SEAN: Next week and the week after are blissfully small, allowing most of us to recover from the hideous amount of manga that we still have to read. This does not mean there are not some interesting things coming out, however.
Fans of Berserk might be interested in the new science fiction manga by its creator, called Giganto Maxia. Kate Dacey already gave it a review here.
ASH: As a fan of Berserk, I’m definitely interested in this, but Miura’s other manga have been pretty hit-or-miss for me.
SEAN: Seven Seas has a third volume of fantasy parody-ish manga 12 Beast.
Their new title this week is Angel Beats! Heaven’s Door, based on the visual novel by Key. Whenever I see the words ‘visual novel’ and ‘Key’ together, I know I’m in for some tear-jerking, heartwarming tragedy, and I suspect that will be the case here as well.
There’s a 2nd volume of fantasy Mushoku Tensei.
SubLime, which has been awfully quiet recently, has a 5th volume of Awkward Silence, which is what happens when I ask out loud why they’ve been so quiet recently.
ASH: Not my favorite Takanaga manga, but it does have it’s charm.
SEAN: Udon gives us the debut of the Persona 4 manga in North America, and get ready for me to be saying ‘Persona’ quite a bit this year, as other companies are also dipping their toe into those waters.
ASH: I know quite a few Persona fans, so I’m actually rather curious about this release despite never having played the game myself.
SEAN: Viz time. We have reached the end of Deadman Wonderland with the 13th volume, and I can only assume they’re out of prison at last?
Hayate the Combat Butler continues to not sell well enough to have more than 2 volumes a year, but well enough not to be cancelled. Here’s a 27th volume.
Lastly, there’s a 16th volume of one of my favorites, Magi.
MICHELLE: I guess this is the only thing I’m buying this week. This’ll make my pick of the week easy!
MJ: And I guess I’ll just have to live vicariously through you. Wow.
ANNA: Magi is also the only thing I’m enthusiastic about this week. I’ve even started reading through some of my stockpiled volumes, although I have a long way to go before I get to the 16th volume.
SEAN: What’s your manga valentine?
BRIGID: 
DEB: I’m most excited about the trend where manga publishers are taking chances on titles and genres that were once considered the third rail/extra risky to license, like sports manga. Super excited about the Summer 2016 arrival of the first volumes of 
Another example of manga publishing biz in the US dipping their toes into riskier fare is the upcoming publication of three classics: 
KATE: I share Deb’s excitement about classic manga. It’s a risky undertaking for any publisher, especially when so many readers are young (under 20) and not particularly curious about the medium’s roots. It will be interesting to see if UDON can pitch Rose of Versailles to the Shojo Beat crowd; though the artwork is a little dated, the melodrama, costumes, and kick-butt female lead have obvious parallels with titles in VIZ, Kodansha, and Yen’s catalogs. Who knows? It could be a surprise hit.
In the just-for-fun department, 
KATE: I’m consistently impressed by Seven Seas’ tenacity and business acumen, but not so impressed with the actual titles they license. Last year, however, Seven Seas published The Ancient Magus’ Bride and acquired Orange, neither of which fit the profile of a typical Seven Seas manga; if anything, both seemed like the kind of titles that CMX used to license. That gamble has paid off with Bride, which recently cracked the NY Times Manga Bestseller list. My prediction: Seven Seas will continue to make bold licensing choices in 2016, even as vampire-monster girls remain their core business.
If any publishers are reading this, I have a very specific licensing request. There’s a small French publisher called 
