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Pick of the Week: Searching, Destroying, and Cross-Dressing

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SEAN: It’s always hard to avoid picking the Fantagraphics title when it comes out, mostly as it only comes out about once a year. But this one, combining Tezuka with the author of Bambi and Her Pink Gun, would likely have been my pick regardless. This week is Search and Destroy week.

MICHELLE: Sometimes I just want fluffy, slashy hijinks and I think From Two-Bit Baddie to Total Heartthrob: This Villainess Will Cross-Dress to Impress! fits that bill quite well.

ASH: That does sound like it could be fun, but I fall into Sean’s camp this week. Dororo is my favorite Tezuka manga, so I’ve been looking forward to Kaneko Atsushi’s contemporary reimagining Search and Destroy ever since the license was announced.

ANNA: I’m with Michelle this week, From Two-Bit Baddie to Total Heartthrob: This Villainess Will Cross-Dress to Impress! sounds fun.

Manga the Week of 7/24/24

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SEAN: It’s still July, and still hot, but don’t worry, you can relax in the shadow of Yen Press releases.

ASH: That could possibly work.

SEAN: There is one debut this week for Yen On: The Trials of Chiyodaku: Running the Supreme Court of Another World With My Sister (Chiyodaku Ōkoku Judgment: Ane to Ore to de Isekai Saikō Saibansho). A guy and his sister end up in another world. She’s fantastic at law but knows nothing of fantasy worlds or monsters. He’s a gamer who knows all about those things. Together, they fight crime and the cover art. (The cover art wins, sadly.)

ASH: Wow. The law angle is at least vaguely intriguing, but, wow.

SEAN: And there’s also a side story from a popular franchise. Bungo Stray Dogs: Another Story: Yukito Ayatsuji vs. Natsuhiko Kyougoku features, well, those two characters, I guess.

Also from Yen On: Agents of the Four Seasons 3, Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki’s Conjecture 4, Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense 13, Bride of the Barrier Master 3, Classroom for Heroes 2, The Contract Between a Specter and a Servant 2, The Detective Is Already Dead 8, The Eminence in Shadow 5, The Executioner and Her Way of Life 8, The Genius Prince’s Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt (Hey, How About Treason?) 12, Ishura 7, The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady 7, Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World 13, Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- 25, and Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town 15 (the final volume).

ASH: You did warn it was a Yen week, but that’s still quite the list.

SEAN: And then there’s Yen Press debuts. Aria of the Beech Forest (Buna no Mori no Aria) is a shoujo series from Asuka. It’s about a witch who lives in the woods and a talking wolf she finds one day.

ASH: Witch manga seems to be a particularly popular (or at least common) genre these days.

SEAN: Excellent Property, Rejects for Residents: Baths, Lavatories, and Angels Are Communal (Yuuryou Bukken Mou Dame Sou – Furo, Toilet to Tenshi wa Kyoudou desu) is the latest ecchi shonen manga from the creator of Plunderer and Heaven’s Lost Property. An angel tries to help a loser guy who lives in an apartment house full of losers.

GOGOGOGO-GO-GHOST! is a josei title from Comic Bridge. After being fired from her OL job, a woman is living on temp gigs and desperation. Is she desperate enough to team up with a ghost lady?

MICHELLE: Hm. Josei + ghosts?

ASH: I’m in.

SEAN: Kind of a Wolf (Aimai na Wolf) is a one-shot BL manga from Bloom. When his pet cat sneaks into the apartment of the noisy guy next door, our hero has to sneak in after them… and discovers a secret!

ASH: What could it be?

SEAN: Miss Savage Fang: The Strongest Mercenary in History Is Reincarnated as an Unstoppable Noblewoman (Savage Fang Ojou-sama – Shijou Saikyou no Youhei wa Shijou Saikyou no Bougyaku Reijou to natte Futatabime no Sekai wo Musou suru) is an adaptation of the light novels Yen also releases. It ran in Isekai Young Jump.

My Oh My, Atami-kun (Iyahaya Atami-kun) is a BL manga from Harta. A high school boy is constantly being asked out by girls because of his handsome face. Can’t they realize that he’s gay?

MICHELLE: This looks potentially cute.

