Looking for a last-minute gift for that special someone before the holidays? Why not get them some brand-new manga? There’s a number of titles out this coming week for any type of fan.

Remember Del Rey? When Kodansha split off, for contractual reasons the xxxHOLIC books stayed with the parent. And now we get the penultimate volume in the series, which… well, honestly, it’s lost me by this point. But I’m sure other Watanuki fans ill love it to bits!

As for Kodansha itself, there’s always the third volume of Mardock Scramble. Which is unusually resistant to my glib jokemaking, but possibly I’ll think of something by the time the fourth volume comes around.

Midtown Comics is apparently running late on its wine manga, as they not only have the second volume of international sensation The Drops of God, but also the first volume as well. Sounds like a gift set to me!

Yes, I want to have this be the image for Dorohedoro 5, which is awesome and highly underrated (stop looking for the plot – just let it wash over you), and you should all be buying that. But I just have to give prime position to the 27th and FINAL volume of Fullmetal Alchemist. The whole series has been building to this volume, an it absolutely does not disappoint – one of the best endings to any shonen series in North America. And if you’ve somehow missed the previous 26 volumes, Viz is kindly selling all 27 in a giant box. In fact, the box came out before this individual volume. Lastly, there’s the 7th and 8th volume (or 4th omnibus) of boobs and fights manga Tenjo Tenge, which if nothing else reminds me I still need to read the 3rd.

So what’s in your stocking?

‘Tis Christmas, and still no offers of pantomime! No worries, though. We may not have Aladdin’s Wonderful Lamp, but there’s a nice healthy chunk of manga there. So what’s in store, Widow Twankey?

Kodansha features the 3rd volume of the re-release of Gon. If you haven’t read the adventures of the tiny dinosaur scrapper, now’s the time to catch up.

It’s the second week of the month, so Manga must be Starting On Sundays again. From Shonen Sunday this time around we get Vol. 8 of Arata: The Legend, Vol. 4 of Itsuwaribito, the 29th volume of Kekkaishi (that’s quite an accomplishment for a Sunday series!), and the 8th volume of Maoh: Juvenile Remix, pictured above doing their best anti-censorship pose, and with this volume’s remix by The Art of Noise. Meanwhile, from the seinen end of things, we get a new 20th Century Boys, which at Vol. 18 is almost nearing its climax at last. And Vol. 5 of House of Five Leaves, which will continue to feature people talking to each other a lot and people staring while not talking to each other at all. Sometimes at the same time! And for those who did not get it this week like the rest of us did, Naruto 53 is on Midtown’s list as well.

Lastly, presumably not arriving with the pile of Yen that came in this week, we have Vol. 2 of The Betrayal Knows My Name, which has mysterious men with mysterious powers hiding mysterious pasts. Mysterious!

Clap if you’re going to buy manga this week! Oh come on, that wasn’t loud enough! Clap harder!

You may recall that the past few weeks the Manga Bookshelf teams has had some trouble picking out picks of the week, frequently having to dip into the well of non-manga or simply dropping out. Let’s just say… that won’t be an issue this coming week. Jeepers, there’s a lot of manga.

First off, next week as always brings us this week’s Kodansha releases, as Diamond feels there’s nothing worth doing that can’t wait a week. There’s the debut of the sequel to Until the Full Moon, which is called @Full Moon. It runs in Kodansha’s obscure yet intriguing magazine MiChao!, and still features vampires and werewolves being vaguely gay at each other. Oh, and did I mention it now adds genderbending? In other titles, we see the debut of Shugo-chara Chan!, the adorable 4-koma adventures of the original Shugo Chara cast. (Trust me when I say cute 4-koma adaptations are a hot industry in Japan.) There’s also new volumes of Deltora Quest and Ghost in the Shell: Stand-Alone Complex.

Vertical has the final volume of the iconic Black Jack series, and I am so happy that they finished it. The series may be of highly varying quality, but its inventiveness has always been first rate. And if nothing else, it introduced Western fandom to Pinoko, who shows Chibi-Usa has a ways to go before she hits the big time of controversy.

Viz. Right. (rolls up sleeves) On the Weekly Shonen Jump side, we have a one-two-three-four-five combo punch that would kill any manga reader – new Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Toriko and Bakuman ALL AT THE SAME TIME. (Naruto is strangely not on Midtown’s list, but my shop says it’s getting it.) There is also Nura and Slam Dunk, which never quite hit the dizzying sales heights of the former but this does not make them unworthy. And from its sister magazine Jump Square, there’s Blue Exorcist, which may soon pass Rosario + Vampire and Claymore to become that magazine’s flagship title.

On the shoujo end, we see the debut of Dawn of the Arcana, a new fantasy romance that runs in Shogakukan’s shoujo for college kids (except it’s actually read by teens who want to be grownups) Cheese! magazine. Shueisha, not wanting to be left out, gives us a new Sakura Hime from everyone’s favorite artist Arina Tanemura. And our friends at Hakusensha remind North America they still exist despite being down to only one venue for their titles, and give us new Grand Guignol Orchestra (the final volume), Kamisama Kiss, Natsume’s Book of Friends, and the penultimate volume of Ouran High School Host Club. I think anyone will be able to find something they’ll like there.

Lastly, and strangely out of place this week (I think it got shoved back from a Week 3, which is where Viz normally releases their Ikki titles), as have a new volume of the slacker artist manga I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow. Quick, name some other manga titles out over here with ellipses in them. It’s OK, I’ll wait.

And great, now Yen is shipping the first week of the month? That RUINS EVERYTHING! They have to ship second week so as to not CRUSH US ALL! Whine. Flail. Anyway, what have we here? New volumes of Bamboo Blade, still one of my favorites. The second of four Higurashi volumes devoted to its poster child, Rena. A new volume of the CLAMP manga Kobato, which honestly seems strangely forgotten now that Gate 7 is out. The final volume of My Girlfriend’s A Geek, a title for female otaku that I found myself quite enjoying anyway. And the “final” volume of 4-koma sensation K-On!. It’s the final volume of the original series, but as there are now 2 separate sequels going in Japan, I suspect we’ll be seeing a 5th before long. Till then, enjoy Romio and Juritsu.

Exhausted yet? I know I am.