Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Anna N

Pick of the Week: Heart vs. Head

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MICHELLE: I’m most excited about Kodansha’s digital josei offerings this week. Since I’ve already advocated for Chihayafuru several times in this space, this week I’ll go with the second volume of Perfect World. I look forward to catching up on this series, as I hear it’s fab.

ASH: I feel like I should officially pick Okinawa–and I certainly plan on getting my hands on a copy–but if I’m honest, my heart this week belongs to Dorohedoro. The series is drawing near its end, I think, and I still love it just as much as I did in beginning.

SEAN: Same. I loves me some Dorohedoro.

KATE: The part of me that eats kale and recycles is recommending Okinawa, as it’s undoubtedly an Important Manga, but the juvie delinquent part of me is more excited about the sixth volume of I Am a Hero. So my keepin’ it real pick for the week is ZOMBIES.

ANNA: I’m going to have to go with Chihayafuru even though I’m far behind with this series. I am still so happy it is being translated!

Manga the Week of 5/16/18

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SEAN: If all goes well, I will be posting this Manga the Week of from a hotel room in Toronto! The wonders of modern all-leather technology! But let’s see what’s out next week.

Dark Horse gives us a 6th omnibus of I Am A Hero.

ASH: I thought I was over zombies, but I Am A Hero continues to be a great read.

SEAN: Fantagraphics has Okinawa, a title that explores the history of the island and its military occupation. It’s likely to be fairly grim, but absolutely worth your time. It’s also about 550 pages, so good value for money.

ASH: I’m always ready for more manga from Fantagraphics! I also find the history of Okinawa to be particularly interesting.

ANNA: Interesting, I might look into this for my library.

SEAN: Ghost Ship has a 4th 2-in-1 omnibus of To-Love-Ru.

J-Novel Club has put The Magic in This Other World is Too Far Behind! on the same once a month schedule as Rokujouma, meaning we get the 2nd volume next week.

Kodansha, print-wise, has a 2nd volume of the Attack on Titan Choose Your Own Adventure book, a 5th Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight, and a 4th Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty. More superdeformed shoujo that I seem to like more than other folks!

MICHELLE: I’ve read a couple volumes of Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight so far and I get why someone might find the superdeformity amusing, but to me it’s just so uncute! I’ve never been a big SD fan, though. I vividly remember watching Fushigi Yuugi for the first time and being, like, “What is this crap?!” :)

SEAN: Kodansha digital debuts The Wizard and His Fairy, an Aria series whose plot is basically its title, and is also pretty short, this being the first of two volumes.

MICHELLE: It looks pretty!

ANNA: Sounds cute!

SEAN: Kodansha digital also has new Altair: A Record of Battles (8), Chihayafuru (11), Kasane (12), Love’s Reach (8), and Perfect World (2). I’m definitely looking forward to more Perfect World, the first volume was very good.

MICHELLE: I need to catch up on Perfect World. Also happy about more Chihayafuru, of course!

ANNA: I so need to catch up on Chihayafuru!

SEAN: One Peace has an 8th manga volume of The Rise of the Shield Hero.

Seven Seas has two debuts next week. The first is Crisis Girls, a shonen title from Kodansha’s Shonen Magazine Edge. Like The Wizard and the Fairy, this one’s just two volumes, and this is the first. It seems to involve monsters and girls, though apparently not monster girls.

ASH: Okay, I’ll admit, a necromancer dressing in bright pink is kind of delightful.

SEAN: Hungry for You: Endo Yasuko Stalks the Night is the other debut, and it’s about (as you may have gathered) a vampire attending high school and her glasses-wearing emergency food (who is sadly not named Menchi). It’s very silly for the most part, and runs in Shonen Gahosha’s Young Comic, where it may be the one title in the magazine that’s not porn. It does have fanservice, though.

MICHELLE: Now I’m going to have Menchi’s mournful song in my head.

SEAN: Other Seven Seas releases include a print version of the 2nd Arifureta novel, a print version of the 6th Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash novel (both digital J-Novel titles), a 2nd Juana and the Dragonewt’s Seven Kingdoms, and the 6th (shudders in loathing) Magical Girl Site.

Vertical has a 6th volume of Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.

And Viz rounds out our list. They debut the RWBY Manga Anthology, a collection of shorts by various artists about the “western anime” show.

We also have a 4th Children of the Whales, a 22nd Dorohedoro, a 7th Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt, and a 10th Ultraman. I am still so happy that Dorohedoro has run as long as it has.

ASH: Yes! Dorohedoro is the best!

Are you getting these in print? Digitally? Or via the new manga headjack, now on sale at all good stores?

Kenka Bancho Otome, Vol 1

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Kenka Bancho Otome by Chie Shimada

Kenka Bancho Otome has many elements that I like present in a single manga. There is a reverse harem scenario in which a girl has to dress as a boy! It is an adaptation of an otome game, and I enjoy the occasional otome game (still playing Ninja Shadow). Also, there is punching and juvenile delinquency involved, and I do greatly appreciate shoujo manga heroines with the ability to perform acts of physical strength.

One thing I found absolutely hilarious was the way the set-up for the whole manga was taken care of in about 5 panels. Hinako, an orphan, is about to start her high school career at an all girls school, when she brushes against a boy who fakes a violent fall. The mysterious boy’s manservant tells her that he has broken his arm, and Hinako is forced to attend his school entrance ceremony in his place. Conveniently, the “injured” boy is Hinako’s doppleganger. She finds herself dressed as a boy, attending an all boys school for juvenile delinquents. Hinako is cosplaying as Hikaru Onigashima, the son of a yakuza boss, whose family obligations require him to become the boss of the school by beating up everyone around him. I sort of wish the rest of the manga took place at such a breakneck speed, but I’m sure that would not be practical to execute.

This being an adaptation of an otome game, handsome boys of different types are introduced in short succession. There’s the mysterious dark-haired uppperclassman with a secret shared past with Hinako, a sporty exuberant boy who blushes all the time, a silent boy with hidden depths, and a flamboyant rock star. I can’t remember their names because the characters are not really all that memorable, but that’s not really the point! Kenka Bancho Otome steps through many standard shoujo plot points with a breezy charm and attractive character designs. It did make me wish that the game was available on android, because I totally would have played it after reading the manga. On that level, I think the manga is a success. It was fun to read, mainly because I’m always up for punching and reverse harem manga. On the other hand, any otome game adaptation isn’t going to have the emotional depth of a manga like Hana Kimi or the hilarity of a series like Oresama Teacher. So Kenka Bancho Otome is nice and diverting, when someone might be in the need of a pleasant distraction, which is a mood I find myself in most of the time.

Pick of the Week: Brides, Kings and Tigers

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SEAN: While I’d argue that The Bride Was a Boy is the most important title this week, and Requiem of the Rose King probably the continuing series of the week, I have been waiting for the Toradora! novels for so long that there’s no question that it is my pick of the week. Put a Taiga in your tank!

KATE: I agree with Sean: The Bride Was a Boy should be on everyone’s reading list, and it’s my top pick for the week. For continuing series, though, I gotta rep for Shuzo Oshimi’s Happiness, one of the most compelling horror series I’ve read in ages. The sixth volume was a masterclass in when to tell the story just through pictures, and when a few words really add value. The sixth ended on a hell of a cliffhanger, so I’m glad volume seven arrives this week.

MICHELLE: Definitely put me down for The Bride Was a Boy, as well. However, what my heart most wants just now is another serving of Sweetness & Lightning .

ASH: As previously mentioned, The Bride Was a Boy is one of my most anticipated releases of the year, so it’s the obvious pick of the week for me! But as everyone else has pointed out, there are some really great ongoing series being released this week, too.

ANNA: The Bride Was a Boy sounds like the standout release this week, but I can’t pass up an opportunity to mention Requiem of the Rose King which can always be relied upon for plenty of surreal kingmaking drama.

MJ: I gotta join in with Anna here. I love Requiem of the Rose King too much to pass up the chance to speak its name loudly to the universe. It’s my pick by default.

Pick of the Week: Sweet and Bizarre Adventures

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KATE: There’s plenty of product this week, from long-running shojo favorites like Kimi ni Todoke to new light novel series. My vote, however, goes to Chi’s Sweet Adventure, a spin-off of the Chi’s Sweet Home anime. I’m not expecting anything too ground-breaking here, just some cute kitty antics. What looks good to you?

SEAN: It feels odd to be picking nonfiction as my pick of the week (and prose for the second week running), but the Mari Okada autobiography, From Truant to Anime Screenwriter. I am looking forward to a lot of Viz stuff as well, but Mari Okada is definitely my pick this week.

MICHELLE: I’ll go with the 29th and penultimate volume of Kimi ni Todoke, even though I fully intend to hoard my copy and read it along with the final volume, since we have to wait until December for that one (sniff)!

ANNA: There’s a ton of great manga coming out this week! I’m going to have to go with the latest volume of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Chronicles. I might be hopelessly far behind in my reading of this series, but I love that it is getting the deluxe hardcover treatment.

ASH: I’ll join Anna this week in declaring JoJo my pick! I’m actually double-dipping for Stardust Crusaders because the deluxe edition is so handsome. There’s plenty of other manga coming out that I plan on giving a read, too, though!

Manga the Week of 5/2/18

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SEAN: There’s a lot of manga out in May, but mercifully slightly less than March or April. What do we have next week?

Cross Infinite World has another Japanese webnovel for us. Mia and the Forbidden Medicine Report stars a girl determined to help the sick, and her adventures in a fantasy-tinged land.

Ghost Ship has a 4th To-Love-Ru Darkness.

J-Novel Club has a couple of debuts, one of which is very interesting indeed. Mari Okada is a prolific anime screenwriter who has won awards, and From Truant to Anime Screenwriter: My Path to “Anohana” and “The Anthem of the Heart” is her autobiography. A truly unique license that sounds fantastic.

ASH: That does sound interesting! Okada worked on the anime adaptation of Wandering Son and The Woman Called Fujiko Mine among many other great series.

ANNA: Huh, that does sound interesting!

SEAN: The other debut is more typical. The Unwanted Undead Adventurer starts off in a fantasy world, so not an isekai. Unfortunately, our plucky young adventurer was eaten, and now exists as a skeleton. Can he conquer dungeons anyway? What do you think?

There’s also a 2nd New Life + and a 12th Invaders of the Rokujouma!?.

Kodansha is mostly taking a break from digital next week, but they are debuting even more new series, so we get the debut of Beware the Kamiki Brothers! (Kamiki Kyoudai Okotowari), a 6-volume Betsufure series. I tend to be very wary of shoujo covers with a pensive female lead and smug male lead. We shall see.

Seven Seas has the 7th Lord Marskman and Vanadis, and a 2nd Nameless Asterism. They’re also putting out a 2nd digital volume of the Strawberry Panic light novel.

ASH: I liked the first volume of Nameless Asterism well enough to see how the Gordian Knot of unrequited love continues to develop in the second.

SEAN: We have a new publisher, though they’ve done work on visual novels in the past. Sol Press debuts two new light novels titles digitally, with print apparently coming out later on. We have Battle Divas: The Incorruptible Battle Blossom Princess, as well as Strongest Gamer: Let’s Play in Another World. Go check them out!

ASH: Oh, a new challenger has entered the arena! I was previously unaware.

MJ: Oh, interesting! I’m not sure I mean these particular books, but always happy to see a new publisher in the game.

SEAN: Vertical has the debut of Chi’s Sweet Adventures, the spinoff of beloved cat manga Chi’s Sweet Home.

And the rest is Viz. There are no debuts this time around. The Jump imprint has new volumes of Black Clover (11), Bleach’s 23rd 3-in-1, Haikyu!! (23), the 7th hardcover re-release of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 2 (technically Seinen Jump), Naruto: Chibi Sasuke’s Sharingan Legend (3), One Piece (86), the penultimate Toriko (42), and Twin Star Exorcists (12).

ASH: Haikyu!! and JoJo for me, please!

ANNA: So behind with JoJo but I love it.

On the Shojo Beat end, we see Anonymous Noise 8, Everyone’s Getting Married 8, Kimi ni Todoke 29 (also a penultimate volume), and Oresama Teacher 24.

ASH: I’ll take some more Oresama Teacher, too.

SEAN: That’s actually quite a bit. Do you see favorites in this list?

MICHELLE: My favorites are all in the VIZ camp today, specifically One Piece, Haikyu!!, and Kimi ni Todoke. Hard to believe the last is finally drawing to a close.

Pick of the Week: An Embarrassment of Riches

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SEAN: My pick this week is tricky, especially with so much good manga. There’s Nozaki-kun, Silver Spoon, Murcielago… that said, as you’d expect, my eye is drawn to light novels. No, not Vending Machine, though I am morbidly curious. My pick is I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level, which not only has a female protagonist but seems to be dedicated to “relaxing and taking it easy” despite the max level. I like the idea of an isekai with the mood of, say, Flying Witch.

MICHELLE: Because I am confident at least one other person will pick Silver Spoon, I’m going with the eighth Yowamushi Pedal omnibus. I rejoice every time there’s a new volume of this series.

KATE: I like To Your Eternity, but jeez — it’s a downer. My vote goes for volume two of Silver Spoon, the only manga series in English that features at least three udder-ly wonderful jokes about cows per volume. (Yeah, I went there.) (No, I’m not sorry.)

ANNA: I’m so far behind, I haven’t read the first volumes of To Your Eternity and Silver Spoon, but out of everything coming out this week, those are the titles that I’m sure I’d like.

ASH: There are so many great releases again this week, it’s difficult to pick just one! Many of my favorites have already been mentioned–Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, Silver Spoon, Yowamushi Pedal, To Your Eternity–and I’m not even going to try to choose among them. And so, even though it’s not manga, I would like to take the opportunity to call attention to Perfect Blue: Awaken from a Dream.

MJ: Probably predictably, I’m Silver Spoon all the way this week. I absolutely loved the first volume, and I’m anxious for more. Also, I deeply appreciate Kate for the cow pun.

Manga the Week of 4/25/18

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SEAN: A lot. A whole lot.

Kodansha has some print manga delights. We get a 6th Aho-Girl, a 2nd Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle, and a 4th To Your Eternity.

ASH: I’ll definitely be picking up To Your Eternity. The series is certainly heartwrenching at time, but it’s very well done.

ANNA: Bought but haven’t read the first volume of this so I am already hopelessly behind.

SEAN: There’s also a box set collecting manga Vols. 1-4 of Attack on Titan, or Season One as they’re calling it.

On the digital front, the debut this week is Defying Kurosaki-kun (Kurosaki-kun no Iinari ni Nante Naranai), a Betsufure shoujo title about (sigh) a plain girl at a high school who ends up in a love triangle between a princely guy and a super sadist type. I may try it, but it sounds not my bag.

MICHELLE: Yeah. Not really into super sadists, personally.

MJ: Ugh. Lots of ugh.

SEAN: There’s also a 5th Beauty Bunny, a 7th Kokkoku: Moment by Moment, a 4th My Brother the Shut-In, a 5th PTSD Radio, and a 6th Until Your Bones Rot.

MICHELLE: I think Beauty Bunny also involves a jerk who called the lead girl ugly before “transforming” her via makeup. No, thanks.

MJ: MORE UGH.

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts the 2nd Perfect Blue novel, Awaken from a Dream.

ASH: I’m glad to see this being released! It’s a collection of stories that take place in the same setting as the original Perfect Blue.

SEAN: They’ve also got a 4th volume of Captain Harlock: Dimensional Voyage, a 3rd Hatsune Miku’s Everyday Vocaloid Paradise, a 2nd Made in Abyss, a 7th Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, and we have somehow reached double digits for Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn.

ASH: I’ve been enjoying Dimensional Voyage. I’m looking forward to the release of the original Captain Harlock, too.

SEAN: Vertical gives us the 2nd volume in Nisioisin’s Zaregoto novels, Strangulation: Kubishime Romanticist. This was released by Del Rey about 10 years ago, so is nice to have. Will they continue the series? I suspect sales will determine that.

Vertical also has an 11th Witchcraft Works.

Viz gives us a 5th volume (digital only) of élDLIVE, whose formatting always makes me cry.

And Yen. SO MUCH YEN. Let’s start with the ongoing light novels. There’s a 6th Asterisk War, which has finished its (first?) tournament arc. Baccano! has a 7th volume, the 2nd of a two-parter. The Devil Is a Part-Timer! is at Vol. 10, and there’s a 5th KonoSuba. Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers remains one of the few print-only Yen On titles with Vol. 4, Sword Art Online hits lucky 13, and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is at Vol. 2.

There are two debuts, and we’ll begin with the less silly one. I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level. Yes, I promise, that is the less silly one. Notable for a female protagonist, but it is an isekai with an overpowered hero(ine). That said, I hear the mood is meant to be “relaxed”.

And we also have the apex of silly light novels coming out, at least until the hot spring one gets licensed. Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon is exactly what it sounds, and I hope it will succeed on pure moxie, because come on. Really? REALLY?

MICHELLE: Hahaha. I would like to see the adventures of a wandering vending machine depicted in manga form.

ASH: Sometimes a premise is just so ridiculous I can’t help but take a look despite genre fatigue.

MJ: I feel like I have to check this out just to witness it for myself.

SEAN: Yen also has a giant pile of manga, which I will divide into three. First, ongoing manga titles not based on light novels. Akame Ga KILL! 14, Aoharu x Machinegun 10, Gabriel Dropout 3, Kiniro Mosaic 6, Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun 9, Murcielago 6, Of the Red, the Light and the Ayakashi 10 (this is its final volume), a 4th Sekirei omnibus, the second Silver Spoon (Manga Bookshelf folks breathe a sigh of relief that they at least get something to pick this week), Taboo Tattoo 10, Today’s Cerberus 8, Val x Love 2, and the 8th Yowamushi Pedal omnibus.

MICHELLE: Hooray for Nozaki-kun, Silver Spoon, and Yowamushi Pedal! I’ll also be picking up the final Of the Red… volume, but although I kept up with this series, I never really fell in love with it.

ASH: Ditto what Michelle said! And if I’m honest, I’ll probably be picking up Murcielago, too.

MJ: Silver Spoon! Silver Spoon! Silver Spoon!

SEAN: There are also new manga titles. We have As Miss Beelzebub Likes (Beelzebub-jou no Oki ni Mesu mama), a 4-koma where the demon lord is not quite as expected. It’s a Shonen Gangan title.

We also see the debut of Napping Princess, a manga adaptation (it ran in Newtype) of the novel that’s based on the anime. It’s this year’s The Boy and the Beast, I think? And I would wager is about a princess. Napping may also be involved.

There are also a lot of manga based on light novels. We see A Certain Magical Index 13, The Honor Student at Magic High School 8, Hybrid x Heart Magias Academy Ataraxia 3, Magical Girl Raising Project 2, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected 8, Overlord 6, and the 3rd volume of Re: Zero’s 3rd arc.

Not as much banter this time as there were simply too many titles to discuss. Are you getting any of them?

Pick of the Week: Again!! Again

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MICHELLE: I am, of course, looking forward to DAYS 8 and Giant Killing 12, as well as the second volume of Again!!, but I’ve been anticipating Wotakoi for a long time, so it’s gotta be that.

SEAN: I really should be picking Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, but I’ve had experience with thinking I’ll love Asano titles and then finding them too dark. So instead I too will go with Wotakoi, which looks like a lot of fun.

KATE: Oof… there’s too much good stuff to pick just one title this week. If I had to limit myself to one, however, my vote would be for volume two of Again!!, a fresh take on the time-travel-to-high-school genre. It’s funny, rueful, and sometimes cringe-inducing — just like high school, only with better jokes.

ASH: I’m thrilled by pretty much everything that’s been mentioned so far. For ongoing series Again!! and Spirit Circle are probably the top of my list this week. As for debuts, I look forward to giving Wotakoi a try, but I’ll make Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction my official pick since no one else has yet. (I will never be able to say or type the title without looking at it though, and maybe not even then…)

ANNA: I liked the first volume of Again!! so much, I’m happy the second volume is coming out so soon after I finished the first one! That’s my pick!

Takane & Hana, Vol. 2

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Takane & Hana Volume 2 by Yuki Shiwasu

I enjoyed the first volume of this series, but it is always good to see how a new manga series will settle in after the author has gotten through introducing the characters and plot points in the first five chapters or so. It was interesting to see this odd couple continue to navigate situations that are out of their respective comfort zones. Hana attends an important work social event with Takane, made up to resemble her older sister. Hana then concludes (sensibly) that the age difference between them is too great and attempts to push Takane away, but that doesn’t go well. Hana then takes Takane out to cherry blossom viewing where he has to deal with being around throngs of people. One of the nice things about this series is seeing how this couple tends to push each other to experience new things, and then be very supportive of each other. One of Takane’s playboy friends shows up and awakens all of his protective instincts towards Hana. Shiwasu makes a comment in this volume about how much she enjoys drawing funny facial expressions and it really shows in the artwork for this series. I feel like even if there was very little character development or dialogue I would almost buy this series just to see Takane’s perplexed and incredulous facial expressions as he attempts to deal with Hana shoving a sea cucumber into his mouth. At two volumes in, Takane & Hana is still a fun, breezy read, and a welcome dose of shoujo comedy.


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Manga the Week of 4/18/18

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SEAN: April continues, as does the inundation of manga. Let’s get down to business.

Ghost Ship debuts World’s End Harem. It’s about a post-apocalyptic future that’s killed nearly all the men in the world, and about a man who thus needs to impregnate as many women as he can. Needless to say, this being a mature manga and not a hentai manga, he stays true to his (missing) love and tries to find a cure rather than, say, having tons of sex. I suspect the main audience of this title will be annoyed by this, but hey.

