Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Anna N

Pick of the Week: Farewell to 2016

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SEAN: A bit of the post-Christmas blah, as there’s stuff I’m getting this week but nothing I’m wild about. I’ll make my pick the 2nd volume of The Ghost and the Lady from Kodansha, which features a great interpretation of Florence Nightingale.

MICHELLE: I think Cells At Work! Volume Two is the only thing I’m getting this week, so that makes picking it the obvious choice.

ASH: I’ll definitely be picking up the finale of The Ghost and the Lady, too, but my pick of the week has to go to Vinland Saga. For a time there it didn’t look like the rest of series would be translated, so I’m very happy to see more of the incredible manga finally being released.

MJ: I gotta admit there’s nothing I’m really keen to slap my money down for this week, so I’m going to go way off list. Sometime last week, Michelle convinced me that I needed to check out a digital-only series from SuBLime, The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window, and I have a feeling I’m going to be picking up all the available volumes pretty quickly this week, in my post-Christmas haze. I haven’t paid enough attention to these digital series, which is a shame, since so often the kind of BL that I love best is not the kind that is popular enough to warrant print releases. At $5.99 a volume, they’re decently affordable, too, at least for a short series! So that’s my major purchase for the week.

ANNA: I’m with Ash, I’m most excited about the next volume of Vinland Saga. I thought that we weren’t going to see another volume translated, so seeing a new volume released is a wonderful surprise.

Manga the Week of 12/28

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SEAN: I remember only 4-5 years ago when the Christmas week releases numbered zero, or at most one. Those days are gone forever, though this is a light week compared to the previous ones.

Dark Horse has a 6th omnibus of the Astro Boy manga.

Kodansha has the 20th volume of Attack on Titan, and if you like there’s also the Special Edition which comes with an actual Titan that will eat you… OK, it’s just a DVD. But I bet they’d do it if they could.

Cells at Work! gives is a 2nd volume of anthropomorphic medical action.

MICHELLE: I’m reading the first volume now and it’s pretty entertaining. I’m interested to see how (and if) the story develops.

ASH: The first volume was a great deal of fun! I’m interested in reading more.

SEAN: And a second (and final?) volume of The Black Museum: The Ghost and the Lady. No word if the other series in this collection has been picked up.

ASH: I really liked the first half of this story. If the rest of the series is anywhere near as good, I hope it’s licensed, too.

SEAN: Potboilers continue to do well, as we get an 8th L♥DK.

Lastly, rejoice! An 8th Vinland Saga omnibus is here in all its glorious carnage.

ASH: I am beyond thrilled for Vinland Saga’s return.

ANNA: I did not realize that this was coming out, but I’m very excited!

SEAN: Seven Seas has D-Frag! hit double digits. My guess: there will be boke and tsukkomi humor within… like the nine previous volumes.

And a 4th survival game-ish Not Lives.

My #1 guilty pleasure, and believe me the guilt outweighs the pleasure by a metric ton, Seven Seas also has a 6th Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn, where two amazing talents prove they can reinforce each other’s worst habits.

The debut next week is the first volume of Seven Princes of the Thousand Year Labyrinth. It’s one of the most Ichijinsha things you’ve ever met, despite also being a survival game. I reviewed it here.

ASH: I plan on giving the first volume a look at least.

SEAN: Lastly, Vertical gives us a 4th omnibus of Mysterious Girlfriend X. Get yourself some drool for the holidays.

MICHELLE: Ew.

MJ: Nothing really calls out to me from this week’s list, but I did want to say “Happy Holidays!” to all our readers, and to you all, too!

SEAN: So what are you getting with those Christmas gift cards?

Pick of the Week: Holiday Reads

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MICHELLE: There are several things coming out from Yen this week that I’m pretty excited about, but the one that I most look forward to—even more than Fruits Basket, since I’ve read that a time or two already—is the fourth omnibus of Yowamushi Pedal.

SEAN: I’m basically reading half this list (whimper), but there’s no doubt my pick of the week is Bakemonogatari. I’ve loved Nisioisin’s writing for some time now, and this is both his most popular as well as his most mainstream series. The fanservice can be appalling, but I’m ready for it.

ASH: I’m right there with you, Sean! There are so many things being released this week that I’m looking forward to reading. Yowamushi Pedal, Tomie, Goodnight Punpun, and Gangsta: Cursed are all definitely high on that list, but I think the manga I’m most curious about this week (and which therefore gets my pick) is the debut of Bungo Stray Dogs.

