Manga Bookshelf

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Michelle Smith

Pick of the Week: Blue Flowers One Last Time

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SEAN: I’m not getting all that much this week, so Pick of the Week is a choice between Golden Kamuy and Sweet Blue Flowers. I’m going to go with the latter, as it’s the final volume, but ideally I’d love to see a crossover between the two.

KATE: I agree with Sean: the pick of this week’s litter is Golden Kamuy, my favorite manly cooking manga (now with 200% more bears).

MICHELLE: It’s gotta be Sweet Blue Flowers for me!

ASH: Sweet Blue Flowers is my official pick, too! I’m so happy that the series was translated and hope that it may lead to even more of Shimura’s work being released in English. (I’m definitely looking forward to reading more of Golden Kamuy, too, though!)

ANNA: Sweet Blue Flowers is also my pick. Bring on the angst!

Manga the Week of 6/20/18

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SEAN: Glory be! A small week! Is that because the last week of June is hideously huge? (peers ahead) Yup. Oh well, let’s enjoy next week anyway.

MICHELLE: Now I’m gonna have “The Night Chicago Died” in my head. Not that I’m complaining.

ANNA: OK, it is good to have a bit of a break.

SEAN: Not manga, but it’s worth mentioning that Dark Horse has the Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia, a 320-page hardcover with oodles and oodles of Zelda. Click your Link and get it!

ASH: Ha! I believe I will, thank you very much!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has releases for Infinite Stratos (2) and Outbreak Company (4).

Kodansha has a few print releases. There’s Love & Lies 6 and That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime 6. There’s also Maga-Tsuki 9-10, which is now getting omnibus releases, I guess? Never a good sign when a series shifts from singles to doubles late in the run.

ASH: I’ve been greatly enjoying That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime; much more than I though I would!

SEAN: On the digital side, we have the debut of Karate Heat (Tenohiro no Netsu o), a short Weekly Shonen Magazine title about middle-school karate students. It only ran three volumes, so won’t run up your budget.

MICHELLE: The fact that it’s so short is not exactly a good sign for a sports manga, but you know I can’t resist that genre, so I’ll definitely be checking it out.

ASH: Oooh! Karate! That is tempting.

ANNA: Hmmmm…..

SEAN: There’s also Cosplay Animal 6 (reminding me to finish 5), Drowning Love 9, Fuuka 18, Love’s Reach 9, Perfect World 3, and Pumpkin Scissors 21. (Need to catch up on Perfect World too.)

MICHELLE: Same re: Perfect World. I also intend to read Drowning Love one of these days.

SEAN: Seven Seas just has one next week, Masamune-kun’s Revenge 8.

A new publisher debuts, calling themselves Tokyopop. This is their first title, but they may go far! Depends on the leadership, I suspect. Konohana Kitan is a not-quite-yuri not-quite-furry manga about a group of fox girls working at a hot spring, and it runs… or ran… in Gentosha’s Comic Birz, which is ceasing its print publication. I suspect it will move to digital publication.

MICHELLE: *dubious face that’s way more about the publisher than the fox girls*

ANNA: Um.

SEAN: Meanwhile, Vertical gives us a 6th To The Abandoned Sacred Beasts.

Viz has a 5th volume of Golden Kamuy, a 5th Tokyo Ghoul: re, and also the 4th and final omnibus of Sweet Blue Flowers. I suspect this comes as a relief to the Manga Bookshelf folks who were wondering about Pick of the Week.

MICHELLE: Heh.

ASH: I’m definitely glad for more Golden Kamuy and am still thrilled that Sweet Blue Flowers was translated.

ANNA: I’m with Ash.

SEAN: That does it! It’s OK, next time we’ll be here for hours. But for now, what are you picking up?

Bookshelf Briefs 6/12/18

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Arakawa Under the Bridge, Vol. 3 | By Hikaru Nakamura | Vertical Comics – It really does surprise me how invested I am in rec and Nino’s love affair, given that it’s not really an affair yet and this book is more about everyone being hopelessly weird. But in a series like that, you need something to ground you or else you risk not caring about anything, and for me it’s the moments when the two really show how devoted they are to each other. Elsewhere, a battle royale between the cast goes about how you’d expect in terms of the winner (hint: she’s on the cover), and there is also the occasional hint that these happy (sort of) days for rec won’t be able to last forever. Arakawa requires a love of gag comedy to appreciate, but if you do there are a lot of rewards here. – Sean Gaffney

Durarara!! Re;Dollars Arc, Vol. 1 | By Ryohgo Narita, Suzuhito Yasuda, and Aogiri | Yen Press – The last time we had a DRRR!! manga volume come out over here, we were just beginning the light novel release. Almost three years later, here’s the new arc. This starts to adapt the fifth novel, meaning that Akane and Vorona, two of my favorites, make an appearance. There’s not a whole lot of extra content here for those who have seen the anime and read the novels, though I was very appreciative of Shinra’s fantasy of why Akane would want to kill Shizuo. But for those who like following DRRR!! in manga form, this adaptation remains a good go-to choice. It’s drawn by Aogiri, who also did the Aquarion Evol manga art. Sadly, it also has Izaya being Izaya Alas. – Sean Gaffney

The Elder Sister-Like One, Vol. 1 | By Iida Pochi | Yen Press – While I was reading this, the first thing that came to mind was “this reads like porn with the sex removed.” Which indeed it is—the original was a pornographic doujinshi, but the author made the relationship non-explicit and a bit more familial (only a bit, mind you) for this mainstream release. The premise involves a young man who has been passed along from relative to relative and his demonic familiar who becomes a sort of twisted family. If you’re thinking “This sounds like Natsume’s Book of Friends only written for guys and with lots more cleavage,” you aren’t far off. It actually manages to respectably straddle the line between supernaturally sweet and supernaturally skeezy as hell. We’ll see how long it can keep that up. – Sean Gaffney

Flying Witch, Vol. 6 | By Chihiro Ishizuka | Vertical Comics – The cast expands a bit here, as we meet Sayo, a “student council president” sort who thinks that Makoto is a bit too laid-back and relaxed about her witchly duties. Which, to be fair, is 100% correct. Fortunately, they bond over a case involving a repeating town block, and Sayo shows off her shy, cute side. Elsewhere in the volume, most of the rest of the cast show up for a barbecue of sorts, as we get much discussion of giblets and just how common it is to be loving it as a delicacy. Speaking of food, turns out the school’s pork cutlets are delicious to cats as well as humans, and also that you can get winter in July provided you’re associated with witches. Flying Witch is always peaceful, but never boring. – Sean Gaffney

Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 24 | By Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki | VIZ Media – I haven’t enjoyed this Central arc much, so it’s a relief that the end seems to be in sight. It turns out that Erina’s dad once idolized Soma’s dad and is unable to resist a challenge in which a defeated Joichiro would become his minion. Now the resisters are going up against the remaining council members, with the possibility of taking over the council themselves, and we get fun training action like a three-on-three battle during which Takumi reveals just how much he’s grown and Erina attempts unorthodox cooking for the first time. It’s a lot of fun and the air of amiable challenge that exists between Soma and Joichiro ends up inspiring Erina to stand up to her dad and publicly side with the resisters. We barely get started on the team shokugeki before the volume ends, but I’m happy to find myself once again enjoying this series immensely. – Michelle Smith

Haikyu!!, Vol. 24 | By Haruichi Furudate | Viz Media – This was one of the best volumes of Haikyu!! I’ve read yet, and it’s not a coincidence that there’s no tournament going on. I do love the games, but volume after volume of them can get exhausting (and hard to review). Here we see a jealous and driven Hinata follow Tsukishima to the all-rookie camp… where he wasn’t invited. What’s worse, the coach of this camp is Shiratorizawa, whose motto is basically “no short kids.” Still, he lets Hinata be the ball boy. This is actually really good for him, as it allows him to realize how much there is to learn by just watching. His raw instinct is combining with actual game smarts, and it’s terrific to see. I am really waiting to see how this plays out in the future. – Sean Gaffney

Laid-Back Camp, Vol. 2 | By Afro | Yen Press – I mentioned this in my review of the first volume, but it really is striking how much the series is trying to separate the main cast. We start off with Nadeshiko and her club at a hot spring camp, and Rin… far away, looking for another hot spring (which turns out to be closed) but finding her own solitary camping experiences. It’s nice to see that the manga tells people it’s fine to have fun on your own. Still, I think I appreciated it more when Rin and Nadeshiko were actually interacting in person rather than by phone, and I do hope that in future volumes we can have the four together… or maybe five, if we can convince Rin’s weird friend to come along. Still a nice series as laid-back as its name—I just wish it had more characterization. – Sean Gaffney

Takane & Hana, Vol. 3 | By Yuki Shiwasu | Viz Media – Takane & Hana is still at its best when its romantic pair are snarking at each other, and there’s plenty of that here. Elsewhere, though, Hana’s grades are starting to slip, leading to a studying binge which Takane actually proves pretty adept at helping with. It’s not without cost, though, as he gets a bad cold, and she realizes just how much it is that he actually does. Meanwhile, a trip with Takane, Hana, and Hana’s friends also includes the high school boy who likes her, and he brings up the elephant in the room, which is the fact that Takane is a decade older than Hana, she’s still in high school, and this is pretty creepy if you stop and think about it. That said, I’m content right now to let the shoujo manga keep the romance on a slow simmer. – Sean Gaffney

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 12 | By Mizuho Kusanagi | VIZ Media –Yona of the Dawn is always good, but this volume is particularly so. Yona and her retinue get caught in the Fire Tribe city of Saika as an invading army from the Kai empire approaches. I appreciated the atmosphere of tension while everyone waited and also loved seeing Tae-Jun be brave, keeping his promise to protect the villagers. It turns out it’s all a traitorous plot and even though Yona would also like to get vengeance on Su-Won, she can’t let this army attack the palace lest they throw the nation into chaos. Potentially my favorite aspect of this, though, is that Kusanagi keeps showing that Su-Won actually is a better king than Yona’s father was. I expect eventually she’ll have to recognize that for herself. At turns light-hearted and intense, Yona of the Dawn really is something special. I’m glad this story exists. – Michelle Smith

Pick of the Week: Love Is Hard, But So Is Loveless

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MICHELLE: I feel like I really should be picking Loveless, since it’s been so long, but I’m pretty sure someone else will have that covered. Instead, I’ll go with the second volume of Wotakoi. I’ve finally gotten around to reading the first one, and it’s amusing and charming and just really a lot of fun.

SEAN: I’m also ready for Wotakoi, as well as Captain Harlock. But my pick this week is Sleepy Princess in the Demon Caste;, because every Shonen Sunday license needs our support, and also because sleepy princesses sound awesome.

ANNA: I’m pretty stoked for Captain Harlock, but like Sean, I want to support Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle, since Shonen Sunday series don’t come around too often.

KATE: I’m glad we’re finally getting a second volume of After Hours, one of the only licensed yuri series that focuses on adult women, but my heart belongs to Captain Harlock. Bring on the manly conversations about Loyalty, Courage, and Space!

ASH: So much great stuff is being released this week! After Hours, Captain Harlock, and Wotakoi are all very high on my list, and I’m rather curious about Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle, however another tremendous series that hasn’t been mentioned yet it is To Your Eternity. The manga just started a new story arc which I’m sure will be just as devastating as the ones that preceded it, but I’ve come to expect great things from the series.

MJ: Michelle was right not to fret, because of course the only possible pick for me this week is volume thirteen of Loveless. Yun Kouga’s pretty much always got my number, with her chaotic, emotionally messy style that’s exactly my cup of tea. There can be few who don’t already know how much I adore Loveless, in particular, since I was never able to stop writing about it (and writing about it). After nearly four years since the last volume was released in English, I suspect the new installment will feel scant and less satisfying than I’d like it to be, but I’m so glad to finally see it, I can’t quite bring myself to care.

Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku, Vol. 1

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By Fujita | Published by Kodansha Comics

Narumi Momose and Hirotaka Nifuji were childhood friends and reconnect as adults when they discover they work at the same office. Narumi is hiding the fact that she’s a hardcore fujoshi, especially since she’s lost several boyfriends because of it, while Hirotaka isn’t making any attempt to hide his video game fixation. After listening to her complain about her latest heartache and asking, “Why can’t you just find a guy who accepts you as an otaku?,” Hirotaka suggests himself as an alternative and they start dating. Wotakoi, befitting its webcomic origins, is essentially a series of vignettes about their relationship with each other and with their otaku friends (and combative couple) Hanako Koyanagi and Taro Kabakura.

