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Manga the Week of 12/3/25

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SEAN: It’s the last month of 2025, but there’s still plenty to go.

ASH: How did this even happen???

SEAN: Yen On has two one-shot debuts. Bone Ash is a novel from the creator of Psycho-Pass and Mardock Scramble. A manager of a building site that’s going up investigates rumors of fires at the site, and ends up in a horror novel, basically.

ASH: Okay, that seems like one I should probably read.

SEAN: Lila and the Winds of War is a novel from a different famous Japanese sci-fi author, and it’s about an orphaned girl living with an immortal being who tries to protect her homeland.

ASH: This one, too! (Uh-oh, seems to have found my number…)

SEAN: Yen On also has I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in the Real World, Too 7 and Secrets of the Silent Witch 7.

No debuts for Yen Press, but we see The 13th Footprint 2, The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life II 3, Cheeky Brat 15, The Color of the End: Mission in the Apocalypse 3, I Kept Pressing the 100-Million-Year Button and Came Out on Top 7, The Saga of Tanya the Evil 27, Spice and Wolf Collector’s Edition 2, To Save the World, Can You Wake Up the Morning After with a Demi-Human? 8, and Yowamushi Pedal 28.

MICHELLE: Man, I haven’t read Yowamushi Pedal in ages.

ASH: It’s been a while since I have, too, but I still thoroughly enjoy it when I do.

ANNA: My kids were really into it at one time!

SEAN: Viz Manga debuts Kaiju No. 8: Relax, the obligatory gag manga spinoff that really popular Jump titles always seem to get.

Also from Viz: Astro Royale 3, The Bugle Call: Song of War 4, Fushigi Yûgi: Byakko Senki 3, Let’s Do It Already! 7, Marriage Toxin 10, My Hero Academia: Team-Up Missions 7, Nana 25th Anniversary Edition 2, Queen’s Quality 24, Spy x Family 15, A Star Brighter Than the Sun 4, Wolf Girl and Black Prince 16 (the final volume), and Yona of the Dawn 45.

MICHELLE: Oh, a new Byakko Senki! And other good shoujo, too.

ASH: Indeed! Some really great releases.

ANNA: Yay for more Byakko Senki!

SEAN: Tokyopop has the 2nd volume of Boyfriend, Sometimes Girlfriend.

Titan Manga debuts Stray (Haguremono), a one-shot seinen manga from Manga Goraku. A man who served time for a crime he was innocent of gets out of prison and meets Hana, a daughter he didn’t know about. Together, they uncover a conspiracy. This is getting rave reviews.

ASH: I wasn’t previously aware of this one, but I am intrigued!

ANNA: Huh, interesting.

SEAN: Steamship has a 10th volume of Fire in His Fingertips: A Flirty Fireman Ravishes Me with His Smoldering Gaze.

Square Enix Manga gives us Holoearth Chronicles Side:E Yamato Phantasia 2 and A Man and His Cat 14.

Seven Seas has a couple of debuts. I Won’t Let Mistress Suck My Blood (Goshujin-sama ni wa Suwasemasen!) is a yuri series from Manga Life STORIA Dash. A woman looking for work finds a job as a maid in a spooky mansion. But is her mistress all that she seems?

ANNA: I don’t know, this all sounds perfectly normal to me.

SEAN: Far From Romance (Romance ni wa Hodo Tooi) is a BL one-shot from Dear +. A quiet IT guy in a small remote town finds his world upended when an extroverted Brit arrives – and seems to know him?

ASH: Those could both have some potential.

SEAN: In danmei, Seven Seas has Ballad of Sword and Wine: Qiang Jin Jiu 6 and Lout of Count’s Family 6.

In non-Airship novels, we see The Twelve Kingdoms 3.

ASH: Yes!!!

ANNA: Woo!!!

SEAN: For manga, we see How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift? 19, I Got Married to the Girl I Hate Most in Class 4, I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! 7, It Takes More Than a Pretty Face to Fall in Love 4, Last Game 11 (the final volume), Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout 8, and Rozen Maiden Collector’s Edition 4.

No debuts for Kodansha Manga, but they have Grand Blue Dreaming 23, The Heroic Legend of Arslan 21, Hitorijime My Hero 16, Initial D Omnibus 8, Kusunoki’s Flunking Her High School Glow-Up 5, Roar: A Star in the Abyss 3, A Sign of Affection 12, and Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun 17.

MICHELLE: Some good stuff.

SEAN: And in digital volumes we get SHAMAN KING: THE SUPER STAR 10 and Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister 19.

Kodama, determined to drown everyone in this title, have the 5th and 6th Baki the Grappler omnibus.

