It's always a good day when I come home to find my Yen Press (@yenpress) review box on my doorstep, and September's box had an excellent variety of new and familiar faces across a broad spectrum of genres and mediums! From great light novels to new webtoon adaptations and good old fashioned manga, these are the September Yen Press releases you won't want to miss!
THE TITLE(S) YOU CAN'T MISS
While my review box didn't come with this title, I raced to the bookstore today when this title dropped because I was hooked after reading volume one and this second vol. does not disappoint. The first vol. of Magical Girl Incident (which released back in May) was one of my most recommended titles of that month, and that honor has carried over with the release of volume two! The story of a worn down office drone who finds out he can turn into a magical girl, Magical Girl Incident is an excellent mix of comedy, slice-of-life, magical girl shenanigans, and action that any otaku or mega nerd can appreciate. It's a side-splitting superhero series that adds a much needed freshness to the world of caped crusaders.
And, because I can't pick just ONE from this batch, I have to include Shima Shinya's haunting and beautiful GLITCH, vol.1 (also releasing today). This uniquely illustrated, harrowing slow burn manga burrows itself deep into the uncanny, the liminal, and the unsettling. It's a great title to kick off your spooky season that can also be read year-round, and the stunning art style is a refreshing change to what we've come to expect from modern day manga. This is a great new series, don't sleep on it!
FAN-FAVORITE FACES
September is another solid month of returning titles from the Yen Press library, with excellent new additions to series both fresh and long running. Of course, the fan-favorite BL sensation Sasaki and Miyano returns with a delightful vol.9 that is, hands down, one of the best entries in the series with incredibly cute moments and emotional storytelling (though it is hard to recommend it when it's only 90 pages long and priced at $13.00) which will release on the 26th.
Two of my favorite new releases from 2023, The Essence of Being A Muse and I Want To Be a Receptionist In This Magical World, both return today with their second volumes and are excellent additions to any library. Vol.3 of the super self aware BL fangirl isekai* series The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices is an absolute riot (also releasing on the 26th), and the second (and final) volume of the twisted Manner of Death released today, and it is a harrowing BL crime drama read you won't want to miss.
MUST-HAVE NEW MANGA AND MORE
We have a few excellent new releases that are shaping up to be must-have titles for manga aficionados (and an excellent new print edition of an action-packed webtoon*, and a fun new light novel) that you should add to your TBR list! Stray & Wolf is a unique anti-romance leaning rock 'n roll title about a runaway high school student and a playboy rock star who find themselves cohabitating that features some classic-feeling shoujo illustrations and great comedic timing.
The strange and colorful print edition of the webtoon Jungle Juice is a striking and eye-catching title that features bug-human hybrids, Solo Leveling-tier action, and vividly colored illustrations. It's also perfect timing since the ongoing series just launched its second season on WEBTOON. It's an absolute wild ride and an immensely unique title that fans of action will immediately be drawn to. And, for those of you who like your comics with less pictures (I think they're called... books?) the charming fantasy, dungeon-crawling light novel I May Be A Guild Receptionist but I'll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out on Time is a fun and relatable tale of a receptionist who finds herself drowning in paperwork while struggling to find a work-life balance.
OH MY, ISEKAI!
Oh yeah, baby, we've got new isekai! First up, we have Maiden of the Needle, and everyone's favorite plot device Truck-kun* makes a record breaking appearance on page three! It's got Snow White vibes (the second title of its kind after last month's webtoon* print release of Not-Sew Evil Stepmom which is also a Snow White centered story about a reincarnated seamstress) and while it's a fairly simplistic isekai, the style and setting will make fans of Kaoru Mori's iconic Emma immensely happy.
And, while not a true isekai, The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor is isekai-coded enough to be included, as the story of a doomed noble named Jill gets a second chance to change her fate by being sent back in time to the fated day that set everything in motion. Both of these titles are now available as of today!
ANI-MAZING ADAPTATIONS
There's nothing quite like experiencing a massive anime feature film on the big screen, but for those of us who are used to series with hundreds of episodes, a single film can often feel lacking. Lucky for us, Yen Press is on top of the amazing manga and light novel adaptations of some of these hit films. The critically acclaimed anime film BELLE from Studio Chizu was given a gorgeous hardcover light novel adaptation that any fan will adore, while the stunning folk-fantasy film The Deer King gets its first manga adaptation volume that is breathtakingly beautiful. And, of course, a personal favorite of mine - Words Bubble up Like Soda Pop - gets its second manga volume and it's adorable (seriously, get the light novel, get the manga, watch the movie, you'll love it). All three of these were released today!
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*webtoon is the term used for scrolling digital comics originating from South Korea, not to be confused with the platform WEBTOON
*isekai is a massively popular genre where a normal human is reincarnated or transported into a magical world.
*Truck-kun is a convenient plot device that appears, almost ironically nowadays, in many isekai titles, acting as the inciting incident that sends the protagonist to the magical world via a hit-n-run.