Katherine Dacey

Blissful Land, Vol. 1 | By Ichimon Izumi | Kodansha (digital only) – You can almost imagine the pitch for Blissful Land: “It’s like A Bride’s Story, only it takes place in Tibet! The main character is a boy who’s training to be a doctor! Oh, and his best friend is an enormous dog! Readers are gonna love it!” And, truth be told, that’s not a bad summary of this digital-only offering from Kodansha. Like A Bride’s Story, Blissful Land takes place in the 19th century, and focuses on life in a vibrant, rural community where arranged marriages are the norm, and youngsters are betrothed at age 13. The artwork is homey and appealing, and the local customs rendered with historical specificity, but the complete absence of drama makes Blissful Land kind of a snooze, even for readers who are genuinely interested in learning more about Tibetan medicine. Your mileage may vary. – Katherine Dacey

Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon, Vol. 3 | By Shio Usui | Seven Seas – This is a series that just continues to hit all the right notes. It gets into the sacrifices that adults have to make for the next generation… in this case the older sister and her younger sister… and how those sorts of sacrifices don’t work if you don’t get the opinion of the one you’re doing it for. It has a realistic, sympathetic rival character who manages to fill the unlucky childhood friend trope without being pathetic, the way those sorts usually are. And the main protagonist struggles with what romantic feelings and desires are at all. I don’t think this is going down the asexual route, but there’s certainly elements of it here. Can’t wait to read more of this. – Sean Gaffney

Such a Treacherous Piano Sonata, Vol. 2 | By Hal Osaka | Kodansha Manga (digital only) – Unfortunately, I did not find the second volume of this short series nearly as compelling as the first, as it may be josei but its tropes are pure shoujo, and it falls into several cliches. The romantic rival seeming like he’d be a serious alternative might work in a series that was going to be longer, but by the end of this volume you’ll be convinced it will end with the third book. Kanna’s inability to feel real love or desire with a partner, unlike, say, Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon, just feels immature here. On the bright side, I am glad that it’s focusing just as much on her job as the romance, and how her job is ridiculously tough. Still, not must-read. – Sean Gaffney

Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family, Vol. 4 | By TAa | Denpa Books – It can be a lot of fun reading this series and seeing how the author can get more of the cast involved. By definition, this series’ main cast are those who eat everyday at Emiya’s house: Shirou, Saber, Sakura, Rider, and Taiga. It can be harder to shoehorn in those who aren’t there every meal without good excuses, which is possibly why we get only two pages of Rin this time around. And sometimes excuses just aren’t needed, such as having Saber Alter appear purely because the author wanted to do a burger chapter and Saber Alter’s love for burgers is practically a meme. If you were traumatized by any of the main Fate franchises, this is like a balm to your soul. I’m happy to see this volume after a long delay. – Sean Gaffney

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, Vol. 1 | By Hitoshi Ashinano | Seven Seas – I have, of course, read this already. Long, long ago. It’s rare that you get a series licensed that was near the top of the license requests in 2000, where your only real choice was to lean towards Dark Horse and pray. But now it’s 22 years later, the series has fancy new 450-page omnibuses, and we can finally read it over here. Is it worth the wait? I think so, if you like manga where not much happens at all. Alpha runs a coffee shop sometime in Earth’s future, when everyone agrees that humanity’s time is winding down. Fortunately, she’s a robot, so she stays the same. And she even gets a meet cute romance, though the actual “romance” part is as vague as 1990s yuri was. I definitely recommend it, though. – Sean Gaffney

Catch These Hands!, Vol. 2 | By murata | Yen Press – The first volume in this series mostly focused on the grumpy-faced (and, let’s face it, grumpy in general) Takebe, but this second volume allows us a better look at her new girlfriend Soramori. She took the initiative in asking Takebe out… but has no idea what couples do on a date. Her attempts to figure this out, which involves a lot of overcompensating and thinking about the wrong things, are what drive the humor in this volume. The actual romance is still pretty much in neutral, but this makes sense given that we’re not even sure how Takebe really feels about all this. We’re also introduced to Takebe’s cousin, who also seems to be a bit obsessed with her. This remains a fun yuri comedy. – Sean Gaffney