ASH: I hope it works out for Kodama!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has one print volume, a manga. We get My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! ―AO― 9.

No debuts for J-Novel Club. For digital light novels, we see The Brilliant Healer’s New Life in the Shadows 8, The Diary of a Middle-Aged Sage’s Carefree Life in Another World 8, The Hero and the Sage, Reincarnated and Engaged 6, In Another World with Household Spells 3, and My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In for Me! 11.

And digital manga includes Cooking With Wild Game 12, I’m a Noble on the Brink of Ruin, So I Might as Well Try Mastering Magic 5, The Invincible Summoner Who Crawled Up from Level 1 5, Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World 12, Sweet Reincarnation 12, and A Wild Last Boss Appeared! 8.

Inklore debuts Heaven Official’s Blessing (The Comic), the webtoon version of the bestselling danmei.

ASH: Excellent.

SEAN: Hanashi Media has a pile of light novels, as we get The Abandoned Reincarnation Sage 2, I Got Reincarnated as a Cultist Mob in an Eroge Full of Maniacs with Death Wishes 2, I’m Just a Villager, So What? 2, and Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy 10.

Ghost Ship debuts The Cuckolding Wizard’s Adventure (Netori Mahoutsukai no Bouken) is a seinen manga from Manga Cross. A wizard is recruited into the hero’s party… and begins screwing all the women in the party… and their enemies who are women as well!

Also from Ghost Ship: The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You 16.

Dark Horse Comics has Gunsmith Cats Omnibus 3 and Planetes Deluxe Edition 2.

ASH: The first Planetes volume was really something special even among all the various deluxe editions that are being published these days.

SEAN: Cross Infinite World has a spin-off: The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor: The Official History of the Continent of Platy. This is a Bad End short story volume telling us what would happen if Jill had not gone back in time and become the Dragon Consort.

Cross Infinite World also has Onmyoji and Tengu Eyes 4.

Airship’s print debut is I Got Married to the Girl I Hate Most in Class (Class no Daikirai na Joshi to Kekkonsuru Koto ni Natta), a romcom title, as you might have guessed. Two high school rivals are forced to marry due to family politics. Now they have to live together, share meals, and share a bed! But they hate each other! Right?

Also in print: Restaurant to Another World 6.

Airship’s digital debut is Chronicles of an Aristocrat Reborn in Another World (Tensei Kizoku no Isekai Boukenroku – Jichou o Shiranai Kamigami no Shito). Seven Seas has released the manga for years, and we’ve also had the anime. Now we get the light novel. The title is the plot.

They’ve also got ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! 5.

December only gets busier from now on. What are you buying?

Her Royal Highness Seems to Be Angry, Vol. 2

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By Kou Yatsuhashi and Mito Nagashiro. Released in Japan as “Ojou Denka wa Ookari no You desu” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by Tokyopop. Translated by Katie Kimura.

This is one of those books that’s stacked towards the back, and for the first, oh, three-quarters of it, I was worried we’d have another volume that did not live up to its title. I mean, don’t worry, Leticiel does end up going to town on a bunch of high school bully girls, but that’s still in her standard stoic, unemotional way. Heck, even when she’s in a battle to the death against supposedly long extinct enemies, she’s cool as a cucumber. But thankfully, there’s still her absolutely terrible family to content with, and their actions near the end show that, thank God, Her Royal Highness FINALLY Seems to Be Angry. That said, that rage may end up attracting attention she doesn’t want, as we lose one prince but gain another, and I think I can define him as “intrigued”. But yeah, for the most part in this volume Her Royal Highness is dealing with the traditional enemy of high school girls: exams.

After the events of the last book, the prince, Rocheford, is sequestered at the palace and apparently barely coherent. The King apologizes to Leticiel, and asks what she wants. She’s quick to take advantage of that: she wants 1) her engagement broken, 2) a house where she can live apart from her family, 3) a research lab, and 4) most importantly, access to any book in the kingdom. She gets all this but the last – she can’t see the forbidden archive, but otherwise everything is good. (The book strongly implies the answers she needs are in the forbidden archive.) So now she’s on her own (with her maid and butler, of course), and ready to go back to avoiding classes, though she does take the time to help an abused young classmate with “too much magic” disease from being bullied. Unfortunately, just because she gets away from her terrible mother doesn’t mean she stops being terrible…

The most intriguing part of the book is Drossell, who is not quite as dead as I may have thought after reading Book 1. We get a little more information about her in this book, partly as Leticiel has started to have memory flashes of her “Drossell” life, which mostly include playing with a young boy named Alec. More intriguing are the POV chapters from her twin sister Christa, where we hear more about what broke their relationship, why Christa started to get fanatically jealous of her, and what happened to Alec. It’s interesting because it definitely implies that Leticiel is going to have to make piece with her Drossell body, but also as it appears that one reason everyone’s sort of OK with her complete personality change is that this is the SECOND time it’s happened. I had assumed Christa was going to be the traditional evil sibling in this series, but I now suspect that getting these two to make up may be one of the big goals.

