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Ash Brown

Manga the Week of 2/8/17

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SEAN: Sooooo much Viz. So much. Almost every single Viz title I follow has a volume out this week. Oddly, though, absolutely no new title debuts.

Before Viz, though, Kodansha gives us a 2nd volume of Fire Force, which seems to be Soul Eater’s attempt to do Fairy Tail.

Say “I Love You” is ending soon, but I’m not sure if 17 is the final volume or not. We shall see.

MICHELLE: Yeah, I don’t know either.

ASH: This series has been consistently great. I’m glad that Kodansha brought it over.

ANNA: I’m so far behind on this series, I’ve almost given up on getting caught up, but I’m also glad Kodansha brought it over.

SEAN: Seven Seas gives us a 2nd volume of My Pathetic Vampire Life, which I did not enjoy as much as I expected.

And a 2nd Please Tell Me, Galko-chan!, which I enjoyed more than I expected.

ASH: I really enjoyed the first volume, too! It was surprisingly bright and cheery.

SEAN: Titan Comics has been releasing the manga version of Sherlock in pamphlet form over the last year, and now we finally get the first volume collected as A Study in Pink. Assuming there are Sherlock fans left after that last season.

MICHELLE: I liked the middle one!

ANNA: Ah, maybe it will be pleasantly nostalgic?

SEAN: Kitty! A 2nd volume of Fuku Fuku: Kitten Tales from Vertical Comics.

MJ: More kitties are always welcome!

MICHELLE: Yay!

SEAN: And now. Viz. So much Viz. A 14th volume of Assassination Classroom, which is not quite at THAT spoiler yet. Next time.

Black Clover has improved slightly with each volume, to the point that I am prepared to call the 5th volume “pretty good”.

Bleach has an 18th 3-in-1, which I assume is in the middle of some long arc.

Hungry? Good. Food Wars! 16 will make you want to eat (or go to a school festival).

Don’t eat volleyballs, though. But the 8th volume of Haikyu!! should be excellent.

MICHELLE: Very excited about more Food Wars! and Haikyu!!.

ASH: I’m also looking forward to more of both series.

ANNA: Haikyu!! is consistently good.

SEAN: The 3rd arc of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure did not grip me as immediately as the first two. I’m hoping that changes with the 2nd Stardust Crusaders hardcover.

ASH: It’s such a weird series. It almost becomes a travelogue at some points. Granted, a very bloody one with lots of punching and mind games.

SEAN: Kamisama Kiss continues its final arc with its 23rd volume.

ANNA: I’ve got 4 volumes to read to get caught up, but in a way that’s fine because the series is so enjoyable.

SEAN: How will Kuroko’s Basketball’s 4th omnibus deal with the CRUSHING DEFEAT from last time? My guess? Friendship and Training.

MICHELLE: A solid bet.

SEAN: Maid-sama! has Vol. 13-14, which means it’s actually nearly over. I assume Misaki will protest quite a bit throughout.

MICHELLE: It’s kind of hard to believe that we’re actually going to see the conclusion of this one.

SEAN: And a 7th volume of superhero school manga My Hero Academia.

ASH: I’ve really been meaning to read this series; I’ve heard great things about it.

SEAN: Yay! My Love Story!! 11 is here! Please always be adorable.

MICHELLE: Here’s one that’s almost over, too. (Volume thirteen is the end.)

ASH: I continue to love My Love Story!!(!)

ANNA: How could it not be adorable?

SEAN: One Piece’s 81st volume makes me very happy, if only as I don’t have to say Dressrosa anymore. What’s up with Sanji, though?

MICHELLE: Man, you weren’t kidding about nearly everything getting a new volume!

SEAN: So Cute It Hurts!! gets an 11th volume, though the exclamation mark joke’s time has passed.

Toriko is in its final arc with the 37th volume, but I think it’s still got a ways to go.

MICHELLE: Finally, I’m about to embark on reading Toriko!

SEAN: Yona of the Dawn has a 4th volume, and cannot come out fast enough for me.

MICHELLE: I am excite.

ASH: I’m more than ready for my next dose of shoujo epic fantasy!

ANNA: Me too!

SEAN: Lastly, there’s a 9th Yu-Gi-Oh! 3-in-1, because Yu-Gi-Oh will never die.

MJ: Wow, when I see a list like this, it makes me feel like I’m not reading anything at all. I swear I am!

SEAN: What’s keeping you happy in this cold and gloomy February?

Manga Giveaway: Please Tell Me! Galko-chan Giveaway Winner

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Please Tell Me! Galko-chan, Volume 1And the winner of the Please Tell Me! Galko-chan manga giveaway is… Dawn!

As the winner, Dawn (whose Anime Nostalgia Podcast is well-worth checking out, by the way) will be receiving the first volume in Kenya Suzuki’s delightful manga series Please Tell Me! Galko-chan as published in English by Seven Seas. The series is somewhat unusual in that it is a full-color manga, so I asked participants in the giveaway to tell me a little about some of the color manga that they’ve read. Check out the giveaway comments for everyone’s detailed responses, and check out the list below for some great full-color manga! (I decided to include a few full-color manhwa on the list, too.)

Some of the full-color manga (and manhwa!) available in print in English:
Aaron’s Absurd Armada by MiSun Kim
Chi’s Sweet Home by Konami Kanata
Fluffy, Fluffy Cinnamoroll by Yumi Tsukirino
Guardians of the Louvre by Jiro Taniguchi
His House by Hajin Yoo
Joan by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
Lethe by Kimjin
Maka-Maka: Sex, Life, and Communication by Torajiro Kishi
Milkyway Hitchhiking by Sirial
The Monkey King by Katsuya Terada
Please Tell Me! Galko-chan by Kenya Suzuki
Rohan at the Louvre by Hirohiko Araki
Unico by Osamu Tezuku
Void’s Enigmatic Mansion by HeeEun Kim
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past by Shotaro Ishinomori

As far as full-color print releases in English go, I believe the above list is actually pretty comprehensive, but there may have been a few that I missed. (If you can think of one, let me know!) There are also some full-color manga and manhwa that have been licensed in English for digital release, too. Thank you to everyone who participated in the giveaway by sharing your experiences with color manga and manhwa. I hope that 2017 is a bright and colorful year for you all, and I hope to see you again for the next giveaway!

Pick of the Week: Lesbians or Melting Faces?

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MICHELLE: Hm, probably I shouldn’t pick Wave, Listen to Me! for two weeks in a row, so this time I’ll go for Kindred Spirits on the Roof, which has been on my to-get list for quite a while.

SEAN: There’s lots I’m interested in, including lots of light novels and some amusing/disgusting horror. But yes, my pick is definitely Kindred Spirits on the Roof. This makes three Seven Seas picks this month. Kudos to them.

ASH: While I’m certainly interested in Kindred Spirits on the Roof there can be no other pick for me this week than Dissolving Classroom. Josei horror by Junji Ito? Count me in!