MJ: So, I feel a little guilty, because if I hadn’t already read it and been somewhat disappointed (look to this week’s Briefs for my elaboration on this point) my obvious choice would have been Jun Mochizuki’s The Case Study of Vanitas, given my long-standing devotion to her previous series, Pandora Hearts. But as it stands, I’m going to have to go with Bungo Stray Dogs, which has the advantage of not having had the opportunity to disappoint me yet. Is that fair? Maybe not, but there you have it.

ANNA: I absolutely adore Gangsta, so the prequel series is what I’m most interested in this week. I hope Gangsta: Cursed doesn’t disappoint me!

The Gods Lie

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The Gods Lie by Kaori Ozaki

I waited a long time to read one of my favorite manga of the year. I bought The Gods Lie shortly after it came out, but it has been sitting on my to-read pile for months. This is a coming of age story showing the developing relationship between Natsuru, a soccer prodigy, and Rio, a girl who stands out at school for being overly tall and silent. When the story opens, it first seems like a slice of life manga, but soon the reader sees that death overshadows the lives of the characters. Natsuru lives alone with his quirky writer mom, because his father died recently. His grandfatherly soccer coach is in the hospital with cancer, and while the replacement coach actually knows how to play soccer, Natsuru doesn’t react well to his new coaching methods.

Natsuru and Rio develop a friendship when he rescues a kitten his mom is allergic to. She offers to take care of it if he’ll help pay for the cat. It is clear that Rio has a stronger sense of household budgeting than is normal for a 6th grader. Her younger brother Yuuta just sails through life cheerfully, seemingly unaffected by their run-down house and need to economize on everything. When Natsuru visits their home, Rio tells him that her father is fishing in Alaska, but will be back in time for the spring festival. Natsuru decides to secretly ditch soccer camp and stays with his new friend over the summer. As the story develops, it is clear that Rio is guarding a secret that she can’t share with her new friend.

There’s a sense of clarity and assurance in Ozaki’s art, it is expressive without being bogged down by too many details. She perfectly portrays the stuck-up and clueless attitude of the class princess, the disrepair of Rio’s house, and the freedom of unstructured summer days. It is a rare manga that is perfect in one volume but The Gods Lie has the feeling of a great short story, capturing a range of experience for the characters in just a few pages, and hinting at what they’ll become as they grow up.

Manga the Week of 12/21

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SEAN: Abandon hope all ye who enter here.

ASH: Deep breaths!

SEAN: Kodansha starts things off with an 8th volume of Kiss Him, Not Me!

ASH: It has its problems, but I’m still enjoying this series.

SEAN: One Peace gives us a 2nd volume of Kuma Miko, which I hope is a bit more strange and cute and not strange and creepy.

ANNA: I have the first volume of this, I need to read it.

SEAN: Seven Seas has a 2nd volume of Lord Marksman and Vanadis, in which, hopefully, the village is saved? Or not, it could be a much darker sort of story.

At last, one year after the release of the chronological prequel Kizumonogatari comes the book that started it all. Bakemonogatari is being published by Vertical in 3 parts, fitting the Japanese re-release, and the first one contains Hitagi Crab and Mayoi Snail. If you love complicated prose, glorious dialogue, and the supernatural, you’ll love this.

MJ: I possibly should take a look at this.

SEAN: And Vertical also has the final Chi’s Sweet Home omnibus. Bye, Chi!

Viz has a 12th volume of Afterschool Charisma, reminding you that the SigIkki brand remains awesome.

MICHELLE: I believe this is the final volume, as well.

ASH: I really need to catch up!

ANNA: Me too! I need to wait for a sale or something and fill in my collection.

SEAN: Gangsta: Cursed is a prequel to the main series with the same writer but a different artist. It runs in the wonderfully named Go Go Bunch.

ASH: I’m looking forward to this.

ANNA: I am too, but I like the main series art so much!

SEAN: Viz also has a 4th omnibus of the cheerful and innocent fantasia Goodnight Punpun.

ASH: Very cheerful! Very innocent!

MICHELLE: *is not fooled*

SEAN: Master Keaton has a 9th volume, reminding me it was quite a long series.

ASH: I actually didn’t realize how long a series it was.

SEAN: And even though Amazon isn’t listing it for some odd reason, there’s a 10th Tokyo Ghoul.

The big Viz release, in more ways than one, is Tomie: The Complete Collection, a 750-page hardcover containing all of his classic horror story. If you love getting scared witless, try this book.

ASH: I love Viz’s Junji Ito releases, so I’m definitely picking this up (even though I also have the ancient Dark Horse edition).

MJ: I love getting scared witless!

