SEAN: Remember when the 2nd and 3rd weeks of the month were smaller? (lol)

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: Bookwalker has a 3rd volume of post-war baking adventures with The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress.

Cross Infinite World’s webnovel licenses are not normally on my radar, but I will admit to curiosity about their latest shoujo novel, Obsessions of an Otome Gamer.

Dark Horse gives us a 5th omnibus of Blade of the Immortal.

ASH: Some of the individual volumes have gone out of print and can be difficult to find, so the omnibus edition is a great way to collect the series now.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has a debut next week. The Master of Ragnarok and Blesser of Einherjar. When the cover shows a smug Japanese teen sitting on a throne surrounded by women at his feet, you know what you’re in for.

MICHELLE: Pass.

SEAN: Kodansha Digital also has a debut next week. Starving Anonymous (Shokuryou Jinrui) is a post-apocalypse survival sort of series that runs in various Young Magazine spinoffs. It’s by the author of My Wife is Wakamatsu-san and Fort of Apocalypse. Expect it to be more like the latter.

There’s also new digital volumes for Aoba-kun’s Confessions (5), Grand Blue Dreaming (7), GTO Paradise Lost (6) (where has this been?), Kokkoku: Moment by Moment (6), Lovesick Ellie (4) and Tsuredure Children (8).

MICHELLE: I finally started Lovesick Ellie. It’s kind of refreshing to have a heroine so openly lustful.

SEAN: Print-wise, Genshiken 2nd Season finally comes to a close with its 12th volume. As a sequel it wasn’t as good as the original, but I’ll still stick around to the end.

ASH: I need to catch up with it, but there are elements in the series that I really appreciate.

SEAN: There’s also, in print, Land of the Lustrous 5, The Seven Deadly Sins 25, To Your Eternity 3, and UQ Holder 13.

ASH: Both Land of the Lustrous and To Your Eternity are beautiful and devastating works, though each in their own way.

SEAN: One Peace has a 7th volume of Kuma Miko.

Seven Seas debuts the Arifureta manga, which from what I understand is not quiet as well received as the novel, but should please those of you who prefer that format.

They also have Devilman vs. Hades 1, which seems like it might be workplace violence judging from the title.

ASH: I’m certainly curious about this Devilman and Mazinger Z spinoff!

SEAN: Lastly, there’s Sorry for My Familiar (Uchi no Tsukaima ga Sumimasen), a good! Afternoon series (so yes, Seven Seas can license Kodansha too) about a demon girl and her middle-aged man. The man is the familiar.

Seven Seas also has a 4th Girl from the Other Side (yay!) and a 13th Monster Musume (whee).

MICHELLE: Yay for Girl from the Other Side.

ASH: Girl from the Other Side remains one of my favorite series currently being released; it’s tremendous.

ANNA: I haven’t read the 3rd volume of this yet, but I am excited for another!

SEAN: SuBLime has a 7th volume of Blue Morning.

MICHELLE: Ooh, I didn’t know this was coming out. I enjoy Blue Morning.

ASH: The series is so good!

SEAN: Vertical gives us more Gundam Wing with a 5th volume.

Viz has a 3rd volume of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, a 26th Rin-Ne, and a 2nd Splatoon.

And Yen Press gives us a 15th Barakamon and a 9th Prison School omnibus. Don’t get them mixed up.

MICHELLE: I probably say every time that I will eventually read Barakamon, but it’s still true. I even moved volume one to a different stack recently!

SEAN: So what will you be picking up?

SEAN: We continue to bring you Manga the Week of, despite the danger of last-minute announcements from Kodansha, despite the near-constant release date shifts from Yen Press. We are here for you, the reader.

Dark Horse has the 4th volume of that Psycho Pass prequel, Inspector Shinya Kogami.

Ghost Ship has a 2nd volume of Yokai Girls, which considering its genre I found better than expected.

It’s a J-Novel Club release bonanza next week. We get a 5th Arifureta, a 7th In Another World with My Smartphone, a 5th Infinite Dendrogram, and a 10th Invaders of the Rokujouma?!. Something for everyone.

Kodansha has some print novels next week. They’ve got a 2nd hardcover of their re-release of Battle Angel Alita in a Deluxe Edition. (No, she’s still not Gally. Why confuse readers now?) and a 4th volume of Frau Faust.

MICHELLE: Yay, Frau Faust!

ASH: Indeed! I know a lot of people who are very excited about the deluxe edition of Battle Angel Alita, too.

SEAN: There’s also ongoing digital series, with Ace of the Diamond 9, All-Rounder Meguru 6, Black Panther and Sweet 16 7, Drifting Dragons 3, and Pumpkin Scissors 19.

MICHELLE: I do so love Ace of the Diamond.

SEAN: Seven Seas gives us 3rd volumes of more interesting than I expected Beasts of Abigaile, and less interesting than I expected Red Riding Hood and the Big Sad Wolf (this may be the final volume of the latter).

Vertical has a 10th Devils’ Line.

And the rest is Viz, I’d normally say, but we do have some Yen holdouts at the end. For Viz, though, there’s lots of fun stuff.

On the shonen front, we have Astra: Lost in Space 2, Bleach 72, Boruto 3, Haikyu!! 21, Hunter x Hunter 34 (yes, it still exists), One Piece’s 23rd 3-in-1, One-Punch Man 13, And Yu-Gi-Oh Arc V 3, which is still a very awkward title.