Haikasoru has a 6th Legend of the Galactic Heroes novel.

MICHELLE: Woot. I noticed that the release schedule for these seems to have sped up a bit (unless I am imagining things). We’ll also be getting volumes seven and eight this year.

ASH: That does seem to be the plan!

SEAN: J-Novel Club gives us a 3rd volume of Outbreak Company.

They also have two debuts. Infinite Stratos is a series that most folks assumed would have been licensed years ago – in fact, most of its innovations have been done to death by other series. We’ll see if it can succeed after all this time.

There’s also The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind!, an isekai where an already practicing magician gets summoned to a world… and decides not to bother saving it just yet.

Kodansha gives us a slate of digital-only titles. Cosplay Animal 5, DAYS 8, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 6, Giant Killing 12, and The Prince’s Black Poison 4.

MICHELLE: My sports-manga-loving heart is appeased.

SEAN: They also debut Peach Mermaid (Momoiro Ningyo), a Dessert title that makes me wonder if mermaids are the next hot new trend.

MICHELLE: Could be!

ANNA: OK!

ASH: Merfolk do seem to have become increasingly popular/common over the last few years.

SEAN: On the print side, we’ve got a 2nd Again!!, a 6th Descending Stories, the 2nd and final Fairy Tail S, and the 5th That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime manga adaptation.

MICHELLE: I’m definitely looking forward to the first two.

ASH: Yes, definitely!! I was also amused by the beginning of That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime, though I’ve certainly fallen behind with that series.

SEAN: The print debut (it’s also digital) is Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku (Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii), notable (at least to me) for being the first non-Kodansha title released by Kodansha Comics. It’s an Ichijinsha series that runs in the little known Comic Pool, and has an otaku and a fujoshi meet up again years after they knew each other in school. Looking forward to this shoujo/josei-ish title.

MICHELLE: Me, too!

ANNA: Interesting…

ASH: I am also intrigued!

SEAN: One Peace has everyone’s favorite bear manga, Kuma Miko 8.

Seven Seas has a 2nd volume of the Magical Girl Doctor light novel, and a 3rd Spirit Circle.

ASH: Spirit Circle has been great, so far; looking forward to more.

SEAN: Vertical has the 3rd and final volume of Nisioisin’s weird psychological drama Imperfect Girl.

Viz has a 2nd Fire Punch, which will have to try hard to top the jaw-dropping atrocities of the first volume. They also give us a 4th Tokyo Ghoul: re.

Viz also debuts another Inio Asano title, one of the weirder ones even for an artist known for his eccentric titles. Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction asks what happens when you combine aliens, political warfare, slice-of-life schoolgirls, and Asano. The answer is fascinating.

ANNA: Hmmm. Well I’m guessing weird Asano is always worth checking out.

ASH: Definitely! (And for those who may not already be aware, Asano will be visiting North America next month for the Toronto Comic Arts Festival.)

MJ: Hm, might check this out.

SEAN: And Yen Press has some more titles creeping into stores. We get the 2nd Baccano! manga adaptation, the 3rd volume of The Isolator manga adaptation, a 9th Kagerou Daze (yup, adaptation of novel), the second Goblin Slayer manga adaptation, and the 10th Strike the Blood manga adaptation. Somehow, in among all these light novel spinoffs, we also get a 6th volume of The Royal Tutor, which is NOT based on a light novel.

So? What are you getting? Huh? Huh?

Pick of the Week: Talking About Boys

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SEAN: Even though I have reservations, I admit My Boy is my Pick of the Week. I’m curious to see how it’s handled, and how good the writing is. I want to know why Vertical wanted to license it. It’s intriguing.

MICHELLE: I’m wary of My Boy, so I reckon I’ll just go the shoujo debut route and pick You Got Me, Sempai. I can’t say I’m super-excited about it, though.

KATE: Hmmmmm… I don’t see anything on this week’s list that feels like a must-buy, so I’m going to focus instead on my ever-growing pile of unread manga. That manga isn’t going to read itself, you know!

ASH: I’m going to follow Michelle’s lead this week and go the shoujo debut route. In my case, I’m curious about Mermaid Boys and its gender-reversed take on The Little Mermaid.

