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Manga the Week of 12/7/22

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SEAN: It’s the most wonderful time of the year! What manga is giving us good cheer?

We start with Viz Media. Rainbow Days (Nijiiro Days) is a new Shojo Beat title from Betsuma. The timing on this seems off, as the anime aired in 2016. And it’s a 16-volume series, so get ready to invest. It’s about four boys, all with different ideas about romance.

MICHELLE: Huh. Somehow this one had totally escaped my notice.

ASH: I’d missed it, too!

SEAN: Also from Viz: Black Clover 31, Dragon Ball Super 17, Ghost Reaper Girl 3, Ima Koi: Now I’m in Love 4, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 24, One Piece 101, and Snow White with the Red Hair 22.

ASH: I really ought to catch up with Snow White with the Red Hair.

SEAN: Tokyopop debuts Love Circus, a single volume BL title from Canna. A man who has tried to help a sex worker, and only ended up in debt, tries to kill himself… and wakes up at a sex establishment that caters to gay men.

Tokyopop also has the 2nd manga of Formerly, the Fallen Daughter of the Duke.

(Yes, yes. They were bumped.)

Titan debuts Kamen Rider Kuuga, a new manga updating the classic title to the 21st century. It runs in Shogakukan’s HEROS.

ASH: Titan doesn’t license that many manga, so it’s interesting what’s released.

SEAN: Steamship has a 2nd volume of GAME: Between the Suits.

Seven Seas got its books back from the printers again. Our Torsos Align: Human x Monster Love (Toruso no Bokura) is from Libre’s Kurofune Zero, which seems to be its “shoujo but not quite BL” magazine. These are romance stories starring “monsters” – birdmen, mermaids, aliens, etc.

ASH: Seems to be a burgeoning sub-genre these days.

SEAN: Thunderbolt Fantasy is an omnibus of Vol. 1-2, and originally ran in Weekly Morning. Based on a wuxia show, it features a woman trying to protect a sword from evil men, and the strangers who help her.

ASH: The show was fantastic. I’m looking forward to giving the manga a try.

SEAN: Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga Ii runs in Afternoon. A yakuza daughter with a resting bitch face is married off to a rival leader’s son to preserve the peace… but his son is a sadist! Now she has to give as good as she gets.

Also from Seven Seas: Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest 9, The Case Files of Jeweler Richard 4, Citrus+ 4, The Dangers in My Heart 5, Hello, Melancholic! 3 (the final volume), His Majesty the Demon King’s Housekeeper 2, I’m a Wolf, but My Boss is a Sheep! 2, Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship! 4, Seaside Stranger 5, and SPRIGGAN: Deluxe Edition 2.

MICHELLE: Looking forward to more Hello, Melancholic!.

SEAN: One Peace has the 6th volume of Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway.

Kodansha’s calendar is still broken, so let’s go hunting. In print, the debut is Studio Ghibli: The Complete Works, an artbook/reference book that looks at all 26 of the studio’s films.

ASH: Oh! That should be nice.

SEAN: In addition, we see The Quintessential Quintuplets Part 2 Box Set (which has Vols. 8-14, the rest of the series), The Seven Deadly Sins Omnibus 7, Vampire Dormitory 8, and Whisper Me a Love Song 6.

Kodansha has a digital debut. The Shape-Shifting Witch’s Kiss (Toshi to Mahou wa Kiss Shidai) is a shonen title from Magazine Pocket, and involves a boy who seems to have been taken straight from Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible, a witch, and daily kisses.

We also see The Abandoned Reincarnation Sage 8 (the final volume), Changes of Heart 8, Chihayafuru 35, The God-Tier Guardian and the Love of Six Princesses 4, Kounodori: Dr. Stork 30, Matcha Made in Heaven 2, My Master Has No Tail 8, and Raised by the Demon Kings! 3.

MICHELLE: I will never not be glad to see Chihayafuru continuing to plug along.

SEAN: Kaiten Books has a print edition of the 6th Loner Life in Another World manga.

J-Novel Club Has three debuts, including one title that they just announced last week! BLADE & BASTARD: Warm ash, Dusky dungeon is based on the Wizardry RPG game, is by the writer of Goblin Slayer, is by the illustrator of Overlord, and is coming out the same day as the Japanese release. Impressive!

ASH: That’s a quick turnaround!

SEAN: An Introvert’s Hookup Hiccups: This Gyaru Is Head Over Heels for Me! (Inkya no Boku ni Batsu Game ni Kokuhaku Shitekita Hazu no Gyaru ga, Doumitemo Boku ni Betahore Desu) is another in the “super sweet love story” genre.

Peddler in Another World: I Can Go Back to My World Whenever I Want! (Itsudemo Jitaku ni Kaereru Ore wa, Isekai de Gyoushounin wo Hajimemashita) is another in the “slow life by selling Japanese things in isekai land” genre.

We also see Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight -Origins- 8, My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer 6, Record of Wortenia War 17, Reincarnated as the Piggy Duke: This Time I’m Gonna Tell Her How I Feel! 8, and the 9th manga volume for The Unwanted Undead Adventurer.

From HarperVia comes The Tatami Galaxy, possibly the most famous of Tomihiko Morimi’s novels, and now finally available in English! Starring a loser college student (I know, in a Morimi novel, contain your shock), it’s actually about parallel universes.

ASH: I’ve been waiting for this one.

SEAN: Ghost Ship has DARLING in the FRANXX 7-8 (the final volume) and SUPER HXEROS 9.

Floating World Comics gives us Boat Life (Fune ni Sumu), a loose autobiography from the creator of Trash Market and Slum Wolf. This series screams “READ MEEEEEE!” to Ash.

ASH: Sean, you know me so well! This is absolutely on my to-read list.

SEAN: From Denpa Books we see Guyabano Holiday, the new travelogue title by the author of Invitation from a Crab.

ASH: It feels like it’s been a long time coming; glad to see it finally released!

SEAN: They also have Inside Mari 9 (the final volume) and Vampeerz 2.

Airship, in print, debuts Free Life Fantasy Online: Immortal Princess. We discussed this when the digital came out. ZOMBIE GAMER.

Also in print: 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! 2, The Case Files of Jeweler Richard 2, The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent 7, Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs 7, and Vivy Prototype 2.

Happy manga holidays! There’s at least two more festive Manga the Week ofs coming.

The Manga Review, 12/3/2022

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If you’re interested in writing about comics for a website that already has a sizable readership, there are a number of great outlets looking for contributors. Nola Pfau, Editor-in-Chief of Women Write About Comics (WWAC), took to Twitter earlier this week to encourage writers submit pitches. WWAC has won three Eisner Awards for Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism, and welcomes “pitches from anyone along the marginalized gender spectrum—women, NB, agender, trans men.” You don’t need experience to submit an idea; WWAC prides itself on publishing new voices, and has “a proven track record of training new voices in comics journalism and helping them achieve success at other outlets.” Interested? Take the first step by visiting WWAC’s Pitch Us! page.

Also looking for writers is The Fandom Post, which is in need of an Anime/Manga Reviewer, and Anime Feminist, which is always receptive to pitches.

NEWS AND VIEWS

If you’re curious about Glacier Bay Books’ latest project, click over to The Comics Journal, which has just posted an excerpt from PANDORA, a collection of short stories by Hagiwara Rei. The stories, which are rendered in delicate watercolors, “simultaneously reflect on current events as well as the 10th anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.” [The Comics Journal]

Tony Yao reflects on the Cool Japan Fund‘s flawed efforts to promote Japanese pop culture here in the US. [Drop-In to Manga]

Journalist Madeline Blondeau posts a thoughtful reflection on transfeminine desire in Eguchi Hisashi’s Stop!! Hibari-kun. [Anime Feminist]

Get your holiday off to a good start by entering The Manga Test Drive’s Annual Holiday Review Giveaway! The winner will receive a $25 Right Stuf gift certificate. [The Manga Test Drive]

ICYMI: Justin shares his thoughts about “the good, the mixed, and the bad” at Anime NYC 2022. [The OASG]

The latest episode of Shojo & Tell focuses on Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku. [Shojo & Tell]

The Reverse Thieves name Rumiko Takahashi’s Urusei Yatsura their Manga of the Month. “For better or for worse Rumiko Takahashi’s later series always have a much tighter theme and flow,” Alain notes. “You have a fairly good idea what your going to get in any chapter of Inuyasha or Maison Ikkoku. But Urusei Yatsura feels much more like jazz in its freeform nature. One chapter could be a sexy comedy about aliens, the next is nothing more than a giant set up for a pun with folk creatures, and the next chapter a touching romantic interlude. The only main theme is that the Urusei Yatsura cast are horrible people who are very amusing when they are horrible to each other.” [Reverse Thieves]

REVIEWS

This week’s must-read review is Sarah’s take on The Gay Who Turned Kaiju, a collection of short stories about a teenager struggling to come to terms with his sexual orientation. “Some manga are so compulsive a read that you just have to keep feverishly turning the pages until you get to the end. The Gay Who Turned Kaiju is one of those special titles: well-written and aptly drawn,” she observes. “Even though several of the protagonists are far from sympathetic, especially in the way they treat Takashi, nevertheless they resonate as believable, complex individuals.”

