Found a couple new anime that’s caught your eye this summer and has you thinking about checking out the original source? Then here’s your guide from watching those anime to then jumping to read the manga or light novel, with links to either check out a free preview or purchase the series!
List of publishers with original source to anime adapted this season (Click to jump to a title):
Yen Press: Kakegurui Twin, The Maid I Hired Recently Is Mysterious, Nights with a Cat, Uncle From Another World
Seven Seas/Crunchyroll: Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer
Kodansha: Phantom of the Idol, When Will Ayumu Make His Move?, Orient, Tokyo Mew Mew New
VIZ Media: Call of the Night
J-Novel Club: My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex, Black Summoner
Kaiten Books: The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting
Square Enix: My Isekai Life: I Gained a Second Character Class and Became the Strongest Sage in the World!
Kakegurui Twin
Genre: Psychological Drama
Creators: Homura Kawamoto, Kei Saiki
Official Website: https://yenpress.com/9781975303389/kakegurui-twin-vol-1
Volumes released: 10
Streaming on: Netflix (August 2022)
Purchase: Amazon, B&N, Rightstuf
Free previews for Volume 1 are up on Kindle and Bookwalker.
My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex
Genre: Romcom
Creators: Kyosuke Kamishiro, TakayaKi
Official Website: https://j-novel.club/series/my-stepmom-s-daughter-is-my-ex
Volumes released: 3
Streaming on: Crunchyroll
Purchase: Kindle, Kobo, Bookwalker, Nook
First part is free on J-Novel Club’s website; this month the novel’s on free catchup with a JNC subscription (ends July 31)
When Will Ayumu Make His Move?
Genre: Romcom
Creators: Soichiro Yamamoto
Official Website: https://kodansha.us/series/when-will-ayumu-make-his-move
Volumes released: 6
Streaming on: HIDIVE
Purchase: Amazon, B&N, Rightstuf
Chapter 1 can be read for free on Kodansha’s official When Will Ayumu Make His Move? page.
The Maid I Hired Recently Is Mysterious
Genre: Romcom
Creators: Wakame Konbu
Official Website: https://yenpress.com/9781975324766/the-maid-i-hired-recently-is-mysterious-vol-1
Volumes released: 3
Streaming on: Crunchyroll
Purchase: Amazon, B&N, Rightstuf
Free previews for Volume 1 are up on Kindle and Bookwalker.
Call of the Night
Genre: Supernatural Romance
Creators: Kotoyama
Official Website: https://www.viz.com/call-of-the-night
Volumes released: 8
Streaming on: HIDIVE
Purchase: Amazon, B&N, Rightstuf
Free previews for Volume 1 are up on Kindle and VIZ’s site.
Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer
Genre: Supernatural
Creators: Satoshi Mizukami
Official Website: https://sevenseasentertainment.com/series/lucifer-and-the-biscuit-hammer
Official Digital Website: https://www.crunchyroll.com/comics/manga/hoshi-no-samidare-the-lucifer-and-biscuit-hammer/volumes
Streaming on: Crunchyroll, Hulu
Purchase: Essentially out of print (currently just Omnibus 5-6 & 9-10 are available, might find copies of all 5 volumes at your local library)
Chapter 1 can be read for free on Crunchyroll.
Phantom of the Idol
Genre: Supernatural Comedy
Creators: Hijiki Isoflavone
Official Website: https://kodansha.us/series/phantom-of-the-idol
Volumes released: 1
Streaming on: HIDIVE
Purchase: Amazon, B&N, Rightstuf
Chapter 1 can be read for free on Kodansha’s official Phantom of the Idol page.
The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting
Genre: Comedy
Creators: Tsukiya
Official Website: https://www.kaitenbooks.com/yakuza-babysitter
Volumes released: 4
Streaming on: Crunchyroll
Purchase: Amazon, B&N, Rightstuf
Free previews for Volume 1 are up on Kindle and Bookwalker; first two chapters can be read for free on Azuki.
Nights with a Cat
Genre: Comedy
Creators: Kyuryu Z
Official Website: https://yenpress.com/9781975341695/nights-with-a-cat-vol-1
Volumes released: 1
Purchase: Amazon, B&N, Rightstuf
A free preview is up on Kindle and Bookwalker.
My Isekai Life: I Gained a Second Character Class and Became the Strongest Sage in the World!
Genre: Isekai
Creators: Shinkoshoto, Ponjea (Friendly Land), Huuka Kazabana
Official Website: https://squareenixmangaandbooks.square-enix-games.com/en-us/series/my-isekai-life
Volumes released: 2
Streaming on: HIDIVE
Purchase: Amazon, B&N, Rightstuf
Chapter 1 can be read for free on Square Enix Manga & Books’ site.
Black Summoner
Genre: Isekai
Creators: Doufu Mayoi, Kurogin (DIGS), Gin Ammo (Manga)
Official LN Website: https://j-novel.club/series/black-summoner
Official Manga Website: https://j-novel.club/series/black-summoner-manga
Streaming on: Crunchyroll
Volumes released: 9 (LN), 6 (Manga)
Purchase (LN): Kindle, Bookwalker, Kobo
Purchase (Manga): Bookwalker, Kobo, Kindle
First part is free on J-Novel Club’s website; this month the novel’s on free catchup with a JNC subscription (ends July 31)
Chapter 1 is available to read for free on JNC’s site.
Uncle from Another World
Genre: Isekai
Creators: Hotondoshindeiru
Official Website: https://yenpress.com/9781975323448/uncle-from-another-world-vol-1
Volumes released: 4
Streaming on: Netflix
Purchase: Amazon, B&N, Rightstuf
Free previews for Volume 1 are up on Kindle and Bookwalker.
Orient Part 2
Genre: Fantasy
Creators: Shinobu Ohtaka
Official Website: https://kodansha.us/series/orient
Volumes released: 11
Streaming on: Crunchyroll
Purchase: Amazon, B&N, Rightstuf
Chapter 1 can be read for free on Kodansha’s site.
Tokyo Mew Mew New
Genre: Magical Girl
Creators: Reiko Yoshida, Mia Ikumi
Official Website: https://kodansha.us/series/tokyo-mew-mew-omnibus
Volumes released: 3 (Complete)
Streaming on: HIDIVE
Purchase: Amazon, B&N, Rightstuf
Chapter 1 can be read for free on Kodansha’s site.
Additional Notes
- J-Novel Club titles Black Summoner & My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex are, as of this post, a part of their monthly catchup series where with a subscription you can read all parts of a series in a month. The Black Summoner manga could possibly be a part of a monthly catchup in August and September.
- Various manga or light novel campaigns — likely digital — will take place on Bookwalker or done by Kodansha, which means a couple of these series might go on sale.
- For ease, this list features new shows with the original source licensed officially. Exceptions were made for reboots/remakes (Tokyo Mew Mew New), spinoffs (Kakegurui Twin), and continuing parts since a series is just split up due to the nature of anime production (Orient).
- UPDATE: With an assist from a helpful Twitter comment, volumes out in English have been added except for Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer.