Michelle Smith

SEAN: November is approaching, and the manga are falling like leaves.

Airship has three debuts in print. There’s I’m the Evil Lord of an intergalactic Empire!, Planet of the Orcs, and A Tale of the Secret Saint.

Also out in print is Berserk of Gluttony 4.

Digitally we see an early release of Vol. 2 of Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship!.

Dark Horse has a 4th Blade of the Immortal Deluxe Edition.

ASH: I’m very happily upgrading my collection of the series to these beautiful volumes.

SEAN: Ghost Ship debuts Ero Ninja Scrolls (Ara Kusa Ninpo Cho), a Hakusensha title from their magazine Harem. (Yes, that is a real magazine by the same company that publishes Hana to Yume.) It’s ninjas and smut.

ASH: That doesn’t seem to be too uncommon of a combination.

SEAN: They also have a 2nd volume of Does a Hot Elf Girl Live Next Door to You? and a 2nd volume of Sundome!! Milky Way.

J-Novel Club has some digital releases. We see Altina the Sword Princess 11, Can Someone Please Explain What’s Going On?! 7, The Great Cleric 5, Marginal Operation’s 10th manga volume, My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! 7, and Perry Rhodan NEO 4.

Some print for Kodansha. We see the 6th Attack on Titan Colossal Edition and the 5th and final box set of Fairy Tail. There’s also Battle Angel Alita 3, Peach Boy Riverside 3 and Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie 6.

ASH: I’m still vaguely interested in Peach Boy Riverside, but haven’t actually gotten around to reading it…

SEAN: Digitally we get a new Cells At Work spinoff, Neo Bacteria! This is from the same author as the main Bacteria spinoff, and also ran in Nakayoshi. It’s done in one, and features the cells trying to help a girl confess to the one she likes. What even is this franchise anymore?

Also digitally, we get Fate/Grand Order -Epic of Remnant- Pseudo-Singularity III: The Stage of Carnage, Shimousa – Seven Duels of Swordmasters 4, Girlfriend, Girlfriend 6, Love After World Domination 2, My Dearest Self with Malice Aforethought 10, and With the Sheikh in His Harem 7.

KUMA has a new BL title, You Are My Happiness (Kimiarite Kouhuku), a Comic Marginal title about a food stall vendor and his tailed, winged customer.

MJ: Maybe interesting?

SEAN: Seven Seas has three debuts. No Matter What You Say, Furi-san Is Scary! (Tonari no Furi-san ga Tonikaku Kowai) is an Ichijinsha title from the awkwardly named magazine Manga 4-koma Kings Palette. Girl looks and sounds like a delinquent… but she’s really a cute innocent girl in love with our hero.

ASH: I’m intrigued! This sounds like it could be fun.

MJ: It does.

ANNA: I enjoy delinquent manga.

SEAN: Reborn As a Barrier Master (Kekkaishi e no Tensei) comes from Gentosha’s Denshi Birz, and features a recently isekai’s salaryman who’s in the body of a 6-year-old. Almost sold into slavery, almost killed, he’s actually taken in by a local lord. Time to train his awesome power!

Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games (Tai Ari Deshita. ~Ojou-sama wa Kakutou Game Nante Shinai~) is a yuri-ish title from Media Factory’s Comic Flapper. Imagine Maria-sama Ga Miteru if Sachiko were a hardcore gamer and you come close to what this is.

Seven Seas also has CALL TO ADVENTURE! Defeating Dungeons with a Skill Board 2, A Centaur’s Life 20, Chronicles of an Aristocrat Reborn in Another World 2, Dance in the Vampire Bund: Age of Scarlet Order 4, Machimaho: I Messed Up and Made the Wrong Person Into a Magical Girl! 8, Made in Abyss Official Anthology – Layer 3: White Whistle Melancholy, Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary 13, and Pompo: The Cinéphile 2.

Tentai Books has a new light novel out digitally, with print to follow. Turning the Tables on the Seatmate Killer (Tonari no Seki ni Natta Bishoujo ga Horesaseyou to Karakattekuru ga Itsunomanika Kaeriuchi ni Shiteita), a high school romcom about a nebbish guy who ends up next to the seemingly untouchable girl.

No debuts for Viz, but we do see My Hero Academia: Ultra Analysis—The Official Character Guide, nearly 300 pages of facts, trivia, hero analysis, and interviews.

