I didn’t get to do any news roundups yesterday as it was an unusually busy day, so that means an extra dose today.
Over at Digital Strips, I take a first look at scanlations for dummies—scanlations that you don’t have to download or learn IRC to read. One of the sites should be well known to MangaBlog readers: Same Hat! Same Hat!! This week, in observance of their second anniversary, Ryan and Evan have posted links to all their scanlations, which makes the reading even easier. Enjoy! (Note: This site leans heavily toward the NSFW.) I’m hoping to do more posts highlighting scanlations that are posted, as opposed to needing to be downloaded, so feel free to send in suggestions if you know of a good site.
MangaCast has the scoop on the newest publisher to enter the manga realm, Aurora Publishing. Their parent company, Ohzora, has a big library of josei manga. Check out the link—it’s in English—for some really different titles. Their first few titles sound like josei, plus a BL title from Yellow manga-ka Makoto Tateno under their yaoi imprint, Deux.
Ed also has the 411 on Broccoli’s upcoming title, Coyote Ragtime Show, and the cover designs from Vertical’s fall titles.
ComiPress translates Part 2 of “Why I Quit as a Manga Editor.”
Is Kodansha going global? They just launched Mandala, an international manga magazine, and the first issue features works by artists from six different countries. The magazine is in Japanese, though. In other comic magazine news, Hobunsha has a new title, Comic Yell, described as “a shoujo comic for boys.”
David Welsh is looking forward to the new edition of Gon.
At Completely Futile, Adam Stephanides supplies his own translation notes for vol. 15 of Fruits Basket.
Shaenon Garrity does another pre-emptive strike in this week’s Overlooked Manga Festival, with a look at the just-released Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms.
The Smithsonian is hosting a seminar on manga and anime, “Manga to Anime: From Astro Boy to Spirited Away,” on April 21. It’s part of their Japan WOW cultural series, which runs through June 9.
Police found stacks of violent manga in the apartment of a man who apparently murdered an English teacher in Japan. Simon Jones is already on this one, with links to several different accounts, not all of which mention the manga, and, in comments, more about the “otaku murderer” Tsutomu Miyazaki, whose otaku-ness was apparently exaggerated by the press.
Job board: Digital Manga is looking for a production associate and a licensing/guest relations assistant. (Via Comics Worth Reading.)
Reviews: At MangaCast, Manga Maniac Julie reviews vol. 2 of Vampire Knight. Anime on DVD’s Danielle Van Gorder reviews Digital’s one-shot, Wagamama Kitchen. At Prospero’s Manga, Miranda takes a quick look at vols. 3 and 4 of ES: Eternal Sabbath and Ferdinand finds little to like about vol. 1 of Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories.