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Ash Brown

Manga the Week of 9/9/20

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SEAN: My computer rebooted while I was typing this up, so I am now typing it up again and mad.

MICHELLE: Ugh.

ASH: I have been there before and empathize.

MJ: Sadness.

SEAN: Cross Infinite World has Past Life Countess, Present Life Otome Game NPC?!, a reverse Bakarina where the fantasy world countess ends up reincarnated as a modern-day commoner girl in an otome game. She’s still stealing events from the heroine, though.

ASH: Huh, that’s an interesting variation.

SEAN: J-Novel Club debuts Black Summoner (Kuro no Shoukanshi), a 12+ volume novel that features a man who sacrificed his memories for more power. OP fans will like this.

The other debut is Holmes of Kyoto (Holmes at Kyoto Teramachi Sanjo), an antique-store oriented mystery that feels like the antidote to titles like Black Summoner. It’s a J-Novel Heart title, and is 15+ volumes in Japan.

ASH: That sounds like it could be fun!

SEAN: There’s also a 3rd Cooking with Wild Game manga, a 3rd Demon Lord, Retry! manga, The Holy Knight’s Dark Road 3 and Seirei Gensouki 11.

Kodansha debuts in print the first Clover collector’s edition. They’ve also got I’m Standing on a Million Lives 7 and The Seven Deadly Sins 39 in print.

ASH: Clover is one of my favorite CLAMP works; I suspect I will be double-dipping for the fancy hardcover omnibus.

MJ: I may as well!

SEAN: Digitally the debut is We Must Never Fall in Love! (Zettai ni Tokimeite wa Ikenai!), a Dessert series from the author of The Walls Between Us. It’s… well, it’s stepsibling romance. Which Japan sure loves more than North America.

MICHELLE: I didn’t realize that, but I might give it a shot anyway at some point.

ANNA: Maybe…..

SEAN: Also out: Ace of the Diamond 28, Giant Killing 22, and Tokyo Revengers 17. Quiet week for Kodansha.

MICHELLE: I suppose comparatively it is a quiet week, but two of those titles are among my favorites, so I’m happy.

SEAN: One Peace has a 14th volume of The manga version of The Rising of the Shield Hero.

So much from Seven Seas. The print debut is BL novel Sarazanmai, which we’ve discussed before.

ASH: I’ve still not delved into Sarazanmai… I need to get on that!

SEAN: Who Says Warriors Can’t be Babes? (Onna Senshi tte Motenai desu ne!) is a fantasy comedy from Kodansha’s Palcy. A girl has a crush on the hero, so she trains to be a strong warrior. Sadly, she trained TOO hard, and now he doesn’t see her as a woman!

MICHELLE: One-punch woman?

ASH: Hmmm. I could see this premise going either in a direction that I would really like or in a direction that I really wouldn’t.

MJ: I’m. Hm.

SEAN: And we see the 2nd print volume of Adachi and Shimamura, The Dungeon of Black Company 5, Failed Princesses 2, Gal Gohan 4, The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter 2 (digital version), The Ideal Sponger Life 6, The Invincible Shovel 3 (digital version), the 2nd Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear manga, Monster Girl Doctor 6 in print, the 11th Mushoku Tensei manga, and Skeleton Knight in Another World 6.

Square Enix has a 2nd volume of Cherry Magic!.

MICHELLE: I liked the first volume more than I expected to, and look forward to the second!

ASH: Maybe I should give the series a try, then!

SEAN: SuBLime gives us Caste Heaven 3 and Therapy Game 2.

MICHELLE: Caste Heaven was not for me, but I did mostly enjoy Secret XXX, of which Therapy Game is a spinoff, so I should check that out too.

ASH: I’m surprisingly behind in my BL reading and already have some catching up to do.

SEAN: Tokyopop has the 6th omnibus volume of Aria the Masterpiece.

Vertical, in print, has the 5th APOSIMZ. Digitally, they have a 15th volume of Ajin: Demi-Human.

Viz debuts Fly Me to the Moon, a new romantic comedy series by the author of Hayate the Combat Butler. A young man meets a very strange, possibly alien girl, and they get married almost immediately. What happens after that? And who the heck is she? This is getting an anime soon.

MJ: Maybe?

SEAN: Also out from Viz: Pokemon Sun & Moon 8, Rin-Ne 35, Splatoon 10, and YO-KAI WATCH 15.

Are you a reincarnated countess? A lovestruck warrior? A possible space alien? What manga are you buying?

Bookshelf Briefs 9/2/20

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Yay! Sean’s back!

Barakamon, Vol. 18 + 1 | By Satsuki Yoshino | Yen Press – I had thought this was something like an epilogue to the series, but it ends up being more of a hodgepodge—there’s a number of 4-koma strips, there’s interviews and yes, there is a short “years later” mini-chapter that assiduously avoids showing us Naru looking older, though it teases it. Instead, the majority of the book is an artbook, showing off color illustrations. And that’s the reason to get it as well, as you’re reminded that the art was also a big strength with this series. The pieces are very character oriented, showing Handa and company in a variety of poses and places, and it adds to the overall peaceful feel that we got from this series. I’ll miss it. Also, show us teenage Naru, you cowards. – Sean Gaffney

Goodbye, My Rose Garden, Vol. 2 | By Dr. Pepperco | Seven Seas – I never actually reviewed the first volume of this series—it came out in the height of COVID isolation, and I was bogged down in other things. It’s quite good, though, being a fairly tortured yuri drama without quite tipping over the edge into melodrama, although the reason it reads so well is that it balances on that edge quite nicely. Here we learn the story of Alice and how she became everyone’s favorite suspicious person, as well as the tie that binds her past with Hanako’s. As for the two of them as a couple, we aren’t there yet, and may not ever get there—it’s unclear if there’s a happy ending coming here. Nevertheless, you hope for one—these two need some good things happening to them. – Sean Gaffney

Goodbye, My Rose Garden, Vol. 2 | By Dr. Pepperco | Seven Seas – I really wish I liked this more. I like the setting—England in 1900—and two heroines who love books (and talk about Oscar Wilde and Sherlock Holmes!) and want to thwart society’s expectations of women while still being constrained by them. But everything just moves so fast! I found myself wishing this was a romance novel instead so it could have a little time to just breathe. They love each other, they find out secrets, Alice’s mom and fiancé conspire to get Hanako sent away, Alice finds her, more secrets are revealed. Nothing really lands with any emotional impact because it’s cruising right along and, in fact, comes to an end in the next volume. I will probably see it through to its conclusion but am overall kinda disappointed. – Michelle Smith

Horimiya, Vol. 14 | By Hero and Daisuke Hagiwara | Yen Press – This is the manga that never ends. It goes on and on, my friends. Given that the writer and publisher seem dedicated to avoiding the original ending of the webcomic, there’s not really much that can be done here except ‘everyday high school life’ shenanigans,’ to the point where I was for once reasonably pleased when Hori’s sadist/masochist tendencies come to the fore again, as she spreads a childish nickname for Miyamura just so that he’ll get mad at her. That said, despite the two being a seemingly close couple, at the end of the day Hori is still a horribly flawed character who needs constant validation and can’t trust her own feelings. She’s the most annoying and most interesting part of this. – Sean Gaffney

I Don’t Know How to Give Birth! | By Ayami Kazama| Yen Press – This is an excellent combination of biography, information, and comedy, as the author and her husband take us through the steps they took in order for her to have a child—more steps than you’d expect, as they eventually need in-vitro fertilization—and how she felt as she went through the process, ranging from “why am I doing this? My husband is the one who really wanted kids” to “I am getting in touch with my inner animal!” Scattered throughout are facts about preparing for nursing your child, Japan apparently not teaching expectant mothers how to push, and the lack of meds in their non-Tokyo hospital. All this is done in a fun way, with the author’s self-portrait having an arrow in her head. – Sean Gaffney