SEAN: I always forget to mention Yo-kai Watch when it comes out, so this is me correcting that, as Viz has Vol. 6 of it.

And now it’s time for Yen, but stay comfortable, we’ll be here for a while. There are new digital volumes of Aoharu x Machinegun (7), Black Detective (7), Saki (7), and Corpse Princess (…8, goddamn you).

ASH: Saki!

MJ: Always love Saki!

SEAN: There are also old Yen Press releases from way in the past getting shiny new digital releases! With the Light, Yen Press’s first ever title. Dragon Girl, a fun shoujo omnibus. And Sundome, which was Flowers of Evil before it was cool. All are worth a look.

Yen On has a record number of novels out this month. Accel World’s 8th volume may finally finish this arc, perhaps? Will Takumu turn evil? Probably not.

The Asterisk War 2 continues to have magical school antics.

Baccano! Vol. 3 has the back half of the 1931 Flying Pussyfoot story, focusing on different characters as well as showing us where the heck Ladd went.

MICHELLE: Someday I really will try out this series, even though light novels are not usually my thing.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to try it out, too.

SEAN: Black Bullet 5 has the start of what I’ve heard called the “NTR” arc, a phrase that always makes me groan. We’ll see.

The Devil Is A Part-Timer! 6 apparently gets us back to the part-time work.

The debut this month is Goblin Slayer, which takes place in a fantasy world but strangely has no one come into it from another world. How weird.

The 3rd Irregular at Magic High School novel is the start of a 2-volume arc about the school Sports Festival, which uses magic. Don’t get it confused with November’s A Certain Magical Index, the start of a 2-volume arc about the school Sports Festival, which uses magic.

The 7th Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? novel is HUGE, much bigger than the other books. Set aside time for it.

After what seems like ages, the 5th No Game No Life volume is upon us. Can it live up to the wait?

Sword Art Online seemed to only two one to two arcs before this, but not anymore. The 9th book is the first in a 10-VOLUME arc. Are you prepared for this much Kirito?

And now we finally get to Yen’s manga deliveries. Akame Ga KILL! ZERO has a 4th volume, or should that be FOURTH! VOLUME.

Aoharu x Machinegun has a 2nd print volume. More fake gun battles, I assume?

The first of Yen’s debuts this month is Bungo Stray Dogs, which has supernatural powers, a detective agency, and I suspect a lot of pretty young men.

ASH: I’m actually really looking forward to this series! Supernatural, bishonen versions of some of Japan’s literary greats? Count me in.

MJ: Sounds great!

SEAN: We also have The Case Study of Vanitas, which has – you guessed it – vampires, and is by the author of Pandora Hearts.

MJ: Okay, so I know you’re all looking at me here. I checked out the first volume and wasn’t immediately drawn in as I had hoped, but I’ll give it some time to charm me.

SEAN: Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition 8 has the comedic highlight of the entire series.

MICHELLE: These volumes multiply so quickly!

MJ: Hurray, hurray!

SEAN: GA Art Design Class has its 7th and final volume. I know most fans here preferred Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro, but I always loved this series’ focus on art and cute girls.

He’s My Only Vampire has a 9th volume.

MICHELLE: I’m a bit bummed this has gone downhill quality-wise, but I’ll probably still finish it.

SEAN: The Honor Student at Magic High School has caught up with the novels, meaning it too is starting the Sports Festival.

Just as GA Art Design Class ends, Kiniro Mosaic begins. It’s also got cute girls, and while it may lack art school, it makes up for in yuri tease. (Which GA Art Design Class also had, to be honest.)

The 3rd My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected manga still has a long title.

There’s more Of the Red, the Light and the Ayakashi with a 5th volume. Is it halfway through adapting the game yet?

MICHELLE: I’ll be reading this one.

SEAN: Overlord also has a 3rd volume of the manga adaptation.

And Strike the Blood has a 5th manga adaptation. Expect novels from those last two in January.

Ubel Blatt’s 7th omnibus takes us to the 15th volume of the Japanese release, in case you’ve gotten lost.

Lastly, there’s a 4th omnibus of cycling manga Yowamushi Pedal.

MICHELLE: Yay! Oh sports manga, how I adore you.

ASH: Yes, yes, yes!

ANNA: I have not read this yet! Someday!!!!

SEAN: And we’re done. At last. Good God. What’re you getting from this morass?

Haikyu!! Vol 5 and Kuroko’s Basketball 3 and 4

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Haikyu!! Volume 5 by Haruichi Furudate

I still feel like pinching myself a little bit to remind myself that it is actually real that so much great sports manga is coming out now! I’m trying to get caught up with my manga reading after a very hectic few months at work, and there’s something very relaxing about retreating to a world where everyone’s biggest concern is sports tournaments.