SEAN: This Wolf Is Not Scary (Ookami-kun wa Kowakunai) is a BL one-shot from B’s-Lovey Recottia. Wolf boys, rabbit boys, heats… not full on A/B/O, but in the ballpark. Also, two wolf oneshots in the same week?

MICHELLE: Any BL with a wolf in it, nowadays, I basically assume is not gonna be my sort of thing.

SEAN: And also from Yen: The Abandoned Empress 8, Bungou Stray Dogs Wan 8, Chained Soldier 8, Delicious in Dungeon 14 (the final volume), The Eminence in Shadow 10, Game of Familia 4, Honey Lemon Soda 6, I’m Quitting Heroing 6, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level 13, My Poison Princess Is Still Cute 3 (the final volume), No Longer Heroine 7, The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices 5, Reign of the Seven Spellblades 7, A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special 4, and Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion 7.

Viz has one debut, another collection of horror, Alley: Junji Ito Story Collection (Rojiura). These ran in Monthly Halloween.

ASH: I’m behind in my Junji Ito reading, but do plan on picking this up.

SEAN: They also have Boy’s Abyss 6, a re-release of the GoGo Monster box, and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 6–Stone Ocean 5.

ASH: Oh!

SEAN: Two debuts from Tokyopop. Jealousy Blinds Love (Shitto wa ai o Kumoraseru) is a one-shot from from RED. Can BL and piano exist together?

Too Close to Fall in Love (Koi o Suru ni wa Chika Sugiru) is also a from RED oneshot. What about a “we’re stepsiblings!” romance, but BL?

And they have Lullaby of the Dawn 4 (which is also from RED, in case you were worried).

Steamship has a 3rd manga volume of The Villainess and the Demon Knight.

Square Enix manga debuts Soul Eater NOT!: The Perfect Edition. This spinoff of Soul Eater was far less popular but had far more yuri subtext. It ran in Shonen Gangan.

And they’ve also got The Villainess’s Guide to (Not) Falling in Love 2.

No debuts from Seven Seas, but we do see COLORLESS 7 (the final volume), The Condemned Villainess Goes Back in Time and Aims to Become the Ultimate Villain 2, Ennead 3 (which comes in teen-rated paperback and adult-rated hardcover), His Majesty the Demon King’s Housekeeper 6, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 9, and Magical Angel Creamy Mami and the Spoiled Princess 7 (the final volume).

From KUMA we see Qualia Under the Snow (Yuki no Shita no Qualia), a oneshot BL manga from Craft. An extrovert and an introvert find themselves drawn together to help deal with their pasts.

MICHELLE: I’m definitely more interested in traumatized extroverts and introverts than wolves and stepsiblings!

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: Kodansha Books has a 5th volume of Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for my Retirement.

No print debuts for Kodansha Manga, but we do see Blue Lock 13, Gachiakuta 3, The Heroic Legend of Arslan 19, I Can’t Say No to the Lonely Girl 3, King in Limbo Omnibus 3 (the final volume), Sailor Moon Naoko Takeuchi Collection 9, and A Sign of Affection 9.

There is a digital debut, just announced at AX. My Journey to Her (Boku ga Watashi ni Naru Tame ni) is a complete in one volume series that ran in Weekly Morning. It’s a memoir of Yuna receiving a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, and the journey to getting gender-affirming surgery that Yuna, with her family and friends, goes through.

ASH: It’s really interesting to me how many memoirs and autobiographical works of this type were seeing translated. Not that I’m complaining!

Also digital: Am I Actually the Strongest? 11, A Couple of Cuckoos 18, DAYS 42 (the final volume), Gamaran: Shura 22, and Teppu 8 (the final volume).

MICHELLE: Ah! I hadn’t realized DAYS was ending. Time for a marathon.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has a lot, including three debuts. The 100th Time’s the Charm: She Was Executed 99 Times, So How Did She Unlock “Super Love” Mode?! (99-kai Danzaisareta Loop Reijō Desu ga Konse wa “Chōzetsu Aisare Mode” Desutte!?: Shinno Chikara ni Mezamete Hajimaru 100-kaime no Jinsei), the manga adaptation of the light novel JNC already released.that runs in Drecomics.

