Christopher Butcher has an extended commentary on David Welsh’s roundup of the year in manga at Comics 212. Well worth a read. Tiamat’s Disciple looks at how various publishers fared in 2007 from a UK perspective. Anime on DVD has a special Bring Out Your Dead roundup that is mostly anime but also mentions BeBeautiful and CPM.
Lyle Masaki writes about the appeal of yaoi for After Elton. (Via The Yaoi Review.) Lyle has a few more comments at his own blog, Crocodile Caucus.
At Comics Worth Reading, Johanna Draper Carlson comments on a number of recent manga developments, including the Viz omnibuses and Mike Richardson’s revelation that Dark Horse publishes shoujo manga.
Tiamat’s Disciple has an interesting article on gray-market manga in the UK and the problems fans have finding books (TD was able to get vols. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 of Magical x Miracle, for instance, but not vol. 5).
Jason DeAngelis of Seven Seas talks to ICv2 about adding juvenile fiction to the mix.
Charts! Three volumes of Naruto make the USA Today top 150, all down a bit from last week: vol. 27 at number 87, vol. 26 at number 93, and vol. 25 at number 115. Meanwhile, Matt Blind lists the top 150 manga (online sales) at Comicsnob.
David Welsh looks at this week’s new comics, a lean selection aside from Tokyopop’s Manga Sutra. The MangaCast team pick the best of the lot as well.
Underrated manga watch: John Jakala discovers Gin Tama at Sporadic Sequential. And at Fanboy.com, Gia sings the praises of Hajime no Ippo and Antique Bakery.
News from Japan: ANN has the results of the 2007 Otaku Awards. I like it that “The UFO debate in the Japanese Parliament” won an award. Meanwhile, ComiPress has some comings and goings: Kodansha’s josei magazine Beth is folding, and new manga are coming out from Ryuta Amazume, creator of Toshiue no Hito, and Kouji Koumeta, creator of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. Comic Yurihime will become a stand-alone magazine, and “special interest” manga, stories about wine and classical music, are starting to catch on in Taiwan.
Newtype USA will cease publication in February and will be replaced by another magazine. Lots of discussion in the comments about the loss of advertising from Geneon, but cost and cover price also come up. Manga Xanadu says she won’t miss it because she has already moved on to Otaku USA, which has better writers and a lower cover price.
Here’s an interesting tidbit from Manga Jouhou: Takehiko Inoue is hosting a manga exhibit titled “Final Exhibition” at the Ueno no Mori Art Museum. Why “final”? That’s what MJ wants to know. There’s an enigmatic promotional site, in English, here. Also up at MJ: Are Japanese police picking on otaku?
The blogger who goes by huamulan03 is doing some interesting writing about Indonesian releases of Japanese manga at the Sunny Side Up Anime Blog. S/he compares Shi to Kanojo to Boku (released in Indonesia as From the Other World, although ANN gives the alternate title as Death, the Girl and Me) to Ghost Hunt and displays the covers to show how different the Indonesian release is from the Japanese editions (published by Kodansha).
Job Board: Viz is looking for a senior editor for their magazine line.
Manly Manga and More posts the January release list for Germany.
Reviews: Tangognat enjoys vol. 1 of Zig Zag. Kethylia reviews vol. 1 of Good Luck. At Manga Jouhou, Kurishojo reviews Freefall Romance and Hate to Love You. Erin Finnegan reviews vol. 1 of Aventura, vols. 2 and 3 of My Heavenly Hockey Club, and vols. 1 and 2 of Mamotte! Lollipop, and Ken Haley checks out vol. 1 of Bombos Vs. Everything, at Manga Recon. Erica Friedman reviews vol. 2 of The Last Uniform at Okazu. Lissa Patillo reviews vol. 1 of Aventura at Kuriosity. At Prospero’s Manga, Ferdinand reads vol. 1 of Harukaze Bitter Bop and vol. 1 of The Knockout Makers, and Miranda updates us on vols. 3 and 4 of The Demon Ororon. Sandra Scholes checks out vol. 1 of Junjo Romantica and Holly Ellingwood reviews Ka Shin Fu at Active Anime. Danielle Van Gorder reviews vol. 1 of Voice or Noise at AoD, and everyone contributes to the Small Bodied Manga Reviews. At the Manga Maniac Cafe, Julie reviews vol. 3 of My Heavenly Hockey Club, vol. 1 of I, Otaku: Struggle in Akibahara, vol. 3 of Yurara, and vol. 2 of Reborn! Nick hates vol. 1 of Fall in Love Like a Comic at Hobotaku.
Here’s a scoop for you. ADV is telling potential advertisers that their new magazine will be called PIQ (as in “sneak peak” or “pique your interest”). The fact that it’s not being called “Anime USA” makes me think that something very different from Newtype will emerge from the rubble. There’s no media kit currently available, so it’s not like PIQ will be hitting the stands next month or anything. But anything can happen and it usually does!
AnimeonDVD just confirmed it
“After reading about the cancellation I asked Newtype about my subscription and got the following response:
Thank you for your email to Newtype USA!
We will be launching a new magazine that will be on sale in mid-March. Titled PiQ, the magazine will cover anime, manga, video games and other aspects of pop culture of keen interests to you. All existing subscribers will have their remaining issues fulfilled at a two-to-one ratio, meaning you will get double the number of magazines delivered straight to your doorstep! We hope you stick with us and give the new magazine a shot. We’re sure you’ll love it!
If you’re not interested in receiving double the value for your remaining subscription, you can opt out at anytime.”