One of the reasons why I like Haikyu!! so much is that the focus shifts around with every volume, so while the odd rookie couple Hinata and Kageyama are certainly progressing with each volume, the emotional core of the story changes to focus on different team members. As Karasuno heads towards a tournament with the weight of their past reputation still following them around, it becomes an opportunity for redemption. Karasuno can be recognized as a legitimate opponent again. One important theme stressed in tournament play is the need to focus on one game at a time. While the bracket facing the team is challenging, they take on their first opponent with a serious sense of purpose. The experience of the boys’ team is contrasted with the girls volleyball team, who falls to their first opponent. Furudate takes a beat to acknowledge how athletes feel when they are knocked out of a season unexpectedly early, without the opportunity to play their sport anymore.

Karasuno faces the “Iron Wall” of Date Technical High school, and here we see how Hinata’s jumping abilities and athleticism have turned him into a great decoy on the court. With the opposing team distracted by his unexpected athletic brilliance, it slowly builds into an opening for Asahi. Some of the more striking panels in the manga show Hinata in the spotlight with Asahi in the background growing more and more intense, until he’s able to prove his abilities as an ace again. Karasuno has shown all the pieces of their team though, and they won’t be able to take advantage of the element of surprise again. Haikyu!! continues to be incredibly gripping and fun.

Kuroko’s Basketball Volumes 3 and 4 by Tadatoshi Fujimaki

In contrast, while Kuroko’s Basketball sometimes feels more like a traditional shonen battle manga transported to the basketball court, with a little less focus on the emotional story associated with sports and a bit more emphasis on defeating opponents who have honed their skills at basketball in order to develop sports superpowers.

Kuroko’s invisibility continues to be an asset to Seiren High, and no surprise they are in a tournament too! They have the tough draw of having to fight two opponents in the same day. First up is Seiho, who have an intimidating center, and a brash player who starts running off his mouth about Kagami being the only good player on the Seiren team. Seiho’s team is difficult to read and defend against, because all their movements are informed by martial arts practices instead of ordinary basketball. Gradually Seiren comes up with unexpected plays that wear the other team down.

The next team contains the best shooter of Kuroko’s old team, “the Miracle Generation”. Midorima’s superstitions are funny, but his insane ability to never miss with a basketball makes him seem more like an overpowered fighting manga villain than a high school basketball player. The shots he makes are so improbable, I was worried about Seiren’s ability to come up with a strategy to defeat him. Along the way Kuroko and Kagami have some interpersonal conflict yet again as Kagami decides that he has to win the game all by himself, which is in direct opposition to Kuroko’s team-driven approach. While there’s a little bit of character development, most of these two volumes was devoted to non-stop dynamic basketball action. I appreciate the omnibus release for this manga, since the story isn’t quite as gripping as Haikyu!! for me, I’d rather read it in larger chunks. This is still an enjoyable manga, even though I don’t think it will reach the iconic status of Slam Dunk.

Pick of the Week: Complex Simplicity

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SEAN: Well, I was going to pick the digital release of the Spice & Wolf novel, but Yen already bumped it back to the 20th with its 80 other releases that week. And tempting as it is to pick Magi by default as always, I will instead pick the 3rd volume of Complex Age, which sometimes hits too close to home, but is riveting.

MICHELLE: Magi is always a contender for me, but like Sean, I am going to go with Complex Age this time.

ASH: It’s Complex Age for me, too! The first volume surprised me and the second volume continued to impress me, so I’m very much looking forward to the third.

ANNA: I’m picking Complex Age too, it is extremely well done and feels quite unique compared to many of the other manga out there.

MJ: How can I possibly resist? Complex Age it is!

Manga the Week of 12/14

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SEAN: Another week before Christmas, another 15-odd titles due out. Let’s break it down.

Dark Horse has an 11th New Lone Wolf and Cub. Will it one day pass its predecessor? Actually no, as this is the final volume.

For the most part, Amazon dates on DMP have been so inaccurate lately I haven’t bothered to mention them, which is likely how I missed that the 4th Border volume came out.

MICHELLE: I have the first couple of volumes of this, but never got around to actually reading them.

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SEAN: J-Novel Club has two new releases. The first is actually highly anticipated, as I assumed that Yen would be picking it up (they got the manga instead). Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash is one of those “transported to another world” books, but is quite popular and has an anime already, so I’ll give it a shot.

