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Archives for October 2007

New comics, old series

October 10, 2007 by

David Welsh lists his picks from this week’s new comics and takes a look at Jason Thompson’s Manga: The Complete Guide, complete with a roundup of interviews and commentary. In his Flipped column, he checks in on several ongoing series to see how they are holding up.

In a similar vein, Johanna Draper Carlson catches up with some series she had dropped.

The anime of Nymphet (Kodomo no Jikan) has been canceled in Japan, apparently because of concern about a recent series of violent crimes involving young people, although the producer isn’t necessarily buying that. (Via Journalista.)

ICv2 has more on the new manga announced by Del Rey and Media Blasters at MangaNEXT. Also, Giapet’s minion files a con report from MangaNEXT.

Librarians in Washington state have nominated vol. 1 of Death Note for a YA book award.

John Jakala does a thought experiment: What if manga artists were drawing Marvel series?

Congratulations to blogger John Thomas on the first anniversary of Mecha Mecha Media!

Japan Probe finds a picture of Sailor Moon’s great-grandmother (not really, but it does seem to be the first sailor-style school uniform).

Christopher Butcher goes to Akibahara.

Reviews: Tiamat’s Disciple posts an overview of Addicted to Curry. Michael Aronson reviews vol. 6 of Vagabond and vol. 3 of Love Hina at Manga Life. At Coffeeandink, Mely likes vol. 1 of The Key to the Kingdom despite a rocky start. At Active Anime, Holly Ellingwood checks out vol. 8 of Tsukuyomi Moon Phase and Davey C. Jones reviews vol. 5 of Battle Club. Ferdinand reviews vol. 1 of Pick of the Litter at Prospero’s Manga. Brian Henson checks out vol. 1 of Fantamir at Anime on DVD. Julie enjoys vol. 1 of Demon Flowers at the Manga Maniac Cafe. EvilOmar posts a series of short reviews at About Heroes. At du9, Tanuki reviews Yotsuba&! Johanna Eubank of the Arizona Daily Star reviews With the Light.

More manga than ever before

October 9, 2007 by

Comicsnob’s Matt Blind publishes this week’s watch list and makes some recommendations.

Christopher Butcher has two interesting articles up at Comics212 that touch on manga’s place in the overall comics world. The first is his observation that this week’s shipment at The Beguiling, the comics store he manages, included more manga than non-manga. There are some caveats to this (he counts a comic with several variant covers as a single title, which seems reasonable to me), but it’s significant nonetheless. The second post is a review of The Best American Comics 2007. While he acknowledges that the selections are pretty good, Butcher points out that they also aren’t very representative of the comics world as a whole, omitting not only manga but webcomics and “anything with a whif of genre about it,” and he gives his own list of the best graphic novels of 2006 as a welcome alternative.

Erica Friedman files her con report on MangaNEXT at Okazu. And a local paper uses MangaNEXT as a hook for a manga-101 type article, although the intro is a little odd, holding up Haruhi Suzumiya as “one of the hottest manga characters in America.” Huh?

At the MangaCast, Ed Chavez talks about his plans for the site, including a weekly in-depth look at Morning magazine. And then he links to a mess o’previews.

Tiamat’s Disciple introduces the characters in CLAMP’s Legal Drug.

This Daily Yomiuri article about the daughter of gag cartoonist Fujio Akatsuka managing his works now that he is ill highlights what must be an interesting family. (Via ComiPress.)

Junko Mizuno will be visiting Kidrobot collectibles stores in LA today and in New York on Thursday.

The comics site Newsarama, which mostly covers the sorts of comics I never read but occasionally has a nice in-depth interview with a manga creator, has been bought by Imaginova, which describes itself rather generically as “a leading digital and commerce company.” Johanna and her commenters have a little fun with it at Comics Worth Reading.

