First off, my obligatory Tokyopop/Diamond rant. Most of this months’ titles shipped on time. 2 were on Diamond’s list this week, but my store (and Midtown) did not get them: Gakuen Alice 16 and V.B. Rose 12. Two are simply M.I.A.: The Secret Notes of Lady Kanoko 2 and the Hetalia Axis Powers Postcard book. I suspect the last of those is genuinely delayed, as Amazon also doesn’t have it. But Amazon has had the others for 2 weeks now, so it’s a repeat of last month. And they aren’t coming next week either. I’m behind on Gakuen Alice anyway, but I’m Amazoning the other two, which means when Diamond gets off its arse and ships them via the direct market, I may do a contest giveaway.

Rant over, so what’s out next week? Quite a lot, actually. Breaking it down:

Bandai has a 3rd volume of Code Geass: Knight, the doujinshi anthology book marketed for young women with an emphasis on yaoi tease.

Digital Manga Publishing has a slew of things, including three shoujo titles from Mag Garden’s Comic Blade Avarus. The Beautiful Skies of Houou High in particular has a solicit that I suspect makes it sound more yuri than it is. There’s also a new Itakura Na Kiss, which surely must be getting near the point where the couple actually get together. Surely. Any volume now. On the yaoi front, there’s the 2nd volume of the late 1990s ‘Treasure’, and the second omnibus of Yellow 2, making it Yellow 2 2. Does that make sense?

Our long national nightmare is almost over, as Kodansha Comics releases the last of its fake new releases, the 6th volume of Akira. Like the previous 5, this is a straight up reprint of the old Dark Horse release. Next month will see the company actually release things that are NEW.

Finally appearing a mere 14 months after its solicitation in Previews is the 4th volume of Udon’s reprint of Silent Mobius, as they do their best Dark Horse imitation. Luckily, Udon’s reissue has been top notch, so us fans of the series should get a nice treat.

Viz has two new Ikki volumes, House of Five Leaves 3 for you Ono fans of not-really-yaoi-but-close-enough, and Kingyo Used Books for you really-you-read-this-for-the-characters? fans. There’s also March Story, with its Korean creator but Japanese magazine release, as it’s in Sunday Gene-X. And there’s a new 20th Century Boys, which is still chugging along.

And lastly, Yen Press has a new Black Butler, for those who were bored with seeing 1-4 in the NYT list and wanted a new volume to keep it company. New volumes of High School of the Dead and Omamori Himari remind us that even Yen Press is not above catering to the ‘harems and boobies’ school of manga, as typified by Dragon Age, the magazine they both run in. There’s a new twist in this month’s Higurashi: it’s the 2nd volume of an arc, but it’s not the end! The Eye-Opening Arc has not even begun to screw with your head yet, and is only at its halfway point here. Pandora Hearts not only runs in the same magazine as Black Butler, but also sells very well, possibly to the exact same demographic. Lastly, it’s the end of an era, as one of Yen’s first licenses, Spiral: Bonds of Reasoning, comes to the end with Volume 15. Congratulations to Yen on completing this shonen mystery series!

What interests you this week? It’s OK, you can admit it’s Omamori Himari, I won’t get mad. Much.

The Diamond/Tokyopop crisis appears to be mostly over, as the majority of April’s TP titles ship next week. I say ‘mostly over’ as there are still three volumes not in this batch. But hey, they’re trying harder. :)

So what is Tokyopop giving us? Two shoujo series wrap up, both now slightly more expensive ($12.99), which is Tokyopop’s new code for ‘poor seller’. They need more love! Karakuri Odette was the topic of a recent MMF, and Volume 6 is its final volume. And NG Life, with its past life shenanigans, wraps up here at Volume 9.

Speaking of shoujo, we get a new volume of the romantic ninja thriller Shinobi Life, and a new volume of Silver Diamond, which falls into what I call the ‘shoujo-ish’ genre – it’s in IchiRaci, which is technically shoujo, but leans very heavy on the BL wall.

Lastly, we have new volumes of the psychological thriller (or is that just psycho?) Future Diary, and the 4-koma strangeness of Neko Ramen.

Meanwhile, at Viz, we have… (cough)… you may want to cover your ears…

EXCEL SAGA 22!!!!!! HAIL IL PALAZZO!!!!!

Yes, that’s right, it may be down to an annual release, but it is still coming out, and this is the week! I have heard this volume features lots of Excel being fantastic (for those who wants strong female leads, there’s plenty here), and is highly recommended for anyone in the entire universe, even one-celled organisms. Who can afford it.

In releases that aren’t Excel Saga, there’s a new Cross Game omnibus, which I would be pimping much harder if it weren’t Excel Saga week. Everyone seems to enjoy Adachi’s slice-of-baseball manga. It’s clearly Shonen Sunday week, as we also get new volumes of Detective Conan… um, sorry, Case Closed; Itsuwaribito; and Hyde & Closer. And Kekkaishi hits that cherished slot for shonen volumes, the big 2-5! Yes, 25 volumes! No wonder it’s going omnibus. There’s also the 6th volume os supernatural shoujo Natsume’s Book of Friends, which some folks may have gotten this week already.

So, aside from Excel Saga, of course, what interests you?

Well hey, look who finally decided to show up! Now that everyone else has read and talked about Tokyopop’s March releases, they finally come crawling into comic shops a mere 5 weeks late. But at least they are HERE.

We have tons of shoujo, with no less than *six* Hakusensha titles. New Maid-sama!, Happy Cafe, and Skyblue Shore. A new Demon Sacred, which deserves to be separated from those others as it’s a very different breed of shoujo. The 2nd and final Eensy-Weensy Monster. And the debut of a new 2-volume series, Clean Freak Fully Equipped. In non-Hakusensha titles, we have a new ‘it’s shoujo, really’ volume of Red Hot Chili Samurai, as well as new volumes of ‘they’re shonen, really’ series Animal Academy (also its final volume) and Pavane for a Dead Girl (from Koge-Donbo). Lastly, there’s the mysterious Butterfly from Tokyopop’s new best friends, Gentosha, and their Comic Birz.

There is, of course, non-Tokyopop stuff, for those folks who are going “but we read these ages ago, as we order from Amazon/Right Stuf”. Blue has a new yaoi, Crimson Snow. DMP has a huge pile of new yaoi, including new volumes of Finder and Kabuki. And Seven Seas has the new Vampire Bund spinoff, and the 2nd Hayate x Blade omnibus.

Then there’s Viz, which is here right on time with their giant blast of first-week titles. From Jump proper we get a new Eyeshield 21, which is in the ‘international’ part of its story, as well as new volumes of Nura and Slam Dunk, and the penultimate Prince of Tennis. From Jump Square we get one of the few best-selling harem manga left out there, Rosario + Vampire, now in Season 2. (Hint: it doesn’t sell because of the harem.) And we get a new series debut in Blue Exorcist, which word on the street tells me has a bad start but revs up after its first chapter. Sounds like Nura, oddly enough.

On the shoujo front, Viz has new volumes of Dengeki Daisy and Seiho Boys’ High School for you fans of Betsucomi. (Note: the term ‘Betsucomi’ is copyright Shogakukan, and is used here flagrantly without their permission. Tee hee.) From the Shueisha end of Viz, we have the debut of Sakura Hime, the new Tanemura series, from the underrated Ribon magazine. And we have a new volume of Stepping on Roses, which continues to have far less shogi than I would really like, from the equally underrated Margaret magazine.

Is your wallet crushed yet?