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The Kept Man of the Princess Knight, Vol. 1

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By Toru Shirogane and Saki Mashima. Released in Japan as “Himekishi-sama no Himo” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul.

This book has one big, big thing going for it, which is that I finished it. More than that, I plan to read the next book. That’s a big deal, because this book is dark as fuck. It starts off really bleak, but at about the two-thirds mark I said “ah, good, it’s bleak, but it’s not 100% bleak”. NOPE. It is indeed 100% bleak, and I regretted even thinking it would be otherwise. This is a book filled with violent death, and not just of evil bad guys. The protagonist is an incredible asshole, and does things throughout the volume that are beyond the pale. The Princess Knight who is in the title is somewhat out of focus, mostly as she has to be off in the dungeons for most of the book, but she also has many issues. I have no illusions that this will have any ending other than “everyone dies, but at least they get to choose the manner of their death”. And yet… this was an award winner, and I can see why. You can’t put it down.

Matthew is the Kept Man of the title, and the Princess Knight is Arwin. Her country has been destroyed, fallen to monsters, and the only way she can save it is with a legendary treasure located at the bottom of one of the world’s only remaining dungeons. Matthew is a lecherous layabout who is as weak as a kitten but hella tough, and who, it is said by everyone, sleeps with the princess and is paid by her to do so. As the book goes on, we get to find out Matthew’s actual past, see how he goes about his day when Arwin is in the dungeon, and see him gradually get embroiled in various plots in the dark side of this town – which is, to be honest, the entire town – as he tries to hide the real reason that the princess is so dependent on him.

Translator Stephen Paul, who must have been over the moon to work on this anti-Kirito title after so much Sword Art Online, described this as being “raunchy and funny”, and I’ll agree with him on the first, but I’m not really sure where all the laughs are in this book. Matthew’s comebacks end up being more “yo mama” jokes than anything else, and the best joke in the book is one I won’t spoil, but involves some brothers. It’s definitely raunchy, though I note that the author, who knows his audience will only put up with so much in regards to their heroines, obfuscates about whether Matthew and Arwin are in fact lovers. But the main reason to read this is the sheer jaw-dropping awfulness of everything going on. Matthew’s past and present are awful, Arwin’s past and present are awful, Matthew kills about a dozen people throughout this book, and even those who try to escape the book’s world can’t make it out. It’s a compelling, nasty world.

Again, I hate reading dark stories where everyone dies, but I still finished this and want more. That’s a big selling point. That said, buyer beware.

Manga the Week of 2/28/24

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SEAN: Please close the door behind February as you exit.

ASH: How is the shortest month not already over?

SEAN: Airship starts us off with a print version of Modern Villainess: It’s Not Easy Building a Corporate Empire Before the Crash 4.

The early digital debut is Reincarnated Into a Game as the Hero’s Friend: Running the Kingdom Behind the Scenes (Maou to Yuusha no Tatakai no Ura de), which had its manga come out literally last week, and now here’s the novel that was based on.

And we also get the 8th volume of Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship!.

No debuts for Cross Infinite World (actually, they seem to be concentrating on ongoing series for the next few months, possibly as they got so many in 2023), but we do see Even Dogs Go to Other Worlds: Life in Another World with My Beloved Hound 4, Expedition Cooking with the Enoch Royal Knights 4, and Onmyoji and Tengu Eyes 3.

ASH: I really should give Onmyoji and Tengu Eyes a look at some point.

SEAN: Dark Horse has a 4th volume of Cat + Gamer.

Amazon lists Denpa as having the 4th omnibus of Nana & Kaoru out next week.

ASH: We shall see!

SEAN: Ghost Ship has The Witches of Adamas 7, and the non-Ghost Ship but Mature-rated The Dangerous Convenience Store 2.

J-Novel Club has the debut of a coveted license rescue, Chivalry of a Failed Knight (Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry). It’s very popular, features a “guy who everyone hates with bad abilities who secretly has the best abilities”, and takes place at a magical academy. Oh, and since I’m required to make an Asterisk War joke here… nah, I won’t bother.

ASH: Not a series (or genre, really) that I’m reading, but I’m generally always happy for a license rescue.

SEAN: Also out from J-Novel Club: the 7th Bibliophile Princess manga, The Brilliant Healer’s New Life in the Shadows 2, the 8th Cooking with Wild Game manga, From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman: My Hotshot Disciples Are All Grown Up Now, and They Won’t Leave Me Alone 2, the 3rd I’ll Never Set Foot in That House Again! manga, A Late-Start Tamer’s Laid-Back Life 9, Reincarnated Mage with Inferior Eyes: Breezing through the Future as an Oppressed Ex-Hero 6, and Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time: No One Told Me There Would Be Monsters! 4.

