The Best New Manga of February 2016

The Boy and the Beast, Vol. 1, by Mamoru Hosoda
Mamoru Hosoda is the director of the anime films The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, and Wolf Children. His newest film, The Boy and the Beast, debuts in the U.S. on March 4, but you can get the jump on it with this manga adaptation. Nine-year-old Ren is left on his own when his mother dies; wandering the streets of Tokyo, he meets up with a bear named Kumatetsu and follows him to the world of the beasts. Unable to get back to the human world, Ren stays and becomes Kumatetsu’s student, learning the way of the sword and finding himself ultimately caught between two very different worlds.

Behind the Scenes, Vol. 1, by Bisco Hatori
Bisco Hatori punches up the school-romance genre by giving it a creative twist: The setting is the Art Squad, a college club that makes props and costumes for the student productions of the school’s four film clubs. Kenmaru is minding his own business, hiding off by himself, when his reverie is interrupted by a bride pursued by zombies. It’s a film, of course, and Kenmaru has just wrecked the scene simply by being there. Next thing he knows, he’s been dragged into the Art Squad himself, and it turns out this collection of brash, arty personalities might be just the right place for a quiet kid from a remote fishing village.

School Judgment, Vol. 1, by Nobuaki Enoki and Takeshi Obata
This school-mystery manga is as far as you can get from the staid adventures of Encyclopedia Brown; it’s filled with bizarre premises and over-the-top characters, although there is a solid mystery in the center of each short story. The job of discipline in the schools has been turned over to student courts, with school-age prosecutors and defense attorneys, presided over by judges who are pre-schoolers (but look like tired old men because of the rigors of the job). The first case is a murder—of the class fish. The suspect is a quiet boy named Tento, and representing him is a totally over-the-top defense attorney, Abaku Inugami, who wields logic like a weapon—almost literally, as his arguments, or “ronpa,” are like verbal battles. He’s up against Pine, a prosecutor who boosts her powers of logic with her power of extreme cuteness. Once that case is resolved, Abaku and Pine stay on, as there seems to be an outbreak of minor transgressions at their school. While the classroom mysteries are all misdemeanors, every now and then we get a brief flashback to what looks like the scene of a mass murder, suggesting this series may take a more sinister turn in future volumes.

Tokyo Ghoul, Vol. 5, by Sui Ishida
Tokyo Ghoul puts some interesting twists on the supernatural battle story, pitting ghouls against humans in a situation where survival for humans means eliminating the ghouls—and survival for the ghouls means killing the humans in order to eat them. Standing between the two groups is the half-human, half-ghoul Ken, who wrestles with his normal human traits and his horror at the unthinkable things he must do in order to survive. And that’s what makes this series such a good read—it’s not just a series of fights, it’s about trying to coexist when coexisting is impossible. Ishida presents this dilemma through a variety of self-aware characters who each have their own personal take on the situation, which makes for some interesting drama between the battles.

Naruto: Shikamaru’s Story, by Masashi Kishimoto and Takashi Yano
When a number of ninja disappear, and then turn up in the Land of Silence, Shikamaru sets off on a mission to assassinate the charismatic leader who has been luring them there. This is the second in a series of prose novels set in the world of the long-running Naruto, each of which focuses on a different side character.
What manga are you reading this month?