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Bookshelf Briefs 6/30/25

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Choking on Love, Vol. 2 | By Keiko Iwashita| Seven Seas – The title continues to be very apt for this shoujo series, as Hibari has fallen for Gaku hard, but is unaware of her own feelings and very uncomfortable with the idea that she could love a free-spirited bad boy like him. He, on the other hand, is 100% fine with loving a girl like her, even to the point of injuring himself because he really wants to see her as soon as possible. That said, I do wish there was a bit more of her college design stuff and a bit less boy band. I sense the third volume won’t help there, as our heroes have met their competition, and not only does it crush them but one of them may know Hibari better than Gaku does. Good solid shoujo. – Sean Gaffney

Colette Decides to Die, Vol. 3 | By Alto Yukimura| Viz Media – I’m continuing to love this old-school shoujo series which screams Tokyopop circa 2008. In this omnibus, which is Vols. 5-6 of the original, we meet new gods (drunken layabout Dionysus and airheaded Demeter); Colette’s old mentor comes to help and has to fend off the fact that he is Available ™; and Those Two Apothecaries continue to exist, with Pola getting a spotlight chapter that tries (and fails, mostly) to have her be anything other than black-haired Colette, Jr. But it’s Colette and Hades that are the reason to read this, especially Colette, who will be the perfect partner for Hades if they can get over the human/god thing and she can stop working so hard she runs her body ragged… literally. Everyone needs to read this. – Sean Gaffney

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 13 | By Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe | Viz Media – The joy and tragedy of Frieren is that she has realized how she and Himmel are on the same wavelength, and perfect for each other, only now that Himmel is dead. As such, it’s great to see that, even in the past with a Himmel who you would think would be less experienced than his companion, they still work perfectly together. We then get to start up the NEXT arc, which looks like a “prevent an assassination” plotline, but more importantly, gives us more of everyone’s favorite crack pairing, Ubel and Land. He can’t stand her, she’s fascinated by him, and their chemistry is off the charts. Best of all, they’re totally different from Fern and Stark. Let’s now hope they can survive till the end of this arc. Always recommended. – Sean Gaffney

Magus of the Library, Vol. 8 | By Mitsu Izumi | Kodansha Comics – The fact that this series only comes out once a year can be a real problem, as I just cannot keep up with its monstrous cast. Things are not helped by the fact that this book is mostly an action manga, as a huge spirit monster invades the city… and sits there, a distraction while someone tries to steal the book Theo has been taking care of, and a quirky masked guy is wandering around the city insisting the entire world belongs to him. Always a dangerous thing to say in a shonen manga, and his cynical take on caring for the old people in the world (his take: don’t, let them die) is contrasted by Theo’s sunny optimism. All this plus a hypnotic possession of one of the cuter members of the cast, which doesn’t sound good. I hope I remember who she is by next year. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia, Vol. 41 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – When we were getting the chapters week by week on the Jump app, the chapters in this volume, or at least the first half, really made a lot of fans furious. We suspected it might happen—it’s kind of thematically appropriate—but everything in this volume points to Izuku losing One for All at the end of this fight and being quirkless again. Now, I admit that is kind of a bummer, but as we see in the last half of this book, at least he’s not alone, and has friends and allies who are there to save him. Well, those friends and allies who aren’t in a coma and near death. If you had forgotten who Sato and Sero were, as most of us had, here’s the chance to see them have one last cool thing. Next time is the finale. – Sean Gaffney

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You, Vol. 14 | By Rikito Nakamura and Yukiko Nozawa | Ghost Ship – There’s a new girlfriend in this volume, who has a great “gimmick” (violins/violence), but it’s also great to see how quickly everyone accepts her love of blood and gore and welcomes her into the group, to the point where she gets to be part of a group of four battling some jerks at a gaming/toy store. I also loved the chapter where Naddy is accused of talking in incoherent Americanisms, where it turns out that not only do Rentaro and his girlfriends understand her perfectly, but when she talks in normal Japanese, the class does WORSE. All this and lines like “take me on an oral rodeo” are why 100GF works as both a heartwarming, progressive polycule and a funny ecchi manga. – Sean Gaffney

