One of my bookish goals for the year 2017 was to purchase more manga volumes in an effort to expand my manga library, as well as to motivate me to read more from the serials that I physically own. While it has been a couple of months since I’ve bought so many manga within a one month period, the haul is still a relatively small one.

This post consists of volumes that are mid-way through some longer serials, and I don’t want to give any spoilers, so I’ll just provide an overall series synopsis instead of individual instalment snippets! I will say that the three manga I’m most-excited to read consist of BTOOOM Volume 18, which I’m utterly addicted to, and Dreamin’ Sun Volumes 1 & 2, which is a newly translated series from one of my top three mangaka: Ichigo Takano (Orange).

Yona of the Dawn Volume 7 by Mizuho Kusanagi

The manga follows a young princess named Yona, who is forced to flee her kingdom, with her best friend and general of the kings-guard, when traitors to the throne try to take over. Along the way, she meets a group of friends who help her to become strong–emotionally, physically–and mentally, so that she can retake her kingdom and avenger her father’s murder.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Volume 2 by Akira Himekawa

This is the manga serialisation of the hit video game from Nintendo of the same name.

Drifers Volume 4 by Kohta Hirano

From the same author who wrote Hellsing, this dark fantasy series is an alternate history telling about an array of historical figures summoned to an unknown world where their skills and techniques are needed by magicians in order to save their world from total destruction.

BTOOOM Volume 18 by Junya Inoue

Very similar to Battle Royale by Koushun Takami, this manga is about an island that was created as a place to provide entertainment to the wealthy people of the world. The concept was inspired by a video game of the same name and by the video game creators. The occupants are normal, everyday folks who’ve been “nominated” by people around them to be sent here as punishment for whatever grievances they’ve committed against the people who nominate them. Once there, they all receive a bag of personal bombs that they must utilise to kill a total of seven individuals in order to obtain their freedom.

Attack on Titan Volume 22 by Hajime Isayama

A world-wide phenomenon, this series is about a cluster of humans, supposedly the very last in existence, who surround themselves within gargantuan walls to protect themselves from gigantic humanoid creatures, called Titans, who eat humans for sustenance. The series follows a group of characters, who are a part of a militant organisation, that seek to discover the secrets behind these Titans with the hope of eradicating them all from the face of the planet.

Attack on Titan: Before the Fall Volume 11 by Hajime Isayama, Satoshi Shiki, Ryo Suzukaze

This spin-off series takes us back to fifty years before the Colossal Titan attacks in the original Attack of Titan series.

Rurouni Kenshin Volumes 24, 25, 26 by Nobuhiro Watsuki

Quite possibly one of the most-famous manga and anime serials within the otaku community, Rurouni Kenshin is about a wandering and masterless samurai, or “rurouni,” named Himura Kenshin as he wanders the countryside offering protection and aid to people less fortunate in an effort to atone for atrocities he committed during the Bakumatsu War during the early Meiji Era in Japan.

Dreamin’ Sun Volumes 1 & 2 by Ichigo Takano

The latest slice-of-life, romance manga from the supremely talented mangaka who brought us Orange, this series revolves around Shimana Kameko. With her mother dead, she feels completely irrelevant to her father and her new step-mom, who only seem to care about Kameko’s six-month-old baby brother. Kamedo decides to skip school and run away to nearby park where she comes across a mysterious guy in a kimono. The stranger, Fujiwara Taiga, offers Kameko a place to stay on three conditions. The first condition is that Kameko must tell him why she ran away from home. The second is that she must retrieve his missing house key. The third condition is to have a dream and fall in love. Kameko’s never been in love or had a dream of her own before, but to secure her own apartment, she’s damn-well willing to try!

Thank you so much for reading! What are some of your favourite manga?