Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Blog

Manga the Week of 3/16/22

by , , , and Leave a Comment

SEAN: Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in the traditional Irish way… with some Japanese manga!

ASH: I can do that.

SEAN: There’s a pile of Yen On, most of it stuff moved from February (or January) that got bumped. Two debuts. Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle (Chitose-kun wa Ramune Bin no Naka) is a high school romance that asks the question: what if the most popular boy in school was actually the main character in the light novel, rather than the sullen sarcastic loner? This one has been long awaited.

ASH: I’m so used to titles outlining the plot these days; that description’s not at all what I was expecting.

SEAN: We also have Demon Lord 2099 (Maou 2099), a light novel where the demon lord resurrects and… does NOT go to a magical academy, praise the Lord. Instead he finds himself in a futuristic cyberpunk world! What will he do? Whatever he wants.

ASH: Plot twist!

SEAN: Also out next week: Bond and Book 2, Hazure Skill: The Guild Member with a Worthless Skill Is Actually a Legendary Assassin 3, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected 13, Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World 8, and Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina 7.

No debuts from Yen Press, but we do see Goblin Slayer Side Story: Year One 6, Kakegurui – Compulsive Gambler – 14, Sex Ed 120% 3 (the final volume), So I’m a Spider, So What? The Daily Lives of the Kumoko Sisters 2, and Triage X 22.

Two debuts from Viz. Alice in Borderland (Imawa no Kuni no Alice), from Shonen Sunday S. It was made into an anime, and it’s apparently really good psychological horror. But: Survival game. I’ll see myself out.

MICHELLE: Oh man, for the first time in years I actually remembered BTOOOM! exists. That said, I might check this out.

SEAN: I long every day for the time when I can forget BTOOOM! exists.

ASH: I suspect Alice in Borderland may be more up my alley.

MJ: I somehow truly believed BTOOOM! had ceased to exist, and I think I’ll just keep pretending that’s the case. I really enjoyed the Alice in Borderland live action series, though, so I’m ready!

SEAN: The other is Orochi: The Perfect Edition. This Kazuo Umezu series, which originally ran in Weekly Shonen Sunday way back in 1969, was licensed by Viz in 2002… and only one volume came out. They’re trying again with this updated version, which should please fans of the author or horror in general.

ASH: Looking forward to this one for sure!

SEAN: And there is BEASTARS 17, Children of the Whales 19, Fist of the North Star 4, Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku 13 (the final volume), Maison Ikkoku Collector’s Edition 7, the Uzumaki Coloring Book (good God), and the 19th and final volume of Ôoku: The Inner Chambers.

MICHELLE: I knew that a nineteenth volume was coming soon, but not that it was the last!

ANNA: Yikes, another great series that I need to get caught up on!

ASH: This is a really great week for Viz!

MJ: Oh my, Ôoku! Wow, I hadn’t realized this was the last volume either.

SEAN: Udon Entertainment has Steins;Gate: The Complete Manga. This 522-page book, as its title suggests, collects the manga based on the visual novel that ran in my nemesis, Comic Alive.

Three debuts from Seven Seas. The Haunted Bookstore – Gateway to a Parallel Universe (Wagaya wa Kakuriyo no Kashi Honya-san) is the manga adaptation of the novel that Seven Seas also has. It runs in, I am not kidding, Micro Magazine’s Comic Elmo.

ASH: I still need to read the novel, but I expect I’ll enjoy it along with its adaptation.

SEAN: My Deer Friend Nokotan (Shikanoko Nokonoko Koshitantan) is a Shonen Magazine Edge series about a top student with a secret or two to hide who is blindsided by the new transfer student – a deer girl who can sniff out those secrets! This sounds like yuri but is more comedy, I believe.

My Wandering Warrior Existence (Meisou Senshi Nagata Kabi) is the latest biographical memoir from the author of My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, as we see her trying to get into dating once more – actually, get into dating for the first time.

ASH: The books are really well done, but they can be devastating, too.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Chillin’ in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers 3, The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter 5, Karate Survivor in Another World 3, Necromance 2, and New Game! 12.

One Peace gives us I Belong to the Baddest Girl at School 3.

ASH: I really liked the first volume, but apparently I already need to catch up.

SEAN: Two print debuts from Kodansha Manga. Island in a Puddle (Mizutamari ni Ukabu Shima) ran in Evening, which alone is cause for me to be interested. A young boy cares for his younger sister more than his frequently absent mother. Then one day Mom takes them to an amusement park… and strands them on a ferris wheel. Which then gets struck by lightning. What happens then? Read the book!

ASH: Intriguing!

MJ: That does sound interesting.

SEAN: The other debut is Penguin & House (Pen to House), which runs in D Morning, Morning Magazine’s mobile app. He is a penguin living with a human, and I feel these two desperately need to meet Gal and Dinosaur.

MJ: This sounds adorable.

SEAN: Also in print: Battle Angel Alita 5, Beauty and the Beast of Paradise Lost 4, Rent-A-Girlfriend 11, and The Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse 2.

Digitally our first debut is A Kiss with a Cat (Neko to Kiss). This Betsufure series is about a cat-loving girl and her classmate, an antisocial guy who always wears a mask. But he has a secret…

ANNA: Is his secret that he’s a catboy? I want to know!

ASH: Haha!

MJ: Oh my.

SEAN: The other digital debut is Piano Duo for the Left Hand (Hidarite no tame no Nijuusou), which runs in Shonen Magazine Edge. A young man meets a piano prodigy… and then tragedy strikes. Now he tries to live for both of them… but wait, what’s with his left hand? This is a supernatural drama.

ASH: Also intriguing.

MJ: Okay, you’re always going to get me with pianists…

SEAN: There’s also Blue Lock 12, Chihiro-kun Only Has Eyes for Me 6, The Dawn of the Witch 4, Hozuki’s Coolheadedness 7, The Lines that Define Me 3, My Idol Sits the Next Desk Over! 3, My Unique Skill Makes Me OP even at Level 1 7, and You’re My Cutie 3.

J-Novel Club has a LOT of print books out next week. We see Ascendance of a Bookworm 11, The Faraway Paladin’s 2nd manga omnibus, In Another World With My Smartphone 20, Invaders of the Rokujouma!? Collector’s Edition 11 (with Vol. 32-35), My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! 9, The Unwanted Undead Adventurer 4 (light novel), The Unwanted Undead Adventurer 4 (manga).

ASH: That is a fair bit! Love to see it.

SEAN: No debuts digitally, but J-Novel Club does have Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 Volume 4 (manga), The Faraway Paladin 8 (manga), Monster Tamer 8, My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! 9, Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles 18, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: The Reckless Journey 6 (the manga, and a final volume), and Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: The Wayward Journey 16 (the light novel, and not a final volume).

And finally, we see Airship, who has Classroom of the Elite 10 in print.

As well as early digital versions of A Tale of the Secret Saint 2 and Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 9.

That ended up being a lot. Anything catch your eye?

Dragon Daddy Diaries: A Girl Grows to Greatness, Vol. 3

by

By Ameko Kaeruda and Sencha. Released in Japan as “Totsuzen Papa ni Natta Saikyou Dragon no Kosodate Nikki: Kawaii Musume, Honobono to Ningenkai Saikyou ni Sodatsu ” by GC Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Nathan Macklem.

This series, and really all series that star protagonists who start out as the strongest in the land and stay that way, has a basic problem: there’s really not a lot of places for their growth to occur. The titular dragon daddy has an advantage here over his daughter as he’s still learning about how humans (and indeed demons) react to things and what their value systems are. But Olivia… sigh. I love this series, but if it has a weak point it’s Olivia, who is the best kid and the most powerful kid and not much else. She can’t really start the drama. She can’t make mistakes. The most she can do here is to suggest that their quest for magical items amount to a summer visit to her friend’s houses, because no one has any idea where these items are. Fortunately, we do have a character in this book who screws up all the time and it a bit of a mess. She shines here.