MICHELLE: I’ve missed One-Punch Man.

ASH: I’m probably most excited for more One-Punch Man and Haikyu!!.

ANNA: Haikyu!! is a favorite in my household, and I need to get caught up on One-Punch Man.

SEAN: Seinen debuts! Kaguya-sama: Love is War (Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai – Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen) is a Weekly Young Jump comedy/drama about two student council members who have fallen for each other but are determined NOT to be the first to admit it. I am looking forward to this one a lot.

Ongoing shoujo series include Anonymous Noise 7, Bloody Mary 10 (another final volume, I believe), The Demon Prince of Momochi House 11, Queen’s Quality 3, and Skip Beat! 40. (Is Skip Beat North America’s longest shoujo manga by now?)

MICHELLE: Yes, it has surpassed Boys Over Flowers, which had 37.

ASH: Lots of great shoujo coming out next week! I have some catching up to do.

ANNA: Very excited for shoujo!!!!

SEAN: Shoujo debuts! The Young Master’s Revenge (Kimi no Koto nado Zettai ni) is a LaLa series by Meca Tanaka, author of Meteor Prince and the “whoops, schoolteacher romance, can’t license this” series Faster Than a Kiss. A young man had a childhood where he was run ragged by his childhood friend. He’s now back to take revenge on her… but are things still the same?

MICHELLE: And a couple of older series like Omukae desu. and Pearl Pink. I haven’t read those yet, but I did enjoy Meteor Prince.

ANNA: I have Pearl Pink stockpiled somewhere in my house, but haven’t read it yet. Am looking forward to this series.

SEAN: We also have some Yen runoff from February… in fact, we’ll be having that all month. BTOOOM! is up to Vol. 20. Sigh. Dimension W is at 9, there’s a 7th Today’s Cerberus, and a 12th Trinity Seven.

Yen’s debut next week is Tales of Wedding Rings, which has already been running digitally on Crunchyroll. It appears to be a standard high school romance, but isn’t. Think fantasy with lots of fanservice. It runs in Big Gangan, so falls under seinen.

March is coming in like a lion! (though alas, March Comes in Like a Lion remains unlicensed). What are you getting?

SEAN: The end of the month, and we celebrate by doing this list in reverse order, mostly because I want to lead with the Big One.

Yen Press is bringing out Silver Spoon, Hiromu Arakawa’s farming manga that is her big followup to Fullmetal Alchemist. The story of a young man’s coming of age at an agricultural university, it’s a personal favorite, and I have been begging for its license for years. Everyone NEEDS to read this.

MICHELLE: So excite.

ANNA: I am also excited!

MJ: This is so exciting to me. I, too, have been begging for this license forever, somehow missed it had even happened, and now I’m just awash in joy.

ASH: I also share in the excitement! I really enjoyed the anime adaptation, but I’m thrilled that the original manga will finally be translated, too!

SEAN: There are also a number of ongoing Yen Press series that are not Silver Spoon. Scum’s Wish 6; the 3rd and final volume of Rose Guns Days Season 3 (STEEEELLLLAAAAAA!); A Polar Bear in Love 2; an 8th volume of Log Horizon: The West Wind Brigade, whose end was recently announced in Japan; Girls’ Last Tour 4; Delicious in Dungeon 4; and Aoharu x Machinegun 9.

MICHELLE: I still have every intention of reading Delicious in Dungeon!

ANNA: Me too, but sometimes my intentions do not manifest in reality.

ASH: Delicious in Dungeon is one of my favorite series being published right now. I was also surprised by how much I enjoyed the first volume of A Polar Bear in Love, so I’m looking forward to reading more of that series, too.

SEAN: We also have new light novels! Psycome comes to an end with its 6th and final volume (there’s apparently a short story collection as well, but I wouldn’t hold your breath). Log Horizon’s 10th volume catches us up with Japan, so it may be a while before Book 11. And there’s also a 6th Re: Zero, a 5th volume of the DanMachi spinoff Sword Oratoria, a 2nd volume of The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria, and Vols. 4-5 of Kieli out digitally.

And speaking of digital, Yen has new digital volumes of Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun (4), Saki (14), IM: Great Priest Imhotep (5), Gesellschaft Blume (5), Corpse Princess (15) and Aphorism (14).

ASH: Saki!

SEAN: Viz also has a digital release, with a new volume of The Emperor and I.

Vertical Inc. gives us Nekomonogatari (White), which wraps up Tsubasa Hanekawa’s character arc by giving us a book narrated by her. Can the series hold up without Araragi’s eccentric and teenage-boy riddled monologues? Probably.

Vertical Comics gives us a 2nd omnibus of The Flowers of Evil.

Udon gives us the 2nd volume of Infini-T Force.

Seven Seas’ debut is another print release of a J-Novel Club digital novel series. Clockwork Planet will also be familiar to manga fans from Kodansha’s release, and anime fans from a relatively unpopular series. The novel is worth reading, though.

ASH: I’m really liking this partnership between J-Novel Club and Seven Seas.

SEAN: We also see Unmagical Girl 2, Freezing 19-20, a 2nd Devilman Grimoire, and most importantly for Manga Bookshelf folks, an 8th volume of The Ancient Magus’ Bride.