We also get Black Clover 27, Dr. STONE 19, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 5–Golden Wind 2, Love Me Love Me Not 11, Mashle: Magic & Muscles 3, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes 11, Snow White with the Red Hair 16, The King’s Beast 4, and Undead Unluck 4.

MICHELLE: I vow to get caught up with these three Shojo Beat titles! And MHA: Vigilantes, as well.

ASH: Shojo Beat’s on my radar, too! As is the latest JoJo.

ANNA: I need to get caught up too!

SEAN: Yen On has two titles, as we get High School DxD 5 and Spice & Wolf 22.

Lastly, Yen Press has Bestia 3 and Uncle from Another World 3.

Stay gold, manga lovers. What are you picking up?

SEAN: BOO!

ASH: Aaah!

MICHELLE: Ack!

ANNA: EEK!

MJ: … erk?

SEAN: We start with Yen On, which has The Detective Is Already Dead 2, the 15th KonoSuba, and Solo Leveling 3.

ASH: I really ought to give Solo Leveling a try before I get too far behind.

Two new series from Yen Press. The first is the manga version of I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss, whose light novel came out earlier this month.

The other is Never Open It: The Taboo Trilogy, a short story collection by famed creator Ken Niimura.

ASH: I am so excited for this one! I really enjoy Niimura’s work.

ANNA: This looks interesting.

SEAN: Also from Yen: Gabriel Dropout 10, Mint Chocolate 4, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected 16, and Wolf and Parchment 2.

Udon Entertainment has the 8th Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu.

Seven Seas doesn’t have much, but what it has are mostly debuts. Boy Meets Maria is an LGBT title from Printemps Shuppan’s Canna, and I hear it’s quite powerful, but also quite dark. It’s finished in one volume.

ASH: I’ll be giving it a read, for sure.

MICHELLE: Same here.

MJ: Oh, interesting!

SEAN: Necromance is a shonen title from Kodansha’s Magazine Pocket. A hero becomes an undead to save the world… but now he can’t even touch the girl he loves! Can he find a way to return himself to life?

ASH: I don’t know about the manga, but that title is great.

MJ: Agreed.

SEAN: Sarazanmai: The Official Manga Anthology is what it says – a collection by many artists based around the popular series.

ASH: I like seeing these types of anthologies released.

SEAN: The Walking Cat: A Cat’s-Eye View of the Zombie Apocalypse is a Futabasha title from Manga Action. Zombie apocalypse meets cat manga. It’s a 550-page omnibus with all 3 volumes in 1.

ASH: That’s quite the tome! Count me curious.

MICHELLE: Huh.

ANNA: Hmm.

SEAN: One Peace has The Rising of the Shield Hero 21.

Kodansha has a debut in print… well, a spinoff. The Seven Deadly Sins: Original Sins Short Story Collection is what it sounds like. It also includes the original “pilot” for the series.

Also in print: Grand Blue Dreaming 14, To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts 12, Whisper Me a Love Song 4, and With a Dog AND a Cat, Every Day is Fun 5.

MICHELLE: I really liked the first volume of With a Dog AND a Cat, Every Day Is Fun. I should read more of it.

SEAN: Digitally Kodansha debuts Even Given the Worthless “Appraiser” Class, I’m Actually the Strongest (Fuguushoku [Kanteishi] ga Jitsu wa Saikyou Datta – Naraku de Kitaeta Saikyou no [Shingan] de Musou Suru), which runs in Magazine Pocket. It is what it is.

Also out digitally: Back When You Called Us Devils 6, Chihiro-kun Only Has Eyes for Me 3, DAYS 26, Farewell My Dear Cramer 6, The Girl, the Shovel and the Evil Eye 2, Harem Marriage 10, Mr. Bride 3, and Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence 5.

Remember all those print titles from J-Novel Club I talked about last week? They got bumped. Insert them here.

ASH: I’ll be on the lookout.

SEAN: Their digital light novel debut is A Late-Start Tamer’s Laid-Back Life (Deokure Tamer no Sonohigurashi). A gamer is excited to start a new VRMMORPG… but quickly finds the class he chose is not really suited to being awesome, but to slow life.

Also out digitally next week: Ascendance of a Bookworm 15, Campfire Cooking in Another World 5 (manga version), The Greatest Magicmaster’s Retirement Plan 11, How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 14, Mapping: The Trash-Tier Skill That Got Me Into a Top-Tier Party 7, My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In for Me! 4, Reincarnated as the Piggy Duke: This Time I’m Gonna Tell Her How I Feel! 3, and Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: The Wayward Journey 14.