School’s out for summer, but the Queen has a project for Olivia and her father. There are several magic artifacts that need to be drained every 30 years or so, with the added bonus of granting a wish. Unfortunately, almost all of them have been missing for about a thousand years. They need to be found, despite no one knowing anything about them. So Olivia visits all her friends, and one by one she and her father see different sorts of miscommunication between parents and their children and teaching them a valuable lesson. It’s actually pretty heartwarming. Meanwhile, our resident Dark Queen is… sulking in her castle, wanting to hang out with everyone but also wanting to be a lazy shut-in. That said, she also has an idea where one of the magical googaws is… but it would involve returning to the demon realm and facing her comeuppance.

I’ve said before that I enjoy the wacky antics of Maredia and Clowria, but I enjoyed them even more here when things got more serious. OK, only a tiny bit more serious – we meet the rest of Maredia’s family, and it turns out they’re all chuuni NEET shut-ins just like her. But a lot of the behavior that she’s been trapped in a vicious cycle for was brought on by crushing expectations from the demon world, and she blames herself for failing them all. The trial that the ruler of the demon world must pass is in two stages, and the first is easy, as she elects to take it with her friends, two of whom are well-nigh indestructible. But the final test is her on her own, facing her worst fears. It can drive a person mad. Fortunately, Maredia is an old hand at screaming at herself in her own head.

As with the previous books, there’s no explicit yuri here, but I mean, Maredia and Clowria give each other rings, with Maredia even going down on one knee to do it. That’s near as dammit. I’m not sure when the next book in the series is coming out, but it’s likely the final one. I liked this a lot.

Pick of the Week: It’s Up to You

by , , , , and Leave a Comment

KATE: I suspect everyone on the Manga Bookshelf crew will give a shout-out to New York, New York–I mean, Manga Bookshelf’s most beloved feature was our Banana Fish roundtable–so I’ll plug Apple Children of Aeon, which sounds like just the kind of blend of history, folklore, and drama that appeals to all of us.

SEAN: Yeah, I can’t deny that the obvious pick of the week to me is New York, New York, a psychological tragedy that ran in the mainstream shoujo magazine Hana to Yume, a magazine that even just five years later would not really do this sort of thing. It’s coming out in two omnibuses, and looks luxurious.

MICHELLE: There’s no way that I could resist BL + psychological tragedy! New York, New York all the way.

ANNA: I’m for sure interested in i>New York, New York, but we still get so little josei released here I’m going to team up with Kate to pick Apple Children of Aeon.

ASH: I am very interested in both New York, New York and Apple Children of Aeon, but I’m actually going to throw one more josei title out there for consideration. I suspect that I may enjoy the original novels even more, but I’ve really been looking forward to the debut of the manga adaptation of The Case Files of Jeweler Richard, too.

MJ: Okay, all the picks so far are excellent, but we all know where I’m going with this, right? New York, New York, I must have it. I simply must.

My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer, Vol. 3

by

By MOJIKAKIYA and toi8. Released in Japan as “Boukensha ni Naritai to Miyako ni Deteitta Musume ga S-Rank ni Natteta” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

This third volume returns to the same structure we saw in the first, moving back and forth between Angelica’s life in the big city and her father’s life back in the sticks. Of course, neither one of them lack for things to do. On Angelica’s end, she runs into Charlotte and Byaku, the child villains from the previous book, who are trying to repent but perhaps going about it the wrong way. On Belgrieve’s end, the forest next to his little village is getting increasingly dangerous, to the point where there has to be something behind it. He goes investigating with the help of Duncan, his battle-hungry new friend, Graham, a legendary elf warrior, and Marguerite, a not-so-legendary elf who’s more of a hothead than anything else. Their paths don’t intersect this book, but rest assured Belgrieve is always on Angelica’s mind: she’s trying to find him a wife!