An Incurable Case of Love, Vol. 4 | By Maki Enjoji | Viz Media – Should you sacrifice your dream for love? Well, not if you’re in a romance manga, but it’s a question that’s thought about long and hard in this volume, as Nanase discovers that Dr. Tendo is getting an offer to study abroad so he can research a condition that killed someone he knew in his past. He is seemingly fine with abandoning it and staying with Nanase, but another patient with the same condition shows that he’s not as cool and collected as you’d expect. As with previous volumes, this strikes a good equal balance between the medicine and the romance, and there is also some lightness of tone, such as Nanase mistaking her lovesickness for a heart condition after the two spend the night together. – Sean Gaffney

A Man and His Cat, Vol. 2 | By Umi Sakurai | Square Enix – The more we see of Kanda’s late wife, the more we see how much her death has devastated him, and we are grateful for Fukumaru for being there. That said, Fukumaru is a big, awkward, untrained cat, so this inevitably leads to events like the cat breaking precious pictures and the like. The cat is also somewhat jealous of anything that gets in between him and his master. So it’s a nice mix of cute ‘the cat is destroying the house and acting like a cat’ antics and ‘the cat is basically the one thing keeping his owner away from despair.’ Kanda’s utter adoration of Fukumaru’s cuteness (made funnier by the fact that, to most everyone else, Fukumaru’s pretty goofy-looking) may be the best part of this. – Sean Gaffney

My Dress-Up Darling, Vol. 1 | By Shinichi Fukuda | Square Enix – Wakana has an unusual hobby—he admires and creates traditional Japanese dolls. In part because of this, he’s become a loner, but that changes after his popular high school classmate Marin discovers his talent with a sewing machine and convinces him to help her make a (sexy) cosplay outfit. Marin is passionate but not a skilled seamstress, so she hopes Wakana’s experience making doll clothing will be of some use. My Dress-Up Darling is rated “mature.” The first volume does include some risqué images and topics of conversation; however, it’s not overly explicit. Later volumes might become more so, but right now the story itself is surprisingly wholesome and the characters endearing. I’m really looking forward to reading more of the series and seeing Wakana and Marin’s relationship develop. But perhaps even more, I’m hoping to see Wakana follow Marin’s example and become more confident in himself and his interests. – Ash Brown

My Hero Academia SMASH!!, Vol. 5 | By Hirofumi Neda| Viz Media – The last volume of this series really does not stray from its mandate of ‘gags.’ We see 1-A and 1-B team up for a rescue exercise, the highlight of which is seeing that even the SMASH!! author thinks that Itsuka is a better Momo than Momo is. There’s some of Deku being such a hero fanboy that it’s hilariously creepy, and everyone participating in comedy training. (I was not prepared for Uraraka’s fantastic Aizawa impression.) There’s tanabata festivals, held back by a personality change in Bakugou (this actually comes up TWICE). And we end with a “years in the future” that isn’t really, with only Deku left to be the straight man. I’m happy this is ending now, but it was also a good deal of fun while it lasted. – Sean Gaffney

Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 8 | By Sorata Akiduki | Viz Media – As expected, ‘making the relationship public’ gets put on the back burner, mostly as reality is far too complicated for things like that to go smoothly. Instead we spend much of this volume transitioning into a new arc, featuring Shirayuki and Ryu going up north to snow country to study as herbalists there… with the added addition of Izana, who is traveling there incognito to annoy his brother and to study Shirayuki further. In between these things we get a story looking deeper into Obi, who I sometimes get the feeling the author would be more happy making the lead character. It adds up to a good solid volume of the series, though I suspect the next volume will set a better pace. – Sean Gaffney

Teasing Master Takagi-san, Vol. 9 | By Soichiro Yamamoto | Yen Press – The rule of thumb in this series is that Takagi is more readily able to admit her own feelings to herself than Nishitaka is to himself. His embarrassment and wariness of any action that he’s goaded to by Takagi leading to a “ha ha, so you like me!” moment drives whatever he does, and the moment he gets over this the series ends. (Mostly—the unlicensed next-gen series shows he never quite gets over it.) Takagi CAN occasionally be embarrassed—my favorite chapter in this volume, where they’re sending texts to each other, ends with her blushing—but for the most part is content to tease him every day and patiently lead him to a point where they can be a couple. It’s not happening anytime soon. – Sean Gaffney

To Be Next to You, Vol. 8 | By Atsuko Namba | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – On paper, To Be Next to You looks like standard shoujo fare. Nina Uemura is in love with her next-door neighbor, Kyosuke Tachibana, and to try to forget him, she started going out with a classmate. But when Kyosuke collapses with a fever on Christmas Eve, she bails on her boyfriend (Miyake-kun) to take care of him. Miyake-kun realizes that whatever happiness they can achieve together will always be vulnerable to being swept aside in an instant, and breaks off their relationship. What I love is how skillfully Namba-sensei has shown Nina’s maturation process throughout this series—she’s definitely not the same oblivious girl we encountered in volume one—and that we get little moments like Miyake-kun telling his friends what happened and them crying on his behalf. Between this and That Blue Summer, I have become a true Namba fan. I hope we get more from her soon! – Michelle Smith

Pick of the Week: Dogs and Cats, Spies and Knights

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SEAN: I’m getting a wide variety of stuff this week, from dark yuri light novel Roll Over and Die to cute pet manga With a Dog AND a Cat, Every Day Is Fun. But the honeymoon is still not quite over for me. My pick this week is the 2nd volume of SPY x FAMILY, which is badass and adorable in equal measures.

KATE: Cute pet manga for the win! I’m on team Dog AND a Cat this week, but I won’t lie: I’m also excited for Knight of the Ice and SPY x FAMILY, as well as Makeup is Not (Just) Magic: A Manga Guide to Cosmetics and Skin Care.

MICHELLE: I’m in the same boat as Sean. I’m genuinely looking forward to With a Dog AND a Cat and new volumes of various shoujo and shounen favorites, but I fell for Spy x Family so quickly and so completely that I can’t wait for volume two!

ASH: The first volume of Spy x Family was such a delight! The second volume is one of my top picks this week, too. (I’ll also be reading just about everything Kodansha is releasing in print.)

ANNA: There’s a lot of good stuff coming out this week, but as long as ice-skating josei is an option, Knight of the Ice is going to be my pick!

MJ: There’s a lot more for me to like this week than some, but I’ve heard that With a Dog AND a Cat, Every Day Is Fun, and I could use a bit of that these days!

Manga the Week of 9/2/20

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SEAN: It’s always September, somewhere in Manga Land! What do we have for you this first week of the month?

Cross Infinite World has a 2nd volume of Beast Blood.

Denpa snuck out a release last week, though apparently the print comes a bit later. The Girl with the Sanpaku Eyes (Sanpakugan-chan wa Tsutaetai) is a Gangan Pixiv manga about a girl with “mean eyes” and her travails. Our own Kate Dacey reviewed it here.

ASH: Thanks for the review, Kate! I’ve been curious about this one.

MJ: I have, too!

SEAN: No debuts for J-Novel Club this week, but a whooooole lotta other stuff. In print, we get An Archdemon’s Dilemma 7, the first Ascendance of a Bookworm manga (I guess that’s a debut), Infinite Dendrogram 8, My Next Life As a Villainess 3 and Sexiled 2.

ASH: I’ve been enjoying the Bookworm novels, so maybe I should give the manga a try, too. As for the second volume of Sexiled, I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on it.

