The Best New Manga of September 2016

Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire, Vol. 1, by Satoshi Yamamoto and Hidenori Kusaka
Just as the Pokémon Go craze starts to cool down a bit, here’s a new series to remind us what it’s really all about: teamwork and responsibility—and battles. Having saved the region of Hoenn from two Pokémon whose epic throwdowns were causing a lot of collateral damage, trainers Sapphire and Emerald take it to the next level, learning from an elder how to train their Pokémon to use the new powers that come with Mega Evolution. Ruby is supposed to be there too, but he’s off doing his own thing. Meanwhile, a meteor is due to strike the earth in 10 days. Pokémon Adventures is written for all levels, from newcomers with only a vague sense of the craze, to experienced fans. Sometimes the jargon gets a bit dense, but you don’t really need it to follow the story, so just sit back and enjoy the ride. (Check out our post on the Pokémon Adventures creators’ panel at Comic-Con for more!)

Blame! Vol. 1, by Tsutomu Nihei
Tsutomu Nihei, the creator of Biomega and Knights of Sidonia, is having a bit of a moment. Vertical is bringing back Blame!, originally published by Tokyopop, in an oversized Master’s Edition, all the better to show off the cavernous interior spaces of his vertiginous artificial world—and prepare for the anime, in the works for next year. His space opera Knights of Sidonia wrapped up in 2015, and that anime is available on Netflix now. Nihei excels at depicting vastness, decay, and complicated cyber-human combos, and Blame! leans heavily on all three. The remnants of humanity live in a huge structure built by machines who don’t know when to stop. It keeps growing, but at the same time, it seems to be crumbling, and the inhabitants of its different levels largely isolated from one another. Main character Kyrii travels throughout, looking for carriers of the Net Terminal Gene, which allows humans to plug into a sort of future internet. This terrible new world is filled with peril, and the characters spend much of their time fighting, shooting, and contending with the peculiarities of the vast artificial structure they inhabit.

One-Punch Man, Vol. 8, by Yusuke Murata and ONE
For the past few volumes, One-Punch Man has been duking it out in a massive—dare I say Nihei-esque?—spaceship while the other superheroes battle a multi-headed, self-regenerating monster on the ground. That story arc ended in volume 7, and the rest of the book was filled with one-off bonus stories. That means volume 8 is a fresh start, and right away we meet a new superhero, King, reputedly the strongest man in the One-Punch universe. More giant villains appear, more punches are thrown, and One-Punch Man intervenes in his typically passive way, not even bothering to put away the bags of groceries he was carrying when the action started. The villains are preposterous but beautifully drawn, and One-Punch Man and his sidekick Genos keep the story moving with plenty of punching and a bit of intrigue as well.

Goodnight Punpun, Vol. 3, by Inio Asano
Goodnight Punpun is a rich depiction of an unhappy boy’s interior life. In the first volume, his father went to jail for beating his mother, who ended up in the hospital. His single, unemployed uncle moves in to take care of him, and he finds out that the girl he likes in school is in a cult. That bare-bones description doesn’t begin to do justice to this story. Asano depicts Punpun and his family as very simple, birdlike figures, but he draws the rest of the world in a realistic style that veers into the hallucinatory when depicting Punpun’s thoughts and dreams. In this volume, Punpun has made it to high school and is losing himself in his studies, all the better to shut out the people around him. Asano was trying to get away from “feel-good stories” with this manga and he has certainly succeeded, but despite its bleakness, Goodnight Punpun is a compelling read.

Sweetness and Lightning, Vol. 2, by Gido Amagakure
It’s not too late to jump into this madcap cooking manga, especially as the story is pretty episodic. Math teacher Kouhei Inuzuka is a working single dad taking care of his young daughter Tsumugi. That doesn’t leave much time for cooking, so Kouhei is getting convenience-store meals for her—and doesn’t eat very much himself. By chance, they meet up with one of his students, Kotori, whose mother owns a restaurant but is seldom there. Kotori can’t cook either, but her mother leaves her detailed recipes, and she and Kouhei start fixing meals together, muddling through but always ending with a heartwarming shared meal. The emotions are constantly pitched in a high key in this series—Tsumugi is super cute, Kouhei is charmingly inept, and Kotori blushes and stammers. It’s charming and funny, and there are real recipes in each chapter, as well as translators’ notes at the end of the book to explain some of the less familiar foods.

Attack on Titan: Colossal Edition, Vol. 3, by Hajime Isayama
There are three reasons to buy the third Colossal Edition of Attack on Titan: you already have the first two and you’re yearning for more; you’ve been reading the story in the regular-size volumes and you’re ready for a bigger helping; or you simply like nice things. These massive five-volume omnibuses feature a large trim size to really pull you into the man-vs.-giant monster man  action, with lots of extras, including color pages. They are also a good deal—despite the deluxe production values, each costs less than five individual volumes.

The Boy and the Beast, Vol. 2, by Mamoru Hosoda
Ren, a young boy who has accidentally stumbled into the Land of the Beasts, is learning to fight under the tutelage of Kumatetsu, a rough-around-the-edges bear. Ren has a new name, Kyuta, and in this second volume he and Kumatetsu have a new mission, as the Grandmaster of the Beasts sends them off to learn what true strength is. This manga is adapted from the anime of the same name by director Mamoru Hosoda (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Wolf Children).

Dragon Ball (3-in-1 edition), Vol. 14, by Akira Toriyama
There are lots of ways to read Dragon Ball, including the high-end full color edition, but if you want to pack in a lot of entertainment for your manga buck, Viz’s 3-in-1 omnibii are the way to go. This volume finishes the series, including manga that were titled Dragon Ball Z back in the day. If you’re new to the franchise, it’s a fun shonen series about an irascible boy (who grows up over the course of many volumes) traveling the world to track down the seven Dragon Balls thatwill conjure up a beast who grants the holder’s wish. OK, it’s not the most original premise, but Toriyama’s cheeky humor and cartoony action sequences make this series a lot of fun to read.

Master Keaton, Vol. 8, by Naoki Urasawa, Hokusei Katsushika, and Takashi Nagasaki
Yes, it’s volume 8, but you can jump in anytime because Master Keaton is a collection of short stories built around archaeology professor and part-time insurance investigator Taichi Hiraga Keaton. These stories work well as isolated, clever mysteries that show of Keaton’s vast knowledge and McGyver-esque skills. They also have a lot of heart, with often unforgettable characters driven to extremes by emotion or circumstance.
What manga are you looking forward to in September?