#apothecary soap sounds fun actually

[brewed-pangolin]

Wait wait wait, nobleman soap in an arranged marriage who's bratty, ill-tempered who can't give him an heir. So his nosy parents bring in surrogate!reader who immediately catches soaps eye. During her pregnancy, he gets to know her more and more. He falls head over heels for her. He never wanted this marriage or his noble title. He's willing to give it all up for you. He's always been good with chemistry and alchemy, maybe he'll start an apothecary somewhere far away. Or become a humble blacksmith. As long as it means, he can be with you and your child. You are all he wants now.

Just a little idea if you get the time

-🐸

I could absolutely see a medieval/nobleman Soap opening up an apothecary somewhere deep in the hills.

Man has an inquisitive mind. Loves chemistry and combining different fragrances, herbs, medicines, and the like. And y'know he's going to be a tea making extraordinaire. That's a given.

Just picturing him tending to his garden on a warm spring day. All while you, his stolen love, sit comfortably on the porch. One hand and across your swollen belly with a cup of his expert tea in the other. The subtle creaking of the chair as you rock yourself to a gentle rhythm that adds to the constant singing of birds around your cottage tucked away from the world.

[recentanimenews]

Manga the Week of 9/22/21

SEAN: Even the Delta variant cannot stop the flow of manga coming through.

ASH: Which is impressive, really.

SEAN: Airship, in print, gives us the third volume of Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs.

For early digital titles, we get Mushoku Tensei 13 and Reincarnated As a Sword 9.

Ghost Ship gives us Parallel Paradise 6.

J-Novel Club has some new print titles, the biggest one of interest being the print debut of Tearmoon Empire. The story of a spoiled princess who, after being executed, finds herself in her 12-year-old self, I highly recommend it to all light novel readers.

ASH: I’ve been looking forward to giving this one a try now that it’ll be available in print!

SEAN: Also debuting is the manga version of The Unwanted Undead Adventurer.

They’ve also got Ascendance of a Bookworm’s 7th manga, Infinite Dendrogram Omnibus 3, and Marginal Operation 7.

In digital, we get the manga debut of The Emperor’s Lady-in-Waiting Is Wanted as a Bride. Also out in manga form: Black Summoner 4, Cooking with Wild Game 5, and The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar 6.

Light novels out next week include The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar 17, Seirei Gensouki 16, and Slayers 10.

Kodansha’s print debut is When Will Ayumu Make His Move? (Soredemo Ayumu wa Yosetekuru), from the author of Teasing Master Takagi-san. This is a Weekly Shonen Magazine title about a girl who is trying to get a guy to confess to her, and a guy who only wants to confess after he’s beaten her in shogi. As you guessed, he’s terrible at shogi. This seems fun.

ASH: That does sound like it could be fun.

MELINDA: Sounds fun indeed!

SEAN: In print, Kodansha has Bakemonogatari 10, The Daily Lives of High School Boys 7, Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro 8, Drifting Dragons 9, Heaven’s Design Team 6, Living-Room Matsunaga-san 7, Peach Boy Riverside 2, Rent-a-Girlfriend 8, Sachi’s Monstrous Appetite 4, Star⇄Crossed!! 3, Sweat and Soap 9, and Those Not-So-Sweet Boys 4. Printer finally delivered the books, huh?

MICHELLE: Definitely looking to the shoujo offerings in that lot.

ASH: Ditto! I’m glad to see more Drifting Dragons in there, too.

SEAN: Digitally our debut is You’re My Cutie (Kawaii Nante Kiitenai!!), a new Betsufure series about a girl who loves manga about cute kohais falling for cool sempais. Then she meets her own kohai… and reality is not like the manga.

MICHELLE: Hm. Maybe.

MELINDA: What Michelle said.

SEAN: Also: Blue Lock 7, The Decagon House Murders 2, Dr. Ramune -Mysterious Disease Specialist- 5, In the Clear Moonlit Dusk 2, Living-Room Matsunaga-san 10, My Darling Next Door 3, Our Fake Marriage 7, Ran the Peerless Beauty 10 (the final volume), Will It Be the World or Her? 9 (also a final volume), and You Got Me, Sempai! 10 (also also a final volume).

MICHELLE: Must finish Ran the Peerless Beauty!

