That’s it. Remember when last week of the month brought Tokyopop stuff? In the meantime, enjoy Gon. He’s awesome.

There’s quite a variety of things coming out next week at Midtown from various sources. Let’s leap right in.

Dark Horse is ready to explode with new releases, which I think have only been delayed once or twice before hitting shops! We have Vol. 24 of Gantz, which you either avoid like the plague or automatically seek out. It’s a pretty polarizing title, but very good at providing what its fans want. There’s also a new Gate 7, CLAMP’s new gig, which continues to mix Japanese historical figures with pretty young men and women in a very CLAMP way. And there’s a new volume of Oh My Goddess, finally free of the reprints and ready to go forward! Unfortunately, in this volume everything’s gone to hell. No, wait, everyONE’s gone to Hell.

Digital Manga Publishing has Volume 9 of Itazura Na Kiss, which I’m hoping continues the excellent character development we saw in the previous chapters. Meanwhile, there’s also some new yaoi titles, including I’ve Seen It All, which I just wrote three different jokes about only to delete them all as being too pornographic, so I’ll just say it’s about a doctor and has one of THOSE covers. For those who like less creepy looking BL, there’s Man I Picked Up, whose title doesn’t do it many favors but whose cover and synopsis (man takes a vagrant guy home and gradually grows closer to him) sound a lot better. Meanwhile, in Countdown 7 Days 3, Onigawara is definitely dead. Well, mostly dead. And Replica hits is final volume, with an action packed finale.

It will be no surprise to anyone who knows me that Dorohedoro 7 gets my cover image. I love this series and its complicated universe more with each volume, and can’t wait to see how much trouble Caiman will get into. There’s also Ikigami Vol. 8, much to the surprise of many folks who thought it had been cancelled, and the 8th volume of the Tenjo Tenge omnibus, which brings us full circle, as Gantz and Tenjo Tenge really serve the same audience.

So what appeals to you this week?

Sure, wait weeks for manga and then 38 turn up all at once. Midtown finally found all the Viz manga that most of us got this week. See my post on last week for that.

In titles I didn’t talk about last week, Kodansha has a new Air Gear and Cage of Eden, which both fight a war between entertaining folks with awesome shonen battles and pure blatant fanservice. Most of the time it tends to lean more towards the latter, but then they are Shonen Magazine titles. They also list Fairy Tail 12, but I think that’s part of the giant pile of reprints they’re doing this August – all of Fairy Tail, Ninja Girls, Shugo Chara, Wallflower and Parasyte are getting reprints.

It’s rare I use a Korean title for my featured image (in fact, it may have never happened before), but Lizzie Newton Mysteries has gotten a lot of good word of mouth, and might appeal to those who liked Young Miss Holmes. Meanwhile, the other debut from Seven Seas is I Don’t Like You At All, Big Brother!!, which is being released in a 2-for-1 omnibus. The cover art, and blurb saying it’s for fans of He Is My Master, kind of make me want to pull away from my keyboard in horror, but I have been assured that this title is better than it sounds, so will trust in that. And in the title I’m most excited about from this publisher, A Certain Scientific Railgun 5 continues to throw sisters at Misaki. I’m hoping after the cliffhanger horror of the last volume, she won’t completely lose it.

The BL imprint Sublime has two new debuts. Bond of Dream, Bond of Love seems to continue the trend of huge grumpy guy paired with small happy guy, and also has a character from the Tea For Two BL manga (remember Blu?) that came out several years ago from the same artist. Starting with a Kiss has a much saucier cover, but seems to be about the same type of situation, except this time the happy guy is a hotheaded guy. Also, the Japanese imprint for this series was SUPER BBC, with a lightning bolt in between. That’s totally irrelevant to this North American release, but makes me happy, and also wonder if SubLime will ever license some Blake/Avon slash.

Viz is also putting out some titles this week, despite the majority of Midtown’s list appearing elsewhere 8/8. A new Inu Yasha VIZBIG Edition, covering volumes 34-36. Vol. 6 of Itsuwaribito… no, I’m sorry, that’s a lie, it’s not coming out. No wait, I’m lying again, it totally is! And the penultimate volume of Kekkaishi, which given it’s penultimate had better be resolving everything.

Lastly, we have a giant pile of Yen. Bamboo Blade has reached its final volume, and I will be very sorry to see it go. The Betrayal Knows My Name is up to Volume 4, but still has a long way to go – and is still running in Asuka. Bunny Drop 6 is out for what will I’m sure be a smaller but just as dedicated audience of fans who didn’t drop it cold after Volume 5. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya has a non-spinoff manga, as Vol. 13 is out (and Midtown finally gets the Nagato Yuki the rest of us got last month). There’s new Nabari no Ou and Omamori Himari. There’s the 2nd volume of Magical Girl deconstruc… wait, it isn’t really. Anyway, new Madoka Magica. And Soul Eater hits Vol. 10, and will hopefully be creepier and more striking than Soul Eater Not was.

Even without the Viz blitz that hit Diamond this week, it’s a big week at Midtown. What’re you getting?