Ash Brown

SEAN: It’s a rare 5th week of the month! Like most 5th weeks, it’s light.

ASH: Even light weeks have plenty being released these days!

SEAN: Yen On has a bizarre release. We’re getting both the 2nd AND the 3rd volumes of The Hero Laughs While Walking the Path of Vengeance a Second Time.

ASH: Huh. Release schedule are still all over the place, aren’t they?

SEAN: And Yen Press gives us Lost Lad London 2, Love of Kill 9, The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter 2, Reign of the Seven Spellblades 4, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: The Ways of the Monster Nation 8 and Trinity Seven 26.

MICHELLE: I really, really liked the first volume of Lost Lad London and am excited for the arrival of the second! And wow, already up to volume two on the Bean Counter, huh?

ASH: It does seem like the first volume just came out.

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts SPRIGGAN: Deluxe Edition. Viz put out 3 volumes of this in the 1990s then cancelled it, now Seven Seas is trying again with 650-age omnibuses. The writer gave us Until Death Do Us Part, the artist Project Arms. It’s from Weekly Shonen Sunday, and is loaded with ancient artifacts and secret agents.

ANNA: I do find it interesting when we get license rescues like this, even though I’m sure the series I’m most interested in will never be printed again.

ASH: Same.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas is PULSE, a yuri manwha webtoon that’s getting a print release here. A doctor who keeps her sexual relationships strictly for pleasure tuns into trouble when she meets a transplant patient who refuses to get the operation.

ASH: I’m not sure I’ve actually read a yuri manwha before! It’s exciting to have the opportunity.

SEAN: Also coming out: Chillin’ in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers 4, D-Frag! 16, The Girl in the Arcade 2, Necromance 4, Seaside Stranger 4, and Tokyo Revengers Omnibus 2.

Kodansha, in print, gives us Blackguard 4, Blue Lock 2, Cells at Work! CODE BLACK 8, Lovesick Ellie 5, and Something’s Wrong With Us 10.

MICHELLE: In addition to obligatory praise for Lovesick Ellie, I’m also hyped for more of Blue Lock, which turned out to be not at all what I had expected.

ASH: Guess I’ll need to check out both of those series!

SEAN: Digitally, we have Even Given the Worthless “Appraiser” Class, I’m Actually the Strongest 5, Guilty 10, Having an Idol-Loving Boyfriend is the Best! 2, I Was Reincarnated with OP Invincibility, so I’ll Beat ’em Up My Way as an Action-Adventurer 3 (the final volume), My Roomie Is a Dino 7 (also a final volume), My Tentative Name 2, My Unique Skill Makes Me OP even at Level 1 8, Oh, Those Hanazono Twins 4, and Peach Boy Riverside 11.

J-Novel Club debuts a digital light novel whose manga came out a couple of weeks ago: Oversummoned, Overpowered, and Over It! (Meccha Shoukan Sareta Ken), about a hero who can’t seem to stop getting summoned to save the day.

There’s also Black Summoner’s 7th manga volume, Infinite Dendrogram 18, Magic Knight of the Old Ways 3, Marginal Operation 14 (digital version), Sometimes Even Reality Is a Lie! 2, and the 5th and final manga volume of Villainess: Reloaded! Blowing Away Bad Ends with Modern Weapons.

Cross Infinite World has a 2nd volume of Even Dogs Go to Other Worlds: Life in Another World with My Beloved Hound.

Lastly, Airship has early digital releases for Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut 2 and Modern Villainess: It’s Not Easy Building a Corporate Empire Before the Crash 2.

That’s it. Man, this feels more like a list from 2013 or something. Are you buying anything?

ANNA: Maybe not!

SEAN: As August nears its end, we continue to see manga making its way towards us, zombie-like.

No print for Airship this week, but we do get new early digital releases for Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells 5 and Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 11.5.

J-Novel Club has several digital debuts. Full Metal Panic! Short Stories is exactly what it sounds like, and is much more lighthearted than the main series.

Now I’m a Demon Lord! Happily Ever After with Monster Girls in My Dungeon (Maou ni Natta node, Dungeon Tsukutte Jingai Musume to Honobono Suru) has a dude wake up as a demon lord in a dungeon. He thinks he’s going to have to strengthen his environment and protect everyone. But… no? He just lives a slow life with his cute monster girls. You know the audience for this one.

Rebuild World is a post-apocalyptic fantasy about a cruel, merciless world and the poor orphan boy trying to survive in it. This has a bit of buzz, but looks dark. Doesn’t help that the first book is split into two parts – This is Volume 1-1.

ASH: I mean, I tend to be interested in post-apocalyptic fantasy, don’t mind dark, and there is the buzz… but I’m not sure I need cruel and merciless at this very moment.

ANNA: I have a similar reaction.

SEAN: And we get the manga version of Tearmoon Empire (Tearmoon Teikoku Monogatari: Dantōdai kara Hajimaru, Hime no Tensei Gyakuten Story). You don’t need me to tell you how good the books are, now read the manga. This runs in Comic Corona.

