manga the week of

SEAN: (flat stare) OK, I have not seen this much manga coming out in one week in about 7-8 years. This is getting completely ridiculous.

If you somehow have missed bloggers banging the drum for the Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service over the last several years, there is a good chance to catch up now, as an omnibus of the first 3 volumes is out next week from Dark Horse. Seriously, this series is ridiculously good, y’all. (note: this may not be out everywhere next week, check your Diamond listings)

ASH: I’m glad to see this series getting some more love from Dark Horse again.

SEAN: Kodansha has an 18th volume of Cage of Eden, coming ever closer to the end of the series, where surely it will answer all the questions we have so far! (cough)

And there’s a 6th volume of the increasingly popular series Noragami.

ASH: There was quite a cliffhanger at the end of the fifth volume, so the sixth is on my reading list.

SEAN: Lastly, the penultimate 35th volume of The Wallflower, a series that many thought would never end! Will it romantically resolve anything? Don’t hold your breath. I wouldn’t hold your breath in Vol. 36 either.

MICHELLE: I certainly thought it would never end!

ANNA: I am amazed.

SEAN: One Peace Books has a 3rd volume of Aquarion Evol.

And also a light novel, which I think might have an associated manga later, though I’m unsure. It’s called The Rising of the Shield Hero, and as you can guess, is fantasy-based.

ASH: Yup. One Peace Books is planning to release the manga as well.

SEAN: Seven Seas gives us a 3rd volume of yuri potboiler Citrus.

And a 2nd of Clay Lord: Master of Golems, which I found more interesting than I’d expected.

Vertical has a 6th volume of popular fantasy series Witchcraft Works.

Viz gives us new Dorohedoro, which always makes me happy, and always makes me want to do a giant reread. This is the 16th volume, meaning it easily wins the SigIkki wars for supremacy.

ASH: Dorohedoro! I’m long overdue for another binge read.

SEAN: And if you prefer zombies to… well, I guess Dorohedoro has zombies as well, sort of, but if you prefer more traditional zombies, there’s a second Tokyo Ghoul.

ASH: I haven’t read any of Tokyo Ghoul yet, but the series seems to be doing quite well for Viz.

SEAN: The new manga reboot of Ultraman is so amazing that it actually runs in a magazine called “Monthly Hero’s”. You may expect… Tokusatsu shenanigans, I would expect.

MICHELLE: Ugh, that apostrophe bugs me.

SEAN: Yen On has a whopping six new titles for us, including the debut of Black Bullet, a future dystopia series. If you enjoyed the ‘young man with loli not-quite-sister’ aspect of No Game No Life but wished it were more depressing, this may be for you.

The fourth volume of A Certain Magical Index reintroduces us to Kaori Kanzaki, the girl with huge sword from the first volume, and also shows us Touma’s parents for the first time… sort of.

The Devil Is A Part-Timer! has Volume 2, as we start to see where we go now that the forces of good and evil are pretty much settled on Earth and dedicated to minor squabbles.

ASH: This series amuses me greatly.

SEAN: Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? has a 3rd volume, and the anime has now passed it, so we get to see what was left out of the adaptation.

Spice & Wolf has ended in Japan, I think, apart from side stories. But it’s still chugging away here in North America with its 15th volume.

And Sword Art Online has a 5th volume. Now that everyone is finally free from the game of death and their lives are back to normal, surely they’ll never play another MMORPG again, right? Hah.

Yen Press has several digital-only releases coming out as well. The 3rd Handa-kun continues to elaborate on the high school years of the Barakamon protagonist.

We get the first two volumes of Kakegurui – Compulsive Gambler, a Gangan Joker series about a school whose student council base everything around, well, gambling. I know next to nothing about it, so am intrigued.

And the first two volumes of The Royal Tutor, a GFantasy series that has, well, royalty and a tutor for same. It seems to be more lighthearted than serious, and may have BL overtones, given the magazine it’s in and the author’s prior works.

ANNA: Hmmmmmm….

SEAN: And Today’s Cerberus has volumes 3 and 4. Despite having dog girls, cat girls, and wolf girls, I found it more enjoyable than you’d expect.

So, that’s Yen On and Yen Digital sorted out, now for Yen Press proper. We’re about halfway through Ani-Imo with the 4th volume. Is it any less creepy?

Despite Handa returning to the city at the end of the last Barakamon, the series continues on with its 6th volume.

It’s been 11 volumes of BTOOOM!. Can you believe it? 11 volumes.

MICHELLE: Siiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

SEAN: The Devil Is A Part-Timer! High School!! is an alternate universe spinoff of the main series which… well, I’m sure you can guess.

Emma has a 2nd omnibus. What will happen to our heroine now that she’s left to go north? And can William ever find her? And can everyone continue to be repressed?

ANNA: Cheers to Emma being back in print, it is such a special series.

ASH: Cheers, indeed!

SEAN: Our long national nightmare is over with the 4th and final volume of Gou-dere Sora Nagihara.

High School DxD shows us we must stay ever vigilant, however, with a 6th volume and no end in sight.

The 2nd Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? manga volume continues to confuse Amazon’s systems and these lists.

Has Madoka Magica been getting you down? Does your favorite girl keep dying? Try Puella Magi Homura Tamura, a wacky 4-koma version of the series that will probably not remind you of Sunshine Sketch too much.

RustBlaster (no space) is a one-volume manga from the creator of Black Butler, featuring vampires. It may therefore take the new crown of ‘most obvious license ever’.

Lastly, a second volume of Trinity Seven, with slightly less “look, breasts!” on the cover than the first.

I… wow. If you’re not getting SOMETHING next week, we may have to check your pulse.

MICHELLE: I think I may not be getting anything! But mostly ‘cos I already own Emma and Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service.

ANNA: I’m not getting anything either! I need to whittle down all the stacks of unread manga I already have.

ASH: I… most definitely have a pulse. (And soon to be even more overloaded bookshelves.)

SEAN: If you want a quiet week with not much manga, next week is pretty much the only week in August you’ll get it, so enjoy.

Kodansha has its 5th Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle omnibus, which I think is busying itself by walking around the X continuity.

ANNA: You know what would be nice? If X/1999 walked around its own continuity and actually had an end to the series. That would be nice!!!!!

ASH: YES.

