Mangaversity: February 2026

Welcome one, welcome all, to Mangaversity! Join me as I trawl through the month’s manga releases and pick out what’s hot and what’s not. A perennial special thanks to Zack Davisson for pointing out that my initial name was bad and I should feel bad and that Mangaversity is superior.

If February is anything like January, it’s going to be a very long month despite literally being the shortest. Support your community. Call your representatives (for whatever good it'll do.) Organize. Fight. Resist.

As for me, it’s another busy month for me between a bunch of birthdays and a yearly trip but that won’t stop me from reading manga. You’ll notice my lists are a little more compact this time. I was able to restrain myself a bit! Also, February was kind of light. Strange.

Perennial Favorites:

My love for these titles are very well documented and you will not go wrong reading them, though some titles that get featured here come with more caveats than others (“Berserk,” for instance, gets my full endorsement, but is certainly not for everyone.) As this section expands, I may start reducing the details and just listing the books.

Dandadan, Vol. 17
Written and Illustrated by Yukinobu Tatsu
Published by Viz Media

You never know what’s next for this manga and that’s the best part about it.

Momo has fallen into a cursed diorama that's laid out like a giant game board. There, she meets a guy named Zuma--the same Zuma who stole Okarun's family jewel! The two of them team up to retrieve said jewel after Zuma drops it in enemy territory. Now they've got to fight some frogs and a giant chef to get it back. Meanwhile, in the outside world, Okarun clashes with Zuma's friends over how best to rescue them!

Hirayasumi, Vol. 8
Written and Illustrated by Keigo Shinzo
Published by Viz Media

Remains top of my “read as soon as it’s published” pile. David Harper did a short piece for “The Comics Courier” positioning this in relation to Shinzo’s previous series, “Tokyo Alien Boys,” (which I highlighted a few months back, actually) and the time Shinzo took between series due to treatment for his malignant lymphoma. I knew a few bits and bobs before but the article’s a good, succinct retelling with some analysis thrown in for good measure.

And it should go without saying but read the entire paper. Tiffany Babb’s making something special, focused and wide ranging.

Determined to make the most of their summer, Natsumi and the gang have decided to head off on a road trip. But when Yamada's friend Orui unexpectedly tags along, sparks start flying between him and Natsumi in more ways than one! Meanwhile, Yomogi has her own dilemma to deal with when, after a romantic date with Ishikawa, she realizes that she might have feelings for someone else...

Blue Period, Vol. 17
Written and Illustrated by Tsubasa Yamaguchi
Published by Kodansha Comics

I fell off “Blue Period” for a bit and when I caught back up was reminded how much I love its depiction of “talent” and art and study and creativity. Yatora’s struggles are all too real to creative types, be they in the Fine Arts or not. It’s a story with a lot of ups and downs, which is refreshing when coming from the Shonen, Good Boy mines. Keep at it Yamaguchi!

Yatora studies hard and gets good grades, and he parties hard, staying out late drinking and watching soccer with his friends. He checks all the boxes he needs to be the perfect high school student. But it all starts to feel empty, and he begins to wonder what part of his life expresses who he is...or even if he has a unique voice at all. Then he wanders into the art room one day, and a lone painting captures his eye, awakening him to a kind of beauty he never knew. Compelled and consumed, he dives in headfirst--and he's about to learn how savage, unforgiving, and exhilarating creating art can be!

Deluxe Den:

With the manga explosion that’s occurred in the last few years, there’s been a corresponding increase in deluxe editions of beloved or classic or obscure manga. This is the section where I pull out the ones I think are worth a gander but not necessarily a volume that needs a place on the main list. Some of these are personal favorites of mine, others are notable for one reason or another.

• D.N.Angel New Edition, Vol. 2
• The Ghost in the Shell Legacy Edition Manga Box Set
  • Technically a re-release. Truly a wild series whose every adaptation is different from it and each other.
• Gunsmith Cats: Burst Omnibus Volume 1 
• Hunter X Hunter (3-In-1 Edition), Vol. 5
• Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin Deluxe 4
• Pet Shop of Horrors: Collector's Edition Vol. 5
  • Final volume! Unless Seven Seas is doing the sequel too. 

Cat Corner:

I see a lot of cat manga when I do this column. It takes every ounce of willpower to not include at least two of these on the list each month. As I put together last November’s list, I realized: I can just make a new section and put the titles and covers here. Cat lovers unite!

Just the one this time around, it seems. I’ll have to be more scrupulous with looking in March.

• Me and the Alien Mumu Vol.1
  • Depending on how this one goes, it may end up on the list in future editions.

