Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews
MICHELLE: I hadn’t previously known about Ichi the Witch, but I’m very intrigued! That’s my pick for this week.
KATE: This week is light on stuff that piques my interest, but if I had to pick a title—and death was not an option—Ghost & Witch has an interesting premise.
ASH: Who knew witchy season would come so early this year? These are the two series that have won my attention this week, too.
SEAN: Been a while since I’ve seen a Jump series with this much buzz. Ichi the Witch is also my pick.
SEAN: Nothing really leaps out at me this week, so I’m going to choose the new volume of The Bladesmith’s Enchanted Weapons, which has been one of the bigger pleasant surprises of my recent light novel reading.
KATE: I’m stoked for a new installment of Asadora!, which is zippy and fun. I have no idea if Urasawa will ultimately stick the landing with this series, but for now I’m still enjoying it. Plucky heroines for the win!
MICHELLE: I’m in the same boat as Sean, but will go for The Strange House this week.
ASH: This week, I’m curious about Path From Tanuki Temple the most. Color manga isn’t as much of a rarity as it once was, but it’s still rather uncommon. Plus, you know, I find it hard to resist yokai manga.
MICHELLE: Scenes from Awajima has my enthusiastic endorsement, this week!
SEAN: Yup, 100% agree. Scenes from Awajima is the pick.
ASH: Scenes from Awajima is definitely what I’m most excited about this week. Give me the drama!
SEAN: Given the 2nd season of the Medalist anime doesn’t debut till late in the month, my pick this week is the new volume of the Medalist manga – print or digital, whatever you’re caught up on.
MICHELLE: I’m with Sean!
KATE: The cover of Wonder Boy is enticing, but I’m casting my vote for The Drops of God. It’s totally absurd in the best possible way; you’ll learn about terroir and varietals from two hot guys who are vying for their late father’s wine collection. (Think of it as a tournament manga with Pinot Noir.)
ASH: I can definitely get behind Kate’s recommendation, The Drops of God is terrific, but I’ll go ahead and flip the script and make Wonder Boy my official pick. It seems like it could be a very compelling series.
KATE: I’d be the first to admit that this week’s haul is light on series I’m actively following, so my vote goes to a newcomer: Smile!, a horror title with a solid premise and evocative artwork. I might be reading this one in broad daylight….
MICHELLE: Given that it was the one title I pre-ordered from this week’s offerings, I’m another vote for Smile!.
ANNA: Sort of a thin selection this week, but I’m going to go with Beatrice since it has been a while since I’ve checked out some manhwa.
SEAN: Smile! is clearly the most interesting title this week, but so not my thing. So I will go for Lilies Blooming in 100 Days, which most assuredly is.
ASH: While both Anna and Sean have solid picks that interest me, it’s Smile! for me, too!
SEAN: It feels like cheating to pick a manga that’s been running for ten years. But this year saw the final volume of My Hero Academia, and it was a rare Jump manga that totally stuck the landing (unless you’re involved in ship wars, but let’s not go there.) Seeing the path Izuku took to becoming a hero, then a teacher, then both was magnificent.
MICHELLE: I didn’t get much reading done this year, of any variety, so perhaps I’ll name two sports manga entries that I was really excited about, namely Mitsuru Adachi’s Short Game short story collection and the newest and long-awaited volume of Real, from Takehiko Inoue. Perhaps 2026 will actually give me a moment in which to read them!
ASH: I think I already called my pick of the year way back in January with the debut of Sanpei Shirato’s monumental series The Legend of Kamui. That prediction turned out to be accurate, but this year has also seen quite a few re-releases which have brought some of my favorite manga (Planetes, Nana, Mushishi) back into print, so I’ve been very excited for those, too.
KATE: This year has been a great one for readers interested in classic series, from Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow to The Legend of Kamui, so it’s no surprise that my Pick of the Year is the new edition of Moto Hagio’s They Were 11!. Denpa gave the story the deluxe treatment, with a larger-than-normal trim size that invites the reader to pore over every image. As an added bonus, Denpa also included Hagio’s 1976 sequel,They Were Eleven: Horizon of the East, Eternity of the West, which continues the story of Frol, Tada, and King in the months after their high-stakes training exercise. While the sequel doesn’t quite match the intensity of the original, it’s also an excellent showcase for Hagio’s draftsmanship.
ANNA: I haven’t got a ton of reading done this year either, although I enjoyed picking up and finally reading Go with the Clouds, North by Northwest and I’m closing out the year by rereading Witch Hat AtelierAshita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow and They Were 11!. Classic manga in general is my pick.
SEAN: Lots of good stuff for the holidays, but my pick is definitely the 3rd volume of The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t a Guy at All.
KATE: Nothing says “Christmas” like an H.P. Lovecraft adaptation, so I’m going to pour myself an eggnog and read The Shadow Out of Time this week.
ANNA: I’m going to pick the latest volume of Kageki Shojo!!, in the hopes that I start making my way through my manga backlog.
