Archives for May 2008

David Welsh looks over this week’s new manga at Precocious Curmudgeon and continues his look at Eisner nominees, including New Engineering, Tekkonkinkreet, and Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms, in his latest Flipped column.

Vol. 29 of Naruto checks in at number 48 on the USA Today best-seller list, down from #44 last week. Over at Comicsnob, Matt Blind posts the online sales rankings for last week.

Here’s a hopeful sign for DramaQueen fans: The company is sending out cease and desist notices to scanlators. Kuri-ousity has the scoop, along with the latest from their forums.

Translators Alethea and Athena Nibley write about grammar and word choices, and take a stand for “you and me,” in their latest Manga Life column. Park Cooper introduces Manga Bulletin, a regular news and comment column, with PR and snark on Tite Kubo, the Honey and Clover movie, and the latest Pokemon manga.

At the Icarus blog (always NSFW), Simon Jones lists the adult manga titles from the latest Previews.

Tite Kubo is coming to SDCC, and John Jakala is rearranging his life accordingly.

Same Hat guys links to scanlations of a series that is never going to be licensed, Shintaro Kago’s Dance! Kremlin Palace! Here’s the prologue and chapter 1. (Be warned, it’s NSFW.)

Patrick Macias takes a peek at a bit of Japanese culture that hasn’t really made it over here: Ojisan “kindly old uncle” magazines, featuring hot middle-aged men and the things they love (comfy clothes and soft food, apparently).

Hellish Kitty: Here’s a tattoo that combines Hello Kitty with Akira‘s Shotaro Kaneda. Click at your own risk! (I actually think it’s kind of cute.)

Reviews: Deb Aoki reviews vol. 1 of J-Pop Idol, which was the number one cell phone manga in Japan, at About.com (which has a new, cleaner design—much more readable). At Active Anime, Scott Campbell reviews vol. 12 of Trigun Maximum, and Holly Ellingwood dives into a mixed bag of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, vol. 1 of A Strange and Mystifying Story, and A Love Song for the Miserable. James Hanrahan reviews vol. 1 of Dororo and vol. 1 of Dokkoida at Manga Life. Lissa Pattillo reviews vol. 1 of Satisfaction Guaranteed at Kuri-ousity. At Comics Worth Reading, Johanna Draper Carlson adds vol. 2 of Aria to her “Recommended” list. Sabrina checks out vol. 1 of Aqua at Comics Village. Isaac Hale gives vol. 5 of Barefoot Gen an A+ at PopCultureShock’s Manga Recon blog. Connie is biased in favor of vol. 12 of Skip Beat at Slightly Biased Manga. Kethylia wasn’t crazy about the Train Man light novel but thought the translation was good. Tangognat takes a look at vols. 1-7 at Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne. Erica Friedman checks out vol. 12 of Yuri Hime at Okazu. Carlo Santos picks up vol. 17 of Negima at ANN. Matthew Brady reviews the June Shojo Beat at Warren Peace Sings the Blues.

ANN is reporting a bizarre little story about Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Publisher Shueisha and anime company A.P.P.P. have stopped shipments of the anime and manga because of an image that some Muslims found offensive. In the sixth episode of the anime, a character is apparently reading a copy of the Koran while ordering that another character be killed. In the manga version, the text in the book is unintelligible, but the producers of the anime used actual text from the Koran, which seems to have triggered the online protests. In their official statement, Shueisha and A.P.P.P. say that the anime producers didn’t realize they were using actual passages from the Koran; they just wanted something Arabic because the scene was set in Egypt. They apologized and promised to scrub the offending scenes as well as some fight scenes that included mosques. Breitbart.com has more details. The manga has been around since 1987 and the anime started up in 2001, so neither is new, but Breitbart notes that a pirated version with Arabic subtitles has been making the rounds since March 2007. I imagine the price of older Jojo items is about to skyrocket among collectors. (Image, which does not depict the Koran, lifted from ANN.)

