manga the week of

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

ASH: At least some things were good!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ASH: Heh.

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

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

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

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

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

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

MJ: That sounds interesting.

MICHELLE: It does!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MJ: Same.

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

ASH: Nope. It most definitely is not

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

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

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

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

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

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

SEAN: The Yen Press juggernaut is back.

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

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

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

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

MJ: Yes, I do too.

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

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

ANNA: I am too!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ANNA: Always a good thing.

MJ: I’m on board for this!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MICHELLE: I only just got volume two last Friday!

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

ANNA: Me too!!!

MJ: Help!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MICHELLE: That’s an evocative image!

MJ: Indeed!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ASH: I need to begin my Sarazanmai journey soon.

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

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

They also have a 3rd volume of Given.

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

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

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

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

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

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

ASH: Likewise.

MJ: Yep.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ASH: Let’s go!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MICHELLE: I will never not be grateful for Chihayafuru!

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

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

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

MJ: Same here!

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

MICHELLE: Ew.

ANNA: No thank you!

MJ: I hate everything.

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

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

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

MICHELLE: Huzzah!

ANNA: I have mine, yay!

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

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

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

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

MICHELLE: I am all about this.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ASH: Wow, that’s impressive!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vertical has, digitally, a 14th Witchcraft Works.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

One Peace has a 9th volume of Hinamatsuri.

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

ASH: Ha!

MJ: Also got a laugh out of this.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MJ: Oooooo.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MJ: Why, Yen, WHYYYYYYYY?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Denpa has the second volume of Pleasure and Corruption.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MICHELLE: Woot!

ASH: Very excited for this volume!

ANNA: Nice, me too!

MJ: This sounds great!

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

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

ASH: It is so, so good.

MJ: I also need to get around to this.

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

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

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

ASH: I really enjoyed the first volume.

MJ: I need to catch up!

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

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

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

MJ: I’ll cautiously consider.

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

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

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

What manga cools you off?

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

ASH: Woohoo, manga!

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

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

MJ: Wow, yes, this sounds fantastic.

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

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

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

ANNA: I am extremely excited about this!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MJ: Huh, interesting.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ANNA: Yay, it is a WEEK FOR ANNA!

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

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

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

SEAN: It’s the first of July! Or the last day of June, technically, as most books ship Tuesdays. As a result, this July 1st is more of a grab bag than most weeks.

Bookwalker has a 12th volume of shogi light novel series The Ryuo’s Work Is Never Done!.

Cross Infinite World debuts another shoujo light novel. Hello, I Am a Witch and My Crush Wants Me to Make a Love Potion! should serve as the perfect description, really.

MICHELLE: Yep.

ASH: Haha, it does!

ANNA: There is great clarity as to the contents of that book.

SEAN: Dark Horse has the 5th Berserk Deluxe Edition.

ASH: I’ll be picking this up. The deluxe edition of Berserk is quite an upgrade from the original release.

SEAN: Ghost Ship has, digital-first, Vol. 16 of To-Love-Ru Darkness.

J-Novel Club has two manga and two light novels. The manga are Infinite Dendrogram 4 and The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind!! 5.

The novels are Full Metal Panic! 7 and My Next Life As a Villainess 6, which I have been reliably informed does actually get the story moving once more.

Kodansha has a couple of debuts, some with print coming later, some not. Clover is a title CLAMP fans should be familiar with, and it’s getting a Hardcover Collector’s Edition release… but for now, enjoy it digitally.

MICHELLE: I don’t think I ever finished this one.

ASH: Clover is one of my favorites from CLAMP. (And is another example of one of the group’s manga that ended earlier than originally intended.) I have the Dark Horse omnibus edition, but I’m tempted to pick this one up, too.

ANNA: I’ve got the old Tokyopop paperbacks!

MJ: I also have the Dark Horse omnibus, but this is tempting!

SEAN: When We Shout for Love (Bokura ga Ai wo Sakebu Toki) is a 3-volume shoujo manga series from Betsufure, and is about a boy and girl who find themselves growing closer because of their mutual love of AKB48… (cough) pardon me, KBF47.

ASH: That sounds like it could be fun!

SEAN: Digital first titles include Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight 11, Real Account 12-14 (a three volume omnibus), and Sweat and Soap 3.

Digital-only titles next week include Fairy Tail: City Hero 3, Farewell My Dear Cramer 10, The Great Cleric 5, and Love Massage: Melting Beauty Treatment 5.

MICHELLE: I need to get caught back up on Farewell My Dear Cramer.

