Features

SEAN: Let’s briefly talk turkey here. I try to do these lists about a week before the books come out. And given what’s going on over the world, some of these release dates are going to shift. A lot. I know one publisher has already pushed all their May and June titles to later in the summer. And Diamond Comics is not distributing to comic shops till this has passed, meaning more outlets are gone. I will continue to do my best to keep up with this, but… well, I’d expect a lot of delays. For obvious reasons.

ASH: Thanks for keeping track as best as you can! There’s a lot in flux right now.

SEAN: We start with Ghost Ship, which has two new debuts, both smutty, but with one for the ladies and one for the gentlemen. Fire in His Fingertips: A Flirty Fireman Ravishes Me with His Smoldering Gaze (Yubisaki Kara Honki no Netsujou ~ Charaotoko Shoubou-shi wa Massuguna me de Watashi o Daita ~) is a josei title from Shueisha, about our heroine (an OL) and her childhood friend (a fireman) who turns out to like her a lot more than she expected.

ASH: As Ghost Ship’s first josei title (if I recall correctly), I’m curious.

SEAN: Parallel Paradise, meanwhile, is very much for the young man. Running in Kodansha’s Young Magazine, it’s your standard “young man summoned to another world” story… except he’s the only man in a fantasy world filled with hot women.

Ghost Ship also has a 3rd volume of Creature Girls and World’s End Harem 8.

No debuts for J-Novel Club, but a lengthy list of titles. We get The Economics of Prophecy 2, Full Metal Panic! 6, I Shall Survive Using Potions! 4, Infinite Stratos 12, The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind! has a 4th manga volume, Record of Wortenia War 5, The Unwanted Undead Adventurer 5, and The World’s Least Interesting Master Swordsman 2.

Kaiten Books are a new entry into the publishing world, and they debut this week with Loner Life in Another World, from Overlap’s Comic Gardo. They certainly know what the hot new trend is.

Kodansha has but one print release: the 19th UQ Holder!.

Digitally there’s a lot more. A Sign of Affection (Yubisaki to Renren) is a new series from the creator of Shortcake Cake, which runs in… you got it… Dessert. Our heroine is a college student, who runs into a nice young guy, who speaks three languages! Sadly, she’s deaf, so that won’t help. This actually looks really good and has gotten great buzz.

MICHELLE: I really like Shortcake Cake and tend to enjoy titles from Dessert, so I’m definitely looking forward to this!

MJ: This sounds great!

ANNA: I agree!

SEAN: And there’s also 1122: For a Happy Marriage 6, Ace of the Diamond 25, Atsomori-kun’s Bride-to-Be 4, Let’s Kiss in Secret Tomorrow 2, Space Brothers 35, and That Blue Summer 3.

MICHELLE: Atsumori-kun’s Bride-to-Be is very cute, in an Itazura na Kiss kind of way. And, of course, I’m always keen for more Ace of the Diamond!

SEAN: Seven Seas has another spinoff, Dance in the Vampire Bund: Age of Scarlet Order. It runs in Media Factory’s Comic Corona, and is, well, for fans of Dance in the Vampire Bund and its spinoffs.

There’s also Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist’s Journey 4, Made in Abyss 8, the 6th novel for Mushoku Tensei (digital), and the 2nd Reincarnated As a Sword manga.

MICHELLE: I really am going to catch up on Blank Canvas.

ASH: It is really good, so I support you in your effort!

SEAN: Vertical has two novels. Owarimmonogatari: End Tale 2 finally tells us what was going on with Araragi and Kanbaru during that very busy week in August; and Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose, Resurrection at Nineteen 2 finally tells us… um… dunno. It’s a prequel?

On the Yen On end, there’s The Dirty Way to Destroy the Goddess’ Heroes 3, 86 ~Eighty-Six~ 4, and So I’m a Spider, So What? 8.

And Yen Press has Dimension W 16, For the Kid I Saw in My Dreams 4, Goblin Slayer (manga) 7, IM: Great Priest Imhotep 2, and Konosuba Explosion 4 (manga).

ASH: I’ve been reading but need to catch up with For the Kid I Saw In My Dreams.

SEAN: What manga is raising your spirits?

SEAN: It’s getting near the end of March. Are you getting some manga delivered to you?

Dark Horse debuts the Dangan Ronpa 2: Goodbye Despair manga, which I believe tells the story from the POV of the actual lead this time, as opposed to the semi-antagonist.

J-Novel Club continues its rollout of shoujo light novels with The White Cat’s Revenge as Plotted from the Dragon King’s Lap (Fukushuu wo Chikatta Shironeko wa Ryuuou no Hiza no Ue de Damin wo Musaboru), another series from the Arianrose label. A young girl ends up in another world, abandoned by her “friend”, trapped on a dangerous land, and turned into a white cat. But does she let that get her down? Hell no!

ASH: It make me happy to see more shoujo novels being translated.

SEAN: They’ve also got Ascendance of a Bookworm’s third manga volume, and Outbreak Company 13.

Kodansha’s print debut is Yuzu the Pet Vet (Yuzu no Dobutsu Karte), a Nakayoshi series about an 11-year-old who lives at her uncle’s pet hospital. She’s scared of animals, but wants to help out. Can she slowly come to love them? This looks, pardon me, goddamn adorable.

MICHELLE: It does. I wonder if it’ll be a little too cutesy for me, but I will definitely be checking it out.

ASH: I plan on giving it a look, too!

ANNA: It does sound cute!

MJ: Oh!

SEAN: Also out in print is Cells at Work: Code BLACK 4, If I Could Reach You 4, Living-Room Matsunaga-san 2, and The Seven Deadly Sins 37.

MICHELLE: I liked the first volume of Living-Room Matsunaga-san. I’m glad it’s getting a print release.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to give it a try.

SEAN: The digital debut is Star⇄Crossed!! (Oshi ga Watashi de Watashi ga Oshi de), which is from the creator of Kiss Him, Not Me! and looks to be about as bananas as that one was. It runs in Betsufure, begins with the hero and heroine dying, and features bodyswaps via kissing.

MICHELLE: I am so down for this. I hope it doesn’t involve ludicrous, spontaneous weight loss as a plot point.

ANNA: That sounds hilarious.

MJ: I’m so ready for this.

SEAN: Other digital titles next week: Altair: A Record of Battles 16, Boarding School Juliet 15, DAYS 17, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 19, I Fell in Love After School 2, Vampire Dormitory 3, and Watari-kun’s ******* Is About to Collapse 4.

MICHELLE: I really need to read Elegant Yokai Apartment Life.

SEAN: Seven Seas has three debuts. The Conditions of Paradise is a short-story collection from celebrated yuri artist Akiko Morishima. The stories ran in Comic Yuri Hime.

ASH: I’m curious about this one.

MJ: I am, too!

SEAN: Cosmo Familia is by the artist of the Madoka Magica manga, and appears to appeal to that demographic, but replaces magical girls with alien invaders. This one runs in Houbunsha’s Manga Time Kirara Forward.

We’ve already seen the PENGUINDRUM manga, and the PENGIUNDRUM anime, now enjoy the first light novel volume as well. This is an early digital release.

ASH: I’m sure I’ll get around to reading this once it’s available in print.

SEAN: They’ve also got Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average?! 8 (print) and 9 (digital), Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 12 (print), Machimaho 5, Mushoku Tensei: Roxy Gets Serious 3, and the 3rd Skeleton Knight in Another World manga.

Square Enix gives us a manga version of a light novel Yen On is releasing, Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town. The novel was a lot of fun. The manga runs in Gangan Online.

ASH: It does sound like it would be fun.

MJ: It does!

SEAN: Vertical has a 14th volume of Devils’ Line.

Yen On has three titles. A Certain Magical Index 22 is the final volume of the first Index series… is it the end of the Index novels in North America as well? There’s also Do You Love Your Mom? 5 and You Call That Service? 2.

