Manga Bookshelf's Weekly Features

SEAN: No surprises that my pick of the week is Franken Fran from Seven Seas. I’ve already reviewed the omnibus here. It’s absolutely not for everybody (in particular, warning for those who hate bugs and roaches), and Fran can be… impossible to empathize with, but if you like horror and really back comedy, it’s one of the better titles out there.

MICHELLE: I suppose my pick of the week is still the second and final volume of Crown of Thorns, but now I’ve read it and didn’t enjoy it as much as the first. Oh, well. I hope this paves the way for more digital Yoko Kamio! Cat Street, please!

ASH: I’m with Sean, this week. By far the manga release I’m most interested in is the first Franken Fran omnibus. The word of mouth for this series has been huge in my circles, so I’m looking forward to reading it myself.

MJ: This is a pretty sparse week for me, but I admit I’ve been won over by my colleagues’ interest in Franken Fran. Count me in for some horror and black comedy! I’ll try to survive the bug aspect. *shudder*

ANNA: I haven’t read Crown of Thorns, so I haven’t been disappointed yet, and that appeals to me much more than Franken Fran, so that is my pick!

MICHELLE: As predicted, my pick of the week is super easy this time. Magi all the way!

SEAN: I love Magi to bits, but it’s time for my twice-yearly pick of Hayate the Combat Butler, still my go-to manga for silly humor and unresolvable harems.

ASH: The manga release that I’m probably the most interested in this week is Giganto Maxia. As a fan or Berserk I feel like I should give it a try, even if some of Miura’s other works haven’t really done much for me.

ANNA: Magi for me too! Magi forever!

SEAN: As always with Viz weeks, there’s a terrifying amount of stuff coming out I’m interested in. But as a drama major, I’d be remiss if I did not pick Behind the Scenes!!, Bisco Hatori’s new shoujo series about a college drama club. I’m a sucker for Hatori anyway, so the drama club is just the icing on the cake.

MJ: Considering the fact that I train young people in the performing arts for a living, I feel like my pick this week is a bit of a betrayal. But though I’m definitely interested Behind the Scenes, I find that I can’t resist the draw (drawings?) of one of my favorite artists, Takeshi Obata. Though I’ve had issues with his collaborations of late, I admit to having high hopes with Tsugumi Ohba out of the picture this time. I guess we’ll see! Meanwhile, count me in for School Judgment. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

MICHELLE: Both of the above are my most intense desires this week, but I am going to give the edge to the shoujo goodness of Behind the Scenes!!. I also harbor a secret desire that Tamaki turns up in some capacity.

ANNA: Shoujo for the win! Behind the Scenes!! is also my pick of the week. Drama club hijinks from Bisco Hatori sounds like just the thing to beat the wintertime blues.

ASH: While Behind the Scenes!! is definitely of great interest to me, I’ll have to admit that I’m actually more in the mood for some epic over-the-top face-punching ridiculousness this week (January was rough), so bring on the next volume of Battle Tendency for me!

MICHELLE: Decisions, decisions! I love My Little Monster and it’s almost over. Orange has definitely got me intrigued. But, if I’m honest, what I’m most eager to experience is the second volume of surprise delight Horimiya. Go buy eet!

SEAN: My pick this week is definitely Orange, and I really enjoy it when Seven Seas picks up a series like this that’s out of their usual wheelhouse. A touching, sweet, somewhat tragic teen romance with time travel overtones. What’s not to love?

ASH: Orange is my pick, too! Although I plan on reading reading several of this week’s releases, the debut of Orange is the one I’m most interested in. I’ve heard good things about the series, so I’ve been looking forward to it.

MJ: I’m interested in Orange for sure, but this week I’ll hop on board with Michelle and the second volume of Horimiya! So, so charming, I honestly can’t wait.

ANNA: Out of everything coming out this week, I’m most interested in Orange, so that is my pick!

SEAN: Intellectually, I know that A Girl On The Shore is the obvious choice here, but I know I’m going to wince and cringe all through its highly realistic and painful depictions of teenage life. So instead I will pick the 5th volume of A Silent Voice, which… will do the same thing, to be fair.

ASH: Well, since I’ll still have a couple of opportunities left to pick A Silent Voice and since Sean has already picked it himself, I’ll choose A Girl on the Shore this week. Inio Asano’s work can be difficult and certainly isn’t always the most comfortable to read, but it does tend to be compelling.

MJ: I’ll also go with A Girl on the Shore. I expect this will, indeed, be painful, but I kinda like that quality in a manga. My own teen years are still pretty vivid for me, which I think tends to draw me to this kind of work, so my expectations are high.