Caught My Eye:

These are the manga that didn’t make the cut for one reason or another that I still wanted to bring to your attention. Usually so I can make some kind of snarky remark or to help me remember to actually read the dang things so I can have an informed opinion.

• April Showers Bring May Flowers, Vol. 4
  • I want to see where it actually goes before dropping or recommending it. The preview from Yen Press gives me some hope it’ll explore the main character’s poor self-image with some care without relying on the usual tropes of the trade. We’ll see.
• Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle 11
  • Last volume of this subseries! I could not tell you what is happening anymore. I need to do a big reread. Still, hats off to Yukito Kishiro for keeping at it.
• A Curtain Call for You, Vol. 2
  • Still got a really cute cover and a premise that’s all me, all the time.
• Girl Crush, Vol. 5
  • Next time, I’ll have read it. I promise.
• Choujin X, Vol. 11
  • I have a deep love/hate relationship with Sui Ishida’s previous work. I have less of it with this one, mostly because the first few volumes left me baffled. That’s what I get for reading chapters day and date. I’m sure the volumes are a little more coherent. Right?
• Dragon and Chameleon, Vol. 6
  • Next time this comes around, I will have an informed opinion. Because this thing is oozing with style and I want to make sure it has the substance too.
• Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 14 
  • New season and I still haven’t taken the advice of my friend and read/watched it. I’m too busy playing Lego Star Wars and watching Shiboyugi - mouth agape, eyes mesmerized, heart pounding from its artistry, beauty, and horror.
• Jujutsu Kaisen, Vol. 29
  • I know this should be on the list, what with the new season airing and all. Get those clicks and stuff. I just don’t actually want to read the manga and the anime was a beautiful disaster for most of season 2 so…
• Kingdom, Vol. 4
  • Another wildly popular series I have yet to actually check out. Love the owl pelt cloak though.
• Tower Dungeon, Vol. 4
  • Mouse! Knight! Mouse! Knight!

WTF is this:

A corollary to the Caught My Eye subset are the comics I don’t actually think are potentially worth a read - or at least don’t strike me as list worthy - but have a certain je ne sais quoi that are absolutely worth pointing out and gawking at.

• Get Married So I Can Curse Your Firstborn and Finally Be Free! Vol. 1
  • There’s always at least one each month. It knows what it’s about and goes for it, I guess.

The List:

11. Soccer For Sociopaths, Football for Freaks

I haven’t yet managed to find my way into “Blue Lock.” I think it’s simply a matter of will rather than animosity to any one piece of the manga. One day I’ll be a true, blue (lock) fan, I’m sure. For now, I’ll gape from the stands and talk about how wildly popular this thing is.

It’s wild how much of a hit this series is, even with the disastrous second anime season. Our library cannot keep volumes on the shelf. It’s one of the manga of the moment so of course I need to put the omnibus that makes it even easier to get into the game on the list.

Blue Lock Omnibus 1
Written by Muneyuki Kaneshiro
Illustrated by Yusuke Nomura
Published by Kodansha Comics

A mad young coach gathers soccer players from across the country to compete in a series of bizarre challenges in a high-tech colosseum he calls Blue Lock. It's a no-balls-barred battle to become Japan's next top striker, in this Squid Game-meets-World Cup manga, now a global hit anime with two explosive seasons!

After a disastrous defeat at the 2018 World Cup, Japan's team struggles to regroup. But what's missing? An absolute ace striker. The Football Union is hell-bent on creating a striker who hungers for goals and thirsts for victory, so Blue Lock--a rigorous training ground for 300 of Japan's best and brightest youth players--is created. To survive this battle royale, the last striker standing will have to out-muscle and out-ego everyone who stands in his way!

10. Dragon Age Galaxy

What is it about “Galaxias” that I like so much more than “Gachiakuta?” Both series’ pilot chapters are very similar in terms of structure and events, yet I found one to be a maddening exercise in the most bog-standard PG-13 edgelord nonsense and the other a pleasant, dare I even say exciting, read, though significantly more generic. Kick-ass opening fight though.

I wonder if it’s my fondness for the aesthetics of “Galaxias” or maybe I’m just a boring traditionalist when it comes to these kinds of stores. I sure hope not because I like the “two middle fingers at the sky” class-conscious approach “Gachiakuta” takes…in theory.

Also, it’s Jio, blurb copy. Not Geo. Get it together.

