Believe it or not, for a first week of the month, it’s pretty quiet. Which is somewhat of a relief after all those Tokyopop releases last week. But Viz has scaled back and postponed some releases, so we don’t have quite as much as usual from them.

But first, Bandai comes out with the final Volume of Gundam 00 2nd Season, which is, naturally, totally distinct from Gundam 00F, which I believe may still be ongoing. And Dark Horse comes out with two titles at the complete opposite end of every demographic spectrum: the T&A; violence of Gantz (from Shueisha’s Weekly Young Jump), and the horror with shonen ai overtones of Evangelion: Campus Apocalypse (which ran in Kadokawa’s shoujo magazine, Asuka).

As for Viz, a couple of their titles are also coming to an end, including one of the original Shonen Jump titles, Shaman King, which ends this week at Vol. 32. There’s also Prince of Tennis, which has hit Vol. 40 and is still going. Not much longer now, though, it wraps up at Vol. 42, provided Viz don’t pick up the sequel which just started. There’s also Eyeshield 21, which has 3 more volumes to go after this one. Given One Piece and Gin Tama (and Claymore, whose Vol. 17 is also out this week) are still piling up volumes with no end in sight, Viz must be relieved to see some of the lower-selling but long running series come to an end.

In shoujo news, we get new volumes of Natsume’s Book of Friends and Stepping on Roses (I’m hoping for more awesome shogi action in the latter, though I expect I’ll merely get more passive heroine mooning over jerk), and the final volume of Sand Chronicles, which ended its main storyline back 2 volumes ago but has added some side stories here rather than interspersed throughout as I’m more used to with shoujo.

Lastly, Viz lists the 2nd volume of Kurozakuro as coming out the week after next, but Midtown has it shipping on 1/5. Well, there had to be something different in this week’s comparison of Midtown and Diamond – there always is. Anyway, buy this title, or the character on the cover will leap out and rip your throat out with his razor-sharp teeth. I think.

It’s the last week of the year, and Tokyopop’s here to make sure you spend all the money you have left over from Christmas on manga.

It’s not all Tokyopoop – Dark Horse has Vol. 16 of their Oh My Goddess remasters, and Udon has the 2nd and final volume of Street Fighter Gaiden, for those who miss Ken and Ryu. I think it’s Ken and Ryu, right?

But it’s Tokyopop that has the majority of the titles – 17 in all. First, and most importantly, Gatcha Gacha 8 is finally shipping to comic shops. I hope regular readers of this blog will know by now that they must get this. Alice in the Country of Hearts 5 is another title that’s been out in bookstores for a month, but is finally arriving via Diamond now.

And there are debuts! We see Vol. 1 of The Secret Notes of Lady Kanoko, a LaLa DX series that I hope can fill the hole in my heart left by the absence of Stolen Hearts. Or if you like shonen there is AiON, a supernatural harem manga from the Chibi Vampire author (and it has no relation to the RPG, by the way.) Fans of Chibi Vampire will also be happy that a fanbook is also out this week. It has vampire in the title!

And of course there are so many other series coming as well. A new V.B. Rose! I understand this one will be a big ol’ flashback, in the best Banri Hidaka tradition. A new Karakuri Odette! Always fun to see more life lessons for our favorite deadpan robot girl. A new Aria! Remember Aria? That series that always seems to have a very very vocal readership of about 9 people? Buy Aria 6 and make Tokyopop stop crying when it sees the sales charts!

And good lord, a new Hetalia which no doubt will clog the NYT bestseller list for 3 more months and help, perhaps, pay for Aria Vol. 7 to come out by this time next year. And Silver Diamond and NG Life, returning from the depths of hiatusland to entertain us with more hot shoujo guys. Or Happy Cafe, never on hiatus but still having hot shoujo guys. And there’s always the Shonen Ace variety of shonen, with Ratman, Future Diary and Hanako and the Terror of Allegory. Heck, there’s even Neko Ramen, for the 4-koma lover in you.

And… look, there’s just tons of STUFF, OK? Go use those Borders gift cards and go wild. Next week is bound to have something for everyone.

‘Tis Christmas! And what better way to celebrate than with some worthy Signature manga from Viz! Not to mention a few treats from other publishers.

Dark Horse has the 7th volume of the Evangelion spinoff Shinji Ikari Raising Project. Unlike a lot of other Dark Horse titles, this one has been coming out fairly consistently, so I suspect sales are quite good. The fact that they’re picking up several other Evangelion spinoffs also lends credence to that theory.

Tokyopop has a 6th volume of the hardcover, 2-in-1 omnibus edition of Fruits Basket. There’s no added content here, but those who want a larger and more durable Furuba might check out out. This has the original Vol. 11 & 12.

Vertical has the final volume of Felipe Smith’s Peepo Choo, which wraps up its Japan-meets-America cultural satire with gusto. It’s also has more cute cats, with the fourth Chi’s Sweet Home.

And Viz has a veritable Christmas Stocking worth of cool titles. Vol. 2 of Gente, by Natsume Ono, featuring more far-too-perfect-for-their-own-good Italian gentlemen. Vol. 4 of Children of the Sea, which will likely once again have absolutely incredible art and force my brain into tying itself in knots. Vol. 5 of Ooku, which possibly may finish its flashback? Pretty please? A new House of Five Leaves, with its wussy yet awesome samurai. For the slacker in your life, there’s I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow Vol. 2, which I’m sure will have its hero making many resolutions about his life and not quite following through. And there’s a new 20th Century Boys, which finally gets to the halfway mark with this volume.

What interests you?