Dark Horse gives us a 7th Mob Psycho 100.

Cross Infinite World has the 3rd volume of Reincarnated as the Last of My Kind.

Lastly, Airship has The Most Notorious “Talker” Runs the World’s Greatest Clan in print.

And in early digital versions they have Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling 2 and The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent 4.

What manga are you trapped inside, face pressed against the pages, unable to escape?

SEAN: As we inch ever closer to Halloween, beware of the manga yokai, which look like Shonen Jump volumes but lure children to their doom.

ASH: I absolutely believe this tale to be true.

MJ: Okay, I lol’d.

SEAN: Airship has two print light novel debuts. We get print versions of The Haunted Bookstore – Gateway to a Parallel Universe and The NPCs in this Village Sim Game Must Be Real!.

ASH: Looking forward to giving The Haunted Bookstore a try now that it’ll be in print!

SEAN: Also in print (and same-day digital): Monster Girl Doctor 8.

Early digital volumes include Adachi and Shimamura 7, Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! Lily’s Miracle (a side-story), and Drugstore in Another World: The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist 3.

Ghost Ship has World’s End Fantasia 5.

J-Novel Club has a bunch of print titles. We see the debut of Her Majesty’s Swarm, as well as the first Ascendance of a Bookworm Fanbook. We also get By the Grace of the Gods 6, I Shall Survive Using Potions! 6, In Another World with My Smartphone 18, Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles Omnibus 3, and The Unwanted Undead Adventurer 2.

ASH: I’m still delighted to see things like fanbooks being released these days.

SEAN: Digitally we see Guide to the Perfect Otaku Girlfriend: Roomies and Romance 3 and My Next Life As a Villainess 10.

Kodansha has a new print omnibus of Attack on Titan, containing the first three volumes, back when the story was at its best and the art was at its worst. We also get Attack on Titan 34, the final volume, which is the opposite.

ASH: Oh, how the times have changed!

SEAN: Other omnibuses in print: Love in Focus Complete Collection (the entire series), The Seven Deadly Sins 1-3, And That Wolf-Boy Is Mine! 3-4. There’s also Eden’s Zero 13 and The Heroic Legend of Arslan 15, which are not omnibuses.

And we get a print release for Vampire Dormitory, whose ebook came out two years ago.

Digital debuts? We get Doing His Best to Confess (Natsuaki-kun wa Kyou mo Kokuhaku shitai), a Betsufure title which has a seemingly cool and aloof guy turn out to just be shy and awkward. Can he confess to the girl he likes?

MICHELLE: This looks pretty cute. I tend to like stories about seemingly cool and aloof guys who are just awkward (see Lovesick Ellie).

ANNA: That does sound cute.

ASH: Agreed!

SEAN: The other debut is Tesla Note, which is a shonen series that runs in Weekly Shonen Magazine. It’s filled with action and conspiracies, is from the author of Tiger & Bunny, and its anime has bombed so bad possibly no one will care enough to get the source.

Also out digitally: Blue Lock 8, The Decagon House Murders 3, Defying Kurosaki-kun 17, A Girl & Her Guard Dog 6, Nina the Starry Bride 5, We’re New at This 9, and You’re My Cutie 2.

MICHELLE: At some point I will actually read Blue Lock.

SEAN: One Peace Books has Hinamatsuri 13.

Seven Seas has three debuts. Creepy Cat is a full-color graphic novel based on the popular webcomic which balances between cute and scary.

ASH: Always curious about a new cat comic!

SEAN: Kiruru Kill Me is a new Shonen Jump Plus series from the creator of Pretty Face and Mx0. A young man is rich and successful, but has no one to love. Then he falls head over heels… for an assassin. There’s only one thing to do: order a hit on himself.

ASH: I’ll admit to being curious about this one, too.

Monster Guild: The Dark Lord’s (No-Good) Comeback! (Yuusha ni Haiboku Shita Maou-sama wa Kaerizaku Tame ni Mamonogirudo o Tsukuru Koto ni Shimashita) runs in Shinchosha’s Comic Bunch Web, about a dark lord defeated by an OP Hero, who manages to survive and now forms… you guessed it… a ragtag band of misfits.

Also from Seven Seas: Even Though We’re Adults 3, GIGANT 6, Kingdom of Z 4, and Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time 6.

MICHELLE: At some point I will actually read Even Though We’re Adults!