 

Manga the Week of 11/30/22

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SEAN: Thanksgiving is over, you can’t move, come read some manga instead.

ASH: That’s a good response to many a different situation.

SEAN: Airship has a couple of ongoing print series. Disciple of the Lich: Or How I Was Cursed by the Gods and Dropped Into the Abyss! 4 and Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut 2.

And in early digital we see A Tale of the Secret Saint 4 and The World’s Fastest Level Up 2.

A double dose of Cross Infinite World gives us Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra: World Conquest Starts with the Civilization of Ruin 4 and So You Want to Live the Slow Life? A Guide to Life in the Beastly Wilds 2.

Ghost Ship has Creature Girls: A Hands-On Field Journal in Another World 6 and Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time 9.

J-Novel Club has some debuts. The Mythical Hero’s Otherworld Chronicles (Shinwa Densetsu no Eiyū Isekai Tan) is a long series from Overlap, 13 volumes. A legendary hero wants nothing more than to be reincarnated into the peaceful life that he fought so hard to earn. Sadly, he’s reincarnated a thousand years later, and the peace is almost shattered! Can he get his warrior mojo back?

On a sillier note, Reincarnated as an Apple: This Forbidden Fruit Is Forever Unblemished! (Ringo Tensei: Kindan no Kajitsu wa Kyō mo Korokoro to Musō Suru) features a guy who dies when he’s hit by a truck full of apples. But he gets to reincarnate with 4 great OP cheats! … and one curse. You can guess the curse.

MICHELLE: Huh. Well, that’s different, I guess.

ASH: Different enough that it caught my attention, too.

SEAN: Also from J-Novel Club: Ascendance of a Bookworm 22 (which begins the books’ final arc), Cooking with Wild Game 19, the 4th Demon Lord, Retry! manga, The Great Cleric 10, Gushing Over Magical Girls 4, the 2nd Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World manga, The Magician Who Rose from Failure 5, My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! 12, and My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! —AΩ— 6 (the manga).

ASH: I’m a bit behind in my reading of Ascendance of a Bookworn, but I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read so far.

SEAN: Kaiten Books has The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting 4 in print.

Kodansha’s site, per their Anime NYC panel, may be broken for some time, so we continue to try to guess.

MICHELLE: Poor Sean.

SEAN: In print, the first debut is In the Clear Moonlit Dusk (Uruwashi no Yoi no Tsuki), a shoujo title from Dessert. The plot reminds me a LOT of I Hate You More Than Anyone!, and so therefore I am intrigued.

MICHELLE: Me, too! I meant to read this when it came out digitally, so now is a good time to jump on board.

ASH: Oh! I am likewise intrigued.

SEAN: We also see the debut of NOiSE, the prequel to BLAME!, which means we’re back in Tsutomu Nihei territory. This is a Tokyopop license rescue, and is complete in one volume.

MICHELLE: I own the TOKYOPOP version, but I do love BLAME!.

ASH: I really dig Nihei’s artwork.

SEAN: This is a big one: Parasyte Full Color Collection. The original “what the actual F?” manga is back, and in full color. Each volume is 300 pages, and it’s a hardcover.

ASH: I adore Parasyte, but I’ll admit I wasn’t overly impressed by the samples of the color work I saw. Hardcover appeals, though.

SEAN: Wistoria: Wand and Sword (Tsue to Tsurugi no Wistoria) is from Bessatsu Shonen Magazine, and its writer is better known for Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?. A guy enters a magical academy… but can’t use magic! It’s OK. He has a sword.

We’re also starting an omnibus edition of Fire Force, with the first 3 volumes.

Also in print: UQ Holder! 27 is already out, as I missed it. Witch Hat Atelier 10 is already out, as I missed it. And there’s Attack on Titan: Colossal Edition 7, Blue Period 11, Drifting Dragons 11, I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability 2, Peach Boy Riverside 9, Phantom of the Idol 3, Rent-a-Girlfriend 15, and The Seven Deadly Sins Omnibus 6.

ASH: Just picked up my copy of Witch Hat Atelier 10!

SEAN: We don’t have to guess the digital debut, as they told us at the panel. The Food Diary of Miss Maid (Maid-san wa Taberu Dake) is a Comic Days series about a Japanese maid in an English manor who is now back in Japan… but it’s really a foodie sort of title.

ASH: I do like foodie manga.

SEAN: Other digital titles include The Decagon House Murders 5 (the final volume), Desert Eagle 5 (the final volume), I’ll Be with Them Again Today 4 (the final volume), It’s That Reincarnated-as-a-Virus Story 3, My Wonderful World 5 (the final volume), Oh, Those Hanazono Twins 7 (the final volume), Our Bodies, Entwining, Entwined 4, Our Fake Marriage: Rosé 2, Yozakura Quartet 29, and Zatsuki: Make Me a Star 3 (the final volume). So many final volumes!

MICHELLE: Indeed! After being burned so many times by unfinished series, I always feel some satisfaction when we actually get the final volume of something, even if I’m bummed it’s over. (Seven Seas, please rescue Silver Diamond!)

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts I Get the Feeling That Nobukuni-san Likes Me (Tonari no Nobukuni-san wa Ore no Koto ga Suki na Ki ga Suru), a seinen title from Young Animal, about a high school girl who’s fallen in love but has no idea what to do next. Can a mascot character help her?

Also from Seven Seas: Classmates 6 (which has the “Blanc” stories) and Skip and Loafer 6.

MICHELLE: I really do want to read these!

ASH: Same!

SEAN: Square Enix Manga has SINoALICE 2 and Soul Eater: The Perfect Edition 9.

Tokyopop debuts Love Circus, a single volume BL title from Canna. A man who has tried to help a sex worker, and only ended up in debt, tries to kill himself… and wakes up at a sex establishment that caters to gay men.

Tokyopop also has the 2nd manga of Formerly, the Fallen Daughter of the Duke.

And that’s it! Yep, 5th week of the month, so no Viz, no Yen. What’s your turkey coma manga?

The Manga Review: Black Friday Edition

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Yet another Anime NYC has come and gone, bringing with it a raft of licensing announcements from Azuki, Kodansha, Seven Seas, and Yen Press. While most reports from the show floor were positive, The Beat’s Ricardo Serrano Denis noted that the convention suffered from some of the same issues that plagued it before the pandemic. “One thing I thought was seriously underrepresented in the 2019 show was manga and anime booths, places to acquire them,” he noted. “For an anime convention, I felt the number of booths dedicated to the medium were on the slimmer side of things. Fast forward to 2022, a whole pandemic later, and those same shortcomings are still accounted for, perhaps even worse so.” Other attendees gave mixed marks to the panels, noting that the Spy x Family session lasted a mere 30 minutes, while the online ticketing for the Attack on Titan event was marred by computer glitches and limited seating. Still, many folks left satisfied. Summarizing her experience at Anime NYC, for example, Erica Friedman observed there’s more great yuri anime and manga than ever before, noting how many vendors were prominently displaying series such as Lilies and The Executioner and Her Way of Life.