SEAN: X Vol. 19: everyone mysteriously vanishes into a hole in the plot except Nokoru, Suoh and Akira, and the series reboots itself as CLAMP Detectives: The Adult Years. With plenty of Utako as well. …OK, perhaps that’s only *my* version of X.

MICHELLE: I fully support this version. My life needs more grown-up Suoh in it.

MJ: I am probably a rare CLAMP fan in that I’m not super-anxious for them to finish X, but I’m not opposed to Sean’s ending here. :D

SEAN: Seven Seas gives us a 2nd volume of angsty coming-of-age story Evergreen, from the Toradora! author.

And a 7th volume of bestselling, anime-producing monster fetish manga Monster Musume. Watch out for snakes.

Sublime hopes you are still embracing the 3rd omnibus of Embracing Love.

ASH: I certainly am! This omnibus includes part of the series that wasn’t previously released in English.

SEAN: Viz gives us the 10th volume of Deadman Wonderland – are they out of prison yet?

And a 15th Itsuwaribito, which is part of the Shonen Sunday imprint! As is…

Magi, which has its lucky 13th volume. Shonen Sunday! It’s an imprint too! You can see it, next to the Jump and Beat titles. Well, sort of next to them. Down the hall. And a stairway. Next to the boiler room. (Buy Sunday titles.)

ANNA: I need to fill in my collection and read more of this series!

MICHELLE: Yay, Magi! And I concur; the Shonen Sunday imprint has a lot of good stuff, like Kekkaishi, Cross Game, and all of the Rumiko Takahashi!

SEAN: Does anything here tickle your fancy?

SEAN: As the thermometer creeps towards triple digits, we can turn only to manga for comfort. Luckily, there’s a pile of it next week.

I think I mentioned this title before, as it’s gotten moved back a few times, but Bruno Gmuender has a new gay manga volume coming out, Dr. Makumakuran and Other Stories.

ASH: You have mentioned it before, but I think it’s really coming out this time!

SEAN: Dark Horse has an artbook, which I normally don’t cover, but this is The Art of Satoshi Kon, so yeah, let’s mention that.

Drawn and Quarterly’s amazing series Showa by Shigeru Mizuki comes to a close with the final omnibus, covering the years 1953-1989. This series has just been jaw-dropping, and everyone who loves manga at all – or even wants to know Japanese history – should be reading it.

MICHELLE: I has a shame.

ANNA: Me too.

SEAN: Kodansha gives us a 9th volume of The Seven Deadly Sins.

Seven Seas has a new Devils and Realist, the 6th volume. It also has a 7th volume of Dragonar Academy.

But I don’t care about either of those, because YAY! I always love it when a license request of mine is picked out, and this one is particularly awesome. Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto is a trippy comedy that fans of My Neighbor Seki will thoroughly understand, about a high school student who is super cool in everything he does – preternaturally so. I will be hammering on folks to read this.

ASH: I’m really looking forward to giving this one a read!

ANNA: This does sound funny.

SEAN: Viz has its usual giant pile of Jump and Beat stuff. Assassination Classroom has hit five volumes, and he’s not dead yet. Thank goodness.

ANNA: I can’t believe I am so far behind on this series. It needs to stop coming out so fast.

SEAN: Black Rose Alice also has its fifth volume, though be warned, we’re coming up on the series’ hiatus in Japan. Perhaps the author ran out of spiders?

MICHELLE: This is one of those cases where I’m both happy and sad to see a new volume.

ASH: Same.

ANNA: This is such a great, surreal series. Totally worth reading even if it is on hiatus.

SEAN: Bleach is in no danger of running out of volumes with its twelfth 3-in-1.

Food Wars! has a 7th volume. Will the demand for amazing curry take out half the class? I’m hoping at least Soma and Megumi make it past the first round.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure brings its first arc to a close with the 3rd omnibus of Phantom Blood. Happy ending? Sad ending? I can’t say, but I can guarantee it will be over the top.

ASH: Guaranteed.

ANNA: This series is so weirdly wonderful.

SEAN: It’s August, and you know what that means! It’s time for our yearly release of Kaze Hikaru, with Vol. 23. I am delighted that Viz has not given up on this shoujo title.

ANNA: If there was justice in the world, this would rocket up the manga best seller lists. Just a great, thoroughly researched gender bending romance series.

SEAN: Maid-sama! was a very popular series with Tokyopop back in the day – popular enough to get a license rescue, as the first two volumes come out (with brand new translation) as an omnibus from Viz. I do have vague worry, though – I suspect Usui’s behavior will go over a lot less well than it did in 2009.

MICHELLE: Yeah, I wonder how I’ll react to Maid-sama! this time around. It took a few volumes for me to warm up to it before, and even that was fairly begrudging, since it’s one of those shoujo that features random beach volleyball tournament chapters. Now I am even older and more crotchety.

ASH: I never read it the first time around, but I know quite a few people who were happy about its rescue.

ANNA: I read the first several volumes of the old release and it’ll be interesting to revisit it.

SEAN: The big Shonen Jump debut this week is My Hero Academia. In a world where the majority of people have superpowers, how does someone who doesn’t have any fit in? If your answer is ‘bullied’, congrats, you know your manga.

Naruto is almost over! Except for the sequel manga and the countless spinoff novels. But here’s Vol. 71, which is just straight-up Naruto.

One Piece is at Vol. 75, but is not even close to being over.

MICHELLE: Thank goodness!

SEAN: So Cute It Hurts!! has a second volume. Will her story become as exciting as his story? Or is it the other way around?

ANNA: I just read this and it does focus more on her story, which is what I was hoping after reading the first volume. Also, wacky hijinks.

SEAN: Spell of Desire comes to an end with its fifth volume. I admit I didn’t find this as compelling as Midnight Secretary, but I know Anna liked it.

ANNA: I did like it! But I think I will generally like any josei disguised as shoujo, because that’s how I roll.

SEAN: Toriko’s 29th volume will I suspect bring an end to this particular round of fights, but likely not an end to the current battle.

Voice Over! Seiyu Academy comes to an end with its 12th volume, but fear not, a new Maki Minami series debuts next month.

MICHELLE: I have been hoarding volume 11 of Voice Over! so I could read it and the final volume back-to-back. I hope there are kitties and a happy ending, and suspect that isn’t too far off-base.