From Kodansha Books we get As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World 4.

Some debuts from Kodansha Manga. The Blue Wolves of Mibu (Ao no Miburo) is a historical drama from Weekly Shonen Magazine about the founding of the Shinsengumi.

MICHELLE: Oooh.

ANNA: OK, I’m officially curious about this!

ASH: Yup! Count me in, too.

SEAN: A Kingdom of Quartz (Quartz no Oukoku) is an Afternoon series about a girl who longs to fight alongside the angels, but that may be hard given her powers tend more towards the demonic.

Nude Model and Other Stories (Yamaguchi Tsubasa Tanpenshuu: Nude Model) is a short story collection from the creator of Blue Period.

ASH: I suspect this has the potential to be pretty good.

SEAN: Also in print: Blue Lock 11, Shangri-La Frontier 10, and Something’s Wrong With Us 19 (the final volume).

ANNA: Need to pick up Blue Lock for one of my kids!

SEAN: Digitally we see Am I Actually the Strongest? 10, Boss Bride Days 14, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 27, Gamaran: Shura 17, How to Treat a Lady Knight Right 3, I Left my A-Rank Party to Help My Former Students Reach the Dungeon Depths! 2, Koigakubo-kun Stole My First Time 6, My Home Hero 13, and That’s My Atypical Girl 11.

Last Gasp have a paperback edition of Junko Mizuno’s Pure Trance, which had its hardcover out a few years back. I’d describe the plot, but I suspect Junko Mizuno readers simply buy based on the creator name, and quite right too.

ASH: Ha! Glad to see this staying in print.

SEAN: One Peace Books has the 22nd manga volume of The Rising of the Shield Hero.

No debuts for Seven Seas, but we get Bite Maker: The King’s Omega 10, D-Frag! 17, DUNGEON DIVE: Aim for the Deepest Level 5, The Haunted Bookstore – Gateway to a Parallel Universe 4 (the final volume), The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife 3, Last Game 4, Lazy Dungeon Master 7, Monster Guild: The Dark Lord’s (No-Good) Comeback! 6, Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling 5, The World’s Fastest Level Up 2, and Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou: Deluxe Edition 4.

ASH: I need to spend more time reading Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou.

SEAN: Square Enix Books has a 10th volume of Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!.

MICHELLE: Insert boilerplate about needing to get caught up on Cherry Magic! here.

SEAN: Tokyopop has a 10th and final volume of Futaribeya: A Room for Two.

Viz Media debuts My Name Is Shingo: The Perfect Edition (Watashi wa Shingo), a horror manga from Kazuo Umezz himself, which ran in Big Comic Spirits. The story of two young boys who befriend a robot, it has a fantastic cover, and comes highly recommended.

ASH: I plan on picking it up!

SEAN: Yen On has a debut. The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter (Isekai no Sata wa Shachiku Shidai) has already had its manga come out from Yen Press, and this is the light novel version. Recommended for isekai fans who also like BL.

ASH: BL is a way to get me to try things I might not otherwise.

SEAN: Yen Press debuts God Bless the Mistaken (Kamisama ga Machigaeru), a sci-fi series from the creator of Bloom Into You which ran in Dengeki Daioh. A middle schooler helps his landlady investigate bugs in the world – not the insects, bugs as in glitches.

And they also have Elden Ring: The Road to the Erdtree 2, Murciélago 23, and No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular! 22.

For a leap year that’s a lot. What tickles your fancy?

Miss Savage Fang: The Strongest Mercenary in History Is Reincarnated As an Unstoppable Noblewoman, Vol. 1

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By Kakkaku Akashi and Kayahara. Released in Japan as “Savage Fang Ojō-sama: Shijō Saikyō no Yōhei wa Shijō Saikyō no Bōgyaku Reijō to natte Futatabime no Sekai o Musō Suru” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Sarah Moon.

This is, for the most part, a good entry in the “reincarnated as a villainess” genre, with two big exceptions: a plotting decision at the start, and a characterization decision at the end. Other than that, it’s got a non-Japanese reincarnation, which is always nice, and a narrator who is a hell of a lot of fun. (Yen seems to have quietly dropped the “don’t let the books say fuck” guideline in the last year or two, and it’s allowed the books to sound more true to life much of the time.) I will note, though, that it’s a book that really assumes you want to see violence. The heroine used to be a mercenary who literally beat his enemies to death, and now that she’s the daughter of a duke she’s still capable of doing this, though at least holds back a bit. Mostly as she knows murder is a bad rep for a duke’s daughter to have.

