Manga Bookshelf's Weekly Features

SEAN: My pick this week is Silver Spoon Again!!, a touching story of a young man who dies from overworking himself as an agriculture student in Hokkaido, but is given the opportunity to go back and live his life again, and becomes an ouendan cheerleader for the school’s equestrian squad.

MICHELLE: Ha! I am behind that pick 100%!

KATE: I’m on Team Silver Spoon this week, but for selfish reasons: I’m hoping that Silver Spoon will be such a hit that Yen Press will rescue Hiromu Arakawa’s Hyakusho Kizuko and offer it in a snazzy print edition. JManga released the first volume in 2012 before folding up its tent, and I’ve always felt it deserved a second chance with American readers. Here’s a link to my original review; it has 100% more cow manure jokes than Fullmetal Alchemist.

MJ: I have been hoping for Silver Spoon so much for so long, that has to be my pick! Hiromu Arakawa is a manga goddess and I am always on her team. And hey, I will also get behind Kate’s argument. More Arakawa is always better!

MICHELLE: I’ll get behind it, too. There are definitely several JManga titles that I wish could find new homes.

ANNA: I’m also looking forward to Silver Spoon. I always feel like throwing a party whenever a manga I thought would never be available here gets released in translation.

ASH: Like everyone else here, Again!! and Silver Spoon are definitely at the top of my list this week. I’ve been waiting to read Silver Spoon longer, so I guess that’ll be my official pick, but I’m looking forward to the debut of both series a great deal.

MICHELLE: By now, it probably goes without saying that I will definitely be getting the new volume of Chihayafuru, so I will instead pick Voices of a Distant Star. I never read it the first time around, but I remember MJreally loved it. The your name. movie made me cry buckets, so I bet I will probably love this story, too.

SEAN: I’m definitely picking up Voices, but my pick this week goes to Giant Spider & Me. A combination of food manga, sweet slice of life, and post-apocalyptic survival, it feels like every new trend we’ve had brought into one title.

KATE: I’m exited about the return of Voices of a Distant Star, and charmed by the idea of a slice-of-life story about a girl and her giant spider, but my must-read manga this week is Fukushima Devil Fish, a collection of short stories by Susumu Katsumata. And yes, the Fukushima of the title refers to the nuclear plant that experienced a partial meltdown after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake; according to publisher Breakdown Press, the anthology includes “two stories from the 1980s on the subject of ‘nuclear gypsies,’ the men who labor under oppressive conditions to maintain Japan’s fleet of nuclear power plants.”

ASH: I’m certainly curious about Giant Spider & Me since learning that it is in fact a food manga but, like Kate, Fukushima Devil Fish is what takes priority for me this week.

ANNA: There’s a ton of great manga coming out this week, but I’m most interested in Voices of a Distant Star, since I wasn’t able to catch it the first time it was released.

SEAN: My pick this week is the 15th volume of Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends. It’s been 15 months since the last volume, where we saw Kodaka finally getting the ever-loving crap kicked out of him for his feigned obliviousness. Will this actually shake up the harem, though? I want to find out. Or at least see him get pounded again.

KATE: Any week that sees the release of a new Descending Stories is a good week in my book, but I’m also stoked for Theory of Happiness, a sequel to one of 2017’s most pleasant surprises: I Hear the Sunspot. It wasn’t as dramatic or splashy as some of 2017’s best books, but it won a place in my heart for its sensitive portrayal of male friendship — something we don’t see often enough in our popular culture.

ANNA: I agree with Kate, I Hear the Sunspot was such a wonderful surprise. Theory of Happiness is my pick of the week, I’m eager to find out what happens next with this series.

MICHELLE: I haven’t yet managed to read I Hear the Sunspot, so while I’m sure its sequel will be great, I’ll cast my vote for the fifth volume of Descending Stories, one series I have finally managed to read and am enjoying quite a bit.