Skip Beat!, Vol. 50 | By Yoshiki Nakamura | VIZ Media – I have been an ardent fan of Skip Beat! since 2008, so it pains me to say that this volume was boring. I assign most of the blame to the fact that we have caught up with Japan, so new releases are infrequent. In this one, Kanae travels to America to appear in a film with Cedric D. Bennett, big star whom I had entirely forgotten about, with Kyoko along as her personal assistant. We encounter Cedric’s famous grandfather, whom I had entirely forgotten about. There are possible sightings of Ren’s parents, but I’ve almost entirely forgotten about them, too. And even some of the other Japanese actors that we see more often are pretty much indistinguishable to me. It’s a bummer. However, I’m hopeful this setting might spur some revelations for Kyoko about Corn’s true identity and Ren’s past in general. We shall see. – Michelle Smith

I Want to Be a Saint, But I Can Only Use Attack Magic!, Vol. 1

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By Fuyu Aoki and Bodax. Released in Japan as “Seijo-sama ni Naritai no ni Kougeki Mahou shika Tsukaenain desu kedo!?” by GC Novels. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Kashi Kamitoma.

As I was about three minutes into the book, I joked that it should be called “Bocchi the Mage!”. Little did I know. There is a scene, with art to match, where Yuffie, the heroine of this novel, wears a party outfit to what turns out to be a standard noble’s ballroom party. It consists of big sunglasses, one a heart and one a star, and a T-Shirt saying Let’s Party. When you combine this with her hideous social anxiety and desire to abase herself, it’s really hard NOT to think of Bocchi. Or Monica, because she also gets invited to the student council, which feels very much like the one from Silent Witch. Unlike Monica, she’s only here to go to school and make a friend or two, if that’s possible for someone like her. Unfortunately for her, she lives in a world where magic is gender-binaried… and she’s just broken that binary.

Yuffie is a girl who lives in the middle of nowhere with her family, who aren’t abusive per se, but seem to be of the “why can’t you be like the normal children?” sort. She’s got crippling social anxiety, and her attempts to make friends have been laughably bad. When they team up for school activities, she’s always with the teacher. But she has a secret. When she was seven, she saw a saint using magic, and realized that’s what she wanted to be when she grew up. So she practiced magic. Every day. For seven years. By teaching herself. She manages to learn some healing magic… slow healing magic, but it’s there… and shows her parents, who say she should go to the magic academy! She’s delighted. Or horrified. One of those. See, she has a secret. She has immensely powerful attack spells like fireballs and lightning blasts. But… only men can use that sort of magic. It’s in their religion. Not good.

If seeing girls having a panic attack and debasing themselves constantly is not your thing… well, don’t skip the book, but you’ll need patience. Yuffie does get better by the end of the book, but it’s a long, painful road. She accidentally makes friends with most of the current student council. She’s trying to hide her attack magic, so the rest of the students and her teachers hate her. Oh yes, and it turns out that the demons are trying to attack humanity, starting with this school, and the only thing powerful enough to wipe them out is Yuffie. She self-taught herself magic so well she’s the most powerful attack magician in the country, and that means that it’s not – for once – just her paranoid fantasies,. she really COULD be imprisoned and experimented on. Fortunately, this school seems to mostly have good, if eccentric nobles. One seems to be a predatory lesbian, but it’s more of an “I’m taking her home with me!” cute fetish than anything sordid. Heck, even the bullying ojou-sama is almost immediately tamed by Yuffie’s apologies and delicious burdock roots.

This is not a must-read, but if you can get past Yuffie’s complete mess of a self-image, it’s a decent power fantasy, though it’s not so much a trans allegory as just another “what if I were OP as hell?” fantasy.

Pick of the Week: Girls, Priestesses, and Nameless Horrors

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SEAN: Lotsa good stuff in a busy week, but I mist admit I Wanna Be Your Girl leapt out at me as an obvious pick, despite the award winning Who Killed the Hero? and the license rescued The Twelve Kingdoms glaring at me from offstage.

