Features

SEAN: We give thanks for this manga, and it seems appropriate we start by giving thanks for a new manga company.

Denpa is releasing its first two titles next week. The first may be familiar to Crunchyroll manga readers. Inside Mari (Boku wa Mari no Naka) is a seinen series from Futabasha’s Manga Action, where our lead ends up inside the body of the girl he likes, and has to figure out what’s going on and how to act like her.

The other debut is PEZ, by Hiroyuki Asada, best known for Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee. It’s small (just 72 pages), but gorgeous, and published originally in the ROBOT anthology.

MICHELLE: Welcome, Denpa!

ASH: I am definitely interested in both of these (and everything else to come)!

MJ: Exciting!

SEAN: J-Novel Club also has two debuts next week. We start with Apparently It’s My Fault That My Husband Has the Head of a Beast. This one appears to definitely be geared towards female readers, and stars a Princess who shuts herself in because she sees people’s faces as beast heads. Then she meets a prince, who seems unaffected… at first.

The other debut is a one-shot, ECHO, based on a Vocaloid song, a la Kagerou Daze. I know nothing about it except it has excellent buzz.

And for more typical fare, we also have the 11th In Another World with My Smartphone.

This may have been on the list before, but dates slip, you know the drill. Kodansha has Battle Angel Alita: Holy Night and Other Stories, a collection set in the Alitaverse.

ASH: I suspect it’s something that I’ll get around to reading at some point.

SEAN: Print-wise, there’s also Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card 5, UQ Holder 15, and Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku omnibus 3. Honestly, I’m giving up on Amazon’s dates, as they seem to hate Kodansha right now, and going with the company site.

MICHELLE: Yay for more Wotakoi!

ASH: Yes, indeed! I really do love the series.

SEAN: Digitally, Kodansha debuts Good Dog, Cerberus! (Meiken Keru-chan), a one-volume manga about a cute but clumsy demon dog from Hell. It runs in Kodansha’s Aria, but is being marketed as all ages.

MICHELLE: The cover is crazy cute.

MJ: I’m a sucker for demon dogs from Hell.

SEAN: Also digitally, there is All Out! 7, Are You Lost? 2, Back Street Girls 5, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 8, A Kiss, for Real 5, and Shojo Fight! 5.

MICHELLE: Shojo Fight! continues to be great.

ANNA: I need to catch up!

SEAN: One Peace has the sequel to the original I Hear The Sunspot, subtitled Limit.

ANNA: Loved the first volume.

ASH: I was really impressed by I Hear the Sunspot, so I’m looking forward to reading more.

MJ: I need this.

SEAN: Seven Seas has a bunch of stuff. Wonderland is the manga debut, and yes, it’s another horror take on the Alice story. This ran in Shogakukan’s Big Comic Superior, which almost never gets English licenses. Premise: everyone wakes up tiny! How can they survive?

Also debuting is a one-shot novel with the misleading title I Want to Eat Your Pancreas. No, it’s not a horror novel, and is well worth your time AND your pancreas.

ASH: I’ve heard good things.

SEAN: There’s also the 5th Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor, a 4th Beasts of Abigaile, the 6th Captain Harlock: Dimensional Voyage, the print version of the 4th Make My Abilities Average light novel, The 3rd and final Juana and the Dragonewts’ Seven Kingdoms, a 9th Shomin Sample, and the 3rd Toradora! novel.

MICHELLE: I look forward to reading more Beasts of Abigaile.

ANNA: Me too! It covers my need for goofy paranormal shoujo manga.

SEAN: Udon gives us more foodie isekai manga with a 2nd Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu.

ASH: While in some ways not as immediately compelling as some of the other fantasy foodie manga being released right now, I did rather enjoy the first volume.

SEAN: Vertical has the 2nd Delinquent Housewife!, and also packs the first 7 Monogatari novels into a nice box, which is sadly only available if you buy the books all over again. (You have been buying the books, right?)

We end with Viz, who also have a debut. Ran and the Gray World (Ran to Haiiro no Sekai) is an Enterbrain title from Harta, something which always makes me happy. It’s about a powerful but immature sorcerer and the big brother who has to be her minder.

MICHELLE: Otherworldly Izakaya, Delinquent Housewife, and Ran and the Gray World are all on my list!

ANNA: Ran and the Gray World looks nifty!

ASH: It really does!

They also have Children of the Whales 7, Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt 9, the 3rd RWBY Anthology, and… drumroll please… Ooku: The Inner Chambers 14! Rejoice Manga Bookshelf writers!

MICHELLE: Verily, I am rejoicing!

ANNA: Indeed, I am rejoicing as well!

ASH: Rejoice! Rejoice!

MJ: What they said!

SEAN: So is your manga a turkey? (In a good way, of course.)

SEAN: Here we go again, folks. 62 titles next week. Please cry with me.

ASH: Those are tears of joy, right?

SEAN: Dark Horse has a 7th Blade of the Immortal omnibus to start us off.

ASH: A great way to collect the series since many of the single volumes are out-of-print.

SEAN: J-Novel Club debuts My Next Life As a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!. They’re marketing this to men as well, and it does have a sizeable male fandom here, but Bakarina (as it’s known) is actually from a female-oriented publisher. The premise might seem familiar – a woman wakes up in the body of the villain of the otome game she’s been playing, and has to figure out how not to die or be exiled – but I’ve heard very good things about it.

ANNA: Hmmmm.

SEAN: They also have the latest in the Ao Oni series, subtitled Grudge, a 2nd Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles, and a 2nd volume of Amagi Brilliant Park.

In terms of print, there’s no debuts from Kodansha, but they do have Frau Faust 5 (which Amazon seems to be shipping a bit late on Amazon), Golosseum 4, L*DK 12, Land of the Lustrous 7, Nekogahara: Stray Cat Samurai 5, the 2nd Sailor Moon Eternal Edition, and the 9th Waiting for Spring.

MICHELLE: I’ve been eagerly anticipating the final volume of Frau Faust!

ASH: Oh, I didn’t realize it was the final volume! I’m definitely picking it up, though.

SEAN: Digitally the debut is Alice’s Diet Quest, a Bessatsu Shonen Magazine title about a priestess in a fantasy world who wants to lose weight using any method she can. This… sounds a bit too similar to Plus-Sized Elf for my tastes.

ANNA: No thank you!

SEAN: And we have Boarding School Juliet 6, Kamikamikaeshi 5, The Prince’s Black Poison 8, Tokyo Alice 5, and The Walls Between Us 2.

MICHELLE: I’m already behind on the latter two. Sigh.

SEAN: One Peace has the third volume of the Mikagura School Suite manga.

Seven Seas has only one title, believe it or not: the 2nd Devilman Classic Collection.

ASH: I really liked the first collection, so I’m looking forward to the second.

SEAN: And Vertical Comics has the 9th Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.

Viz debuts Record of Grancest War, which is a fantasy manga based on a light novel with lots of warring states and the mage and knight who try to stop it. It runs in Hakusensha’s Young Animal, so I suspect will also have fanservice or gore.

There is also The Complete Art of Fullmetal Alchemist, which is… what it says.

ASH: Should be great, is what!

ANNA: Yay!

SEAN: Speaking of Fullmetal Alchemist, we have the 3rd Fullmetal Edition omnibus, a 2nd Radiant, a 9th Requiem of the Rose King, and a 28th Rin-Ne.

MICHELLE: Hooray for Requiem of the Rose King!

ASH: I really love this series.

ANNA: Me too!