I compared Charlotte to Ilya from Fate last time, and it’s pretty clear that this is the Ilya from the first route. Not that Charlotte is dying from being a homunculus anytime soon (though hold on to that thought) but more that she needs a stable family life in order to be able to recover from her tragic past and her present misdeeds. Angelica provides that for now, and is a pretty decent big sister, but it’s clear that she’s going to need Belgrieve to step in, as Angelica just can’t be doing this AND taking down the strongest enemies at the same time. I also enjoyed the discussion of how Charlotte is trying to apologize for her past religious scams – giving everyone their money back and saying the amulets are phony – and the others taking the time to explain to her why that’s not working and why people are angry with her, as well as what she can do to actually become a better person.

Now, back to the homunculuses. There is a plot to this book beyond cute daddy-daughter antics, and the villains seem to be creating supervillains, though how villainous they are is a matter for future books. Certainly Byaku is one of them, and they seem to be able to remove his super powers at will, leaving him mostly just a grumpy teen. That said, he can also see what we’ve suspected since the start of the series – Angelica is no normal kid, but more like him. She, of course, doesn’t want to believe this, because her being a foundling doesn’t really matter as all her strength comes from her father. Now, it may be true that her TRAINING comes from her father, but her strength certainly seems to be something more. This should be a very interesting plot going forward.

All this and a cute elf girl, though not the cute elf girl that Belgrieve has been pining for from his past. (Sorry, Angelica, your dad has a lost love that likely needs to be resolved before you can hook him up with anyone.) This remains a very enjoyable fantasy series, with a fun and slightly airheaded lead.

The Saint’s Magic Power Is Omnipotent, Vol. 6

by

By Yuka Tachibana and Yasuyuki Syuri. Released in Japan as “Seijo no Maryoku wa Bannou desu” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Julie Goniwich.

One of the better things about this new volume of The Saint’s Magic Power Is Omnipotent, aside from waiting till near the end of the book to justify that title, is that it’s committed to trying to figure out how the magic in this world works, rather than just seeing it as a stat. Of course, it IS a stat here, and we get lots of talk of HP and MP, But Sei realizes here that potions and medicine are not the same thing, and that in fact the use of potions may mean that diseases and maladies that might otherwise have been researched and analyzed are completely glossed over. That said, medicine takes years of testing and watching for side effects, and may not be all that potent, whereas potions are a magic cure-all that you just need to drink down. I don’t see one supplanting the other, especially given that Sei manages to invent the bestest potion of them all. The secret? Apples.

The bulk of this book concerns itself with the arrival of a visiting dignitary from the nation where Sei got her Asian food last volume, which continues to be very much not-China. One of the many princes in this country, he is here to study herbs and medicine, and despite the best efforts of the kingdom to hide Sei whenever he’s around, it’s pretty inevitable that they eventually run into each other. While she’s able to conceal her identity as the Saint to a certain degree, she can’t help but find a kindred spirit in the Prince, who really seems to know his herbs… and is also searching for a specific kind of cure. Can Sei manage to figure out what it is that the Prince’s mother has wrong with her? And if not, is there a way that she can weaponize her OPness to save the day?

The cover art shows off Prince Ten’yuu as a handsome bespectacled young man, but what I noticed more was the internal illustration, which showed him with the “spiral coke-bottle glasses” common to Chinese stereotypes in Japan (see Ranma 1/2 for the most famous instance). Fortunately the stereotypes seem to end there, with the main plot instead revolving around him as a sort of villain (everyone’s trying to stop him seeing Sei and figuring out who she is) who eventually becomes sympathetic (when we find the reason he’s there in the first place). It also reminds us that keeping Sei under wraps just is not going to fly as a long-term plan for much longer. Marrying her off to keep her in the Kingdom seems like the obvious answer, but again, she’s still in the ‘blushing maiden’ stage, and Albert is not inclined to push the matter. The politics remain boiling quietly in the background.

This is apparently one of the top ten light novel franchises in Japan right now, and I can see why. It’s solid and has likeable characters, and Sei is overpowered without being boring about it. She puts in the work.