ICv2 released Diamond’s sales figures for April yesterday, as well as an analysis of sales for the first quarter of 2008. The news is mixed: sales of pamphlet comics were down 7% from the first quarter of 2007, sales of graphic novels were up 5%, and the overall market was down 5%. (Keep in mind that Diamond distributes to comics stores.) If this seems mathematically odd, remember that floppies make up the lion’s share of that market.

It was a particularly lean month for manga, however, with only 7 titles making the the top 100 selling graphic novels list. Take a look; as always, the number in parentheses before the title is the book’s rank on the overall graphic novels chart; the number in parens after the title is the number of volumes sold in April.

1. (19) Path of the Assassin, vol. 10 (3,009)
2. (59) Vampire Knight, vol. 4 (1,786)
3. (60) InuYasha, vol. 33 (1,764)
4. (70) Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Adventure, vol. 1 (1,572)
4. (71) Oh My Goddess, vol. 8 (1,529)
5. (72) Witchblade Takeru Manga, vol. 1 (1,522)
6. (90) Street Fighter III, vol. 2 (1,252)
7. (100) Hellgate: London, vol. 1 (1,195)

Not an impressive list, is it? There were no new volumes of Naruto, Bleach, or Fruits Basket to break into the top ten, but what strikes me is what an uninteresting group of titles this is: Some long-running series, a couple of fighting game tie-ins, a franchise kids’ book (that is also a game tie-in). Vampire Knight is OK, but don’t get me started on that Witchblade thing.

April was a relatively lean month for manga, but there were still plenty of worthwhile titles: the last volume of Dragon Head; the debut of Hee Jung Park’s lovely Hotel Africa; new volumes of After School Nightmare, School Rumble, Monster, and The Drifting Classroom; the charmingly titled Selfish Mr. Mermaid; and the gorgeous Speed Racer: Mach Go Go Go box set. Apparently none of those broke 1,200 copies in comics stores nationwide. Is that because the comics stores aren’t carrying them or because people are buying them elsewhere? Perhaps it’s a combination of both, but it looks like there was a missed opportunity here.

In this week’s Manga Before Flowers column at Comic Book Resources, Danielle Leigh wonders why she doesn’t like shonen as much as she thinks she should, and she asks readers to suggest some new titles for her shoujo-loving self to try.

If Jesus and Buddha living together in modern-day Japan sounds like comedy gold, then Khursten has the manga for you: Saint Young Men. It’s unlicensed (surprise!) but she has a taste of it at MangaCast. Meanwhile, Ed continues his big list of this month’s Japanese releases with parts 2 and 3 of the mid-major publishers.

Erin Finnegan wonders if, as a professional manga writer, she can write off her manga purchases, and her commenters say yes. And at the Ninjaconsultant site she posts the second part of the shoujo manga panel from Anime Boston.

Broccoli Books has a blog that allows readers to peek into the production process. In the current post, staffer Yukiko talks about editing Nui, an upcoming title.

So, apparently all those “Kubo is coming” teasers we’ve been seeing around the blogosphere were referring to Tite Kubo, creator of Bleach, who will be a guest at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con.

At Same Hat, Ryan reflects on the life of retailer Rory Root, who was an early supporter of manga.

Huamulan03 has more on price increases in Indonesia at the Sunny Side Up Anime Blog.

News from Japan: ComiPress has the latest on manga and light novel adaptations. And Japanator’s God Len muses on why Japanese readers voted One Piece as the manga most likely to make them cry.