ASH: I’ll definitely be reading the latest volume of Descending Stories, but this week my heart (and my pick) belongs to Theory of Happiness. I loved I Hear the Sunspot and have been looking forward to its sequel from the moment I learned that it existed.

MJ: Theory of Happiness! Theory of Happiness! Theory of Happiness! I’m not sure what else to say.

MICHELLE: I will definitely be picking up the tenth Yona of the Dawn, and Takane & Hana is intriguing too, but having been positively stunned by the awesome that is Promised Neverland, I must pick the second volume of that series. I literally made an entry on my calendar to remind me.

SEAN: I honestly am torn. I enjoyed Takane & Hana so much – it’s exactly the sort of manga I love. But The Promised Neverland was so good last time and feels like the more IMPORTANT manga out this week. Really, get both. Don’t try to choose. (It helps that they’re nothing alike.)

KATE: I vote for volume two of The Promised Neverland. ‘Nuff said!

ASH: Like everyone else so far, the next volume of The Promised Neverland is certainly high on my list. However, I’m pretty excited to read the psychological thriller Perfect Blue, too. Even if it wasn’t the basis of Satoshi Kon’s striking film, the novel sounds like it should be something right up my alley.

MJ: Since I am the big loser who hasn’t actually read the first volume of The Promised Neverland, I will go ahead and indulge my interest in Takane & Hana, which has lured me in with a combination of its source magazine and its spunky-looking heroine. Shoujo, I am in your corner this week!

ANNA: I enjoyed the first volume The Promised Neverland and I’m intrigued by Takane & Hana, but the title that thrills my heart is Yona of the Dawn . It just keeps getting better and better, and at 10 volumes in has built up an extended cast of characters that I’m rooting for.

SEAN: Some interesting stuff out this week, both in manga and light novels. I will be predictable, though, in choosing the first Baccano! manga. I read this when it came out as chapters digitally, and am greatly looking forward to seeing it in print. Plus, content that wasn’t in the novels!

MICHELLE: I will be predictable by expressing my anticipation for another installment of Giant Killing, but I’m awarding my official pick to the ninth and final Full-Time Wife Escapist. I’ve enjoyed this series very much!

KATE: I second Sean’s pick of Baccano!, since I am obsessed with the flashback scenes in The Godfather Part II and will watch or read anything that reminds me of them. I realize that Baccano! is even MORE over the top than anything Mario Puzo ever wrote, but I think that’s actually a good thing. It’s an offer I can’t refuse!

ASH: With the promise of a little bit of yuri, a little bit of boys’ love, and a whole lot of complicated relationships, the debut of Nameless Asterism is the release I’m most curious about this week!

KATE: I suspect I’m not the only one who’s eager to read orange: future; I still get the sniffles just thinking about orange, and am eager to see how Ichigo Takano continues the story. Looking over this week’s new arrivals, though, I’m also curious about Made in Abyss, which sounds like a dark fantasy-adventure with an interesting heroine. And I’ll also give a plug for PTSD Radio, despite its unfortunate title and godawful covers. It’s a solid horror series that benefits from unique artwork and an unusual narrative structure.

SEAN: There’s several titles I’m interested in, including a final volume of Golden Time and the debut of Made in Abyss. But yeah, in the end the clearly obvious Pick of the Week is orange: future, which I reviewed here in a spoilery fashion, as Seven Seas helpfully noted. It may not please everyone, but it’s well-crafted.

MICHELLE: Having now read and loved the first two volumes of Frau Faust, I am definitely looking forward to volume three. But, yes, my heart really does belong to orange: future. I’m a little afraid of what it might reveal, given how much I loved the original series, but there’s no way I’m skipping it.

ASH: I’ll definitely be reading more of Frau Faust, and I’m rather curious about Made in Abyss, too, but orange: future is unquestionably my pick this week. Like so many others, the original series made a huge impression on me.

SEAN: My pick senses are turned towards Viz this week. Fire Punch looks worthy, but I have now read it, and while it is a story well told it is not my kind of story. As such, my pick of the week is RWBY. It’s always nice to see a Japanese take on a Western property, especially when the Western property is anime-influenced. Knock my socks off, RWBY!