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts My Wife Has No Emotion (Boku no Tsuma wa Kanjou ga nai), a Comic Flapper title about a salaryman and his robot, and their growing closeness. Um…? Robot?

ASH: I will admit to being intrigued.

SEAN: Seven Seas also has The Dangers in My Heart 2.

Square Enix has The Apothecary Diaries 3 and The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest 5.

Tokyopop has Would You Like to be a Family? (Kazoku ni Nattemimasen ka?), a BL title from Gush about a soft-spoken man drawn into his loud co-worker’s life… complete with loud co-worker’s child. This looks sweet.

MICHELLE: Ooh.

SEAN: Viz gives us BEASTARS 14, Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction 10, Fist of the North Star 2, Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku 10, Maison Ikkoku Collector’s Edition 5, and The Way of the Househusband 6.

ANNA: Always glad for more Househusband.

ASH: Same! And I’m still super excited we’re getting Fist of the North Star, too.

SEAN: Actually, come to think of it, this IS less than usual. Manga, are you OK?

ANNA: I am concerned!

ASH: Supply chain disruptions are real!

By: Sean Gaffney

[waywardmasquerade]

DnD Apothecary review

Disclaimer: I think of and describe smells almost like sounds, hopefully it's not too confusing.

A little while ago a box arrived from @dnd-apothecary (check out their shop here)

In it was a selection of delicious smelling candles and some other goodies as part of a review swap.

Let's start with the candles

Firbolg's bakery was one of the scents I was most keen to try. The description made me think of warmth and the smell of baking. One thing I will say is that this scent needs to be lit to truly appreciate it. When cold it's nice, maybe a little bit sharp. Once it's lit and warmed up it's something else. There's still quite a sharp note of blueberry, but it's warmed and softened by the vanilla, I couldn't quite separate the two scents. Personally I'd love to have a slightly stronger undertone of shortcrust pastry, but I'm not an apothecary, and it's still a wonderful scent.

Vampire was one I was looking forward to as well and now that it's here it's a contender for my favourite. For me it's like distilled potpourri. When cold there's a slightly sharp note of rose, with a lower tone of musk to soften. When burning it's much more subtle, but the musk and rose blend much better.

Woodland Ranger is a clean, strong scent, but when you focus it's very complex. It can easily overpower other scents nearby when cold. I would never have expected pineapple and pine to play nicely together, but they do alongside apple, cinnamon, clove, fir, and cedar. It reminds me of a really nice aftershave. It softens a little while burning but will quickly fill a room with just one candle.

Sirens Song is another sharp, clean scent. The strongest scent I can pick from it is geranium, but there's plenty I can't quite name. There's musk in there, and something that makes me think of a clean sea breeze. Possibly the strongest scent of all the ones I got to try. When burning it softens slightly, but it will still overpower any other scent in the area. I particularly like the look of the candle itself, with the pretty swirls of white and deep blue that fit the name so well.

Beholder was a scent that really surprised me. Sharp, almost soapy blueberry, with something clean underneath that I can't quite place. When burning the blueberry becomes sweeter. One of the stronger scents, I imagine you could fill a room with just one candle. It's not what I would have imagined when picturing a beholder, but now I'll never see another beholder without thinking of this scent. Sorry Mr Xanathar, your name is now Mr Blueberry.

Elven Garden is a contender for my favourite. The strawberry and rose mix beautifully to make what I can only describe as a higher pitched, sweet scent. The lilac seems to sit as the subtlest note, but when you focus it's distinctive. When burning the lilac becomes stronger and the rose more subtle. It takes a little longer than the stronger scents but it will fill a room, and it's a little more subtle.

One thing I like about all the candles is the lids. There's less concern about wax spilling, or wicks not being quite extinguished when you can put on the lid. They're all soy wax, so the melted wax doesn't get hot enough to burn (but the flame will still singe you if you get too close). Some of the jars had neat embossed designed on them too. ^_^

Protip: don't make my mistake and sniff too closely while the candles are burning. Singed nostrils are not fun.

Extras

One of my favourite scents is one I wasn't actually expecting: Pomegranate Cider in soap form, with adorable teeny tiny dice inside. My skin is super sensitive to soaps so instead of using it, it's going to live on my desk so I can sniff it now and then. I'm not familiar enough with these scents to describe them properly but they are divine.