MICHELLE: I now have a stack of The Ancient Magus’ Bride on my desk, courtesy of my local library!

ASH: Always glad to see a new volume of The Ancient Magus’ Bride! I also rather liked the first volume of Devilman Grimoire, though that series is a different beast entirely.

SEAN: Kodansha has some great print releases next week, with a 13th Kiss Him, Not Me! (still making me wonder if the pairing will stick), a 7th Clockwork Planet (the manga), and a 2nd volume of the Clear Card sequel series to Cardcaptor Sakura.

MICHELLE: I hope a bit more happens in this volume of Clear Card.

SEAN: The big debut, though, is Again!!, a manga by one of the creators of Yuri on Ice. If you always wanted to see Peggy Sue Got Married but with Japanese Ouendan cheerleaders, this is the title for you. I’m looking forward to this quite a bit.

MICHELLE: I might possibly be even more excited about this than Silver Spoon!

ANNA: AHHHHHHHHHH!

MJ: This sounds awesome.

ASH: Doesn’t it though?! This should be great.

SEAN: Kodansha Digital surprised us by announcing they were putting out a digital release of Dragon Head next week – all 10 volumes of this seinen thriller classic.

ASH: I was pleasantly surprised by this announcement! Dragon Head goes a little off the rails here and there, but overall it’s a great post-apocalyptic survival series. I’m glad to see it legally available in English again.

SEAN: There’s also new volumes for PTSD Radio (4), Pitch-Black Ten (3), My Brother the Shut-In (2), and My Boyfriend in Orange (3).

J-Novel Club debuts a new series called [New Life +] Young Again in Another World, which features the usual suspects you expect with a series that has “In Another World” in its title, but the gimmick is that the protagonist lived to be 94 before he was reincarnated.

They’ve also got a 2nd volume of Walking My Second Path in Life, whose first volume I really enjoyed. Plus, female protagonist!

And Ghost Ship has a 3rd volume of the “racier than the very racy original” sequel To-Love-Ru Darkness.

Aside from the must buy that is Silver Spoon (and, if I’m honest, you should get Again!! as well), what are you picking up next week?

SEAN: There are some tasty treats coming out next week, so let’s just jump right in.

Perhaps not tasty per se, but definitely interesting is Fukushima Devil Fish, which Breakdown Press is putting out. It’s by the late creator of Red Snow, and is subtitled “An Anti-Nuclear Manga”. I think it’s more of a collection rather than a story in itself. It doesn’t get more indie than this.

ASH: I’ve been waiting for this one for a while; I’m looking forward to finally getting my hands on it.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has the 2nd volume of isekai harem fantasy How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord, which is, well, good if you like isekai harem fantasy, and bad if you don’t.

There’s also a 3rd volume of Occultic;Nine, which I’m hoping will make a bit more sense and will try not to kill off the entire cast, though the barn door may already be open on that one.

Kodansha has only one print release this week, that being the 4th volume of That Time I got Reincarnated As a Slime.

They do, however, have a plethora of digital titles. We get All Out!! 5, Chihayafuru 9 (sooooo far behind), Cosplay Animal 4 (I need to finish 3, I enjoy this quirky, smutty series), Fuuka 16 (its end was recently announced). Hotaru’s Way 5, Kasane 10, and The Prince’s Black Poison 3 (as recently recommended by Japanese shoujo manga editors).

MICHELLE: I’m definitely down for All Out!! and Chihayafuru and really need to check out Hotaru’s Way, too. I confess The Prince’s Black Poison had looked like something I wouldn’t be keen on, but maybe I should give it another look.

ANNA: I’m soooo far behind with Chihayafuru too, but I love it.

SEAN: Seven Seas has a monstrous number of titles out next week. Let’s start with recurring volumes as we see Bloom Into You 4, Captain Harlock: Dimensional Voyage 3, the 5th print light novel of Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash, Lord Marskman and Vanadis 6, Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka 2, NTR: Netsuzou Trap 4, and Tales of Zestiria 4.

MICHELLE: I need to get caught up with Bloom Into You.

ASH: Bloom Into You for me, too. I’ll likely be picking up more Captain Harlock as well.

SEAN: Ending next week is Kase-san and, which has its 4th volume Kase-san and an Apron due out. I think it’s still having occasional online shorts, so there may be a 5th down the road, a la Orange, but this is it for now.

And there’s two debuts. The first is a classic example of current trends, with Giant Spider & Me: A Post-Apocalyptic Tale, which is, no lie, an adorable sweet slice of life story about a young girl and a giant spider after the apocalypse. There will be tea. Or at least espresso.

ASH: I just recently learned that food is a major part of this series, which of course bumped it up even higher on my list!

The second is a lot more retro. Some of you may remember Saint Seiya… pardon me, Knights of the Zodiac from way back in the Viz days. Now Seven Seas has Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho, a new series by the same writer with a different artist, featuring an all-female team. It runs in Champion Red, but I am not holding that against it. Should be interesting.

MICHELLE: Hmmm…

ANNA: I have a very similar reaction.

SEAN: Speaking of classics, Vertical is rescuing Voices of a Distant Star (from the creator of your name) and reprinting it with new translation. It’s complete in one volume, and it’s guaranteed to be bittersweet.