KATE: My vote goes to Junji Ito’s The Dissolving Classroom. It looks gross — in the best possible way — and funny — as all of Ito’s manga are. I don’t know if it’s studded with references to Umezu’s Drifting Classroom, but it seems as if there’s drinking game potential here!

ANNA: I’m with the folks who are choosing The Dissolving Classroom, it isn’t every week a quality horror release comes out!

My Week in Manga: January 23-January 29, 2017

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My News and Reviews

The end of the month is approaching which means it’s time for Experiments in Manga’s monthly giveaway. The winner of the most recent giveaway will be announced on Wednesday, so there’s still a little time left to enter for a chance to win the first volume of Kenya Suzuki’s delightful full-color manga series Please Tell Me! Galko-chan. Speaking of manga giveaways, there’s also an opportunity to win a copy of the first omnibus in Kei Sanbe’s Erased over at The OASG.

Elsewhere online, I came the Young Adult Library Services Association’s 2017 Great Graphic Novels for Teens. As usual, the list includes a fair number of manga along with all of the other excellent comics. Ichigo Takano’s Orange (which was also one of my notable manga from 2016) even made the top ten list. Out of the many other manga included as part of YALSA’s larger list, I have in-depth reviews of Junji Ito’s Cat Diary: Yon & Mu and Akiko Higashimura’s Princess Jellyfish, Omnibus 1, both of which I loved.

Another list I came across recently was BookRiot’s feature on Japanese speculative fiction in translation. Overall, I think it’s a great list–I’ve previously reviewed three of the books included (Miyuki Miyabe’s The Book of Heroes, Yusuke Kishi’s The Crimson Labyrinth, and Taiyo Fujii’s Gene Mapper) and most of the others I’ve been meaning to read for quite some time or were already high on my list of books to read in the near future.

It’s been a while since I’ve mentioned Kickstarter projects here, but there are a few campaigns for print comics that have caught my eye lately: Maya Kern is looking to print the second volume of the adorable webcomic Monster Pop; Amanda Lafrenais is campaigning to release the second Titty-Time print collection of erotic comics; and Deandra Tan is hoping to release a print edition of her graphic novel Love Debut!.

Quick Takes

Aoharu X Machinegun, Volume 1Aoharu X Machinegun, Volume 1 by Naoe. I picked up the first volume of Aoharu X Machinegun more on a whim than anything else but I ended up enjoying it much more than I expected. On the surface there are a few things about the beginning of Aoharu X Machinegun that are oddly reminiscent of Ouran High School Host Club–Masamune works in a host club and Hotaru, who is often mistaken for a boy, gets wrapped up in his schemes after she needs to earn some money for damaging the club’s property–but the similarities mostly end there. Hotaru has an overly-strong sense of of justice and has a tendency to get into fights because of it. Masamune is the leader of a competitive survival/war game team and has decided the Hotaru should become its third member after her aggressiveness leaves a distinct impression on him. Initially, the team’s second member Tooru, who also happens to be well-known hentai mangaka, is less than thrilled about this. They’re both completely unaware that Hotaru is a girl, too, which could cause some trouble later on. Aoharu X Machinegun is kind of ridiculous but fun. I enjoyed its action and sense of humor and this point would be interested in reading more.

Bakune Young, Volume 1Bakune Young, Volumes 1-3 by Toyokazu Matsunaga. I’ve been meaning to read Bakune Young for quite a while now but the short series is long out-of-print and can be somewhat difficult to find. (Fortunately, it turned out that my library actually owns a complete set.) Reading Bakune Young is quite an experience to say the least. Matsunaga’s artwork, while it’s frequently and deliberately grotesque and at times could even be described as ugly, is tremendous. The story itself is nearly nonsensical, but it does manage to have a bizarre sort of logic to it. The series opens with the titular Bakune Young in a pachinko parlor before he begins targeting yakuza in a killing spree. His rampage quickly escalates and eventually not only the yakuza, but Japanese police, a ninja assassin from the French Foreign Legion, psychics, and even the American military all become involved as the death count increases exponentially. Bakune Young is certainly not for the faint of heart. It’s incredibly violent, viciously dark, and legitimately absurd, but assuming one isn’t bothered by all that, it can also be extraordinarily funny. I suspect Bakune Young is a manga that readers either love or hate without there being much middle ground.

The Encyclopedia of Early EarthThe Encyclopedia of Early Earth by Isabel Greenberg. I recently read and absolutely loved Greenberg’s The One Hundred Nights of Hero and so immediately made a point to seek out more of her work. The Encyclopedia of Early Earth was Greenberg’s first graphic novel and received great acclaim when it was published. The comic’s premise is simple: a nameless storyteller as travels the world in search of a missing piece of his soul. The graphic novel shares some obvious similarities to The One  Hundred Nights of Hero in its structure, themes, artwork, and setting. Both comics take place in the pre-prehistoric Early Earth and utilize the same mythologies, cosmologies, and pantheons. Both comics, in addition to love, are also about the importance of stories and storytellers; they find inspiration in and retell existing folktales while intertwining them with those of Greenberg’s own making. Otherwise, the two comics aren’t directly related. The Encyclopedia of Early Earth feels less politically-charged than The One Hundred Nights of Hero which may make it more palatable to some audiences but as a result it isn’t nearly as powerful a work overall in comparison. Even so, The Encyclopedia of Early Earth is wonderful.

Wolf MagicWolf Magic by Natsuki Zippo. So far, Wolf Magic is the only manga by Zippo to have been released in English. As far as I can tell, Wolf Magic is also Zippo’s first professional work. Especially considering that, it’s a very strong collection of boys’ love manga, and I’d certainly be interested in seeing more from Zippo translated. Wolf Magic opens with “The Water of Love for the Withered Flower” which is about Hanasaki, a florist whose severe appearance is at complete odds with what most people would associate with his profession. However, he still manages to unintentionally catch the eye of Hata. The manga then turns to the various “Wolf Magic” stories which follow Nagase, a young gay man, as he falls in and out of love during high school and then continues to look for “the one” in college. In the process, he develops a surprising relationship with Higuchi. While the two story arcs are unrelated and are quite different from each other, thematically they are very similar. Both Hanasaki and Nagase are searching for love and acceptance and both ultimately find it in unexpected places and ways. Overall, with its attractive artwork and excellent characterizations, Wolf Magic is quite well done.

United States of JapanUnited States of Japan by Peter Tieryas. I’ve often heard United States of Japan described as a spiritual sequel or successor to Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle. In some ways that is certainly true–Tieryas’ novel probably would not have existed were it not for Dick’s and makes multiple references to The Man in the High Castle–but the two novels are drastically different from each other in tone and style. The underlying premise, however, is the same. Emerging victorious from World War II, Japan now controls a significant portion of what was once the United States of America. The grim cyberpunk alternate history presented in United States of Japan (complete with mecha battles and graphic torture) can be extraordinarily brutal and gruesome. The lead characters aren’t exactly the most likeable or sympathetic people, either, though they become slightly more so as the novel progresses. Captain Ben Ishimura, whose only talent seems to be hacking and programming, is a censor who comes to the attention of Agent Akiko Tsukino when an illegal video game which imagines America winning the Second World War threatens to embolden resistance against the rule of Japan.