SEAN: Seven Seas, in print, has the debut of Love Me for Who I Am. We talked about this when it came out digitally, but it deserves to be talked about again, because the first volume impressed me greatly. A must for LGBTQ fans.

ASH: I was waiting for the print release to read it; I’m looking forward to the manga.

MJ: I never did pick up the digital version, so this is my chance!

SEAN: In early-digital releases, we also have a debut light novel. The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter (Ore Dake Haireru Kakushi Dungeon: Kossori Kitaete Sekai Saikyou) is about a boy with minimal talents and, well, a dungeon that’s all for him. Seems very light novel-ey. Also he’s named Noir, so I hope he quickly gains companions named Madlax and El Cazador.

There’s also Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends 18, Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka 9, and the 3rd Neon Evangelion ANIMA light novel, where we see once more how many times they can use the phrase ‘pillar of salt’.

Tokyopop has a debut. Koimonogatari: Love Stories is not, sad to say, starring Hitagi Senjogahara. It’s a BL series from Gentosha’s Rutile, and actually looks quite sweet.

Tokyopop also has an 8th volume of yuri fox girl series Konohana Kitan.

Finally, Udon gives us a 7th Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu, which always leaves me hungry (admittedly, most foodies manga/novels do these days).

ASH: I read some of the early volumes, so I’ve some catching up to do.

SEAN: Anything catch your eye?

SEAN: Look out, folks. The danger of COVID-19 may still be here, but the dam has broken. There are SO MANY BOOKS next week.

ASH: Woo!

SEAN: We’ll start with Dark Horse, who have a 5th volume of Mob Psycho 100.

ASH: I’ll be picking this up.

SEAN: J-Novel Club’s debut is Deathbound Duke’s Daughter, which is another in the “I’ve been reincarnated as a villainess in an otome game” genre. Really nice artwork for this novel series. It’s from Futabasha’s M Novels.

Also from J-Novel Club: An Archdemon’s Dilemma 10, Ascendance of a Bookworm 7 (which finishes the 2nd arc, the one currently being animated), the 2nd Sorcerous Stabber Orphen manga, and a 4th Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf!

Kodansha has a lot. Debuts? We have three. One even is in print: the first volume of The Ghost in the Shell: Human Algorithm, a spinoff of the legendary manga/anime franchise.

ASH: It’s always interesting to see how various creators envision Ghost in the Shell.

SEAN: A new digital-only title is Abe-kun’s Got Me Now! (Abe-kun ni Nerawaretemasu), a shoujo title from the online replacement for Aria, Palcy. A comedy manga about a girl who finds the school’s karate champ confessing to her… and he’s not going to take no for an answer.

Also digital (at least for now) is Sue & Tai-chan, another cat manga from the creator of Chi’s Sweet Home. This one runs in Be Love magazine, so seems more for housewives than kids. But… I mean, it’s still a cute cat manga.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to it!

SEAN: Scheduled (at the moment) for Digital next week and print later, we see Cardcaptor Sakura Collector’s Edition 5 (along with 3 and 4, whose print are out already), Fire Force 19, Love and Lies 9, O Maidens in Your Savage Season 7, and Yuri Is My Job! 6.

ASH: As usual, I’ll be waiting for the print release, but O Maidens in Your Savage Season is really good.

SEAN: Digital-only titles out next week? Altair: A Record of Battles 19 (I swear this is now weekly), Asahi-sempai’s Favorite 7 (the final volume), Hotaru’s Way 14, I Fell in Love After School 5, Kounodori: Dr. Stork 15, and Watari-kun’s ****** Is about to Collapse 7 (which also feels like it’s out every week).

MICHELLE: Of these, I’m only currently reading I Fell in Love After School, but I do enjoy it.

SEAN: KUMA has a digital-first, print later debut: Canis: Dear Mr. Rain. This BL title originally ran in Opera a few years back, but is now in Takeshobo’s Reijin. It’s about picking up a stray on the side of the road, only this is a human, not a dog.

MJ: Maybe?

SEAN: One Peace has a 13th Rising of the Shield Hero (manga version).

Seven Seas, in print, has New Game! 9.

Seven Seas, digitally, has a bit more. We have two debuts. Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time (Peter Grill to Kenja no Jikan) runs in Futabasha’s Manga Action, which means it can’t be full-on porn, but it sounds like it. Peter Grill has a lovely fiancee and has just won a tournament pronouncing him the World’s Strongest. Unfortunately, this means all the women in the world – elves, ogres – want to bone him. Poor guy, can he escape his horrible fate?

MJ: …wow.

SEAN: The other digital debut is Syrup, another yuri anthology of short stories – this one from Futabasha – and featuring the creators of I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up and Kisses, Sighs and Cherry Blossom Pink.

