manga the week of

SEAN: Ah, time to begin April, the best month.

MICHELLE: Indeed.

SEAN: Yen On has some leftover titles from March, as we see I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level 16, The Kept Man of the Princess Knight 4, Victoria of Many Faces 2, and Wandering Witch 15.

ASH: I was hoping for an aquarium theme there, but flowers are also acceptable.

SEAN: Yen Press has one debut, The Anemone Feels the Heat (Anemone wa Netsu o Obiru), a yuri title from Manga Time Kirara Forward. A girl headed to her high school exams stops to help a sick girl, and thus fails by being late. Now in a lower-tiered high school, she finds… the very girl she stopped to help. Can she overcome her bitter feelings and get to know her?

Also from Yen Press: Blade & Bastard 2, Goblin Slayer Side Story: Year One 12, and Hazure Skill 7.

Viz Media debuts Pink Candy Kiss (Tsumetakute Yawaraka), a josei yuri title from Cocohana. A woman has her boyfriend break up with her because “she never gets jealous”, and she admits that she’s not too broken up by the breakup. Then a former classmate from middle school joins her workplace, but is now a mysterious beauty!

MICHELLE: I’m here for josei yuri!

ASH: Same! Definitely curious about this one.

ANNA: Oh, this sounds good.

SEAN: Also from Viz: Dandadan 12, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu Academy 5, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Shining Diamond’s Demonic Heartbreak 3 (the final volume), Marriage Toxin 6, Moriarty the Patriot 19 (the final volume), Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite 3, Rainbow Days 15, and Tamon’s B-Side 7.

MICHELLE: I need to read more Tamon.

ASH: I probably should, too. (Granted, I haven’t actually read any yet…)

SEAN: Steamship debuts The Trapped Former Villainess Wants to Escape from the Sadistic Prince (Tsunderu Moto-Akuyaku Reijo wa Do-S Ouji-sama kara Nigedashitai), a josei title from Comic Boost. An office worker wakes in the body of a former villainess in an otome game… and her husband is not happy that she now has memories of a life in Japan! Can she escape before he attempts to seduce her to regain the villainess’ memories? For dubcon fans.

ASH: Huh.

SEAN: Square Enix Manga has By the Grace of the Gods 12, My Happy Marriage 5, and Otherside Picnic 12.

Seven Seas has two debuts. The Long Summer of August 31 (8-gatsu 31-nichi no Long Summer) is a seinen title from Weekly Morning; KManga had it licensed digitally, and here’s the print version. A high school boy and girl are trapped in a Groundhog Day loop, all because he hasn’t gotten a girlfriend and lost his virginity as he vowed. This is apparently “funny but heartwarming”.

ASH: Time loops are interesting, but I feel like re-reading All You Need Is Kill might be the better option for me this time.

SEAN: vs. LOVE is a BL version of Romeo and Juliet with gangs, and it’s from the creator of Blood Night Market. It ran in Magazine Be x Boy.

MICHELLE: Hm. I like the cover art, at least!

ASH: Shakespeare-inspired delinquent BL? I’m in.

ANNA: It sounds interesting!

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: The Great Snake’s Bride 5, How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift? 17, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 11, Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout 6, My Girlfriend’s Child 7, My Kitten is a Picky Eater 3, Perfect Buddy 3, Re:Monster 10, Reborn Rich 3, Sweet Room Escape 2 (the final volume), and Yonoi Tsukihiko’s Happy Hell 2.

ASH: The Great Snake’s Bride is another series I should catch up with; i vaguely recall enjoying the first volume.

SEAN: One Peace Books gives us Kurokiya-san Wants to Lead Him Around by the Nose 4.

Kodansha Manga has a print debut. The Dashing Zaddy and His Icy Protégé (Ikeoji Monster to Zettai Reido Danshi) is a BL series from Palcy. Yes, ‘zaddy’ has hit a mainstream manga title. This zaddy has a shameful secret, though. Perhaps… he needs a younger but equally hot colleague?

MICHELLE: I went to read the description of this one and it turns out this “zaddy” is all of 40. *cries in old person*

ASH: Manga years are like dog years, right? There has got to be some sort of time conversion going on.

ANNA: I’m so old.

SEAN: Also in print: The Fable Omnibus 7, The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity 6, MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM THE ORIGIN MSD Cucuruz Doan’s Island 4, The Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse 16, WIND BREAKER 10, and Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun 13.

Digitally we see Chihayafuru 49, Matcha Made in Heaven 11, Shangri-La Frontier 20, That Beauty Is a Tramp 5, and Those Snow White Notes 27.

MICHELLE: I was just thinking it’s about time for a new Chihayafuru.

ANNA: I might never catch up on Chihayafuru, but I have faith in my ability to keep up on Matcha Made in Heaven.

SEAN: Just one debut from J-Novel Club, and it’s a manga. Flung into a New World? Time to Lift the 200-Year Curse! (Isekai ni Otosareta… Jouka wa Kihon!) is based on an as-yet unlicensed light novel, and runs in Comic Corona. Normal dude gets truck-kun’d, ends up in a fantasy forest where he befriends vicious wolves and tries to lift a curse of “black mist of evil”.

Light novels out from J-Novel Club next week: Chillin’ in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers 17, Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools 9, From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman 6, The Hero-Killing Bride 2, Housekeeping Mage from Another World 9, and When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace 13 (the final volume).

And for manga, they have A Late-Start Tamer’s Laid-Back Life 5, Only I Know That This World Is a Game 7, The Otome Heroine’s Fight for Survival 3, and The Skull Dragon’s Precious Daughter 5.

Ghost Ship has a 6th and final volume of I’m Not a Succubus!.

Cross Infinite World debuts This Alluring Dark Elf Has the Heart of a Middle-aged Man! (Watashi no Kokoro wa Oji-san de Aru). A (male) office worker wakes in the body of a (female) dark-haired elf in a fantasy world. Unfortunately, this elf is still an introvert who avoids others.

They also have Expedition Cooking with the Enoch Royal Knights 6 and Fluffy Paradise 7.

No print for Airship, but we do see Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 20.5 and A Tale of the Secret Saint ZERO 2.

A good start to the month! What are you buying?

SEAN: The end of March, so let’s calm down and be less windy, shall we?

ASH: It has been a little ridiculous at times.

SEAN: Airship has print volumes for Classroom of the Elite: Year 2 10 and Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)! 2.

ASH: I don’t know, that sounds pretty heroic and saintly to me!

SEAN: For early digital we have Reincarnated Into a Game as the Hero’s Friend 4 and The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary 11.

Dark Horse has the 9th volume of its Hellsing re-release.

Ghost Ship debuts 12 Dirty Deeds to Unite the Princess and Her Heroine (Hime to Onna Yuusha ga Musubareru Tame no 12 no Hijiri Koui), a seinen title from Comic Fuz. The princess and the heroine have always said they’ll be together, and now the heroine has defeated the demon lord. Alas, she’s now cursed, and to break it, she needs to do increasingly perverse things. I’d call this yuri but come on, the audience is 100% male.

ASH: That’s quite the curse.

SEAN: We also see Survival in Another World with My Mistress! 7 and The Witches of Adamas 10.

So, immediately after saying I’d start to include Ize Press titles here, I forgot last week to include them. Apologies. So these are already out as you read this. There are no debuts, but we see Dark Moon: The Blood Altar 6, Finding Camellia 3, I Tamed My Ex-Husband’s Mad Dog 2, Men of the Harem 2, My Secretly Hot Husband 2, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint 6, Semantic Error 2, Tomb Raider King 10, and The Uncanny Counter 5 (the final volume).

No debuts for J-Novel Club, but plenty of ongoing series. For light novels we see Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon 10, Black Summoner 20, Earl and Fairy 10, Hell Mode 9, How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 19, I Want to Escape from Princess Lessons 3, Knight’s & Magic 6, The Labyrinth of Marielle Clarac (the 12th in the series), My Quiet Blacksmith Life in Another World 10, Nia Liston: The Merciless Maiden 6, Now I’m a Demon Lord! Happily Ever After with Monster Girls in My Dungeon 12, and Otherside Picnic 9.

ASH: I’d somehow forgotten Otherside Picnic was still ongoing.

SEAN: And for manga J-NC has Only I Know That This World Is a Game 7, Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter 3, Tearmoon Empire 7, and A Wild Last Boss Appeared! 5.

From Kodansha Books we get a 6th volume of Am I Actually the Strongest?.

And Kodansha Manga has a print debut. The Ayakashi Hunter’s Tainted Bride (Kizumono no Hanayome), a Shonen Sirius manga. A young girl was kidnapped and had a demon mark placed on her. Now back with her family, she’s shunned and hated by all and forced to wear a mask. Then she meets a handsome young man after her mask falls off. Cinderella story with a lot of bullying. Odd seeing it in Shonen Sirius.

ASH: Curious, indeed.

SEAN: Also in print: A Condition Called Love 12, FAIRY TAIL: 100 Years Quest 17, Gazing at the Star Next Door 5, Honeko Akabane’s Bodyguards 2, I Can’t Say No to the Lonely Girl 6 (the final volume), Shimazaki in the Land of Peace 3, and Spoil Me Plzzz, Hinamori-san! 3 (the final volume).

Digitally we see A Couple of Cuckoos 22, Gamaran: Shura 30, and WIND BREAKER 19.

One Peace Books has Tales of the Tendo Family 5.

MICHELLE: I should read this.

ASH: I’ve liked what I’ve read, so far!

SEAN: Debuting from Seven Seas is You Are My Alpha (Kimi wa Alpha), a one-shot omegaverse title from Asuka Ciel. Two friends attend a school for only alphas, and are working on a drug to try to fix the whole A/B/O thing. Then one of them… sigh… becomes an omega! Now they have to keep it a secret.

For ongoing titles, they have Breakfast with My Two-Tailed Cat 3, Dungeon Friends Forever 4, HIKARI-MAN 3-4, His Majesty the Demon King’s Housekeeper 9, Kageki Shojo!! 13, The Legend of Dororo and Hyakkimaru 9, The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today 9, Reborn as a Space Mercenary 8, Tokyo Revengers 29-31 (the final omnibus), and Yakuza Reincarnation 12.

MICHELLE: Every time I see HIKARI-MAN, my brain at first interprets it as Hataraki Man and I have this surge of hope that is immediately deflated.

ASH: Mine does the same thing. :(

SEAN: And for danmei we get The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish 4 (the final volume, and it also has a special edition) and You’ve Got Mail: The Perils of Pigeon Post 3.

MICHELLE: Woo.

SEAN: Steamship has a 3rd volume of Before You Discard Me, I Shall Have My Way With You.

Tokyopop debuts Touch Within the Abyss (Kimi no Yoru ni Fureru), another from RED title, and a one-shot. A hitman who lost his brother as he was unable to pull the trigger reunites with the witness … who is blind. This is BL, so you can imagine what happens next.

ANNA: They start a small business doing artisanal crafts?

ASH: Sounds pretty typical.

SEAN: Viz Media gives us #DRCL midnight children 4, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 6–Stone Ocean 9 (the final volume of this arc), and The Liminal Zone 2.

ASH: Oh! A solid Viz week for me.

SEAN: Yen On debuts a one-shot, Miri Lives in the Cat’s Eyes (Miri wa Neko no Hitomi no Naka ni Sundeiru), the story of a boy who can see the past, a girl who can see the future, and how they try to stop a murder. This is an award-winner, but I’ll lay you even odds it ends with one of the two dead.

MICHELLE: That sounds potentially interesting!

ASH: I am likewise intrigued.

SEAN: We also get A Certain Magical Index NT 4 and Days with My Stepsister 5.

And here’s all the Yen Press we didn’t get last week. Debuts first. The Boy Who Ruled the Monsters (Kaibutsu-tachi wo Suberu Mono) is a shonen title from Isekai Comic, and the light novel it’s based on comes out from J-Novel Club. It’s a “weakest is really the strongest” title.

The Failure at God School (Kami-sama Gakkou no Ochikobore) is a shoujo title from Hana to Yume, based on a light novel by the creator of The Apothecary Diaries. Gods these days go to school and have to make the grade… so what happens when a shrine that needs a deity has to expand its search?

ANNA: Sounds interesting!

ASH: Count me interested.

SEAN: If It’s You, I Might Try Falling in Love (Kimi to Nara Koi wo Shite Mite mo) is a oneshot BL title from Manga Park. A jaded boy who hates opening up after a typical middle school experience meets a ball of sunshine.

ASH: Awww, that’s cute.