NEWS AND VIEWS

Looking for a great deal on manga or anime? Krystallina has you covered with an extensive list of Black Friday deals. [The OASG]

Mary Lee Sauder jumps in the WABAC machine for a look at the ani-manga craze of the early 2000s. [Honey’s Anime]

Over at Women Write About Comics, Carrie McClain sifts through a batch of new releases from Seven Seas, including I’m a Terminal Cancer Patient, But I’m Fine, The Savior’s Book Café in Another World, and The Titan’s Bride. [WWAC]

The latest essay at Sports Baka focuses on Gunjo no fanfare (Fanfare of Adolescence), a series about “a rich ensemble of teenage characters who, except for their common goal to become jockeys, couldn’t be more different.” [Sports Baka]

The Mangasplainers are all business this week with an in-depth look at Division Chief Kosaku Shima, a salaryman manga from the 1980s. [Mangasplaining]

Psyche Kale exposes the not-so-hidden sexism of Claymore. “Consistently, when given the chance to treat its characters with grace, to give them control of the story, to have their struggles understood, to have their humanity appreciated, Claymore chooses to undermine itself with a juvenile emphasis on unnecessary carnage, a lack of interest in the inner worlds of the characters depicted, and a callousness to their emotional suffering. And it sucks,” they observe. “For many it was the first time they saw a female protagonist in an anime or manga that was allowed the spotlight, who could fight and kill as well as anyone else, who was allowed to get beat up instead of wilting like a dainty flower. There’s still merit in those experiences, and moments of the story where it knows what it’s doing and how to give its female characters that grace and to focus on their emotions.” [Anime Feminist]

REVIEWS

Rebecca Silverman reviews Be Very Afraid of Kanako Inuki, arguing that this short-story anthology feels more “like a sampler rather than a full collection in its own right,” but asserts that “Inuki is a creator worth knowing, and if you’re a fan of Kazuo Umezz and Junji Ito, this is well worth checking out.” Over at The Manga Test Drive, Megan D. takes Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto for a spin. “Pluto works as both a tribute to a classic and as a stand-alone mystery,” she opines. “You don’t need to be familiar with Astro Boy to understand the story, but if you do you’ll be able to appreciate just how Urasawa adapts it for modern tastes.”

Manga the Week of 11/23/22

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SEAN: The deluge.

ASH: Ride the wave!

SEAN: Yen On has some debuts. Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian (Tokidoki Bosotto Roshiago de Dereru Tonari no Alya-san) is basically one of those “sweet high school romcom” series, only with a Russian flavor. Sadly, she doesn’t realize the guy she likes can understand Russian!

ASH: That’s a twist on communication breakdown that I don’t think I’ve seen yet.

SEAN: Apparently, Disillusioned Adventurers Will Save the World (Ningen Fushin no Bōkensha-tachi ga Sekai o Sukuu Yō Desu) tells the tale of an adventurer who was screwed by his party. Now he joins forces with others who had similar issues and together they will be the bitterest adventurers around.

The one-shot is Fox Tales (Kitsune no Hanashi), a short story collection from the creator of Penguin Highway and The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl.

ASH: I’ve really enjoyed Tomihiko Morimi’s past work, so I look forward to reading this one.

SEAN: Gods’ Games We Play (Kami wa Game ni Ueteiru) has a former goddess and a genius boy teaming up to win a rigged contest between gods! This is from the creator of Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World.

And King’s Proposal (Ōsama no Propose) is from the creator of Date a Live, but I guess I’ll talk about it anyway. A dying witch who is the only one with the power to save the world gives her powers to a passing Ordinary High School Student. Now he’ll need to attend a magic academy… posing as her!

Also from Yen On: The Asterisk War 16, Cross-Dressing Villainess Cecilia Sylvie 3, Eighty-Six 11, Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway 2, The Holy Grail of Eris 3, I Kept Pressing the 100-Million-Year Button and Came Out on Top 4, My Happy Marriage 3, Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World 10, Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- 20, Secrets of the Silent Witch 2, So I’m a Spider, So What? 15, Spice & Wolf 23, Strike the Blood 22 (the final volume), Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online 11, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime 15, and The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat 6.

ASH: It’s been a while since I’ve thought about Spice & Wolf. I did enjoy some of the early volumes I read.

SEAN: As for Yen Press, they have debuts as well. Coffee Moon is from Dengeki Maoh, and is about a girl trying to live a normal life during what appears to be the apocalypse, and what happens when one day she cannot.

ASH: Okay, I’m at least vaguely intrigued.

SEAN: The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy (Seiken Gakuin no Maken Tsukai) is based on the light novel, which is not too bad for a “magical academy has a demon lord” book. (Yes, that is a genre.) It runs in Shonen Ace.

Embrace Your Size: My Own Body Positivity (Jibun Size de Ikou Watashi nari no Body Positive) is a one-shot serialized on pixiv’s essay site, and then published by Kadokawa. It is, as you might imagine, a story of how society does not accept anything other than the “accepted” body type, and how to learn to love your body anyway.

ASH: I do like the range of autobio manga we see these days.

SEAN: The Gay Who Turned Kaiju (Kaijuu ni Natta Gay) is a one-shot LGBTQ title that was originally published as a series of ten doujinshi, then collected into a volume by Enterbrain. A bullied gay teen wishes he could be someone else. Surprise! That said, this is apparently really good.

ASH: I’ve heard good things, too.

Hirano and Kagiura is a sequel/side-story to Sasaki and Miyano, and is BL Basketball. BasketBL? It runs in Comic Gene.

MICHELLE: I should really read Sasaki and Miyano.

SEAN: So What’s Wrong with Getting Reborn as a Goblin? (Tensei Goblin Dakedo Shitsumon Aru?) comes from the author of My Unique Skill Makes Me OP Even at Level 1. Reborn as hated thing, weak to strong, exhausted office worker dies by getting truck’d, harem of devoted women… it’s all here. This runs in Tonari no Young Jump.

Touring After the Apocalypse (Shuumatsu Touring) runs in Dengeki Maoh, like Coffee Moon, and also appears to be post-apocalyptic, like Coffee Moon. That said, the plot sounds exactly like Girls’ Last Tour: the non-SF version. Also, its author just started a Super Cub manga spinoff starring Reiko. HINT HINT.

ASH: Hmmm…

SEAN: Yen also has Adachi and Shimamura 4, Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense 5, Breasts Are My Favorite Things in the World! 6, Catch These Hands! 3, A Certain Magical Index 26, The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess 6, The Devil Is a Part-Timer! 19, The Girl I Saved on the Train Turned Out to Be My Childhood Friend 2, Goblin Slayer Side Story: Year One 8, Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story 5, The Maid I Hired Recently Is Mysterious 4, Mieruko-chan 6, Murcielago 20, Overlord 16, Shadows House 2, Slasher Maidens 6, and Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion 2.

That’s it! What will you be… buying… wait. That’s only Yen Press. I’ve only done ONE publisher. (sobs)

Viz Media, fortunately, doesn’t have a lot. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 5–Golden Wind 6, the light novel Naruto: Sasuke’s Story—The Uchiha and the Heavenly Stardust, Urusei Yatsura 16, and (digitally) WITCH WATCH 4.

ASH: Still glad we’re getting so much of JoJo translated.

SEAN: Square Enix has Beauty and the Feast 5, The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated! 4, I Think Our Son Is Gay 4, Ragna Crimson 7, and The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest 9.

ASH: I need to catch up on I Think Our Son Is Gay, but I really like the first volume.

SEAN: Seven Seas has some debuts as well, of course. Steam Reverie in Amber is not a manga or light novel, it’s an artbook/tarot thing from an artist famous for Final Fantasy art.

ASH: Interesting.

You Like Me, Not My Daughter?! (Musume Janakute, Watashi ga Suki Nano!?) is a “momcom” from the creator of When Supernatural Battles Become Commonplace and You Like Me, Don’t You? (and takes place in the same universe as the latter). A young woman raises her niece as her own daughter after the death of her sister and brother-in-law. Then one day, a confession from the guy next door… Not to her daughter, but to her!

Also from Seven Seas: COLORLESS 2, Crossplay Love: Otaku x Punk 2, Dungeon Builder: The Demon King’s Labyrinth is a Modern City! 6, The Ideal Sponger Life 12, Tokyo Revengers Omnibus 5-6, and Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games 4.