I must say that at this point it’s a little hard to see what exactly Hirotaka sees in Narumi, but he himself is pretty awesome. He can tell when she isn’t feeling well when no one else can (even when it turns out she’s only sad ‘cos a favorite character died), he is willing to executive a kabedon on Kabakura for her enjoyment, and, best of all, he patiently helps with her BL doujinshi when she’s up against a deadline for Comiket. He’s supportive and non-judgmental of her hobbies, and when she worries they’re just settling for each other, he tells her, “We’re together because I love you and I like seeing you doing things that make you happy.” Hirotaka is really great. I wish Narumi would make a similar declaration of love for him. Maybe that’ll come eventually.

Also great are Koyanagi and Kabakura. Normally, characters who spend this much time bickering and calling each other “ugly” and “idiot” would not be my favorites. In fact, I’d find them troubling. In this case, though, there’s enough chemistry and underlying affection between the two that it works. Kabakura is the most normal of the bunch, though he’s not hiding his hobbies, claiming, “I just know how to enjoy things in moderation.” Koyanagi is really into cosplay and, despite her generous bosom (which gets a lot of attention, especially when compared to Narumi’s lack of same), excels at portraying cool bishounen types.

All of the characters are fun and I enjoyed spending time with them, but it’s probably pretty obvious that Hirotaka is my favorite. This two-in-one omnibus ends with the prospect of he and Narumi going on a proper date, which makes me happy. The vignettes are amusing and I enjoy them, but I’d also like to see their relationship progress and for our stoic-seeming hero to have more reasons to smile.

Wotakoi is ongoing in Japan, where five volumes have been released so far. Kodansha will release the second omnibus, containing volumes three and four, next Tuesday.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

After Hours, Vol. 1

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By Yuhta Nishio | Published by VIZ Media

In the opening scene of After Hours, Emi Asahina is attempting (unsuccessfully) to meet up with a friend in a loud and crowded nightclub. After a spunky DJ named Kei saves her from a grabby creep, they get to talking. Emi tells her, “I don’t really see what’s fun about places like this.” Much of the rest of the manga is Kei helping her to change her mind about that.

Emi ends up going home with Kei that night, and they appear to have fooled around to some extent, though that’s left to the reader’s imagination. Instead, the focus is on Emi learning more about Kei’s world. The club scene is a new setting for me where manga is concerned, and imparts a unique feel. Emi is 24 and unemployed and she doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life, but after once getting roped in to providing visuals to accompany Kei’s music, she’s enthusiastic to try it a second time. Kei swiftly provides Emi the key to her apartment, and tells her things about her past that she usually doesn’t talk about, gives her records from her prized vinyl collection, etc. For all of her cool chick persona, Kei is open and honest and pretty awesome. And so, I’m kind of afraid she’s going to get her heart broken.

Because although Emi is having fun with Kei, there’s never really a sense that she’s choosing Kei as opposed to just sampling her lifestyle. After they maybe sleep together, there is not a single scene from Emi contemplating what this might mean about her sexuality. And, at the halfway point of the volume, we learn that she is living with the boyfriend she’s only “kind of” broken up with, and Kei has no idea. Is Emi going to make a decision about what she wants from life that will include Kei, or is this just tourism for her? Granted, the manga itself isn’t amping up the potential for drama here, so perhaps it will all play out in the relatively restrained way it has so far.

One thing I really liked about this volume was a scene in which Kei is showing Emi how to operate some DJ equipment. She explains how the inputs from two separate turntables can be adjusted to mix and segue into each other. Later, this metaphor is applied to their relationship. Kei is sharing a lot while Emi is revealing little. “If it’s all coming from my side, it’s not really mixing, is it?” she says. I thought that was a pretty neat idea. Really, my one complaint so far is that the characters look so young. Kei is supposed to be thirty, but looks fourteen. She still comes off as a vibrant and captivating, but I think her cool quotient would increase if she looked more like an adult.

Definitely looking forward to volume two!

After Hours is complete in three volumes. The second is due out in English next week.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Manga the Week of 6/13/18

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SEAN: Did you know there is manga coming out next week? It’s true!

MICHELLE: Shokku!

ASH: You wa shock!

ANNA: Madness and insanity!

SEAN: Dark Horse has the first volume of Gantz G, the sequel series that serves all your lycra fetish needs. (I still want HEN, dammit.)

J-Novel Club has new digital novels for us. Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 9, The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind! 3, and My Little Sister Can Read Kanji 4.

Kodansha has new print titles! We have the 3rd Again!!, the 7th Aho-Girl, a 5th To Your Eternity, and the 2nd omnibus of Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku. Most looking forward to that last one.

MICHELLE: I am horrible and haven’t read the first Wotakoi yet. Perhaps I’ll remedy that this week.

ASH: You should! This is definitely another Kodansha week for me–I’m picking up most of these.

SEAN: Digitally we have another debut, this one is Kamikamikaeshi is a Nakayoshi shoujo series (we haven’t seen anything from them lately). It involves gods, hair, and reverse harems, and is by Ema Toyama of Missions of Love fame.

ANNA: Did someone say reverse harems??????

SEAN: There’s also a 3rd Boarding School Juliet, a 9th GTO Paradise Lost, a 3rd Living Room Matsunaga-san, and a 4th Starving Anonymous.

Seven Seas has another big blast from the past with the first Captain Harlock: The Classic Collection. First serialized in the 1970s in Akita Shoten’s Play Comic, this hardcover is filled with piracy and brooding.

ASH: Should be great.

ANNA: Wooo!!!!

SEAN: There’s a light novel debut in print, as we get the first volume of light-hearted overpowered heroine comedy Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!. In digital, meanwhile, we get the 2nd volume of the same series.

The other debut may actually be familiar to those who tried the MangaBox digital app back in the day. High-Rise Invasion (Tenkuu Shinpan) is a shonen series that started there, then moved to Weekly Shonen Magazine. Beware, beyond this point survival game manga lies.

SuBLime has a 7th Deluxe Edition of Finder.

Vertical has the 2nd volume of CITY, the spiritual successor to Nichijou.

Viz debuts a new series, Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle (Maou-jou de Oyasumi), which is, believe it or not, a new Shonen Sunday debut. Yes, the magazine still exists. The demon king has kidnapped our heroine… who just wants a nice rest. I look forward to this.

MICHELLE: I miss Shonen Sunday titles!

ASH: Indeed! And I’ve heard good things about this particular one, too.

ANNA: Looks cute!

SEAN: We also get a 2nd volume of After Hours, a 13th Loveless… oh, wait, here’s MJ.

MJ: THIS THIS THIS THIS THISY THIS THIS. Hi. There’s a new volume of Loveless. Obviously I will be devouring it.

MICHELLE: So excite.

ASH: I adored the first volume of After Hours and, yes, I’m still reading Loveless as well.

SEAN: …and there’s also a 30th Magi and a 3rd Splatoon. I’m impressed Magi has made it to 30+ volumes.

ANNA: So many volumes I am hopelessly behind on.

SEAN: Lastly, after a few delays, we finally get the 11th light novel for Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, seeing if Bell can bounce back after the disastrous events of the last book.

See? I told you there was manga. Anything for you?

ASH: Always, and then some!

Bookshelf Briefs 6/4/18

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Battle Angel Alita: Deluxe Edition, Vol. 3 | By Yukito Kishiro | Kodansha Comics – Alita has been many things since she was rescued from a scrap pile–a formidable bounty hunter, a talented motorball player, and now (of all things) a beloved bar singer and musician–but her destiny hasn’t finished playing out yet. Zapan, another cyborg and ex-bounty hunter who unfairly blames Alita for everything that has recently gone wrong in his life, is coming after her to seek revenge. He cares very little about anyone or anything else, resulting in massive casualties and destruction. As I’ve come to expect from the series, the numerous battles in this volume are intense and well-executed in addition to being incredibly gruesome. Kishiro also has a knack for creative and marvelously disconcerting cyberpunk designs. But what really makes the series work is Alita herself and the strength and depth of her character. While her circumstances are rarely very happy ones, she continues to persevere. – Ash Brown

Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight, Vol. 5 | By Rin Mikimoto | Kodansha Comics – Last time I said that a lot of this was shoujo by numbers, and it still is to a degree, but you can feel the author fighting back against the obvious a bit. Shu spends much of the volume trying not to be the evil girl who gets between our hero and heroine, before seemingly just saying “screw it” and doing so for a good cliffhanger. That said, I continue to like the way the book is handling Kaede, who really is making an effort here in a way that most shoujo hotties, especially ones who are famous stars, wouldn’t do. It makes the butt stuff more tolerable. (It helps that both Hinana and Shu are also “pervy” to a large degree.) Add in more funny SD-faces, and it’s a pretty decent volume. – Sean Gaffney

Shojo FIGHT!, Vol. 3 | By Yoko Nihonbashi | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – I was very happy to see this volume on Kodansha’s release schedule! In it, one of Neri’s new teammates, Nao, has gotten herself involved in a “volleybetting” enterprise in which the audience gambles on matches between scantily clad girls. The Kokuyodani team rallies to extricate Nao from this situation, but all is not as sordid as it seems. Their efforts, in part, involve putting together an audience team to help win Nao’s freedom, and Neri’s teammates assure her that now is not the time to hold back, so she’s finally able to play her hardest with teammates in full support. Meanwhile, Takako Yui returns from overseas and seems to be fairly evil, though I liked that Michiru and Odagiri start dating as a result of her machinations. Looking forward to more! – Michelle Smith

Sweetness & Lightning, Vol. 10 | By Gido Amagakure | Kodansha Comics – Sweetness & Lightning continues to be eyebleach in manga form. In addition to cooking some classic Japanese dishes in this volume—udon, oden, and sukiyaki—Kotori and Tsumugi achieve a few more growing-up milestones. I appreciated that witnessing Tsumugi’s success in learning to ride a bike helped Kotori pass her interview for culinary school, and also liked how Tsumugi is picking up on things more now, like how their time cooking with Kotori might soon come to an end, or that, despite her best efforts to be friends with everyone, there are just some people she doesn’t like. My favorite moment, though, was when Kotori’s father tasted her food and affirmed, “You’re good at this.” Overall, it’s a very nice series about nice people cooking nice food and sometimes one needs that sort of story. – Michelle Smith

To Your Eternity, Vol. 4 | By Yoshitoki Oima | Kodansha Comics – One of my favorite manga series currently being released in English is To Your Eternity. Admittedly the story can be emotionally devastating and heartbreaking, but it’s also a beautiful and compelling examination of life, love, and what it means to be human. In stark contrast to the beginning of his existence, Fushi has lived the last few years in relative peace. He’s once again become an integral part of a found family, but now he’s had the advantage of time to establish even deeper bonds with people as he grows and learns. Fushi’s language skills develop alongside his self-awareness and understanding of others. However, danger and tragedy isn’t far off–Fushi will have to face his fears and make tremendously difficult decisions in order to protect those he has come to love. He’s evolving to become more human-like even while the monstrous truth behind his creation and survival is revealed. – Ash Brown

Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty, Vol. 4 | By Megumi Morino | Kodansha Comics – The cliffhanger that didn’t appear last time shows up in this volume, as Shizu’s father is back and he’s evil, alas. So it’s ‘put Shizu in an institution’ vs. having her run away with the boy who loves her, and I think we know what readers are going to go with, even in spite of the fact that this is dumb and will end badly. Before that, though, we pretty much get compressed adorable, as Tetsu and Shizu buy kimonos, attend a festival, and otherwise prove that she is indeed fully capable of interacting with the outside world provided she isn’t being constantly possessed. Sadly, I doubt Dear Old Dad will see it that way, and I expect the next volume to be rather dark. Still getting this anyway. – Sean Gaffney

Waiting for Spring, Vol. 6 | By Anashin | Kodansha Comics – There’s not a whole lot that happens in this volume plot-wise. Mitsuki challenges herself by serving on the cultural festival committee and does a very good job. Meanwhile, Aya-chan arranges for his team to have a practice game against our heroes, whereupon he and Asakura get into each other’s faces a bit. Mostly, though, this volume is about feelings. Asakura freely admits to his friends that he loves Mitsuki, which causes some strife with Rui, who was maybe starting to have feelings for her and has long had an inferiority complex where Asakura is concerned. Although I really don’t care about the Aya-chan stuff—or Rui, for that matter—I really like Mitsuki and Asakura and enjoy spending time with them as they work to better themselves and get to a place where they feel worthy of love. They’re a core couple worth rooting for. – Michelle Smith

Pick of the Week: We Want Everything

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SEAN: My pick this week is My Solo Exchange Diary, if only as I really want to find out what happens to our author next, painful as that may be. Also The Promised Neverland, Eclair, etcetcetc…

KATE: This is one of those weeks where I’m inclined to pick seven or eight titles. I second Sean’s recommendation of My Solo Exchange Diary, but I’m also excited for new installments of Princess Jellyfish, The Promised Neverland, and Descending Stories, three of my favorite ongoing series. I’d be remiss in my manga-critic duties if I didn’t also mention Yen Press’ yuri anthology Eclair, which has been on my radar since Erica Friedman reviewed it last year.