SEAN: And there’s a 3rd omnibus of the original Yu-Gi-Oh!.

There has to be something here for everyone. What about you?

SEAN: It’s become almost musical, the way manga comes out. Huge week… quiet week. Huge week… quiet week. The occasional 5th week trips up the manga dancer with the brief shift into 5/4 time. How is our quick-quick-slow week?

Dark Horse is doing it again, folks. Here is the first omnibus volume of a seinen manga series called Oh My Goddess!, about a young man who calls the wrong number and gets a goddess as his girlfriend. Perhaps you’ve heard of it when it was released by Dark Horse before. And before that. And before that. And before that. This will have the first three volumes, for those who have been curious but never tried it before. All three of you.

Kodansha has a 49th volume of Fairy Tail, which I’m surprised isn’t getting omnibus volumes as well, frankly.

ANNA: Fairy Tail is not on my radar, but I am stunned it is up to 49 volumes. Wow.

SEAN: There’s also a 2nd volume of A Silent Voice. Volume 1 was excellent writing but very hard to actually read, being filled with realistically flawed and terrible kids (and teachers). Will the second volume give us some glimpses of light amongst the darkness?

ANNA: This sounded a bit too grim for my tastes, which is why I haven’t read the first volume yet.

MICHELLE: Yeah. I am glad something like that exists but I still am in the “I read manga ‘cos it’s fun” camp.

ASH: The first volume was incredibly well done and one of the best things that I’ve read this year, but yeah, not the happiest of stories.

MJ: I suspect I would like this.

SEAN: And a third volume of Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches. Will we actually get witches this time?

ASH: We shall see!

SEAN: Seven Seas has a fourth volume of Magical Girl Apocalypse, for those who thought Madoka Magica wasn’t violent or cynical enough.

Lastly, Vertical is giving readers who missed earlier Chi’s Sweet Home volumes a chance to catch up with an omnibus of the first 3 volumes. As they’ve only released this once before, I’ll give them a pass here.

ANNA: Actually, I have not read Chi’s Sweet Home before, and I know it is both very good and popular, so I might finally check out this series!

MICHELLE: You should!

ASH: You really should! Plus, the omnibus has a larger trim size and some additional content, too.

MJ: Yes, yes!!

SEAN: I can’t tell a waltz from a tango, but can you tell what you’re buying this week?

SEAN: Oooooh man, here we go again. Let’s just buckle down.

We’re aaaaaalmost done with Dark Horse’s release of Gantz, but not quite. Vol. 36.

ASH: So close!

SEAN: Kodansha has a 9th My Little Monster, which hopefully will continue the development the 8th volume had.

MICHELLE: Yay!!!

SEAN: Seven Seas gives us a 5th volume of SF action series Arpeggio of Blue Steel, my favorite of the ‘young girls and military’ licenses.

Viz has another volume of its Monster Perfect Edition, the 5th. Expect happiness and rainbows.

ASH: This is the volume with the epic library scene, isn’t it? And who doesn’t love libraries?

ANNA: Honestly this is the one title this week that I’m happy about, because I do want to tackle reading Monster at some point. Sometime after I read all my stockpiled volumes of 20th Century Boys.

SEAN: And a 5th Resident Evil, with puppies and kittens.

Lastly, Terra Formars 7, with love and peace for all. Please do not try to read all three Viz releases at once this week. You will die.

ASH: That is a distinct possibility.

SEAN: And now Yen. Light novels first. The 4th Accel World should resolve the cliffhanger from the last one. Will Chiyuri be a traitor? I highly doubt it.

The debut this week is the highly anticipated Durarara!!. Yen has had the manga for some time now, but the novels are also excellent.

MICHELLE: Hm! I liked the manga more than I thought I would, but drifted away when the Saika Arc started.

ASH: I really should give at least one of the versions of Durarara!! a try at some point.

SEAN: Log Horizon’s 2nd volume will hopefully give us the hinted plot from Vol. 1 about the twins, if the cover doesn’t lie.

And there’s a 2nd No Game No Life, which I hope will have less naked 11-year-olds and more awesome mind games.

On the manga side, we have the 4th Accel World manga, still not the novel.

A third Akame Ga KILL! will live up to its name, if the previous two are any indicator.

Black Butler hits a new milestone with Vol. 20. It’s sad when a series catches up with Japan, isn’t it?

MICHELLE: I continue to read this, even though I am not madly in love with it.

ANNA: I stopped after the first couple volumes.

SEAN: A Certain Magical Index’s manga will continue to adapt Novel 1 with Vol. 2. Really, we need graphs and charts.

The Devil Is A Part-Timer! joins the growing list of manga adaptations of light novels also coming out, with Vol. 2 of the main manga. Wait till next month, it gets more confusing.

ASH: Heh. That it will.

SEAN: And now we get DRRR’s manga, which has a 3rd volume of the Yellow Scarves arc. At least that novel won’t be out till 2016.

Final Fantasy Type-0 Side Story, Vol. 1: The Ice Reaper is one of those manga whose title pretty much sums it up. I think the Main Story manga came out with the English release of the game.

First Love Monster is another one of those Aria shoujo titles, which means we’ve no idea what we’re going to get. The artist has done some Book Girl manga adaptations.

MICHELLE: It looks sort of kooky, but that might be fun!

ANNA: I will wait to see if Michelle likes it before reading it!

SEAN: Inu x Boku SS has an 8th volume – will it reset again? Or just give us more yokai action?

More manga adaptations of light novels, as we get a 2nd Kagerou Daze, which finishes adapting the first LN and starts the 2nd.

Karneval oddly ended up on the worst manga of the year list at SDCC, though I found the first omnibus more… diffuse than anything else. Vol. 2 will have more focus, maybe?

ASH: More focus would be good.

ANNA: I was curious about the first volume, but now I’m sort of glad I skipped it.

SEAN: Another Puella Magi Madoka Magica spinoff begins, with Homura’s Revenge. Can’t be a depressing manga with a title like that!

Prison School is a much anticipated omnibus that many said was too ecchi to actually get a North American release. But no, here it is. I wonder what it’s about?

ASH: B-but it’s by the creator of Me and the Devil Blues! (I’ll admit, I’m curious about this one.)

So I Can’t Play H! has a 2nd volume, and gloriously no light novel license yet, meaning I only have to worry about this for the moment.

