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J-Novel Club Licenses Faraway Paladin, Unwanted Undead Adventurer, Sweet Reincarnation, Marginal Operation, Discommunication Manga

J-Novel Club announced on Friday that it has licensed the following five manga: Mutsumi Okuhashi and Kanata Yanagino's The Faraway Paladin (Saihate no Paladin), Haiji Nakasone and Yū Okano's The Unwanted Undead Adventurer (Nozomanu Fushi no Bōkensha), Nozomu Koryū and Seriko Iida's Sweet Reincarnation (Okashi na Tensei), Yūri Shibamura and Daisuke Kimura's Marginal Operation, and Riichi Ueshiba's Discommunication.

All except Discommunication are manga adaptations of light novels, and J-Novel Club plans to release all the manga digitally. The first chapters of all the manga except The Unwanted Undead Adventurer are available now, and J-Novel Club plans to start its release of The Unwanted Undead Adventurer manga "in just a week or two."

J-Novel Club also publishes Yanagino's The Faraway Paladin light novel series with illustrations by Kususaga Rin, and it describes the Western fantasy story:

In a city of the dead, long since ruined and far from human civilization, lives a single human child. His name is Will, and he's being raised by three undead: the hearty skeletal warrior, Blood; the graceful mummified priestess, Mary; and the crotchety spectral sorcerer, Gus. The three pour love into the boy, and teach him all they know. But one day, Will starts to wonder: "Who am I?"

Will must unravel the mysteries of this faraway dead man's land, and unearth the secret pasts of the undead. He must learn the love and mercy of the good gods, and the bigotry and madness of the bad. And when he knows it all, the boy will take his first step on the path to becoming a Paladin.

"I promised you. It's gonna take a while, but I'll tell you everything. This is the story of the deaths of many heroes. It's the story of how we died, and it's the reason you grew up here."

Okuhashi launched the manga adaptation on Overlap's Comic Gardo web manga site in September 2017, and Overlap will publish the third compiled book volume on April 25. Okuhashi drew the manga adaptation of Ao Jūmonji's Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash light novel series. (Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash's light novel series, manga adaptation, and anime adaptation are available in English from J-Novel Club, Yen Press, and Funimation, respectively.)

Similarly, J-Novel Club also publishes Okano's The Unwanted Undead Adventurer light novel series with illustrations by Jaian, and it describes the story:

Rentt Faina, a twenty-five-year-old adventurer, has been hacking away at monsters for a decade. However, without much talent for the job, Rentt finds himself stuck hunting Slimes and Goblins for meager amounts of coin every day. Little does he know, all this is about to change when he comes across a seemingly undiscovered path in the Labyrinth of the Moon's Reflection.

What awaits him at the end of the path, however, is neither treasure nor riches, but a legendary dragon that wastes no time swallowing him whole! Waking up a short time later, Rentt finds himself not quite dead, but not very alive either— He is nothing more than a pile of bones! Armed with nothing but his trusty sword, tool belt, and ghoulish new looks, Rentt sets off on his quest as a newly reborn Skeleton to achieve Existential Evolution, hoping to one day return to civilization with a more human form.

Will Rentt succeed, or will the labyrinth consume him for the rest of his un-death...?

Nakasone launched the manga adaptation on Overlap's Comic Gardo web manga site in November 2017, and Overlap will publish the third compiled book volume on May 25.

J-Novel Club describes the story of Sweet Reincarnation

Pastry Mille Morteln, age 9, is both his father's heir and the reincarnation of an unfulfilled pastry chef. While he dreams of a land filled with sweet treats, there's a lot to be done first! From learning how to fight, to controlling his new magical talents and doing his best to defend his village from bandits, and yet all he really wants to do is bake the perfect apple pie... Pastry Mille Morteln has his work cut out for him in Sweet Reincarnation.

Koryū launched the original novel series on the Shōsetsu ni Narō website in February 2015, and TO Books published the 10th volume in print with illustrations by Yasuyuki Shuri in July 2018. Iida launched the manga adaptation on the Comic Corona section of the Niconico Seiga service in December 2017, and To Books published the second compiled book volume in December 2018.

J-Novel Club describes Shibamura's Marginal Operation manga:

Our hero Ryouta Arata is an otaku who's just lost his job after the dissolution of his company. Unwilling to return to his old NEET ways, he applies online to a private military security company, thinking the benefits to be promising. After what appears to be a baffling test, he's assigned to be an \"operator of operators\" and begins his training in a foreign country. Little does he know, the life of a private mercenary is far more grueling than he could have ever imagined!

Kodansha published the first novel volume in February 2012 with illustrations by Yoshinori Shizuma, and has since published the sixth volume of the second arc in December 2018. Kimura launched the manga adaptation in Kodansha's Afternoon magazine in 2013, and Kodansha published the 12th compiled book volume on January 23.

J-Novel Club describes Ueshiba's (Mysterious Girlfriend X) Discommunication manga:

Togawa is dating the resident class weirdo, and their relationship is even more non-standard than she expected! They've never even kissed, but he's tasted her tears, cleaned her ears, and shaved the nape of her neck! And also walked her through a Buddhist ritual that opened her third eye and brought her spiritual peace and a good night's sleep. It is indeed a wonder, in more ways than one, that she can't help but feel drawn to him.

The manga ran in Kodansha's Afternoon magazine from 1992-2000. The original manga featured 13 volumes, the Discommunication Gakuen-hen manga ran for one volume, and the Discommunication: Seirei-hen manga ran for three volumes. The Yume Tsukai spinoff manga takes place in a parallel world, and it inspired a 12-episode television anime series in 2006.

Ueshiba began his Mysterious Girlfriend X manga in Afternoon magazine in 2006 and ended the series in September 2014. Kodansha published 12 compiled book volumes for the series. The manga inspired a television anime adaptation in 2012. Crunchyroll streamed the anime as it aired in Japan, and Sentai Filmworks released the series in North America. Crunchyroll distributed the manga in English digitally. Vertical Comics released the manga physically in omnibus volumes.

Sources: J-Novel Club's Twitter account (link 2, link 3, link 4, link 5) and website (link 2, link 3)