Manga the Week of 2/1/17

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SEAN: For a ‘5th week’, this is a pretty huge one. Longtime readers know that when the 1st falls on a Wednesday, it’s not really the first week, but there’s still tons of stuff.

J-Novel Club has made its name mostly with typical “light novel” fare for standard anime fans. That said, the release of The Faraway Paladin is really being touted by them as a good novel in general. It’s a dark fantasy, and they’re REALLY pushing it as not your typical light novel fare.

They are also releasing Mixed Bathing in Another Dimension, which is absolutely your typical light novel fare.

If you enjoyed the first volumes of Deathtopia and Wave, Listen to Me! when they came out digitally Tuesday, well, Kodansha is releasing the 2nd volumes next week.

MICHELLE: Hooray!

ASH: I’m hoping we’ll eventually see a print edition, but I might not be able to wait for it.

ANNA: Nice! Preparing for a good digital only edition of manga binge.

SEAN: Many may remember the Alice in the Country of Hearts series coming out primarily from Seven Seas. It’s not anymore, for reasons that remain murky, but Seven Seas has tried to retain the spirit by doing Captive Hearts of Oz, which is an original manga series based on the Oz books with art by Mamenosuke Fujimaru, the most popular Alice in the Country of artist.

ASH: I’m actually really curious about this collaboration!

ANNA: I’m a little curious, but also wary because I’m burnt out on both Oz and Country of Hearts stuff. The art should at least be very pretty!

SEAN: I really enjoyed the visual novel Kindred Spirits on the Roof when it came out here last year, being a “yuri” title that actually cared about character depth and not just bodies squishing. There was a short manga spinoff as well, and Seven Seas is putting it out as one omnibus. The good news is it’s NOT an adaptation of the game – these are new stories, and stars some new cast members (it takes place after the game proper, I believe). If you like “non-skeezy” yuri, you must pick this up.

MICHELLE: This one was definitely on my list.

MJ: I’ll put it on mine as well.

ASH: Oh, interesting! I had assumed that it was an adaptation. I guess I’ll need to move it up on my list.

SEAN: And there is also a 2nd and final volume of the Love in Hell spinoff Death Life.

Udon’s Persona schedule has been slipping a bit, but here’s the 2nd volume of Persona 3.

ASH: Since I’ve actually played some of Persona 3, I’ve been meaning to check this series out. Apparently I’ve already fallen behind, though.

Vertical has a 1-volume Junji Ito title, Dissolving Classroom, which comes from a series of stories that ran in Motto!, Akita Shoten’s josei horror title. It’s Junji Ito, so it should be great (and also gross) (and also terrifying).

MJ: I like the sound of that!

ASH: I’m very excited for this release! I like josei, I like horror, I like Ito, so I expect that I’ll like Dissolving Classroom, too.

ANNA: Also curious to check this out.

SEAN: Yen has some new digital only releases. Aphorism 8, Corpse Princess 8, and Sekirei 8.

They also have their light novel titles for the month, beginning with the debut. Death March in the Parallel World Rhapsody had its manga adaptation come out this week, meaning I already discussed it in last week’s Manga the Week of. But hey, prose!

There is a 6th volume of cult favorite Kagerou Daze, which if nothing else promises to be short, and also hopefully clear up a few more mysteries.

The 3rd Overlord novel is unlikely to be short, and will continue to feature our evil protagonists having evil adventures.

Spice & Wolf has its 2nd and 3rd books released digitally for those (like me) who never read it in print years ago.

And Strike the Blood’s 5th volume hopes to resolve the cliffhanger from the last volume and also astound me with its originality. I suspect it will achieve one of those. But the fights will be cool.

Yen also held over two titles to next week. Alice in Murderland gives you more Kaori Yuki goodness (is the entire cast dead yet?).

And they debut Big Order in omnibus format. I had hoped this was a baseball manga, but alas. It’s from the creator of Future Diary.

MICHELLE: I wish it had been a baseball manga, too!

SEAN: Do you have a favorite title you’re picking up?

Manga Giveaway: Please Tell Me! Galko-chan Giveaway

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I realize that it’s the end of the month rather than the beginning, and that I’ve probably already said this, but happy new year, everyone! I’d like to help get 2017 off to a good start with a great giveaway at Experiments in Manga. And so, this month you will all have the chance to win the first volume of Kenya Suzuki’s delightful manga series Please Tell Me! Galko-chan as published in English by Seven Seas. As usual, the giveaway is open worldwide!

Please Tell Me! Galko-chan, Volume 1

I really enjoyed the first volume of Please Tell Me! Galko-chan, perhaps even more than I expected that I would. It’s a bright and cheerful manga, in part because it’s artwork is bright and cheerful, too. Please Tell Me! Galko-chan is somewhat unusual in that it’s completely in color. Although it isn’t uncommon for a manga to include a few color pages here or there, relatively few full-color manga have been licensed in English. While I love the monochromatic illustrations typical of most manga, the deliberate but sparing use of color can create a tremendous narrative impact (I’m thinking of a specific scene in Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto) and full-color manga can be very appealing as well.

So, you may be wondering, how can you a copy of Please Tell Me! Galko-chan, Volume 1?

1) In the comments below, tell me a little about a manga with color artwork that you’ve read, whether color was used for an entire volume or only a few pages. (If you haven’t encountered any, you can simply mention that.)
2) If you’re on Twitter, you can earn a bonus entry by tweeting, or retweeting, about the contest. Make sure to include a link to this post and @PhoenixTerran (that’s me).

That’s all there is to it. Participants in the giveaway can earn up to two entries and have one week to submit comments. If needed or preferred, comments can also be sent via email to phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com and I will then post them here in your name. The giveaway winner will be randomly selected and announced on February 1, 2017. Good luck!

VERY IMPORTANT: Include some way that I can contact you. This can be an e-mail address in the comment form, a link to your website, Twitter username, or whatever. If I can’t figure out how to get a hold of you and you win, I’ll just draw another name.

Contest winner announced–Manga Giveaway: Please Tell Me! Galko-chan Giveaway Winner

My Week in Manga: January 16-January 22, 2017

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My News and Reviews

It’s been several months since my last in-depth review, but over the weekend I actually managed to post one delving into the eighth omnibus of Makoto Yukimura’s Vinland Saga. I really love this series so I am thrilled that Kodansha Comics was able to continue publishing it. The eighth omnibus marks the start of an exciting new story arc and introduces some great new characters. On a personal note, it also felt good to actually finish writing a review since it’s been so long. I’d like to continue posting at least one long-form review or feature every month in addition to the usual My Week in Manga, Bookshelf Overload, and Giveaway features. On the surface it seems to be a reasonable goal, so I guess I’ll see how it goes!