SEAN: In the Heavenly Prison, the Devil Enchants Me (Tengoku de Akuma ga Boku wo Miwaku Suru) is a seinen series from Dra-Dra-Sharp#. A boy who wants to become a man among men goes to school on a remote island only to find it’s filled with succubuses. Be warned, this is 18+ rated.

ASH: Oh, my.

SEAN: Speaking of 18+ rated series, It’s All Your Fault (Zenbu Kimi no Seida) is a seinen title from Ultra Jump, about an otaku who wants to be a famous cosplayer, and her rival, who already is. This one is also in the “yuri for guys” category.

Nomi x Shiba is a BL title from Kimikoi about a guy who finds himself falling for his roommate. How can this be? He’s not gay, right?

ANNA: I’m sure he isn’t!!!!

ASH: I mean, what are the odds?

SEAN: Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts Heir: White Rabbit and the Prince of Beasts (Shiro Usagi to Kemono no Ouji: Niehime to Kemono no Ou Spin-off) is a sequel to Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts, of course, and also ran in Hana to Yume. This stars Leonhart and Sariphi’s son.

Super Ball Girls shows what happens when the writer of Blue Lock and the artist of Prison School are allowed to write anything they want. This Big Comic Superior title is about a young man who finds a bouncing super ball holding a beautiful woman. Every time I try to see what this title is about I get angry incels complaining, and not in the good way.

ASH: Huh.

Also from Yen Press: Cheeky Brat 13, The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor 5, The Fiancee Chosen by the Ring 6, Friday at the Atelier 3, GOGOGOGO-GO-GHOST! 3, Higurashi When They Cry: MEGURI 4, I Want to Be a Receptionist in This Magical World 6, In Another World, My Sister Stole My Name 2, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria 25, I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History 2, Monthly in the Garden with My Landlord 4, A Reincarnated Witch Spells Doom 6, A Sinner of the Deep Sea 3 (the final volume), Sister and Giant 3, The Small-Animallike Lady Is Adored by the Ice Prince 2, Strategic Lovers 2, The Summer Hikaru Died 5, Teasing Master Takagi-san 20 (the final volume), The Tiger Won’t Eat the Dragon Yet 3, Unnamed Memory 6, and The Villainess Stans the Heroes 4.

MICHELLE: I would like to check out GOGOGOGO-GO-GHOST! at some point!

ASH: I really should, too, I think. I also need to pick up more of The Summer Hikaru Died.

SEAN: Ooof. Maybe we should get the wind back, to blow away all this manga. What are you buying?

SEAN: March was just warming up, now it’s really getting down to business.

ASH: As it should.

SEAN: Yen On has one debut, a one-shot. Did You Think My Yuri Was Just for Show? (Watashi no Yuri mo, Eigyou da to Omotta?) stars an up-and-coming voice actress who finds that her favorite idol, who had retired, is now joining the same agency! I’ve heard this is better than it sounds.

ASH: We shall see!

SEAN: OK, there’s another debut, but it’s a spinoff. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Minor Myths and Legends (Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka: Shouhenshuu) is the first in a series of short story collections based around the popular fantasy series.

Also from Yen On: Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 23, The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter 3 (not a final volume, but the last since 2021), and The World Bows Down Before My Flames 2.

Viz Media (yes, that’s right, nothing from Yen Press, it all got shoved back a week) debuts Dogsred, a remake of a 6-volume (unlicensed) series the author wrote in 2011. A young figure skater ruins his career by throwing a violent tantrum and gets banned for life. He moves to Hokkaido, and tries to find a new love: ice hockey. This runs in Weekly Young Jump.

MICHELLE: I will probably check this out!

ANNA: This sounds like a reverse Cutting Edge. I’m curious.

ASH: I had no idea that this was a remake, but I’m looking forward to giving this one a try!

SEAN: Also from Viz: After God 3, Battle Royale: Enforcers 3, Fool Night 4, Haikyu!! 3-in-1 4, Insomniacs After School 9, One-Punch Man 30, Seraph of the End 32, Show-ha Shoten! 7, Trillion Game 4, and The Way of the Househusband 13.

ANNA: Need to catch up on Way of the Househusband!

ASH: Same!

SEAN: Tokyopop has a debut. Trapped By His Love: The Duke’s Unexpected Bride (Nariyuki de Konyaku wo Moushikonda Yowaki Binbou Reijou desuga, Nazeka Jiki Koushaku-sama ni Dekiai sarete Torawarete imasu) is a Comic Corona title based on an as-yet unlicensed light novel. A woman is about to be engaged… to her childhood bully. Desperate, she proposes to the first man she meets. Who is a Duke. And he immediately accepts. For those who like “obsessed” male love interests.

They also have the 2nd and final volume of Comic Party Wonder Love.

Steamship debuts At Your Service in Another World (Isekai Ohoushi Kiroku), a josei title based on an as yet unlicensed light novel. It ran in Pomme Comics. An OL was isekai’d to another world… and finds work as an OL, only in a fantasy world. Sadly, she’s now ordered to “service” a knight she hates. Except… he’s weak to her seduction!

ASH: Hmmm.

SEAN: Square Enix Manga gives is Always a Catch!: How I Punched My Way into Marrying a Prince 2 and Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You 4.

Seven Seas has three debuts. I’ll start with the danmei novel, Legend of Exorcism: Tianbao Fuyao Lu. This is in the same universe as Dinghai Fusheng Records, and stars a young man who comes to the big city to become an exorcist.

I’m in Love with the Older Girl Next Door (Tonari no Onee-san ga Suki) is a shonen series from Manga Cross. This is from the author of The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses, and stars a middle-school boy who’s in love with his next door neighbor, a high school girl.

The Last Elf (Saigo no Elf) is a seinen title from Comic Gardo. The world is gradually becoming less fantastic and more industrial. Can our elf help the forgotten spirits escape the country before they’re killed by the military?

ASH: I am intrigued.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Dinosaur Sanctuary 6, Last Game 8, Made in Abyss 13, Magic Artisan Dahlia Wilts No More 7, and Who Made Me a Princess 9 (the final volume)

And for ongoing danmei we have The Husky and His White Cat Shizun: Erha He Ta De Bai Mao Shizun 8.

One Peace Books has the 6th light novel of The Death Mage.

KUMA suddenly has a pile of titles on the preorder schedule for March. The usual buyer beware regarding release dates, but they say next week we get Betrayers Love Song (Uragirimono no Love Song), a BL mafia title taking place in early 20th century Italy.

Kodansha Manga has no debuts. But in print, we see Am I Actually the Strongest? 9, Dra-Q 2, Kei X Yaku: Bound By Law 5, Ninja Vs. Gokudo 6, ORIGIN 9, Sheltering Eaves 3, and What Did You Eat Yesterday? 22.

MICHELLE: Wow, I’ve already managed to fall behind on Sheltering Eaves. I’m looking forward to that and What Did You Eat Yesterday?.

SEAN: And for digital we have Drops of God: Mariage 11, Hozuki’s Coolheadedness 25, Issak 12, MF Ghost 21, Pumpkin Scissors 24 (the first new volume in 5 years), and Quality Assurance in Another World 13.

ASH: I am still glad that Drops of God is still being made available somehow.

SEAN: A quiet week for J-Novel Club. For light novels, we get The Countess Is a Coward No More! 2 and I Parry Everything 8. For manga, we see Butareba -The Story of a Man Turned into a Pig- 5, Death’s Daughter and the Ebony Blade 4, and The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects 8.

Ghost Ship features Parallel Paradise 21, Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time 13, and Rise of the Outlaw Tamer and His S-Rank Cat Girl 5.

Dark Horse has the 42nd volume of Berserk, the first since the creator’s death. It’s being handled by his assistants.

ASH: I’ll be reading this, for sure, albeit with some amount of nervousness.

SEAN: In print, Airship has I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! 8 and Mushoku Tensei: Redundant Reincarnation 2.

And digitally we see The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash 9.

For a week where Yen Press punted, this is pretty long. What are you getting?

SEAN: March blows ever onward, and so does the pile of manga.

Airship has print releases for Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord 4 and Loner Life in Another World 11.

And we see early digital for The Condemned Villainess Goes Back in Time and Aims to Become the Ultimate Villain 4.

Dark Horse debuts an omnibus release for Drifters, from the creator of Hellsing. Famous warriors from Earth are transported to another world to have a battle royale.

ASH: I actually really enjoyed what I read of Drifters; glad to see it coming back in print!

SEAN: Ghost Ship has Ayakashi Triangle 14, Imaizumi Brings All the Gals to His House 2, and Please Go Home, Miss Akutsu! 8.

J-Novel Club has two print volumes: Ascendance of a Bookworm 29 and the 9th Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles manga.

The digital debut for JNC is They Don’t Know I’m Too Young for the Adventurer’s Guild (Boukensha Guild ga Juunisai kara shika Irenakatta no de, Saba Yomimashita). A nine-year-old boy, after a series of harrowing events, ends up in the care of an adventurer’s guild.

ASH: Oh, goodness. Based on the nine-year-olds I know, that sounds like a potentially dangerous combination.

SEAN: They also have Butareba 6, Cooking with Wild Game 27, D-Genesis 8, The Eternal Fool’s Words of Wisdom: A Pawsitively Fantastic Adventure 4, From Villainess to Healer 2, Heavenly Swords of the Twin Stars 5, I Could Never Be a Succubus! 6, I Shall Survive Using Potions! 10, Lady Rose Just Wants to Be a Commoner 2, A Livid Lady’s Guide to Getting Even 5, The Mythical Hero’s Otherworld Chronicles 10, and Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter 15.

Kodansha Manga debut 23:45, a one-shot BL manga from Gateau. An otaku suddenly finds himself haunted by a ghost that keeps reliving his own death every day.

MICHELLE: Hm. Potentially interesting!

ASH: I am intrigued.

SEAN: They also have How to Deal When Your Intimidating Neighbor is Actually an Omega (Kowamote no Rinjin ga Ω datta Toki no Taishohou) is also from Gateau, and its genre should be self-evident. An alpha is scared by his neighbor till one day he finds out (wait for it…) he’s secretly an omega! This series sounds like it has the least alpha Alpha ever.

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: Also in print: Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card 16 (the final volume), Go! Go! Loser Ranger! 12, Nina the Starry Bride 8, Quality Assurance in Another World 11, Sketchy 5, Tank Chair 3, and Turns Out My Online Friend is My Real-Life Boss! 3.

ANNA: I do enjoy Nina the Starry Bride.

ASH: I keep meaning to pick it up!

SEAN: Digitally we see The Beast Player 5, Because I, the True Saint, was Banished, that Country is Done For! 7, Gang King 27, Manchuria Opium Squad 5, Our Fake Marriage 15, SHAMAN KING: THE SUPER STAR 9, and Tokyo Tarareba Girls Returns 2 6 (the final volume).

MICHELLE: Sheesh, and I didn’t even start it yet!

SEAN: One Peace Books has a third volume of Nukozuke!.

Seven Seas debuts Fake Fact Lips, a one-shot BL manga (though it has a sequel) from Qpa. Two men who have been competitive rivals all their lives compete to see who’s the better lover.

MICHELLE: The coded-as-uke guy on the cover looks surly, so maybe I would like this one. :)

ASH: I could be pretty easily convinced to give it a read.

SEAN: We also see At 25:00 in Akasaka 3, The Big Apple 2, CALL TO ADVENTURE! Defeating Dungeons with a Skill Board 9, The Eccentric Doctor of the Moon Flower Kingdom 9, Hitomi-chan is Shy With Strangers 10, Kemono Jihen 15, No Longer Allowed In Another World 8, Otonari Complex 3, Succubus and Hitman 8, This Is Screwed Up, but I Was Reincarnated as a GIRL in Another World! 15, and Todai Revengers 3-4.

MICHELLE: Yay for more Otonari Complex!

SEAN: Square Enix debut Assassin & Cinderella, a josei title from Gangan Online. A spy is assigned to get secrets out of an assassin. But then… he proposes to her?? If you wondered what Spy x Family would be like with a lot less Anya and a lot more sex, this is for you.

ANNA: There’s been a lot of assassin manga coming out recently.

ASH: Somewhat more josei, too, which I’m not going to complain about.

SEAN: There’s also The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest 23.

Steamship has a 7th volume of Fire in His Fingertips: A Flirty Fireman Ravishes Me with His Smoldering Gaze.

SuBLime has Megumi & Tsugumi 5.

Tokyopop debuts the alliterative Feigning Fox with a Face Full of Flowers (Usobuku Kitsune wa Hana o Kamu), a one-shot BL title that ran in from RED. A human and a fox spirit live and love together.

ASH: That’s a title that leaves an impression.