SEAN: Digitally, there’s By the Grace of the Gods 4, Full Metal Panic! 8, The Greatest Magicmaster’s Retirement Plan 6, Kokoro Connect 10, The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar 12, The Unwanted Undead Adventurer 6, and A Very Fairy Apartment 4.

Kodansha has some print for us. Knight of the Ice 3, L*DK 15, Living-Room Matsunaga-san 4, The Quintessential Quintuplets 10, Saint Young Men 3, To Your Eternity 12, and Waiting for Spring 13.

MICHELLE: I’ll be reading several of those, and am especially eager for more Knight of the Ice.

ASH: Oh! It’s a good Kodansha week for me, too!

MJ: I need to catch up with both Knight of the Ice and Saint Young Men.

ANNA: Glad for the reminder about Knight of the Ice, I’m already behind!

SEAN: There’s also digital. The debut is That Time I Got Reincarnated (Again!) as a Workaholic Slime (Tensei Shite Mo Shashiku Datta Kudan), another spinoff of that popular series. This one is only 2 volumes long.

And we get All-Rounder Meguru 16, Cells at Work: Bacteria 3, My Boss’s Kitten 6, Smile Down the Runway 13, Stellar Witch LIP☆S 2, To Be Next to You 9, and Yuri Is My Job! 6. (The last will have print later, I imagine.)

MICHELLE: I’ve been getting caught up on To Be Next to You and liking it a lot.

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts Cube Arts, a “gamer invited to beta test a game that is more than it seems” story. It ran in Shinchocha’s Comic Bunch.

Digitally there is a light novel debut: ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword!. A much requested yuri light novel title, this apparently starts off very dark (expect slavery), but has good buzz.

ASH: Hmmm, a yuri light novel could be intriguing.

SEAN: Seven Seas also has, in print, Makeup is Not (Just) Magic: A Manga Guide to Cosmetics and Skin Care, as well as the 3rd Arifureta: I Heart Isekai and My Monster Secret 21.

ASH: I’d actually like to give Makeup is Not (Just) Magic a read.

SEAN: Square Enix gives us a 2nd volume of My Dress-Up Darling.

ASH: Whoops, I haven’t actually read the first volume yet, so I’ve already fallen behind.

MJ: Oops, same!

SEAN: Tokyopop debuts Ossan Idol! (Ossan (36) ga Idol ni naru Hanashi), an adaptation of a novel that runs in Comic Pash!. A Middle-Aged Man, bullied most of his life, turns his life around and gets buff, cool and handsome… but is unaware of this. Now he’s been scouted. This looks pretty fun.

Vertical has two debuts. The first we saw a digital release of earlier, but now the Weathering With You manga gets a print release.

MJ: I didn’t read this in digital, but I enjoyed the movie and I tend to like manga adaptations of Shinkai’s work, so I really should check it out.

SEAN: The other one, With a Dog AND a Cat, Every Day is Fun (Inu to Neko Docchi mo Katteru to Mainichi Tanoshii) is definitely for animal lovers. Expect “indie” art styles, too.

MICHELLE: Definitely checking this one out.

MJ: Okay, want.

SEAN: The rest is Viz, mostly. No debuts, but lots to look at. For shoujo stuff, we get Daytime Shooting Star 8, Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits 6, Love Me Love Me Not 4, Not Your Idol 2 (not a final volume, but the series is on hiatus in Japan after this), Skip Beat! 44, and Snow White with the Red Hair 9.

MICHELLE: I intend to read every single one of these, sooner or later. I didn’t realize that about Not Your Idol, though. That kind of stinks.

ASH: It’s a good shoujo week! I thought the first volume of Not Your Idol was excellent, so at this point I plan on reading the rest whenever it may be released.

MJ: Yes, same for me. Apparently my role in this week’s column is to point to whatever Ash says and repeat, “same.”

ANNA: It is a great week for shoujo! I’m sort of glad I didn’t read the first vol of Not Your Idol if it is on hiatus. I’m also especially happy to see a new volume of Skip Beat!

SEAN: On the shonen end, we get Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 16, Dr. STONE 13, Dragon Ball Super 10, Haikyu!! 40, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 16, One Piece: Ace’s Story 2 (final volume, and also a novel), and SPY x FAMILY 2.

MICHELLE: My love for Haikyu!! is pretty well documented at this point, so I will instead squee about how cute and great SPY x FAMILY is.

ASH: Likewise! Those are the two series from this batch which are getting most of my love this week.

ANNA: Nice, I need to read more SPY x FAMILY

SEAN: Lastly, Yen On had one August title skitter all the way into September: the 9th So I’m a Spider, So What? novel.

Which of these make the best titles to hide in your textbook while class is going on?

Pick of the Week: Listening to Space Waves

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SEAN: A lot of my ‘mid-tier’ series are out this week, so its hard to have a pick. I guess I’ll go with Fiancée of the Wizard, because shoujo isekai have been pretty good lately.

KATE: Oof–this is one of those weeks where there’s so much choice I’m a little paralyzed! I’m excited for new volumes of Drifting Dragons and Wave, Listen to Me, but I’m also intensely curious about Sazan and Comet Girl (Sazan to Susei no Shoujo), a done-in-one sci-fi series that’s in… wait for it… color. So if I had to whittle down my list to one book, it would be Sazan and Comet Girl.

ASH: I’m definitely interested in Sazan and Comet Girl, but I’m holding out for the print edition. So, Wave, Listen to Me! will be my go-to manga this week, although I’ll admit to being intrigued by the debut of Fiancée of the Wizard and its pretty cover.

ANNA: Like Ash, I’m curious about Sazan and Comet Girl, but Wave, Listen to Me! is also my pick!

MICHELLE: I’m happy Wave, Listen to Me! is coming out in print, and Sazan and Comet Girl looks neat, but I’m most looking forward to the thirteenth volume of Waiting for Spring, in which the main storyline concludes. It’s a quiet sort of shoujo series that hasn’t made many waves and though I don’t expect any dramatic twists in the final volume, I like these characters and want to see how things wrap up for them.

MJ: Even with so much to choose from, I’m struggling to make a pick this week. But I think I’ll go along with Kate in choosing Sazan and Comet Girl, which was, for me, the most intriguing item on this week’s list!

Manga the Week of 8/26/20

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SEAN: The end of August, a time when most people think back on the good things about summer. Like manga!

ASH: At least some things were good!

SEAN: We start off with Ghost Ship, which has a 3rd volume of Destiny Lovers.

J-Novel Club debuts Monster Tamer (Monster no Goshujinsama), which comes from the Monster Bunko label, so it’s a specialty. The plot sounds like Arifureta. A lot like Arifureta, honestly. Perhaps a bit less dungeons and more forests, but…

They also have the 4th Demon Lord, Retry! and a 3rd manga volume for Sweet Reincarnation.

Kodansha has quite a bit. In print, we see Drifting Dragons 5; Fire Force 19; In/Spectre 12; Rent-a-Girlfriend 2; and Wave, Listen to Me! 3.

MICHELLE: I’m happy about Wave, Listen to Me! but mostly can’t wait ’til the end of September, when volume four (with material I haven’t already read digitally) comes out!

ANNA: I’m also happy about Wave, Listen to Me!.

ASH: Likewise! I’ve also been enjoying Drifting Dragons.

SEAN: Digitally the debut is ASHIDAKA – The Iron Hero (Tekkai no Senshi). This has been getting a simulpub release, but now the first volume is out. Hope you like metal arms. It runs in Monthly Shonen Magazine, and appears to be very old-school shonen. I’m hoping for big eyebrows.

ASH: Heh.

SEAN: You can also enjoy digital volumes for Abe-kun’s Got Me Now! 3, Altair: A Record of Battles 21, Guilty 6, Hotaru’s Way 15 (a final volume), I Fell in Love After School 7, Kounodori: Dr. Stork 16, Love Massage: Melting Beauty Treatment 6, Waiting for Spring 13, and When We Shout for Love 3 (also a final volume).

MICHELLE: I think this was originally the final volume of Waiting for Spring, too, but now there’s a fourteenth one with side stories and bonus content. In any case, I’m reading a bunch of these.

SEAN: Seven Seas is still doing the “yay, we can print books again!” thing. No print debuts, but we get Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter 6, Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor 9, Arifureta Zero 3 (manga version), A Centaur’s Life 18, Magika Swordsman and Summoner 13, My Room Is a Dungeon Rest Stop 3, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Anima 3, Non Non Biyori 13, and Re: Monster 5. A lot of those had their digital version out already.

ASH: I’m not following many of these very closely, but I am glad to see print starting back up again.

SEAN: Digitally there are some debuts. Sazan and Comet Girl (Sazan to Suisei no Shoujo) is a done-in-1 omnibus from LEED Magazine’s Torch, and, despite being a LEED publication, does not appear to be in the style of Golgo 13. It’s a sci-fi story. It’s also in full color.

ASH: I’m curious about this one, though I’ll likely wait for the print volume.

MJ: That sounds interesting.

MICHELLE: It does!

SEAN: In light novels, we have The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent (Seijo no Maryoku wa Bannou desu). An OL gets summoned to be the Saint… but gets rejected. Now she’s trying to live a slow life, but it quickly becomes apparent that maybe she is a saint after all.

Also digitally we have Adachi and Shimamura‘s 3rd light novel, D-Frag! 14, and Monster Girl Doctor 6.

Square Enix gives us The Misfit of Demon King Academy 2 and Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town 2 (manga version).

Tokyopop has a 2nd volume of Koimonogatari: Love Stories.

Vertical has quite a bit. They haven’t publicly announced most of it, but given it’s there on their web page for all to see, I don’t feel guilty talking about it. They’re debuting some digital NISIOISIN novels. We get Owarimonogatari 1 & 2, Katanagatari 1-3, and Zaregoto 1-3. This would catch us up with the print releases… except they’re also putting out the 4th and final Katanagatari omnibus in print only. Oh yes, and a 4th Bakemonogatari manga volume in print.

They also, in non-NISIOISIN products, have The Complete Chi’s Sweet Home box set.

ASH: I still really love Chi’s Sweet Home.

MJ: Same.

SEAN: Lastly, Yen has some titles that slid back a week. Including The Garden of Words, the latest Makoto Shinkai multimedia emotional gutcruncher novel. Yen On also has Goblin Slayer 10, which is… not a Makoto Shinkai title.

ASH: Nope. It most definitely is not

SEAN: On the manga end, Yen debuts Fiancee of the Wizard (Mahoutsukai no Konyakusha), a Kadokawa title from one of their shoujo fantasy magazines. It’s a reincarnation isekai, but with a female lead, and is based on an as-yet unlicensed light novel.

MICHELLE: This seems pretty romance-heavy, at least by its description: “When a woman is reborn into a world of swords and sorcery as a young girl, her new life takes a turn for the fantastic as she meets an impossibly handsome yet surly son of a wizard. A future of magic, adventure, and romance awaits!”

ANNA: OK, I’m now much more intrigued by this description!

ASH: Potentially promising, for sure. (Even if I am well beyond burned out on most isekai.)

SEAN: We also get A Certain Magical Index 22 (manga version), High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World 8 (manga version), IM: Great Priest Imhotep 4, Interspecies Reviewers 4, Laid-Back Camp 9, Murcielago 15, School-Live! 12 (the final volume, though there’s a sequel out in Japan), Smokin’ Parade 8, Val x Love 9, and The World’s Strongest Rearguard 2 (manga version).

Typing ‘manga version’ a lot. It’s a multimedia world. What media are you consuming?

Bookshelf Briefs 8/19/20

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In which we extend our profound sympathies to Sean, languishing without internet thanks to a hurricane and his crappy ISP.

The Dorm of Love and Secrets, Vol. 4 | By Nikki Asada | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Structurally, the conclusion of The Dorm of Love and Secrets is a lot like another of Kodansha’s short, digital-only, shoujo series, Let’s Kiss in Secret Tomorrow. The heroine’s big secret is received with very little fanfare (in Asahi’s case, her high-achieving dormmates had already figured out she was a member of the normal class) and instead the focus is on reassuring the secondary character who’d been interfering with the main couple’s happiness that they are, in fact, a good person. Here, Asahi helps Tsukigase fight to save Midnight Oil Hall from being torn down. It’s a decent ending, though the plot thread about Yokaze’s grandfather’s dojo is never addressed again. I also would’ve liked more with Asahi and her older sister, who was largely responsible for Asahi’s inferiority complex regarding her supposed lack of intelligence. Ultimately, this was a pleasant series but not required reading. – Michelle Smith

Haikyu!!, Vol. 39 | By Haruichi Furudate | VIZ Media – Karasuno has advanced to the quarterfinals of the Spring Tournament and their opponent is Kamomedai, a defensively skilled team with a “little giant” of its own. In fact, the original little giant is in the stands, and seeing him be impressed by the next generation of small players is great. My favorite part, though, is that a couple of Hinata’s classmates, who had assumed he was a benchwarmer, happen to catch the game on TV and are astonished by how good he is. In fact, throughout the volume, whenever he scores a point, Furudate-sensei will toss in a little panel of these guys celebrating his success. It’s a really nice touch. Oh, and also Tsukishima the elder literally sparkling with pride over his little brother’s performance. The volleyball part is as great as ever, but the sheer warmth exuding from these pages is why I love this series so much. – Michelle Smith

Love on the Other Side: A Nagabe Short Story Collection | By Nagabe | Seven Seas – Collecting six short manga, Love on the Other Side is more akin to Nagabe’s series The Girl from the Other Side than the The Wize Wize Beasts of the Wizarding Wizdoms anthology, although there are certainly some aesthetic similarities to that volume, as well. While the narratives in Love on the Other Side are unrelated to one another, the stories are all about an intimate (not necessarily romantic) relationship between a human child or young woman and a beast. In many cases, that beast is a literal monster. Some are kind-hearted, some are not, and with some, well, it can be difficult to tell. In part, the tension and unease caused by that is what gives Love on the Other Side such an effective and affecting atmosphere. The stories are beautiful and touching but also often unsettling—love shadowed by peril, uncertainty, and the unknown. Overall, it’s an excellent collection. – Ash Brown

Not Your Idol, Vol. 1 | By Aoi Makino | Viz Media – Given the fact that the main protagonist of Not Your Idol is an assault survivor, it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that the manga is intense, but I don’t know that I was fully prepared for the level of its intensity going into the first volume. I hesitate to call Not Your Idol “dark” (even though it is) as that could seem to imply that the story goes beyond reality when what makes it so disconcertingly effective is the horrifyingly realistic sexism and misogyny underlying the manga’s drama and psychological suspense. The first volume is not a feel-good debut, but it is a very strong one. I’m anxious to see where the series goes next, especially considering some of the twists towards the end of the first volume—I desperately want to know if those developments are truly what they seem or if there are more shocking revelations to come. – Ash Brown

Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san, Vol. 4 | By Honda | Yen Press – Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san began as an amusing depiction of the hectic goings-on (and kooky customers) at the bookstore at which its creator worked. After volume three, though, Honda quit that job and is now hurting for material (by her own admission). In desperation, she interviews various people in the bookselling industry (and takes a trip to Taiwan), but the frenetic energy of earlier volumes is completely gone. Now it’s just informative and rather dull. The story peters out and then we get random short comics from Pixiv and Twitter. I did like a couple of things, like the page capturing the various ways people show joy before the shelves, and Honda’s reaction to a senseless act of destruction. Honda-sensei quit the bookstore to become a full-time manga creator, and I hope we see some of her other series here in the near future! – Michelle Smith

Wanna Try Dating Inoue? | By Fujitobi | Futekiya (digital only) – This is another exceedingly cute BL oneshot from Fujitobi, who also wrote Faded Picture Scroll. Although named for the first trio of stories, the volume is actually about two different couples at the same high school, set in a world where humans and anthropomorphic animal people coexist peacefully. Asthmatic first-year Yuzuta Inoue falls for a kind third-year tengu named Karasuma, and it is mostly cute, although Inoue’s persistence in trying to get Karasuma to fall for him crosses the line into problematic initially. Rooting for them are a couple of side characters named Asaka and Ookami, who turn out to be the protagonists of the next trio of stories. Ookami is 100% the best thing about this manga. He’s sweet, gentle, shy, and stuck in the big, imposing body of a werewolf. I love him. I hope we get more Fujitobi titles in the future! – Michelle Smith

Pick of the Week: A Mostly Floral Assortment

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MICHELLE: I’m very happy about more Ooku and Rose of Versialles and excited to check out The Ancient Magus’ Bride: Jack Flash & Faerie Case Files, but it didn’t take long for me to really care about the cast of Blue Flag, and I am desperate for the next volume even though it may well tear my heart out. In the best way, of course.

SEAN: Lots out this week for me, but I’ll make the final volume of Bloom Into You my pick. A rare series that gets better every volume.

ANNA: I’m excited about many of the volumes Michelle already mentioned, but if there’s a new volume of Rose of Versailles out that is always going to be my enthusiastic choice.

ASH: There are so many things being released this week that I’m interested in (including everything that’s been mentioned so far), making it very difficult to pick just one. But I’ll take this moment to highlight the release of Venus in the Blind Spot since a best-of collection Junji Ito’s work could never be a bad choice.

MJ: I don’t have incredibly strong feelings this week, except for continued gratitude that we’re seeing new volumes of Rose of Versailles and Ooku. And since I’ve said many times “Yoshinaga always wins,” I guess I’ll go for Ooku!

KATE: I got nothing new to add to the list: I’m excited about Junji Ito’s latest short story collection, and excited for another installment of The Rose of Versailles.

Manga the Week of 8/19/20

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SEAN: The Yen Press juggernaut is back.

Let’s start with Yen. They have a couple manga debuts. Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai is the manga version of the popular light novel. This arc is a done-in-1 omnibus.

I Love You So Much I Hate You (Nikurashii Hodo Aishiteru) is an office romance yuri about two professional working women with a rivalry… or is it?

MICHELLE: I hope this is something kind of complicated, but I guess we shall see.

ASH: I do like that we’re starting to see more yuri with adult characters.

MJ: Yes, I do too.

SEAN: I Don’t Know How to Give Birth! (Shussan no Shikata ga Wakaranai!) is a comedic essay manga about the author struggling with her first-time pregnancy. It looks fun.

ASH: I’m super-curious about this one.

ANNA: I am too!

SEAN: Also from Yen this week: Teasing Master Takagi-san 9; Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization 6 (the final volume); Spirits and Cat Ears 9; So I’m a Spider, So What? 8 (manga version); an omnibus version of the Puella Magi Madoka Magica manga; Phantom Tales of the Night 5; Overlord: The Undead King-Oh! 4; Magia Record 2; Kakegurui 12; Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon: Sword Oratoria 12 (manga version); Hinowa Ga CRUSH! 4; Black Butler 29; As Miss Beelzebub Likes 10; Aoharu x Machinegun 18 (the final volume); and Angels of Death 10.

ASH: You weren’t kidding about the return of the juggernaut! And this is just the manga. Out of these, Phantom Tales of the Night is what has most of my attention.

SEAN: As for Yen On, it also has some debuts. Interspecies Reviewers should already be familiar from the manga and anime: this is a light novel version.

The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy (Seiken Gakuin no Maken Tsukai)… yup, another demon lord in a magical academy.

MICHELLE: How many does that make now? At least three.

SEAN: Also: Sword Art Online 20, Rascal Does Not Dream of Petite Devil Kouhai, Final Fantasy I*II*III: Memory of Heroes, Do You Love Your Mom (and Her Two-Hit, Multi-Target Attacks?) 6, The Dirty Way to Destroy the Goddess’ Heroes 4, Bottom-Tier Tomozaki-kun 4, and 86 ~Eighty-Six~ 5.

From Viz: Venus in the Blind Spot is a best of collection from Junji Ito, and also has the exact same meter as “Mirror in the Bathroom” by The English Beat.

MICHELLE: My brain automatically went to “Heroes in a Half-Shell.” Which is strange, considering I never watched that show.

ASH: Hahaha! Whatever the meter, I’m always glad for more Ito in English.

ANNA: Always a good thing.

MJ: I’m on board for this!

SEAN: Also from Viz: Urusei Yatsura 7, Ooku: The Inner Chambers 17, Golden Kamuy 17, and Blue Flag 3.

MICHELLE: Hooray for more Ooku, but after the cliffhanger at the end of volume two, it’s Blue Flag I am desperate for.

ASH: Oh! This is a good week for Viz. And a bad week for my wallet; I’m reading most of these.

ANNA: Yes, super anxious to read the next volume of Blue Flag.

MJ: Ooku! And okay, I’m behind on Blue Flag, but I definitely want to know what all the fuss is about.

SEAN: Vertical has the 3rd Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro.

Udon has a 3rd Rose of Versailles omnibus, meaning I’m already behind.

MICHELLE: I only just got volume two last Friday!

ASH: I got the second volume on Saturday, but go ahead and bring on the third!

ANNA: Me too!!!

MJ: Help!

SEAN: Tokyopop has a 2nd volume of The Fox and Little Tanuki.

Sol Press has the 3rd Redefining the Meta at VRMMO Academy novel.

Seven Seas debuts a spinoff. The Ancient Magus’ Bride: Jack Flash & Faerie Case Files (Mahou Tsukai no Yome Shihen.75 – Inazuma Jack to Yousei Jiken), which should be a lot of fun for fans of the main series.

MICHELLE: Huh! I’ll have to check this out.

ASH: I’m a fan of The Ancient Magus’ Bride and I’m a fan of the writer Yu Godai, so I’m doubly-excited for this release.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Toradora! 9 (manga version), Skeleton Knight in Another World 5 (print), Reincarnated As a Sword 3 (manga version), Plus-Sized Elf 5, How to Train Your Devil 3, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 8 (manga version), Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends 18 (print), and Bloom Into You 8.

MICHELLE: I believe that’s the final volume of Bloom Into You, as well. I need to get caught up.

SEAN: No debuts from Kodansha. But we get, in print, Sweat and Soap 3, Saiyuki 2, O Maidens in Your Savage Season 7 and 8, Love and Lies 9, Gleipnir 7, and the 5th Cardcaptor Sakura Collector’s Edition.

ASH: I’m a little behind, but O Maidens in Your Savage Season is so good.

SEAN: Digitally we get That Blue Summer 8 (final volume), Space Brothers 37, Shojo FIGHT! 12, Orient 5, Mikami-sensei’s Way of Love 8 (final volume), Living-Room Matsunaga-san 8, Kakushigoto 6, GE: Good Ending 8, Fairy Tail: Happy’s Heroic Adventure 5, Dolly Kill Kill 5, and Cells NOT at Work 3.

