I said this about April, but May also came and went in a rush! Fantasy Life I finally came out (go Level 5, you actually released a game this year!!), and work continued to be surprisingly full on. I will actually be quite surprised if my reading numbers are any good for this month, since I feel like things have been chaotic lol. Still, let’s take a look!

Bold = completed series
Italic = dropped

= recommendation

Manga:

1. 傷の特異種 (GFantasy)
2. Tsuruko Returns the Favour (Manga Plus)
3. 幼なじみは甘くて食べごろ
4. Welcome to Japan, Ms Elf volume 10
5. Love in the Palm of His Hand volume 1 (JP)
6. I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day volume 2
7. The God-slaying Demon King: Reincarnated as a Mere Mortal to Become the Strongest in History volume 1 – review
8. Stardust Family volume 1 (JP)
9. Virgin Love volume 3 – review
10. ハダカの万里くん
11. Virgin Love volume 4 – review
12. After Marchen volume 2 (JP)
13. The Water Magician volume 4
14. The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World volume 5
15. Machi and Oboro (Manga Plus)
16. Snow and Ink volume 2
17. Hell Mode: The Hardcore Gamer Dominates in Another World with Garbage Balancing volume 6
18. Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World volume 10
19. The Banished Former Hero Lives As He Pleases volume 6
20. Insomniacs After School volume 5 (JP)
21. ハマらせ男子にずぶずぶです (Dessert Pink)
22. Housekeeping Mage From Another World: Making Your Adventures Feel Like Home! volume 7
23. Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 4 Volume 2
24. Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet volume 7 – review
25. Black Summoner volume 19
26. Mercedes and the Waning Moon: The Dungeonering Feats of a Discarded Vampire Aristocrat volume 2
27. How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom volume 12
28. The Oblivious Saint Can’t Contain Her Power: Disgraced no Longer, I’m Finding Happiness with the Prince volume 3
29. My Fiancé Cheated, but a New Love Rings! volume 1
30. Young Lady Albert is Courting Disaster volume 6
31. Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet volume 8 – review
32. Rebuild World volume 11
33. The Invincible Little Lady volume 8
34. Endo and Kobayashi Live volume 7
35. The World of SKK Girls (Manga Plus)
36. Get Away, Matsumoto: 100 Days Escape (Manga Plus)
37. きみが誰でも愛してる (Be Love)
38. ハコニワノイエ (Be Love)
39. なつめさんは開花（ほころ）びたい
40. 柊先輩は今日も後輩くんの言いなり (Kachi Comi)
41. ロッカロック (Weekly Shounen Sunday)
42. Stardust Family volume 2 (JP)
43. 世界が始まる朝に海を見た (Honey Milk)
44. 聖母の断罪 volume 1
45. The Emperor’s Caretaker volume 1
46. A Vampire in the Bathhouse 
47. 後宮の生贄妃～どうせ死ぬのなら、皇帝に愛されます～ (Noicomi)
48. 聖母の断罪 volume 2

One Shot:

1. Like a Sage (Manga Plus)
2. イケメンすぎます棗さん (GFantasy)
3. とあるエルフの追憶 (GFantasy)
4. 偽りバディ (GFantasy)
5. Snow Pink (Bessatsu Friend)
6. Catalogue of Wonders (GFantasy)
7. 私のボディーガードが鈍すぎる (Bessatsu Friend)
8. コミュ障、初友はヤンキーでした。(Bessatsu Friend)
9. ヤンキーが右腕になりました (Dessert Pink)
10. やきもち焼くならオレンジ色 (Dessert Pink)
11. Resurrect the Sun (Manga Plus)
12. The Shit-In Steps Outside (Manga Plus)
13. Qilin Bottles Things Up (Manga Plus)

Light Novels:

1. The Trials and Tribulations of My Next Life as a Noblewoman volume 2 part 1
2. Tearmoon Empire volume 15
3. Lycoris Recoil: Ordinary Days – review
4. My Happy Marriage volume 5
5. The Apothecary Diaries volume 14

So that’s 48 manga down from 49, 5 light novels up from 3 and 13 one-shots down from 25. A pretty good month all told, really happy to have read more LNs after my awful slump last month. And I’ve done well to keep up with reading my Japanese books, as I managed 18 of those compared to 16 last month! I’ve also managed to finish off a few series, which is no bad thing given the rate at which I start new ones…

The backlog, meanwhile, has dropped from 925 to 919, so I’m still doing pretty well this year for getting that down, besides that increase in March and April. Hopefully, June will be more of the same.