I am sincerely hoping the third volume does not get delayed a year, as it’s hard when they’re so far apart to remember everything. Still, a decent read, and I think it only runs to 5 books, so not a huge money sink.

Looks Like a Job for a Maid! The Tales of a Dismissed Supermaid, Vol. 1

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By Yasuaki Mikami and Kinta. Released in Japan as “Maid nara Touzen desu. Nureginu wo Kiserareta Bannou Maid-san wa Tabi ni Deru Koto ni Shimashita” by Earth Star Novel. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Sylvia Gallagher.

It’s always interesting to see how light novels deal with the age old problem of “my workplace is horrible and no one appreciates me”. Sometimes they just have the person die and end up in another world where they can get cool powers and women. But this is a J-Novel Heart title, despite an utter lack of romance, so instead we get something a bit more villainess-adjacent. Here we have the classic “I work and I slave but everyone abuses me except one or two people” plot, which inevitably begins with the protagonist being framed for something she didn’t do and thrown out. And indeed, that’s what happens. But guess what? When you leave a bad place of employment, sometimes it’s good for you! You can help others achieve their dream. You can show off your skills. And you can try to get a sense of who you are as a person besides your job. Nina has trouble with that last one.

Nina is a maid who can do anything, thanks to the harsh training of an unseen mentor. But sadly, the training did not include self-confidence, so when she’s framed for breaking an expensive vase, she has to leave without even a reference. Deciding to travel (she’s got money as she never spends anything on herself), she comes across a rookie magician who has the talent for Level 5 magic but can’t seem to access it; an inventor whose parents are famous but who seems to be stuck on that one final thing that will make her go down in history; and a beastgirl working in a mine who’s trying her best but finds all food in the area makes her sick. All three of them have their lives turned upside down by Nina, who is bad at doing things for herself, but when it comes to helping others, there’s literally nothing she cannot do.

This has a lot of fun aspects to it. Technically it’s an isekai, though Nina is not the one with memories from Japan. Emily and Astrid are nice and relatable, and once Nina solves their immediate problems they are determined to travel with her so that she stays out of trouble. Spoiler: she does not. All four of the young women in this book suffer to a degree from low self-esteem – for Emily and Astrid it’s because of their continued failures in their profession, and with Tien it’s due to starvation, but also the fact that her parents abandoned her and she doesn’t know why. Nina, though, is the toughest nut to crack, and I really love that Emily spots what Nina needs right now – a family. Nina needs to find a way to define herself that isn’t “maid”, and so far she just can’t do that. Honestly, I suspect given the narrative of the series she won’t be able to, but the effort to do so is the important part.

Upcoming books in the series make it sound a bit like Make My Abilities Average only with less work-obsessed orphans. (OK, there *is* a work-obsessed orphan in this, but she becomes one of the party.) If you love found family stories and don’t mind a maid who can solve any problem almost immediately, this is a great deal of fun.

The Isle of Paramounts: Reborn into a Slow Life Among the Strongest in the World, Vol. 1

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By Heiseiowari and Noy. Released in Japan as “Tenseishitara Saikyou Shu-tachi ga Sumau Shima deshita. Kono Shima de Slow Life wo Tanoshimimasu” by SQEX Novel. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alex Castor.

This is another title I took a flyer on that surprised me. Well, I mean, relatively. There really isn’t a plot beat in this book that has not been carefully chosen to appeal to folks who like the familiar and cliched. At the start of the book, when our reincarnated hero gradually realizes he is in fact Superman, I was rolling my eyes a bit. It kept me going for about half the book by not really doing anything wrong (which is a low bar that many series fail to clear). I think it started to win me over around the time of the blond loli vampire – because of COURSE there’s a blonde loli vampire – who doesn’t drink blood but drinks tsundere instead. That is a really terrific joke. And as the book went on I realized that I just really liked the entire cast. They were nice folks. Just chilling on an island and not overworking themselves to death or dealing with workplace abuse. Gotta love it.