Lastly, we get the final – I checked this time – volume of Soul Eater NOT!, bringing the Soul Eater franchise as a whole to a close.

Is there something in this giant list that catches your eye?

SEAN: Mid-July is a good-sized week, but not completely overwhelming like the first/third weeks tend to be. Let’s see what’s happening.

Dark Horse has the second volume of Oreimo spinoff Kuroneko, marketed to the six remaining Oreimo fans who didn’t scream in anger at the end of the main series.

Kokoro Connect has proven to be a fast favorite of mine, and so I am very happy to see the fourth volume from Seven Seas.

Magika Swordsman and Summoner is the new series debut of the week. It’s fantasy, it has a magical school, our hero is bullied by the students for his status, he amasses a crew of girls who like him, *and* it runs in Comic Alive. If ever a series screamed “License me, Seven Seas!”, this is it. And so they did.

The Sacred Blacksmith also has a new volume, its eighth.

For BL fans, there is the second volume of Love Stage!! from SubLime.

MICHELLE: I wasn’t entirely sold on volume one, but I’m at least willing to check out the second.

ASH: I actually still need to read the first volume…

MJ: Same here.

SEAN: And also a 2nd volume of The World’s Greatest First Love.

I’m loving Vertical’s My Neighbor Seki as much as I thought I would, and the arrival of a third volume fills me with glee.

ASH: My Neighbor Seki is an incredibly delightful series!

ANNA: I haven’t read this yet and I feel guilty.

MJ: I second the glee!

SEAN: The rest is Viz. I believe that Vol. 17 is the final volume of 07-GHOST, though Anna can likely confirm that. Bye, 07-GHOST! You were a good license rescue that I fell so far behind on I may never catch up.

MICHELLE: I still intend to read it, one of these days!

ANNA: I also have not caught up on this series and feel even more guilty, because I liked the first few volumes.

SEAN: Case Closed has Vol. 55, which is not the final volume, or even close to the final volume. It’s a long series is what I’m saying.

The 9th Ranma 1/2 omnibus has one of my favorite arcs of the series, where Akane gets so mad she declares that Nabiki can be Ranma’s fiancee instead, and the fallout that happens is magical. Oh, and we’ll also meet Pantyhose Taro, who… I will not spoil.

There is an 18th volume of RIN-NE, where the plot finally comes into focus and nothing will be the same anymore… OK, I can’t even type that with a straight face.

MICHELLE: I still like RIN-NE, though, particularly when I’m in the mood for something not mentally challenging.

SEAN: Lastly, a 7th volume of superhero manga with BL tease Tiger & Bunny.

Is there a favorite here for you?

SEAN: It’s a new fiscal year, and that brings a new pile of books, mostly from Viz. What have we got?

DMP print release dates give me a migraine. Twittering Birds Never Fly 2? I guess?

ASH: I can never tell when something will actually be released by DMP anymore.

MICHELLE: Me, neither. I’ll perk up when Itazura Na Kiss 11 gets here.

SEAN: Kodansha gives us a 5th volume of Ken Akamatsu’s immortals fighting each other manga UQ Holder.

Seven Seas has a trio of books. The second volume of 12 Beast is minimally interesting to me, but may interest those who like fantasy and harems.

ASH: It should at least hopefully be a hit with the Monster Musume crowd.

SEAN: Oddball slice-of-fantasy-life manga A Centaur’s Life is up to Volume 6.

Pandora in the Crimson Shell combines one of my favorite authors with one of my favorite artists, but I have heard the result is… well. We shall see. I expect I will not love this as much as Excel Saga.

MJ: I dunno, the title just makes me feel like I should be reading something by Jun Mochizuki.

SEAN: The ninth volume of What Did You Eat Yesterday? will, I suspect, have far less fanservice than Pandora in the Crimson Shell, unless you count food as fanservice.

ASH: The food definitely counts as fanservice.

MICHELLE: Oh, I had forgotten this was coming out so soon! Yay!

ANNA: Woo hoo!

MJ: This, this, this this, THIS.

SEAN: The rest is Viz, starting with Vol. 64 of Bleach. Bleach has gone from one of the big 3 shonen series to a series where even fans are screaming “Just die already!”, but it seems to still sell well.

ANNA: That is certainly many, many volumes. I did enjoy the first 13 volumes of Bleach.

MJ: Every once in a while I think it might be fun to check out what’s happening in Bleach these days. And then I don’t.

SEAN: So well that we are getting another giant Bleach box set, with Vol. 22 through Vol. 48. Use it as a very short pole vault!

D.Gray-Man has its 7th 3-in-1 omnibus as well.

As if two series weren’t enough, there’s more Aya Shouoto starting next week, with The Demon Prince of Momochi House. Like Kiss of the Rose Princess, this ran in Kadokawa’s Asuka magazine.

ASH: The cover is pretty, and there are yokai!

MICHELLE: That looks like Tomoe from Kamisama Kiss!

ANNA: Is there a shoujo series featuring yokai? SIGN ME UP!

MJ: Okay, yes.

SEAN: And Kiss of the Rose Princess is exactly like Kiss of the Rose Princess, unsurprisingly. Here’s the 5th volume.

ANNA: I like it. I will not claim it is profound, but it is a good manga to read when I do not feel like thinking very hard.

SEAN: My Love Story!! has shot up in popularity thanks to its anime, and the 5th volume hopefully translates into even more manga sales.

ASH: It wasn’t popular before?! It should be. Still loving this series.

MICHELLE: Yay, again! I had no idea there was an anime.

ANNA: Such a great series! I hope the anime inspires more people to check out the manga.

MJ: Same here!

SEAN: Naruto also has a giant box out next week, with Vol. 28-48.

Nisekoi, one of my favorite modern harem comedies, hits double digits.

And with the 11th 3-in-1 of Skip Beat!, I think we’ve caught up with the single volumes.

MICHELLE: Just about. Volume 34 came out in April.

SEAN: We’ve just heard that Sunny will be ending in Japan soon, but in the meantime, enjoy its 5th volume. (Lotta 5th volumes next week.)

ASH: Viz has been doing a really lovely job with this series.

MICHELLE: I need to get caught up on Sunny.

ANNA: I’m glad VIz still breaks out the impressive packaging and design for series like this that totally deserve it.

