Features

SEAN: October 2020, where you have to bar your doors against trick-or-treaters. This year sucks. Let’s brighten it with manga.

Denpa Books says they’re putting out the 3rd Pleasure and Corruption.

J-Novel Club’s digital debut is a manga. Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: The Youthful Journey. By the title, I’d guess it’s a prequel to The Wayward Journey?

Also from J-Novel Club: Bibliophile Princess 4, Epic Tale of the Reincarnated Prince Herscherik 2, the 4th The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar manga, Record of Wortenia War 8, and Wild Times with a Fake Fake Princess 3, which I believe is the final volume.

Kodansha has a few print titles coming out. The debut, which I am very excited for, is Blue Period, an Afternoon manga from the author of She and Her Cat. A young man finds a calling in painting, but it’s one that might ruin his future if he’s not careful.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to this, too!

ASH: Same!

MJ: This sounds great!

ANNA: I’m officially intrigued.

SEAN: Also in print, the 5th Attack on Titan Colossal Edition, Grand Blue Dreaming 11, Interviews with Monster Girls 8, and Something’s Wrong with Us 3.

ASH: In case anyone hasn’t actually seen the colossal edition in person, it is indeed colossal.

SEAN: Two debuts digitally. The first is Practice Makes Perfect (Acchi no Renshuu Hajimemashita), a shoujo manga from Ane Friend. Two jocks who were just dumped by their respective partners due to lack of experience try to “practice” with each other.

The other is Shaman King: Zero, which contains various short stories of the main series that ran in Jump Kai back when this was owned by Shueisha.

And there’s All-Out!! 16, Domestic Girlfriend 27, Vampire Dormitory 4, and We Must Never Fall in Love! 2.

MICHELLE: I believe this is the penultimate All-Out!!, a sports series I have still not even managed to start. Shock!

SEAN: One Peace has a 3rd volume of The New Gate.

Seven Seas has a debut. Well, two, really, as The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter has a print release now. It’s trash, but very readable.

ASH: Sometimes you need a series like that.

SEAN: The other debut is Cutie and the Beast (Pujo to Yajuu: JK ga Akuyaku Wrestler ni Koi shita Hanashi), a Betsufure shoujo manga about, well, a high school girl who falls in love with a wrestler who looks like a villain. This looks adorable.

MICHELLE: I have a soft spot for stories where a scary-looking guy is actually very sweet.

ASH: I am incredibly curious about this title; it looks and sounds great!

ANNA: I’m going to check this out too!

SEAN: Also out: The Ancient Magus’ Bride 13, Classroom of the Elite 6 in print, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 9 (the manga version), Kingdom of Z 2, My Next Life As a Villainess 4 (manga version), and There’s a Demon Lord on the Floor 8.

ASH: Hooray for more The Ancient Magus’ Bride! I need to catch up on the last few volumes (and spin-offs).

SEAN: Square Enix has a 2nd volume of The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest.

SuBLime has two manga: His Favorite 11, and Jealousy 2.

MICHELLE: I bought Jealousy volume one, but haven’t managed to read it yet. It looks very dramatic.

ASH: His Favorite is so goofy; I really enjoy it.

SEAN: Vertical has two books: CITY 9, and Knights of Sidonia Master Edition 7.

Viz has two not-quite-manga debuts. The first is The Art of Magic the Gathering: War of the Spark.

The second is Fangirl: the Manga, a Viz Original by Rainbow Rowell and Gabi Nam about a fanfic-writing twin who now finds herself in college with her fanfic writing disparaged and her twin not there.

ASH: Interesting! This had slipped my radar.

SEAN: Also from Viz: Case Closed 76, Komi Can’t Communicate 9, Persona 5 4 (or Persona 4 5, whichever you prefer), Pokemon Adventures: Collector’s Edition 4, Radiant 13, Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle 13, and Transformers: The Manga 3.

ASH: Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle continues to delight me.

SEAN: So? Whadja get?

SEAN: It’s October, and we are all having pumpkin spice something!

Dark Horse debuts Blade of the Immortal!… again. Deluxe hardcover this time, 576 pages, even has a bookmark ribbon to show it’s class.

ASH: Blade of the Immortal holds a very special place in my heart. While I didn’t double-dip for the paperback omnibus edition, I will be picking up these new deluxe hardcovers; Dark Horse has been doing a beautiful job with them.

ANNA: I’m sort of tempted but I also have such limited bookshelf space!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has some print titles for us. Ascendance of a Bookworm 6, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 12, I Shall Survive Using Potions! 2, In Another World with My Smartphone 12, and the 4th Marginal Operation manga.

ASH: Ascendance of a Bookworm is the one catching my eye here.

The digital debut is A Lily Blooms in Another World, a one-shot light novel by the author of Sexiled. It’s an “otome game villainess” story (where our heroine, once again, loves the villainess – see two weeks ago for more of this), but I loved Sexiled, so will definitely be giving this a chance.

ASH: Oh! I hadn’t made the author connection yet! Sexiled is indeed great, so I may need to add this one to my list, too. (If/when it is released in print.)

SEAN: Also, Discommunication’s 5th manga volume, I Shall Survive Using Potions! 5, the 5th Infinite Dendrogram manga, and Slayers 2.

Kodansha… let’s see. In print, we get Granblue Fantasy 5 and Maga-Tsuki 11-13 (which ends the series, a series that started so long ago I forget what it’s about. It has brides on the cover, though.)

Digitally, the debut is Four Kisses, in Secret (Kisu wa Kossori to). This is a one-shot short story collection of four one-shots that appeared in Dessert. Expect romance.

And 35 volumes of Shaman King. We discussed this before, but the delay has finished, and they’re due out next week.

And we get Cells at Work: Bacteria! 4, Chihayafuru 22, A Condition Called Love 6, Grand Blue Dreaming 11, Our Precious Conversations 7 (the final volume), Smile Down the Runway 14, Star⇄Crossed!! 3, That Time I Got Reincarnated (Again!) as a Workaholic Slime 2 (also a final volume), To Be Next to You 10 (also also a final volume), and You Got Me, Sempai! 9.

MICHELLE: Of course, I must cheer for more Chihayafuru but am also happy for the conclusion of To Be Next to You, which I’ve really enjoyed. I also need to read Our Precious Conversations at some point, as it’s by the creator of My Little Monster, which I liked.

ANNA: One of these days I need to catch up on Chihayafuru, I have a few digital volumes stockpiled.

SEAN: Seven Seas has only one print release next week, Made in Abyss Official Anthology – Layer 1: Irredeemable Cave Raiders. As noted, this is a doujinshi anthology of the popular manga.

ASH: I haven’t read much of Made in Abyss yet myself, but I do still like seeing these sorts of anthologies released.

SEAN: Digitally we see a 7th volume of Reincarnated As a Sword.

This is the one-month anniversary of my saying “Tokyopop has the 6th omnibus volume of Aria the Masterpiece.” And it’s still true! Ah, 2020, truly the most delay-filled year…

Vertical gives us a 6th Kino’s Journey, and also wants to let you know that Dissolving Classroom and Velveteen and Mandala are out digitally now.

Viz knows that this first week of the month belongs to them, and has pulled out all the stops. We start with Chainsaw Man, a highly acclaimed fan favorite… from the author of Fire Punch. Somehow those two things go together. I’ve been told it’s a lot of fun, but also really defines the “black” in “black comedy”.

ASH: I’ve likewise heard some great things about Chainsaw Man! I wasn’t a huge fan of Fire Punch, but I plan on checking this series out.

ANNA: I thought it was fun.

SEAN: Moriarty the Patriot (Yuukoku no Moriarty) is the other debut, a Jump Square series reimagining Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes as a protagonist.

ASH: Another one about which I am curious.

MICHELLE: Me too!

ANNA: This was not on my radar before but this sounds interesting.

SEAN: And there’s Revolutionary Girl Utena: After the Revolution, a one-shot manga volume from the Utena manga creator. The Utena manga and I do not get on, but I’ve heard that there are things to like about this.

ASH: I really liked The Adolescence of Utena manga, but I haven’t actually read the manga series. (Shocking, I know!!) I’ll be fixing that in the near future, and will be picking up After the Revolution, too.

MICHELLE: I’ve read the original and The Adolescence of Utena, but it was in 2006, right before I started reviewing. I remember a little. In general, I don’t have a lot of patience with narratives that don’t make complete sense, but I will still probably check out After the Revolution.

SEAN: Ao Haru Ride has its 13th and final volume, and The Demon Prince of Momochi House has its 16th and final volume.

ASH: I’m a couple volume behind with The Demon Prince of Momochi House, but as a whole I’ve been enjoying it.

MICHELLE: So many final volumes this week!

ANNA: Ah! I didn’t realize these series were concluding! Both very good.

SEAN: We also see An Incurable Case of Love 5, Jujutsu Kaisen 6, My Hero Academia 25, Naruto: Sasuke’s Story (a novel), One-Punch Man 21, Prince Freya 3, We Never Learn 12, and Yona of the Dawn 26.

ASH: Oooh, some other good titles from Viz, too.

MICHELLE: Forsooth!

ANNA: This is a happy week for me!

SEAN: Meanwhile, no one woke Yen when September ended, as they still have some releases that slid to next week. Including a debut… well, sequel… ACCA-13 PS. As you can imagine, this is an epilogue to the original.

ASH: Natsume Ono is one of the creators whose work I will always make a point to read.

SEAN: There’s also the 3rd Combatants Will Be Dispatched! manga, Hatsu*Haru 12, and Triage X 20.

What manga is in the autumn of your year?

SEAN: Try to remember the kind of September when manga was slow and discussion was mellow. Ready? Then follow.

