anime nyc

It’s always striking how calm Sunday is compared to the previous two days. You’d think it would be near the same, given the large number of 4-day badges you saw walking around earlier, but the truth is that Anime NYC has always tended to have Sunday be the least happening day. On the bright side, this meant the lines for the bathroom were much shorter (well, for me, using a men’s room.)

Because I have a lengthy journey home thanks to Connecticut’s train tracks still being hundreds of years old (Amtrak can make trains that go 800 miles an hour, and they’ll still have to dawdle through New England), I was only able to attend one panel Sunday, which was Kodansha Comics. Kodansha always has one of the better, most professional panels out there, and this year was no exception, with Ben Applegate, TJ Ferentini, and Haruko Hashimoto.

The entrance to the con was packed with free copies of the Young Magazine 100-page English Edition that everyone at the con seemed to be lugging around (including me), as well as a totebag. Readers can vote on which series they want to see more of, and if it gets a good response they may do another one. Having a sequel to Boys Run the Riot inside got the biggest reaction. People were also happy to hear about Kodansha House in October, with more creators coming to New York, including Atsushi Ohkubo and Suu Morishita.

They discussed the “print-on-demand” service they started last year, in an effort to put digital-only series that deserved print but possibly the sales did not justify it. We’re getting second volumes for Love, That’s an Understatement, Teppu, and Blade Girl. And then we get the big news, which is that all the big news happened last month. This is not uncommon for publishers. The summer is littered with huge conventions. Kodansha had panels at Anime Expo at the start of July and San Diego Comic Con at the end of July. There’s no way they’d have a list of 15-20 new series by the end of August.

As a result, most of this panel was a recap of what they’d already announced at the last two panels. That said, there are some really great titles in there. They’re bringing back iconic shoujo manga Mars (hardcover, fancy metallic covers, new translation) and iconic shoujo manga Shugo Chara (new covers, new translation). There’s Fruit of the Underworld, by popular author Aya Kanno, known for Requiem of the Rose King and Otomen. They’re also doing a big ol’ giant deluxe box set for Ghost in the Shell, and Ben knows his audience, as he immediately said “yes, it will include those three pages. If you know, you know.” Shirow instructed them as to how he did some of this stuff, so they could replicate it. Rolled posters in the box – not folded!

There’s also Wicked Spot, a new series from the creator of Tough Love at the Office; Love at First Memory, from the creator of Springtime with Ninjas and Boss Bride days; Love Out on a Limb, from the creator of Love in Focus and That Wolf-Boy Is Mine!; popular yuri title Marrying the Dark Knight (For Her Money); BL baseball manga Blue Summer Haze; BL title Smells Like Green Spirit, from the creator of Boys, Be Ambitious!; Dragon Circus, from the creators of Ultraman’s manga; and Stella Must Die!, with a story by the author of Princess Resurrection.

They were quite enthusiastic about a couple of titles. That’s Not Love is by the creator of 1122: For a Happy Marriage, and is about former friends reconnecting years later and secrets from middle school. Cat-Life Balance stars a man who will gladly take on any task and help other co-workers… and it’s causing him to burn out. One day he spots fellow employee Kurone, who deals with work by being stonefaced, playing in an alley with stray cats. Can cats solve their issues? Probably not, but the cats are cute, right?

We then got to the new announcements, of which there were three. My Journey to Her was a very popular digital-only title when it came out last year, and it won an Eisner. They’re now doing a print release for it. I had read this when it first came out, and it’s a riveting and informative look at the author’s gender dysphoria and subsequent reassignment surgery. It ran in Weekly Morning.

Speaking of Yūna Hirasawa, they’ve also licensed her current Weekly Morning series, Luca the Dragon Vet (Ryūi no Luca). A young woman is determined to be a vet who takes care of dragons in her fantasy world. Alas, there are tough exams, difficult classes, and unfortunate family connections. But, I mean, dragon vet! Who wouldn’t want to be a dragon vet?

Then we got the big announcement: Yes, it’s not just iconic shoujo manga getting the big re-release treatment. Beck, a Monthly Shonen Magazine series from 25 years ago, is finally getting fully released in print in English! Tokyopop released about a dozen volumes before the 2008 “everything is cancelled” happened, and the series being 31 volumes meant we missed over half the story. Kodansha picked up the series about seven years ago and finished it, but that was digital only. Now it’s coming in print in 2-in-1 omnibuses.

And that just left Q&A, my old nemesis. (I have several nemeses.) So I departed the con. Anime NYC has gotten near 150,000 people by now, so it’s not a convention to be taken lightly. But if you love anime and manga (and light novels, maybe, they get mentioned once or twice), you should have a great time.

Saturday is always the busiest day, but this one proved challenging, with panels ranging from noon to 8:45pm on my schedule. It was like running a gauntlet. At the start, I was debating whether to see SuBLime Manga, Dark Horse Manga, or a guest appearance by Yu Saito, the editor-in-chief of Weekly Shonen Jump. I chose the latter, and I’m glad I did, as he was a very outgoing, nice guy who gave some great answers.

For those living under a rock, Weekly Shonen Jump started in 1968, and publishes every Monday. It has 20 manga series every issue, and currently has 1.05 million in circulation, not counting digital. It sells MUCH better than, say, Batman (which Saito loves). But it used to sell 6 million back in the good old days. It also has lots of sister magazines, like Grand Jump, Ultra Jump, V Jump, and Jump Square. Jump is, per its editor-in-Chief, best at finding new talent and putting them in the spotlight – each new series gets a cover.

Saito startled everyone by admitting he started job searching and was hired by Shueisha in 2005, and has been there ever since. This was his first company! He started editing titles such as Gintama and Hunter x Hunter, and also was the first editor on Kuroko’s Basketball and Nisekoi. He was asked if Bakuman was accurate in terms of how it depicts Jump, he admitted that the best series for realistically portraying it is Tokyo These Days – out from Viz!

Again and again, the same thing came up. Jump nurtures new talent, and seeks it out. Which means a lot of failed series, but they are always encouraged to try again. He had a funny story about Gintama’s author, famous for blowing deadlines. One time an entire page was still blank, so as they drove to the printers, Sorachi sat in the back of the taxi and drew the entire page in half an hour. Saito’s editorial job was to make sure the ink did not spill all over the cab.

He was asked about the difference between Jump in 1968 and now. Jump back then had Umezz doing shonen work, as well as things like Barefoot Gen! He insists that Jump is essentially the same, as they want to publish what they find interesting. He was asked about trends, and admits he gets asked that a lot. They’re too busy to make trends! He was also asked how an editor cheers up a depressed author, and he said fan mail is always the best medicine – especially overseas fan mail.

Asked about his vision for the future, he says it’s to make Jump the best environment for both editors and creators to make the best manga they can. Both existing and new creators have an equal shot with every new Jump series. Asked about overseas readers and creators, he said that there are non-Japanese winners in competitions, and while there are still hurdles, he thinks they will have more. It ended up being a terrific panel, and I was very happy I attended.

The next panel I attended was called Oh, Grow Up! Seinen and Josei. This was a panel more along an educator/library track. It featured Billy Tringali, Jamila Rowser, Tony Weaver, Jr., Regine L. Sawyer, Ajani Oloye, and the moderator, Dr. Shamika Mitchell. They all have a lot of experience with this sort of thing, being parts of foundations, academia, manga creators, content directors, and publishers. And they wanted to discuss what seinen and josei means HERE – not in Japan.

This is important, as in Japan it’s fairly easy. Something published in, say, Weekly Morning is seinen, regardless of the genre of the manga itself or the main characters. Whereas the panel here were quite happy to discuss Bleach or Naruto as examples (briefly, a ship war started to burble up so they moved on). The idea is that as the series went on and the characters aged and matured, it got more serious, and had a lot more blood, gore and death. Is it still a shonen manga for kids?

Genres in the West change a lot. Stuff for people in their 20s is now “new adult”, not “young adult”, which was new to me. Manga that comes out here also has content warnings. All Ages, Teen, Teen +, and Mature. A lot of folks admitted they ignored the ratings entirely when searching for a new title. It can also depend on intended sales. Tokyo Ghoul has enough violence to be Mature, but it’s Teen Plus, because they know it sells like hotcakes.

Some titles we consider Shonen as they run in Jump may not be. Spy x Family is rated Teen Plus because of its themes of war and the aftereffects, as well as violence towards children. A series read by 5-year-olds as a manga could not, if it was written by someone here, get bought by Scholastic. What’s more, educators have to be careful what they teach, as sometimes budding young Karens are quite to go to the Dean and say this manga is against their moral standards.

Folks were asked what they wanted to see more of, and a more diverse race/nationality in manga was mentioned. There is a manga called Hanbun Kyodai that is a short story collection about those who are part-Japanese and part-another nationality, such as French Caribbean, or Chinese. Someone used the word “half”, and it came up that in this manga, that word is discussed, as some folks are fine with it whereas some folks really hate hearing it.

They also talked about series that deal with adult concepts that are not sex or violence, such as Life Lessons with Uramichi-Oniisan, put out here by Kodansha. The adult content there is taxes. As for josei, it’s hard to market here, as the publishers don’t see a market for adult women. That applies to manga as well – Skip Beat!, a series about an up-and-coming actress, has reached 50 volumes here, but never gets any publicity.

Q&A had a Barnes and Noble employee ask about what happens when a kid wanders into the manga section there and gets something inappropriate. “Parents need to parent!” was the consensus – everything these days seems to be about finding something else for parents to blame. This was quite an interesting panel that went in directions I had not considered.

I knew Yen Press would be packed to full, so I did something I hadn’t done in some time – I room camped. This meant watching the premiere of a new anime not due out till October, Hero Without a Class. It was a double-episode premiere that, frankly, seemed to have every predictable cliche in the book. That said, at least it wasn’t unpleasant, and I could have sat through much worse. If you enjoy series about guys who work hard to get really overpowered, this is one.

As such, I was there when Yen finally started their panel, 10 minutes late. They were having AV issues, meaning we did NOT see the videos for the new Blade & Bastard and Holy Grail of Eris anime due out soon. Yen knew what we were here for, and went straight to announcements, starting with A Pen, Handcuffs, and a Common-Law Marriage (Pen to Wappa to Jijitsu-Kon), a Young Animal series about a mute girl who witnesses a crime, and when dealing with the detective who’s on the case, falls for him. But he’s oblivious!

Yen had already licensed Sailor Zombie digitally, but it’s now coming out in print omnibuses. Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki EX is a spinoff short story collection from the main series, also licensed by Yen. Bad Girl will be familiar to folks from the anime, but now Yen have the manga, which runs in Manga Time Kirara Carat. Our heroine falls in love with her senpai, who is on the disciplinary committee. The best way to get her attention is to be… a bad girl! Too back she’s horrible at being bad.

Battlefront of the Great Powers (Rekkyou Sensen) is a SF dystopia from Comic Zenon. The nations of the world must fight in a giant tournament. How to Love a Loser (Dame Ningen no Itoshikata) is from Web Comic Apanta, and is a romance between a pathetic loser and his perfect girlfriend. Casebook of Kurumi Takisaki, Magic Detective (Majutsu Tantei Tokisaki Kurumi no Jikenbo) is a short story collection that is a spinoff of Date a Live, featuring one of the supporting characters.

