Libraries can be a great place for discovery of new titles. There is enough new manga coming out that it is very easy to miss all but the most high profile titles. It does not help that since I dropped off of social media my chances for finding under the radar titles has gotten a bit slim. While bookstores can help I have found they are not the greatest way to dig into new titles. I know several Barnes and Nobles that still work to subtlety chase people away from the manga section due to manga cows. I can take a intriguing new book home from the library and read the whole thing at my leisure whereas I’m working on a bit of a ticking clock even for quick overview with a bookstore.
The manga that recently caught my attention at the library was After Hours by Yuhta Nishio. I was picking up the copy of Witch Hat Atelier that I had on reserve and went to see if there was anything else that tickled my fancy in the manga section before I checked out. The title caught my eye and it was not based on an anime that I knew of. It then saw it was published by Viz which explained why I had never heard of it. I have complained about this before but for the breadth and depth of Viz’s catalog they are utterly rubbish at promoting anything but there A-tier material.
The title is fairly solid but parts of it really stood out it in ways that made me very eager to talk about it. I know several people who would eat this series up. Patz from the Cockpit Podcast and Kevin from the OSMcast! come to mind. Also since the Manga of the Month is currently on hiatus I feel some obligation to talk about manga that is not Type-Moon related.
I’m going to spoil the first chapter of After Hours but I basically have to in order to show what is different about this series. I don’t think it is a big deal but I figured I would warn people.
Reverse Thieves 