MJ: (Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow, follow, follow, follow…)

SEAN: Going by their website, Denpa Books finally has the 2nd omnibus of Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji.

ASH: Happy to see this series get back on track!

SEAN: Seven Seas’ ero label Ghost Ship has FOUR titles out, including a debut. Welcome to Succubus High! (Succubus Gakuen No Inu!!) is a Takeshobo title from Web Comic Gamma Plus. An average boy is transferred to an all-girls school full of succubuses to teach them about men. Naturally, he does NOT want to have sex with any of them, because this is a Ghost Ship title and not a Fakku title. The line may be far away, but it’s there.

Other Ghost Ship titles out are Creature Girls 4, Yokai Girls 11, and Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs 10.

J-Novel Club has a trio of titles. The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress 8, Cooking with Wild Game 9, and A Wild Last Boss Appeared! 2.

Kodansha, again, has no print titles. Digitally, we have a debut: My Best (♀) Butler (Ore no Shitsuji (♀) ga Iketeiru), a Dessert title that I could describe the plot of but instead I’ll just note it’s another “poor girl is toyed with by rich boys” series and go with that.

MICHELLE: Pretty much.

MJ: Ugh.

SEAN: I’ve made a decision to stop reporting Kodansha’s “early digital” series as they simply change the date at the very last minute too often. So, in digital-only land, we have Heaven’s Design Team 5, Lovesick Ellie 11, the 16th and final volume of My Boy in Blue, Princess Resurrection Nightmare 6, and Seven Shakespeares 13. As you can see, this week is devoted to “new volumes of titles we’ve caught up to Japan on”.

MICHELLE: I’m glad for more Lovesick Ellie!

SEAN: One Peace Books has The Reprise of the Spear Hero 2.

Seven Seas has three debuts. The Ancient Magus’ Bride: Wizard’s Blue (Mahou Tsukai no Yome Shihen.108 – Majutsushi no Ao) is another spinoff of the popular fantasy manga, it runs in Mag Garden’s Manga Door, and has been described as a genderswapped version of the parent series.

We Swore to Meet in the Next Life and That’s When Things Got Weird! (Raise o Chikatte Tensei Shitara Taihen na Koto ni natta) is from ichijinsha’s Zero-Sum Online. Two lovers vow to meet again in their next life. They do! Except she’s a 39-year-old OL, and he’s still in high school! This sounds… uncomfortable but cute if you ignore the premise.

MICHELLE: I will probably check out both of these, albeit with a certain degree of trepidation.

MJ: I. Hm.

ASH: Things did indeed get weird there.

SEAN: The digital-first light novel is Muscles Are Better Than Magic! (Mahou? Sonna Koto yori Kinniku da!), a fantasy comedy about a guy who’s trained forever and the elf girl who needs his help.

Also out next week: Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average?! 10 (print), How to Build a Dungeon 6, The Invincible Shovel 2 (print), Mushoku Tensei light novel 8 (digital first), and Servamp 14.

Vertical has two titles. On the manga end, we get the 2nd Blood on the Tracks.

Pretty Boy Detective Club (Bishounen Tanteidan) is a novel written by NISIOISIN, but it’s a far cry from the Monogatari or Zaregoto series – it’s a reverse harem! A young woman trying to find a star that appears only once every ten years ends up being helped by, well, the title club.

MICHELLE: I cannot resist this.

MJ: Okay, maybe need this.

SEAN: Yen also has some runoff from last week. Yen On gives us a 4th Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World.

Yen Press debuts Yoshi no Zuikara: The Frog in the Well Does Not Know the Ocean, a Gangan title from the creator of Barakamon, about a fantasy manga artist trying desperately to draw realistic manga.

MICHELLE: Huh. The Yoshino series was not on my radar.

ASH: Oooh, I am intrigued!

SEAN: Lastly, we get Éclair Rouge, the latest in this yuri anthology series.

More to discuss than I thought. Fantastick. What are you getting?

SEAN: Manga is here and nothing can stop it!

Except perhaps fire. Pacific Northwest-based Dark Horse has two manga releases currently scheduled for next week, but has already said the wildfires might delay releases. But we will note them anyway: Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls 2 and Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles 2.

ASH: Yikes, that is a completely understandable reason for possible delays.

SEAN: J-Novel Club once again has two debuts, one which I care about and one which I do not. The “do not” is My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! (Sokushi Cheat ga Saikyou Sugite, Isekai no Yatsura ga Marude Aite ni Naranai n Desu ga). Leaving aside the fact that no light novel with the word ‘Cheat’ in the title should ever be licensed, this is by the author of My Big Sister Lives in a Fantasy World, and apparently ties into that story, but I’m still not interested enough to look at it. But it should appeal to those who like this sort of thing.

Far more to my taste is The Sorcerer’s Receptionist (Mahousekai no Uketsukejou ni Naritaidesu), a J-Novel Heart series about a commoner woman whose goal is to become a guild receptionist, and the duke’s son who she keeps running into while she achieves this.

ASH: That one’s more to my taste as well.

SEAN: Also coming out next week: I Refuse to Be Your Enemy! 3, Lazy Dungeon Master 12, My Next Life As a Villainess! 7, and Sorcerous Stabber Orphen 8.

Kodansha has a very light week next week. No print books, and the digital side is light as well. The debut there is Maid in Honey, a Dessert title whose synopsis and cover art makes me cringe, but I know there’s a big audience for series like these.

MICHELLE: Yeah, this is another of the “girl with a service job” titles I mentioned last week. The style of the cover looked familiar so I did a search on the mangaka and, yep, she’s the one who did Beauty Bunny also. I think I’ll be passing on this one.

SEAN: We also see Abe-kun’s Got Me Now! 4, Altair: A Record of Battles 22, DAYS 20, and the 20th and final Elegant Yokai Apartment Life, which I’m not sure if it completed or if it was simply cancelled.

MICHELLE: I’m hoping for the former! I have been meaning to read it for ages.

SEAN: KUMA has a print release of Canis: Dear Mr. Rain (which I thought we’d had before, but…)

MICHELLE: I am pretty sure it was supposed to come out earlier but got pushed back.

ASH: Yup, I think that’s the case. I’ll probably check it out at some point now that it’ll be available.

SEAN: Seven Seas has two debuts, one print and one early digital, but both yuri. The print is Our Teachers Are Dating! (Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei wa Tsukiatte iru), a Comic Yuri Hime title about a gym teacher and nurse who are in a relationship… and the school is rooting for them! This looks cute, though future covers suggest it will also be ecchi.

ASH: I’m more in the mood for cute than ecchi at the moment, but I’ll admit to being curious.

SEAN: The digital debut, from GL Novels (you can guess what GL stands for), is I’m in Love with the Villainess! (Watashi no Oshi wa Akuyaku Reijou). As with many light novels recently, an OL dies and is reincarnated in an otome game. However, she’s the heroine. But she’s not interested in the guys… This looks fun, and I’ve been reliably informed is very well written.

Also out next week: Cosmo Familia 2, Gal Gohan 4, the 7th print volume of How a Realist Hero Rebuilds the Kingdom, the 2nd print volume of Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, My Androgynous Boyfriend 2, My Senpai Is Annoying! 2, Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time 2, the 6th print volume of Reincarnated As a Sword, and the 8th and final volume of Tomo-chan Is a Girl!, which I have really loved from day one.

MICHELLE: Hooray for more My Androgynous Boyfriend!

ASH: I’m looking forward to reading more of that series, too!

SEAN: Tokyopop has a 2nd volume of Koimonogatari: Love Stories.

Vertical has the 1st volume of Weathering with You in print. Which I know I said 3 weeks ago, but this year has just been VERY BAD for release dates slipping.

There are a LOT of light novels from Yen due out next week. Including one debut, Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside (Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasareta node, Henkyou de Slow Life suru Koto ni Shimashita). “Slow Life” in Japanese loan word has become “Quiet Life” in English for these sorts of books, but the intent is the same: the heroes shun him, so he goes off to do basic boring tasks. I’ve heard good things about this.

Technically there is another debut, but it’s a sequel to a spinoff. Konosuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World! Bonus Story moves the timeline forward a bit, but still has the premise of “Megumin and Yunyun have side adventures”, this time with Princess Iris along for the ride.

Other light novels: The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life 4, Baccano! 14, Combatants Will Be Dispatched! 4, The Devil Is a Part-Timer! 17, The Genius Prince’s Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt (Hey, How About Treason?) 4, A Mysterious Job Called Oda Nobunaga 2, Re: Zero EX 4, Suppose a Kid From the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town 3, and Torture Princess 5.

ASH: Wow, it really is a full week for the Yen ON imprint!

SEAN: Yen Press has three manga debuts. If Witch, Then Witch? (Majo Raba Majo Reba) is a Shonen Gangan title about a boy whose life is saved by a girl donating her blood. He wants to repay her anyway he can… and finds to do this, he has to dress as a witch and help her pass the magic exams. My expectations are low but not zero.

ASH: Hmmm.

SEAN: The second debut is King of Eden, a Korean horror manga that got a limited release a few years ago but is now out in a two-in one omnibus (it’s 4 volumes total, so the 2nd should finish it). Given it’s horror, it’s not my thing, but… Ash?

ASH: Well, now that it’s made its way to print, I may very well take a look!

SEAN: Lastly, we see the manga version of Last Round Arthurs, which I have described as “King Arthur meets Haruhi Suzumiya”.

We also see A Bride’s Story 12, The Elder Sister-Like One 4, Kakegurui Twin 7, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected 14 (manga version), Plunderer 5, The Saga of Tanya the Evil 11 (manga version), the 15th and final volume of Silver Spoon, Trinity Seven 21, and Yowamushi Pedal 15.