The other new series is My Little Sister Can Read Kanji, apparently a broad comedic take on the moe-ing of Japan, which is a surprising license simply due to the fact that the premise revolves around kanji. Interested in how this is adapted more than anything else.

ASH: Kanji, huh? That could be interesting.

SEAN: Kodansha has a 9th volume of what is easily the most popular of its Attack on Titan spinoffs, Before the Fall.

ASH: Currently my personal favorite is Lost Girls, but Before the Fall has its moments.

SEAN: Complex Age continues to balance fun cosplay and anime references with a more serious take on “being an adult”, and I can’t wait for its third volume.

MICHELLE: Ooh, yay!

ASH: Complex Age is a great series.

ANNA: I need to get caught up with Volume 2!

SEAN: And Fairy Tail gets a 3rd giant Master’s Edition mega-omnibus.

Spoof on Titan – famous for being the less insane of the two parody spinoffs – comes to an end with its 2nd volume, which feels about right.

ASH: I found it to be a surprisingly fun series, but I agree that two volumes seems about the right length.

SEAN: Seven Seas has some new stuff as well, starting with a 4th volume of 12 Beast.

NTR – Netsuzou Trap has enough of an audience that it’s getting an anime. I suspect it is 99% male, though, and I’d put quote marks around “yuri” for its 2nd volume.

And there’s an 8th volume of Servamp. (Please insert vampire joke here – The Management)

SuBLime has a 6th volume of Love Stage!!.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to give Love Stage!! a try. Guess I have some catching up to do!

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SEAN: Vertical’s re-release of BLAME! is not only handsome but also HUGE. Leave space on the shelf for it.

MICHELLE: I should probably get these.

ANNA: I am pondering this.

SEAN: Viz gives us a 19th Itsuwaribito, which I wish I had anything to say about give it’s run so long.

And a 21st Magi, which I will always have things to say about, as it’s fantastic.

MICHELLE: Also, yay!

ASH: I’ve finally picked up a few volumes of Magi! (I still need to actually read them, though…)

ANNA: Me too. My winter vacation reading goals revolve around Magi and some other languishing series.

MICHELLE: Same here. You might be happy to hear, Anna, that this includes One-Punch Man!

ANNA: I have a mini stack of One-Punch Man too! Looking forward to all the punching!

SEAN: There’s also a 5th Monster Hunter: Flash Hunter.

ASH: I actually completely forgot about the Monster Hunter manga, but I did enjoy some of the original games.

SEAN: Lastly, an old release now available for the first time digitally, as Yen On is putting out Spice & Wolf’s light novels, starting with Vol. 1 this week.

Is this enough? Do you need more? (Don’t worry, the week after next has you covered.)

Pick of the Week: Manga Assortment

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haikyu6MICHELLE: There’s a trio of shounen favorites I will definitely be getting, but of these, I’m looking forward to Haikyu!! the most, I think. Karasuno’s up against the foes that took them out of contention last year. OMG, can they win?!?!

SEAN: I too am going to pick a shonen favorite, as the 13th volume of Assassination Classroom is particularly excellent, and reveals much about why Nagisa is the way that he is.

ANNA: Never has my choice been more clear, because a third volume of Yona of the Dawn is coming out!

ASH: There are quite a few manga being released this week that I’m looking forward to, including the most recent volumes of Haikyu!! and Yona of the Dawn, but my pick actually goes to the collection of erotic gay manga The Boy Who Called Wolf. Mentaiko Itto’s work tends to be good-natured and highly entertaining, so I’m happy to see more of his manga being translated.

Ten Count, Vols. 1 and 2

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Ten Count Volumes 1 and 2 by Rihito Takarai

Ten Count is a yaoi series that caused me to wonder greatly about psychiatric ethics. Shirotani is an executive assistant who functions well in his job despite having an almost debilitating case of obsessive compulsive disorder. He has to wear gloves to hide his injuries from frequent hand washing and he has elaborate systems and rituals in place in order to make him feel safe. His condition also affects his relationships with other people, as he has an aversion to being touched.

One day Shirotani’s boss gets saved from an accident by a random bystander, who turns out to be Kurose, a therapist. Kurose recognizes Shirotani’s symptoms and goes out of his way to cultivate his acquaintance. Kurose’s mannerisms are brusque and not very emotional, but Shirotani seems to be drawn to him anyway. Kurose proposes that Shirotani gradually build up a tolerance to the situations that trigger his OCD by making a list of ten things he finds difficult or impossible to do, ranging from things like touching a door handle bare handed to eating with another person. Kurose says that this isn’t therapy, just two friends trading tips.