And Yen Press has a pile of manga, though no debuts. Instead we get Bungo Stray Dogs 14, Cocoon Entwined 2, Hatsu*Haru 11, Kiniro Mosaic 10, KonoSuba’s 10th manga volume, Laid-Back Camp 10, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected’s 13th manga volume, Smokin’ Parade 7, So I’m a Spider, So What?’s 7th manga volume, Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun 2, and Triage X 19.

MICHELLE: The first volume of Cocoon Entwined was atmospheric and intriguing, and I very much look forward to more!

ASH: I just recently read the first volume of Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun and kind of loved it, so I’ll definitely be picking up the second.

SEAN: Does any of this ring your chimes?

SEAN: It’s the week of St. Patrick’s Day, and yet the amount of Irish manga is thin on the ground.

Dark Horse has Mob Psycho 100 4, which I remain convinced must be 2000% better animated.

ASH: I’ve been enjoying the manga, but it sounds like I should check out the anime, too!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has two debuts. Bibliophile Princess (Mushikaburi-hime) is from Ichijinsha’s Iris Bunko line, and features a princess who spots her betrothed with another man, confirming the rumors she’s heard. But this is just the start of a VAST CONSPIRACY! I’ve heard good things about this.

ASH: That does sound like it could be good.

SEAN: The other debut is also a shoujo light novel, from Frontier Works’ ArianRose label. Can Someone Please Explain What’s Going On?! (Dareka Kono Joukyou wo Setsumei Shite Kudasai!) has our poor noble heroine signing a marriage contract to a rich noble man to save her family. Now she’s forced to level up in being a high-class fiancee. I’ve heard less good things about this, but will absolutely give it a shot.

They also have Arifureta Short Stories, which is what it says, and the long-awaited 9th volume of The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind!.

Kodansha’s print debut is Something’s Wrong with Us (Watashitachi wa Douka Shiteiru), a josei series from Natsumi Ando, best known as the creator of Kitchen Princess. This runs in Be Love, though, so the audience is much older. A young woman is on a quest to become a sweets maker, but the owner of the company she starts with is the childhood friend who framed her mother for murder 15 years earlier. Um… well, that went somewhere unexpected.

MICHELLE: This creator also did Arisa, which might be seen as a sort of bridge between the two series you mentioned, since it did at least have some mystery elements. I’ll definitely check out Ando doing josei!

ASH: Me, too! Ando’s work always seems to have some unexpected turns (for better and worse), but I’ve enjoyed the creator’s past manga.

ANNA: Huh, I’m curious about this for sure.

MJ: Okay, wow. I’m in.

SEAN: Also in print: I’m Standing on a Million Lives 6, the 2nd Saint Young Men hardcover, That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime 12, and Witch Hat Atelier 5, which is the one Manga Bookshelf cares about.

MICHELLE: I really must get caught up on this.

ASH: I also care about Saint Young Men, but Witch Hat Atelier is just SO GOOD.

ANNA: It really is, I am stoked for a new volume of Witch Hat Atelier

SEAN: Digitally the debut is Kakushigoto: My Dad’s Secret Ambition, from the creator of Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei (of which Kodansha put out 14 of 30 volumes. Not that I’m bitter.), a story about a writer of a very popular but very raunchy manga series… which he absolutely does not want his young impressionable daughter finding out about at all. This runs in Monthly Shonen Magazine, and looks to be more realistic than either Zetsubou or Katteni Kaizo.

ASH: I’m intrigued (and hope it might get a print release at some point so I will actually read it).

MJ: I’m intrigued… but cautiously?

SEAN: Also out digitally: Cosplay Animal 11, Defying Kurosaki-kun 15, GE: Good Ending 3, I’ll Win You Over, Sempai! 2, MabuSasa 3, and My Boy in Blue 15.

One Peace gives us a 15th volume of The Rising of the Shield Hero. Fans of the series will be desperate for more of the main cast after their non-appearance in most of Isekai Quartet 2. Not that I’m smug.

No debuts from Seven Seas, but fear not, there is The Girl from the Other Side 8, New Game! 8, Saint Seiya Saintia Sho 9, and Wonderland 5.

MICHELLE: Yay for The Girl from the Other Side!

ASH: Yes, indeed!!

ANNA: Some good stuff coming out this week. I need to get caught up.

SEAN: Tokyopop has a debut with The Fox and the Little Tanuki (Kori Senman), a Mag Garden title from Comic Avarus, which stars a fox spirit who’s an ex-con! Out of God Jail, he has to prove he’s reformed by babysitting a tanuki. This looks cute.

And Tokyopop also has a 2nd Still Sick.

Vertical has Ajin 14.

Viz debuts Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku, a Shonen Jump + title that’s been on the SJ app and has an unbelievable amount of buzz. It’s set in Edo Japan, and features a ninja assassin and an executioner searching for the secret of immortality.

MICHELLE: I will probably check this out.

ASH: Same.

ANNA: Me too.

MJ: Agreed.

SEAN: Also out from Viz: 20th Century Boys Perfect Edition 7, BEASTARS 5, Levius/Est 3, and No Guns Life 4. Damn, Viz is grim this week.

ASH: I’ve already read all of 20th Century Boys, but I’ll be ready for more BEASTARS soon.

SEAN: Yen On gives us the 5th volume of The Isolator.

And on the manga end, there’s Delicious in Dungeon 8 (yay!) and Shibuya Goldfish 7 (ergh…).

ASH: I love Delicious in Dungeon so much.

SEAN: What manga is in your pot of gold?

SEAN: A sizable, but not overpowering, list this week.

A sole offering from J-Novel Club: The 2nd volume of the manga for The Unwanted Undead Adventurer.

Kodansha’s print debut is Knight of the Ice (Ginban Kishi), a josei series from Kiss about a writer whose childhood friend is not only a famous figure skater, but also a hopeless nerd dependent on her. It looks quite fun. The author has another josei series, Kiss & Never Cry, that has long been on my “when I can pay a publisher large amounts of money to license something just for me” list. This is actually a side story connected to that, but stands on its own.

MICHELLE: I am very excited for this! This is also the mangaka of Tramps Like Us/Kimi wa Pet.

ANNA: Me too, I’ve had this preordered as soon as I knew about it, happy for more Ogawa.

ASH: Same! Tramps Like Us was terrific, so I’ve really been looking forward to this series.

MJ: This sounds so good! Here for it.

SEAN: Also out in print is Noragami: Stray God 21 and The Quintessential Quintuplets 8.

ASH: Oh, it’s been a while since the last Noragami volume.

SEAN: Digitally we get My Roomie Is a Dino (Gyaru and Dinosaur), a Young Magazine series whose Japanese title probably sums it up better than the English.

And there is Cells at Work and Friends 2, The Dorm of Love and Secrets 2, Farewell My Dear Cramer 8, Giant Killing 19, and Tokyo Revengers 14.

Seven Seas makes up for last week’s absence with a bunch of things. Including several debuts, starting with GIGANT, from the creator of Gantz. It seems to be about a porn star who can grow to the size of a giant, and therefore has a very strong, if very specific, appeal to fans of that nature. It runs in Big Comic Superior.

The early digital light novel debut is The Invincible Shovel (Scoop Musou), about a man, his shovel, and a quest to save the kingdom. I’ve heard this is very funny.

The King of Fighters: A New Beginning has Terry Bogard, Mai Shiranui and King giving up on fighting and starting a dance academy… OK, no, it’s a fighting manga.

ASH: Now I really want to read about a martial dance academy…

MJ: Same.

SEAN: My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s is a new manga based on an (unlicensed) light novel, and is basically Arifureta smooshed together with The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind!. It runs in Overlap’s Comic Gardo.

Also from Seven Seas is Arifureta: I Heart Isekai 2, Gal Gohan 2, I Had the Same Dream Again digitally (yes, I already talked about it, they moved it), Neon Genesis Evangelion ANIMA 2 (in print), the 2nd PENGUINDRUM manga, and the 5th volume, digitally, of Reincarnated As a Sword.