MICHELLE: I am definitely interested in I Wanna Be Your Girl, but the one on this list that made me gasp and rush to pre-order it was volume two of Fushigi Yûgi: Byakko Senki. That seems like pretty strong evidence for making it my pick of the week.

KATE: I’m putting The Colour Out of Space at the top of my to-buy list; I could use a good spooky manga right now.

ASH: I’m looking forward to reading The Colour Out of Space and I Wanna Be Your Girl, too, but I’m so excited that Twelve Kingdoms is getting another chance, I’m making that my pick.

MJ: Seeing I Wanna Be Your Girl on the list has made me interested in a new manga more than I have been in years (I already pre-ordered!) so let’s hope it’s part of a trend!

ANNA: I’m extremely excited for Fushigi Yûgi: Byakko Senki, I didn’t even realize it was about to come out!

Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)!, Vol. 3

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By Atekichi and Yukiko. Released in Japan as “Heroine? Seijo? Iie, All Works Maid desu (ko)!” by TO Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Matthew Jackson. Adapted by Michelle McGuinness.

This was the best volume in the series to date, mostly as a) it managed to actually get through to its heroine/saint/maid and make her realize that her “aw shucks, this is just normal maid magic” thing is absolute hogwash, and b) it actually started pushing back on her omnipotence and perfection, showing her screwing up several times over the course of the book, and also having another crisis of faith, this one even stronger than the one she had in the second book. Melody loves maids, and loves to be a maid, but at heart this is a heroine reincarnated in a fantasy world book, and nine times out of ten when that happens the main character is a workaholic. Melody does not know what to do with time off. She literally has no outfits other than maid uniforms. And, despite riding her way through an obvious event flag, she remains completely uninterested in romance. She is not here to be a romance heroine, thank you very much.

It’s summer break, and time for Luciana and her entourage of servants to go back to the main estate and tour their lands. Though this journey is thrown off slightly by the arrival of Maxwell, who is here to invite Luciana to the Summer Ball, something that absolutely flummoxes her, and she asks for time to think it over. After this, they head off on the long journey there, and watch Melody literally build a two-story mansion from scratch… and also store it in a snowglobe for later use. You know, just Melody things. Unfortunately, as they’re almost there, an earthquake rocks the land, and her family estate is totally destroyed! Even worse, the three villages that make up what remains of their domain are suffering from a blight AND a poor harvest. Will this finally be a problem even Melody can’t solve?

This has a classic otome game dilemma at its heart, which is that the game’s plotline wants to happen even though Melody has completely broken it. It keeps trying to ruin and kill Luciana, to the point where the poor girl is literally dreaming of the game creators discussing her death, though she has no idea who they are. We meet another love interest here, and he’s a smiling villain if ever there was one, and he also falls hard for Melody (who is uninterested, but less uninterested than she is with everyone else.) Most of all, Melody spends an exhausting night curing all the blight and poor crops… only to have it come back almost immediately. Some dark force wants this family and region destroyed, and I suspect we’ll get more of hat as the series goes on.

So while there is still a lot of ludicrous maid stuff, Melody *and* the series itself are getting more serious. Which is good, as it’s a long-runner, and you can’t get by on oblivious OP maid forever.

Nia Liston: The Merciless Maiden, Vol. 7

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By Umikaze Minamino and Katana Canata. Released in Japan as “Kyōran Reijō Nia Liston: Byōjaku Reijō ni Tenseishita Kami-goroshi no Bujin no Kareinaru Musō Roku” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by okaykei.

For those people who don’t enjoy seeing me trying to wring 500 words out of a review, you may as well stop now. The book is fine. The end. For those who really love seeing me struggle, welcome to my hell. This is primarily a tournament arc. I had enough trouble writing those up when I did manga reviews here, I don’t need to have to do it with light novels. Boy, that sure was a close fight. Boy, that sure was a one-sided fight. Repeat as needed. Even Nia doesn’t really have a huge presence in this book till near the end, mostly as she is (of course) not allowed to fight. She is there to film the show for magivision, though, so we do get to see some of her fighting rage come as she tries to get fighters to sit for an interview. Oh, and to take out dangerous assassins trying to kill her student.

