Welcome back, manga fans! I have a confession to make. I haven’t been looking at the Dark Horse books these last few months. Why you ask? Well because Previews, in their infinite wisdom, doesn’t put the “featured publishers” in the complete list because they’re at the top. And I just…never noticed. So, I’ll take, like, 1% of the blame for that. Thankfully, they haven’t really solicited much manga outside a few Deluxe editions. Plus, do you really need me saying “check out Berserk or Blade of the Immortal or Hellsing on HUGE AWESOME PAGES” every other month? No. No you don’t.
Instead, I caved and picked not one, but TWO Isekai this month. This is my punishment. Witness me.
10. What’s your Blood Type? Alpha? Beta? Omega? Alpha-Beta-Gamma-Delta?
If you’ve been reading for a while, you know I jump at the chance to read new Josei manga. They’re often the most different from your standard fare and not afraid to deal with complicated subjects. Well, here’s one that ticks those boxes…and then just drops “alpha/beta/omega” so, uh, approach with caution.
Bite Maker Kings Omega, Vol. 1
Written and illustrated by Miwako Sugiyama
Published by Seven Seas Entertainment LLC
Desire and destiny meet head-on in this sexy josei manga! Nobunaga won the genetic lottery and was born an alpha: his beauty, intelligence, and talent drive everyone wild with lust. Despite his seemingly perfect life, Nobunaga is unsatisfied – until he meets the woman of his dreams, who can sate his every desire. Enjoy a taste of the supernatural in this alpha/beta/omega tale about love, lust, and the power of attraction.
9. Everything of Steel
The “Bofuri” anime has gotten a lot of hype as being a great twist on the usual MMO isekai, wherein the main character is the first???? person to realize that maxing their defense instead of anything else can essentially break the game and make them the best. Sure. But the concept is novel enough and while it’s not for me — I’ll stick to my “everything is pain” re:Zero — fans of Isekai should check this one out if they haven’t already.
Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, So I’ll Max Out My Defense
Written by Yuumikan
Illustrated by Jirou Oimoto & Koin
Published by Yen Press
When Kaede Honjou agrees to try out VRMMO gaming with her best friend from high school, her inexperience and “I don’t want to get hurt ” outlook cause her to max out her defense points leaving her with no attack points to speak of! Luckily for her, the game’s mod system is diverse enough that a little creativity boosts her special abilities to heights beyond the game admins’ wildest imaginations Will this noob become a new star in NewWorld Online?!
8. It’s been 87 years
OK, so this is one that caught my eye because it’s the kind of take you really don’t see often. “Uncle” asks the question: what happens to the person who was whisked away in the real world? Sure, Sword Art Online had this built into its DNA but it’s SAO. This has the return as its central conceit and the aftermath of, well, all of it. While it’s described as a comedy, I think there’s potential for “Uncle” to go to some thoughtful places if it wants. Will it? Who knows but that’s enough for me now.
Uncle from Another World, Vol. 1
Written and illustrated by Hotondoshindeiru
Published by Yen Press
When a middle-aged man wakes up from a seventeen-year coma, he tells his nephew Takafumi that he’s been adventuring in another world. It’s a generation gap comedy starring an uncle who bridges two universes!
7. Resident Evil: Hot Springs
With the prevalence of Lady Dimitrescu in the popular discourse right now, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to highlight this volume of a manga that is one of the only consistently published titles under the Ghost Ship imprint at Seven Seas: “Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs.” Do I know what it’s about? Nope. Am I somewhat uncomfortable about this porn comic featuring high schoolers? Yes. Are they 18? Probably?? Dunno if that makes it better but this is for somebody.
Continued belowAnd I don’t want to just slag off porn. Like, taking about sex is a difficult enough taboo to overcome in the best of situations and writing it off whole-cloth ain’t the way to change that. But I also have no idea how to talk about it without feeling deeply self-conscious. Maybe one day I’ll read it for the plot so I can talk about it. Or to leave it off the list next time.
Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs, Vol. 14
Written and illustrated by Tadahiro Miura
Published by Ghost Ship
Get in the spirit with this sexy manga (and anime) about girls and ghosts! Homeless and haunted by ghosts, high schooler Kogarashi thinks his luck has finally turned when he finds Yuragi-sou: a cheap boarding house that was formerly a hot springs inn, now full of super sexy, scantily clad female tenants. If Kogarashi can use his spirit abilities to banish the ghost that haunts the inn, he can even live there rent-free! But when the ghost, a beautiful teenage girl named Yuuna, appears before him, Kogarashi takes pity on her and is suddenly not so sure about the exorcism. Will he help save Yuuna from becoming an evil spirit? And what supernatural secrets do the other boarders hold?VOLUME SUMMARY: On a trip to the beach, Matora is taken out by a shady character, and things only get worse for our heroes from there. Kogarashi investigates the commotion only to discover his former master, Ouga Makyouin! She’s arrived at Yuragi-sou to exorcise its resident ghost, and worse, she claims that Yuuna is actually an evil spirit hell-bent on destroying the planet! Kogarashi has to think fast to prevent Yuuna from being exorcised forever-that is, if he still trusts her.
