Challenges and competitions

OK, MangaBlog readers, here’s an opportunity to use your extensive knowledge of all things manga to make the world a better place: Laura Hale of Fanhistory.com, a Wiki about the history of fan communities, would like your help in cleaning up and improving the anime section of their site (which also covers manga). (Someone could start by correcting the title of Fruits Basket). If you’re interested, go over and take a look.

Japan’s Daily Yomiuri profiles rem, the winner of Kodansha’s International Manga Competition and the artist of Tokyopop’s Vampire Kisses. (Via Blog@Newsarama.)

Jason Thompson wonders if Japanese students really look up to the cliques, as depicted in manga, or whether that just makes for easier storytelling.

At the MangaCast, Ed Chavez reports on the Vertical and Udon panels at NYAF, including covers of new titles.

An Australian newspaper takes a look at Siku’s The Manga Bible, which features a “kick-ass Jesus,” as one of many different ways of “gift-wrapping” the Good Book.

ComiPress presents another installment of Manga Zombie, this one about gekiga artist Takeuchi Kanko.

At ComicMix, Andrew Wheeler tries a little experiment: He reads just volume 2 of four different manga series, to see how easy it is to pick up the story.

Booklist watch: I’m a little late with the news this week, but it’s just more of the same anyway: vol. 27 of Naruto ranks 92 on this week’s USA Today best seller list, and vol. 26 is at 129. I guess only having two volumes on the list adds a bit of novelty value, but with the Naruto wave now over, it will be interesting to see what other titles make the list in the weeks to come. Meanwhile, Manly Manga and More has November’s German manga charts.

Gia Manry, a.k.a. Giapet, has been posting on anime and manga to watch for in 2008 at Fanboy.com. Check out her comments on Gakuen Alice, which is currently making the rounds at my house (and good news for Tokyopop: Both my teenage daughters liked it). Back at her own blog, Gia spots another kid-writes-a-Death-Note story.

If you read French, head on over to the French blog du9 where Xavier Guilbert writes about a derivative global manga whose format encapsulates the “myth” of manga—including structure derived from a nonexistent manga magazine and word balloons that look like they were designed for Japanese text. (Guilbert translates a lot of his work into English, so hopefully this will be available for non-Francophones soon.)

Contest updates: ComiPress has all the links for the Japan Foreign Ministry’s Second International MANGA Award. And don’t forget that December 31 is the deadline for Kodansha’s Weekly Morning International Manga Competition.

Here’s a little holiday fun: At dot-anime USA’s Industry Babble blog, Broccoli insider Shizuki shows off Christmas cards from different anime and game companies and gives a peek at the Square Enix holiday party.

Reviews: Matthew Alexander enjoys the 18+ title Swing Out Sisters at Anime on DVD, and Julie Rosato checks out Ordinary Crush. Dan Polley reviews vol. 6 of Suzuka and vol. 7 of ES: Eternal Sabbath at Manga Life. Erica Friedman eviscerates vol. 1 of Key Princess Story: Eternal Alice Rondo with wit and style at Okazu (for the uninitiated: LF = Loser Fan Boy). Ferdinand gives vol. 1 of Translucent 4 out of 5 stars at Prospero’s Manga. Sakura Kiss reviews vol. 1 of Flock of Angels at The Yaoi Review. At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie checks out Cain Saga 4: Mark of the Red Ram 1. Michelle reads vol. 21 of Basara at Soliloquy in Blue. At Comics Worth Reading, Johanna updates her reviews of Emma and Beauty Pop with info on the latest volumes. Sasa describes Suppli as “a real josei manga” and compares it to Hataraki Man at Heterochromia. Tiamat’s Disciple posts an overview of Gakuen Heaven. Scott Campbell reviews vol. 1 of Mr. Grieves and Sandra Scholes checks out vol. 1 of Romance Papa at Active Anime. Billy Aguiar reviews vol. 1 of me2 at CBGXtra. At Manga Recon, Katherine Dacey-Tsuei reviews vol. 2 of Jim Henson’s Return to Labyrinth and vol. 1 of Jim Henson’s Legends of the Dark Crystal: The Garthim Wars. John T enjoys vol. 2 of Parasyte at Mecha Mecha Media. J. Bowers reviews vols. 6 and 7 of Pastel at PLAYBACK:stl. Leroy Douresseaux pulls vol. 1 of High School Debut out of The Comic Book Bin.

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Comments

  1. Hello Brigid,
    I really appreciate you taking note of the work we’re doing at du9, be it in French and English, but I just wanted to take the opportunity to set the record straight on two things:
    First, du9 is not a blog, but a webzine. It’s been online and around since 1996 (which makes it something of a walking diplodocus), and we try and focus on more structured articles than the usual stream-of-consciousness style used in most of the blogs.
    Second, du9 is a collective. I’m nothing more than the acting editor-in-chief and main translator. So it’s not about “my” works, but the work of the editorial team as a whole, taking into account the complexity of some pieces that do limit my translation scope to some of the more accessible articles. (and translating things you’ve written yourself is definitely easier)

    So that’s it, in a nutshell: du9 is not a blog, it’s a collective webzine. And again, thank you for the attention you give us, and I wish you Happy Holidays. And maybe, I’ll try and translate that last article of mine … :-)

  2. Hi Xavier,

    Thanks for the clarification. I guess I was just being sloppy with terms in calling it a blog, because I know the style and structure are more formal than that. And I’m aware that other people write for it, but you seem to be the only one who writes about manga. (Well, you and Stephen Paul, but everything I have seen by him so far is something I linked to when he posted it in English.) So I’m not deliberately ignoring the others, although I guess I did make it sound like you are a lone blogger. Sorry!

    And yeah, you should translate that last article, because your English is better than my French!