Now that all the money has been raised and all the preparations have been done, it’s finally time for the fighting tournament. Which is a bit bigger than everyone was expecting. There are over 10,000 entries. Winnowing this down to 300 or so finalists is thankfully not Nia’s problem. Things are helped by dividing the preliminaries into weapons and no weapons tiers, but it’s still a LOT of fights. Some folks don’t know their own strength (Gandolph). Some folks have a very tough time f it (Fressa). Some folks are being overwhelmed by having to be the celebrity poster child of the entire tournament (Lynokis). And some folks are realizing that no matter what the outcome of this tournament, they’ll likely have to flee the country and start a new life somewhere else (Anzel). Needless to say, you can guess who the assassins are after.

One of the better things I liked about this was seeing folks realize how different a fight is when it’s under the pressure of a match, and especially when you aren’t actually supposed to murder your opponent. A few really strong folks end up losing as they struggle to not kill anyone, and Fressa manages to win her fight only because of that rule. Some fighters are going to get better fast. That said, Nia’s students are clearly a cut above the rest, and it shows – the comedic highlights of the book were Gandolph accidentally breaking the leg of his opponent by just putting up a chi defense, and Lynokis realizing that the adventurer she wanted to be like growing up is really just a violent thug, and one-shotting him in horror at her past self’s shallowness. The dramatic highlight is the finale, where we see an old assassin who is very very good at killing anyone he wants to but cannot fight against the horrors of normal aging. I wonder if we’ll see him again.

The 8th volume only came out in Japan last month, so it may be a bit will we get more. Till then, punching things, yay.

The Manga Review: Saturday Morning Cartoons

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If you’re a teacher, librarian, or parent, this week’s newsletter is for you! To celebrate Pride Month, manga experts from around the web have been highlighting great, queer-friendly titles for young adults. The all-librarian staff at No Flying No Tights, for example, just compiled an excellent list of nine LBGTQ-friendly titles for older teens that touch on many aspects of the queer experience, from first love to gay marriage and gender dysphoria. For readers more interested in queer-friendly manga for women, Alex Henderson has a short but thoughtful list of yuri titles that run the gamut from After Hours to She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat. Also worth a look is Cy Catwell’s in-depth discussion of Run Away With Me, Girl, about a pair of young women who buck societal expectations about love, marriage, and family to find their own pathway to happiness.

NEWS AND VIEWS

File this under It’s About Time: Dark Horse announced that it will be publishing a new, deluxe edition of Lone Wolf and Cub with unflipped pages and oversize trim. Look for the first volume in March 2026. [ICv2]

In other licensing news, Graphix will publish Spider-Man: Shadow Warrior, a manga that finds Peter Parker and friends transported to feudal Japan. The title, which is aimed at elementary and middle-school readers, arrives on shelves in September. [ICv2]

What LBGTQ+ manga would you like to see make the leap from print to screen? [Anime Feminist]

Once again, Jocelyne Allen highlights a manga that isn’t available in English, but really ought to be: Cats~Yojo-han Bura Bura Bushi~. [Brain vs. Book]

Lace up your skates: Deb, David, Chip, and Christoper debate the merits of Dogsred, a melodramatic sports manga from the creator of Golden Kamuy. [Mangasplaining]

REVIEWS

The latest Reader’s Corner covers everything from seventh volume of My Girlfriend’s Child to the first installment of Kaiju No. 8: B-Side… Giovanni Stigliano gives high marks to Neighborhood Craftsmen: Stories from Kanda’s Gokura-cho… and if you have a young cat lover in your house, check out A Library Girl’s review of A Man & His Cat Picture Book: Fukumaru and the Spaceship of Happiness.