One Peace Books has the debut of The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic’s manga (Chiyu Mahou no Machigatta Tsukaikata – Senjou o Kakeru Kaifuku Youin). Based on the light novel (also from One Peace), it runs in Comp Ace.

KUMA debuts The (Pet) Detective Agency (Tantei Jimusho no Kainushi-sama) is a one-shot BL hardcover volume about a detective who is skilled at finding lost pets, and the boss he’s in love with. It ran in Canna.

MICHELLE: Huh. Potentially cute.

ANNA: It does sound cute.

SEAN: Kodansha’s site being under construction and its solicits being hard to find means that the information is, frankly, a mess. I can only apologize.

Kodansha’s print volumes: The Best of Attack on Titan In Color 2 and When Will Ayumu Make His Move? 8.

A print volume I missed from 11/8 is Avant-Garde Yumeko, another Shuzo Oshimi title which is, and there’s no getting around this, about a girl who likes penises. It ran in Young Magazine in 2003.

ASH: Oh, well, it’ll probably be well drawn at the very least?

SEAN: Digital… their site is still down. But let’s try going by solicits. Blackguard 5 (the final volume), Burn the House Down 6, DAYS 32, Gamaran: Shura 2, WIND BREAKER 7, and You’re My Cutie 4.

Books that are already out from 11/8: Ace of the Diamond 40, The Fable 8, My Maid, Miss Kishi 5, Police in a Pod 18, The Shadows of Who We Once Were 6, and Space Brothers 41.

Books that are already out from 11/15: Blue Lock 16, Boss Wife 5, The Café Terrace and its Goddesses 2, Gamaran 3, Golden Gold 6, Hozuki’s Coolheadedness 11, Otherworldly Munchkin: Let’s Speedrun the Dungeon with Only 1 HP! 6, Our Fake Marriage 10, A Serenade for Pretend Lovers 6 (the final volume), The Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse 6, She, Her Camera, and Her Seasons 4, Tesla Note 7, and Ya Boy Kongming! 9.

MICHELLE: I am, as ever, here for all the josei and sports manga!

ANNA: So am I, theoretically!

SEAN: J-Novel Club light novel debut: Making Magic: The Sweet Life of a Witch Who Knows an Infinite MP Loophole (Maryoku Cheat na Majo ni Narimashita ~ Souzou Mahou de Kimama na Isekai Seikatsu ~). This is a reincarnated in a fantasy world that’s like a game but has a cheat ability sort of book. Despite that, female protagonist, so I’ll try it.

Also from J-Novel Club: Ascendance of a Bookworm: Fanbook 3, Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools 5, Holmes of Kyoto 12, the 15th Marginal Operation manga, Perry Rhodan NEO 10, and Redefining the META at VRMMO Academy 5.

Not technically Ghost Ship but I’m putting it here because it’s explicit, The Titan’s Bride (Kyojinzoku no Hanayome) is a mature BL title which features a high school man who finds himself in a fantasy world of giants! And yes, EVERYTHING about them is giant! And one wants our hero as his… bride?

ASH: I’ll admit to being curious.

SEAN: Actual Ghost Ship: The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You 4, Call Girl in Another World 5 and Ero Ninja Scrolls 4.

It’s not just Kodansha I find hard to find. Dark Horse Comics released Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! 4 on 11/8 and I missed it.

Finally (!!), Airship has, in print, Classroom of the Elite Year 2 3 and Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 11.5.

And in early digital they have Drugstore in Another World: The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist 6.

(collapses)

MICHELLE: Sean? Sean?!?!

The Manga Review, 11/18/22

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Last week, ICv2 publisher Milton Griepp sat down for a lengthy conversation with Dark Horse Comics’ CEO Mike Richardson. The two discussed the company’s history–particularly its early investment in manga–as well as current trends in graphic novel sales. Among Richardson’s most interesting revelations was that a significant portion of Dark Horse’s business is happening outside of comic book stores. “85% of our sales are found in traditional bookstores,” he notes. “We’ve been told by PRH (Penguin Random House) that we consistently outsell Marvel and DC in bookstores and it’s bookstores that have pushed Dark Horse sales over nine figures.” Richardson also expressed his frustration with the media’s tendency to report Diamond Distributor figures as an accurate indicator of comic book sales. “Last I checked, we had sold almost five million copies of Berserk,” he notes. “Yes, that’s what I said, and we have a number of books that have sold seven figures.  None of them are included in the Diamond market share because we don’t distribute our books through Diamond.”

NEWS AND VIEWS

Jocelyne Allen explains the appeal of Asada Nemui’s Sleeping Dead, a new entry in the growing sub-genre of zombie BL. “I honestly love every page of this,” she notes. “There’s really not a wasted panel, and while I’m not one hundred percent on board with the explanation for the zombie effect, I am here for the actual zombie action. The developing relationship between mad scientist and zombie is fascinating, especially with the bumps in the road as they each discover things about themselves, and I seriously can’t wait to see how this story resolves in the second volume, which came out only recently.” [Brain vs. Book]

VIZ has just added a new Shonen Jump title to its line-up: The Ichinose Family’s Deadly Sins. The story focuses on a middle-school student who’s reunited with his family after an accident wipes his memory. The catch? His family seems to harboring some big secrets from him! The first chapter is available online. [VIZ]

On the fifteenth anniversary of its original publication, Kara Dennison revisits the first volume of Takashi Okazaki’s Afro-Samurai. [Otaku USA]

Congratulations to SKJAM! Reviews for ten years of thoughtful manga, movie, television, and book reviews; that’s a milestone worth celebrating! [SKJAM! Reviews]

Morgana Santilli leads a spirited roundtable discussion of three shojo titles: MARS, Midnight Secretary, and Ouran High School Host Club. [Manga Machinations]

In the latest installment of Multiversity Manga Club, Walt Richardson, Emily Myers, and Zach Wilkerson recap chapters 956-981 of One Piece. [Multiversity Manga Club]

ICYMI: Hagai Palevsky deconstructs Yuichi Yokoyama’s Plaza. “Such a project is perfect for Yokoyama, as a cartoonist who is interested in the temporality and kinesis of comics and completely uninterested in narrative components such as emotion and character development,” Palevsky observes. “It is elevated by his careful balance between the overall simplicity of lines and the density of objects: he does not bother with overwrought rendering, making do with economic recognizability of objects and putting most of his efforts into a ‘clutter’ both tangible and sensory. There is a lot going on in every single panel, but there is always an order to it, a clarity that rearranges the space in the eyes of the cooperative reader.” [Solrad]

REVIEWS

Over at Okazu, Erica Friedman explains how you should read Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Look Back. “Read it slowly. Pay attention to the details,” she advises. “It’s a slim volume, and not terribly complicated in terms of concept. In fact, I’d call this a very typical ‘the second story a manga artist does after their series goes mega-hit and they need to write about creating manga’ manga. But it is loaded to the gills with feels.” Also worth a look: Sarah offers a frank (and fair!) assessment of The Poe Clan‘s second volume, while Bradathon Nu critiques Tatsuki Fujimoto’s newest one-shot Just Listen to the Song. On the capsule review front, Masha Zhdanova looks at three new VIZ titles, while the gang at Beneath the Tangles offer short-n-sweet assessments of Rooster Fighter, The Remarried Empress, and Tower of God.

Manga the Week of 11/16/22

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SEAN: It’s the week of Anime NYC, so I think a lot of publishers are preparing for the con instead.

ASH: That’s fair.

SEAN: Airship starts us off with print volumes for I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again! 2 and I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! 3.

And we get early digital for Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter 7, aka Accomplishments of the Duke’s Wife 2.

Ghost Ship has the 5th volume of Do You Like Big Girls?.

J-Novel Club has a few titles. Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill 12 (which is now caught up with Japan), Death’s Daughter and the Ebony Blade 2, Did I Seriously Just Get Reincarnated as My Gag Character?! 2 (the final volume), Formerly, the Fallen Daughter of the Duke 2, Infinite Dendrogram’s 10th manga volume, Magic Knight of the Old Ways 4, Oversummoned, Overpowered, and Over It! 2 (also a final volume), and Rebuild World Volume 1 Part 2.

ASH: That is a few!