SEAN: That just leaves Yen, who are shipping most of their titles a bit early this month. JY has the 2nd volume of Little Witch Academia.

Yen On has, believe it or not, only the 2nd silliest light novel debut this month, with The Hero and His Elf Bride Open a Pizza Parlor in Another World. I believe this is just one volume, and corners the market on pizza isekai stories.

Yen On also has A Certain Magical Index 17, Magical Girl Raising Project 5, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected 6, Sword Art Online Progressive 5, and WorldEnd: What Do You Do at the End of the World? Are You Busy? Will You Save Us? 2. So Elf Pizza is not the longest title this week.

On the manga side, we debut Interspecies Reviewers, a monster girl title that runs in Kadokawa’s Dragon Age and looks… um… designed for teenage boys needing to relieve some stress. If you know what I mean.

There’s also two spinoff debuts, as we get the first volume of the manga adaptation of DanMachi’s Lyu sidestory, and also Sowrd Art Online: Hollow Realization, a manga adaptation of the video game that runs in Dengeki Maoh.

Speaking of light novel adaptations, next week we also have the 4th Goblin Slayer manga, an 11th High School DxD, the 4th Hybrid x Heart Magic Academy Ataraxia, a 7th KonoSuba, the 10th Log Horizon: The West Wind Brigade, the 8th Overlord manga, and the 5th volume of Re: Zero’s 3rd arc.

And in titles not based on a novel, we have ACCA 5, Akame Ga Kill! ZERO 8, Angels of Death 5, Chio’s School Road 2, Delicious in Dungeon 6, Dimension W 12, Forbidden Scrollery 5, Fruits Basket Another 2, Laid-Back Camp 4, Love at Fourteen 8 (honestly, they’re almost 16 by now), Mermaid Boys 3, No Matter How You Look At It, It’s You Guys, Fault I’m Not Popular! 12, The Royal Tutor 10, Tales of Wedding Rings 4, Trinity Seven 15, and last but not least, a 14th volume of Yotsuba&!.

MICHELLE: There are several things in that list that I’ll be checking out, but Yotsuba&! for the win!

ASH: Indeed! Delicious in Dungeon and ACCA are very high on my list, too.

ANNA: Been a long time since there was a new volume of Yotsuba&!.

SEAN: This is a lot. (Yen pushed back eight titles two weeks, or it would be even more.) Are you getting anything, or just staring in horror and disbelief?

SEAN: It is election week, and I urge everyone in the United States to please go vote. Meanwhile, on the manga front…

Cross Infinite World has another series, this one apparently from some creators who’ve also done Final Fantasy. emeth: Island of Golems is the title, and the e is small, e.e. cummings style.

Ghost Ship has a 5th Yokai Girls.

J-Novel Club continues to dole out light novels for the hungry fan, as we see Demon King Daimaou 8, Invaders of the Rokujouma!? 17, and The Master of Ragnarok and Blesser of Einherjar 4.

Kodansha is in something of a state of flux – its site’s release dates are not matching Amazon’s, and there have been some schedule slips. But we definitely get the debut of Hiro Mashima’s new manga next week, Eden’s Zero. It’s hard not to make the “Fairy Taiiiil… iiinnnnn SPAAAAAAACCCCEEE!!!!” joke here.

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: Other print titles are Boarding School Juliet 2 and Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth Side: P4 Volume 4 (it hurts me typing that title).

ASH: It does hurt, but it’s a fun series for Persona fans.

SEAN: Digitally we debut Can I Kiss You Every Day?, a Betsufure title whose synopsis, alas, sounds incredibly similar to a lot of other shoujo digital-only titles we’ve seen recently.

MICHELLE: That synopsis earns a hard pass from me.

SEAN: And there’s also Can You Just Die, My Darling? 6, Chihayafuru 12 (yay!), My Boy in Blue 4, and Peach Girl Next 3.

MICHELLE: Yay, indeed!

ANNA: Yes!!!

SEAN: Seven Seas has no debuts, but they do have several of their ongoing series. There’s The Bride and the Exorcist Knight 2, The Dungeon of Black Company 2, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid 7, Sorry for My Familiar 3, and The Testament of Sister New Devil STORM!! 5.

Though release dates on Amazon for Tokyopop are even more fluid than they are for Kodansha, there is apparently a 2nd Futaribeya out next week.

For those who missed the two-volume Summer Wars manga, Vertical Comics is releasing it as an omnibus.

Viz’s debut combines two incredibly popular trends: Dragon Ball and reincarnated into another world stories. That Time I Got Reincarnated as Yamcha is exactly what it sounds like, which is to say silly.

ASH: This is supposed to be fantastic.

ANNA: Sometimes very silly is a good thing.

MJ: I’m down for this.

SEAN: Some excellent ongoing series. On the shonen side, we have Black Clover 13, Black Torch 2, the 3rd Bleach Box Set (not sure if it’s black or not), the 3rd Demon Slayer, a 2nd Dr. STONE, a 29th Haikyu!!, the 9th JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders hardcover, an 88th One Piece, and the 4th volume in Yu-Gi-Oh: Arc V.

MICHELLE: I need to check out Dr. STONE.

ASH: Oh yes, there’re some great series in there!

ANNA: I enjoyed the first volume of Dr. STONE.

SEAN: On the shoujo side, we see Anonymous Noise 11, Idol Dreams 5, and Shortcake Cake 2.

MICHELLE: I also need to check out Shortcake Cake.

ASH: The first volume was quite enjoyable!

ANNA: Shortcake Cake is super cute, and I enjoy Idol Dreams.

SEAN: And on the ‘seinen marketed as shonen’ side, we have Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 5.

Did you vote? And what did you buy?

MICHELLE: Last Friday! And I got a sticker!

It’s Halloween, and the trick is being able to stand under the weight of all this manga.

Ghost Ship has a 7th volume of “porn or not?” series To-Love-Ru Darkness.

J-Novel Club has a trio of ongoing titles, as we get the 8th Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, the 7th The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind!, and the 2nd Sorcerous Stabber Orphen.

Kodansha’s print debut is Hiro Mashima’s Playground, which as you might guess is a collection of short stories from the creator of Fairy Tail.

Speaking of short story collections, we also get Battle Angel Alita: Holy Night, which collects previously unseen one shots from the Gunnm universe. (What’s Gunnm?, I hear you cry. Well…)

ASH: Oh, I had missed this one being picked up, though I’m not surprised that it was.

SEAN: There’s also the 14th and final volume of Animal Land, a series whose first volume came out in North America sometime in 1643.

MICHELLE: I legitimately forgot this series existed.

MJ: Same.

ASH: It really is a shame that this series hasn’t gotten more attention. It’s a little strange, but quite good.

SEAN: The digital debut is a sequel, as we get the first volume of Princess Resurrection: Nightmare, the sequel to… well, Princess Resurrection. It still runs in Shonen Sirius, and seems to be more of a Tokyo Ghoul-style reboot.

Also out digitally: Beware the Kamiki Brothers! 6 and Heaven’s Design Team 2.

MICHELLE: I read the first volume of the latter and it was.. odd. We’ll see if the author varies the already established formula at all with volume two.

SEAN: Seven Seas is hitting us with lots of stuff. The debut is Versailles of the Dead, which does not feature Oscar but does feature Marie Antoinette and zombies. I think it’s currently running in Hibana, though it’s changed magazines a few times.

ANNA: I have to admit I am intrigued by the title, along with historical zombies.

ASH: As am I! It’s by the creator of Afterschool Charisma, too.

