Welcome back, manga fans! I’m finding it tougher and tougher to stick to the mandate of this column thanks to the ever diversifying nature of manga publishers. Webtoons, Manhwa, Manhua, English “manga-style,” and so many more are under banners that used to be easier to differentiate. That’s good for readers! It’s bad for me because it means 1) I have even more to sift through and 2) I can’t just take a quick look at a cover and a name and go “Yup. That’s not an American or European comic” or see if it had an anime adaptation.
So, apologies to “Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion” fans. I had to leave it off the list. But it did mean I hit 12 instead of 15-16! Blame Viz for releasing at least 4-5 must-talk-about volumes for me in one month.
12. Rock and Rolling
I recently caught up on “Given” and I’m glad I did. It’s a messy story about a band of gay teens trying to figure out how to be in a band, how to be teens, and how to be gay. It’s kinda, sorta, doing the pseudo-sequel thing at this point but it’s really more of the main story. They don’t come out too often so I thought I’d take the opportunity to plug this one. If that’s your jam, go give the 8th volume a read. Even if it’s not, give the first a taste!
Given, Vol. 8
Written and Illustrated by Natsuki Kizu
Published by SuBLime
Hiragi’s band is ready to make its big debut with the help of Ritsuka. And Mafuyu, who’s been wishy-washy about becoming the singer for Given, is now equally as indecisive about his own singing. Ritsuka invites Mafuyu to the debut concert, but he doesn’t accept the invitation, leaving Ritsuka even more confused by his boyfriend’s recent behavior.
11. Wife Book
Literary manga and a collection of one-shots! What more can you ask for in a mature market overstuffed with isekai and villainess stories? (Not knocking that last one yet, there’s just a surprisingly lot of them.)
One More Step Come Stand By My Side
Written and Illustrated by Takeda Toryumon
Published by Yen Press
The wordless time a kidnapped princess and her fingerless caretaker spend together. The ten minutes an ordinary woman spends with her stalker. The six months a man learns is all he has left to spend with his beloved, terminally ill wife. These are some of the moments we have to share with the people featured in this collection of seven of Takeda Toryumon’s manga one-shots, including his highly acclaimed The Wife I Loved Dearly.
10. Weast Meets Beast
What even is this project? American and Japanese comics creators, not all known for horror, all in one anthology? I mean, on curiosity alone you’ve gotta give it a shot. The only sad part is that Ito’s doing the cover and forward only.
Betwixt: A Horror Manga Anthology
Written by Various
Illustrated by Various
Published by Viz LLC
Manga creators from Japan and the US present an international showcase of horror. Collected for the first time in Betwixt: A Horror Manga Anthology, six short stories reveal the universal fear of the space between the known and unknown. Will anyone cross that border?
Featuring stories from a range of award-winning and popular creators, as well as a foreword and exclusive cover art by global phenomenon, Junji Ito.
Ryo Hanada (creator of Devil’s Line), Aki Shimizu (creator of the Suikoden III manga), and Shima Shinya (creator of Lost Lad London and cowriter of Star Wars: The High Republic, The Edge of Balance) each tell uniquely Japanese tales of ghosts and creatures who exist alongside us. American creative duo, Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad (cowriters of Wonder Woman and Batgirls) along with duo Leslie Hung (cocreator of Snotgirl) and Sloane Leong (creator of A Map to the Sun) and up and coming creator Hua Hua Zhu round out the anthology with tales that would make anyone paranoid about who they may encounter.
9. Two Ito Back to Back
Now there’s the requisite Junji Ito comic, and an adaptation no less. While I love Ito as a storyteller, his works noticeably level up when working from a preexisting narrative. In this case he’s bringing to visceral, visual life some modern day urban legends, which is ALSO completely my jam. Give me those creepy Junji Ito eyes in the distance or a gross tongue and we’ve got a masterpiece on our hands.
