behind with) a few others, too.

SEAN: On the light novel adaptation side, we have A Certain Magical Index 15, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 5, The Devil Is a Part-Timer! 12, Durarara!! re;Dollars 3, the 5th DanMachi: Sword Oratoria manga, Napping Princess 2, The Saga of Tanya the Evil 4, and the 4th So I’m a Spider, So What?.

ANNA: Why are there so many light novels, and no one has released any Library Wars titles, or finished 12 Kingdoms????

MICHELLE: Or Saiunkoku Monogatari???

ANNA: YES! Someone bring out Saiunkoku Monogatari!!!!

ASH: I would love to see those series translated, too! I’d add No. 6 and the rest of Moribito as well, though those might not technically be light novels.

SEAN: Are you gorged on all these treats? What’s in your bag?

ASH: SO MUCH.

Pick of the Week: Psycho vs. Piano

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ASH: Were I a reader of digital manga, my pick this week would most likely be the debut of Forest of Piano. Alas, that is not yet to be. Fortunately, I’ve also been greatly looking forward to the release of Mob Psycho 100, so that’s what I’ll be choosing this time.

MICHELLE: Those are definitely my top two pics, too, but I can’t help but feel that by Kodansha releasing so much Forest of Piano at once, I’m already somehow behind on it. Mob Psycho 100 seems a little easier to commit to at the present moment.

SEAN: Actually, given the page counts, it’s 7 omnibuses, so probably 14 volumes. And yeah, I’m gonna be so far behind. Love you, seinen piano manga, but Mob Psycho 100 for me as well.

KATE: What Michelle said!

ANNA: Like everyone else, I’m torn between Forest of Piano and Mob Psycho 100. But due to me feeling extra guilty about being so far behind in other digital titles like Chihayafuru, that just pushes me further in the direction of Mob Psycho 100.

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 14

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Yona of the Dawn Volume 14 by Mizuho Kusanagi

I always put down each volume of Yona of the Dawn feeling like Kusanagi has just served up a master class in plot and character development, but I felt that way even more in this volume, which shows Yona traveling to visit the Water Tribe and confronting some very serious issues along the way. As soon as they arrive on Water Tribe land, Jaeha takes the opportunity to invite Hak along to visit the Red Light District, because the women of the Water Tribe are legendary for their beauty. Yona’s cloaked reactions as this conversation unfolds underscores how much she cares. Hak turns Jaeha down, and Jaeha heads out to explore the city solo, sensing that something is very wrong with the town. He meets up with a couple ladies, who burn some suspicious incense and offer him some of the special local rice wine. Jaeha goes along with everything, as he suspects that someone is watching both him and the girls.

Yona of the Dawn 14

Yona and her crew rescue Jaeha and go out to investigate, learning that the Kai empire is flooding the town with a drug called Nadai. Yona is determined to stay and fight the drug traffickers, even though Jaeha urges her to leave. The leadership and confidence Yona has developed over the course of 14 volumes has me confident that she’ll leave the Water Tribe lands in a better state than when she arrived. Yona’s group also attracts the attention of some local dignitaries, Ladi Riri and her two companions Ayura and Tetra. Riri first thinks that Yona is suspicious, but eventually realizes that the groups have similar goals. Seeing Riri’s assessment of Yona shifting as she learns more about her just serves to underscore Yona’s strength. There’s time for a little bit of situational comedy as Riri is horrified that Yona routinely sleeps outside, surrounded by men.

After some army battles in the last volume, there’s a return to close action sequences featuring Yona’s determination as well as the unique abilities of her protectors. This volume ends on a cliffhanger, but I’m very curious to see how Yona and her companions change and grow after being challenged by the situation in the Water Tribe kingdom. I’m also happy to see Yona getting some more female friends as she continues her travels.

Manga the Week of 10/24/18

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SEAN: October continues to push out new titles to break our banks.

First, I missed another release in last week’s list. Out tomorrow is the 6th Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress from Bookwalker.

Dark Horse has a debut I’m excited about. Mob Psycho 100 is by the author of One-Punch Man, and this time he’s also the artist. It runs in Shogakukan’s Ura Sunday, is based off the webcomic, and is about a psychic boy.

MICHELLE: Ooh, interesting!

MJ: This also sounds interesting to me!

ANNA: Me too!

