Welcome back, manga fans! Since Previews has a section of the catalog dedicated to manga, we’ll be highlighting that section’s most notable upcoming releases every month. Read on to see what stuck out to us!
10. CLAMP from the past.
There was a time when CLAMP was the hottest thing in manga, those gangly limbs and giant eyes nestling their way into every “quirky” tweenage girl’s heart. I’ve still never read a CLAMP book, so I’m curious to stick my toes in with this done-in-one, genre-bending blast from the past.
Clover: Kodansha Omnibus HC
Written and Illustrated by CLAMP
Published by Kodansha Comics
The sci-fi classic from the creators of xxxHOLiC and Cardcaptor Sakura returns, in a remastered, hardcover edition, featuring the entire CLOVER series. One of CLAMP’s most ambitious works-part AKIRA, part Metropolis- CLOVER features nearly 500 pages of manga.
Su was born into a bleak future, where the military keeps tight control over the few children born with psychic abilities-known as “clovers.” The clovers are forcibly tattooed with a symbol that indicates their potential power, and Su is the only four-leaf clover in the world. Kept locked away in isolation her whole life, Su longs to escape and get a taste of normal life. A voice in her mind guides her to the answer: an agent named Kazuhiko. Neither of them realize it, but Su and Kazuhiko share a bond that spans decades…CLAMP’s most daring science-fiction work, CLOVER’s art-deco cyberpunk aesthetic is just as fresh and exciting today as it was twenty years ago. Featuring the entire story in a newly-revised translation; remastered art and lettering; a striking cover; and over 20 pages of color art, this is a great collectible for CLAMP fans, and the perfect way to get to know CLOVER for the first time.
9. I can explain.
While I’m usually down for slice-of-life LGBT manga, the cover to this one looks, uh… troubling?? I appreciate the concept here. There’s a lot of serious ground to cover when it comes to both gender and the proliferation of Japanese maid cafes. Putting them together is a genuinely fantastic idea, and the solicit copy sounds like my jam. So let’s hope the book can transcend the cover.
Love Me for What I Am, volume 1
Written and Illustrated by Kata Konayama
Published by Seven Seas Entertainment
An LGBT+ manga about finding friendship and common ground at an untraditional maid café! Mogumo is a cute but lonely high school student who just wants a few loving friends. Fellow student Iwaoka Tetsu invites Mogumo to work at his family’s café for “cross-dressing boys,” but he makes an incorrect assumption: Mogumo is non-binary and doesn’t identify as a boy or a girl. However, Mogumo soon finds out that the café is run by LGBT+ folks of all stripes, all with their own reasons for congregating there. This touching manga explores gender, gender presentation, and sexuality from many different angles, including the ways people are pushed to conform in a world that doesn’t understand them… until the world begins to learn, one person at a time.
8. High school? In a MANGA??
Did you know that there are manga about high schools?? Did you know that there are manga about high school boys?? Did you know that there are manga about their daily lives??
All joking aside, this is a fairly well-regarded slice-of-life comedy, and I can always vibe with that.
The Daily Lives of High School Boys, volume 1
Written and Illustrated by Yasunobu Yamauchi
Published by Vertical Comics
High school boys, be fools! Follow the bizarre adventures of Tadakuni, Hidenori and Yoshitake at the all boys, Sanada North High School. This is a high school slice of life comedy that will keep you laughing. Volume 1 features 15 hilarious short stories, plus bonus content including a parody short, “The Daily Life of a Princess.”
7. Korean manga!
Unless I’m mistaken, this is the first time since I started doing these columns that a new Korean manga series has started. We’ve seen Italian and French and American manga-style books from manga publishers, so it’s about time we see some manhwa. In addition, this one started as a webcomic. Honestly, the solicit doesn’t wow me, but its background is unique enough to earn it a spotlight.
Continued belowKingdom of the Gods, volume 1
Written by Eun-hee Kim and In-Wan Youn
Illustrated by Kyung-Il Yang
Published by Viz Media
Years of war and famine and have plunged Joseon into chaos. Young Prince Yi Moon, after losing all his bodyguards to an assassination attempt, has no choice but to turn to the mountain bandit Jae-ha for help. But as the unlikely pair race to find safety in a world gone mad, it becomes horrifyingly clear that humans aren’t the only thing they must fear!
6. Wacky shonen fun.
Soul Eater was that anime that was always on my list but that I never ended up watching. It always looked like it took the best of shonen story structure and did something wacky and enjoyable with it. I love that publishers are doing these larger-format books recollecting older series. If you slept on the series in the past, now is the perfect time to jump in!
Soul Eater: Perfect Edition, volume 1
Written and Illustrated by Atsushi Ohkubo
Published by Square Enix Manga
Experience the quirky, action-packed adventures of Maka and Soul Eater like never before, with this all-new, deluxe collector’s edition to celebrate Atsushi Ohkubo’s global hit!! The saga of the Meisters and their Weapons takes on a whole new look in the gorgeous Soul Eater: Perfect Edition! Dive into Maka and Soul’s adventures in a unique larger format on high-end paper stock that maximizes the dynamic art of the series! Each volume of this deluxe omnibus edition of the megahit manga includes the content of approximately 1 original volumes, the original color pages, an updated translation and lettering, and to top it all off, brand-new cover art drawn by creator Atsushi Ohkubo himself!
