Manga Overview: New Manga That You Need to Add to Your Shelves

The one section in my library that gets routinely plundered is the manga section. My teens will check out 8-10 novels at a time, and they don’t want to wait until the other parts of a series to come in from other libraries for them. They want it NOW.

Needless to say, a lot of my budget goes towards purchasing manga to complete popular series, and to add new titles to the mix that my teens haven’t heard of yet. I started digging around for newer titles so that I could diversify the collection away from the Big Titles that of course, they want to read too, so still I’ll be buying Black Butler and Food Wars.

These are the popular “offbeat” titles I’ve added, and with good success so far.

Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler

Recently adapted into an anime by Netflix (which was how I knew I’d picked a good title), Kakegurui is like most game oriented mangas, except it focuses on the darker psychological effects of gambling, with a lot of math tie-ins. The students social standing and they’re all well off students, is tied directly to how well they can gamble and win against other players. This involves, of course, cheating and over the top antics associated with mangas like Yu-gi-Oh, or Food Wars, but darker. The anime has some sad, but no entirely unexpected, fan service, but so far not so much in the manga.

There are currently 3 volumes available.
Rating: 14+

Kase-san and…

This is a lighter yuri series with each novel not necessarily needing to be read in order, although it is sweet to see their relationship progress from the beginning in Kase-san and Morning Glories. Yamada is a bit of a loner, the most dedicated member of the Gardening Club, and just beginning to realize that she may have a crush on the star of the Girl’s Track Team, Kase-san.

The story follows her conflicting emotions about liking a girl, and just what might happen when that girl likes her back. Ultimately sweet and light, the series does include mild brief nudity, but does not fall anywhere into ecchi territory. (And if you have to look up what “ecchi” means, don’t do it on your work computer. You’ve been warned.)

There are currently 3 novels available, with the 4th to be released on 2/20/2018.
Rating: 14+

Horimiya

This is, by far, the one most of my teen girls are clamoring for. They openly remarked jealousy when they see someone else beat them to borrowing the latest novel.

It’s a slice of life shonen story about two teenagers, a boy and a girl, getting to know each other and maybe even falling in love as they get to experience the sides of each other they can’t show their schoolmates. It’s a slow, slow burn, like most good shonen, and will definitely make readers smile.

There are 9 volumes published so far, with the 10th on the way in March 2018.

Rating: 12+

Kigurumi Guardians

A delightful twist on the magical girl and shonen genre, this story follows the upended life of Hakka Sasakura. Previously a fan girl of the school body president, she is suddenly tasked by him with defending their dimension by teaming up with the mysterious mascot that turned up in her living room one day after school. It doesn’t help that, in another dimension, he’s a major hottie, and that to activate their combined powers to fight off evil, they have to kiss.

It’s another reworking of classic tropes, but still had me grinning, and one I’ll be giving to readers in search of something for an older audience that enjoys Card Captor Sakura or Sailor Moon.

There are currently 3 volumes published.
Rating: 12+

The Promised Neverland

This story starts off light and happy and oh-so-perfect, which makes the sudden horror of it that much more jarring.

Orphans being raised by a caretaker they call “Mom” have a happy and seemingly ordinary childhood. That is, until their rigorous daily tests. Emma, Norman, and Ray are the oldest, and they also ace all the tests. One day, when one of the younger students that has been “adopted” leaves without taking her stuffie with her, Emma takes the initiative to bring the toy to her by venturing into the Forbidden Gatehouse. It is there she finds the small girl’s body and discovers the truth: they are being raised as food for demons that have taken over the world.

Whiplash of a realization taken in stride, the trio make an agreement to escape, but everything conspires against them which is where the series is, hopefully, going. Do not let the age of the protagonists fool you, this is a manga meant for teens.

There is currently one volume published.
Rating: 14+

To Your Eternity

This is a manga that I’d feel comfortable recommending to adults to read if they’re looking for a unique story, and that the teens I’ve guided it to have enjoyed so far.

The story follows an entity deposited onto the Earth whose purpose is to learn, mimic, and survive. It eventually takes the form of a wolf and befriends a boy, the last of his village, the two of them struggling to survive the frigid winter. The atmosphere and indirect storytelling here set this manga a step above others, in my opinion. This series ruminates on the nature of humanity, and what it means to be living, making it an ideal read for more intellectually driven or reflective readers.

There are currently two volumes available.
Rating: 14+