MJ: This is such a beautiful series.

SEAN: Twin Star Exorcists is the newest Jump Square series, from the author of popular yet unlicensed Binbougami-ga!. I’ll let you guess what it’s about.

World Trigger is up to Volume 6, meaning it’s passed the 2-3 volume ‘culling’ stage of many Jump series.

Lastly, get in touch with your past life with the 3rd Yukarism.

MICHELLE: Yay, yet again. I wasn’t sold on this series after the first volume, but enjoyed the second a great deal.

ANNA: I like anything by Chika Shiomi and this series is no exception.

MJ: I’m with Anna here.

SEAN: Do you have manga for your summer vacation?

SEAN: Since next week is a light week (despite being July 1st, it doesn’t count as a first week of July), I thought I’d do the manga in reverse order. And hey, coincidentally, that makes the image line up properly, too! Funny, that.

So we start with Vertical, who have the 5th volume of fanservice and ladies being awesome fantasy Witchcraft Works.

ASH: I’m a bit behind in this series, but I did enjoy the first few volumes.

SEAN: Seven Seas finally have a 7th volume of Toradora! for us (blame Japan, the series comes out very slowly over there), which resolves the horrible cliffhanger from… February 2014. Ah, the joys of monthly series that are caught up. I’ve reviewed it here.

The Seven Seas debut this week is Non Non Biyori, a sweet city-girl meets countryside story that I’ve heard described as Higurashi without all the murder and conspiracy, and seemingly light on fanservice. I’m looking forward to this a great deal.

MICHELLE: Hmm.

ASH: I know quite a few people looking forward to this manga.

ANNA: I don’t know. I will wait and see what the early reviewers say about this one.

MJ: Also “Hmm.”

SEAN: And there can’t be a month going by without an Alice in the Country of Hearts, this one a short story collection called Junk Box.

ANNA: I really liked the first Alice series and have just resigned myself to the fact that the spin-offs are not going to be as good as the main series.

SEAN: Attack on Titan is such a big seller for Kodansha that even the non-fiction books are getting licensed (almost unheard of after a few character guides bombed over here). This one is The Science of Attack on Titan. The author apparently specializes in looking at fantasy worlds and figuring out how they would work. Also, vampi—I mean, Titans!

ASH: Attack on Titan is the only series that has been able to convince Kodansha to break its “manga only” rule.

SEAN: And we have the third and final volume of Maria the Virgin Witch. There’s a one-shot collection of side stories in Japan, but I’m not sure Kodansha has picked that up.

ASH: Kodansha has! Exhibition is currently scheduled to be released in August.

SEAN: Finally, there’s the 9th Lone Wolf & Cub omnibus from Dark Horse, who curse the fact that I’m not starting with them as always.

Did reversing this make something stand out more for you?

MICHELLE: Alas, no. Just one thing to anticipate your review of!

ASH: Reversing the order made me realize that there was an actual order…

ANNA: I’m happy that this week is so light, because maybe I can catch up on my stacks and stacks of unread manga.

MJ: I can do nothing but be miffed on Lone Wolf and Cub’s behalf.

SEAN: The end of the month always brings a deluge from Yen, and if you add on the other publishers doing stuff it can get rather expensive. Let’s see what might be worth your hard-earned cash.

Ze, from 801 Media, has finally hit Volume 10, despite a particularly irregular release schedule.

ASH: I just recently caught up with Ze and am ready for more, even if some of the characters are jerks.

MICHELLE: I read the first few volumes of Ze and then drifted away when there was a lull between volumes. I seem to recall some plot I wasn’t wild about, also, but the details escape me now.

MJ: I *do* remember pretty clearly why I drifted away from Ze, but I’m fairly impressed that it has gone on this long. Long BL series seem so rare.

SEAN: If it seems like it’s been forever since the last Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, that’s because it has been – Vol. 13 was out in December 2012. But things are looking up, as not only do we get Vol. 14 next week, but there’s an omnibus re-release in the fall.

ASH: They may not come out very frequently, but I’m always glad to see another volume of this series.

MICHELLE: Oh, that’s a pleasant surprise!

SEAN: Let’s Dance a Waltz hit all the right buttons except one – but it was a big wrong button. Now that our heroine has magically lost weight and become cute through the power of dance, can Vol. 2 hold on to an audience that all groaned when that happened?

MICHELLE: I am avoiding this one just on general principle. It makes me really wish The Stellar Six of Gingacho could’ve continued, because I ended up buying the final volume in Japanese and let’s just say this particular trope is avoided quite satisfactorily.

MJ: Ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh. Ugh. Also, ugh.

ANNA: The Stellar Six of Gingacho was really good!

SEAN: Noragami is a series that just didn’t catch on with me, but others from the Manga Bookshelf team can tell you about its 5th volume.

Your Lie in April’s first volume didn’t completely wow me, but had a lot of promise. Vol. 2 should build on that.

ASH: Music manga! I’m looking forward to reading more.

MICHELLE: As a pianist, I should want to read this but somehow I feel kind of “meh” about it.

MJ: I’m behind, here, but still interested!

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts a new manwha with an omnibus of Freezing 1 and 2. This has been highly anticipated by many readers, despite not having any monster girls that I know of. The blurb calls it “Ultra violent and sexy”, so the usual Seven Seas warnings apply.

No monster girls is not a problem with the 2nd volume of goofy comedy Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary.

Vertical has the 10th volume of mechstravaganza Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin. (I give permission for Vertical to use ‘mechstravaganza’ in their blurbs, if they’d like.)

ASH: Still one of the best looking manga being released in English right now.

SEAN: Given the huge popularity of Sword Art Online, and the slightly less huge but still pretty good popularity of Accel World, Yen On licensing a new Reki Kawahara novel series seems obvious. This one’s even in hardcover, so is getting the deluxe treatment. It’s called The Isolator, and seems a bit more sci-fi/aliens than his other series.

Pandora Hearts has some light novels as well, and we get the first in the Caucus Race series next week. MJ?

MJ: Honestly, I had no idea about these! Well, count me in!

SEAN: As for Sword Art Online itself, Vol. 2 of the Progressive novel series takes us into uncharted waters: this hasn’t been adapted in anime or manga form yet. It apparently has elves!