MICHELLE: I’ve said Chihayafuru a bunch in this space already, and I’m sure I’ll say it again, so instead this week I will pick the fourth volume of Waiting for Spring. It’s not groundbreaking shoujo, but it’s enjoyable, and I like the lead characters (and the heroine’s fujoshi best friend).

ANNA: I adore Chihayafuru, but sometime I pick titles based on the titles alone. And based on the title, Fire Punch sounds pretty great. That’s my pick!!!

KATE: I’m with Sean: Fire Punch is just too damn grim for me. I’m bullish about Children of the Whales and Kitaro the Vampire Slayer, though, and am intrigued by Juana and the Dragonewts’ Seven Kingdoms — just look at that lovely cover!

ASH: I’m certainly curious about Fire Punch, and I’m definitely looking forward to more of Children of the Whales and Kitaro, but Juana and the Dragonewts’ Seven Kingdoms has caught my eye as well. So, I guess I’m largely following Kate this week!

MICHELLE: There’s really nothing that I simply must have this week, so I suppose I’ll pick volume two of Lovesick Ellie for no deeper reason than that the cover of volume one kind of reminds me of Honey So Sweet.

SEAN: I’m uninspired as well, so I will go with a favorite author and pick Vol. 2 of Imperfect Girl, which will hopefully continue to be intriguing and disquieting in equal amounts.

KATE: I’m woefully behind on I Am a Hero, so I’m going to take advantage of a light week to dive in and catch up. Zombies ahoy!

ANNA: There isn’t a ton that’s coming out this week that inspires me either, so I’m just going to go with Full-Time Wife Escapist because I picked up a few volumes on sale recently, and that’s going to be my catch-up reading.

ASH: The second volume of Spirit Circle is unquestionably my pick this week! I had largely enjoyed the creator’s other series Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer so I was expecting to enjoy the manga, but I was still surprised by how much I ended up liking it.

SEAN: Starting off 2018, as usual for first weeks of the month, my eyes turn to Viz Media. There’s some really good shoujo out this week, what with Kimi ni Todoke, The Water Dragon’s Bride and Anonymous Noise. That said, every volume of Natsume’s Book of Friends is a treat, so that’s my pick this week.

KATE: I just checked out the preview for Drifting Dragons, and the artwork is AWESOME. The story is similar to Delicious in Dungeon in that characters spend a lot of time discussing how best to prepare monster meat, but there’s a lot more action; the first chapter has a well-staged sky battle that’s more dynamic than any equivalent scene in Dungeon. Looking forward to reading more!

MICHELLE: This week brings new installments of two sports manga I’m really enjoying—Haikyu!! and Ace of Diamond—but since that literally happens every month, I share Sean’s eagerness for a new volume of Natsume’s Book of Friends, which we haven’t had since last March.

ASH: This really is a great week for shoujo! I am terribly far behind with Natsume’s Book of Friends, but it’s an honestly lovely series. Catching up with it would seem like a wonderful way to start off the year!

ANNA: Water Dragon’s Bride is one of my favorite current series, so I’m not going to pass up the chance to make that my pick!

ASH: It doesn’t seem like there are any truly quiet weeks when it comes to manga releases anymore, but the last week of year does tend to be smaller than others. Still, it’s not hard for me to find something to read. My pick for the week is the most recent volume of Land of the Lustrous, a series I appreciate for its philosophical musings and striking artwork even if its plot can be a little haphazard.

Looking back over everything published in 2017 there have been some tremendous releases; it’s been a great year for manga. The debut series that left the greatest impression on me was Nagabe’s beautiful and haunting The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún. The manga is both charming and unsettling, with Nagabe’s exceptional storytelling and atmospheric artwork making it one of the most stand out releases of the year.

MICHELLE: I absolutely agree with Ash for my pick of the year, though honorable mention goes to Chihayafuru.