ASH: Oh! That sounds like it has promise!

MJ: This might be good!

SEAN: There’s also the 3rd Arifureta manga, Gal Gohan 3, GIGANT 2, a 2nd Magic User: Reborn in Another World as a Max Level Wizard light novel, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Elma’s Office Lady Diary 3, Non Non Biyori 13, the 3rd Reincarnated As a Sword manga, and the 10th and final Toradora! light novel. (Yes, I know there are short story volumes. No, they aren’t. No, it’s unlikely they will be.)

Square Enix has – digital first – the 3nd Hi Score Girl manga and the 2nd Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town manga.

Tokyopop has two new series. Don’t Call Me Daddy (Daddy Darlin’) is a BL manga, sequel to Don’t Call Me Dirty.

The other is No Vampire, No Happy Ending (Ringo to Bara to Kyuuketsuki (Kari)), a goofy Mag Garden comedy about a vampire enthusiast who finally meets one and discovers they’re not up to snuff.

MJ: This actually sounds fun, maybe in a What We Do in the Shadows kind of way, but …Tokyopop. Not sure I’m ready.

Vertical has (digitally) Bakemonogatari’s 4th manga, APOSIMZ 5, and Kino’s Journey 6.

MJ: I’ve been kind of out of it and have lost touch with the Kino’s Journey manga adaptation. I should try to fix that.

SEAN: That’s it! We’re done! Wait… (giant pile of Yen Press falls on Sean) Riiiiiight. Yen’s back in town.

ASH: Whoa! Hang on for the ride!

SEAN: All of the light novel debuts got moved to July. But there’s still a lot of Yen On. We get The Genius Prince’s Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt (Hey, How About Treason?) 3, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level 7, Last Round Arthurs 2, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected 6.5 (yes, the numbering is deliberate), Overlord 12, The Saga of Tanya the Evil 7, A Sister’s All You Need 7, That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime 8, Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina 2, Woof Woof Story 4, and World’s Strongest Rearguard: Labyrinth Country’s Novice Seeker 3. Guh. So many books, so many long titles.

ASH: For sure!

SEAN: Manga? Well, there we have a few debuts. Bestia is a fantasy series about magical beasts, looks cute, and runs in Kadokawa’s Shonen Ace.

Breasts Are My Favorite Things in the World (Sekai de Ichiban Oppai Ga Suki!) is sort of Knight of the Ice if the knight was a girl and instead of wanting to hear magical girl songs she had to fondle huge breasts in order to do well in competitions. It looks… a bit over the top. This runs in Media Factory’s Comic Cune.

MJ: What is happening??

SEAN: Lust Geass is from the creator of Evangelion spinoff The Shinji Ikari Raising Project, runs in Kadokawa’s Young Ace, and seems to be Death Note only with sex instead of death.

MJ: Yen Press is really losing me lately.

SEAN: And there’s Restaurant in Another World, the manga version of the light novel. Old-school Crunchyroll manga readers may recall this title.

ASH: Oh, I may need to check this one out.

SEAN: Lastly, Sekiro Side Story: Hanbei the Undying seems to be a side story to something I don’t know (it’s certainly not Sekirei), and I guess is based off a game.

Ongoing titles? Well, Umineko: When They Cry comes to an end with the 3rd and final omnibus of Twilight of the Golden Witch. We’ve figured out by now that most everyone in the cast is really, genuinely dead. But did ANYONE other than Ange survive? Read to find out.

And… Bungo Stray Dogs 15, Chio’s School Road 9, Dead Mount Death Play 4, Divine Raiment Magical Girl Howling Moon 2, Do You Love Your Mom (and Her Two-Hit, Multi-Target Attacks?) 3 (manga version), Eclair Bleau (another yuri anthology volume) Goblin Slayer 8 (manga version), KonoSuba Explosion 5 (manga version, technically a final volume but there’s a sequel), Little Miss P: The Second Day, Phantom Tales of the Night 4, The Saga of Tanya the Evil 10 (manga version), and A Witch’s Printing Office 3.

MICHELLE: So many paragraphs of things I’m not reading, with the probable exception of Eclair Bleue.

ANNA: I’m going to have a hard time doing pick of the week this week, despite this deluge of manga.

ASH: I’m glad to see publishers getting their books out there, but that is certainly a lot all at once!

MJ: A lot of… what?

SEAN: Stay masked even though all the manga is back! What are you getting?

SEAN: It’s mid-June. Is it hot where you are? It’s certainly hot where I am. Have some manga.