The nation of Eltania is on the verge of collapse, thanks to its selfish and evil queen Mylene. We follow a group of mercenaries, led by a magicless but powerful man named Envil. Eventually Mylene is captured and is about to be executed when a foreign power shows up, using Eltania’s collapse as an excuse to invade. Envil ends up getting himself killed during this… and wakes up ten years in the past. But not in the orphanage that he first grew up in. No, he’s now in the body of Lady Mylene, already a holy terror and not yet engaged to the Prince. Now it’s up to Mylene to try to change the future as much as she can… while still, of course, making sure that she’s able to beat the crap out of absolutely anyone whenever she feels like it.

To start with a complaint, this book takes forever to get to the reincarnation. Most villainess books these days steamroll through the backstory as fast as possible to get to what readers like, which is why this one leisurely showing us that Envil is powerful and that Eltania is corrupt feels like a slog. After that things pick up, though. Mylene retains her foul mouth from her previous incarnation, at least when she’s not around other nobility, and it’s amusing to hear. She kicks eight kinds of ass. There’s a suggestion that Mylene (who has the “powers of a god”, supposedly) is fated to be greedy, and we see her, even in this new timeline, fall prey to it a bit. Best of all, though, is the scorching relationship between Mylene and Colette, the princess of the Empire that invaded Eltania in the prior timeline. I absolutely loved these two fighting and also looking like they were arguing about who gets to top. So, as you can imagine, the ending of this first volume, which has Colette essentially change to the same personality as the masochistic, worshipful prince who adores Mylene, left a sour taste in my mouth. Let two dominant women try to one-up each other, dammit.

Despite these issues, and a lot of violence/gore, this is still a good series debut. I’ll pick up the next one. Oh yes, warning, they do go to a noble academy. Did you forget what genre you were reading?

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Astrea Record, Vol. 1

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By Fujino Omori and Kakage. Released in Japan as “Astrea Record Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka?” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jake Humphrey.

Before we begin, congratulations to Jake Humphrey, who joins the ranks of the translators on the world’s most cursed light novel series. I think this may actually push the total into double digits, if we count all the various spinoffs. I’m sure everything will be fine. Probably.

In retrospect, there were many things that were a mistake about this book. First, there’s the fact that it came out a mere six weeks after the 18th volume of the main series, which had already totally exhausted me. I understand that the three volumes of Astrea Record were released monthly in Japan, and I am so glad that’s not happening here. Secondly, I need to beg publishers: please stop forcing authors to write novels based on your spinoff game. First we got KonoSuba, and now Omori is being forced to toil away at this trilogy, which is probably why 19 in the main series isn’t scheduled here yet. But third, I knew going in that this series was going to be depressing. It stars everyone in Lyu’s old Familia, which means by definition everyone is going to end up dead in it except the goddess herself and Lyu. However, good news! This book is not a longer version of the canonical deaths we know about from the main series. That is the end of the good news.

This book takes place seven years before Bell Cranel arrives in a peaceful (ish) Orario. It’s far from peaceful here. The Evils are making everyone’s lives a living hell, and it’s all the various Families can do to keep the peace. This is, of course, in addition to going down and dungeon clearing, which the guild is also making them do. Fourteen-year-old Lyu, a rookie with Astrea Familia, is overly serious and quick to anger, but seems to be fitting in pretty well… that is, until a mysterious guy shows up and starts to ask her questions like “what is justice, really?”. Which, given Lyu is an emo teen, works like a charm in terms of throwing her off her game. That said, this book is not about Lyu. It’s about the series of bloody terrorist attacks that completely destroys the fragile city populace, and all of the adventurers trying to stop literally everyone from dying.

The goal of this book is to show off how much better things are in Bell’s time, and it achieves that admirable. It’s some of the most depressing prose I’ve read in a while. Lyu has a friend, the younger sister of Shakti, who is a bubbling beacon of hope and happiness, and all I could think was “wow, you are going to get horribly murdered”. And, yup, that’s what happens. The back half of this book is an absolute orgy of slaughter. Hell, Ottar – Ottar! – is nearly killed and beaten bloody, because we have two mysterious new bad guys in town, from the now defunct Zeus and Hera Familia. The warrior is the one who takes down Ottar, and he’s a sword guy. The mage takes out both Gareth and Riveria, and she has the mysterious name “Silent Witch”. (She’s not Monica Everett, sorry, crossover fans.) They’re both doing this for mysterious reasons that I think I can guess, but I’ll leave that for next time. At least they seem to be the only two doing this for reasons that aren’t “we love killing people”.