The D20 is metal, and has a cute logo on the 20 side. Like all metal dice it's pretty hefty, so it shall be rolled with care (or when I need the DM's D20 to roll with the thunder of doom)

I adore the Teeny Tiny Mini Dice in their little potion bottle. They're super cute and come in a variety of flavours. I want to get a whole range of colours and put them on a belt that I wear everywhere with zero explanation.

All round I’m very happy with this batch. My next eldritch summoning ritual shall be delightfully fragrant.

Check out the DnD Apothecary shop here

Scents I want to try next time:

Arcane Library

Shadowhaze Summit

Temple of the Golden Tree

Blacksmith

Dashing Rogue

Blue, Red, and Green Dragon

Funnel Cake

Farmers Market

[mairzymarzipan]

Night of the Full Moon Character Reviews: The Big Bosses(Minus Werewolf)

Hello again

I know I said I’d be talking about the Hunter, Old Mage, Fallen Priest and so on today, but I realized that those characters were actually more interesting in the context of other characters, so I put them off for later.  I decided instead to talk about the main bosses of the game, as it so happens, are the closest people to Red Riding Hood.  Because this game wants to be an ironicy soap opera/anime that way.

When I say Big Bosses, I mean that you always fight one of these characters at the end of the game.  Unless you’re like me and you start all over at the end because you’re bored and tired of all four of them playwise.

Werewolf

Wait, no, never mind.  This is another one of those characters who’s more interesting in the context of different, non-Red Riding Hood Characters.  We’re saving this boi for later.  But, you shouldn’t too surprised, if you read the title.  Instead, I’ll just use this space to talk about a mechanic.

Throughout the game, you can get ‘courage’ and ‘reputation’ points by talking to characters.  Very very generally speaking, you get courage points by doing brave things, and you get reputation points for doing nice things.  You also can get courage points when a character talks shit about the werewolf, and reputation points when a character talks shit about the witch.  So naturally, if you have more courage in the end, you get to fight the wolf, and if you have more reputation, you get to fight the witch.  I guess what they’re going for is only a meanie would fight this doggo?  And the witch is who any empathetic person would hate???

I feel like the latter is not the case, but more on that later.

Witch

“Only your Hope family can lift the dark magic curse.  This is what the priest is most afraid of.  That’s why monsters run wild on full moon nights. First they made your grandmother disappear and then they drew you into the forest...but they never anticipated that you would make it this far.”

By the way, you’re part of a prophecy.  Only someone in your family can lift the curse on the forest.  jsyk

Yeah so, as you see, the Witch’s description does not really tell us much about the witch herself.  This description also pretty unique in that none of the other character descriptions go into the second person like this.  The description also kind of hints that Red dies in the timeline where she fights the witch, so that’s depressing.

Nah, to figure out what the witch is about, you have to delve into the fragments around her. 

So, you actually do encounter the witch earlier in the game.  In the third or sometimes second chapter, she will recruit to find some magic apples she lost.  She makes a mention about suspecting a queen of stealing them.  The apples, I guess, are just lying around on the forest floor, and you bite into each of them bc you’re a dumb lkid.  Each apple changes your stats by a few points and the witch does not at all seem upset that you hand her a bunch of bitten fruit at the end.  In fact, she offers you the choice of two random buffs, so that’s fun.

You’re likely to hear about her way before that, though, depending on who you talk to.  Generally anyone who’s been cursed feels like it’s the witch’s fault.  

But if you choose to fight her(or you might not get a choice in the matter) she accuses you of stealing said apples.  She’ll also talk to you throughout the battle until you defeat her- a trait that only the big bosses and a few of the newer ones have.  Her lines...make her sound pretty unhinged.  She’s speaks of disbelief that you would do such a horrible thing, and threatens you with with her magic, and talks about how misunderstood she is.

When you defeat her, she’s got a really interesting line, tho.

“No!  I don’t want to fight you!  I can’t!”

Huh.

Before I move on, let me talk about this other witch character.

Yep.  That sure is the art style this game is going with.