SEAN: There’s also The Ancient Magus’ Bride Supplement, yet another in-depth guidebook to the series.

ASH: I’ll be picking this one up!

SEAN: And we have an 8th Dreamin’ Sun, the 8th Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash novel in print, the 2nd manga adaptation of If It’s For My Daughter Etc., the 3rd Mononoke Sharing, the 13th My Monster Secret, the 8th Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary, and 2nd True Tenchi Muyo! novel, and the 4th and final Yokai Rental Shop.

ASH: I wasn’t as enamored with the beginning of Yokai Rental Shop as I was hoping I would be, but I have been meaning to read more of the series.

SEAN: Udon has a 3rd volume of Infini-T Force.

Vertical has Onimonogatari, which theoretically is about Shinobu but Mayoi is going to steal the show.

That leaves Yen Press, but that’s still a lot.

ASH: It really is.

SEAN: Starting with Yen’s digital-only manga, we see Corpse Princess 19, Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun 8, and IM: Great Priest Imhotep 9.

JY is Yen’s imprint for younger readers, and we have two titles to point to. The first is Crush, the 3rd in Svetlana Chmakova’s series that began with Awkward and Brave. It is sure to be as awesome as both of those were.

JY also has a Japanese title debuting. Zo-Zo-Zombie is from the kids’ magazine Corocoro, and is the most adorable zombie manga you’ll ever read.

ASH: D’awww.

SEAN: Yen On debuts Mirai, the latest ‘novelization of a popular movie’ title. There’s also Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile, in which Aerith is, like Francisco Franco, still dead. Though given these are short stories, possibly not in this volume.

Goblin Slayer, now a hit anime, also gets a side story novel, called Year One. I expect goblins.

Yen On also has new volumes of The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria (4), Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (12), Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Sword Oratoria (7), Re: ZERO (8), Spice and Wolf (20), and its sequel Wolf and Parchment (3).

Theoretically there is also the long, long, long delayed 7th volume of No Game No Life, but I won’t believe this without actual evidence.

And then the manga. So much. Only one debut, which is High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World!. Based on an unlicensed light novel, it’s another isekai, as you can see, only the kids finding themselves in another world are all insufferable geniuses. How will they cope? Easily, apparently.

That leaves the ongoing series. Let’s divide it, as I tend to do, in half. First, NOT based on light novels. There’s Anne Happy 8, Aoharu x Machinegun 13, Demonizer Zilch 5, Gabriel Dropout 5, Hakumei & Mikochi 2, Hatsu*Haru 3, Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler 7, Kiss and White Lily for My Dearest Girl 7, Murcielago 8, Prison School 11, Sacrificial Princes and the King of Beasts 3, the 5th Sekirei omnibus, Shibuya Goldfish 2, Silver Spoon 5, Spirits & Cat Ears 7, Taboo Tattoo 12, Teasing Master Takagi-san 2, Triage X 16, and Val x Love 4. … I’m actually getting a lot of that. Yikes, that’s a lot.

MICHELLE: Hatsu*Haru, Sacrificial Princess, and Silver Spoon for me.

ANNA: You know, if I don’t read any of this, I’m not behind. That’s what I will tell myself. Although somewhere I have first volumes of Sacrificial Princess and Silver Spoon squirreled away.

MJ: Obviously Silver Spoon. Always Silver Spoon.

ASH: Silver Spoon is likewise at the top of my list, but I’m reading (and falling behind with) a few others, too.

SEAN: On the light novel adaptation side, we have A Certain Magical Index 15, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 5, The Devil Is a Part-Timer! 12, Durarara!! re;Dollars 3, the 5th DanMachi: Sword Oratoria manga, Napping Princess 2, The Saga of Tanya the Evil 4, and the 4th So I’m a Spider, So What?.

ANNA: Why are there so many light novels, and no one has released any Library Wars titles, or finished 12 Kingdoms????

MICHELLE: Or Saiunkoku Monogatari???

ANNA: YES! Someone bring out Saiunkoku Monogatari!!!!

ASH: I would love to see those series translated, too! I’d add No. 6 and the rest of Moribito as well, though those might not technically be light novels.

SEAN: Are you gorged on all these treats? What’s in your bag?

ASH: SO MUCH.

SEAN: October continues to push out new titles to break our banks.

First, I missed another release in last week’s list. Out tomorrow is the 6th Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress from Bookwalker.

Dark Horse has a debut I’m excited about. Mob Psycho 100 is by the author of One-Punch Man, and this time he’s also the artist. It runs in Shogakukan’s Ura Sunday, is based off the webcomic, and is about a psychic boy.

MICHELLE: Ooh, interesting!

MJ: This also sounds interesting to me!

ANNA: Me too!

ASH: Yup, count me in!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has some ongoing series, with a 4th Infinite Stratos, a 2nd Kokoro Connect, and a 3rd volume of The Unwanted Undead Adventurer.

Kodansha print debuts another Fairy Tail spinoff, Lightning Gods.

Kodansha digital is a different story. We begin with Forest of Piano, a series I never thought would make it over here. A long-running award-winning story about a piano prodigy, it ran in Morning magazine (actually, it debuted in Uppers, which tells you how old it is) and has its first seven omnibuses all debut digital-only next week. Will this be the title that forces Ash to buy digitally?

MICHELLE: Woot!

MJ: I don’t often buy digital either, but I kind of want this. Like, a lot.

ANNA: Wow, that sounds like something I should pick up.

ASH: Aaaaah, I really am going to start buying digital titles one of these days, aren’t I?

SEAN: On a more shoujo note, Mikami-sensei’s Way of Love is a Betsufure title about a girl who hasn’t had a love affair yet and her persistently annoying teacher who is likely the reason why. For those who like amusing jerk heroes.

And we have Ace of the Diamond 16, Defying Kurosaki-kun 5, Is Kichijoji the Only Place to Live? 4, Liar x Liar 7, and The Quintessential Quintuplets 5.

MICHELLE: I love Ace of the Diamond and one of these days I’ll read Kichijoji.

SEAN: Seven Seas has two debuts. Machimaho: I Missed Up and Made the Wrong Person into a Magical Girl! is not based on a light novel, despite the lengthy title. It runs in Shinchosha’s Kurage Bunch, and does not seem to be quite as dark as Seven Seas’ other Magical Girl titles. Violent delinquent turned magical girl is the premise.

Plus-Sized Elf is the other debut, from Wani Books’ Comic Gum. Given that it’s from Comic Gum, I would expect the fanservice to also be plus-sized. Also, despite the titular elf, I have a suspicion this is a monster girl title in general. It’s seemingly about an elf hooked on junk food.

ASH: I’ll admit I’m curious. Also, I will be very disappointed if there aren’t French fries.

Seven Seas also has Harukana Receive 2, Made in Abyss 4, Magical Girl Apocalypse 16, Nameless Asterism 3, and There’s a Demon Lord on the Floor 6.

Vertical Comics has a 4th omnibus of The Flowers of Evil.

Lastly, Viz has a 7th digital-only volume of élDLIVE.

I suspect Manga Bookshelf is thinking of pianos next week. How about you?

SEAN: Neither rain nor snow not gloom of night can stay Manga Bookshelf from looking at next weeks’ releases.

We start off with J-Novel Club, who have three new novels. An Archdemon’s Dilemma 2, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 11 (In which I hear things are all sunshine and rainbows forever), and I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse 10, where our hero tries to deal with the world of theater.