The Bubble Love of the Mermaid (Ningyo no Awakoi) is a new series from the creator of My Happy Marriage. It deals with some of the same themes, also staring a young woman being abused by her family. To the Monster I Love (Bakemono no Kimi ni Tsugu) is a light novel about a spy who is being interrogated by his own workplace about the monsters who he loves, appropriately enough. Lycoris Recoil: Recovery Days is another slice-of-life short story collection.

Legend of the Far East’s Savior (Gyokutō Kyūseishu Densetsu) is a novel series about a world that is about to fall to demons, but fortunately, they have giant mecha. For Gundam fans, apparently. And the big news was Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End ~Prelude~ (Shōsetsu Sōsō no Frieren ~Zensō~), a prequel short story collection to the insanely popular manga and anime series. You’d think Viz would have snatched this up, but it’s going to Yen On instead.

The Denpa panel was fairly unique, mostly as Ed Chavez could not be there this year (he was at the con, just not the panel), so the other three Denpa employees chaired it. They clearly missed Ed, but they soldiered on. I say Denpa, but this was a combination Denpa and KUMA panel, and it became clear very fast that the bulk of the enthusiasm in the room – some ear-splitting – was for the BL. Appropriately enough, they only had two new licenses, and they were both BL.

Fukutsu no Zono (no English title yet that I could see) was expected, as there’s apparently already a preorder page up. Two rivals who are also delinquents have an awakening when it turns out that one… makes erotic noises? This runs in B’s-Lovey Recottia. The other title was Takatora and the Omegas (Takatora-kun to Omega-tachi). This got a HUGE SCREAM from the crowd, it was ear-splitting. The plot concerns an heir and standup citizen, at a classroom made for alphas, discovering (you’ll never guess), he’s actually an omega! This has fans.

The final panel was J-Novel Club, at a very late hour – I apologize to Sam for ducking out right after the announcements, but I wanted to get back and type up the day. They too went straight to the new titles, and there were a lot. Finding My Way to (You) in This MMO World (Game no Sekai ni Tensei Shita Ore wa ○○ ni Naru Made) is a new BL title in the J-Novel Knight line. A young man with memories of this world as a game has to escort a prince who is disguised as his sister. Love ensues.

The Girl with the Green Eyes: Heir to a Monstermancer (Mamono Tsukai no Musume: Midori no Hitomi no Shōjo) was already announced at AX, but not available until after this con. She’s cute! She’s a monstermancer’s heir! She wears a slime as a hat! Fired? But I Maintain All the Software! (E, Shanai System Subete Wanope Shiteiru Watashi o Kaiko desu ka?) is an unusual manga (based on an as-yet-unlicensed light novel) about a woman who gets fired for cosplaying at work, and then hired by a friend to teach coding. This is a genre J-Novel Club have not ventured into before. It runs in Comic Pash!.

One Last Hurrah! The Grayed Heroes Explore a Vivid Future (Jijibaba Yūsha Party Saigo no Tabi ~Oita Saikyō wa Iroasenu Mama Mirai he Susumu Yō desu~) stars a former hero and saint who are now in their old age. Wanting to journey to see grandchildren, they end up getting the old party back together. Miss Blossom’s Backward Beauty Standards: Give Me the Ugly Crown Prince! (Bishū Abekobe Isekai de Busaiku Ōtaishi to Kekkon Shitai!) stars a reincarnated girl who finds herself in a world where ugly is beautiful and vice versa, but she’s determined to get her guy anyway.

Looks like a Job for a Maid! The Tales of a Dismissed Supermaid (Maid Nara Tōzen Desu. Nureginu o Kiserareta Bannō Maid-san wa Tabi ni Deru Koto ni Shita) is sort of a the mage version of a disgraced noble book. Maid framed for crime, fired, ends up on a journey and shows how awesome she is, others regret firing her. This Alluring Dark Elf Has the Heart of a Middle-Aged Man! (manga) (Watashi no Kokoro wa Ojisan de Aru) is based on the light novel published by Cross Infinite World. An introvert dies and finds he has been reborn… into the body of a powerful female dark elf! But he still can’t talk to people normally. This also runs in Comic Pash!

My Death-Defying Dog: Man’s Best Friend, World’s Best Savior (Uchi no Inu ga Tsuyosugirun Desu ga!? Tensei Shitara Megami-sama no Shukufuku de Sekai o Sukū Koto ni Narimashita) is *also* Comic Pash!. Guy sad when his dog dies can be reunited with him in another world… but the dog is the dog hero who saves the world. The guy is just a guy. Royal Spirits Are a Royal Pain! Give Me a Regular Romance (Tensei Reijo wa Seirei ni Aisarete Saikyō Desu…… Dakedo Futsū ni Koi Shitai!) is another one of those “I want to be normal and yet everything I do makes be weird” type of light novels.

The Amazing Village Creator: Slow Living with the Village Building Cheat Skill (Bannō “Murazukuri” Cheat de Otegaru Slow Life: Mura desu ga Nani ka?) is… well, if you guess “shunned and disowned for bad skill, but it’s really a great skill!”, give yourself a cookie. Manga Up! has the manga. The Fearsome Witch Teaches in Another World: Pay Attention in Class! (Isekai Teni Shite Kyōshi ni Natta ga, Majo to Okorareteiru Ken ~Ōzoku mo Kizoku mo Kankei Nai kara Majime ni Jugyō o Kike~) has a teacher with regrets reincarnated into a fantasy world where she becomes a powerful sorcerer. Now she has to teach problem children. They also have the manga, which runs in Comic Earth Star Online.

Lastly, they have The Isle of Paramounts: Reborn Into a Slow Life Among the Strongest in the World (Tensei Shitara Saikyō Shu-tachi ga Sumau Shima Deshita. Kono Shima de Slow Life o Tanoshimimasu), a slow-life harem title about a guy who wants a quiet life on an island, but fins it overrun with powerhouses. We then got ads for the Blade & Bastard anime, the 100th Time’s the Charm anime, and a promise that the 3rd light novel contest is coming soon. And then I ran off, so I could eat a very late supper and type this up.

Tomorrow I only have one panel, so it will be much faster than this. What a stacked day.

Anime NYC is back! Just you and 140,000 of your closest friends at the Javits Center in New York City, here to celebrate anime, manga, light novels, manhua, manwha, webtoons, danmei, etc. As ever, most of the meat of this con is on Saturday, but there were several items worthy of interest. First of all, the con actually began on Thursday, with a couple of screenings and a few hours of the exhibit hall and Artist’s Alley available. Alas, I was across town at the Japan Society, but will have to wait on telling you about that till later. For the purposes of my blog, the journey begins Friday, with a panel I had not planned to attend but which ended up being very interesting.

Mangamo! Which I almost missed because it was advertised as being about My Love Story with Yamada-kun Is Level 999, but I noticed that they were also tied into the new Random House imprint Inklore, so they were also talking about the new title I Wanna Be Your Girl, which debuted last month. On the panel were Kwok-Wai Hanson of Mangamo, as well as a representative from Comikey. Mangamo is one of those $5 per month digital manga by chapter apps, with 400+ titles. I Wanna Be Your Girl is coming out here with 1-4 (eventually) in print, which is more than it got in Japan. It’s rare we get print but Japan is digital only.

The author was not present, but shared some thoughts in slides. They were dealing with being a “troubled student”, who had class in a room separated from other students, and also dealing with identity issues. They also talked about how they love readers yelling at the characters when they screw up and make mistakes. They were shocked but delighted when they heard the series was licensed in English. We then got a video (meant for phones, so it was a bit small) advertising Yamada Level 999. The author (also via slide) thanked everyone for the messages and notes they got last year from the ANYC 2024 panel, and will treasure them.

Mangamo went over their recent series, and then gave us some new announcements. My Gyaru Wife’s Secrets (Gal Yome no Himitsu) is an office romcom where the married couple have to keep things a secret, as their office forbids romance! It runs in Ganma! 12cm Promise with a Cool Girl (Kakkoi Onnanoko to 12 cm no Yakusoku) is one of those “short cute boy/tall handsome girl” series. Also from Ganma!. I’m That Monster Girl You Once Helped Out: A Middle-Aged Teacher Finds Unexpected Popularity in Another World (“Ano Toki Tasukete Itadaita Monster Musume Desu.” Isekai Ossan Kyōshi Totsuzen no Moteki ni Konwaku Suru) is another Ganma! title about a guy who was isekai’d 20 years ago and is now a teacher, then a monster girl transfers into his class.

Damedol and the Only Fan in the World (Damedol to Sekai ni Hitori Dake no Fan) is a manga about an idol who can’t sing, can’t dance, and is kind of unpleasant… but she has one fan who really loves her. Ganma! again. I Offer My Manliness To You (Kimi ni Sasageru Otokomae) is also a cute guy/handsome girl title, and like all the other announcements, it runs in Ganma! This may be a one-magazine publisher, but if you like cute romcoms, they’re right up your alley. They also promised that they’re going to start doing some webcomics soon, as they’ve worked out how to use the app to show them.

After this, it was time for the panel devoted to recent American Manga Awards Hall of Fame recipients Studio Proteus! If you read any manga in the 1980s or 1990s, chances are that they were behind a lot of it. Nausicaa, Appleseed, Ghost in the Shell, Oh My Goddess, Dirty Pair, etc. It was the brainchild of Toren Smith, who sadly passed away in 2013. However, they did manage to get Tom Orzechowski on the panel, and he had plenty of stories to tell about its history and what things were like back in the day. Deb Aoki moderated, and we also had Carl Gustav Horn of Dark Horse Comics and Patrick Crotty of Peow.

The panel started with some Peow announcements. They told us about the November release of classic 80s shonen manga Stop!! Hibari-kun!. The story of a young man who moves in with four daughters, only to find that one of the daughters is a boy. This is very “of its time” while at the same time being incredibly ahead of its time. It’s worth checking out. They also announced a huge reprint of SF3D Chronicles, the old history of 80s model kits by Kow Yokoyama. This also looks like a labor of love, as well as a brick. They’re working with Zimmerit on this, and it has articles from Hobby Japan from 1982-1985.

After this we got into the nitty gritty of Studio Proteus, back in the days of 32-page floppy comics, analog art, and photostats galore. There was simply not a market for unflipped, 200-page manga titles in 1987. Toren was right, the only way to sell manga at that time was the way that they did. Their first title was Outlanders, back in 1987. Black and white comics were a niche at the time, and one that dark Horse Comics was uniquely suited for. Carl pointed out that a lot of the huge deluxe editions of manga we get these days are simply the same size as the old comics of the late 80s/early 90s.

We then got the history of Studio Proteus. This starts back in the days well before anime cons, when they had anime rooms at science fiction conventions. The best rooms were always the ones run by Toren, who went above and beyond and even printed show notes for people, as these were raw Japanese shows – no fansubs yet! Carl met Toren when Carl was just 14 years old. Tom met Toren in 1987, also at a convention. Tom had been lettering X-Men for Chris Claremont for years by this point. Tom felt excitement while reading manga that reminded him of the times reading underground comics in the 1970s.

