A kidnapped and blindfolded princess's time in darkness with her silent caretaker. The ten minutes an ordinary woman spends with her tied-up stalker. The last six months a man has before he loses his beloved wife to cancer. These are a few of the moments we share with the characters brought to life by Toryumon Takeda in this collection of seven short stories, including her highly acclaimed "My Wife Whom I Loved Dearly." But what will become of each of them?
Yuuki Hase desperately wants to be friends with Kaori Fujimiya, the girl in class who seems to always be alone. Just when he thinks they've hit it off, she tells him her secret: Every week, her memories reset. Yuuki resolves to befriend her as many times as it takes, but is he prepared for how much it will hurt to be one-week friends...?
Jio is a young boy with a tragic past who only trusts one thing in the world: money. Little does he suspect that he is also a very powerful O.P.T., and inside him sleeps a demon of incredible ferocity. He meets up with a girl named Ruby, and together they decide to embark on a dangerous quest to discover as many O-Parts as they can. Will Jio help Ruby realize her dream of becoming a world famous treasure hunter? More importantly, will Ruby help Jio realize his dream--of world domination?!
The Nebulis Sovereignty and the Empire are embroiled in a war without end. The Ice Calamity Witch, a Nebulis mage of incredible power, and Iska, the youngest swordsman of the Empire ever to become a Saint Disciple, find themselves face-to-face on the battlefield. Each seeks to bring a close to this ceaseless conflict. Little do they know, however, that their meeting will be the catalyst that shapes the fate of the world!
The air of celebration surrounding fifteen-year-old Oz Vessalius's coming-of-age ceremony quickly turns to horror when he is condemned for a sin about which he knows nothing. He is thrown into an eternal, inescapable prison known as the Abyss from which there is no escape. There, he meets a young girl named Alice, who is not what she seems. Now that the relentless cogs of fate have begun to turn, do they lead only to crushing despair for Oz, or is there some shred of hope for him to grasp on to?
Welcome to Murakumo Inn, a curious establishment that opens its doors to the troubled masses, human or otherwise. But to pay for the stay, the equally curious innkeeper takes payment only in the form of one's deepest secrets...Who will come calling today?
On the outskirts of Tokyo stands Hachimitsu Private Academy, anall-girls boarding school for elite young women. But as the new school year rolls around, one tradition is going out the window: For the first time in the school's long history, boys are being allowed to enroll. On the first day of school, though, it turns out only five boys have made the cut. Thrilled by this discovery, these young men's adolescent hearts leap with joy at the thought of being surrounded by all those girls, but little do the five boys suspect the shocking fate that awaits them...
The life of a magical girl isn't all fighting witches and collecting grief seeds. When they aren't kicking butt, Homura Akemi and her friends face the same trials as normal high school girls! In this four-panel comedy, glimpse a sillier side of the girls from the bestselling Puella Magi Madoka Magica series!
Kidnapped and stuffed into a trunk by an unknown assailant, teenager Kazumi bursts forth from the confines of the case to discover that she has been stripped not only of her clothes, but also of the memories of her life before the kidnapping. When she is recovered by a pair of schoolgirls, she doesn't recognize them as her best friends and roommates, Umika and Kaoru. As Kazumi tries to settle back into her normal life, she quickly realizes that her former "normal" was anything but!
Madoka fans, rejoice! The original Puella Magi story that grabbed hearts is re-releasing in a new Omnibus edition. Return to the tale of Madoka Kaname and her mysterious new classmate... What would you give to have magical power beyond your very dreams?
Another week with Madoka?! Had Madoka Kaname known of the tragic transformation that would mark the end of her magical-girl journey, how would her story have unfolded? In this telling of her story, Madoka remembers the outcomes of her previous timelines--but so does Kyubey. Even with the knowledge of her previous lives, can Madoka outmaneuver Kyubey and avoid her fate?
Mami's warm personality has made it difficult for her to adjust to her solitary life as a magical girl, where survival often takes precedence over kindness. When she meets Kyouko Sakura, a fellow lone wolf, she is excited at the prospect of working together with another magical girl and forging a friendship built on ultimate trust. But many are the sacrifices all magical girls must make, and the consequences of Kyouko's choice are only just becoming clear to her. When the pain becomes unbearable, will Kyouko remain standing beside Mami as a force for the greater good...?
With Madoka Kaname's sacrifice, the hopeless cycle that once bound every magical girl to a terrible fate was broken at last. Or was it...? All does not seem right with the world, and as Homura pulls at the loose threads of the girls' new reality, is it possible that an even darker destiny looms ahead?
Bound by the promise of a wish granted, magical girls are charged with battling the wraiths that move unseen through the masses of Mitakihara and devour the passions of their human prey. Mami, Kyouko, and Sayaka are of one mind when it comes to fighting these entities, but their task is hindered by squabbles within the group. Mami fears Sayaka and Kyouko will never see eye to eye, even as a giant wraith unlike any they've ever fought threatens to make a feast of them all!