ASH: I’ve been picking them up as they’ve been released, but have not actually read any of the volumes, yet.

SEAN: Tokyopop has the 2nd volume of Her Royal Highness Seems to be Angry.

Viz debuts Burn the Witch, from the creator of Bleach. Indeed, it’s set in the same world as Bleach, albeit a little further into the future, and in London. Two agents trying to get easy assignments they can turn into cash instead end up in fantasy misadventures.

Also from Viz: Asadora! 4, No Guns Life 11, No. 5 2, and The Creative Gene, a collection of essays by the creator of Metal Gear Solid.

ASH: Happy to see the next volume of No. 5 coming out!

SEAN: Yen On has two light novels: A Sister’s All You Need 11 and Solo Leveling 3.

Yen Press’s sole title is a digital-only debut: If You Could See Love (Moshi, Koi ga Mieta Nara). This yuri series runs in Shonen Ace Plus. Have you ever seen those complicated love charts fans make with arrows pointing forward and back? Our heroine can see them… including two pointed at her. But… this is an all girls’ school!

ASH: The premise sounds like it could be promising.

SEAN: Are you haunted by manga? Or by the spirit of Sasha Braus demanding a potato?

SEAN: Mid-October and we’re still seeing a lot of great books.

ASH: I’m okay with this, although I am terribly behind.

SEAN: Yen On has a debut, with a title that might sound a bit familiar. I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss (Akuyaku Reijo nano de Last Boss wo Kattemimashita) is a light novel with a premise that readers are no doubt aware of. This one’s quite popular, though, and an anime was just announced, which is a rarity for villainesses not named Catarina.

Other light novels next week include Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside 4, The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy 4, Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World 7, and The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat 3.

As for Yen Press, they have Angels of Death 12 (the final volume) and Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun 10.

ASH: Good reading for the spooky season.

SEAN: Viz Media gives us Call of the Night 4, Case Closed 80, Fullmetal Alchemist: A New Beginning (a new light novel in the series Viz started back in the 00s), How Do We Relationship? 4, Komi Can’t Communicate 15, the 10th and final volume of Pokémon Adventures Collector’s Edition, and Requiem of the Rose King 14.

ASH: Always glad for a new volume of Requiem of the Rose King! And thanks for pointing out that the Fullmetal Alchemist novel is a new volume rather than a new printing; it’s been a while since I’ve read any of those.

ANNA: Agree about Rose King, I need to get caught up.

MICHELLE: Same here!

MJ: Okay, Requiem of the Rose King, yes please. Also, I can’t believe I never really got into that Fullmetal Alchemist light novel series. I will have to check it out!

SEAN: Tokyopop has Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Blood Brothers and Konohana Kitan 10.

Square Enix has By the Grace of the Gods 3.

No debuts for Seven Seas this time around, but we do get Arifureta: I Heart Isekai 4, Happy Kanako’s Killer Life 2, High Rise Invasion 19-21 (which wraps up the series), The Invincible Shovel 2, Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka 12, Non Non Biyori 15, Precarious Woman Executive Miss Black General 7, The Tale of the Outcasts 3, and Wonder Cat Kyuu-chan 3.

ASH: I still need to check out Wonder Cat.

MICHELLE: Jeez, volume two of Happy Kanako already?!

SEAN: One Peace debuts Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway (Hige o Soru. Soshite Joshikousei o Hirou), the manga adaptation of a popular light novel which has been licensed in English by Kadokawa’s new publishing arm here. The title is the plot.

Kodansha, in print, has Knight of the Ice 7.

ASH: Yay!

ANNA: One of the few series I’m not behind on, it continues to be delightful.

MICHELLE: I’m behind, but I still say “Yay!”

SEAN: Digitally there is a bit more. The debut is Our Bodies, Entwining, Entwined (Karada, Kasanete, Kasanatte), a “shousei” title from Palcy. A woman who was dumped years ago for being “boring” at sex is in a new relationship, but her boyfriend also has issues having sex. Can the two of them satisfy each other?

Also digital: Altair: A Record of Battles 24, Ex-Enthusiasts: Motokare Mania 6 (the final volume), Giant Killing 27, My Pink Is Overflowing 5, Perfect World 8, Police in a Pod 5, Space Brothers 39, Wave, Listen to Me! 7, and Yamaguchi-kun Isn’t So Bad 3.