They talked about photostat, which was an oversized film print – how they made tankobons back in the day. Tom had to glue SFX directly to the page, and it was a lot of hard work. The biggest of their titles was, of course, Ghost in the Shell. Which came out flopped, and in color, very rare for manga at the time. It made the cover of Wizard Magazine, the only manga to do so. Nowadays, manga has long outlived Wizard Magazine. Toren never even considered not flipping the manga, as he felt the learning curve would be too difficult. Ten years later, Tokyopop proved that it was a lot easier than everyone had thought.

There was a brief quote from Frederick Schodt, who could not be at the panel. Once, he was completely flummoxed about what a line in GitS meant, and faxed Shirow to ask. Shirow responded “I’m not sure what I meant either. Make something up.” Deb was able to speak with Tomoko Saito (who was a famous mangaka in her own right) for one of the few times after Toren’s death. She spoke about how Toren, who had sold everything he owned to get money to go to Japan, was broke, and Gainax let them stay free at their filthy, FILTHY apartments, which Toren was in charge of cleaning. Landlords would not rent to manga artists. they were too messy.

Studio Proteus’ offices were in Tom’s house, as Toren was usually broke in some way or another. He had offices below Tom’s washer/dryer. He slept in a room of purples and pinks, which, as Toren was slightly color blind, ended up making him sick! Tom admitted that dealing with manga artists was a lot easier than dealing with Chris Claremont. He had no idea how well the titles were doing at the tie, as he just kept working. They also discussed the Studio Eros manga that Studio Proteus did for Fantagraphics – the sales of which kept that company in business! They had to de-mosaic and draw in some censored art – Tom asked Toren what to do, and Toren responded, “Well, you’ve got a penis, use it as a reference.”

Tom was a great panelist. He talked about dropping Marvel titles if he didn’t like them, which stunned everyone in that work for hire culture. He also says that manga have actual endings, as opposed to most US comics, which are not allowed to end. Overall, it was a fantastic panel, I was enthralled.

The final panel I attended on Friday was Seven Seas Entertainment, which was packed and full of raffle giveaways. We had publisher Lianne Sentar, marketing person Lauren Hill, and licensing person Lena LeRay. Seven Seas is the #1 independent manga publisher, with oodles of separate imprints, which they broke down. Seven Seas itself, Ghost Ship (naughty manga for guys), Airship (light novels), Steamship (naughty manga for girls), and Siren (audiobooks). There’s also their danmei, webtoons, boys’ love, and girls’ love. They went over many of their recently licensed titles out later this year, including their first baihe (Chinese yuri) title, The Beauty’s Blade.

New licenses started with the main imprint. Dungeon Elf: What’s a Dungeon without Treasure Chests? (Dungeon Elf – Dungeon ni Takarabako ga Aru no wa Atarimae desu ka?) is a seinen manga from good! Afternoon, which has been on the K Manga app. It’s about the girl who places the treasure chests in dangerous places in the dungeon. A Prince of a Friend (Ouji-sama no Tomodachi) is a shonen comedy from Dra-Dra-Sharp#. An unlucky guy is bad at romance. Can his super hot friend who is a girl (but not a girlfriend) help him out? Catnaps, Catnaps Everywhere! (Acchikocchi Necchi!) is the latest title from PANDANIA, the cat author whose titles Seven Seas has been pouring out.

Girl Meets Rock! (Futsu no Keionbu) was the big get for me. A Shonen Jump + title about a musical girl who tries to get a band going in high school despite being, well, awkward, it’s got an incredible amount of buzz. They also announced an omnibus version of Dai Dark, by the Dorohedoro author. 3-in-1 editions. They then announced a bunch of new Siren titles, including The Twelve Kingdoms, which was the one that interested me the most. We’re also getting Love Between Fairy and Devil, Riverbay Road Men’s Dormitory, Astrolabe Rebirth, and Legend of Exorcism.

The one big Airship title was History of the Kingdom of the Orcsen: How the Barbarian Orcish Nation Came to Burn Down the Peaceful Elfland (Orcsen Oukokushi ~Yaban na Orc no Kuni wa, Ikanishite Heiwa na Elf no Kuni wo Yakiharau ni Itatta ka~). We’re also getting the manga for this. A dark elf driven out of her country by those she trusted must now ally, somehow, with Orcs. We’re also getting a short story collection for the popular manga The Dangers of My Heart. There was also a Webtoon announcement, How to Survive As a Maid in a Horror Game. It’s a basic shoujo “reincarnated into a game” series, only the game is horror, and the murderer has already found her.

The first BL series announced was His Little Amber, which ran in a magazine with the name (not making this up) of NUUDE. A yakuza picks up a leopard cub five years ago. Now, the leopard cub is… a guy? Who is sexy? Who would have thought it? Dear Sister, I’ve Become a Blessed Maiden (Zenryaku, Onii-chan wa Seijo ni Narimashita) has another great magazine name, BL Screamo core. A young man who adores his sister saves her when they’re both isekai’d. Sadly, now the man has to take his sister’s place as a sexy magic dispenser. Wild Love: A BL Guide to the Animal Kingdom (Ikimono BL Zukan – Sekai wa XX ni Michiteiru) runs in Pureri, and is a genuinely researched guide to animals… it’s just the animals are portrayed as gay couples.

The one yuri title announced was The Delinquent and the Transfer Student (Sukeban to Tenkousei ga Kudaranai Asobi o Suru dake no Hanashi), a Comic Action title that’s an “old-school 80s comedy” between a sweet transfer student and a rough delinquent girl. Their last announcement was danmei, and it was Panguan: The Twelfth Gate. This runs in the same universe as Copper Coins. Best described as “what if the man who rowed people across the River Styx got a roommate?”.

And that’s the end of Friday! Saturday is longer, much longer – my last panel ends at 9:45pm. I apologize if the next post drags into Sunday.

Sunday is usually my quietest day at Anime NYC, usually because I need to leave with enough time to get home before it gets too late. (Which is why I missed the Loner Life in Another world premiere, sorry, Haruka, I hope you were super annoying). I had two panels to cover, though, starting with one that is always a favorite, J-Novel Club! Sam Pinansky was nice enough to explain that the timing of this particular convention means that they had fewer titles than usual to announce, as they usually announce 8-9 titles every two months, and this falls into the gap. Joining him was Madison Salters, their business director.

Before we got to the announcements, though, there was a recap of the first J-Novel Club Original Light Novel Contest, which had a grand prize of 10,000 dollars, and in addition to the JN-C staff had, as one of the judges, Saga of Tanya the Evil author Carlo Zen. Generally speaking, the ones that got a prize (who were announced at AX) were the ones who recognized how to hew close to the spirit of what “light novel” means these days, gliding along the paths while making everything interesting. The grand prize winner was ATLAS: Her, the Combatant and Him, the Hero, by John W. Rohman. It impressed Carlo Zen so much that he lobbied a publisher to have it translated and released in Japan!

They also announced there will be a second contest, which, after gaining experience from the first one, will be divided into two categories. The first is books that work well as a stand alone, that feel complete in one volume, even if there may be a sequel hint. The second category is books that are clearly part of an ongoing series, and leave plot threads dangling by the end of the book. The word count for the second category is deliberately shorter, as they also ask the contest entry to have 10,000 words with a detailed plot breakdown of how the series will go and descriptions of the major characters. The submission form will be on J-Novel Club’s website starting in September.

We then got to the announcements. The biggest for me, which means that I’m moving it to be first, is The Trials and Tribulations of My Next Life as a Noblewoman (Tensei Reijou to Suki na Jinsei wo). This one has a LOT of buzz from LN readers – it was in the top 10 of the Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! lists, some fans call it “josei Game of Thrones”, and its volumes are bricks – in fact, the volumes are so long Sam is asking the publisher (Hayakawa, who normally do science fiction, so this, like JK Haru, is outside their wheelhouse) to divide future books in two. Karen is reincarnated as a noble, living the easy life. Then she’s banished! Now she’s scrounging as a commoner. But then she’s brought back into the family! Except she has to choose between suspicious marriage #1 and suspicious marriage #2. Apparently twists and turns are this book’s bread and butter. Don’t let the simple, generic title fool you.

The actual first announcement was From Villainess to Healer: I Know the Cheat to Change My Fate (Kaifukushoku no Akuyaku Reijō). This is just the manga for now, though stay tuned regarding the light novel. It’s another girl with dark magic whose engagement is broken. Her ex wants to marry a healer. So she changes classes to become a healer… and goes off on adventures. Because who wants to deal with her loser ex anyway? The Dorky NPC Mercenary Knows His Place (Kimo Ota Mob Yōhei wa, Mi no Hodo o Wakimaeru) is a sci-fi series (and Sam begged readers to buy more SF, as they don’t sell nearly as well as the fantasy isekai stuff) about a merc who is familiar with how stories go, and knows he doesn’t want to be a hero of any story. He wants to be “space pilot #6” in the credits. Unfortunately… he keeps attracting gorgeous women! This is apparently more of a deconstruction.

Lastly, we have Dimension Wave, from the author of The Rising of the Shield Hero. This one is lighter in tone than Shield Hero, and apparently is what the author writes when they want to take a break. A young man decides to join his sisters in playing in a popular game where you can live years in just 24 hours. But he’s tricked, and now he’s in the game as a girl. With a name that’s totally cringe. Oh well, I’m sure he’ll do fine as long as he finds enough wacky, eccentric characters to hang out with. This seems to be fluffier and hopefully a bit less edgelord than Shield Hero.

I then attended my final panel of the day, A History of Manga by Decade. The moderator was Jillian Rudes, the panelists were Erica Friedman and Zack Davisson. The panel was designed in part to promote a new book coming out, Manga: A Visual History. Coming out next year, it’s a big coffee table book that covers manga’s entire history, though Zack and Erica start with the 1940s for the purposes off this panel. The authors are Frederik Schodt, Rachel Thorn, Zack, Erica, and Jonathan Clements. They talked about how it was a commissioned book – the publisher wanted the book, then found writers, rather than the writers shopping a book to a publisher.

The authors were assigned titles. Sometimes this means they got a series they didn’t like, and they grew to like it, such as Zack with Initial D. Sometimes they ended up hating it even MORE, like Erica with a series she refused to name. The series it’s part of is very regimented, so they had to deal with word counts, sidebars, having your sidebars rejected, etc. It’s definitely a book that you might get for a family member who wants to know what the fuss is all about with this manga stuff. For this panel, they took a decade and Zack and Erica each picked one title they felt exemplified that decade.

In the 1940s, Zack’s book was Shin Takarajima, aka New Treasure Island, the first manga drawn by Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka is the manga who created so much of what we now think of as the manga style. He made manga feel like a film. This was one of the first manga that was a story, rather than a collection of gags or bits. Erica chose Sazae-san, by Machiko Hasegawa. One of the most iconic manga in all of Japan, even people who have no idea what manga or anime is know and have read Sazae-san at some point. It’s a simple daily life of a woman and her family, and she’s described by Erica as a “little feminist”.