On Yen Press’s manga front, we have the first volume of Alice in Murderland. Given it’s Kaori Yuki, I’m sure the pile of corpses that will no doubt stack up as the series goes on will be exquisite.

ANNA: This title sounds amusing.

SEAN: And continuing with Alices, Are You Alice? has hit nine volumes and still doesn’t know.

Barakamon has its 5th volume of small town life and occasional calligraphy.

ASH: Barakamon has really started to grow on me.

SEAN: Bloody Cross just announced it’s ending in Japan, but I think we still have a few volumes to go here. This is the 7th.

From the author of Scrapped Princess comes another kind, Chaika the Coffin Princess, a fantasy series about a young girl who carries a coffin on her back. No relation to Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro, though one has to be side-eyeing Yen a bit here.

A double shot of Kaoru Yuki this month, with the 3rd Demon from Afar.

And a 3rd He’s My Only Vampire, a series I’ve become quite fond of.

MICHELLE: I’ll be reading this one.

MJ: Same.

SEAN: Love at Fourteen’s third volume will have adorable and heartwarming 14-year-old romance, I imagine.

ASH: I was a little surprised by how much I enjoyed the first two volumes. Definitely plan on reading more.

MICHELLE: And this one, too!

MJ: I really enjoy this series, so I’m definitely on board here!

SEAN: Secret has a 2nd volume, no doubt filled with survival games and animal masks. I wish the artist would go back to drawing Higurashi spinoffs, honestly.

Lastly, there’s a long-awaited 2nd volume of Void’s Enigmatic Mansion, which will hopefully become a bit more opaque this time around.

Are you feeling excited? Or merely buried in stuff?

SEAN: A second small week in a row! This is getting creepy. Where’s that manga boom?

Fans of Eden: It’s an Endless World will be more disappointed than ever see see that a new manga called Eden is not what they think. Fans of Gen Manga’s alternative stuff, though, will be delighted with Eden Vol. 1.

xxxHOLIC Omnibus 6 is a bit smaller than previous ones, as they had 4 volumes to go so had to divide it 2 and 2. Also, we’re at peak Syaoran levels. This is not a drill. Please protect yourself from further Syoaoran outbreaks.

MICHELLE: *snerk* Someday I really will finish this series and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle.

ASH: And thanks to the omnibuses, you can! (I’m on the same reading program)

ANNA: I enjoy Clamp, but I gave up on xxxHOLIC and Tsubasa. Also I am still bitter that X/1999 is unfinished.

MJ: Sean, you hurt me. Also. You people. What.

SEAN: Not only does the cast of Haganai still not have many friends as of Vol. 11, but the cover shows that Yozora is looking more sullen than ever.

And Servamp’s protagonist is probably looking sleepy in this 2nd volume, if Vol. 1 was any indication.

Viz has Dogs reaching double-digits with Vol. 10. Man, remember when this was the new Black Lagoon, as opposed to Gangsta? Also, is it me or is this out before its traditional one-per-year release?

MICHELLE: I think it is.

ANNA: Just wanted to mention how much I like Gangsta!

SEAN: Junji Ito time, with Fragments of Horror, a short story collection that will no doubt scare the bejabbers out of everyone. It’s in hardcover, too.

ASH: Very much looking forward to seeing more of Junji Ito’s work in English!

SEAN: Master Keaton’s 3rd volume will continue to show why Keaton is a brilliant investigator and a less-than-brilliant husband and father.

MICHELLE: I am terrible because I haven’t managed to find time to read 1-2 yet!

ANNA: I agree that you are being terrible to yourself for not reading these books already!

SEAN: Lastly, there is the much anticipated Tokyo Ghoul, which seems to be making fans of the anime very happy, but is not as pleasing to the manga blogger crowd. We shall see.

ANNA: I am going to check this out.

MJ: What she said.

SEAN: Are you getting something, or saving your money for the following week’s deluge of Yen?

SEAN: Thank you for all those who bought manga to bring rain to the Northeast. You can stop now (keep buying manga, I just mean no more flash flood warnings). Meanwhile, what have we in this small week?

Kodansha gives us an 8th volume of shosei (I just coined it, whaddya think?) romance Say “I Love You”.

MICHELLE: Yay!

ASH: Shosei. I like it.

ANNA: I’m behind on this series, but I do enjoy it!

SEAN: Something that could not remotely be mistaken for an angsty teen romance is the 5th volume of D-Frag! from Seven Seas. Betcha it’ll be funnier, though.

Barring any further spinoff licensing (unlikely, I suspect), we also get the 4th and final volume of sweeter than I expected tank manga Girls Und Panzer.

Sublime is still Starting with a Kiss, but it’s Vol. 3, so perhaps they’ve gone further.

ASH: Perhaps, perhaps…

SEAN: (Amazon lists The World’s Greatest First Love 2 as well, but I understand from a Viz press release that this has been delayed to late July.)

Viz proper, meanwhile, has the 22nd Arata the Legend volume. Man. So many more volumes than Fushigi Yuugi.

MICHELLE: Yeah, that is really hard to believe. I like Arata, but it’ll never approach Fushigi Yuugi‘s iconic status.

ANNA: I feel bad constantly comparing Arata to Fushigi Yuugi, but I can’t help it.

SEAN: And a 9th volume of slice-of-life prison comedy Deadman Wonderland. (Spoiler: it is not a slice-of-life prison comedy).

MICHELLE: Heh.

MJ: Wow, I have fallen behind!

SEAN: Lastly, Magi hits a dozen volumes. And hasn’t slowed down its release schedule, a major accomplishment for Shonen Sunday titles.

MICHELLE: Yay, Magi! This one is already in my Amazon cart!

ANNA: Nice! I enjoyed the first few volumes of this series a bunch.

SEAN: Do you have a favorite here?

SEAN: It has been hot here recently, so I am hoping that this Manga the Week of can serve as a rain dance. Doesn’t make much sense, but the heat has addled my brain.

Fairy Tail 48 seems like a lot, till you remember it’s nowhere near One Piece. Which honestly applies to Fairy Tail in general.

MICHELLE: *ba-dum ching*

SEAN: Also from Kodansha, My Little Monster 8 features actual plot progression, slow and incremental though it may be. Progress!

MICHELLE: I recently procured volumes 5-7, so I am ready to get current with this series again!