MICHELLE: I thought Ex-Enthusiasts: Motokare Mania was quite fun and, of course, I adore Giant Killing and Wave, Listen to Me!.

J-Novel Club has two debuts. Hell Mode ~The Hardcore Gamer Dominates in Another World with Garbage Balancing~ (Hellmode ~Yarikomi Suki no Gamer wa Haisettei no Isekai de Musou Suru~) is about a hardcore gamer looking for a challenge, who finds himself reincarnated in a very difficult game world.

The other is Maddrax, a German SF series from J-Novel Pulp.

Also out next week: An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride 12, Black Summoner 6, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 14, and the 8th manga volume of Infinite Dendrogram.

Ghost Ship gives us World’s End Harem 12. The back cover promises this is the climax, but (unsurprisingly in this sort of manga) the climax may wait a bit longer, as there’s more to come.

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: Airship debuts in print Disciple of the Lich: Or How I Was Cursed by the Gods and Dropped Into the Abyss!.

Also out in print: Reincarnated As a Sword 9 and The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary 2.

Digitally there’s early volumes for My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s 2 and She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 2.

Are these books great? Judge them. Judge them with your EYES.

SEAN: The end of September brings some nice books, but also a long-awaited new volume of a beloved series, so let’s start with that.

Yen Press has Yotsuba&! 15! Do you know when the last Yotsuba&! came out? 2018, that’s when. Rejoice!

ASH: Ah! A great series to start us off with!

ANNA: Wow!

MICHELLE: When last we left off, Yotsuba and her dad were acquiring a car, so I look forward to some fresh new adventures.

MJ: Oh!!

SEAN: Yen Press also has A Certain Magical Index 24, Combatants Will Be Dispatched! 5, In Another World with My Smartphone 3, Love and Heart 3, Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story 3, and Star Wars: Rebels 2.

Apologies to Udon, who I forgot about last week. They have already out Steins;Gate 0 Volume 1, an alternate universe manga set after a Bad End from the original game. This is an omnibus of the first two volumes.

Square Enix has By the Grace of the Gods 3.

Seven Seas has been awfully quiet all month… TILL NOW. Get ready to be buried.

ASH: I am prepared.

SEAN: We start with the Bloom Into You Anthology, a collection of manga by various artists revolving around the cast of this yuri manga.

ASH: I like seeing these anthology volumes released. Once upon a time, seeing them licensed was somewhat rare.

SEAN: Hello World, the manga, is a complete in one omnibus retelling of the light novel. It ran in Ultra Jump.

Karate Survivor in Another World (Yajin Tensei) is a Dengeki Daioh title for those who wish that more isekai titles were like old-school Shonen Champion “teens fight” manga.

ASH: I am interested in portrayals of karate in manga, but am significantly less interested in isekai these days.

SEAN: The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today (Dekiru Neko wa Kyou mo Yuuutsu) is from Kodansha’s Suiyoubi no Sirius, and is about a young woman who takes in a giant cat… who’s really good at nearly everything. Better than her, at any rate. Cats and comedy, love it.

ASH: Indeed! Love a good cat manga.

ANNA: Sounds promising.

MICHELLE: Ooh.

MJ: This sounds fantastic!

SEAN: The NPCs in this Village Sim Game Must Be Real! (Murazukuri Game no NPC ga Namami no Ningen to Shika Omoenai) runs in Young Ace Up, and is based on the novel. I enjoyed the novel much more than expected, so the manga should also be fun.

Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling (Tensei Shitara Dragon no Tamago Datta – Saikyou Igai Mezasa Nee) runs in Comic Earth Star, and is ALSO based on the novel. I didn’t read that one, but I assume it is cute and has dragons.

That is SIX debuts. Wow. We also get BL Metamorphosis 5 (the final volume), How to Build a Dungeon: Book of the Demon King 7, Mushoku Tensei: Roxy Gets Serious 6, Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn 14, She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 2, and We Swore to Meet in the Next Life and That’s When Things Got Weird! 3 (the final volume).

ASH: BL Metamorphosis is wonderful; I’m so glad that it was translated.

MJ: I never managed to start it, but now is the time!

SEAN: One Peace has the 16th manga volume for The Rising of the Shield Hero.

Kodansha gives us the first volume of the updated Eternal Edition re-release of Codename: Sailor V.

Also in print: Eden’s Zero 12, Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest 8, Fire Force 24, Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie 6, To Your Eternity 15, UQ Holder 23, and Witch Hat Atelier 8, the most important of those titles. (Please buy Witch Hat Atelier.)