Kodansha print? There’s Ghost in the Shell: Global Neural Network, with stories by Western writers based on the Japanese classic.

ASH: I really liked the Attack on Titan anthology, so I’m looking forward to this volume!

SEAN: Elsewhere in print, we have the Attack on Titan Season 3 Part 1 box set, Battle Angel Alita Deluxe Edition 5, Fire Force 12,and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime 8, which everyone seems to like more than I do.

The digital debut this week is Tokyo Revengers. Its plot… sounds like Erased, only edgier and more Weekly Shonen Magazine oriented, to be honest.

ASH: I do get a kick out of it, but I’m even more interested in the Battle Angel Alita finale.

SEAN: And we have: Beauty Bunny 8. Cosplay Animal 8. DAYS 10. Giant Killing 14. And Perfect World 7. Can a few of these come out less often, please. ^^;; I need to catch up!

MICHELLE: DAYS and Giant Killing, as always.

SEAN: One Peace debuts The Reprise of the Spear Hero, a light novel spinoff of The Rising of the Shield Hero, which seems to be Re: Zero only with no actual deconstruction.

Seven Seas has a debut. It’s Fairy Tale Battle Royale (Otogibanashi Battle Royale), combining beloved children’s stories with blood-spattered survival horror. If ever there was an anti-Sean title, this is it. All it’s missing is “whoops, I spilled milk all over my face!”. It’s a Kadokawa title from Gene Pixiv.

There’s also an omnibus release of the first 3 Boogiepop novels.

ASH: I’m so happy to see these back in print!

SEAN: Ongoing series include 2nd volumes for How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord’s manga version, as well as twisted weirdness with The Voynich Hotel. There’s also a 3rd volume of the Kanna’s Daily Life spinoff from Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid.

ASH: I still need to read the first volume of The Voynich Hotel. It seems like something I would appreciate.

ANNA: Oh yeah I was meaning to check it out too.

SEAN: Udon gives us an 8th volume of Persona 4.

Viz debuts a Junji Ito collection, this one featuring Frankenstein, among other things. A must for horror manga fans.

ASH: Yes!!

ANNA: Good stuff!!

SEAN: If you never read Tokyo Ghoul, there’s now a complete box set of the first series. And there’s also a 7th volume of Tokyo Ghoul: re.

Lastly, there’s a 3rd Dead Dead Demon’s Dededededestruction and a 4th Fire Punch. I prefer the former to the latter.

ASH: Same here.

ANNA: Also need to catch up with the former.

SEAN: Assuming you’re not affected by weather, what are you getting next week?

SEAN: The pile of October continues. Join us!

Dark Horse gives us the 2nd volume of Gantz G.

And Ghost Ship has a 3rd World’s End Harem, which I imagine continues to have our hero resolutely not having tons of sex.

J-Novel Club has 3 ongoing series, with Clockwork Planet 4, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 5, and Lazy Dungeon Master 2.

Kodansha announced its new October digital releases literally an hour after I posted last week’s titles, making me grit my teeth. So already out is Are You Lost? (Sounan desuka?), a title about teens stranded on an island, though at least it’s not a survival game story.

Next week’s debut is Kira-kun Today (Kyou no Kira-kun), a shoujo manga from the creator of Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight and Love’s Reach. It ran in Betsufure.

Also out digitally next week are Boarding School Juliet 5, Drowning Love 11, I’m Standing on a Million Lives 3, and Tokyo Alice 4.

MICHELLE: I had every intention of reading Drowning Love and Tokyo Alice, but keep falling further behind.

ANNA: I never even tried. Too much manga!

SEAN: No print debuts, but we do see To Your Eternity 7 and Tokyo Tarareba Girls 3.

ASH: Definitely picking both of these up!

SEAN: Seven Seas has what I suspect will be Manga Bookshelf’s Pick of Next Week with the debut of Satoko and Nada. The story of a Japanese woman and a Saudi woman sharing a room at an American college, it sounds fantastic. It runs on an online site, Twi 4.

MICHELLE: It does look fantastic!

ANNA: That sounds great. Going to see if we can purchase that at my library.

ASH: I’m really looking forward to giving this series a read.

MJ: This was entirely off my radar! I will definitely be picking this up!

SEAN: There’s also Himouto Umaru-chan! 3, How to Treat Magical Beasts 2, Made in Abyss 4, and Spirit Circle 5.

ASH: The first volume of How to Treat Magical Beasts was enjoyable, but my (shattering) heart lies with Spirit Circle.

Vertical debuts APOSIMZ, the newest title from the creator of BLAME! and Knights of Sidonia. It looks pretty hard SF, as usual.

MICHELLE: It does, which is not normally my thing, but I do like Nihei’s art a lot, so will probably check it out at some point.

ANNA: Is there a talking bear? This is what I need to know.

SEAN: They also have a 12th Ajin.

Viz’s debut is a short story collection based on the world of NieR:Automata, entitled Long Story Short. Anyone else have Spandau Ballet in their head?

MICHELLE: Alas, I only know their big hit.

ASH: NieR: Automata was a huge hit among my circle of friends–hopefully the short story collection will be, too!

MJ: I’m there with you and Spandau Ballet

SEAN: Lastly, Viz has new volumes for Case Closed (68), Magi (32), and Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle (3). I’ll be getting those last two.

ANNA: Yay for more Sleepy Princess!

ASH: The series is such a delight.

SEAN: It’s a lot, but keep saving up, there’s even more out in the coming weeks. What are you getting?

SEAN: It’s fall! At last! What manga do we have?

We start, as we often do, with Dark Horse, which has the debut of Eromanga-sensei. It’s by the creator of, and if I’m being honest for the fans of, Oreimo. Slightly less incest this time, though. It runs in Dengeki Daioh.

J-Novel Club gives us a 16th volume of Invaders of the Rokujouma!? After a one-month break, I am ready for more.

Kodansha is burying us in THINGS. Let’s start with print, as we debut Boarding School Juliet, which already came out digitally. It’s Romeo and Juliet meets a boarding school, as the title suggests.

ASH: Hmm, I’m vaguely curious.

SEAN: The Seven Deadly Sins also debut a spinoff called Seven Days, which no doubt appeals to The Seven Deadly Sins fans.

ASH: It features Ban, who is probably the character from The Seven Deadly Sin that I get the biggest kick out of.

SEAN: There’s also a 5th Again!!, 9th Descending Stories, a 9th Heroic Legend of Arslan.

ASH: I’ll admit I’ve fallen behind, but I actually am following all of these series.

MICHELLE: I finally read the first couple Descending Stories volumes and liked them very much!

SEAN: There *is* a new Kodansha digital title out next week, but as Kodansha hasn’t announced it yet, I’ll wait till they do. There is, however, Vols. 15-22 of Beck, Can’t You Just Die, My Darling? 5, A Kiss, for Real 4, My Boy in Blue 3, Peach Girl NEXT 2, and The Prince’s Romance Gambit 3.

ANNA: Too much! Too much digital!

MICHELLE: The covers of A Kiss, for Real are promising, but I haven’t had a chance to dip into any of these yet.

SEAN: Seven Seas has a 2nd hardcover of the Captain Harlock Classic Collection. There’s also Crisis Girls 2 and Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Kanna’s Daily Life 3.

ANNA: OOH, I forgot to get the first Captain Harlock!

ASH: I enjoyed it!

SEAN: Udon has a 2nd volume of Dragon’s Crown.