Galaxias, Vol. 1
Written and Illustrated by Ao Hatesaka
Published by Kodansha Comics

In a distant corner of the Laniakea Kingdom, humans live alongside powerful beings with strange tails known as dragonfolk. A girl named Geo, whose father has forbidden her from leaving the remote island where they live, yearns to escape the confines of this quiet countryside and explore the world. Everything changes in the moment when Geo meets the mysterious Nereid, who claims to have lost all his memories. The revelations keep coming, as Geo realizes that her father's kept her hidden because the whole world is hunting her, setting Geo and Nereid on a path to find the world's most intrepid explorer, Yuri Holst. Could this living legend be the solution to Geo's problems? Strange lands and uncharted waters await... Let the grand adventure begin!

9. Mad Mod Mini

What a mark I am for psychological (with a dose of supernatural) horror. Just tell me someone’s being haunted by a spectre from their past that is both literal and a metaphor and I’m in. No more questions needed. What makes “Mad Miniscape” stand out is the tension between Asahi’s love (I presume) for Minoru and the virulent hostility from the dead thing that appears to be Minoru. She’s not emotionally haunted, if the blurb is to be believed, and that intrigues me. I want to know more, and I think you will too.

Mad Miniscape, Vol. 1
Written and Illustrated by Ayumu Hirose
Translated by Mei Amaki
Lettered by Adnazeer Macalangcom
Published by Yen Press

Asahi is an ordinary girl who shares a small apartment with the boy she grew up with, Minoru. Which wouldn't be all that strange, except...Minoru died four years ago. The "thing" that occupies Asahi's apartment is nothing like her childhood friend--it's inhuman, grotesque, and keeps demanding Asahi's life at every opportunity. But Asahi doesn't mind. As long as Minoru is there with her, absolutely nothing else matters...right?

8. One Word, One Volume

I could’ve sworn I already did this manga back in October. Maybe I’m losing it a little looking at all these series. I don’t know if I need to read another toxic BL story, no matter how good it is. This is on here purely for my love of Asumiko Nakamura’s style and my trust that in her hands, the story will be nuanced even as it gets dark dark dark.

Hibana
Written and Illustrated by Asumiko Nakamura
Translated by Jocelyne Allen
Lettered by Jaewon Ha
Published by Seven Seas

Tomori knows her boyfriend Inukai has a cruel side--but when he sets his sights on Misato, the new transfer student, things take a disturbing turn. Inukai's fixation spirals into torment, and no matter how hard Tomori and her friends try to stop him, the violence only escalates.

But what begins as bullying soon blurs into something stranger, darker... and far more intimate.

7. Will Horde Treasure for Food

The manga opens on Murakami giving a video game 1 star because he wanted a game about befriending mythical beasts and not crafting a harem of beasts-turned-big-boobed-beast-women. A good gag! And the first chapter has a number of them, including when Ilsera the dragon shows up in a park with a cardboard sign like a stray cat. Reminder: there are no dragons normally in this universe.

While it wasn’t a gutbuster, I can see myself having a lot of fun with the concept of a real hoity-toity dragon crashing with a reluctant college student. Plus, that cover is very cute.

Please Look After the Dragon, Vol. 1
Written and Illustrated by Yuki Higashura
Original Story by Shoun Makise
Translated by Sarah Burch
Lettered by Elena Pizarro Lanzas
Published by Yen Press

Murakami is just your average college student--he attends class, works, and plays games on his days off. And it's a day like any other when he comes across a stray in the park near his apartment. But instead of a cute, fluffy friend, Murakami finds himself face to face with...a real-life dragon?! Her name is Ilsera, and she's on a training trip to become a fully-fledged member of her species! Her only request is that Murakami fosters her during her time in the human world. And so, Murakami somehow winds up with a strange new roommate...

6. From the Ancient and Crumbling Scrolls

More “Ancient Magus Bride” is always welcome on this list. Don’t care if they’re short stories or a prequel. I need more!

The Ancient Magus' Bride: Collected Fragments, Vol. 1
Written and Illustrated by Kore Yamazaki
Translated by Adrienne Beck
Lettered by Lys Blakeslee
Published by Seven Seas

Before Hatori Chise and Elias started their journey together, Chise lived an entirely different life. Like her, many other characters have stories that have yet to be told...until now. Learn more about the cast of characters from The Ancient Magus' Bride in this collection of short stories--published in English for the first time ever!

5. Vinland Saga Meets Berserk?

A highlight praised manga whose creator is a former assistant to Tatsuki Fujimoto! So far, that’s been a real sign of quality and I see no reason to doubt it from the first chapter. Lest you think this is a goofy time, “Centuria” takes itself deadly serious, dancing on the edge. Here’s hoping it can keep that dance up and stays closer to “Berserk” than “Ubel Blatt.”