MICHELLE: I never did read this the first time.

ANNA: Me too! I’m curious about it.

SEAN: Viz has some more Gundam for us with a 6th Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt.

And they also have a 3rd Tokyo Ghoul: re.

So, devil fish? Tea with spiders? Slime power fantasies? Or time-dilated romance? We cater to every taste.

SEAN: Will you be my manga valentine? Well, it depends what’s coming out.

J-Novel Club gives us a 3rd volume of Clockwork Planet.

Kodansha has its usual pile of stuff. On the print end we have the 5th Aho-Girl, a 5th Descending Stories, an 8th Fire Force, and a 4th Love & Lies.

MICHELLE: I finally started Descending Stories and am really liking it so far!

ASH: I’m reading and enjoying Descending Stories, too! I also found the beginning of Love & Lies to be intriguing.

SEAN: For digital releases, there’s a 6th Grand Blue Dreaming, a 5th Kokkoku: Moment by Moment, a 3rd Lovesick Ellie, and a 6th Tsuredure Children.

MICHELLE: Alas, I have failed to start Kokkoku or Lovesick Ellie. One of these days.

SEAN: One Peace gives us a sequel to I Hear the Sunspot, subtitled Theory of Happiness.

ANNA: I really liked I Hear the Sunspot. Looking forward to this!

ASH: I Hear the Sunspot was wonderful and so is its sequel. I hope to see the next volume released in English, too!

MJ: This makes *me* really happy. In theory. (Sorry, I’ve definitely had too much coffee.)

SEAN: They also mercifully give us the 14th and final volume of Maria Holic. I thank them for rescuing the series and putting it out in full for its fans, of whom I am not one.

Seven Seas has a bevy of titles. There’s a 7th volume of Citrus, whose anime is currently airing; a 15th Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends, which may actually start trying to resolve things; Magical Girl Site 5; and the Testament of Sister New Devil STORM! 2, which needs to crossover with Akame Ga KILL!.

The debut next week is MaMaMa: Magical Director Mako-chan’s Magical Guidance, a one-off comedy manga from the creator of Monster Musume. Despite that, I plan to check it out.

SuBLime has three new volumes, as we see Awkward Silence 6, the 5th deluxe edition of Finder, and a 2nd volume of A Strange and Mystifying Story.

ASH: I’m still very happy that the license to A Strange and Mystifying Story was rescued.

MJ: Hm, I’ve been avoiding that title just on its premise, but an endorsement from Ash makes me think I should reconsider.

ASH: It admittedly has some questionable elements to it, but the series was starting to take some intriguing directions when it was initially left in limbo.

MICHELLE: I concur.

SEAN: Vertical has a 2nd omnibus of strange yet… no, just strange series Arakawa Under the Bridge, as well as an 11th Cardfight!! Vanguard.

ASH: Arakawa Under the Bridge is indeed very strange, and I love it for that fact.

SEAN: Viz has an 8th digital edition of The Children Nowadays, which one day I will find the time to check out.

And it’s Shonen Sunday time, which is #3 but tries harder, with a 31st Hayate the Combat Butler (still at twice per year) and a 28th Magi (mercifully still at 6 times a year). I look forward to both equally, I suspect the rest of the MB team is leaning towards the latter.

MICHELLE: Yep!

SEAN: So do any of these Valentine week releases make your kokoro go doki doki?

MICHELLE: *snerk*

SEAN: The shortest month of the year does not mean there’s less manga. There’s as much manga as ever. If not more.

Bookwalker apparently snuck out a 2nd volume of loli-shogi light novel The Ryuo’s Work Is Never Done! this week, so if you hit that demographic, go and get it.

J-Novel Club has a 9th volume of Invaders of the Rokujouma!?, which should be back in the present, and my guess is lighter in tome.

Kodansha’s sole print release next week is the 15th Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, which seems to be cut down to twice a year, or the “Hayate the Combat Butler” curse, as I call it.

ASH: I really enjoyed the early part of the series, but I’ll admit that I’ve fallen behind with the manga as it seemed to constantly reboot itself.

SEAN: Kodansha does have a pile of new digital as always, though. Ace of the Diamond 8, Altair: A Record of Battles 7, Hozuki’s Coolheadedness 4, Magical Sempai 4, Pumpkin Scissors 18, and Yozakura Quartet 20, the last two being Del Rey rescues.

MICHELLE: I still intend to read Altair and Hozuki’s Coolheadedness one of these days. I’m definitely keen on Ace of the Diamond.

MJ: I’ve given up any thought that I’m going to make it to these digital releases. I feel like a bad person.

SEAN: Seven Seas has no manga next week, but it does have two novels, one light and one not so light. The light novel is a print edition of Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest.

The other novel is Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis, the novel which spawned the huge hit anime movie from the late 1990s. Like Lodoss Wars, it’s a surprise to see this licensed, but I’m not complaining.

ASH: I’m on board for this! I’m also looking forward to the release of the sequel anthology later this year, too.

It’s the first week of the month, and you know what that means. Viz blitz! Let’s break it down into Shonen and Shoujo.