Square Enix has a debut, and BL fans should be happy. Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! (30-sai Made Doutei da to Mahou Tsukai ni Nareru Rashii) is about a man who can read people’s minds by touching them… only to find that his colleague has a huge crush on him! It’s a Gangan Pixiv title.

MICHELLE: That title tho…

ASH: It is quite a title, isn’t it?

MJ: This vaguely reminds me of a series I worked on way back during my DMG experiment, Your Gentle Hand, but more fun?

SEAN: SuBLime also has a debut, Caste Heaven, a dark psychological BL story. Looks a bit too dark for the MB crowd, but who knows? It runs in Magazine Be x Boy, a sentence I don’t think I’ve typed out since I was doing these lists on Livejournal.

MICHELLE: I actually appreciate psychological BL sometimes, so I intend to check this out.

ASH: I probably will, too, at some point.

MJ: I’ll tread cautiously, but maybe?

SEAN: Vertical has The Golden Sheep 3.

MICHELLE: This is the final volume.

ANNA: I need to read the whole thing.

SEAN: Viz has (last I checked) Transformers: The Manga, for all fans of 80s robot shows.

And also Radiant 10, Record of Grancest War 6, and RIN-NE 32.

And two titles from Yen. On the light novel side we’ve got Magical Girl Raising Project 8, still building up magical girls and knocking them down.

And last, but certainly not least, it’s an 11th volume of Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun!

MICHELLE: Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

ASH: Yes!!! Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun is the best!!!

MJ: Nice to see this still going.

SEAN: A lot of debuts this week. Any of them interest you?

SEAN: March is coming in like a lion, unless you mean March Comes in Like a Lion the manga, that’s still unlicensed. But what else do we have?

MICHELLE: I really want that manga!

SEAN: Denpa Books debuts a new series, Pleasure and Corruption (Tsumi to Kai). This is a Square Enix title from Young Gangan, and seems to be more on the “Fakku” end of the Denpa scale rather than the “Vertical” end, if you know what I mean.

ASH: Wink, wink; nudge, nudge.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has some new print releases. Crest of the Stars Books 1-3 get a deluxe hardcover release, recommended for all space opera fans.

ASH: Oooh, I might have to check that out now that it’s (back) in print.

SEAN: There’s also An Archdemon’s Dilemma 4, Infinite Dendrogram 5, and Marginal Operation (manga) 2.

On the digital side, they debut the Demon Lord, Retry! manga, based on the light novels that they are also releasing. They’ve also got Campfire Cooking in Another World 5, The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress 4, and the third A Very Fairy Apartment manga.

Kodansha has… no print releases. But there is a digital debut, A Condition Called Love (Hananoi-kun to Koi no Yamai). It’s a Dessert title, about a girl who ends up going out with a popular guy after his messy breakup with someone else. But is she just a rebound, or something more?

MICHELLE: This is by Megumi Morino, whose Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty I liked a lot, so I’m expecting good things.

ASH: I liked that one, too.

ANNA: Sounds interesting.

MJ: Oh, count me as interested.

SEAN: There’s also All-Rounder Meguru 13, Blissful Land 5, Smile Down the Runway 7, and To Be Next To You 3.

Seven Seas… also has nothing. What an odd week.

ASH: That does feel strange!

SEAN: Tokyopop is giving us Aria: The Masterpiece 5. This should be the first of the re-releases with new to English material.

Vertical has the 3rd Bakemonogatari manga, still in the midst of Mayoi’s first arc.

Fortunately, Viz still has a ton of stuff to pad out this list. The debut is Love Me, Love Me Not (Omoi, Omoware, Furi, Furare), a Betsuma title that is the latest from Io Sakisaka, the creator of Ao Haru Ride and Strobe Edge. It’s an award-winner. Plot? High school kids in love, of course.

MICHELLE: Of course. Still, I am here for it.

ANNA: Me too, not surprisingly.

MJ: Same!

SEAN: Also out on the shoujo side, we have Daytime Shooting Star 5, The Demon Prince of Momochi House 15, Snow White with the Red Hair 6, and Vampire Knight: Memories 4.

MICHELLE: I’ll be reading 75% of those!

ASH: Haha, same!

ANNA: YES!

MJ: I’m behind on the ones I’m reading, but I need to catch up!

SEAN: The shonen end is more loaded up. The debut is Samurai 8, the new manga from the creator of Naruto (though someone else is doing the art this time). First ninjas, now samurai.

We see… wait, is that D.Gray-Man 26? I think it’s been years since the last volume of this!

ASH: It has been awhile, hasn’t it?

SEAN: And we have Black Clover 20, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 11, Dr. STONE 10, Dragon Ball Super 8, Haikyu!! 37, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 13, My Hero Academia: School Briefs 4, One-Punch Man 19, and The Promised Neverland 14.

MICHELLE: A buncha good stuff here! Last I looked, there was only a nine-chapter gap remaining in Haikyu!! chapters in VIZ’s Shonen Jump vault between collected volumes and magazine issues. Perhaps volume 37 will eradicate the gap entirely!

ASH: It very well may!

SEAN: Lastly, Yen Press has one lone straggler due out next week… and it’s a debut! A debut with a title that is… well, eye-catching, if nothing else. After School Bitchcraft (Houkago Bitch Craft) comes from my nemesis, Comic Alive, and is about a teacher who secretly practices witchcraft at school, and the student who can walk through all his defenses. It seems like one of those “for people who like boobs” titles.

MICHELLE: :\

MJ: What Michelle said.

SEAN: For those who can take or leave boobs, what are you getting this week?

SEAN: It’s the end of February at last, and we celebrate with a huge pile of stuff. Are you ready?

ASH: Always!

SEAN: Cross Infinite World has a 2nd volume of light novel The Eccentric Master and the Fake Lover.

Dark Horse has a 4th deluxe hardcover for Berserk.

ASH: The hardcover edition really is impressive — I’m slowly replacing my paperback copies.

SEAN: A couple of Volume 2s from Ghost Ship: Destiny Lovers 2 and World’s End Harem: Fantasia 2.

J-Novel Club has another shoujo light novel out next week: Tearmoon Empire (Tearmoon Teikoku Monogatari). This is from TO Books, and stars a selfish princess who is about to be guillotined by an angry populace when suddenly she wakes up in the past! It’s time to change the future so she doesn’t die! But… that’s so much hard work… can’t she just get others to do it for her? This seems like fun.

ASH: I appreciate this foray into shoujo fantasy works.

SEAN: There’s also a 9th Lazy Dungeon Master and a 3rd Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf!.

Kodansha has three debuts, two print and one digital. The print is Sweat and Soap (Ase to Sekken), a seinen title from Weekly Morning. A woman who works in a toiletry company is ashamed of the way she smells, and very grateful for her company’s products. Then she meets the company’s lead brand developer, who is fascinated by her natural scent. Romance ensues. Despite sounding like it does for sweat what Mysterious Girlfriend X did for drool, I’ll give this a try.

ASH: I’m cautious, but intrigued?

MJ: This could either be amazing… or really not.

SEAN: The other debut is a license rescue, coming out in deluxe omnibuses: Saiyuki! And yes, this is the original 1990s Saiyuki, not any of the modern remixes and spinoffs. A GFantasy title, it originally came out via Tokyopop. Now Kodansha is re-releasing it. Hope you like journeys to the west.

MICHELLE: I read a little of this ten years ago but never continued, so I’m looking forward to having another chance.

ANNA: I love journeys to the west! I have the old volumes but I’m seriously considering double dipping and I almost never double dip.

ASH: Nice to see this series back in print!

MJ: I’m so happy to see this again! It won’t get me over my eternal longing for Wild Adapter, but I’ll take it.

SEAN: Kodansha also has, in print, In/Spectre 11, Land of the Lustrous 10, and Magus of the Library 3.

ASH: I’ve fallen behind and need to catch up with In/Spectre, but I’m definitely ready for more of Land of the Lustrous and Magus of the Library!

