It’s always striking how calm Sunday is compared to the previous two days. You’d think it would be near the same, given the large number of 4-day badges you saw walking around earlier, but the truth is that Anime NYC has always tended to have Sunday be the least happening day. On the bright side, this meant the lines for the bathroom were much shorter (well, for me, using a men’s room.)

Because I have a lengthy journey home thanks to Connecticut’s train tracks still being hundreds of years old (Amtrak can make trains that go 800 miles an hour, and they’ll still have to dawdle through New England), I was only able to attend one panel Sunday, which was Kodansha Comics. Kodansha always has one of the better, most professional panels out there, and this year was no exception, with Ben Applegate, TJ Ferentini, and Haruko Hashimoto.

The entrance to the con was packed with free copies of the Young Magazine 100-page English Edition that everyone at the con seemed to be lugging around (including me), as well as a totebag. Readers can vote on which series they want to see more of, and if it gets a good response they may do another one. Having a sequel to Boys Run the Riot inside got the biggest reaction. People were also happy to hear about Kodansha House in October, with more creators coming to New York, including Atsushi Ohkubo and Suu Morishita.

They discussed the “print-on-demand” service they started last year, in an effort to put digital-only series that deserved print but possibly the sales did not justify it. We’re getting second volumes for Love, That’s an Understatement, Teppu, and Blade Girl. And then we get the big news, which is that all the big news happened last month. This is not uncommon for publishers. The summer is littered with huge conventions. Kodansha had panels at Anime Expo at the start of July and San Diego Comic Con at the end of July. There’s no way they’d have a list of 15-20 new series by the end of August.

As a result, most of this panel was a recap of what they’d already announced at the last two panels. That said, there are some really great titles in there. They’re bringing back iconic shoujo manga Mars (hardcover, fancy metallic covers, new translation) and iconic shoujo manga Shugo Chara (new covers, new translation). There’s Fruit of the Underworld, by popular author Aya Kanno, known for Requiem of the Rose King and Otomen. They’re also doing a big ol’ giant deluxe box set for Ghost in the Shell, and Ben knows his audience, as he immediately said “yes, it will include those three pages. If you know, you know.” Shirow instructed them as to how he did some of this stuff, so they could replicate it. Rolled posters in the box – not folded!

There’s also Wicked Spot, a new series from the creator of Tough Love at the Office; Love at First Memory, from the creator of Springtime with Ninjas and Boss Bride days; Love Out on a Limb, from the creator of Love in Focus and That Wolf-Boy Is Mine!; popular yuri title Marrying the Dark Knight (For Her Money); BL baseball manga Blue Summer Haze; BL title Smells Like Green Spirit, from the creator of Boys, Be Ambitious!; Dragon Circus, from the creators of Ultraman’s manga; and Stella Must Die!, with a story by the author of Princess Resurrection.

They were quite enthusiastic about a couple of titles. That’s Not Love is by the creator of 1122: For a Happy Marriage, and is about former friends reconnecting years later and secrets from middle school. Cat-Life Balance stars a man who will gladly take on any task and help other co-workers… and it’s causing him to burn out. One day he spots fellow employee Kurone, who deals with work by being stonefaced, playing in an alley with stray cats. Can cats solve their issues? Probably not, but the cats are cute, right?

We then got to the new announcements, of which there were three. My Journey to Her was a very popular digital-only title when it came out last year, and it won an Eisner. They’re now doing a print release for it. I had read this when it first came out, and it’s a riveting and informative look at the author’s gender dysphoria and subsequent reassignment surgery. It ran in Weekly Morning.

Speaking of Yūna Hirasawa, they’ve also licensed her current Weekly Morning series, Luca the Dragon Vet (Ryūi no Luca). A young woman is determined to be a vet who takes care of dragons in her fantasy world. Alas, there are tough exams, difficult classes, and unfortunate family connections. But, I mean, dragon vet! Who wouldn’t want to be a dragon vet?