On the shonen side, we have Assassination Classroom 20, Black Clover 10, Bleach’s 22nd 3-in-1, a 22nd Food Wars!, Haikyu!! 20, a 6th volume from the 3rd JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure arc, the 10th Kuroko’s Basketball 2-in-1, My Hero Academia 11 (wasn’t it supposed to be speeding up?), One Piece 85, The Promised Neverland 2, and Toriko 41. A lot of really good stuff here, but let me highlight The Promised Neverland once more, as I can’t wait for the 2nd volume.

ANNA: So much Viz! I’m also looking forward to The Promised Neverland 2.

ASH: So much great, Viz, too! The second volume of The Promised Neverland will probably be on the top of that stack for me.

MICHELLE: So much goodness!

SEAN: For shoujo, we’ve got Behind the Scenes!! 5, Oresama Teacher 23, the 2nd and final SP Baby, and a 10th Yona of the Dawn. I am torn between Oresama and Yona in terms of most excitement.

ANNA: I’m not torn, I find Yona the most exciting.

ASH: I only recently started reading Oresama Teacher, but I’m loving it. I don’t have nearly the same backlog with Yona of the Dawn, though.

MICHELLE: I’m fond of Oresama, but yeah, I’m not especially torn, either.

SEAN: They also have a shoujo debut, Takane & Hana, which is a Hana to Yume title that, warning, does involve a rich arrogant ass who’s far too immature. That said, I have heard VERY good things about this manga, and the female lead is supposed to be great also, so I am looking forward to it. Plus, Hana to Yume. My shoujo alma mater.

ANNA: Sounds great!!!!

MICHELLE: Had this run in another magazine, I’d be way more dubious about it, but the fact that it’s a Hana to Yume title inclines me to give it a chance.

MJ: I’m definitely on board with this.

SEAN: What, you thought we were done? Nope, there’s the rest of Yen’s January releases, now moved to early February. There’s a 4th Big Order omnibus, a 3rd Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash manga, a 4th volume of Kakegurui – Compulsive Gambler, a 3rd No Game No Life Please! (which has had three volumes come out since the last light novel was released), a 3rd Sekirei omnibus, and a 9th Taboo Tattoo.

There’s also new releases, starting with Kemono Friends, which is also an omnibus. and I believe complete in one volume. It ran in Shonen Ace, has an anime, and seems to involve animal people?

Oh My Sweet Alien! (Yome ga Kore na Monde) is also an omnibus complete in one volume. A story about a man and his wife, except the wife is… well, you can probably guess. It ran in Enterbrain’s fellows! and Harta, which means I have high hopes for it. That said, it ended quickly as the author passed away, so there won’t be any more of it.

ASH: Oh, intriguing! This series wasn’t on my radar at all.

SEAN: Lastly, there’s a 1st manga volume for The Saga of Tanya the Evil. If you can’t bring yourself to read the brick that is the Tanya light novel, this is a good alternative.

It’s cold out here. What manga are you curling up with?

SEAN: So Yen is splitting its shipment, pushing a bunch of its titles into the first week of February. Lucky for all of you, or next week would be even bigger than it already is.

Ghost Ship has a 2nd omnibus of To-Love-Ru, and a 2nd volume of its sequel To-Love-Ru Darkness.

Three new volumes from J-Novel Club, as we see a 7th Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash, a 5th How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, and a 2nd Outbreak Company.

Kodansha Digital seemingly has nothing out next week if you look at Amazon and B&N. Kodansha’s own site, however, says they’ve definitely got some stuff. We have Black Panther and Sweet 16 6, Giant Killing 10, Living Room Matsunaga-san 2, and Until Your Bones Rot 4.

MICHELLE: Hooray for Giant Killing!

ASH: Hooray!

SEAN: We also have the 9th and final volume of The Full-Time Wife Escapist, which I’m still running behind on but remains my favorite digital license from Kodansha.

MICHELLE: I’m very much looking forward to this.

ANNA: I like this series even though I’m so far behind, maybe I will binge a bit on the weekend.

SEAN: There’s also print, with a 3rd Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight, and a 9th volume of endurance test Welcome to the Ballroom.

MICHELLE: Heh. Here’s hoping it lightens up sometime soon.

ANNA: This is not inspiring me to get caught up on Ballroom!

ASH: I’m already behind on Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight, but I did enjoy the first volume more than I thought I would.

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts a light novel digitally next week, though the print edition is not out till June. It definitely has a light novel title: Didn’t I Say To Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!. It does have a female lead, though. I’m all for light novels with female leads.

The manga debut is Nameless Asterism (Nanashi no Asterism), a Gangan Online series that seems to be about a love polygon, and may also have elements of BL and yuri.

ASH: I’m rather curious about Nameless Asterism; looking forward to giving the first volume a try!

SEAN: Seven Seas also has a 3rd Alice & Zoroku, and a 4th Plum Crazy!.

MICHELLE: Kitty!

SEAN: Vertical has a 6th Immortal Hounds, which is now caught up with Japan, I think.

And so we come to Yen. There’s digital-only titles, as we get Crimson Prince 14, Kuzumi-kun, Can’t You Read the Room? 4, Now Playing 4, and Sekirei 14. There’s also a digital release of the light novels Kieli’s vols. 2 and 3.

Yen On has light novels, though thankfully this is a small month after the deluge in December. We get Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 4, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected 4, Overlord 6, and Strike the Blood 8.