The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior, Vol. 1

by

By Tenichi and Suzunosuke. Released in Japan as “Higeki no Genkyou Tonaru Saikyou Gedou Rasubosu Joou wa Tami no Tame ni Tsukushimasu” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Emma Schumacker. Adapted by Michelle McGuinness.

I suppose it had to happen eventually. There can only be so many light novels brought over here with the exact same premise before you find yourself thinking “this is really a lot like the previous dozen or so villainess novels I’ve read this year”. Heroine tries to change her fate while at the same time convinced that her fate is inevitable. Everyone around her is gobsmacked by her skills and her emotional sensitivity, but she doesn’t see it as anything but normal friendship. Everyone her age falls in love with her, including her adopted brother. We get events from her POV, and the events are then repeated from the love interest’s POV. And this one started in 2018, a good four years after My Next Life As a Villainess, so it doesn’t get the excuse some others have. What’s more, this is 100% serious, so we don’t even get the parody of the genre that Bakarina has become. It’s certainly readable – and had one bit I found quite interesting – but still… been there, done that.

Our heroine doesn’t even get half a page in Japan before she’s hit by a car. She wakes up as Princess Pride Royal Ivy, the daughter of the Queen and first in line for the throne (a rare matriarchy in light novels). There’s just one slight problem – Pride is the evil Queen from our protagonist’s otome game Our Ray of Light, and after years of foul misdeeds she’s killed off at the age of eighteen. Pride, who is eight, only has ten years to fix things. She gets off to a good start, rewriting relationships with her adopted brother and younger sister-in-hiding, while also showing off the “precognition” unique to her family line… though in her case it’s just remembering the plot from the game. Unfortunately, there are people behind the scenes determined to portray her as a selfish evil princess. And the cast keep getting these nightmares…

Without a doubt the most interesting parts of this book are the parts of the “game” where we see the Evil Queen Pride. Generally speaking when we get otome game villainesses in these books they tend to be bullies who go after the main character for not knowing her place, etc. Pride goes above and beyond, ordering her adopted brother (who has signed a contract forcing him to obey her every order) to murder his own mother, and casually admitting to her guard knight that she let his father die because it was more important to kill the bad guys who were after her. She really does live up to her name, and it’s easy to see why THIS Pride is doing her absolute best to avoid going there. Unfortunately, the other side of the coin – why is everyone having nightmares of the game, and why is one of the characters secretly evil – is not answered here, so we’re unfortunately left with the main flaw of many villainess books, where the heroine simply cannot get it in her head that she’s not a bad person anymore. It’s frustrating.

I’m not sure if I’ll get Book 2 in the series, but I do see that, judging by the webnovel content, this is going to be at least 7 or 8 books in Japan, and I don’t think I can last that long. For villainess completists only.

The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy, Vol. 5

by

By Yu Shimizu and Asagi Tosaka. Released in Japan as “Seiken Gakuin no Maken Tsukai” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Roman Lampert.

Before The Asterisk War went on hiatus here due to no new volumes in Japan (the artist has been sick), I was frequently asked by fans why I kept reading it given how generic and cliched it was. And granted, it absolutely is that. But my answer was, simply, “It hasn’t done enough wrong for me to stop reading it”. And The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy feels a lot like that. There’s really nothing here you can’t get in other magical academy series, and they likely don’t have “lol, he’s in the body of a 10-year-old” dragging down the harem premise. But I dunno, it all feels so harmless. There’s goofy fun, there’s cool battles, there’s the occasional dribble of plot, and the girls are all beautiful. It is a series that you can read and immediately forget about, but when the next volume rolls around you’ll grab it and read it because it’s there. Plus, pool battle!

After the events of the last book, Leo now has to deal with the fact that a Dark Lord has been resurrected… albeit, like Leo, with only a fraction of her power. Also like Leo, that’s mostly irrelevant, because Veira is hella powerful even muted, and the first half of the book is mostly her getting a tour of the modern world and running our heroes ragged. That said, the second half gets more serious, as the Mysterious Organization that is behind all this has decided that the deadliest Dark Lord is the next one they want to bring back… the Undead King, Leonis. I, um, have some bad news for them about their timing. More seriously, there is also a problem of Holy Knights getting corrupted by a mysterious “voice of the goddess” and having their Holy Swords turn into Demon Swords. Which, unfortunately, also seems to send them into a rage.