Vertical and Viz, hilariously, have two of the biggest debuts of the year, and they are RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER, so I can’t use both for images. Fortunately, I am aware already what Manga Bookshelf will have as Pick of the Week. Thus, here’s a big slab of Pop Team Epic’s cover art. The first volume debuts next week, and we shall see if its cult audience will actually buy manga.

Viz Media debuts Ao Haru Ride, the title that was so requested they’re still calling it Ao Haru Ride and not Blue Spring Ride! It’s from the creator of, and better than, Strobe Edge. And given I quite liked Strobe Edge, it has a lot to live up to. It ran in Betsuma from 2011-2015.

ANNA: YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!

MICHELLE: What she said!

MJ: OMG YES.

SEAN: The other debut is the manga version of Juni Taisen: Zodiac War, NISIOISIN’s attempt at doing a survival game manga. The novel was… good, but not his best. Will the manga work better?

ASH: I think the story is much more suited to manga.

SEAN: One finale next week, but it’s a biggie: the 74th and final Bleach, in which ICHIHIME WINS! HAH! (cough) Sorry. There is also the 24th Bleach 3-in-1.

MJ: It’s hard to believe this day has come.

SEAN: And we get… get your pencils ready… Blue Exorcist 20, Food Wars! 26, Haikyu!! 28, Kuroko’s Basketball 2-in-1 14, My Hero Academia 15, My Hero Academia Vigilantes 2, the 24th and final Naruto 3-in-1 (NARUHINA WINS!… ow. Ow, ow, stop with the hitting…), Natsume’s Book of Friends 22, The Promised Neverland 6, Rurouni Kenshin’s 8th 3-in-1, Takane & Hana 5, The Water Dragon’s Bride 7, and Yona of the Dawn 14. I have to say, this may be the single best week I have ever seen Viz put out. Not kidding, there’s like 10 must reads on my list, and they’re ALL COMING OUT NEXT WEEK. Give me a break…

ANNA: So good! So much good stuff from Viz!

ASH: I’ve definitely got my eyes on more than a few!

MICHELLE: I’ve got my eyes on most of those, frankly.

MJ: Well, wow.

SEAN: Are you upset? If you’re not upset, what are you buying next week?

ANNA: I’m not sure if you can tell, but I’m a little excited about Ao Haru Ride.

SEAN: September has ended. Go in peace, to love and serve the manga.

Let’s break this down, cause there’s a lot. First of all, Bookwalker snuck out The Ryuo’s Work is Never Done 4 last week and I missed it. Sorry, loli shogi fans!

Ghost Ship has the 5th To-Love-Ru omnibus.

J-Novel Club has the 7th Demon King Daimaou.

Kodansha has its usual pile o’ digital, but print first. We see Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight 7, The Seven Deadly Sins 28, and the 6th and final volume of Wake Up Sleeping Beauty. I suspect MB peeps are most interested in the last one.

MICHELLE: Yep!

ASH: It’s true!

SEAN: The digital debut looks amusing. Ao-chan Can’t Study (Midarana Ao-chan wa Benkyou ga Dekinai), a shonen series about a girl who has (to her shame) inherited her father’s dirty mind, and a guy who loves her and won’t take a hint.

Ongoing? There’s Ace of the Diamond 15, Beauty Bunny 7, Defying Kurosaki-kun 4, Is Kichijoji the Only Place to Live? 3, Liar x Liar 6, My Boyfriend in Orange 5, and The Quintessential Quintuplets 4.

MICHELLE: Ace and Kichijoji for me.

SEAN: Lately Seven Seas has been backloading all their series to the end of the month, which means there is SO MUCH out next week. The debut is a digital one (print comes out at the end of October: The Ancient Magus’ Bride Supplement I is another Guidebook to the world of this popular series.

ASH: I’ll be waiting for the print edition, personally, but am glad it’s coming out digitally, too.

SEAN: And so many ongoing series. We see the 6th 12 Beast (not to be confused with the 12th 6 Beast), A Centaur’s Life 15, Devilman Grimoire 4, the 2nd Dragon Half omnibus, Generation Witch 5, The Girl from the Other Side 5, Hachune Miku’s Everyday Vocaloid Paradise 4, Hour of the Zombie 7, Magical Girl Site 7, Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka 4, New Game! 3, Not Lives 10, Precarious Woman Executive Miss Black General 2, and Soul Liquid Chambers 2. There’s a lot of grimdark and fanservice (and both) in that, but I’m excited for Dragon Half, The Girl from the Other Side (which is admittedly pretty dark), and New Game.

MICHELLE: I’m always excited for more of The Girl from the Other Side.

ANNA: Me too! Such a unique series!

ASH: Wow, you weren’t kidding about the number of Seven Seas title! The first Dragon Half was certainly entertaining and The Girl from the Other Side remains one of my favorite series currently being released.

SEAN: Vertical has been debuting a lot this month, as we now get After the Rain (Koi wa Ameagari no You ni), which is not by the creator of School Rumble despite seemingly having Yakumo on the cover. It’s a seinen manga from Big Comic Spirits, about a high school girl and her romantic pursuits. It’s gotten some good buzz.

MICHELLE: I like its cover!

ANNA: Ok, I’m curious.

SEAN: Viz has a digital-only release of the 9th Boys Over Flowers Season 2.

ANNA: One day I want to give into nostalgia and catch up on this series.

SEAN: Lastly, Yen Press has some digital titles and some runoff from last week. The digital is the 18th volume of Sekirei. The print is the 16th Barakamon and the 4th (and I believe last) No Game No Life Please!.

And for fans of A Bride’s Story, Vol 1-5 are finally out digitally next week, with the other 5 volumes arriving in October.

We also have the print debut of a series that came out digitally by chapter a while back, Hinowa Ga CRUSH!. With a title like that, you can guess it’s from the creator of Akame Ga KILL!, and appears to be tied into it. It runs in Big Gangan.

Any manga for next week before everyone starts saving for Pumpkin Spice?

MJ: So if I’m not that into anything here, does it mean I’m stuck with Pumpkin Spice?

SEAN: Wake me when September ends?

Dark Horse starts us off with the official Berserk Guidebook. This is a guide to the world of Berserk, and not a guide to why it’s on hiatus so often, FYI.

ASH: Hahaha! Either way, I’m still picking it up.

SEAN: There’s also a 7th volume of dark as pitch Fate/Zero.

Ghost Ship has a 6th volume of To-Love-Ru Darkness.

J-Novel Club has two one-shot novels, both very much off the beaten track from the typical light novel. JK Haru Is a Sex Worker in Another World *sounds* like it should be dire, but apparently it’s really well-written and the translator has been pushing it as hard as she can.

And Last and First Idol won oodles of awards, including the prized Seiun Award (the Japanese equivalent of the Hugos), and this collection includes that story and a couple of others.

ASH: I’ve certainly enjoyed the other Seiun Award titles that I’ve read.

SEAN: In more typical J-Novel Club fare, we also have How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 7 and In Another World with My Smartphone 10.

Kodansha debuts The Walls Between Us, which is a shoujo title from Dessert starring a girl who is confessed to by her childhood friend. The trouble is, his personality is awful.

ANNA: Ok, this does sound potentially amusing.

MICHELLE: I typically like Dessert offerings.

MJ: Sounds like this could be fun.

SEAN: And they have Back Street Girls 4, Kamikamikaeshi 4, Karate Heat 3, Living-Room Matsunaga-san 4, and Perfect World 6.

In Kodansha print, we have Interviews with Monster Girls 6.