Reviews: Katherine Farmar reviews vol. 1 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service at the Forbidden Planet blog. The locals check in at Comics Village: Charles Tan on vol. 13 of Death Note: How To Read; Dan Polley on vol. 6 of Gacha Gacha: The Next Revolution; Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Fairy Cube; and John Thomas on Kazuo Koike’s Color of Rage. Erin Finnegan has a thoughtful review of vols. 1 and 2 of Speed Racer: Mach Go Go Go at PopCultureShock (and no, a thoughtful review of this title is not a contradiction in terms). Lots of reviewing action at Active Anime, where Sandra Scholes checks out the UK edition of vol. 1 of Nana, Scott Campbell dives into vol. 1 of Ral Grad and vol. 8 of Oh My Goddess, Holly Ellingwood reads vol. 5 of Love*Com, and Rachel Bentham gets an advance look at A Promise of Romance. At Comics Worth Reading, Johanna Draper Carlson puts vol. 8 of Nana and vol. 1 of Aria on her Recommended list and suspects from vol. 2 of Honey and Clover that that series will grow on her. Lissa Pattillo reviews Gorgeous Carat Galaxy at Kuri-ousity. Michelle enjoys vol. 27 of Basara at Soliloquy in Blue. Tiamat’s Disciple continues his look at unlicensed manga with three more series: vols. 1-3 of Koudelka, by Chikyu Misaki manga-ka Yuji Iwahara; vols. 1 and 2 of Godhand Teru; and vols. 1-24 of Glass Mask, which is one of the best-selling shoujo titles of all time. Greg Hackmann is not impressed with vol. 1 of Hotel Africa but Ron Quezon gives vol. 4 of Cipher solid Bs at Anime on DVD. Lori Henderson gives five stars to vol. 1 of Muhyo & Rohji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation at Manga Xanadu. Ferdinand reviews vol. 1 of B.O.D.Y. at Prospero’s Manga. Julie checks out vol. 1 of Two Flowers for the Dragon at the Manga Maniac Cafe. At Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page, Emily looks at two more unlicensed series, Love Fighter and Love Luck. Jog reviews Color of Rage. Deb Aoki reads vol. 1 of Ultimate Venus at About.com. Connie checks out vol. 10 of Saint Seiya, vol. 5 of Queens, and vol. 1 of X-Day at Slightly Biased Manga.

Katherine Dacey has posted another Weekly Recon, with this week’s new manga and her recommendations, at PopCultureShock.

Can’t tell 2chan from 4chan? Wired explains it all to you and talks to Patrick Macias as well about American otaku. (Via Patrick’s blog.)

Salimbol posts some Fullmetal Alchemist omake and some mangaka self-portraits.

Want to hear yet another expert explain the appeal of yaoi? Here you go. This one actually delves into the social implications of yaoi fandom, which makes it more substantial than most.

At Aint It Cool News, Scott Green posts a review of Harvey and Etsuko’s Manga Guide to Japan that also delves into some of creator Mimei Sakamoto’s more controversial comments. (Via Female Comic Book Superheroes, via When Fangirls Attack.)

Fanime is this weekend, and About.com’s Deb Aoki runs through the high points, including appearances by My Dearest Devil Princess manga-ka Maika Netsu and uber-editor Carl Horn.

Casey Brienza, a.k.a. Kethylia, will be presenting an academic paper on manga at the 6th Annual Conference on the Book in October.

News from Japan: More like rumors from Japan, really: ANN cites a Mainichi Shimbun article claiming that the publisher Shogakukan is considering shutting down Weekly Young Sunday, the magazine that was home to One Pound Gospel. The seinen magazine had a circulation of 202,541 last year, respectable by U.S. standards but not so much in Japan, where similar magazines have circs of close to 1 million. ANN also reports that Gen Urobuchi will write the light novel adaptation of the Black Lagoon manga. And Hello Kitty is Japan’s new tourism ambassador to China, joining fellow feline Doraemon in the cartoon cultural attache corps.

Reviews: Johanna Draper Carlson finds that she doesn’t like vol. 2 of Hell Girl any more than she liked vol. 1, at Comics Worth Reading. At Comics-and-More, Dave Ferraro finds vol. 1 of The Moon and Sandals to be a fun, light read that is definitely worth checking out. Erica Friedman checks out an untranslated yuri manga, vol. 3 of Aoi Hana, at Okazu. Active Anime’s reviews for the day: Scott Campbell on vol. 9 of Path of the Assassin, Margaret Veira on vol. 6 of Trinity Blood, and Holly Ellingwood on The Reformed and vol. 1 of S. Tiamat’s Disciple recently reached that moment we all dread: He ran out of manga to read in English. So he’s reviewing a slew of unlicensed titles: vols. 1-9 of History’s Strongest Disciple, vols. 1-7 of Cool Beauty Revenger Gekkoh, vols. 1-14 of Family Compo, vols. 1-2 of Arcana Soul, and vols. 1-15 of Angel Densetsu. He also picks up a licensed series, vols. 2-7 of Elemental Gelade. Lissa Pattillo reads a manga that I really enjoyed, vol. 1 of Off*Beat, at Kuri-ousity. Julie reviews vol. 1 of Dorothea at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Ferdinand finds nothing new about vol. 1 of Haruka at Prospero’s Manga. Briana Lawrence checks out vol. 1 of Don’t Blame Me and Danielle Van Gorder reviews vol. 2 of Fairy Tail at Anime on DVD. Kethylia enjoys vol. 22 of Berserk. Deb Aoki reviews vols. 1 and 2 of Aqua at About.com. Salimbol reviews vols. 6-9 of Saiyuki and vol 17 of Tsubasa at The Chocolate Mud Wyvern Presents.

