MANGA PICK HITS: AUGUST 2021 ?? TOP RELEASES IN HOT CATEGORY
With manga continuing to surge in popularity, it’s going to be a hot manga summer. The last volume of the hit series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba will hit the shelves at the beginning of the month, although more manga is on the way next year. In the meantime, there's plenty of other material in a variety of genres to keep readers busy, including an eerie Junji Ito story, a cool adaptation of Disney’s Cruella, and a quiet high school romance with a sci-fi twist. Read on for our top picks of the end-of-summer releases.
Sensor
Publisher: Viz Media
Release Date: August 18
Price: $19.99
Creators: Junji Ito
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1974718900
Age Rating: 16+
What It’s About: In this horror tale, a woman finds herself mysteriously drawn to Mount Sengoku and a village filled with golden hair and blissed-out people who worship a mysterious god and encounter UFOs at night. Of course, this is Junji Ito, so it all goes creepily crazy in short order. This is a long-form story in the manner of Ito’s Uzumaki and Gyo, as opposed to the short story collections that Viz has been publishing more recently.
Why It’s a Pick Hit: Junji Ito is one of the top selling manga creators right now, and his books are not only best-sellers but topped our chart of the manga that sell the most per volume (see “Most Efficient Manga Series for Retailer Shelves”). Another Ito title, Uzumaki, is being adapted into anime that will run on Adult Swim (see “Junji Ito’s ‘Uzumaki’ on Adult Swim”), and Viz has announced a first printing of 100,000 for Sensor, an unusually high number for manga.
Disney Cruella Manga Black White & Red
Publisher: Viz Media
Release Date: August 4
Price: $14.99
Creators: Hachi Ishie
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1974723478
Age Rating: 12+
What It’s About: A straight adaptation of the Disney movie, set in London in the 1970s and showing the 19-year-old Estella as a struggling fashion designer and petty thief.
Why It’s a Pick Hit: It’s a tie-in to one of the hot films of summer (which had a large young, female audience), it’s complete in one volume (making it a perfect summer read), and it has a great look that will appeal to fans of fashion manga such as Paradise Kiss.
Hello World, vol. 1
Publisher: Seven Seas
Release Date: September 15
Price: $19.99
Creators: Mado Nozaki (writer), Yoshihiro Sono, Manatsu Suzuki (artist)
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1648275913
Age Rating: 13+
What It’s About: Naomi (a teenage boy despite the name) gets a visit from his future self and learns that the girl he is about to start dating will die in an accident unless he acts now to change the future. It turns out to not be so simple, though, because the world he lives in is not what he thought. The story is complete in one volume and was adapted from a light novel, which Seven Seas has just released.
Why It’s a Pick Hit: This high school sci-fi romance has a similar vibe to the shoujo series Orange, but it’s told from the boy’s point of view, which may widen its appeal.