For the 1950s, they both picked Tezuka, though not the same title. Erica’s choice was Jungle Taitei, aka Kimba the White Lion, one of the first of Tezuka’s series to really hammer on environmental issues, which he championed his whole life. It was also the inspiration for the famous anime… and yes, also the inspiration for The Lion King, Disney’s 1990s musical which changed the landscape of animated movies. Zack’s choice was Tetsuwan Atom, aka Astro Boy, the ultimate “robot boy with real human emotions” story, which also spawned a legendary anime, as well as the modern retelling Pluto by Naoki Urasawa. It’s not about robots, it’s about people – and about class structure, with the differences between the rich and the poor really showing.

For the 1960s, Zack chose (we all knew this was coming) Gegege no Kitaro, by Shigeru Mizuki. If you ask who was the most influential manga artist who wasn’t Osamu Tezuka, Shigeru Mizuki is the obvious answer. He wrote in the days of “rental manga”, cheaply made and printed, and also grubbier and more punk. The yokai genre, and really any manga series with a monster in it at all, would be noting without him. Speaking of genre defining, Erica picked Cyborg 009, by Shotaro Ishinomori. Ishinomori is known as the father of “sentai” shows, and this was an early example, with nine people being experimented on and then fighting back. It’s the first superhero team manga.

Time for the 1970s, and here again the answer was obvious for Erica, who picked The Rose of Versailles, by Riyoko Ikeda. Summed up as “the greatest shoujo manga epic ever”, this story of Marie Antoinette and “Lady Oscar”, the captain of the royal guard, allowed Ikeda to show readers revolution and popular uprising within a manga supposedly for young girls to read. And young girls definitely read it – and loved it. Zack chose Harenchi Gakuen, aka Shameless School, by Go Nagai. Nagai is better known for his giant robot and mecha titles, as well as the titillating Cutey Honey, but Shameless School went beyond titillating. A scandalous sensation at the time, parents of Weekly Shonen Jump readers demanded it be toned down. Instead, they made it worse. A comedy high school series filled with enough lechery that Ataru Moroboshi would blush, this one is still probably too hot to be licensed in North America.

Both Erica and Zack agreed on the author in the 1980s, but once again had two different series. Zack chose Maison Ikkoku, by Rumiko Takahashi, which he describes as a perfect love story that still makes him swoon when he reads it. It’s Takahashi making an effort to be realistic, despite including her signature funny and incredibly annoying characters (including the leads). Erica also picked Takahashi, but her choice was Ranma 1/2. She pointed out that Takahashi excelled at writing romance manga that was also really funny, and also in giving the reader exactly what they wanted. Ranma was also a breakout hit in the West, one of the most influential series in terms of gathering fans. (including myself – I got into anime as a major fan via Ranma.)

Erica once again has a really obvious choice for the 1990s: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi. This series had magical girls that *everyone* could identify with, not just young girls. It changed the way that people saw anime. Zack’s choice was one I wasn’t expecting, but makes sense: Monster, by Naoki Urasawa. Any number of Urasawa titles could be picked, including the 80s-90s hit Yawara – the Fashional Judo Girl. But Monster was really amazing, a deep, literary work that forced the medium to move to the next level.

If you thought Zack’s 1990s title was a surprise, wait till his 2000s title: Dārin wa Gaikokujin, aka My Husband Is a Foreigner, by Saori Oguri. Zack identifies hard with this title for personal reasons, but it’s also a great example of the biographical manga format that was springing up at this time, with a wife who can’t stop finding weird things about her foreign husband. Erica’s pick is Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, by Hitoshi Ashinano, a melancholic yet also peaceful and relaxing look at a world that is slowly dying and the android Alpha who can still find joys in it even as life moves on around her. A gorgeous title, that Zack said he has not read but he now plans to.

For the 2010s, Erica chose Shimanami Tasogare, aka Our Dreams at Dusk, by Yuhki Kamatani. Not only is the art in this series absolutely jaw-dropping, but the cast features a variety of LGBTQ people – young, old, gay, lesbian, asexual, agender, and trans. It’s groundbreaking. Zack’s choice was I Am A Hero, by Kengo Hanazawa – a choice that, for once, Erica did NOT agree with. Zack admits that the manga has its problems, and may not be one of the best, but it’s also a zombie story where the first zombie doesn’t appear for two hundred pages. Zack, who has worked for Marvel Comics, appreciates a slow build title that allows the story to grow and does not need to have a plot point on every page.

Finally, we get the 2020s, and Erica picks She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat, a queer manga by a queer creator published by a major publisher about women falling in love and eating some really delicious food. It’s a sign of how far the manga industry has come that this has been a huge success. Zack chooses Akane-banashi, a Weekly Shonen Jump title that he and Erica both love. It’s about the Japanese storytelling art of Rakugo, and is refreshing for having no romance in it, but instead being about a young woman’s passion for the craft and art of its subject.

This panel was so packed it left little time for Q&A, and I had to leave to go catch my train. It was a lovely end to an excellent Anime NYC, though, which felt well-organized and lacked any major issues that I noticed. One of the best conventions in North America right now.

Friday was a relaxed, fluffy bunny day. I had three panels, all far apart, all fan-run and calm. Today I had five industry panels, running from 12 to 8pm, with only a break from 4-5:30 for a meal. I am wiped.

Helping me be wiped is Yen Press, who actually started their Saturday on Friday by announcing a bunch of titles on Twitter and not telling me. I’ll Become a Villainess Who Will Go Down in History! (Rekishi ni Nokoru Akujo ni Naru zo) is a Yen On title that’s one of those “I’m trying to be evil, why is everyone saying I’m so sweet?” books. Victoria of Many Faces (Tefuda ga Oume no Victoria) is a manga from Flos Comic about an ex-spy who is having difficulty staying an ex-spy. Liar, Liar is the manga version of the light novel that Yen already releases, and it runs in my nemesis, Monthly Comic Alive. Whoever Steals This Book (Kono Hon wo Nusumu Mono wa) is the light novel version of a manga that Yen already releases about a girl who has to travel through stories to catch a book thief.

Is It Wrong to Try To Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Minor Myths and Legends is a short story volume with stories spanning the entire series to date. Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale is the latest SAO manga adaptation, based on the movie. It ran in Comic Walker. Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts Heir: White Rabbit and Prince of Beasts is another sequel, as you may have guessed. It features Sariphi and Leonhart’s son Richard, and also ran in Hana to Yume.

Then we got the stuff actually announced at the panel itself, which featured their marketing director and three of the editors. They pointed out a new manga store at the Turnstile underground at Columbus Circle, talked about Delicious in Dungeon winning an American Manga Award on Thursday for Best Continuing Series, and also gave away copies of Tougen Anki, a Momotaro takeoff from the oni perspective, and Finding Camilla, a “I must disguise myself as a boy” manwha.

Then it was time for new announcements. Helena and Mr. Big Bad Wolf was originally a Chinese doujin, and was then picked up by Kadokawa Taiwan. A tragically orphaned girl meets her favorite author and they bond. In the Heavenly Prison, the Devil Enchants Me (Tengoku de Akuma ga Boku wo Miwaku Suru) is a series from Dra-Dra-Dra-Sharp#, about a boy who wants to be seen as manly who ends up at a school on an island of succubi. It’s definitely ecchi. The Failure at God School (Kami-sama Gakkou no Ochikobore) is a Hana to Yume manga based on a light novel by the author of The Apothecary Diaries about a girl who gets an invitation to join a school for gods?! But she’s now the bottom of her class! If It’s You, I Might Try Falling in Love (Kimi to Nara Koi wo Shite Mite mo) is a BL series from Manga Park. A high schooler has given up on serious relationships after getting burned in the past, and won’t open his heart again. THEN… he meets this other guy. Nomi x Shiba is also BL, and runs in Shueisha’s Kimikoi. It was described as ‘Sasaki and Miyano, but thirstier’.

We the moved to Yen On licenses. The Only Thing I’m Allowed to Do in a No-Boys-Allowed Gaming World (Danshi Kinsei Game Sekai de Ore ga Yarubeki Yuitsu no Koto) is sort of an anti-yuri series. A yuri fan is truck-kun’d and ends up in a world where only women can do anything and men are second-class. Fortunately, he can change sex. Unfortunately, it doesn’t last forever. Even more unfortunately, all these yuri characgters are now falling for him! YMMV. Miri Lives in the Cat’s Eyes (Miri wa Neko no Hitomi no Naka ni Sundeiru) is a Dengeki title about a boy who can relive the past by looking into someone’s eyes meeting a girl who can see the future through the eyes of a cat. Described as magical realism.

Did You Think My Yuri Was a Sales Pitch? (Watashi no Yuri mo, Eigyou da to Omotta?) is a one-shot yuri light novel about a struggling voice actress depressed over her favorite idol retiring being stunned when the same idol shows up at their agency as a newbie voice actress… and is coming on to her? Recommendations for Bad Children (Warui Ko no Susume) is a revenge fantasy light novel about two students at a terrible abusive school who decide to drop out… and destroy it before they do. Lastly, they have Maboroshi, by Mari Okada herself, a novelization of her film from 2023.

The Anemone Feels the Heat (Anemone wa Netsu o Obiru) is a Manga Time Kirara Forward yuri series. A girl who failed her exam for an elite school because she saved someone finds, at her new school, the same girl she saved! Can she get past this girl accidentally ruining her life? Also from Kirara Forward is meth-e-meth, a one-shot omnibus about a girl learning how to control golems. It’s All Your Fault (Zenbu Kimi no Seida) is a comedic cosplay yuri title that runs in Ultra Jump. The Boy Who Ruled the Monsters (Kaibutsu-tachi wo Suberu Mono) is a seinen title from Isekai Comic, and J-Novel Club already has the light novel it’s based on. It’s a Banished from the Party genre story. Finally, easily the silliest announcement: Super Ball Girls is a Big Comic Superior title from the creators of Blue Lock and Prison School, about a boy who finds naked girls inside super balls one day. Yeah.

Directly after their panel we had … Seven Seas! It’s rare that they appear at conventions at all, and this is not only their first Anime NYC but their 20th anniversary! Appearing were publisher Lianne Sentar, Marketing Director Lauren Hill, and Managing Editor Alyssa Scavetta. They started by defining all their various imprints – Ghost Ship, Steamship, etc. – as well as which titles get the marker of Boys’ Love or Girls’ Love. They then did a recap of some of their other more recent announcements, before turning to new titles.

I Got Married to the Girl I Hate Most in Class (Class no Daikirai na Joshi to Kekkon suru Koto ni Natta) is about a boy and a girl who are bitter rivals in school… and are now forced into marriage? Can they learn to love each other? This is based on an unlicensed light novel, and runs in Shonen Ace Plus. They’re also doing an omnibus rescue of the old series Pet Shop of Horrors, with a new translation and in bigger volumes, so it will be 7 rather than 10. This josei horror series was put out by Tokyopop back in the day. And speaking of old series, Ichi the Killer (Koroshiya 1) is a seinen title from Young Sunday about a supposed wimp who turns into a killing machine when he cries. It was made into a live action movie and an OVA.