SEAN: Digitally the debut is I Fell in Love After School (Houkago, Koishita), another Dessert title. A shy girl who lacks presence and a volleyball club she’s managing. This looks very fluffy.

ANNA: Aww, this sounds cute if only I were capable of keeping up on all these digital releases.

SEAN: Also out digitally next week: Altair: A Record of Battles 15, Drowning Love 17, Guilty 5, Hotaru’s Way 12, Kounodori: Dr. Stork 13, and Watari’s ******* Is About to Collapse 3.

KUMA has a one-volume title called Can an Otaku Like Me really Be an Idol? (Doruota no Bokudesuga Shinken ni Aidoru Mezashimasu!?). It’s a BL title about cross-dressing idols, and ran in Takeshobo’s Qpa. It was also on the Renta! site.

MICHELLE: My friend assures me it is very cute.

ASH: I’ve likewise heard good things.

SEAN: One Peace has a 7th Hinamatsuri.

Seven Seas has a pile, as is becoming traditional for the last week of the month. There’s another ‘early digital’ novel release, again by the author of I Want to Eat Your Pancreas. This is I Had That Same Dream Again (Mata, Onaji Yume wo Miteita), and is another coming-of-age story.

We also get The Ancient Magus’ Bride 12, The Brave-Tuber 2, Classroom of the Elite’s 4th light novel (in print), How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? 2, Mushoku Tensei’s 10th manga volume, Reincarnated As a Sword’s 4th light novel in print, Skeleton Knight in Another World 4 (print) and 5 (digital), and Ultra Kaiju Humanization Project 4.

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

ASH: Yes, indeed!

SEAN: Square Enix has the debut of Hi-Score Girl, a Big Gangan series with a quirky art style and a love of retro gaming. Two otherwise dissimilar kids share a bond over games.

ASH: I like quirky.

MJ: I’m up for whatever Square Enix throws at us, so count me in.

SEAN: Udon has the 3rd and final Stravaganza omnibus, as well as a 6th Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu.

Vertical debuts Blood on the Tracks (Chi no Wadachi), another psychological drama from Shuzo Oshimi. This ran in Big Comic Superior, and is about a boy who realizes that his doting, over-affectionate mother may NOT be as normal as he’d though. If you’ve read Oshimi you know what to expect.

MICHELLE: Hm, potentially interesting.

ANNA: I’m gonna wait for a review, but I am also intrigued.

MJ: I’m with Anna on this.

SEAN: Yen On technically has a debut, but really it’s just more KH, as we get Kingdom Hearts III: The Novel 1.

They’ve also got Is It Wrong to try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Sword Oratoria 11, KonoSuba EXPLOSION! 2, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected 9, Re: ZERO 12, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online 6, and World’s Strongest Rearguard 2. Lots of heavy hitters in that lineup.

From the manga end, Yen debuts RaW Hero, which is from the creator of Prison School, and also appears to be for fans of Prison School. It runs in Kodansha’s Evening Magazine, and is about heroes, villains, and fetishes, not in that order.

ASH: That’s… the general impression that I’ve gotten, too.

SEAN: We also get Combatants Will Be Dispatched! 2 (manga), The Devil Is a Part-Timer! 15 (manga), Goblin Slayer: Brand New Day 2 (manga), Happy Sugar Life 4 (also a manga, but not a light novel as well like those others), Kemono Friends a la Carte 2, Phantom Tales of the Night 3, and Trinity Seven 19.

ASH: Oh, Phantom Tales of the Night! If nothing else, it’s very pretty (and creepy); I’m interested in how the series continues to develop.

SEAN: A lot of, shall we say, saucy manga out next week. Are you getting any?

SEAN: February. I can’t believe we’re still in February.

ASH: It really does seem to be taking its time this year.

SEAN: Fantagraphics gives us the 2nd volume of Kago’s (has he dropped his first name?) Dementia 21, which promises to be disturbing in many and varied ways.

ASH: The first volume was pretty great, in true Kago fashion, so reader be warned.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has dabbled in shoujo light novels (Bakarina), but at Anime NYC they announced a big push to start a shoujo LN line. The first of those is out next week, I Refuse to Be Your Enemy! (Watashi wa Teki ni Narimasen!). It’s from PASH! Books. The premise is quite similar to Bakarina: the heroine realizes that she’s the villain character in an RPG… but she’s not the villain till she gets married! When her future husband shows up, she decides to RUN AWAY!

MICHELLE: Sounds potentially fun.

ANNA: Running away from husbands is a good trope.

SEAN: J-Novel Club also have Banner of the Stars 2, Cooking with Wild Game 6, and The Greatest Magicmaster’s Retirement Plan 4.

In print next week, Kodansha gives us Drifting Dragons 3, Eden’s Zero 6, Fairy Tail 100 Year Quest 3, Gleipnir 6, and O Maidens in Your Savage Season 6. That’s more print than the last four weeks have had.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to give Drifting Dragons a try now that it’s available in print. I’m a volume or so behind, but O Maidens in Your Savage Season has been consistently excellent.

SEAN: The digital debut is I’ll Win You Over, Sempai! (Senpai! Ima Kara Kokurimasu!), a 5-volume shoujo series from Nakayoshi. A girl has lived a life when she’s always confessed successfully and never been dumped… till now. Still, she persists… because if she just keeps confessing over and over, eventually he’ll say yes! This seems like the sort of series that had better be very funny or it may be excruciating.

MICHELLE: Forsooth.

SEAN: Also out digitally is GE: Good Ending 2, Living Room Matsunaga-san 7, Lovesick Ellie 10, MabuSasa 2, and Shojo FIGHT! 9.

MICHELLE: Yay for more Lovesick Ellie and Shojo FIGHT!.

ANNA: I need to get caught up.

SEAN: Seven Seas has four titles, all 2nd volumes. We get Arifureta ZERO’s 2nd manga volume, How to Train Your Devil 2, the 2nd (early digital) volume of Neon Genesis Evangelion: ANIMA, and Nicola Traveling Around the Demons’ World 2.

ASH: The first volume of Nicola Traveling Around the Demons’ World was an absolute delight! The second is high on my list to pick up.

SEAN: Tokyopop gives us the done-in-one volume Dekoboku Sugar Days, another BL title from Gentosha, this one from LOVE xxx BOYS Pixiv. A boy who always had to be protected by our hero as a kid is now all grown up… and huge! Can there still be any protecting? What about a confession?

Vertical has the 7th Arakawa Under the Bridge and a 2nd Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro.

Viz gives us Downfall, an Inio Asano title for those who think Dead Dead Demon is too light and cheery. It’s depressing, realistic, and no doubt excellent. It ran in Big Comic Superior.

MICHELLE: I’m sure it’s excellent, but I just can’t handle depressing these days.

ANNA: Me too, I’ll stick with the cheerfulness of Dead Dead Demon.

ASH: I’ll definitely be reading this, but will need to wait for the timing to be just right.

MJ: Wow.

SEAN: Also from Viz: The Drifting Classroom Perfect Edition 2, Golden Kamuy 14, Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt 13, Ran and the Gray World 6, Tokyo Ghoul: re 15, and, most importantly, Urusei Yatsura’s 5th omnibus.

ASH: Ooooh, I’ll be reading quite a few of those, too!

MJ: I still mourn what Ran and the Gray World was in its first volume.

SEAN: Yen On has a 10th volume of No Game No Life, the first to come out without any delays in ages. They’ve also got Log Horizon 1-11 out digitally, meaning every Yen On series is now available in both print and digital. Hooray!

As for Yen Press and the manga end, no debuts, but we do get Interspecies Reviewers 3, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Chronicle Episode Lyu 6, Kakegurui Twin 5, Overlord a La Carte 3, Re: ZERO Arc 3 Volume 10, The Royal Tutor 13, Silver Spoon 13…

MJ: Silver Spoooooooooooooooon!

ASH: Silver Spoon is a terrific series.