MICHELLE: I also have lots of things I’m looking forward to. Some ongoing shounen and shoujo faves from VIZ, Those Summer Days from Kodansha, Eclair from Yen Press, etc. But since it’s my final chance to choose quirky, unique, and addictive Princess Jellyfish, I’ve gotta go with that.

ASH: Absolutely sign me up for everything that’s already been mentioned and be sure to add on Vinland Saga, too. It’s such a tremendous series that somehow manages to only get better with each new volume that’s released.

ANNA: There’s a lot that’s great coming out, but I need to join with Ash in picking Vinland Saga for sure!

Manga the Week of 6/6/18

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SEAN: June arrives this Friday, and with it comes even more manga. Here’s what’s out next week.

Bookwalker has a 4th volume of The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress light novel, reminding me that I’m behind on it.

J-Novel Club has a large number of releases out next week: Demon King Daimaou 5, Invaders of the Rokujouma!? 13, I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse 8, and Me, a Genius? I Was Reborn into Another World and I Think They’ve Got the Wrong Idea! 2. That’s a lot of light novel title damage.

Kodansha has a nice number of print titles coming out. The biggie for Manga Bookshelf peeps is the final omnibus of Princess Jellyfish, Vol. 9. There’s also a 3rd Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle, a 7th Descending Stories, and a 10th Vinland Saga.

MICHELLE: I am really, really looking forward to Princess Jellyfish, though I can’t believe it’ll actually be over.

ASH: Yes! Princess Jellyfish has been wonderful; I’m so glad that it was released in print. I’m looking forward to continuing Descending Stories, too, and am thrilled for more Vinland Saga! (This is a good Kodansha week for me.)

ANNA: Also very happy about Princess Jellyfish and Vinland Saga!

MJ: I’m embarrassed to admit that I never even started Princess Jellyfish. Maybe the release of the final omnibus is what I need to spur me on.

SEAN: Digitally we have the debut of Those Summer Days (Ano Natsu), an Aria shoujo title about time travel and bittersweet romance.

MICHELLE: I’m in for bittersweet romance. The cover’s very pretty, too.

SEAN: We also have a 2nd You Got Me, Sempai!, and a 2nd Beware the Kamiki Brothers.

Seven Seas has two debuts. My Solo Exchange Diary is the sequel to My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, and I am really looking forward to it.

ASH: My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness was tremendous, so the sequel is very high on my list.

MJ: This!

SEAN: Satan’s Secretary (Maou no Hisho) is a bit more typical manga title, about how well a demon invasion would actually go if the Demon King had a really capable secretary at his side. It’s from Earth Star Entertainment, and runs in their Comic Earth Star magazine.

Vertical gives us a 6th volume of Flying Witch.

Viz, as you’d expect, has a large pile. No debuts this time, so let’s divide into Jump and Beat titles. For Jump, we see Astra: Lost in Space 3, Blue Exorcist 19, Food Wars! 24, Haikyu!! 24, the 12th Kuroko’s Basketball 2-in-1, My Hero Academia 13, One Piece’s 24th 3-in-1, and The Promised Neverland 4. MHA and TPN are my choice from there.

MICHELLE: Forsooth, though there are a few other faves in that mix for me, too.

SEAN: On the shoujo end, we have Queen’s Quality 4, Takane & Hana 3, Yona of the Dawn 12, and The Young Master’s Revenge 2. Yona always jumps to the top of my pile whenever it comes out.

MICHELLE: I’ll be getting all of these!

ASH: So much Viz! (And so many that I’m following!)

ANNA: Yay for Viz shoujo!!!!!!

SEAN: And Yen Press has some stragglers. On the novel side we have Napping Princess, an adaptation of the movie of the same name.

Éclair: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart is what it sounds like, a collection of short stories that deal with romance between girls. I’d expect a lot of school settings. The authors of Kiss & White Lily, Gosick, and Bloom into You make contributions.

ASH: I’m really looking forward to this anthology.

MJ: This sounds great.

SEAN: After being delayed for over a year, we now finally have the continuation of the Durarara!! manga, with the start of the Re;Dollars arc, weird punctuation and all.

There’s also a 3rd ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Department, a 7th Akame Ga Kill! ZERO, a 3rd Angels of Death, a 6th Kiss & White Lily for My Dearest Girl (so a double dose of Canno next week), and the 2nd Laid-Back Camp.

ASH: ACCA may not be for everyone, but it’s definitely for me.

ANNA: I still need to read the first volume, for some reason I have not been in an ACCA frame of mind. Glad it is being translated!

SEAN: Bare your soul! What manga are you buying?

Bookshelf Briefs 5/28/18

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Crisis Girls, Vol. 1 | By Hiroaki Yoshikawa | Seven Seas – If My Hero Academia is the Japanese shonen take on the standard “training superheroes” story, then Crisis Girls is the “moe for guys” version. Our superhero wannabe is Kaede, who can control zombies to help her protect the city, but is unfortunately a giant flake and something of a crybaby as well. She does have a more sensible minder, who tries to lecture her on occasional about morals and ethics. Why he wears full facial bandages and a metal face mask… is something we will no doubt find out later. There are the occasional villains who drop by, most of whom are about on Kaede’s level. This is cute-ish, but you can tell it’s not really up to much given that it’s not getting a full review from me. – Sean Gaffney

Golosseum, Vol. 1 | By Yasushi Baba | Kodansha Comics – I approached Golosseum with some amount of trepidation (honestly, that feeling hasn’t completely left after reading the first volume), but the series would seem to be an oddly addictive and pulpy ultra-violent manga. After highly-advanced technology known as “Peacemakers” have rendered most weapons obsolete, battles are fought and won through suplexes and hand-to-hand combat. It’s a premise that starts to fall apart under close scrutiny, but to be fair Golosseum really isn’t a series meant to be taken too seriously. The manga is incredibly over-the-top, its appeal originating from the absurdly extreme martial arts (and bodies) on display. Supposedly, Golosseum is also intended to be a political satire of sorts. Along with not-Hulk Hogan and not-Bruce Lee, important appearances are made by not-Hillary Clinton and not-Vladimir Putin (as well as actual-Grigori Rasputin). However, it remains to be seen how successful that particular aspect of the manga will ultimately be. – Ash Brown