MICHELLE: Hooray for more YowaPeda!

ASH: Oh yes, and A Bride’s Story, too! And of course, Silver Spoon. Yen manga is where it’s at for me this week.

SEAN: Leaving aside MJ(SILVER SPOOOOOOOOOOOOON!), what are you all getting next week?

ANNA: I’m going to use this week as a breather to catch up on all my unread manga!

MJ: Hey, I think I missed my cue. SILVER SPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!

SEAN: Mid-September, and, for once, quite a light week. We do have some very impressive debuts, though.

J-Novel Club has two new digital light novels. The first, and more sensible one, is Mapping: The Trash-Tier Skill That Got Me Into a Top-Tier Party (Hazure Skill “Mapping” wo Te ni Shita Shounen wa Saikyou Party to Dungeon ni Idomu), a standard “my skill seems useless so everyone hates me but in reality it’s super overpowered” light novel. I’d planned on skipping this, but have been told it’s better than it sounds. We’ll see.

ASH: I mean, cartography is incredibly useful.

MJ: I kind of have a thing for maps, but I tend to NOT have a thing for light novels, so???

SEAN: The next one I am absolutely not skipping. This may be the most ridiculous license we’ve ever seen. WATARU!!! The Hot-Blooded Fighting Teen & His Epic Adventures After Stopping a Truck with His Bare Hands!! (Truck Uketome Isekai Tensei! Nekketsu Butouha Koukousei Wataru!!) is a massive parody of isekai works where the hero gets hit by a truck and dies. Wataru does not die, though, he’s JUST THAT TOUGH. I am hoping this is as silly as it sounds.

MICHELLE: I am amused by the phrase “the hot-blooded fighting teen.”

ANNA: I hope this is as silly as you are expecting!

ASH: I am amused by the premise, at least!

MJ: I, too, am amused. Probably not reading this, but still amused.

SEAN: We also get Deathbound Duke’s Daughter 2 and the 3rd and final volume of The Extraordinary, the Ordinary and SOAP!.

Kodansha has some print debuts, both of which have appeared before digitally. Sayonara Football is from the creator of Farewell, My Dear Cramer (in fact, it may be an noutright prequel), and came out digitally around the time the author’s other series Your Lie in April was doing well. Now it has a print release.

MICHELLE: Yep, Sayonara, Football came first, which is something I didn’t know when my first reaction to Farewell, My Dear Cramer was basically, “Why did the mangaka introduce these two girls and then quickly start focusing on someone else instead?”

MJ: That sounds frustrating.

SEAN: Sue & Tai-chan is, of course, the new cat manga from the author of Chi’s Sweet Home.

Also in print: Eden’s Zero 9 and Witch Hat Atelier 6.

MICHELLE: I still need to read Sue & Tai-chan and Witch Hat Atelier.

ANNA: I love Witch Hat Atelier, excited for the print volume. The art is so fantastic.

ASH: It is an astonishingly beautiful series, both art-wise and story-wise.

MJ: I’m behind on everything, but I like both cats and witch hats, so I feel like I should be on board for these.

SEAN: There’s two digital debuts, but one has print coming 2 weeks later. Whisper Me a Love Song (Sasayaku You ni Koi wo Utau) is from Comic Yuri Hime, and looks quite sweet.

Digital-only for now is Heroine for Hire (Heroine Hajimemashita), a Dessert series about a very strong girl who becomes bodyguard for her high school classmate, who says he will make her “the most important girl in the world!”. Any title that has the heroine suplexing people is always on my watch list.

MICHELLE: I will check out both of these. Kodansha has a couple more of these “girl with a service job” series coming out over the next couple of weeks, but this one looks the most promising.

ANNA: I enjoy this type of dynamic in shoujo, I might overcome my usual resistance to digital shoujo and check it out.

ASH: Likewise.

MJ: Same.

SEAN: Also: Dolly Kill Kill 6, GE: Good Ending 9, Kakushigoto 7, Men’s Life 4, Orient 6, and Saint Young Men 8. Also, Something’s Wrong with Us 3, which will also get print in 2 weeks.

MICHELLE: This is the final volume for Men’s Life, also. I never hear much about Orient.

SEAN: Seven Seas is taking a break, they have one print release, which we’ve discussed when it came out digitally: Sazan and Comet Girl.

ASH: Now that it’s out in print, I’ll likely be checking it out!

SEAN: Digitally they have the 3rd volume of light novel Magic User: Reborn in Another World as a Max Level Wizard.

Udon has Persona 4 12, meaning it is as strong as three Persona 4s.

MICHELLE: *snerk*

SEAN: Viz has the debut of one of the most beloved manga classics, now getting a re-release with all the bells and whistles. And digitally as well! Maison Ikkoku is the story of a guy who didn’t quite make it into college and his attempts to live at an apartment complex filled with eccentrics… and a gorgeous apartment manager! I have… very mixed feelings about this series, but cannot deny it’s super loved by everyone who isn’t me. Love to see it get this release.

MICHELLE: I’m not surprised that it inspires mixed feelings. There were definitely things I found kind of annoying, but on the whole I love it anyway. I’ve reviewed all of it before, but I will at least do briefs for the re-release.

ANNA: I’m glad it is getting a re-release too.

ASH: I had just finished putting together a complete set of the out-of-print volumes when the new edition was announced. Still, I’m glad it’ll be more readily available for others again!

MJ: This is THRILLING. I suppose I also have mixed feelings about aspects of this manga, but in most ways I adore it. I was never able to compile a complete set for myself, so here’s my chance!

SEAN: Ping Pong also comes to an end with its second and final omnibus, speaking of super beloved series.

MICHELLE: I decided to wait for the second volume and read it straight through. I’m looking forward to it!

ANNA: Haven’t read the first volume yet, but I have it!

ASH: I am absolutely thrilled we finally got this series in English.

MJ: Like Michelle, I’m behind, but I can’t pretend it was on purpose. I must catch up and read them both together!

SEAN: And we also get 20th Century Boys Perfect Edition 9, BEASTARS 8, Hell’s Paradise Jigokuraku 4, Levius/Est 6, No Guns Life 7, and The Way of the Househusband 4.

MICHELLE: I am steadily falling farther and farther behind on BEASTARS. Sigh.

ANNA: Always delighted by another Way of the Househusband volume.

ASH: Ditto and ditto! I’ve also been meaning to read more of Hell’s Paradise, too.

SEAN: Is your life being destroyed by Yotsuya-san? Or are you buying manga?

SEAN: My computer rebooted while I was typing this up, so I am now typing it up again and mad.

MICHELLE: Ugh.

ASH: I have been there before and empathize.

MJ: Sadness.

SEAN: Cross Infinite World has Past Life Countess, Present Life Otome Game NPC?!, a reverse Bakarina where the fantasy world countess ends up reincarnated as a modern-day commoner girl in an otome game. She’s still stealing events from the heroine, though.

ASH: Huh, that’s an interesting variation.

SEAN: J-Novel Club debuts Black Summoner (Kuro no Shoukanshi), a 12+ volume novel that features a man who sacrificed his memories for more power. OP fans will like this.

The other debut is Holmes of Kyoto (Holmes at Kyoto Teramachi Sanjo), an antique-store oriented mystery that feels like the antidote to titles like Black Summoner. It’s a J-Novel Heart title, and is 15+ volumes in Japan.

ASH: That sounds like it could be fun!

SEAN: There’s also a 3rd Cooking with Wild Game manga, a 3rd Demon Lord, Retry! manga, The Holy Knight’s Dark Road 3 and Seirei Gensouki 11.

Kodansha debuts in print the first Clover collector’s edition. They’ve also got I’m Standing on a Million Lives 7 and The Seven Deadly Sins 39 in print.

ASH: Clover is one of my favorite CLAMP works; I suspect I will be double-dipping for the fancy hardcover omnibus.

MJ: I may as well!

SEAN: Digitally the debut is We Must Never Fall in Love! (Zettai ni Tokimeite wa Ikenai!), a Dessert series from the author of The Walls Between Us. It’s… well, it’s stepsibling romance. Which Japan sure loves more than North America.

MICHELLE: I didn’t realize that, but I might give it a shot anyway at some point.

ANNA: Maybe…..

SEAN: Also out: Ace of the Diamond 28, Giant Killing 22, and Tokyo Revengers 17. Quiet week for Kodansha.

MICHELLE: I suppose comparatively it is a quiet week, but two of those titles are among my favorites, so I’m happy.

SEAN: One Peace has a 14th volume of The manga version of The Rising of the Shield Hero.

So much from Seven Seas. The print debut is BL novel Sarazanmai, which we’ve discussed before.

ASH: I’ve still not delved into Sarazanmai… I need to get on that!

SEAN: Who Says Warriors Can’t be Babes? (Onna Senshi tte Motenai desu ne!) is a fantasy comedy from Kodansha’s Palcy. A girl has a crush on the hero, so she trains to be a strong warrior. Sadly, she trained TOO hard, and now he doesn’t see her as a woman!

MICHELLE: One-punch woman?

ASH: Hmmm. I could see this premise going either in a direction that I would really like or in a direction that I really wouldn’t.

MJ: I’m. Hm.

SEAN: And we see the 2nd print volume of Adachi and Shimamura, The Dungeon of Black Company 5, Failed Princesses 2, Gal Gohan 4, The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter 2 (digital version), The Ideal Sponger Life 6, The Invincible Shovel 3 (digital version), the 2nd Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear manga, Monster Girl Doctor 6 in print, the 11th Mushoku Tensei manga, and Skeleton Knight in Another World 6.

