Compared to the ridiculousness of the last few months, the number of my June acquisitions is actually quite reasonable. For the most part I stuck to preorders, though there were a few splurges, too. As for out-of-print finds, I picked up the first five volumes of Naoki Yamamoto’s Dance Till Tomorrow (for some reason my library had the last part of the series but not the first part) and Venus Wars, Volume 1 by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. (More of the series was actually released in English as floppies but never collected; if I like the first volume, I might try to track them down.) There were two preordered manga that I was particularly excited to get my hands on in June—Ayano Yamane’s Crimson Spell, Volume 4 and Showa: A History of Japan, 1939-1944 by Shigeru Mizuki—but my favorite thing from last month was probably Kazune Kawahara and Aruko’s My Love Story!!, Volume 1. In-depth reviews of books from June’s haul that you can expect to see soon will include my thoughts on Dan Mazur and Alexander Danner’s Comics: A Global History, 1968 to the Present, which is pretty great, as well as the Angels’ Border manga, which collects two side stories to Koushun Takami’s cult classic novel Battle Royale written by the author himself. I don’t buy anime as much as I used to, mostly relying on streaming services, but I definitely needed to own Flowers of Evil. Technically, it wasn’t released until July, but my copy arrived early. The first box set of Dear Brother (which I helped to crowdfund) is now available, too!
Manga!
Battle Royale: Angels’ Border written by Koushun Takami, illustrated by Mioko Ohnishi and Youhei Oguma
A Centaur’s Life, Volume 3 by Kei Murayama
Crimson Spell, Volume 4 by Ayano Yamane
Dance Till Tomorrow, Volumes 1-5 by Naoki Yamamoto
Dengeki Daisy, Volume 14 by Kyousuke Motomi
From the New World, Volume 4 written by Yusuke Kishi, illustrated by Toru Oikawa
Gakuen Polizi, Volume 1 by Milk Morinaga
Genshiken: Second Season, Volume 4 by Shimoku Kio
Honey Darling by Norikazu Akira
Knights of Sidonia, Volume 9 by Tsutomu Nihei
Missions of Love, Volume 7 by Ema Toyama
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Volume 6: To War by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
My Love Story!!, Volume 1 written by Kazune Kawahara and illustrated by Aruko
New Lone Wolf and Cub, Volume 1 written by Kazuo Koike, illustrated by Hideki Mori
The Seven Deadly Sins, Volume 1 by Nakaba Suzuki
Showa: A History of Japan, 1939-1944 by Shigeru Mizuki
Venus Wars, Volume 1 by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
Comics!
Arena, Chapter 2 by Himitsu Studio
Escapo by Paul Pope
Fearful Hunter by Jon Macy
Forming by Jesse Moynihan
Nonfiction!
Comics: A Global History, 1968 to the Present by Dan Mazur and Alexander Danner
Anime!
Dear Brother, Box 1 directed by Osamu Dezaki
Flowers of Evil directed by Hiroshi Nagahama
Film!
Bushido Man: Seven Deadly Battles directed by Takanori Tsujimoto
K-20: The Fiend with Twenty Faces directed by Shimako Satō
Great stuff this month. :D What do you think of Genshiken? I feel like it’s one of those everyone is supposed to read but I could never get into it.
Your enthusiasm for My Love Story!! is making it hard to wait for!
I got the DB boxset and while I’m certainly glad to have it — it’s a really, really good series — I thought the set was a little bare bones. I’m still excited to sit down and look at it though.
I don’t buy a ton of anime either but I meant to pick up FOE and Watamote during that Sentai/Section23 Rightstuf sale… I wound buying a ton of manga so I put those on the back burner. >> I’ll have you know I’m thinking of picking up a “Got Anime” membership because of your recommendation post, though. :D
It actually took me a little while to really get into Genshiken, too. It’s a manga that I enjoy, but am never really desperate to read. The characters have really grown on me though. And the second season is about a bunch of fujoshi, which amuses me.
Hopefully I haven’t over-hyped My Love Story!! and you won’t be disappointed. I really loved it and am looking forward to reading more of the series.
My feelings are very much the same as yours when it comes to the Dear Brother release. But I’m really happy that it was even released at all.
My Got Anime membership has served me very well. Since I buy so much from RightStuf, it’s totally worth it. ^_^
Darn, I wish I’d known you were after Dance Til Tomorrow, I would’ve sold you mine for cheap! I have a page on Mangatude (same username as here) you should check out! I put things up there before I put them on eBay
Okay, wow. I have no idea how I’ve managed to go this long without even having heard of Mangatude before! It might be something I should consider joining myself. What do you think of it/have you had much luck as a member?
It seems that you’ll find a few people that you’ll befriend and trade with often enough. I think it’s worth it, helps me get rid of some things. I mean, it’s free, there’s really no harm, and it can be good for keeping an organized list of what you want and what you want to get rid of. I always try to trade, even if there’s nothing on their wish list that I have to trade, something might work out after all (perhaps something they were considering parting with and needed a push), and most people there accept paypal. And unlike eBay, there’s no fees, that’s why I tend to list on there first. Though the site is rather slow at times.
Very cool, thanks for the info! ^_^