MICHELLE: I have been enjoying That Blue Summer. Hard to believe it’ll be over so quickly!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has one debut, but it’s a biggie: Slayers!. The classic fantasy light novel has been rescued and is coming out with a new translation. The first volume is out next week.

Also out from J-NC: Wild Times with a Fake Fake Princess 2 and How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 12.

Ghost Ship gives us To-Love-Ru Darkness 16, Saki the Succubus Hungers Tonight 3, and Parallel Paradise 2.

Lastly, Dark Horse has the 2nd volume of Dangan Ronpa 2: Goodbye Despair.

Mo’ volumes, mo’ problems. What’s weighing you down?

Pick of the Week: Not Quite Flocking Together

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KATE: I’ll be honest: even though there’s a tidal wave of manga heading our way, there isn’t much on this list that I’m jazzed about. One bright spot, however, is the return of Svetlana Chmakova’s Night School: The Weirn Books in a new, deluxe edition. If you know a middle-schooler who loves supernatural mysteries, steer them to Night School, which has sharp art, good characters, and just the right mix of sass, humor, and scares for tweens.

MICHELLE: I am kind of intrigued by the prospect of revisiting Chobits, since it’s been a very long time since I first read it, but I’m most looking forward to getting caught up on Ran the Peerless Beauty. It’s a soothing sort of shoujo series and I’ve fallen a few volumes behind. Time to remedy that!

ANNA: I’m most excited for the third volume of Given, I really like the way this series started and the combination of teen angst and rock music is compelling.

ASH: The next volume of Given is very high on my list this week, too, but I’ll give my official pick to SuBLime’s other release this week, the debut of Toritan: Birds of a Feather, which sounds like it should be delightful.

SEAN: Given I’ve had no power, water or Internet since Tuesday, I feel a lot like Myne. Ascendance of a Bookworm’s new novel is my pick.

MJ: I’d like to give a shout-out to Kate’s pick this week, because I really loved Night School when it first came around. But I think I share a pick with Ash. A man who talks to birds is kind of an irresistible hook for me, so I’m ready for SuBLime’s Toritan: Birds of a Feather.

Manga the Week of 8/12/20

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SEAN: The dog days of August are on us, and the manga keeps piling up like a conveyor belt with Lucille Ball at the end of it.

MICHELLE: That’s an evocative image!

MJ: Indeed!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has two debuts next week. The Epic Tale of the Reincarnated Prince Herscherik (just “Hersherik” in Japan) has an otaku die and get reincarnated in a fantasy world, as one expects these days. Ryoko was a 35-year-old hardcore otaku woman. Now, she’s the villainess… wait, no, she isn’t! She’s a prince! Sadly, said prince has no talent for combat… or magic… and the rest of the family is more handsome… but Ryoko has her otaku smarts.

The other debut, When the Clock Strikes Z (Z no Jikan) is by the author of Outbreak Company and Wild Times with a Fake Fake Princess, Ichiro Sakaki. This is his zombie book. Gamer teams up with horror fanatic to fight off the zombies.

Also from J-Novel Club: a double dose of Myne, as we have the 8th Ascendance of a Bookworm novel and the 5th manga volume. There’s The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress 7, The Beloved of Marielle Clarac, The White Cat’s Revenge As Plotted from the Dragon King’s Lap 2, and The World’s Least Interesting Master Swordsman 4.

ASH: I haven’t tried the manga yet, but I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve read of Ascendance of a Bookworm so far!

SEAN: Kodansha’s print debut is the 20th Anniversary Edition of Chobits.

Also out in print: Beyond the Clouds 2, Cells at Work: CODE BLACK 5, Eden’s Zero 8, Fairy Tail: 100 Year’s Quest 4, Granblue Fantasy 6, Perfect World 2, and That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime 13.

ASH: This reminds me I need to read the first volume of Beyond the Clouds.

SEAN: Digitally? Well, there’s All-Out!! 15, Cells at Work and Friends 3, Cosplay Animal 13, Domestic Girlfriend 26, Fairy Tail: City Hero 4 (the final volume), Men’s Life —Her Secret Life in The Boys’ Dormitory— 3, The Prince’s Romance Gambit 7, The Quintessential Quintuplets 14 (also a final volume), and Ran the Peerless Beauty 8.

MICHELLE: I really need to get caught up on Ran the Peerless Beauty and to start All-Out!!.

SEAN: Seven Seas has two debuts. The first we’ve seen the digital version of: Syrup, a Girls’ Love Anthology. It focuses on adult women.

ASH: I’ll probably pick this up now that it’s in print.

SEAN: The other is Failed Princesses (Dekisokonai no Himegimi Tachi), a yuri manga from Takeshobo’s Manga Life STORIA Dash. This is high school girl yuri, and also apparently a bit darker than most.

In print, we see the 2nd Bloom Into You: Regarding Saeki Sayaka light novel, Machimaho 6, Reincarnated As a Sword‘s 5th light novel, and Skeleton Knight in Another World‘s 4th manga.

In early digital releases, we see a debut as well. The Sorcerer King of Destruction and the Golem of the Barbarian Queen (Hametsu no Madou Ou to Golem no Banhi) is an isekai fantasy, though apparently the guy who is isekaied has no memory of his former life. He’s being asked to destroy the world, which he wants no part of. So he’s given a powerful and dangerous partner.

And we get Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 3 and Sarazanmai 2.

ASH: I need to begin my Sarazanmai journey soon.

SEAN: Square Enix has the print debut of The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest, a title whose plot is so familiar it’s already being made fun of.

SuBLime debuts Toritan: Birds of a Feather, a new BL series from Rutile about a man with the power to talk to birds.

They also have a 3rd volume of Given.

MICHELLE: I might be into Toritan and am certainly excited for more Given!

MJ: I’m kind of into the concept where a man talks to birds? I guess both of these are potentially for me!

ANNA: I ordered the second volume of Given and don’t have it yet, but I’m also excited for more volumes in this series!

ASH: Yup! I’m here for both of these, too.

SEAN: Tokyopop debuts A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation (Odayaka Kizoku no Kyuuka no Susume), a manga from TO Books’ Comic Corona. A man is transported to another world and decides to life a slow and easy life is a title we’ve seen before. This man, however, was the prime minister in a fantasy world before he was transported, which is interesting. It’s also one of those titles where everyone has to insist it’s not BL despite what it looks like.

ANNA: Honestly, I’d be intrigued by this if it was coming out from a different publisher.

ASH: Likewise.

MJ: Yep.

SEAN: Vertical has the 8th volume of CITY (in print) and the 15th Ajin (digitally).

Viz has two debuts, one of which probably falls outside the scope of Manga the Week of. BTS: Blood, Sweat and Tears is a biography of the popular band – no, not the 60s/70s jazz rock band, but BTS, the incredibly popular Korean boy band.

ASH: Huh! Viz has done a nice job with other biographical works, so this should hit the spot for BTS fans.

MJ: This does sound like it will be perfect for the right audience.

SEAN: There’s also an artbook. Monster Hunter: World – Official Complete Works should delight fans of Monster Hunter. (Note: ask rest of Manga Bookshelf what Monster Hunter is.)

ASH: Oooh, I know this! I’ve actually played and really enjoyed one of the games in the franchise before (despite being pretty terrible at it).

SEAN: Viz also has some ongoing titles. We get Fullmetal Alchemist: Fullmetal Edition 10, Hayate the Combat Butler 36 (only 16 more to go! That’s only 8 short years!), Komi Can’t Communicate 8, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 7, and A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow 4.