There’s two more books of this, yikes. I will try to read the second one, but if it’s just more “let’s kill anyone likable” for 250 more pages, I may bail. For hardcore Danmachi fans only.

BLADE & BASTARD: Return of the Hrathnir

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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.

One of the frustrating things about this series is that it is obviously written for middle-aged men who grew up in the 1980s playing Wizardry and want to see the author mess around in that world. At the same time, it has the sort of set pieces that can only really be deeply enjoyed by fourteen year olds who love edgy torture scenes and constant rape threats by bad guys who are eeeeeeevil, just super, duper, ooper evil. You can tell because of the rape threats. No one is actually raped here, though it’s implied in the backstory of one character, but certainly this is a series that wants you to know that it’s not afraid to shock and offend you. Unfortunately, I wrote things like this when I was in my early twenties, so all it does is make me cringe and want to desperately be reading anything else. The core of Blade & Bastard is still interesting, it’s just the execution I don’t like.

The book starts off with a real tragedy: Garbage breaks her beloved huge-ass broadsword. She goes off to get a replacement, but none of them appeal to her, and she’s left with a “Cuisinart”, a blade that is certainly good but far too light for her, and it also spins around. (The joke is somewhat obvious.) As for Raraja, he’s watching everyone else take on the dungeon every day and still trying to find a purpose beyond “locate the girl I used to adventure with whose corpse is presumably somewhere in the dungeon”. How fortunate for him that he’s met by his old bully, Goerz, who says he has that EXACT info, and will give it to Raraja if he just does one little job in the dungeon for him. Raraja knows it’s probably a trap, but goes along with it anyway, because information and a death trap is better than no information. Sadly, he’s underestimated how evil Goerz really is.

So yeah, this is a harem series. New book, new girl, and yes, it’s the girl who Raraja has been searching for who turns out to not be dead but merely wishes she was. Orlaya has some special abilities, and thus has been used by everyone around her to the point where she’s grown extremely bitter, cynical and disillusioned, and thus 100% rejects any help Raraja might be offering. Last time I said that every girl in this series was the author’s barely disguised fetish, and that applies here, as Orlaya is missing an eye, gets stuck inside a meat machine that basically spews out monsters with her as the center, and generally defines the word “woobie”. Oh yes, and as if this weren’t cliched enough, after being saved by Raraja (duh), she walks up to the huge stacked Berkanan and says “I won’t lose!”, as if Blade & Bastard suddenly became Love Hina.

So yeah, I was mostly unhappy. That said, there are good bits here. Most of Garbage’s plotline, including a few more tasty backstory bits, is excellent. Aine gets to be a cool sword-swinging nun, even if she also gets a pile of rape threats and also loses both hands. And Iarumas almost has an emotion. Still, this book’s main audience is for those who think there’s no such thing as too much black paint.

Pick of the Week: Final Volumes and Ongoing Ones

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SEAN: I didn’t realize till I was writing up Manga the Week of post that Ako and Bambi is from the creator of Horimiya. That definitely pushes it into the “I should really check this out” territory, so it’s my pick this week.

MICHELLE: I Think Our Son Is Gay is coming to an end, so I’ll take my last chance to pick it this week!

ASH: I’m definitely tempted to make I Think Our Son Is Gay my pick this week, too, considering how delightful the series has been. As for debuts, though, Yen Press does have my attention with Taking Care of God and Whoever Steals This Book, among others.

ANNA: I’m going to renew my commitment to getting caught up on Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet and make that my pick!

KATE: It’s a rare week when I’m planning to buy more than one new title (if that!), but this week I’ll be shelling out for three—count ’em—new arrivals: the debut volume of Ako and Bambi, the sixth volume of Kowloon Generic Romance, and the done-in-one Taking Care of God.

I’m Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness: I’ll Spoil Her with Delicacies and Style to Make Her the Happiest Woman in the World!, Vol. 3

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By Fukada Sametarou and Sakura Miwabe. Released in Japan as “Konyaku Haki Sareta Reijō o Hirotta Ore ga, Ikenai Koto o Oshiekomu -Oishi Mono o Tabesasete Oshare o Sasete, Sekai Ichi Shiawase na Shōjo ni Produce!-” by PASH! Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Yui Kajita.