ASH: Enjoy! I think it’ll probably read better in a larger chunk.

SEAN: The rest is our standard Giant Pile O’ Viz (TM). Assassination Classroom gives us a 4th volume of heartwarming comedic antics about training young children to be trained killers.

ANNA: I still need to read volume 2! I do like heartwarming assassination.

MJ: Agreed.

SEAN: Now that we’re caught up with Blue Exorcist, waiting for the next volume can be frustrating, especially when there’s as much going on as there in in this series. However, here is Vol. 13, hooray!

If you aren’t caught up with Dragon Ball via its original releases or the three or four re-releases we’ve seen, here’s another one, with the 9th 3-in-1.

ASH: (I still haven’t actually read most of Dragon Ball.)

SEAN: I now feel kind of bad for my initial review of Food Wars!, given I’ve been enjoying it so much. Here’s a 6th volume, and I will try to ignore the orgasm faces.

MICHELLE: I unabashedly love this series now.

ASH: I’ve… actually always kind of liked it…

ANNA: I like it, although it took some time to win me over due to the orgasm faces.

MJ: I have avoided it, and now I feel like I’m missing out.

SEAN: Kamisama Kiss has finally come back to the present, but I suspect that new problems will arise in this 18th volume, as, well, otherwise the series would be over, and it isn’t.

ANNA: This series can go on as long as possible, as every volume is mega-charming.

SEAN: Kimi ni Todoke 21 will have, I suspect, four more chapters filled with adorable, though I do wonder if the drama quotient might be upped on the Ayano front.

MICHELLE: I’ll be reading both of these as well.

ANNA: I need to get caught up on this. It is such a well-executed shoujo series.

SEAN: Is Naruto done yet? (checks) No, not quite yet. But here’s Vol. 70.

I have resigned myself to very few Natsume’s Book of Friends volumes having my OT3 involved in the plot, but this does not reduce my love of this series at all.

MICHELLE: Somehow, I had not realized there was a new Natsume coming and I had just been wishing for one!

SEAN: One Piece’s 12th 3-in-1 is the Water Seven arc, I think. I love that arc.

As for Seraph of the End 5… um… vampires? (shrugs)

It’s very rare to see a long-running Sho-Comi series over here that isn’t drama and questionable consent. But I have high hopes for So Cute It Hurts!! (Kobayashi ga Kawaisugite Tsurai!!), which debuts next week. The author’s been on my ‘keep an eye on them’ list for a while now.

MICHELLE: Yeah, this is intriguing! Seems like a while since we’ve had a new Shojo Beat series, but that’s probably not true.

ANNA: Looking forward to reading this.

MJ: Same!

SEAN: Toriko continues to feature more fighting and less weird food. I hope that changes, but I suspect it won’t be changing for Vol. 28.

Lastly, I was wrong about it being last. Voice Over! Seiyu Academy apparently has one more to go after this 11th volume. I should be used to this with Hakusensha series, to be honest, which tend to have 80 epilogues.

MICHELLE: I think I am going to hoard volume eleven ’til twelve comes out so I can read them back-to-back.

SEAN: Did it work? Is it raining yet? (checks) No! You must BUY MORE MANGA!

(This is late. Very late. I’m so sorry.)

SEAN: The final week of May brings us a manageable and tasty selection. If this week is too much manga, next week is juuuuuust right.

When the Evangelion Comic Tribute came out, one of the more popular contributing authors was Tony Takezaki, who long-time manga fans may recall from a manga called Genocyber. His take on Evangelion, though, which Dark Horse puts out next week, is pure gag format.

Technically this is out this week rather than next, but as always I never know when a Fantagraphics title comes out till I get a shipping notice. But who cares if it means an 8th volume of Wandering Son, woo hoo!

MICHELLE: I feel like a poseur for saying “Woo!” when I am so far behind, but “Woo!” nonetheless.

ASH: I just got my copy! It makes me so happy that this series is being translated.

ANNA: I will join Michelle in also saying “Woo!” and being behind in reading this very worthwhile series.

SEAN: Kodansha keeps putting out Air Gear omnibuses, here is the 5th.

And there is also an 8th volume of The Seven Deadly Sins.

The big debut from Kodansha, though, is the first volume of coming of age story A Silent Voice. I reviewed the first volume here, and will definitely be reading the whole thing.

MICHELLE: Interesting. I wasn’t aware of this one, at all. Not sure I could stomach that many hard-to-like characters, though.

ASH: I’ve heard very good things about this series.

SEAN: One Peace has a 2nd Aquarion Evol, which is spelled correctly and also not a villain after all.

ANNA: The first one for sure seemed like it would appeal to fans of the anime, but the volumes are a bit slim on the page count.

SEAN: Meanwhile, Ponent Mon has another Jiro Tanaguchi volume, this one set in the Edo period, called Furari. Every Tanaguchi release should be greeted with joy. (I could swear this has come out before in some way, shape or form. Am I wrong? Ponent Mon does tend to re-release…)

MICHELLE: I’m not sure. I know it’s been sitting in my Amazon cart for ages, but possibly that was because it was supposed to come out a while back, but never actually showed as “In stock.” In any case, yay for more Taniguchi!

ASH: I believe it was initially planned to be released last year or the year before and that we’re only now just seeing it after a significant delay. Should be good, though!

SEAN: Seven Seas gives us another Alice volume, this one with the Twins as the boyfriend du jour. I hated the last volume focusing on them; hopefully this will be an improvement.

They also have an 8th volume of gaming fantasy World War Blue.

Vertical has a new Attack on Titan novel, Kuklo Unbound. This one will seem more familiar to those reading the Before the Fall manga.

ASH: Yeah, I’ll probably be reading this one.

SEAN: Lastly, there’s a 6th volume of Cardfight!! Vanguard, still filled with teenage youth and exclamation marks.

What leaps out at you from this list?

SEAN: Did you enjoy this week’s small week? Good. That isn’t next week.

Dance in the Vampire Bund’s Scarlet Order may have ended (somewhat surprisingly) in Japan, but Seven Seas still has more of it to bring you here, with Vol. 2 arriving next week.

Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer’s third omnibus takes us over halfway through this highly underrated superheroes story.

ASH: I’ve largely been enjoying this rather peculiar series.

SEAN: Satoshi Kon gets a collection of his short stories from Vertical Comics, called Dream Fossil.