ASH: Yes, please do! I’m a little behind in my reading, but To Your Eternity is a favorite of mine, too.

ANNA: Witch Hat Atelier is one of the few series I’m not behind on!

MICHELLE: I totally am!

MJ: I’m… I can’t even bear to speak of it.

SEAN: Digitally, our debut is The Girl, the Shovel, and the Evil Eye (Youjo to Scoop to Magan Ou), a Shonen Sirius title whose content is not as cute as it sounds. A man dies and is reincarnated as a worker in a mining camp, without any powers, even! But when he tries to help a bullied girl, will he have powers after all?

Also out digitally: Am I Actually the Strongest? 5, Back When You Called Us Devils 5, Chihiro-kun Only Has Eyes for Me 2, Fate/Grand Order -Epic of Remnant- Pseudo-Singularity III: The Stage of Carnage, Shimousa – Seven Duels of Swordmasters 3, The Great Cleric 7, Harem Marriage 9, Mr. Bride 2, Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence 4, That’s My Atypical Girl 2, and What I Love About You 7. Half that list is just the title of the Fate book.

J-Novel Club has 4 debuts, three light novels and one manga. Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools (Madougushi Dahliya wa Utsumukanai) is a J-Novel Heart series about a woman who was isekai’d after overworking herself to death. She’s not a villainess… but she’s still dumped by her fiancee. She’s been trying to be quiet and get on with life… well, screw that. Now she resolves to make a career for herself.

Min-Maxing My TRPG Build in Another World (TRPG Player ga Isekai de Saikyou Build wo Mezasu) is a series that features, well, an isekai’d guy using game mechanics in another world, but apparently the audience for this is more 45-year-old D&D players than teen MMO gamers.

The Reincarnated Princess Spends Another Day Skipping Story Routes (Tensei Oujo wa Kyou mo Hata o Tatakioru) is a villainess otome game series from J-Novel Heart. In this game, most fans agreed that the support guys were better than the love interest. Our villainess is going after one… but the heroine is determined to stop her. We shall see.

Also out as a light novel: Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill 10.

On the manga front, we get the debut of My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! —AΩ—. Based on the light novel, it runs in Comic Earth Star.

We also get the 4th Record of Wortenia War.

Ghost Ship debuts Manga Diary of a Male Porn Star (AV Dan’yuu Hajimemashita), a Shinchosha title from Kurage Bunch about a young man who moves to Tokyo to enter the world of Adult Videos. It’s… harder than it looks. No pun intended.

ASH: I’ll admit to being curious.

MJ: Same.

SEAN: Cross Infinite World gives us Return from Death: I Kicked the Bucket and Now I’m Back at Square One With a Boyfriend Who Doesn’t Remember Me. As you might guess, it’s a Peggy-Sue story a la Tearmoon Empire, and the title is also the plot.

Lastly, we have Airship. In print, they debut She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man, and we also get Classroom of the Elite 9 and The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter 5.

And we get an early digital release of Berserk of Gluttony 4.

Ooof. The Suez is unstuck, folks, and the September of Quiet is over. What are you getting?

SEAN: Even the Delta variant cannot stop the flow of manga coming through.

ASH: Which is impressive, really.

SEAN: Airship, in print, gives us the third volume of Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs.

For early digital titles, we get Mushoku Tensei 13 and Reincarnated As a Sword 9.

Ghost Ship gives us Parallel Paradise 6.

J-Novel Club has some new print titles, the biggest one of interest being the print debut of Tearmoon Empire. The story of a spoiled princess who, after being executed, finds herself in her 12-year-old self, I highly recommend it to all light novel readers.

ASH: I’ve been looking forward to giving this one a try now that it’ll be available in print!

SEAN: Also debuting is the manga version of The Unwanted Undead Adventurer.

They’ve also got Ascendance of a Bookworm’s 7th manga, Infinite Dendrogram Omnibus 3, and Marginal Operation 7.

In digital, we get the manga debut of The Emperor’s Lady-in-Waiting Is Wanted as a Bride. Also out in manga form: Black Summoner 4, Cooking with Wild Game 5, and The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar 6.

Light novels out next week include The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar 17, Seirei Gensouki 16, and Slayers 10.