ASH: Yup, count me in!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has some ongoing series, with a 4th Infinite Stratos, a 2nd Kokoro Connect, and a 3rd volume of The Unwanted Undead Adventurer.

Kodansha print debuts another Fairy Tail spinoff, Lightning Gods.

Kodansha digital is a different story. We begin with Forest of Piano, a series I never thought would make it over here. A long-running award-winning story about a piano prodigy, it ran in Morning magazine (actually, it debuted in Uppers, which tells you how old it is) and has its first seven omnibuses all debut digital-only next week. Will this be the title that forces Ash to buy digitally?

MICHELLE: Woot!

MJ: I don’t often buy digital either, but I kind of want this. Like, a lot.

ANNA: Wow, that sounds like something I should pick up.

ASH: Aaaaah, I really am going to start buying digital titles one of these days, aren’t I?

SEAN: On a more shoujo note, Mikami-sensei’s Way of Love is a Betsufure title about a girl who hasn’t had a love affair yet and her persistently annoying teacher who is likely the reason why. For those who like amusing jerk heroes.

And we have Ace of the Diamond 16, Defying Kurosaki-kun 5, Is Kichijoji the Only Place to Live? 4, Liar x Liar 7, and The Quintessential Quintuplets 5.

MICHELLE: I love Ace of the Diamond and one of these days I’ll read Kichijoji.

SEAN: Seven Seas has two debuts. Machimaho: I Missed Up and Made the Wrong Person into a Magical Girl! is not based on a light novel, despite the lengthy title. It runs in Shinchosha’s Kurage Bunch, and does not seem to be quite as dark as Seven Seas’ other Magical Girl titles. Violent delinquent turned magical girl is the premise.

Plus-Sized Elf is the other debut, from Wani Books’ Comic Gum. Given that it’s from Comic Gum, I would expect the fanservice to also be plus-sized. Also, despite the titular elf, I have a suspicion this is a monster girl title in general. It’s seemingly about an elf hooked on junk food.

ASH: I’ll admit I’m curious. Also, I will be very disappointed if there aren’t French fries.

Seven Seas also has Harukana Receive 2, Made in Abyss 4, Magical Girl Apocalypse 16, Nameless Asterism 3, and There’s a Demon Lord on the Floor 6.

Vertical Comics has a 4th omnibus of The Flowers of Evil.

Lastly, Viz has a 7th digital-only volume of élDLIVE.

I suspect Manga Bookshelf is thinking of pianos next week. How about you?

Pick of the Week: Loving the Demon

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SEAN: There’s nothing that screams BUY ME! this week, but there are some ongoing titles I quite like. I will go with the 3rd Dead Dead Demon’s Dededededdestruction as my pick, as it’s reliably excellent so far.

MICHELLE: I’ve already sung the praises of Giant Killing several times, but I continue to enjoy this seinen take on sports manga very much. It’s my pick this week.

KATE: I’m going to shill for Dead Dead Demon again, since it’s currently one of my favorite new series of 2018. For anyone who’s been on the fence about this title, I encourage you to give it a try; it’s dark and funny without ever tipping into misery porn, a la Goodnight Pun-Pun or The Girl on the Shore.

ANNA: I haven’t read Dead Dead Demon yet, but I’ve been stockpiling the volumes. I expect I will like it just as much as Kate does, so that’s my pick too!

ASH: Dead Dead Demon is absolutely worth picking up (and I certainly will be), but for me this week the series also has to contend with the newest Junji Ito manga to be released in English–Frankenstein.

Manga the Week of 10/17/18

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SEAN: Neither rain nor snow not gloom of night can stay Manga Bookshelf from looking at next weeks’ releases.

We start off with J-Novel Club, who have three new novels. An Archdemon’s Dilemma 2, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 11 (In which I hear things are all sunshine and rainbows forever), and I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse 10, where our hero tries to deal with the world of theater.

Kodansha print? There’s Ghost in the Shell: Global Neural Network, with stories by Western writers based on the Japanese classic.

ASH: I really liked the Attack on Titan anthology, so I’m looking forward to this volume!

SEAN: Elsewhere in print, we have the Attack on Titan Season 3 Part 1 box set, Battle Angel Alita Deluxe Edition 5, Fire Force 12,and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime 8, which everyone seems to like more than I do.

The digital debut this week is Tokyo Revengers. Its plot… sounds like Erased, only edgier and more Weekly Shonen Magazine oriented, to be honest.