Elsewhere online, Sparkler Monthly‘s first issue of 2017 has been released. As can be expected, all of the content is great, but this issue specifically features Denise Schroeder and her delightful lesbian-themed comic Before You Go. I took a look at the first installment of Before You Go as part of my Year of Yuri review project a couple of years ago. It’s a great comic, so I’m glad so see more of it. And if things go well, there should be a collected edition in the near future as well! Also last week, Seven Seas announced its collaboration with J-Novel Club to release Ao Jyumonji’s Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash and Chiyomaru Shikura’s Occultic;Nine in print.

Quick Takes

Dimension W, Volume 2Dimension W, Volumes 1-2 by Yuji Iwahara. Several of Iwahara’s manga series have been released in English. I’ve read and enjoyed both Cat Paradise and King of Thorn, but there’s also Chikyu Misaki and most recently Dimension W. I’ve come to expect a few things from Iwahara’s manga: great artwork and action, large and diverse casts, intriguing settings and premises, and entertaining stories that take numerous twists and turns (and which often end up rather convoluted as a result). So far, it seems as though Dimension W will also follow this pattern and, being Iwahara’s longest series, I suspect that the plot will go in some truly bizarre directions. But even considering that Iwahara seems to be constantly making up and changing the rules when it’s convenient just to make the story work, I’m actually really enjoying Dimension W. In the series, New Tesla is a company that has gained a tremendous amount of political and social influence due to the fact that it monopolizes a nearly limitless source of energy and the technology needed to use it. The power could be dangerous in the wrong hands, and New Tesla may very well be the wrong hands.

Firefighter! Daigo of Fire Company M, Volume 11Firefighter! Daigo of Fire Company M, Volumes 11-20 by Masahito Soda. One of the things about Firefighter! is that once I start reading it, I can’t seem to put it down. It’s a fantastic action series that’s firmly based in reality, although some of the scenarios are so completely over-the-top that they strain believability. Even so, the drama and intensity of Firefighter! is thrilling. With every rescue Soda keeps increasing the stakes, finding ways to make each one even more daring and astonishing than the last. And seeing as the first half of Firefighter! ends with Daigo intentionally crashing a fire engine into a building, that’s a pretty impressive feat. Admittedly, the series can get pretty absurd, but it’s always entertaining as well as engaging. The character development is excellent, too. In the heat of the moment, Daigo has the tendency to make some incredibly dangerous although ultimately life-saving decisions, but afterwards he struggles to come to terms with his actions and underlying motives. Firefighter! is a great series and well-worth a look. The manga is currently out-of-print, but fortunately it is readily available digitally.

Please Tell Me! Galko-chan, Volume 1Please Tell Me! Galko-chan, Volume 1 by Kenya Suzuki. I first learned about the Please Tell Me! Galko-chan manga due to its recent anime adaptation (which I haven’t actually seen yet), but I was still very curious about the original series. What I didn’t realize until I picked up the first volume was that the manga is actually completely illustrated in color; the palette and style that Suzuki uses for the cover illustration is pretty much what is used for the interior artwork as well. Please Tell Me! Galko-chan is a surprisingly sweet, funny, and charming series, especially considering that it frankly deals with issues surrounding puberty, sex, and so on. Some of the subject matter is more innocent, but there’s plenty of  dirty humor and jokes, too. Though the framing of the series is fictional, the largely short and episodic manga of Please Tell Me! Galko-chan do incorporate a fair amount of factual information. What I really appreciate about Please Tell Me! Galko-chan is that while the topics covered often embarrass the characters–frequently they’re discussing breasts, menstruation, and sex in a deliberate attempt to make each other blush–there’s never a sense that they or their bodies are shameful.

Ze, Volumes 10-11 by Yuki Shimizu. Despite at one point being rather fond of Shimizu’s supernatural boys’ love Ze, it’s taken me a while to actually get around to reading the main manga’s last story arc and conclusion. (Granted, that may have also been partly due to the numerous delays and unreliability of Digital Manga’s release schedule.) As a whole Ze tends to be fairly sexually explicit, but these two volumes are for the most part relatively tame and include very little sex at all. The relationships and power dynamics in the series are still pretty intense, though. The final story arc of Ze is almost entirely devoted to revealing the backstory of Waki and his connection to the Mitou family. In an interesting twist, it turns out that Waki has always been an asshole and there was nothing in particular that made him that way; although unfortunate things have certainly happened to him, his depraved personality is completely his own. The Mitou family’s past is certainly a strange and tragic one that has resulted in a great deal of suffering over time, but Shimizu does manage to end the series on a positive and redemptive note.

Pick of the Week: Catch the Wave

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SEAN: As always, there’s a ton of stuff I’d like to pick this week. The new digital volumes from Kodansha, the Nisioisin novel, new Horimiya and Furuba… that said, I will have my pick be the final volume of Umineko When They Cry: Dawn of the Golden Witch, if only as I’m not sure when the next arc will be coming out and I’d like to recommend it one last time. Even if it can be aggravating.

MICHELLE: I’ll definitely be picking up a few things from Yen Press this week, but I am officially picking Wave, Listen to Me! this week. Not only am I interested in radio stations, I also admire Samura-sensei’s artwork, so it’s the obvious choice for me.

ASH: I’m not usually one for digital manga but like Michelle the release I’m most interested in this week is Wave, Listen to Me! Samura’s Blade of the Immortal was actually one of the first manga that I ever read, so I’m always happy for the chance to read more of his work. I definitely hope there will be a print edition in the future, though!

MJ: I, too, will be jumping on the Wave, Listen to Me! bandwagon this week! Though I was never a big fan of Blade of the Immortal, I’m very interested in the premise of Wave. It’s the kind of story that, on the face of it, you’d expect to be written by someone like Moyoco Anno. I gotta check it out.

KATE: At the risk of sounding like a skipping record, I’m also going to surf the Wave. (Sorry–not sorry.) I liked Samura’s Ohikkoshi and Emerald — more than Blade of the Immortal, if I’m being honest — so I’m pretty sure Wave will be in my wheelhouse.

ANNA: No surprise, I’m also most interested in Wave, Listen to Me!. I have very fond memories of Samura’s non-Blade of the Immortal Work so I’m also very intrigued by this new title from him.