Reviews: At Sporadic Sequential, John Jakala takes a first look at the new horror series Presents and where it fits into the American market. Dave Ferraro finds nothing to like about vol. 1 of Here is Greenwood at Comics-and-more. Nick reads vol. 1 of Q-Ko-Chanctive at Hobotaku. At Active Anime, Holly Ellingwood reviews Lovers Flat, Manic Love, and vol. 1 of Dark Moon Diary, and Scott Campbell gets an advance look at vol. 2 of MPD Psycho. Julie checks out Spring Fever at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Ferdinand’s slugline for his review of Manga: The Complete Guide at Prospero’s Manga says it all: “Words fail me. Just buy it.”

MangaNEXT news, new titles, and more

October 8, 2007 by

News from MangaNEXT: MangaCast has the new title announcements, and covers, from Del Rey and Media Blasters. Ed also posts the latest segment of the Big List of new releases in Japan.

The Weekly Recon takes a look at this week’s new releases and offers brief reviews of some new titles.

At Comicsnob, Matt Blind discusses his sources for online rankings and lists the top 25 manga series and top 100 volumes, based on online sales.

I initially didn’t bother reading this interview with Dan Marks of Viz, because I thought it was just about anime. About halfway down in this second part, however, the interviewer asks about downloadable manga. Executive summary: They’re looking into it, but it’s not a big deal. Yet.

ComiPress translates an interview with Ukio Takano, who has started a museum of old rental manga in Japan.

The Yaoi Awards continue at Yaoi Suki.

John Jakala has been having fun all week imagining unlikely comics pairings, but Keroro vs. Elmo is his best one yet. The Shocking Plot Twist explains a lot, to my mind, about the Elmoverse.

Nana translator Tomo Kimura checks out the Nana mobile phone site.

Reviews: At the Comic Book Bin, Leroy Douresseaux reviews vol. 1 of Shinsoku Kiss. Patricia Beard enjoys Stolen Heart and Gary Thompson gives vol. 1 of The Devil Within a mixed review at Anime on DVD. It was a busy weekend at MangaCast, where Readilbert checks out Manga: The Complete Guide, Hahapages reads vol. 1 of RahXephon, Mangamaniac Julie checks out Virtuoso de Amore, and Ed does a podcast review of vol. 1 of MPD Psycho and vol. 3 of Mail. Johanna winnows down the stack of new manga at Comics Worth Reading, with reviews of vol. 1 of Flock of Angels and vol. 1 of Nightmares for Sale, both from new publisher Aurora, and a short look at some upcoming CMX volumes. Michelle checks out vol. 16 of Hana-Kimi at Solioquy in Blue. At Manga Life, Craig Johnson reviews vol. 1 of Style School and Michael Aronson checks out vol. 2 of Bleach, vol. 1 of xxxHOLiC, vol. 5 of Adolf, and Lost World. Active Anime’s staff has been busy: Scott Campbell reviews vol. 2 of My Heavenly Hockey Club, Katie Gallant checks out vol. 20 of Knights of the Zodiac, and Holly Ellingwood reads vol. 1 of Murder Princess and vol. 4 of Passion. Julie looks over vol. 1 of I Shall Never Return and Manga Literary Classics: Treasure Island at the Manga Maniac Cafe. At Mecha Mecha Media, John T is impressed by Manga: The Complete Guide.

Friday finds

October 5, 2007 by

Manga: Coming to a mall near you? Publisher’s Weekly reports that Trans World Entertainment, whose stores include F.Y.E., Coconuts, Sam Goody, Suncoast, and Planet Music, has made a deal with wholesaler Bookazine to put manga sections in its stores. There’s a certain logic to this, as many of these stores also sell anime, and perhaps manga will find readers who don’t usually go to bookstores.

Jason Thompson guests at Shaenon Garrity’s LiveJournal, where he counts down the ten best worst manga for your reading pleasure, causing John Jakala to fondly recall his own evisceration of Bomber Girl.

At The Pulse (no permalinks, but scroll down a bit) Jennifer Contino interviews writer Barbara Kesel about The Dark Crystal. (Via Beedlejuice.)

Yaoi Suki has started handing out their gently snarky Yaoi Awards.