We start with light novels, though, as J-Novel Club has a debut. Wild Times with a Fake Fake Princess is another series by Ichiro Sakaki, author of Outbreak Company. The description makes it sound like “straight man surrounded by wacky people and situations”. Think broad comedy. It’s 3 volumes total.

J-Novel Club also gives us Her Majesty’s Swarm 3.

Kodansha, in early digital releases of print titles, gives us Boarding School Juliet 12, That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime 13 and Witch Hat Atelier 6.

ASH: I’ll be waiting to pick it up in print, but I am very pleased to see all the love Witch Hat Atelier is getting these days!

ANNA: Totally collecting Witch Hat Atelier in print too!

SEAN: Digital-only has a LOT more. The debut is Men’s Life —Her Secret Life in The Boys’ Dormitory—, a Betsufure series by the creator of L♥DK. Introverted girl, extroverted brother, she has to disguise herself as him… you know the drill.

MICHELLE: I will at least give the debut volume a look, but I didn’t realize it was by the L♥DK creator. I tried the first volume of that and didn’t like it much.

MJ: This sounds potentially awful? I’ll wait to see what Michelle says.

SEAN: There’s also (deep break) Dolly Kill Kill 3, Domestic Girlfriend 25, GE: Good Ending 6, I’ll Win You Over Sempai! 5, Kakushigoto 4, Saint Young Men 6, Shojo FIGHT! 11, The Slime Diaries 3, and That Blue Summer 6.

MICHELLE : Both That Blue Summer and I’ll Win You Over, Sempai! are enjoyable shoujo. This is also the final volume for the latter. I really need to catch up on Shojo FIGHT! as well.

SEAN: One Peace has an 8th volume of Hinamatsuri.

Seven Seas has a couple of debuts. Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear gets its manga in print. It also gives us the 2nd novel as an early digital book.

The other early digital debut is Love on the Other Side: A Nagabe Short Story Collection. The Girl from the Other Side is the author’s most well-known work, and these are short stories (unrelated to his other series) about supernatural love.

MICHELLE: I will definitely be reading this!

ASH: Likewise! I’m very happy to see more of Nagabe’s work being translated.

ANNA: Sounds great.

MJ: Here for this!

SEAN: In ongoing print, we see Classroom of the Elite 4.5, Masamune-kun’s Revenge 11, Satoko and Nada 3, and Tomo-chan Is a Girl! 7, which also now has all its volumes available digitally! I love both Satoko and Nada and Tomo-chan.

ASH: Satoko and Nada is a great series.

SEAN: Other digital first titles: Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor 9, Dance in the Vampire Bund: Age of Scarlet Order 2, and the 2nd Invincible Shovel light novel.

Sol Press has a 2nd digital volume of light novel Redefining the Meta at VRMMO Academy.

Vertical debuts, digital-first, the manga version of Weathering with You, another Makoto Shinkai multi-media franchise. The manga runs in Afternoon.

MJ: I loved the movie, and have historically enjoyed the manga versions of Shinkai’s work, so maybe?

SEAN: Viz Media gives us the 8th 20th Century Boys Perfect Edition, Blue Flag 2, Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction 8, the 3rd Drifting Classroom Perfect Edition, and Golden Kamuy 16.

MICHELLE: I am chastened to admit I have not read Blue Flag yet! I will rectify this forthwith.

ASH: I’m following quite a few of these series, but Blue Flag is what I’ll be reading first. I think you’ll like the series, Michelle.

ANNA: Blue Flag is wonderful.

MJ: I also have not read Blue Flag, but I guess I should!

SEAN: Lastly, remember a few weeks ago when we were talking about Nightschool and wishing we could see more of it? Good news! The Weirn Books seems to be a reboot of the series aimed at readers of her Berrybrook Middle School series. The first volume from Yen Press is subtitled Be Wary of the Silent Woods.

ASH: Oh, nice!

ANNA: Sweet!

MJ: Oh, interesting!

SEAN: Good things come to those who wait. What are you waiting for?

SEAN: Still June-ing, still dreaming.

J-Novel Club has digital manga and light novels. On the manga end, we get Animeta! 4 and Demon Lord, Retry! 2.

MICHELLE: I enjoy Animeta!, though I can’t really claim that it’s great.

ASH: I’ve been liking it, too.

SEAN: For light novels, there is the 6th The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress, Outbreak Company 14, the 2nd in the Tales of Marielle Clarac series, The Beloved of Marielle Clarac, and The World’s Least Interesting Master Swordsman 3.