SEAN: …Skull-Faced Bookseller Honda-san 3, and Tales of Wedding Rings 8.

ASH: Looking forward to spending some more time with my Skull-Faced friend.

MJ: I’m here for Skull-Face.

SEAN: That’s quite a bit. Anything tickle your fancy?

SEAN: It’s Valentine’s Week! Instead of chocolate, why not get your crush manga?

Dark Horse is giving up a 500+-page omnibus of What’s Michael?, the first of two, I believe. I’m pretty sure this is just a straight re-release of the 6 volumes we’d seen way back in the day as an omnibus – still flipped, still censored, etc. But I don’t really care, as I love What’s Michael? to bits, and seeing it back in print in a giant omnibus delights me.

MICHELLE: !!! I’ll take what I can get!

ASH: Same! While I would love to see the rest of What’s Michael released in translation, I’m just happy that it’ll be back in print at all.

MJ: What they said!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has two debuts. The digital manga debut is Cooking with Wild Game, whose novel J-NC has already put out. A boy and his elf village who have no idea how to cook meat.

The digital novel debut is Teogonia, which seems like a somewhat grim fantasy with reincarnated memories.

J-Novel also has Seirei Gensouki manga volume 3 and Sorcerous Stabber Orphen LN 6.

Kodansha’s debut (in print or once!) is Beyond the Clouds, which has been called Ghibli-esque, so has a lot to live up to. It originally comes form a French publisher, and its premise reminds me a lot of… well, Laputa, so Ghlibi comparisons fit.

The digital debut is The Dorm of Love and Secrets (Koi to Himitsu no Gakuseiryou), another Dessert title, from an author whose Heart Break Club has been released digitally here by MediaDo. This one’s a quarter of the size of that, and is about… sigh… a school divided into average and elite kids, and… sigh… an average girl who ends up in the elite group. Sigh.

MICHELLE: That does not bode exceptionally well.

ANNA: Oh wow, that has never been done before.

MJ: I guess we can just… hope that there will be something fresh about it? I. Yeah.

SEAN: Also out next week digitally: 1122 For a Happy Marriage 5, All-Out!! 12, Ex Enthusiasts – Motokare Mania 3, Farewell My Dear Cramer 7, That Blue Summer 2, and The Prince’s Romance Gambit 6.

Seven Seas makes up for its absence last week. There are SIX debuts (two have come out digital first). Bloom Into You gets a light novel spinoff, Regarding Saeki Sayaka, which I found VERY enjoyable when it came out digitally last year.

The Carp on the Chopping Block Jumps Twice (Sojou no Koi wa Nido Haneru) is the sequel to The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese, and thus has several interested Manga Bookshelf parties.

MICHELLE: Forsooth.

ANNA: Yes!

ASH: It is true.

MJ: This!

SEAN: Citrus+, the sequel to Citrus, had a digital early release, but this is the print version. I’m guessing there’s angst.

Kase-san and Yamada finally gives up on the “and ________” title format and gives us what we really want – the two leads, together, in college.

My Androgynous Boyfriend (Genderless Danshi ni Ai sarete imasu) is a josei title from Shodensha’s Feel Young, and the mere fact we’re GETTING another Feel Young title makes me happy. It is about a woman who works in publishing and her boyfriend, who makes himself beautiful for her. It sounds terrific. The author also had the BL title A Lotus in the Mud released digitally recently.

MICHELLE: Definitely looking forward to this one!

ANNA: I am intrigued.

ASH: I’m really looking forward to this one, too.

MJ: I’m so here for this!

SEAN: Lastly, there’s Scarlet, a Comic Yuri Hime title about a vampire who got that way by ingesting a drug, a werewolf who’s also Red Riding Hood, and their tortured yuri relationship. Also: they fight crime!

The non-debut from Seven Seas is the 2nd volume of Our Wonderful Days. (So that’s seven new titles from Seven Seas next week, all queer. Dang.)

ASH: That makes me happy.

MJ: Well, that’s lovely.

SEAN: We have a new publisher debuting! Square Enix Manga finally has its first release, and it’s one the Manga Bookshelf team are most excited about. A Man and His Cat (Ojisama to Neko) is listed as ‘shoujo’ but also runs in Shonen Gangan, and, well, that’s Square Enix for ya. The title is the story, but this one looks super good.

MICHELLE: A good week for cats!

ANNA: This looks cute.

ASH: Very curious about this one.

MJ: And that demographic confusion is my love affair with Square Enix in a nutshell, isn’t it?

SEAN: SuBLime has a debut as well, Given. It runs in Shinshokan’s Cheri +, and seems to be the gay version of Anonymous Noise.

MICHELLE: I’ve seen the first chunk of anime episodes and liked it a lot.

ANNA: It is absolutely adorable. Love the cover.

ASH: I’m excited for the chance to read this!

MJ: I didn’t love the straight version, so maybe this is the one I’ve been waiting for!

SEAN: They also have a 2nd volume of Yarichin Bitch Club.

Vertical given us the 5th Kino’s Journey manga.

Viz gives us the 8th Fullmetal Alchemist: Fullmetal Edition, Hayate the Combat Butler 35, Komi Can’t Communicate 5, and A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow 2.

ASH: I just picked up the first volume of A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow; maybe I should go ahead and pick up the second, too.

MJ: There are a few things I’m interested in, there.

SEAN: Lastly, Yen On has a straggler light novel with the 2nd volume of The Greatest Demon Lord Is Reborn As a Typical Nobody.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Which of these titles will you accidentally eat thinking they’re chocolate?

SEAN: It’s February! The worst month! And it’s a day longer this year! Why not read some really good manga, then?

ASH: Sounds like a good plan.

ANNA: Indeed.

MJ: I’m in.

SEAN: We’ll start with J-Novel Club, who have a plethora of releases, both print and digital. Full Metal Panic! gets a print omnibus of its first three volumes in a fancy hardcover edition that looks cool. Fans won’t want to miss it.

Isekai Rebuilding Project (Isekai Saiken Keikaku) is another one from Kodansha’s Legend Novels, and is about what happens after the hero arrives from another world, bringing with him smartphones, modern economics, and weaponry… and then leaves them to their own devices. Yes, it’s an isekai cleanup squad for when things don’t go according to keikaku. The cover art looks fantastic.

ASH: That really is a great cover.

SEAN: Outer Ragna (Game Jikkyou ni yoru Kouryaku to Gyakushuu no Outer Ragna) is also from Legend Novels, and doesn’t quite have an isekai, but the gamer now finds he can ‘possess’ the heroine to help save the world.

They’ve also got the 2nd Faraway Paladin manga, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 8 in print, If It’s For My Daughter I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord 7 in print, In Another World with My Smartphone 8 in print, the 3rd Infinite Dendrogram manga, and The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind! 7 in print.

Kodansha, in print, has Boarding school Juliet 10 and Granblue Fantasy 3.

The digital debut is Let’s Kiss in Secret Tomorrow (Ashita, Naisho no Kiss Shiyou), a Dessert manga with an unusual premise: the couple start the manga together, as childhood friends turned lovers. But they’re in high school, and now have to hide their relationship. And the guy is suddenly really hot! Can they stay together?

MICHELLE: I will at least give it a try, since I generally like things from Dessert.

MJ: It had me at “childhood friends turned lovers.”

SEAN: Also digitally: Drifting Dragons 6, Our Precious Conversations 6, Smile Down the Runway 6, The Tale of Genji: Dreams at Dawn 10, To Be Next to You 2, and To Write Your Words 3.

MICHELLE: To Be Next to You was pretty interesting, too, in that the heroine seems like the outsider (and out of her depth) in the love story the object of her affections is experiencing with another girl.

SEAN: Seven Seas has but one title: a digital release of Classroom of the Elite light novel 4.5 (yes, it’s one of those .5 novels).

TOKYOPOP has RePlay, a done in one BL manga from Comic Magazine LYNX. It’s about BL and baseball. (Insert Michelle comment here.)