Oh dear. I’d say “and it was going so well, too”, but to be honest I had a few issues with the first two volumes of this series as well. This third one, though, feels like an episode of that game show where you send contestants into a supermarket and they have to stuff as many groceries into a cart as they can in 60 seconds. Theoretically the final volume in the series (more on that later), this volume seemingly had one plot left to deal with: Charlotte’s family and her past as an abused child. Admittedly this is a tricky plot to write when you’re doing a sweet romcom that uses the word “naughty” as its main gag, but clearly that was going to be the thrust of it. We do get that, but it’s lost in an avalanche of “everything but the kitchen sink”.

Now that Allen and Charlotte have confessed to each other, they can only get closer. Unfortunately, Charlotte casually mentions that tomorrow is her birthday… a fact that literally everyone in the cast except for Allen seems to have known, and they’re all lining up to deliver the absolute best presents, while Allen flails and is pathetic. Finally settling on “a kiss once everyone is asleep”, he then runs into another problem: Charlotte’s body holds two souls, the second one being the former Saint of her country Lydilia, who has occasionally been taking charge of Charlotte’s body (that’s how she escaped so easily), but now wants Allen to kill her as she is tired of life. (Kill her soul, I hasten to add – Charlotte would be fine.) That’s still not good enough for Allen, and now he has to find naughty things to please a completely different noble lady.

I cannot begin to describe how the first third of this annoyed me. Suddenly this non-isekai series is filled with reincarnations from Japan, who are busy creating ramen cafes. Our mail carrier catgirl turns out to have been searching for her missing twin sister… who she finds within 2 pages of her explaining this. The “perfect birthday present” section is excruciating, with Allen suddenly becoming ten times more pathetic than he’s ever been. Lydilia’s plot works best, especially when the narrative turns serious, but it also feels like it was shoehorned in so that the same “sharing souls” concept could be used to explain part of the overcomplicated solution to Charlotte’s past abuse. Lastly, the final scene with Allen and Charlotte meeting as children actively made me snarl at the book in its obviousness.

Still, at least with this last volume, we’ve… End of Part One, you say? More books coming? Sigh. If you really enjoyed this, you might try more, but this third volume just annoyed me.

The Oblivious Saint Can’t Contain Her Power: Forget My Sister! Turns Out I Was the Real Saint All Along!, Vol. 1

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By Almond and Yoshiro Ambe. Released in Japan as “Mujikaku Seijo wa Kyō mo Muishiki ni Chikara o Tare Nagasu: Imadai no Seijo wa Anede wa Naku, Imōto no Watashi Datta Mitai Desu” by Earth Star Luna. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Dawson Chen.

Sometimes a title can work against you. When I first saw this title, which (as with so many other light novel titles out these days) describes the plot, I focused on the words “oblivious” as a personality trait of the heroine, and was expecting something along the lines of Bakarina or Villainess Level 99. This is, however, definitely not that kind of book. It’s not on the level of I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again! (the gold standard of dark villainess tragedies), but this is definitely one of the more serious “disgraced noble” books, and the main obstacle through much of it is the heroine’s own self-loathing due to years and years of abuse and neglect. It ends up being… good. It’s very readable. It does, however, have quite a few problems, one of which is also directly linked to its title: this book gives away almost everything it’s going to do long before it does it.

Carolina Sanchez has had a rough life. Her mother died shortly after she was born, and her older sister has never forgiven her for this. Carolina has “good, but not great” grades, and no magic, whereas her older sister is the Saint, one with great magic potential who can heal people. Her father is remote. And now their kingdom has gotten into trouble with the far more powerful Empire, so they need to marry someone off to make amends. Marry someone off to the second prince, who ha a reputation of being a bloodthirsty psychopath. And we’re not going to marry off the very important Saint, are we? Enter Carolina, who is railroaded into this. Fortunately, this ends up being fantastic for her… well, mostly. There are multiple attempts on her life. But I mean, compared to where she started the book, it’s fantastic. It is, however, very bad for her older sister, who finds she is far, far less powerful now that her “magicless” sister is far away.

Carolina is a nice person who is dealing with having to have self-worth for the first time in her life, and I like her as a heroine. Certainly the supposedly bloodthirsty prince (who turns out to be a sweetie) falls in love with her almost instantly. That said… this book telegraphs its punches something awful. At the end of the first volume, none of the characters have figured out that the Oblivious Saint Can’t Contain Her Power, only the readers and the writer know. Which is honestly frustrating, not cool. I kept yelling “test her for magic again! Come on!” Instead we get hints, which… we know. Why are you hinting about something you literally told us in the title? (And yes, the Japanese says the same thing.) We also get told about the power struggle going on between the two princes, which is mainly because the prince who should rule is magically sick and will be dying soon. UNLESS… there’s an oblivious saint around! This is also not resolved or hinted at, but is obvious.