5. Classic Tezuka, retold!
One of the most well-regarded manga in existence is “Pluto,” a retelling of an Osamu Tezuka story. And while I’m not exactly expecting this to reach those heights, I love that another person is adapting another of Tezuka’s stories. Even though remakes don’t always work, I think this supernatural samurai story one is ripe for a modern interpretation.
The Legend of Dororo and Hyakkimaru
Written by Osamu Tezuka
Illustrated by Satoshi Shiki
Published by Seven Seas Entertainment
A modern remake of Osamu Tezuka’s legendary samurai tale about reclaiming stolen humanity! During Japan’s tumultuous Sengoku period, one man sells his son to a pack of devils in exchange for the power to rule. Forty-eight devils take forty-eight pieces of young Hyakkimaru, and the boy is left for dead. But through the assistance of a sage and a series of inventive prosthetics, Hyakkimaru survives. Together with the young thief Dororo, the now-grown Hyakkimaru embarks upon a quest to slay all the demons and retrieve the stolen pieces of his body. This classic story from Osamu Tezuka, the father of modern manga is now reimagined in this gorgeous new adaptation by Satoshi Shiki, the artist of the manga Attack on Titan: Before the Fall.
4. Classic sports manga!
The Ping Pong anime is one of the bigger recent successes in sports anime, notable for its bizarre, unique visual style. I didn’t realize that it was based on an as-yet-untranslated 90s manga, and a manga that has much of the anime’s visual flair in terms of character designs and angle choices. That cover really sold me, though, as does the fact that this is one of two 500-page volumes that will collect the entire series!
Ping Pong, volume 1
Written and Illustrated by Taiyu Matsumoto
Published by Viz Media
Makoto “Smile” Tsukimoto and his friend Yutaka “Peco” Hoshino have been playing table tennis since they were kids, but as they enter high school, they find that the game has changed. Seeing potential in them that they themselves don’t fully realize, the coach recruits them for the school team. Bringing out their best will mean challenging the top players from rival schools in the summer tournament, including an ace Chinese exchange student who almost made the Olympic team. With the pressure on, can Smile and Peco take the heat and make it into the finals?
3. Literary manga… from a female creator!
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It’s not super often that literary manga are translated into English. It’s even less common that we get literary manga written by a woman. Drawn & Quarterly is the perfect publisher for a book like this, and I’m excited to dive into these short stories.
The Sky is Blue with a Single Cloud
Written and Illustrated by Kuniko Tsurita
Published by Drawn & Quarterly
The Sky is Blue with a Single Cloud collects the best short stories from Kuniko Tsurita’s remarkable career. While the works of her male peers in literary manga are widely reprinted, this formally ambitious and poetic female voice is like none other currently available to an English readership. A master of the comics form, expert pacing and compositions combined with bold characters are signature qualities of Tsurita’s work. An exciting and essential gekiga collection, The Sky Is Blue with a Single Cloud is translated by comics scholar Ryan Holmberg and includes an afterword cowritten by Holmberg and the manga editor Mitsuhiro Asakawa delineating Tsurita’s importance and historical relevance.
2. One of my favorites concludes.
“Blank Canvas,” a memoir by Akiko Higashimura (“Princess Jellyfish,” “Tokyo Tarareba Girls”), gripped me from the start. It’s a deeply personal tale dealing with all the hopes and dreams you’d expect, but also not afraid to dive into the devastatingly disappointing moments of Higashimura being a downright shitty person. The whole thing has a strong air of regret and nostalgia running through it, while also remaining fun and well-paced and revealing of Japan’s schooling and manga production systems. This is the final volume. (That solicit text appears to be from the first volume; she’ll be at the start of her career already by volume 5.)
If you’re into memoirs, coming-of-age stories, manga, strong platonic relationships, or any of the above, I highly recommend this series.
Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist’s Journey, volume 5
Written and Illustrated by Akiko Higashimura
Published by Seven Seas Entertainment
High schooler Akiko has big plans to become a popular mangaka before she even graduates, but she needs to get much better at drawing if she ever wants to reach her goal. Looking for an easy fix, she signs up for an art class, thinking all her problems will soon be solved. She’s in for a surprise: her new instructor is a sword-wielding taskmaster who doesn’t care about manga one bit. But maybe this unconventional art teacher is just what she needs to realize her dreams!
1. New Tezuka!
Osamu Tezuka published a genuinely astonishing amount of work. He’s remembered not just for establishing manga as a tradition, but also for constantly expanding into different genres and producing work in just about every one. The closest thing American comics have to him is Jack Kirby, and even that’s not an apt comparison.
All that said, there’s still a good portion of Tezuka’s work that hasn’t been translated into English, and the good folks at Digital Manga have been doing just that. Even better, many of the works have made it to print (with the help of Kickstarter), and some even to bookstores/comic shops! Even big publishers can have a hard time keeping Tezuka’s more well-known books in print, so it’s always time to celebrate when a completely new book drops.
And that’s all without even noting the bizarre premise. Read it below for yourself. This is going to be a blast.
Wonder 3
Written and Illustrated by Osamu Tezuka
Published by Digital Manga Distribution
A classic Osamu Tezuka work! Three extraterrestrials are on a mission to see if Earth qualifies to be part of the Galactic Control. The Galactic Control is a select order of planets with strict admissions requirements. If Earth doesn’t qualify, then the planet will be destroyed. To make progress in their mission, the three aliens abduct three earth animals as disguises for themselves. With their extraordinary powers, these aliens in animal skins are best known as the Wonder 3.
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Anything I missed? What are YOU looking forward to? Let me know in the comments!