We’ll divide Kodansha into digital with print coming later, and just digital. For the former, we see the debut of Chobits: the 20th Anniversary Edition. One of CLAMP’s more problematic series… and that’s a pretty high bar… it’s still worth a read.

MICHELLE: I haven’t read Chobits in 17 years (I’m so old), so I think I might give it another look.

ASH: Chobits was the first CLAMP work that I read, so it holds a special place for me, problems and all.

MJ: Definitely not my favorite of CLAMP’s work, but I’m interested in what a 20th Anniversary Edition has to offer.

SEAN: There’s also Eden’s Zero 8 and Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku 4. Definitely looking forward to more Wotakoi.

MICHELLE: Me, too!

ASH: Yes! It seems like forever since the last omnibus. I’ve been enjoying the series a great deal.

ANNA: I’m OK with skipping it!

SEAN: The digital-only debut is Hop Step Sing!. A VR Idol story that lists ‘Kodansha’ as the creator of the original concept, its artist is best known for yuri works from Galette magazine. This runs in Comic Days, though, and is about a girl who becomes a VR Idol, unsurprisingly.

For ongoing digital-only, we see All-Out!! 14, Ex-Enthusiasts: Motokare Mania 4, Fairy Tail: Happy’s Heroic Adventure 4, The Hero Life of a (Self-Proclaimed) “Mediocre” Demon! 3, My Roomie Is a Dino 3, and Orient 3.

MICHELLE: Ex-Enthusiasts is enjoyable josei, so I’m looking forward to more of that.

SEAN: Seven Seas has a digital-first debut, The Legend of Dororo and Hyakkimaru. A retelling of the classic Tezuka story, the artist is known in the West for Attack on Titan: Before the Fall. A young man whose body is split into 48 pieces joins up with a thief to recover them. This runs in Akita Shoten’s Champion Red, but I will try not to hold that against it.

ASH: The original Dororo is a favorite of mine, so I’m very curious to see this version.

MJ: I’m also a big fan of Dororo, so this is interesting to me.

SEAN: Also debuting digitally first is Sarazanmai, the light novel based on the anime series that also spawned a manga prequel, which we’ve already talked about. It is, and I quote, an “action-filled LGBT comedy”.

ASH: Adding it to list of Sarazanmai media I need to catch up on!

MJ: I read very few light novels, but the description sounds great.

SEAN: Digitally first but not debuts are Blank Canvas 5 (the final volume) and Reincarnated As a Sword novel 6.

MICHELLE: Oh, I totally forgot about Blank Canvas! I need to read this.

ASH: It’s such a great series.

SEAN: SuBLime has a debut with Therapy Game. It’s a sequel to Secret XXX, and also runs in Shinshokan’s Dear+. It seems to involve casual sex, heartbreak, and revenge?

Also out from SuBLime is Caste Heaven 2.

Vertical has, digitally, the 4th Bakemonogatari manga, which starts the Suruga Monkey arc.

Viz’s debut is How Do We Relationship? (Tsukiatte Agete Mo Ii Ka Na), a yuri manga from Shogakukan’s Ura Sunday. Based on a doujinshi series, it apparently really gets into the messiness of dating between two young women. I have been looking forward to this one.

MICHELLE: Same.

ASH: Likewise!

MJ: This sounds great!

SEAN: There’s also Komi Can’t Communicate 7, the 2nd Pokemon Adventures Collector’s Edition, Requiem of the Rose King 12, and Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle 12. Komi and Sleepy Princess have had a crossover between each other. I would not expect Richard from Rose King to appear in either of those series, however.

MICHELLE: *snerk*

ASH: Ha! Likely not. Though it has been known to have dream sequences…

MJ: Always here for the Rose King!

ANNA: Me too!

SEAN: Lastly, some Yen Press hangovers. The 2nd Collector’s Edition of Nightschool, and the third Toilet-Bound Hakano-kun in print.

ASH: I’m really liking Toilet-Bound Hakano-kun, so far!

SEAN: What manga are you burning the midnight lamp over?

SEAN: June is busting out all over, and while the schedule is not back to normal yet, it’s better than May was.

ASH: Huzzah!

SEAN: First, an apology to a new publisher, Tentai Books, who have their first release out this week and I missed it. They’re publishing in both Spanish and English, and their debut is a light novel, There’s No Way a Side Character Like Me Could Be Popular, Right?. Seems to be targeting the Oregairu/Tomozaki crowd.

As for next week, Ghost Ship has a 9th Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs.

J-Novel Club has a lot. In print, we get the debut volume of Sexiled: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out, So I Teamed Up With a Mythical Sorceress!, which I recommend to absolutely everyone.

