On The Shelf – May 16, 2012
New Sailor Moon leads the charge this week!

Dark Horse provides some eye-candy to start out the week with Bride of the Water God (Vol.11). A pretty cover preludes a dark interior, however. Habaek and Soah are finally reunited, but they've got a lot of things to work through before they can find happiness. Events of recent volumes have left heavy physical and emotional tolls on them both and it's unlikely this is the end of the trials they'll face against the gods and their curses.

DARK HORSE

• Bride of the Water God (Vol.11), ($9.99/US, $10.99/CAN)

Digital Manga wins the most-manga award this week with four new volumes of boys' love and the first volume of their new romance series, Starry Sky. Based off a well known Japanese video game, Starry Sky follows a young woman whose mind wanders from her astronomy studies in college to the memories of a cast of pretty-boys she befriended in private school.

While BL fans of the popular Tyrant Who Falls In Love and Private Teacher will be thrilled to see new volumes of those available, there's also room to anticipate the start of a new series, Castle Mango, and a fun looking one-shot, Samejima Kun & Sasahara Kun. Castle Manga is about a young man who lives in a 'love hotel' and finds himself in a tough situation when a filmmaker arrives to make an adult video and thinks he's an 'actor'. This one sounds ripe for dark drama potential, in contrast with Samejima Kun, which sounds more a like a 'giggle-at-the-character's-stress' sort of story. Whatever you enjoy in a boys' love book, you should find something you like in the little stack out today.

DIGITAL MANGA

• Castle Mango (Vol.01), ($12.95/US, $14.50/CAN)
• Private Teacher (Vol.03), ($12.95/US, $14.50/CAN)
• Samejima Kun & Sasahara Kun, ($12.95/US, $14.50/CAN)
• Starry Sky (Vol.01), ($12.95/US, $14.50/CAN)
• Tyrant Who Falls In Love (Vol.06), ($12.95/US, $14.50/CAN)

Kodansha Comics only has one book out this week but it's likely to be one of the top sellers – Sailor Moon (Vol.05). The previous volume introduced us to the mysterious girl from the future, Chibi-Usa, and the Dark Moon kingdom who followed her here. With the Sailor Soldiers already captive to them, things go from bad to worse when the two elements collide and a familiar-faced woman with a grudge to bear and a black moon upon her forehead appears.

KODANSHA COMICS

• Sailor Moon (Vol.05), ($10.99/US, $11.99/CAN)

Ending the week with the space theme ongoing, Viz Media is releasing Saturn Apartments (Vol.05), a book from the Sig IKKI lineup. Over the series, Mitsu has become more and more skilled at his job as a window washer atop the giant atmosphere-circling living complex. His achievements have earned him a promotion, but things don't go very smoothly when he has trouble working with those now assigned to him. The past then threatens to repeat itself when Mitsu goes out on his own to get the job done and faces a situation much like the one his Father did on that fateful day.

VIZ MEDIA

• Saturn Apartments (Vol.05), ($12.99/US, $14.99/CAN)

That does it for this week's On The Shelf – what on the list are you most eager to buy? Any must-have recommendations? Share your thoughts in our handy comment area for all our readers to see!

* All dates are based on distributor listings and may not necessarily reflect exact release dates. Some books may ship prior to or after the date listed above varying by location and availability.