SEAN: Kodansha has a print debut, As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World (Tensei Kizoku Kantei Sukiru de Nariagaru – Jakushou Ryouchi o Uketsuidanode, Yuushuuna Jinzai o Fuyashite Itara, Saikyou Ryouchi ni Natteta). You can probably guess what it’s about from the title, as always. It runs in Magazine Pocket.

Also from Kodansha: An Older Guy’s First VR Love (VR Ojisan no Hatsukoi). This one-volume title from Zero-Sum Online is apparently BL and yuri, probably as it’s a “guy in real life, girl in game” series. It’s also a tragedy.

MICHELLE: Huh.

ASH: Hmmm.

MJ: Well.

SEAN: Hell in a Bottle: Maiden’s Bookshelf is a new series that takes classic short stories and gives them artbook art. This one features the 1928 story Hell in a Bottle by Kyusaku Yumeno.

ASH: I didn’t realize this was going to be a series, but I’m absolutely here for it!

MJ: …for a split second, I read this as “Hell in a Bottle: Manga Bookshelf,” and I worried about what I’ve been missing.

SEAN: And Kodansha’s light novel line debuts with The Dawn of the Witch, the sequel to the very popular (and unlicensed) Grimoire of Zero series. Why not license that, you may ask? Because Grimoire of Zero is a Dengeki Bunko series. In any case, this is theoretically readable without prior knowledge of the first series. A young man with amnesia is recruited by the traditional blonde-haired, immortal girl who nevertheless looks 10 years old.

Also in print, Attack on Titan Omnibus 7, Eden’s Zero 19, Fire Force 29, and Rent-A-(Really-Shy!)-Girlfriend 3.

We don’t know digital titles for next week… or this week. But Kodansha finally announced titles they already released LAST week. We got The Abandoned Reincarnation Sage 7, The God-Tier Guardian and the Love of Six Princesses 3, Kounodori: Dr. Stork 29, and Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister 5. Kodansha’s main site is still under maintenance.

KUMA has a revised and expanded version of Canis: Dear Mr. Rain.

ASH: Interesting.

SEAN: One Peace Books gives us Hinamatsuri 17.

Seven Seas has a new novel debut in its danmei line: The Husky and His White Cat Shizun: Erha He Ta De Bai Mao Shizun. AKA 2ha. The plot is basically a revenge fantasy with a dollop of “traveling back to my younger self to change the past”, but the BL stops our protagonist in his tracks.

MICHELLE: I’ve heard good things about this. And smutty things.

ANNA: I mean, I think that BL would often stop protagonists in their tracks.

ASH: I’ve been looking forward to giving thus series a try.

MJ: I mean, hasn’t the BL stopped all of us in our tracks at some point or another?

SEAN: The other debut is Futari Escape, a Comic Yuri Hime series about an adult couple trying to avoid responsibilities any way they can. I still am not tired of yuri couples who aren’t in school.

ASH: Neither am I!

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor 15, Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest ZERO 7, The Dungeon of Black Company 8, Even Though We’re Adults 5, Failed Princesses 6 (the final volume), The Tale of the Outcasts 6, This Is Screwed Up, but I Was Reincarnated as a GIRL in Another World! 4, Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs 6, and The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash 2.

MICHELLE: I really need to read Even Though We’re Adults.

ASH: I’ve been collecting the series, but haven’t actually read it yet…

SEAN: Square Enix gives us By the Grace of the Gods 6.

Lastly, Viz Media has Asadora! 6, BEASTARS 21, Mashle: Magic and Muscles 9, Requiem of the Rose King 16, Rooster Fighter 2, and Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead 8.

MICHELLE: Ooh, more Rose King.

ANNA: Yay for angst!

ASH: Always!

MJ: All of the above!

SEAN: Told you it was a short week. Don’t worry, we’ll make up for it the week after next.

The Manga Review, 11/11/22

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File this under Weird Twitter Kerfuffles: on Monday, manga-ka Kentaro Sato tweeted that “CEO Elon Musk has been posting my drawings without permission, so I’d like a usage fee of one billion. In dollars.” Musk had apparently re-tweeted a meme that used imagery from Sato’s Magical Girl Site, which is currently running in Weekly Shonen Champion. Though it’s not clear from context if the post was tongue-in-cheek, a number of Twitter users rallied to Sato’s cause, urging him to take action against Musk:

\\


There’s been no response from Musk so far.

NEWS AND VIEWS

Jocelyne Allen explains why she soldiered through the rocky first chapter of Kemutai Ane to Zuro Imoto. “I almost had to annoyance-quit reading this title,” she confesses. “But you know I love Battan’s sharp-nosed ladies with their cat eyes and strands of hair everywhere, so I kept pushing forward and found a lot more to like, including a much-needed window into Ran’s side of this story.” [Brain vs. Book]

Over at Shonen Flop, David and Jordan dissect the first chapter of Super Smartphone, a new Shonen Jump series. [Shonen Flop]

Artists Sally Madden and Katie Skelly devote the latest episode of the Thick Lines Podcast to Moyocco Anno’s In Clothes Called Fat.[Thick Lines Podcast]

ICYMI: Joe McCulloch dropped by the Thick Lines Podcast a few weeks ago to discuss Kazuo Umezz’s Orochi: Blood. [Thick Lines Podcast]

In the latest installment of Screentone Club, Andy and Elliot go to extremes–tonal extremes, that is, as they discuss Days on Fes and Franken Fran. [Screentone Club]

Erica Friedman praises Eike Exner’s Comics and the Origins of Manga: A Revisionist History, which won the 2022 Eisner Award for Best Academic Work. “You’re probably familiar with orthodox manga history, tracing today’s modern sequential narrative art from Japan from early scrolls, through sketches of the Ukiyo-e period to (time jump) modern manga,” she notes. Exner’s book, however, “stops the story and asks us to look – really look – at that time jump, and at one of the factors that shaped Japanese comicking into what we know today as manga… Exner’s voice is readable and friendly, with a sense of genuine conviction, rather than an argument that was made to be made.” [Okazu]

REVIEWS

Johanna Draper Carlson gives a mixed review to Blue Box, characterizing the artwork as “adequate but not inspiring,” while praising the series for flipping the script. “What I liked most about this book was a boy developing a crush on a girl because of her determination and accomplishments,” she notes. “A lot of shojo has the girl being aggressively normal, even shy, with no reason to stand out, unless it’s due to her cuteness.”

New and Noteworthy

Complete and Ongoing Series

Manga the Week of 11/9/22

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SEAN: It’s November, and witty line goes here!.

Yen On is pushing out a lot of new light novels. We get Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside 7, The Bride of Demise 2, High School DxD 9, I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss 4, The Otherworlder, Exploring the Dungeon 3, Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Ex 5, and Torture Princess: Fremd Torturchen 9 (the final volume).

From Viz Media, we see Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai 5, Fly Me to the Moon 14, Kaiu Shirai x Posuka Demizu: Beyond The Promised Neverland (a short story collection set before and after the main series), Mao 8, Pokémon Journeys 4 (the final volume), Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle 19, and World Trigger 24.

ASH: I fell behind with The Promised Neverland long ago, but I do like these sorts of short story collections.

MICHELLE: I still need to finish it, myself.

SEAN: Tokyopop gives us the 4th and final volume of Mame Coordinate.

Already out from Tentai Books is the 2nd volume of light novel You Like Me, Don’t You?.

SuBLime has the 2nd and final volume of Love Nest, as well as the 7th volume of Punch Up!.

ASH: I may have said this last time, too, but I forgot that Punch Up! was an ongoing series. I have enjoyed what I’ve read, though.

SEAN: Steamship gives us a 2nd volume of I’ll Never Be Your Crown Princess!.

Square Enix Manga debuts Tokyo Aliens, a GFantasy series about a young man trying to follow in the footsteps of his police officer father, and the aliens who derail that when they kidnap him.

ASH: That’s the sort of ridiculous premise I like to see.

ANNA: I almost wish it had one additional layer of ridiculousness, but alien kidnapping does sound like something new at least.

SEAN: They also have the 6th manga volume of Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town.

Seven Seas debuts the manga version of Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court (Futsutsuka na Akujo dewa Gozaimasu ga: Suuguu Chouso Torikae Den), which runs in Comic Zero-Sum. What’s that, you say? I’ve shilled for this series before? AND I WILL AGAIN!