MICHELLE: Crud. I may have to patronize TOKYOPOP.

ASH: I try to avoid TOKYOPOP, too, but some of the licenses are very tempting.

ANNA: I’m going to be strong and just read BL from SuBLime. You can’t trick me TOKYOPOP!

MJ: I’ll wait for Michelle to read it first.

SEAN: It’s the first week of the month, and you know what that means. No debuts for Viz this month, though!

Shonen: Blue Exorcist 23, Food Wars! 34, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure 4-4, Jujutsu Kaisen 2, My Hero Academia 23, My Hero Academia SMASH! 3, Seraph of the End 18, Twin Star Exorcists 17, and We Never Learn 8.

Shoujo: Ao Haru Ride 9, Shortcake Cake 7, Takane & Hana 13, and Yona of the Dawn 22. Getting all of these.

MICHELLE: Yep, every single one of the shoujo, and several of the shounen, as well.

ASH: JoJo and Yona are where my priorities are but, yeah, there’s a lot of good stuff in those lists.

ANNA: My favorite week for shoujo releases.

MJ: I’ve fallen behind on most of this, but I will catch up!

SEAN: Lastly, some Yen Press stragglers, including a couple of debuts. The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious has its manga debut, and should be highly amusing.

IM: Great Priest Imhotep is getting its print debut. It runs in Shonen Gangan and is to Magi what Black Clover is to Fairy Tail.

ASH: I’ll admit I’m curious.

MJ: Well, huh.

SEAN: And there is also Hinowa Ga CRUSH! 3 and Though You May Burn to Ash 6, which has a surprising number of volumes given that you’ve already burned to ash.

ASH: I do a double-take every time I see this series mentioned. XD

SEAN: What manga is spicing up your February doldrums?

SEAN: The end of the month, and it’s time for lots and lots of stuff. What have we got?

First of all, jumping to the front of the queue because of what it is, we have Udon’s debut of The Rose of Versailles. You should know this one. One of the most influential manga ever. It’s hardcover. It’s almost 500 pages. You will all read it. It’s definitely Pick of the Week, so you’ll have to pardon the double pictures.

MICHELLE: *Kermit flailing*

ANNA: Back before there was an actual industry for translated manga in the United States, I read the excerptr of The Rose of Versailles that was translated in Frederik R. Schodt’s Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics. I am so excited to read this.

ASH: I’ve read that excerpt, too! (It’s a great book.) I am absolutely thrilled The Rose of Versailles is finally becoming a reality in English.

MJ: I’m so excited, I can barely type. This release has taken a while, and I have no doubt it will be worth the wait!

SEAN: Cross Infinite World has another shoujo light novel, this one called The Misfortune Devouring Witch is Actually a Vampire?! (Ijippari na Majo Dono e). You can tell the title has been Westernized as it’s a ?!, not a !?.

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: Dark Horse has the 3rd Elfen Lied omnibus.

Ghost Ship has three titles, one a debut. Saki the Succubus Hungers Tonight (Saki-chan wa Konya mo Peko Peko) runs in Houbunsha’s Weekly Manga Times, and features a young and innocent succubus who is trying to get… male bodily fluids from a guy without doing anything really dirty. It’s sort of cute in a “not quite porn” way.

MJ: This is… not what I’m looking for in manga. Or really anything at all. I kind of regret reading this description.

SEAN: They’ve also got Yokai Girls 9 and Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs 8.

J-Novel Club has two new light novel series debuting. By the Grace of the Gods (Kami-tachi ni Hirowareta Otoko) is another reincarnation isekai series from Hobby Japan, but this one seems to involve very nice people. The hero is nice, the gods are nice, the slimes are nice… it seems nice. Expect “slice of life”.

The other title comes from the PASH! Books imprint, and is The World’s Least Interesting Master Swordsman (Jimi na Kensei wa Soredemo Saikyou desu). The plot really, really sounds like One-Punch Man to me… a reincarnated guy who swings his sword to get stronger… for 500 years… suddenly finds he’s super strong. But his swordsmanship is boring. I suspect this one will live and die by the supporting cast.

Also from J-Novel Club is How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 12, Kokoro Connect 8, and Record of Wortenia War 4.

On the manga side, J-Novel Club has a 2nd Discommunication and the 3rd How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom.

Kodansha’s print debut has already come out digitally: Living-Room Matsunaga-san, a shoujo series from Dessert. A young woman moves into a boarding house filled with oddballs, and finds herself looked after by an older man.

MICHELLE: I’d been meaning to read this one!

ASH: I’m curious, too.

MJ: This sounds interesting! Or possibly creepy? It seems like it could go either way!

SEAN: Also out in print is The Quintessential Quintuplets 7.

No digital debuts for Kodansha, but we do get Altair: A Record of Battles 14, Boarding School Juliet 14, DAYS 16, Drowning Love 16, Guilty 4, and Watari-kun’s ****** Is about to Collapse 2.

MICHELLE: Huzzah for more DAYS!

SEAN: Seven Seas has two debut light novels, one print and one digital. The print we saw before digitally: SCP Foundation: Iris Through the Looking Glass. It tied into the SCP Foundation universe.

The digital-first debut is At Night, I Become a Monster (Yoru no Bakemono). It’s from the author of I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, so expect good writing and melancholy. A boy turns into a monster during the evenings, and runs into a classmate.

MICHELLE: Hm, interesting!

ASH: I’m waiting for the print, but I am intrigued.

MJ: Interested.

SEAN: Also out from Seven Seas: The Dungeon of Black Company 4, Magika Swordsman and Summoner 12, My Monster Secret 19, and Toradora! light novel 9.

For Udon, see The Rose of Versailles above. Just thought I’d mention it again. The Rose of Versailles. Officially out in English. And looking amazing.

MICHELLE: I still can’t really believe it, honestly. I’ll believe it when I’m holding it in my hands.

ANNA: I’m trying to mentally prepare.

ASH: One of my most anticipated releases of the current and past several years.

MJ: What everyone else said. I mean. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

SEAN: Vertical has a 4th APOSIMZ.

The rest of Yen Press, but we’re not close to done. Yen On’s debut is Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina (Majo no Tabitabi). A Softbank Creative series about, well, a wandering witch. The premise makes it sound like a happier, more positive version of Kino’s Journey.

Yen On also has A Sister’s All You Need 6, Goblin Slayer 9, and Torture Princess 3.

Also, in an effort to make all their books available digitally, Yen On now has digital debuts of two older series that were print-only. Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers Vols. 1-6, and the standalone The Hero and His Elf Bride Open a Pizza Parlor in Another World.

Three debuts… sort of… in the manga department. Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun is a digital-only series now making its print debut. It also has an anime running now. It runs in GFantasy, so expect it to be a shonen series for girls.

ASH: I’m here for it! Looking forward to giving the series a try.

MJ: Did you say GFantasy? You know I’m here for that.

SEAN: The other debuts are adaptations of light novels. I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years (and Maxed Out My Level) runs in Gangan Online, and The World’s Strongest Rearguard runs in Kadokawa’s Comic Walker. The former is cute fluff, the latter is bad but fun.

We also get Aoharu x Machinegun 16, Final Fantasy: Lost Stranger 4, High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World 6, Horimiya 13, Murcielago 13, No Matter How I Look at It It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular! 15, and The Saga of Tanya the Evil 9.

Again, and I cannot emphasize it enough, Rose of Versailles. Anything apart from that?

SEAN: More January, More Manga.

ASH: Huzzah!

SEAN: J-Novel Club gives us another debut, Her Majesty’s Swarm (Joou Heika no Isekai Senryaku), again from Kodansha’s new Legend Novels imprint, and by the author “616th Special Information Battalion”. Yes, that’s the real pen name. A college woman who plays a game as an evil character is now trapped in a very similar world… as said evil character.

We also get Altina the Sword Princess 2 and Ascendance of A Bookworm 5.

ASH: I need to catch up on Bookworm.