New Game!, Vol. 2 | By Shotaro Tokuno | Seven Seas – We get to see the rest of the game release in this volume, as everyone works really hard to make sure it gets out and has been properly tested. This allows Aoba’s friend Nene to temporarily join the cast herd, and let’s her get as fleshed out as anyone is ever going to be in this genre. We also meet Umiko, who also tests the games but in general wants to tell you about her gun hobbies a lot more. As for our heroines from the first book, they’re still here, doing cute 4-koma things and doing their best today. If it sounds like I’m mocking New Game!, it’s only a bit—it really is a fun title to read and the girls are cute. But this is not exactly the most ambitious title in the world. Recommended for fans of the genre. – Sean Gaffney

Requiem of the Rose King, Vol. 8 | By Aya Kanno | Viz Media – It has to be said, whenever a woman in this series kicks ass, it always comes back to do them the most harm later. Here it’s Anne, who I praised in my brief for the last book, finally married to Richard but not at ALL in the way she wanted after what happens in the aftermath of book seven. And poor Isabelle just ends up dead, seemingly from a “witch,” though I’m somewhat skeptical about that. Richard, meanwhile, is at his broodiest yet, and even with a timeskip in the middle of the book seems to have shut himself off completely after the death of Henry. Of course, this assumes that Henry is actually dead. Requiem of the Rose King may be wandering off the Shakespeare track at times, but remains addictive. – Sean Gaffney

Requiem of the Rose King, Vol. 8 | By Aya Kanno | VIZ Media – Nobody ever really has a good time in this series, but that’s really true in this volume, with the possible exception of Edward, who is throwing drug-fueled orgies with his new favorite mistress, who happens to be a witch. She’s also behind the plot that brings down George and Isabella, which Richard allows to play out because George really is a threat to the House of York and his insulting behavior towards the king has not gone unnoticed. For his part, Richard is disgusted by the king, too, and makes a pact with Buckingham to start working towards taking the crown for himself. Meanwhile, he’s cold as hell to Anne and claims his soul died when he had to kill Henry. But did he really? Twisted, but essential. – Michelle Smith

Scum’s Wish, Vol. 7 | By Mengo Yokoyari | Yen Press – This is still well written, but I can’t say I’m enjoying Scum’s Wish anymore. Part of the problem is the ongoing Ecchan plotline, which goes exactly the way that I thought it would and just leaves everyone upset. No surprises, it was never going to end happily, but part of me sort of hoped Ecchan’s sexuality might be gone into a bit more. As for Akane, this volume delves into her past and why she’s acting the way she does, which essentially amounts to a combination of “I’m really good at it” and “I’m empty inside.” Unfortunately, the idea that the reader is rooting for her to end up with Narumi is ludicrous at this stage. The layout, plotting and dialogue of Scum’s Wish is superb. I’ll finish it, but I wish I liked it more. – Sean Gaffney

A Strange & Mystifying Story, Vol. 3 | By Tsuta Suzuki | SuBLime – This was a reread for me, but it’s been quite a few years. I had forgotten how utterly lovely and charming the romance is between forty-something museum director Minamiura and the unfriendly-seeming-but-unexpectedly-honest twenty-something Hatoki. Hatoki is captivated by Minamiura’s easygoing air, and I love that eventually Minamiura grows tired of waiting for Hatoki to do something about it that (in the brief bonus store) he eventually pounces on him. I wish the whole series were about these two, in fact. The second half of the novel is about Minamiura’s former stepson and the guardian beast who was expecting a girl to be his bride, and it’s fine, but I hope we don’t go back towards supernatural smuttiness of the first two volumes. Still, I’m looking forward to volume four finally being available in English! – Michelle Smith

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Vol. 5 | By Taiki Kawakami | Kodansha Comics – I will readily admit that I have been enjoying That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime far more than I ever thought I would. There have been a few missteps here and there, but overall the series has been a highly-entertaining read that plays around with well-established tropes of the fantasy and isekai genres. This volume focuses on the conclusion of Rimuru’s fight against the Orc Lord and the immediate aftermath of the battle. Despite Rimuru being so incredibly superpowered, the showdown was still an engaging one because the potential for failure remained. Rimuru himself may be able to survive just about anything, but that outcome isn’t guaranteed for his allies. More and more monsters have joined forces with Rimuru over the course of the series–goblins, ogres, lizardmen–at this point it seems like he’s being setup to become something of a saviour figure. – Ash Brown

To-Love-Ru, Vols. 7-8 | By Saki Hasemi and Kentaro Yabuki | Seven Seas – To-Love-Ru is a title that by its very nature is always skirting around the edge of being bad. So when you get a subpar volume like this, it’s hard not to sigh and try to flip ahead a bit. We see investigating haunted houses, trapped on a deserted island, and more of the tsun-heavy prefect, which means that Rito gets the crap beaten out of him even more than usual. Why does he get the crap beaten out of him, you ask? Because To-Love-Ru is for teenage boys, and thus the girls are frequently naked and he is always falling into their boobs. It’s never a good sign when you’re longing for the subtlety of Love Hina. To-Love-Ru gives its readers what they want, but I’m pretty sure I don’t want it anymore. – Sean Gaffney

Pick of the Week: Still Fighting It

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MICHELLE: I’ll definitely be picking up the latest Waiting for Spring, and I’m somewhat curious about A Kiss, for Real, but the release that really makes me squee this week is the third volume of Shojo FIGHT!. The first two volumes hooked me good and I’m extremely happy to get to read more about Neri, the girl who sometimes turns into a jerk when she lets herself play volleyball without restraint and who wants to change. It’s good stuff!

SEAN: I’m a sucker for a good Guide Book, given how few of them are actually translated over here. So my pick goes to The Ancient Magus’ Bride: Merkmal. That said, I also want to read the new Shojo FIGHT!, and Kabukimonogatari is definitely near the top of my list too.

KATE: I was mourning the demise of Crimson Hero for years… that is, until Kodansha started publishing Shojo FIGHT!!, the best sports manga you’re not reading. It’s got great characters, great volleyball matches, and real-life conflicts that remind us how hard it can be for competitive female athletes. So I’m joining Michelle and Sean and bumping this one to the top of my list. (Sorry… not sorry.)

ASH: Alas! If only Shojo FIGHT!! was being released in print, I’m sure it would be my pick, too. And so instead, this week have my eyes on The Ancient Magus’ Bride: Merkmal.

ANNA: I have to join everyone else in picking Shojo Fight!! Good sports manga with female protagonists is hard to find in translation, so a new volume is a treat for sure.

