This week’s debuts include Four-Eyed Prince (Del Rey), a romantic comedy that hinges on the kind of improbable coincidences that occur only in shojo manga. As Brigid Alverson noted in her review:

Four-Eyed Prince is a cliché-ridden story of a girl who admires a classmate from afar, confesses her love, gets rejected, and goes home to find out that he is her stepbrother. Sachiko is yet another of those plucky orphans who is being dumped on a random family member, in this case, the mother who abandoned her as a baby. The prince, Akihiko, is your usual spectacles-wearing manga guy, cool and aloof, and he wants nothing to do with his klutzy, emotional new stepsister. (Note: Although they go to the same school, Sachiko had no idea this guy was her mother’s stepson until she walked in the door of their house. He, of course, knew it all along. Like life, manga isn’t fair.)

Making things even more absurd: whenever Akihiko dons his glasses, his personality and appearance undergo such a radical transformation that Sachiko doesn’t recognize him. Not since Clark Kent has anyone managed to fool so many people with such a flimsy disguise.

Also debuting this week is Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee (VIZ), a title that has all the right ingredients to be a great shonen series: a dark, futuristic setting; rad monsters; cool weapons powered by mysterious energy sources; characters with goofy names (how’s “Gauche Suede” grab you?); and smart, stylish artwork. The story isn’t quite as satisfying as the artwork, thanks to an abundance of fussy, poorly-explained details and generic plot developments, but shows promise of improving in future volumes. (Click here for my full review.)

Other noteworthy arrivals include the latest volumes of Love*Com, NANA, Sand Chronicles, and We Were There; the second volumes of Blood+ Adagio (Dark Horse), Rasetsu (VIZ), and Yokai Doctor (Del Rey); and a passel of kid-friendly comics starring Pokemon, Ponyo, and a cute little witch named Majoko. The full list is below, as are my top picks for this week.

NEW SERIES/ONE-SHOTS

• Four-Eyed Prince, Vol. 1 (Del Rey)
• Let’s Find Pokemon: Ruby and Sapphire (VIZ)
• Ninja Girls, Vol. 1 (Del Rey)
• Silent Mobius Complete Edition, Vol. 1 (UDON Entertainment)
• Tale of an Unknown Country, Vol. 1 (CMX)
• Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee, Vol. 1 (VIZ)

CONTINUING SERIES

• The Big Adventures of Majoko, Vol. 2 (UDON Entertainment)
• Bleach, Vol. 28 (VIZ)
• Blood+ Adagio, Vol. 2 (Dark Horse)
• Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, Vol. 3 (Del Rey)
• Ghost Hunt, Vol. 10 (Del Rey)
• Gin Tama, Vol. 14 (VIZ)
• High School Debut, Vol. 11 (VIZ)
• Honey and Clover, Vol. 7 (VIZ)
• Kurohime, Vol. 13 (VIZ)
• Love*Com, Vol. 14 (VIZ)
• Maid War Chronicles, Vol. 2 (Del Rey)
• Mixed Vegetables, Vol. 5 (VIZ)
• Monkey High, Vol. 7 (VIZ)
• NANA, Vol. 18 (VIZ)
• Pastel, Vol. 14 (Del Rey)
• Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea Film Comic, Vols. 3-4 (VIZ)
• Prince of Tennis, Vol. 33 (VIZ)
• Pumpkin Scissors, Vol. 5 (Del Rey)
• Rasetsu, Vol. 2 (VIZ)
• S.A. (Special A), Vol. 12 (VIZ)
• Sand Chronicles, Vol. 6 (VIZ)
• Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei: The Power of Negative Thinking, Vol. 3 (Del Rey)
• Shaman King, Vol. 24 (VIZ)
• St. Dragon Girl, Vol. 4 (VIZ)
• Suzuka, Vol. 12 (Del Rey)
• Tenjho Tenge, Vol. 18 (CMX)
• Tetragrammaton Labyrinth, Vol. 6 (Seven Seas)
• We Were There, Vol. 6 (VIZ)
• Whistle, Vol. 23 (VIZ)
• Yokai Doctor, Vol. 2 (Del Rey)