For this week, I’m most looking forward to the fourth volume of The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window. This complicated, suspenseful story is BL at its best.

SEAN: The week itself does not impress me that much, so I will pick the new volume of The Full-Time Wife Escapist.

And though it seems a bit premature to make a Pick of the Year for something that only debuted in December, I’m still so blown away by The Promised Neverland that I’m going with that one. It may get too bleak for me in future, but for now I can’t look away.

KATE: I liked the first volume of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. Aside from some totally gratuitous fan service, it was snappy, funny, and heart warming in an unexpected way. The release of volume three seems like a fine excuse to get caught up with Rimuru’s adventures.

As for my pick of the year, it’s Furari, one of the late, great Jiro Taniguchi’s final works. The manga reads like a mash-up of The Times of Botchan and The Walking Man, focusing on Tadataka Ino, a real cartographer who lived in Edo. As with Walking Man, not much happens story-wise, but the book offers a vibrant portrait of eighteenth-century urban life — think Richard Scarry’s Busy Town, Busy People for grown-ups.

ANNA: Although I’m shamefully behind on the series, the most interesting thing coming out this week to me is The Full-Time Wife Escapist. I’m glad others have selected The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún, it is absolutely a standout title.

When I was thinking about my pick of the year, the first thing that came to my mind was The Water Dragon’s Bride. Well executed fantasy shoujo should be celebrated! I also agree that Chihayafuru deserves a shout-out as well.

SEAN: Honestly, there’s just too much stuff. I feel like I’m drowning in choices. And so (because I suspect the rest of the group will go with CLAMP) I will go with an old favorite and pick the new Umineko When They Cry omnibus volume, Requiem of the Golden Witch. Fans love this arc, and the manga adaptation of it is supposed to be quite good. And at 826 pages, it can also be used as a blunt object.

KATE: I’m torn between the latest volumes of Golden Kamuy and Happiness, two of my favorite ongoing series. Since choosing between them seems like deciding whether you like your daughter better than your son, I’m going with Junji Ito’s Shiver, which has been getting great advanced buzz.

MICHELLE: I am actually not going to go with CLAMP, despite my intense love of Kero-chan, because this is the last time I can choose Say I Love You. I’ve enjoyed this series a lot, and have been anticipating this final volume for a long time. It’s definitely a must-buy for me this week.

ASH: So much manga! And so many new volumes in series that I’m following! Although I will certainly be giving the new Cardcaptor Sakura a try, I will continue to thwart Sean’s prediction by choosing another debut. Kate already has Shiver covered, which I’ll definitely be reading, but I’m also incredibly curious about Graineliers, so that’s my pick!

ANNA: I feel like one of us should not thwart Sean’s prediction! Thus, Cardcaptor Sakura is my pick! Let’s hope it is more like early CLAMP and less like late CLAMP!

MJ: Wow, I’m really torn here. I have a deep, deep love for Cardcapter Sakura so it’s really hard for me to let that go. But I don’t necessarily trust CLAMP to recreate that magic for me at this point, and I’m really a sucker for a new GFantasy title, so I’m with Ash on Graineliers! Thanks, Anna, for making Sean’s prediction at least a little true!

SEAN: I’m not sure I trust all this love for Grenaliers. I think the love for it may have been… planted. (puts on sunglasses, Roger Daltrey scream)

MJ: Wow.

MICHELLE: Ordinarily, I would be all about picking Chihayafuru at this juncture, but Princess Jellyfish is in a really dramatic spot right now and I think it has the slight edge. But really, you should read both.

SEAN: I’ve fallen behind on both Chihayafuru and Princess Jellyfish, so will turn to light novels for my pick. The premise for Walking My Second Path in Life sounds great, and does not appear, fingers crossed, to be an isekai. I’m a sucker for princesses who resolve to become knights, really.

KATE: I’m hoarding my change for next week.

ASH: I will definitely need all the change that I can get for next week but, like Michelle, I simply can’t resist picking up the latest volume of Princess Jellyfish!

