Yen Press has announced three new manga series that will launch in February 2024, including one by Hero, the creator of the romance manga (and anime) Horimiya, one of Yen’s best-selling series (see “ICv2 Interview: Mark DeVera of Yen Press”).

Instead of an opposites-attract romcom, Hero serves up a supernatural slice-of-life mystery in Ako and Bambi. Bambi is a horror novelist, and Ako is the ghost of an amnesiac teenager that haunts his new apartment. Bambi uses Ako as the model for one of his stories, but what starts out as a sweet story gets darker and more mysterious as time goes on.  Like Horimiya, Ako and Bambi is in the yonkoma (four-panel) format, gag strips that run vertically down the page.  The series is ongoing, with four volumes out so far in Japan.

If the Villainess and Villain Met and Fell in Love, by Harunadon and Chill Ukai, is a fantasy romance, a genre that’s popular right now in manga, manhwa, and webtoons.  Brigitte is the heiress to an earldom, but the other nobles look down on her and regard her as incompetent.  Yuri, the son of a duke, has the opposite problem:  He puts people off because he’s too smart. Both are also in the same class in high school.  This enemies-to-friends romance is based on light novels that are also published by Yen Press.  The manga series is ongoing, with one volume out so far in Japan.

Whoever Steals This Book, by Nowaki Fukamidori and Kakeru Sora, is a fantasy set in an immense library.  Mifuyu, the daughter of the manager and the great-granddaughter of the founder, hates books, but a theft and a mysterious message send her on a quest to save her town from becoming a literal story.  The series is ongoing, with two volumes out so far in Japan.