Square Enix has a 2nd volume of Cherry Magic!.

MICHELLE: I liked the first volume more than I expected to, and look forward to the second!

ASH: Maybe I should give the series a try, then!

SEAN: SuBLime gives us Caste Heaven 3 and Therapy Game 2.

MICHELLE: Caste Heaven was not for me, but I did mostly enjoy Secret XXX, of which Therapy Game is a spinoff, so I should check that out too.

ASH: I’m surprisingly behind in my BL reading and already have some catching up to do.

SEAN: Tokyopop has the 6th omnibus volume of Aria the Masterpiece.

Vertical, in print, has the 5th APOSIMZ. Digitally, they have a 15th volume of Ajin: Demi-Human.

Viz debuts Fly Me to the Moon, a new romantic comedy series by the author of Hayate the Combat Butler. A young man meets a very strange, possibly alien girl, and they get married almost immediately. What happens after that? And who the heck is she? This is getting an anime soon.

MJ: Maybe?

SEAN: Also out from Viz: Pokemon Sun & Moon 8, Rin-Ne 35, Splatoon 10, and YO-KAI WATCH 15.

Are you a reincarnated countess? A lovestruck warrior? A possible space alien? What manga are you buying?

SEAN: It’s always September, somewhere in Manga Land! What do we have for you this first week of the month?

Cross Infinite World has a 2nd volume of Beast Blood.

Denpa snuck out a release last week, though apparently the print comes a bit later. The Girl with the Sanpaku Eyes (Sanpakugan-chan wa Tsutaetai) is a Gangan Pixiv manga about a girl with “mean eyes” and her travails. Our own Kate Dacey reviewed it here.

ASH: Thanks for the review, Kate! I’ve been curious about this one.

MJ: I have, too!

SEAN: No debuts for J-Novel Club this week, but a whooooole lotta other stuff. In print, we get An Archdemon’s Dilemma 7, the first Ascendance of a Bookworm manga (I guess that’s a debut), Infinite Dendrogram 8, My Next Life As a Villainess 3 and Sexiled 2.

ASH: I’ve been enjoying the Bookworm novels, so maybe I should give the manga a try, too. As for the second volume of Sexiled, I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on it.

SEAN: Digitally, there’s By the Grace of the Gods 4, Full Metal Panic! 8, The Greatest Magicmaster’s Retirement Plan 6, Kokoro Connect 10, The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar 12, The Unwanted Undead Adventurer 6, and A Very Fairy Apartment 4.

Kodansha has some print for us. Knight of the Ice 3, L*DK 15, Living-Room Matsunaga-san 4, The Quintessential Quintuplets 10, Saint Young Men 3, To Your Eternity 12, and Waiting for Spring 13.

MICHELLE: I’ll be reading several of those, and am especially eager for more Knight of the Ice.

ASH: Oh! It’s a good Kodansha week for me, too!

MJ: I need to catch up with both Knight of the Ice and Saint Young Men.

ANNA: Glad for the reminder about Knight of the Ice, I’m already behind!

SEAN: There’s also digital. The debut is That Time I Got Reincarnated (Again!) as a Workaholic Slime (Tensei Shite Mo Shashiku Datta Kudan), another spinoff of that popular series. This one is only 2 volumes long.

And we get All-Rounder Meguru 16, Cells at Work: Bacteria 3, My Boss’s Kitten 6, Smile Down the Runway 13, Stellar Witch LIP☆S 2, To Be Next to You 9, and Yuri Is My Job! 6. (The last will have print later, I imagine.)

MICHELLE: I’ve been getting caught up on To Be Next to You and liking it a lot.

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts Cube Arts, a “gamer invited to beta test a game that is more than it seems” story. It ran in Shinchocha’s Comic Bunch.

Digitally there is a light novel debut: ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword!. A much requested yuri light novel title, this apparently starts off very dark (expect slavery), but has good buzz.

ASH: Hmmm, a yuri light novel could be intriguing.

SEAN: Seven Seas also has, in print, Makeup is Not (Just) Magic: A Manga Guide to Cosmetics and Skin Care, as well as the 3rd Arifureta: I Heart Isekai and My Monster Secret 21.

ASH: I’d actually like to give Makeup is Not (Just) Magic a read.

SEAN: Square Enix gives us a 2nd volume of My Dress-Up Darling.

ASH: Whoops, I haven’t actually read the first volume yet, so I’ve already fallen behind.

MJ: Oops, same!

SEAN: Tokyopop debuts Ossan Idol! (Ossan (36) ga Idol ni naru Hanashi), an adaptation of a novel that runs in Comic Pash!. A Middle-Aged Man, bullied most of his life, turns his life around and gets buff, cool and handsome… but is unaware of this. Now he’s been scouted. This looks pretty fun.

Vertical has two debuts. The first we saw a digital release of earlier, but now the Weathering With You manga gets a print release.

MJ: I didn’t read this in digital, but I enjoyed the movie and I tend to like manga adaptations of Shinkai’s work, so I really should check it out.

SEAN: The other one, With a Dog AND a Cat, Every Day is Fun (Inu to Neko Docchi mo Katteru to Mainichi Tanoshii) is definitely for animal lovers. Expect “indie” art styles, too.

MICHELLE: Definitely checking this one out.

MJ: Okay, want.

SEAN: The rest is Viz, mostly. No debuts, but lots to look at. For shoujo stuff, we get Daytime Shooting Star 8, Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits 6, Love Me Love Me Not 4, Not Your Idol 2 (not a final volume, but the series is on hiatus in Japan after this), Skip Beat! 44, and Snow White with the Red Hair 9.

MICHELLE: I intend to read every single one of these, sooner or later. I didn’t realize that about Not Your Idol, though. That kind of stinks.

ASH: It’s a good shoujo week! I thought the first volume of Not Your Idol was excellent, so at this point I plan on reading the rest whenever it may be released.

MJ: Yes, same for me. Apparently my role in this week’s column is to point to whatever Ash says and repeat, “same.”

ANNA: It is a great week for shoujo! I’m sort of glad I didn’t read the first vol of Not Your Idol if it is on hiatus. I’m also especially happy to see a new volume of Skip Beat!

SEAN: On the shonen end, we get Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 16, Dr. STONE 13, Dragon Ball Super 10, Haikyu!! 40, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 16, One Piece: Ace’s Story 2 (final volume, and also a novel), and SPY x FAMILY 2.

MICHELLE: My love for Haikyu!! is pretty well documented at this point, so I will instead squee about how cute and great SPY x FAMILY is.

ASH: Likewise! Those are the two series from this batch which are getting most of my love this week.

ANNA: Nice, I need to read more SPY x FAMILY

SEAN: Lastly, Yen On had one August title skitter all the way into September: the 9th So I’m a Spider, So What? novel.

Which of these make the best titles to hide in your textbook while class is going on?

SEAN: The end of August, a time when most people think back on the good things about summer. Like manga!

ASH: At least some things were good!

SEAN: We start off with Ghost Ship, which has a 3rd volume of Destiny Lovers.

J-Novel Club debuts Monster Tamer (Monster no Goshujinsama), which comes from the Monster Bunko label, so it’s a specialty. The plot sounds like Arifureta. A lot like Arifureta, honestly. Perhaps a bit less dungeons and more forests, but…

They also have the 4th Demon Lord, Retry! and a 3rd manga volume for Sweet Reincarnation.

Kodansha has quite a bit. In print, we see Drifting Dragons 5; Fire Force 19; In/Spectre 12; Rent-a-Girlfriend 2; and Wave, Listen to Me! 3.

MICHELLE: I’m happy about Wave, Listen to Me! but mostly can’t wait ’til the end of September, when volume four (with material I haven’t already read digitally) comes out!

ANNA: I’m also happy about Wave, Listen to Me!.

ASH: Likewise! I’ve also been enjoying Drifting Dragons.

SEAN: Digitally the debut is ASHIDAKA – The Iron Hero (Tekkai no Senshi). This has been getting a simulpub release, but now the first volume is out. Hope you like metal arms. It runs in Monthly Shonen Magazine, and appears to be very old-school shonen. I’m hoping for big eyebrows.

ASH: Heh.

SEAN: You can also enjoy digital volumes for Abe-kun’s Got Me Now! 3, Altair: A Record of Battles 21, Guilty 6, Hotaru’s Way 15 (a final volume), I Fell in Love After School 7, Kounodori: Dr. Stork 16, Love Massage: Melting Beauty Treatment 6, Waiting for Spring 13, and When We Shout for Love 3 (also a final volume).

MICHELLE: I think this was originally the final volume of Waiting for Spring, too, but now there’s a fourteenth one with side stories and bonus content. In any case, I’m reading a bunch of these.

SEAN: Seven Seas is still doing the “yay, we can print books again!” thing. No print debuts, but we get Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter 6, Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor 9, Arifureta Zero 3 (manga version), A Centaur’s Life 18, Magika Swordsman and Summoner 13, My Room Is a Dungeon Rest Stop 3, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Anima 3, Non Non Biyori 13, and Re: Monster 5. A lot of those had their digital version out already.

ASH: I’m not following many of these very closely, but I am glad to see print starting back up again.

SEAN: Digitally there are some debuts. Sazan and Comet Girl (Sazan to Suisei no Shoujo) is a done-in-1 omnibus from LEED Magazine’s Torch, and, despite being a LEED publication, does not appear to be in the style of Golgo 13. It’s a sci-fi story. It’s also in full color.

ASH: I’m curious about this one, though I’ll likely wait for the print volume.

MJ: That sounds interesting.

MICHELLE: It does!

SEAN: In light novels, we have The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent (Seijo no Maryoku wa Bannou desu). An OL gets summoned to be the Saint… but gets rejected. Now she’s trying to live a slow life, but it quickly becomes apparent that maybe she is a saint after all.

Also digitally we have Adachi and Shimamura‘s 3rd light novel, D-Frag! 14, and Monster Girl Doctor 6.

Square Enix gives us The Misfit of Demon King Academy 2 and Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town 2 (manga version).

Tokyopop has a 2nd volume of Koimonogatari: Love Stories.

Vertical has quite a bit. They haven’t publicly announced most of it, but given it’s there on their web page for all to see, I don’t feel guilty talking about it. They’re debuting some digital NISIOISIN novels. We get Owarimonogatari 1 & 2, Katanagatari 1-3, and Zaregoto 1-3. This would catch us up with the print releases… except they’re also putting out the 4th and final Katanagatari omnibus in print only. Oh yes, and a 4th Bakemonogatari manga volume in print.

They also, in non-NISIOISIN products, have The Complete Chi’s Sweet Home box set.

ASH: I still really love Chi’s Sweet Home.

MJ: Same.

SEAN: Lastly, Yen has some titles that slid back a week. Including The Garden of Words, the latest Makoto Shinkai multimedia emotional gutcruncher novel. Yen On also has Goblin Slayer 10, which is… not a Makoto Shinkai title.

ASH: Nope. It most definitely is not

SEAN: On the manga end, Yen debuts Fiancee of the Wizard (Mahoutsukai no Konyakusha), a Kadokawa title from one of their shoujo fantasy magazines. It’s a reincarnation isekai, but with a female lead, and is based on an as-yet unlicensed light novel.

MICHELLE: This seems pretty romance-heavy, at least by its description: “When a woman is reborn into a world of swords and sorcery as a young girl, her new life takes a turn for the fantastic as she meets an impossibly handsome yet surly son of a wizard. A future of magic, adventure, and romance awaits!”

ANNA: OK, I’m now much more intrigued by this description!

ASH: Potentially promising, for sure. (Even if I am well beyond burned out on most isekai.)

SEAN: We also get A Certain Magical Index 22 (manga version), High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World 8 (manga version), IM: Great Priest Imhotep 4, Interspecies Reviewers 4, Laid-Back Camp 9, Murcielago 15, School-Live! 12 (the final volume, though there’s a sequel out in Japan), Smokin’ Parade 8, Val x Love 9, and The World’s Strongest Rearguard 2 (manga version).

Typing ‘manga version’ a lot. It’s a multimedia world. What media are you consuming?

SEAN: The Yen Press juggernaut is back.

Let’s start with Yen. They have a couple manga debuts. Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai is the manga version of the popular light novel. This arc is a done-in-1 omnibus.

I Love You So Much I Hate You (Nikurashii Hodo Aishiteru) is an office romance yuri about two professional working women with a rivalry… or is it?

MICHELLE: I hope this is something kind of complicated, but I guess we shall see.

ASH: I do like that we’re starting to see more yuri with adult characters.

MJ: Yes, I do too.

SEAN: I Don’t Know How to Give Birth! (Shussan no Shikata ga Wakaranai!) is a comedic essay manga about the author struggling with her first-time pregnancy. It looks fun.

ASH: I’m super-curious about this one.

ANNA: I am too!

SEAN: Also from Yen this week: Teasing Master Takagi-san 9; Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization 6 (the final volume); Spirits and Cat Ears 9; So I’m a Spider, So What? 8 (manga version); an omnibus version of the Puella Magi Madoka Magica manga; Phantom Tales of the Night 5; Overlord: The Undead King-Oh! 4; Magia Record 2; Kakegurui 12; Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon: Sword Oratoria 12 (manga version); Hinowa Ga CRUSH! 4; Black Butler 29; As Miss Beelzebub Likes 10; Aoharu x Machinegun 18 (the final volume); and Angels of Death 10.

ASH: You weren’t kidding about the return of the juggernaut! And this is just the manga. Out of these, Phantom Tales of the Night is what has most of my attention.

SEAN: As for Yen On, it also has some debuts. Interspecies Reviewers should already be familiar from the manga and anime: this is a light novel version.

The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy (Seiken Gakuin no Maken Tsukai)… yup, another demon lord in a magical academy.

MICHELLE: How many does that make now? At least three.

SEAN: Also: Sword Art Online 20, Rascal Does Not Dream of Petite Devil Kouhai, Final Fantasy I*II*III: Memory of Heroes, Do You Love Your Mom (and Her Two-Hit, Multi-Target Attacks?) 6, The Dirty Way to Destroy the Goddess’ Heroes 4, Bottom-Tier Tomozaki-kun 4, and 86 ~Eighty-Six~ 5.

From Viz: Venus in the Blind Spot is a best of collection from Junji Ito, and also has the exact same meter as “Mirror in the Bathroom” by The English Beat.

MICHELLE: My brain automatically went to “Heroes in a Half-Shell.” Which is strange, considering I never watched that show.

ASH: Hahaha! Whatever the meter, I’m always glad for more Ito in English.

ANNA: Always a good thing.

MJ: I’m on board for this!

SEAN: Also from Viz: Urusei Yatsura 7, Ooku: The Inner Chambers 17, Golden Kamuy 17, and Blue Flag 3.

MICHELLE: Hooray for more Ooku, but after the cliffhanger at the end of volume two, it’s Blue Flag I am desperate for.

ASH: Oh! This is a good week for Viz. And a bad week for my wallet; I’m reading most of these.

ANNA: Yes, super anxious to read the next volume of Blue Flag.

MJ: Ooku! And okay, I’m behind on Blue Flag, but I definitely want to know what all the fuss is about.

SEAN: Vertical has the 3rd Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro.

Udon has a 3rd Rose of Versailles omnibus, meaning I’m already behind.

MICHELLE: I only just got volume two last Friday!

ASH: I got the second volume on Saturday, but go ahead and bring on the third!

ANNA: Me too!!!

MJ: Help!

SEAN: Tokyopop has a 2nd volume of The Fox and Little Tanuki.

Sol Press has the 3rd Redefining the Meta at VRMMO Academy novel.

Seven Seas debuts a spinoff. The Ancient Magus’ Bride: Jack Flash & Faerie Case Files (Mahou Tsukai no Yome Shihen.75 – Inazuma Jack to Yousei Jiken), which should be a lot of fun for fans of the main series.

MICHELLE: Huh! I’ll have to check this out.

ASH: I’m a fan of The Ancient Magus’ Bride and I’m a fan of the writer Yu Godai, so I’m doubly-excited for this release.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Toradora! 9 (manga version), Skeleton Knight in Another World 5 (print), Reincarnated As a Sword 3 (manga version), Plus-Sized Elf 5, How to Train Your Devil 3, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 8 (manga version), Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends 18 (print), and Bloom Into You 8.

MICHELLE: I believe that’s the final volume of Bloom Into You, as well. I need to get caught up.

SEAN: No debuts from Kodansha. But we get, in print, Sweat and Soap 3, Saiyuki 2, O Maidens in Your Savage Season 7 and 8, Love and Lies 9, Gleipnir 7, and the 5th Cardcaptor Sakura Collector’s Edition.

ASH: I’m a little behind, but O Maidens in Your Savage Season is so good.

SEAN: Digitally we get That Blue Summer 8 (final volume), Space Brothers 37, Shojo FIGHT! 12, Orient 5, Mikami-sensei’s Way of Love 8 (final volume), Living-Room Matsunaga-san 8, Kakushigoto 6, GE: Good Ending 8, Fairy Tail: Happy’s Heroic Adventure 5, Dolly Kill Kill 5, and Cells NOT at Work 3.

MICHELLE: I have been enjoying That Blue Summer. Hard to believe it’ll be over so quickly!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has one debut, but it’s a biggie: Slayers!. The classic fantasy light novel has been rescued and is coming out with a new translation. The first volume is out next week.

Also out from J-NC: Wild Times with a Fake Fake Princess 2 and How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 12.

Ghost Ship gives us To-Love-Ru Darkness 16, Saki the Succubus Hungers Tonight 3, and Parallel Paradise 2.

Lastly, Dark Horse has the 2nd volume of Dangan Ronpa 2: Goodbye Despair.

Mo’ volumes, mo’ problems. What’s weighing you down?

SEAN: The dog days of August are on us, and the manga keeps piling up like a conveyor belt with Lucille Ball at the end of it.

MICHELLE: That’s an evocative image!

MJ: Indeed!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has two debuts next week. The Epic Tale of the Reincarnated Prince Herscherik (just “Hersherik” in Japan) has an otaku die and get reincarnated in a fantasy world, as one expects these days. Ryoko was a 35-year-old hardcore otaku woman. Now, she’s the villainess… wait, no, she isn’t! She’s a prince! Sadly, said prince has no talent for combat… or magic… and the rest of the family is more handsome… but Ryoko has her otaku smarts.

The other debut, When the Clock Strikes Z (Z no Jikan) is by the author of Outbreak Company and Wild Times with a Fake Fake Princess, Ichiro Sakaki. This is his zombie book. Gamer teams up with horror fanatic to fight off the zombies.

Also from J-Novel Club: a double dose of Myne, as we have the 8th Ascendance of a Bookworm novel and the 5th manga volume. There’s The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress 7, The Beloved of Marielle Clarac, The White Cat’s Revenge As Plotted from the Dragon King’s Lap 2, and The World’s Least Interesting Master Swordsman 4.

ASH: I haven’t tried the manga yet, but I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve read of Ascendance of a Bookworm so far!

SEAN: Kodansha’s print debut is the 20th Anniversary Edition of Chobits.