Vinland Saga, Vol. 8

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Vinland Saga, Omnibus 8Creator: Makoto Yukimura
Translator: Stephen Paul
U.S. publisher: Kodansha
ISBN: 9781682335406
Released: December 2016
Original release: 2014-2015
Awards: Japan Media Arts Award, Kodansha Manga Award

For a time it seemed as though the fate of the English-language edition of Makoto Yukimura’s epic award-winning manga series Vinland Saga was in question. Happily though, Kodansha Comics has been able to continue releasing the series. While the seventh omnibus reached a satisfying conclusion to one of the series’ major story arcs, it was still obvious that Yukimura had more to tell. I honestly believe that Vinland Saga is one of the strongest manga currently being released in English. It is also a personal favorite of mine, so I was thrilled when the eighth hardcover omnibus was finally released in 2016, collecting the fifteenth and sixteenth volumes of the original Japanese edition published between 2014 and 2015. Unlike the past few omnibuses of Vinland Saga, there is no additional content directly relating to the series (I was sad not to see the continuation of the “Ask Yukimura” section), but it does include an extensive preview of Kazuhiro Fujita’s The Ghost and the Lady, another historically-inspired manga available from Kodansha.

Finally free from his life of slavery but still bound by the violence of his past, Thorfinn travels back to Iceland in order to briefly reunite with his family before setting into motion his plans for the future. Accompanied by Einar, Leif, and “Bug-Eyes,” Thorfinn intends to colonize Vinland in an attempt to create a peaceful settlement far removed from the wars and violence seemingly inherent to the Norse way of life. But before that they must first secure the resources and supplies needed for the venture and support from others will be hard to come by–Thorfinn has very little to offer a potential investor except for ideals and his own life. Initially it seemed that they could secure the aid of Halfdan, a wealthy landowner who was already planning to become a relative of Leif’s by marrying his son to the widow of Lief’s brother, but then the wedding doesn’t go quite as planned. Thorfinn and the others may very well have gained themselves a few new enemies when they flee Iceland with Gudrid, the runaway bride.

Vinland Saga, Omnibus 8, page 50From the beginning, many of the women in Vinland Saga have been strong, memorable characters (Thorfinn’s sister and mother in particular are marvelous), but for the most part the focus of the series has been on the stories of the men. However, with the eighth omnibus there is a notable change in the manga with he introduction of Gudrid who becomes one of the main characters of Vinland Saga. In fact, a great deal of the plot currently directly revolves around her. I absolutely adore Gudrid. Like Thorfinn, she is struggling against the constraints of what is considered acceptable by the culture and traditions of their society. She has absolutely no interest in marriage or in behaving like a “proper” woman; her heart has always been set on exploring the world around her and expanding her horizons. Gudrid repeatedly proves that her worth is equal to or even greater than that of a man. Eventually, her persistence and brashness pays off although the circumstances surrounding her becoming a sailor are admittedly less than ideal.

Gudrid isn’t the only great female character to be introduced in the eighth Vinland Saga omnibus. Among others, there is also Astrid, Halfdan’s wife, and Hild, a young woman who proves once more that Thorfinn can never truly escape his past misdeeds. While many of the previous omnibuses have been battle-oriented, the eight omnibus tends to pay more attention to the characters themselves and their relationships. However, there are still a few excellent action sequences and Yukimura’s artwork continues to be dynamic and dramatic even when physical violence is not as prominent. For example, Halfdan exudes an aura of intensity and power–the way he is drawn and visually framed is frequently reminiscent of the way King Canute was portrayed, emphasizing his status and influence. This, of course, makes it even more satisfying when Astrid calmly, quietly, and fearlessly puts her husband in his place. (I really hope to see more of Astrid in the future.) Vinland Saga remains an incredibly well-done manga. With a growing cast of fantastic, complex characters, an engrossing story exploring themes of freedom and violence, and excellent artwork, I can’t wait to read more.

Manga the Week of 1/25/17

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SEAN: For a Yen week, this is actually pretty reasonable. Mostly as Yen moved a bunch of titles to the week after next, but hey.

Kodansha first, though. They’ve recently announced several new titles as digital releases. Deathtopia debuts next week, from the creator of Cage of Eden. This is a seinen title from Evening Magazine, and we’ll see if it’s as fanservice-laden as its shonen predecessor. It’s a thriller.

Wave, Listen to Me! gets the award for best title of the week. It’s an Afternoon manga from the creator of Blade of the Immortal. Fans of that series will be happy to hear this new one takes place… at a radio station?

ASH: I just found out about this series and I am incredibly curious about it.

MICHELLE: Oooooh! I especially like that the Kodansha site mentions “the beginning of an aggressive ramp-up in new digital manga series!”

KATE: Count me in for Wave, Listen to Me!, too. I’m a little biased — I teach a class on radio and television history — but I’m delighted to see a few grown-up options in the mix.

MJ: Oh, interesting.

ANNA: I am officially intrigued.

SEAN: And this isn’t out in volume form yet, but a new series from the creator of A Silent Voice debuts next week with 10 individual chapters, which catches us up with Weekly Shonen Magazine. Called To Your Eternity (Fumetsu no Anata e), it’s more supernaturally tinged than A Silent Voice but apparently just as depressing.

Kodansha also has an 8th print volume of Forget Me Not.

Seven Seas surprisingly only has one title out this week, given how much they’ve been piling on the books lately. It’s the 5th volume of Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary.

Vertical Inc. has the first volume of Nisioisin’s popular Zaregoto series, Decapitation: Kubikiri Cycle, though they emphasize they’ve only licensed this one volume, to tie in with the current Japanese OAV adaptation. It was actually released by Del Rey years ago; this is a re-edited version, and hopefully now that Bakemonogatari is popular it should see more readers.

Vertical Comics also gives us a third Immortal Hounds.

And the rest is Yen Press. First off, a 9th volume of capital letter and punctuation loving Akame Ga KILL!.

The 8th manga volume of A Certain Magical Index wraps up the adaptation of the 6th novel.

Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody is the runner-up for best title of the week. As for the content, it’s a story where a guy finds himself transported to another world, gaining impressive powers, and surrounded by beautiful… wait, why are you running away? “Transported to another world” is this year’s vampires! This is the manga, the novel is out one week later.

First Love Monster has a 6th volume.

Fruits’ Basket Collector’s Edition reached Vol. 9, and get ready, because this is the one with THAT spoiler which shattered Furuba fandom forever.

MICHELLE: I continue to boggle that we’re up to this point already. But I also love that we’re still maintaining the secrecy of that spoiler.

SEAN: Horimiya has a 6th volume, and we’ll see if things advance on the romance front.

ASH: I’ve been enjoying Horimiya a great deal.

MICHELLE: Woot!

SEAN: I’ve enjoyed the light novel The Isolator, dark as it’s been, and so am pleased to see the manga adaptation is now coming out over here.

And there’s a 3rd volume of fantasy Liselotte & Witch’s Forest.

MICHELLE: I’ll be picking up this one, too.

SEAN: Murciélago also debuts this month from Yen Press. It’s a Young Gangan title that is apparently SUPER violent, and has humor so black it causes you to redefine “funny”. And it also has a lesbian lead, though this isn’t your cute high school girls sort of lesbian. I’ve heard good things about it (it has the Erica Friedman seal of approval), but with lots of “it’s pretty sick” warnings.