From Two-Bit Baddie to Total Heartthrob: This Villainess Will Cross-Dress to Impress! (Mob Dōzen no Akuyaku Reijō wa Dansō Shite Kōryaku Taishō no Za wo Nerau) is a light novel about a girl reincarnated in an otome game as… a minor villainess. She decides to seduce the main character by dressing as a man. Unfortunately, everyone else has the same idea. This is infamous in Japan for its art that commits to the bit – the art makes it look BL as the cross-dressing women are so good at it.

MICHELLE: This sounds kooky but potentially fun.

ASH: Agreed!

SEAN: The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World (Saikyou Onmyouji no Isekai Tenseiki ~Geboku no Youkaidomo ni Kurabete Monster ga Yowaisugirundaga~) is the manga adaptation of the light novel JNC is also releasing. It runs in Gaugau Monster.

Also from J-Novel Club: the 3rd D-Genesis: Three Years after the Dungeons Appeared manga, The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects 4, the 8th Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World manga, My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex 11, Nia Liston: The Merciless Maiden 3, The Oblivious Saint Can’t Contain Her Power: Forget My Sister! Turns Out I Was the Real Saint All Along! 3, The Otome Heroine’s Fight for Survival 2, the 10th Record of Wortenia War manga, Seventh 8, The Troubles of Miss Nicola the Exorcist 3 (the final volume), The Water Magician 2, and Young Lady Albert Is Courting Disaster 7.

ASH: That is a decent sized list, too.

Ghost Ship has Ayakashi Triangle 10. There’s also, in Mature titles from Seven Seas, Remnants of Filth: Yuwu 4.

A new title from Fantagraphics: Search and Destroy. Have you ever wondered what the classic Tezuka series Dororo would look like in the hands of the author of Bambi and Her Pink Gun? Wonder no more. This ran in TezuComi, a magazine devoted to Tezuka tributes, reimaginings, etc.

ASH: Really looking forward to this one.

SEAN: Lastly, we have Airship. In print they have Riku Can’t Be a Goddess (Riku-kun wa, Megami ni Narenai). The story of a girl who serves as a dress form for her crush who wants to cross-dress and uses her to see how to be feminine. Then he kisses her and she flees. This apparently is part of an anthology about their high school class and identity in general.

And for early digital we get the 2nd and final volume of The Evil Queen’s Beautiful Principles and Sword of the Demon Hunter: Kijin Gentōshō 6.

I’m reduced to begging for mercy. How about you?

BLADE & BASTARD: Dungeon Chronicle

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By Kumo Kagyu and so-bin. Released in Japan as “Blade & Bastard” by Dre Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

This was better than the last volume, possibly as it’s a short story collection disguised as a novel. The stories are vaguely interconnected, except for the first one, and are all related to the aftermath of the third book. Iarumas is in deep thought, so is not going into the dungeons, leading the rest of the cast to try to go in without him. They’re helped by some eccentric new cast members, of course, who may or may not stick around. (I’m sure the twins will, not so sure about the chuuni.) And of course, in case you’d forgotten, Aine is not doing anything at all in this book, as she lost both her arms in the last volume. That said, this turns out to be what Iarumas is in deep thought about, so hopefully we can do something about it. Mostly, though, this is a book that allows Orlaya to step up and show that she’s likely to be the second protagonist going forward.

As I said, this starts off looking like a short story collection, as we get a flashback showing how the All-Stars got together and what Sezmar was like when he first got to the city. After that, we follow Schumacher with a party of his own, including twins who “came back wrong” after resurrection and a ninja thief who seems to be really into her role but rapidly finds the dungeon is not a place where she can pretend to be Megumin. We then get a short comedic chapter from the POV of Garbage’s new sword, which is the funniest chapter in the book. Then Iarumas goes hunting in the dungeon for something, but doesn’t quite find it. The last two chapters are interconnected, as the main team, minus Iarumas and Aine but plus the twins (now slightly less wrong) and the ninja go hunting and find a pool with a rubber duck… which may be exactly what Iarumas wants.

As always, the new characters are a) interesting, and b) the author’s barely disguised fetish. In this case it is twins, Rahm-and-Sahm, who are now half and half each other thanks to a botched resurrection. They’re weird and stoic. Then, later in the book, they get a lot more vibrant… and a lot more annoying, having apparently come to terms with basically being each other and deciding they’re OK with it. The other new character is Shadowwind, who as I said sounded like a Crimson Demon when she first arrived, but the dangers of the dungeon shut her up fairly quickly, and by the end of the book she’s gored in the throat (which she survives) and blown up by an exploding trap (which she does not). She’ll be resurrected, but I’m not sure we’ll see her again. She’s just not as… interesting as twins who are each wearing the other half of their twin. And again, by “interesting” I mean “the author’s basely disguised fetish”.

The regulars do all get a lot to do, and Orlaya in particular shows off her skills as more than just “another love interest for Raraja”, so rest assured. And yeah, sorry to spoil, but Aine gets her arms back. I could see the author trying to decide between “battle-crazed nun with a sword” and “amputee nun” for hours before making the decision, and fortunately they made the right one. Next time, royal intrigue? More of Princess Garbage? We shall see.

Pick of the Week: Secret Bases and Mona Lisas

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MICHELLE: Well, if I can’t have more Mitsuru Adachi, I can an at least be happy that my favorite sports manga, Haikyu!, is being released in a 3-in-1 format!

ASH: There are definitely some solid choices among this week’s releases, but the one I’m probably most looking forward to is Captain Momo’s Secret Base. I actually don’t know much at all about what it’s about, but I do know it’s by Kenji Tsuruta and that’s enough for me.

ANNA: I’m with Ash, Captain Momo’s Secret Base sounds interesting.

SEAN: It feels odd to have me pick the gender title, but I admit that the premise of Just Like Mona Lisa intrigues me, and I’ll be checking it out. So I’ll make that the pick.

Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!, Part 5: Avatar of a Goddess, Vol. 11

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By Miya Kazuki and You Shiina. Released in Japan as “Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by quof.

So yes, I have to apologize for my glib remarks in the last review. I joked that Rozemyne’s memory wasn’t affected at all, as she didn’t love anything more than books. But of course, the only reason she remembers Ferdinand is that he was pouring his mana into her (and oh, we have more to say on that later). And, of course, she loves her family more. No, not her adopted family – sorry, Charlotte, she does recall who you are. No, she can’t remember her birth family at all, and it bothers her. More disturbingly, she has also lost all her PTSD related to feystones – very convenient for the plot to actually occur, but also likely putting off a complete breakdown in the future. Fortunately, she does remember enough to know what’s important right now – she and Ferdinand being the most terrifying power couple in the history of the world, and bringing the hammer of justice on anyone who might say otherwise.

We pick up at the end of all the fighting, but we still have to deal with the royal family. Mostly as someone has to be the Zent, and both Ferdinand and Rozemyne are adamant it’s not going to be them. It can’t be Trauerqual, he’s too depressed. It can’t be Sigiswald, he’s too much of a massive dipshit. (Adolphine divorcing his ass the moment she gets the opportunity is a punch the air moment.) So it’s got to be Eglantine, who still hates war but now realizes that being Zent is the best way to prevent it. Unfortunately, Rozemyne is still very, very full of divine mana after the crowning, and it’s killing her. So they spend the rest of the book trying to drain off her mana without her starving to death… and it all comes back when she sleeps. It’s a race against time, where time is a literal hourglass filled with too much mana.

I do appreciate the book allowing asexual interpretations more than most series would. The comedy highlight of this volume is of Rozemyne finally having euphemisms explained to her, and realizing what “dye me with your mana” actually means. Which she’s still too young for, as everyone notes with more euphemisms. But Rozemyne says – again – that she’s never understood what’s so important about sex – not as Urano, and not here in this world. And Ferdinand, I think, is OK with that. I don’t know if a sequel years in the future will show her with children, but certainly the current Rozemyne is content to have Ferdinand merely be the most important person in her life. Which, given who she is, means she will destroy an entire country for him. But not because she’s horny.

There are several side stories as usual, including one with Hannelore that might be setting up the sequel due out next month that she stars in. But for the moment we’ll wait till the next volume, which is, at last, the end of Myne and Rozemyne’s story. I absolutely can’t wait.

Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire, Vol. 11

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By Hayaken and Nagu. Released in Japan as “Eiyu-oh, Bu wo Kiwameru tame Tensei su. Soshite, Sekai Saikyou no Minarai Kisi ♀” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Mike Langwiser.

The author of this book, in the afterword, talks about being happy with this book to clarify plot points and tie a lot of things together, something they don’t really like to do, as leaving things vague allows them to change their mind later. As such, I wish that I was more excited by some of the “revelations” that we get here. More than anything, they remind me of shonen manga revelations, which makes sense because, light novel or no, this series is at heart a shonen battle manga. And indeed, half the volume is a fight followed more another fight. So it’s not a big surprise that most of the revelations are of the “Luke, I am your father” type, with surprise relatives and surprise heiral menaces… well, OK, not so much a surprise, we’ve known something was up with Yua almost since we met her. That said, if all you can recall from this is Inglis punching things, you’ll be fine.

First of all, congrats to those who were sick of Inglis looking like a child, she’s back to being 16 years old again. Well, in body, at least. At the end of the last book we got the start of a bad-guy-on-good-guy pileup, and we get the continuation of that here, which culminates in Inglis accidentally hurling herself into the sarcophagus where Eris ended up… which then sinks to the bottom of the sea. Fortunately, time moves much slower in the sarcophagus. Unfortunately, the bad guys are definitely winning with Inglis gone, and are determined to find out how much more mana they can grind up if they use Highlanders rather than regular people. They really need Inglis to come back and rescue them. And she will come… ten years later. Well, OK, ten years later for her. It’s about an hour later for the rest of the cast.

OK, word of warning: This volume ends its main story about page 130, and there’s the an extended story that talks about Eris’ past before she became a hieral menace. First of all, this story has sexual assault. Secondly, this story is SO dark that I basically started reading as fast as possible to get through it. This is even worse than the “oh my god, it’s made of people!” from the previous book, and essentially serves as an object lesson for Inglis about how she’s had it really nice since she was reincarnated, what with the loving family, most of whom are alive, and the monstrous superpowers. I kind of hated that whole story, and the one big revelation in it will I’m sure come up again in the main story, so feel free to skip it entirely. Other than that, this is the same old same old, though I think readers will be happy it ends up back at the academy, with this arc now over.

So yeah, because that story finished up the book, I ended up more annoyed than happy. Inglis continuing to be an overprotective dad type to Rafinha doesn’t help. Still, it’s got some really nice fights.

Manga the Week of 7/17/24

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SEAN: All English manga will be in French for this week only. After that, your copies will return to English.

MICHELLE: Does that mean that manga I own in French will be in English this week? *hurries off to read some Mitsuru Adachi*

ANNA: Sacre bleu!

ASH: Ah, if only!

SEAN: We start with Airship. In print, they give us The Case Files of Jeweler Richard 8 and Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship! 9.

The digital early debut is Ripping Someone Open Only Makes Them Bleed (Hara o Wattara Chi ga Deru Dakesa), the latest trauma from the creator of I Want to Eat Your Pancreas. A high school girl has what seems to be the perfect life… and she’s made sure her every move and utterance is done to help that along. Then a boy shows up who looks just like the main character of her favorite book, and bad things start to follow.

ASH: I’ll admit to being curious.

SEAN: Also out in early digital: I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! 7 and The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior 7.

Apologies to Dark Horse, I was distracted by the Lovecraft and missed that the 5th Cat + Gamer manga came out this week.

ASH: It was pretty distracting. But Cat + Gamer is definitely worth mentioning, too.

SEAN: Next week they have a debut: Captain Momo’s Secret Base (Momo Kanchou no Himitsu Kichi), a Rakuen Le Paradis story about a starship captain dealing with remote work and bureaucracy. It’s from the creator of Wandering Island and Emanon.

ANNA: Ca peut être intéressant.

ASH: Oooooooh.

SEAN: Denpa, according to retailers, has the 2nd volume of Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack.

ANNA: Char Aznable est très cool.

ASH: Oui.

SEAN: Ghost Ship has the 8th volume of The Witches of Adamas.

J-Novel Club also snuck out a release this week, so you should be able to get the 4th Blade & Bastard light novel as you read this. To be fair to me, this wasn’t announced till about 5 days ago.