ASH: Oh! I didn’t realize (or had forgotten) there was a manga version.

SEAN: Also coming out: Jessica Bannister and the Evil Within and Monster Tamer 10.

Kaiten Books has a digital release for The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting 5.

In print, Kodansha gives us Blue Period 8, Island in a Puddle 3, Phantom of the Idol 2, and Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie 10.

MICHELLE: The first volume of Phantom of the Idol was fun, so I look forward to volume two.

ASH: I should give the series a closer look!

SEAN: And we get new digital volumes for ongoing series. Burn the House Down 3, Getting Closer to You 3, I’m Standing on a Million Lives 13, I Want To Hold Aono-kun So Badly I Could Die 9, Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister 4, The Witch and the Beast 9, and Ya Boy Kongming! 8.

MICHELLE: Something about those Burn the House Down covers is really compelling.

SEAN: One Peace Books has a light novel debut: The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic (Chiyu Mahou no Machigatta Tsukaikata – Senjou o Kakeru Kaifuku Youin). An average ordinary high school student (sigh) is pulled into a fantasy world along with two other, much cooler students. Unfortunately for our blank hero, he has a rare ability, healing magic! Now he has to undergo hellish training to learn how to use it.

ASH: I do like the healing magic aspect of the premise.

SEAN: Three debuts for Seven Seas. MoMo -the blood taker- features a detective trying to track down a serial killer, but my guess is by the cover art and title that vampires are the main draw here. This ran in Weekly Young Jump.

ASH: This seems like it could have potential.

SEAN: My [Repair] Skill Became a Versatile Cheat, So I Think I’ll Open a Weapon Shop ([Shuufuku] Sukiru ga Bannou Chiito-ka Shitanode, Buki-ya demo Hirakou ka to Omoimasu) is basically “what if the Arifureta guy decided to sell weapons rather than be the Arifureta guy?”. It runs in Manga Park.

Ramen Wolf and Curry Tiger (Ramen Ookami to Curry Tora) is a foodie manga from Comic Be, about, well, a Wolf and a Tiger. But they’re food critics!

MICHELLE: Huh.

ASH: It’s food related, so I’m obligated to give this one a try.

ANNA: I’m curious!

SEAN: Seven Seas also has Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells 4 and The Dragon Knight’s Beloved 3.

Square Enix Manga gives us Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! 5, Otherside Picnic 2, and Ragna Crimson 6.

MICHELLE: I need to get caught up on Cherry Magic. I enjoyed the first volume.

ASH: I did, too!

SEAN: Viz Media has the 18th and final volume of Fullmetal Alchemist: Fullmetal Edition. We also get JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 5–Golden Wind 5 and Urusei Yatsura 15. And, though I usually don’t touch on the digital-only volumes, there’s WITCH WATCH 3 as well.

ASH: It’s a good Viz week.

SEAN: Yen On debuts Secrets of the Silent Witch (Silent Witch), a story of a powerful mage who learned voiceless magic… because she’s painfully shy and wants to avoid speaking! I’ve heard good things about this series.

ASH: You’ve caught my interest.

Also from Yen On: Durarara!! SH 4, Goblin Slayer 14, High School DxD 8, and Rascal Does Not Dream 8.

Yen Press has several debuts. Bungo Stray Dogs: Dead Apple is a spinoff that runs in Young Ace Up.

Delicious in Dungeon World Guide: The Adventurer’s Bible is what it sounds like, a guide to the world of Delicious in Dungeon!

ASH: I’d somehow missed this was coming out.

SEAN: The Geek Ex-Hitman (Sono Otaku, Moto Koroshi-ya) runs in Shonen Ace Plus. A hitman ends up going down the terrible path of anime figurines.

ASH: Ha! Oh dear.

SEAN: See You Tomorrow at the Food Court (Food Court de, Mata Ashita) is a complete in one volume title from Comic Newtype. An honor student and a tanned “gal” type seemingly have nothing in common… but they’re always eating together! This is not yuri but is yuri-adjacent.

ASH: Yuri-ish and food-ish? I’m curious.

SEAN: Also from Yen Press: Cheeky Brat 4, Cross-Dressing Villainess Cecilia Sylvie 2, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 12, Delicious in Dungeon 11, The Holy Grail of Eris 2, Please Put Them On, Takamine-san 4, The Saga of Tanya the Evil 17, Sasaki and Miyano 6, and So I’m a Spider, So What? 11.

ASH: Huzzah! Double Delicious this week!

SEAN: Must… read… new manga… rrrr.

SEAN: We’re having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave… the temperature’s rising, it isn’t surprising, she certainly can Can-Can.

Yen On has three debuts, though one has already come out here from another publisher… sort of. The Bride of Demise (Shuuen no Hanayome) is a new series from the creator of Torture Princess, and seems to have much the same vibe. A soldier is about to die when a girl in white appears, swearing to protect him.

Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway (Hige o Soru. Soshite Joshikousei o Hirou) is a series where we’ve already seen the manga… and an anime… and the light novel. The light novel was released by Kadokawa but only in parts, and the quality was meh. Yen promises their version has new, exciting things such as editing. As for the plot, read the title.

ASH: It’s interesting to see the variety of ways titles are licensed, different editions from different publishers being released in close succession would have been unheard of not too long ago.

SEAN: Sasaki and Peeps (Sasaki to Pii-chan) is a series about a man who adopts a pet sparrow, only to find it’s a sparrow from another world… and it grants him magic! Comedic fantasy is the watchword here.

ASH: Sparrows were certainly not the next genre variation I was expecting to see.

SEAN: Also from Yen On: Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense 6, Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle 2, The Greatest Demon Lord Is Reborn as a Typical Nobody 8, The Holy Grail of Eris 2, I Kept Pressing the 100-Million-Year Button and Came Out on Top 3, The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady 2, and The World’s Strongest Rearguard: Labyrinth Country’s Novice Seeker 7.

Yen Press debuts Chained Soldier (Mato Seihei no Slave), a manga from Shonen Jump + from the author of Akame Ga Kill!. As you can see, the title – and the cover art, which had SLAVE in big English lettering on the Japanese cover – has been changed, and thank God for that. Years ago, girls gained magical powers from eating demonic peaches from another dimension. Now a “typical Japanese high school boy” is caught in a gate and finds himself saved by one of those girls.

MICHELLE: I truly wish there was a band called Demonic Peaches from Another Dimension.

ASH: That would be such a great band name.

SEAN: We also get New York, New York Omnibus 2 (the final volume), Teasing Master Takagi-san 15, To Save the World, Can You Wake Up the Morning After with a Demi-Human? 5, and Toilet-bound Hanako-kun 15.

MICHELLE: Looking forward to New York, New York!

ANNA: I still need to read it!

ASH: Same! But I’m still looking forward to the second volume.

SEAN: Viz Media debuts Rooster Fighter (Niwatori Fighter), a seinen title from Shogakukan’s Comiplex about a rooster who manages to defend humanity against giant kaiju. It’s a comedy.

ASH: It’s such a ridiculous premise, I’ll admit to being curious.

SEAN: There’s also Black Lagoon 12, Case Closed 83, Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction 11, Jujutsu Kaisen 17, Levius/est 10 (the final volume), Ultraman 17, The Way of the Househusband 8, and Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead 7.

MICHELLE: I need to get caught up on The Way of the Househusband.

ANNA: This is a favorite of multiple people in my house.

ASH: I’ve really been enjoying it.

SEAN: Tokyopop gives us The Fox & Little Tanuki 5.

Square Enix has a 6th My Dress-Up Darling.

A quiet week for Seven Seas. They have A Centaur’s Life 21, Classroom of the Elite 3, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi 3, and Happy Kanako’s Killer Life 5.

MICHELLE: Obligatory hooray for danmei.

ANNA: Woo!

ASH: Hooray, indeed! Grandmaster has been my favorite so far, too.

SEAN: Ponent Mon are doing a new edition of the Jiro Tanaguchi classic A Distant Neighborhood.

ASH: A Distant Neighborhood is one of my favorite Tanaguchi manga; glad to see it staying in print.

SEAN: One Peace Books has Hinamatsuri 16.

Kodansha has some print books. BAKEMONOGATARI 15, Blood on the Tracks 10, Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro 11, Fire Force 28, Saint Young Men Omnibus 10, and Welcome Back, Alice 3.

MICHELLE: Welcome Back, Alice looks intriguing. How is it on three volumes already?!

ASH: I’m still here for Saint Young Men.

SEAN: They also have a new 700-page omnibus of Princess Knight. Which is nowhere on their website, annoyingly.

ASH: That’s a big omnibus and a touchstone series. Glad to see it coming back in print, too!

SEAN: The digital debut is She, Her Camera, and Her Seasons (Kanojo to Camera to Kanojo no Kisetsu), an LGBT title that ran in Morning Two. It’s girl loves girl, girl loves boy, boy loves girl triangle romance. This has the Erica Friedman seal of approval.

MICHELLE: Ooh.

ANNA: Good to know!

SEAN: And we also get A Condition Called Love 10, Drifting Dragons 11, Golden Gold 3, GTO Paradise Lost 18, Hella Chill Monsters 2, Nina the Starry Bride 7, Piano Duo for the Left Hand 5, Rent-A-Girlfriend 14, A Serenade for Pretend Lovers 3, This Vampire Won’t Give Up! 3, and With a Dog AND a Cat, Every Day is Fun 7.

ANNA: I recently started reading Nina the Starry Bride and enjoy it.

SEAN: Kaiten Books has a print version of The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting 3.