SEAN: They also have I Was Reincarnated as the Heroine on the Verge of a Bad Ending, and I’m Determined to Fall in Love! 3, A Tail’s Tale 2, and Wails of the Bound: Beta 3 (the final volume).

Viz Media debut Minecraft: The Manga (Minecraft – Sekai no Hate no Tabi), a Corocoro title. It’s… well, it’s Minecraft. In manga form.

ASH: I know somebody in my household who is very excited about this.

SEAN: We also see Animal Crossing: New Horizons 8, Call of the Night 19, Jujutsu Kaisen 25, Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits 10, Komi Can’t Communicate 33, Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle 27, and X-Men: The Manga: Remastered 2.

ASH: I need to read more of Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle; it’s a lot of fun.

Yen On has Love Is Dark 2 and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime 20.

And Yen Press debuts meth-e-meth, a Manga Time Kirara Forward series complete in one omnibus that has both volumes. You too can learn to control golems, even in high school.

They also have an 11th volume of Combatants Will Be Dispatched!.

Isekai? Cat-eared maids? Teen romcom hijinks? Not many of those this week. So try something new!

SEAN: It’s March! The time when all the AO3 writers get out their Lion/Lamb omegaverse stories.

MICHELLE: It had not occurred to me that this existed, but surely it must.

ASH: Of course it does.

SEAN: Yen On has Brunhild and Kriemhild, the third in the Brunhild series, as well as Hollow Regalia 5.

And Yen Press gives us the 2nd Lycoris Recoil and Uncle from Another World 11.

Two debuts from Viz, though the first is a one-shot. Four Lives Remain: Tatsuya Endo Before Spy x Family (Shihou Yuugi) is a short story collection featuring some of Endo’s earliest work that ran in Weekly Shonen Jump and Akamaru Jump. Expect it to be darker than Spy x Family, and probably have more elves too.

ASH: Definitely curious about this one!

SEAN: A Star Brighter than the Sun (Taiyou Yori mo Mabushii Hoshi) is the latest series from High School Debut/My Love Story!! author Kazune Kawahara, and of course it runs in Betsuma. A girl realizes that her weak childhood friend has grown up and is not so weak any more. Does she like him?

MICHELLE: I love Kazune Kawahara, and am so here for this.

ANNA: Me too!

ASH: Same!

SEAN: Also from Viz: Blue Box 14, Dark Gathering 12, Let’s Do It Already! 4, Like a Butterfly 11, My Hero Academia: Team-Up Missions 6, My Love Story!! 14 (a one-shot epilogue showing the cast in college), My Special One 9, One Piece 108, Sakamoto Days 16, Skip Beat! 50, and Wolf Girl and Black Prince 12.

MICHELLE: The only thing that could possibly overshadow a new volume of Skip Beat! is a My Love Story!! epilogue!

ANNA: This is an unusually good week!

ASH: I’m looking forward to it.

Tokyopop has My Beautiful Man 3 and World’s End Blue Bird 3.

Steamship has a 2nd volume of Guilty Smile.

Square Enix Manga debuts The Emperor’s Caretaker (Koutei Heika no Osewagakari – Jokan Kurashi ga Shiawase sugite Koukyuu kara Deraremasen), a manga adaptation of an as-yet unlicensed light novel. Do you like Ancient China once removed stories that take place in the Inner Palace with lots of court intrigue? This is another one. It runs in Manga Up!.

ASH: That does sound like something I would read.

SEAN: Also coming out from Square Enix: The Apothecary Diaries 13, Daemons of the Shadow Realm 7, and Mr. Villain’s Day Off 6.

Two debuts from Seven Seas. I Got Married to the Girl I Hate Most in Class (Class no Daikirai na Joshi to Kekkon suru Koto ni Natta) is a manga based on a light novel that Seven Seas will release this fall. It runs in Shonen Ace +. Two high schoolers who hate each other are forced to marry to save his family business. His only worry… why did she agree to this? This also has an anime currently airing.

Rozen Maiden Collector’s Edition is a new omnibus of the classic manga Tokyopop released almost 20 years ago. Now it’s back, and it’s 450 pages. A weird combination of death game and battle manga, its main appeal is the gothic lolita fashion.

ASH: Everything old is new again.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Asumi-chan is Interested in Lesbian Brothels! 5, D-Frag! 18, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation 9, I Think I Turned My Childhood Friend Into a Girl 8, The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife 5, Killer Shark in Another World 3, Monster Guild: The Dark Lord’s (No-Good) Comeback! 8, and Re-Living My Life with a Boyfriend Who Doesn’t Remember Me 3.

And in… not light novel, not danmei, but Korean novel news, we get Lout of Count’s Family 3.

A debut from One Peace Books. You Talk Too Much, So Just Shut It Already! (Kimi wa Yakamashi Tojite yo Kuchi wo!) is a shonen title from Dra-Dra-Sharp#. A deaf girl is surprised that the guy in her class keeps talking to her… then, as she reads his lips, realizes he’s talking nonsense!

Kodansha Manga debuts DEAD ROCK, the latest series from Fairy Tail creator Hiro Mashima. This Weekly Shonen Magazine series is about a school for demon kings, but mostly it’s an excuse for Mashima to draw more Mashima stuff.

Also in print: A-DO 7, Anyway, I’m Falling in Love with You 6, Initial D Omnibus 5, Medalist 7, Rent-A-Girlfriend 29, and Thunder 3 3.

Digitally we get Blue Lock 30, The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses 16, How to Grill Our Love 13, Those Snow White Notes 26, and Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister 17.

One light novel debut for J-Novel Club: Imperial Reincarnation: I Came, I Saw, I Survived (Tensei Shitara Koutei deshita – Umare Nagara no Koutei wa Kono Saki Ikinokoreru ka), whose manga JNC released a little bit ago. A history nerd reincarnates as a child emperor… and he knows how long child emperors tend to live. If he wants to avoid assassination, he’ll have to be both clever AND adorable.

ASH: It’s not a bad strategy.

SEAN: Also in light novels: The Dorky NPC Mercenary Knows His Place 3, No One Gets Past This Gatekeeper 3, and Zilbagias the Demon Prince: How the Seventh Prince Brought Down the Kingdom 4.

No manga debuts, but J-Novel Club does have The Coppersmith’s Bride 5, The Invincible Little Lady 7, Safe & Sound in the Arms of an Elite Knight 3, and Stuck in a Time Loop 3.

Ghost Ship has The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You 13 and Becoming a Princess Knight and Working at a Yuri Brothel 4.

Dark Horse Comics is going back to one of their bestsellers. Gunsmith Cats: Omnibus Edition is a collection of the first three volumes of this Guns, Cars, and Girls (in order of importance) series. Yes, digital as well. No, I don’t know if it will have THAT scene. Please move on, 2000s manga fandom. In any case, recommended if you like girls blowing things up and shooting things, and if you don’t mind a lot of fanservice.

ASH: Somehow, I’ve never actually read Gunsmith Cats.

SEAN: Also from Dark Horse: Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! 7.

And Airship, in print, has the second volume of Witch and Mercenary.

While digitally we get The Case Files of Jeweler Richard 10.

Lots of old favorites being released anew. Anything catch your eye?

SEAN: February’s end, and it brings us (well, me) snow, ice, and manga.

ASH: Take comfort in knowing you are not alone.

SEAN: Airship, in print, has Failure Frame 11.5, The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen 8, and Trapped in a Dating Sim: Otome Games Are Tough For Us, Too! 3.

And in early digital we see Classroom of the Elite: Year 2 10 and Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)! 2.

Cross Infinite World has a 5th volume of The Drab Princess, the Black Cat, and the Satisfying Break-up.

Dark Horse Comics has Cat + Gamer 7 and Trigun Maximum Deluxe Edition 4.

Retailers say Denpa Books has Nana & Kaoru 6 and Short Game: Mitsuru Adachi’s Baseball Short Story Collection. The latter is, well, exactly what it says. Can’t wait, but I’m fairly sure this date is wrong.

ASH: Looking forward to Short Game, whenever it’s released (i.e. probably not next week).

MICHELLE: Oh, man. I am so here for Mitsuru Adachi!

ANNA: Me too, whenever it might arrive!

SEAN: Ghost Ship debuts Tamamori’s Fantasies Never Stop! (Tamamori Buchou no Mousou wa Tomaranai), a seinen series from Manga Cross. The perfect beauty of the high school is in the drama club with her male classmate. There’s just one problem… she’s a massive pervert inside her own mind!

Hanashi Media has the 2nd volume of Observation Records of My Fiancée.

J-Novel Club has some digital light novels. We get The Boy Who Ruled the Monsters 2, Fiancée No More 3, Goodbye, Overtime! 3, Lady Bumpkin and Her Lord Villain 2, Lucia and the Loom 3, Management of a Novice Alchemist 4, and The Tanaka Family Reincarnates 2.

For J-Novel digital manga, we get An Archdemon’s (Friend’s) Dilemma 2, Ascendance of a Bookworm Arc 4 part 1, and Oversummoned, Overpowered, and Over It! 7.

Kodansha Books has Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement 7.

Kodansha Manga debuts Hauntress (Zashiki Onna), a 1993 horror volume from the creator of Dragon Head. It ran in Young Magazine. A man finds a scary woman ringing his neighbor’s doorbell… and now the woman is interested in him!

ASH: Okay, this one I’m interested in based on the impression Dragon Head made on me ages ago. (Which, for those of you who missed it, will be back in print later this year!)

SEAN: Also in print: Bless 4, Blue Lock 17, The Blue Wolves of Mibu 4, I Cross-Dressed for the IRL Meetup 3 (the final volume), I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability 14, Shangri-La Frontier 15, and Your Lie in April Omnibus 3.

Digitally we get Anyway, I’m Falling in Love with You 9, As the Gods Will 4, Fate/Grand Order -Epic of Remnant- Pseudo-Singularity III 5, Fungus and Iron 6, Gamaran: Shura 29, The God-Tier Guardian and the Love of Six Princesses 15, Killing Line 2, and My Home Hero 20.

KUMA is, according to retailers, debuting Yata-Momo. A BL title that ran in Qpa, it’s from the creator of Happy Crappy Life. Two complete messes get closer while still being complete messes is how I’d summarize this. As with Denpa, fairly sure this release date is wrong.

ASH: Probably. But I’m still glad to see Harada manga in English.

MICHELLE: It does look good, though!

ANNA: I’m intrigued by this summary.

SEAN: One Peace Books has the 14th volume of The New Gate.

Seven Seas has some debuts. EAT is a one-shot BL title from the creator of The Girl from the Other Side, so you can assume it’s a horror sort of BL. A professor loves to watch people eat… and realize he may in fact want to be eaten. This ran in Be x Boy Gold.

ASH: Interested in this one, for sure! I find Nagabe’s work really interesting.

MICHELLE: Vore makes a comeback!

SEAN: It Takes More Than a Pretty Face to Fall in Love (Kao Dake ja Suki ni Narimasen) is a shoujo manga from Hana to Yume. A girl has the hots for the hunkiest guy at school… but he’s about to be expelled for never attending class! Can she save him with the power of social media?

ASH: Signs point to maybe?

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: The Dangers in My Heart 10, How Do I Turn My Best Friend Into My Girlfriend? 3, Let’s Buy the Land and Cultivate It in a Different World 7, Love is an Illusion! – The Queen 2, Plus-Sized Elf: Second Helping! 4, Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling 7, Servamp 21, and The Valiant Must Fall 4.

Square Enix Manga has The Ice Guy and the Cool Girl 9.

Tokyopop debuts The Inconvenient Life of an Arousing Priestess (Kon’yaku Hakida, Hatsujou Seijou), a shoujo series from Comic Pash! based on the light novel that Cross Infinite World releases over here. A priestess is very good at what she does… unfortunately, her powers make both her and the people she’s using them on horny! Despite the plot, this is less sex-filled than it sounds.

ANNA: I dunno….

SEAN: Also from Tokyopop: This Reincarnated Countess Is Trying to Escape From Her Prince 2 and Sanctify 3 (the final volume).

Debuting from Udon is Ottoman: Henshin Hero Husband, a Weekly Young Jump title. A salaryman is infected by an alien… but that’s OK, as his wife is in danger from the forces of evil! He and the alien will have to join forces to win. This is an omnibus of the first 2 volumes. (This has been bumped a couple of times, so YMMV)

Debuting from Viz is Spirited Away Film Comic: All-in-One Edition, the perfect gift for people who hate watching things and don’t want to buy multiple books, as this is 850 pages long.

ASH: Hahaha.

