Featured New Manga Shout Out: 12/20/10 – 12/26/10

Welcome to the next weekly article on the featured new manga that have been recently uploaded on the irc-distro bots this past week. This Christmas week features 2 mangakas, a substitute teacher assassin, and a light novel club. If you're one of those people that are looking for newly started manga in Japan or are looking for something new to read or scanlate, then come check these series out. On with the manga~

Akaneko no Akuma (あかねこの悪魔)
By: TAKEMOTO Izumi

Demographics: Seinen
Status: 1 Volume (Ongoing) / 12 Chapters Available
Search: File Triggers

Yamane Akaneko and her classmate Tsujishima meet one day in the mostly deserted second school library and discover a supernatural secret. A demon that seems like an ordinary red cat possesses Tsujishima and insists that they help him in his task to protect the books of the library. Apparently, all books that are internally consistent enough have a world that exists within them. These books are plagued by "bookworms," which look like long cats, that eat up words and change the story until its reality is destroyed. The three of them, Yamane, Tsujishima, and the possessing cat demon, journey into the worlds of many books to track down and catch the bookworms before they do too much damage!

Thanks go to tethysdust for the summary.

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Dokidoki Kanehirando Kakeppuchi Mankin Nikki
(ドキドキかねひらんど がけっプチ漫金日記)
By: KANEHIRA Morihito

Demographics: Seinen
Status: 11 Chapters (Ongoing) / Chapters 2,3,4,8,9,11 Available
Search: File Triggers

Kanehira, a manga artist has been in a slump lately. His semi popular series ended and his attempts at a new series have been a failure. The reader responses have been nothing but negative and, on top of that, his friends and family don’t understand his work at all. All out of ideas, Kanehira decides to keep a diary of his life in manga form and use that as a new series. His interactions with his friends and family to the meetings he has with editors of manga magazines are all recorded in this picture format journal.

Thanks go to vyc for the summary.

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Hiyori-Biyori (ひよりびより)
By: Tetsuhiro

Demographics: Shounen
Status: 3 Chapters (Ongoing)
Search: File Triggers

This gag manga features the life of the adorable little grade-schooler Yamamoto Hiyori. He's a cheerful boy who's full of energy, and he loves all the people who are a part of his life. His innocence can lead to some awkward situations, especially with the neighborhood teenagers. For instance, how can a little boy understand why a middle school girl would stuff her bra? But more often than not, Hiyori's simple friendliness helps everyone in the neighborhood to get along with each other.

Thanks go to tethysdust for the summary.

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Kimi no Knife (君のナイフ)
By: Morishige

Demographics: Seinen
Status: 4 Volumes (Ongoing) / 3 Volumes Available
Search: File Triggers

Shiki Yukitaka is desperate for money, but he makes way too little as a long term substitute teacher. While drinking one evening, a pretty woman asks if he would be willing to assassinate people for 5 million yen a kill. Although Shiki is hesitant, he grudgingly admits that he might do it, provided all the targets are serious evildoers. He soon finds that her offer is deadly serious, when she introduces him to the rest of the team and points them towards their first target. The driver, Yan, is doing this for the money as well. Shiki's partner, Kuzumi, is a cop. He doesn't appear to be interested in the money, but he seems to be driven by a deep anger.

On Shiki's first mission, things don't go quite as planned. They didn't count on their target's 18 year old daughter Itsuki being locked up in the house. She's been confined for 10 years, due to her spooky ability to read things from people's minds when she touches them. She claims to want to be their ally, and Shiki is reluctantly made responsible for her care. With the police investigating their crime, is keeping her alive too dangerous? How long will the team be able to get away with continuing their highly paid vigilante murders?

Thanks go to tethysdust for the summary.

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Mangaka Debut wa Shitakeredo (漫画家デビューはしたけれど)
By: MAGAMI Guriko

Demographics: Josei
Status: 1 Chapter (Ongoing)
Search: File Triggers

The year is 1991 and 6th grader Yaguchi Haruo only has video games to live for. He's not popular in school and he's neither handsome, funny, nice nor even friendly. The only thing he has going for him is that he is good at video games. One day at the local arcade, he plays Oono Akira, a fellow classmate but who's popular, smart, pretty and a rich girl that absolutely destroys him at Street Fighter II. Not only does he lose to her 30 times in a row, he can’t beat her at any game. Haruo can’t seem to shake Akira off as she follows him from arcade to arcade everyday after school and beats him every time. As weird as it sounds, the odd couple begins a strange bond and friendship.

Thanks go to vyc for the summary.

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Ranobe-bu (ラノベ部)
By: HIRASAKA Yomi x Mozuya Murasaki

Demographics: Seinen
Status: 1 Chapter (Ongoing)
Status: File Triggers

Tomitsu High School freshman Mononobe Fumika was looking for an extracurricular activity to join since it is an academic requirement. She randomly finds a very curious sounding club named the Ranobe, short for light novel. It's a small club headed by Asaba Misaki with 2 other members, Takeda Ryunosuke and Fujikura Koyomi. Fumika was never a big reader but these easy to read light novels really bring her into the world of story telling.

Thanks go to vyc for the summary.

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Saikin Imouto no Yousu ga Chotto Okashiindaga
(最近妹のようすがちょっとおかしいんだが)
By: MATSUZAWA Mari

Demographics: Seinen
Status: 2 Chapters (Ongoing)
Status: File Triggers

High school girl, Kanzaki Mitsuki, just got a new older brother when her mother remarries a fellow divorcée with a son. Soon after, her new step dad gets transferred overseas and her mother follows him there, leaving Mitsuki alone with her new step brother, Yuuya. Feeling abandoned by her mother, she stays distant from Yuuya, never really getting along very well with him nor even keeping a conversation with him.