It’s J-Novel Club print week. We see Ascendance of a Bookworm: Fanbook 2, The Faraway Paladin 5, Her Majesty’s Swarm 4, In Another World With My Smartphone 23, My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In For Me! 5, and The Unwanted Undead Adventurer 7.

ASH: I’m already behind, but I’m still glad that The Faraway Paladin is being released in print so that I might actually read it.

SEAN: Two digital debuts for J-Novel Club. Did I Seriously Just Get Reincarnated as My Gag Character?! (Neta Chara Tensei Toka Anmarida!) has a guy hit by a bus and reincarnated in the game he loves. But not as his regular player character… as the dragon princess he made as a joke.

Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World (Isekai Tensei no Boukensha) is a reincarnation isekai that honestly has absolutely nothing I can see that makes it unique.

We also get The Greatest Magicmaster’s Retirement Plan 14, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: The Wayward Journey 18, and the third and final volume of Walking My Second Path in Life, only four and a half years after Volume 2!

Dark Horse has… dare we get our hopes up… the 5th omnibus of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, which has the previously unpublished Book 15! And there’s also Mob Psycho 100 9.

ASH: Oh! The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service is a great series! That’s been a long time coming.

SEAN: And Airship has early digital for She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 5 and Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs 7.

What popular songs are you quoting while it’s Too Darn Hot?

SEAN: There’s stuff! Coming out next week! Surprise! (You are not surprised.)

Airship has the print debut of Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut.

ASH: Okay, I will admit to being curious about this one, more because of the cosmonauts than the vampires, but that’s an unexpected and potentially intriguing combination.

MJ: Cosmonauts… yes.

SEAN: In early digital we see The Case Files of Jeweler Richard 2 and The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior 3.

Cross Infinite World has a debut: The Princess’ Smile: The Body-Double Bride Searches for Happiness with the Reclusive Prince (Hidenka no Bishou – Migawari Hanayome wa, Hikikomori Denka to Shiawase ni Kurashitai). A maid is asked to marry a prince… as a body double for her friend the princess. But then her boyfriend cheats on her WITH the princess! Now she’s determined to make the best of her new life. I believe this is a one-shot.

ASH: I find this to be potentially intriguing, as well.

SEAN: Dark Horse has Berserk Deluxe Edition 11 (it got bumped – again) and Cat + Gamer 2. Dark Horse’s release dates are a constant struggle.

ASH: I’ll be here for them whenever they finally come out.

SEAN: Ghost Ship has Survival in Another World with My Mistress! 2, Who Wants to Marry a Billionaire? 3, and World’s End Harem: Fantasia 7.

J-Novel Club has a debut. They licensed the light novel and the manga, but the manga is out first next week. Oversummoned, Overpowered, and Over It! (Meccha Shoukan Sareta Ken) is about a hero who can’t stop getting summoned to different worlds to save them! He’s tired of it! This runs in Mag Garden’s MAGCOMI.

ASH: I like that title.

SEAN: Also out digitally: Ascendance of a Bookworm 20, Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools 4, Full Clearing Another World under a Goddess with Zero Believers 4, Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter 4, the 8th Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles manga, and Slayers 15, which wraps up the 2nd arc.

ASH: I will continue to say, “Yay, Bookworm!”

SEAN: Kodansha Manga has, in print, Blackguard 3, the 11th and final volume of Knight of the Ice, Sensei’s Pious Lie Omnibus 3, Shaman King Omnibus 10, and Toppu GP 9.

MICHELLE: I need to have a Knight of the Ice marathon!

ANNA: It is so good!

ASH: I’m a few volumes behind, but have been enjoying the series.

SEAN: There are… no digital debuts next week! (Glory hallelujah, they’re slowing down). We do get The Fable 5, Giant Killing 32, My Maid, Miss Kishi 2, Police in a Pod 15, The Shadows of Who We Once Were 3, Such a Treacherous Piano Sonata 3 (the final volume), and WIND BREAKER 5.

Seven Seas has a lot of debuts. The biggest one is Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (which is using the Japanese title, but “Yokohama Shopping Log” would be a translation). A legendary title from Kodansha’s Afternoon in the 1990s, it’s finally been licensed by Seven Seas, and is coming out in 5 oversized omnibus editions! I’ve usually described the series as “the most relaxed apocalypse you’ll ever read.”

ASH: I’m caught up in the excitement surrounding this release; really looking forward to reading it.

SEAN: Kemono Jihen is a Jump Square title about a human detective and a yokai boy who investigate odd mysteries. The author was an assistant on Reborn! and Bleach, and she comes highly rated. This also got an anime.

MICHELLE: Oh, I think my friend was a fan of that anime. Hm.

ASH: Yokai, you say? (That’s my cue.)

SEAN: Sakurai-san Wants to Be Noticed (Sakurai-san wa Kidzuite Hoshii) is another in the “girl teases the guy she likes” genre, from Dengeki Daioh. This one is only 4 volumes total.