A couple of years ago, ADV published vol. 1 of Boku to Kanojo no XXX as Your and My Secret, then dropped the series. Tokyopop has picked it up, but if you can’t wait to know what’s in the next two volumes, Adam Stephandes has some comments at Completely Futile.

The hardcover edition of vol. 6 of Tezuka’s Buddha is out of print.

Reviews: At Coffeeandink, Mely enjoys vol. 1 of Walkin’ Butterfly, with some reservations. Greg Hackmann reviews vol. 1 of Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human Error Processor at Anime on DVD. Lori Henderson checks out vol. 12 of Dr. Slump at Manga Life. At Prospero’s Manga, Miranda updates us on vols. 4-7 of Crossroad, while Ferdinand concludes that the novel Full Metal Panic! vol. 1: Fighting Boy Meets Girl doesn’t add much to the story if you have already read the manga and seen the anime. At Active Anime, Christopher Seaman reviews vol. 15 of Negima and vol. 14 of I”s, Davey C. Jones checks out vol. 1 of Atelier Marie and Elie Zarburg Alchemist, and Holly Ellingwood reads Melted Love. Julie finds vol. 2 of Star Trek: The Manga somewhat entertaining at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Ken Haley reviews vols. 1-3 of Mail at PopCultureShock’s Manga Recon blog. Tanuki has a nice review of Yotsuba&! at du9.

Thursday quick links

October 4, 2007 by

Aria is among the nominees for this year’s Japan Media Arts Festival; as far as I can see, it’s the only licensed manga in the bunch.

As the September volumes of Naruto reach saturation, they are sliding down the USA Today bestseller list. This week, vol. 18 moves from 74 to 127, vol. 17 goes from 100 to 149, and vol. 16 disappears altogether. Watch for the next three volumes to show up next week, though.

Park Cooper interviews Heidi Arnhold, the artist for The Dark Crystal: The Garthim Wars. (Via Tokyopop editor Beedlejuice.)

David Welsh checks out the latest Previews.

Noah Berlatsky has a simple explanation for the popularity of yaoi: It’s sexy. (Via Simon Jones (NSFW), of course.)

At the MangaCast, Ed Chavez has a Side Dish podcast about the adult fantasy magazine Comic Valkyrie, and he also links to previews of Compass, Blood Relatives, and Reptilia.

Yaoi Press has a preview of The Lily and the Rose up at the Tokyopop site, which is an interesting way to do it.

Jason Thompson will be a guest at MangaNEXT this year.

Same Hat posts the covers of Kazuo Umezu’s Mummy Teacher.

The Death Note murders? Human body parts have turned up in Brussels with notes attached saying “Watashi wa Kira desu” (“I am Kira”). ) (Via ComiPress.)

Reviews: At Active Anime, Scott Campbell checks out vol. 9 of Golgo 13, Christopher Seaman reads vol. 2 of Shugo Chara! and Holly Ellingwood reviews Full Metal Panic! Vol. 1: Fighting Boy Meets Girl. Anime on DVD is back up, after a few days of down time, and they’re making up for lost time, with reviews of vol. 1 of Princess Resurrection by Danielle Van Gorder and Solfege by Ed Chavez. Comicsnob Matt Blind finds Jason Thompson’s Manga: The Complete Guide indispensable. Julie reads vol. 3 of Nosatsu Junkieka at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Ferdinand reviews vol. 1 of The Palette of 12 Secret Colors at Prospero’s Manga. Kethylia finds Don’t Say Anymore Darling to be rather uneven. At About Heroes, EvilOmar reads vols. 1-5 of Air Gear and has plenty to say about it. At Okazu, Erica Friedman reviews vol. 1 of Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora, a Japanese title.

Review: Train + Train, vols. 2-3

October 3, 2007 by

Train + Train, vols. 2 and 3
Story by Hideyuki Kurata
Art by Tomomasa Takuma
Rated T for Teen (13+)
Go!Comi, $10.99

Train+Train is based on a cool idea: The most promising students in a futuristic society attend school on a special train in which classes are interspersed with unusual challenges to test their abilities to the utmost.