SEAN: Also from Viz: Kaiju No. 8 12 and My Name Is Shingo: The Perfect Edition 4.

ASH: Need to catch up with My Name Is Shingo sooner rather than later.

SEAN: Yen Press has one debut: Helena and Mr. Big Bad Wolf, a shoujo manga that debuted as a doujinshi. A girl meets her favorite author, and even though he’s cold and quiet… and has a wolf head… they get to know each other better.

Yen Press also has a 2nd volume of Goblin Slayer: A Day in the Life.

Hooray! February’s ending! What are you getting?

SEAN: Is it Yen week? (checks, sighs) Yup.

ASH: Here we go!

SEAN: In fact, we start with THIS week, as I missed Yen On’s one title in my last post. Lycoris Recoil: Ordinary Days is based on the hit anime, and is, as the title might suggest, a look at the less gun-battle side of the franchise.

Yen On has four debuts out NEXT week. We’ll start with I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History: It Seems Turning into a High-Born Baddie Makes the Prince All the More Lovestruck (Rekishi ni Nokoru Akujo ni Naru zo: Akuyaku Reijō ni Naru hodo Ōji no Dekiai wa Kasoku suru yō desu!), a villainess title in the subgenre of “she’s trying to be a villainess on purpose” rather than “she’s trying to avoid her doom”. This had a hit anime recently.

ASH: I haven’t read many of them, but I am appreciating the villainess trend.

SEAN: The Only Thing I’d Do in a No-Boys-Allowed Game World: Reincarnated as a Yuri Ship-Sinker (Danshi Kinsei Game Sekai de Ore ga Yarubeki Yuiitsu no Koto: Yuri no Aida ni Hasamaru Otoko toshite Tenseishiteshimaimashita) is a series about a male yuri fan who gets reincarnated into the world of his favorite yuri game. The trouble is, all the girls are falling for him rather than each other! While I appreciate this is a comedy, you’ll pardon me if I treat it as radioactive.

ASH: Fair.

SEAN: Recommendations for Bad Children (Warui Ko no Susume) seems to be a dark series about two classmates, dealing with a school system that thrives on abuse and discrimination, who decide to start breaking the rules. I’ve heard this is good, but it’s not my genre.

ASH: Hmmm. Closer to some of the genres that I read, when I’m in the mood.

SEAN: Whoever Steals This Book (Kono Hon wo Nusumu Mono wa) is the novel that the manga (also licensed by Yen) was based on. A girl who doesn’t really care for books is forced to when some books trigger a curse on her hometown.

ASH: I am intrigued.

SEAN: Also from Yen On: Babel 3, Bofuri 15, and Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table 3.

Yen Press also has debuts. Liar Liar is a manga based on the light novel, also from Yen. It runs in my nemesis, Comic Alive. As with Recommendations for Bad Children, it’s in the “the best way to inspire geniuses is to let them bully the crap out of the weak” genre, which always stars the weak, of course.

Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale is the manga adaptation of the movie based on the omnipresent SAO franchise. It ran in Comic Walker.

Victoria of Many Faces (Tefuda ga Oume no Victoria) is the manga adaptation of the light novel Yen also releases. It runs in Flos Comic. A spy betrayed by her boss fakes her death and moves to another country, trying to live a quiet, happy life.

ASH: A quiet, happy life sounds really nice right now.

ANNA: I’m into that.

SEAN: Also from Yen Press: Assorted Entanglements 7, Bocchi the Rock! 6, Bungo Stray Dogs: Wan! 10, CLAMP Premium Collection Tokyo Babylon 6, Dead Mount Death Play 13, Detroit: Become Human – Tokyo Stories 2 (the final volume), The Executioner and Her Way of Life 6, God Bless the Mistaken 4 (the final volume), The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn’t a Guy at All 2, Handyman Saitou in Another World 6, Honey Lemon Soda 8, I May Be a Guild Receptionist, But I’ll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out on Time 4, I’m a Behemoth, an S-Ranked Monster, but Mistaken for a Cat, I Live as an Elf Girl’s Pet 11, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level 14, Imitation 5, Is the Order a Rabbit? 2, Laid-Back Camp 16, Let This Grieving Soul Retire 9, Love of Kill 14 (the final volume), Mieruko-chan 10, Oshi no Ko 9, Reign of the Seven Spellblades 8, Riviere and the Land of Prayer 2, The Saga of Tanya the Evil 25, The Shiunji Family Children 3, So I’m a Spider, So What? 14, Sugar Apple Fairy Tale 4, The Three Body Problem: The Comic 2, The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat 7, and Witch Life in a Micro Room 4.

MICHELLE: I’m going to try to get caught up with The Guy She Was Interested In… before it seriously gets away from me.

ASH: I was finally able to get my hands on the first volume! I’m looking forward to reading it.

SEAN: Viz Media debuts Mujina into the Deep, the latest title from Inio Asano, a Big Comic Superior title about a jaded man who has his life overturned thanks to a runaway kid and an assassin. I suspect this will be very different from Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction.

ASH: I suspect it will be intense in one way or another, as Asano’s work tends to be.

SEAN: They’re also re-releasing Hunter x Hunter in 3-in-1 omnibuses.

Also from Viz: Choujin X 8, Hirayasumi 4, Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. 6, Mission: Yozakura Family 15, Rainbows After Storms 2, Rooster Fighter 7, and Twin Star Exorcists 33.

Tokyopop gives us Formerly, the Fallen Daughter of the Duke 6 and The Person I Loved Asked Me to Die in My Sister’s Stead 2.

Steamship debuts Loving Moon Dog (Koi Suru Moon Dog), a shoujo title from Hana to Yume Ai. It’s by the author of Skyblue Shore, which got culled as part of the Tokyopop collapse. A woman finds a doberman one day… who can turn into a hot guy! And is looking for a mate! This is actually a long-runner, and may be more shoujo than smutty despite the imprint.

MICHELLE: While I continue to have a sad about the unfinished shoujo series TOKYOPOP left behind, I just can’t with the “animals as love interest” genre.

ANNA: I’m also sad about Skyblue Shore but I’m with Michelle on skipping this.

SEAN: Steamship also has the print release of The Villainess and the Demon Knight (light novel) 2.

Square Enix Manga has Dragon and Chameleon 2.

Seven Seas debuts Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya: The Complete Manga Collection, which collects both volumes of the first manga spinoff of Fate that is “what if Ilya were a magical girl?”. Fans of Ilya will be happy, fans of Rin will be happy but also annoyed, probably.

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Hate Me, but Let Me Stay 3, Lonely Castle in the Mirror 5 (the final volume), Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation 20, My Boyfriend is a Dog 2, Nakamura-san, the Uninvited Gyaru 2, The New Recruit 2, Royal Tailor: Clothier to the Crown 3, Tokyo Revengers: A Letter from Keisuke Baji 3, Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! 12, and Wild Roses and Pretenders 2 (the final volume).

They also have a danmei title: the 3rd volume of Peerless.

One Peace Books has the 4th manga volume of Villainess Level 99.

Kodansha Manga debuts in print I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day (Kimi ga Shinu made Koi wo shitai), a yuri title from Comic Yuri Hime. A girl at a school for assassins hasn’t been the same since her roommate died. Then she meets an adorable new classmate who can turn her frown upside down! Oh yes, she first meets said classmate covered in blood.

ASH: Seems right.

ANNA: These things happen.

SEAN: Also in print: As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World 13, Battle Angel Alita Mars Chronicle 10, My Noisy Roommate 2, Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement 9, and Twilight Out of Focus 6 (the final volume so far, but I won’t be surprised if we get another sequel).

And digitally we see Having an Idol-Loving Boyfriend is the Best! 6 (the final volume) and My Boyfriend in Orange 14.

J-Novel Club, in print, has Black Summoner 4, Hell Mode 7, My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! 7, Reborn to Master the Blade 5, and Reborn to Master the Blade 5. (Light novel and manga, respectively.)

There are two digital debuts, both light novels. Knock Yourself Out! The Goddess Beat the Final Boss in the Tutorial, So Now I’m Free to Do Whatever (Ato wa Gojiyuu ni Douzo! Tutorial de Kamisama ga Last Boss Taoshichatta no de, Watashi wa Suki Houdai Ikiteiku) is one of the “I’m a guy reincarnated in a girl’s body” titles we’ve seen on occasion. A goddess wants her to defeat the final boss… and the immediately does so herself, using our heroine’s powers. Now what?

Pens Down, Swords Up: Throw Your Studies to the Wind (Ken to Mahou to Gakureki Shakai: Zense wa Gariben datta Ore ga, Konyo wa Kaze Makase de Jiyuu ni Ikitai) has a reincarnated as a noble guy. He spent his past life doing nothing but study, so wants to be a swords and magic sorta guy this time around. Sadly, you have to study to be able to do that.

ASH: A valuable lesson to be learned!

SEAN: Also from J-Novel Club in light novels: The Diary of a Middle-Aged Sage’s Carefree Life in Another World 5, Duchess in the Attic 3, The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects 7, The Legendary Witch Is Reborn as an Oppressed Princess 3, Magic Stone Gourmet 8, and The Otome Heroine’s Fight for Survival 4.

And from J-Novel Club in manga: The 100th Time’s the Charm 3, The Banished Former Hero Lives As He Pleases 5, Bibliophile Princess 8, Duchess in the Attic 5, Fushi no Kami 6, My Quiet Blacksmith Life in Another World 4, and Seirei Gensouki 11.

I’ve been ignoring Yen Press’s Korean imprint Ize Press forever, and I apologize. I’m trying to get better about putting Chinese and Korean titles in this list, even if I can’t point to a magazine and genre and say “ah ha!”. So let’s see what Ize has this week.

The debut is Kill the Villainess (Angnyeoreul Jugyeo Jwo), which is a webtoon but otherwise fits the villainess genre precisely. There’s just one hitch: our villainess is trying really hard to go back to her life in Japan, so all these love interests are a pain.

Also from Ize Press: A Business Proposal 8, Solo Levelling 11, The Star Seekers 6, Tied to You 4, Unholy Blood 5, Villains Are Destined to Die 7, The Villainess Turns the Hourglass 6, and The World After the Fall 9.

Ghost Ship has The Cursed Sword Master’s Harem Life 2, Into the Deepest, Most Unknowable Dungeon 10, and Might as Well Cheat 9.

Dark Horse Comics has Danganronpa 2: Chiaki Nanami’s Goodbye Despair Quest 2.

And Airship, in print, has Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! 19, Sword of the Demon Hunter 8, and Too Many Losing Heroines! 3.

And we get one early digital release: I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! 8.

That sure was a Yen week. Adding Ize didn’t help. What are you reading?

ASH: This column.

SEAN: It’s the week of Valentine’s Day, and a reminder that you should be very careful what manga you give your partner. Check their tastes!

Three print volumes for Airship, as we see Adachi and Shimamura: Short Stories, There’s No Freaking Way I’ll be Your Lover! Unless… 6, and True Love Fades Away When the Contract Ends 2.

And in early digital we get Loner Life in Another World 11 and The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary 10.

Cross Infinite World stuns us all by releasing a digital series away from the last day of the month. Love & Magic Academy: Who Cares about the Heroine and Villainess? I Want to Be the Strongest in this Otome Game World (Renai Mahou Gakuin: Heroine mo Akuyaku Reijou mo Kankeinai. Ore wa Otome Game Sekai de Saikyou wo Mezasu) is a light novel for those who wondered what a male Yumiella from Villainess Level 99 would be like. Though perhaps not quite as weird as Yumiella.

Ghost Ship has The Hungry Succubus Wants to Consume Him 2.

J-Novel Club has three print releases: Ascendance of a Bookworm Manga Arc 2 Volume 9, Infinite Dendrogram 21, and the 6th Tearmoon Empire manga.

ASH: I really should try the manga adaptations of Ascendance of a Bookworm and Tearmoon Empire at some point; I’ve enjoyed their counterparts!

SEAN: J-Novel Club’s digital debut is Mercedes and the Waning Moon: The Dungeoneering Feats of a Discarded Vampire Aristocrat (Kaketa Tsuki no Mercedes: Kyuuketsuki no Kizoku ni Tenseishita kedo Suteraresou nano de Dungeon wo Seihasuru) had its manga debut two weeks ago, and here’s the light novel. A young woman knows that once her father picks a successor she’ll be abandoned, so knows what to do: dungeon crawl.

Also from J-Novel Club: The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases 4, By the Grace of the Gods 15, A Cozy Life in the Woods with the White Witch 2, the 4th The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World manga, and the 12th The Unwanted Undead Adventurer manga.