Centuria, Vol. 1
Written and Illustrated by Tohru Kuramori
Published by Viz Media

Sold into slavery by his own mother, Julian has known nothing but pain and brutality. All that changes when, aboard a slave ship, he experiences the kindness and tender touch of a loving person for the first time. But fate has plans for Julian in the bloody awakening of an ancient god who strikes a cruel bargain: an innocent life in exchange for extraordinary powers--abilities he must use to protect a helpless baby in a cruel and violent world!

Caught as a stowaway aboard a slave ship, Julian narrowly escapes death by the kindness of fellow slaves who take pity on him, especially a pregnant slave by the name of Mira. But when the slaver decides to liquidate his holdings, the bloodbath calls forth an ancient god from the sea. A deal is made at the cost of a life and Julian is forever changed, gaining fantastic powers. But even with his new abilities, monsters at sea and on land pose a threat in this dark and dangerous world!

4. Spooky Scary Villages

Good old fashioned ghost story! That’s all I know and all I need to know. Even if it’s pure schlock, that’s fine by me. Sometimes you just need an Old Dark House story to make it through the winter.

Hinatsugimura
Written and Illustrated by Aki Shimizu
Translated by Eleanor Summers
Lettered by Madeleine Jose
Published by Yen Press

While looking for the ruins of a pre-WWII village deep in the mountain wilderness, a group of college students find themselves stuck thanks to a sudden thunderstorm. With no phone service, they decide to wait out the rain in a mansion. But little do they know, a ghastly fate awaits them...

3. Two for the Price of One

Not only are there ghosts, there are witches?! You’re spoiling us, Kore Yamazaki. Spoiling us!

Ghost and Witch Vol. 1
Written and Illustrated by Kore Yamazaki
Translated by Adrienne Beck
Lettered by Roland Amago
Published by Seven Seas

Haunted by a monstrous presence that clings to her soul, a girl named Saku flees Japan and journeys across the sea to Ireland. There, she encounters a silver-haired witch who may offer her refuge. But the witch's salvation comes at a price--and as Saku begins to face the power she's long feared, her path shifts from escape... to transformation.

This is the tale of a girl in flight...and the beginning of her journey to become a god.

2. Let’s Do the Time Loop Again

When I talked about volumes 1 and 2, I said I’d hold judgement until I read the series. Well, I’ve still yet to read it but I’m certain the series will deliver on the goofier aspects of its concept from the cover to volume 4. The posing on the characters is vibrant, with Suzuki split-legged, falling backwards with a placid face while Takagi, bright-eyed, swings down from a branch above, both bare-footed as if they were just coming from the beach. It’s got charm and for that, I’m really excited to finally dig in.

The Long Summer of August 31, Vol. 4
Written and Illustrated by Ikkado Ito
Translated by Jacqueline Fung
Lettered by Erika Terriquez
Published by Seven Seas

Stuck in an endless August 31st that only they remember, Suzuki and Takagi still don't seem any closer to figuring out how to break the loop. On the surface their relationship seems just as stagnant. So when Takagi suggests she and Suzuki go on a hot springs trip together, Suzuki's hopes immediately shoot sky high. He even makes sure to procure some necessary protection in case the opportunity arises. Later, alone in their room, things start getting steamy. Will Suzuki and Takagi finally take the next step?!

1. Crawling in My Dungeon

Folks. Welcome. We’ve found the rare isekai that not only cracked the list but made it to number one. Chalk it up to an art style that’s part Saturday Morning Cartoon, part indie video game. Chalk it up to a glorious misanthropy at the heart of the story. Chalk it up to the “Office Space” of it all. Chalk it up to my love of “Delicious in Dungeon.” It doesn’t matter. This series is gonna be great and I’m so jazzed to read it.

Dungeons That Surely Slaughter Adventurers, Vol. 1
Written and Illustrated by Dowman Sayman
Translated by John Neal
Lettered by Adnazeer Macalangcom
Published by Yen Press

Dungeons--marvelous labyrinths packed full of dreams where heroes gather in search of fame and fortune. Unfortunately, Eine and Nacht can't say they feel the same. While all the other reincarnated earthlings get to live out awesome isekai fantasies, the two of them are stuck slaving away as dungeon staff! And whether those inconsiderate adventurers win or lose, either way it means a messy pile of corpses needs tidying up. But if the two are disposing of bodies anyway...then what's a few more? Why not make their workplace a terrifying deathtrap from which none ever return? Maybe then they'd finally have some peace and quiet!

Mangaversity: January 2026

Happy new year manga fans! Let’s ring it in with a few classics, some new picks, and way too many overly long light novel title adaptations. Hmmm, I wonder if that’s what mine should be called?

House of Ideas, Powers of SecretsElias Rosner

Mangaversity - House of Ideas, Powers of Secrets

House of Ideas, Powers of SecretsElias Rosner