By Mat K.
The long drought is over. And hopefully the beginning of February will prove as fruitful in manga releases as the end of January, but we have quite a few bits of awesome in this week regardless. After the last 3 weeks of single digit releases, this time we’ve got a couple dozen showing up.
The first major “want” this week is the series premier of High School Of The Dead written by Daisuke Sato, and drawn by Shouji Sato. I know people have been catching wind of it online and bugging out over not being able to fulfill their needs via American publishers, mostly I know because the otakus have been raining down on me. In case you’re unfamiliar with the series it has hot girls and zombies in high school. A mysterious illness is spreading rapidly through the halls of Fujimi High School. In a matter of hours the campus is transformed from a place of learning into a hive of nightmares as the infected students collapse and are reborn as flesh-hungry zombies. Only a handful of students escape the initial outbreak, but how long can Takashi and the other students hope to survive when the whole school, and maybe the whole town, is out for their blood?
Next up on the list of awesome, (and believe me I struggled internally about which to write up first), is Black Butler Volume 4. Honestly, the popularity and speed in which the manga are selling are rivaling the initial Death Note obsession, though I think mostly with the female population. In book 4 Ciel, Sebastian, and Lau investigate a case where British citizens returning from India are attacked, stripped, and hung upside down outside Indian pubs in London. They are helped by the Indian Prince Soma and his butler Agni who are searching for Soma’s servant Meena. Although Agni is human, he is on par with Sebastian’s fighting skills. Their quest will take them into the home of Lord West and pit them against the villain in a curry contest.
And while there is a lot of neat stuff I wish I could jabber on about, there is one more premier this week that looks promising. Lives: The Monsters World by Masayuki Taguchi is a new action/horror with very much the feel of DevilMan. If anyone thinks the art looks familiar that’s because you know him from the Battle Royale manga, and possibly Baron Gong Battle. The peaceful lives of many are taken away as a freak meteor shower destroys the Kanto area of Japan. However, the lives of the victims aren’t lost, as they start to awaken one by one into a strange pre-historic world. A girl named Kyoka awakens into this world, and is attacked by a monster, however she is saved by Shinma Shingo, another monster. She joins Shinma and his companion as they search to find a way back home.
There are so many other sweet books coming out this week, but you’re going to have to read the list for the total rundown. Anyway, ’til next time!
Ja Ne!