ANNA: I feel like any new Inio Asano work should be an automatic Pick. A Girl on the Shore is my choice as well.

MICHELLE: Well, Sean predicted it. My pick of the week is Requiem of the Rose King. While I’m linking to what my compatriots have said, go see why MJnamed this series her Pick of 2015.

SEAN: Unlike the rest of the team, I’m reading several things this week. But yeah, the one that’s clearly head and shoulders above the rest is Requiem of the Rose King. It’s an obvious Pick.

ANNA: I agree, Requiem of the Rose King is such a standout series it is my Pick as well!

ASH: Like Sean, there are actually several releases that I’m looking forward to this week, including Lone Wolf & Cub and His Favorite, but by and far the one that I’m most excited about is the third volume of Requiem of the Rose King. I’m adoring the series.

MJ: Since Requiem of the Rose King was my Pick of the Year, it can’t be a huge surprise that I’m in agreement with everyone else. That’s the Pick for me!

SEAN: There’s a bevy of choices, including some of my favorite shoujo series. From those favorites, I will cast my vote to Natsume’s Book of Friends, which has been gradually working an ongoing plot into its yokai-oriented story. You never know if you’ll get dangerous adventure or melancholy memories with this one. It’s fantastic.

MICHELLE: I agree with Sean 100%. Natsume is my official pick, too, but I really am excited about Honey So Sweet, too. Not to mention more of My Love Story!! and Kimi ni Todoke. If only there were some Skip Beat! coming out this week, I’d be in shoujo heaven!

ANNA: I can’t think of a better way to kick off the new year than with a new shoujo series! So Honey So Sweet is my pick of the week. This story about a slightly traumatized girl who finds herself dating a juvenile delinquent who is secretly sweet has a lo-fi charm that reminds me of some of the late, lamented manga series published by CMX. I was also reminded of Banri Hidaka while reading this, and that’s a very good thing.

ASH: Looks like it really is a shoujo sort of week! I’ve been meaning to catch up on Natsume’s Book of Friends, and I’m glad to see some new series debut, too, but I’m most looking forward to reading the seventh volume of My Love Story!!. I was afraid that the premise of the manga would grow old, but the series continues to make me incredibly happy every time I read it.

MICHELLE: There’s really only one manga on my mind for next week, and that’s Saki, a digital-only debut for a series about mahjong. And, okay, yes, it features impossibly buxom girls, too, but if I can see past the fanservice to enjoy Food Wars!, I’m hoping I can do it again with Saki.

SEAN: I am greatly looking forward to Saki as well, which apparently also has a large yuri fandom. My pick of the week is actually for 3 chapters, though, as Baccano! has a prequel manga running in Japan, and Yen Press is starting it digitally this week with the initial parts. This takes place in 1927, three years prior to the first novel due out in April, and will no doubt focus on Firo, the hero of that first novel. I am very excited for it.

MJ: I’m with Michelle, here, I have to go with Saki! My husband and I enjoyed the anime series when it debuted on Crunchyroll way back in 2009, and though the fanservice level was high, it could not eclipse the true awesomeness of near-magical mahjong tournaments. If you thought Hotta and Obata snazzed up Go, Saki takes the super-sportsification of table games to a whole new level. I’m totally psyched.

MICHELLE: That is super encouraging news!

ANNA: Saki sounds interesting, but my vote this week goes for the 7th volume of Vinland Saga. I hope we see more volumes of this series, it is wonderful.

ASH: Oh, lots of good stuff this week! If Saki was being released in print, it would be a strong contender for my pick. (That being said, it will probably be one of the few digital manga that I’ll actually buy.) And as a longtime Samura fan, I’m definitely looking forward to the debut of Die Wergelder, but my official pick of the week goes to the seventh omnibus of Vinland Saga. I join Anna in hoping this won’t be the last we see of the series; it’s an incredible manga.

MICHELLE: Secure in the knowledge that someone else is going to pick Planetes, and despite genuinely looking forward to the second volume of Tokyo ESP, I am going to have to go with my squeeing fangirl heart this week and pick the digital-only debut of Crown of Thorns, a Yoko Kamio manga that was totally not on my radar before but which I now desperately need to read.

SEAN: It’s definitely Planetes for me. If you told someone to read a manga about space garbagemen, they’d likely ignore you. But they’d be very, very wrong.

ASH: It’s Planetes for me, too. I already have the entire series sitting on my shelf from when Tokyopop released it, but I’m sorely tempted to upgrade to Dark Horse’s edition.

