Eep. You may look at what’s coming out next week and think it’s a first week of the month. There is a giant PILE of stuff from several publishers. Let’s break it down.

Dark Horse has the 23rd volume of Gantz. It’s been mentioned that Dark Horse’s manga licenses (Berserk, Gunsmith Cats, Gantz) tend to cater more for the Western Comics sort of fan, and I can sort of see their point. These may not hit any bookstore bestseller lists, but rest assured they do well with Diamond folks.

Kodansha has a few titles that are already out via bookstores but are trickling into Diamond, because Diamond knows the Kodansha buyer is willing to wait those extra weeks. (sarcasm mode off) There’s Volume 19 of Fairy Tail, continuing the long protracted battle against… um… those guys, you know. The latest villains. Also, Jellal. We also have the 3rd volume of the Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex manga, which apparently has an ongoing plot here regarding a serial killer. I think Bloody Monday 6 and Gon 6 are also out, though they vanished from Midtown’s list between 1pm and now. Midtown does this to me sometimes. I think they vanished Mickey Mouse to spite me last week as well.

Viz has their usual slate of non-Jump releases. (Though my shop still has yet to get Toriko and Kamisama Kiss from 2 weeks ago, Bless you, Diamond. Bliamond.) New Arata the Legend and Kekkaishi from Shonen Sunday. New Bokurano and House Of Five Leaves from the diminished but still plugging away Ikki line. New Jormungand from Sunday GX, which is sort of the Shogakukan equivalent to Ultra Jump. And a new Tenjo Tenge omnibus from Ultra Jump, which, well, is sort of a Shueisha version of Sunday GX.

And then there’s Yen’s huge June lineup. No Higurashi, which is taking the summer off (ironically, given it takes place in a June that never ends). But we have tons of other stuff to whet your appetites. As you see, Olympos is coming out. (OK, it’s not on Midtown’s list either, but my store is getting it in.) This is a done-in-one fantasy manga from Ichijinsha’s sorta josei magazine Comic Zero-Sum, and as you can imagine deals with gods and mythology. Two volumes in Japanese, it’s out as an omnibus here. Speaking of omnibuses, remember Alice in the Country of Hearts and its 5 of 6 completed volumes? Well, Yen has rescued it, and is redoing the whole shebang in 3 big omnibuses, including the as-yet-unseen ending volume. I enjoyed this dark and twisted otome game world, and look forward to seeing how it wraps up… or, being a harem game, *if* it wraps up.

Other titles from Yen include the 6th Kobato manga from CLAMP, which I believe is the final one, and which will no doubt be adorable as all get out. Also in the adorable category is Sunshine Sketch 6. I have a soft spot for this 4-koma series, which has gotten some flak for its lack of plot and its even-more-superdeformed-than-usual designs. I do wonder if it will get more readers in this post-Madoka Magica world? In the OEL category, there’s the 2nd volume of James Patterson’s Witch & Wizard, by Nightschool artist Svetlana Chmakova. And lastly, though it’s not Yen, the 7th Haruhi Suzumiya novel is out from their corporate parents. This one is a full complete novel rather than a short story collection, and has enough time-travel to shake a TPDD at. Go get it.

Despite my irritation at Diamond for not shipping half of Viz’s releases this week (at least I got Ouran 18…), I am here to tell you about next week.

Dark Horse has the 11th volume of the Evangelion spinoff Shinji Ikari Raising Project. At the rate it’s going it should pass its original source soon in length. I’m sure it will have far more heartwarming romantic comedy moments as well – the original Evangelion manga really doesn’t have time for that these days.

Digital Manga Publishing debuts a new BL office romance, Same Difference. It looks like it might be lighthearted, always nice to see. There’s also the 4th volume of Bad Teacher’s Equation, and the 6th volume of the fancy Deluxe version of Kizuna.

Seven Seas has the first of a new spinoff series from Alice in the Country of Hearts, as this time she ends up in the Country of Clover. The cast seems to be similar, though, and I’m sure it will share the reverse harem datesim genre that its parent series had. There’s also the 12th volume of Dance in the Vampire Bund, which sadly does not seem to feature a cameo from Christie High Tension. :)

There’s also two new titles from Viz’s BL line Sublime. Honey Darling and Three Wolves Mountain come out with covers that make me immediately wary, but perhaps the cute boys are slightly less cat-eared inside the volume. In any case, it’s great to see Viz dipping its toes into the BL genre.

Anything that interests you this week? Or, like me, are you still waiting for half your Viz order?

That’s a whole lotta Viz, that is.

Mind you, there is a Vertical title as well. In fact, it came out everywhere but Diamond this week. Vol. 3 of 14 Days in Shonan puts the series at 1/3 complete, but Onizuka’s work has barely begun! He has kids to inspire and adults to castigate! And old… friends?… to reunite with! Who knows, he may even get lucky! (OK, no, that will never happen.)

The big release from Viz, meanwhile, is the final volume of Ouran High School Host Club. And for those who are curious, unlike most harem manga, this one resolves its pairing. Fans have loved the story of Haruhi, Tamaki and the others – enough to bring the anime over here as well – and now we finally have closure. Thanks to Bisco Hatori for so much great romantic comedy.

There are other releases as well. More shoujo! Black Bird 14, which will no doubt continue to sell like hotcakes. Dawn of the Arcana 4, which I am horribly behind on. Devil and Her Love Song 3, which I am greatly looking forward to, as I love snark. Earl & The Fairy 2, which hopefully will improve a bit on its first volume. Kamisama Kiss 9 and Kimi ni Todoke 14, for you romantics out there. And Sakura Hime, for the Tanemura addicts.

This does not mean there is not a giant pile of shonen as well. Bakuman 11, now in its 2nd half! Not one, but two Bleach volumes, which I believe have some great stuff for IchiHime fans! A new Nura and Toriko, which don’t get to speed up as much as Bleach, but have less to catch up on. Slam Dunk 22, in case your daily basketball quotient needed filling. And Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal, the nth sequel to the popular franchise.

That’s a whole lot. An exhausting amount, in fact. Anything for you?