ASH: A solid shounen (and seinen) showing from Viz.

MJ: Always ready to push Fullmetal Alchemist on another generation.

SEAN: Lastly, Yen has one light novel debut – we hope, this book was delayed 6 times over the course of the past year. The Eminence in Shadow (Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute!) is a comedic isekai about a guy who likes to make up backstories and finds that the one he’s made up is getting out of his control. Let’s hope we can finally enjoy it.

ASH: I’m not hugely interested in isekai, but that sounds like it could be fun.

SEAN: See? SO MUCH STUFF. What manga are you desperately stuffing in your mouth as it comes down the conveyor belt?

Pick of the Week: Everything’s Coming Up Roses

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ASH: While there are quite a few manga being released this week, many of them great, my pick will likely be obvious. It’s a long time coming, but the second deluxe, hardcover volume of Rose of Versailles is here in all its glory! (Though, I will admit to being curious about My Papa’s Persimmon Tree, too, not having heard about it previously.)

ANNA: Rose of Versailles for me too. I still can’t believe we have it in English, even though I’m reading it!

KATE: Even if UDON hadn’t given The Rose of Versailles the royal treatment, I’d still feel morally obligated to buy it–I mean, they did the impossible and got the license, right?! The fact that the edition is so nicely packaged and well translated is just the icing on the cake for me.

MICHELLE: To properly express my gratitude to UDON, I can’t really pick anything else! (But speaking of gratitude, gotta give honorable mention to Chihayafuru and Byakko Senki!)

SEAN: There’s some of my favorite series due out this week. Oresama Teacher, Yona of the Dawn… that said, yes, it’s Rose of Versailles, and likely will be again in 2 weeks when the 3rd volume comes out. (You may thank COVID for these wacky release dates.)

MJ: Can there be any question? This week, it’s The Rose of Versailles!

Bookshelf Briefs 7/30/20

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Blue Flag, Vol. 2 | By KAITO | VIZ Media – How do I already love these kids this much?! Blue Flag is the story of four friends in their third year of high school who care about each other but who are all also dealing with their own problems and trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives. I especially love Taichi and identify so much with the childhood memory he shares with Masumi—“I regretted my inaction so badly.” Taichi is always trying to become the sort of person who can act (and supports Futaba as she seeks to make the same change in herself). And thus, we are inexorably led to the cliffhanger of this volume, where Taichi gets the chance at a do-over, seizes it without a moment’s hesitation, and perhaps pays another, different price this time. I’ve never meant “I can’t wait for the next volume!” more than I have this time. – Michelle Smith

Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, Vol. 8 | By Inio Asano | Viz Media – We finally get one of the big reveals in this volume, which involves the origin of Oran and the sort of girl she used to be. It also gives us, even if it’s not quite the real thing, an origin story of the friendship between her and Kadode, and it’s really sweet and fun. That said, their meeting with an alien goes very differently here, and the series finally begins to tie in with all of the Doraemon parodies that it’s been using at the start and end of each volume. Sadly, this is not a good thing, and the entire volume ends on a horrifically nightmarish cliffhanger that I can’t see ending any way but tragically. As always, I hate reading this series, one of the best manga I’m currently reading. If that makes sense. – Sean Gaffney

Dr. STONE, Vol. 12 | By Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi | Viz Media – We’re going on a boat journey, taking along most of the important cast members, in order to discover the island with Sena’s dad’s past and also find platinum, which can help speed up un-stoning everyone. Unfortunately, there are villains about, and they take out most of the cast, who are petrified once more. In between this, we get a lot of cool Jump adventure, some goofy gags, some fun surprises (we know that Suika would stow away somehow, the question was how) and some serious drama as, well, the cast is being re-petrified by powerful unknown villains. There’s nothing earth-shattering in this particular volume, but it still adds up to a great time. – Sean Gaffney

Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends, Vol. 18 | By Yomi Hirasaka and Itachi | Seven Seas – I could review this entire volume, but honestly, the last 50 or so pages sort of dwarf the rest of it. We are reminded, as is the school, that Sena is fantastic at everything and has no idea that other people can’t do what she does. This all comes to a head at the Christmas party, where she starts to be attacked for all of her bad points, and lashes out at everyone in a justified but ill-thought-out diatribe. Which is then passed to Yozora, who also defends Sena and finally, amazingly, admits that the two of them are friends. This may be more important than which girl Kodaka picks, to be honest, and is absolutely fantastic. (Speaking of Kodaka, his solution is very Hachiman, and works about as well). – Sean Gaffney

Moms | By Yeong-shin Ma | Drawn & Quarterly – One thing in particular that makes Moms stand out from other manhwa in translation (and honestly many other comics in general) is the focus of its narrative—the lives and loves of mothers in their fifties. The volume takes direct inspiration from the creator’s own mother after she shared some of her personal experiences and stories about her friends. While there is some humor and absurdity, the resulting work’s realism is gutting as the characters navigate divorces, affairs, workplace harassment, and constantly shifting allegiances. A central thread is an on-again, off-again relationship between Soyeon and her boyfriend Jongseok. Without him she’s lonely, with him she’s miserable, a common theme in Moms. Most of the men in the work are frankly disappointing human beings. The women aren’t always entirely blameless, but they’ve put up with a lot, so it’s exhilarating to witness when they can live their lives with uninhibited gusto. – Ash Brown

Secret XXX | By Meguru Hinohara | SuBLime – Secret XXX is pretty explicit and features a seme who says things like “Too late. I’m not stopping now” and “I love your feeble protests,” but also includes a lot of cute bunnies. Shohei Ikushima is a college student who believes he is allergic to rabbits but still volunteers at Itsuki Mito’s bunny-exclusive pet shop because he’s fallen in love with the gentle-seeming proprietor. I can’t tell if what I found frustrating is intentional characterization, or simply that the narrative had to make Shohei look vapid in order to work. Like, he never actually considered “Do I even swing this way?” until he was literally in bed with Mito. And no one (including his parents, evidently) ever suggested antihistamine until he finally sees a doctor. I did like the emphasis on appreciating family, though, and plan to read the spinoff starring Mito’s meddling little brother. – Michelle Smith

A Sign of Affection, Vol. 2 | By suu Morishita | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – A lot of shoujo titles are content to move along at a glacial pace, and the good ones do that by keeping the character solid. Yuki and Itsuomi are still feeling each other out. She’s fallen in love for the first time, but has communication issues that go beyond her deafness, and also a childhood friend who (I suspect) likes her more than she is aware. Asd for Itsuomi, he has some past baggage that really isn’t going away, and has goals for the future that do not involve being in Japan—goals which are likely more important to him than romance. Despite that, these two are very cute together, and you’re rooting for them to find a way to make things work. One of the better recent digital-pnly titles. – Sean Gaffney

Spy x Family, Vol. 1 | By Tatsuya Endo | VIZ Media – It only took a few pages for me to completely fall in love with Spy x Family. Debonair “Twilight” is an experienced spy for Westalia, but when his next mission requires him to quickly acquire both wife and child, he ends up choosing an assasassin (Yor) for a bride and a telepath (Anya) for a daughter. Neither Twilight nor Yor is aware of the other’s real line of work, but Anya knows all. Only, she loves her new life and family so much that she isn’t going to say anything to jeopardize it. In fact, she’s doing her best to get accepted into a prestigious school so that Twilight can get closer to his target and they can all continue to stay together. I really like all the characters, the “found family” trope always works for me, the tone is fun, and the art is stylish. More, please, and soon! – Michelle Smith