ASH: I’ve heard good things, too, but it definitely won’t be a series for everybody.

MJ: I would describe myself as interested, but skeptical.

SEAN: Rokka: Brave of the Six Flowers also has its manga adaptation debut (the novel arrives in April). It’s a fantasy series with strong word of mouth – real fantasy, rather than light novel fantasy. This adaptation ran in Shueisha’s now defunct Super Dash & Go!.

ANNA: Huh, I am always up for more fantasy manga.

SEAN: I was pleasantly surprised at how good I found the first volume of Scum’s Wish, though ‘pleasant’ is perhaps the wrong word for what’s going on with these kids. I look forward to the second volume.

MICHELLE: Same. Dark and complex, but not ecchi like the cover of volume one might suggest.

SEAN: Taboo Tattoo has a 5th volume, and is very Monthly Comic Alive.

Today’s Cerberus sees a 2nd print volume, and is still cute and silly.

You can’t have a long list of manga without at least one survival game title, and there is is: the 2nd volume of Tohyo Game.

Lastly, we wrap up the 6th Umineko arc with the 3rd and final omnibus of Dawn of the Golden Witch. I’m not sure when the 7th arc will begin – Yen hasn’t scheduled it – but this volume at least resolves Erika Furudo’s role in the series… at least for the time being.

A lot of new stuff this week. What appeals to you most?

Pick of the Week: Outside the Box

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ASH: It’s a relatively small week for new manga releases but, unsurprisingly, there are still a few things that I’m interested in. Apparently I’m in the mood for quirky horror since both Franken Fran and Dorohedoro are high on that list. My official pick goes to Dorohedoro though as I can’t seem to resist it’s bizarrely charming characters and humor.

KATE: I didn’t find much in this week’s new manga arrivals, so I’m going off-list for my recommendation: Snow Blind, a TPB that collects all four issues of a limited-run series by Ollie Masters and Tyler Jenkins. The artwork is moody and gorgeous — who knew Alaska was such a good setting for noir? — and the plotting is skillful. Heck, even Warren Ellis seems to like it, so there’s that, too.

SEAN: Like Ash, it’s pretty much a choice between Franken Fran and Dorohedoro this week, and, like Ash, I will be picking the latter. Still one of the more surprising Viz licenses, especially without an anime, I am so pleased that this has gotten to Volume 20. Even if I will no doubt find it confusing again.

MICHELLE: I’m sure I would enjoy Dorohedoro if I actually got around to reading it, but since I haven’t, I’d feel weird recommending it. So, instead, I will recommend two series that I actually have finally gotten around to reading, after seeing both recommended multiple times on Manga Bookshelf: One-Punch Man and A Silent Voice. I am enjoying both quite a lot and can now add my voice to the chorus of praise.

ANNA: There isn’t really anything that appeals to me this week, but I’ve recently been trying to get caught up on The Demon Prince of Momochi House, which incorporates lovely art into a story exploring the relationship between human guardians living in a nexus between the human and spiritual world. That’s my pick!

MJ: I’m not particularly excited about anything on this week’s list, but I have a considerable backlog to get through, so that’s not necessarily a bad thing. First on my docket, I think, is the SuBLime series, Ten Count by Rihito Takarai. I have the first two volumes sitting here, with volume three on its way next month. I’m a little nervous about what looks to be a problematic relationship (therapist and patient), but considering how common that is in BL, I can at least take heart that the characters are adults, and that there isn’t a terrified uke on the cover. So I’m feeling optimistic.

My Week in Manga: January 9-January 15, 2017

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My News and Reviews

Last week at Experiments in Manga I posted the Bookshelf Overload for December. It includes a pretty big list of things, in part due to massive holiday sales, so hopefully future months won’t be quite as ridiculous. Another thing that happened last week that was kind of cool was related to a post that I wrote back in 2014. My Spotlight on Masaichi Mukaide is probably one of the most noteworthy things that I’ve ever written and it actually got quite a bit of attention when I posted it. Well, Masaichi Mukaide himself apparently came across it recently and even left a comment.

Probably the biggest manga news from last week was the slew of licenses and other announcements made by Seven Seas. Here’s the list of manga:

Absolute Duo by Takumi Hiiragiboshi and Shinichirou Nariie
Alice & Zouroku by Tetsuya Imai
Captain Harlock: Dimensional Voyage by Leiji Matsumoto and Kouichi Shimahoshi
The Count of Monte Cristo by Moriyama Ena
Cutie Honey a Go Go! by Hideaki Anno and Shinpei Itou
Devilman G by Go Nagai and Rui Takatou
Dragon Half by Ryusuke Mita
Hatsune Miku: Bad End Night by Hitoshizuku-P x Yama and Tsubata Nozaki
Hatsune Miku Presents: Hachune Miku’s Everyday Vocaloid Paradise by Ontama
Magical Girl Special Ops Asuka by Makoto Fukami and Seigo Tokiya
Sleeping Beauty by Yumi Unita
Spirit Circle by Satoshi Mizukami
The Testament of Sister New Devil Storm by Tetsuto Uesu and Fumihiro Kiso
Unmagical Girl by Ryuichi Yokoyama and Manmaru Kamitsuki
Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea by Mogeko

Seven Seas is getting back into translating novels and has a deluxe edition of Ryo Mizuno’s Record of the Lodoss War: The Grey Witch with illustrations by illustrations by Yutaka Izubuchi in the works, too. Also announced was a full-color edition of Madeleine Rosca’s Hollow Fields and five more illustrated literary classics. (I found Seven Seas release of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass to be quite enjoyable.)

It’s a pretty interesting group of announcements with a fairly wide range of titles to choose from. There’s even a manga from the late ’80s (Dragon Half), and not many of those are licensed any more. I’m particularly curious about Moriyama Ena’s adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo (the cover art is gorgeous), the josei manga Sleeping Beauty by Yumi Unita (whose Bunny Drop left me with extremely conflicted feelings), as well as the number of titles which are part of classic franchises.

Quick Takes

Devils' Line, Volume 1Devils’ Line, Volumes 1-2 by Ryo Hanada. I actually didn’t realize it at first, but Devils’ Line is the second work by Hanada to be released in English. The first was the doujinshi Good-bye Geist which overall I enjoyed. However, Devils’ Line is Hanada’s first professional series. In general, I’m liking it, too, except that the artwork is terribly inconsistent. At times it’s absolutely spectacular (the cover illustrations are especially great) but within a few panels it may have lost all sense of scale an anatomy. I can’t quite tell if this is mean to be deliberate or not; if so, the execution is unconvincing. The story isn’t as tight as it could be, but it does have a nice blend of genres, including romance, horror, action, crime, and thriller. And, like Good-bye Geist, the series has a marvelously ominous atmosphere. The plot centers around Tsukasa, who unfortunately seems to be a magnet for both vampires (or “devils”) and sexual assault, and Anzai, a half-vampire working for the police in a unit specializing in devil-related incidents. Vampirism in Devils’ Line has an intensely sexual component to it; the eroticism often associated with vampires in other stories is in this case incredibly dark and violent.

