Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 6 | By Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe| Viz Media – The plotline of this volume is a dungeon crawl of sorts, where the examinees face off against doppelganger versions of themselves. Which is incredibly dangerous given that one of the examinees is Frieren, who is ludicrously overpowered, and therefore her clone is as well. That said, as always the plot is the title, as Frieren is still finding little things every day that remind her of the journey she took so long ago, and now that she’s matured (and most of her comrades are dead) she can finally really appreciate them. This is a series that gets by entirely on ‘vibe,’ and its vibe is fantastic. Everyone should be reading this. – Sean Gaffney...
Dec 1, 2022 • Subscribe
More like this
Bookshelf Briefs 6/30/22
Kageki Shojo!!, Vol. 5 | By Kumiko Saiki | Seven Seas – I really like the fact that Sarasa is choosing the more difficult option. They’re doing auditions…
Bookshelf Briefs 8/30/22
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 5 | By Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe| Viz Media – This is a series that is prepared to get pretty dark—some of…
Bookshelf Briefs 11/30/19
Let us give thanks for a hearty helping of briefs! Beastars, Vol. 2 | By Paru Itagaki | Viz Media – If there was any doubt after reading…
Bookshelf Briefs 11/30/21
Gabriel Dropout, Vol. 10 | By Ukami | Yen Press – Possibly the best chapters in this volume of Gabriel Dropout are the ones dealing with hypnosis, as…
Bookshelf Briefs 2/11/22
Boy Meets Maria | By PEYO | Seven Seas – Taiga is a high school student who falls in love at first sight with a fellow drama club…
Bookshelf Briefs 11/4/22
Artist | By Yeong-shin Ma | Drawn & Quarterly – Two years after Yeong-shin Ma’s critically acclaimed manhwa Moms was released in English comes a second major work,…
Bookshelf Briefs 7/22/22
Box of Light, Vol. 1 | By Seiko Erisawa | Seven Seas – The blurb for Box of Light promises a “delightfully creepy supernatural tale” that takes place…
Bookshelf Briefs 9/30/20
Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter, Vol. 6 | By Reai and Suki Umemiya | Seven Seas – Another series down to “once a year” release—I had to jog…
Bookshelf Briefs 5/30/23
Blue Box, Vol. 4 | By Kouji Miura | Viz Media - We finally tip the balance of this sports romance series back to romance in this volume,…
Bookshelf Briefs 7/30/20
Blue Flag, Vol. 2 | By KAITO | VIZ Media – How do I already love these kids this much?! Blue Flag is the story of four friends…
Bookshelf Briefs 10/30/23
A Bride's Story, Vol. 14 | By Kaoru Mori | Yen Press - Actual main couple at last! And Karluk is thirteen, so is presumably getting closer to…
Bookshelf Briefs 6/10/22
Boys of the Dead | By Tomita Douji | Kuma – Enticed by the cleverness of the “Zom-BL” portmanteau, I bought this volume without really knowing anything about…
Bookshelf Briefs 10/20/22
Anti-Romance, Vol. 1 | By Shoko Hidaka | Seven Seas – I was a big fan of Shoko Hidaka’s series Blue Morning. She excels at depicting complicated relationships…
Bookshelf Briefs 5/25/22
In which Sean solos yet again. HIRAETH -The End of the Journey-, Vol. 1 | By Yuhki Kamatani | Kodansha Manga (digital only) – This does not end…
Bookshelf Briefs 8/9/22
Blissful Land, Vol. 1 | By Ichimon Izumi | Kodansha (digital only) – You can almost imagine the pitch for Blissful Land: “It’s like A Bride’s Story, only…
Bookshelf Briefs 4/21/22
Catch These Hands!, Vol. 1 | By murata | Yen Press – I’ve been enjoying the recent upswing in yuri manga starring actual adults and aimed at adults.…
Bookshelf Briefs 5/4/22
Minami Nanami Wants to Shine, Vol. 1 | By Bana Yoshida and Yuki Yaku | Yen Press – For most of the volume, this feels like a typical…
Bookshelf Briefs 7/22/21
A Certain Scientific Accelerator, Vol. 12 | By Kazuma Kamachi and Arata Yamaji | Seven Seas – I was surprised that this is the final volume. It wraps…
Bookshelf Briefs 3/1/22
Hello, Melancholic!, Vol. 1 | By Yayoi Ohsawa | Seven Seas – Minato Asano is great at playing the trombone, but ostracization in junior high has rendered her…
Bookshelf Briefs 7/31/22
Catch These Hands!, Vol. 2 | By murata | Yen Press – The first volume in this series mostly focused on the grumpy-faced (and, let’s face it, grumpy…
Bookshelf Briefs 1/26/22
Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 16 | By Tomohito Oda | Viz Media – This is definitely a volume that is heavier on the back half. We get the…
Bookshelf Briefs 9/6/22
Blue Lock, Vol. 2 | By Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura | Kodansha Comics – Blue Lock really is a lot of fun, if you can get past…
Bookshelf Briefs 9/20/22
Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro, Vol. 11 | By Nanashi | Kodansha Manga – I haven’t actually briefed this for a long time. Since I did, in…