ANNA: I have to admit, I’m behind on both Chihayafuru and Princess Jellyfish, but I’m still very excited that they are both coming out. I’m a little more attached to Chihayafuru though, so that is my pick!

SEAN: There are a few intriguing volumes out this week, and I’d argue Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty is my clear runner-up, but there has been SO much good buzz about The Promised Neverland that I simply can’t resist making it my pick of the week. I want to see what the fuss is about.

KATE: This week, I’m all in for The Promised Neverland. After seeing so many people praising it, I decided to check it out for myself and boy howdy — it’s a nail-biter! If you need more persuading, I’ve offered a more thoughtful explanation of why you should be reading Neverland here.

MICHELLE: This wasn’t on my radar until Ash posted the link to Kate’s review, and now I’m going to be picking it like everyone else! Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty and Drifting Dragons are debuts I plan to check out, as well.

ASH: Perhaps unsurprisingly, I’m in agreement with everyone else here! While there are a few things that I’m interested in this week, my pick absolutely goes to The Promised Neverland.

ANNA: I’m not going to break this pattern! The Promised Neverland looks very interesting, that’s my pick too!

MICHELLE: I am very happy about new volumes of All Out!! and Giant Killing, and looking forward to Kodansha Digital’s new shoujo offerings, especially Lovesick Ellie, but I absolutely MUST have ACCA. I’ve missed Natsume Ono’s work and this one has an interesting premise regarding intrigue in some fictional country. Sign me up!

KATE: I second Michelle’s recommendation: it’s been waaaaaaaaaay too long since there was a new Natsume Ono title available in English.

SEAN: Yup, I have to agree, though I’m also drawn to SP Baby. But the Pick of the Week just has to be ACCA, the failed band that Agnetha and Anni-Frid put together with Christopher Cross… I mean, the newest offering from Natsume Ono.

ASH: No question about it, like everyone else, the debut of ACCA is absolutely my pick this week! House of Five Leaves was a particularly meaningful series for me, and I’ve greatly enjoyed many of the creator’s other manga, so I’m always interested in seeing what Ono is up to.

ANNA: I agree, a new Natsume Ono series is something that appears very rarely, and is definitely something to celebrate. ACCA is my pick as well!

SEAN: There’s a good number of titles I’m getting, but my mind is torn between the ridiculous manga Arakawa Under the Bridge and the ridiculous light novel So I’m a Spider, So What?, Given this is technically Manga Bookshelf and not Light Novel Bookshelf, I’ll lean on the side of the manga, so Arakawa is my pick.

KATE: So many choices… I’m partial to VIZ’s Children of the Whales, as I’m always interested in good fantasy/sci-fi, but I can’t deny the appeal of A Polar Bear in Love, which just looks cute. Cute is good.

ASH: There are so many terrific titles being released this week! Sean and Kate have already mentioned Arakawa Under the Bridge and Children of the Whales, both of which I’m looking forward to reading, so I’ll use my pick on the Neo Parasyte M shounen anthology–I’m a fan of Hitoshi Iwaaki’s original Parasyte manga and greatly enjoyed the shoujo collection Neo Parasyte F and I certainly can’t pass up the opportunity read more of Moto Hagio’s work!

MICHELLE: Since the intriguing debuts have been covered, I’ll vote for a continued favorite: Ooku. It has gone a bit beyond the point where I thought it would end, and I’m intrigued to see what other stories Yoshinaga has to tell.

ANNA: This week has a bunch of interesting manga. I have to say out of all of them I’m most interested in Children of the Whales. I’m in the mood for some good sci-fi!

MJ: This is a tough week for me. One thing you can generally count on with me is that Fumi Yoshinaga always wins. And yet… this week, I find my curiosity leaning soooo heavily towards getting a real taste of Hikaru Nakamura’s work in English that I think I’m unable to resist. It’s Arakawa Under the Bridge for me. I’m so sorry, Ooku. You know I still love you. Right??