The Ghost and the Lady, Volume 2The Ghost and the Lady, Volume 2 by Kazuhiro Fujita. Admittedly, The Ghost and the Lady is kind of a strange manga series. In part historical fiction and in part supernatural drama, the manga’s disparate elements don’t always perfectly mesh, but I still enjoyed the series a great deal. In The Ghost and the Lady, Fujita mixes together historical facts and legends, reimagining the life of Florence Nightingale and her accomplishments during the Crimean War with a distinctly supernatural flair. It’s clear that Fujita has done a tremendous amount of research for the series; and as the afterword by the series’ translator Zack Davisson points out, more or less every named character in the manga has a historical counterpart. There’s Nightingale herself as well as the people she knew, Grey is based on a famous ghost of the Drury Lane theater, and even historical figures like the Chevalier d’Éon have prominent roles to play. (Speaking of whom, I really need to find a good biography of d’Éon to read.) Despite the presence of the ghosts, the supernatural aspects of The Ghost and the Lady seem to come and go; I do wish that the eidolons had been utilized a little more in the series’ second half because it’s great when they are.

Holy Corpse Rising, Volume 1Holy Corpse Rising, Volume 1 by Hosana Tanaka. As can be safely assumed by provocative cover art, Holy Corpse Rising is a manga series that includes a fair amount of nudity and scantily clad women. However, despite the occasional ridiculousness, the fanservice is largely keeping with the style and tone of the series as a whole, so it doesn’t feel out-of-place; a significant portion of Holy Corpse Rising is intended to be titillating. In general, Tanaka’s artwork is quite attractive, though the women in the series are the most beautiful. They’re also by far the most powerful characters, both in ability and status. The first volume of Holy Corpse Rising serves as an introduction to the war between the Credic Church and the witches. Nikola, a monk who is a specialist in witch lore, is charged with securing the aid of the coven of first witches in the Church’s fight against their descendants. But first Nikola must resurrect them and in the process manages to put himself in some rather compromising situations. So far the first witches each seem to gain their power from a different bodily fluid (tears, blood). And since there are twelve of them, Holy Corpse Rising has the potential to enter some pretty kinky territory.

The One Hundred Nights of HeroThe One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg. I don’t recall exactly what it was that brought The One Hundred Nights of Hero to my attention, but I’m so glad that I read it because it is marvelous; I loved the comic. Greenberg takes inspiration from existing stories and even provides retelling of folktales over the course of the graphic novel. The framework is deliberately similar to that of One Thousand and One Nights and there are stories within stories within stories. In fact, The One Hundred Nights of Hero is about the power of stories and storytellers. It’s also about love and “brave women who don’t take shit from anyone.” At the center of the comic is Cherry and her maid Hero, two women who love each other dearly. Night after night, Hero spins tale after tale in an effort to save their lives. The world of The One Hundred Nights of Hero is an incredibly misogynistic one. While different from our own, in some ways it is also tragically reminiscent. The One Hundred Nights of Hero isn’t always particularly subtle and can at times feel somewhat heavy-handed, but it’s a wonderfully powerful and unabashedly feminist work. I definitely plan on seeking out more of Greenberg’s comics.

Moshi MoshiMoshi Moshi by Banana Yoshimoto. Despite being an extremely prolific author and one of the most well-known Japanese novelists translated in English, I haven’t actually read any of Yoshimoto’s works until now. The story of Moshi Moshi is told from the first-person perspective of Yoshie, a young woman whose father has recently died. A successful musician, the circumstances surrounding his death are somewhat unclear, but it’s believed that he committed double suicide with a woman who neither she or her mother knows. The novel follows Yoshie as she tries to come to terms with the unexpected loss of her father by reinventing her life in the chic neighborhood of Shimokitazawa. Her mother joins her there, feeling that the ghost of her husband is haunting the family home, and Yoshie herself is plagued with recurring dreams in which her father appears, searching for his phone. Though Moshi Moshi does tend to drag a little in places, I really liked how Yoshimoto handles the themes of love, loss, and the inevitability of change in the novel. I suspect that Moshi Moshi likely isn’t the best introduction to Yoshimoto’s work, but for the most part I did appreciate it.

Manga the Week of 1/18

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SEAN: Mid-month, and it’s a mostly quiet time in manga land. Some series end, but others carry on regardless. What’ve we got this time around?

ASH: Wow! It’s been a while since we’ve had a week this quiet.

SEAN: Kodansha has a 2nd volume of Interviews with Monster Girls, whose first volume I found pretty good. It’s more on the ‘cute’ than ‘sexy’ end of the spectrum.

ASH: Hopefully the recent anime adaptation will encourage people to try the manga, too.

SEAN: And there’s an 18th volume of The Seven Deadly Sins.

One Peace gives us an 8th volume of yuri trap manga Maria Holic.

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Seven Seas has one of my favorite horrible guilty pleasure series come to an end with the 4th and final omnibus of Franken Fran. I understand it wasn’t a big seller, which is a shame, but its over-the-top horrible horror and humor always tickled my funny bone. Or made my jaw drop.

ASH: I’ve been thoroughly enjoying Franken Fran. It’s sad to hear it hasn’t done especially well, but I’m glad to have it on my shelves.

SEAN: How to Build a Dungeon also made my jaw drop, but not in a good way. Vol. 2 is out. Buyer beware.

My Girlfriend Is a T-Rex also has a 2nd volume, and I found the first, like Interviews with Monster Girls, cute and ‘pretty good’. This is a mild recommendation.

And Non Non Biyori’s 6th volume, a series that takes slice of life to such extremes you may fall asleep just reading the synopsis.

Vertical gives us a 7th volume of Ninja Slayer, which has ninjas, who possibly slay.

Viz has the 20th volume of Dorohedoro, and I could not be more delighted. I look forward to this series every time a new volume comes out.

ASH: Yes! I love Dorohedoro.

SEAN: And there is a 16th Terra Formars as well.

Lastly, Tokyo Ghoul has a 2nd novel based on the popular series, this one called Void.

MANGA? It’s what’s happening. What are you getting?

MICHELLE: Uhhh… nothing, apparently.

KATE: That makes two of us, Michelle! There’s a whole lotta “Whoa!” and “No!” in this week’s shipments as far as I’m concerned.

MJ: Same! Is it sad that I’m somewhat relieved to finally have disembarked the Seven Seas train? Sorry, Seven Seas.

ANNA: There is nothing that appeals to me this week, which is good because I can hopefully get caught up reading other things!