Takane & Hana, Vol. 15 | By Yuki Shiwasu | Viz Media – The bulk of this volume introduces us to Takane’s mother, who is a lot like he is in both looks and eccentricity, and turns out to have a checkered past with her son that, to no one’s surprise, involves bad communication. Hana tries to get the two of them to make up while also showing off how she’s a great match for Takane, and her cheer is infectious. That said, the background does remind readers just how high a bar Hana has to clear if she’s going to end up happily ever after with the guy she loves. The series is gearing up for its finale, and I suspect that class conflict is really going to come to the fore here. But at least she’s won over Mom, which is a big start. – Sean Gaffney

A Witch’s Printing Office, Vol. 3 | By Mochinchi | Yen Press – Following up on the last cliffhanger, there is another Japanese person here, and he’s actually gone about things the proper isekai way, as opposed to our heroine, Yomiko… um, I mean Mika. Yeah, about that, I get the feeling that 80% of the people reading this series are reading it because they want to see Yomiko from Read or Die in an isekai setting. It even feels like the super-ditzy side of her, as opposed to, well, the other, less popular aspects of Yomiko. As for the manga itself, there’s more Comiket gags, Mika managing to accidentally get a town popular, an ancient spellcaster possessing exactly the wrong person, and a rival publishing company. This is big goofy fun, sort of slice-of-isekai life-ish, but lacks any substance at all. – Sean Gaffney

Manga the Week of 8/5/20

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SEAN: Get ready for a brutal month. Every week in August is huge. Soooo much stuff.

ASH: Let’s go!

SEAN: First of all, hey, remember when I somehow missed that Soul Eater: The Perfect Edition started from Square Enix on 7/28? That was 100% a thing I missed, because I am basically terrible. Soul Eater is fun. Please ignore the boobie ending.

We start with J-Novel Club, which has several print volumes. We see Animeta! 4, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 11, the debut of the I Shall Survive Using Potions! light novel, and In Another World with My Smartphone 11.

ASH: I plan on picking up Animeta! out of this group.

SEAN: Digitally, there is Altina the Sword Princess 5, Campfire Cooking in Another World 7, Can Someone Please Explain What’s Going On? 3, Der Werwolf 8, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 15 (hey, it finally hit 15), In Another World with My Smartphone 20, and Record of Wortenia War 7.

Kaiten Books has another manga debut: UzaMaid: Our Maid is Way Too Annoying (Uchi no Maid ga Uzasugiru!). This Manga Action title from Futabasha had an anime recently, and I can confirm that its title is not just for show.

Kodansha had to push back its Shaman King rollout, so no debuts this week. In print, we get Boarding School Juliet 12.

Digitally we get Are You Lost? 6, Cells at Work: Bacteria! 2, Chihayafuru 21, Drifting Dragons 8, GTO Paradise Lost 12, Our Fake Marriage 3, Peach Girl NEXT 8 (the final volume), Smile Down the Runway 12, and To Be Next to You 8.

MICHELLE: I will never not be grateful for Chihayafuru!

ANNA: One day I will catch up! One day!!!

SEAN: One Peace has a one-off for us: My Papa’s Persimmon Tree, which is 45 pages long, seemingly based on real-life events, and award winning.

ASH: Interesting! It’s so easy for One Peace’s releases to slip under the radar; I wasn’t previously aware of this one.

MJ: Same here!

SEAN: Seven Seas has the print debut of Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time, the 2020 award winner for most “humorous” euphemisms for semen in a single manga volume.

MICHELLE: Ew.

ANNA: No thank you!

MJ: I hate everything.

SEAN: Also in print: Arifureta Zero’s 3rd light novel, Gal Gohan 3, GIGANT 2, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Elma’s OL Diary 3, and the 10th and final Toradora! light novel.

As for early digital releases, we have the 11th Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho.

Udon has the 2nd Rose of Versailles at last. Cannot wait.

MICHELLE: Huzzah!

ANNA: I have mine, yay!

ASH: Yes!! Still so glad this series is being released.

MJ: Okay, I don’t hate EVERYTHING. So excited!!

SEAN: Vertical has a manga debut: The Daily Lives of High School Boys (Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou), an episodic comedy manga from Gangan Online that also became an anime and a film. It’s pretty highly regarded.

And lastly, ALL THE VIZ. The debut is a sequel. Fushigi Yugi: Byakko Senki, a sequel to Fushigi Yugi – Genbu Kaiden, but still a prequel to the main series proper. It runs in Flowers, meaning we finally have another Flowers series from Viz that isn’t Kaze Hikaru. Also, this manga is so old I have to remind myself every time not to use two u’s in Yugi. Because fandom.

MICHELLE: I am all about this.

ANNA: I am so excited for this series. Trying to emotionally prepare myself.

MJ: Okay, I absolutely loved Fushigi Yugi – Genbu Kaiden, probably more than the original series, if I’m being honest. So this is a welcome addition to that universe!

SEAN: Naruto has a new light novel (at 136 pages, a very light novel) called Naruto’s Story: Family Day. It shows him bonding with Himawari, and I think was animated.

Shonen Jump? We got you. There’s Black Clover 22, Blue Exorcist 24, Boruto 9, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 15, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Arc 4 Volume 6, Jujutsu Kaisen 5, the 5th and final My Hero Academia SMASH!, One Piece 94, The Promised Neverland 16, the third Samurai 8, Twin Star Exorcists 19, and We Never Learn 11.

ASH: JoJo! So far, this arc has’t been my favorite, but I’m still getting a huge kick out of it.

SEAN: Shojo Beat? We have you covered as well. Ao Haru Ride 12, Kaze Hikaru 28 (the yearly volume, which means TWO Flowers series on the same day from Viz! Can 7SEEDS be far behind?), Oresama Teacher 27, Shortcake Cake 9, and Yona of the Dawn 25.

MICHELLE: I would even be super happy if 7SEEDS was digital-only. Heck, if Kaze Hikaru moved in that direction but came out more frequently, that’d be okay too.

ANNA: If only we got 7SEEDS. I’m happy for the annual volume of Kaze Hikaru. . So much great shoujo this week!

ASH: It’s a very good week for shoujo!

MJ: That 7SEEDS tease seems cruel, Sean! So much false hope! I weep.

SEAN: As tends to happen in Week Ones, Viz is most fascinating to me (well, that and Rose of Versailles). How about you?

Pick of the Week: Transformative Pick

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SEAN: It’s a relatively quiet week this week, and none of the debuts interest me (Shaman King’s been delayed anyway). As such, I’ll be picking the 2nd volume of BL Metamorphosis, a sweet and charming series that I definitely want to read more of.

KATE: I second Sean’s recommendation! I thought the first volume of BL Metamorphosis was one of the best things I’ve read this year: it’s warm and funny, but also surprisingly moving in its depiction of the budding intergenerational friendship between Ichinoi and Urarara. BL Metamorphosis also scores points for taking the women’s interest in BL seriously, rather than playing it for cheap laughs or portraying them as a pair of out-of-control fujoshi who are shipping men left and right.

MICHELLE: I haven’t yet read the first volume of BL Metamorphosis, and thus picking the second feels somewhat disingenuous, but since the alternative is once again proclaiming my love for sports manga, I will add my voice to the chorus.

ASH: You are in for an absolute treat, Michelle! I don’t think I can phrase it better than Kate already has, but BL Metamorphosis has likewise been one of the best manga series I’ve read recently and certainly one of my favorites.

MJ: I’ve still failed to acquire the first volume of BL Metamorphosis, but I know I would love it. So I’m making the second volume my pick for the week, just based on that certainty and the testimony of my colleagues!

ANNA: I’m with MJand everyone else!