Kodansha, in print, gives us Cells at Work! Code BLACK 3, I’m Standing on a Million Lives 5, Sailor Moon Eternal Edition 7, and The Seven Deadly Sins 36.

In digital releases, the debut is MabuSasa (Mabuichi-kun to Sasagawa-san), which runs in Kodansha’s shoujo title Palcy. a BL loving girl and a scary guy… can they bond?

MICHELLE: It could be cute!

ANNA: It does sound potentially cute!

MJ: I’d give this a look!

SEAN: There’s also Cosplay Animal 10, Defying Kurosaki-kun 14, My Boss’s Kitten 4, My Boy in Blue 14, and The Quintessential Quintuplets 11.

No debuts for Seven Seas, but they have the 5th Arifureta manga, Magical Girl Site 11, Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary 10, and Sorry for My Familiar 6.

Tokyopop has a 7th Konohana Kitan.

And Vertical has the 7th CITY.

Viz has Black Lagoon 11. Black Lagoon 9 came out in 2010. I think this series may have a bit of a problem.

MICHELLE: I really loved the first three volumes when I read them long ago, and this release makes me want to get caught up. But then I’ll be waiting years again for the next, most likely.

ASH: Black Lagoon can be really great, but the long wait between volumes can be really hard.

MJ: My memories of Black Lagoon are so fuzzy now…

SEAN: They also have Beastars 4, Children of the Whales 14, Levius/Est 2, No Guns Life 3, and The Way of the Househusband 2.

MICHELLE: Hooray for The Way of the Househusband! I need to check out Beastars, too.

ANNA: I need to catch up on Beastars, and I’m happy about Way of the Househusband 2, the first volume was hilarious.

ASH: Beastars and The Way of the Househusband are what I’m particularly excited about this week.

MJ: I need to catch up with both!

SEAN: And there’s a bunch of Yen. Yen On gives us The Asterisk War 12, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 10, and Strike the Blood 14.

Yen also has, on the manga side, Angels of Death 9, A Certain Magical Index 20 (manga), Hatsu*Haru 10, DanMachi: Sword Oratoria 10, Karneval 9, Nyankees 5, Overlord: The Undead King Oh! 2, Reborn As a Polar Bear 2, and Teasing Master Takagi-san 7.

Manga? Manga!

SEAN: Remember when January was the smallest month of the year? No more!

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: Ghost Ship gives us a 14th volume of To-Love-Ru Darkness.

J-Novel Club has three debuts, the first of their massive wave of Anime NYC licenses. The Economics of Prophecy (Yogen no Keizaigaku) is from Legend Novels, a Kodansha fantasy imprint. Can an ignored oracle and a reincarnated economist save the kingdom?

Kobold King is also from Legend Novels. A famous warrior who has become so powerful that everyone is too afraid of him tries to show a tribe of kobolds that he’s really a sweetie at heart.

ASH: I was previously unaware of Legend Novels, but with these two titles make the imprint seems like it could be a source with some potential.

ANNA: Ok, light novels featuring economists does sound amusing, but I am not a light novel person.

SEAN: The Underdog of the Eight Greater Tribes (Hachi Dai Shuzoku no Saijaku Kettousha) is from HJ Bunko, and is a battle fantasy, though apparently not involving literal magical academies this time.

Also from J-Novel is the 9th volume of If It’s For My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord, Infinite Stratos 11 and Seirei Gensouki 8.

In print, Kodansha has Hitorijime My Hero 6, If I Could Reach You 3, and Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches 21-22.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to give If I Could Reach You a try at some point.

SEAN: Digitally, the debut is GE: Good Ending, which has been rumored to get a license over here since it began, but never did. Now it’s over, and we have a digital license. It’s by the creator of Domestic Girlfriend, ran in Weekly Shonen Magazine, and is a potboiler, just like its successor.

We also have digital volumes for 1122: For a Happy Marriage (4), Ace of the Diamond (24), Domestic Girlfriend (23), Ex-Enthusiasts: Motokare Mania (2), Farewell My Dear Cramer (6), and Giant Killing (18).

MICHELLE: So much sports manga! *rubs hands together in anticipation*

SEAN: One Peace Books has a 6th volume of Hinamatsuri.

ASH: I’m a few volumes behind, but this series continues to amuse me.

SEAN: Seven Seas gives us an 8th Himouto Umaru-chan, the 5th Mushoku Tensei novel digitally, and a 2nd volume of Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!!.

Debuting from SuBLime is Liquor and Cigarettes, a title from Gentosha’s Lynx magazine. It’s by the author of Coyote. They smoke. They drink. They smoke and smoke and drink… OK, sorry.

Vertical has a 4th volume of the Knights of Sidonia Master Edition.

Viz has a debut title. You thrilled to Persona 3, you cried at Persona 4, now, at last, we see Persona 5! This runs in Shogakukan’s Ura Sunday, and (surprise!) adapts the game.

Viz also gives us Case Closed 73, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 6, Radiant 9, and Splatoon 8.

ASH: I’ve been enjoying the Twilight Princess adaptation!

SEAN: Lastly, Yen Press has a 2nd Do You Love Your Mom (and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?) manga, and a 13th Yowamushi Pedal omnibus. I suspect Manga Bookshelf folks will have little trouble choosing between these two.

ASH: Yup. It’s definitely Yowamushi Pedal for me!

MICHELLE: See above re: anticipatory hands.

SEAN: Do you like any of these titles? Or do you not like manga at all, but read this column just for the hell of it?

KATE: I don’t like (much) manga, but I always enjoy this column. :D

SEAN: OK, now it’s actually January. You can tell as the Viz books are all pouring in. But first…

J-Novel Club has a giant pile of things due out. For print books, we have Animeta! 2, An Archdemon’s Dilemma 3, Ascendance of a Bookworm 3, and Infinite Dendrogram 4.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to give Animeta! a try now that it’s available in print.

MICHELLE: I thought the first volume was pretty fun.

SEAN: On the digital side, there’s Animata! 3, Demon Lord Retry! 2, Der Werwolf 6, In Another World with My Smartphone 18, the 2nd Marginal Operation manga, Otherside Picnic 2, and There Was No Secret Evil-Fighting Organization (srsly?!), So I Made One MYSELF! 2.

From Kodansha Comcis, we get, in print, Grand Blue Dreaming 9 and Tales of Berseria 2.

There’s a lot more digitally. The debut is That Blue Summer (Ao Natsu), a Betsufure series from the creator of To Be Next To You, which we saw debut digitally this week. That’s a big grin that girl has on the cover.

And we get All-Rounder Meguru 12, Chihayafuru 18, Magical Sempai 6, My Sweet Girl 10, Smile Down the Runway 5, and To Write Your Words 2.

ASH: Both J-Novel Club and Kodansha Comics have some great digital offerings this week.

ANNA: Nice, maybe I’ll use my remaining week of vacation to get more caught up on Chihayafuru.

MICHELLE: Yay for more shoujo and super yay for more Chihayafuru!

SEAN: Seven Seas has quite a bit, including a couple of debuts. Dungeon Builder: The Demon King’s Labyrinth is a Modern City! (Maou-sama no Machizukuri! ~Saikyou no Danjon wa Kindai Toshi~) is a manga adaptation of a light novel (which I don’t believe is licensed) that runs in Overlap’s Comic Gardo. Demon Lords create labyrinths to trap people and consume their despair… but this one just wants to be super nice.

ASH: That actually sounds kind of amusing.

SEAN: My Room Is a Dungeon Rest Stop (Boku no Heya ga Dungeon no Kyuukeijo ni Natteshimatta Ken) is also based on a light novel… which again I don’t think we have here… that runs in Takeshobo’s Web Comic Gamma. A guy buys a dirt-cheap apartment, then finds that it also leads to a fantasy dungeon. Can he help adventurers in trouble and show them the wonders of modern plumbing?

Also out from Seven Seas: Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor 8, the print edition of the 2nd Arifureta ZERO novel, the print edition of Vol. 1 of Magic User: Reborn in Another World as a Max Level Wizard, the print version of the 4th Mushoku Tensei novel, and Tomo-chan Is a Girl! 6.