New and Noteworthy

Complete, Ongoing, and OOP Series

* Final volume

Lady Rose Just Wants to Be a Commoner!, Vol. 3

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By Kooriame and Nami Hidaka. Released in Japan as “Lady Rose wa Heimin ni Naritai” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Caroline W.

Content warning: this book is filled with suicide ideation, and has several attempts near the end, though none are successful.

I know that it’s not economically feasible and would not be popular, but sometimes when you get a light novel series like this I wish that it could have been one 800-page book. Or at least have all three come out on the same day. Because this third and final volume of the Lady Rose series really requires you to remember everything from the first two, and the series rewards going back and checking on certain scenes over and over again. That said, if you did what I did, and read the books as they came out, and tried to recall what was going on, you should still be okay here. Fii’s story is done, and she doesn’t even play a major role in this book till near the end. Unfortunately, that’s just in person. In the background, Fii trying to escape her noble life and become a commoner turns out to drive a heroine to dark, depressing thoughts. And that’s just when she’s five years old.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but our protagonist is hit by a truck (while pushing a girl out of the way of the same truck) and winds up in the world of Savior of Nations: Lady Rose. She is THRILLED. She doesn’t even care that she’s in the body of the villainess, Liliana. This means that she gets to see her favorite character, SETH! Immediately deciding to learn reading, writing, and proper etiquette, despite the reactions of her father and servants, she does succeed in meeting Seth, as well as Melvin, who she declares a “friend of convenience”. Unfortunately, when Liliana turns five, Felicia arrives on the scene, and Liliana gets an immediate lesson in the difference between one who tries her hardest and one who is simply perfect. Unfortunately, over the next ten years or so, this means that Liliana gradually loses her grip on reality.

The first few books already had a tinge of psychological horror. With this third book, it goes beyond tinge and gets into the deep waters. I haven’t seen a light novel get so far down the path of fucked-up narration since I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again!. Even when Liliana begins to realize the possible cause for her mindset… grief at her happy, loving life being cut senselessly down by a truck… she rationalizes that it’s too late now. The bulk of this book is Liliana trying to find a way to die. Fortunately, we know how that goes, as we read the second book, but still. This book also has a few surprises in store – notably one of the busiest Truck-kuns I’ve ever seen in an isekai – but for the most part it is best when focusing on Liliana’s desperate attempts to fix things, then fix everyone but herself. The one flaw is the almost total lack of Seth. The author says that having Seth in the book more would have given away the twist, and yeah, I guess, but I still think the impact of the end might have been better if he’d had a larger presence.

This series is now done, though I do wish we’d seen the stories that were only suggested where she apologizes to her maids. Liliana’s inability to really read people at all has affected her maids more than anyone else, and I hope they get some comfort and relief. As for Liliana herself, I think things will be fine now. She’s had magic bread, after all.

Manga the Week of 7/2/25

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SEAN: The second half of the year begins, appropriately, with a lot of stuff.

ASH: A belated Happy Solstice, everyone!

SEAN: The big light novel of the week is not an Airship title (and technically not a “light” novel), so we’ll have to wait. Till then, Airship does have the third volume of Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)! in print.

And in early digital we see Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling 11 and The Too-Perfect Saint 3.

Cross Infinite World debuts I Want to Be a Saint, But I Can Only Use Attack Magic! (Seijo-sama ni Naritai no ni Kougeki Mahou shika Tsukaenain desu kedo!?). A young woman desperately wants to not be isolated. She wants to be a saint. But when she goes to magic academy, it turns out she can only use attack magic (men’s magic) and not healing magic (women’s magic) at all! I hope this kicks against gender binaries more than it sounds.

ASH: It would be great if it does.

SEAN: There’s also The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor 7.

Dark Horse has another Lovecraft title, The Colour Out of Space (Isekai no Shikisai), a one-shot which ran in Comic Beam. A spooky town with a spooky university gets a spooky meteorite. This is award-winning (the manga, that is).

ASH: Gou Tanabe’s Lovecraft adaptations have been excellent thus far; I expect this one to be no different.

SEAN: Ghost Ship has Tamamori’s Fantasies Never Stop! 2.