The new Ghost Ship license was Betrayed by the Hero, I formed a MILF Party with His Mom (Yuusha ni Zenbu Ubawareta Ore wa Yuusha no Hahaoya to Party wo Kumimashita!), which I had actually heard of before its license, as it has, well a reputation. It runs in Isekai Comic, and the title is the plot. For the Steamship line, a long-running series called Loving Moon Dog (Koi Suru Moon Dog) about a dog groomer who meets a young man who can turn into a dog? This runs in Hana to Yume Ai, can can get steamy but “not in a furry way”. And, in possibly the biggest surprise of the night, we get a Chinese non-danmei novel. Love Between Fairy and Devil (Cāng Lán Jué) is a fantasy drama with a Netflx series, and honestly sounds like a typical danmei series only one of the leads is a woman.

There’s a new webtoon series, What It Means to Be You, coming out, where a husband and wife who are miserable together swap bodies, and now must try to understand each other more. It’s tearjerking, apparently. For new BL we get I Didn’t Mean to Fall in Love -double-, a sequel series. Bowing to Love: The Noble and the Gladiator is a BL novel by the author of S, and apparently has ancient Roman BL. EAT, from Nagabe, author of The Girl from the Other Side, is a … vore fetish BL. Okay. It ran in Be x Boy Gold. No new yuri series per se, but they are finishing two series that sort of got left by the wayside after being licensed a while back. Tough Love at the office and SHWD will both get omnibuses that will complete the series. Lastly, we get a danmei title, Joyful Reunion, a serious story about politics and power.

Right after that was Kodansha Manga, another powerhouse, though they did not have quite as much to announce as usual (the moving of the con to August, right after other major cons, means this is a common thread. See below as well). Ben Applegate and Tomo Tran were the panelists, and they were quick to promote the AMA awards that Witch Hat Atelier picked up on Thursday for translation and lettering! The digital license for September is Manchuria Opium Squad (Manshuu Ahen Squad), a young magazine title about a man who is down on his luck and decides to make opium. “Very Breaking Bad.”

They then revealed the design for the Twilight Out of Focus box set, which looks very pretty, and showed off Takehiko Inoue’s new cover art for an updated version of the famous novel bestseller Musashi. They did have a few new print titles for summer 2025. Last Samurai Standing (Ikusagami) is a Weekly Morning title about samurai at the end of the shogunate (in other words, out of work samurai) who end up competing in a death game. Two BL titles from the same author. You’re All Mine Tonight (Konya Kimi to Nemuritai) about a salaryman who can’t get a one-night stand with a male sex worker out of his head, and Light of My Life, about two high school friends who found their dreams shattered and now try to reconnect as adults. Both titles ran in Gateau.

Lastly, there’s another deluxe Attack on Titan volume coming with art, an interview with the author, various special things, and a new chapter that focuses on Levi after the events of the series. I had assumed that we were in a post-Attack on Titan world, so I was very amused that Kodansha proved me wrong. Lastly, there’s a new… something coming to Soho in October, called Kodansha House. I assume it’s a manga shop.

I then had a break to eat and vaguely relax, before the last two panels of the night. SuBLime went through all of their most recent titles as well as some of their upcoming works, such as The Metalhead Next Door (sweet BL) and Worst Soulmate Ever (a “fuckfest”), both of which are out in December. They also talked about licensed they announced earlier in the month on 801 day (yaoi), the funniest of which turned out to be A Man Who Defies the World of BL (Zettai BL ni Naru Sekai VS Zettai BL ni Naritakunai Otoko), a josei series that isn’t BL, mostly as the guy (who realizes he’s in a BL world) does his level best to avoid being in a gay relationship. It runs in Manga Jam. Unfortunately, they did not have new to the convention announcements.

The final panel of the day was Denpa and KUMA. They too showed off all their recent titles, and mentioned some of the upcoming ones. They Were 11 is coming, they just need to get Moto Hagio to sign off on the cover. By the end of 2024. Ed also talked about how grateful he is that March Comes in Like a Lion is selling so well for them, and I was too – it’s nice to see a small publisher take a big risk on a series and have it pay off. They had a panel at AX, so announced those series, including the oddball Little Nuns, which has ducks, dogs, and cute nuns. Unfortunately, they too did not have new to the convention announcements.

In news that happened while I was at other panels, Dark Horse announced the first new volume of Berserk since the author’s death (it’s being taken over by another artist), and the publisher PEOW2 announced the legendary manga Stop! Hibari-kun!, a Weekly Shonen Jump series from the early 80s about a boy who meets a yakuza family’s four beautiful daughters… one of whom is really a boy who crossdresses. This may actually be the biggest title of the day, to be honest.

And now I am exhausted. Fortunately, tomorrow will have fewer things.

I am back at Anime NYC in person! And you know what that means… I have horrible muscle pain and can barely move. But I have so much to talk about for you, my readers. This was a day where I pretty much did entirely fan-oriented panels, saving the bulk of the industry stuff for tomorrow, as Anime NYC stacked most of those in a row. So the first panel I went to was Love and Friendship through Sailor Moon.

Moderated by Erica and featuring Moonie, Erica (yes, two Ericas), Kristen, and Rebecca. It was a fun pamel which really showed off how much they all love Sailor Moon and how much it has impacted their lives. (The other varieties of Sailor Moon came up, and everyone is looking forward to Cosmos, but for the most part it limited itself to the 1990s anime. The words “Crystal” were not uttered.) The second Erica and Kristen are also sisters, and frequently cosplay together.

They discussed favorite characters – as you can imagine, Usagi was first, showing off her good and bad points and feeling very human. For Rei it was her fierceness and ability to “tell it like it is”, but also the isolation that she feels as a shrine maiden. Ami was also one where identifying with her came up, as a “quiet overachiever”. And of course Haruka, the cool one. (Everyone loves the cool girl.) One of the panelists mentioned Hotaru as well, because they, like Hotaru, were sick a lot as a young person.

They talked about what Sailor Moon taught them, including how love can take many forms – romantic, deep friendships, familial, etc. The “cousins” thing was brought up, and it was noted that Japanese fans were horrified when they heard about the change. Perseverance and pushing through a problem even when you’re failing badly comes up all the time in the series. Also, not everyone immediately bonds as friends, and sometimes it can take time to really get to know a person and become friends with them. The power of bonds, how so many of the characters were lonely before they met Usagi, and how they are stronger together. It was a really heartwarming discussion.

Then they discussed how their lives were impacted by Sailor Moon, and all of them admitted it has completely changed their lives. They are all involved in cosplaying and craft-related stuff via the series. The two sisters said that even though they fought as kids, they ended up bonding over watching Sailor Moon. Meeting friends in the fanbase years and years ago who you are still friends with today thanks to Sailor Moon. (I can attest to this, as I am the same.) And of course the LGBT fanbase and its love for the series resonates with the panelists as well. The word “Passion!” was used a lot in this panel, and I think it really described all of the panelists – the love for the series and its fans came through loud and clear.

The second panel I went to was about The Rise of Queer Manga. Moderated by Erica Friedman (yes, this is the 3rd Erica of the con), the panel also had Also on the panel are TJ Ferentini, an editor for Kodansha; Jacqueline Fung, a translator for Kodansha, Seven Seas, and KUMA; and Nicole Roderick, who is a letterer with most of the major publishers. They started by discussing the sort of queer manga that we had since the late 80s/early 90s. Zetsuai/Bronze 1989 for BL, and Sailor Moon for yuri. The cliches that both of those series had in terms of how they defined how publishers would use queer narratives, and how little it changed for a long time after that. What changed? We demanded better representation, and eventually our voices were heard. Publishers were reluctant, they wanted to make sure there was a readership.

The panelists then discussed what their first queer manga was. Gravitation came up twice (and probably should not have been read at the age they read it!). TJ also talked about how much Revolutionary Girl Utena resonated with them, and how the realization hit that they CAN want to be a prince. Nicole wasn’t as fond of all the forced drama in a lot of the BL series of the time, and she enjoyed series with a more real, adult situation such as “I can’t get a job due to my sexual orientation”, which also resonated for her as she is black. Jacqueline talked about the BL series Only the Ring Finger Knows, which hit her with its discussion of having to hide when you’re in love. Erica said hers was Sailor Moon, and particularly Haruka and Michiru, which ended up taking up all her time and money for a long time to come.

The panelists had all chosen queer manga they wanted to discuss. TJ started with Boys Run the Riot, a monumental trans series from a few years ago, made even more important by the fact that the entire localization team was trans. A transgender boy finds happiness in the world of street fashion. The author, Keito Gaku, was at a convention in Columbus and was blown away by the fan reaction they received. Is Love the Answer? is a one-volume title that examines a college-aged woman who wonders why she doesn’t really get love the way all her friends do, and learns about asexuality. The author used their own experiences to write this series. Two other series, Sasaki & Miyano and Whisper Me a Love Song, both show off the normalization of BL and yuri in their respective worlds. There isn’t the big “wait,you mean you like boys/girls???” that you get in other series, instead you get the same reactions that you’d get in straight romance titles.

Jacqueline has a fondness for trauma manga, and started off with A Home Far Away, a tragedy about a religious gay boy in Texas who decides to leave home and go, well, to a home far away. The author has won awards for other titles. Our Dreams at Dusk is a huge title, being absolutely filled with queer representation of all types, and featuring a cast of various ages, including older queer characters, a rarity in a genre that tends to focus on high school students. Lastly there was a brand new title just out, Hate Me But Let Me Stay, which is an omegaverse title, but we are assured it’s a really GOOD omegaverse title, with an omega single mother and a young alpha who has to learn how to be a dad.

Nicole really loved Until I Met My Husband, a historical memoir from an activist and gay man who was in the first same-sex marriage (religious, not political) in Japan. This also has a manga version. Delinquent Daddy and Tender Teacher pretty much tells you its premise in the title, it’s a sweet title about reconnecting with past loves. The kid is smarter than everyone else in the series. Twilight Out of Focus blends its BL with a film club, and the activities of the club and their love of film is equally important. It has an ongoing anime right now. It also has multiple couples, so allows for (ironically) multiple focuses). This series also lacks one of the cliches of the genre we’ve seen too often in the past, which is the “I can fix him” trope.

Erica discusses She Loves to Cook & She Loves to Eat, which is also an award nominee and has a live-action series in Japan as well. It’s a great example of two women who had not really considered their sexuality before meeting each other and immediately going “…oh!”. Otherside Picnic is great because it’s not romance focused – it’s sci-fi horror. It’s an incredibly weird story about how everything is NOT normal, and it forces you to think about that. Even Thought We’re Adults is a series Erica called “Ahakaijin Yuri”, which is to say that it’s about grownups. It’s a messy series, and does not have any obvious bad guys – you want to dislike the husband, but he’s sympathetic as well. I’m in Love with the Villainess is an isekai fantasy with piles of queer representation (and revolution), and the spinoff She’s So Cheeky for a Commoner features an original character for the spinoff who is disabled, so that is represented as well. Lastly, The Moon on a Rainy Night has both queer and disability representation, and features two girls who meet, become friends, and help each other to become better people.