Vertical has a 2nd volume of the Bakemonogatari story, which finishes up Senjogahara’s story and starts Hachikuji’s.

Viz has no debuts next week, but it does have the 18th and final volume of Anonymous Noise. Will the romantic triangle resolve?

MICHELLE: I mean, it’s gotta, right?

SEAN: We also get, on the shonen/seinen side, Black Clover 19, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 10, Dr. STONE 9, Haikyu!! 36, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 12, and The Promised Neverland 13.

ANNA: Good stuff!

On the shoujo/josei side, we get Daytime Shooting Star 4, An Incurable Case of Love 2, and Snow White with the Red Hair 5.

ASH: I’ll read all of those, honestly.

ANNA: Nice! It is a week for Anna!

MICHELLE: I enjoy quite a few of these but am most excited about Snow White with the Red Hair and Haikyu!!.

MJ: I can’t believe this is the first time I’m speaking up here with all this manga, but I’m here for Snow White with the Red Hair!

SEAN: Lastly, Yen has two stragglers that got delayed from December. Yen On gives us the 18th and NOT final volume of Sword Art Online, though this does wrap up the giant massive-10-volume Alicization arc.

For manga, we get Chio’s School Road 7.

Some interesting stuff there. What are you picking up?

SEAN: Happy New Year! And yes, I know most of the titles I’m mentioning here go with the OLD year, coming out on 12/31. What do we have?

J-Novel Club has a new debut, The Holy Knight’s Dark Road (Seinaru Kishi no Ankokudou). Our hero is a holy knight beloved by his people and his goddess… but he feels he’s starring in the wrong light novel archetype, and so goes to join a magical academy! Hijinks no doubt ensue.

J-Novel Club also has Full Metal Panic! 5 and Outbreak Academy 12.

In print, Kodansha gives us 10 Dance 5 and Waiting for Spring 12.

ASH: I’ve been enjoying 10 Dance a great deal. I’ve liked what I’ve read of Waiting for Spring, too, though I’ve fallen behind.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to both of these!

MJ: I’m incredibly behind on 10 Dance but I really need to catch up!

SEAN: Digitally, we get another debut with To Be Next To You (Tonari no Atashi), a Betsufure shoujo title about a girl in love with her neighbor who is horrified one day to find him kissing another woman! Maybe she should finally confess?

MICHELLE: There are a whole bunch of shoujo debuts happening digitally for Kodansha over the next couple of months. I approve.

MJ: Same.

ANNA: I also approve, although I have given up on keeping up on them.

SEAN: There is also GTO Paradise Lost 11, Hotaru’s Way 11, Kakafukaka 9, and Kounodori: Dr. Stork 12. (Lotta Vol. 12s this week.)

MICHELLE: One day I’ll read Hotaru’s Way.

SEAN: Seven Seas has but a single title with Machimaho: I Messed Up and Made the Wrong Person Into a Magical Girl! 4.

Tokyopop (at least according to Amazon – don’t be surprised if this is bumped) has a new BL title, Don’t Call Me Dirty (Dirty Darling), from Mag Garden’s UVU. A man trying to get over his crush (who turns out not to be gay) takes in a vagrant, and things go from there. This actually sounds kind of sweet. It’s complete in one volume.

MJ: That… title.

SEAN: Vertical has quite a bit. Owarimonogatari: End Tale is the latest (and last?) in the Monogatari Series, and is divided into three parts. This first book in the series delves into just WHY Araragi got to be the misanthrope we saw at the start of the series.

Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose, Resurrection at Nineteen sure is the latest light novel spinoff series from Seraph of the End – in fact, it’s a sequel to the first light novel spinoff.

And Manga Bookshelf will be delighted to hear we get What Did You Eat Yesterday? 14, the first volume in almost a year and a half.

ASH: Excellent! I most certainly am delighted!

MICHELLE: Me, too!

MJ: I, too, am delighted! So exciting!

ANNA: Yay!

SEAN: And we end of Yen. On the Yen On side, no debuts, but we get The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life 2, The Irregular at Magic High School 14, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? 14 (yes, at last, after three long delays), Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World 2, and Spice & Wolf 21.

On the manga end, the debut is Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story, another in the endless series of Madoka Magica spinoffs. This one adapts a mobile game, and runs in Manga Time Kirara Forward.

There’s also Kakegurui -Compulsive Gambler- 11 and Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts 8.

And that’s it! What manga come to mind in these days of Auld Lang Syne?

SEAN: Yes, yes, I know almost none of these are actually coming out 12/25. But I’ve always used Wednesday’s date before, and have no desire to stop now! In any case, ‘Tis Christmas, and still no offers of pantomime. What have we got?

We start with J-Novel Club’s debut of Beatless. This sci-fi series is only two volumes long, but I hear each volume is really, REALLY long. Artificial humans, AIs that have passed humanity… but can it be bleaker than Alita? We shall see. It’s a co-production with Tokyo Otaku Mode.

ASH: Hmm… I do like a good artificial humans story…

SEAN: They also give us Campfire Cooking in Another World 4 and The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress 3.

Kodansha’s sole print volume is the 10th and final volume of Happiness.

ASH: Oshimi’s work remains consistently engaging and disconcerting.

SEAN: No digital debut, as the title that was coming out got bumped. But we do see Altair: A Record of Battles 13, Drowning Love 15, Guilty 3, Heaven’s Design Team 4, and Princess Resurrection Nightmare 5.

MICHELLE: I thought volume one of Guilty was pretty good, even if none of the characters was sympathetic. I plan to read more.

SEAN: No debuts for Seven Seas either, but there’s a 10th Captain Harlock: Dimensional Voyage, a 4th How to Treat Magical Beasts, a 3rd Little Devils, Species Domain 7, and Toradora! 8 (the light novel).

The rest is all Yen Press. On the light novel side, we get two debuts, both spinoffs. Kingdom Hearts X: Your Keyblade, Your Story is another in the infinite Kingdom Hearts novels out lately.

The other arrival, after a few delays, is KonoSuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World! This light novel spinoff is a prequel, showing us Megumin’s life pre-Kazuma.

Also from Yen On we get Baccano! 12, The Genius Prince’s Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt (Hey, How About Treason?) 2, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years 6, and That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime 7. Baccano! feels very very tiny compared to those other LN titles.

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: There’s also two debuts on the Yen Press end. The one most interesting to me is A Witch’s Printing Office (Mahoutsukai no Insatsujo), an isekai about a women transported to another world who has to try to find the means to get home. It runs in ASCII Mediaworks’ Dengeki G’s.

ASH: I’m curious about this one.

MJ: Intrigued.

SEAN: And there’s Shadow Student Council Vice President Gives Her All (Fukukaichou Ganbaru), complete in one volume. Given that cover art, thank God. A sequel to Prison School, it ran in Young Magazine the 3rd.

And there’s a plethora of Yen Press Christmas Eve titles. As Miss Beelzebub Likes 8, Bungo Stray Dogs 13, The Case Study of Vanitas 6, Dead Mount Death Play 3, Goblin Slayer Side Story: Year One 3 (manga version), KonoSuba Explosion 3 (manga version), Plunderer 3, Shibuya Goldfish 6, Silver Spoon 12 (and Vols. 1-11 are out now digitally!), Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization 5, A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School 8, Ubel Blatt 11 (the 12th and final volume, and the last chance for me to point out the irritating number scheme), Val x Love 7, and your name: Another Side Earthbound 2 (manga version).

MICHELLE: I have recently started and am enjoying the anime of Bungo Stray Dogs, which makes me wonder what I’ve been missing in the manga all this time.

ASH: Wow, that’s a lot of Yen! (Also, hooray, as always, for Silver Spoon!!)

MJ: (echos: Silver Spoooooooooon!)

SEAN: Happy holidays to all from Manga Bookshelf! What are you getting next week?