Yen Press has announced that it has licensed 12 new manga series, all of which will kick off in August 2023. Here’s a look:
The Illustrated Guide to Monster Girls, by Suzu Aeko, is not, despite the title, an illustrated guide to monster girls. It’s the story of an underdog class at monster school who are more likely to be scared or bullied than to scare or bully others, as they work on overcoming the many obstacles they face to graduation and a future as full-fledged monsters. The first volume will be published as a 256-page paperback with a rating of 16+ and an MSRP of $13.00. After We Gazed at the Starry Sky, by Bisco Kida, is a yaoi romance about a graphic designer who is also a wheelchair user. After he designs the brochure for a planetarium, he goes to a private screening and meets the photographer who created the images. The story was published as two volumes in Japan but it looks like Yen is publishing it as a single 256-page paperback volume. The manga is rated 16+ and will have an MSRP of $15.00. Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki’s Conjecture, by Mikage Sawamura and Toji Ajo, is a supernatural shojo mystery about a young man with an uncanny ability to detect lies, which has left him without many friends, and his folklore studies professor, who brings in the student to help explain the strange phenomena he encounters. The manga is based on a series of light novels, which Yen will start publishing in May. The first volume of the manga will be released as a 368-page paperback with a 16+ rating and an MSRP of $13.00. I Don’t Need a Happy Ending, by Mikanuji, is a collection of yuri (girls love) stories by the creator of Assorted Entanglements, another short story collection published by Yen; Mikanuji is also a contributor to the Syrupyuri anthology published by Seven Seas. Yen will publish I Don’t Need a Happy Ending as a 256-page one-shot paperback, rated 16+, with an MSRP of $13.00. The Witches’ Marriage, by studio HEADLINE, is set in a world where witches enter into contractual marriages in order to gain enough power to open the Door of Truth. The story is a magical slice-of-life girls love comedy about Melissa, a witch who wants to gain that power, and Tanya, who may be exerting more of a spell on Melissa than Melissa cares to admit. The series is rated 16+, and the first volume will be a 256-page trade paperback with an MSRP of $13.00. Touge Oni: Primal Gods in Ancient Times, by Kenji Tsurubuchi, is set at a time when gods and humans both roamed the earth. An orphan girl, Miyo, is chosen to be her village’s blood sacrifice to its god, but that’s a fate she wants to escape. The appearance of a monk who is able to talk to the gods may help her get out of this situation alive. The first volume will be a 256-page paperback, rated 16+, with an MSRP of $15.00. The Second-Chance Noble Daughter Sets Out to Conquer the Dragon Emperor, by Sarasa Nagase, Anko Yuzu, and Mitsuya Fuji, is a fantasy tale of a woman who is engaged to the Crown Prince but gets a death sentence instead of a wedding day. Just before the moment of her death, she travels back in time to the age of 10, and in order to change her fate, she proposes to the first man she encounters, not realizing he is the Dragon Emperor Hades, an arch-enemy from another country. The series is rated 13+ and the first volume will be a 256-page paperback with an MSRP of $13.00. I Don’t Know Which is Love, by Oku Tamamushi, is a yuri harem comedy about a girl who confesses her love to her best friend as they are about to graduate from high school. Her friend rejects her, but she heads to college hopeful that she will find a girlfriend, and there certainly seem to be plenty of candidates lining up once she gets there. The first volume of this series, which is rated 13+, will be a 256-page paperback with an MSRP of $13.00. Game of Familia -Family Senki-, by Mikoto Yamaguchi and D.P., is a magical action fantasy about a teenager and his three stepsisters, who are transported to another world to fight undead monsters who can only be killed by weapons made of silver. The four have to form a magical family unit in order to fight the monsters, with only one able to wield the sword. The series is rated 18+, and the first volume will be a 256-page paperback with an MSRP of $13.00. Yen Press also announced three titles that tie in to series it already publishes: I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level Spin-off: The Red Dragon Academy for Girls, Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Movie -Rebellion-: The Complete Omnibus Edition, and Mieruko-chan Anthology Comic.For more Manga Week coverage, click here.