Then we got the big announcement: Yes, it’s not just iconic shoujo manga getting the big re-release treatment. Beck, a Monthly Shonen Magazine series from 25 years ago, is finally getting fully released in print in English! Tokyopop released about a dozen volumes before the 2008 “everything is cancelled” happened, and the series being 31 volumes meant we missed over half the story. Kodansha picked up the series about seven years ago and finished it, but that was digital only. Now it’s coming in print in 2-in-1 omnibuses.

And that just left Q&A, my old nemesis. (I have several nemeses.) So I departed the con. Anime NYC has gotten near 150,000 people by now, so it’s not a convention to be taken lightly. But if you love anime and manga (and light novels, maybe, they get mentioned once or twice), you should have a great time.

Saturday is always the busiest day, but this one proved challenging, with panels ranging from noon to 8:45pm on my schedule. It was like running a gauntlet. At the start, I was debating whether to see SuBLime Manga, Dark Horse Manga, or a guest appearance by Yu Saito, the editor-in-chief of Weekly Shonen Jump. I chose the latter, and I’m glad I did, as he was a very outgoing, nice guy who gave some great answers.

For those living under a rock, Weekly Shonen Jump started in 1968, and publishes every Monday. It has 20 manga series every issue, and currently has 1.05 million in circulation, not counting digital. It sells MUCH better than, say, Batman (which Saito loves). But it used to sell 6 million back in the good old days. It also has lots of sister magazines, like Grand Jump, Ultra Jump, V Jump, and Jump Square. Jump is, per its editor-in-Chief, best at finding new talent and putting them in the spotlight – each new series gets a cover.

Saito startled everyone by admitting he started job searching and was hired by Shueisha in 2005, and has been there ever since. This was his first company! He started editing titles such as Gintama and Hunter x Hunter, and also was the first editor on Kuroko’s Basketball and Nisekoi. He was asked if Bakuman was accurate in terms of how it depicts Jump, he admitted that the best series for realistically portraying it is Tokyo These Days – out from Viz!

Again and again, the same thing came up. Jump nurtures new talent, and seeks it out. Which means a lot of failed series, but they are always encouraged to try again. He had a funny story about Gintama’s author, famous for blowing deadlines. One time an entire page was still blank, so as they drove to the printers, Sorachi sat in the back of the taxi and drew the entire page in half an hour. Saito’s editorial job was to make sure the ink did not spill all over the cab.

He was asked about the difference between Jump in 1968 and now. Jump back then had Umezz doing shonen work, as well as things like Barefoot Gen! He insists that Jump is essentially the same, as they want to publish what they find interesting. He was asked about trends, and admits he gets asked that a lot. They’re too busy to make trends! He was also asked how an editor cheers up a depressed author, and he said fan mail is always the best medicine – especially overseas fan mail.

Asked about his vision for the future, he says it’s to make Jump the best environment for both editors and creators to make the best manga they can. Both existing and new creators have an equal shot with every new Jump series. Asked about overseas readers and creators, he said that there are non-Japanese winners in competitions, and while there are still hurdles, he thinks they will have more. It ended up being a terrific panel, and I was very happy I attended.

The next panel I attended was called Oh, Grow Up! Seinen and Josei. This was a panel more along an educator/library track. It featured Billy Tringali, Jamila Rowser, Tony Weaver, Jr., Regine L. Sawyer, Ajani Oloye, and the moderator, Dr. Shamika Mitchell. They all have a lot of experience with this sort of thing, being parts of foundations, academia, manga creators, content directors, and publishers. And they wanted to discuss what seinen and josei means HERE – not in Japan.

This is important, as in Japan it’s fairly easy. Something published in, say, Weekly Morning is seinen, regardless of the genre of the manga itself or the main characters. Whereas the panel here were quite happy to discuss Bleach or Naruto as examples (briefly, a ship war started to burble up so they moved on). The idea is that as the series went on and the characters aged and matured, it got more serious, and had a lot more blood, gore and death. Is it still a shonen manga for kids?

Genres in the West change a lot. Stuff for people in their 20s is now “new adult”, not “young adult”, which was new to me. Manga that comes out here also has content warnings. All Ages, Teen, Teen +, and Mature. A lot of folks admitted they ignored the ratings entirely when searching for a new title. It can also depend on intended sales. Tokyo Ghoul has enough violence to be Mature, but it’s Teen Plus, because they know it sells like hotcakes.