A Japanese salaryman working at a black company, Arata, finds he has died. You’d think it would be from overwork, but in reality he was accidentally killed by Aqua. (OK, it’s just a goddess who’s ditzy and kind of pathetic, but there’s nothing saying it’s NOT Aqua…) He’s burned out by dealing with people, so asks to be reincarnated on a remote island with “a healthy body”. What he gets is a near indestructible super body, as well as a cheat that lets him copy skills. What’s more, right after he arrives on the island he runs into a beautiful mage who’s washed up on the island searching for something, a happy young beastgirl and her gruff-but-kind adopted father, a dragongirl that falls for our hero at first punch, the aforementioned vampire, etc. Can this really be a slow life?

Though it does not get hot and heavy like Bladesmith did (it’s still platonic by the end of the volume), I was once again really won over by the relationship between the two leads in this book. As it turns out, Reina the mage is dealing with just as difficult a life as Arata had, and between the ludicrously hard training from her mentor and pressure from the kingdoms to marry into their family or else, she regards the island castaway life as a relief. She also finds that, unlike her old country where she was top mage dog and feared by all, here she’s the smallest fish in the pond. I joked about tsundere above, but that’s not really true, she’s just trying to deal with the fact that she’s been rescued by a handsome nice guy who can punch out top-tier monsters and also can learn magic much faster than she does. It’s no wonder by the end of the volume, they’ve built a house. With separate bedrooms, of course. For now. (They backtrack on that almost immediately, though it’s still platonic.)

The vibe for this book is friendly. Even the seeming antagonists end up being, at most, annoying teases. Turns out that a relaxing life among friends where you control your own destiny is therapeutic as hell.

Pick of the Week: The Art of Picks

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SEAN: I’ve heard very good things about A Curtain Call for You, and as a former drama student it naturally calls out to me. It’s definitely my pick this week.

KATE: Though I’m always down to buy another coffee table book, I only have eyes for one new arrival this week: A Witch’s Life in Mongol. Great artwork, great storytelling, and a great heroine make this series a real standout in a very crowded market.

MICHELLE: I’ve been under the weather this week and what sounds most appealing is actually some pleasant shoujo. I liked the first volume of Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet, so I will go with that.

ASH: This week I’m most interested in splurging on The Art of Manga, which just so happens to feature some of my favorite creators. (And I’m in the wrong party of the country to be able to actually go see the associated exhibit.)

ANNA: I’m with Ash, I’m very curious about The Art of Manga!

This Gyaru’s Got a Thing for… Vampire Hunters?!, Vol. 2

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By Wasan Kurata and Kewi Hayashi. Released in Japan as “Vampire Hunter ni Yasashii Gal” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Gwendolyn Warner.

This appears to be one of those rare series that is not based on an ongoing web novel, and the last volume (this one) came out in June of 2023, so I think we can assume this is the last one. It’s definitely open-ended, but not unsatisfying or anything. As it does seem to be the wrap up, though, I find myself asking once again: is this yuri? Last time I said it was the sort of series I’d call yuri in 2004-2005 or so. This second volume, I’d say, moves that forward a decade. Ruka says once more here that she’s not interested in dating guys right now. She thinks of her relationship with Ginka in very romantic terms. When a girl in the series says she has a confession to make, Ruka assumes it’s a love confession and gets flustered. And, of course, she decides to make it her life’s work to ensure that she and Ginka can be together forever. I mean, they don’t kiss, but come on.

After the events in the last book, all Ruka wants to do is spend the summer hanging out with her new bestie and showing her the fun side of life, and maybe also figuring out what she wants to do after graduation. Unfortunately Suela, a 13-year-old vampire hunter (who hero worships Ginka more than a little) arrives to say that after the fuss that just happened, she’s been assigned to monitor Ginka for a month. Still, that just means they get a cute Mexican vampire hunter to hang out with them! The beach is conquered, albeit with some difficulties. Final exams go OK. And Ruka even thinks she’s decided on her future career… though everyone she knows is against it. Unfortunately, Suela is trying to get Ginka to return and take control of what’s left of the falling apart vampire hunter organization. And she’s not the only one…

I think the thing I liked best in this book, aside from the relationship between Ruka and Ginka, is how it looks seriously at career paths and the dangers that are inherent in all of them. The dance club is being asked to collaborate with a popular influencer, but that involves investigating everything about both the influencer AND the company behind them, to make sure it will be safe for the club members. Ruka thinks she has what it takes to be an influencer, but is reminded how almost all of them fail to make any money or fame doing it, and that it will require a lot of fine details that Ruka normally glosses over. And the vampire hunters can’t figure out what to do with no vampires, especially give that they have no downtime and no hobbies. This all dovetails into Ruka once again rescuing everyone with the power of niceness and optimism, and her decision is very HER. And makes Ginka happy as well, even if she has trouble showing it.

