The Naruto wave continues to break over the USA Today Booklist, with vol. 21 debuting at number 69, vol. 20 at number 77, and vol. 19 at number 82. Vol. 21 of Bleach also hits the charts at number 109.
There are lots of interesting new manga out this week: Aqua, two horror titles from CMX, a new volume of Yotsuba&!, and, of course, Jason Thompson’s much-hyped Manga: The Complete Guide. Over at MangaCast, the gang gives the complete list and highlights their picks.
The Boston Phoenix looks at Christian manga.
The Japan Times interviews Cinderalla artist Junko Mizuno. (Some images may be NSFW.)
It’s the end of an era, sort of: Dark Horse is ending the monthly issues of Blade of the Immortal. This is pretty much the end of monthly pamphlets for manga, unless you count the Witchblade and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, which are pretty much the opposite ends of the comics spectrum. Ed has more at MangaCast.
At Shuchaku East, Chloe critiques Tokyopop’s cover designs for Aqua and Aria.
Having already manga-ized the Marvel lineup, John Jakala imagines what DC comics would be like if they were drawn by manga-ka.
As I mentioned yesterday, the Kodomo no Jikan anime was cancelled in Japan, ostensibly because of violent crimes committed by juveniles. Today Tiamat looks a little more closely at the question of whether anime and manga cause people to commit crimes, and concludes that they don’t.
Reviews: At Manga Life, Ryan Lewis reviews vol. 1 of Dragon Voice. Ed Chavez does an audio review of vol. 1 of Black Dog and vol. 2 of Tanpenshu at MangaCast. Julie checks out a new title from Aurora, vol. 1 of Flock of Angels, at the Manga Maniac Cafe. At Prospero’s Manga, Ferdinand reviews a light novel, Trinity Blood: Return on the Mars, vol. 1, The Star of Sorrow. Mjules reviews vol. 3 of Flower of Life at Manganews. At Anime on DVD, Matthew Alexander gives high marks to vol. 1 of Black God, Patricia Beard is slightly less enthused about vol. 1 of Cherry Juice, and the whole staff pitches in for some Small Bodied Manga Reviews. Also at AoD, Matthew Alexander gets an advance look at vol. 1 of The Yagyu Ninja Scrolls: Revenge of the Hori Clan. Erica Friedman picks up a Japanese yuri title, vol. 3 of Applause, at Okazu. At PopCultureShock’s Manga Recon, Katherine Dacey-Tsuei enjoys vol. 1 of Bride of the Water God and Ken Haley looks at Viz’s Junji Ito horror titles, vol. 1 of Uzumaki and vol. 1 of Gyo. At Active Anime, Holly Ellingwood reviews a light novel, Fullmetal Alchemist vol. 4: Under the Faraway Sky, while Scott Campbell checks out vol. 1 of Portus and Sandra Scholes reads vol. 9 of Let Dai. Jon Choo gets hooked after reading vols. 1 and 2 of Bleach.