They were then asked what title “moved the bar” when it came to queer visibility? A surprising but also obvious answer from Jacqueline was Ranma 1/2. It was a lot of folks first exposure to “someone who can be, and behave, as both a boy AND a girl”. Nicole mentioned Banana Fish, a shoujo title whose BL was not obvious or blatant, but very natural and believable. TJ mentioned Boys Run the Riot again, also talked about My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, which also opened the door for a number of queer “memoir” manga. And the huge seller My Summer of You, which has two high school boys falling for each other and bonding over movies.

So many series were recommended for the “what unlicensed series do you want to see” that I could not keep up with them all. Highlights included the new subgenre of “cake manga”, where instead of alpha and omega you have “cakes and forks”; Super Seme-Sama to Toki wo Kakeru Ore, a gag manga whose cover alone made me laugh out loud, and will delight those familiar with the BL tropes of very long faces and very big hands; Kawaii Kimi ni, Nedarasetai, a shoujo title about a boy who hates being called girly… unless it’s HIM doing that; Odoriba ni Skirt ga Naru, a yuri series about ballroom dancing and body dysphoria; And Boyish² – Butch x Butch Yuri Anthology, which spotlights titles that avoid the classic yuri trope of “butch/femme” or the popular modern yuri “two femmes”.

The final panel I went to was Gender, Genre and Games in Sports Manga. Liz and Alix were our panelists, and they watched over 400 hours of sports anime to prepare for this. Which s why they apologize if they don’t mention a beloved sports MANGA that they could not get to (and indeed, at the end of the panel, someone mentioned the recent Dogsred, which does not have an anime). They define a sports anime as an anime about sports (duh) where characters bond through teamwork, rivalry and competition.

They started off with a shoujo title, Attack No. 1, which stated in 1969 and ran for 104 episodes. Most of the cliches that we associate with sports anime – the big rival, teeth-clenched teamwork, etc. – stem from this series. There is an earlier show they watched – the shonen baseball series Star of the Giants; however, this one is more tragic, ending when the protagonists injures his arm and is forced to retire. Its plotlines are not something future sports anime followed. Likewise, Ashita no Joe is brutal, also tragic, and its “cross counter” punch is pastiched and imitated across all anime, not just sports.

They divided the typical sports anime into two types: Good at Sport and Bad at Sport. Good at sport features either well-trained athletes who love and are good at what they do, or untrained athletes who nevertheless have an immediate affinity for the sport. A lot of these types feature family drama, as usually there’s a sense of keeping up the family tradition. (Aoi from Birdie Wing is a good example.) They then discussed the Love Interest vs. The Rival, and how the Love Interest, in the typical sports anime, is not nearly as important as The Rival. Rivals to Besties is essentially Enemies to Lovers: Sports Edition. And yes, this is even more true when the rival dies.

The classic “bad at sport” anime is Aim for the Ace!, a 1973 tennis anime (shoujo again) where a girl starts off bad at the sport but is driven to improve herself and eventually does. It was mentioned (more than once) that Haikyu! owes a hell of a lot more to shoujo sports anime tropes than it does typical shonen like, say, Hajime no Ippo (another brutal boxing manga). Aim for the Ace! Also introduces the ojou-sama rival, the sempai everyone adores who inevitably is paired with the heroine in doubles. This is another trope that we’ll see again and again in more modern titles.

Attack on Tomorrow!, from 1977, another shoujo title, is the first example of the “getting the band back together” sports title, where something bad happened in the past (in this case, the death of another player), the club is on the verge of being disbanded, and everyone has to rally around and rediscover their love of the sport. But it’s not all shoujo. Captain Tsubasa may be the most influential sports anime in the entire world, and Tsubasa himself was referred to as the “Goku of soccer” in terms of his abilities.

Yawara! Fashionable Judo Girl is a 1989 series that starts a genre that can best be described as “anime about women in sports, but the intended audience is men”. Bamboo Blade, Saki, Minami-ke, etc. There’s also (theoretically, the creators won’t confirm this for reasons that should be obvious) “anime about men in sports where the audience is women”, such as Free!, Salaryman’s Club, and Fanfare of Adolescence. But what, you may ask, about sports series about girls in sports, for a female audience? Does karuta count? If so, then 2011’s Chihayafuru would slot in there. Before that? You have to go back to 1998, and Princess Nine.

And you can’t really discuss sports anime, especially not at an anime con, without discussing the homoerotic subtext. Naturally, Prince of Tennis was the big example here. Since sports tend to divide by gender, a lot of the rivalries, friendships, and battles tend to be homoerotically charged as a function of the cast. Prince of Tennis is essentially a samurai story with lords, only… it’s tennis-based. The BL subtext is also unintentional. What happens when the subtext IS intentional? Well, you get Saki, whose fanservice verges on the ridiculous. Or Keijo!!, whose fanservice is so ridiculous it’s not that sexy. Or Free!, whose one main female character is there to ogle the hot guys and tell you, the viewer, that it’s OK to do the same.

Yuri on Ice, in 2016, of course, changed everything… or did it? It was canonically queer, and had a kiss. Yet when Sk8 the Infinity, in 2021, did a scene that beat for beat almost matches the iconic one in Yuri On Ice… there’s just a hug, no kiss. Birdie Wing, a series that features golf eugenics and the golf mafia, revolves around Aoi and Eve betting over a kiss… which Eve never has to give Aoi. It’s a bit of a step back. On the other hand, Eve does combine her rainbow shot with Aoi’s rainbow shot to make a golf shot baby. The panelists agreed that Birdie Wing was a lot more explicitly queer than Sk8 the Infinity. But… they don’t kiss.

The panel wrapped up with Q&A, which included sports that haven’t been done yet (Skiing! Women’s fencing!… no, Utena doesn’t count.), whether Food Wars! is a sports anime (yes), whether Beauty Pop, about competitive hairdressing, is a sports manga (yes), and the fact that, amazingly, no one mentioned Hikaru no Go. They also discussed the biggest surprises of their watching all this sports anime, which included the brutality of the boxing anime, especially Ashita no Joe, and the brutality of the shoujo sports anime as well, with Attack No. 1 having abusive coaches and abuse by getting hit with volleyballs. It’s not all sparkles and tears.

Honestly, these were all great fan-run panels today, and I was thrilled with each of them. Which is why I spent so long tying this up. Time to sleep – tomorrow will be a bear.

So it’s Anime NYC! And I am… not there this year, taking a year off for various reasons. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have things to say. So this is not so much news as “what does Sean think of the new licenses?”, consider it news lite. And of course it is missing the pithy remarks of the panelists themselves, alas.

Were I going, I likely would have started the con with Viz Media… but I don’t know what happened at their panel, as they had no new announcements. This happens sometimes, especially with New York Comic Con a month earlier. I suspect the panel was mostly about Undead Unluck and Jujutsu Kaisen.

Crunchyroll also had a panel, but it was mostly about streaming dates for upcoming anime and new dub casts, rather than, say, Blu-Ray news for Birdie Wing. There was no news about that. Alas.

The big panel of the day, at least in terms of Sean-related things, was J-Novel Club. They always bust out a lot of new licenses for the con, and this year is no exception. They started off with a few manga titles, beginning with Duchess in the Attic (Yane Urabeya no Kōshaku Fujin). This is based on a light novel of the same name, which did not get licensed but, as we’ll see later on, there’s always hope it might in the future. A duchess with a bad reputation for no real reason is marries off to a duke who also treats her coldly. Heck, there’s a childhood friend of the duke everyone loves far more than our heroine. How can she reverse her fortune? This runs in Flos Comic.

Next we have Through the Viewport: Child of a Ruined World (Shūmatsu Sekai no Hakoiri Musume), a MAGCOMI title about a post-apocalypse girl and her robot. This sounds like a few other “girl and companion travel across desolate post-apocalypse landscape” titles we’ve seen recently.

A Livid Lady’s Guide to Getting Even: How I Crushed My Homeland with My Mighty Grimoires (Buchigire Reijō wa Hōfuku wo Chikaimashita. Madōsho no Chikara de Sokoku wo Tataki Tsubushimasu) is also based on an as-yet unlicensed light novel, and runs in Comic Fire. You’ve seen this story before. Duke’s daughter, engagement broken, imprisoned, etc. This one, though, decides “to hell with it” and sets off to get her revenge.The artist also did the Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop manga.

Butareba -The Story of a Man Turned into a Pig- (Buta no Liver wa Kanetsu Shiro) is the manga version of the light novels J-NC is already releasing. It runs in Dengeki Maoh.

Now we move on to light novels. Nia Liston: The Merciless Maiden (Kyōran Reijō Nia Liston: Byōjaku Reijō ni Tenseishita Kami-goroshi no Bujin no Kareinaru Musō Roku) is one of those rare titles where our “reincarnated into another world as a child” protagonist is not from Japan, but was a great hero in her previous life! Alas, there was a bit of Red Sonja to her, as she kept looking for a warrior to defeat her, but never found one. Now she has a new life… and she’s frail and sick. Well. That simply won’t do. For fans of Reborn to Master the Blade. The author also writes Kunon the Sorcerer Can See Through.

The Exiled Noble Rises as the Holy King: Befriending Fluffy Beasts and a Holy Maiden with My Ultimate Cheat Skill! (Tsuihō Kizoku wa Saikyō Skill “Seiō” de Henkyō kara Nariagaru: Haikyōsha ni Nintei Sareta Ore da kedo Cheat Skill de Mofumofu mo Seijo mo Nakama ni Shichaimashita) is a “the title is the plot” sot of series, as our protagonist is excommunicated (that’s new), but he has a powerful cheat skill (that’s not new), and befriends cute fluffy beasts (also not new) and cute holy maidens who have been sent to kill him (very not new). If you like your light novels with a ratio of 1 new to 3 not new, check this out. It’s from the creator of The Unwanted Undead Adventurer.

The Oblivious Saint Can’t Contain Her Power: Forget My Sister! Turns Out I Was the Real Saint All Along! (Mujikaku Seijo wa Kyō mo Muishiki ni Chikara o Tare Nagasu: Imadai no Seijo wa Anede wa Naku, Imōto no Watashi Datta Mitai Desu) is the light novel whose manga J-Novel Club licensed previously. The plot? Noble lady looked down on by everyone in favor of her sister is married off, moves to another country, and turns out to be SUPER POWERFUL!

The Otome Heroine’s Fight for Survival (Otome Game no Heroine de Saikyō Survival) is a TO Books title (Bookworm, Tearmoon), so has my attention. A young orphan runs away, only to find someone trying to kill her. She realizes she’s meant to be an otome game protagonist… but has to fight for survival in this dog-eat-dog world. If you wanted more death game in your villainess books, great news.

The Water Magician (Mizuzokusei no Mahōtsukai) A reincarnated boy is trying to be the protagonist of a Slow Life novel, but – .like many other Slow Life protagonists – deadly attacks and large battles keep getting in the way. He also just keeps getting stronger and stronger. J-Novel Club also licensed the manga for this title, which runs in Comic Corona. So also TO Books, then.