Also from Seven Seas: Free Life Fantasy Online: Immortal Princess 2, I Can’t Believe I Slept With You! 3 (the final volume), Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Kanna’s Daily Life 10, The Most Notorious “Talker” Runs the World’s Greatest Clan 3, My Next Life as a Villainess Side Story: On the Verge of Doom! 3 (the final volume), My [Repair] Skill Became a Versatile Cheat, So I Think I’ll Open a Weapon Shop 2, Namekawa-san Won’t Take a Licking! 2, and Tamamo-chan’s a Fox! 6 (the final volume).

One Peace Books has the 7th volume of Farming Life in Another World.

Kodansha’s site is currently empty, but retailers tell me they have some print next week. The debut is Go! Go! Loser Ranger! (Sentai Daishikkaku), a Weekly Shonen Magazine title that’s a sentai series, with all the sentai things you’d expect coming with it.

ASH: Those can sometimes be a lot of fun.

SEAN: And for readers who really really hate themselves, there’s Rent-A-Girlfriend Manga Box Set 1, which has Vol. 1-6.

Also in print: Blue Period 10, those two Love and Lies endings that got bumped from 10/26, Orient 11, Sayonara Football 13, The Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse 5, Shaman King Omnibus 11, and Something’s Wrong with Us 11.

The new digital debut (the only digital release we know about) is Matcha Made in Heaven (Kono Koi, Chaban ni Tsuki!?), a josei series from Be Love. A young woman breaks off her engagement and returns home to her family’s tea farm (hence the pun in the title)… only to find another guy and a little girl living there? And now she’s pretending to be his wife?

MICHELLE: it sounds potentially cute. I could go for some wholesome josei.

ANNA: Me too!

ASH: Same. And I love a good pun.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has a manga spinoff debuting: Campfire Cooking in Another World: Sui’s Great Adventure (Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hōrō Meshi: Sui no Daibōken). It runs in Comic Gardo, and stars Sui the Slime.

ASH: Does this count as a food manga?

SEAN: Also from J-Novel Club: How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 17, Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World 2, and Monster Tamer 11.

Ghost Ship has a 4th volume of Might as Well Cheat: I Got Transported to Another World Where I Can Live My Wildest Dreams!.

Dark Horse Comics has the 12th Deluxe Edition of Berserk.

ASH: A copy of that will be coming home with me.

SEAN: And Airship, in print, has The Most Notorious “Talker” Runs the World’s Greatest Clan 3 (yes, the manga and light novel are coming out the same week, just to annoy me), Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation 19, and Survival in Another World with My Mistress! 3.

While digitally, we get 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! 2.

Insert joke here! What are you buying?

MICHELLE: Not much, apparently!

ANNA: Gonna save my pennies this week!

The Manga Review, 11/4/22

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This week’s biggest news story: Kadokawa has purchased Anime News Network. On November 1st, publisher Christopher MacDonald posted an open letter to ANN’s readership to reassure them that the site’s “editorial independence is contractually guaranteed,” and explain that the biggest changes would be in the site itself, not the content. “KWE will be investing significantly in ANN’s software development,” he noted. “A number of new projects will be launched, and a number of projects that have been stuck in development for way too long will be prioritized.” As expected, reader reactions were mixed, with some posting congratulations, and others voicing skepticism about having a major Japanese publisher as a corporate parent. “Yeah, gonna be tough to trust reviews for Kadokawa stuff now,” opined user Albion Hero. “You can say all you want about ‘we will keep our independence’ but its [sic] been long proven that companies that own sites and magazines don’t like those reviews to be critical of their products… Seen this same song and dance plenty of times in gaming media. All the staff say how good their new corporate overlords are, and how they will keep their independence and all. Then 2 years later all the staff is gone and the site no longer has their original integrity.” They concluded: “Would love to be proven wrong but I’ve seen this story too many times.”

NEWS AND VIEWS

Earlier this week, Seven Seas unveiled a fresh crop of licenses, among them Homonculus, a horror series from the creator of Ichi the Killer; Soara and the House of Monsters, a fantasy manga; and Cat on the Hero’s Lap, a comedy about a warrior whose efforts to save his homeland from destruction are thwarted by a cute cat. [Seven Seas]

In other licensing news, Azuki announced two new acquisitions: BLITZ, a sports manga set in the world of competitive chess, and Zombie Makeout Club, a horror manga about–you guessed it–a teenage zombie. [Azuki]

The October 2022 NPD Bookscan numbers are in, and once again Spy x Family, My Hero Academia, and Chainsaw Man dominated the Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels chart. [ICv2]

Bill Curtis posts a complete list of manga and light novels scheduled for a November 2022 release. [Yatta Tachi]

If you’re an avid sports manga enthusiast, you’ll want to check out the newly launched Sports Baka substack, where you’ll find essays on Hajime no Ippo, Dive!!, Days, Ryman’s Club and more. [Sports Baka]

The Manga Mavericks dedicate their latest episode to Red Sprite, a Shonen Jump title from 2019. [Manga Mavericks]

On the latest episode of Shojo & Tell, Ashley and Asher critique Skull-Faced Bookseller Honda-san. [Shojo & Tell]

Walt Richardson and Emily Myers dissect the October 2022 issue of Shonen Jump. [Multiversity Manga Club]

In keeping with the Halloween spirit, Gee and Ray explore the highs and lows of Junji Ito‘s extensive catalog. [Read Right to Left]

Parents, teachers, and librarians interested in learning more about yokai manga will find Brigid Alverson’s latest article for the School Library Journal a helpful resource; not only does she delve into the history of the genre, she also compiles a list of age-appropriate titles for kids, tweens, and teens. [School Library Journal]

Over at TCJ, Ritesh Babu and Ari Gardner interview Juan Albarran, a Spanish artist who’s currently working with Shoji Fujimoto on Matagi Gunner, a seinen action series about “an elderly rural hunter who proves unexpectedly skilled at video game first-person shooters, and soon becomes embroiled in the colorful world of e-gaming.” [The Comics Journal]

Max explains how BL manga such as Go For It, Nakamura! offered him an alternative model of masculinity. “I could be kind, thoughtful, and cute like the boys in BL anime and manga,” he notes. “Maybe some people wouldn’t understand, but I’d always have BL to reassure me that there was nothing wrong with me, and that it was okay to be myself.” [Anime Feminist]

REVIEWS

It’s a measure of how mainstream Hayao Miyazaki’s work has become that both the New York Times and the New Yorker commissioned reviews of Shuna’s Journey, available in English for the first time this month. Writing for the Times, Susan Napier declares Shuna’s Journey “eerie, enchanting, and surpassingly strange,” while Sam Thielman observes that “Shuna’s Journey moves and surprises because of the reader’s disorientation at being dropped into a world that is both generously detailed and miserly with explanations.”

New and Noteworthy

Complete and Ongoing Series

Manga the Week of 11/2/22

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SEAN: Is it Halloween yet? Oh my God, it’s already past! You fools! You absolute fools!

ASH: The time! How it flies!

SEAN: We start with Airship’s print releases, as they’ve got Modern Villainess: It’s Not Easy Building a Corporate Empire Before the Crash 2, Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship! 5, and Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court 2.

And we get an early digital release for Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells 6.

Cross Infinite World has a new light novel, The Strongest Knight is Actually a Cross-Dressing Noblewoman?! (Hyōgetsu no Kishi wa Dansō Reijō: Naze ka Dekiai Sarete Imasu). A young woman has to disguise herself as a man in order to become a knight… and possibly lead the way to an order of female knights!

ASH: Okay, that could be good.

ANNA: I enjoy cross dressing female knights!

SEAN: Dark Horse has the 41st volume of Berserk, the last one drawn by Kentaro Miura before his tragic death.

ASH: This series is a touchstone for me; Miura is missed by so many.

SEAN: Ghost Ship debuts Ayakashi Triangle, the series that broke the online manga apps. From the creator of To-Love-Ru, it is a “gender-bending romance”, but let’s face it, you know this author, it’s T&A and more T&A.

Also from Ghost Ship: I’m Not Meat 2, It’s Just Not My Night! – Tale of a Fallen Vampire Queen 2, and Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs 21.

Some print from J-Novel Club. We get Ascendance of a Bookworm 15 and An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride 13.