Mimi’s Tales of Terror
Written by Hirokatsu Kihara & Ichiro Nakayama
Illustrated by Junji Ito
Published by Viz, LLC
University student Mimi and her boyfriend Naoto encounter one chilling mystery after another. There’s the enigmatic neighbor woman dressed in black from head to toe-but if she’s so odd, why does it seems like there are many others like her? Then, whose eyes track Mimi’s movements from the cemetery next door? And why does a bizarre red circle drawn on a basement wall change with each passing day?Nine scary stories that really happened, drawn from the famed collection of urban legends Shin Mimibukuro (New Earmuffs), and adapted into manga by horror genius Junji Ito!
8. Aren’t They All?
Sometimes you just need a little fluff in your life, even when that fluff knocks things off the counter and then runs around at 2am screaming its head off about a shadow it saw that was actually its tail.
My Cat is Such a Weirdo, Vol. 1
Written and Illustrated by Tamako Tamagoyama
Published by Seven Seas Entertainment
A full-color manga series about the hilarious antics of the artist’s two rescue cats, accompanied by photos of the real kitties in action! Staring at you at night, putting their butts on your face, getting stuck in a box… Based on a popular blog, this full color manga shares the everyday silliness of living with cats.
7. Bigolus Dickolus Edition
Friends, we must all thank Twitter (RIP) user Bigolus Dickolus Wolfwood for not only drawing attention to the wonderful sci-fi book “This is How You Lose the Time War” earlier this year and the pretty good reimagining anime “Trigun Stampede” but for allowing that news to propel Dark Horse’s announcement of a deluxe rerelease of “Trigun” even higher. This series has been out of print for too long and now it’s back and ready to run away from all its problems.
This edition collects the entire original series “Trigun,” which after a break returned under a new name “Trigun Maximum” hence the lack of a “volume 1” moniker. I love the yellow, I love the size, and I love that we can now experience the story of Vash the Stampede in a format that hopefully makes half the fight scenes legible.
Look, I love this comic but it gets VERY overdrawn at times.
Trigun Deluxe Edition
Written and Illustrated by Yasuhiro Nightow
Published by Dark Horse
Trigun is a worldwide manga and anime sensation! Trigun Deluxe Edition collects Trigun Volume 1 and 2 in a beautiful hardcover featuring nearly 700 pages of Yasuhiro’s Nightow’s signature creation, collected for the first time in its original oversized format! On the forbidding desert planet of Gunsmoke, a sixty billion double-dollar bounty hangs over the head of Vash the Stampede, a pistol-packing pacifist with a weapon capable of punching holes in a planet. Every trigger-happy psycho in creation is aiming to claim Vash dead or alive-preferably dead!-and although Vash believes in nonviolence, he won’t go down without a fight. And when Vash fights, destruction is sure to follow!
6. At Least It’s Not We Never Learn
The sex comedy has fallen out of fashion as of late, mostly because the classics lack much in the way of consent or self-reflection on the teen-ness of its protags and then the Harem genre, a bad knock off already, swallowed it whole and then proceeded to get swallowed itself by generic isekai trash. Or they just leaned into the sex part and it became straight up hentai. Needless to say, “Ogami-San” seems like it’s trying to resurrect the genre for a new generation with a female lead in the horn-dog role and I’m here for it…with the usual trepidation.
Continued belowOgami-San Can’t Keep It In, Vol. 1
Written and Illustrated by Yu Yoshidamaru
Published by Kodansha Comics
Ogami-san has been keeping a dirty little secret from her peers at school: Puberty has emptied her mind of everything but perverted fantasies! For the sake of leading an ordinary school life, she pulls out all the stops to keep her mental wild side under wraps. But when she literally reaches a hand out to Yaginuma-kun, a cute but mysterious boy in her class, her innermost thoughts just come spilling out! All she wants is to get to know him (and his body) better, but she can’t do that without the risk of exposing her true self. What’s a girl to do?!