ASH: That is entirely fair (or unfair, depending on how you look at it).

SEAN: From J-Novel Club next week, we get the 4th 8th Loop for the Win! With Seven Lives’ Worth of XP and the Third Princess’s Appraisal Skill, My Behemoth and I Are Unstoppable! manga volume, The Conqueror from a Dying Kingdom 7, the 2nd Death’s Daughter and the Ebony Blade manga volume, Making Magic: The Sweet Life of a Witch Who Knows an Infinite MP Loophole 8, and the 2nd A Wild Last Boss Appeared! manga volume.

No debuts for Kodansha Manga, but we see in print I’m Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness 6, Kei X Yaku: Bound By Law 2, Ninja Vs. Gokudo 2, Parasyte Full Color Collection 7, and When Will Ayumu Make His Move? 16.

And for digital we get Anyway, I’m Falling in Love with You 8, The Beast Player 3, Hozuki’s Coolheadedness 21, I Left my A-Rank Party to Help My Former Students Reach the Dungeon Depths! 5, and Our Fake Marriage 14.

From One Peace Books we get Farming Life in Another World 10.

The debut from Seven Seas is a yuri manga, Throw Away the Suit Together (Kimi to Shiranai Natsu ni Naru) features two young women, bowed down by societal expectations, throwing it all away and moving to an island. Of course, life is not that easy…

ASH: If only it was!

SEAN: We also see The Duke of Death and His Maid 13, Mysterious Disappearances 2, No Longer Allowed In Another World 6, Sheep Princess in Wolf’s Clothing 3, The Skull Dragon’s Precious Daughter 4, The Villainess Who Has Been Killed 108 Times: She Remembers Everything! 3, and The World’s Fastest Level Up 3.

We have a debut from Square Enix, Just Like Mona Lisa (Seibetsu “Mona Lisa” no Kimi e), from Gangan Online. In a world where people are genderless till they’re 12, and over 2 years become the gender they wish to be, our protagonist is 18 and yet still genderless. Will confessions – from a boy and a girl – help them decide?

ASH: Hmmm.

SEAN: And we see The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated! 9.

Tokyopop debuts both a light novel and a manga, the same title. My Beautiful Man (Utsukushii Kare) is a Chara title (the manga, at least) about a guy with a stutter who tends to be used by the popular group as a dogsbody… but that’s OK, because the most popular guy is SO HOT.

MICHELLE: Snerk.

ANNA: Snerk (en Francais!)

SEAN: Tokyopop also has the 7th and final volume of The Fox & Little Tanuki.

Debuting from Udon Entertainment is My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex (Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Moto Kanodatta), whose light novel J-Novel Club has been releasing. A boy and a girl who dated in middle school… then broke up badly… now find they’re stepsiblings. It runs in Dra-Dra-Sharp#.

Debuting from Viz is Battle Royale: Enforcers, the 3rd in the Battle Royale manga series, which runs in Bessatsu Young Champion. You know the plot.

We’re also getting Haikyu!! in 3-in-1 volumes, with the first shipping next week. This is a Shonen Jump title about volleyball. You know it.

MICHELLE: Omnibus editions are very nice for sports manga!

ANNA: Mais oui!

Also from Viz: Dandadan 8, Dark Gathering 8, Persona 5 12, Record of Ragnarok 11, Seraph of the End 30, Snowball Earth 2, Steel of the Celestial Shadows 3, and Undead Unluck 16.

ASH: I really ought to give Steel of the Celestial Shadows a try.

SEAN: Lastly we have Yen Press, who are sneaking two releases out ahead of the deluge the week after next. Penguin Highway is a manga adaptation of the novel of the same name, which ran in my nemesis, Comic Alive. Yen is releasing it as one complete omnibus.

ASH: Oh, I actually just saw an early copy of this! And I really enjoyed the original novel.

SEAN: And we get an artbook: Yana Toboso Artworks Black Butler 4.

Does anything here appeal?

Too Many Losing Heroines!, Vol. 1

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By Takibi Amamori and Imigimuru. Released in Japan as “Make Heroine ga Ōsugiru!” by Gagaga Bunko. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Matthew Jackson.

Hoo boy. This is one of those books where I have to issue a warning to the newbie reader who knows nothing about it: keep at it, plow through the first half. I get it. The second half has a good payoff. But oh, that first half. When I started to read it, I felt like I was reading an author who had gotten really mad about Nisekoi and The Quintessential Quintuplets and decided to write the romcom equivalent of “guy gets revenge on his high school bullies”. But no, with only one exception, the actual “winning” couples barely get any focus in this series. It’s all about the girls who, while seemingly popular and/or cute, end up on the wrong end of a love triangle. Fortunately, they all have our protagonist, a friendless guy who likes to read bad light novels and snark at his little sister. Surely he can be there to heal their wounded hearts. … Or not, because this whole book is here to get really mad at him too.

Nukumizu is the aforementioned protagonist. One day, while at a family restaurant, he overhears two classmates. The cute, popular girl Anna is telling her friend Sousuke to go chase after the new transfer student, Karen, who he has feelings for. Except, of course, Anna clearly also likes him. And once he takes off, she goes into an anger (and junk food) filled binge… then sees that Nukumizu overheard everything. About a week later, another of his classmates, the dumb-but-athletic and popular Lemon, confesses to the smart, studious guy she likes… but he just got together with his cram school partner. Then Nukumizu is reminded that he needs to actually attend the literature club that he joined… and finds a love triangle there as well, with the small, squirrel-like Chika clearly crushing on the club president, who also clearly is… in love with someone else. Why is he surrounded by losers?

Sometimes I go looking at the novel-updates site to see what comments are on a new license, and I saw a lot of “beta male” chatter from the usual sort who use that term like they would a comma. They’re full of it, of course, but it really is remarkable how much our hero kneecaps himself in this book. He’s terrible, being filled with snark and a grotesque determination to not get involved, despite clearly being the shoulder to cry on that some of these girls need. The “surprise” in the book is that, so far, it’s not actually a romcom – none of the so-called losing heroines have gotten over their first love, and they’re not looking for a rebound but just simple empathy. This comes out much better in the second half, in which the literature club goes on a field trip that turns into another romantic mess, and Nukumizu can’t even realize when someone is asking for a sympathetic hug.

The payoff comes in the last fifth of the book, when everyone makes their own decisions about what is best for the others, and Nukumizu snaps and actually has empathy for another person. Even if it’s accidental. But yeah, this is a guy with an idea of himself that’s so set in stone he has to be told that he’s already friends with someone. Who thinks in light novel cliches, but, unlike, say, Hachiman (and boy, I bet the author loved that series too), does not throw himself at problems like a bomb to sort them out, but actively runs away from them. As for the three “losing heroines”, the book makes it very clear why they got rejected. Each one has a bundle of eccentricities and neuroses, which would make for a terrible girlfriend but which make for good comedy. The main reason you can get through the first half of the book is that they’re goofy and silly, and yet still MUCH better at life than the “losing hero”.

This is currently 6 volumes and counting, so probably will eventually get some rom in its com. For the moment, though, the girls need to have time to recover from their heartbreak, and the guy needs to understand how to interact with others without it being a trope. I was going to recommend this reluctantly, but by the end it had won me over. Provided we keep up the character development. Also, totally abstaining from the “Makeine vs. Roshidere” social media wars, thanks.

The Inconvenient Life of an Arousing Priestess, Vol. 2

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By Makino Maebaru and Hachi Uehara. Released in Japan as “Konyaku Hakida, Hatsujō Seijo” by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Kashi Kamitoma.

I’ve said this before about books based on webnovels, but it applies especially to this volume: this book is simply too long. The digital edition is 338 pages, which is about 130 too many. Especially as a lot of this is merely going over the same ground. Monica blesses things and does spells, and they arouse her, though as the book goes on it’s becoming apparent that this is starting to only happen around Richard. She continues to assume Richard has no romantic or sexual interest in her, despite his saying “I adore you” to her face (admittedly, he is wearing a magical chastity belt for most of this volume, so it’s not entirely her being dense… just mostly). And since this volume takes place in Monica’s old country, there is a whole lot of slut shaming, evil princes, evil clergy, and the usual light novel cliches. That said, this is perfectly readable, and Monica and Richard are good characters. It’s just long.