ANNA: I’m sort of half-Kate, half-Ash. I’m most likely to spend my time this week trying to get caught up on the unread stacks of manga in my house, but I am also curious about Mermaid Boys.

MJ: I’m in the same boat as everyone else here this week, in that I’m a little wary of everything. But I think I’ll join Ash and Anna and throw my vote behind Mermaid Boys. That’s a lot to live up to, Mermaid Boys. Good luck.

Manga the Week of 4/11/18

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SEAN: Yikes. Thanks to Yen shifting half their March releases into April, we have another punishing week.

But first, Kodansha once again did a last-minute release on me. Already out this week is You Got Me, Sempai (Mairimashita, Senpai), a shoujo title from Dessert which I will add to the stack.

MICHELLE: I’ll probably check this one out.

SEAN: As for next week, Dark Horse gives us a 2nd volume of Hatsune Miku: Future Delivery.

J-Novel Club debuts Arifureta Zero, a spinoff prequel to the series showing those who built the dungeons in the first place.

They also have a 4th Faraway Paladin (technically the 5th, as the 3rd was split into two parts).

Back to Kodansha Digital, who have two new releases this week. A.I.C.O. Incarnation is based on the anime from Studio Bones, and is a Shonen Sirius title.

And Boarding School Juliet (Kishuku Gakkou no Juliet) is a Weekly Shonen Magazine title about a modern day manga Romeo and Juliet. Of the digital debuts I’ve mentioned, this is the one that most intrigues me.

There’s also plenty of ongoing digital titles. Grand Blue Dreaming 8, GTO Paradise Lost 7, Lovesick Ellie 5, and Starving Anonymous 2. No sports, though, sorry, Michelle.

MICHELLE: I am placated by having had several sportsy releases last week.

SEAN: On the print front, we have Attack on Titan 24, Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card 3, The Heroic Legend of Arslan 8, In/Spectre 7, and Love & Lies 5. In/Spectre is supposed to be starting a new manga-only arc.

MJ: I haven’t even tried out the new CCS series. Bad CLAMP fan, bad. I should get on that.

ANNA: I haven’t either but I feel less enthusiastic about late CLAMP as opposed to early CLAMP.

ASH: I’m liking it so far, although it hasn’t really distinguished itself yet.

SEAN: Seven Seas has three titles out next week. There’s a 3rd Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor, a 14th Magical Girl Apocalypse, and the 10th My Monster Secret, which will finally resolve its main plot hook. Not that this means it’s ending, of course. There’s still a lot of laughs to go.

SuBLime has a 6th Deluxe Edition of Finder.

Vertical debuts My Boy (Watashi no Shounen), or as I like to call it, “Hoo boy.” It’s an award-winning title from Futabasha’s Monthly Action, about the growing friendship between a 30-ish office lady and a 12-year-old boy, and how ambiguous their relationship is. It’s apparently very well-written and very tasteful, and I will be giving it a shot, despite my reaction being, as I said, “Hoo boy.”

MJ: Hm. Maybe?

MICHELLE: Same. I’ll wait to see Sean’s review.

ANNA: I will pass on this.

SEAN: Viz has new volumes of Case Closed (66) and Magi (29). Itsuwaribito finally comes to an end as well with its 23rd volume.

Their debut this week is not manga, but will no doubt heavily appeal to anime fans: Homestuck Book One collects the popular and meme-spawning webcomic-ish thing.

ASH: I’m curious to see how well this translates into print considering the multimedia nature of the original. (It’s also interesting to see Viz continuing to expand beyond strictly Japanese content.)

SEAN: And now for the rest of Yen’s March titles, coming to you in April. Yen On has the 13th Accel World.

There are also a few debuts. The Elder Sister-Like One (Ane Naru Mono) is a Dengeki G’s title from ASCII Mediaworks that asks the question we’ve all wanted to know: What if Cthulhu was your big sis? It is based on a pornographic work, but I believe isn’t actually one in this version. Expect fanservice, though.

Mermaid Boys is a shoujo title from the late lamented Aria magazine, and seems to be a gender-reversed Little Mermaid. Can this be the rare Yen Press title that Anna will be interested in?

MJ: Okay, this sounds possibly kind of awesome.

ANNA: Probably! Gender-reversed Little Mermaid sounds intriguing!

ASH: I’m looking forward to giving it a try!

SEAN: And where you have Mermaid Boys, you must also have Monster Tamer Girls (Kaijuu no Shiiku Iin), though the two series are not connected. This is a Houbunsha title from Manga Time Kirara Forward, and I don’t know much about it.

