The Best New Manga of February 2017

Kiss and White Lily for My Dearest Girl, Vol. 1, by Canno
Yen Press kicks off a new high school romance starring two teenage girls—Ayaka Shiramine, a hard-working, conscientious student who excels at everything, and Yurine Kurosawa, a lazy slacker who is a natural genius and keeps beating Ayaka out without even trying. Yurine is too busy sleeping to pay much attention, until she realizes who Ayaka is—and develops an immediate attraction to her. There’s a sports angle too, as Yurine is also a natural at track and field—as Ayaka’s cousin, Mizuki, learns to her dismay when she brings Yurine onto the team and finds herself in second place. This light-hearted romance promises a fun story about balancing attraction and rivalry, plus an interesting cast of side characters.

FukuFuku: Kitten Tales, Vol. 2, by Konami Kanata
Fuku Fuku Kitten Tales is the manga equivalent of watching cat videos on Facebook—you can feel your blood pressure go down as you read it. This series of short stories about a kitten and her elderly, kimono-clad owner has even less dramatic tension than Kanata’s previous series, Chi’s Sweet Home; it’s just a series of vignettes of FukuFuku doing cute kitten things and having charming misunderstandings with her owner. FukuFuku enjoys being brushed—and tries to rub her fur on every brush in the house; FukuFuku is scared by a camera flash, frustrating her owner’s attempts to take a photo; FukuFuku tries (and fails) to get into a can of cat food. This series reads left to right, making it an easy book for anyone to pick up, and Kanata’s simple, super-cute style is suitable for readers of all ages—FukuFuku’s antics are entertaining to children and adults alike. Since there’s not a lot of continuity, volume 2 is as good a place to start as volume 1.

Haikyu!!, Vol. 8, by Haruichi Furudate
The tournament against rival high school Aoba Johsai, whose team includes Tobio’s former teammates—the ones who rejected him because of his arrogant attitude on the court—continues in this volume. As the match goes into a third set, Coach Ukai brings in a pinch server, but it’s not clear that will propel the Karasuno team to an earnestly desired victory. Haikyu!! is a nice shonen story that goes into depth about both the sport of volleyball and the people who play it, making it a great read for fans of sports action and character drama.

Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition, Vol. 10, by Natsuki Takaya
Yen Press is releasing a two-volume omnibus of this shoujo classic every month, making it easy for new and returning readers to immerse themselves in the story of plucky schoolgirl Tohru Honda and the cursed but endlessly fascinating Sohma family. Kyo, the bad-boy character whom seemingly only Tohru can tame, comes to the forefront in this volume, as the stakes are raised and Tohru tries desperately to figure out how to break the curse—and keep him from being isolated in the Sohma family’s compound for the rest of his life. Looming in the background is the fact that the cozy status quo will be coming to an end as graduation draws near and the main characters start thinking about what will come next.

Akame ga KILL!, Vol. 9, by Takahiro and Tetsuya Tashiro
The lead character of Akame ga KILL! is Tatsumi, a country boy who comes to the city to earn some money to help his struggling village but soon finds that the city is filled with double-crossers and violent evildoers. He ends up joining Night Raid, a group of assassins who are collaborating to overthrow the evil prime minister, with the help of their superpowered weapons. The story features some seriously badass female characters and naturally, there’s a bit of romance as well. In this volume, Night Raid invades the cathedral of the city and faces a formidable enemy as they continue the fight against the corrupt government that is destroying their homelands.

Tokyo Ghoul, Vol. 11, by Sui Ishida
The battle between the ghouls and the Commission of Counter Ghoul (CCG) continues, with Ken Kaneki facing down several of the most formidable inspectors. Later, several members of the CCG team start putting together the pieces that explain how Ken came to be a half-ghoul—and that leads them in an interesting direction. Meanwhile, Kaneki returns to his previous literary preoccupations with some new insights. Tokyo Ghoul is a complex story that mixes ghoul-fighting action with smart writing and plotting, and with this volume, Ishida starts tying things together as the climax approaches—the series ends with volume 14.

Assassination Classroom, Vol. 14, by Yusei Matsui
This volume turns to that old favorite, the school festival. Frankly, if I went to a high school like the ones depicted in manga, I’d want to kill my teacher too. The school festival is a prime example of why—it takes something that could be fun and turns it into a competition. And then there’s the nepotism, with the principal’s attempts to not only keep Class E firmly in the “loser” category, but keep his son at the top of the heap as the leader of Class A. Matsui’s over-the-top high school action story takes a playful poke at manga tropes while unspooling its offbeat story about a teacher who is a space alien, the class that has been tasked with killing him, and the assorted assassins and others who keep elbowing in to claim the bounty for themselves.

Revolutionary Girl Utena Complete Box Set, by Chiho Saito
The girl who would be a prince returns in a deluxe boxed set of two paperback volumes. Revolutionary Girl Utena was first published in the U.S. in 2000 and has gained an enthusiastic fan base over the years. Like many shoujo heroines, Utena was impressed by an act of kindness as a young girl, but unlike her peers in the genre, she doesn’t seek out the prince who touched her heart, instead deciding to become one herself. She attends a school with some odd traditions, including a student council that competes for the Rose Bride, a girl named Anthy, through sword duels. Filled with romantic tension, duels, and baroque imagery, Revolutionary Girl Utena is still an entertaining read for longtime fans and newcomers alike.

Nekogahara: Stray Cat Samurai, Vol. 2, by Hiroyuki Takei
Here’s a cat story that’s the opposite of FukuFuku Kitten Tales: a samurai story in which the main characters are all cats. Norachiyo is a masterless samurai who travels the countryside, attracting enemies and crossing swords with them as he goes. In the world of Nekogahara, there are stray cats and kept cats, which brings extra layers of nuance to what would in any case be a well done samurai story. Takei is the creator of Shaman King and Ultimo (the latter based on an idea by Stan Lee), and his spiky, energetic art style suits this story well.