Bookshelf Overload: December 2016

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Well, December happened, as I knew it would. I took advantage of a large number of holiday and end of year sales and made good use of coupons and gift cards, so my wallet is happier than it would have been otherwise, but I still managed to pick up an absurd number of things. This includes an unusual amount of anime for me, such as the Amazon-exclusive limited edition of Cowboy Bebop which was on super sale at one point. (This will replace the bootleg copy I unintentionally bought when I was much younger and didn’t know any better or how to tell the difference.) Probably the manga release I was most excited for in December was the return of Makoto Yukimura’s Vinland Saga. (I’ll hopefully have a review of the eighth and most recent omnibus to share in the near future.) I’m also especially happy to have the deluxe edition of Junji Ito’s Tomie and the conclusion of The Ghost and the Lady by Kazuhiro Fujita on my shelves. And, of course, more of Inio Asano’s Goodnight Punpun, Haruichi Furudate’s Haikyu!!, and Izumi Tsubaki’s Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun are always welcome. Fans of Mentaiko Itto will also want to be aware of the poster collection recently released by Bruno Gmünder. It’s labeled as “1,” so there may very well be more to come. (Ahem.) As for comics, Reindeer Boy by Cassandra Jean is a lot of fun and I recently read and highly recommend The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg.

Manga!
Aoharu X Machinegun, Volume 1 by Naoe
Blood Blockade Battlefront, Volumes 1-7 by Yasuhiro Nightow
Bungo Stray Dogs, Volume 1 written by Kafka Asagiri, illustrated by Sango Harukawa
Dragon Voice, Volumes 1-10 by Yuriko Nishiyama
Fruits Basket, Omnibus 1 by Natsuki Takaya
Gangsta: Cursed, Volume 1 written by Kohske, illustrated by Syuhei Kamo
The Ghost and the Lady, Volume 2 by Kazuhiro Fujita
Giganto Maxia by Kentaro Miura
Goodnight Punpun, Omnibus 4 by Inio Asano
Haikyu!!, Volume 7 by Haruichi Furudate
Happiness, Volume 2 by Shuzo Oshimi
He’s My Only Vampire, Volumes 1-3 by Aya Shouoto
Holy Corpse Rising, Volume 1 by Hosana Tanaka
Hunter x Hunter, Volumes 1-8 by Yoshihiro Togashi
Kiss of the Rose Princess, Volumes 1-2 by Aya Shouoto
Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, Volumes 1-2 by Shinobu Ohtaka
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, Volume 5 by Izumi Tsubaki
New Lone Wolf and Cub, Volume 6 written by Kazuo Koike, illustrated by Hideki Mori
One-Punch Man, Volume 10 written by One, illustrated by Yusuke Murata
Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Volumes 11-12 by Fumi Yoshinaga
Pandora Hearts, Volumes 20-22 by Jun Mochizuki
Persona 4, Volumes 4-5 by Shuji Sogabe
The Prince and His Dark Days, Volume 2 by Hico Yamanaka
Seven Princes of the Thousand Year Labyrinth, Volume 1 by Yu Aikawa
Sweetness and Lightning, Volume 3 by Gido Amagakure
Tomie by Junji Ito
Vinland Saga, Omnibus 8 by Makoto Yukimura
Welcome to the Ballroom, Volume 2 by Tomo Takeuchi

Comics!
Babybel Wax Bodysuit by Eric Kostiuk Williams
Battles by Jenn Woodall
Canopy by Karine Bernadou
Centralia 2050, Chapters 1-2 by Michelle Stanford
A City Inside by Tillie Walden
Diesel Ignition by Tyson Hesse
Dirty Diamonds, Issue 7: Imagination edited by Claire Folkman and Kelly Phillips
The End of Summer by Tillie Walden
Forest Dew by Heldrad
Hot Dog Taste Test by Lisa Hanawalt
I Love This Part by Tillie Walden
Little Kinano by Yeehun
Mondo by Ted McKeever
Oath: An Anthology of New (Queer) Heroes edited by Audre Redpath
The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg
Panther by Brecht Evens
RAV, Volume 2 by Mickey Zacchilli
Reindeer Boy by Cassandra Jean
Rosalie Lightning by Tom Hart
Small Town Witch written by Alex Singer, illustrated by Jayd Aït-Kaci
Somthing Terrible by Dean Trippe
Spidersilk, Volume 1 by Pamela Kotila
SuperCakes by Kate Leyh
That Which Wills: Virgo Rising, Book 1 written by Alex Singer, illustrated by Jayd Aït-Kaci

Artbooks!
BLKBT by C Lijewski
Burl & Furl edited by Irene Koh, Ricardo Bessa, Paul Reinwand, and Kevin Jay Stanton
Poster Book 1 by Mentaiko Itto

Novels!
The Borrowed by Chan Ho-Kei
Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yoko Tawada
Moshi Moshi by Banana Yoshimoto
Orochi no Yaiba written by Itoshi, illustrated by Aldaria
Outlet by Randy Taguchi

Anime!
Cowboy Bebop directed by Shinichirō Watanabe
Detroit Metal City directed by Hiroshi Nagahama
My Love Story directed by Morio Asaka
Natsume’s Book of Friends, Seasons 3-4 directed by Takahiro Omori
The Perfect Insider directed by Mamoru Kanbe
Persona 4: The Animation directed by Seiji Kishi
Terror in Resonance directed by Shinichirō Watanabe
Yurikuma Arashi directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara
Young Black Jack directed by Mitsuko Kase

Pick of the Week: Manga from the Other Side

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SEAN: There’s a significant amount of stuff I’m getting this week, but I’m going to go with Seven Seas again, as my pick is for The Girl From the Other Side: Siúil, A Rún, because it’s winter and I therefore want more moody fantasy.

MICHELLE: This week, that Wolf-boy will be mine!

KATE: I second Sean’s pick: The Girl From the Other Side looks like the kind of Seven Seas title that a grown woman could read in public without raising too many eyebrows. That cover is swoon-worthy! The Midtown Comics website indicates that we can expect 4″ – 8″ of new VIZ product on Wednesday, so there’s temptation in that pile, too. I liked the first two volumes of Bisco Hatori’s Behind the Scenes!! enough to pick up the third. I’m also still enjoying One-Punch Man–miraculously, it hasn’t gotten stale–so I’ll probably pick up volume ten.

ANNA: There are some great manga coming out this week, but The Girl From the Other Side seems most interesting to me. I don’t normally pick up many Seven Seas titles, but I am very intrigued.

ASH: The Girl From the Other Side is easily my pick this week as well. The series has been on my radar ever since it was reviewed at Brain Vs. Book, so I’m thrilled to finally be able to read its English-language debut.

MJ: Am I really picking a Seven Seas title for the second week in a row? Wow, I really am. The Girl From the Other Side is by far the most interesting of this week’s prospects to me. Well played, Seven Seas, well played.

MICHELLE: Ash, that link of yours has convinced me to defect! To the Other Side!