MARI OKADA

Kazusa's first high school literature club meeting starts with five girls being asked, "What's one thing you want to do before you die?" When one of them blurts out, "Sex," it launches these new friends down a raucous, embarrassing, all-too-relatable path. One of Japan's top female screenwriters, Okada hones her knack for aching drama and wry humor that became her trademark with anime like anohana and Maquia. Amid an explosion of graphic novels about girls' teenage years, like Lumberjanes and That One Summer, O Maidens brings a diverse, fresh, and hilarious perspective on how it feels to leave childhood behind.

WIXOSS (short for "Wish Across") is a popular trading card game in which players battle against each other with fighters known as LRIGs (girl spelled backwards; pronounced Rurigu), using cards to support them. This story revolves around two pairs of Selectors and their LRIGs: Yuragi and Alfou as well as Mako and Haiti.

Kazusa's first high school literature club meeting starts with five girls being asked, “What's one thing you want to do before you die?” When one of them blurts out, “Sex,” it launches these new friends down a raucous, embarrassing, all-too-relatable path.