Oriko, a magical girl with the gift of foresight, knows the fate that awaits all who accept Kyubey's offer of supernatural powers. But when she is struck with a terrible vision of the future-of the devastation caused by a single, powerful witch-she decides to prevent the girl from becoming a magical girl in the first place. To draw Kyubey away from the girl's potential, Oriko directs him instead to Yuma, an orphan who is all too eager to gain powers that will enable her to protect herself-powers that will ultimately lead to her own destruction...
Oriko's ability to see into the future led her to commit bloody acts in her efforts to forestall an even greater tragedy later on. But what if Oriko had met Yuma Chitose before she predicted the end of the world? Would she still have chosen to manipulate the young girl if Yuma had been no stranger but a dear friend? Puella Magi Oriko Magica: Extra Story explores the might-have-been, and further explores Kirika's devotion to her beloved Oriko.
After becoming a magical girl, Oriko Mikuni befriends other magical girls at her school-and not always on initially positive terms! Complications arise when Oriko's friends, unaware they both know Oriko, fight over a grief seed, leading to someone's death...
Suzune Amano lives an extraordinarily normal life as a middle school student by day and...magical-girl assassin by night?! When a group of four magical girls begins investigating the serial murders in their city, they soon find themselves Suzune's next targets! But what motivates Suzune to hunt both witches and magical girls alike?
Joan of Arc is revered as a hero of the Hundred Years' War and a saint of the Catholic church. But her leadership and strength of character in her time did not escape the notice of Kyubey, who, even in the fifteenth century, sought magical girl candidates for their valuable energies. With her friends and fellow magical girls fighting at her side, Joan fights the English occupiers of France--but will she soon find herself fighting something much more sinister?!
Irel Clark is a professor's assistant whose latest find is the "Holy Grail" for member of his profession-literally! But when it turns out that some decidedly unholy individuals are also after the blood of Christ, Irel must drink from the chrism bottle he's recovered to save his own life. Immortality leaves something to be desired, though, when undead cannibals walk the earth in constant need of human flesh, and Irel's newly immortal body is nothing short of an all-you-can-eat buffet!
A portion of humanity has obtained special abilities, and two groups emerge in conflict. On the side of justice are "heroes." On the side of villainy are "monsters." For Chiaki, however, all that matters is finding work to support his younger brothers. But when a simple train ride to his latest interview takes a perverse turn, his sense of right leads him down an unexpected and uncomfortable path! From the mind of Prison School creator Akira Hiramoto comes a raw new story of a man caught between good and evil, lies and truth-and light and shadow!
What you forget, I'll always remember. Using his ability to repeat past events, a power named "Return by Death," Subaru has saved the half-elf girl Emilia from a grim fate. However, his celebration is violently cut short. Subaru now wakes up in a large mansion, unsure of whether time has moved forward. Greeting him are the maid sisters Ram and Rem, whose verbal jabs sting with every word. It's a chance for a new life, but is Subaru in more danger than he realizes?
Having survived both his encounter with the demon beasts and the nigh endless week at Roswaal Manor, Subaru returns to the capital of Lugunica with Emilia and Rem. Reuniting with friends and foes alike in the city where it all began, Subaru also lays eyes on the other candidates for queen--Emilia's rivals! Can Emilia win against such formidable opponents? And how will Subaru react when he discovers the shocking identity of the final candidate?
Before Return by Death, a Fateful Tale Woven by Girl and Spirit
Deep within the isolated Great Elior Forest, a freezing land covered in snow and ice, lives a girl feared for her resemblance to the legendary Witch of Jealousy. She is the half-elf Emilia, her only company a cat-like spirit named Puck. Both are similarly spurred by duty and guilt, yet the two never grow closer. In this world, the days seem as if they're an unchanging eternity, but the trials awaiting them are merciless like hellfire...
These are the common blood types with which most people are familiar, but there are rarer strains in the world, "hidden blood types." Individuals possessing these are called "strangebloods," and they are imbues with incredible abilities by the very blood flowing through their veins.
But what happens when all of these disparate blood types come together? The result is rumored to be the legendary "Blood of Wisdom" which bestows god-like power. Little surprise, then, that more than a few unsavory characters are actively pursuing this awesome power. Can Chiaki Kaminaga and his friend Kaguya Daidouji survive this blood hunt...?
By all appearances, Western Restaurant Nekoya is a normal restaurant serving normal people-but unbeknownst to the regulars, it also attracts an alternative clientele. Every Saturday, all manner of fantastical beings come to dine, and what is familiar fare to humans can be downright exotic for visitors from beyond. To these customers, Nekoya is known by a different name: Restaurant to Another World.
READERS BEWARE: Opening this book may lead to uncontrollable drooling and a grumbling belly!