As for Yen Press, there’s several titles out next week (unless you get manga from Diamond Comics, in which case their monopoly is pointing and laughing at you). Debuting is Baccano!, a manga adaptation of the first light novel. Actually, the first volume is mostly an original prequel to the novels written by Narita, featuring Firo and the Gandors a few years earlier. It’s already come out digitally, but now you can enjoy it in print.

The other debut is Val x Love (Ikusa x Koi), an ecchi fantasy series from Shonen Gangan that sounds like it will appeal to fans of High School DxD.

Ongoing series unrelated to light novels include Akame Ga KILL! 13, Black Butler 25, Gabriel Dropout 2, and The Royal Tutor 5.

Ongoing series that are either adaptations of or spinoffs from light novels include A Certain Magical Index 12, Hybrid x Heart Magias Academy Ataraxia 2, DanMachi Sword Oratoria 2, Overlord 5, Re Zero Arc Three 2, and the 6th Sword Art Online Progressive.

And that’s all for Yen for next week, but stay tuned to the week after. Anything appealing to you here?

SEAN: Manga still comes, through snow, rain, gloom, and dead of night. What’s up for next week?

Kodansha debuts the new sequel to Battle Angel Alita, subtitled Mars Chronicle. It comes after Last Order, and will no doubt be as sweet and fluffy as previous volumes (please note sarcasm). It runs in Evening.

Kodansha’s digital offerings are slightly less next week – are they tired? Domestic Girlfriend 15, I’m in Love and It’s the End of the World 4, My Boyfriend in Orange 2, Pitch-Black Ten 2, and PTSD Radio 3.

MICHELLE: Heh. I will eventually read the shoujo ones on that list.

SEAN: In print, we have finally come to the end of Fairy Tail, with its 63rd volume. There are still a few spinoffs still to be released, but this is the end of the main story.

ASH: That’s an impressive run! One Piece and Case Closed are the only other series I can think of off the top of my head that have over sixty volumes published in English.

SEAN: And there is a 3rd Frau Faust, which I pray does not have the heroine get even younger by the end.

MICHELLE: I am determined to start this series this week! Maybe today!

ASH: You should! It’s great!

SEAN: We also have a 24th volume of The Seven Deadly Sins, which with the end of Fairy Tail is now the longest-running Weekly Shonen Magazine series that’s licensed over here. (Sorry, Hajime no Ippo, Ahiru no Sora and Seitokai Yakuindomo are NOT licensed over here.)

Seven Seas has a bunch of stuff. Golden Time comes to an end with its 9th volume of romance and amnesia.

Hachune Mike’s Everyday Vocaloid Paradise has a 2nd volume.

And the zombies clearly have not been stopped, if Hour of the Zombie 6 is any indication.

The debut next week is Made in Abyss, a fantasy series about a girl and her robot that runs in Takeshobo’s Manga Life Win +. Despite the cast looking like moe plushies, it’s apparently more serious than it looks.

ASH: I’ve heard that it gets quite serious indeed.

SEAN: Masamune-kun’s Revenge has reached 7 volumes. Sheesh. Just get revenge already!

And Non Non Biyori has a 9th volume of doing absolutely nothing in a cute and relaxed way.

orange: future is a spinoff of the popular shoujo romance/tragedy, with additional side and after stories that will no doubt please fans.

MICHELLE: MUST HAVE!

ASH: ABSOLUTELY! The original series was tremendous, so I hope the continuation can hold up to expectations.

ANNA: I have orange lurking around my house somewhere. I should read it!

ASH: You haven’t yet?! You really should. It’s not always an easy read due to the heavy subject matter, but it’s a really well done series.

SEAN: I am surprised as well, as it’s basically exactly what you read.

ANNA: I know! My piles of unread manga are getting out of control.

SEAN: Vertical has My Neighbor Seki Vol. 10! What amazing desk toys will Seki come up with to celebrate?

And finally, Viz has a couple of digital only releases with Boys Over Flowers Season 2 Volume 7 (Part A, 5th Door To the Right, Behind the Filing Cabinet), and the difficult to type out élDLIVE has a 4th.

MICHELLE: I feel like I should give Boys Over Flowers Season 2 another chance.

ANNA: Me too. I liked the first several chapters.

MJ: Oh, this. Yes. This, this!

SEAN: What are you dashing through the snow to get next week?

SEAN: January continues apace, and so do releases, though as I noted last week, it’s still a bit muted compared to the last few months.

If you’re tired of Joss Whedon projects but still love vampire slayers, Drawn and Quarterly can help you with Kitaro the Vampire Slayer, the latest release in their series.

ASH: I still love Kitaro, which is why I’ll be picking it up!

Another J-Novel Club series comes to an end with the 6th and final volume of Paying to Win in a VRMMO, starring the smuggest hero ever.

Kodansha has another pile of digital releases, as we get Chihayafuru 8, DEATHTOPIA 8 (which I believe is the final volume), Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 5, Fuuka 15, Kasane 9, The Prince’s Black Poison 2, and Real Girl 11.

MICHELLE: Hooray for Chihayafuru!

ANNA: YAY!!!!!

SEAN: Lest Ash despair, they also have some print volumes. We get Waiting for Spring 4 and Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty 2.

MICHELLE: I am working on getting caught up on these.

ASH: My despair has been tempered as I am enjoying both of these series so far. (In print!)