ASH: This should be good. (And unlike Dark Horse’s Kon releases, aren’t unfinished works.)

ANNA: Good to know! I hadn’t realized that the Dark Horse releases were unfinished works.

SEAN: Dorohedoro has reached Volume 15, and things are continuing to get darker and darker in this already dark manga.

ASH: Always happy to see more Dorohedoro!

SEAN: In fact, it’s a depress-o-rama from Viz this week! We also get a 6th volume of Gangsta, a 4th Resident Evil, and a 6th volume of Terra Formars. If you like action and people dying and having bits of them cut off, you should be very happy indeed.

ASH: Oh, more Gangsta, too? Excellent.

ANNA: Gangsta is great. So stylish, so violent, so seinen.

SEAN: Well, I was wrong, it was a short wee—oh right, Yen Press. I knew I was missing 17 or so titles. First off, we have the third A Certain Magical Index light novel, and the one most everyone agrees is one of the best in the entire series.

The other novel is a debut. Kagerou Daze began life as a series of Vocaloid songs about a group of friends with powers, and has now become a fairly large franchise, of which the light novel is one part.

Back to manga, we have the third volume of Ani-Imo, which is shoujo in that odd way that only Aria titles can be shoujo.

A 6th Blood Lad omnibus. I’ve become really fond of this series, and always enjoy seeing more of it.

MICHELLE: I was pleasantly surprised that the sixth omnibus is out so soon, given that we’re essentially caught up to Japan.

SEAN: And a 10th volume of BTOOOM!, a series of which I am far less fond. Honestly, once you do the bomb bouncing off the breast thing, where else is there to take a story? It’s the pinnacle.

If you’d rather have a manga version of the Magical Index novels, then Yen Press is here to help you, as here’s the first manga volume.

One of the most exciting license rescues ever, Yen is releasing the seinen classic Emma in omnibus hardcover format. It will be read by everyone. (glare) I said, everyone.

ASH: I’m absolutely thrilled; I’ll actually be able to buy the series this time around!

MJ: Same here! This is honestly thrilling!

MICHELLE: I am clutching my CMX editions tightly!

ANNA: Nice. This is a series that deserves to be in print, and the deluxe Yen editions are always a treat. I might buy it again!

SEAN: Well, everyone except the Manga Bookshelf team, who may be distracted by the 18th Goong omnibus.

MJ: Also, THIS.

MICHELLE: Not only is it new Goong, it’s also the end, as this omnibus contains the final volumes (27-28 by the original Korean numbering) of the series!

ANNA: I need to get caught up on Goong, it is such a great soap opera.

SEAN: The Manga Bookshelf team is unlikely to be distracted at all by the 3rd Gou-dere Sora Nagihara volume.

If you’d rather have a manga version of the Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? novels, then Yen Press is here to help you, as here’s the first manga volume. (Have I typed this before?)

After seven volumes of No Matter How I Look At It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular!, I’m beginning to think she needs to take some responsibility here.

ASH: Heh.

MICHELLE: Srsly.

SEAN: It has been a common complaint that Sword Art Online features Kirito, occasionally Asuna, and not much else. So those readers should enjoy the spinoff Girls’ Ops, which focuses on the rest of the female cast getting involved in new MMORPG adventures.

Another debut for the more action-oriented crowd, we have the first volume of fantasy series Trinity Seven, which is also a harem series if the cover art and blurb don’t deceive me. I admit I know little about it.

On the darker fantasy side, there’s a 3rd Ubel Blatt omnibus, helpfully called Vol. 2.

ASH: Very helpful.

SEAN: Umineko: When They Cry’s new omnibus, End of the Golden Witch, sees the series shaken up with a new detective, who arrives on the island. Will things continue to be horribly tragic as we continue the adventures of manga’s most toxic family? Even this level of reasoning is possible for Furudo Erika. (Please note: Furudo Erika, Frederica Bernkastel, and Furude Rika are totally different people. Honest.)

Lastly, we get a 9th omnibus of Until Death Do Us Part, another series I’ve fallen incredibly behind on.

Is this too much manga? Or just right?

SEAN: I haven’t seen a week this small since Christmas. It’s sort of creepy.

First of all, right after I posted Manga the Week of last week, Dark Horse did a classic date slip, so Drug & Drop 2 is here again. Dark Horse is famous for release date slips, though they’re better than they used to be. If nothing else, it gives the MB team an opportunity to pick it two weeks in a row.

MJ: And since I flaked last week, it gives me the opportunity to get excited about it this week!

SEAN: The other Dark Horse release is of a very different nature. Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt was a manic anime series from a couple years back, and like many anime had a tie-in manga as well, this one running in Kadokawa’s Young Ace. It’s complete in one volume.

The Heroic Legend of Arslan has its third volume – the series has slowed somewhat (as has Silver Spoon by the same author) due to family emergencies, apparently. Still should be good high fantasy.

ANNA: I keep meaning to check this out! One day!

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts two new series. The Ancient Magus’ Bride is from Mag Garden’s Comic Blade, which we haven’t seen stuff from in years. It’s also a Taisho award winner with gorgeous art. The genre, as you can likely guess, is fantasy/romance, like half the titles licensed recently.

ASH: I’m intrigued by this series and look forward to giving it a try.

ANNA: I am always interested in fantasy/romance. This does sound intriguing.

SEAN: Evergreen is from the author of Toradora!, and from what I hear is something of a similar series, starting out as a sweet romance but introducing darker themes as it goes on. It runs in Dengeki Daioh.

Another debut, this one from SubLime, Viz’s BL imprint. Love Stage! runs in Asuka Ciel, which is what Asuka readers turn to when they’re looking for the harder stuff. It’s also by Eiki Eiki and Taishi Zaou, who I assume most BL fans have already heard of.

MJ: I’m looking forward to this, I admit.

MICHELLE: I haven’t read anything by Eiki Eiki and Taishi Zaou in ages! I might have to check this out, too.

SEAN: Lastly, 07-GHOST inches ever closer to completion with its 16th volume.

ANNA: One day I will read it all! ONE DAY!

MICHELLE: Me, too. Every time there’s a new volume, I think, “Oh, I am terribly remiss!” but then I just get waylaid by other things.

SEAN: Anything exciting you for next week?