So this is one of the shopkeepers.  There are four different shops you can find along the way, only two of which have characters you can see in them.  This character is known as the Witch Apothecary...but you can only see that on the outside of her store.  Otherwise she’s just called “Witch”.

The thing is, along the way, characters will talk about the Witch and, they don’t specify that it’s not the one with the white hair.  They just talk about The Witch like she’s the only witch that matters.  So is this woman not really a witch?  A witch wannabe?  Nah, we already have one of those characters.  Could it me that the shopkeepers don’t actually exist in the story of the game?  That would bum me out, bc there’s this lesbian owl I want to be real.

But...I think they’re the same person using shapeshifting.  Or if you want a really wild theory, maybe there are time travel hijinks and she’s the Magic Apprentice grown up.  But I’m going to go ahead with the former.

Anyhoo.  I like the witch.  I’m gonna give her 🍎🍎🍎🍎 four apples

Priest

“They mistakenly thought that on the full moon night they could help the monsters quietly eliminate Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother.  Once the Hope family was wiped out, the legend of lifting the curse on the Dark Forest would disappear completely.  However, they didn’t expect they would have to go personally and pay such a high price to fight their enemy. When the priest fell, the cursed monsters reverted to their human forms and the Dark Forest was no longer covered by snow all year round, but the church’s blind greed still remains.”

Again, not much is said about the priest himself.  The most interesting thing here is that he apparently is the keystone holding the curse together.  Interesting, because he seems to be letting the witch do all the work for him.  Usually in these stories, you have to kill the person who casts the spell to break the spell, not just their friend.  Is it because he, himself, is a stone?  That is to say, he turns into a statue sometimes.

Why the heck is he having her turn all his enemies into cartoon monsters instead of killing them, anyway?  Don’t tell it’s to make the game family friendly, bc in one of these timelines a child kills another child.  

Honestly, the priest/church just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.  His big plan is selling everybody from his town as slaves.  Gross.  And the way he accomplishes this is by...making it snow all the time, and turning people into vampires and fire bears?  What?

He is.  A delight to fight.  I’m being sarcastic.  He’s a religious edgelord who likes to go on about how humans are sinners and everyone deserves to be punished.  Also she cheats by turning into stone.  Eh.  

It feels like someone just spun a wheel for of evil traits and just stuck them together haphazardly.  His evil plan is...human trafficking!  His personality is...self righteous!  His means is...tf!  His super power is...turning into a statue!  

He’s the biggest of bads but also not that thought out.  He’s super important to the over-arching plot and yet I have no idea why this guy does what he does.  I’m gonna give him 🗽🗽 two statues.

Mystery Men

idek why this person is called “Mystery Men”.  I’m guessing it’s supposed to be mystery man?  Or mysterious person or something?  I know I haven’t talked about the art much but, I do appreciate how much their face looks like a dog snout and her hood looks like dog ears.  It’s a neat touch.

This description was actually changed.  The new text is longer and more awkwardly worded.  I don’t like it!  And I don’t get why it happened.

But, yeah.  The very last enemy of the game- who you can only reach by playing through at least four times and defeating all three others- is your Grandmother!  Le gasp!

So what exactly went wrong with her?  Oh, nothing, she just has a big wolf growing out of her back(told you the concept was backed up by canon)

Is this her daemon or patronus or something?  I have no idea.  I’ve been calling her a werewolf sometimes, tho, bc she’s better at being a werewolf than the titular werewolf.  Which is to say she can revive instead of just healing.  Her buffs and deck change throughout the fight.  She’s a long battle, fun, except for her ear piercing voice.  She sounds a bit possessed.

I’ll give her 👁️👁️👁️ three big eyes.  She’s a fun battle, but I always mute it.  Also not real big on how the text got changed for the worse.  But she does add some good details to the story.

In Conclusion... 

Grandma’s text tells us a few things.  

1. Not only is the Hope family connected to this prophecy, but family members actually have the power to control the curse.  That leads me to believe that the person who got the curse started was a Hope themself.  

2. The church came along long after the curse was in full swing.  So the priest is not responsible for it.  Whether he’s a Hope himself is not relevant.

We also know these things:

1. The witch is still the one casting all the tf spells, which is part of the curse.

2. There are two timelines were Red has a natural gift for magic

3. In the Little Witch timeline, the Witch is teaching Red magic.  On top of that she’s v patient, which is surprising, for some reason.