I enjoyed reading the characters, though again even the backstory for her guard was predictable. Recommended for those who don’t mind reading something where you know everything that happens before it does.

The Manga Review: The Interview

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As part of a broader conversation about the state of the comics industry, ICv2 just wrapped up a week of interviews with major figures in North American manga publishing. Kevin Hamric, VIZ Media’s Vice-President of Publishing, noted that “manga sales are stronger than pre‑COVID, but not as strong as it was during COVID,” with series such as Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, and One Piece performing well through all retail channels. Those sentiments were echoed by Yen Press Publisher Kurt Hassler, who pointed to the “runaway” success of Oshi no Ko and Solo Leveling as signs of a robust market. Hassler was also bullish on manhwa: “I wholly expect that manhwa will continue to outperform for the foreseeable future, especially following the success of Solo Leveling and with highly anticipated releases, such as Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint.” Ben Applegate, an editorial director at Kodansha, shared Hamric and Hassler’s rosy assessment of manga’s future in the US, noting that even though overall sales were down in 2023, last year was still “third best year for manga sales ever in the English language.” And Marc Visnick, COO and Publisher of the smallest of the four publishers, noted that Tokyopop has adopted a somewhat different approach than its competitors. “We’re probably one of the few within the space that actually had an up year last year, when you look at our list in its entirety,” Visnic notes. “That’s attributable to our boutique strategy of really looking at quality versus quantity in terms of what we release.”

NEWS ROUND-UP

More than twenty years after she launched Kimi no Todoke, artist Karuho Shiina just published the the first chapters of a new series in Bessatsu Margaret… VIZ announced that it would be teaming up with Marvel for new X-Men and Spider-Man manga… Blue Lock and Dandadan were two of the fastest growing manga franchises last year… VIZ recently added a new title to its Shonen Jump line-up: Super Psychic Policeman Chojo… and Kodansha just began serialization of Yoshinori Matsuoka’s Re:Anima, one of several English-first titles on offer through its K-Manga app.

ESSAYS AND PODCASTS

File this under Better Late Than Never: the staff at WWAC list their favorite manga of 2023, from Mermaid Scales and the Town of Sand to Neighborhood Story. [Women Write About Comics]

Anime Feminist asks, “What shojosei series still needs to be licensed/rescued?” My vote goes to Hideko Mizuno’s rock ‘n’ roll masterpiece Fire! [Anime Feminist]

If you want a complete list of all the recent licensing announcements from VIZ and Seven Seas, look no further than The OASG, where Justin and Helen mull over this week’s news. Spoiler alert: VIZ is bringing back the OOP shojo classic Red River in an omnibus edition. [The OASG]

The Reverse Thieves name I Want to be a Receptionist in This Magical World as their manga of the month. [Reverse Thieves]

Tony Yao explains how one of Blue Lock‘s characters deals with trauma on and off the field. [Drop-In to Manga]

Xan and Gretta take a close look at Bocchi the Rock, “a hilarious comedy about a shut in guitarist who joins a rock band.” [Spiraken Manga Review]

Over at the Mangasplaining podcast, David Brothers convenes a round table on Masakazu Ishiguro’s sci-fi series Heavenly Delusion. [Mangasplaining]

REVIEWS

This week’s must-read review comes from Jackson P. Brown, who offers an in-depth look at Fuyumi Soryo’s Mars, which vividly captures “the full onslaught of teenage angst, where the whole world feels like it’s ending, and every decision is unshakable, and every argument is an earth-shattering event, and actions are made from places of extreme emotion”… Piro uses the final installment of Phantom Tales of the Night as a jumping-off point for exploring what it means to be human… DoctorKev explores the complexity of Ghost in the Shell…. Hagai Palvsky deconstructs Yūichi Yokoyama’s Baby Boom… and Kristin weighs on on the deluxe edition of Vinland Saga.

Manga the Week of 2/21/24

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SEAN: Forget it, Jake. It’s Yen Press week.

Yen On has a number of debuts. First up is Astrea Record: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Tales of Heroes (Astrea Record Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darō ka). This prequel to the main Danmachi series, set 7 years prior, shows us Lyu’s backstory in detail.

ASH: I probably should have known better, but I really did not expect how many Danmachi books there would end up being.

SEAN: The Kept Man of the Princess Knight (Himekishi-sama no Himo) stars a gorgeous, beloved and strong knight, and the scummy, despised dude who’s always at her side. Odds that he’s secretly the really powerful one? High.

ANNA: PLOT TWIST!!!!

ASH: Who would have guessed!