Kodansha Manga has one print debut: Fall In Love, You False Angels (Koiseyo Mayakashi Tenshi-domo), a shoujo manga from Dessert by the author of Hoteri Hotette First Kiss. A beautiful “perfect” girl is chosen to be class president, and her vice-president is a handsome “perfect” guy. Except she’s secretly a martial artist, and hiding her true face behind a mask. Is he the same? Wait, isn’t this Kare Kano for the new generation?

MICHELLE: In fact, the blurb on Amazon references Kare Kano, too!

ANNA: I mean, I did enjoy most of Kare Kano.

ASH: And I do have a soft spot for secret martial artists…

SEAN: Also in print: The Fable Omnibus 6, Grand Blue Dreaming 21, Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms 10, and Pass the Monster Meat, Milady! 7.

Digitally we get Gang King 26, Giant Killing 47, I Have a Crush at Work 8, Nina the Starry Bride 14, Parasyte Reversi 3, That Beauty Is a Tramp 4, With You and the Rain 7, and Yozakura Quartet 32.

MICHELLE: Woo, Giant Killing.

ANNA: Yay for Nina the Starry Bride!

SEAN: One Peace Books has the 3rd volume of Kurokiya-san Wants to Lead Him Around by the Nose.

Seven Seas has a bunch of debuts. Choking on Love (Museru Kurai no Ai wo Ageru) is a shoujo manga from Dessert. A straight-laced graphic designer. A free-spirit musician. Can they get along? Can they find love?

MICHELLE: I’m guessing they can.

ASH: A musician and a “chaotic encounter at a ramen shop” — yeah, that’s absolutely something that I’d give a try.

SEAN: I Want to Escape from Princess Lessons (Hikyouiku kara Nigetai Watashi) is a shoujo manga based on the light novel released by J-Novel Club, and it runs in Comic Pash!. A woman who’s been trained to the point of abuse for ten years to be a royal finds her fiance with another woman and immediately breaks the engagement, runs away from home, and flees to a far-off piece of the middle of nowhere. Sadly for her, her love interest is a shoujo love interest circa 2006. She’ll NEVER get away…

ANNA: Rooting for her!

SEAN: King the Land is a webtoon Korean manwha inspired by a K-drama, and thus really far outside my wheelhouse. Two childhood friends are ripped apart by tragedy. Now it’s years later, and all there is is bitterness.

ANNA: I watched part of the drama but didn’t make it through the full season.

SEAN: The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside by My Fiancé and Sold to Another Kingdom (Kanpeki Sugite Kawaigeganai to Konyaku Hakisareta Seijo wa Ringoku ni Urareru) is the manga version of the light novel Seven Seas has already released. It runs in Comic Gardo.

In danmei news, Seven Seas has Case File Compendium: Bing An Ben 4.

ASH: I am sadly behind in most of my danmei reading.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: A Certain Scientific Railgun 19, Crossplay Love: Otaku x Punk 11, Even Though We’re Adults 10 (the final volume), Gravitation: Collector’s Edition 4, The Lady and Her Butler 3, Sheep Princess in Wolf’s Clothing 5 (the final volume), Stay By My Side After the Rain 3, and Tomo-chan is a Girl! Omnibus 2.

MICHELLE: I hope to read Even Though We’re Adults in one swell foop (sic), now that it’s complete.

ASH: Looks like that’s what I’ll be doing, too!

SEAN: Somehow I missed that Square Enix had their Perfect Editions of Soul Eater and Soul Eater Not! both end this week until just now, so they should have been on last week’s list. Yet another reason to never trust me. Vol. 17 and 3, respectively.

ASH: The reprints do look pretty snazzy.

SEAN: In titles actually out next week, there’s The Otaku Love Connection (Otaku mo Koi mo Rensa suru), a shoujo manga from Gangan Pixiv. A guy is perfectly happy to ship the gorgeous couple of his class, but for all his shipping desires he never realizes the attention he gets himself.

We also get Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! 13 and My Isekai Life 17.

ASH: I’m still enjoying Cherry Magic!, though I do have some catching up to do.

SEAN: A debut from SuBLime: Palace of the Omega (Kouguu no Omega), an omegaverse title from Cheri+. A prince is not only 13th in line for the throne, but also – the horror! The shame! – an omega, so he’s married off to another kingdom. Then he finds his husband is… not spoiling the manga in the blurb for once. I hate it when husbands do that.

Tokyopop has been piling on lately, and we get three MORE debuts next week. A Lovestruck Cat Wants to Be Petted (Koisuru Neko wa Naderaretai) is a one-shot BL title from Comic Marginal. A cat has a crush on the pet shop owner. Then… he suddenly becomes human?!

The Margrave’s Daughter & the Enemy Prince (Urareta Henkyou Haku Reijou wa Ringoku no Outaishi ni Dekiaisareru) is a josei title from COMIC ROOM. A tomboy princess who wants to lead men in battle rather than deal with royalty finds her kingdom taken over and her father killed. Now she’s been “given” to the enemy prince… but it’s fine. She’ll get her revenge.

ANNA: Rooting for her too!!!!

ASH: Likewise!

SEAN: White Liar is a one-shot BL title from LiQulle. A jaded hairdresser has vowed never to fall in love. But then he meets an up and coming actor…

MICHELLE : Hm.

SEAN: Tokyopop also has the 3rd volume of Boys Gilding the Lily Shall Die!?.

Viz’s debut is Pokémon: Scarlet & Violet, a sequel to Sword and Shield. It runs in Corocoro Ichiban!.

Also from Viz: Akane-banashi 10, Fly Me to the Moon 27, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 12, Hayate the Combat Butler 45, I Wanna Do Bad Things with You 4, I Want to End This Love Game 5, My Hero Academia 40, and Sakura, Saku 6.

MICHELLE: It has literally been five years now since I reviewed a volume of My Hero Academia. Now that it’s drawing to a close, I should probably get back on it.

SEAN: And that’s it, as Yen Press must wait till next week. Till then, who’s your true love?

ASH: Could it be… manga? (Or maybe sleep…)

SEAN: The shortest month is here, but don’t expect less manga.

Yen still has a few stragglers from January. Yen On has a 6th volume of The Eminence in Shadow.

And Yen Press has Pink and Habanero 2.

Viz Media “debuts” Boruto: Two Blue Vortex, which is basically “Boruto after the timeskip”. It still runs in V Jump.

Also from Viz: Colette Decides to Die 2, Dandadan 11, The Elusive Samurai 14, In the Name of the Mermaid Princess 5, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Shining Diamond’s Demonic Heartbreak 2, Kagurabachi 2, Prince Freya 11, Queen’s Quality 21, Rainbow Days 14, World Trigger 27, and Yona of the Dawn 43.

MICHELLE: Man, I haven’t read any Yona in so long. Time to remedy that!

ASH: I have some catching up with Yona to do, too. I’ve also recently been told I should read Dandadan.

ANNA: I also need to catch up with Yona

SEAN: THREE debuts for Tokyopop. I Don’t Need a Script for Love (Ai no Serifu wa Irimasen) is a one-shot BL title that ran in from RED. Actor and model have a one-night stand… but then the model is brought in as an emergency replacement in the actor’s show! He doesn’t fraternize with cast members… BUT…

My Contract With the Apothecary Monster (Kusuri no Mamono no Kaiko Riyuu) is a shoujo manga based on an unlicensed light novel, which runs in Comic Corona. A girl forms a contract with a monster, which usually means giving up years of her life, but he doesn’t seem to want that. What does he want?

ASH: Indeed, what could it be?

SEAN: This Is But a Hell of a Dream (Kore wa Akumade Yumenanode) is a one-shot BL title that ran in from RED. A naive incubus is brought home by an alluring host… and the host has to teach him what being an incubus is all about. *cough*

ASH: One would think that would have been covered during orientation.

SEAN: Steamship gives us Outbride: Beauty and the Beasts 7.

Square Enix Books has a 4th print volume of The Apothecary Diaries, which will be the 2nd half of this anime season, for the curious.

ASH: I’ve been enjoying this series.

SEAN: And Square Enix Manga has the 6th and final volume of SINoALICE.

Debuting from Seven Seas is Now That We Draw (Kakunaru Ue wa), a seinen title from Young Animal. A high school manga wannabe is told by an editor his manga is too boring. But when a classmate of his sees it and reveals she’s an artist with similar problems, they get into a fake relationship to help each other with ideas. It’s Young Animal, so expect this to have a pile of fanservice.

ASH: That’s one way to solve writer’s block, I guess.

SEAN: Pet Shop of Horrors: Collector’s Edition (Maboroshi No Hana Yoi No Tsuki) is a re-release of the series Tokyopop put out 20 years ago. It ran in Horror M, as well as Apple Mystery. A pet shop sells strange animals that seem to be involved in strange situations… and the owner? Also strange. This is a new translation, and I believe the Bunkoban release, so 300 pages or so.

MICHELLE: I am excited for this! I own the TOKYOPOP editions, but never got around to reading it.

ASH: It’s a good-looking edition!

ANNA: I read several volumes of the old edition and liked it!

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: CANDY AND CIGARETTES 11 (the final volume), Daily Report About My Witch Senpai 4, Delinquent Daddy and Tender Teacher 6 (the final volume), Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord 4, Hatsukoi Note 2, Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)! 2, I Married My Female Friend 4 (the final volume), I Ship My Rival x Me 2, Lazy Dungeon Master 10, My Dear Detective: Mitsuko’s Case Files 2, Sword of the Demon Hunter: Kijin Gentōshō 6, A Tale of the Secret Saint 8, and Throw Away the Suit Together 3 (the final volume).

MICHELLE: I should read My Dear Detective!

ASH: Likewise.

SEAN: There’s also Case File Compendium: Bing An Ben 4 for danmei.

One Peace Books has the 10th and final volume of Usotoki Rhetoric.

MICHELLE: Oh, already over!

ASH: The perfect time for me to finally get around to reading more.

SEAN: No debuts for Kodansha Manga. In print we see A Condition Called Love 11, The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity 5, MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM THE ORIGIN MSD Cucuruz Doan’s Island 3, Ogami-san Can’t Keep It In 7 (the final volume), The Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse 15, Snow & Ink 2, Vinland Saga Deluxe 6, WIND BREAKER 9, and Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun 12.

MICHELLE: All those other times I pledged to read Iruma-kun, I didn’t manage to do it. Will this time be different?

ASH: I believe in you!

SEAN: Digitally we have Chihayafuru 48, My Wife is a Little Intimidating 10, Shangri-La Frontier 19, and Those Snow White Notes 25.

J-Novel Club has one debut, The Hero-Killing Bride (Yūsha-goroshi no Hanayome). The plot will sound a bit familiar to fans of The Executioner and Her Way of Life. Our heroine is a nun who’s actually an inquisitor, and is assigned to seduce and kill the hero who is getting to be more popular than the church. Except the hero is also a girl. This is dark yuri, along the lines of… well, The Executioner and Her Way of Life.

ASH: Huh.

SEAN: Also from J-Novel Club: Dimension Wave 2, Doll-Kara 9, Finding Avalon 5, Gushing over Magical Girls 11, The Hero and the Sage, Reincarnated and Engaged 3, the 2nd The Oblivious Saint Can’t Contain Her Power manga, the 5th Peddler in Another World manga, Reincarnated Mage with Inferior Eyes 7, The Reincarnated Princess Spends Another Day Skipping Story Routes 9, The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World 3, Seventh 10, and VTuber Legend 8.

Ghost Ship has a 13th volume of 2.5 Dimensional Seduction.

And Airship has, in print, the debut of The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside By My Fiancé and Sold to Another Kingdom (Kanpeki Sugite Kawaige ga Nai to Konyaku Haki Sareta Seijo wa Ringoku ni Urareru). The title is the plot, but having read the digital version, I’m far more excited for the upcoming anime. This does interesting things.

ASH: That’s good to know!

SEAN: Also in print: The Mimosa Confessions 3, Reborn as a Space Mercenary 11, Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling 9, and Though I Am an Inept Villainess 8.

And there’s early digital for Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord 4 and Witch and Mercenary 2.

I’ve decided to streamline these lists by removing the parts of the light novel titles that come after the colon (except for debuts). Did it help?

MICHELLE: Yes!

ASH: That’s a good trick; don’t let the secret out.

SEAN: January is coming to a close, let’s see what we’ve got.

ASH: I bet it’s manga. And maybe some light novels?

SEAN: Airship has one print volume, the 5th and final I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again!.

And for early digital titles we see The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior 8, Too Many Losing Heroines! 3, and Trapped in a Dating Sim: Otome Games Are Tough For Us, Too! 3.