ASH: There seem to be quite a few of those, these days.

SEAN: The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes: Ultramarine (Natsu e no Tonneru, Sayonara no Deguchi Gunjou) is the manga version of the light novel also released by Seven Seas. A tunnel grants wishes… in exchange for a shorter life span. This ran in Dengeki Daioh, and should also be 4 volumes.

World End Solte is from the creator of Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer and Spirit Circle, so attention must be paid. An orphan goes on a journey to wipe out the pollution that plagues their world. This runs in MAGCOMI.

ASH: Attention must indeed be paid!

Also from Seven Seas: The Duke of Death and His Maid 2, The Haunted Bookstore – Gateway to a Parallel Universe 2, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid 12, My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! 7, and The Weakest Contestant of All Space and Time 2.

Steamship debuts GAME: Between the Suits (Game – Suit no Sukima), a josei title from Hakusensha’s Love Jossie. The artist might be remembered for CMX’s Venus Capriccio. A career woman has a healthy sex life, but is married to her job, so can’t keep a boyfriend. Then the new guy shows up at work…

ANNA: I do remember Venus Capriccio…

ASH: Same; that’s been awhile!

SEAN: SuBLime has the 2nd volume of Therapy Game Restart.

MICHELLE: <3

SEAN: TOKYOPOP gives us Double 4 and Ossan Idol! 6.

Viz Media has new volumes. We get Fly Me to the Moon 12, Kaze Hikaru 30 (only 15 more years till the final volume!), Kirby Manga Mania 5, Komi Can’t Communicate 20, One Piece Omnibus 32, Pokémon: Sword & Shield 4, Radiant 15, Sakamoto Days 3, Splatoon: Squid Kids Comedy Show 6, and YO-KAI WATCH 19. Lots of stuff for the kids next week.

ANNA: Yay for the annual release of a Kaze Hikaru volume!

ASH: For sure!

SEAN: Yen On has the 5th Solo Leveling novel.

Three debuts from Yen Press. Kowloon Generic Romance comes from the author of After the Rain, the story of a dystopian walled city and the people who live there. It runs in Weekly Young Jump.

ASH: That sounds to be up my alley.

SEAN: A Returner’s Magic Should be Special is a webtoon manwha based on a Korean webnovel. Our hero, a trained fighter, tries to help his colleagues save the world, but to no avail. Then… he wakes up as a 13-year-old? Somehow I think “for fans of Tearmoon Empire” is not accurate in this case.

MJ: This might be interesting.

Tales of the Kingdom (Oukoku Monogatari) is an Ultra Jump series from the creator of Classmates and A White Rose in Bloom. This is a historical fantasy about twins who can’t live without each other. This is getting a hardcover release.

ASH: Asumiko Nakamura manga are always a must read for me.

SEAN: Also from Yen Press: High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World! 12, In Another World with My Smartphone 6, Phantom Tales of the Night 9, The Royal Tutor 17 (the final volume), and Uncle from Another World 5.

Do any of these make you want to jump for joy? Or at least have a nice cup of tea?

SEAN: August is here. Still hot. But now hot in August rather than July!

ASH: I’m not sure it’s allowed to be August yet.

SEAN: Yen On has two debuts. Chronicles of the Hidden World: How I Became a Doctor for the Gods (Kakuriyo Shinjuuki: Isekai de Kami-sama no Oisha-san Hajimemasu) is a fantasy isekai where a girl is reincarnated in “ancient Japan but with magic”, and quickly finds an affinity with the world’s gods.

The other is a one-shot, Tower of the Sun, the latest from Tomihiko Morimi, author of Penguin Highway and The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl. It seems to share themes with the latter, not uncommon with this author. A guy who’s been dumped mopes through Kyoto. This was his debut novel!

ASH: I am so happy to see more of Morimi’s work being translated!

SEAN: There’s also the 17th and final volume of Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! and Strike the Blood 21.

Two debuts from Yen Press as well. The Beginning After the End is a webcomic that’s been collected by Yen, based on a long-running novel series. A king dies and is reincarnated in a world of magic and monsters.

The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter (Isekai no Sata wa Shachiku Shidai) is a BL isekai manga from B’s Log Comic. A workaholic salaryman is summoned to another world… and continues to be a workaholic salaryman. But he catches the heart of a knight!

MICHELLE: Hm. Potentially cute!

ASH: I’ll admit that BL isekai interests me more than most other isekai.

ANNA: Sounds cute.

MJ: Oh, interesting indeed!

SEAN: Also from Yen: Bungo Stray Dogs: Beast 3, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level 9, Love and Heart 5, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected 18, Overlord: The Undead King Oh! 8, The Splendid Work of a Monster Maid 3, and Toilet-bound Hanako-kun 14.

ASH: I really need to catch up on Toilet-bound Hanako-kun.