This isn’t as lights-out terrific as the first volume, but it’s still a great deal of fun, and I love the two leads. If it ever gets a Book 3, I’ll be here for it.

The Fearsome Witch Teaches in Another World: Pay Attention in Class!, Vol. 1

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By Mitsuru Inoue and Suzuno. Released in Japan as “Isekai Teni Shite Kyoushi ni Natta ga, Majo to Osorerarete Iru Ken” by Earth Star Luna. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Gierrlon Dunn.

Light Novel readers are very familiar by now with the trope. Our hero ends up in another world and gets all the girls, all the swords, all the magic. And if their high school bullies aren’t literally brought along so that he can destroy them, than the antagonists that he meets will all SOUND like high school bullies. It’s the author living vicariously through the character. But what if the author isn’t really all that bothered with their high school career? What if, instead, it’s teaching that’s the problem? Students unwilling to learn, who are quick to say that their parents donate to the school. Fellow teachers who put in minimal effort and show bias against other students. An administration that wants the teachers to go with the flow and not make waves. Does that make you mad? Don’t you wish you could change it? Don’t you wish you could teach kids in an unbiased way with the help of near-absolute power? This book is for you.

Aoi Konominato dies (we’re not told how) with many regrets. She was trying to become a kendo master, but failed. So she went into teaching, but kept running into problems. Her father must be so disappointed in her. With these thoughts, she wakes up in the middle of a fantasy world, having been taken in by an elf who turns out to be one of the strongest magic users in the world. Over the course of the next decade, he teaches Aoi everything she knows, and she proves to be a fantastic student. Now he wants to send her to the premier magic academy – not as a student, but as a teacher, to instruct the future magic users of the world. There’s only one slight problem, which is that this is a typical isekai, meaning arrogant nobles who look down on commoners and abuse their position. Aoi will have to do something about that.

For the most part I quite enjoyed this, though if you’re a student who dealt with an abusive teacher Aoi might set off a few red flags. She means well, but her personality is very stoic (I’m not sure she expressed an emotion in the entire volume) and she can come across as terrifying, especially once she shows off her magic. I did enjoy the way magic works here – there are ways to teach it, and basic spells everyone should know, but you can modify and alter as you see fit, and people are creating new spells and researching new magic all the time. I also quite liked her teaching friend Elisa, a dwarf who likes to do research. For the most part she’s there to be a bit of a tsukkomi when Aoi does something outrageous, but she’s loud and lovable. And while it was a bit cruel, I admit I laughed a lot at the king and queen giving their son a good talking-to.

So yes, assuming you don’t mind Aoi’s vibe, this is a solid debut. It’s got quite a few volumes, so we’ll see where it goes from here. And no, I’m not sure why Aoi’s teaching outfit consists of a skintight short leather dress and fancy stockings. But I can hazard a guess.

One Last Hurrah! The Grayed Heroes Explore a Vivid Future, Vol. 1

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By fukurou and johndee. Released in Japan as “Jiji Baba Yuusha Party Saigo no Tabi: Oita Saikyou wa Iroasenu Mama Mirai e Susumu you desu” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Vasileios Mousikidis.

I was looking forward to this title from the moment it was announced, and I’m pleased that it did not disappoint. It’s not that surprising, but that’s not what you want from a series with this premise, which is comforting and happy, even when it’s dealing with terrible people who are murdering squads of faceless guards. I especially enjoy seeing elderly men in their 60s and 70s, who are among the most powerful in the world, suddenly becoming shy fanboys in front of their senpais when faced with the titular characters. Every grand master was once a young boy or girl, and the same goes here, where we meet the powerful mage’s teacher, or the guy who taught the incredible swordsman what he knows. It also helps to underline the other point of this series, which is that those folks are, while mind-numbingly powerful, at least on the human scale. Our protagonists not only left that behind long ago, but were never like that.

Once the world was on the brink of destruction. The sky was blood-red, monsters were everywhere, many died, and everything was about to fall to the Demon Lord. Then the Hero and his party won the day, the sky turned blue again, and they all lived happily ever after. Now, over seventy years later, the hero and his wife the saint, now in their nineties, decide that they are going to be dying soon, and want to see their great-grandson for the first time before they do. He’s not on that continent, so it’s time for a journey. Along the way they meet the other surviving members of the hero’s party – a drunken swordsman and his witch wife, a bald “exhibitionist” monk with a muscle fetish, and a lying merchant who keeps changing his name. They’re all incredibly old… but I would advise against thinking they’re feeble.