One Peace debuts Hinamatsuri, which seems to be “yakuza meets supernatural girl”. I don’t know much about it, except it runs in Harta, so is awesome by default.

ASH: Count me curious!

ANNA: I do enjoy the fact that One Peace comes up with some out of left field titles now and then.

MJ: I plan to take a look at this!

SEAN: They also have a 2nd manga volume of Mikagura School Suite.

Pantheon has the 2nd and final omnibus of My Brother’s Husband. Can’t wait to read this.

ASH: Yes, this! I am still absolutely thrilled and delighted that this series was translated.

ANNA: Going to try to order it for my library!

MICHELLE: I’m also really looking forward to this one.

MJ: Oh, wonderful! I’m so excited!

SEAN: Seven Seas has a light load, with only Getter Robo Devolution 2 and High-Rise Invasion 3-4.

Udon debuts a manga that does not have the word “Persona” in its title! Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu is a Young Ace title that features an izakaya whose food can literally transport you elsewhere.

ASH: Hooray for more fantasy food manga! (Or is it food fantasy manga?)

ANNA: Food manga is always a genre to be treasured.

MICHELLE: Huh! Sounds interesting!

SEAN: Vertical has a 3rd volume of CITY.

Viz debuts the perfect edition of 20th Century Boys. If you haven’t read this title before, this is a great way to get it. If you have, you may want to get it anyway. It has bells and whistles.

ANNA: Yay!

MICHELLE: I will never not love the opening pages in which T. Rex’s “20th Century Boy” is played over a school intercom.

SEAN: There is also Children of the Whales 6 (meh) and Golden Kamuy 6 (yay!).

ASH: I’ve fallen very far behind on Children of the Whales but Golden Kamuy is always a reading priority for me.

SEAN: Yen has no light novel debuts, but they do have a number of ongoing titles. Accel World 15, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 6, Goblin Slayer 5, The Irregular at Magic High School 9, Overlord 8, A Sister’s All You Need 2, Strike the Blood 10, and the 2nd Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online.

Yen also, oddly, has no manga debuts in September either. It’s all ongoing series! As Miss Beelzebub Likes 3, Bungo Stray Dogs 8, Erased 5, the 2nd DanMachi 4-koma, Odd Days of Goddess, Kiniro Mosaic 7, One Week Friends 4, Puella Magi Oriko Magica Sadness Prayer 4, the 5th volume of the 2nd Re: Zero arc, The Royal Tutor 9, Sunshine Sketch 9, A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School 4, Though You May Burn to Ash 3, and the 11th Ubell Blatt omnibus, Ubel Blatt 10. (NEVER FORGET UBEL BLATT NUMBERING.) Of that list, I’m most interested in the Sae-and-Hiroless Sunshine Sketch.

ASH: I’m looking forward to reading the last bit of Erased, myself.

MICHELLE: Someday, I’ll manage to read Erased.

MJ: I’m ready for more Erased.

SEAN: So, to sum up: September’s not over. What are you getting?

SEAN: There is, it has to be said, a bit of manga out next week. Just a wee bit. A dram.

MICHELLE: A smidge.

ASH: A skosh, perhaps.

SEAN: And also some light novels, starting with Cross Infinite World, who have The Champions of Justice and the Supreme Ruler of Evil, which seems to be on the humorous side. It’s also got some steamy scenes, be warned!

Fantagraphics gives us the one-volume Dementia 21 by famous (infamous) manga artist Shintaro Kago. Best described as ‘surreal horror’, I’ve wanted to see Kago’s works over here for some time. This volume is a great start.

ASH: I’m always glad to see more manga released by Fantagraphics! Kago’s work can be pretty intense.

ANNA: Me too! I feel that they target manga no other publisher would take on.

SEAN: J-Novel Club have two debuts. The first is Amagi Brilliant Park, from the creator of Full Metal Panic. It’s about an amusement park and also involves magic, I think?

The other new title is Der Werewolf: The Annals of Veight. Seems to be another reincarnation isekai. But werewolves!

And there’s also Infinite Dendrogram 7 and The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind! 6.

Kodansha’s debut is actually a new edition of a title that’s now been debuted 3 times. Sailor Moon: Eternal Edition. Larger trim! Different translation! More bells and whistles! Buy it again for the first time.

ANNA: Sailor Moon!!

MICHELLE: Oh, I didn’t know there was a different translation! Maybe I do need to buy it again.

MJ: Well, damn.

SEAN: There’s also Golosseum 3, Nekogahara: Stray Cat Samurai 4, and Waiting for Spring 8.

Digitally there’s no new debuts, but we do get Peach Girl 9-18, as well as Tokyo Alice 3.

Seven Seas has a lot of interesting stuff. We get Dragon Goes House Hunting (Dragon, Ie wo Kau), whose title alone makes me want to read it. It’s from Mag Garden’s Comic Blade.

MICHELLE: I’ve been eagerly anticipating this one!

ASH: I’m looking forward to it, too!

SEAN: Tomo-chan is a Girl! (Tomo-chan wa Onnanoko!) is the other manga debut next week. About a tomboy girl who can’t convince her childhood friend she likes him romantically, it’s a 4-koma from what I believe is an online site, but Kodansha collects the volumes.

ASH: Oh, I didn’t realize it was a four-panel manga! I’ve heard good things about it, though.

SEAN: There’s also the debut of J-Novel Club’s biggest breakout hit in print, How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom.

But there’s also a 9th volume of The Ancient Magus’ Bride, a 12th D-Frag! (the first in 17 months), Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average! Novel 3 (in print) and 4 (digitally), The Testament of Sister New Devil STORM! 4, and Toradora! manga 8 (the first since June 2015).

MICHELLE: Yay for The Ancient Magus’ Bride!

ASH: Yes, indeed!

SEAN: SuBLime debuts Escape Journey, a BL series from Libre Shuppan’s Be x Boy filled with dubious consent and drama.

MJ: Why always dubious consent, whyyyyy?

SEAN: And a 7th Don’t Be Cruel is out next week too.

Tokyopop has the 2nd Konohana Kitan.

And Udon has a 7th volume of the Persona 4 manga.

Vertical debuts The Delinquent Housewife (Futsutsuka na Yome Desu ga!), a slapstick comedy from Shogakukan’s Big Comic Spirits about a man who discovers his new sister-in-law is, shall we say, not the perfect Japanese wife.

Viz has Radiant. It’s actually a French manga, but Akaneshinsha releases it in Japan. It’s got wizards, monsters, and the Inquisition. Sounds pretty manga to me.

ANNA: OK!

MJ: Interesting!

ASH: It really is!

SEAN: There’s also a 32nd Hayate the Combat Butler, a 4th Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and a 4th Splatoon.

See? Barely anything. A doddle. What are you getting?

SEAN: Back to School! You’ve bought all your school supplies, but save money for manga too!

Ghost Ship starts us off with a 4th volume of Yokai Girls.

J-Novel Club has one debut this week. Gear Drive stars a young woman in a world where magic is commonplace. However, she doesn’t have a specialty… yet. Could her specialty be gears? Bet it’s gears.

There’s also a 3rd volume of The Master of Ragnarok and Blesser of Einherjar (watch the anime!) and a 5th volume of Outbreak Company (anime aired some time ago).

Kodansha has a whole pile of digital stuff, including Peach Girl Next, the sequel to the just re-released Peach Girl. It’s about… what happens next.

MICHELLE: Heh.

ANNA: I barely remember Peach Girl, and don’t think I am going to reread the digital version, but I am sort of curious about what happens next!