MICHELLE: I definitely immediately pre-ordered the new Kageki Shojo!! when I saw there was one, but the same can be said for Silent Reading: Mo Du, and since the former is covered, I’ll make the latter my pick for this week.
ASH: And for yet another delight, I’m going to make The Art of Witch Hat Atelier my pick this week. The artwork in the series has always been remarkable, but this collection looks to be spectacular.
MICHELLE: I have a soft spot for BL in which one of the protagonists at least seems to be grumpy, and so it is that the cover to Flip Flip Slowly has earned my endorsement this week, even before factoring in the library angle!
SEAN: I’ve been enthralled with Maid to Skate ever since its social media days, so am absolutely thrilled to see this over here.
ASH: I have nothing more to add; I am utterly torn between Flip Flip Slowly and Maid to Skate. Library romance vs. skateboarding maids. Both sound delightful for entirely different reasons.
ANNA: Why not both??? I shall make both my pick.
SEAN: This one may be a bit more angsty than I usually like, but I don’t care, I absolutely have to read Love Bullet to see what the buzz is about!
MICHELLE: I find that I’m in the mood for exploring haunted sites, so it’s The Ghostly Darkness of Kanata for me, this week.
ASH: I am definitely interested in both of those series, but I can’t help but add The Magnificent Bastard into the mix, too; I simply can’t miss Tetsuo Hara’s version of Maeda Keiji.
KATE: The Ghostly Darkness of Kanata seems like something I might dig, so that’s my PoTW!
ANNA: It is hard for me to focus on anything after Thanksgiving break, because I’m really looking forward to even more vacation time, but one thing that keeps me warm is thoughts of excellent fantasy stories like Twelve Kingdoms and Fushigi Yuugi: Byakko Senki, so those are my picks for the week!
MICHELLE: I’m also glad to see another volume of Fushigi Yuugi: Byakko Senki coming out with less of a wait than last time, so I’ll make that my official pick this week!
ASH: The Twelve Kingdoms, absolutely! I’m also curious about Bone Ash as Tow Ubukata has previously written some interesting things, but I probably won’t have time to read it any time soon.
SEAN: Yeah, it’s hard to go wrong with a new volume of Twelve Kingdoms.
SEAN: I’ve heard very good things about A Curtain Call for You, and as a former drama student it naturally calls out to me. It’s definitely my pick this week.
KATE: Though I’m always down to buy another coffee table book, I only have eyes for one new arrival this week: A Witch’s Life in Mongol. Great artwork, great storytelling, and a great heroine make this series a real standout in a very crowded market.
MICHELLE: I’ve been under the weather this week and what sounds most appealing is actually some pleasant shoujo. I liked the first volume of Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet, so I will go with that.
ASH: This week I’m most interested in splurging on The Art of Manga, which just so happens to feature some of my favorite creators. (And I’m in the wrong party of the country to be able to actually go see the associated exhibit.)
ANNA: I’m with Ash, I’m very curious about The Art of Manga!
MICHELLE: There’s nothing that strongly calls to me this week, but the cover to Afterglow is striking, so I’ll pick that on that basis.
SEAN: I’m going to pick One Last Hurrah! The Grayed Heroes Explore a Vivid Future, as I love the idea of senior citizens headed out on adventures and still kicking ass.
ASH: I’ll admit to being curious about Tease Me Harder. Kinky yet wholesome josei? Yup, I’ll read that.
ANNA: Ok, I’m going to have to pick the Witch Hat Atelier coloring book, I love the art in this series, so the coloring book sounds fun.
SEAN: I’m not sure if I’ll enjoy it, as this isn’t normally my thing, but making Kingdom my pick this week just because, wow, finally.
KATE: I’m with Sean: I don’t know if Kingdom is for me, but all the cool kids have been pestering VIZ to license it for years. I’m planning to pick up the first volume this week, too.
MICHELLE: Sure! Count me in!
ANNA: I’m not going to deny this emerging consensus!
ASH: I am absolutely here for Kingdom… but I’m also going to give a shout-out to Yokai: Shigeru Mizuki’s Supernatural Parade because I adored the first artbook so much.
MICHELLE: One week, it’s a new volume of Real that wasn’t on my radar, and the next it’s a new volume of Skip Beat!, a perennial favorite and my official pick this week. (That said, I’m looking forward to Cupid Is Struck by Lightning, too.)
SEAN: I’m going to go with Fired? But I Maintain All the Software!, if only as this sort of genre (teaching overstressed office workers to do things that make them happy) is a rarely seen one over here.
ANNA: I find the premise of i> Fired? But I Maintain All the Software! so amusing, but I can’t pass up a new volume of Skip Beat!
ASH: Mushishi is a touchstone series for me, so the new deluxe release is absolutely my pick this week. It’s been out of print for such a long time; I’m thrilled that new reader will have a chance to hold it in their hands.
SEAN: I mean, Real. Duh.
MICHELLE: Yep. I even hauled all of the other volumes out for a reread.
ANNA: No question!
KATE: I think it’s unanimous!
MICHELLE: Unambiguously!
ASH: Let’s keep it Real.