Some titles we consider Shonen as they run in Jump may not be. Spy x Family is rated Teen Plus because of its themes of war and the aftereffects, as well as violence towards children. A series read by 5-year-olds as a manga could not, if it was written by someone here, get bought by Scholastic. What’s more, educators have to be careful what they teach, as sometimes budding young Karens are quite to go to the Dean and say this manga is against their moral standards.

Folks were asked what they wanted to see more of, and a more diverse race/nationality in manga was mentioned. There is a manga called Hanbun Kyodai that is a short story collection about those who are part-Japanese and part-another nationality, such as French Caribbean, or Chinese. Someone used the word “half”, and it came up that in this manga, that word is discussed, as some folks are fine with it whereas some folks really hate hearing it.

They also talked about series that deal with adult concepts that are not sex or violence, such as Life Lessons with Uramichi-Oniisan, put out here by Kodansha. The adult content there is taxes. As for josei, it’s hard to market here, as the publishers don’t see a market for adult women. That applies to manga as well – Skip Beat!, a series about an up-and-coming actress, has reached 50 volumes here, but never gets any publicity.

Q&A had a Barnes and Noble employee ask about what happens when a kid wanders into the manga section there and gets something inappropriate. “Parents need to parent!” was the consensus – everything these days seems to be about finding something else for parents to blame. This was quite an interesting panel that went in directions I had not considered.

I knew Yen Press would be packed to full, so I did something I hadn’t done in some time – I room camped. This meant watching the premiere of a new anime not due out till October, Hero Without a Class. It was a double-episode premiere that, frankly, seemed to have every predictable cliche in the book. That said, at least it wasn’t unpleasant, and I could have sat through much worse. If you enjoy series about guys who work hard to get really overpowered, this is one.

As such, I was there when Yen finally started their panel, 10 minutes late. They were having AV issues, meaning we did NOT see the videos for the new Blade & Bastard and Holy Grail of Eris anime due out soon. Yen knew what we were here for, and went straight to announcements, starting with A Pen, Handcuffs, and a Common-Law Marriage (Pen to Wappa to Jijitsu-Kon), a Young Animal series about a mute girl who witnesses a crime, and when dealing with the detective who’s on the case, falls for him. But he’s oblivious!

Yen had already licensed Sailor Zombie digitally, but it’s now coming out in print omnibuses. Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki EX is a spinoff short story collection from the main series, also licensed by Yen. Bad Girl will be familiar to folks from the anime, but now Yen have the manga, which runs in Manga Time Kirara Carat. Our heroine falls in love with her senpai, who is on the disciplinary committee. The best way to get her attention is to be… a bad girl! Too back she’s horrible at being bad.

Battlefront of the Great Powers (Rekkyou Sensen) is a SF dystopia from Comic Zenon. The nations of the world must fight in a giant tournament. How to Love a Loser (Dame Ningen no Itoshikata) is from Web Comic Apanta, and is a romance between a pathetic loser and his perfect girlfriend. Casebook of Kurumi Takisaki, Magic Detective (Majutsu Tantei Tokisaki Kurumi no Jikenbo) is a short story collection that is a spinoff of Date a Live, featuring one of the supporting characters.

The Bubble Love of the Mermaid (Ningyo no Awakoi) is a new series from the creator of My Happy Marriage. It deals with some of the same themes, also staring a young woman being abused by her family. To the Monster I Love (Bakemono no Kimi ni Tsugu) is a light novel about a spy who is being interrogated by his own workplace about the monsters who he loves, appropriately enough. Lycoris Recoil: Recovery Days is another slice-of-life short story collection.

Legend of the Far East’s Savior (Gyokutō Kyūseishu Densetsu) is a novel series about a world that is about to fall to demons, but fortunately, they have giant mecha. For Gundam fans, apparently. And the big news was Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End ~Prelude~ (Shōsetsu Sōsō no Frieren ~Zensō~), a prequel short story collection to the insanely popular manga and anime series. You’d think Viz would have snatched this up, but it’s going to Yen On instead.