ASH: I do get a kick out of it, but I’m even more interested in the Battle Angel Alita finale.

SEAN: And we have: Beauty Bunny 8. Cosplay Animal 8. DAYS 10. Giant Killing 14. And Perfect World 7. Can a few of these come out less often, please. ^^;; I need to catch up!

MICHELLE: DAYS and Giant Killing, as always.

SEAN: One Peace debuts The Reprise of the Spear Hero, a light novel spinoff of The Rising of the Shield Hero, which seems to be Re: Zero only with no actual deconstruction.

Seven Seas has a debut. It’s Fairy Tale Battle Royale (Otogibanashi Battle Royale), combining beloved children’s stories with blood-spattered survival horror. If ever there was an anti-Sean title, this is it. All it’s missing is “whoops, I spilled milk all over my face!”. It’s a Kadokawa title from Gene Pixiv.

There’s also an omnibus release of the first 3 Boogiepop novels.

ASH: I’m so happy to see these back in print!

SEAN: Ongoing series include 2nd volumes for How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord’s manga version, as well as twisted weirdness with The Voynich Hotel. There’s also a 3rd volume of the Kanna’s Daily Life spinoff from Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid.

ASH: I still need to read the first volume of The Voynich Hotel. It seems like something I would appreciate.

ANNA: Oh yeah I was meaning to check it out too.

SEAN: Udon gives us an 8th volume of Persona 4.

Viz debuts a Junji Ito collection, this one featuring Frankenstein, among other things. A must for horror manga fans.

ASH: Yes!!

ANNA: Good stuff!!

SEAN: If you never read Tokyo Ghoul, there’s now a complete box set of the first series. And there’s also a 7th volume of Tokyo Ghoul: re.

Lastly, there’s a 3rd Dead Dead Demon’s Dededededestruction and a 4th Fire Punch. I prefer the former to the latter.

ASH: Same here.

ANNA: Also need to catch up with the former.

SEAN: Assuming you’re not affected by weather, what are you getting next week?

Pick of the Week: Satoko and Nada

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MICHELLE: I am completely unable to resist a tale billed as “a charming tale of friendship between a Japanese woman and her Muslim roommate.” Slice-of-life hilarious adventures involving mutual respect? Yes, please!

SEAN: Same. Seven Seas has done wonders this year to make everyone sit up and pay attention to them, and this is one reason why. Satoko and Nada is definitely my pick this week.

ANNA: This sounds absolutely adorable. Looking forward to checking out Satoko and Nada.

ASH: As usual, there are a few things I’m interested in this week, but nothing else has quite captured my attention like the debut of Satoko and Nada! It should be a delight.

KATE: Ditto!

MJ: I was so determined to find something different and unpredictable to say here, but yeah. It’s Satoko and Nada for me too. All the way.

Dr. Stone, Vol. 1

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Dr. Stone Volume 1 by Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi

Dr. Stone is a shonen series that is entertaining due to the combination of post-apocalyptic setting and mad scientist hero. The first chapter opens with overly enthusiastic high schooler Taiju vowing to confess his love to the girl he’s had a crush on for the past five years. His cynical scientist friend Senku wishes him well in a backhanded fashion. Just as Taiju is about to launch into his confession a mysterious light appears in the sky and all the people in the world get turned into stone, frozen in place for several thousand years.

When Taiju wakes up again, he comes to in an overgrown area littered with stone fragments of people. He wanders around and sees one of his most powerful classmates, Tsukasa, also frozen in place. Senku pops up and tells Taiju that he overslept terribly, because he’s been awake and on his own for the past year and a half. Senku is determined to restart civilization, but he needs additional help, and Taiju is going to serve as the muscle in his scientific endeavors. Senku has a habit of making grand pronouncements about the rate of his ability to reconstruct stone-age scientific discoveries by yelling “Get Excited!”

There’s certainly a lot of yelling, naked men wearing leaves, and hazardous attacks from both animals and other survivors in Dr. Stone, but I enjoyed the emphasis on adventures driven by ancient science. The dynamic between the two protagonists, with one of them being super smart and the one mainly having enthusiasm on his side also set up plenty of amusing side scenes in between all the fighting and scrabbling for survival. I tend to not always be that enthusiastic about non-sports shonen manga, but I was definitely intrigued by the first volume of this series.

Dr Stone