The Best New Manga of April 2018

Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, Vol. 1, by Inio Asano
The threat of catastrophe hangs over this story like the giant spaceship that hovers over Tokyo. It’s easy to ignore at first, as Asano follows the everyday lives of two high school students and their wider circle of acquaintances, bringing in the backstory of the alien attack only gradually. As the story unfolds, we learn that the main character, Kadode Koyama, lost her father to the initial invasion, and in a sense, she lost her mother, too. Kadode’s friend Ontan is a gamer and conspiracy theorist who obsessively follows the aliens’ moves. And there are larger political implications—Japan’s response has made the world aware once more of its superior technology, and there’s a strong whiff of manipulation to the news accounts of a new weapon. Many of the incidental characters have almost mask-like faces, suggesting unquestioning credulity. There are plenty of questions in this intriguing story, which juxtaposes everyday life against a looming catastrophe, at once ever-present and strangely unreal.

Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku, Vol. 1, by Fujita
Narumi Momose is a closet otaku, hiding her love of cosplay, games, and anime because her boyfriends have all dropped her when they found out about it—and she won’t date a fellow otaku because she thinks otaku guys are creepy. Then at her new job, she runs into Hirotaka Nifuji, an old high school friend who doesn’t conceal the fact that he’s an obsessive gamer—and doesn’t seem to understand why Narumi keeps her hobby under wraps. Secure in the knowledge that she isn’t attracted to him, Narumi starts hanging out with Hirotaka, and soon they are looking more and more like a couple. This slice-of-life romantic comedy started out as a webcomic on the Japanese artist community Pixiv, and the action unfolds in short episodes with plenty of asides and in-jokes (some of which are explained in the translator’s notes at the back of the book).

Mermaid Boys, Vol. 1, by Yomi Sarachi
This lighthearted shoujo romance starts out with a kind of reverse Little Mermaid setup, down to the handsome merman prince Naru showing off a pair of panties from the human world to his mermaid admirers and confidently explaining that they are worn on the head to protect it from wind. He falls in love with a human girl from afar, and with the help of a sorcerer, he defies his family to become human and woo her. That’s where the fairy tale ends, though: this particular girl isn’t interested in being wooed by a guy who shows up on the beach naked (mer-people don’t wear clothes) and keeps saying weird things to her. Also, she’s busy trying to run the guest house left to her by her father, with the help of a handsome caretaker that she does have eyes for. So many complications! So many opportunities for Naru to appear without pants! This is a great little romance with plenty of humor, the requisite spunky heroine, and lots of hunky bare-chested mer-guys.

Again!!, Vol. 2, by Mitsurou Kubo
The delightful new time travel series continues. Having finished three years of high school without making any friends, falling in love, or even joining a club, Imamura Kinichiro has gotten the chance to do it all over again—and maybe get it right this time. So when the head of the ouendan club (a sort of cheerleading team) invites him to join, this time he says yes. That makes him only the second member of the club, though, and he needs to figure out why everyone else left—and how to get them back again—while dealing with the strong-minded captain. At the same time, the girl who traveled back in time with him is also reversing her course, finding it much harder to make friends and hook the cute guy the second time around. Kubo, one of the creators of Yuri on Ice, has come up with a truly original spin on the classic time-travel story, with plenty of humor and plenty of heart.

Kabukimonogatari, by Nisioisin
The latest light novel in Nisioisin’s Monogatari series features the hero, Koyomi Araragi, caught between the mundane and the supernatural. Realizing it’s the last day of summer vacation and he hasn’t done any of his homework, Araragi travels back in time so he can get it done—but he overshoots and goes back 13 years, which gives him a chance to save the ghost child Mayoi Hachikuji from her fate. This novel is the second part of the second arc of the series, which has been adapted into an anime.

Assassination Classroom, Vol. 21, by Yusei Matsui
In this final volume of this lovably oddball shonen series, the students of class 3E move toward graduation while pondering the aftermath of the decision they were forced to make in volume 20: whether to assassinate Koro-Sensei themselves or allow the satellite laser to do the job for them. No spoilers here, except to say that this delightfully irreverent spoof has a satisfying and surprisingly touching ending. There are just three chapters of the story left, but the volume is filled out with several side stories, one about Koro-Sensei’s real activities during winter break, the other a new story set in the future. There’s also a one-shot of another series Matsui-san created jest before AssClass, and it’s even weirder—which is saying something.

Attack on Titan, Vol. 24, by Hajime Isayama
Hajime Isayama’s epic story keeps rolling on, with new twists and reveals in every volume. The story has expanded beyond the walls of the city into the wider world, which turns out to have its own complications, but Eren Yeager remains at the heart of it, and his enemies continue to surround him. The third season of the anime is scheduled to begin in July.

My Hero Academia, Vol. 12, by Kohei Horikoshi
The members of Class 1-A of the Hero Academy are spending the last 10 days of summer vacation honing their Ultimate Moves, which will help them use their powers to the utmost in battle—and pass the Provisional Licensing Exam. Midoriya, still not able to really control his power, decides to get a costume modification, so he heads to the development studio—where he is greeted by an explosion and a lot of cleavage. As he and his classmates move toward the exam, there are plenty of obstacles to overcome—and extra fanservice to distract them.

Tokyo Ghoul: re, Vol. 4, by Sui Ishida
The Quinxes are working on their biggest case yet, looking into the Tsukiyama family, but Haise is having a tough time of it, as his flashbacks are making him wonder what’s real and what’s not. This series has a unique mix of action and weirdness and a huge cast of quirky characters to keep it interesting, volume after volume.