When the world is threatened with destruction, six chosen heroes will rise to save it. One of them is Adlet Meyer--who calls himself "the strongest man in the world." But when he answers the call to assemble with the other heroes and face the darkness, there are not six heroes, but seven. Who is the traitor in their midst?
After suffering unprecedented disasters in World War II, Japan accepts the American and Allied Forces' terms of unconditional surrender. Now the citizens of a ruined nation, the people of Japan come together amid an influx of influences and immigrants and--cunningly, carefully--survive... This is the unrecognizable Japan to which the sharpshooting, sweet-talking womanizer Leo Shishigami returns three years after the war. Against this backdrop, in the spring of 1947, everything is set into motion when Leo meets Rose Haibara, the madam of Club Primavera...
Everyone is searching for a reason. 1949, Post-war Tokyo-As the Japanese become more of a minority in their own homeland, they continue to place their hope for the future in Primavera's hands. Alan and Keith have returned from war to find Tokyo very different from the one of their memories. Both may be maintaining high spirits, but they struggle to find their reason to keep fighting for a better future without being held back by bitterness. Will Primavera hold the answer for Alan and Keith, as well as the Japanese people?
1946, two years after the war ended in Japan. An orphan named Wayne has been hired by District 23's Club Primavera-the base of operations for the brothel alliance vying for power with foreign militaries and the mafia. When a series of murders strike fear and rage in the people of District 23, the prime suspect is none other than Jack, the orphan boy Wayne sees as his brother. Torn between belief and doubt, Wayne struggles to find the answer to the mystery before him-who exactly is Jack? The culprit...or just another victim?
Ryukishi07, the creator of Higurashi When They Cry, Umineko When They Cry, and the original Rose Guns Days; and Tsuyoshi Takaki bring the prequel of Rose Guns Days to life!
Shouta Kikuzato's hopes of starting on his school's prestigious soccer team are derailed when a terrible incident costs him his leg. Now in his first year of high school (again), Kikuzato has resigned himself to never reaching his athletic dreams. But when Chidori, a passing prosthetist, notices Kikuzato's artificial limb- and speed-as he races through the train station, the specialist proposes a partnership: Chidori will build Kikuzato a brand-new leg designed solely for speed. All Kikuzato has to do is run!
At Millennium Academy, elite vampires are trained to maintain balance in a world where humans and vampires, who possess far greater physical strength than their human neighbors, coexist. When Aldred, the most distinctly un-vampire-like vampire to be found in the entire institution, meets Kei, a human transfer student to the school, their destinies become surprisingly intertwined, and the fate of the world as they know it comes to lie in their hands. Will the unlikely duo be able to break the vicious cycle of blood and chaos that comes every millennium on the ominous night of the Twin Moons?
A young girl has resigned herself to being the next sacrificial meal for the Beast King...but the king is no mere monster! Love is more than skin-deep in this gorgeous fantasy manga.
In a world where magic is commonplace, Eru has just enrolled into magic school but he's incredibly concerned about having smaller horns than his classmates. But when he meets Rihito, the high-scoring top student of their year, its a sign that things are about to change!
Meet the members of the School Living Club! There's the shovel-loving(?) Kurumi Ebisuzawa, the big-sister figure Yuuri Wakasa, club advisor Megumi Sakura, and last but not least, the ever-optimistic Yuki Takeya. The School Living Club is just your average after-school organization where the girls hang out, have fun...and live at school as the sole survivors of a zombie apocalypse. NBD.
As the world regains some semblance of normalcy, one question remains regarding the members of the School Living Club-where are they now? Everyone has their own answer, and as life goes on for each of the girls, exchanging letters helps them stay in touch. Their paths may have diverged, but through thick and thin, the School Living Club is eternal!
When one of the students is attacked after his sins are brought to light, the remaining survivors grow ever more suspicious of each other. As secrets arise and suspects collide, the question remains: If one murderer truly was hiding in their midst, are there really two more watching from within?
Togame and her husband are happy in love and want to have kids. There's just one problem: Their bedroom has turned into a no-bang zone! With her raging libido frustrated by her beloved husband's practically nonexistent sex drive, Togame is climbing the walls in search of release...Left to her own devices to get her fix, will fulfilling her needs spell doom for Togame's marriage?!
Minato Sahashi is a rounin, a two-time loser who's failed his college placement exams. Just as he's contemplating giving up and heading home, though, a chance encounter changes his life forever! Enter Musubi, a girl who literally falls into Minato's life! Musubi is a Sekirei, a modified human caught up in a game in which only one of her kind can be left standing. In order to be victorious in this contest, though, she needs to find her Ashikabi (her fated partner)...and guess who fits the bill?? Caught up in battle he barely understands, can Minato survive "The Sekirei Project" and emerge victorious? Either way, with his buxom new cohort by his side, his life will certainly never be the same!