ASH: Now that it’s finally in print, I’ll definitely be picking this one up. I’ve heard great things about it from all sorts of people.

ANNA: I’m curious about it too!

SEAN: Also in print: Ascendance of a Bookworm 5, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 10, and In Another World with My Smartphone 10.

Digitally, there’s also Altina the Sword Princess 4, a 3rd By the Grace of the Gods, Can Someone Please Explain What’s Going On? 2, Kokoro Connect 9, the 3rd Marginal Operation manga, The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar 11, and a 6th Record of Wortenia War.

Kodansha has a lot, most of which I’ve mentioned before because the schedule shifted. The print and digital debut is Rent-A-Girlfriend (Kanojo, Okarishimasu), a Weekly Shonen Magazine manga by an artist best known for the long-running and unlicensed AKB49: The Rules Against Love. A desperate guy, as the title suggests, rents a girlfriend, who seems perfect… at first. This is getting an anime this summer, and Kodansha describes it as “sweet, naive boy meets cute, ruthless girl”.

Debuting digitally is Stellar Witch LIP☆S (MajoKaitou LIP☆S), a shoujo series from Nakayoshi. A girl who desperately wants to see an idol group turns to a witch to help her. Hijinks ensue.

MICHELLE: I can’t confidently claim Stellar Witch is going to be any better than Rent-A-Girlfriend, but it’s certainly more my speed.

ANNA: This sounds fun, but I am utterly incapable of keeping up with these digital releases.

MJ: Yes, with so many, I find I need to REALLY want to read something for it to stand out from the crowd.

SEAN: No other print stuff, but in digital-first print books we have (be prepared for titles you’ve heard here before…) Cells At Work: Code BLACK 5, Fairy Tail 100 Years Quest 4, Granblue Fantasy 5, Knight of the Ice 2, L♥DK 15, Maga-Tsuki 11-13 (a final volume 3-in-one omnibus two years after a 2-in-one omnibus, YIKES), The Seven Deadly Sins 38, Something’s Wrong with Us 2, and Yuzu the Pet Vet 2.

In digital-only we get A Condition Called Love 4, Chihayafuru 20, Smile Down the Runway 10, and To Be Next to You 6.

MICHELLE: I’ve been catching up on A Condition Called Love and enjoying it. And, of course, I always rejoice for more Chihayafuru.

ANNA: Chihayafuru is the one digital release that I am confident I will get caught up on…one day.

SEAN: Seven Seas has, in early digital release, Love Me for Who I Am (Fukakai na Boku no Subete o), aka Fukaboku. This LGBT manga from GOT Corporation’s Comic MeDu is about a nonbinary protagonist and the nontraditional maid cafe they’re introduced to.

MICHELLE: I’ll definitely be checking this one out.

ASH: Same!

ANNA: Sounds good!

MJ: To illustrate my above point, I’m SO here for this. I will seek it out.

SEAN: Also out early digitally: A Centaur’s Life 18 and Skeleton Knight in Another World light novel 6.

In print, Seven Seas has quite a bit. Debuting is The Invincible Shovel, a light novel that I found hilarious when I reviewed the early digital copy. And we also see Sarazanmai: Reo and Mabu, the manga prequel to the upcoming light novels based on the anime.

ASH: I really need to catch up on Sarazanmai in general.

SEAN: Also out in print: Dungeon Builder: The Demon King’s Labyrinth is a Modern City! 2, How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? 3, Magical Girl Site 12, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid 9, and Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho 10.

Viz has two debuts. The first is SPY x FAMILY, a series that should need no introduction but I’m going to anyway. In an unnamed vaguely Eastern European country, a spy needs to have a wife and child to complete his next assignment. A woman who moonlights as an assassin needs a husband so that she isn’t suspicious. And a young girl with esper powers just wants to get away from being experimented on. Together, they are the best found family ever. Oh yes, and except for the girl (who can read minds), they don’t know each other’s profession. A magical series, I want the world to read it. Hilarious and heartwarming.

MICHELLE: So excite.

ASH: Really looking forward to this release!

ANNA: Me too!!!

MJ: This sounds great!

SEAN: The other debut is, of course, My Villain Academia, which replaces the seemingly popular My Hero Academia. Not sure why, maybe its sales were slipping? In any case, this volume focuses on our villain heroes, Shigaraki, Twice, and Himiko Toga. It promises to be DARK as hell. (Also, it is possibly it’s really My Hero Academia 24.)

MICHELLE: Heh. This arc solidified Twice as my favorite amongst the villains.