The relationship begins to grow, and Shirotani becomes increasingly dependant on Kurose, but Kurose abruptly cuts things off, only to leave Shirotani confused and upset. For someone who is supposed to be an expert in human behavior, Kurose seems a bit odd himself in how he conducts himself with this new friendship.

The first volume doesn’t need the explicit content warning on the front, but the second definitely does! I’m not terribly fond of relationships in yaoi manga where one person is entirely dominant and the other is set up in a more submissive role. In this case Kurose seemed to keep pushing Shirotani out of his comfort zone, and while it might end up that Shirotani becomes a more functional human being as a result of this, there were some dynamics to the relationship that I didn’t really enjoy reading. I think though that this is likely to be an enjoyable manga for most yaoi fans.

Pick of the Week: Eating or Dancing?

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wdyey11SEAN: This week features some things I’m interested in, but no obvious knockouts. I guess I will go with the 2nd volume of Welcome to the Ballroom, because speed lines are important.

ASH: I’m all about the food manga this week. I’ll definitely be picking up the most recent volume of Sweetness & Lightning, but it’s the eleventh installation of What Did You Eat Yesterday? for which I’m most excited! I really love the series and am extremely happy that it’s even being released in English at all.

MICHELLE: Sweetness and Ballroom are most definitely on my shopping list, but I just love What Did You Eat Yesterday? so very much. It has to be my pick.

MJ: I’ve said Yoshinaga always has an edge with me, and this week is no exception. I love this manga with my whole heart. What Did You Eat Yesterday?, always.

ANNA: I’m very excited for more Welcome to the Ballroom. If only we got a dancing manga more than once a decade! That’s my pick!

Manga the Week of 11/30

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SEAN: You know, for a 5th week of the month, there sure is a ton of stuff next week. Sheesh.

ASH: Woo!

Dark Horse gives us the third Dangan Ronpa volume, as the class continues to choose between hope, despair, or being violently killed.

And there’s a 5th Oh My Goddess omnibus, warring with Dragon Ball for most re-releases.

J-Novel Club is a new publisher of Japanese light novels, digital only, and they’ve finished three volumes that are scheduled to drop next week. Brave Chronicle (Kimi kara Uketsugu Brave Chronicle) is actually finished in one volume, and combines magic school, childhood friends, lots of action, etc.

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More obviously light novel-ey is My Sister Lives in a Fantasy World (Nee-chan wa Chuunibyou), a series about a boy who gains certain powers and his overenthusiastic little sister. It’s 7+ volumes in Japan.

And Occultic;Nine is the most familiar title, as it has an anime currently out, and should also be familiar with punctuation haters everywhere as the successor to Steins;Gate, Chaos;Head, etc.

Kodansha has five new releases this week. They say it’s six, but they still maintain that Animal Land 11 is actually coming out this time, and a ha ha ha, you can’t fool me again. Animal Land is a myth.

ASH: Animal Land? It has been a while!

SEAN: Fairy Tail 57. GAJEVY! GAJEEEVVVYYYY!!! That is all.

The second volume of Happiness will likely be as ironically titled as the first one was.

ASH: Most likely.

SEAN: The Seven Deadly Sins has its 17th volume.

And there’s a 3rd Sweetness and Lightning, which so far has leaned on the sweetness.

ASH: I am really enjoying Sweetness and Lightning so far.

SEAN: We also have a 2nd volume of Welcome to the Ballroom, which I hope will be as dynamic and exciting as the first was.

MICHELLE: I’m really looking forward to this one, and will be picking up Sweetness, too.

ANNA: I am also very much looking forward to Welcome to the Ballroom.

SEAN: The 14th volume of Haganai from Seven Seas continues to move towards a potential breaking point with the Neighbors club.

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Holy Corpse Rising is a new series from the creator of Ninja Girls, and combines… I know this will shock you for a Seven Seas release… fantasy and fanservice.

ASH: I don’t know much about the series, but the cover art is striking.

Vertical; has an 11th volume of What Did You Eat Yesterday?, which is good, as I wondered what might get Pick of the Week at this rate.

MICHELLE: Heh. I will say I’m looking forward to Ballroom nearly as much.

MJ: Yoshinaga always has an edge where I’m concerned. You know I’ll be getting this.

ASH: I’m still so happy this series is being translated!

SEAN: Yen Press has new digital volumes! All Volume 7s for Aphorism, Crimson Prince, and Sekirei.

They also have some volumes left over from this week’s pile, as apparently there was too much so some got moved to next week. Anne Happy continues to try to rely solely on pluck with its third volume.

Dragons Rioting gives us a 5th volume.