A Galaxy Next Door, Vol. 1 | By Gido Amagakure | Kodansha Comics – After his parents pass away, twenty-something Ichiro Kuga steps in to raise his younger siblings while struggling to make it in the manga biz. Through sheer luck, he finds just the right assistant to help him meet a tight deadline—an assistant who’s both a little too good to be true (her technique is flawless, even though her experience is limited to copying other people’s work) and a little odd. As Ichiro soon discovers, Shiori isn’t an ordinary person, but a visitor from a remote island where… well, I won’t spoil her backstory, but suffice to say that A Galaxy Next Door gets weirder as it goes along. The fantasy elements didn’t really work for me, but the human elements did, particularly the warm rapport between Ichiro and his siblings, and the kiddos’ interest in their strange, glamorous new housemate. File this under YMMV. – Katherine Dacey

Good Dog, Cerberus! | By Moha Arimura | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – If you’re looking for a light-hearted gag manga, you could do a lot worse than Good Dog, Cerberus!, a digital-only offering from Kodansha Comics. The premise is simple: Cerberus, the infamous three-headed guardian of the Underworld, is not a fierce, snarling beast, but a cute, fluffy Pomeranian who’s terrible at his job. Though he’s tasked with preventing souls from escaping, he’d rather be eating pastry or fetching a stick, making it easy for folks to bribe their way out of Hell. Hades, his owner, is torn between adoring his cute-as-a-button minion and castigating Cerberus for slacking off. Moha Arimura wrings a surprising number of laughs from this one-joke set-up by leaning into the idea that Cerberus is a normal dog whose extra two heads sometimes get in the way of normal dog behaviors. None of the punchlines are laugh-out-loud funny, but each vignette has a nice rhythm, and a decent payoff to boot. – Katherine Dacey

In/Spectre, Vol. 15 | By Kyo Shirodaira and Chashiba Katase | Kodansha Comics – Somehow I missed volume fifteen coming out several months ago. What it gives me is a) half the usual detective stuff, as our protagonists try to explain away how a mystical giraffe chased four men off of a cliff, and b) Kotoko being very angry that Rikka even exists, and vice versa. I note that for all that Kotoko moans and whines about Kuro being mean to her and barely acknowledging that they’re a couple, he also notably does not deny that they’re a couple either, especially in front of Rikka. This plot is nowhere near done, and I suspect that things are going to go badly for Kotoko soon, but that’s why we read this, to see her defy the odds. Well, that and be horny. – Sean Gaffney

Kageki Shojo!!, Vol. 6 | By Kumiko Saiki | Seven Seas – I appreciate that we’re not going full Method Acting with this series, but there is an emphasis on trying to find something in your own past that you can draw on in order to convey what the character you’re playing feels like. For Sasara this means confronting her kabuki past, as well as the revelation that she thinks she may just have a boyfriend because his mentor told him to. Of course, the payoff for that will be in the next volume. We also get a nice look at Ayako’s Juliet, and the one thing that she really has going for her; her voice, which is absolutely stunning. She too gets some heartbreaking backstory, of course. I get the feeling Ai is going to be out of luck this time around. I wish this came out more often. – Sean Gaffney

Studio Apartment, Good Lighting, Angel Included, Vol. 1 | By matoba | Yen Press – I was unimpressed with the premise of this new series, but I greatly enjoyed the vibe of As Miss Beelzebub Likes, their previous series, so I thought I would give it a shot. Sadly, my first instincts were correct. A young man suddenly finds an angel lying on his balcony when he gets home from his job. She’s been sent from heaven to stop being such a naive chump… is what the manga implies, but does not say. As the title goes on we also meet our protagonist’s childhood friend and a snow woman, all of whom pretty much latch onto his “nebbish nice person” vibe like a leech. Say what you will about Miss Beelzebub, it wasn’t a harem manga, which this seems to be. I’ll be passing. – Sean Gaffney

Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 9 | By Kamome Shirahama | Kodansha Comics – By now this series is a huge hit, and things can be developed that will pay off way down the road. That’s possibly why this feels like an even darker volume of the series than usual, with one chapter even having a warning about attempted sexual assault at the front of it. Witches may be something that kids want to be, but they’re also something hated and feared at the same time, and things that may turn out to be solutions are likely to be a demonic pact of some sort. It certainly looks like that’s the case with Custas, who was always on the verge of snapping, but now that he has his new magic spring legs, he’s likely going to attempt to kill Coco and Tartah. Riveting as always, and gorgeous art. – Sean Gaffney