There’s a lot of shonen stereotypes here, as you may have guessed. There’s one character who reminds me a lot of Usopp, but he has a surprising backstory, and also a surprisingly hidden power. The big guy who loves muscles and walks around with only a loincloth comes up a lot (I saw it in Last Dungeon Kid, and it wasn’t new there). That said, the main thing is that all of them are now called “eccentric” but back then had nastier names applied. Ferd the hero is so powerful that after the final battle he has to live on a remote mountain as almost no one can get near him, Elrica the saint was literally built to fight against evil (and has all the cliches you’d expect from that role), and Sazaki the swordsman is from the school of “If I sword good enough, I will be best at sword”, with an added drunken master aspect. This shouldn’t work as well as it does, as they’re all such types. But it does, as they’re all fun. I love it when Ferd and Elrica play at being a feeble, elderly couple. I also liked seeing the next generation of heroes, who are far more “normal” than Ferd and company but also appear to be writing their own story.

I’m not sure how much more of this we’ll get, but there’s at least a second volume out. Given the first book ends with them actually starting out to see the grandkid, I’m not optimistic we’ll get there. But I’m gonna love the ride. On a robot horse carriage.

Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter: The Divine Gun, Piercer of Darkness

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By Riku Nanano and cura. Released in Japan as “Koujo Denka no Kateikyoushi” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by William Varteresian.

This series does, believe it or not, have a bit more to it than simply a lot of cool fights and all the women in it fighting over who gets to be Allen’s #1 girl. We get lore dumps every volume, and this one is no exception, and while that can be difficult sometimes (all the old great families of yore had last names ending in -heart or -field, and while that’s aesthetically pleasing it does mean I wish this had a more comprehensive wiki), it also lends this story an epic take, a bit of gravitas that, frankly, it really needs so as not to overbalance into harem antics. 500 years ago or so was a lost age of powerful families and races that are mostly long gone, but the relics and dregs of the age still survive, and they’re either fighting to regain power or preparing to pass that power on to the next generation. Of course, finding where the power is hidden can be even more difficult…

In the aftermath of the death of apostle Io, the hero’s brother Igna, and Grand Marshal Moss Saxe, Allen can’t put it off any longer: he’s got to get a last name and some perks for saving the world – again. He tries to pawn this off on someone else as usual, and even when he figures something out it manages to be something beneficial for all – Allen simply doesn’t have many worldly desires, as those trying to get him to love them most know very well. Now they have to go off to the north to try to find another Sealed Archive so that they can gain access to a sealed book. It makes sense that Tina plays a big role, given that her late mother Rosa was the one who did most of the research into this. But why on Earth does business genius Felicia need to come with them? Only the cat knows…

I would normally avoid talking about spoilers, but it’s literally on the cover. Just as the last time Allen faced a secret archive he had Stella possessed, we now get Felicia’s body possessed by Anko, who has been lurking around this book as a black cat but of course turns out to be far more. That said, mostly what this battle serves to do is to make Felicia realize that in terms of girls who loves Allen, she’s at the bottom of the list. Allen, who is hated by a large portion of the population for various reasons, most of which are bullshit, needs someone at his side who can keep up with him – which means fighting, and Felicia is far better suited to, well, being a businesswoman. While she doesn’t say it to his face, she’s basically removing herself from the Allen sweepstakes here. As for the others, well, the title character might make more strides if she stopped acting like a child, but that seems impossible for her for now.

This was a solid volume, though I am starting to feel that this is being dragged out a bit too much. If the author wanted to make sure the series kept going till after the anime, no fear, feel free to wrap it up now.

Manga the Week of 11/26/25

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SEAN: This is when you should start buying manga for Christmas.

ASH: Honestly, I started last December.

SEAN: Airship debuts Bowing to Love: The Noble and the Gladiator (Ai ni Hizamazuku Toki), which stars two men who are torn between duty, pure pleasure, and actual love amidst a vaguely Ancient Roman fantasy world.

ASH: I’ve enjoyed some of Saki Aida’s other works and have heard good things about this one.

MICHELLE: Hm. Potentially interesting.

SEAN: There’s also a deluxe hardcover edition of Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, with the first three volumes.

And we also have The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary 13.

Early digital features The Case Files of Jeweler Richard 11, She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 15, and Too Many Losing Heroines! 6.

Dark Horse Comics debuts Omega 6, a manga by the creator of the video game of the same name. Bounty-hunting androids are on a race against time!

ASH: This looks like it could be fun.

SEAN: Dark Horse also has Blood Blockade Battlefront Omnibus 2.

Denpa is listed by retailers as having Nana & Kaoru: Black Label 2 and Vampeerz 6.

Fantagraphics has the third and final volume of Search and Destroy.

ASH: Here for it! (And then I’m going to read them all.)