And there’s a 5th Prison School omnibus.

ASH: I’m actually still reading this.

Scumbag Loser is a giant done-in-one omnibus of three volumes, and sounds intriguing, if you can get past the title and cover art, which I suspect most won’t. The author is also known for Tomodachi Game, a survival game manga.

MICHELLE: I’m taking a pass on Scumbag. That sort of creepy losery protagonist just doesn’t appeal to me. Like I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow, for example.

ASH: Huh.

SEAN: And Sword Art Online gives us MORE DEBAN! with a third volume of spinoff Girls’ Ops.

As I said, that’s quite a lot. Anything for you?

Pick of the Week: A Twinkle in Our Eye

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twinle1MICHELLE: Seeing as how I have literally been waiting for this series to be licensed here for YEARS, there is no way I’m not picking Twinkle Stars this week.

SEAN: Man, when will Tokyopop get around to licensing Hoshi Wa Utau… oh wait, here it is, from Yen Press, in gorgeous omnibus editions. Twinkle Stars is the obvious pick.

ANNA: Twinkle Stars for me as well, I can’t believe it is actually being published finally!

ASH: While I’m certainly interested in Twinkle Stars, I simply can’t resist the combination of music, magic, and demon-hunting composers, so it’s Magia the Ninth for me!

MJ: I’m really interested in Magia the Ninth, it’s true, but I think there’s no real choice for me this week except Twinkle Stars. How often do wishes come true?

Platinum End Vol. 1

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Platinum End Volume 1 by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata

I approached reading Platinum End with mixed feelings, I was interested because this series is another work from the team that brought the world Death Note, and I greatly enjoyed Death Note. On the other hand, I wasn’t looking forward Death Note 2: Electric Boogaloo. I ended up putting down the first volume feeling like I was cautiously interested in seeing where Platinum End was going.

The volume opens with Mirai Kagehashi, a high school student who has decided to kill himself. He’s foiled in his attempt by the sudden appearance of an angel who rescues him. Mirai is stuck in despair because he was orphaned when he was young, and taken in by relatives who abused him. His new angel announces that she’s going to make him happy and gives him some new abilities – he can choose between having wings to fly anywhere or mystical red arrows that will cause anyone to fall in love with him. Mirai responds that he’ll ponder what he wants if he’s given both gifts and the angel agrees.

Mirai’s angel Nasse functions more like the devil on his shoulder than a good conscience, as she encourages him to use his powers for the most selfish of reasons. Mirai gets a sense of how deadly the ability to make anyone fall in love with him can be, when he returns to his aunt and uncle and learns the truth behind the death of his parents. In true shonen fashion it turns out that Mirai is caught up in a cosmic game, where God has decided that he’s going to elevate a human to become the next God. 13 angels have been assigned to 13 chosen humans, and the last one left gets to be in charge of the universe.

Mirai says that he would be just content with normal happiness, but Nasse keeps pushing him to use his angel-given superpowers to manipulate and murder his way to having money and happiness. In a way, Platinum End seems more like a horror title than anything else, as Mirai wakes up from nightmares with horrific visions. The other contestants for godhood aren’t using their powers for good either, as one of them decides to disguise himself as a superhero and pick off his opponents one by one, killing a comedian who decides to use the love arrows to assault a group of women.

Platinum End is rated mature and aside from that, one could develop a drinking game centered on the number of panels where Nasse’s disembodied butt is hanging in the air randomly in many panels. The art from Obata is good as always. Overall, this was an interesting manga to read, but not very pleasant. It seems like Platinum End is going to be even darker in tone than Death Note, and that series was pretty dark. At the same time, seeing if Mirai’s inherent sense of morality is going to hold up to the temptation of godlike power is an interesting story to explore, even though it is thematically a bit too close to Death Note. I put this volume down feeling a bit cautious about this series. I’ll be curious to see if in the next couple volumes Platinum End develops into a manga that I’m looking forward to reading. If not, there’s always Death Note!

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Manga the Week of 11/23

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SEAN: Are you giving thanks for so much manga? Hope so, as there is SO MUCH.

MICHELLE: It’s a cornucopia!

ASH: I always give thanks for manga!

SEAN: Kodansha has a bunch of stuff. A 5th Forget Me Not should please romance fans.

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Their debut this week is In/Spectre, a yokai manga from Shonen Magazine R (the 2nd season of Shonen Magazine?) which is by the author of Spiral.

ASH: Yokai, you say? Then I’m in!

MJ: Hmmmm, maybe me too.

SEAN: The Prince and His Dark Days has a 2nd volume, which I’m hoping is a bit less Dark Days, to be honest.