ASH: I don’t know much about it, either, except that it’s a short series about the care and feeding of kaiju.

SEAN: And there is Though You May Burn to Ash (Tatoe Hai ni Natte mo), a Young Gangan horror/thriller title that is a survival game manga and oh wait, I stopped caring.

MICHELLE: Heh.

SEAN: Ongoing Yen titles? We have plenty. Alice in Murderland 8, Angels of Death 2, The Betrayal Knows My Name 8 (MJalert here), Bungo Stray Dogs 6 (Ash alert here), the 4th Erased omnibus, a 7th Love at Fourteen (they’re 15 now, but hey), a 2nd One Week Friends, a 2nd manga volume for So I’m a Spider, So What?, a 5th Spirits & Cat Ears, a 2nd A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School, the 2nd three-volume omnibus of Umineko: When they Cry: Requiem of the Golden Witch (Sean alert here), and your name 3.

MJ: Noting the alert here. I also like Erased, so there’s that.

ASH: Same! I’m still getting a kick out of all of the literary references in Bungo Stray Dogs, but the penultimate volume of Erased is what I’m really interested in this week.

SEAN: This is, frankly, far far too much. It’s getting ridiculous. Are you getting anything?

The Young Master’s Revenge, Vol. 1

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The Young Master’s Revenge, Vol. 1 by Meca Tanaka

Meca Tanaka’s manga is so charming! I thought that the first page of The Young Master’s Revenge was one of the most captivating first pages of manga that I’ve read recently. All in black, the thought “It is time for me to start my revenge” hovers while a boy accompanied by a lovely shoujo floral background illustration is leaving an airport with a bright smile and an adorable dog in a carrier. The contrast between the dark thoughts and the stereotypical innocent hero illustration immediately drew my attention.

The vengeful hero is Leo, a boy returning to Japan to attend high school after his father’s fashion company has become incredibly successful. Before he left Japan, he used to be friends with an heiress to a department store named Tenma. She was a tomboy who loved chasing animals, accidentally getting Leo into a situation where he was bitten on the butt by turtles, which has caused him years of psychological trauma. Leo has nursed his hatred for 10 years, turning himself into the perfect specimen of a high school boy just so he can make Tenman fall in love with him and then dump her. Unfortunately he finds out that things have changed in Japan and his path to revenge is not so smooth. Tenma’s family has fallen on hard times, and when he meets her again, she picks up her friendship with him exactly where they left off, but without any romantic notions at all.

Tanaka’s illustrations easily switch between capably showing the subtle emotions in the growing friendship between Tenma and Leo to straight out caricature. Tanaka’s characters have the most adorable surprised facial expressions. Leo grows more distressed as he realizes that other boys are aware of Tenma too, and potential rivals for her affection are introduced in such over the top ways, it is fun to see Tanaka poking fun at some typical shoujo conventions. Leo’s reasons for revenge are ridiculous, but this manga isn’t mean spirited at all. I preferred the revenge story in this manga as opposed to Komomo Confiserie which has an extremely similar plot because The Young Master’s Revenge never seems to cross the line into meanness at all. For me this manga fills that slot on my reading list for simple, cute, and adorable manga that has been left a little vacant by series like My Love Story!! and Honey So Sweet that have recently finished.

Pick of the Week: Manga Strikes!

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MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to so much this week! Ace of the Diamond, Chihayafuru, Promised Neverland, My Hero Academia, to name but a few. However, seinen romantic comedy from Mitsurou Kubo wins in my book. It’s gotta be Moteki. Plus, you get the first half of the series in one package. Nice!

SEAN: There is, frankly, an embarrassment of riches this week. including every single Shojo Beat title, as well as The Promised Neverland, which will be brilliant and make me suffer. But yes, I’m going with Moteki, a title we would never have seen here if not for Yuri on Ice taking off the way it did. I’m not complaining.

KATE: Moteki and The Promised Neverland are my must-read manga of the week. If I had to choose just one title, though, it would be the third volume of The Promised Neverland, since previous installment ended with a game-changing revelation.

ASH: I’m actively following so many of the series coming out this week! But when it comes to the pick of the week, debuts tend to get most of my attention, and so Moteki it is for me! (Although I’m also rather curious about Kenka Bancho Otome… )

ANNA: There’s a ton of great stuff coming out this week! It makes it so hard to pick! Like many others I have to give Moteki the edge though.