SEAN: It’s a fairly slim week of stuff, but there are some intriguing titles. My pick of the week is Vol. 4 of the dark shounen series Flowers of Evil. I admit I’m about a volume or so behind on this one, but it’s worth my catching up on. The cover design has turned darker, and the book seems to be trending the same way. I can’t say I enjoy reading the volumes, but I’m utterly fascinated by them, and want to know what happens next so I can be repelled against my will again. Which is a recommendation, in case anyone was unsure.
MJ: I’m going to go with Sean on this one. The Flowers of Evil is the only print volume I’m really interested in this week, but it should be noted that even in a stronger week, it’d have a good chance with me. I find this series very compelling, and I’m pretty psyched to read more of it. From my review of the last volume, “Volume three is unexpectedly moving as Kasuga comes to the surprisingly insightful realization that putting his dream girl on a pedestal is not the same thing as loving her, and as all three of the series’ main characters are faced with truths they weren’t quite prepared for. If this series’ first volume read mainly as “better than Sundome” its third proves that it is really so much more.”
Readers, what looks good to you this week?
MJ: This is a tough week for me. My favorite item from this week’s shipping list at 
SEAN: Whereas I’m getting quite a few titles from Yen, any of which would be a decent pick of the week. But I’m still going with 
SEAN: There’s nothing that really inspires me on this week’s 
MICHELLE: I’m also going to cast my vote for Loveless. I’d heard a little about it when TOKYOPOP was releasing it, but mostly it was all the potentially squicky bits. I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy it as much as I did, and that’s entirely due to the endearing characters. In the Off the Shelf column MJlinked to, I compared its strong characterization and somewhat hazy plotting to Pandora Hearts, and I continue to stand by that comparison. It’s not just any manga that can make me stop worrying about things making sense, but these two series manage it!
MJ: There’s a lot going on at 
SEAN: Given that this last week is rather thin, I thought I’d briefly touch on the titles I enjoyed in 2012. It was hard to pick just one, and several series – Devil and Her Love Song, Young Miss Holmes, Fallen Words, Sakuran, GTO 14 Days – were on my shortlist. But really, 2012 has a surprising winner for me, a red-blooded American male, and it comes from a young girl in a magical Wonderland choosing between many men who seem designed to fall for her. 
MJ: This year was filled with a number of surprising new favorites for me, including titles like 
MICHELLE: I had to think about this for a while, because the title that first sprang to mine was not one that debuted in 2012. In fact, it started coming out here in 2010, but I so loved every single volume of it, most especially the final one, that I simply must award my pick to Mitsuru Adachi’s 
MJ: 
MICHELLE: I am sorry to say that there’s nothing on Midtown’s list that particularly appeals to me. However, Sean’s list provides some more likely offerings. Of them, I’m going to have to go with 
SEAN: This week seems to feature a lot of series I pretty much enjoy, but nothing I’m absolutely over the moon over. Some decent Jump, some decent comedy, some decent horror. As a result, I’ll take my chance and pick a short story collection by Kaoru Mori, 
ANNA: If we are veering off lists, I am going to veer even further and choose as my pick the anime adaptation of 
MJ: There is an avalanche of new manga flooding 
SEAN: Midtown may be getting a pile, but my store is only getting a tiny amount, for some likely Diamond-related reason. And I already talked about Higurashi a couple of days ago. So for my pick, I’ll go with the 13th volume of 
MICHELLE: I’d be up for that Chocolat marathon, but I’m going to award my pick to volume 13 of 
ANNA: My Pick of the week is the new Mayu Shinjo title, 
MICHELLE: There’s not a very robust crop of new manga at 
MJ: Well, since Michelle took up the banner for GTO: 14 Days in Shonan, I’ll be the one to go for the second volume of Keiko Suenobu’s 
SEAN: I thank my colleagues for leaving me with the choice I was going to make anyway. 
ANNA: I also lean towards Limit 2, but since that was already discussed I will note that the 
SEAN: There’s a 
MJ: This really is a pretty incredible week, including the latest volume of Real, another installment of Viz’s X omnibus, and license rescue 07-Ghost. And though I absolutely agree with Sean that Thermae Romae trumps pretty much anything you could put on the list, since he’s already mentioned that, I’ll take the opportunity to give a shout-out to one of my surprise favorites of the year, Yen Press’ graphic novel adaptation of Gail Carriger’s 
MICHELLE: … That really does just about sum it up, doesn’t it? 
BRIGID: Yes, I want to jump in and put in the word for vol. 6 of 
ANNA: Thermae Romae is on my wish list for the holidays and any week that features a new volume of manga by Takehiko Inoue is a cause for celebration. I am going to go with 
MJ: While there’s a lot to get excited about at 
SEAN: While the pick is obvious to those who know, me, one thing I find interesting is how far 
MICHELLE: Man, there is a lot of good stuff on that list, including the debut volumes of a few different series. I’ll be checking out Strobe Edge and Umineko: When They Cry for sure, but, seriously, how could I resist this premise?
MJ: Though 
SEAN: It’s been a while since I’ve had it as a pick of the week, so I think it’s a good time to champion 
SEAN: Generally speaking, I’m not a big horror fan, unless it has a healthy dose of comedy. With that in mind, I’m going with my perennial favorite Higurashi: When They Cry. In between its harem antics, its mystery plotting, and its tragic futility, there’s no end to terrifying images, ranging from Rena’s scratching at imaginary maggots to Keiichi eating a needle hidden in his riceball to… well, the entire epilogue of the Cotton-Drifting Arc. Some truly nightmare-inducing imagery, especially given the cute moe-type heroines.
KATE: My favorite Halloween title? That’s a tough call, but if I had to choose just one—and death was not an option!—my pick would be Rumiko Takahashi’s Mermaid Saga. This four-volume series follows the adventures of Yuta, a fisherman who accidentally ingests mermaid flesh, gaining immortality in the process. Though Yuta is keen to regain his humanity, he crosses paths with people who seek mermaid flesh as a remedy for illness, old age, or the death of a loved one. Say what you will about InuYasha or Rin-ne, when Takahashi is working in short-story form, she’s an undisputed master of horror; her spooky morality plays are a skillful mixture of suspense, humor, and horror, with a generous dose of pathos. Hands-down my favorite Takahashi series.
MJ: This particular pick is really difficult for me—not because I’m a big fan of horror comics in particular (I’m not) but because for whatever reason, the spooky comics I do like, I tend to really love. Tempting choices include Setona Mizushiro’s emotionally complex epic 
MICHELLE: Having 
KATE: Though I’m glad to see that Dark Horse is still releasing new volumes of Bride of the Water God—surely one of the most beautiful and confusing manhwa available in English—my vote goes to volume one of Keiko Suenobu’s 
SEAN: It’s a mild second week at 
MICHELLE: My vote’s going for the second volume of 
MJ: I’m making my pick a bit frantically today, as I prepare to travel for New York Comic Con, but the title that stands out for me most on the list this week is Viz’s omnibus release of