Random House is debuting a new imprint, Ink Pop. Their first title is a manga hardcover, I Wanna Be Your Girl (Kanojo ni Naritai Kimi to Boku). This ran in the magazine Ganma!. A girl has been in love with her childhood friends for years… but now finds that she identifies as female. Wanting to be supportive, she helps with her friend’s transition… and starts to dress as a man to see what it feels like. This is apparently a great LGBT title, and the imprint is being pitched for younger readers.

MICHELLE: Interesting!

ASH: Very! The manga itself as well as the emergence of yet another manga publisher!

ANNA: Great to see!

MJ: It’s been a while since I weighed in here, but uh… hello?? I might need this.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has one digital debut, a manga. Zero Damage Sword Saint (Kougekiryoku Zero kara Hajimeru Ken Hijiri Tan). Based on an as-yet unlicensed light novel, it’s about a young man who wants to be a magic swordsman. But it turns out he can only use healing and defensive magic! Running away from mockery to a magic academy, he probably finds life there a lot better than the woman in the CIW title above.

ASH: That’s probably true.

SEAN: There’s also, for light novels, From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman 7, Knight’s & Magic 7, The Otome Heroine’s Fight for Survival 5, and Yuri Tama: From Third Wheel to Trifecta 4.

And for manga we get The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases 7, The Brilliant Healer’s New Life in the Shadows 3, The Coppersmith’s Bride 6, My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! —AΩ— 11, The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World 6, The Retired Demon of the Maxed-Out Village 2, and Tearmoon Empire 8.

No debuts for Kodansha. In print we get The Dashing Zaddy and His Icy Protégé 2, In the Clear Moonlit Dusk 8, Thunder 3 5, and Wind Breaker 12.

Digitally we see Blue Lock 22, How to Grill Our Love 15, and Those Snow White Notes 30.

The big debut for Seven Seas is the debut of The Twelve Kingdoms novel, which had come out about 20 years ago but is getting a proper release now. They’re dividing the first book in half, and it has a new translation. A high school girl finds herself in another world, beset by dangers, and far more important than she expects. Can this overcome the fact that everything has tried to imitate it since its original release?

ASH: This series is fantastic; I am so incredibly excited that it’s being re-released! (And hopefully we get the whole thing this time.)

ANNA: Wow, I would love to be able to read the end of this series!

SEAN: Seven Seas also has a 5th volume of Heaven Official’s Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu (the deluxe hardcover version).

Their first manga debut is BL Game Rebirth: My New Life as the Hero’s Younger Brother (BL Game no Shujinkou no Otouto de aru Koto ni Ki ga Tsukimashita). An office worker who loves BL dies and is reincarnated in her favorite game as the main character’s younger brother! …wait, the main character’s already hooked up? …wait, did he have a younger brother?

ASH: Hmmm…

SEAN: The second debut manga is a manwha. What It Means to Be You features a couple who are currently shunned and shamed by society. Our heroine, knowing everyone hates her, tries to kill herself… only to wake in her husband’s body! And he’s in hers! Can a Freaky Friday plot save their marriage?

ASH: Maybe it can!

ANNA: Worth a try!

SEAN: There’s also a new omnibus, Tokyo Revengers: Brilliant Full Color Edition.

Also from Seven Seas: 365 Days to the Wedding 8, The Ancient Magus’ Bride 20, Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord 5, Glasses with a Chance of Delinquent 3, Otaku Elf 9, Punch Drunk Love 3, Re-Living My Life with a Boyfriend Who Doesn’t Remember Me 4, A Tale of the Secret Saint 9, and Yakuza Reincarnation 13.

MICHELLE: Hooray for more of The Ancient Magus’ Bride!

ASH: Yes, indeed! (Though I do need to catch up…)

SEAN: Square Enix brings us Daemons of the Shadow Realm 8 and The God-Slaying Demon King 2.

Steamship has At Your Service in Another World 2 (the final volume).

Titan Manga debut Cosmic Censorship (Uchuu Kenetsukan), a mecha series from LINE Manga. A track girl suddenly finds herself involved with mysterious powers and needs to save the world.