One Peace continues to deliver on volumes of Maria Holic, this time giving us lucky Vol. 13.

Seven Seas has three ongoing titles. A Certain Scientific Accelerator 7 is pretty much caught up with Japan. My Monster Secret 9 has a ways to go before it catches up to Japan, as it recently ended with Vol. 22. And Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn is still two creators reinforcing each other’s worst habits, but we’re at Vol. 9 anyway.

Their debut is Juana and the Dragonewt’s Seven Kingdoms (Ryuu no Nanakuni to Minashigo no Juana), a Mag Garden title that, given it stars dragonewts, I’m going to guess is a fantasy.

ASH: I am very curious about this debut!

ANNA: Hmm, sounds interesting.

SEAN: Vertical has a 4th volume of Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.

Viz’s ongoing series give us the 2nd Children of the Whales (I wasn’t as impressed as I expected to be) and the 20th Terra Formars.

MICHELLE: Children of the Whales is literally on top of my to-read pile.

ASH: I think you’ll like the series, Michelle! Overall, I really enjoyed the first volume and look forward to seeing how the manga continues to develop with the second.

ANNA: I wish it had less world building and more character development, but maybe things will settle down a bit in the second volume.

SEAN: Debut #1 is Fire Punch, a shonen series from the Shonen Jump + line, and oh my god it looks super, super dark. Not sure how I’ll do with this one.

ASH: Oh, super dark, you say? I don’t know much about the series, but that’s enough to at least pique my interest.

ANNA: I enjoy both fire and punching.

SEAN: The other debut is actually done in one – RWBY, a manga that ran in Japan’s Ultra Jump based on the anime-style American series created by Rooster Teeth. I’m hoping for “cool” here.

ANNA: It does look super stylish.

SEAN: Are you excited? And you just can’t hide it?

SEAN: There is not quite as much manga next week as previous weeks… at least not print manga. Kodansha is here to ensure that there are still many more titles released.

Before that, Dark Horse has a 5th omnibus of I Am A Hero.

ASH: This series has been quite an intense ride, so far!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has a 4th volume of the very long-titled If It’s For My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord, as well as a 4th volume of Infinite Dendrogram.

They also debut a spinoff novel. Yume Nikki: I Am Not In Your Dream, which is based off of a freeware game, and seems to be scary? And is not related to Future Diary, it would seem.

Kodansha Digital has no new titles announced for next week (yet – there’s always a danger of last minute announcements), but we do get Domestic Girlfriend 14, Grand Blue Dreaming 5, I’m in Love and It’s the End of the World 3, Kokkaku: Moment by Moment 4, Lovesick Ellie 2, and the final volume of Peach Heaven, 13.

MICHELLE: I’m still meaning to check out Lovesick Ellie.

SEAN: Seven Seas has a quartet of titles due out. The High School Life of a Fudanshi 3, Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary 7 (we’re mostly caught up to Japan on both of those), Spirit Circle 2 and Yokai Rental Shop 2.

ASH: The first volume of Spirit Circle was so good! I went in expecting to like the series, but at this point I’m honestly loving it.

ANNA: Interesting…..

SEAN: There’s some new BL from SuBLime, as we get a 10th volume of His Favorite (has this really been running in Japan since 2008?) and a 9th volume of The World’s Greatest First Love (which has been running since 2006).

Vertical has a 2nd volume of psychological thriller Imperfect Girl.

And speaking of long-runners, Viz has a 65th volume of Case Closed. That’s been running since 1994, and the North American release is only 27 volumes behind right now!

Getting something? Or catching up from previous weeks?

MICHELLE: Catching up, mostly!

ASH: A little of both, for me!

ANNA: So much to catch up on!

SEAN: A new year, new manga, and new series to get way behind on.

MICHELLE: Truth.

ASH: Woo!

SEAN: Ghost Ship has a debut, Yokai Girls, perhaps the most unsurprising license ever given ecchi yokai series are the new zombies. This ran in Weekly Young Jump, and is about ghosts and fanservice, not in that order.

ASH: I’ll usually give anything having to do with yokai at chance, but it may take a while for me to actually get around to trying this series.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has quite a few releases, starting with Ao Oni, a horror series that’s based on a video game, and very much in the “kill the cast off over and over” genre.

In Another World with My Smartphone has a 6th volume, this one focusing on Touya’s youngest love interest, Sue, and her attempts to not be married off.

And Invaders of the Rokujouma!? goes back to finish its side story with Vol. 8.5.

Kodansha has a lot, as you’d expect, mostly digital. Actually, entirely digital. On the Del Rey rescue end, we have a 17th Pumpkin Scissors. Newer titles include Ace of the Diamond 7, Ayanashi 2, Drifting Dragons 2, Real Girl 10, and Space Brothers 31.

MICHELLE: Ace of the Diamond is a lot of fun.

ASH: As usual, I’m glad that so much manga is being translated, but I really hope more of Kodansha’s digital-only titles turn out to be digital-first.

SEAN: Seven Seas gives us a 5th Dreamin’ Sun and a 7th Not Lives.