Ed Chavez updates his big list of discontinued manga at the MangaCast, and he notes some trends: manhwa and seinen titles are more likely to get the ax (or just fade away without an announcement) but on the brighter side, some dropped titles are being picked up by other publishers. Meanwhile, some guy at the ADV booth at ACEN tells Gia that yes, they are still publishing manga, and no, they don’t have a release date for vol. 6 of Yotsuba&! yet. Nonetheless, Ed puts Cromartie High School, Gunslinger Girl, and Yotsuba&! on his dead manga list.

David Welsh lists some manga collections he’d like to see at Precocious Curmudgeon; commenters chime in with more.

A helpful reader has provided an English transcript of the French interview with Suehiro Maruo posted recently at Same Hat.

Otaku USA editor Patrick Macias and contributing writer Matt Alt take a trip to the Mandarake complex in Akihabara, and they record the experience, plus some other adventures, in podcast form.

Canned Dogs has an account of Takehiko Inoue’s reasons for moving to Evening magazine and starting Vagabond after Slam Dunk ran its course.

Tiamat’s Disciple is not impressed with Viz’s UK launch, and neither are his commenters.

The Viet Nam News reports on some resistance to unflipped manga in that country.

News from Japan: ANN reports that the Hakushaku to Yosei (The Count and the Fairy) light novels, already slated to be made into anime, will have a manga incarnation as well. The fantasy series is set in Victorian England and will run in Margaret magazine. Helen McCarthy looks at anime and manga museums in Japan at Suite 101. And here’s another destination to add to your list: Tokyo Character Street, an underground street of shops featuring anime and manga characters. (Cover image from Hakushaku to Yosei swiped from ANN.)

Reviews: Johanna Draper Carlson gives vol. 17 of Kindaichi Case Files the thumbs-up at Comics Worth Reading, and she also enjoys vol. 9 of Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs. Mangamaniac Julie checks out Renai Sousa: Love Control at the MangaCast. Katherine Dacey reviews two upcoming one-shots, Haridama: Magic Cram School and The Reformed, at Manga Recon. Connie reads Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms at Slightly Biased Manga. At Active Anime, Scott Campbell reviews vol. 3 of Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation and vol. 21 of Berserk, and Holly Ellingwood reads Haridama: Magic Cram School and the light novel Maid Machinegun. Michelle gives an A- to vol. 17 of Tsubasa at Soliloquy in Blue. Tiamat’s Disciple takes a walk on the prose side with a look at the Rurouni Kenshin light novel Voyage to the Moon World. Carl Kimlinger reads vol. 19 of Fruits Basket, Carlo Santos pans vol. 1 of Short Sunzen, and Theron Martin reviews vols. 4 and 5 of Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~ at ANN. David Welsh has a thoughtful review of Disappearance Diary at Precocious Curmudgeon. Salimbol reviews vol. 16 of Wallflower and vol. 6 of Vampire Knight. At the Dublin (California) Library, Sharibet reviews XXXHolic. Lissa Pattillo kicks off a week of mystery manga with a look at vol. 1 of Kamen Tantei at Kuri-ousity.

Confidential to QC and Cat: Hotmail is bouncing my e-mails to you for some reason. If you have another e-mail address I can use, please send it along and I’ll re-send my replies to you.