Familiar Authors, New Exciting Works!

November might have begun already but it’s never too late to pick up some of our newest series! And it just so happens that some of the titles releasing this month come from the pens of your favorite creators! Any Kakagurui fans here? 
  
To celebrate this occasion, we thought that we should strike while the iron is hot and celebrate what’s new and noteworthy, while also sharing our love with some of these creators’ older series. 
  
Who knows? Maybe some of these connections will catch you off guard! Starting first with…

Mengo Yokoyari 
  
With the second anime season well underway, it’s hard not to see Aqua’s and Ruby’s starry eyes all over your Twitter page. [Oshi No Ko] is one of our bestsellers at Yen Press, and for a good reason: mixing idols with mystery and family drama, this series dips into the less than pure side of the entertainment industry. And now, this series’ first illustration book, [Oshi No Ko] 1st Illustration Collection: Glare x Sparkle, is ready for your enjoyment! Featuring over 130 illustrations and sketches, this artbook includes a Q&A with Yokoyari and author Aka Akasaka as well. Don’t forget to pick up this masterpiece of color and fun, a must for any fan out there!

  
But some readers might remember that this is not the first time that artist Mengo Yokoyari has illustrated a hard-to-swallow series. Way back in 2016, Yen Press released the first volume of Scum’s Wish, a series with a title that fully captivates its reading experience: tragedy and hopelessness mixed into eight brilliant volumes. What Scum's Wish lacks in show-biz drama it more than makes up for in human drama and sordid romantic entanglements. Fans of Yokoyari-sensi are highly encouraged to revisit or discover this older series, especially now that [Oshi no Ko] is gearing up for its ending!

Misaki Ichijo 
  
Fans of Misaki Ichijo know that whenever this author picks up her pen, the flood gates are about to open. The first work we brought to readers was Even If This Love Disappears Tonight, a novel following two young lovers and their evolving relationship. What makes this book unique is that the protagonist’s love interest, Maori, has a rather peculiar illness: her memory resets daily, and were it not for her diary she would forget anything that happened the previous day. Fans of tragic love stories and doomed relationships were quite satisfied with this release, and it is understandable why.

Now, this November, we are releasing In a World of Lies, I Fell into an Unforgettable Love, an equally heart-wrenching love story where the protagonist, instead, is the one racing against time. With only twelve months left to live, he would rather shield his lover from the truth—but, as we know, life doesn’t really go as one envisions. With a sensitivity that touches even the hardest of souls and a writing style that cannot help but lure the reader in to read just one last chapter at 3 o’clock in the morning, this release is another masterful addition to Misaki Ichijo’s repertoire. 

Afro 
  
Step into the realm of the most relaxing series to ever be published at Yen Press! Afro’s Laid-Back Camp really doesn’t need an introduction with fireworks and all the pomp and circumstances—rather, the opposite! What this series is all about is following the daily lives of an all-girls camping club as they go camping in some of Japan’s most wonderful places, like Mount Fuji and Lake Motosu. Afro, the author, brilliantly integrates different aspects of camping and travelling in this series, managing to strike just the right balance between comedy and adventure. Overall, Laid-Back Camp offers an extremely healing reading experience that will encourage readers to explore their local sights and bask in the wonders of nature!

  
And apparently, Afro decided to follow his passion for nature and stick with was working for him for his new and upcoming series, mono, has similar vibes to Laid-Back Camp but offers a different perspective on travelling. This time, we follow an all-girls cinephoto club as they also roam Japan’s most famous sights while also engaging with natures through cameras and gadgets of all sorts! If docuseries and travel documentaries are your pick of Netflix-and-chill material, then mono should be the next series on your reading list. 
  
Shou Harusono 
  
All bow down to the queen of sweetness! Shou Harusono came onto the romance manga scene with Sasaki and Miyano, a Boys Love series following two high school students—Sasaki, a boy with a bad reputation who reveals himself to be very sweet, and Miyano, an incredibly pretty boy who is just as incredibly passionate about Boys Love stories. Through these two, we get to experience comedy, high school life, and so, so much pining. If you were looking for a BL series with a golden-retriever type of male lead who falls first for the innocent protagonist, then Sasaki and Miyano is quite the treat. Plus, Harusono released a spin-off dedicated to a side couple, Hirano and Kagiura! So, if you are the type of reader that always falls in love with the side couple, then you have plenty of material to leave you full and satisfied!

  
And now, this author is back with Candy: Shou Harusono Art Collection! This artbook is extensive, encompassing most if not all of Harusono’s sketches and illustrations done during the serialization of Sasaki and Miyano and Hirano and Kagiura, including a bonus manga and an interview with sensei herself! Releasing November 19th, Candy is a must for fans of this author and will look strikingly beautiful amongst any reader’s BL shelves! 
  
Homura Kawamoto 
  
Like Mengo Yokoyari, we are finishing this list with another author who has been with Yen Press since circa 2017. When we published the first volume of Homura Kawamoto’s now iconic series Kakegurui - Compulsive Gambler -, we knew that this title was going to be a hit with horror and survival manga fans. Set in a private school where mastering the art of the gamble means either living like a king or bowing down to the whims of the powerful, Kakegurui is packed with high-risk action, psychological games, and crazy but beautiful ladies. Through his writing, it is clear that Kawamoto really excels at bringing forth the worst in humanity and yet, instead of being repulsed by it, we cannot help but fall into the same mad pace as the characters.

  
So, with a manga as grand as that, what other tale could Kawamoto offer to his readers? Well, it seems that author can’t say no to deadly but beautiful women and has decided to collaborate with Makoto Shiozuka’s artistry to bring us a new series this November: The War of Greedy Witches: 32 of the Wickedest Women Duel to the Death. If the title is not a dead giveaway, this is a female-centric tournament-style series where historical figures battle to death to become the strongest witch on Earth. The grand prize? Having their innermost desire be granted, which in the protagonist case, Jeanne d’Arc, actually means… experiencing desire! If you thought Record of Ragnarok would be 100 times better if all the participants were ladies, then we assure you that The War of Greedy Witches has everything you are looking for and more! 
  
Many say, ‘out with the old, in with the new!’ but we’d rather think that. ‘In with the old and with the new!’ is a far better phrase! Sharing is caring, and November is the perfect month to share all the love we have with our old and new series. So, dust off your volumes of Sasaki and Miyano, pick up your new copy of Candy: Shou Harusono Art Collection, and celebrate this season with us at Yen Press!