SEAN: In Shonen Jump news, we get Black Clover 21, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 13, Dragon Ball Super 9, Food Wars 36 (mercifully the final volume… anyone noticed an annoying trend for popular long-running Jump series to leap off of cliffs into piles of crap lately?), Jujutsu Kaisen 4, My Hero Academia Vigilantes 7, The Promised Neverland 15, We Never Learn 10, and Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V 7.

MICHELLE: Oh, I had no idea that was the final volume of Food Wars! I reckon since I have read through volume 30 I might as well finish it, pile of crap or no. Also, I’m looking forward to the next Vigilantes volume, as I believe it has more of Aizawa’s past in it.

SEAN: As for Shojo Beat, no debuts, but we get Ao Haru Ride 11, Natsume’s Book of Friends 24, Queen’s Quality 9, and Yona of the Dawn 24. Natsume’s Book of Friends is always near the top of my pile when it comes out, though it may have to wait for me to read Yona.

MICHELLE: I love both dearly, but because Natsume comes out less regularly, I think it’s got the edge for me.

ASH: Natsume and Yona both have my heart, too. Though, I’ve also been enjoying Queen’s Quality.

MICHELLE: I really need to read it. I did enjoy QQ Sweeper.

ANNA: Nice week of many great series coming out!

MJ: Queen’s Quality! Hurray!

SEAN: What are you getting next week? (Please get SPY x FAMILY.)

SEAN: It’s the end of May, and the schedule is still not back to normal, but we soldier on regardless.

ASH: Bring on the manga!

SEAN: Ghost Ship has Parallel Paradise 2 (digitally) and Yokai Girls 10 (in print).

I’m starting to give up on predicting when Kodansha’s “digital early” releases of their print books will come out. Theoretically we’ll see Cells At Work: Code BLACK 5 and Yuzu the Pet Vet 2.

That said, actually coming out in print are the first two volumes of Wave, Listen to Me!. Now with a polarizing anime!

MICHELLE: Yay!

ANNA: I want to check this out.

ASH: I’m thrilled this is being released in print!

MJ: Definitely ready to give this a look!

SEAN: Digital-only volumes are out for Altair: A Record of Battles 18, DAYS 18, I Fell in Love After School 4, and Watari-kun’s ****** Is about to Collapse 6.

MICHELLE: I’ve enjoyed I Fell in Love After School thus far. And of course I am here for DAYS.

SEAN: One Peace has the 2nd volume of The New Gate.

Seven Seas have three debuts, all digital-first. Makeup is Not (Just) Magic: A Manga Guide to Cosmetics and Skin Care (Make wa Tada no Mahou Janai no Beginners) is actually a josei title from Kiss, and sounds like one of those “The Manga Guide To Quantum Mechanics” style books. A young woman learns about makeup through her glamorous friend. It’s done in one, though there is an (unlicensed) sequel that came out this year in Japan.

ANNA: I am intrigued by skin care manga.

ASH: I’ll admit, I am, too.

SEAN: My Senpai Is Annoying (Senpai ga Urusai Kouhai no Hanashi) is a comedic romance that runs on Ichijinsha’s Comic Pool site. It’s the same magazine that has Wotakoi. Let’s hope it is as good as Wotakoi: the premise of “huge guy with his tiny office coworker who looks like a child” starts with a strike against it. (He’s the annoying one.)

ASH: Hmmm…

SEAN: And the first PENGUINDRUM light novel is out digitally. Yes, I know I said it was back in March. It got bumped.

ASH: Will be waiting for this one to be released in print, personally.

SEAN: Also out (digitally) are Adachi and Shimamura’s 2nd light novel, A Certain Scientific Railgun 15, and Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid 9.

Vertical has a 4th Bakemonogatari manga out digitally, which should start the Suruga Monkey arc.

And now Yen Press, who nostalgically are releasing everything on the same week. This month is smaller than usual for them, though. And these ARE print (and mostly digital too).

ASH: Ah, remember the days?

SEAN: Yen On debuts – finally, it was originally scheduled for August 2019 – A Mysterious Job Called Oda Nobunaga. From the creator of I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and You Call That Service?, this light novel seeks to answer the question “do casuals know enough about the Sengoku Period to know what this is talking about?”. It helps that the fantasy world this kid lives in doesn’t know either – when he gets “Oda Nobunaga” as his chosen calling, no one has any clue what it is. This could be a disaster, but it’s only 3 volumes long, so…

Also out from Yen On is The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life 3, The Asterisk War 13, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 11, Strike the Blood 15, and Suppose a Kid From the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town 2.

Yen Press has no new debuts, but they are putting out the first Collector’s Edition of Nightschool, the OEL series from Svetlana Chmakova.