Box of Light, Vol. 1 | By Seiko Erisawa | Seven Seas – The blurb for Box of Light promises a “delightfully creepy supernatural tale” that takes place at a “convenience store at the crossroads between life and death.” That sounds like a great premise, but Box of Light is sorely lacking in likable characters, memorable plot lines, or even a good old-fashioned jump scare. The bland, utilitarian artwork is equally disappointing; if I flipped through volume one in a bookstore, I’d assume that Box of Light was a workplace comedy, as the artwork seems more appropriate for a slice-of-life series than a horror story about people caught in purgatory. Only one vignette—”Indecisive Yuuto”—yields an image that’s unnerving enough to make lasting impression. In it, a young girl crouches outside the store as darkness envelops her with the stealth and speed of an incoming tide. Too bad nothing else in volume one is nearly as spooky. – Katherine Dacey

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You, Vol. 3 | By Rikito Nakamura and Yukiko Nozawa | Ghost Ship – This series really loves to take things as far as it possibly can while also making sure that everything stays sweet, heartwarming and romantic, and in this volume it’s got its most difficult challenge yet. Hakari’s mother Hahari has insisted she’s never to see Rentarou again, and has a huge, impossible-to-get-into mansion to back it up. She’s also super young, having had Hakari at the age of thirteen (Hakari’s father was dying). If you think to yourself “wait, is this series really going to have a guy dating a mother-daughter pair?”, then well done, you can be a writer for this series. It’s hilarious, it’s sweet, and it’s jaw-droppingly blatant. – Sean Gaffney

Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 19 | By Tomohito Oda | Viz Media – Last time I noted how large the cast of this manga had gotten, so I’m not sure it was the best idea to spend most of this nineteenth volume introducing a new bunch of classmates with various personality tics. They run from mildly amusing (she speaks too softly) to deliberately aggravating (she constantly trash talks people and points out their faults, even when she knows she should really shut up). It’s meant to show off how far Komi has come (she actually speaks aloud at one point) as well as how dedicated she is to seeing the good in people, but I’m losing track of folks. On the bright side, Tadano’s sheer niceness and seeing the best in everyone makes him a revered saint. – Sean Gaffney

A Nico-Colored Canvas, Vol. 1 | By Nao Shikita| Kodansha Manga (digital only) – How much you enjoy this series may depend on how much you love the “manic pixie dream girl” trope, though in Nico’s case she’s the star rather than the impetus driving the male lead. She’s arrived at art school from the sticks, and is doing her own thing, which gets her into trouble (and thrown out of a prestigious class), but also attracts the attention of the other non-conformists in the school, including a very sketchy guy who at least is treated as very sketchy by the narrative. Nico is a lot of fun to read about, but I think in real life I’d find her exhausting and difficult to deal with. Fortunately, this is a manga rather than real life, so I’ll continue to see how she does. – Sean Gaffney

Outbride: Beauty and the Beasts, Vol. 1 | By Tohko Tsukinaga| Steamship – This was the debut of Seven Seas’ new “Ghost Ship for ladies” imprint Steamship, so I thought I would grab the first volume and give it a try. I regret everything. Starting as a standard “hit by a truck” isekai, our heroine finds it’s now 2,000 years in the future, all of humanity is dead except her, and she has to mate with four different types of “celestial beings” and bear their children now. There’s elements of Omegaverse here, as her being a human gives off a scent that drives the men crazy, but mostly this is nearly two hundred pages of her screaming “no” a lot and being ignored by everyone except the one half-decent guy. Absolutely not my thing, but Omegaverse fans may like it. – Sean Gaffney

Ya Boy Kongming!, Vol. 1 | By Yuto Yotsuba and Ryo Ogawa | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – In this fish-out-of-water comedy, Shu Imperial Chancellor Zhuge Liang, a.k.a. Kongming, makes a deathbed wish to be reborn “into a world of peace.” His wish comes true, but in an unexpected fashion: he wakes up 2000 years later in present-day Japan. After a night of stumbling around Shibuya, Kongming is rescued from the streets by Eiko, an aspiring singer-songwriter who brings Kongming up to speed on the twenty-first century. As you might expect, Kongming is dazzled by modern conveniences—the humble wall clock throws him for a loop—but Yuto Yotsuba’s clever use of historical facts about the real Kongming pushes the story in a delightful, unexpected direction by giving Kongming an opportunity to put his military strategizing to use… as Eiko’s manager. Recommended, especially for anyone with a working knowledge of The Three Kingdoms. – Katherine Dacey