Bookshelf Briefs 5/21/18

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Anonymous Noise, Vol. 8 | By Ryoko Fukuyama | Viz Media – This was more of a band volume than a romantic triangle volume, and I appreciated that. Momo and Yuzu have to learn here that in order to survive, they have to write songs that are for other people, as well as songs that occasionally make compromises—such as being easier to sing. They do this by running into two annoying idols whose annoyingness turns out to be half front (and half being annoying). Elsewhere, Miou is having trouble dealing with being in a relationship when she’s still in love with Yuzu, and tries to deal with both issues at the same time, with limited success. And as if that weren’t enough, BATTLE OF THE BANDS again. Shojo’s Beat’s most addictive potboiler. – Sean Gaffney

Baccano!, Vol. 3 | By Ryohgo Narita, Shinta Fujimoto and Katsumi Enami | Yen Press – This final volume of the manga is a relatively straightforward adaptation of the first volume, with a few Easter Eggs thrown in for hardcore novel fans, such as a flashforward to Firo and Ennis’ wedding (Christopher! Rail! People blocked by an annoying arm!). Of course, the manga is cagey about when that wedding takes place—trust me, it’ll be a while. As for other aspects of the adaptation, it’s worth noting that Enami more than the anime or the novels is making Isaac and Miria explicitly a romantic couple rather than a mere comedy double act. There’s some really sweet moments here that shows off their love. Baccano! fans who saw the anime and read the novels will want this too. – Sean Gaffney

Black Clover, Vol. 11 | By Yuki Tabata | Viz Media – There’s a lot going on here, and as always with Black Clover very little of it will take you by surprise. We see brainwashed villains overcoming it (as well as villains in love), Asta manages to control his anti-magic and become more powerful, and an arrogant sneering villain gets to apologize. We also see Vanessa face off against the Queen of Witches, which gives us a nice opportunity to talk about how much Jump loves found families. A whole lot. The whole is not greater than the sum of its parts—honestly, the whole is about the same as the parts—and I suspect I’ll forget what happened in this volume before the next. But I do enjoy Black Clover as I read it. It’s dumb fun. – Sean Gaffney

The Bride Was a Boy | By Chii | Seven Seas – It probably isn’t much of a surprise that The Bride Was a Boy was one of the manga releases that I was most looking forward to this year. It’s fairly rare in translated manga to see realistically portrayed characters who are transgender, but rarer still is the opportunity to read a manga that is both about and by someone who actually is transgender. The Bride Was a Boy is the autobiography of Chii. It’s an adorably sweet manga about her experiences as a transwoman in Japan, including aspects of her transition and her marriage to her wonderful husband. Some may criticize the work for being too free of conflict–that it doesn’t adequately show the hardships that so many transgender people face–but it’s incredibly refreshing to see such a charming and positive work. Happy, hopeful stories about transgender lives are valuable and important to have, too. – Ash Brown

Chihayafuru, Vol. 11 | By Yuki Suetsugu | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Mizusawa’s karuta club has earned a spot at the national tournament no matter what happens in their final match against Hokuou, though it’s still a disappointment when they don’t come away with the victory. Part of the problem is that Chihaya is looking ahead to her next game against Shinobu and spends the entire first half trying to improve her accuracy rather than relying on her real strength—having a higher number of “one-character cards” than anyone else. I love that her resulting funk is short-lived and that her perseverance also serves as an inspiration for her sister, who’s having a bit of a career crisis. After a nice bit of encouragement from the wind instruments club, the gang is off to nationals. I consistently love this series more with every volume and don’t foresee that ever changing. – Michelle Smith

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 5 | By Ryoko Kui| Yen Press – The joy of getting Falin back lasts for about five pages into this fifth volume, and I hope you weren’t looking forward to her as part of the team. But no, instead we get a new villain, the “Lunatic Magician,” who shows the reader what they had guessed all along—Falin came back wrong. Hopefully we’ll see more of her later, but for the moment our heroes have to go back to the surface—they’ve finally gone as far as they can living off the dungeon. We also meet a few other groups, some of whom are familiar with Laos and company, and learn that Laos and Falin are viewed as… rather creepy by everyone else in the area. The series is getting darker, but I’m still enjoying the places it’s going. – Sean Gaffney

Everyone’s Getting Married, Vol. 8 | By Izumi Miyazono | Viz Media – The series proves to be very good at looking at multiple aspects of a long term, non-married relationship, and that’s good news for the reader but bad news for Asuka, who has to deal with her workplace hearing she’s involved, and thus demoting her as they expect her to leave to be a housewife. This is so very, very Japan and it’s sad that everyone treats it as “yeah, that’s what happens.” Asuka and Ryu try their best, but she’s also hammered on by the folks in the United States that they need Ryu to be there—and not with Asuka. As such, the end of this volume is sad but inevitable. Fortunately, it’s not the end of the series. This was a bit excruciating, but well told. – Sean Gaffney

Haikyu!!, Vol. 23 | By Haruichi Furudate | Viz Media – This is the second volume in a row not to deal with the main Karasuno club, as we’re still playing out Nekoma’s match for the majority of the book. It’s a good match, but I must admit it does not exactly lend itself to new things to say in a review. Cool things happen, people learn about volleyball, their are heartfelt flashbacks, and eventually a team is the winner. The next volume definitely looks like it’s heading back to Kageyama, though, as he’s been picked as what sounds like the equivalent of an All-Pro. Can be do actual teamwork with a team other than his own, though? And what does Hinata feel about this? Fine out next time, same Haikyu-time, same Haikyu-channel. – Sean Gaffney

Tales of Wedding Rings, Vol. 2 | By Maybe | Yen Press – There’s a bit of fanservice here, but for the most part Tales of Wedding Rings impresses me by not going for the obvious harem fantasy tropes. We travel to the country of the elves to meet the next princess (described in the blurb as well-endowed, presumably to separate her from the well-endowed main heroine). Unfortunately, Nefritis is a massive introvert with a fear of others, and her brother not only has a massive brother complex but also seems to have a hate-on for the ring bearer—the two may be connected. There’s some emotional scenes and a nice battle in among the cliches here, and while I’m expecting more well-endowed girls next time around, I still think this is worth your time. – Sean Gaffney

Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty, Vol. 4 | By Megumi Morino | Kodansha Comics – Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty has always been good, but I was not expecting so many feels. It all starts so well. Shizu has come so far as her true self, and has a lovely evening with Tetsu at the summer festival. Tetsu patches things up with Chihiro, whom we learn sees a lot of himself in Shizu. With Chihiro’s encouragement, Tetsu begins to ask the spirits occupying Shizu about their lingering regrets, hoping to maybe help them move on. It’s so hopeful! And then evil dad returns and we’re plunged into bleak darkness. Thankfully, it’s brief, as Tetsu has come to care too much about Shizu to let his guilt over being paid to befriend her keep him from helping her escape her dad’s clutches. Evil dad won’t be happy with this turn of events, but I personally can’t wait to see what happens next. – Michelle Smith

Pick of the Week: Sacrifices and Troublemakers

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SEAN: There’s several things I’m interested in. I already reviewed Golosseum, and the Devilman hardcover is a must-have. That said, both are a bit too violent for me to pick, so I will go with The Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts from Yen Press, as I will come running for a Hana to Yume series. It may also be violent, but I highly doubt it’s as violent as those two.