SEAN: Ghost Ship gives us The Elf Sisters Can’t Wait for the Night 3 and Inside the Tentacle Cave 6.

Lots of J-Novel Club debuts. The Isle of Paramounts: Reborn into a Slow Life Among the Strongest in the World (Tenseishitara Saikyou Shu-tachi ga Sumau Shima deshita. Kono Shima de Slow Life wo Tanoshimimasu) stars a guy accidentally killed by God, who gets reincarnated on a remote island with immunity to illness and a copy ability. Then he finds the island is not that remote after all…

ASH: I initially read that as starring a guy who accidentally killed God, but I’m pretty sure that’s a different manga.

SEAN: Looks like a Job for a Maid! The Tales of a Dismissed Supermaid (Maid Nara Touzen desu. Nureginu wo Kiserareta Bannou Maid-san wa Tabi ni Deru Koto ni Shimashita) has a maid fired by her employer after being falsely accused. Now she has to find new work. Fortunately, as others who run into her find, she can do literally anything.

ASH: That is fortunate!

ANNA: Happy for her!

SEAN: Miss Blossom’s Backward Beauty Standards: Give Me the Ugly Crown Prince! (Bishuu Abekobe Isekai de Busaiku Outaishi to Kekkonshitai!) has an otaku woman reborn in a world where ugly is beautiful and beautiful is ugly, and thus sets her eyes on the Crown Prince, who is not only “hideous” but has terrible self-worth issues.

ASH: Hmmm.

SEAN: The manga debut is This Alluring Dark Elf Has the Heart of a Middle-Aged Man! (Watashi no Kokoro wa Oji-san de Aru). A (male) office worker wakes in the body of a (female) dark-haired elf in a fantasy world. Unfortunately, this elf is still an introvert who avoids others. Cross Infinite World did the light novel for this. The manga runs in Comic PASH!

Other light novels from JNC next week: The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects 11, The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World 7, and Revenge of the Soul Eater 2.

Other JNC manga include The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects 11, I Want to Escape from Princess Lessons 5, Oversummoned, Overpowered, and Over It! 10, The Retired Demon of the Maxed-Out Village 3, and Scooped Up by an S-Rank Adventurer! 2.

Kodansha Manga debuts A Curtain Call for You (Kimi no Tame no Curtain Call), a yuri series from Comic HOWL. An introverted writer hates dealing with people, but when outgoing transfer student Tsubame finds her writing, suddenly she’s being asked to help start a drama club!

ASH: Count me as intrigued!

SEAN: Omega Megaera is an omegaverse series from Itan. Omegas are discriminated against depending on whether they can bear alpha children, and so our lead, who is considered a creature that brings bad luck, has to come up with a scheme. This feels dark and political.

They also have a big old guidebook, Studio Ghibli: The Complete Works. It looks at each Ghibli film in detail.

ASH: Oh, that should be good! (Although I am used to most of the fancy Ghibli-related works coming from Viz.)

SEAN: Also in print: AKIRA Hardcover Collection 4, GAEA-TIMA the Gigantis 4, Magic Knight Rayearth 2 3 (the final volume), Sheeta’s Little Big World 2, Spacewalking With You 2, and Wistoria: Wand and Sword 10.

ASH: I really ought to give Spacewalking With You a try at some point.

SEAN: Digitally we see Killing Line 4, Manchuria Opium Squad 9, WIND BREAKER 21, and Ya Boy Kongming! 21.

Retailers say KUMA gives us YataMomo 2 next week.

MICHELLE: I’ve been meaning to read this!

SEAN: One Peace Books has an 11th volume of Farming Life in Another World.

As we’ve done I think every week this month, we start Seven Seas with a new danmei novel. Mistakenly Saving the Villain is whatever the danmei word for isekai is. Our hero dies and is reborn in a fantasy novel, where he has to rescue the hero. But he gets the wrong guy! There’s also a special edition with a double-sided bookmark, a sticker sheet, a poster, and four postcards.

ASH: Danmei has really taken off, it seems! And I’m not sad about that.

MICHELLE: Me, neither!

SEAN: Also danmei, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi Deluxe Edition 2.

In non-danmei Seven Seas news, Grand Metal Organs is a seinen series from Comic Days. A weak guy in a world where only the strong survive, tries hard anyway, and is rewarded with death. But now… he’s come back wrong. For horror fans.

ASH: That’s probably me, then! I also like what I’ve seen of the artwork.

SEAN: Tales of the Hundred Monsters Next Door (Tonari no Hyakkai Kenbunroku) is also horror, about a guy suffering from demons and a yokai expert telling stories.

ASH: A yokai expert, you say? Sounds like this is another series one for me, too.