Kodansha’s print debut is When Will Ayumu Make His Move? (Soredemo Ayumu wa Yosetekuru), from the author of Teasing Master Takagi-san. This is a Weekly Shonen Magazine title about a girl who is trying to get a guy to confess to her, and a guy who only wants to confess after he’s beaten her in shogi. As you guessed, he’s terrible at shogi. This seems fun.

ASH: That does sound like it could be fun.

MJ: Sounds fun indeed!

SEAN: In print, Kodansha has Bakemonogatari 10, The Daily Lives of High School Boys 7, Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro 8, Drifting Dragons 9, Heaven’s Design Team 6, Living-Room Matsunaga-san 7, Peach Boy Riverside 2, Rent-a-Girlfriend 8, Sachi’s Monstrous Appetite 4, Star⇄Crossed!! 3, Sweat and Soap 9, and Those Not-So-Sweet Boys 4. Printer finally delivered the books, huh?

MICHELLE: Definitely looking to the shoujo offerings in that lot.

ASH: Ditto! I’m glad to see more Drifting Dragons in there, too.

SEAN: Digitally our debut is You’re My Cutie (Kawaii Nante Kiitenai!!), a new Betsufure series about a girl who loves manga about cute kohais falling for cool sempais. Then she meets her own kohai… and reality is not like the manga.

MICHELLE: Hm. Maybe.

MJ: What Michelle said.

SEAN: Also: Blue Lock 7, The Decagon House Murders 2, Dr. Ramune -Mysterious Disease Specialist- 5, In the Clear Moonlit Dusk 2, Living-Room Matsunaga-san 10, My Darling Next Door 3, Our Fake Marriage 7, Ran the Peerless Beauty 10 (the final volume), Will It Be the World or Her? 9 (also a final volume), and You Got Me, Sempai! 10 (also also a final volume).

MICHELLE: Must finish Ran the Peerless Beauty!

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts My Wife Has No Emotion (Boku no Tsuma wa Kanjou ga nai), a Comic Flapper title about a salaryman and his robot, and their growing closeness. Um…? Robot?

ASH: I will admit to being intrigued.

SEAN: Seven Seas also has The Dangers in My Heart 2.

Square Enix has The Apothecary Diaries 3 and The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest 5.

Tokyopop has Would You Like to be a Family? (Kazoku ni Nattemimasen ka?), a BL title from Gush about a soft-spoken man drawn into his loud co-worker’s life… complete with loud co-worker’s child. This looks sweet.

MICHELLE: Ooh.

SEAN: Viz gives us BEASTARS 14, Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction 10, Fist of the North Star 2, Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku 10, Maison Ikkoku Collector’s Edition 5, and The Way of the Househusband 6.

ANNA: Always glad for more Househusband.

ASH: Same! And I’m still super excited we’re getting Fist of the North Star, too.

SEAN: Actually, come to think of it, this IS less than usual. Manga, are you OK?

ANNA: I am concerned!

ASH: Supply chain disruptions are real!

SEAN: Gonna start reversing the list more often as, no offense to Seven Seas, I am tired of Airship getting the first image every week.

So we start with Yen On, who have a plethora of “delayed from August… and July” debuts for us! Four of them, in fact.

Bond and Book (Musubu to Hon) is a new series from the author of the Book Girl light novels, which I greatly enjoyed when they came out ages ago. Sadly, they came out before the LN boom, so sold poorly – I hope this does better. It seems to be a linked story series, as the books overall involve a young man who can “hear the voices of books”, and each book has him dealing with a specific problem. The first is called The Devotion of “The Surgery Room” (a short story by Japanese author Kyōka Izumi).

ASH: This sounds right up my alley. I, too, enjoyed what I read of Book Girl and I like book-ish type stories.

SEAN: Second we have If the RPG World Had Social Media… (Moshi Role Playing Game no Sekai ni SNS ga Attara), a series which I’m going to take a wild guess is a comedy. Would you challenge the demon lord via text?

Third we have Magistellus Bad Trip. A Certain Magical Index may be dead in North America, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a new series by the same author. A VR city with gambling and high stakes is about to be taken by a young man and his succubus partner.

Lastly, we get a spinoff from The Irregular at Magic High School, the appropriately named The The Irregular at Magic High School. Seems to be more of a continuation than a legit spinoff – they’re even keeping the numbering, as this is Vol. 17. But it has to be a new series, I’m sure.

ASH: Huh! That’s an interesting way of doing it.

SEAN: Viz Media debuts Mao, the new Rumiko Takahashi series. This runs in Weekly Shonen Sunday, and is definitely a step back towards serious supernatural/horror themed stories.