Also out in print: Beyond the Clouds 2, Cells at Work: CODE BLACK 5, Eden’s Zero 8, Fairy Tail: 100 Year’s Quest 4, Granblue Fantasy 6, Perfect World 2, and That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime 13.

ASH: This reminds me I need to read the first volume of Beyond the Clouds.

SEAN: Digitally? Well, there’s All-Out!! 15, Cells at Work and Friends 3, Cosplay Animal 13, Domestic Girlfriend 26, Fairy Tail: City Hero 4 (the final volume), Men’s Life —Her Secret Life in The Boys’ Dormitory— 3, The Prince’s Romance Gambit 7, The Quintessential Quintuplets 14 (also a final volume), and Ran the Peerless Beauty 8.

MICHELLE: I really need to get caught up on Ran the Peerless Beauty and to start All-Out!!.

SEAN: Seven Seas has two debuts. The first we’ve seen the digital version of: Syrup, a Girls’ Love Anthology. It focuses on adult women.

ASH: I’ll probably pick this up now that it’s in print.

SEAN: The other is Failed Princesses (Dekisokonai no Himegimi Tachi), a yuri manga from Takeshobo’s Manga Life STORIA Dash. This is high school girl yuri, and also apparently a bit darker than most.

In print, we see the 2nd Bloom Into You: Regarding Saeki Sayaka light novel, Machimaho 6, Reincarnated As a Sword‘s 5th light novel, and Skeleton Knight in Another World‘s 4th manga.

In early digital releases, we see a debut as well. The Sorcerer King of Destruction and the Golem of the Barbarian Queen (Hametsu no Madou Ou to Golem no Banhi) is an isekai fantasy, though apparently the guy who is isekaied has no memory of his former life. He’s being asked to destroy the world, which he wants no part of. So he’s given a powerful and dangerous partner.

And we get Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 3 and Sarazanmai 2.

ASH: I need to begin my Sarazanmai journey soon.

SEAN: Square Enix has the print debut of The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest, a title whose plot is so familiar it’s already being made fun of.

SuBLime debuts Toritan: Birds of a Feather, a new BL series from Rutile about a man with the power to talk to birds.

They also have a 3rd volume of Given.

MICHELLE: I might be into Toritan and am certainly excited for more Given!

MJ: I’m kind of into the concept where a man talks to birds? I guess both of these are potentially for me!

ANNA: I ordered the second volume of Given and don’t have it yet, but I’m also excited for more volumes in this series!

ASH: Yup! I’m here for both of these, too.

SEAN: Tokyopop debuts A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation (Odayaka Kizoku no Kyuuka no Susume), a manga from TO Books’ Comic Corona. A man is transported to another world and decides to life a slow and easy life is a title we’ve seen before. This man, however, was the prime minister in a fantasy world before he was transported, which is interesting. It’s also one of those titles where everyone has to insist it’s not BL despite what it looks like.

ANNA: Honestly, I’d be intrigued by this if it was coming out from a different publisher.

ASH: Likewise.

MJ: Yep.

SEAN: Vertical has the 8th volume of CITY (in print) and the 15th Ajin (digitally).

Viz has two debuts, one of which probably falls outside the scope of Manga the Week of. BTS: Blood, Sweat and Tears is a biography of the popular band – no, not the 60s/70s jazz rock band, but BTS, the incredibly popular Korean boy band.

ASH: Huh! Viz has done a nice job with other biographical works, so this should hit the spot for BTS fans.

MJ: This does sound like it will be perfect for the right audience.

SEAN: There’s also an artbook. Monster Hunter: World – Official Complete Works should delight fans of Monster Hunter. (Note: ask rest of Manga Bookshelf what Monster Hunter is.)

ASH: Oooh, I know this! I’ve actually played and really enjoyed one of the games in the franchise before (despite being pretty terrible at it).

SEAN: Viz also has some ongoing titles. We get Fullmetal Alchemist: Fullmetal Edition 10, Hayate the Combat Butler 36 (only 16 more to go! That’s only 8 short years!), Komi Can’t Communicate 8, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 7, and A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow 4.

ASH: A solid shounen (and seinen) showing from Viz.

MJ: Always ready to push Fullmetal Alchemist on another generation.

SEAN: Lastly, Yen has one light novel debut – we hope, this book was delayed 6 times over the course of the past year. The Eminence in Shadow (Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute!) is a comedic isekai about a guy who likes to make up backstories and finds that the one he’s made up is getting out of his control. Let’s hope we can finally enjoy it.

ASH: I’m not hugely interested in isekai, but that sounds like it could be fun.

SEAN: See? SO MUCH STUFF. What manga are you desperately stuffing in your mouth as it comes down the conveyor belt?

SEAN: Get ready for a brutal month. Every week in August is huge. Soooo much stuff.

ASH: Let’s go!

SEAN: First of all, hey, remember when I somehow missed that Soul Eater: The Perfect Edition started from Square Enix on 7/28? That was 100% a thing I missed, because I am basically terrible. Soul Eater is fun. Please ignore the boobie ending.

We start with J-Novel Club, which has several print volumes. We see Animeta! 4, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 11, the debut of the I Shall Survive Using Potions! light novel, and In Another World with My Smartphone 11.

ASH: I plan on picking up Animeta! out of this group.

SEAN: Digitally, there is Altina the Sword Princess 5, Campfire Cooking in Another World 7, Can Someone Please Explain What’s Going On? 3, Der Werwolf 8, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 15 (hey, it finally hit 15), In Another World with My Smartphone 20, and Record of Wortenia War 7.

Kaiten Books has another manga debut: UzaMaid: Our Maid is Way Too Annoying (Uchi no Maid ga Uzasugiru!). This Manga Action title from Futabasha had an anime recently, and I can confirm that its title is not just for show.

Kodansha had to push back its Shaman King rollout, so no debuts this week. In print, we get Boarding School Juliet 12.

Digitally we get Are You Lost? 6, Cells at Work: Bacteria! 2, Chihayafuru 21, Drifting Dragons 8, GTO Paradise Lost 12, Our Fake Marriage 3, Peach Girl NEXT 8 (the final volume), Smile Down the Runway 12, and To Be Next to You 8.

MICHELLE: I will never not be grateful for Chihayafuru!

ANNA: One day I will catch up! One day!!!

SEAN: One Peace has a one-off for us: My Papa’s Persimmon Tree, which is 45 pages long, seemingly based on real-life events, and award winning.

ASH: Interesting! It’s so easy for One Peace’s releases to slip under the radar; I wasn’t previously aware of this one.

MJ: Same here!

SEAN: Seven Seas has the print debut of Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time, the 2020 award winner for most “humorous” euphemisms for semen in a single manga volume.

MICHELLE: Ew.

ANNA: No thank you!

MJ: I hate everything.

SEAN: Also in print: Arifureta Zero’s 3rd light novel, Gal Gohan 3, GIGANT 2, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Elma’s OL Diary 3, and the 10th and final Toradora! light novel.

As for early digital releases, we have the 11th Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho.

Udon has the 2nd Rose of Versailles at last. Cannot wait.

MICHELLE: Huzzah!

ANNA: I have mine, yay!

ASH: Yes!! Still so glad this series is being released.

MJ: Okay, I don’t hate EVERYTHING. So excited!!

SEAN: Vertical has a manga debut: The Daily Lives of High School Boys (Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou), an episodic comedy manga from Gangan Online that also became an anime and a film. It’s pretty highly regarded.

And lastly, ALL THE VIZ. The debut is a sequel. Fushigi Yugi: Byakko Senki, a sequel to Fushigi Yugi – Genbu Kaiden, but still a prequel to the main series proper. It runs in Flowers, meaning we finally have another Flowers series from Viz that isn’t Kaze Hikaru. Also, this manga is so old I have to remind myself every time not to use two u’s in Yugi. Because fandom.

MICHELLE: I am all about this.

ANNA: I am so excited for this series. Trying to emotionally prepare myself.

MJ: Okay, I absolutely loved Fushigi Yugi – Genbu Kaiden, probably more than the original series, if I’m being honest. So this is a welcome addition to that universe!

SEAN: Naruto has a new light novel (at 136 pages, a very light novel) called Naruto’s Story: Family Day. It shows him bonding with Himawari, and I think was animated.

Shonen Jump? We got you. There’s Black Clover 22, Blue Exorcist 24, Boruto 9, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 15, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Arc 4 Volume 6, Jujutsu Kaisen 5, the 5th and final My Hero Academia SMASH!, One Piece 94, The Promised Neverland 16, the third Samurai 8, Twin Star Exorcists 19, and We Never Learn 11.

ASH: JoJo! So far, this arc has’t been my favorite, but I’m still getting a huge kick out of it.

SEAN: Shojo Beat? We have you covered as well. Ao Haru Ride 12, Kaze Hikaru 28 (the yearly volume, which means TWO Flowers series on the same day from Viz! Can 7SEEDS be far behind?), Oresama Teacher 27, Shortcake Cake 9, and Yona of the Dawn 25.

MICHELLE: I would even be super happy if 7SEEDS was digital-only. Heck, if Kaze Hikaru moved in that direction but came out more frequently, that’d be okay too.

ANNA: If only we got 7SEEDS. I’m happy for the annual volume of Kaze Hikaru. . So much great shoujo this week!

ASH: It’s a very good week for shoujo!

MJ: That 7SEEDS tease seems cruel, Sean! So much false hope! I weep.

SEAN: As tends to happen in Week Ones, Viz is most fascinating to me (well, that and Rose of Versailles). How about you?

SEAN: July is coming to an end, and there’s still a few things for you.