Cross Infinite World gives us the debut of Dinners with My Darling: How the Former Monster King Ate Her Way to Happiness (Aisanai to Iwaremashite mo – Moto Maou no Hakushaku Reijou wa Kimajime Gunjin ni Ezuke wo Sarete Shiawase ni naru). A young woman enters a political marriage with her military husband, who says he’ll never love her. Little does he know that merely by feeding her he’s better than her old family!

ASH: I will admit, there are elements of this premise that appeal to me. (And others that don’t.)

SEAN: Also from CIW is How I Swapped Places with the Villainess, Beat Up Her Fiancé, and Found True Love 2 and Let’s Get to Villainessin’: Stratagems of a Former Commoner 2.

Ghost Ship debuts The Elf Sisters Can’t Wait for the Night (Yonshimai (Elf) wa Yoru wo Omachikane), a Dragon Age manga about a guy who can rouse the “Queen’s Blood” in four elf sisters, so gets permission to prank them every night. And by prank I mean sleep with.

ASH: Four!

SEAN: Hanashi Media has the 5th volume of Tsukimichi Moonlit Fantasy.

J-Novel Club has three debuts next week. Meals Made to Order: How to Domesticate Your Dragon with Delicacies! (Misuterareta Ikenie Reijou wa Senyou Skill “Otoriyose” de Jaryuu wo Ezukesuru) stars a young woman who … sigh… can’t activate her magic skill, so everyone hates her, she’s disowned, and she’s being fed to a dragon. She then awakens her isekai memories, and realizes her skill is “Doordash gourmet meals from Earth straight to her”. Now she can feed the dragon tasty food rather than herself!

ASH: Okay, dinners with dragons might actually get me to read this.

SEAN: Mercedes and the Waning Moon: The Dungeoneering Feats of a Discarded Vampire Aristocrat (Kaketa Tsuki no Mercedes: Kyuuketsuki no Kizoku ni Tenseishita kedo Suteraresou nano de Dungeon wo Seihasuru) is the manga version of a light novel JNC will soon be releasing, and it runs in Comic Corona. A young woman knows that once her father picks a successor she’ll be abandoned, so knows what to do: dungeon crawl.

Shannon Wants to Die! (Shinitagari no Shannon: Dragon ni Taberarete Mita) is about an immortal mage who has gotten sick of immortality. Unfortunately, nothing seems to kill her!

ASH: I do like stories about immortality…

SEAN: Also from J-Novel Club: the 2nd Accidentally in Love: The Witch, the Knight, and the Love Potion Slipup manga, Dagashi-ya Yahagi: Setting Up a Sweets Shop in Another World 3, Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight 16 (the final volume), The Emperor’s Lady-in-Waiting Is Wanted as a Bride 5, the 6th I’ll Never Set Foot in That House Again! manga, I’m a Noble on the Brink of Ruin, So I Might as Well Try Mastering Magic 5, Invaders of the Rokujouma!? 46, Rebuild World 6 Part 1, The Reincarnator and the Goblin Maiden’s Happily Ever After: Using a Past Life to Keep a Joyful Wife 2, and Tearmoon Empire 14.

Kaiten Books has a 9th print volume of the Loner Life in Another World manga.

Kodansha Books has a 7th volume of My Unique Skill Makes Me OP Even at Level 1.

One print debut for Kodansha Manga: Honeko Akabane’s Bodyguards (Akabane Honeko no Bodyguard), a Weekly Shonen Magazine title about a guy who has to protect his classmate against numerous assassins… without her knowing it!

Also in print: Gazing at the Star Next Door 4, Hitorijime My Hero 15, Suzume 3 (the final volume), and Toppu GP 13.

SEAN: Digitally the debut is Killing Line, a josei series from Be Love that’s from the creator of Searching for My Perfect Brother. A young woman is invited to a group date, only for the date to be interrupted by an assassin who has a hit out on one of the other participants, and wants to leave no witnesses! Can she manage to survive? This is a dark comedy, apparently.

MICHELLE: Huh. Could be good!

ANNA: Dark comedy and assassins are things that I like.

ASH: Same!

SEAN: Also digitally we see Am I Actually the Strongest? 13, As the Gods Will 3, Chihiro-kun Only Has Eyes for Me 11, A Couple of Cuckoos 21, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 29, Gamaran: Shura 28, and WIND BREAKER 18.

MICHELLE: Someday, I really will read Elegant Yokai Apartment Life.

ASH: I really ought to, as well.

SEAN: One Peace Books has a 13th volume of The New Gate.

The debut for Seven Seas is Home Sweet Home (Hiiragi-senpai to Ofutari-sama), a shoujo manga from Betsuma. A girl tired of changing schools when her dad changes jobs wants to stay home by herself, but is OK with living with the daughter of her dad’s boss. Only… it’s the SON of her dad’s boss. This is from the creator of Rainbow Days.

MICHELLE: I didn’t like Rainbow Days at all, but the lure of Margaret (or an offshoot) cannot be denied. Shallowly, the cover to volume one is cute!

ANNA: Margaret and related things are intriguing.

ASH: Hmmm.

SEAN: There’s also a mature webtoon title, The Missing “O”, about a woman who had a one-night stand that gave her the perfect orgasm, and she’s spent years trying to find her lover again. Unfortunately, she doesn’t remember his name.

ASH: Whoops.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Checkmate 2, The Dragon Knight’s Beloved 8, Karate Survivor in Another World 7, Magical Buffs: The Support Caster is Stronger Than He Realized! 2, Otaku Elf 8, Precarious Woman Executive Miss Black General 11, The Summer You Were There 6 (the final volume), and Yokai Cats 9.

Steamship has a 2nd volume of I’ll Never Be Your Crown Princess! – Betrothed.

Also from Tokyopop: A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation 10, I Was Reincarnated as the Heroine on the Verge of a Bad Ending, and I’m Determined to Fall in Love! 2, I Was Reincarnated as the Villainess in an Otome Game but the Boys Love Me Anyway! 6, Let’s Eat Together, Aki and Haru 3 (the final volume), and Watch Dogs Tokyo 3 (the final volume).

Udon Entertainment debuts Mr. Mega Man (Rockman-san), a slice-of-life title from Young Ace Up based on the classic game. (It got bumped.)

And there’s also Little Mega Man, a gag manga based on the game that also runs in Young Ace Up.

Viz Media gives us Boy’s Abyss 8, How Do We Relationship? 12, and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 6–Stone Ocean 8.

ASH: I am so far behind but still excited for JJBA.

SEAN: And Yen Press has three debuts that didn’t come out in last week’s deluge. The Color of the End: Mission in the Apocalypse (Usuzumi no Hate) is a seinen title from Harta. If you like “wandering a post-apocalyptic hellscape” manga (and let’s face it, that’s a genre now), this is for you.

ASH: It is… and I do.

SEAN: I Picked Up This World’s Strategy Guide (Kono Sekai no Kouryakuhon wo Hirotte Shimaimashita) is from the magazine Isekai Comic (it has its own magazine now?). A young girl going out to pick herbs finds a mysterious book… which tells her all about the fate of her village and country! But she’s an NPC-type! What should she do?

Takahashi from the Bike Shop (Jitenshaya-san no Takahashi-kun) is an award-winning josei title from Torch, and it’s also been mad into a live-action drama. A woman who is dealing with her terrible job finds the one person she can confide in is, well, see title.

MICHELLE: Sounds potentially cute!

ANNA: It does sound cute!

ASH: I’m looking forward to this one!

SEAN: Yen also has Elden Ring: The Road to the Erdtree 5 and the 2nd and final volume of When the Villainess Seduces the Main Heroine.

Much better than last week. Well, a little better. What are you getting?

SEAN: This week we see January, traditionally the month with the fewest releases, take on Yen Press, which always buries us in stuff on the same week. Who wins?

ASH: We all do! Somehow. I think?

SEAN: The debut from Yen On is a one-shot and award-winner, Love Unseen Beneath the Clear Night Sky (Toumei na Yoru ni Kakeru Kimi to, Me ni Mienai Koi wo Shita), a romance title about an introverted college guy whose world opens up after he meets a blind woman. This is not an adaptation based on a movie but feels like it is.

ASH: Oh, interesting.

SEAN: We also see Solo Leveling: The Novel Omnibus, a giant brick featuring all the books to date.

ASH: That’s one way to do it… and does remind me this is a series I’m supposed to try at some point.

SEAN: And we get new volumes! Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki’s Conjecture 5, Even a Replica Can Fall in Love 2, Gods’ Games We Play 4, Hell Is Dark with No Flowers 2, Hero Syndrome 2, If the Villainess and Villain Met and Fell in Love 3, The Irregular at Magic High School 24, My Happy Marriage 8, Sabikui Bisco 9, and Sasaki and Peeps 8.

MICHELLE: I should potentially check out My Happy Marriage.

ANNA: Oh, me too.

SEAN: From Yen Press, we debut Everyone’s Darling Has a Secret (Houkago no Idol ni wa Himitsu ga aru), a seinen title from Manga Park. A young man who needs to get top scores or else ends up screwing up the answer sheet and gets sent to remedial classes… where he meets the prettiest girl in school!

Hell Is Dark with No Flowers (Jigoku Kurayami Hana mo Naki) is a manga adaptation of the light novel Yen is also releasing. It runs in Young Ace.

I’m Here, Beside You (Anata no Osoba ni) is a BL title from B’s-LOVEY. Our protagonist always loved the very straight class president in high school, but never did anything. Now he finds the ex-president is getting married… to a man! Drinking himself into a stupor filled with regrets, he wakes up… in his high school past?

MICHELLE: Welp, that’s an instant pre-order.

ASH: I am likewise intrigued!

ANNA: I’m curious!

SEAN: Also from Yen Press: Ako and Bambi 4, Bungo Stray Dogs: Dazai, Chuuya, Age Fifteen 3, Call the Name of the Night 5 (the final volume), Chained Soldier 10, Cheerful Amnesia 5, Days with My Stepsister 2, The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy 8, From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman 2, The Girl I Saved on the Train Turned Out to Be My Childhood Friend 8, Goblin Slayer Side Story II: Dai Katana 7, Hakumei & Mikochi: Tiny Little Life in the Woods 12, The Holy Grail of Eris 9, Kowloon Generic Romance 9, Lord Hades’s Ruthless Marriage 3 (the final volume), Magical Explorer 2, Miss Savage Fang 2, Saint? No! I’m Just a Passing Beast Tamer! 5, Sasaki and Miyano 10, Sasaki and Peeps 3, Shadows House 8, She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat 5, Shy 9, So What’s Wrong with Getting Reborn as a Goblin? 7, Spring Storm and Monster 2, Sword Art Online: Kiss and Fly 3, This Monster Wants to Eat Me 3, Toilet-bound Hanako-kun 21, Tougen Anki: Legend of the Cursed Blood 2, Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet 9, and Your Forma 2.

ASH: Okay, yeah, Yen might have won.

SEAN: Viz has two debuts. Tokyo Alien Bros. is a seinen title from the creator of Hirayasumi, and ran in Gekkan! Spirits. Two aliens come to earth to investigate humans. One is very good at blending in. The other… isn’t.

ASH: Sounds absolutely like something I would read.

We also get Vagabond Definitive Edition, which is self-explanatory. 728 pages, $55 hardcover, filled with Takehiko Inoue, which justifies the price.

ASH: This should be glorious. I’m seriously considering upgrading from my VizBig editions.

ANNA: I’m not in favor of double dipping since I also have the VizBig editions but that is tempting.

SEAN: Also from Viz: After God 2, Record of Ragnarok 13, Red River 3-in-1 2, Snowball Earth 4, Steel of the Celestial Shadows 5, Trillion Game 3, and Undead Unluck 18.

ANNA: Red River! Red River! Red River!

SEAN: Square Enix has a 3rd manga volume of The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten.

Seven Seas has two debuts, one manga and one danmei. The manga is Only I Know the World Is Ending and Getting Killed by Rampaging Beasts Only Makes Me Stronger (Kono Sekai ga Izure Horobu Koto wo, Ore dake ga Shitte Iru) is based on an as-yet unlicensed light novel, and its very title exhausts me. It runs in Magazine Pocket, and is a reverse isekai and a “I can return by death!” sort of thing, only unlike Subaru, this guy also gets skills.

Run Wild: Sa Ye is another one of those books which has spawned lots of adaptations. A young man who decides that living with his gambling-addicted dad is better than the contempt he gets from his adoptive parents goes to live with him, only to run into a brother and sister who end up changing his life! (It’s danmei, so you can probably guess which sibling changes his life more.)

MICHELLE: Heh.