MICHELLE: I’m intrigued by Devilman, I love Ace of the Diamond, and I’m sure I’ll love Delicious in Dungeon. That said, I’m also picking The Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts this week. Shoujo fantasy romance just seems so appealing at this moment.

ANNA: I know I’m predictable in my love for shoujo, so I’m sure it will be no surprise that The Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts is my pick as well.

KATE: And I’m equally predictable in my love of Historically Important Manga, so it’s no surprise that my vote goes to Baron Yoshimoto’s The Troublemakers. Manly manga for the win!

ASH: Like Kate, my pick this week goes to The Troublemakers, though I’m certainly interested in The Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts and am looking forward to another helping of Delicious in Dungeon, too. And of course there’s the debut of the original Devilman to consider as well!

Manga the Week of 5/23/18

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SEAN: Stuff. A lot. Just… a lot of stuff.

J-Novel Club has new volumes for Arifureta and Infinite Dendrogram, and they’re both Vol. 6s.

Kodansha print has Golosseum, a very manly manga from the magazine Nemesis, which will appeal to fans of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Crying Freeman, or just people who like really muscular guys killing people gorily.

ANNA: This may be relevant to my interests.

ASH: Also for people interested in spectacularly outrageous political satire.

MJ: I can sometimes get into spectacularly outrageous political satire. Hm.

SEAN: On the digital front, the debut is Can You Just Die, My Darling? (Konya wa Tsuki ga Kirei Desu ga, Toriaezu Shine), a horror romance from Shonen Magazine R that should also appeal to fans of gore.

There’s also new digital titles for Ace of the Diamond (11), Ayanashi (3), Domestic Girlfriend (17), Elegant Yokai Apartment Life (7), Kounodori: Dr. Stork (9), Liar x Liar (2), and My Brother the Shut-In (5).

MICHELLE: I can’t believe I’m so far behind on Elegant Yokai Apartment Life and My Brother the Shut-In already!

SEAN: Retrofit Comics is releasing The Troublemakers, a collection of stories by Baron Yoshimoto. It looks to be rated M for Manly.

Seven Seas has a ton of debuts next week, so let’s also mention they have a 6th Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, a 2nd Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho, and a 3rd Yokai Rental Shop.

MICHELLE: I’ve been reading the first two volumes of Yokai Rental Shop. I’m not yet sure what I make of it, but it’s evidently only four volumes long, so I will probably be getting volume three, too.

ASH: The series hasn’t captivated me nearly as much as Nightmare Inspector, but there’s enough for me to keep reading, too.

SEAN: Devilman: The Classic Collection is a hardcover deluxe edition of the original 70s manga that ran in Weekly Shonen Magazine about 46 years ago. If you liked the modern anime, you’ll love the original. Just… don’t get too attached to anyone.

ANNA: Woah.

ASH: I’m excited for this! It’s a beast of a volume, too, from the pictures I’ve seen.

SEAN: The Dungeon of Black Company seems to be a take on the isekai genre, and… oh, everyone left. In any case, it runs in Mag Garden’s Comic Blade.

MJ: Heh.

SEAN: Himouto! Umaru-chan is a comedic series that runs in Weekly Young Jump, and there’s also an anime. The premise sounds like Kare Kano – the perfect student at school is a total slob at home.

How to Treat Magical Beasts: Mine and Master’s Medical Journal (Watashi to Sensei no Genjuu Shinryouroku) is a Comic Blade fantasy title, and looks to be more for Ancient Magus’ Bride fans.

ASH: In that case, I should make sure to give it a look.

SEAN: Vertical Comics has a 3rd omnibus for Arakawa Under the Bridge.

Viz has a digital only 8th volume of Boys Over Flowers Season 2.

ANNA: Need to get caught up on this series. I keep misplacing my iPad!

SEAN: And there is a pile of Yen. On the Yen On front we have a debut this time around. A Sister’s All You Need (Imouto sae Ireba ii) is from the creator of Haganai, and best known for having the most polarizing first episode of an anime ever. I may hate this, but what the hey.

Yen On also has a 15th A Certain Magical Index, a 5th Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, a 5th My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected, a 7th Overlord, an a 9th Strike the Blood.

Yen Press has one debut next week, The Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts (Niehime to Kemono no Ou). It’s a Hana to Yume title, meaning Anna will be interested, as will I. It looks sort of fantasy, sort of romance, and has a sweetie-pie as the heroine.

ANNA: I am for sure interested!!!!! More Hana to Yume please!

MICHELLE: Hm. I might be interested, too.

ASH: Same!

MJ: I might too!

SEAN: Yen Press ongoing titles. Let’s run through the gauntlet. Baccano! has its 3rd manga volume (it’s the final one). Delicious in Dungeon with Vol. 5. The Devil Is a Part-Timer! has its 11th manga volume. Dimension W is up to Vol. 10, Forbidden Scrollery gets a 3rd volume, Is It Wrong to Try To Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? has its 9th manga volume, KonoSuba has its 6th manga volume…

(pauses, breathes a bit)

…The Royal Tutor is up to Vol. 7, The Saga of Tanya the Evil gives us a 2nd manga volume, Scum’s Wish has its 7th book (I will read it and feel terrible), Tales of Wedding Rings is at Book 2, Triage X has somehow hit Volume 15 (is it the breasts? It’s probably the breasts), and Trinity Seven is at lucky 13.

MICHELLE: So far behind on Delicious in Dungeon!

ASH: You’re in for a treat! I’m enjoying the series immensely.

SEAN: As I said, stuff. Are you buying manga? Or clearing tree debris from the latest nightmarish storm?