10 Jul, 2024
Translation
Shigeru Mizuki’s 1973 Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths, is a stand-alone historical tragedy manga. Titled Sōin Gyokusai Seyo! in the original Japanese, the 2011 English translation1 is by Jocelyne Allen.
Imperial Japan sent Private Murayama and others off to New Britain island in Papua New Guinea, there to join the Baien Battalion in tropical isolation.
New Britain proves something less than a paradise.
3 Jul, 2024
Translation
Maria Dahvana Headley’s 2020’s Beowulf: A New Translation is… a new translation of Beowulf. This is fortuitous, as it would be terribly confusing if a book titled Beowulf: A New Translation were not a new translation of Beowulf.
Nor do the book’s positive qualities end with the title. But first, hark back to old Scandinavia.
26 Jun, 2024
Translation
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2023’s Daemons of the Shadow Realm, Volume 3 is the third tankōbon1 in Hiromu Arakawa’s ongoing modern fantasy manga series, Yomi no Tsugai in the original Japanese. It has been serialized in Monthly Shōnen Gangan magazine since December 2021. Volume 3 in English translation was released in 2023.
Having survived a raid by mercenaries commanding tsugai (demons) on the Kagemori compound, Yuru takes part in the aftermath.
First question: who ordered the attack and why?
19 Jun, 2024
Translation
2005’s The Devotion of Suspect X is the first in Keigo Higashino’s Detective Galileo mystery series. First published as Yogisha X No Kenshin, the English translation is by Alexander O. Smith with Elye J. Alexander1.
Togashi proclaims that he is no longer the abusive embezzler whom Yasuko Hanaoka divorced. He insists that he still loves Yasuko and still wants to be a loving father to Yasuko’s daughter Misato. Perhaps he does. He certainly enjoys the money he bullies out of Yasuko. As long as he lives, Togashi will never leave mother and daughter alone.
Cut to: Yasuko and Misato viewing Togashi’s cooling corpse, showing bruises and ligature marks.
Enter a mathematician.
12 Jun, 2024
Translation
2022’s Witch Hat Atelier, Volume 12 is the twelfth tankōbon of Kamome Shirahama’s Witch Hat Atelier fantasy manga series. Witch Hat Atelier (Tongari Bōshi no Atelier in the original Japanese) has been serialized in Kodansha’s Monthly Morning Two magazine since July 2016. The English translation of Volume 12 first appeared in 2024.
Volume 11 was a comparatively quiet volume. Volume 12 is considerably more energetic.
5 Jun, 2024
Translation
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Doina Ruşti’s 2017 The Book of Perilous Dishes is a stand-alone historical fantasy. It was originally published as Mâţa Vinerii. The James Christian Brown English translation came out in 2022.
In 18th century Braşov, accusation is followed by swift punishment. Accused of witchcraft, Maxima Tutilina does not waste her time trying to save herself; after all, the accusation is true. Instead, she orders her fourteen-year-old granddaughter Pâtca to flee to her grand-uncle Zăval.
29 May, 2024
Translation
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Insomniacs After School, Volume 6 is the sixth tankōbon in Makoto Ojiro’s contemporary manga series. Serialized in Shogakukan’s seinen manga magazine Weekly Big Comic Spirits, Insomniacs After School has been ongoing since May 2019. The English translation of Volume 6 came out in 2024.
Fellow insomniacs turned belated astronomers Ganta Nakami and Isaki Magari are pursuing their hobby in Isaki’s grandmother’s rural home. The teens were, of course, provided with a chaperone in the form of Isaki’s older sister Haya. Haya has better things to do with her time than keep an eye on two teenagers. When opportunity presented itself, Haya departed, leaving Ganta and Isaki alone.
However will two unsupervised teens fill the time?
22 May, 2024
Translation
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Park Seolyeon’s 2022 A Magical Girl Retires is a modern fantasy. The 2024 English translation is by Anton Hur.
Jobless, three million won1 in debt, her dream of becoming a clock repair person dead, now alone in the world, an unnamed twenty-nine-year-old Korean woman resolves to kill herself, ideally in a manner that will inconvenience as few people as possible. Before she can steel herself up to hurl herself from a bridge, Clairvoyant Magical Girl Ah Roa appears in a cab to forestall the twenty-nine-year-old.
The twenty-nine-year-old is not the hapless loser she believes she is. She is a Magical Girl. Rather than being a burden the world would be better off without, the twenty-nine-year-old may be its savior.
15 May, 2024
Translation
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2015’s Usotoki Rhetoric Volume Five is the fifth tankōbon in Ritsu Miyako’s historical mystery manga series. Usotoki Rhetoric was published in Bessatsu Hana to Yume from June 26, 2012, to March 26, 2018. The English translation of Volume Five was published in 2024.
Kanako Urabe, a young woman who can tell when other people consciously lying, has partnered with private detective Iwai, a young man with a knack for solving mysteries. It’s a precarious life, but one that allows them to use their uncommon gifts.
Like Volume Four, Volume Five is episodic.
8 May, 2024
Translation
2021’s The Apothecary Diaries: Volume 10 is the tenth installment of Natsu Hyuuga’s ongoing Apothecary Diaries secondary-universe light-novel series. Illustrations are by Touko Shino. The 2024 English translation is by Kevin Steinbach.
Apothecary/gray-market physician Maomao joins an imperial mission to the capital of the empire’s western province of I‑Sei. Mysteries await, some obvious and some very obscure.