Monica and Richard are back in Kophe. for Monica it’s a chance to help her old nation, under horrific monster attacks, and hopefully try to change their minds about the way they use priestesses. for Richard it’s mostly about crushing all those who dared to attempt to crush Monica, and he has absolutely zero desire to help anyone in the country at all… except Monica wants him to, so FINE. Unfortunately, various things get in the way. As noted, the Church want to destroy and murder Monica, and they also want to replace the King, who is not doing what they want, with the more malleable prince. The prince is still furious with Monica. And there’s a merchant, seen in the first volume but an actual character here, whose job is to make Monica doubt her relationship with Richard and remind her that he’s a prince and she’s a commoner. Can they work things out? And can Monica save the world without… well, embarrassing arousal?

My favorite part of the book may have been one of the minor villains, the unfortunately named Keunt (I wonder if the ‘e’ was added by editorial fiat), who is an aide to the evil prince and has a habit of composing the biography that will inevitably be written about him in his head. This is wonderful, especially because he is pathetic in the extreme, and any biography he gets is going to be written in crayon on a placemat. The other interesting thing in this book is Richard, who turns out to be a bit more sociopathic than some readers may be comfortable with. It’s clear that if it weren’t for his love of the pure and virtuous Monica, this book would be awash in blood. He’s also wearing, as I noted, a magical chastity belt because he wants Monica to see him as a friend rather than someone who lusts after her like all the others. This despite the fact that he really, really does lust after her. (Do they have their first time at the end of the boo? It’s ambiguous.)

I had thought this was the final volume, but the author implies there’s a third, and certainly they’re not married yet. For fans of the author.

Lovestruck Prince! I’ll Fight the Heroine for my Villainous Fiancée!, Vol. 3

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By Shakushineko and Yukiko. Released in Japan as “Betabore no Kon’yakusha ga Akuyaku Reijō ni Saresō nanode Heroine gawa ni wa Sore Sōō no Mukui o Ukete Morau” by Mag Garden Novels. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Mittt Liu.

It makes sense that a series which I would describe in general as ‘okay, I guess” has a final volume that also can be described that way. We get a number of plotlines that can be described as “clearing up the worrying loose ends”, such as Vincent’s mother and her checkered past, as well as the facade that Vincent has been putting on around Elizabeth. There are also a few plotlines that made me smack my head and say “OK, really?”. But for the most part this book has a goal, which is getting these two shy kids married, and it proceeds to get to that goal. We even get a flash forward showing they have at least two children, which is good because I like them and they’re sweet, but also a bit annoying as it means that most of them getting over their crippling adoration of each other happens offscreen. I wanted to see the walls come down more.

We start off with one of the most cliched plots of all. Due to a magical accident brought on by an old… enemy?… of Vincent’s mother, he has lost all his memories of Elizabeth – though it’s notable that despite this, he still falls in love with her the moment he sees her. This is relatively quickly resolved, mostly as I suspect the author did not want to rebuild the wheel, but instead Vincent has the knowledge of his kingdom that he’s been learning for the past few years wiped from his memory. This is bad timing, as arriving at the kingdom as this happens is King Ricardo from the neighboring nation, who was in love with Vincent’s mother as a young man but now appears to be there to try to judge in Vincent is a good enough potential ruler. Can Vincent manage to get all his memories back and still marry Elizabeth?

There are a couple other things I want to talk about. The first is that this reminded me a bit of Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter, in that we get discussion of Vincent’s mother’s backstory, which sounds incredibly cool. Unfortunately, unlike Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter, we appear unlikely to get that story anytime soon, meaning it makes the main plot feel a bit wanting. The other thing is Raphael and Yulisse. I mentioned at the end of the first review that I found his treatment of her by the end of the book a bit creepy, and that stayed the same in the second book. Here we find that this is apparently a family trait, and that his mother is also essentially a “yandere”, with his father essentially having been bullied into the relationship. Honestly, I find this relationship more uncomfor4table than romantic. Thank goodness it’s not the main pairing.

So yes, if you got through all three of these as I did, well done. Now move on to another Cross Infinite World series and forget all about this.