MICHELLE: Kinda curious about this one.

ASH: Same!

MJ: And me!

SEAN: Also from Viz: a double shot of Kenjiro Hata, as we get Fly Me to the Moon 7 and Hayate the Combat Butler 38. Other than that, it’s tie-ins galore, as we see Kirby Manga Mania 2, Pokemon: Sun & Moon 11, Splatoon 13, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 9, and YO-KAI WATCH 18.

Tokyopop has A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation 4.

SuBLime debuts Black or White (Kuro ka Shiro ka), which runs in Kadokawa’s Emerald. Two actors who are typecast in roles they’d rather not be doing are secretly lovers.

ASH: I’m looking forward to giving this one a try.

MJ: That does sound interesting, actually.

SEAN: Also from SuBLime, we have Jealousy 4 and Given 6.

MICHELLE: I am so behind on Given already.

ASH: I’m a bit behind, too, despite enjoying the series!

SEAN: Square Enix has the 4th volume of A Man and His Cat.

MICHELLE: Yay!

MJ: Another yay!

SEAN: Another small week from Seven Seas. They have The Ideal Sponger Life 9, Plus-Sized Elf 7, and Reincarnated As a Sword 7.

One Peace debuts Multi-Mind Mayhem (Isekai Tensei Soudouki), based on the as yet unlicensed light novel. This story of a man with three different souls in his body – his own, a Japanese samurai, and a Japanese otaku – comes from Alpha Polis.

ASH: I am possibly intrigued.

SEAN: Kodansha, in print, has Orient 4 and A School Frozen in Time 3.

MICHELLE: I enjoyed the first volume of A School Frozen in Time.

ASH: I still need to read it, but I do have a copy!

SEAN: Digitally, as always, much more. Two debuts. Turns Out My Online Friend is My Real-Life Boss! (Online Game Nakama to Sashi Off shitara Shokuba no Onijoushi ga Kita) is a BL title from Ichijinsha’s Gateau, about a guy who tries to destress after days dealing with his evil boss by talking with a gaming friend online. then they meet up in real life and… yeah, you guessed it.

The other debuts is also BL and also from Ichijinsha’s Gateau. We’re On Our Own From Here (Konosaki wa Futarikiride) is a high school romance between two boys, spurred on by a girl seemingly confessing to one.

MICHELLE: This looks really cute!

MJ: I’m a sucker for this type of story.

SEAN: There’s also Abe-kun’s Got Me Now! 7, Ace of the Diamond 34, Giant Killing 26, Police in a Pod 4, The Springtime of My Life Began with You 4, Tokyo Revengers 22, We Must Never Fall in Love 8, and Yamaguchi-kun Isn’t So Bad 2.

MICHELLE: Lots of stuff here that I’m interested in! Mostly the sports, not gonna lie.

ASH: I’ll admit to being fond of sports manga, too.

SEAN: J-Novel Club debuts Dragon Daddy Diaries: A Girl Grows to Greatness (Totsuzen Papa ni Natta Saikyou Dragon no Kosodate Nikki: Kawaii Musume, Honobono to Ningenkai Saikyou ni Sodatsu), a title from the author of Sexiled and A Lily Blooms in Another World, so again, I would not worry about daddy-daughter issues here. This looks super cute, and is about what you’d expect: a dragon adopting and raising a human child.

ASH: Another book to add to the list to check out!

Also on the light novel tip from J-Novel Club: The Apothecary Diaries 3, Culinary Chronicles of the Court Flower 3, Perry Rhodan NEO 3, The Sidekick Never Gets the Girl, Let Alone the Protag’s Sister! 2, and A Wild Last Boss Appeared! 6.

Lastly we have Airship. In print, they’ve got How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 12 and Muscles Are Better Than Magic! 3.

Two early digital debuts. The Most Notorious “Talker” Runs the World’s Greatest Clan (Saikyou no Shien-shoku “Wajutsushi” Dearu ore wa Sekai Saikyou Kuran o Shitagaeru). Sigh. Weak. But really strong. Betrayed. Evil? Probably, but he’s our hero. Moving on.

Planet of the Orcs is from Kodansha’s Legend Novels line, and therefore I expect it to be pretentious as hell, even though when I look at the premise all I can do is sing “ORCS WITH GUNS!” to the tune of Duran Duran’s Girls on Film.

That’s a big chunk of stuff… but is it for you?