5. Spooky Kitty
This one seems so cute! Just in time for the spooky season, get yourself some cats that are also yokai. What a great concept.
Yokai Cats, Vol. 6
Written and Illustrated by Pandania
Published by Seven Seas Entertainment
More additions to the strange and endearing world of yokai cats! Amabie has a fish-like lower body, like our old friend Ningyo. Warai Onna and her owner love to smile and see others smile, while Uwan’s scary face sometimes comes out of nowhere! Life goes on for these unique cats and their owners!
4. It’s Been 64 Years
I’m sure I’ve made that joke before but it’s been so long since the previous volume of “Asadora!” I don’t really care. Please, Urasawa, please let these come out faster. I know you can’t rush good storytelling but could you rush a little?
Asadora! Vol. 7
Written and Illustrated by Naoki Urasawa
Published by Viz LLC
The mysterious creature appears in Tokyo Bay and takes a chunk out of a self-defense forces vessel. Asa is called into action, but she has trouble reaching the airfield due to the Olympic crowds. Meanwhile, Shota arrives at the same beach as the creature. Asa and Kasuga finally get up in the air and do a fly by, but the creature damages their plane, causing them to lose altitude. Will Asa be able to regain control?
3. Jugemu Jugemu Gokō-no Surikire Kaijarisuigyo-no Suigyōmatsu Unraimatsu Fūraimatsu Kuunerutokoro-ni Sumutokoro Yaburakōji-no Burakōji Paipopaipo Paipo-no Shūringan Shūringan-no Gūrindai Gūrindai-no Ponpokopii-no Ponpokonā-no Chōkyūmei-no Chōsuke
And here we have the opposite problem. I feel like I JUST recommended volume 1 and here we are again with volume 2. There’s no better time to hop on the hype train.
Akane-Banashi, Vol. 2
Written by Yuki Suenaga
Illustrated by Takamase Moue
Published by Viz LLC
Akane accompanies her senior apprentice Kyoji to a retirement home where she’s going to act as his zenza opening act before he performs. Her assignment is to offer rakugo that pleases the audience in front of her. How will Akane meet that goal? Later, she learns about a rakugo competition for students, with the presiding judge being none other than Issho Arakawa-the man who banished her father from the Arakawa school. Desperate to take part in the competition, her rakugo master Shiguma grants her permission under one unique, tongue-twisting condition…”Jugemu.”
2. Dance Chicken Devil, Dance
“Chainsaw Man” is BACK and better than ever. It’s a volume 12 that feels as fresh and exciting as the first. That opening chapter? Pure hype injected directly into my veins. You can start at this volume, you can start at volume 1. That’s the beauty of this return. Chainsaw Man” rules.
Chainsaw Man, Vol. 12
Written and Illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto
Published by Viz, LLC
Meet awkward high school student Asa Mitaka. She may have trouble getting along with her fellow students and the class pet devil chicken, but Asa has something special going for her. And it may lead her right to Chainsaw Man!
1. Hiatus X Hiatus
I was split on whether to have the latest volume of “Hunter X Hunter” be the top of the list or the bottom. The frequent and lengthy delays due to Togashi’s myriad health issues make it hard to recommend to new readers and yet that makes a new volume worthy of celebration. In the end, I chose to put it here at the top because Togashi’s work is just that good. So good the wait between volumes is a price worth paying.
Continued belowHunter X Hunter, Vol. 37
Written and Illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi
Published by Viz Media, LLC
As Kurapika fights to protect Prince Woble in the Kakin war of succession, trouble is brewing on the lower tiers of the Whale Ship. Those tiers are ruled by the Mafia, and the crime families have their own agendas in the war. Meanwhile, the new Nen users are primed to use their powers for destruction-especially the fearsomely gifted Prince Tserriednich!
—
Anything I missed? What are YOU looking forward to? Let me know in the comments!