ASH: Obligatory, “Yay, Bookworm!”

SEAN: Digitally we see the debut of the Rebuild World manga. J-Novel Club already put out the light novel version. This runs in Dengeki Maoh.

And we also get Doll-Kara 3, Full Clearing Another World under a Goddess with Zero Believers 5, Invaders of the Rokujouma!? 40, and Now I’m a Demon Lord! Happily Ever After with Monster Girls in My Dungeon 2.

Kaiten Books has a new digital release: The Bottom-Tier Baron’s Accidental Rise to the Top (Teihen Ryoushu no Kanchigai Eiyuutan). This Comic Gardo series honestly sounds like The Genius Prince’s Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt on hard mode.

Kodansha is offering the Complete Edition of No Longer Human that Usamaru Furuya did a while back. Definitely more for Furuya fans than Osamu Dazai fans, I’d say.

ASH: That’s a fair assessment. I’m really glad to see this coming back into print, though.

SEAN: And we also get a complete edition of The Ghost in the Shell. Minus that one page, y’know.

Also in print: Attack on Titan The Final Season Part 2 Box Set, which comes with a new ending that isn’t godawful (OK, I lie, it doesn’t), Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro 13, A Galaxy Next Door 3, The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World 2, and Orient 10.

I don’t know what’s coming out digitally due to the way Kodansha updates its site after its end-of-month announcements. Sorry!

Another pile of Seven Seas debuts. Ex-Yakuza and Stray Kitten (Hiroware Koneko to Moto Yakuza) is from Mag Garden’s MAGxiv, and means we get another week in a row of adorable cat manga.

ASH: So many ex-yakuza and cat manga these days! It was only a matter of time before we’d get this particular combo.

SEAN: I’m a Terminal Cancer Patient, but I’m Fine (Mikkigan demo Genki desu 38-sai) is a biographical manga about, well, the artist’s life with colon cancer. It ran in Flex Comic’s Comic Polaris.

ASH: I do like that Seven Seas continues to release biographical manga.

SEAN: Let’s Buy the Land and Cultivate It in a Different World (Isekai de Tochi wo Katte Noujou wo Tsukurou) runs in Gentosha’s Comic Boost. Do you like Farming Life in Another World and wish there was a version with more mermaids? This is it.

Also from Seven Seas: The 4th and final volume of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong, which has short stories set around the main action and after it. This also has a special edition and a Barnes and Noble special edition.

ASH: Oh!

SEAN: And there is The Demon Girl Next Door 6 and The Savior’s Book Café Story in Another World 4.

Viz Media debuts a new Shonen Jump manga, Blue Box (Ao no Hako). A guy on the boy’s badminton team falls for a girl on the girl’s basketball team. Can their love survive being a non-BL-tinged sports manga in Shonen Jump? Seriously, though, I’ve heard this is excellent.

MICHELLE: I am here for it.

ASH: Same!

ANNA: One of my kids really likes this.

MJ: I may miss the BL fanservice, but girl’s basketball more than makes up for it.

SEAN: We also see The Elusive Samurai 3, The King’s Beast 8, Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible 4, Natsume’s Book of Friends 27, One-Punch Man 24, and Skip Beat! 47.

MICHELLE: Insert Skip Beat! squee here. I also look forward to getting caught up on Natsume.

ASH: Excellent series, both.

ANNA: Extra Yay! for Skip Beat!.

SEAN: Lastly, Yen Press has Thermae Romae: The Complete Omnibus (it apparently weighs almost 7 pounds) and The Detective Is Already Dead 3.

ASH: Thermae Romae provided me with such delight when it was first released; so glad to see it available again.

SEAN: Since you didn’t get any candy, what manga are you getting?

The Manga Review, 10/28/22

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Over the last year, The Comics Journal has been translating essays by prolific manga critic Natsume Fusanosuke. The topics have run the gamut from Taiyo Matsumoto’s distinctive visual style to the enduring appeal of Sazae-san and Rumiko Takahashi’s role in bringing romance to shonen manga. The latest installment focuses on Miyaya Kazuhiko, a key figure in the gekiga movement who’s not particularly well known to Western readers. In their helpful introduction, translators John Holt and Teppei Fukuda compare Natsume’s essay to Tatsumi Yoshihiro’s A Drifting Life, arguing that both Yoshihiro and Natsume write their “autobiograph[ies] as a history of gekiga. For Natsume, Miyaya’s gekiga form the pivotal ‘chapters’ in his own life as a ‘manga youth’ (manga seinen), coming of age in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s.” That’s a helpful way of understanding the essay’s mixture of self-reflection and analysis; Natsume uses his personal experiences to show the reader what Miyaya’s work meant to Japanese readers during a period of immense social, cultural, and technological change.

NEWS AND VIEWS

Seven Seas announced that it will be publishing LUPIN III (Lupin the Third): Thick as Thieves – Classic Manga Collection, “a curated collection of some of Monkey Punch’s best stories and chapters of Lupin III from throughout the classic manga’s history.” The book will be available in digital and hardcover editions next summer. [Seven Seas]

If you missed the first issue of Glaeolia, fear not: Glacier Bay Books is currently raising money for a reprint. (N.B. The crowdfundr page is not yet accepting pledges; the site should go live this weekend.) [Glacier Bay Books]

Jocelyne Allen sings the praises of Japanese SF Comics, a collection of sci-fi stories by Keiko Takamiya, Osamu Tezuka, and Junko Sasaki. Someone license this, please! [Brain vs. Book]

Found on Twitter: Kiuchi Niboro’s manga memoir about his time in a Soviet POW camp. It’s a fascinating look at a forgotten chapter of World War II history. [tara_chara]

What does Space Brothers have in common with M*A*S*H? The Mangasplainers are big fans of both, and divide their latest episode between a discussion of Chuya Koyama’s sci-fi drama and a discussion of the beloved seventies sitcom. [Mangasplaining… er, M*A*S*Hsplaining]

Tom and Joe, a.k.a. the Anime Sickos, sit down with one of Twitter’s most popular manga influencers, Minovsky Article. [Anime Sickos]

The Manga Machinations crew dedicate their latest podcast to Franken Fran, Wonderland, and Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation. [Manga Machinations]

Scholar Kathryn Hemmann explores the relationship between dojinshi and Western zine culture, drawing on their own experiences “both as an indie zine maker and as someone who has participated in big anthology fanzines.” [WWAC]

REVIEWS

In keeping with the spirit of Halloween, this week’s featured review analyzes Junji Ito’s Black Paradox, just out from VIZ. Christoper Farris argues that the book isn’t “especially ‘scary’ in a traditional sense, noting that “[t]here aren’t a lot of page-turn jump-scares included, and even the idea of gnawing, anxious dread is tied more to a character’s interior development rather than tangibly imparted to the reader. Black Paradox instead mostly thrives on general conceptual weirdness, letting Ito cut loose with body horror in time with the broadening of the plot.”

Also worth a look is Megan D.’s review of Happiness, a vampire manga by Shuzo Oshimi (Blood on the Tracks, Flowers of Evil). “Happiness is at its best when it tries to visualize the terror and confusion of a vampiric transformation against one’s will,” she observes, “but it’s hard to shake the feeling that from this point onward Oshimi was starting to rely on a story formula that was starting to get a little repetitious and questionable in its gender politics.”

The Manga Review, 10/21/22

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“Manga won”–that was Heidi MacDonald’s pithy assessment of New York Comic Con 2022, as she noted how much the show was tilting towards Asian comics. “We all know that anime and manga soared during the pandemic but the exhibit halls of NYCC ‘22 were the in your face proof of that,” she opined, pointing to VIZ’s giant Luffy float as an example of how manga was crowding out tights and capes. “If the NYCC show floor was a diagram of nerdworld, comics publishers were the equivalent of an abandoned storefront,” she continued. “Against these massive displays for anime and collectibles, comics publishers were often just a pipe and drape table with some people signing.” For additional perspective on NYCC ’22, check out Heidi’s more in-depth report for Publisher’s Weekly.

