Oh dear, it’s the first Wednesday of the month. You know what that means. Buckle down, kids, it’s Viz time. But first, a word from publishers who aren’t Viz.

Picturebox is releasing another collection of seinen manga by Yuichi Tokoyama, and it’s supposed to be quite fascinating. If you like the sorts of things D&Q; and First Second put out, this may be the title for you.

Seven Seas has the second in its series of Gunslinger Girl omnibus books, and the first in its series of Blood Alone omnibus books. On a side note, I note that Blood Alone is the second Seven Seas title, after Hayate x Blade, to suffer from jumping mid-series to a larger publisher who would probably need a license renegotiation: it’s currently running in Kodansha’s Evening. Poor Seven Seas…

Another of the final Tokyopop books trickles in from Diamond, as we have the 4th volume of the shonen series Ratman, which I still resent for coming out here when Gegege no Kitaro, with its MUCH BETTER Ratman, is still not licensed.

Vertical has their one-off Furuya title Lychee Light Club coming out this week, from the magazine Manga Erotics F, which is becoming and increasingly popular cult favorite among manga bloggers. As for the title itself, well, it’s based on a Grand Guignol, and is written by Furuya. It is therefore essential.

And then there’s Viz. OK, let’s see…

Shonen: the final volumes of Hikaru no Go and Genkaku Picasso are out. The start of the omnibus editions for Naruto and Kekkaishi, with each being a ‘3-in-1’, as well as the 3rd volume of their Death Note re-release. Gintama, which everyone in the world should buy. And Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee, which runs in Jump Square and is probably very different from Ant & Bee Go Shopping (which I would love to see adapted into an anime).

And shoujo: the debut of Ai Ore!, an oversized 300-page first volume from the twisted mind of Shinjo Mayu. Fans of Sensual Phrase will eat this up. More of the insanely popular Black Bird and Kimi ni Todoke. New Oresama Teacher and Otomen volumes for fans of comedy. For adventure fans, there’s new Haruka Beyond the Stream of Time and Story of Saiunkoku. And for those who just want a good cry, have a new volume of We Were There.

Are you prepared? Is your wallet prepared?