I had been one of the few people watching Management of a Novice Alchemist (Shinmai Renkinjutsushi no Tenpo Keiei) in Fall 2022, and I found the anime very appealing. I am therefore delighted to see J-Novel Club licensed the novels. (The author also writes To Another World… with Land Mines!, and the illustrator also works on The Invincible Little Lady.) Sarasa has just become a state alchemist, and her master gives her the graduation gift of her own shop. But… it’s in the middle of a tiny village. And also pretty dilapidated. This is a Cute Girls Doing Cute Things series, provided you don’t mind some of the cute things are killing bears made entirely of fire.

Sword Saint Adel’s Second Chance (Ken Seijo Adel no Yarinaoshi) is a new series from the creator of Reborn to Master the Blade, and in fact has almost the exact same story. Only this powerful warrior who regrets his life choices is not reincarnated in the future but in the past. That said, they’re both reincarnated as gorgeous young women. Anyay, now he can protect the princess. Possibly yuri? Eh. I doubt it.

The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases (Dekisokonai to Yobareta Moto Eiyū wa, Jikka Kara Tsuihōsareta node Suki Katte ni Ikiru Koto ni Shita) is from the creator of I Surrendered My Sword for a New Life as a Mage. It’s also getting an anime next year. A young man is deemed useless and banished… but in his past life, he was a hero! Now he can do what he likes… except he can’t seem to stop helping people. This one is also TO Books, exciting!

The best title of yesterday’s licenses goes to RVing My Way into Exile with My Beloved Cat: This Villainess Is Trippin’ (Akuyaku Reijō wa Camping Car de Tabi ni Deru). I had seen this on Drecom’s site a few months ago, and was eager to see J-NC pick it yup. Are you a villainess who’s been exiled and shamed? Why not take with you a magic camper van that evolves as you travel!

The big news of the panel, though, was the long-awaited license rescue of Chivalry of a Failed Knight (Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry). This light novel was originally released by Sol Press, but when they went under it seemed to be the only un-rescued title. Now it’s back, and you can enjoy the series beyond the first few volumes. The plot… is very similar to The Asterisk War, something I have made a bit of a running gag, so I’ll just note it here.

J-Novel Club also announced that their light novel contest would be judged by Akiko Fujita, Kadokawa’s head editor, and Carlo Zen, author of The Saga of Tanya the Evil. And Bookworm audiobooks are coming, with the dub actress for Myne doing the narration.

Denpa Books was the next panel, and they had two new announcements. Wolf Pack will come out on their KUMA imprint, and runs in Daria Comics e. Two alphas have to find a way to get along, despite seemingly being opposites.

ODDTAXI got a very popular anime last year, and the manga runs in an offshoot of Big Comic Superior, Superior Darupana. It’s the story of a taxi driver who also happens to be a walrus, and how he gets mixed up in a much bigger plot.

Honestly, after Denpa I likely would have left to go back to The New Yorker hotel and type this up, but there was also a Comikey panel. I don’t follow the new streaming manga services as much as I should, mostly as the micropurchases for chapters are not my bag. They announced a bunch of stuff that is already available on Square Enix’s online platform, as well as a few new manga from a new company which I can’t find a lot of info about.

As for today, we should see titles from Kodansha, Yen Press, and Dark Horse. Hope everyone is having a great time!

The third and final day of Anime NYC, like the first, was quiet. The main issue was that half the subway lines weren’t working, which is not the con’s fault. I did note that masking was more optional than I’d hoped, but did see a lot of masked people, and they did require masks walking into the panels, which was good. The main panels I attended was Kodansha Manga, whose site may still be under maintenance, and whose Kodansha Books line was eerily silent, but they still had a lot to announce.

They started off with the November digital debuts, including Matcha Made in Heaven, which is already out. The other debut is The Food Diary of Miss Maid, a seinen title from Comic Days about an English maid who ends up living by herself in Japan, and decides to immerse herself in Japanese cuisine. They then moved into 2023 print titles, and there certainly were a lot of them.

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir is a manga based on the popular French cartoon, which runs in Shonen Sirius. It seems to loosely adapt the original, with some changes. I’m Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady a Crash Course in Naughtiness: I’ll Spoil Her with Delicacies and Style to Make Her the Happiest Woman in the World! wins the prize for the longest title announced at Anime NYC. This Comic Pash! manga features a wizard running across a disgraced noble who has collapsed near his place. After hearing her sad story, he decides to teach her naughty things… like cake eating! And late night ramen! In other words, sweeter than it sounds. The light novels it’s based on were written by the author of From Toxic Classmate to Girlfriend Goals.

Origin is a manga by Sun-Ken Rock and Dr. Stone artist Boichi. Running in Young Magazine, it features androids trying to destroy humanity, and sounds a lot darker than Dr. Stone – more for Sun-Ken Rock fans. Virgin Love is a josei title from Shufu to Seikatsusha’s magazine Ar (Kodansha Manga has been branching out beyond their own name), with six strangers with love troubles living together at the ‘Love house’. And two new titles in the Maiden’s Bookshelf series were announced: The Girl Who Became a Fish and Spring Comes Riding in a Carriage, both based on classic (and depressing) Japanese stories.

The Darwin Incident runs in Afternoon, and stars Charlie, a half-human half-chimpanzee hybrid who was rescued by terrorists from an experimental lab. 15 years later, he’s trying to live a high school life and get to know the misunderstood girl, but terrorism still lurks around him. The Moon on a Rainy Night is a yuri title from Comic Days, about a girl who (literally) runs into a classmate. Her classmate is deaf, but they can still bond through music. Ogami-san Can’t Keep It In is another Afternoon series, about a girl who simply can’t stop thinking about sex and a boy who forces people to say what they think when they touch him.

On the BL front, we get My Ultramarine Sky, a one-shot title from Gateau about two boys who realize their romantic feelings after being put in different classes. It’s by Nagisa Furuya, who also gets The Summer with You: The Sequel licensed, showing college life for the main couple from that series. It also ran in Gateau. Also in Gateau is Super Morning Star, a BL comedy about a boy who has to hide his identity and his relationship. Sentai is also involved.

My Lovesick Life As a 90s Otaku is a josei series from Kiss. A divorced woman with a daughter flashes back to the mid-90s, when she was a secret otaku, because it was a lot less accepted at that time. How I Met My Soulmate is the new shoujo series by the author of Waiting for Spring, and it runs in Dessert. College student who has misconceptions about love meets a bad boy. King in Limbo is a josei title from Itan, a thriller about a virus that kills people by feeding on their traumatic memories, and a soldier who has to help fight it off. Lastly, and getting the biggest reaction of the panel, Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen, the spinoff manga from Morning Two that focuses on Qifrey and Olruggio… but really it’s about food.

There’s also some re-releases and box sets coming. Vinland Saga is getting nice hardcover omnibuses. Cells at Work is getting 2 omnibuses. Blue Period is getting a box set. Magic Knight Rayearth is getting a paperback release, and I aged visibly as I watched Kodansha talk about how old the series was. And some digital-only series are getting print – though not, alas, Medalist, my current favorite, which I asked the company to shill during Q&A. Instead we’ll see print for Wind Breaker, Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister, Nina the Starry Bride, and She’s My Knight.

Anime NYC seemed to run far smoother than last year, and the Anime NYC crew were all friendly and helpful. (The Javits crew less so, but hey.) If you enjoy New York City and conventions, it’s always a great place to go.

The second day of Anime NYC is traditionally the busiest, and this year was no exception. The publishers were announcing PILES of titles, and pretty much when I was not at a panel I was eating or trying to avoid collapsing in fatigue.

We start off with Yen Press, who had so many announcements that they only did half of them at the panel – the other half were livetweeted afterwards. I’ll start with the panel announcements. But before that, they brought out the author TurtleMe, creator of The Beginning After the End, a webseries that was picked up by Yen about a King who dies realizing that power isn’t everything, so in his reincarnated life he tries to experience different things. The author was extremely happy to be published and available in bookstores, though he admits the name “TurtleMe” is a username that followed him around.

We then went to manga announcements. Appare-Ranman! is based on the light novel, and will be coming out as a 3-in-1 omnibus. Described by Yen as similar to the old show Wacky Races, it has an inventor and a samurai trying to win a cash prize with a steam powered car. It was in Young Ace. Manner of Death is based on a Thai novel, and is apparently a BL murder mystery. It looked pretty cool from the cover. It runs in Enterbrain’s B’s-LOVEY. Magical Girl Incident features a salaryman who finds one day he can transform into… a magical girl! Of course, only one person knows the secret. It’s also from Young Ace.

Elden Ring: The Road to the Erdtree is already being published by Bookwalker, and is based on the popular game. It can best be described as “What if Elden Ring were a comedy? The announcement is that it will be getting a physical release. It’s in Kadokawa’s Comic HU. Then very exciting news for me personally: Higurashi When They Cry Gou! I may have mixed feelings about the anime, but the manga is usually more solid in the Higurashi series. It’s 4 volumes, and ran in Young Ace Up. In addition, the original manga is coming back into print!

After a prize break, we moved to light novels. My Summoned Beast Is Dead looks quite amusing. A guy at a magical school where the most powerful students summon great magical beasts summons… a giant corpse. And now has to figure out how to succeed in school… with a corpse. Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki’s Conjecture is a series about a college kid who can tell when people are lying, which as you can imagine makes him unpopular. He meets up with the title character, a professor who has a love of anything weird, which includes our hero.

Yami-Hara is a creepy sounding novel about people who have darkness (yami) in their hearts, and how that darkness can influence other people. How to Win Her Heart on the Nth Try is a slow-burn romance about an office lady unlucky at love who runs into her childhood friend. He’s been in love with her forever, but she sees him only as a friend. How can he make his feelings known? Lastly, in the same vein as Spice and Wolf, we get A Certain Magical Index Old Testament. This will have all 24 books in the Index series in one massive, massive TOME, similar to the Spice & Wolf one.

(No, they did NOT announce New Testament, but the fact that they’re using “Old Testament” as a prefix tells me it’s probably only a matter of time.)

More manga! Scribbles, by Kaoru Mori. A sketchbook with annotations or her drawings and ideas, from the creator of Emma and A Bride’s Story. Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun will be getting a box set (that looks like a bathroom stall) of the first ten books. And they have a Korean webtoon, Bloody Sweet, about a weird daughter of a shaman who happens to come across a weird vampire in a haunted house, and they are weird together.

Lastly, we have Ize Press, who announed a new title from the creator of The Boxer. The Horizon is about a boy who loses his mother and decides to simply start running. They also have A Business Proposal, a Korean tapas series that also has a live-action version. A girl who agrees to go on a blind date by pretending to be her friend finds… her date is the CEO of her company! And now he wants to marry her! How can she convince him to forget her… because otherwise she’ll be fired!

While the panel was going on, Yen also announced MORE titles on Twitter, which still amazingly exists. Sword Art Online: Progressive – Scherzo of Deep Night is the new continuation manga for the Progressive series, and runs in Comic Walker. Yokohama Station SF came out from Yen as a novel, and now they have the manga, which is three volumes total and runs in (again) Young Ace Up. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Memoria Freese is a manga based on the DanMachi spinoff game, and runs in Manga UP! (no relation to Young Ace Up).