The Denpa panel was fairly unique, mostly as Ed Chavez could not be there this year (he was at the con, just not the panel), so the other three Denpa employees chaired it. They clearly missed Ed, but they soldiered on. I say Denpa, but this was a combination Denpa and KUMA panel, and it became clear very fast that the bulk of the enthusiasm in the room – some ear-splitting – was for the BL. Appropriately enough, they only had two new licenses, and they were both BL.

Fukutsu no Zono (no English title yet that I could see) was expected, as there’s apparently already a preorder page up. Two rivals who are also delinquents have an awakening when it turns out that one… makes erotic noises? This runs in B’s-Lovey Recottia. The other title was Takatora and the Omegas (Takatora-kun to Omega-tachi). This got a HUGE SCREAM from the crowd, it was ear-splitting. The plot concerns an heir and standup citizen, at a classroom made for alphas, discovering (you’ll never guess), he’s actually an omega! This has fans.

The final panel was J-Novel Club, at a very late hour – I apologize to Sam for ducking out right after the announcements, but I wanted to get back and type up the day. They too went straight to the new titles, and there were a lot. Finding My Way to (You) in This MMO World (Game no Sekai ni Tensei Shita Ore wa ○○ ni Naru Made) is a new BL title in the J-Novel Knight line. A young man with memories of this world as a game has to escort a prince who is disguised as his sister. Love ensues.

The Girl with the Green Eyes: Heir to a Monstermancer (Mamono Tsukai no Musume: Midori no Hitomi no Shōjo) was already announced at AX, but not available until after this con. She’s cute! She’s a monstermancer’s heir! She wears a slime as a hat! Fired? But I Maintain All the Software! (E, Shanai System Subete Wanope Shiteiru Watashi o Kaiko desu ka?) is an unusual manga (based on an as-yet-unlicensed light novel) about a woman who gets fired for cosplaying at work, and then hired by a friend to teach coding. This is a genre J-Novel Club have not ventured into before. It runs in Comic Pash!.

One Last Hurrah! The Grayed Heroes Explore a Vivid Future (Jijibaba Yūsha Party Saigo no Tabi ~Oita Saikyō wa Iroasenu Mama Mirai he Susumu Yō desu~) stars a former hero and saint who are now in their old age. Wanting to journey to see grandchildren, they end up getting the old party back together. Miss Blossom’s Backward Beauty Standards: Give Me the Ugly Crown Prince! (Bishū Abekobe Isekai de Busaiku Ōtaishi to Kekkon Shitai!) stars a reincarnated girl who finds herself in a world where ugly is beautiful and vice versa, but she’s determined to get her guy anyway.

Looks like a Job for a Maid! The Tales of a Dismissed Supermaid (Maid Nara Tōzen Desu. Nureginu o Kiserareta Bannō Maid-san wa Tabi ni Deru Koto ni Shita) is sort of a the mage version of a disgraced noble book. Maid framed for crime, fired, ends up on a journey and shows how awesome she is, others regret firing her. This Alluring Dark Elf Has the Heart of a Middle-Aged Man! (manga) (Watashi no Kokoro wa Ojisan de Aru) is based on the light novel published by Cross Infinite World. An introvert dies and finds he has been reborn… into the body of a powerful female dark elf! But he still can’t talk to people normally. This also runs in Comic Pash!

My Death-Defying Dog: Man’s Best Friend, World’s Best Savior (Uchi no Inu ga Tsuyosugirun Desu ga!? Tensei Shitara Megami-sama no Shukufuku de Sekai o Sukū Koto ni Narimashita) is *also* Comic Pash!. Guy sad when his dog dies can be reunited with him in another world… but the dog is the dog hero who saves the world. The guy is just a guy. Royal Spirits Are a Royal Pain! Give Me a Regular Romance (Tensei Reijo wa Seirei ni Aisarete Saikyō Desu…… Dakedo Futsū ni Koi Shitai!) is another one of those “I want to be normal and yet everything I do makes be weird” type of light novels.

