To anyone who’s visited the site in the last few days, thanks for bearing with me while I did some minor renovations. I had two goals: choosing a more reader-friendly typeface (Arial ranks pretty low on the list of “great fonts for long blog posts”) and moving the reviews to a more obvious, prominent spot on the front page. After much experimentation (and the near-annihilation of my widgetized footer), I’m finally happy with the results. I hope you find the 2.0 version of The Manga Critic both easier to navigate and easier to read.

But enough about me… let’s get to this week’s shipping list!

Several new series debut this week, including Gestalt (VIZ), a fantasy-adventure from the creator of Loveless; Lucky Star (Bandai Entertainment), a 4-koma moe-fest about a quartet of high school girls; and Yokai Doctor (Del Rey), a comedy about a young physician with unusual clientele. I confess that none of these titles really appealed to me; I’m more excited about the latest installments of Bride of the Water God (Dark Horse), a gorgeous — if seriously confusing — manhwa with a folkloric bent, and 20th Century Boys (VIZ), a series that boasts some of the most intricate plotting I’ve seen in a pulpy thriller. If you’re reading this, Dan Brown, take note: Naoki Urasawa does conspiracy better than just about anyone. Read and learn.

The final item in my shopping basket this week is volume two of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (Del Rey). I had some reservations about the first volume, but plan to forge ahead to see if this culturally specific satire has something to offer an Auslander like me. If you’re unfamiliar with Zetsubou-Sensei, David Welsh offers this pithy assessment of its strengths and weaknesses:

[Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei is] a dark satire of school comedies that’s more heavily annotated than just about any book not edited by Carl Horn. Sayonara also has some of the tiniest print in the history of translated comics from Japan, and some fairly impenetrable humor, but enough of the jokes work for me to make it worth the eye strain.

Full shipping list below.

NEW SERIES/ONE-SHOTS

• Gakuen Heaven Nakajima (BLU Manga)
• Gestalt, Vol. 1 (VIZ)
• Gravitation Collection, Vols. 1-2 (Tokyopop)
• Lucky Star, Vol. 1 (Bandai Entertainment)
• Yokai Doctor, Vol. 1 (Del Rey)

CONTINUING SERIES

• Bride of the Water God, Vol. 3 (Dark Horse)
• Dorothea, Vol. 5 (CMX)
• Dragonball VIZBIG Edition, Vol. 4 (VIZ)
• Flat Earth Exchange, Vol. 4 (CMX)
• Fushigi Yugi VIZBIG Edition, Vol. 2 (VIZ)
• Mamotte Shugogetten, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
• Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys, Vol. 3 (VIZ)
• Papillion, Vol. 3 (Del Rey)
• Peace Maker Kurogane, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
• Princess Resurrection, Vol. 6 (Del Rey)
• Psycho Busters, Vol. 5 (Del Rey)
• Rurouni Kenshin VIZBIG Edition, Vol. 6 (VIZ)
• Sayonara, Zetsubo-Sensei: The Power of Negative Thinking, Vol. 2 (Del Rey)
• Toto! The Wonderful Adventure, Vols. 1-5 (Del Rey)
• Warcraft: Legends, Vol. 4 (Tokyopop)