SEAN: There’s also Beware the Kamiki Brothers! 5, Can You Just Die My Darling? 4, Cosplay Animal 7, I’m Standing on a Million Lives 2, My Boy in Blue 2, The Prince’s Romance Gambit 2, and Those Summer Days 4. Getting so far behind.

MICHELLE: Desperately far behind.

SEAN: In print, there’s only one: Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth Side: P4 Volume 3. If you can translate the code of all those letters and numbers, you can get the manga’s secret message.

ASH: It’s a fun addition to the Persona franchise.

SEAN: Seven Seas has a digital debut with the 6th Boogiepop novel, Boogiepop at Dawn.

ASH: Released in print a decade ago, and to be released in print again in an omnibus in the near future, I rather liked the volume.

SEAN: Vertical gives is an 8th Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.

And there’s Viz! A lot of Viz, as always. The debut is Shonen Jump this time, with Dr. STONE, a manga that’s been a big hit in Japan. It’s got the writer from Eyeshield 21 and the artist from Sun-Ken Rock, and it’s a post-apocalypse adventure.

MICHELLE: Oh, interesting! I’ve been meaning to finish reading Eyeshield 21.

ANNA: That does sound interesting!

ASH: The creative team involved certainly caught my attention if nothing else. I generally enjoy a good post-apocalypse adventure, too, though.

MJ: I’m interested!

SEAN: Also Jump or Jump-esque: Astra: Lost in Space 4, Boruto 4, Demon Slayer 2, Haikyu!! 27, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 4, One Piece’s 25th 3-in-1, Seraph of the End 15, and Twin Star Exorcists 13.

MICHELLE: Haikyu!!

ANNA: My kids are so devoted to this series they wanted to get their own volleyball to start practicing in real life.

ASH: Haikyu!! and Demon Slayer are both high on my list.

SEAN: On the shoujo end, no new debuts, but we get Anonymous Noise 10, Queen’s Quality 5, Skip Beat! 41, and The Young Master’s Revenge 3. Skip Beat! Is always wonderful whenever it comes out.

MICHELLE: Skip Beat! I’ve really been dying to see how Kyoko’s latest audition turns out. I need to get caught up on Queen’s Quality, too.

ANNA: No surprise, I’m excited about all these series!

ASH: I quite enjoy a fair number of them myself.

MJ: I’m also planning to get caught up on Queen’s Quality!

SEAN: What manga are you secretly reading under your desk during class?

SEAN: Last week of August. Should be small, right? Hah. So much Kodansha digital. So much Seven Seas. Yen Press runoff stuff. It’s huge.

ASH: Let’s jam!

We begin with Cross Infinite World, who have another light novel for us with The Eccentric Master and the Fake Lover. Despite the somewhat salacious copy about bodily fluids, I think this is a woman-oriented romance title.

Dark Horse has the 18th and final volume of Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Shinji Ikari Raising Project. Don’t worry, the omnibuses are still going.

ASH: I’m glad that Dark Horse has found ways to keep things in print, but I’ll admit the publisher’s printing (and reprinting) schedule can be frustrating.

SEAN: Ghost Ship has a 6th volume of To-Love-Ru Darkness.

J-Novel Club has two debuts. Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles looks to combine both reincarnation isekai AND the magical academy sort of book.

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen may sound familiar to those with long memories – its anime adaptation aired exactly 20 years ago, and the novels are even older than that. It’s a big ol’ epic fantasy.

J-Novel Club also has a 7th If It’s For My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord, which I believe catches us up with Japan.

Kodansha does have a few print titles next week. There’s Again!! 4, Aho-Girl 8, and the 4th Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle.

MICHELLE: Yay for more Again!!.

ASH: I’m excited to read more, too!

ANNA: Triple yay!

SEAN: The majority of stuff is digital, though. Technically there’s no debut, but Kodansha is releasing digital versions of Peach Girl 1-18. These are the old Tokyopop editions ported over, I think, rather than a new translation, but that’s fine. Enjoy some classic overwrought shoujo!

MICHELLE: Oh, neat! I didn’t know they were doing that. That said, I have a big stack of TOKYOPOP editions that I never read, so… I would like to see them finish Ueda’s Papillon, which Del Rey had been publishing.

ANNA: Yeah, Papillon was good!

SEAN: And there’s Ace of the Diamond 14, Defying Kurosaki-kun 3, Hotaru’s Way 6, I Want to Hold Aono-kun So Badly I Could Die 3, Is Kichijoji the Only Place to Live? 2, Liar x Liar 5, and The Quintessential Quintuplets 3. Phew!

MICHELLE: I regret that I haven’t managed to read Is Kichijoji yet, but still, yay for more sports manga!

SEAN: But wait, here comes Seven Seas, and they’re burying us too. Debuts first. Cutey Honey: the Classic Collection is another deluxe hardcover which collects the original Cutey Honey manga from 1973. It should be complete in one omnibus, and is a must-read.

ASH: Cutie Honey A Go Go! was a lot of fun, so I’m looking forward to reading the original.

SEAN: The other new title is Ultra Kaiju Humanization Project, which is a Young Champion series that imagines an alien invasion that needs Japanese monsters to save the day! There’s just one problem. The monsters are high school girls. This sounds fascinatingly wretched.

And we also have (deep breath) Captain Harlock: Dimensional Voyage 5, Citrus 8, Holy Corpse Rising 5, How to Build a Dungeon 4, Magical Girl Apocalypse 15, Monster Girl Doctor light novel 3, and My Monster Secret 12. There’s a lot of stuff in that list I hate, so I am pleased it ends with My Monster Secret, which is hilarious.

ASH: I need to catch up on Dimensional Voyage, especially since the original Captain Harlock is now being released, too.

SEAN: Vertical Comics has a 2nd Chi’s Sweet Adventures, for all your cute cat needs.

If you prefer snakes, why not read the latest Monogatari novel from Vertical, Inc? Otorimonogatari: Decoy Tale gives us the story of Nadeko Sengoku’s encounter with a snake aberration, but who’s controlling whom here?

Yen Press also has a few titles that didn’t come out last week. Digitally we have Corpse Princess 18, IM: Great Priest Imhotep 7, and Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun 7.

Yen On has the 2nd novel of better-than-it-sounds fantasy Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon.

And lastly, Yen debuts Final Fantasy: Lost Stranger, where a Square Enix employee and his sister die and are reborn in the world of Final Fantasy. Yes, isekai has finally met Final Fantasy. Can we cope with this?

Are you coping with all this manga? What are you getting?

MICHELLE: SuBLime has a small number of digital-only series and my very favorite, The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window, has a fifth volume coming out! I’m snagging that for sure.

MJ: Oh, hey! I need to catch up with that!!

ASH: One of the titles I really wish was getting a print release!

SEAN: Whoops! Pretend I mentioned that up above.

SEAN: Let’s face it, even without Yen Press this would be a really heavy week. With Yen it’s absolutely terrifying.

But first, the non-Yen offerings. Dark Horse gives us the first Gantz omnibus, in case you want to catch up on your lycra.

Haikasoru has the 7th volume of Legend of Galactic Heroes. If it’s the one I think it is, oh dear.

MICHELLE: Someday, I really will read these. My intentions are good!

ANNA: I have good intentions about reading this as well.

ASH: I’m a few volumes behind, but I’ve been enjoying them!

J-Novel Club announced a bunch of stuff at Anime Expo, and this is what I was most excited about. I loved the Kokoro Connect manga when it came out years ago, and wished we could read the light novels. Now we can! The first one is out next week.