SEAN: It’s almost time for the anime to return, and the shippers are getting ready to doxx and destroy everyone’s lives all over again. It can only be Bleach. To celebrate, Viz is releasing Bleach 20th Anniversary Edition 1, which features cover art showing the original Shonen Jump cover. Despite the Vol. 1, this seems to be a one-off.

ASH: Huh.

SEAN: Viz also has One Piece Volume 100! Only 101 more volumes to go before it catches up to KochiKame.

And also Dragon Ball Super 16, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 23, The King’s Beast 7, Moriarty the Patriot 8, and Snow White with the Red Hair 20.

ASH: I spy Shojo Beat titles!

ANNA: Yay, I need to get caught up on so much.

SEAN: Udon Entertainment has the 4th, 5th, and 6th volumes of Summertime Rendering, which wraps up the series, as these are omnibuses. they’re out in paperback and hardcover.

ASH: I’ve heard good things about the series, but have so far failed to start actually reading it. Need to get on that!

SEAN: Tokyopop has stopped updating its website for some reason, but should have Assassin’s Creed Dynasty 4.

Titan Books have Junji Ito Collection: A Horror Coloring Book, which speaks for itself, really.

ASH: Very interesting.

MJ: Oh, huh.

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts The Girl From the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún Deluxe Edition, a 3-volume omnibus in hardcover for the gorgeous and bittersweet (more bitter than sweet, really) fantasy series.

ASH: I’m happily double-dipping for this.

We also get Bite Maker: The King’s Omega 5, Dai Dark 4, and My Wife Has No Emotion 3.

Also, last week, KUMA released the first volume of Canis: Dear Hatter, which I missed because I suck. I assume it is related to Canis: Dear Mr. Rain, which came out a couple of years ago.

Kodansha, in print, has the 2nd and final omnibus of Devil Ecstasy and Sailor Moon Naoko Takeuchi Collection 3.

Digitally the debut is Our Love Doesn’t Need a Happy Ending (Boku-tachi no Koi ni Happy End nante Iranai), the story of a college guy who’s in love with his classmate… but has to decide whether to confess of not when she reveals that she’s dying. This josei title ran in Kiss.

MICHELLE: Obligatory josei squee.

ANNA: Squeeeeeeeeee!

SEAN: Also digital: The Abandoned Reincarnation Sage 4, Changes of Heart 4, Chihayafuru 33, Desert Eagle 2, I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability 6, Kounodori: Dr. Stork 26, and My Wonderful World 2.

MICHELLE: And obligatory Chihayafuru squee, as well.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has one print volume: Infinite Dendrogram 16.

Digital items from J-Novel Club include An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride 14, the 6th and final volume of Arifureta Zero, By the Grace of the Gods 11, Chillin’ in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers 6, The Great Cleric 9, the 5th manga volume of My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! —AΩ—, and the 3rd manga volume of Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire ♀.

ASH: I can’t quite tell if that’s a lot of titles, or just a bunch of long titles.

ANNA: What if it was all one single title?

SEAN: Denpa has the 4th volume of Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family. Actually, this came out last month, but I have to use Amazon’s release dates as Denpa hasn’t updated its own site, and Amazon hasn’t shipped it yet. But it’s out everywhere BUT Amazon.

Airship, in print, has Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells 4.

In early digital the debut is Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court (Futsutsuka na Akujo de wa Gozaimasu ga – Suuguu Chouso Torikae Den), the story of a consort who ends up body swapped with her rival, then thrown in prison. But she couldn’t be happier – after years of illness, she has a healthy body at last! This has recommendations from both the Bookworm *and* Apothecary authors, so is highly anticipated.

ASH: Oh, ho!

SEAN: And they’ve also got Berserk of Gluttony 7.

Are you a noble? A villainess? A villainess who’s also a noble? Also, what manga do villainesses read?

SEAN: July is coming to an end. What have we got?

Airship, in print, gives us Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling 4 and A Tale of the Secret Saint 3.

In early digital, Airship has the 5th and final volume of I’m in Love with the Villainess, though rest assured they have already licensed the spinoff novel She’s So Cheeky for a Commoner, which shows us events from Claire’s point of view.

MICHELLE: I should get caught up with this. I thought the first volume was pretty fun.

ANNA: Me too, this is one of those things I feel guilty for not reading.

ASH: I really need to catch up on this, too.

SEAN: Cross Infinite World brings us Expedition Cooking with the Enoch Royal Knights (Enoku Dainibutai no Ensei Gohan), the story of a young elf in poverty who joins the royal knights… only to find their food is TERRIBLE! She can fix that. Sounds along the lines of Housekeeping Mage from Another World.

ASH: This counts as food manga, right? So, I’m curious!

SEAN: Ghost Ship has World’s End Harem: Fantasia 7 and Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs 20.

J-Novel Club has a new short story collection from one of their most popular series: Ascendance of a Bookworm: Royal Academy Stories – First Year. These stories are pretty much Rozemyne’s days at the academy, from the POV of people other than Rozemyne.