ANNA: Always happy to see some more yokai series.

SEAN: Wimpy Demon King and Tsundere Hero (Hetare Maou to Tsundere Yuusha) is a BL one-shot from equal. (Capitalization and Japanese manga magazines are enemies). The title is the plot.

Also from Seven Seas: The Ancient Magus’ Bride: Wizard’s Blue 9, Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord 6, Gravitation 7: Gravitation EX (the final volume), Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid 16, Royal Tailor: Clothier to the Crown 5, A Tale of the Secret Saint 10.

MICHELLE: I hadn’t realized Wizard’s Blue went on for so long!

SEAN: Tokyopop has one debut, Dear Demon King (Shinai naru Waga Maou e) a BL one-shot that ran in from RED. A king must choose between duty and love… also, I think, griffins are hot guys in this?

ASH: That does seem to be the case.

ANNA: Sometimes this happens, I suppose.

SEAN: It also has a 2nd light novel volume for Her Royal Highness Seems to Be Angry.

Retailers say Udon has 2nd volumes for Little Mega Man and Mr. Mega Man.

Viz Media has a big artbook, The Art of Manga, which apparently highlights ten manga artists (they don’t say who) and shows why manga is so beloved. This ties into to an exhibit in San Francisco.

ASH: Assuming that the cover art is reflective of the contents, we should at least see Rumiko Takahashi, Jiro Taniguchi, Kazumi Yamashita, Mari Yamazki, and Fumi Yoshinaga included. I suspect Tetsuya Chiba, Fujio Akatsuka, Hirohiko Araki, Gengoroh Tagame, and Eiichiro Oda will be featured, too. This should be phenomenal.

ANNA: Oh, this does sound cool!

SEAN: Viz also has JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 7–Steel Ball Run 4.

ASH: I have so much catching up to do, but I’m still incredibly happy to see more of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure being released in English.

ANNA: Yes!

SEAN: No debuts for Yen On, but we do see Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 24, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level 17, Kusunoki’s Garden of Gods 3, Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World 15, Victoria of Many Faces 3, and Who Killed the Hero? 2.

Yen Press pushed all its still to the last week of the month, so here it is. CLAMP Official Artbook: COLOR KURO is one of two artbooks, the other being SHIRO (also out this week) to highlight CLAMP’s career. They’re very expensive-looking, which is good, as they’re very expensive.

ASH: Truth!

SEAN: Corpse Knight Gunther is a webtoon series about a world where vampires have defeated humanity. Now the humans are striking back with… well, take a guess, he’s in the title.

Fruits Basket: The Complete Box Set is what it says. It has new covers and some postcards.

ASH: I’m still delighted Fruits Basket is still in print.

SEAN: The Girl Past the Filters (Filter-Goshi no Kanojo) is an ecchi manga from Comic Zenon. A stoic boy who enjoys interacting with an online persona who posts lewd pics of herself is startled to find that she’s his studious classmate.

The Maid Is a Vampire (Maid-san wa Kyuuketsuki) is a 3-volume omnibus of a series that ran in Manga Cross. If you liked Mechanical Marie but wished instead of a strong girl pretending to be a robot, she was a vampire, this is for you.

The Terrifying Students at Ghoul School! (Youkai Gakkou no Seito Hajimemashita!) is a prequel to, well, A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School!. It runs in PFantasy.

Also from Yen Press: Adachi and Shimamura 6, Ako and Bambi 6, The Beginning After the End 9, Blade & Bastard 3, The BS Situation of Tougetsu Umidori 2, Convenient Semi-Friend 2, Cross-Dressing Villainess Cecilia Sylvie 7, Dara-san of Reiwa 2, The Devil Is a Part-Timer! 23, Everyone’s Darling Has a Secret 3, I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in the Real World, Too 6, I Made Friends with the Second Prettiest Girl in My Class 2, I Want to Be a Receptionist in This Magical World 7, Is the Order a Rabbit? 4, Kowloon Generic Romance 10, The Skeleton Enchanted by the Cursed Blade 2, So What’s Wrong with Getting Reborn as a Goblin? 9, Sword Art Online Ordinal Scale 3, The Three-Body Problem (comic version) 4, This Monster Wants to Eat Me 5, Trinity Seven 31, Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet 11, and A Witch’s Life in Mongol 2.

ASH: A good reminder that I need to read my copy of the first volume of A Witch’s Life in Mongol . And that I need to start reading Kowloon Generic Romance, too.

MICHELLE: I routinely forget about Kowloon Generic Romance, but I also want to read it, at some point.

ANNA: Yeah! So much manga!

SEAN: Lots of good gifts there! Anything catch your eye?