J-Novel Club also has the 3rd Infinite Stratos novel.

Kodansha has some print manga for all of you. Attack on Titan: Before the Fall 14, Battle Angel Alita Deluxe Edition 5, Love and Lies 7, and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime 7.

ASH: Oh, print manga! The deluxe edition Battle Angel Alita is really nice, and I’ve been enjoying That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime more than I expected.

SEAN: There’s five debuts in their digital lineup though, all one-volume BL titles. They seem to be from their Honey Milk magazine, and are: Intertwining Lives, Keeping His Whims in Check, Key Ring Lock, Stray Bullet Baby, and Trap in a Skirt. Looking askance at that last one, but kudos to Kodansha for reaching out to a new audience.

MICHELLE: Very much the same re: askance looks, but otherwise I’m fairly intrigued.

ANNA: Glad the BL fans are getting some content!

MJ: I’m looking askance, mostly at some of these titles. Trap in a Skirt?

SEAN: They also have many ongoing digital titles, with DAYS 9, Giant Killing 13, Kakafukaka 2, Karate Heat 2, and Perfect World 5.

MICHELLE: All of which I intend to read at some point, probably starting with the soccer titles.

ANNA: I wish there was more print sports manga in general, my kids love it.

SEAN: Seven Seas has no debuts this week, but they do have a 4th Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor, a 13th Arpeggio of Blue Steel, and a 3rd Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho.

Vertical gives us an 11th Devils’ Line.

Oh boy, more titles I have nothing to say about. Viz has Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt 8, the 2nd RWBY Anthology (which focuses on Weiss), and Tokyo Ghoul: re 6.

ASH: I haven’t gotten into Tokyo Ghoul to the same extent that a lot of people seem to have, but I’m glad to see it doing well enough to bring in the other related series.

SEAN: And Yen. So much Yen, particularly if you read their light novels. A debut and a one-shot this month. The debut is Defeating the Demon Lord’s a Cinch (If You’ve Got a Ringer). A hero is summoned to another world, and he and his party need to defeat the demon lord. Sadly, the hero and his party are useless, so it’s up to the priest trailing behind to save them from their own awfulness. Expect comedy here.

ASH: That does sound rather amusing.

SEAN: The one-shot is another novelization of a popular movie, this one called Fireworks: Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?. I’m thinking it’s your name-y.

But there’s more. So much more. The Asterisk War 7, Baccano! 8, A Certain Magical Index 16, The Devil Is a Part-Timer! 11, KonoSuba 6, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years 2, Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers 5, Sword Art Online 14, and That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime 3. That’s a lot of Yen On’s best-sellers. And also Index.

Believe it or not, Yen has some manga as well. Quite a bit, in fact. Debuts? Sure. Chio’s School Road is a Comic Flapper title showing our heroine walking to school every day and getting in the most amazing predicaments.

And deep breath, let’s pound through the ongoing titles out next week. ACCA 4, Angels of Death 4, Aoharu x Machinegun 12, Black Butler 26, BTOOOM! 22, The Case Study of Vanitas 4, Dimension W 11, Forbidden Scrollery 4, Hatsu*Haru 2, Re: Zero Arc 3 Volume 4, the 8th and final volume of Scum’s Wish (though there’s a sequel, as yet unlicensed), Silver Spoon 4, Tales of Wedding Rings 3, Today’s Cerberus 10, Trinity Seven 14, and Yowamushi Pedal 9. (breathes) In that list, Silver Spoon and Yowapeda are what excite me most.

MICHELLE: I share your enthusiasm for those particular titles, though I also want to get caught up on Hatsu*Haru and ACCA.

ASH: That is a lot! ACCA, Silver Spoon, and Yowamushi Pedal are mostly where I’m at.

MJ: Silver Spooooooooooon! I’ve fallen behind on The Case Study of Vanitas after being disappointed with its start, but I’ll always give Jun Mochizuki a chance, so I should get back to that.

SEAN: So, you reading anything? Or just giving up?

ANNA: I’m giving up! My to read manga pile got so big it toppled over the other day!

SEAN: 30 manga enter! One manga leaves! It’s manga madness!

But let’s start with light novels, as Bookwalker has a 5th volume of The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress.

Dark Horse has the 3rd and final RG Veda omnibus, after much delay.

MICHELLE: I actually forgot this was even coming out.

ASH: (Really) slow but steady, I guess?

SEAN: J-Novel Club’s debut is An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride (yes, they sensibly changed the title after they first announced it), which is apparently cute and adorable.

There’s also new volumes of Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash (10), I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse (9), and The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind! (5). J-Novel cornering the market in long light novel titles.

Kodansha. A whole lot. Starting with print, we have an 11th Fire Force, an 8th In/Spectre (always a favorite of mine) and the 3rd Toppu GP (in which instead of a harem it’s just bikes.)

Kodansha’s digital debut is Back Street Girls, which I have to admit has one of the more “…what, really?” premises out there. Three yakuza guys who’ve failed one too many times are punished by… getting sex reassignment surgery and becoming an idol group. I admit I’m curious, but let’s face it: it’s morbid curiosity.

MICHELLE: *dubious face*

ASH: Dubious morbid curiosity about sums it up for me, too. (Also, I had completely forgotten about this license.)

ANNA: Feeling enthusiastic about skipping this manga!

SEAN: But there’s plenty of other digital volumes out next week. Aoba-kun’s Confessions 7, Boarding School Juliet 4, Drowning Love 10, Kamikamikaeshi 3, Kasane 13, Lovesick Ellie 6, Those Summer Days 3, and Tokyo Alice 2. Tokyo Alice interests me most in that stack.

MICHELLE: I’m definitely down for Tokyo Alice, and the covers for Those Summer Days make me think I’ll like it as well, but mostly I’m happy for more Lovesick Ellie.

SEAN: One Peace has the 12th The Rising of the Shield Hero light novel.

Seven Seas has a debut with Accomplishments of a Duke’s Daughter (Koushaku Reijou no Tashinami). Based on a sadly unlicensed light novel, it’s part of a rising trend of isekai books where a young girl is reincarnated into a fantasy world… as the villain. And she’s about to get the “bad end”. What is she to do? This runs in Young Ace Up.

MICHELLE: That sounds kinda neat.

ASH: It does seem to be a fresher take on isekai than some others we’ve seen.

SEAN: And there is a 5th Bloom Into You, and a 5th Species Domain.

SuBLime gives us a 4th volume of A Strange and Mystifying Story. Honestly, after four volumes it should be less mystifying.

ASH: This is the first newly translated volume, too!

MICHELLE: *snerk* They did switch up the main couple in volume three, so as to keep the mystification going, one assumes.

SEAN: Vertical has a 4th omnibus of deeply strange Arakawa Under the Bridge.

Viz has a debut this week with That Blue-Sky Feeling (Sorairo Flutter), a Gangan Joker series about a new transfer student who hears a rumor that his classmate is gay. I’ve heard very good things about this one.

MICHELLE: I flipped through a review copy the other day and it looks pretty great. Looking forward to getting around to reading it.

ASH: Same!

ANNA: Me too!

SEAN: Viz also gives us the 2nd hardcover collection of Fullmetal Alchemist, the 31st Magi, and the 2nd Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle.

ASH: The first volume of Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle was delightful. I’m looking forward to reading more.

ANNA: It was uncomplicated fun.

SEAN: Who won? Who lost? You decide!

ASH: I think we’re all winners here, Sean!