Manga the week of 10/20

There’s enough manga out in the third week of October that it reminds me of the bad old days when Viz and Tokyopop used to release 25-30 titles in the same week. This time, though, it’s Yen getting into the act, as they drop 14 new manga on us.

First up, though, Dark Horse has Volume 1 of the new Card Captor Sakura in its new omnibus edition. The first of what appears to be four planned volumes, this will have Vol. 1-3 of the original shoujo classic. Even the grumpiest of CLAMP fans, weary of their hijinks, tend to love this one to death. And rightfully so, it’s fantastic. (It’s also rated 12+, which makes me cry, but given that I think this is the volume with THAT engagement ring, I can sort of see it…)

Fans of the just-released Baseball Heaven might be interested in a new yaoi title from DMP, Double Cast, which has the same artist. And there’s also the Wings title Alice 101st, Wings being Shinshokan’s ‘non yaoi titles for yaoi fangirls’ shoujo magazine.

Vertical has the adorable Chi’s Sweet Home, while Viz has the gritty samurai drama Vagabond. Both, of course, run in the same magazine. Viz also has the Vampire Knight fanbook, telling you more than you ever want to know about Yuki Cross and her collection of vampire hangers-on. March Story is a Korean writer/artist who is being serialized in the Japanese Sunday Gene-X, so will inspire label debate. And more Kingyo Used Books, which will never get the blogosphere chattering, but is relaxing and makes me nostalgic for old manga titles I will never see here.

And then there’s Yen. For yaoi fans, there’s a new Black Butler (not technically yaoi, but come on…), and Ugly Duckling’s Love Revolution is a reverse harem. For the guys, Omamori Himari is a plain old normal fanservicey harem manga. We get another volume of the Haruhi Suzumiya manga, and the first volume in its much, much better gag spinoff, Haruhi-chan. We get the first of a new 2-volume Higurashi set, the first one not adapted from one of the games – it’s an original to the manga storyline. And intriguingly, we get a 500-page omnibus of a manga from the magazine Princess, Dragon Girl. This is by the author of CMX’s Oyayubihime Infinity (which also came from Princess), and involves a female Ouendan! Only in Japan would a female cheerleader be an intriguing and unusual idea…