ASH: Why, whatever do you mean?

ANNA: It must be the sister.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: After School Etude 2, A Cat from Our World and the Forgotten Witch 4, Cat on the Hero’s Lap 4 (the final volume), Diary of a Female Lead: Shujinkou Nikki 2, Dinghai Fusheng Records (manhua version) 2, Free Life Fantasy Online: Immortal Princess 9, How My Daddies Became Mates 2, I Abandoned My Engagement Because My Sister is a Tragic Heroine, but Somehow I Became Entangled with a Righteous Prince 2, The Lady Knight and the Beast-Eared Child 2, My Kitten is a Picky Eater 2, ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! 6, and Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs 11.

A manga debut from One Peace Books. The Revenge of My Youth: Re Life with an Angelic Girl (Inkya Datta Ore no Seishun Revenge – Tenshi sugiru Ano Ko wa Ayumu Re Life) is a shonen series based on an as-yet unlicensed light novel, and it runs in Comp Ace. An office worker at a black company drops dead and wakes up back in high school! Now he can make his high school life more vibrant, and also save the life of the cutest girl in school, who committed suicide after being bullied. Hence the revenge part of the title.

KUMA is listed as having two one-shots out next week. Even if There’s No Rainbow Tomorrow (Ashita Niji ga Denakute mo) is a one-shot title from On Blue. An online romance between a drag queen and a sleepy salaryman.

MICHELLE: I’ve had this pre-ordered for a while. I’m definitely looking forward to it.

ASH: What a pretty cover!

ANNA: Sounds cool.

SEAN: And there’s also Guardians of the Far Frontier (Hategaikaku no Bannin), a Lily Hoshino series from Rutile. An aristocrat with PTSD after being the only survivor of a battle is sent to a faraway outpost. Can a sorcerer help him with his nightmares?

ASH: Lily Hoshino is a name is don’t remember seeing for a while!

ANNA: Oh yeah, that’s a bit of a throwback.

SEAN: Kodansha has debuts. Dogs and Punching Bags (Inu to Sandbag) is the latest title from Kaori Ozaki, creator of The Gods Lie and Mermaid Prince. This ran in Gekkan! Spirits, and stars a woman returning home to help her drunken father live out his final days. She runs into a man whose enthusiasm for life contrasts entirely with her own. This release has both volumes, so is complete in one.

MICHELLE: Intriguing!

ASH: I missed that we were getting more Kaori Ozaki manga! That makes me very happy.

ANNA: It makes me happy too!

SEAN: Dra-Q is a seinen title that runs in Young Magazine. A quiet high school student has a secret… she’s a vampire! (Yeah, sorry, Dra-Q does not mean drag queen, this is not that kind of manga.) She can attend school but is forbidden to fall in love, so naturally the guy she has a crush on finds out her secret.

ASH: Seems right.

ANNA: Listen, these things happen when you are a secret vampire.

SEAN: Also in print: Gachiakuta 5, The Great Cleric 12, The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World 12, Kei X Yaku: Bound By Law 4, Ninja Vs. Gokudo 5, and Shimazaki in the Land of Peace 2.

Digitally there’s Boss Wife 9 (the final volume), Hozuki’s Coolheadedness 24, MF Ghost 20, Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms 15, and Ya Boy Kongming! 18.

J-Novel Club actually had some print out that should have gone on last week’s list, but it wasn’t on Yen’s site. Cross-pollination of publishers confuses me. THIS week they have Blade & Bastard 3 and My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! —AO— 7 out in print.

Last week they had Ascendance of a Bookworm 28, I Shall Survive Using Potions! 9, and Tearmoon Empire 11.

As for digital titles, there are two debuts. The first is the manga version of Imperial Reincarnation: I Came, I Saw, I Survived (Tensei Shitara Koutei deshita – Umare Nagara no Koutei wa Kono Saki Ikinokoreru ka), which runs in Comic Corona, and whose light novel JNC will be releasing soon. Our hero is reincarnated as a young child emperor who everyone wants to use as a puppet. Can he somehow control his own destiny?

The other debut is one I’ve been waiting for for some time. The Trials and Tribulations of My Next Life as a Noblewoman (Tensei Reijou to Suuki na Jinsei wo) has a deceptively dull title but has been called “the light novel Game of Thrones”. Our heroine is reborn as a rich noble, but with no magic or powers, just a normal woman. Unfortunately, when she hits fourteen, the drama starts, as she’s exiled from her home, and then at sixteen she’s dragged back to an arranged marriage. I have been told that this is dark but really good.

ASH: My curiosity has been piqued.

SEAN: Also from J-Novel Club: Ascendance of a Bookworm: Short Story Collection 2, Chivalry of a Failed Knight 4, the 7th The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects manga, the 8th Full Clearing Another World under a Goddess with Zero Believers manga, the 9th Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World manga, A Late-Start Tamer’s Laid-Back Life 12, When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace 12, and You Were Experienced, I Was Not 6.

Ghost Ship has Ayakashi Triangle 13, Inside the Tentacle Cave 4, Monster Marriage Shop 2, and Yandere Dark Elf: She Chased Me All the Way From Another World! 2.

I can feel Ed Chavez glaring at me from here, but retailers say the legendary They Were 11! (11-nin Iru!) is out next week. I know it’s probably still a placeholder date. Sorry. It *is* coming soon. A shoujo story from 1975 by Moto Hagio that ran in Betsucomi, and honestly if you did not order this when you heard the name Moto Hagio, then you should probably be reading some other weekly manga releases post.

MICHELLE: I was lucky enough to obtain a copy of Four Shojo Stories, in which the original run of “They Were Eleven” appeared, but this new edition also contains a sequel series, so I am definitely looking forward to that!

ASH: I also have one of the illicit copies of Four Shojo Stories and am likewise really looking forward to this release whenever it happens to come out.

ANNA: Did you know that I also have a copy of Four Shojo Stories somewhere in my house? But I can’t find it and will totally buy They Were Eleven whenever it is available.

SEAN: Airship, in print, has Free Life Fantasy Online: Immortal Princess 8 and She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 12.

And in early digital there is Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells 11.5 and Sword of the Demon Hunter: Kijin Gentōshō 8.

So, it turns out January is no longer the month no one releases anything. What are you getting?

SEAN: Somehow it’s still 2025.

ASH: My brain has managed to jump ahead to 2026 and back to 2024 simultaneously, which I guess evens out to 2025?

SEAN: In print, Airship has I Abandoned My Engagement Because My Sister is a Tragic Heroine, but Somehow I Became Entangled with a Righteous Prince 2.

MICHELLE: I like the title, at least!

SEAN: And digitally they have True Love Fades Away When the Contract Ends 2.

Drawn and Quarterly debuts a classic, The Legend of Kamui (Kamui Den). This 60s manga was serialized in Garo, and is NOT the 80s version that was put out by Viz Media. An Edo-Period historical drama with ninjas, it’s so influential even Tezuka praised it for bringing drama and ideology to manga. This is the first omnibus, and is 600 pages.

ANNA: Oooh, interesting.

ASH: This is huge. I am so incredibly happy and excited for this release. And was fortunate to receive an early copy which I am absolutely loving.

SEAN: No debuts for J-Novel Club, but we do see After-School Dungeon Diver: Level Grinding in Another World 4, the 10th Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill manga, Demon Lord, Retry! 9, From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman: My Hotshot Disciples Are All Grown Up Now, and They Won’t Leave Me Alone 5, the 11th How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom manga, Let This Grieving Soul Retire 6, The Misfit of Demon King Academy 8, My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! —AΩ— 9, Record of Wortenia War 27, and the third The Water Magician manga.

Kodansha also has no debuts. In print, they have Ajin: Demi-Human Complete 2, Blue Lock: Episode Nagi 2, ORIGIN 8, The Seven Deadly Sins Omnibus 14 (the final volume), Sheltering Eaves 2, Versus 2, and Witch Hat Atelier 13.

MICHELLE: I really liked the first volume of Sheltering Eaves!

ANNA: I cannot believe I am so far behind in Witch Hat Atelier it is a personal failing.

ASH: I have a few volumes I’ve been saving which I’ll be reading all at once.

SEAN: And for digital we see Blue Lock 29, Gang King 25, Manchuria Opium Squad 4, Tokyo Tarareba Girls Returns 2 5, and We’re New at This 18 (the final volume).

MICHELLE: How am I already this far behind with Tokyo Tarareba Girls Returns 2?!

SEAN: One Peace have the 5th light novel volume of The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic.

Just one debut for Seven Seas. Glasses with a Chance of Delinquent (Megane, Tokidoki, Yankee-kun) is a shoujo title from Betsufure. A girl who was bullied by gangs in the past attends a new high school free of them, and meets a glasses-wearing kid… and it turns out he’s a secret gang member! This was so popular Japanese fans got it un-cancelled at one point.

MICHELLE: Looks potentially cute!

ANNA: I generally enjoy delinquents in shoujo.

ASH: Same! And megane, too!

SEAN: Also coming from Seven Seas: 365 Days to the Wedding 6, The Barbarian’s Bride 2, The Duke of Death and His Maid 16 (the final volume), Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells 9, I Quit My Apprenticeship as a Royal Court Wizard to Become a Magic Item Craftswoman 2, The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace 7, The Most Notorious “Talker” Runs the World’s Greatest Clan 8, My New Life as a Cat 8, Mysterious Disappearances 4, Soara and the House of Monsters 4, The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary 4, Tiger and Dragon 2, The Titan’s Bride 6, Tokyo Revengers 27-28, and The White Mage Doesn’t Want to Raise the Hero’s Level 4 (the final volume).

ASH: I recently picked up the first volume of Soara and the House of Monsters; I have time to catch up!

SEAN: And for danmei they have Stars of Chaos: Sha Po Lang 5 (the final volume).

Square Enix has Just Like Mona Lisa 4.

From Steamship we get I Can’t Refuse S 5 and A Suitable Fetish 2.

Steamship also has an early digital release of the 2nd light novel volume of The Villainess and the Demon Knight.

SuBLime has My Dearest Patrolman 3 (the final volume) and Stigmata: Love Bites 2 (the final volume).

MICHELLE: The latter has such a gorgeous cover, I might read it on that basis alone!

ASH: Oooh, that is evocative!

SEAN: Two debuts from Viz. Beyblade X is the latest in that toy-based series, and runs in Monthly CoroCoro.

Firefly Wedding (Hotaru no Yomeiri) is an award-winning shoujo manga that runs in Manga One. An ill girl who is being married off so she can have some value to her family before she dies now finds that she’s also being targeted by an assassin! Can she find a way to solve both these problems in one fell swoop? This is definitely on the more ‘dramatic’ end of the shoujo manga scale.

MICHELLE: Hm. Maybe!

ANNA: Shoujo with assassins???? I’m going to check this out.

ASH: This definitely holds promise. Now I just have to figure out why the premise sounds vaguely familiar to me…

SEAN: Also from Viz: Case Closed 93, Destroy All Humans. They Can’t Be Regenerated. A Magic: The Gathering Manga 2, Disney Twisted-Wonderland: The Manga – Anthology 2, Komi Can’t Communicate 32, Mao 19, Spy x Family 13, and Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 6.

And that’s it! Titles from 1964 to 2024 in this batch. What are you buying?

ASH: No wonder I can’t figure out what year it is!

SEAN: The first real week of 2025, so there’s a bit more to chew on.

ASH: And only more to come.

SEAN: Yen On has one straggler from December, Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Short Story Collection 2.

Viz Media debuts RuriDragon, a Shonen Jump series so good that when the creator was unable to keep up with the weekly pace, Shueisha let them take two years off and moved it to a milder schedule. It’s that good. The story of a high school girl who suddenly finds she’s the daughter of a dragon… and has dragon powers. This is so sweet and funny and heartwarming and awesome. I love it.

MICHELLE: I hadn’t heard of this before, but with a recommendation so heartfelt, I’ll have to check it out.

ANNA: Me too, it sounds great.

ASH: Count me in as well!

SEAN: Also from Viz: Black Clover 36, Chainsaw Man 17, Dark Gathering 11, Last Quarter 2 (the final volume), Like a Butterfly 10, Marriage Toxin 5, Moriarty the Patriot 18, Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite 2, Sakamoto Days 15, Tamon’s B-Side 6, and Wolf Girl and Black Prince 11.

MICHELLE: Man, I could do with a Tamon binge about now!

ANNA: Will be checking out Last Quarter for sure.

SEAN: Steamship has Fire in His Fingertips: A Flirty Fireman Ravishes Me with His Smoldering Gaze 6 and Loved by Two Fiancés 2.