MICHELLE: I had this idea that Chmakova was going to continue Nightschool at some point, but that doesn’t seem to have happened. Perhaps this rerelease is to remind people about the series and gauge interest? I certainly would read more!

ASH: It’s been a while, but I do recall liking Nightschook.

MJ: I would read more Nightschool!

SEAN: Hey, remember when I said that The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan 11 was the final volume? Back in 2017? Possibly as it had the word ‘FINAL’ on its cover? Guess what, folks, the real final volume is out next week. You can tell it’s really finally final as they’re running away while waving to the reader on the cover.

ASH: Ha!

MJ: Huh.

SEAN: We also get Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 9 (manga version), Happy Sugar Life 5, IM: Great Priest Imhotep 3, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years 2 (manga version), Kakugurui Twin 6, Karneval 10, the 6th and final volume of Nyankees, Overlord’s 12th manga volume, Trinity Seven 20, and the 2nd Woof Woof Story manga volume.

What manga are you reading instead of going to a parade?

SEAN: STILL no sign of land. How long is it?

Cross Infinite World has seen which way the trends are blowing and is here for you with The Weakest Manga Villainess Wants Her Freedom!. A light novel about a girl who discovers she’s been reincarnated into her favorite game as the weakest boss villain who dies early and everyone mocks after her death. Yeah, she’s not sticking around for that. She’s outta here! If you can’t wait for more Bakarina or I Refuse to Be Your Enemy, this should tide you over.

ASH: Definitely on trend there, but it sounds like it could be fun.

SEAN: Ghost Ship has Saki the Succubus Hungers Tonight 2 in print.

J-Novel Club has three novels: Banner of the Stars 3, Bibliophile Princess 2, and Campfire Cooking in Another World 6.

Kodansha’s website says we’re getting digital-first versions of Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest 4, Knight of the Ice 2 (postponed from this week), Saiyuki 2, The Seven Deadly Sins 38, and Something’s Wrong With Us 2. I’m assuming they will hit other retail sites soon.

MICHELLE: Hm. I’m looking forward to more of Something’s Wrong with Us!

SEAN: Digital-only titles do seem to be up on other retail sites. There’s Cosplay Animal 12, Dolly Kill Kill 2, GE: Good Ending 5, I’ll Win You Over, Senpai! 4, Kakushigoto: My Dad’s Secret Ambition 3, Space Brothers 36, That Blue Summer 5, and Yozakura Quartet 26.

MICHELLE: I am really enjoying I’ll Win You Over, Senpai!, somewhat to my surprise.

SEAN: One Peace says that it has The Reprise of the Spear Hero’s 2nd manga volume out next week. As with other small publishers in these COVID times, actual shipment dates may vary.

Seven Seas has early digital releases for A Certain Scientific Railgun: Astral Buddy 3, New Game! 9, and Species Domain 8.

Vertical’s digital releases are now part of Kodansha’s, so I missed that CITY 8 came out digitally this week. By that logic, we should see Please Don’t Bully Me, Miss Nagotoro 3 next week.

Viz has the debut of the week, and it’s a big one. Ping Pong is an old series from Taiyo Matsumoto that ran in Big Comic Spirits back in the 1990s, and Viz is releasing it in two 500-page tomes. If you liked Sunny, or Tekkon Kinkreet, or what little we got of Number Five, you have to check this out. And yes, it really is about ping pong, it’s not a metaphor or something.

MICHELLE: I am so here for this.

ANNA: Me too, that sounds amazing.

ASH: Yes! I have been pining for a release of this series ever since Matsumoto was at TCAF back in 2013. I am so happy to finally get my hands on this.

MJ: I love that you had to explain that, though. “It really is about ping pong.”

SEAN: The other debut is The Kingdom of the Gods, which inspired a Netflix series called Kingdom. It’s a manwha, seems to be complete in one volume, and has a cover that looks terrifying.

ASH: I’ll be checking this one out! I’ve heard great things about the adaptation, so I’m curious about the original.

MJ: I’m always interested in manwha.

SEAN: Also from Viz: Beastars 6, Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku 2, Levius/est 4, No Guns Life 5, Ran and the Gray World 7 (the final volume), Urusei Yatsura omnibus 6, and The Way of the Househusband 3.

MICHELLE: Some good stuff here! I really need to catch up on BEASTARS.

ASH: It’s gone in some directions that I really didn’t expect, but I’ve certainly been enjoying the series. I liked the first volume of Hell’s Paradise, too, and I’m looking forward to more of The Way of the Househusband, as well!

SEAN: Are you planning to eat your manga? Or just read it?