ANNA: Usually with Pick of the Week, my choice is clear, but I’m genuinely torn between celebrating the return of a series I loved or the lure of the new. Since other folks have picked Planetes, I’m going to give in to the side of me that greets new shoujo series with glee and cast my vote for Crown of Thorns.

MJ: I’m going to join the majority of the pack here and go with Planetes. I missed this the first time around, and I am so thrilled to have another chance at it. This is something I’ve been eagerly anticipating for quite a while, so there’s really no other choice for me.

SEAN: I suspect many of the rest of our team will be looking towards vampires, but I’m going with magic instead, as The Ancient Magus’ Bride’s third volume is my pick. Wife husbandry aside, this is a sweet and gentle supernatural manga that is just what I need to relax before the holidays.

MICHELLE: No vampires for me! I am all about the Food Wars!!

ANNA: I feel like I have to be utterly predictable and go with shoujo vampires, so Bloody Mary for me!

ASH: I’ll be tagging along with Sean this week and picking The Ancient Magus’ Bride. I’ve really been enjoying the series and look forward to reading more.

MJ: Okay, I’m at a bit of a loss here this week, but I’ll throw caution to the wind and nervously try Bloody Mary. I’m past the point of being saturated on vampires—so far past that they almost seem okay again. What’s that about? Hm. Anyway, I’ll give it a shot!

MICHELLE: Though there’s not a great deal that appeals to me among this week’s releases, I am intrigued by Scarlet Empire. Time-traveling samurai are definitely worth a look!

SEAN: As it’s the last time I’ll get to do so, my pick is the criminally underrated Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, whose 5th and final omnibus is out this week and resolves the story in a heartwarming and compelling way.

MJ: I’m going to join Michelle here in checking out Scarlet Empire. I’ll try anything peddled to me by GFantasy, and this is no exception. Count me in for those time-traveling samurai!

ASH: I recently caught up with My Neighbor Seki and can’t wait to read more, so I’m happy to make the fifth volume my pick this week. It delights, it charms, it leaves me with a smile; sometimes that’s just what I need.

SEAN: Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun. That was easy.

ANNA: You know what? I think I’m going to pick Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun!

MICHELLE: I am feeling the strangest compulsion to pick Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun!

ASH: There are so many great manga being released this week that I couldn’t possibly choose! Ah, who am I kidding? Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun!

MJ: I’m hearing a voice in my head… what’s that it’s saying? “No… zaki…kun…. No… saki… kun…” Why, I do believe it’s suggesting that I spend my money this week on Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun! Huh.

MICHELLE: There are a few volumes coming out this week that I will probably enjoy, but none that fills me with particular enthusiasm. But since a pick is required, I reckon I will go for volume four of Love Stage!!. I continue to hope for more stage, and will probably be disappointed, but I’m not giving up yet.

SEAN: With nothing really blowing me away this week, it’s time to go back to the beginning of my manga reading career. One can never go wrong with a volume of Ranma 1/2, provided you don’t take it too seriously. That said, the appearance of Nodoka Saotome does make this one a bit less wacky than the previous.

ASH: The two manga that I’m particularly interested in this week have actually both already been mentioned. But, since I haven’t actually read any of Love Stage!! yet, I’ll throw my pick towards the series that I know I like and am happy to see being re-released in English, Ranma 1/2.

SEAN: This week’s pick is the debut of Arina Tanemura’s new series Idol Dreams. It was called her first josei series, though it runs in Melody, a magazine that caters to late shoujo/early josei demographics. And, as is common with a lot of new series lately, it features an age difference romance. Should be fun.

MICHELLE: Two series that I love are ending this week—Chi’s Sweet Home and Yukarism. I love Chi a lot, as it’s adorable and great for kids, but it doesn’t have a mystery plot that I’ve been waiting to see resolved for several months, so in terms of sheer anticipation, I think I’ve gotta award this week’s pick to Yukarism.

ASH: As usual, there are quite a few manga that I’m looking forward to this week. The final volume of the ever-delightful Chi’s Sweet Home is definitely high up there on my list, but as a JoJo’s fan who never expected to see much of the series translated, the first volume of the ridiculously epic Battle Tendency earns my pick this time around.

MJ: Since Michelle has already given the final volume of Yukarism its due, I’ll throw caution to the wind and check out Livingstone. Though I had mixed feelings about Deadman Wonderland, the combination of summary and cover art on this series’ first volume intrigues me pretty intensely. So I’m in, at least for the short term. Livingstone it is for me!

ANNA: I’m a bit torn between Yukarism and Idol Dreams but given that I’m often distracted by whatever is shiny and new, I’m going to pick the new Tanemura manga.

What looks good to you this week?