Their debut is a spinoff of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, entitled Kanna’s Daily Life. Given Dragon Maid doesn’t have much of a plot, I can’t imagine how much more slice of life it can get, but…

Viz time. No debuts this time around, but Nisekoi is coming to an end with its 25th volume. Given how poorly romantic-oriented Jump titles have done over here before (looking at you, Strawberry 100%), it’s impressive to see how popular Nisekoi was… at least until fans knew which girl one, at which point the knives came out, as always. Oh well.

MICHELLE: Haikyu!! is ever a favorite.

ASH: I’ve fallen a bit behind, but I enjoy Haikyu!! immensely.

SEAN: Shonen titles include a 7th 7th Garden (No, not a typo), an 18th Blue Exorcist, Haikyu!! 19, Naruto’s 21st 3-in-1, as well as a 2nd volume of Chibi Sasuke’s Sharingan Legend, Naruto’s comedy spoof.

There’s also a 5th 3-in-1 of Rurouni Kenshin (still not cancelled, though Japan cancelled the sequel series), an 11th Twin Star Exorcists, and an 18th World Trigger, which was the last volume out before its current hiatus.

On the shoujo side, there’s a 6th Anonymous Noise, a 28th Kimi ni Todoke (which just ended in Japan, I believe), a 21st Natsume’s Book of Friends (yay!), and the 4th Water Dragon’s Bride.

MICHELLE: I will be reading all four of those, though I am also most “yay!” about Natsume’s Book of Friends.

ASH: It appears I will be echoing Michelle, again. Yay, Natsume! I need to get caught up on Water Dragon’s Bride, too.

ANNA: I’m most excited about Water Dragon’s Bride. It is such a consistently great series.

SEAN: Do you have something you want here?

SEAN: Well, it would be a quiet final week of 2017… were it not for Kodansha, who are determined to break us.

First off, yes, they did it again. Out already is Living Room Matsunaga-san, a title that was announced after Manga the Week of went to press. It looks like a typical shoujo title from Dessert.

MICHELLE: So far, I feel kindly disposed enough toward Dessert titles to give this one a look.

ANNA: Me too!

SEAN: Dark Horse has a 5th Drifters, whose volumes come out so infrequently I tend to forget what’s going on beyond “crazy faces”. Which, honestly, is probably for the best.

ASH: The fifth volume already?! After years between the releases of the third and fourth volume, a few months between the releases of the fourth and the fifth seems like no time at all.

SEAN: And there’s a 2nd Legend of the Piko Piko Middle School Students, a wacky Evangelion parody/comedy thing.

J-Novel ends two of their ongoing light novel series next week. Bluesteel Blasphemer wraps up with its 4th volume. And, while it’s not an official “ending”, My Big Sister Lives in a Fantasy World has no current plans for new volumes after Vol. 7.

Kodansha. Wow. They have print! We get new volumes of Attack on Titan: Before the Fall (12), Land of the Lustrous (whose anime has really exploded in Western fandom) (4), Love & Lies (3), and That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime (whose novel came out last week from Yen) (3).

ASH: Despite not always completely understanding what’s going on in Land of the Lustrous, I am enjoying the series and its striking artwork.

SEAN: We have digital debuts! Yes, and I actually know about them in advance. My Boyfriend in Orange is, yes, another Dessert title (Dessert is the new Betsufure). This time the boyfriend seems to be a firefighter. Pitch-Black Ten runs in Shonen Magazine R, and seems to be a supernatural series.

MICHELLE: I could cut and paste my line from above here, too. It’s not that I really crave a romance series with a fireman in it, but eh. Okay. Why not?

ANNA: Sure, why not?

SEAN: We have ongoing digital series! Piles of them. I think I got them all. DAYS 7, Domestic Girlfriend 13, Drowning Love 7, The Full-Time Wife Escapist 8, Giant Killing 9, House of the Sun 13, I Want to Hold Aono-kun So Badly I Could Die 2, Kounodori: Dr. Stork 7, Love’s Reach 6, and Peach Heaven 12. As always, I’m all about Wife Escapist, but I believe Michelle will be looking at the soccer.

MICHELLE: I will be looking at the soccer *and* the spouses! (But probably, yes, I do love Giant Killing the best.)

ANNA: So far behind on Wife Escapist. I will not give up though!

SEAN: There are publishers other than Kodansha with titles next week, oddly enough. Seven Seas’s debut is Unmagical Girl, a comedy series about a fictional magical girl who’s somehow brought into reality, and now has to cope with everyday life. I’m just happy to have a magical girl series that it’s “let’s kill the magical girls”. It apparently ran in a Pony Canyon magazine, but I think the license may have gone through Ichijinsha.

Seven Seas also has a 2nd Absolute Duo, a 4th Magical Girl Site (which is absolutely about killing magical girls), and a 4th Species Domain (which is actually pretty cute).

SuBLime has a 4th volume of The Night Beyond the Tricolored Window, which looks dramatic as hell.

MICHELLE: I love this series so much and have been eagerly anticipating volume four for a year!

ASH: I want this series in print so much!

MICHELLE: So do I! Even though I don’t mind reading digitally, I crave that extra security you feel when you own a tangible copy of something.

SEAN: Vertical has hit double digits with Witchcraft Works.

Lastly, Yen Digital has a 4th IM: The Great Priest Imhotep, who is still invisible, I believe. (I will never stop making that joke, sorry.)

Are you getting anything from this? Or still catching up with this week’s avalanche?