6. Don’t Skip Leg Day Bro
Sometimes you just need a feel-good comedy and if there’s one thing manga is good at, it’s finding the most absurd takes on a genre and just letting rip. This feels like one of those. I hope it goes full absurdism, full “Cromarde High School” or “Arakawa Under the Bridge,” but I’ll settle for a “Way of the Househusband.”
Thigh High Reiwa Hanmaru Academy, Vol. 1
Written and illustrated by Kotobuki
Published by Seven Seas Entertainment, LLC
Every day is leg day in this ultra-cute, bro-tastic high school comedy! The hunks at Hanamaru Academy are putting the boot (and booty!) to expectations. Instead of wearing drab blazers, these studs are obsessed with the length of their skirts and the size of their chests as they try to navigate high school. This high-energy comedy takes being cute and being cut to a whole new level!
5. Lady Dimitrescu Part Deux
Hiroya Oku’s works are bleak and dark and nihilistic. While none are quite as fucked as “Gantz,” which Dark Horse is re-releasing in omnibi format along with a regular release of its sequel, his last work, “Inuyashiki,” was arresting and depressing but deeply moving. His art has a digital, traced sheen but unlike certain Marvel artists, it never feels lazy and I’m always intrigued by what he has to say. “Gigant” feels quintessential Oku while still being something totally new for him and while I have yet to check it out, it’s always worth a gander.
Gigant, Vol. 5
Written and illustrated by Hiroya Oku
Published by Seven Seas Entertainment, LLC
Rei Yokoyamada, a high schooler whose father works for a film production company, is inspired to create his own short film with his friends. One day, while out to find actors, he spots tabloid-like notices that the adult film star Papico lives in his area. When he takes them down to protect her, he runs into the woman herself. Little does he know that Papico is about to get dragged into a strange, supernatural happening… where she grows to the size of a giant!
4. Late Night Double Feature
Another artist whose previous work is getting the deluxe treatment from Dark Horse, Hiroaki Samura’s “Wave Listen to Me” is a complete departure from the blood-stained world of samurai and into the modern world of late night radio hosting. It’s raucous and wild and every volume is better than the last. Y’all, you gotta check this series out.
Continued belowWave Listen to Me, Vol. 6
Written and illustrated by Hiroaki Samura
Published by Kodansha Comics
From the legendary creator of Blade of the Immortal comes something completely different: the wild ride of one disgruntled young woman down the rapids of talk radio!
Minare thought she was just venting to a stranger when she told a guy at a bar about her man troubles. It turns out that man works at a radio station, and the next day she’s shocked to hear her grumbling broadcast on the air! She storms the station in a rage, only to be duped into joining a talk show, and her acid tongue makes her into an instant star!
Story Locale: Sapporo, Japan
3. Saved by the Time Spell
Always down for a new psychological horror story, especially when it involves strange time shenanigans at schools (see “Kokkoku” or “The Drifting Classroom”) and with a famed mystery writer paired up with the drawing chops of Naoshi Arakawa, that’s a series to keep your eye on. Plus, if Vertical comics picked it up, it’s gotta have something good to offer.
A School Frozen in Time, Vol. 1
Written by Naoshi Arakawa & Mizuki Tsujimura
Illustrated by Naoshi Arakawa
Published by Vertical Comics
From two star creators Naoshi Arawkawa (Your Lie in April) and award winning writer Mizuki Tsujimura (Anime Supremacy!) comes a psychological horror story filled with twists, turns, and hard truths about the lives of high school students and the pressures they face in modern society.On a snowy school day like any other, classmates and childhood friends Hiroshi and Mizuki arrive at school to find the campus eerily empty. Before long, they find themselves trapped inside with six other friends, and even stranger, all the clocks have stopped at a very specific moment-the exact time when a former classmate jumped off the school roof to their death three months earlier. It turns out that this departed friend is their way out of their current predicament and may even be among their group…but no one can remember who it was that took their life on that sad day. The students must face themselves and their past memories to piece together the identity of this suicide victim or risk a similar fate-with their lives lost and forgotten inside these frigid school walls.
2. Come on. Of Course I’d Pick This.
It’s Naoki Urasawa. Come on. Why wouldn’t I pick it?
Asadora! Vol. 2
Written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa
Published by Viz LLC
A deadly typhoon, a mysterious creature and a girl who won’t quit.
In 2020, a large creature rampages through Tokyo, destroying everything in its path. In 1959, Asa Asada, a spunky young girl from a huge family in Nagoya, is kidnapped for ransom-and not a soul notices. When a typhoon hits Nagoya, Asa and her kidnapper must work together to survive. But there’s more to her kidnapper and this storm than meets the eye.
Asa and Kasuga see the tail of a giant creature rise from the water. In a jungle, explorers discover massive claw marks in a tree trunk. And years later in 1964, a mysterious military man appears asking all the wrong questions.
1. These are Two of My Favorite Things
Yen Press picks up the weirdest one-shot comics and I’m so appreciative that they do. What more can be said about this that the cover and description don’t?
Hard Boiled Stories from the Cat Bar
Written and illustrated by Ono Yourei
Published by Yen Press
An assassin unable to get over the loss of his cat, a man with a scar on his cheek, and a feline named Dandy that is waiting for its master to return are at the center of this gritty tale of men and tears.
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Anything I missed? I know I skipped, like, 95% of Viz’s releases this month. Whoops. What are YOU looking forward to? Let me know in the comments!