Not gonna lie, I was startled to see the minor villain from the first novel come back to be a minor villain in this one as well. Arrogant jerkass shows he’s even worse is good only in small doses, so it’s absolutely fine that he gets taken down immediately. If there is a “focus heroine” beyond Riselia here it’s Elfine, who is suffering from PTSD from prior battles causing her sword to lose some of its power, and decides to go on the front lines with our team this time to do something about it. Good thing, too, as the other teams they’re paired up with to explore Leonis’ old underground tomb are being led by demon sword users. Elfine is able to get over her trauma and emerge victorious, but there’s a lot of others who also try hard but either get turned into demon sword users or lose their swords to said users, and unfortunately I don’t see a really good reason why Elfine is different from them other than “main character syndrome”. I wonder if we’ll ever see any of them again.

So yeah, if you like this series, this is a decent volume of it, and if you don’t, you dropped it ages ago. It’s still not doing enough wrong for me to stop.

Manga the Week of 3/9/22

by , , and Leave a Comment

SEAN: We’re hitting March proper now, so watch out for winds.

ASH: Sound advice.

SEAN: We start with Airship, which has print releases for Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter 4 and Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs 5.

For early digital, they debut Survival in Another World with My Mistress! (Goshujin-sama to Yuku Isekai Survival!). A young man wakes up in a dark forest, finds he can gain resources via a video game menu only he can access, and ends up being protected by a dark elf who says he’s her property. Oof.

We also see the 3rd and final volume of The NPCs in this Village Sim Game Must Be Real!.

Cross Infinite World has another light novel debut with Reflection of Another World (Yugami no Kuni Monogatari). A girl is pulled through a magic mirror into a fantasy world where her plain jane looks are admired and the handsome man she meets is seen as abhorrent.

Dark Horse has a 10th deluxe hardcover for Berserk.

ASH: Glad to see these being released so regularly.

SEAN: Ghost Ship gives us Do You Like Big Girls? 3, Parallel Paradise 9, and Sundome!! Milky Way 3.

J-Novel Club has a light novel debut with Housekeeping Mage from Another World: Making Your Adventures Feel Like Home! (Kasei Madoushi no Isekai Seikatsu: Boukenchuu no Kasei Fugyou Uketamawarimasu!). We’ve got another Japanese OL who finds herself teleported to a fantasy world. 4 years later, she’s a ‘housekeeping mage’ – and a top adventurer! But can she find romance?

And they also have Dragon Daddy Diaries: A Girl Grows to Greatness 3, Goodbye Otherworld, See You Tomorrow 2 and Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter 2.

Kodansha, in print, gives us Grand Blue Dreaming 15 and When Will Ayumu Make His Move? 4.

ASH: I’ve fallen far behind on the former, but I’m more interested in starting the latter.

SEAN: Kodansha didn’t announce March digital releases till this week, so I missed being able to tell you about two titles already out: Having an Idol-Loving Boyfriend Is the Best! (Otatomo ga Kareshi ni Nattara Saikou Kamo Shirenai) is the first. This shoujo series from Palcy is about a girl who loves to fangirl about idols with her best male friend. Then… said friend confesses to her! The author also did Yen Press’s School of Horns.

They’ve also got, already out, Twilight Out of Focus (Tasogare Outfocus), a BL title from Honey Milk about two roommates who have rules not to fall for each other or get in the way of each other’s dalliances… but can that hold up?

MICHELLE: This one looks like it could be good.

SEAN: Kodansha’s first digital debut next week is Medaka Kuroiwa Is Impervious to My Charms (Kuroiwa Medaka ni Watashi no Kawaii ga Tsuujinai), a Weekly Shonen Magazine series about a monk-in-training who can’t have a relationship with anyone… but that’s not stopping the school’s top girl from trying!