ASH: I didn’t realize that Fire in His Fingertips was still ongoing!

SEAN: Square Enix has Mobsters in Love 3 (the final volume), My Clueless First Friend 8, and The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest 22.

Seven Seas debuts Blood Night Market, a supernatural seinen series from Young Ace. In a city where vampires want blood and humans are willing to sell, an employee of an organization that tries to stop illegal vampiring (is that a word) runs into a self-proclaimed vampire gourmand. This isn’t listed as BL, and it runs in Young Ace, but… I dunno, it seems BL. The creator is a BL author who also wrote vs. LOVE.

MICHELLE: The blurb on Amazon includes the word “desires,” so your instincts are spot-on.

ANNA: Only legal vampiring should be allowed!

ASH: Forsooth! (Fortooth?)

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Cinderella Closet 8 (the final volume), The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter 12 (the final volume), Kageki Shojo!! 12, Malevolent Spirits: Mononogatari 9, My Girlfriend’s Not Here Today 3, My Sister Took My Fiancé and Now I’m Being Courted by a Beastly Prince 3, and You Like Me, Not My Daughter?! 5.

ASH: I really need to catch up with Kageki Shojo!! one of these days.

SEAN: And in danmei releases we see Ballad of Sword and Wine: Qiang Jin Jiu 3.

One Peace Books has the 23rd volume of the The Rising of the Shield Hero manga.

Kodansha’s print debut is Love on the Horizon (Ashita Ai kamo Shirenai), a BL series from Gateau. A country boy at college, in love with his senpai, is tasked with getting him home after a party one night and ends up in bed with him! But it was just a one-time thing, right?

MICHELLE: I’m guessing not.

ANNA: These things happen.

ASH: It would be more surprising if it didn’t.

SEAN: Also in print: A-DO 6, Anyway, I’m Falling in Love with You 5, Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro 18, Medalist 6, Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie 19, Spoil Me Plzzz, Hinamori-san! 2, Thunder 3 2, Your Lie in April Omnibus 2, and Yuri is My Job! 13.

And for digital we have Even Given the Worthless “Appraiser” Class, I’m Actually the Strongest 12, How to Grill Our Love 12, Medalist 11, Those Snow White Notes 24, and Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister 16.

MICHELLE: This will be the year I read Medalist.

ANNA: Oh, I have some digital volumes stockpiled, I should get back into it. It really is so good.

ASH: I keep meaning to start it, too.

SEAN: One debut for J-Novel Club: Isekai Walking is about… ugh… a guy with a seemingly useless power who’s summoned to be a hero but thrown out for being useless only it turns out his power is secretly awesome. Whee.

ASH: That can’t be a real isekai title – it’s only two words long!

SEAN: Also from J-Novel Club: The Apothecary Diaries 13, The 10th Cooking with Wild Game manga, The Dorky NPC Mercenary Knows His Place 2, Earl and Fairy 9, Housekeeping Mage from Another World: Making Your Adventures Feel Like Home! 8, the 3rd I Parry Everything: What Do You Mean I’m the Strongest? I’m Not Even an Adventurer Yet! manga, Knight’s & Magic 5, the 7th My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer manga, the 2nd Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter manga, and To Another World… with Land Mines! 10.

There’s a Ghost Ship debut. ISEKAI AFFAIR: 10 Years After Defeating the Demon King, the Hero Cheats on His Wife With a Warrior Woman Who Lost Her Husband (Isekai Furin – Maou Toubatsu kara Juunen, Tsuma to wa Resu no Moto Yuusha to, Otto o Nakushita Onna Senshi), which ran in Sunday Web Every. The title is the plot.

Denpa Books is listed as having the 5th volume of Under Ninja.

Airship, in print, has I’m the Heroic Knight of an Intergalactic Empire! 2, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 20, and Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs 13 (the final volume).

Digitally there’s a debut: The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside By My Fiancé and Sold to Another Kingdom (Kanpeki Sugite Kawaige ga Nai to Konyaku Haki Sareta Seijo wa Ringoku ni Urareru) is in that “disgraced noble lady” genre, and the title is the plot again, but it’s getting an anime this year, and is from the creator of I Abandoned My Engagement Because My Sister is a Tragic Heroine, but Somehow I Became Entangled with a Righteous Prince.

Also digital: Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling 9.

It’s hard to do January book puns. Do any of these titles give you an epiphany? No? I’ll workshop it.

ASH: It’s a start!

SEAN: It’s 2025! OK, most of these come out on the 31st of December 2024, but still! Only 500 years to the song In the Year 2525!

ASH: So close, and yet so far away!

SEAN: Airship’s print debut is A Tale of the Secret Saint ZERO (Tenseishita Daiseijo wa, Seijo de Aru Koto wo Hitakakusu Zero), the prequel story of Princess Serafina’s adventures 300 years before being reincarnated as Fia.

Also in print: The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary 9.

And for early digital we see Adachi and Shimamura: Short Stories, Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship! 11, and There’s No Freaking Way I’ll be Your Lover! Unless… 6.

Cross Infinite World has Fluffy Paradise 6 and Since I Was Abandoned After Reincarnating, I Will Cook With My Fluffy Friends: The Figurehead Queen Is Strongest At Her Own Pace 6 (the final volume).

Ghost Ship has She’s the Strongest Bride, But I’m Stronger in Night Battles: A Harem Chronicle of Advancing Through Cunning Tactics 2 and the 18th and final volume of World’s End Harem.

The debut from J-Novel Club is From Villainess to Healer (Kaifukushoku no Akuyaku Reijou), whose manga adaptation came out from JNC two weeks ago. Our protagonist is dumped for having evil dark magic rather than good healing magic, so she goes to another country, changes her class to healer, and vows to forget all about him.

ASH: As she should.

ANNA: She doesn’t need that guy!

SEAN: Also from J-Novel Club: the 6th The Invincible Little Lady manga, Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World 9, Jeanette the Genius: Defying My Evil Stepmother by Starting a Business with My Ride-or-Die Fiancé! 3 (the final volume), Nia Liston: The Merciless Maiden 5, the 9th Now I’m a Demon Lord! Happily Ever After with Monster Girls in My Dungeon manga, Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire 12, and the 4th A Wild Last Boss Appeared! manga.

No debuts for Kodansha. In print they have Am I Actually the Strongest? 8, Blue Lock 16, and The Spellbook Library 2.

ASH: Oh, I was supposed to read the first volume of The Spellbook Library, wasn’t I?

ANNA: Tell me if you like it!

SEAN: Digitally we see Altair: A Record of Battles 27 (the final volume) and Issak 11.

One Peace Books has a 5th volume of The Death Mage light novel.

The debut for Seven Seas is a mature BL oneshot, Wanna Be My Dress-Up Lover? (Nee, Onnanoko ni Shite Ageru). This ran in Reijin, and stars an office manager who relieves his stress by working at a cross-dressing cafe… but then his sarcastic employee shows up!

MICHELLE: I do like sarcastic guys in BL…

ASH: Saaaaaame.

ANNA: Indeed!

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest 13, Box of Light 3, Dance in the Vampire Bund: Age of Scarlet Order 13, Dungeon Builder: The Demon King’s Labyrinth is a Modern City! 10, I Get the Feeling That Nobukuni-san Likes Me 5, I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again! 5, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Fafnir the Recluse 4, My Deer Friend Nokotan 5, My Girlfriend’s Child 6, She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 12, and Skeleton Knight in Another World 13.

Steamship has the 4th and final volume of Revenge: Mrs. Wrong.

And one title from Yen Press, a debut for Yen On: Monsterholic. This is by the author of Days with My Stepsister and My Friend’s Little Sister Has It in for Me!, but this is definitely a different genre. A vampire and a werewolf patrol a government-approved slum, trying despite that to fight crime.

MICHELLE: Huh.

ASH: That is quite the genre switch.

SEAN: End of the year is always short. What are you buying with your New Year’s money? Assuming you are Japanese and get New Year’s money.

SEAN: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Best wishes from Manga Bookshelf!… wait, there’s manga out this week?

ASH: As if there was any doubt!

SEAN: Yen On has one title, and it’s a debut. Before the Tutorial Starts: A Few Things I Can Do to Keep the Bosses Alive (Tutorial ga Hajimaru Mae ni: Bosschara-tachi wo Hametsu Sasenai Tame ni Ore ga Dekiru Ikutsu ka no Koto) is a “I am the weakest, but really the STRONGEST” title combined with “I’m reincarnated as a pathetic villain” with a dash of “my sister is dying”.

MICHELLE: That’s kind of a lot.

SEAN: And Yen Press has Excellent Property, Rejects for Residents: Baths, Lavatories, and Angels Are Communal 2 and Final Fantasy Lost Stranger 11.

Viz Media has the 15th volume of Fist of the North Star.

ASH: Always happy for a new Fist of the North Star volume!

SEAN: Steamship debuts The Yakuza and His Omega: Raw Desire (Gokudou to Omega – Mukidashi no Katsuai), a josei omegaverse title from Pinkcherie. A romance writer wants to interview a famous alpha who’s also head of the local yakuza. Little does she know that… drumroll, please… she’s really an omega!

ASH: Surprise! (Still glad we’re getting steamy josei in the mix.)

ANNA: Me too, I’m glad that some steamy josei is being published.

SEAN: Square Enix has Final Fantasy VII Remake: Material Ultimania Plus, a big hardcover artbook.

I feel like sticking the Mature Seven Seas titles with Ghost Ship isn’t working, so I’ll go back to listing them with the main label. The debut is a mature BL title, Our Sweet One-Room Apartment (Sweet Our 1R) is from Magazine Be x Boy, and complete in one volume. Two college kids live together, it looks very cute.

ASH: It does!

SEAN: From Seven Seas we see Chronicles of an Aristocrat Reborn in Another World 11, the 2nd KinnPorsche novel, Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero 7, My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! 10, Perfect Buddy 2, Time Stop Hero 11, and The World’s Fastest Level Up 4.

Kodansha has the debut of the week with Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow, the legendary 1968 Weekly Shonen Magazine manga that inspired almost every shonen series that came after it. The story of a ne’er-do-well who finds his fate lies with boxing, it’s coming out in hardcover format as a 600-page omnibus. Calling it: This is our pick of the week. And possibly the year, despite coming out at the end of it.

MICHELLE: Yeah, I’m a sucker for these “adrift person finds the place they belong” stories. Of course, I’m inclined to say “It reminds me of Slam Dunk!,” though I realize it’s the other way around.

ASH: I am so excited for this release!!

ANNA: Me too, happy to see a classic title get translated.

SEAN: Also in print: Kusunoki’s Flunking Her High School Glow-Up 3 and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Trinity in Tempest 9.

And for digital we see As the Gods Will 2, Bootsleg 5, Gamaran: Shura 27, I Want To Hold Aono-kun So Badly I Could Die 12, and My Home Hero 19.

No debuts for J-Novel Club, but we do see Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 3 Book 4 manga, the 18th Black Summoner manga, the 5th Hell Mode manga, I Could Never Be a Succubus! 5, An Introvert’s Hookup Hiccups: This Gyaru Is Head Over Heels for Me! 9, the 4th A Late-Start Tamer’s Laid-Back Life manga, A Livid Lady’s Guide to Getting Even: How I Crushed My Homeland with My Mighty Grimoires 4, Min-Maxing My TRPG Build in Another World 9 Part 2, Now I’m a Demon Lord! Happily Ever After with Monster Girls in My Dungeon 11, Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter 14, Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time: No One Told Me There Would Be Monsters! 7, The Tales of Marielle Clarac 11, and the 9th Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! manga.

ASH: No debuts, but still plenty to fall behind on!

SEAN: Ghost Ship has The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You 12 and the 2nd Do You Like Big Girls? omnibus re-release.

ASH: One of these days I really, really, really, really, REALLY will give The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You a try.

SEAN: Denpa Books has, per retailers, March Comes in Like a Lion 3.

MICHELLE: I’m dubious, but we’ll see if my pre-order ships!

ASH: Fingers crossed!

ANNA: Also hoping here!

SEAN: In print, Airship has Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)! (Heroine? Seijo? Iie, All Works Maid desu (Hokori)!). A former Japanese farm girl is reincarnated and becomes a maid to a poor noble family. Except… she seems to have holy magic? And men are flocking to her? Is she a heroine? Meh. Who cares? She’s a maid!

Also in print: Reincarnated Into a Game as the Hero’s Friend: Running the Kingdom Behind the Scenes 3 and The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash 8.

And early digital has She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 12 and Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court 8.

That’s actually not bad compared to the last two weeks of hell. What’s in your stocking?