The Amazing Village Creator: Slow Living with the Village Building Cheat Skill (Bannō “Murazukuri” Cheat de Otegaru Slow Life: Mura desu ga Nani ka?) is… well, if you guess “shunned and disowned for bad skill, but it’s really a great skill!”, give yourself a cookie. Manga Up! has the manga. The Fearsome Witch Teaches in Another World: Pay Attention in Class! (Isekai Teni Shite Kyōshi ni Natta ga, Majo to Okorareteiru Ken ~Ōzoku mo Kizoku mo Kankei Nai kara Majime ni Jugyō o Kike~) has a teacher with regrets reincarnated into a fantasy world where she becomes a powerful sorcerer. Now she has to teach problem children. They also have the manga, which runs in Comic Earth Star Online.

Lastly, they have The Isle of Paramounts: Reborn Into a Slow Life Among the Strongest in the World (Tensei Shitara Saikyō Shu-tachi ga Sumau Shima Deshita. Kono Shima de Slow Life o Tanoshimimasu), a slow-life harem title about a guy who wants a quiet life on an island, but fins it overrun with powerhouses. We then got ads for the Blade & Bastard anime, the 100th Time’s the Charm anime, and a promise that the 3rd light novel contest is coming soon. And then I ran off, so I could eat a very late supper and type this up.

Tomorrow I only have one panel, so it will be much faster than this. What a stacked day.

Anime NYC is back! Just you and 140,000 of your closest friends at the Javits Center in New York City, here to celebrate anime, manga, light novels, manhua, manwha, webtoons, danmei, etc. As ever, most of the meat of this con is on Saturday, but there were several items worthy of interest. First of all, the con actually began on Thursday, with a couple of screenings and a few hours of the exhibit hall and Artist’s Alley available. Alas, I was across town at the Japan Society, but will have to wait on telling you about that till later. For the purposes of my blog, the journey begins Friday, with a panel I had not planned to attend but which ended up being very interesting.

Mangamo! Which I almost missed because it was advertised as being about My Love Story with Yamada-kun Is Level 999, but I noticed that they were also tied into the new Random House imprint Inklore, so they were also talking about the new title I Wanna Be Your Girl, which debuted last month. On the panel were Kwok-Wai Hanson of Mangamo, as well as a representative from Comikey. Mangamo is one of those $5 per month digital manga by chapter apps, with 400+ titles. I Wanna Be Your Girl is coming out here with 1-4 (eventually) in print, which is more than it got in Japan. It’s rare we get print but Japan is digital only.

The author was not present, but shared some thoughts in slides. They were dealing with being a “troubled student”, who had class in a room separated from other students, and also dealing with identity issues. They also talked about how they love readers yelling at the characters when they screw up and make mistakes. They were shocked but delighted when they heard the series was licensed in English. We then got a video (meant for phones, so it was a bit small) advertising Yamada Level 999. The author (also via slide) thanked everyone for the messages and notes they got last year from the ANYC 2024 panel, and will treasure them.

Mangamo went over their recent series, and then gave us some new announcements. My Gyaru Wife’s Secrets (Gal Yome no Himitsu) is an office romcom where the married couple have to keep things a secret, as their office forbids romance! It runs in Ganma! 12cm Promise with a Cool Girl (Kakkoi Onnanoko to 12 cm no Yakusoku) is one of those “short cute boy/tall handsome girl” series. Also from Ganma!. I’m That Monster Girl You Once Helped Out: A Middle-Aged Teacher Finds Unexpected Popularity in Another World (“Ano Toki Tasukete Itadaita Monster Musume Desu.” Isekai Ossan Kyōshi Totsuzen no Moteki ni Konwaku Suru) is another Ganma! title about a guy who was isekai’d 20 years ago and is now a teacher, then a monster girl transfers into his class.

Damedol and the Only Fan in the World (Damedol to Sekai ni Hitori Dake no Fan) is a manga about an idol who can’t sing, can’t dance, and is kind of unpleasant… but she has one fan who really loves her. Ganma! again. I Offer My Manliness To You (Kimi ni Sasageru Otokomae) is also a cute guy/handsome girl title, and like all the other announcements, it runs in Ganma! This may be a one-magazine publisher, but if you like cute romcoms, they’re right up your alley. They also promised that they’re going to start doing some webcomics soon, as they’ve worked out how to use the app to show them.