ASH: This sort of thing seems to happen from time to time.

SEAN: Tokyopop debuts SANCTIFY: Lost Paradise, a sequel to the Sanctify BL series. Expect dark supernatural smut.

Udon is listed as having the second volume of Veil, which surprises me given how the first book just a) came out and b) sold out.

ASH: I did manage to get my hands on a copy; hopefully I can snag this volume, too.

ANNA: Yikes, I need to get this!

SEAN: Viz debuts Nue’s Exorcist (Nue no Onmyouji), a Weekly Shonen Jump title. A boy who can see spirits has tried to avoid them most of his life, but when asked by a spirit to defeat evil haunting his school, he gets swept up in adventure.

Also debuting is a sequel. The Demon Prince of Momochi House: Succession (Momochi-san Chi no Ayakashi Ouji: Tsugu) picks up where the last series left off. It also runs in Asuka.

MICHELLE: Huh. I don’t think I ever finished the first one.

ASH: I’m not sure I did either, but I enjoyed the volumes that I read.

ANNA: I actually finished it, I think! Will be curious to check this out.

SEAN: Also out: Blue Box 16, Blue Exorcist 31, Dark Gathering 14, Fushigi Yûgi: Byakko Senki 2, My Special One 10, One Piece 109, Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite 4, Pink Candy Kiss 2, Tamon’s B-Side 8, and Wolf Girl and Black Prince 14.

MICHELLE: Byakko Senki! It’s been almost five years since the first volume came out.

ANNA: Yay!!!!!!!!!

SEAN: Yen On debuts Who Killed the Hero? (Dare ga Yuusha wo Koroshita ka?), an award-winning light novel. The demon lord has been defeated, though it cost the hero’s life. Now, several years later, a writer doing a book on the hero’s party wonders… is that really what happened?

They also have Love Is Dark 3.

Yen Press debut The Hitman Stans (Koroshiya no Oshi), a seinen title from Harta. A hardcore hitman feared by all says he’s retiring… to devote his life to his favorite idol.

ASH: This could potentially be fun.

ANNA: It does sound fun.

SEAN: The other debut is I Made Friends with the Second Prettiest Girl in My Class (Class de 2-banme ni Kawaii Onnanoko to Tomodachi ni natta). Based on an as-yet unlicensed light novel, it’s about a loner who discovers that his pretty classmate also likes B-movies, and they become secret friends. This runs in Comic Alive+.

And there’s also Spring Storm and Monster 3.

Too much manga? Maybe. But don’t buy all of it, just what you want!

Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement, Vol. 8

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By FUNA and Keisuke Motoe. Released in Japan as “Rōgo ni Sonaete Isekai de 8-Man-Mai no Kinka o Tamemasu” by K Lanove Books. Released in North America by Kodansha Books. Translated by Luke Hutton.

(A reminder that the English Vol. 8 is the equivalent of the Japanese Vol. 9.)

I mentioned last time that I think the series has gotten into a bit of a rut, and while this volume does not remotely solve that issue, it is nice to see the author deliberately leaning into the rut. The first long-ish chapter has Beatrice reminding Mitsuha that she was promised an even bigger party when she comes of age, which means Mitsuha has to whip out fireworks and light shows and the like. This infuriates Sabine, who notes that when *she* comes of age in three years or so, Mitsuha will need to get even GRANDER! Likewise, Mitsuha’s promise to keep a princess safe are taken as keeping her KINGDOM safe, and Mitsuha deciding to solve the problem using only her own men and minimal deaths means the winning nation can’t take any advantage of it. Mitsuha is a realistic isekai protagonist – in that she never thinks ahead.