J-Novel Club has the 3rd Bibliophile Princess novel, Cooking with Wild Game 8, and a 4th manga for How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom.

No debuts for Kodansha next week, and the only print book is Yuzu the Pet Vet 2.

ASH: The first volume looked cute, but I haven’t actually read it yet.

MICHELLE: Same. I do hope to rectify that soon.

SEAN: Hey, remember all those Kodansha digital books that were on last week’s Manga the Week of? They seem to have gotten bumped to next week, so add them to this list.

Wait, stop the presses! Kodansha is, in fact, releasing all 35 volumes of Shaman King – including the never-before-in-English ending – digitally. This is a Weekly Shonen Jump series from back in the day, with Kodansha now holding the rights. I assume it will have a new translation. It’s a cult classic.

ASH: Wow, that’s impressive!

SEAN: Besides that, digitally there’s a whole lot (note: this is based on the dates on Kodansha’s website). Altair: A Record of Battles 20, Boarding School Juliet 16 (a final volume), DAYS 19, Farewell My Dear Cramer 11, I Fell in Love After School 6, I Want to Hold Aono-kun So Badly I Could Die 6, Kakafukaka 10, Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight 11 (print later), Magus of the Library 4 (print later), Real Account 12-14 (print later), Saint Young Men 7, UQ Holder 20 (print later), Watari-kun’s ****** Is about to Collapse 8, When We Shout for Love 2, and Yuzu the Pet Vet 3 (print later).

(Yes, some of the digital titles like Boarding School Juliet and Saint Young Men are also getting print later, but here I mean “COVID-delayed print edition”.)

ASH: In general, I’ll be waiting for the print edition, even if I have to wait longer considering the circumstances.

MICHELLE: I’ll be reading several of these, most especially the soccer pair.

SEAN: Seven Seas’ debut is Kingdom of Z, a zombie apocalypse romantic comedy that looks to be for fans of High School of the Dead. It runs in Kodansha’s Comic Days.

Seven Seas also gives us BL Metamorphosis 2 (yay!), High Rise Invasion 13-14, King of Fighters: A New Beginning 3, Little Devils 4 (the final volume), Magic User: Reborn in Another World as a Max Level Wizard 2 (print version), Mushoku Tensei 6 (print edition), and My Room Is a Dungeon Rest Stop 3 (digital edition).

ASH: Even though this is only the second volume, BL Metamorphosis is already one of my favorite series being released right now.

MICHELLE: I never got around to reading volume one so this is another one where I’m hoping to get caught up by volume two.

MJ: I’ve been slow to pick up volume one, but I need to get on that!

SEAN: Tentai Books has a light novel debut, Welcome to the Diner of the Exiled! (Tsuihousha Shokudou e Youkoso!). Guy betrayed by everyone meets girl betrayed by everyone. Together, they do not fight crime. They open a diner. I smell a slow life title.

Vertical has, digitally, a 14th Witchcraft Works.

Finally, Yen On has Kingdom Hearts III: the Novel 2. Which hopefully is not as confusing as its title.

Short list, mostly because it was mostly two publishers. What interests you?

SEAN: It’s another one of those weeks. Get ready to be buried.

ASH: It’s good to see some things returning to normal!

SEAN: First, some late additions; these are out this week, but the release date was only just confirmed. They’re both Bookwalker titles. The first is Tenpuru, an ecchi harem manga from Kodansha’s Comic Days (I think Tenpuru is meant to be Temple). The second is Why the Hell Are You Here, Teacher?! (Nande koko ni sensei ga!?), an ecchi not-harem title about a guy who can’t stop getting into risque situations with his teacher. It runs in Kodansha’s Young Magazine. Both titles recommended for horny guys.

As for next week, Dark Horse debuts its deluxe edition of Hellsing. The manga was always a lot more… bonkers than the anime, so I’m not sure if I’m going to reread it, but it’s worth checking out.

ASH: If it’s anything like the Berserk deluxe edition, this should be a great release of Hellsing for those interested in the series.

SEAN: J-Novel Club gives us the long-awaited second volume of Tearmoon Empire, as well as the 3rd Teagonia.

Kaiten Books debuts a new digital manga license, My Dad’s the Queen of All VTubers?! (Oyaji ga Bishoujo ni Natteta Hanashi). It’s a Manga Action series from Futabasha, seems to be a comedy. Title is likely the plot, as we see a lot these days.

Kodansha’s latest digital debut, Cells at Work: Baby!, is not about Red Blood Cell and White Blood Cell finally getting their groove on, alas. It’s about the newest cells and what their job is. It runs, believe it or not, in Kodansha’s Morning magazine.

ASH: I hadn’t realized just how many spinoffs of Cells at Work there already were!

SEAN: Also debuting is Sue and Tai-chan, which was delayed from a previous Manga the Week of, so let me go copy and paste. It’s another cat manga from the creator of Chi’s Sweet Home. This one runs in Be Love magazine, so seems more for housewives than kids. But… I mean, it’s still a cute cat manga.

MJ: I love Chi, so I’d always take more cat manga from this creator!

SEAN: In print? Living-Room Matsunaga-san 3, Something’s Wrong with Us 2, and The Seven Deadly Sins 38.

Digitally, we get Abe-kun’s Got Me Now! 2, Dolly Kill Kill 4, GE: Good Ending 7, Gleipnir 7, Kakushigoto 5, MabuSasa 4, Something’s Wrong with Us 3, That Blue Summer 7 and The Seven Deadly Sins 39.

One Peace has a 9th volume of Hinamatsuri.

Seven Seas debuts, in print, Buck Naked in Another World, a light novel that does not live up to its title.

ASH: Ha!

MJ: Also got a laugh out of this.

SEAN: Also out in print: Classroom of the Elite 5, Dragon Goes House-Hunting 5, Goodbye My Rose Garden 2, Himouto Umaru-chan! 10, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Kanna’s Daily Life 7, My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s 2, Our Wonderful Days 3, and Primitive Boyfriend 2.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to give Goodbye My Rose Garden a try; better get on that before I get too far behind!

SEAN: There’s also an early digital release for Classroom of the Elite 6.

Sol Press has a 3rd digital volume for the light novel Why Can’t a Detestable Demon Lord Fall in Love?.

Tokyopop has a new print BL title: There Are Things I Can’t Tell You (Kimi ni Ienai Koto ga Aru). It’s from the publisher Printemps Shuppan, runs in their magazine Canna, and is about childhood friends growing up and realizing they love each other.

MJ: I have to admit this sounds like my kind of title.

SEAN: Vertical, in print, has the 6th Knights of Sidonia Master Edition.

They also have digital editions of Bakemonogatari 5 and CITY 9.

The big debut from Viz is Mujirushi: The Sign of Dreams. This is complete in one volume, ran in Shogakukan’s Big Comic Original, and is a father/daughter psychological drama.

ASH: Not only that, it’s by Naoki Urasawa, one of the creators who solidified my love of manga. I’ll definitely be checking this one out.

ANNA: Oh! This might be the one thing I’m interested in this week.

MJ: Oooooo.

SEAN: Viz also gave us a series of RWBY anthologies before, but now we have RWBY: The Official Manga. This is a prequel to the animated series, and ran in Shonen Jump’s online app.

Also from Viz: Beastars 7, Children of the Whales 15, Hell’s Paradise Jigokuraku 3, Levius/est 5, Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt 14, and No Guns Life 6.

ASH: Beastars and Hell’s Paradise Jigokuraku are my priorities out of this bunch.

SEAN: Yen On has three different light novel debuts. High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World! (Choujin Koukousei-tachi wa Isekai demo Yoyuu de Ikinuku you desu!) is one where we’ve seen the manga before, and it’s had an anime as well. This is the isekai you get when only geniuses are summoned.

I’m a Behemoth, an S-Ranked Monster, but Mistaken for a Cat, I Live as an Elf Girl’s Pet (S-Rank Monster no Behemoth Dakedo, Neko to Machigawarete Erufu Musume no Kishi (Pet) Toshite Kurashitemasu) is what it sounds like, but it’s also notable for being the first Yen On light novel to have a Parental Advisory warning. From what I hear, it’s simply because of the constant mention of boobs in the series. Sigh.

ASH: Huh. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an advisory warning on a novel before.

SEAN: May These Leaden Battlegrounds Leave No Trace (Uchinukareta Senjou wa, Soko de Kieteiro) is a more serious, war-torn drama type of story, along the lines of 86.

Also out in light novels: Bungo Stray Dogs 4, The Greatest Demon Lord Is Reborn As a Typical Nobody 3, The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious 4, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon: Sword Oratoria 12, the second volume of Kingdom Hearts III: The Novel, the third and final volume of KonoSuba: An Explosion on this Wonderful World! (don’t worry, there’s a sequel to this side story in a couple of months), Magical Girl Raising Project 9, Re: Zero 13, and the WorldEnd EX side novel.

Yen’s manga side has two debuts, and the first is… oh dear. To Save the World, Can You Wake Up the Morning After with a Demi-Human? (Sekai wo Sukuu Tame ni Ajin to Asa-chun Dekimasenka?) is the latest in a series of not-quite-porn-but-pretty-close licenses Yen has picked up, this one runs in Young Dragon Age (which, judging by its title, is for series TOO RACY for Dragon Age, a terrifying thought). The plot involves… well, I can probably guess.

MJ: Why, Yen, WHYYYYYYYY?

SEAN: The second is a spinoff. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: The Ways of the Monster Nation. It runs in Micro Magazine’s Comic Ride.

