Crayon Shinchan, translating yuri, and the delights of Sakura-con

In this week’s Publishers Weekly Comics Week, I talk to Asako Suzuki and Jim Chadwick of CMX about the return of Crayon Shinchan.

David Welsh takes a short look at a short list of new manga for this week.

Erica Friedman interviews freelance translator Erin Subramanian of Lillilicious at Okazu.

Gia explains yaoi for beginners at The Escapist.

At Sporadic Sequential, John Jakala continues his imaginary argument with DC’s Paul Levitz over whether manga is more diverse than genre grapic novels. UPDATE: It’s not imaginary any more: John went to the source and got some answers!

Craig Fischer and Charles Hatfield discuss Junji Ito’s Uzumaki at Thought Balloonists.

Cathy bids farewell to two concluding series, Fruits Basket (she’s reading a foreign edition that’s ahead of Tokyopop) and Hana-Kimi, at It can’t all be about manga.

The Anchorage Daily News profiles local artist Brett Uher (Dark Moon Diary) and the teenagers who enter the Bosco’s Manga/Anime contest.

Matt Badham visits the exhibit “How Manga Took Over the World” at the Manchester (UK) Urbis Museum.

At Comics Worth Reading, Johanna Draper Carlson notes that Tokyopop’s Manga magazine is continuing to shrink.

Kristy Valenti recounts the things she liked about Sakuracon at ComiXology.

Tiamat’s Disciple looks at some new titles from Yen Press. Also, he goes to a Tokyopop event in the UK and comes back with some news: Kino no Tabi has been dropped, Scrapped Princess and Slayers will be back, and Tokko is on hold. UPDATE: Not so, says Tokyopop’s Peter Ahlstrom, in comments.

Reviews: Tangognat enjoys Your and My Secret, which was recently revived by Tokyopop, calling it “the craziest gender-bending manga I have ever read.” Erica Friedman reviews Mars No Kiss at Okazu. The denizens of Manga Village turn in another set of reviews: John Thomas on vol. 4 of MPD-Psycho, Dan Polley on vol. 12 of Nodame Cantabile, Charles Tan on vol. 5 of Chinese Hero: Tales of the Blood Sword, Sabrina on vol. 8 of O-Parts Hunter, and Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Metro Survive. Ben Leary reviews vol. 1 of Street Fighter II at Anime on DVD. Ed Sizemore is disappointed by vol. 1 of Crayon Shinchan at Comics Worth Reading. At the Manga Maniac Cafe, Julie reads vol. 1 of Hotel Africa and vol. 1 of A Wise Man Sleeps. A.E. Sparrow reviews vol. 2 of Gyakushu and vol. 4 of Strawberry 100% at IGN.com.

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Comments

  1. Huh, not surprised by the pop fiction news. TP USA had said such last year about those titles, but Tokko was just announced a month ago. To see a delay for that so soon is weird. Hope it’s nothing serious.

  2. Have to admit that Tokko is what shocked me, i mean it’s only a 3 volume manga so it’s not exactly a hard one. But to put it on hold so soon after licensing it. I know a lot of the fans of the manga in scanlation form are hoping they don’t pull a Manga Ent and mess around with it overly much.

    Scrapped Princess and Slayers had been cancelled though due to lack of sales, but it’s great to see them coming back next year at some point. Tabi has always been dodgy though. TP them tried to resolve the problem with it, but i guess it didn’t work out. Shame really cause i loved volume 1 of it.

  3. So you’re saying it’s time for me to put on the tin foil hat, then?

  4. lol it’s always been tin foil hat time :)

    I think most manga are going into slow down at the minute. TP aren’t the only ones that are putting stuff on hold, or long term hiatus.

  5. Oh no, John, please don’t! I’m enjoying the conversation immensely! Besides, it’s the only way we manga folks can talk to him at all.

  6. Actually, I like your description of the whole thing as an “imaginary argument.” It reminds me of DC’s goofy concept of “imaginary stories” (i.e., stories outside of normal continuity). In fact, I now declare the whole argument outside of my blog’s regular continuity!

  7. I responded over at Tiamat’s, but…TOKKO is not on hold and will come out in July in the US/Canada. It’s not licensed in the UK. Also, there’s no status change on any of the light novels.

  8. Yeah, just proves my point really TP UK dosent know it’s head from its ahem.

    It’s very frustrating to finally get to the rep, get some answers, then to have them overridden by someone from the US office. Clearly TP UK dosen’t know what it’s doing anymore and needs a swift kick in the family jewels

  9. Brigid, it turns out there is another way for us manga folk to talk to Paul Levitz: contact him directly!

    I decided to email Mr. Levitz directly with my questions, and he responded incredibly quickly. I’ve updated yesterday’s post with a clarification based on his reply.

    Thanks for inspiring me to try the direct route rather than just relying on indirect imaginary argumentation! ;)

  10. Whoa! Bloggers practicing journalism! Awesome!

    Seriously, as much as I was enjoying the imaginary colloquy, there is a lot to be said for going straight to the source. Good one.

  11. Well, the experience is teaching me why more bloggers don’t do journalism: it’s hard! I misunderstood Mr. Levitz’s comments, so I’ll be following up with an amended update as soon as I get confirmation that I understood his point this time.

  12. Peter Ahlstron just emailed me, and gave permision for me to post this. This is what he has to say on Tabi:

    Saying Kino no Tabi isn’t happening anymore due to licensing problems isn’t really incorrect and may be the least complicated thing to say in a forum like that. If Kino no Tabi does get restarted eventually (if and when the licensing issue gets worked out, and it may never get worked out), it will be a rescue of an essentially canceled series. Until such a time it’s easiest to consider it canceled.

  13. “Until such a time it’s easiest to consider it canceled.”

    That’s disappointing. But since it’s so, could you please cancel it officially so that those of us who pre-paid at our local comics shop can get our money back?