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Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian, Vol. 9

By Sunsunsun and Momoco. Released in Japan as “Tokidoki Bosotto Russia-go de Dereru Tonari no Alya-san” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Matthew Rutsohn. There was only so long that the main mystery of this series that doesn’t involve “who will the winning girl be” got cleared up. (And honestly, “who will the winning girl be” is not much of a mystery, either – this isn’t the sort of series that’s going for a last-minute swerve.) So yes, Masachika admits to Alya what the relationship between him and Yuki really is, and then goes to visit her. That said, the series still wants to be a romcom, even in what amounts to the most serious volume to date, and so it also flashes…

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The World’s Strongest Witch: I’m Starting My Free Life in a World Where Only I Can See the Online Strategy Guide, Vol. 2

By Mochimaru Sakaki and riritto. Released in Japan as “Sekai Saikyou no Majo, Hajimemashita: Watashi dake “Kouryaku Site” wo Mireru Sekai de Jiyuu ni Ikimasu” by SQEX Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Phil Charbonneau. This series is definitely written to be incredibly silly first and think about everything else second. That said, it is at least thinking about other things. This volume makes it very clear what it would be like to be in a game world – not one with a linear through plot, like most isekais that have game elements are based around, but something where there’s a weekly “event”, which is a valuable opportunity for amateur players to earn skills killing monsters, or there’s a way to get “familiars” that involves a…

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Manga the Week of 4/22/26

SEAN: Spring continues to try to become early Summer. In April. Sigh. ASH: Spring is going to spring. SEAN: Viz Media debuts Bug Ego, the latest title written by ONE, the author of One-Punch Man, and it runs in Weekly Young Jump. A popular kid tries to help a loner kid get better at socializing. The loner kid… can turn back time? And break reality? ASH: I am curious about this one, mainly due to ONE’s involvement. ANNA: OK, might be interesting. SEAN: Also from Viz: The Climber 5, Kingdom 6, Mission: Yozakura Family 22, Rainbows After Storms 9, Record of Ragnarök 18, Red River 3-in-1 7, Show-ha Shoten! 10, and Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead 19. ASH: I really need to start reading The Climber. ANNA: I…

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Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, So I’ll Max Out My Defense, Vol. 17

By Yuumikan and KOIN. Released in Japan as “Itai no wa Iya nano de Bōgyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham. Last time I was quite happy, as the author was setting up the end of the series, and there was a lot of non-gaming stuff… well, a little bit of non-gaming stuff… that I could get my hands on. This volume is gaming gaming gaming, and the number of times ‘Kaede’ and ‘Risa’ appear in it is zero. As such, here I am again trying to wring five hundred words (see what I did there?) out of “and then Maple put on her angel throne thing again and they all won”. That said, there are differences…

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Ascendance of a Bookworm: Hannelore’s Fifth Year at the Royal Academy, Vol. 2

By Miya Kazuki and You Shiina. Released in Japan as “Honzuki no Gekokujou: Hannelore no Kizokuin Gonensei” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by quof. It’s been a while since we last saw Hannelore, chasing her love into the past and learning a valuable lesson, that lesson being “Wilfried is not the one”. (Wilfried waxes and wanes as the books require it, but he is absolutely not at his best in this book – I equated his thought process on social media to that of a bagel.) On the bright side, the goddess has allowed her to remember everything she did in the past, and all her character growth. Oh, don’t worry, she still blushes a lot and shies away from the idea that anyone…

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Bookshelf Briefs 4/13/26

Ayaka Is in Love with Hiroko, Vol. 1 | By Sal Jiang | Love Love – Ayaka is a beautiful newbie at an office, who is in love with her cool and attractive boss. For Ayaka, this doesn’t have much to do with gender at first—she simply has this massive crush on Hiroko, and it’s only at the end of the volume that she realizes that this actually extends to women in general. For Hiroko it’s a lot more complicated—she’s convinced Ayaka is straight, and what’s more, she does not want the office knowing she’s gay—though she does spend a lot of her time complaining about this at the local lesbian bar. For the first half this reads like a typically frustrating “why don’t they just GET IT?” sort of…

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The Tanaka Family Reincarnates, Vol. 6

By Choko and kaworu. Released in Japan as “Tanaka-ke, Tensei Suru” by Dragon Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sasha Schiller. Haaaah. Did I say the 5th volume was Part 1 of 2? Try Part 1 of 3. That said, a lot of what was potentially horrible was taken care of in this volume, and for once it was not directly due to Emma and her family. Though you could argue they did it indirectly. It’s also a great example of how this series can have drama, with real consequences, and then turn on a dime and have the most hilarious bullshit imaginable. The first prince returns from the West, and there’s something… off about him. The Queen can tell something’s wrong, but can’t prove it,…

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Long Story Short, I’m Living in the Mountains, Vol. 5

By Asagi and Shino. Released in Japan as “Zenryaku, Yama Kurashi wo Hajimemashita” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by N. Marquetti. Yes, it’s time to write the same review for the fifth time. I’ve talked before about slow life books that are not actually slow life at all, but “I want a slow life but I keep having all these girls and wars and battles” books. This is a genine slow life book, with plot twists such as “they go hunting”, “they go hunting again”, and “they eat what they hunted”, where the only surprise is that Sano, a relatively non-athletic sort, doesn’t go with them, so we never see any of the actual hunting. I suppose this fits with previous books, where we’ve…

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Manga the Week of 4/15/26

SEAN: April continues. Is it going to be… THE CRUELEST MONTH? ASH: It just might. ANNA: I’m not going to argue with April. SEAN: Airship has no print debuts, but they do have The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen 10, Survival in Another World with My Mistress! 9, and The Tale of a Little Alchemist Blessed by the Spirits 2. They do have an early digital debut. Venus Mission: I Was an Assassin-for-Hire Who Died, Now I’m Hunting Heroes in Another World (Venus Mission: Moto Koroshiya de Youhei no Chuunen, Yuusha no Ansatsu wo Iraisare Isekai Tensei!) is about an assassin who can kill anything except the cancer that he has. When he dies, he wakes in another world… where he has to hunt down heroes! ASH: He should know…

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