NEWS AND VIEWS

If you missed the Best and Worst Manga panel at New York Comic-Con, fear not: MangaInLibraries has posted the panelists’ picks and pans. [Anime Planet]

Have you filled out the October Seven Seas Reader Survey yet? [Seven Seas]

Brigid Alverson has the deets on three new Seven Seas titles, all of which are slated for release next year. [ICv2]

Good news for Hunter x Hunter fans: the series returns from a four-year hiatus in November. [Anime News Network]

REVIEWS

This week’s must-read review comes to us from Renee Scott, who praises Josee, The Tiger and The Fish for “handl[ing] ableism in a realistic way” while offering readers “a beautiful love story that shows that nothing is beyond your reach if your passion is stronger than your doubt.” Looking for a good shojo title? Laura Grace posts a new installment in the ABCs of Shojo Manga, this time focusing on titles that begin with E.

New and Noteworthy

Ongoing and Complete Series

Manga the Week of 10/26/22

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SEAN: Is it Halloween yet? Still no.

Yen On has The Angel Next Door Spoilers Me Rotten 4 and Baccano! 20.

And Yen Press’s sole release is I’m a Behemoth, an S-Ranked Monster, but Mistaken for a Cat, I Live as an Elf Girl’s Pet 5.

Viz Media’s debut is a one-shot horror manga from Junji Ito, Black Paradox. It ran in Big Comic Spirits. Four suicidal people meet up and have strange things befall them.

MICHELLE: It is the perfect season for some Junji Ito!

ASH: That it is!

ANNA: Sounds quite spooky and depressing.

SEAN: Viz also has a light novel, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — The Flower of Happiness. It actually looks to be a short story collection.

And we get a 7th volume of everyone’s favorite yuri trainwreck, How Do We Relationship?.

MICHELLE: I’m so far behind on this!

ASH: I am, too, but I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve read.

SEAN: Tokyopop has a 3rd volume of I Was Reincarnated as the Villainess in an Otome Game but the Boys Love Me Anyway!.

Steamship has the 2nd volume of Outbride: Beauty and the Beasts.

Square Enix Manga gives us A Man and His Cat 7.

MICHELLE: Also so far behind on this!

SEAN: Seven Seas wraps up its month of cat manga debuts with Yokai Cats (Neko Youkai). This Takeshobo series is from the creator of The Evil Secret Society of Cats, which debuted… erm, last week. The plot is the title.

ASH: Oh, more cats! And yokai, too? I should probably give it a try, then.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: The Ancient Magus’ Bride 16, MoMo -the blood taker- 2, the 5th and final volume of Necromance, Reincarnated as a Sword 9, Sakurai-san Wants to Be Noticed 2, and Servamp 17.

MICHELLE: It’s also the perfect season for The Ancient Magus’ Bride!

ASH: It’s true!

SEAN: One Peace Books has Multi-Mind Mayhem 5.

Kodansha has a print debut: Skygrazer (Getenrou). This one-shot ran in Kodansha’s Mephisto, and is from the creator of Heavenly Delusion. A detective is investigating a series of inter-linked cases (and indeed inter-linked short story chapters) at a weird apartment.

MICHELLE: This sounds like it could be my sort of thing!

ASH: Count me curious, too.

ANNA: All these things sound interesting.

SEAN: Also in print: Love and Lies 12, which comes in two variations: The Lilina Ending and The Misaki Ending. Is this a new trend in harem comedies to avoid fans sending death threats to the author? We Never Learn did it as well. At least Quintuplets made a choice.

ASH: Huh, that is a rather interesting trend.

SEAN: And also also in print: Shangri-La Frontier 2, Wandance 3, and Welcome to the Ballroom 11.

MICHELLE: I really enjoyed the first volume of Wandance. I read the first eight volumes of Welcome to the Ballroom, but after releases spread out exponentially, I sort of drifted away. Perhaps it’s time to return.

SEAN: Digitally, Kodansha gives us Burn the House Down 5, Koigakubo-kun Stole My First Time 3, Lightning and Romance 3, the 4th and final volume of My Tentative Name, My Wonderful World 4, the 3rd and final volume of Nighttime for Just Us Two, Oh, Those Hanazono Twins 6, and ONIMAI: I’m Now Your Sister! 6.

MICHELLE: Must read Burn the House Down and Nighttime for Just Us Two in the near future!

SEAN: From J-Novel Club we see the 4th Full Clearing Another World under a Goddess with Zero Believers manga volume, Min-Maxing My TRPG Build in Another World 4 Canto II, Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter 5, and Slayers 16.

Ghost Ship has a 3rd volume of The Witches of Adamas.

Denpa Books debuts Nana & Kaoru, a Young Animal title that will take you right back to the horny, horny days of your teenage years. This omnibus contains the first three volumes. The premise is basically “what if BDSM play made you a better person?”.

Also from Denpa: Heavenly Delusion 4. Which was actually last week, my bad. Denpa’s calendar can be hard to divine at times.

Lots of print debuts for Airship that we discussed when they got an early digital release. The one that isn’t is TITAN, a novel from the creator of Hello World. The premise is basically “what if the AI that controls the world needs therapy”?

ASH: This is most definitely within a subgenre I tend to read.

ANNA: What if we ALL need therapy?

SEAN: And we also see debuts in print for Vivy Prototype and The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash.

As well as Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation 18, Loner Life in Another World 3, and The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary 6.

Digitally, there’s Disciple of the Lich: Or How I Was Cursed by the Gods and Dropped Into the Abyss! 4 and The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent 7.

No candy yet. Have some manga instead.

The Manga Review, 10/14/22

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Historically, New York Comic Con was the event for big licensing announcements, but in recent years manga publishers have focused more on promoting their best-selling series than on unveiling new acquisitions. While this year’s event yielded some licensing news–VIZ, for example, revealed that it would be publishing a new Spiderman manga–the bigger story is that many companies are casting their nets widely for new content. “One notable trend,” Deb Aoki observes, “is the growth of webtoons, including comics content originally from Korea and China, and original comics created by a wave of international creators featured on such mobile comics platforms such as Webtoon, Tapas Media, Manta, Lezhin, and Tappytoon.” Yen Press, in particular, was enthusiastically promoting its new Korean comics imprint Ize Press, which will release its first titles this fall. Will readers embrace Korean comics this time around? Hard to say, but given the current wave of teen interest in Korean music, television, and movies, it’s not a stretch to imagine that Yen Press will find a more receptive audience for manhwa than it did ten or fifteen years ago. Stay tuned…

NEWS AND VIEWS

For the second year in a row, Chainsaw Man won the Harvey Award for Best Manga, beating out Blood on the Tracks, Blue Lock, Cat + Gamer, Red Flowers, and Spy x Family. [The Beat]

Seven Seas announced three new additions to its spring 2023 schedule: Last Game, The Great Snake’s Bride, and A Story of Seven Lives. [Seven Seas]

Erica Friedman files a report from New York Comic Con. [Okazu]

Whether you’re new to manga or just want to refresh your library’s collection, Sara Smith has you covered. Join her for Manga 101 at this year’s SLJ Summit. [SLJ Summit 2022]

If you listen to only one podcast this week, make it the latest episode of Mangasplaining, which focuses on Jun Mayuzuki’s Kowloon Generic Romance. Come for the thoughtful commentary, stay for the fascinating history lesson on the neighborhood that inspired the story. [Mangasplaining]

Ashley and Asher jump in the WABAC machine for a look at Yuu Watase’s Absolute Boyfriend. [Shojo & Tell]

The latest Taiiku Podcast focuses on When a Cat Faces West and Reincarnated as a Sword. [Manga in Your Ears]

Ryosuke Arakane interviews Kazuo Umezu about his creative process as both as a painter and a manga artist. “Having a childlike spirit is a profound thing,” he notes. “It’s a great thing I picked up. My stories feature children, so there’s a connection… The difference between adults and children is that adults might think something is childish, but children might think the opposite.” [Tokion]

REVIEWS

Krystallina reviews Risky Business, a digital-only offering from Media Do. “Risky Business sounds like a gambling manga, but the only gamble is the one you take on this series,” she notes. “On one hand, the manga is very intriguing with all the manipulation and underhanded tricks going on. On the other hand, man, this manga has a high amount of unlikable characters.” Over at Okazu, Erica Friedman explains why she’s looking forward to more installments of She Loves to Eat, She Loves to Cook.

New and Noteworthy

Ongoing and Complete Series