4. The Witch seems a little out of touch with reality.  She sends you to find apples, and then yells at you for stealing them.  Almost like she thinks you’re another person.

5. The witch verbally expresses her desire not to fight you when she realizes who you are.

I have to conclude that the Witch is a Hope.  A Hope who’s close enough to have a fondness for Little Red Riding Hood, and is invested in her well being/education.  And yanno, is turns her enemies into pig people because she can.  

She helps you on your quest by giving you one of her own.  But earlier on, she takes on the form of the other witch offer you potions and the like.  She even gives you the first one in each chapter for free.

“My potions can change your appearance!”

Of course she can’t get too close to you.  She can’t reveal that she’s helping you.  Hence putting on a new face when she’s a ‘good’ witch.  One wonders if she’s trying to hide her identity from you, or the people she’s allied with.

Hey can we look at her description again?

Red doesn’t get addressed in the second person in any of the other descriptions.  There is a character who talks about his life in the first person, and we’ll get to him.  But this is odd to me.

What if Red isn’t being addressed here?  What if it’s someone else?  What if it’s the Witch?

What if the Witch was captured and ensnared in the priest’s plot?  What if he messed with her memory?  So then who is she?  Red’s sister?  It seems like she’s been working with the church a lot longer than Grandma’s been missing.  Also Grandma went into the woods on her own accord.  You could say that the grief the church caused her *made* her go out, but it seems weak.

So maybe a Hope in another generation, who lost her grandmother to- either the church or monsters?  Was it this other Grandmother who *started* the curse?

Dude, what if she’s your Mom?

What if instead of killing her the priest did...something...scared her enough to get her to work for him.  And messed with her memory so she couldn’t conceive a way out?  And sort of had her transfer the power of the curse to him so that people had to kill him to break it?

What if he had the Church Doctor scoop her brain out and put it in another lady’s head?  Who knows.

I’m not certain about the witch being your mom.  I think I would like that to be the case because it’s fun, but I’m not quite convinced yet.  I AM certain, tho, that the Witch is a Hope, and she cares about you.  She’s not just this cackling meanie turning people into flowers.  She’s...complicated.  And she needs help just as much as all the trapped monsters.

[blookmallow]

hello everyone i realized i wasnt gonna get through today without finding something to keep my brain busy so ive been designing a horror theme park in my head all day here r my ideas so far

- there would be two main theaters, a ghostface theater and a pennywise theater (except. imagine they have creative names, ) 

- ghostface theater is a 3D show theater modeled in the like NOW SHOWING: STAB (FILMED IN STABOVISION) tacky retro horror aesthetic from the second movie 

it would show a park-exclusive Scream 3D short, and also would sometimes be used for upcoming horror sneak previews and other shows, along with indie horror spotlights 

sometimes a ghostface park character would sneak in among the guests and sit next to you (all the main slashers would be around as characters to do autographs and pictures and stuff but i think it would b fun for them to also like. peek out of windows or sneak into shows so you never know where they’re gonna be) 

- ghostface also gets a corresponding gift shop for Scream as well as just all things retro horror, vintage posters, art stuff made from horror vhs tapes like these, stuff like that

- the pennywise theater is a circus tent that houses a stage show, decorated with vintage style PENNYWISE THE DANCING CLOWN posters, old dusty flickery carnival lights, creepy pennywise fortune teller machines, etc 

the stage show features highly elaborate puppetry culminating in a HUGE deadlights pennywise about to consume the audience until the Losers appear at the last second to vanquish him, encouraging the audience to shout him down with them to help defeat him 

- also has a babadook photo spot made to look like the pop up illustrations (and sometimes a babadook character actor visits for pictures) 

- nearby there’d be a midway with carnival games, maybe those balloon squirter clown games with classic pennywise, something for Us maybe a mirror maze or something. a sandwich shop called The Sand Witch

- im neglecting most of the major slashers bc i dont really care about them lmfao maybe freddy kreuger gets a funhouse or something. all i remember about him is the wiggly arms and the blood geyser thing 

- id want to do themed outfits for workers like disney where like everyone in the pennywise area are circus performers and scary clowns, some are vampires some are zombies etc 

