Forum - View topicANN Manga and Novel Summer Reading List 2026
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Saeryen
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Sakura-hime mentioned! That was quite a nice surprise.
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Fluwm
Moderator
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Some good stuff here.
The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn't a Guy at All has the vibe of a mid-2010s webcomic and some really striking art. I haven't read enough to comment too much on the story, but I really enjoyed the first volume enough to want to read more. Spacewalking With You very quickly made me fall in love with it. It very deftly threads that needle of depicting the "neurodivergent experience" without going too far in the direction of trauma port, or too much into idealized, wish-fulfillment fantasy. One of my most-highly recommended new series. Murder at the Black Cat Cafe is an unexpected title to see here, among mostly light novels and manga, but I'm happy to see it! Seishi Yokomizo is one of the bigger names in Japanese mysteries, and anyone's who's fond of the classic murder mysteries will likely find a lot to enjoy here. Billy Bat might just be my second or third-favorite Urasawa series -- or fourth, maybe? Dude is prolific, and all his work is great, but Billy Bad is definitely on the better end of that narrow range of spectrum between "excellent" and "world-class classic." I'm so excited to finally be able to get it on my shelf! Though for anyone waffling between physical or digital versions, I was a bit disappointed in the quality of the paperbacks, so I'd probably recommend going digital with this one, instead. Anyway, yeah, super happy to see this in English. Easily one of the most exciting new-licenses in recent memory. Don't Call It Mystery is kind of an oddball, offbeat take on the classic murder-mystery formula. Mostly episodic but with some over-arcing mystery elements and character arcs to keep readers invested in reading the whole thing. I suspect it'll be a bit YMMV for a lot of people (the more hardcore mystery fans), but I really loved its whole off-kilter vibe. And it also has a pretty entertaining live action adaptation, though good luck figuring how how to watch it with English subtitles. Gundam The Origin's new deluxe re-release is... it's something all right. On the one hand, it's one of the best sci-fi manga series of all time; on the other hand, these books kind of suck. They're too big and heavy to read comfortably, and every time I open one up, I feel like I'm about to split the binding down the middle. But also they're the perfect size and shape if you want to build a book-fort capable of repelling cannonfire. Anyway, I'd definitely suggest reading the older, 2-in-1 release if you have the option. I'm glad for this new release, but I can't help but bit a little (or more than a little) annoyed at Kodansha for being so unwilling to sell digital copies. Witch Hat Atelier is just as good as the anime might lead you to expect, and picking up the first volume after watching the first few episodes, I've really enjoyed being able to notice the many small little changes and subtle additions the anime did to improve the story. Land is a very striking and bleak dark fantasy story. Which in general isn't really the kind of thing I'm into, but I found it captivating. I'm a little confused on just how many volumes the English release will be, but I'm expecting it to be just the two, given the page counts. Then there's Ashita no Joe and Ace of the Diamond, both of which are fantastic all-timers in the sports genre, though I suspect most people who'd be sufficiently interested in sports manga to be curious about either... have probably already read both. After being DOA for so long, it's nice to see English-localizations of sports manga are finally finding some success... especially Ace of the Diamond. Y'all need to buy all the baseball manga ya' can, if only to improve the chances, however small, of seeing more get localized. (Can you believe Touch hasn't been licensed yet? I can't.) Lotta good stuff to read. |
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