ASH: This should be fun!

SEAN: Also from J-Novel Club: Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight 14, Dungeon Busters 3, Fushi no Kami: Rebuilding Civilization Starts With a Village’s 2nd manga volume, Hell Mode 4, Housekeeping Mage from Another World: Making Your Adventures Feel Like Home! 2, The Ideal Sponger Life 7, Maddrax 4, and My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer 5.

After a long break following the crashing and burning of a Kickstarter, Tezuka Manga is back at Kodansha. We get a one-shot in print: Bomba. This 1970 manga from Weekly Shonen Magazine about a boy who can cause the death of others by summoning a magical white horse.

MICHELLE: I got curious and looked this up. The blurb mentions “the tortured youth’s explosive angst,” which I kind of feel like we get more than enough of presently.

ANNA: Yeah, glad there’s some Tezuka coming out though.

MJ: I am somewhere in between here. I suppose it will depend a bit for me on exactly what he’s tortured about. There are some themes along these lines I feel we simply… don’t need anymore.

SEAN: Also in print: Fate/Grand Order -mortalis:stella- 3, In/Spectre 16, To Your Eternity 17, UQ HOLDER! 26, Witchcraft Works 16, and Yuri is My Job! 9.

ASH: I’ve saved up a few volumes of To Your Eternity to read all at once; it’s been a really compelling series.

SEAN: The digital debut is My Tentative Name (Watashi (Kari)), a horror series from Magazine Pocket. A young man wakes up in a strange home with amnesia and a decapitated corpse. Things only go downhill from there.

Also digital: Burn the House Down 2, Cells NOT at Work! 5 (the final volume), DAYS 30, Harem Marriage 19, Her Majesty’s Swarm 2, The Rokudo Rounds 3, and The Shadows of Who We Once Were 2.

MICHELLE: I need to try Burn the House Down and The Shadows of Who We Once Were.

SEAN: One Peace Books has the 4th Higehiro manga, as well as Multi-Mind Mayhem 4.

In one of the weirder licensing things I’ve seen recently, Seven Seas debuts the print edition of Tokyo Revengers, which Kodansha Manga has been releasing digitally. This will be coming out in 2-volume omnibuses.

ANNA: I’m so confused!

ASH: Huh!

SEAN: We also see The Invincible Shovel 4, The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong 3, She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 5, Skip and Loafer 5, and Wonder Cat Kyuu-chan 6.

ASH: I still need to get around to Skip and Loafer.

Square Enix Manga has The Misfit of Demon King Academy 4 and The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest 8. Sadly, this is the final volume of Misfit of Demon King Academy, as the artist passed away.

MJ: Oh, how sad.

SEAN: Tokyopop debuts Yuri Espoir, the story of a high school girl who’s told she’ll enter an arranged marriage once she graduates. So she decides to create a lesbian sketchbook to indulge herself in for the final year, observing other couples. This runs in Comic Ryu.

Viz debuts The Liminal Zone (Genkai Chitai), the most recent collection of horror from Junji Ito.

ASH: Still glad to see Junji Ito’s works being released in translation.

SEAN: There’s also a new Naruto novel, Naruto: Kakashi’s Story—The Sixth Hokage and the Failed Prince. I would like to grumble once again that Viz never published the NaruHina Wedding Gifts novel.

And a double dose of yuri, as we get How Do We Relationship? and the 9th and final volume of A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow.

ASH: Those have been great series, too.

SEAN: Yen On has new volumes for three of its longer running series. Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 17, Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- 19, and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime 14.

And Yen Press has For the Kid I Saw in My Dreams 8, From the Red Fog 2, Minami Nanami Wants to Shine 2, and Run on Your New Legs 2.

ASH: Most of these are only second volumes, but I already need to catch up.

SEAN: It’s a sign of the current manga boom that this feels like a light week. What are you getting?

SEAN: The worst thing about heat is that it’s hot. If summer was cool, it would be better. Meanwhile, manga.

Yen On debuts the Goblin Slayer Tabletop Roleplaying Game, which I imagine is much like the KonoSuba one was, but with less of the authors playing it through.

ASH: Huh! I had somehow missed Yen’s entry into TRPGs.

SEAN: Yen Press has one debut: Hi, I’m a Witch, and My Crush Wants Me to Make a Love Potion (Doumo, Suki na Hito ni Horegusuri o Irai Sareta Majo desu), a series whose light novel came out here from Cross Infinite World. This is the manga version, and runs in Kadokawa’s Flos Comic. A witch is devastated when her secret crush asks her for a love potion. But he at least goes with her as she searches for ingredients. Maybe she can just bask in his company for a while longer?

Also from Yen Press: Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside 2 and Gabriel Dropout 11.

From Viz we get BEASTARS 19, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 5, Mashle: Magic and Muscles 7, Orochi: The Perfect Edition 2, Record of Ragnarok 3, Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle 18 and Undead Unluck 8.

