I’m slowly slipping back into my old buying habits; I should probably be a bit more stringent before things get ridiculously out of hand again. Granted, I stayed within my budget in August more than it would initially appear by the list below. The last of my Barnes & Noble orders from the recent manga super sale arrived which were already paid for; a bunch of Kickstarter rewards arrived; I somehow received not one, but two boxes of review copies from Kodansha Comics; and I made judicious use of coupons and gift cards. I also received some pretty phenomenal gifts like the out-of-print limited edition hardcover of Minna Sundberg’s A Redtail’s Dream. (A huge thank you to Narrative Investigation‘s Helen! You can read my quick take of A Redtail’s Dream here, and Helen’s thoughts about the webcomic here.) My biggest unplanned splurge in August was picking up an entire set of Firefighter!: Daigo of Company M by Masahito Soda which I liberated from the shelves of my Manga Bookshelf cohort Kate Dacey. (The series seems to be on its way out of print, but is still available digitally.) As for the August manga release that I was most excited for, I’m absolutely thrilled that Moto Hagio’s first Otherworld Barbara omnibus from Fantagraphics is now available. I love Hagio’s work, and am especially happy to see more of her science fiction in translation. I’d like to review or otherwise feature Otherworld Barbara at some point, but am not sure when that will be. However, I do have a review of South Korean author Han Kang’s novel Human Acts to post soon! Human Acts has already been released in the United Kingdom, but it won’t be released in the United States until January; I was fortunate enough to receive an early review copy. It’s honestly one of the best novels that I’ve read recently.
Manga!
Attack on Titan, Volume 19 by Hajime Isayama
Attack on Titan: Before the Fall, Volume 8 written by Ryo Suzukaze, illustrated by Satoshi Shiki
Complex Age, Volume 2 by Yui Sakuma
The Demon Prince of Momochi House, Volumes 3-5 by Aya Shouoto
Devil Survivor, Volume 6 by Satoru Matsuba
Dimension W, Volumes 1-2 by Yuji Iwahara
Dorohedoro, Volume 19 by Q Hayashida
The Earl & The Fairy, Volumes 1-4 by Ayuko
Fairy Tail, Volume 55 by Hiro Mashima
Fairy Tail: Blue Mistral, Volume 3 by Rui Watanabe
Firefighter!: Daigo of Company M, Volumes 1-20 by Masahito Soda
Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Volumes 9, 13 written by Yuto Tsukuda, illustrated by Shun Saeki
Forget Me Not, Volumes 3-4 written by Mag Hsu, illustrated by Nao Emoto
The Heroic Legend of Arslan, Volume 5 by Hiromu Arakawa
Horimiya, Volumes 3-4 by Hero
Inuyashiki, Volume 4 by Hiroya Oku
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part 2: Battle Tendency, Volume 4 by Hirohiko Araki
Kiss Him, Not Me, Volumes 5-6 by Junko
Kuroko’s Basketball, Omnibus 1 by Tadatoshi Fujimaki
Livingstone, Volume 3 by written Tomohiro Maekawa, illustrated by Jinsei Kataoka
Lone Wolf and Cub, Omnibuses 11-12 written by Kazuo Koike, illustrated by Goseki Kojima
Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, Omnibus 5 by Satoshi Mizukami
Noragami: Stray God, Volumes 15-16 by Adachitoka
Otherworld Barbara, Omnibus 1 by Moto Hagio
Ouran High School Host Club, Volume 18 by Bisco Hatori
Paradise Residence, Volume 3 by Kosuke Fujishima
Persona 4, Volume 3 by Shuji Sogabe
Real Account, Volume 3 written by Okushou, illustrated by Shizumu Watanabe
Say I Love You, Volumes 14-15 by Kanae Hazuki
The Seven Deadly Sins, Volume 15 by Nakaba Suzuki
Spoof on Titan, Volume 1 by Hounori
Ten Count, Volume 1 by Rihito Takarai
That Wolf-Boy is Mine!, Volume 1 by Yoko Nogiri
Wolfsmund, Volume 7 by Mitsuhisa Kuji
Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, Volume 9 by Miki Yoshikawa
Your Lie in April, Volumes 8-9 by Naoshi Arakawa
Comics!
Baggywrinkles: A Lubber’s Guide to Life at Sea by Lucy Bellwood
Breaks: Prologue by Malin Ryden and Emma Vieceli
Chester 5000 XYV, Book 2: Isabelle & George by Jess Fink
Dragon Heir: Reborn by Emma Vieceli
Fresh Romance, Volume 1 by Various
Gaijin Mangaka by Various
Gatesmith, Volume 1 by Jen Lee Quick
Libby’s Dad by Eleanor Davis
The Other Side edited by Melanie Gillman and Kori Michele Handwerker
Our Mother by Luke Howard
QuickSilver, Volume 1 by Emily Smith
Rainflowers by Ash Heimerl
A Redtail’s Dream by Minna Sundberg
The Usagi Yojimbo Saga, Omnibus 6 by Stan Sakai
Novels!
Human Acts by Han Kang
Dusk in Kalevia by Emily Compton, illustrated by Onorobo
Nonfiction!
Hi! My Name Is Loco and I Am A Racist by Baye McNeil
Loco in Yokohama by Baye McNeil
Mah Jong for Beginners by Shozo Kanai
Glad you got a set of Firefighter Daigo! Mine is one of my highly prized pieces of my collection. Even though 5 of my vols are ex-library, I don’t think anyone even touched the poor things in the library, as they still looked barely used. But when it comes to action shonen, Firefighter Daigo is my absolute favorite. The action is just so clear and so well drawn, it’s hard to put down, so it’s easy to read 5-6 volumes in one sitting. Also, after all the excitement, each arc ends with warm and fuzzy feelings. With all of that, FF Daigo is in my top 5 manga of all time, actually.
I’m glad, too! Especially as some of the volumes are getting hard to come by in print. I actually already had a copy of the first volume (in a different edition) and I really enjoyed it, so I’ve been keeping an eye out for the rest of the series. I’m looking forward to reading it. ^_^
Oh dang, I totally thought I had posted a review on A Redtail’s Dream after it finished but I guess not! Maybe I should do that someday….
I’d read it! There’s so much that you could dig into with A Redtail’s Dream.