ASH: It does seem to be an aptly named series.

SEAN: Real Account has its 5th volume – though technically this is the third volume of Real Account II. The distinction is something no one would ever notice, but that’s why I’m here.

ASH: Huh. I was unaware.

SEAN: Lastly, a third volume of Tsubasa World Chronicle, which I haven’t tried yet. Have Michelle or MJ?

MICHELLE: Nope.

ANNA: I am saddened by how indifferent I am to CLAMP when I used to love them so much.

MJ: I haven’t, which surprises me more than anyone, honestly.

SEAN: One Peace has a 6th novel of Rise of the Shield Hero. I would think he’d have risen by now – even Christ only took 3 days.

Seven Seas gives us a 5th and mercifully final omnibus of I Don’t Like You At All, Big Brother!!.

Magia the Ninth is their first debut, another Gene Pixiv title (which I think is Media Factory’s equivalent to Zero-Sum or Wings), from the creator of Black Bard. The plot is essentially “classical music composers hunt demons”.

ASH: Okay, I can’t help it, I really want to read this series. And I did rather enjoy Black Bard.

MJ: Sean knows he can get my attention by invoking the names “Zero-Sum” and “Wings.” So. Yes.

SEAN: In case you worried there were no monster girls this week, well, there’s monster guys, as we get a 5th Merman in My Tub.

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The other debut is Please Tell Me, Galko-chan!, a comedy title that runs on the Comic Walker website. It seems to involve a blunt girl and her friends.

ASH: I’ve heard good things and so am curious.

ANNA: I enjoy blunt girls and friends.

SEAN: And the title that always gets me mixed up, The Testament of Sister New Devil, has a 4th volume.

Vertical has another spinoff novel in the Attack on Titan series, called The End of the World. It’s a novelization of the live-action movie.

And there’s a 3rd volume of To The Abandoned Sacred Beasts.

The rest is Yen, though it’s not even all of Yen – they pushed a few titles back to the week after next. For Yen On, we have a 3rd volume of The Isolator, the dark thriller from the creator of Sword Art Online.

Black Butler is still popular, I hear, even in these days of Monster Girls. Vol. 23 is out next week.

And popular as well is BTOOOM! 15, which may never really surpass that whole ‘bomb bounces off the boob’ scene that is the only reason anyone remembers it.

Corpse Party: Blood Covered has a 3rd omnibus of, well, blood and corpses, no doubt.

Fruits Basket has a 7th omnibus, as past traumas collide with present abuse to hopefully lead to future healing.

MICHELLE: Seven volumes already!

ANNA: Yay for healing and Fruits Basket!

MJ: This, always!

SEAN: There’s a 6th volume of the Danmachi manga, aka Is It Wrong To etc etc etc.

And a 6th Karneval omnibus as well.

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Another title better known by its fan nickname, Konosuba: God’s Blessings on This Wonderful World! *still* ends up being a mouthful to say. It’s a parody of ‘guy ends up in fantasy game world’ titles, is based on the light novel due out here next year, and runs in Dragon Age, which means it must have fanservice.

Always welcome on my shelves, we have a 5th volume of Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, which means more hilarious tsukkomi faces.

MICHELLE: I recently watched some of the anime on Crunchyroll. It’s pretty great!

ASH: YESSS!!! (I love this series so much.)

ANNA: Woo hoo!

SEAN: There’s a 9th volume of the Watamote manga, aka No Matter How I Look etc etc etc.

Madoka Magica now has spinoffs or spinoffs, as the Oriko Magica spinoff gets a new side-story, Sadness Prayer. Given it’s Madoka Magica, I think sadness is guaranteed.

Rose Guns Days begins its Season 2 arc. Will Rose be able to get by without Leo?

School-Live! has a 5th volume of friendship and zombies.

I always love it when a title and its volume match. Have Trinity Seven Vol. 7.

Yen’s big debut is another title from Natsuki Takaya, creator of Fruits Basket. Back in the day, there was thought to be a licensing war over this series, but nothing came of it. Now we get Twinkle Stars in omnibus format. It’s about half the size of Fruits Basket, but has the same amount of drama.

MICHELLE: I’m so happy about this. I read the Australian editions of the first two volumes back in the day, but they were pricey to import. My plan to buy and painstakingly read the French editions did not get far.

ANNA: Officially on my holiday wishlist!

MELNDA: This, this, this.

SEAN: Lastly, we have a lucky 13th omnibus of Until Death Do Us Part, which is also the final volume.

Full of turkey? Or full of manga?