The problem with manga like these is that often they don’t live up to their initial promise. The manga-ka either runs out of ideas or loses any thread of plot, spinning out separate episodes for 20 volumes or more.

There’s no danger of that in this six-volume series. The story keeps moving, with new revelations about the characters and challenges for them to meet, although the main characters don’t seem to be breaking out of their established roles much.

Spoilers after the cut.

To briefly recap, in volume 1, ordinary-guy Reichi is dragged onto the special train by Arena, a feisty girl who is running away from her wealthy grandfather. Grandpa will do anything to keep her off the special train, including having her beaten regularly by massive thugs. At some point in volume 1, Reichi and Arena are accidentally handcuffed together and since Arena is determined to get on the special train, that’s where they go.

In volumes 2 and 3, the students are only faced with three challenges, which makes you wonder what makes the special train so special. The first is to turn 10,000 gold pieces into 100,000, and the only way the students can even conceive of doing this is to gamble. Arena doesn’t question this at all, just takes it to the next level, using her platinum card to get herself and Reichi into a high-stakes casino where she matches wits with the owner. Predictably, she wins but doesn’t get the money. There’s plenty of action in this sequence, but it’s disappointing that the best strategy Arena and Reichi can come up with is playing the standard game a little bit better than anyone else.

The second challenge is a more interesting: The train is stranded in a remote mountain pass, and the students are assigned to win the trust of the locals, who are hostile to strangers and too proud to accept help, even when they are starving. Things get ramped up a notch when an avalanche traps the train in the village and cuts off all power. Although they are left without heat or food, the villagers refuse to take any help, goaded on by their mayor, an unlikable demagogue. Arena lets her fists do the talking and knocks the mayor out, while Reichi befriends a local boy. This time it’s Reichi who meets the challenge, although he doesn’t get credit for it. And again, no one is really thinking outside the box. If this train is supposed to be carrying the next generation of leaders, Deloca is in trouble.

The last challenge is optional: The train stops in a city wracked by violence, and the students are told to venture out if they dare. Reichi plans to stay in the comfort of the train, but his computer avatar asks him to come out and meet her in person. As he and Arena wait in an outdoor café, someone tosses a Molotov cocktail and the place goes up in a cloud of smoke. It’s not exactly a cliffhanger—you can’t kill your two main characters halfway through the series—but it will be interesting to see how they survive.

In between the challenges we get some of Arena’s backstory and a few moral tales. Sister Lou reappears to assert the connection between violence and religion, and Reichi declines an offer to cheat on his exams. So far, Sister Lou seems to be the most original character in the book, although I’m keeping my eye on the principal, an ice queen with a past.

I suppose the real story here is the education of Reichi. In the first volume, he is forced almost (but not entirely) against his will to step out of his ordered existence onto the special train. In volume 2, the time-release handcuffs open up and he has the option to get off the train, but of course he decides to stay. That, however, is the only radical choice he makes. Befriending the mountain boy, refusing to cheat on his exams, and ignoring danger warnings to meet a girl are not exactly paradigm-shattering decisions, and anyway, we don’t really see his internal life at all, just his eagerness and his bland smile.

Art-wise, Takuma is a better master of gesture than expression; the characters look like they’re smirking most of the time, which gets old, and the shadows on their noses make everyone look like they have a cold. On the other hand, his action scenes are very dynamic, and he really conveys the massiveness and power of the train, using sound effects, speedlines, and details to make it feel real. My biggest complaint about volume 1 was that we didn’t get to see enough of the train, but I’m happy to say this is remedied in volumes 2 and 3.

The combination of fast-moving plot, fairly interesting characters, and dynamic art made these volumes a quick and entertaining read despite a certain lack of originality. Train + Train isn’t exactly thinking person’s manga, but it’s a fun ride nonetheless.

Now if only Sister Lou could get her own comic!

This review is based on complimentary copies supplied by the publisher.

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