Kicking off with the Level manga generating the most buzz from my tweeps — Dawn of the Arcana by Toma Rei, debuting this Wednesday.
Reimei no Arcana © Toma Rei/Shogakukan [Serialized in Cheese!]
Published in Indonesia as Dawn of The Arcana by Elex Media/Level Comics
The southern and northern kingdoms of Senan and Belquat have long been at war. To end the conflict, Senan's Princess Nakaba is married off to Belquat's Prince Caesar. Nakaba already has two other obvious strikes against her going in — her “commoner” red hair, a slap to the face of the exclusively black-haired royal family, and her “sub-human” (half-beast) bodyguard Loki.
How will Nakaba fare, trapped behind enemy lines? Can the visions she sees stave off death threatening at every turn?
So, Arranged Marriage, Prince, Princess, War
— sound familiar? You guessed it: Ogura Akane's Absolute Peace Strategy (published by Elex). The two differ, however, in the not even hidden hostility/contempt/ridicule Strong Female Lead Nakaba faces, and that's just from her husband. Also, there's her Special Power (prescience), to which the Arcana
in the title alludes. Doesn't make sense? Just GET! to see what I mean. I guarantee you'll enjoy the ride.
If you're still not convinced, may I tell you that Dawn of The Arcana 3 has already entered the editing phase? Volume 3, peeps! (By contrast, North American readers only get Dawn of the Arcana, Vol. 1 in December 2011.)
Toma Rei-sensei is also the manga-ka of the game-based Star Color Present (Hoshiiro no Okurimono), the two-volume Stolen Kiss, Reverse Harem Boku wa Kiss de Uso wo Tsuku and the Maid In Love Tsukushite Agemasu, all serialized first in Cheese! like Dawn of The Arcana.
I preview the other manga premiere—the Zombie School! Dark Edge by Aikawa Yu—after the release list.
Soul Eater 7 of 19+ by Ohkubo Atsushi
To preclude the first Kishin's madness claiming more victims, Shinigami-sama assembles the world's most powerful death scythes. While the weapons discuss battle plans, the DWMA slowly reverts to its quotidian routine. But one new student has trouble adjusting to normal school life.
Yup, it's Crona, now a DWMA student and handed her/his first mission with Maka and Soul.
Soul Eater 7 compiles chapter 23 through 27: Daily Life,
Experimenting School (Parts 1-3)
and Bodyguard (Part 1).
[*NOT Level's chapter titles]
Blade of Immortal 16 of 27+ by Samura Hiroaki
A prisoner of the Mugai-ryū, Manji serves as the guinea pig for Ayame Burando's immortality experiments. Burando has been ordered by Kagimura Habaki to graft Manji's limbs onto another—the first subject being death row inmate Dewanosuke—to replicate Manji's regenerative powers. The experiment fails, claiming the lives of many prisoners. But with Habaki egging Burando on, will the doctor persevere and eventually succeed?
[Additions from Casterman's L'habitant de l'infini, Tome 16 description and Mecha Mecha Media's Blade of the Immortal 16 review]
Level Comics manga (2011.06.01)
- A Spirit of The Sun (Taiyou no Mokushiroku) 11 of 17 by Kawaguchi Kaiji
- Attack!! 7 of 11+ by Oshima Tsukasa
- Blade of Immortal (Mugen no Juunin) 16 of 27+ by Samura Hiroaki
- [Series Premiere] Dark Edge 1 of 15 by Aikawa Yu
- [Series Premiere] Dawn of The Arcana (Reimei no Arcana) 1 of 7+ by Toma Rei
- Ghost Mum Investigator (Ghost Mama Sousasen) 3 of 3+ by Sato Tomokazu
- Soul Eater 7 of 19+ by Ohkubo Atsushi
 | Attack!! 「アタック！！」 by Oshima Tsukasa |
 | Mugen no Juunin 「無限の住人」 by Samura Hiroaki |
Awards
1997 Japan Media Arts Festival Excellence Prize
Other languages
English Blade of the Immortal (Dark Horse Comics: 23 volumes per 2011.02 • Volume 24: Massacre street date: 2011.11.08), French (Casterman: L'habitant de l'infini tome 25 per 2010.10 • Tome 26 ships 2011.06.29), Italian (Planet Manga), German and Polish (Egmont), Portuguese (Conrad Brazil) and Swedish (Schibsted Förlagen Sverige AB; serialized in Manga Mania)
Adaptations
A 13-episode anime starring seiyuu Seki Tomokazu (Manji) and Satou Rina (Rin) aired in Japan on AT-X from July to December 2008.
 | Dark Edge 「ＤＡＲＫ ＥＤＧＥ」 by Aikawa Yu |
Other languages
English Dark Edge (ComicsOne then DrMaster: 10 volumes per 2009.03.03)
 | Reimei no Arcana 「黎明のアルカナ」 by Toma Rei |
Other languages
English Dawn of the Arcana (VIZ Media: Volume 1 street date: 2011.12.06)
 | Ghost Mama Sousasen 「ゴーストママ捜査線 」 |
 | Soul Eater 「ソウルイーター」 by Ohkubo Atsushi |
Related series
First appeared as one-shots in two Gangan Powered special editions (Summer and Fall 2003) and Gangan Wing's 26 November 2003 issue. (Regular Monthly Shonen Gangan serialization commenced May 2004.)
Other languages
English Soul Eater (Yen Press: five volumes per 2011.02 • volume 6 street date: 2011.06.28), French (Kurokawa tome 15 shipped 2011.05.12 • Tome 16 street date: 2011.07.07), German (Carlsen Comics Band 11 street date: 2011.06.24) and traditional Chinese 噬魂者 (Sharp Point Press Taiwan)
Related series
Soul Eater Not! (side story; began serialization in Shonen Gangan 2011.01.12)
Adaptations
Manga volumes 1 to 12 adapted to anime by BONES. Fifty-one episodes starring seiyuu Omigawa Chiaki (Maka Alban) and Uchiyama Kouki (Soul Eater) aired in Japan from April 2008 to March 2009.
Square Enix bundled an audio drama, Soul Eater (Vol. 1): Special Social Studies Field Trip, with an artbook in August 2005. The drama CD featured different actors (Takeuchi Junko as Maka; Hoshi Souichirou as Soul Eater); only Kobayashi Yumiko reprised her Black☆Star role in the TV series.
[Release links are hide/unhide. Click for more details.]
European comics/BDs (2011.06.01)
- Rantanplan - Biang Masalah by Morris (Lucky Comics)
- Rantanplan - Natal Bersama by Morris (Lucky Comics)
- Spirou dan Fantasio - Jamur dan Sang Diktator (Spirou et Fantasio, tome 7: Le Dictateur et le champignon) by Franquin (Dupuis)
Taiyou no Mokushiroku 「太陽の黙示録」
by Kawaguchi Kaiji
Shogakukan Big Comic, seinen
Volume 11 (chapters 73-79) first published in Japan 2006.03
Awards
Best Seinen/General Manga, 51st Shogakukan Manga Awards
Grand Prize winner for the comic category, 10th Japan Media Arts Festival
Other languages
French (Tonkam Spirit of The Sun, tome 17: per 2009.12)
Adaptations
Adapted into an anime special by Madhouse (two episodes)