Yen also has some less appalling titles. Barakamon 18 + 1 is a welcome return to that series. There’s also The Case Study of Vanitas 7, For the Kid I Saw in My Dreams 5, Goblin Slayer Side Story: Year One 5, The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious 2 (the manga version), Horimiya 14, I’m a Behemoth, an S-Ranked Monster, but Mistaken for a Cat, I Live as an Elf Girl’s Pet 2 (the manga version), Monster Wrestling: Interspecies Combat Girls 3, No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular! 16, RaW Hero 2, Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts 10, and the 4th print volume of Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun.

ASH: I’m mostly here for Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun, which I’m thoroughly enjoying.

MJ: Has anyone kept up with The Case Study of Vanitas? I was such a big fan of Pandora Hearts, but the beginning of this series wasn’t as strong as I hoped. Has it gotten better?

SEAN: Yen’s release schedule always seems to exhaust me. Are you picking anything up?

SEAN: It’s still hot, there’s still manga.

ASH: I’m glad for one of those things.

SEAN: Apologies to Kaiten Books, who I forgot to add last week. They had Loner Life in Another World 2 come out digitally.

Denpa has the second volume of Pleasure and Corruption.

J-Novel Club’s debut is A Wild Last Boss Appeared! (Yasei no Rasubosu ga Arawareta!), a fantasy series where the Overlord has returned after being defeated years ago in a game world. A guy playing the game now finds himself in the Overlord’s body, and has to deal with her return after 200 years. Yes, her. This could be fun or awful, not sure which.

They also have the 2nd volume of The Extraordinary, the Ordinary and SOAP!; Lazy Dungeon Master 11; and Sorcerous Stabber Orphen 7.

Kodansha’s digital debut is Cells at Work again: Platelets! (Hataraku Kesshouban-chan). This runs in Shonen Sirius, and is basically “adorable grade schoolers” in the Cells at Work vein.

ASH: The platelets were pretty cute to begin with in the original manga.

SEAN: In print, we get The Quintessential Quintuplets 9. In digital, we get The Quintessential Quintuplets 13, the second to last volume, and find out once and for all which Quint is the winner.

Also out digitally: Ace of the Diamond 27, Giant Killing 21, Grand Blue Dreaming 11, Hitorijime My Hero 8, I’m Standing on a Million Lives 9, Sailor Moon Eternal Edition 8, The Hero Life of a (Self-Proclaimed) “Mediocre” Demon! 4, and Tokyo Revengers 16. Some of those will get print later, some will not.

MICHELLE: I’m a few volumes behind on Giant Killing. I expect catching up to be a great deal of fun.

ASH: I would pick this series up in a heartbeat if it ever gets a print release; I enjoyed the anime adaptation a great deal.

SEAN: One Peace has the 17th volume of The Rising of the Shield Hero.

Seven Seas has the print debut of Adachi and Shimamura, the popular yuri light novel series.

Also debuting in print is Love on the Other Side, a short story collection from the author of The Girl from the Other Side, which promises to be heartwarming and creepy in about equal measure.

MICHELLE: Woot!

ASH: Very excited for this volume!

ANNA: Nice, me too!

MJ: This sounds great!

SEAN: There is also Blank Canvas 5, A Certain Scientific Railgun: Astral Buddy 3, Dance in the Vampire Bund: Age of Scarlet Order 2, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 13, and Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! 3. Most of those we discussed when the digital version came out.

MICHELLE: I really, really need to read Blank Canvas.

ASH: It is so, so good.

MJ: I also need to get around to this.

SEAN: Out early digitally is the 2nd Buck Naked in Another World, and let’s just leave that there.

Square Enix has, in print, the 2nd A Man and His Cat and the debut of the Wandering Witch manga.

MICHELLE: I am so there for A Man and His Cat.

ASH: I really enjoyed the first volume.

MJ: I need to catch up!

SEAN: Debuting digitally first for Square Enix is The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest (Shikkaku Mon no Saikyou Kenja – Sekai Saikyou no Kenja ga Sara ni Tsuyokunaru Tame ni Tensei Shimashita). Fantasy, harem, magic academy, strong guy who is supposedly weak, etc.

SuBLime has a debut called Jealousy, from Scarlet Beriko, the author of Jackass!. It’s a yakuza BL title, and looks pretty serious.

ASH: I’ll expect that I be checking this one out at some point. I liked Jackass!, though this manga sounds to be in quite a different vein.

MJ: I’ll cautiously consider.

SEAN: Vertical gives us the 6th volume of My Boy.

Viz’s debut is a spinoff, Splatoon: Squid Kids’ Comedy Show. I have no idea, really.

They also have Case Closed 75 (good lord), the 3rd Persona 5, Radiant 12, Record of Grancest War 7, and RIN-NE 34.

What manga cools you off?

SEAN: Well, while things are not yet back to normal in the world around us, they’re back to normal in regards to manga. Which means there’s a LOT next week.

ASH: Woohoo, manga!

SEAN: Drawn and Quarterly have a collection of stories by feminist manga pioneer Kuniko Tsurita, called The Sky Is Blue with a Single Cloud. A single-volume collection of her best works, this sounds absolutely amazing.

ASH: It really does; I’ll definitely be checking it out.

MJ: Wow, yes, this sounds fantastic.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has a number of print releases coming out. We get An Archdemon’s Dilemma 6; the 9th and final volume of If It’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord; the 7th Infinite Dendrogram; the 3rd Marginal Operation manga; and the 2nd My Next Life As a Villainess.

In digital releases we see Arifureta Zero 4, the 4th Discommunication manga, I Refuse to Be Your Enemy! 2, Infinite Dendrogram 12, Seirei Gensouki 10, and the 3rd manga volume for The Unwanted Undead Adventurer.

Kodansha has one print title out next week, the 2nd volume of Knight of the Ice.

ANNA: I am extremely excited about this!

ASH: Looking forward to it, especially after all of the delays!

SEAN: The digital debut is Cells at Work: Bacteria! (Hataraku Saikin), another in a long line of spinoffs. This one runs in Nakayoshi, though, and so is a shoujo manga about good bacteria battling bad bacteria. It’s already got 6 volumes.

ASH: Some of the spinoffs can be hit-or-miss, but I liked the original and I like the sound of this one.

SEAN: Also out digitally… (deep breath)… All-Rounder Meguru 15, A Condition Called Love 5, Knight of the Ice 3, My Boss’s Kitten 5, Orient 4, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal Edition 7, Pumpkin Scissors 23, Saint Young Men 5 & 6, A Sign of Affection 2, Smile Down the Runway 11, To Be Next to You 7, and Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku 4. (Yes, we mentioned the last one before – it got bumped.)

MICHELLE: I’ll be reading quite a few of those!

SEAN: Seven Seas has a large number of titles that are coming out in print. The 8th Arifureta light novel, A Certain Scientific Railgun 15, the debut of the Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear light novels, the debut of the PENGUINDRUM light novels, I Had That Same Dream Again – the novel AND the manga, My Senpai Is Annoying 1, The Legend of Dororo and Hyakkimaru 1, and the 9th Didn’t I Say To Make My Abilities Average?!. We’ve discussed the debuts when they came out digitally, but it’s nice to see them in print.

ASH: That it is! I’m particularly looking forward to giving The Legend of Dororo and Hyakkimaru and PENGUINDRUM a try.

SEAN: Digital-first, there is a new debut light novel: Yes, No or Maybe? (Yes ka No ka Hanbun ka). This is a done-in-one BL title, and it’s about a news anchorman and a stop-motion animator. It’s gotten great buzz, and is getting an anime.

ASH: Oh, I had missed the anime news, but I am interested.

MICHELLE: I don’t read many light novels, but this sounds kind of fun.

MJ: Huh, interesting.

SEAN: Also digital first is the 7th Mushoku Tensei novel.

Sol Press has a digital release of the 4th Chivalry of a Failed Knight.

And then there’s Viz, who have a full slate of releases. The debut is act-age, a Weekly Shonen Jump title that seeks to do for acting what One Piece did for pirates. Unfortunately, its star, Kei, is all about method acting. This is 11+ volumes to date, so it’s a proven winner by Jump standards. Still… method acting. Ugh. The drama major in me rears back and hisses.

ANNA: Ha, I have to admit I am curious about this based on the description.

MICHELLE: The music major in me hasn’t got a lot of opinions about method acting, so I’m looking forward to this. :)

MJ: Agree on method acting, but also, I’m gonna have to read this.

SEAN: Also debuting in Bleach: Can’t Fear Your Own World, the first of a 3-volume light novel sequel to the popular/controversial Jump title written by Ryohgo Narita, the creator of Baccano! and Durarara!!. Given that pedigree, he knows how to handle huge casts, but Bleach may be a bigger challenge. This stars Hisagi, aka “that guy with 69 tattooed on his cheek’.

There’s also Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 14, Dr. STONE 12, Haikyu!! 39, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 15, One-Punch Man 20, and Seraph of the End 19.

ASH: I’m behind with Haikyu!!, but I have been dutifully collecting volumes in preparation for a marathon read.

MICHELLE: I’m a couple of volumes behind, so I can have a mini-marathon, which will probably be extremely enjoyable.

SEAN: On the Shojo Beat tip, we have Daytime Shooting Star 7, An Incurable Case of Love 4, Love Me Love Me Not 3, Prince Freya 2, Snow White with the Red Hair 8, and Takane and Hana 15.

ANNA: Yay, it is a WEEK FOR ANNA!

ASH: Despite some of the pacing issues of the first volume, I am curious to see how Prince Freya continues to develop.

MICHELLE: Yeah, it didn’t really live up to the awesomeness of its cover, but I’m not ready to give up on it just yet. I’m actually reading everything in that Shojo Beat list except for the one of them that is not actually shojo.

SEAN: Something for everyone here. What’s for you?