ASH: I need to catch up on most of these, but it’s looking like a good Viz week.

SEAN: Steamship has a debut: I’ll Never Be Your Crown Princess! (Outaishihi ni Nante Naritakunai!!). This josei title from Zero-Sum Online features an isekai’d daughter of a duke who is unhappy that this world is polygamous and she’s expected to be one of many wives of the Prince. So she loses her virginity with some dude… then finds out whoops, said dude is that very same prince. Aside from “lost her virginity”, this sounds like many other “villainess” titles I could mention.

ASH: Isekai really is everywhere these days, isn’t it?

SEAN: Square Enix debuts SINoALICE, a manga version of the game that runs in Manga Up!. It is, try to prepare yourself, a dark and creepy version of Alice in Wonderland. I know, never been done before…

ASH: Ha! Never!

MJ: lol

SEAN: Square Enix also has Beauty and the Feast 3, I Think Our Son Is Gay 3, and A Man and His Cat 6.

MICHELLE: Finally something for me on this list!

ASH: I’ve really been enjoying I Think Our Son Is Gay.

MJ: I need to catch up on so much!

SEAN: A few Seven Seas debuts. Box of Light (Hikari no Hako) is a josei title from Zoukan Flowers (we may never get anything from Flowers, but we can get things from its spinoff) about a convenience store that seems to be haunted. It’s award-winning.

MICHELLE: I hope I never lose that feeling of delight to see a josei title coming out here.

ASH: Oh, I like the sound of this one!

MJ: I was in as soon as it said “haunted.”

SEAN: Dungeon People (Dungeon no Naka Hito) is from Futabasha’s Web Action, and features a woman searching a dungeon for her missing father. When she gets too far inside the dungeon… she’s asked to join the employees taking care of it? This seems oddly cute.

ASH: It does.

MJ: Agreed.

SEAN: Killing Stalking: Deluxe Edition is a Korean webtoon getting, as the cover might tell you, a deluxe color hardcover treatment. It’s BL horror.

MICHELLE: Hm… Did I learn my lesson with Boys of the Dead?

ASH: There seems to be a significant fanbase for Killing Stalking (which includes a few of my friends), so I am curious.

SEAN: Seven Seas also has Made in Abyss Official Anthology 4, My Lovey-Dovey Wife is a Stone Cold Killer 3, My Senpai is Annoying 8, and This Is Screwed Up, But I Was Reincarnated as a GIRL in Another World! 2.

In print, Kodansha Manga has A Galaxy Next Door 2, Grand Blue Dreaming 16, The Hero Life of a (Self-Proclaimed) “Mediocre” Demon! 5, Island in a Puddle 2, Living-Room Matsunaga-san 11 (the final volume), Those Not-So-Sweet Boys 7 (also a final volume), and Whisper Me a Love Song 5.

ASH: Another set of series that I’ve fallen behind on.

SEAN: The digital debut is Hella Chill Monsters (Yasuraka Monsters), which ran in Weekly Morning and whose creator did the art for the manga Astral Project, for those who can dig out their old CMX titles. A skeleton detective and his equally undead friends try to solve a city’s problems… but end up creating them.

MICHELLE: Somehow this is strangely appealing.

ASH: I agree! (And I was actually thinking about Astral Project just the other day…)

MJ: Oooh I already love it.

SEAN: They also have Blue Lock 14, Golden Gold 2, Heaven’s Design Team 7, Hozuki’s Coolheadedness 9, Irresistible Mistakes 4, A Nico-Colored Canvas 2, Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence 9, A Serenade for Pretend Lovers 2, and When a Cat Faces West 3 (the final volume).

J-Novel Club has a pile of print releases. We see Ascendance of a Bookworm 13, The Faraway Paladin’s 3rd manga omnibus, Full Metal Panic! Volumes 10-12 Collector’s Edition (the final volume), I Shall Survive Using Potions’s 8th manga volume, Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles Omnibus 6, Tearmoon Empire 6, The Unwanted Undead Adventurer’s 6th manga volume, and The White Cat’s Revenge as Plotted from the Dragon King’s Lap 4.

ASH: That is a pile!

SEAN: While digitally they have My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! 11, My Quiet Blacksmith Life in Another World 3, My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex 3, To Another World… with Land Mines! 3, and When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace 3.

Ghost Ship gives us The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You 3, 2.5 Dimensional Seduction 3, and Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time 8.

Dark Horse has an 11th hardcover of Berserk Deluxe. (It got bumped.)

ASH: That’s okay, I’ll pick it up whenever it ends up being released.

SEAN: Cross Infinite World has a 4th volume of Reincarnated as the Last of my Kind.

Lastly, Airship has the print debut of 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! (previously discussed when the digital came out), the first volume of Classroom of the Elite: Year 2, and Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation 17.

And in early digital we see the 2nd Classroom of the Elite: Year 2.

Has your manga melted already?