This book, like a lot of this series, is divided into chunks that may as well be short stories. 1) The above story, where Mitsuha is asked to pull out all the stops for Beatrice’s coming of age party; 2) Mitsuha talks with an Earth scholar about ways to analyze the other world… and things that she didn’t think of when inviting other scientists over there; 3) The empire who attacked last time is now desperate, and decides to attack a different kingdom… one which has Princess Reina (remember her? Princess Kaa-Kaa-Kaa?), who Mitsuha promised to help if she was in danger, which means we need to resort to attack helicopters; 4) One of Mitsuha’s young noble lady-run businesses is attacked, the young lady has her arm broken and face beaten, and a guard is killed. Sadly, the cops and the nobles are on the side of the company that did this, which means it’s time for Mitsuha to snap and go on a roaring rampage of revenge.

I’ve called this series the “Easy Mode” of the three FUNA series, and I still think that. Compared to Mile, and DEFINITELY compared to Kaoru, Mitsuha gets off very lightly. Her dimensional travel has become so blase she not only talks about how she’s managed to teleport herself while leaving her sweat behind, but has to clarify that she does not leave behind her poop – though she does teleport to Japan to use the toilet every time. These are the little details of Mitsuha’s life that I did not need to know. Likewise, her desire to have as few people die as possible in a dangerous war between nations contrasts nicely with her swearing of total vengeance on the company that murdered and beat employees in her company. Mitsuha may grump about everyone thinking she’s twelve, but she acts like it much of the time, especially when someone goes after anything she cares about. Of the three series, this is the one most likely to end with the world being destroyed by a temper tantrum.

Next time apparently Colette is attacked, so we may see even more of this. You know what I’m about to say. Recommended for FUNA fans.

Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools ~Side Stories~

by

By Hisaya Amagishi and Kei. Released in Japan as “Madougushi Dahlia wa Utsumukanai” by MF Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by A.M. Cola.

I like to think that Dahlia in Bloom is a reasonably popular series. It’s gotten a manga and an anime (let’s not talk about the anime). That said, it’s not ludicrously popular with trivia-loving nerds. This is no Re: Zero or A Certain Magical Index. As such, when it comes to wiki power, Dahlia is lacking. Which makes it unfortunate when you’re reading a volume filled with side stories, only a few of which focus on Dahlia and Volf, and I kept thinking to myself “have I seen this character before? Have they been a minor character in the series I’d simply forgotten as they aren’t plot-relevant, or have they been especially written for this volume?”. This is especially true with all the wives we meet in this volume. The main series, and its spinoff, both run on, primarily, an utter lack of romantic progress. Dahlia is oblivious, Lucia is too job-focused. As such, a lot of this book seems devoted to giv9ing us actual happy romantic ends.

This is a short story volume, so there’s no real plot to speak of. The only stories that connect to each other are one or two “we get this from one perspective, then the other side” twofers, and one story where Volf is convinced to buy fancy, scented stationary to send letters to Dahlia, who keeps every single one in her room. You know, like besties do. Other than that, we see how Grato met his wife (she’s been waiting for him to get a clue), how Gildo met his wife (he fell for her, unthinkingly, when she was six years old… no, not like that), Ivano trying to run away from his future wife (he fails), how craftsman Fermo met his wife (she’s the granddaughter of his master, but they’d never seen each other before), how Irma got her husband (the family had to approve), and how Oswald got to be the silver fox (being bullied is different when you’re in a noble society).

That last one is the longest story in the book, and it reminds you that while a whole hell of a lot of light novels deal with nobles and the different tiers between them, none of them quite drench themselves in the culture quite like Dahlia in Bloom. Dahlia herself is finally getting her barony, so might be able to marry Volf… except his family is also getting elevated. Back to square one. Oswald having a girl date him on a bet ends up with the girl AND the two nobles who forced her to do it all getting punished, while the humiliation forces Oswald to throw off his family’s kid gloves and give himself a makeover. Volf is forced to learn about noble etiquette, and he’s absolutely terrible at it. Yes, the main reason this is the slowest of slow burns is because Dahlia’s lack of self-esteem causes her to throw Volf into the friend zone, but there are also real reasons why nothing has happened just yet.

We’re back to the main series next time, as Dahlia finally meets barony. Will this mean anything new? Probably not. Will she get to dance with Volf, and maybe have some really good alcohol? Most definitely.