Bookshelf Briefs 10/6/22
Falling Drowning, Vol. 3 | By Yuko Inari | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – It’s the final volume and, inevitably, Honatsu has begun to regain her memories. With…
Bookshelf Briefs 12/29/22
Catch These Hands!, Vol. 3 | By murata | Yen Press – This volume takes us back to Takebe’s initial thought process: all her former gang friends have…
Bookshelf Briefs 12/16/22
Blue Box, Vol. 1 | By Kouji Miura | Viz Media – Sports manga always sell well in Japan, and high school romantic comedies are also popular. So…
Bookshelf Briefs 7/7/22
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 4 | By Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe | Viz Media – I never briefed the second and third volume of this series,…
Bookshelf Briefs 4/4/22
Falling Drowning, Vol. 1 | By Yuko Inari | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – On the surface, Falling Drowning looks like cookie-cutter shoujo. Our protagonist, a high school…
Bookshelf Briefs 3/25/22
Anyway, I’m Falling in Love with You, Vol. 2 | By Haruka Mitsui | Kodansah Comics (digital only) – For the most part Anyway, I’m Falling in Love…
Bookshelf Briefs 10/22/20
Arifureta: I Heart Isekai, Vol. 3 | By Misaki Mori, based on the novel by Ryo Shirakome | Seven Seas – This is keeping up a fast pace,…
Bookshelf Briefs 8/23/22
Box of Light, Vol. 1 | By Seiko Erisawa | Seven Seas – I’m not sure if this is meant to be a horror anthology with a minor…
Bookshelf Briefs 9/27/22
D-Frag!, Vol. 16 | By Tomoya Haruno | Seven Seas – This new volume (by now the series is annual) involves a massive parody of “trapped in a…
Bookshelf Briefs 1/4/22
F | By Imai Arata | Glacier Bay Books – Japan’s triple disaster of 2011 has understandably influenced the creative output of the country’s artists, both directly and…
Bookshelf Briefs 7/15/22
Blue Lock, Vol. 1 | By Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura | Kodansha Comics – I had initially assumed Blue Lock would be another heartwarming story about a…
Bookshelf Briefs 8/16/22
HIRAETH ~The End of the Journey~, Vol. 2 | By Yuhki Kamatani | Kodansha Manga (digital only) – In the first volume, we met a girl who’s desperate…
Bookshelf Briefs 11/20/23
#DRCL Midnight Children, Vol. 1 | By Shin'ichi Sakamoto | Viz Media - This is one of those books that I wouldn't normally pick up except for that…
Bookshelf Briefs 8/11/21
Sean is our hero as he shoulders the burden of this column solo. D-Frag!, Vol. 15 | By Tomoya Haruno | Seven Seas – This manga is here…
Bookshelf Briefs 10/11/20
As Miss Beelzebub Likes, Vol. 10 | By Matoba | Yen Press – While there is a tiny bit of forward movement with some of the couples in…
Bookshelf Briefs 11/14/21
Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, Vol. 10 | By Inio Asano | Viz Media – The end of this volume states in big, bold letters that there’s twelve…
Bookshelf Briefs 12/11/23
The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You, Vol. 8 | By Rikito Nakamura and Yukiko Nozawa | Ghost Ship The first half of this…
The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You
Bookshelf Briefs 9/11/23
I Don't Know Which Is Love, Vol. 1 | By Tamamushi Oku | Yen Press - If you have been reading all those ridiculous harem comedies, the sort…
Bookshelf Briefs 11/16/20
A Bride’s Story, Vol. 12 | By Kaoru Mori | Yen Press – Being at a yearly schedule for this series is bad, but it could be worse:…
Bookshelf Briefs 7/11/20
How Do We Relationship?, Vol. 1 | By Tamifull | Viz Media – This title has a lot of things going for it, once you get past the…
Bookshelf Briefs 11/2/20
Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist’s Journey, Vol. 5 | By Akiko Higashimura | Seven Seas – It shouldn’t take most readers by surprise that the final volume of…
Bookshelf Briefs 12/17/20
Chainsaw Man, Vol. 1 | By Tatsuki Fujimoto | Viz Media – It’s a little hard to live up to the hype that this title has gotten on…
Bookshelf Briefs 3/1/21
BL Metamorphosis, Vol. 3 | By Kaori Tsurutani | Seven Seas – This third volume might even be stronger than the first two. Urara wants to invite Ichinoi…
Bookshelf Briefs 1/16/2024
A Cat from Our World and the Forgotten Witch, Vol. 1 | By Hiro Kashiwaba | Seven Seas - Jeanne, an elderly witch, summons Torata, an ordinary house…
Bookshelf Briefs 1/5/23
Asumi-chan Is Interested in Lesbian Brothels!, Vol. 1 | By Kuro Itsuki | Seven Seas – I wasn’t originally planning to read this at all, but several people…
Bookshelf Briefs 2/2/24
Bakemonogatari, Vol. 20 | By NISIOISIN and Oh!Great | Kodansha Manga - This continues to take all the remaining arcs that Oh!Great wasn't going to have time to…
Bookshelf Briefs 4/16/21
Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, Vol. 9 | By Inio Asano | Viz Media – By the ninth volume of Dead Dead Demon, any hope that this series…