- i cant think of what to do with childs play, id absolutely want to have a darkride for something but i cant think what would translate best. it’d be cool to have like an interactive animatronic chucky somewhere, like you can ask him questions and stuff (however that roz animatronic and california adventure works, like how she comments on specific guests on the way by so clearly someone’s controlling it but it still sounds like her) 

- i dont generally care about fnaf at all but i think it’d be great as a real freddy fazbear pizza place with the animatronics performing “normally” (but slightly Wrong. big inspiration from these voice acting clips where they’re just a little glitchy and sometimes its like ‘wait what did he just say’) but at certain times there would be staged “glitches” where the robots suddenly go rogue and like. the lights go out or a curtain falls when its “not supposed to” or something and one of the animatronics DISAPPEARS!! and its like “uhhh NOT TO WORRY, FOLKS, EVERYTHING’S ABSOLUTELY FINE...I...uh...[stage whispering into a walkie talkie] where is he. FIND that bear, NOW-” [freddy’s little song starts and you see his face flickering in a window right behind them]

maybe have actors planted as “guests” who get dragged off 

- then theres the shining’s Overlook Hotel and the Bates Motel and my first thought was to do some kind of walkthrough haunted house attraction in the overlook but maybe those are better suited to just being themed actual hotels connected to the park. definitely want the overlook hedge maze though

- anyway also a graveyard garden ft a garden of poisonous plants and a garden of carnivorous plants complete with an animatronic audrey II and other monster plants but also would have real poisonous/carnivorous plants as well 

- and a little witch apothecary shop in there with like. witchy themed candles, teas, bath stuff, etc. an Oddities Emporium somewhere that has weird morbid collectibles from around the world, bones and preserved jar specimens and stuff. some things would be like real collectors items or intricate reconstructions some would be like, models/soap that looks like an alien head in a jar/etc 

- there would be a Dracula’s Castle attraction designed like a classic haunted house ride ft the universal monsters, and a corresponding vampire themed fine dining restaurant with live music at night (or. un-live) 

- maybe some kind of mad science lab themed bar with drinks in test tubes and beakers and stuff

- jigsaw escape room challenge themed for Saw but obviously not ever putting guests in any real danger, im trying to think of how you could recreate the. like. it’s like an escape room puzzle, but when you figure out the answer there’s that moment of “oh fuck. oh god fucking fuck no” when you realize what you have to do, how could you recreate that in a fictional/for-fun setting where the guests know they aren’t really in danger and you’re not actually putting anyone at risk. like maybe gross but safe challenges. i dont know. maybe some kind of system where if you “die” you’re out of the game and there’s some prize if you “survive” to the end so someone might have to “sacrifice” themself but no one’s actually getting hurt 

it’s like how do you balance “you wanna scare people” with “you want them to understand they are in fact actually safe” 

- a special effects workshop that showcases some behind the scenes makeup and practical effects, makeup artists doing horror face paint/etc for guests

- a ghostbusters themed blaster ride (the ones where you shoot targets n get points) (we have ‘ghost blasters’ at the boardwalk here lmao im not gonna pretend that wasnt where i got this idea. look up ‘sally corp ghost blasters’ if you’re interested in that) 

- i really want to say ‘and a Mrs. Lovett’s Meat Pies restaurant’ but would that be Too gross. like obviously it wouldn’t be a Real Cannibalism Restaurant lmao but would the theming put people off too much 

anyway thats what i got hire me to design your theme park i have no experience and no capability of actually realizing any of this but boy do i have ideas 

[recentanimenews]

Manga the Week of 6/2/21

SEAN: June’s busting manga out all over. Let’s see what’s fallen in front of us.

Airship has two print releases: Adachi and Shimamura 5 and ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! 3. They also have an early digital release of I’m in Love with the Villainess 3.

ASH: Oh, that means I still have some time to catch up before it’s released in print!

SEAN: Cross Infinite World has a new novel, Romance of the Imperial Capital Kotogami: A Tale of Living Alongside Spirits (Teito Kotogami Romantan Kinrо̄ Otome to Oshikake Jūsha), about a young woman living as a caretaker to a bunch of handsome yokai. This certainly sounds like a couple of recent Viz shoujo manga titles…

MICHELLE: Definitely conjures some Demon Prince of Momochi House vibes.