After this, it was time for the panel devoted to recent American Manga Awards Hall of Fame recipients Studio Proteus! If you read any manga in the 1980s or 1990s, chances are that they were behind a lot of it. Nausicaa, Appleseed, Ghost in the Shell, Oh My Goddess, Dirty Pair, etc. It was the brainchild of Toren Smith, who sadly passed away in 2013. However, they did manage to get Tom Orzechowski on the panel, and he had plenty of stories to tell about its history and what things were like back in the day. Deb Aoki moderated, and we also had Carl Gustav Horn of Dark Horse Comics and Patrick Crotty of Peow.

The panel started with some Peow announcements. They told us about the November release of classic 80s shonen manga Stop!! Hibari-kun!. The story of a young man who moves in with four daughters, only to find that one of the daughters is a boy. This is very “of its time” while at the same time being incredibly ahead of its time. It’s worth checking out. They also announced a huge reprint of SF3D Chronicles, the old history of 80s model kits by Kow Yokoyama. This also looks like a labor of love, as well as a brick. They’re working with Zimmerit on this, and it has articles from Hobby Japan from 1982-1985.

After this we got into the nitty gritty of Studio Proteus, back in the days of 32-page floppy comics, analog art, and photostats galore. There was simply not a market for unflipped, 200-page manga titles in 1987. Toren was right, the only way to sell manga at that time was the way that they did. Their first title was Outlanders, back in 1987. Black and white comics were a niche at the time, and one that dark Horse Comics was uniquely suited for. Carl pointed out that a lot of the huge deluxe editions of manga we get these days are simply the same size as the old comics of the late 80s/early 90s.

We then got the history of Studio Proteus. This starts back in the days well before anime cons, when they had anime rooms at science fiction conventions. The best rooms were always the ones run by Toren, who went above and beyond and even printed show notes for people, as these were raw Japanese shows – no fansubs yet! Carl met Toren when Carl was just 14 years old. Tom met Toren in 1987, also at a convention. Tom had been lettering X-Men for Chris Claremont for years by this point. Tom felt excitement while reading manga that reminded him of the times reading underground comics in the 1970s.

They talked about photostat, which was an oversized film print – how they made tankobons back in the day. Tom had to glue SFX directly to the page, and it was a lot of hard work. The biggest of their titles was, of course, Ghost in the Shell. Which came out flopped, and in color, very rare for manga at the time. It made the cover of Wizard Magazine, the only manga to do so. Nowadays, manga has long outlived Wizard Magazine. Toren never even considered not flipping the manga, as he felt the learning curve would be too difficult. Ten years later, Tokyopop proved that it was a lot easier than everyone had thought.

There was a brief quote from Frederick Schodt, who could not be at the panel. Once, he was completely flummoxed about what a line in GitS meant, and faxed Shirow to ask. Shirow responded “I’m not sure what I meant either. Make something up.” Deb was able to speak with Tomoko Saito (who was a famous mangaka in her own right) for one of the few times after Toren’s death. She spoke about how Toren, who had sold everything he owned to get money to go to Japan, was broke, and Gainax let them stay free at their filthy, FILTHY apartments, which Toren was in charge of cleaning. Landlords would not rent to manga artists. they were too messy.

Studio Proteus’ offices were in Tom’s house, as Toren was usually broke in some way or another. He had offices below Tom’s washer/dryer. He slept in a room of purples and pinks, which, as Toren was slightly color blind, ended up making him sick! Tom admitted that dealing with manga artists was a lot easier than dealing with Chris Claremont. He had no idea how well the titles were doing at the tie, as he just kept working. They also discussed the Studio Eros manga that Studio Proteus did for Fantagraphics – the sales of which kept that company in business! They had to de-mosaic and draw in some censored art – Tom asked Toren what to do, and Toren responded, “Well, you’ve got a penis, use it as a reference.”