They also have Apple Children of Aeon (Sennen Mannen Ringo no Ko), a josei title from Itan which may be of most interest to the Manga Bookshelf crew. A man who marries an apple farmer and moves to her town sees a mysterious apple one day that changes his life. This has won awards.

ANNA: I’m curious about this for sure.

ASH: Yup! Same.

SEAN: Also digital next week: Abe-kun’s Got Me Now! 8, Ace of the Diamond 36, Guilty 9, Lightning and Romance 2, My Darling, the Company President 4, Peach Boy Riverside 10, Police in a Pod 10, and Vampire Dormitory 8.

MICHELLE: I really, really need to get caught up with Ace of the Diamond.

SEAN: Seven Seas has two debuts. The Case Files of Jeweler Richard (Housekishou Richard-Shi no Nazo Kantei), a josei title from Comic Zero-Sum, a mystery series based on a just-licensed novel that got an anime recently. A college student rescues a man who turns out to be a jeweler. Adventures ensue.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to this one!

ANNA: Me too!

ASH: I’ve heard great things; I’m excited to read it.

SEAN: The other debut is The Girl in the Arcade (Gesen no Kanojo), a Shonen Ace Plus series about a nebbish guy who works at an arcade and the hot girl who needs his help to beat one of the games… and also asks him out?

We also see Drugstore in Another World: The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist 4, The Kingdoms of Ruin 4, and Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn 15.

SuBLime has Black or White 2, but more importantly they have Dick Fight Island 2!

ASH: The first volume of Dick Fight Island was absolutely ridiculous, but in a good way, actually?

SEAN: Viz Media has Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2, Fly Me to the Moon 10, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 3, Kirby Manga Mania 4, MAO 4, and Pokémon Journeys 2. That’s a weird tie-ins to normal manga ratio.

Yen On has King of the Labyrinth 3.

Lastly, Yen Press debuts New York, New York, a BL manga from Hana to Yume back in the pre-Fruits Basket days when it was a lot darker and gayer. A police officer keeps the fact that he’s gay very well hidden… but when he falls in love with a man with a troubled past, will he be able to keep things at arm’s length? This is an omnibus of the first two volumes.

MICHELLE: Looking forward to this, as well! A good week.

ANNA: I’m intrigued.

ASH: I’ve got my eyes out for this one, for sure.

SEAN: And Yen Press has Delicious in Dungeon 10, Hakumei & Mikochi: Tiny Little Life in the Woods 9, Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, Chapter 4: The Sanctuary and the Witch of Greed 3, and Toilet-bound Hanako-kun 0 (the volume number is deliberate).

ASH: Huzzah, more Delicious in Dungeon! And more Toilet-bound Hanako-kun, even if I still have a backlog.

SEAN: There’s actually quite a variety there. What are you interested in?

I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss, Vol. 2

by

By Sarasa Nagase and Mai Murasaki. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijo Nanode Rasubosu o Katte Mimashita” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Taylor Engel.

Given the sheer number of villainess novels and other similar “this is the same world as the game I played!” scenarios, it’s surprising that we’ve had so many of the protagonists accept that this is their new reality. Admittedly, VR technology has not gotten to the point where this sort of thing could be faked well, but “I’m dreaming” is probably a valid response. Of course, the main reason that we don’t see this too often is that if you think that you’re just inside some game world, you start to think of the world as not having real people but ‘target characters’, and that death is irrelevant because you can restart and they’ll all be alive again. That’s not true in these books, and the villainesses usually know it. But this is one of those ‘good villainess = evil heroine’ books, so it should come as no surprise that, when the heroine gets her OWN memories of Japan back at the start of this volume, she decides to send things off the rails.