SEAN: Miss Savage Fang: The Strongest Mercenary in History Is Reincarnated as an Unstoppable Noblewoman (Savage Fang Ojō-sama: Shijō Saikyō no Yōhei wa Shijō Saikyō no Bōgyaku Reijō to natte Futatabime no Sekai o Musō Suru) stars a woman who is not about to go the Villainess route. She used to be the world’s most powerful mercenary, and she’s going to use her noble status to kick ass.

The Unimplemented Overlords Have Joined the Party! (Mijissō no Last Boss-tachi ga Nakama ni Narimashita) is a “trapped in a video game” book, as our hero sits down to play the hot new game and finds himself in a buggy area yet to be patched… along with six evil overlords who declare him their master!

ASH: Better that than the alternative?

SEAN: You Are My Regret (Kimi wa Boku no Regret) is from the creator of Higehiro. It’s not an adaptation of one of those tragically depressing Japanese movies where the girl dies at the end, but boy, it sure feels like it is, doesn’t it? A middle school couple who dated and broke up reunite in high school. Can they reunite?

ASH: It does have that vibe.

SEAN: Also coming from Yen On: Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki’s Conjecture 3, Black Summoner 1 (a print version of the J-Novel Club title), Date a Live 11, Days with My Stepsister 2, The Greatest Demon Lord Is Reborn as a Typical Nobody 9, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level 14, If the Villainess and Villain Met and Fell in Love 2, Liar, Liar 3, Magical Girl Raising Project 17, My Happy Marriage 6, Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire 2 (the print version of the J-Novel Club title), Sugar Apple Fairy Tale 5, Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town 14, The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess 6, and Your Forma 5.

MICHELLE: I should read My Happy Marriage at some point.

SEAN: Yen Press also has a number of debuts. Ako and Bambi (Ako to Bambi) is from the creator of Horimiya, and stars a horror writer (Bambi) who tells the story of a talkative ghost (Ako), not realizing that Ako may actually still be alive elsewhere in town. This ran in Sonorama+.

ASH: This premise amuses me.

SEAN: Beastrings is a one-shot manga featuring a town where a hero saved the day once. Now he’s the mayor, and is determined to keep the day saved. This seems like a “different story about each citizen” type volume. It’s Comic Beam.

holoX MEETing! (Hololive – holoX MEETing!) is a Shonen Jump + title that… well, it’s a Hololive title. It’s like asking the plot of a Pokemon manga. Good thing Virtual Youtubers are in the news right now. A ha. A ha ha ha.

If the Villainess and Villain Met and Fell in Love (Akuyaku Reijou to Akuyaku Reisoku ga, Deatte Koi ni Ochitanara) is the manga based on the light novel also out from Yen. It runs in GA Comic.

ASH: Talk about a power couple?

SEAN: Taking Care of God (Kami-sama no Kaigogakari) is a one-shot based on the story story by Cixin Liu, asking what happens when old people start falling from the sky and claiming they created humanity. It ran in COMIC Hu.

ASH: Oh! I like Cixin Liu’s work; I’ll have to check this out.

SEAN: Whoever Steals This Book (Kono Hon wo Nusumu Mono wa) runs in Young Ace. A girl descended from book collectors can’t stand books. But when an ancient curse activates, she has to enter the stories in order to save her town.

ASH: I am intrigued.

SEAN: Also from Yen Press: Assorted Entanglements 4, Cheerful Amnesia 2, The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess 9, Doomsday with My Dog 4, Goblin Slayer Side Story II: Dai Katana 6, Honey Trap Shared House 2, I Cannot Reach You 7, I May Be a Guild Receptionist, but I’ll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out on Time 2, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level 12, In Another World with My Smartphone 11, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Chronicle Episode Freya 3, Kaiju Girl Caramelise 7, Kowloon Generic Romance 6, Minami Nanami Wants to Shine 3 (the final volume), Mint Chocolate 10, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected @ comic 20, Oshi no Ko 5, Overlord 18, Tales of the Kingdom 4, Teasing Master Takagi-san 18, The Villainess Stans the Heroes: Playing the Antagonist to Support Her Faves! 3, Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet 6, and Uncle from Another World 9.

ANNA: I do want to catch up on Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet.

MICHELLE: Same here!

SEAN: And we’re done! NOT. Viz Media has Children of the Whales 23 (the final volume), Choujin X 5, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 10, Heart Gear 3, Mission: Yozakura Family 9, Twin Star Exorcists 30, The Way of the Househusband 11, and Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead 13.

ASH: I need to catch up without Househusband.