Handyman Saitō in Another World is a 7+-volume manga from Comic Walker, about a guy who discovers “handyman” is a lot more useful and valued in a fantasy world than it is in Japan. A Reincarnated Witch Spells Doom is from Flos Comic, and is 5+ volumes. A shut-in decides to try to go out in the real world and immediately meets Truck-kun. Now reborn, everyone thinks she’s a witch! I Want to Be a Receptionist in This Magical World is a manga version of the light novel The Sorcerer’s Receptionist, which came out here a couple of years ago. It’s also from Flos Comic.

What This World Is Made Of is a 3-volume manga from Dengeki Maoh. Two brothers desperate for money try a shady app and now end up monster hunters. Me and My Beast Boss is a josei title from B’s-LOG Cheek, about an OL who endures harassment just because she’s a human… till one day she’s made the private secretary of the beastman CEO! My Dear Curse-Casting Vampiress is a Shonen Gangan title from the creator of When a Magician’s Pupil Smiles, about a powerful vampire hired by humans to battle other vampires. The Essence of Being a Muse is a Comic Beam title, already good news. It’s about a woman rejected from Art School who decides to give in and do what her mother wants. It sounds soul-crushing, but I’m sure that’s merely at first.

Additional light novels announced: Even If These Tears Disappear Tonight is a sequel to Even If This Love Disappears Tonight, and is for those who like to read books and cry a lot. Maiden of the Needle seems to combine about four different popular genres, as we see a girl reincarnated in a fantasy world, who can speak to fairies, but who can’t do the RIGHT seamstress magic, so she’s disowned and taken in by another nobleman. And The Ephemeral Scenes of Setsuna’s Journey is a story of a man summoned as a hero… but he’s weak and sickly, so they give up on him. That said, guess what? He actually has the inheritance of the original hero!

Lastly, there’s a new omnibus of Puella Magi Suzune Magica, because how better to wrap up nearly 30 titles than with another Madoka Magica spinoff?

The second panel I went to was Dark Horse, which only had one new manga announcement, but it’s a doozy. Before that, Carl Horn discussed the history of the company, going back to the Godzilla manga they did in 1988, as well as Outlanders. (Remember Outlanders?) They also announced a new artbook, The Art of Octopath Traveler, which is a Square Enix video game series. The big news, though, was Innocent, the 9-volume series from Weekly Young Jump, which is the English debut of acclaimed author Shin’ichi Sakamoto. The story of a family of executioners in 18th Century France, it has won PILES of awards. It’s going to be coming out in 3-in-1 omnibuses.

They had other things to discuss, of course. Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Serviced is back, with Vol. 15 out as part of the 5th omnibus. They’re also finishing up Psycho-Pass after a long hiatus. Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! 4 is the first one that has stuff not in the anime. (The series is also apparently an absolute bear to translate.) The Art of Star Wars Visions is self-explanatory, but it was interesting to hear about how the creators were able to play with the original Star Wars characters but chose not to, as well as how they were NOT influenced by Ghibli. The creator of Vampire Hunter D, meanwhile, is living the good life – he was at an Italian convention 3 weeks ago that was held in a cathedral!

The last panel I attended was J-Novel Club, and they had almost as much to announce as Yen, with several new partnerships. Karate Master Isekai is a new manga from Comic HU, and is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. They’ve licensed rescued Let This Grieving Soul Retire! from the Sol Press dungeon, and will be re-translating Vol. 1 and releasing past Vol. 1, just to spite the late unlamented original publisher. Grand Sumo Villainess: This Reincarnated Rikishi’s No Pushover! is a new Villainess light novel, asking “what if the villainess could solve everything through Sumo mastery?”.

Peddler in Another World, which J-NC already does the light novel for, is getting a manga license as well. The manga runs in Comic Fire. Enough with This Slow Life! I Was Reincarnated as a High Elf and Now I’m Bored is another one of those “the title is the plot” light novels, but is apparently more of a “I travel the road” wanderer series. I’m Capped at Level 1?! Thus Begins My Journey to Become the World’s Strongest Badass! is a new manga title that runs in Comic Walker, which sounds like a standard “weak to strong” series, but the ability to gain powers from the corpses who had those powers might be interesting.

The Disowned Queen’s Consulting Detective Agency is from the creator of I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss, and is in a similar vein, as the disowned noble lady decides to follow in her late grandmother’s footsteps and be a detective. I Parry Everything: What Do You Mean I’m the Strongest? I’m Not Even an Adventurer Yet! is a light novel series from Earth Star Entertainment (as indeed most of these license announcements were) about a guy who’s trained to be #1 at parrying. He just can’t do anything else. But who cares? PARRY! Their last “regular” announcement was a “gaiden” sequel to Outbreak Company, taking place after the end of the series. This will be one volume.

They then announced a pile of new audiobooks, thanks to two new partnerships with both RB Media and Podium. We’ll see audiobooks for By the Grace of the Gods, Reborn to Master the Blade, Black Summoner, How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Faraway Paladin, Hell Mode, My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned As an S-Ranked Adventurer, Min-Maxing my TRPG Build In Another World, and, inevitably, In Another World with My Smartphone. And, of course, the Slayers audiobook is finally out, with narration by the original Lina Inverse, Lisa Ortiz!

J-Novel Club is also partnering with Yen Press to do some physical releases of popular digital light novel titles. Yen will release, in print, The Misfit of Demon King Academy, Hell Mode, and My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! (both the LN and the manga). J-Novel Club actually asked me at their booth if I would give Hell Mode, which I skipped when it first came out, another try, and so I might pick it up and see how it is.

The biggest partnership announcement was with Drecom, a company that just started a light novel line last month. They’re debuting – in Japanese and English the same day – a new series by the creators of Goblin Slayer (author) and Overlord (illustrator). Called Blade & Bastard – Warm Ash, Dusky Dungeon, it’s a novel based on the RPG game Wizardry. I’ll be honest, absolutely nothing about this series interested me until Sam casually said “Oh, yes, the nun also has a sword”, and that made me sit up and pay attention. That said, it’s definitely more for Goblin Slayer fans than for me.

They have a number of titles already out in Japan the last two months, and we will also be getting these sometime in 2023. Official titles are not available yet, so I won’t go over all of them, but there’s a time loop villainess story, a noble dumped by her fiancé gets a better deal story… actually, there are TWO titles for each of these genres… and, perhaps best of all, “I’m a Pharmacist Witch and a part-Time Divorce Attorney”, a title that sounds like it was written specifically for me personally. They’ve also got a new series from the author of Unnamed Memory, which I know will make some people sit up and take notice.

Drecom had some of their executives there at the panel, and they also talked about the various multimedia strategies they would be doing (which include NFTs, but this was not mentioned at the panel itself, probably with good reason – I think it would have been booed). Sam noted that the fact that they’re so closely partnered does mean we may see some series cancelled, but it was mentioned that English-language sales may help stave that off even if it’s doing badly in Japan.

This was a lot of stuff. If this sounds more like a list of things than previous years, it’s probably due to the fact that there were less panels that are more “fan-oriented” this year. However, there are a few of those on Sunday, along with Kodansha Manga. We’ll see you there.

This year’s Anime NYC had some good points and bad points right off the bat. The size of the panel rooms was an issue last year, so they made sure that the panel rooms are much larger. The downside to that is that there are far fewer panels this year. In addition, most of the really popular panels had a “lottery” system where fans bid to get a place in the audience, so there’s no way for me to, say, drop in on the Kaguya-sama anime premiere this year. I expect this will have a knock-off effect on the other panels as well, as folks unable to get into the Attack on Titan panel decide to go see Dark Horse instead, for example. The gist of all this is that I just have one panel to cover today, though it was a good one.

But first: The Exhibition Hall and Artist’s Alley were packed with folks this year. While I wish masking were better (the con is enforcing masking, but it’s simply impossible to police somewhere like the Exhibition Hall), it’s always fun walking around and seeing folks. Viz and Kodansha have major spaces, and even Yen and J-Novel Club had much larger booths than previous years. Unfortunately, when I walked by the booth devoted to Gundam, there was no Birdie Wing: Golf Girls’ Story merch. Missed opportunity there, I think. Artist’s Alley was also crowded and filled with people buying art and talking to artists, which is what you want to see.

The panel I went to today was a joint one between Denpa Books and their BL spinoff imprint, KUMA. Denpa was, of course, represented by Ed Chavez, and Andrea Donohue joined on the KUMA end. There was only one new license per se, but a lot of their titles are still awaiting release, so it was good to go through everything that we can expect in late 2022 and 2023. KUMA went first, discussing The (Pet) Detective Agency, a detective series with BL and animals; Happy of the End, which sounded like the most “typical” of their BL titles, and a new edition of Canis: Dear Mr. Rain, with new covers and added material. This will gradually replace the older version.

Those were all in the “Older Teen” category. In the “Mature” line, there’s A Home Far Away, a drama with tragic overtones about a sheltered young man going on a road trip with a transient; Crappy Happy Life, a BL comedy that I may honestly pick up, as it sounds hilarious. It’s not often you get to sell a title with flying dildos *and* the “and then they were both bottoms” meme. A Hero in the Demon’s Castle (did the hero kick Princess Syalis out?) involves a demon lord who reluctantly battles people, and the airheaded hero who wants to control his OP tendencies.

Eiji & Shirou: From Zeroes to Heroes is an anthology volume, the main story of which involves two losers in high school who decide to raise their popularity by pretending to be a BL couple. Terano-kun and Kumazaki-kun is an AO3 fic in manga form, as it has a relationship between the student council president and the class delinquent, but the delinquent is the bottom. And the one new license was a Kuma title, The Ruthless Commander & His Reincarnated Warhorse (Shouwaru Boukun Kishu to Nagasare Senba), a reincarnation BL about a guy who is reincarnated as a horse… then when he saved a warlord, is made a war horse! Unfortunately, his true form as a human is soon discovered. This ran in Shodensha’s On Blue.

Ed then discussed Denpa’s recent and future releases. This includes Nana & Kaoru, the wholesome (???) BDSM romance that illustrates why consent is both important and really hot. It’s coming out as six 600-page omnibuses. Inside Mari has just had its final volume with Vol. 9, and if (like me) you want to like Shuzo Oshimi but keep bouncing off him, this is a good one to check out. Under Ninja is a silly-looking comedy which has, frankly,, far too many ninjas. It’s also apparently getting an anime soon. Guyabano Holiday is the new title from the creator of Invitation from a Crab, and is definitely for fans of “indie comics” type manga.

Rakuda Laughs! is an action/noir manga from an artist who’s more known for their fine art, and it’s definitely another title in the Denpa line where the striking art was the reason to get it. Pleasure and Corruption, the BDSM title that is not Nana & Kaoru, also recently wrapped up with its 6th volume. There’s also an artbook coming out from the famous artist JUN, and – easily the title the audience was most excited about – March 2023 should see the first volume of March Comes in Like a Lion, the shogi drama that has won so many awards they had to create new awards just to give it to them. A short Q&A followed, and for those wondering about They Were Eleven, this is the danger of a company run by four people. Kaiji has priority, so until Kaiji 4 & 5 come out, no They Were Eleven just yet.

So a somewhat quiet first day, but at the same time I don’t think they had any major issues like last year’s line problems. Tomorrow is the busy day.