However, one day, Mitsuki gets visited by an angel/ghost named Hiyori who takes over her body and tries to make sexual advancements towards Yuuya. Hiyori is the lost spirit of a girl who died but can’t reach the gates of heaven and reach eternal peace. To reach heaven, Hiyori puts a belt on Mitsuki called the TST that fills up every time Mitsuki feels sexual feelings from Yuuya, whether it be from going on a date, kissing or even sex. For every time it fills up, Hiyori gains a step on a bridge that connects her current situation and the literal gates of heaven. If she wants to get rid of the annoying Hiyori, Mitsuki has to make some bold and sexy moves against her own brother, even if he is just a step brother.

Thanks go to vyc for the summary.

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Sajitari (サジタリ)
By: NONOUE Daijiro

Demographics: Shounen
Status: One-shot (Complete)
Status: File Triggers

Saji Amahiko vowed never to play sports again. At the end of his middle school years, during the summer baseball state championship, he pitched 4 balls and walked the batter when the bases were loaded and lost the game for the entire team. Unable to recover from that trauma, when he entered high school, he promised himself to never compete in any sport that makes you face your opponents to determine a winner and loser.

His teacher and also his cousin, Ms. Misato, forces Amahiko to join the archery team at school thinking that it might help overcome his fear of sports. Archery is a sport where, although you do compete against other players, the main opponent is yourself. If you are able to overcome the negativity inside you and win against yourself, you will be able to hit the target. Initially, Amahiko was unable to hit the target because of the demon inside him, but when he was able to face his mistakes and own up to it, he turned out to be an archer with a lot of potential. From that day on, he changed his vows to never lose against himself ever again.

Thanks go to vyc for the summary.

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Soukai Kessen (蒼海訣戰)
By: NANTO Hanamaru

Demographics: Shounen
Status: 9 Volumes (Ongoing) / 8 Volumes Available
Status: File Triggers

The island nation of Tsushima is comprised of 3 different races of people. The Akitsu race is the majority and comprises of 80% of the population, the Shiomi population comprises of the upper 10% and the Oina race, most known for their tail and neko mimi (cat ears), makes up the remaining small percentage. Tsushima is also known for its relatively strong military force.

Mikasa Sanekiyo, formerly of the Sakune family, was adopted by a family after his parents and grandparents passed away. His older brother-in-law, Mitsukiyo, is already an accomplished military commander and Sanekiyo looks up dearly to him for moral and emotional guidance. Following in his footsteps, Sanekiyo is accepted into the navy academy as the top chair of his class. Little does he know how discriminatory the Akitsu are against the other two races and how hard the training is going to be. Sanekiyo has to learn how to be a great leader and overcome these obstacles if he plans to lead the navy fleet someday.

Thanks go to vyc for the summary.

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Takasugi-san-ke no Obentou (高杉さん家のおべんとう))
By: YANAHARA Nozomi

Demographics: Seinen
Status: 2 Volumes (Ongoing)
Status: File Triggers

Takasugi Harumi has a doctorate, but is having a hard time starting his career. He's at the University lab while he hunts for a job, but, at 31 years old, he still can't see where his life will lead. One day, his aunt Miya dies suddenly, leaving him as the sole guardian for her 12-year-old daughter Kururi.

Harumi wants to be a good guardian for the grief-stricken Kururi, but he fears that he doesn't have the knowledge or the money to take care of his cousin. Furthermore, Kururi is a quiet girl who seems to have closed herself off even more after her mother's death. In order to build a sense of family in her new environment, Harumi needs to find a way to get her to open up. He finds the answer in lunch boxes. When Harumi was young, Miya had fixed his daily lunch, just as she later had for her own daughter. This slender thread will connect them both to the memory of Miya and to each other.

Thanks go to tethysdust for the summary.

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Opinions for the manga:

From tethysdust:

I really enjoyed a lot of the manga this week. Kimi no Knife might be my favorite. The art is pretty, and I really liked the story so far. It's the kind of story I tend to be drawn to. Akaneko and Hiyori Biyori were both fairly funny. I preferred Hiyori Biyori, just because it was adorable. I really liked that both of them had situational humor, not humor that was based on the characters being awful people. Takasugi-san ke no obentou had a little too much detail about food shopping and cooking for me, but it seemed like it could be a touching story.

From vyc:

Soukai Kessen - a weird combination of military and otaku (nekomimi). More serious and less comedic. Willing to see how it progresses. Sajitari - one shot on shounen jump. has lots of potential and hope it gets picked up for a series. want to see how it turns out, character development and what not.

As for me:
Only two really piqued my interest this week. Hiyori Biyori gives me a Yotsubato vibe (a manga I highly recommend people to read if you like slice of life) so I'd be willing to check this out. Kimi no Knife looks especially interesting since it deals with how a regular person may deal with the decision to kill someone to protect their own secret. With 2 chapters already scanlated, I will definitely check it out~

Well, I hope you enjoyed this brief look at some of the new manga on irc-distro. Anyway, I hope everyone had a good Christmas (if you celebrate it) and if you don't, at the very least, I hope everyone read lots of manga that were scanlated and released on that day. This is the last post of the 2010 year, and I hope people were exposed to many new mangas. At the very least, I hope that these shout outs helped convince some people to translate and scanlate a few of the new manga being made in Japan. I hope to continue to bring you more new manga shout outs in the coming new year~ ^_^ If you would like any of these series to continue to be uploaded, then please submit a raw request form. Also, follow our Twitter to know what new manga are getting uploaded instantly and see you next week when we check out a new batch of manga~ ^_^