The Best New Manga of May 2016

One-Punch Man, Vol. 6, by Yusuke Murate and ONE
This volume continues One-Punch Man‘s unique blend of nonstop action and goofy humor. All the Class S superheroes are summoned to deal with a crisis, and Class B One-Punch Man tags along as well. The danger this time is a multi-headed, self-regenerating alien who seems to be immune to the superheroes’ powers—and while his companions are fighting that creature, One-Punch Man makes it into the bowels of the massive spaceship. With over-the-top action sequences and an ever-growing cast of wacky characters, One-Punch Man works equally well as a superhero comic and a satire of the medium.

Black Butler, Vol. 22, by Yana Toboso
This volume marks the end of one story arc and the beginning of another. For the past few volumes, Ciel and his devil of a butler Sebastian have been in Germany, dealing with a strange mix of magic and military technology in a remote village. culminating in an encounter with a panzer and the hijacking of a locomotive. A new Grim Reaper showed up as well. In volume 22, the group holes up at the home of their new friend Diedrich while they prepare to return to England, but there’s some unsettling news about another Grim Reaper, the Undertaker. Black Butler combines action, drama, and elegance with a touch of steampunk, and even this far into the series, it continues to be a compelling read.

Yotsuba&!, Vol. 13, by Kiyohiko Azuma
Yotsuba&! is a charming slice-of-life manga about a small child’s view of the world, and it’s as easy to jump in with volume 13 of this series as volume 1, because every chapter is a self-contained story. As with all slice-of-life stories, the action isn’t earth-shaking: Yotsuba hands out rocks and sticks she picked up on a camping trip, plays in the sandbox, and enjoys a visit from her grandmother. Azuma’s special talent is showing the world through the eyes of an imaginative child, so the pinecone is the biggest pinecone, the stick is the best stick, and the rock is actually an elephant. And Yotsuba and her friend don’t just play with the sand, they fashion baked goods and set up their own bakery. Yotsuba’s skewed view of the world around her is always fresh and funny, even after 13 volumes.

Aldnoah.Zero Season One, Vol. 3, by Olympus Knights
Aldnoah Zero is a battle-of-the-planets mecha series about the Mars-based Vers Empire’s battle to conquer Earth. The pretext for the war is an attack on the Vers princess Asseylum, and there’s a fair amount of intrigue in the plot. This four-volume series is a companion to the Aldnoah Zero anime, and volume 3 brings us closer to the conclusion of the story.

Blue Exorcist, Vol. 15, by Kazue Kato
This volume winds down the action for volume 14 and ramps up some more conflicts between the Knights of the True Cross and the Illuminati. Blue Exorcist started with a simple enough premise—the son of Satan decides to rebel by becoming an exorcist, which means he has to train at a special school—but Kato has steadily expanded the world of his story with new characters and conflicts, while staying true to the emotional core of his main characters. Volume 15 includes some new revelations and keeps the story moving along briskly.

The Heiress and the Chauffeur, Vol. 1, by Keiko Ishihara
Set in the Taisho era (1912-1926), this story of the forbidden love between a high-achieving rich girl and her devoted chauffeur cranks the shoujo manga tropes up to 11: The pages positively explode with crowded panels, huge drifts of flowers, complicated screentones, and exaggerated reaction shots. Sayaka, the heiress, is super sweet, and she has an injured foot—giving her plenty of excuses to fall into the arms of her handsome and protective chauffeur, Narutaki. All this is viewed with suspicion by the gossipy mean girls and martinet teachers of her ritzy all-girls school, and breaking class boundaries is a strongly articulated theme in this story—but mainly it’s just about a lonely girl and the hot guy who does her bidding, making for great escape reading.

Blanc et Noir, by Takeshi Obata
Obata’s art is shown off to its best advantage in this oversized, full color art book featuring covers and other art from Death Note and Hikaru no Go, along with standalone pieces and art from other series. The volume is beautifully produced, with foldout pages and a slipcase that holds both the book and two double-sided posters of Obata’s work. The backmatter includes a detailed interview with Obata about his drawing process as well as notes on all the works included. It’s pricey but a worthwhile splurge for fans of Obata’s art.

Naruto: Sakura’s Story, by Masashi Kishimoto and Tomohito Ohsaki
The third in a series of prose novels based on the Naruto manga series, Naruto: Sakura’s Story follows Sakura, who works as a medical ninja in the wake of the Great Ninja War, traveling around setting up clinics to help children recover from the trauma of war. In the course of her work, she finds compelling evidence that Sasuke is a terrorist, and she must clear his name and find the real culprit. These novels are not adaptations of the Naruto manga but new stories set in the world of the series.