ASH: That it does, and thus intrigues me.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has several new digital releases, as we get The Apothecary Diaries 2, Discommunication’s 7th manga volume, Girls Kingdom 3, Marginal Operation’s 7th manga volume, My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! 5, and The World’s Least Interesting Master Swordsman 6.

J-Novel Club also has print titles. We’ll see By the Grace of the Gods 4, How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom’s 2nd manga omnibus, In Another World with My Smartphone 16, and Marginal Operation 6.

Kodansha sees the print debut of The Summer of You (Kimi wa Natsu no Naka), a BL story about two teenagers loving to hang out and watch movies, and the love that develops between them. The author is also known for The Two Lions, just licensed by Seven Seas, and about 70 billion Gintama doujinshi.

MICHELLE: I’ve been looking forward to this one!

ASH: I wasn’t previously aware of this series, but now that I am, so am I!

SEAN: Also out in print: Chi’s Sweet Adventures 4, The Heroic Legend of Arslan 14, Hitorijime My Hero 10, Rent-a-Girlfriend 6, Sweat and Soap 6, Wave, Listen to Me! 6, Weathering with You 3 (the final volume), and With a Dog AND a Cat, Every Day is Fun 4.

MICHELLE: I need to catch up on Wave, Listen to Me! and With a Dog AND a Cat, Every Day Is Fun; I enjoyed both a lot for very different reasons.

ASH: I’m definitely here for Wave Listen to Me! . I’ve been meaning to give Sweat and Soap a try, too.

SEAN: Kodansha’s digital debut is Ya Boy Kongming (Papiri Koumei), a shonen title from Comic Days about a Three Kingdoms general reborn into modern Japan.

We also get Chihayafuru 26, Girlfriend Girlfriend 3, GTO Paradise Lost 14, My Dearest Self with Malice Aforethought 5, and With the Sheikh in His Harem 2.

MICHELLE: Insert traditional “yay!” for Chihayafuru.

ANNA: Yay! Also I’m so far behind!

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts The Tale of the Outcasts (Nokemono-tachi no Yoru), which ran in Weekly Shonen Sunday. This tale of a young orphan girl and a beast immortal should appeal to fans of Girl from the Other Side and similar titles.

ASH: Oooh, you have my attention.

SEAN: Seven Seas also has New Game! 11, Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time 5, Reincarnated As a Sword 6, and the 15th and final volume of Shomin Sample.

Viz debuts Yakuza Lover (Koi to Dangan – Dangerous Lover), a shoujo title from Cheese! spinoff Premium Cheese!. College girl meets yakuza boy, and despite trying to avoid “bad boys” she’s irresistibly drawn to him. Given it’s Cheese!, I suppose this is more in the “shousei” genre – expect a spicy story.

ANNA: I’m stoked for this and Cheese! spinoffs.

SEAN: There’s also a pile of other Viz. Chainsaw Man 5, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 22, Dragon Ball Super 13, Jujutsu Kaisen 10, My Hero Academia 28, One-Punch Man 22, Seraph of the End 21, Takane & Hana 17, Twin Star Exorcists 22, Vampire Knight: Memories 6, We Never Learn 16, and Yona of the Dawn 30.

MICHELLE: So much good stuff.

ANNA: Indeed.

ASH: A very good Viz week.

SEAN: Yen On has some May remainder titles that got bumped to June: the 10th Haruhi Suzumiya novel in paperback (it’s actually Books 10 and 11 in one big book), High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World! 4, Overlord 13, and Strike the Blood 18.

Yen Press likewise has a LOT of “this used to be May” titles. We get As Miss Beelzebub Likes 12 (the final volume), Eniale & Dewiela 3 (also a final volume), Happy Sugar Life 9, If Witch, Then Which? 2, IM: Great Priest Imhotep 9, Love of Kill 2, Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun 12, Overlord 13, Shibuya Goldfish 9, Teasing Master Takagi-san 11, The White Cat’s Revenge as Plotted from the Dragon King’s Lap 3, and A Witch’s Love at the End of the World 3 (another final volume).

ASH: Wait, did you say Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun?! Hooray!

SEAN: There’s a lot of series in this list I love to bits. What are you getting?

By: Sean Gaffney