Tom was a great panelist. He talked about dropping Marvel titles if he didn’t like them, which stunned everyone in that work for hire culture. He also says that manga have actual endings, as opposed to most US comics, which are not allowed to end. Overall, it was a fantastic panel, I was enthralled.

The final panel I attended on Friday was Seven Seas Entertainment, which was packed and full of raffle giveaways. We had publisher Lianne Sentar, marketing person Lauren Hill, and licensing person Lena LeRay. Seven Seas is the #1 independent manga publisher, with oodles of separate imprints, which they broke down. Seven Seas itself, Ghost Ship (naughty manga for guys), Airship (light novels), Steamship (naughty manga for girls), and Siren (audiobooks). There’s also their danmei, webtoons, boys’ love, and girls’ love. They went over many of their recently licensed titles out later this year, including their first baihe (Chinese yuri) title, The Beauty’s Blade.

New licenses started with the main imprint. Dungeon Elf: What’s a Dungeon without Treasure Chests? (Dungeon Elf – Dungeon ni Takarabako ga Aru no wa Atarimae desu ka?) is a seinen manga from good! Afternoon, which has been on the K Manga app. It’s about the girl who places the treasure chests in dangerous places in the dungeon. A Prince of a Friend (Ouji-sama no Tomodachi) is a shonen comedy from Dra-Dra-Sharp#. An unlucky guy is bad at romance. Can his super hot friend who is a girl (but not a girlfriend) help him out? Catnaps, Catnaps Everywhere! (Acchikocchi Necchi!) is the latest title from PANDANIA, the cat author whose titles Seven Seas has been pouring out.

Girl Meets Rock! (Futsu no Keionbu) was the big get for me. A Shonen Jump + title about a musical girl who tries to get a band going in high school despite being, well, awkward, it’s got an incredible amount of buzz. They also announced an omnibus version of Dai Dark, by the Dorohedoro author. 3-in-1 editions. They then announced a bunch of new Siren titles, including The Twelve Kingdoms, which was the one that interested me the most. We’re also getting Love Between Fairy and Devil, Riverbay Road Men’s Dormitory, Astrolabe Rebirth, and Legend of Exorcism.

The one big Airship title was History of the Kingdom of the Orcsen: How the Barbarian Orcish Nation Came to Burn Down the Peaceful Elfland (Orcsen Oukokushi ~Yaban na Orc no Kuni wa, Ikanishite Heiwa na Elf no Kuni wo Yakiharau ni Itatta ka~). We’re also getting the manga for this. A dark elf driven out of her country by those she trusted must now ally, somehow, with Orcs. We’re also getting a short story collection for the popular manga The Dangers of My Heart. There was also a Webtoon announcement, How to Survive As a Maid in a Horror Game. It’s a basic shoujo “reincarnated into a game” series, only the game is horror, and the murderer has already found her.

The first BL series announced was His Little Amber, which ran in a magazine with the name (not making this up) of NUUDE. A yakuza picks up a leopard cub five years ago. Now, the leopard cub is… a guy? Who is sexy? Who would have thought it? Dear Sister, I’ve Become a Blessed Maiden (Zenryaku, Onii-chan wa Seijo ni Narimashita) has another great magazine name, BL Screamo core. A young man who adores his sister saves her when they’re both isekai’d. Sadly, now the man has to take his sister’s place as a sexy magic dispenser. Wild Love: A BL Guide to the Animal Kingdom (Ikimono BL Zukan – Sekai wa XX ni Michiteiru) runs in Pureri, and is a genuinely researched guide to animals… it’s just the animals are portrayed as gay couples.

The one yuri title announced was The Delinquent and the Transfer Student (Sukeban to Tenkousei ga Kudaranai Asobi o Suru dake no Hanashi), a Comic Action title that’s an “old-school 80s comedy” between a sweet transfer student and a rough delinquent girl. Their last announcement was danmei, and it was Panguan: The Twelfth Gate. This runs in the same universe as Copper Coins. Best described as “what if the man who rowed people across the River Styx got a roommate?”.

And that’s the end of Friday! Saturday is longer, much longer – my last panel ends at 9:45pm. I apologize if the next post drags into Sunday.