SEAN: Tokyopop has four debuts, all BL. All You Want, Whenever You Want (Hoshii Toki Dake, Suki na Dake) is a one-shot from liQulle about a company romance (and a company dormitory).

I’ll Never Fall in Love With an Egoist (Egoist ni wa Nabikanai) is a from RED title, and can be summed up as “Two tops on the beach, who will be the bottom?”. Another one-shot.

Is This the Kind of Love I Want? (Konna Koi nara Owari ni Shitai!) is the only title that’s more than one volume, it ran in Rutile. When a gay man wants his first gay experience, his straight friend offers to be that person. But is he as straight as he thinks?

ANNA: PLOT TWIST!

SEAN: A Kiss That Stains the Innocence (Innocent wo Kegasu Kiss) is another from RED title, and another one-shot. A prince with memory issues turns to a man who lives in the mountains… unaware the King destroyed the mountain man’s village!

A debut from Square Enix, Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You (Super no Ura de Yani Suu Futari). This Big Gangan title is about an overworked salaryman and a store clerk… well, smoking behind the supermarket.

They also have I Think Our Son Is Gay 5 (the final volume), Mr. Villain’s Day Off 3, and Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town 11.

MICHELLE: Definitely gotta read I Think Our Son Is Gay.

ASH: I know I will be!

SEAN: One debut from Seven Seas. Reincarnated Into a Game as the Hero’s Friend: Running the Kingdom Behind the Scenes (Maou to Yuusha no Tatakai no Ura de) is a manga based on a light novel coming soon from Airship. A Comic Gardo title about a normal guy who died in the battle by the Demon King’s Army. Now he’s a noble… and has memories of the fact that this is a game. Recommended for people who don’t get sick just reading that premise again.

Seven Seas also has Black Night Parade 2, I Think I Turned My Childhood Friend Into a Girl 5, Lonely Castle in the Mirror 2, Plus-Sized Elf: Second Helping! 2, A Stepmother’s ‏Märchen 3, and Yokai Cats 7.

One Peace Books has the 9th Higehiro manga.

Kodansha Manga debuts BLOOD BLADE, which they’ve been debuting on their KManga site. Did you ever want Dracula and Frankenstein’s monster to meet and also be cute girls? Great news!

ANNA: PLOT TWIST!

ASH: Hmmm…

SEAN: Also in print: EDENS ZERO 27, I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability 10, In/Spectre 19, Lovely Muco! 4, Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms 5, Ogami-san Can’t Keep It In 3, Quality Assurance in Another World 6, Tsugumi Project 4, Wandance 8, Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun 6, and Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen 2.

MICHELLE: Wandance and Iruma-kun for me!

SEAN: Digitally we see The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses 11, Don’t Tempt Me, VP! 3, A Girl & Her Guard Dog 9, Gamaran 18, Issak 6, Lightning and Romance 5, Our Fake Marriage 13, and Rocopon 3 (the final volume).

No debuts from J-Novel Club this week, but we do see Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon: My Trusted Companions Tried to Kill Me, But Thanks to the Gift of an Unlimited Gacha I Got LVL 9999 Friends and Am Out For Revenge on My Former Party Members and the World 6, Butareba -The Story of a Man Turned into a Pig- 2, Enough with This Slow Life! I Was Reincarnated as a High Elf and Now I’m Bored 5, The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects: Tales of Blue Dias and the Onikin Alna 3, the 2nd I Want to Escape from Princess Lessons manga, I’m Not the Hero! 3, the 2nd The Invincible Little Lady manga, Making Magic: The Sweet Life of a Witch Who Knows an Infinite MP Loophole 6, the 3rd My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer manga, the 4th Now I’m a Demon Lord! Happily Ever After with Monster Girls in My Dungeon manga, Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter 11, Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss but I’m Not the Demon Lord 4, and You Were Experienced, I Was Not: Our Dating Story 2.

ASH: So many words.

From Ghost Ship we see 2.5 Dimensional Seduction 9.

No print from Airship, but we get an early digital debut. The Condemned Villainess Goes Back in Time and Aims to Become the Ultimate Villain (Danzaisareta Akuyaku Reijō wa, Gyakkō-shite Kanpekina Akujo o Mezasu) has our betrayed noble girl sold into a brothel, then, after becoming one of the most famous sex workers ever, killed. Now she’s back in time, and this time she’s destroying lives and chewing bubblegum, and she’s all out of bubblegum.

And there’s also The Case Files of Jeweler Richard 7

Ooof. Did you finish reading that?

ANNA: NO. (PLOT TWIST!)

MICHELLE: TBH, I did skim just a lil’.