Having successfully avoided her doom, Aileen is safe within the demon lord’s domain. Unfortunately, the game she played back in Japan had a sequel, which she also played. New heroine, new love interests, new bad guy. And now it seems someone is trying to make events in that game happen, which will be very bad news for the demons in this world. To try to prevent this, Claude is going to the duchy of Mirchetta to investigate. Aileen is told to stay behind. A ha. A ha ha ha. Disguising herself as a boy, she infiltrates the academy where the second game took place, then inveigles herself onto the student council and establish a guard unit to protect the students (mostly from each other). But investigating is going to be a little hard when her fiancee is the school principal. A clever disguise is needed. Or, failing that, the most bizarre disguise ever.

This book is more well-written than a lot of the villainess novels I’ve seen, and you really find yourself drawn in – I can see why an anime is coming. Aileen is a combination of clever and too-clever-by-half, and she gets a new cast of characters in the student council, who are all fun types. Given that the second game had a different heroine and a different villainess (though it takes place in the same world), it’s no surprise that Aileen quickly makes friends with said villainess, who turns out to be a sweetie pie with poor self-esteem, as you’d expect. This doesn’t really break new ground – mind controlling drugs as the main threat has been seen before, and the evil church being behind it surprises no one – but it’s fun to read, and Aileen is a hoot. If I had a complaint it’s that we only see one picture of her in her masterful disguise. More art was needed.

The end of this book established that we’re going to be seeing evil heroine vs. good villainess for some time to come, so it’s a good thing this is ongoing. Even if you’re tired of villainess books, this is worth the read.

So You Want to Live the Slow Life?: A Guide to Life in the Beastly Wilds, Vol. 1

by

By Fuurou and Yuki Nekozuki. Released in Japan as “Shishi Kamori de Slow Life” on the Shousetsuka ni Narou website. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Andrew Attwell.

If you do want to read slow life books, you’re going to have to put up with the slow life. And that can sometimes be hard. I have a few slow life books I’ve had to drop simply because the everyday descriptions of their slow life were putting me to sleep. On the other hand, if you can come up with a good plot and characters, you can usually hook your reader enough that they will put up with your slow life anyway. That’s exactly what we get here. I have to tell you, there is a lot of food preserving in this book. A whole lot. Honestly, the book should have been titled “So you want to preserve food?”. And, having peeked at the webnovel itself, that is absolutely never going away. That said… likeable leads who are both adults, good worldbuilding in terms of how this sort of thing would work, and an occasional action scene. I enjoyed it.

Our main character is Mikura, who is decidedly NOT hit by a truck and does not end up in any sort of fantasy world. That’s because it’s already come here. There is a massive forest in Japan called the Beastly Wilds, host to Beastpeople. Grownups look like humans with animals ears and tails, but the kids look like animals wearing clothes. There are all sorts of rules and regulations about going into this forest at all. And Mikura’s great-grandfather had a house here, where he paid the beast people to tend to the chestnut and walnut trees and sat around preserving food as a hobby. Now that he’s passed away, Mikura decides to quit his fast-track office job and follow in his footsteps. Of course, there’s a bit more to it than just moving in… for one thing, he’ll need to deal with the locals.

I’ll be honest here, the best thing in the book by a mile is the main female lead, Techi. She’s essentially a grade school teacher/foreman/minder for all the kids who are working on Mikura’s farm (and there is a welcome discussion of child labor laws and how they apply to beastmen who essentially get a lot less agile as they get more human), and she takes a while to warm up to Mikura… or anyone, really. She is what I would call a ‘lovable grump’ and Her basic expression most of the time is :| or variations on it. Seeing her slowly start to fall for Mikura is the highlight of the book, even as she’s also helping him acclimate to this new situation and fighting off crooked chestnut dealers who want to use the beastfolk for their own ends. The first half of the book is all plot, for the most part, and I loved it. The second half is about 1/3 plot, 2/3 recipes, and I felt like I was googling ‘pancetta’ and having to read someone’s life story before I got to the recipe.

Despite that, and the risk of future volumes being worse, I really loved the lead couple, even if they aren’t a couple yet. (He sensibly sees her flirtation as more of a fascination with romance than him specifically, though I’ve no doubt that will change.). If you’re a cook, this is a must read. to everyone else, recommended if you like relaxed isekais or chipmunks.