Tezuka and Taniguchi online; more on Yen

In this week’s PWCW, Kai-Ming Cha interviews Kurt Hassler about the recent changes at Yen Press, and Erin Finnegan reports on MangaNEXT, which took place last weekend.

ICv2 has an article on October’s top 20 graphic novels, as tracked by BookScan, but because they don’t provide an actual list, it’s a bit hard to decipher. Suffice it to say that while Watchmen topped the chart, 15 of the 20 titles on the list were manga.

The MangaCast folks post this week’s new releases, and what they think of them. Over at Comics Village, the villagers list their picks as well.

At Pretty, Fizzy Paradise, Kalinara wonders about tthe preponderance of josei manga on a recent “harmful to youth” list and wonders how many of the guys’ comics get tagged. (Via When Fangirls Attack.) Also via WFA: An interesting discussion on viola_canina’s LJ of sexism in manga and a brief article on moe and the Japanese ideal woman.

Futabasha has posted a Jiro Taniguchi story, the first chapter of Sensei no Kaban (The Teacher’s Briefcase), online for free. It’s in Japanese but lovely to look at even if you don’t speak the language.

Tezuka Productions will be putting 700 of Osamu Tezuka’s manga and 100 anime online for free. The plan is to eventually get all his works online and to have sister sites in English and Korean. Unfortunately, at the moment you have to use a Windows software plugins, so Mac users are left out of the party. Hopefully this unfortunate oversight will be rectified soon!

Adam Stephanides compares the manga and TV versions of MPD Psycho at Completely Futile.

Melinda Beasi muses on gender roles in Fruits Basket at there it is, plain as daylight.

Translators Alethea and Athena Nibley discuss the challenges of translation at Manga Life.

Scott, an actual doctor, provides medical notes for vol. 1 of Black Jack at Polite Dissent.

Job postings: Square Enix needs an English editor in Tokyo; fanfic experience a plus. Comics Village is looking for writers and an associate/editor reviewer. If you’re a beginning writer, this is a great way to get your words out there and get noticed. Plus, free manga!

News from Japan: Nosatsu Junkie is coming to an end. Happy news from Nodame Cantabile creator Tomoko Ninomiya: She gave birth to a son on October 24. And doesn’t 3,005 grams sound more impressive than 6.6 lbs.? That’s the metric system for ya.

Reviews: Ed Sizemore enjoys vols. 2 and 3 of Yumekui Kenbun: Nightmare Inspector but fears they will go the way of Planetes, admired by critics but unread by the rest of the world. Dave Ferraro reviews Bat-Manga! at Comics-and-More. Lissa Pattillo reads vol. 2 of You’re So Cool, vol. 9 of +Anima, and vol. 2 of Kaze no Hana. Julie checks out vol. 1 of The Flat Earth/Exchange, vol. 6 of High School Debut, and vol. 2 of Silver Diamond. Ferdinand reviews vol. 1 of Mixed Vegetables and Wanted at Prospero’s Manga. Emily’s latest find is Hikitateyaku no Koi at Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page. Greg McElhatton reviews vols. 1 and 2 of Black Lagoon at Read About Comics. Tangognat checks out the VizBig edition of vol. 1 of Vagabond. New at Manga Recon: Sam Kusek on vol. 23 of Hunter x Hunter, Isaac Hale on vol. 1 of Martin & John, and two sets of brief reviews, Manga Minis and The Otaku Bookshelf. John Thomas reviews Bat-Manga! and Katherine Farmar reads vol. 2 of Voice or Noise at Comics Village. Connie is deep into several series at Slightly Biased Manga: vol. 9 of Monster, vol. 30 of Oh My Goddess, and Hino Horror 12: Mystique Mandala of Hell. Snow Wildsmith checks out Shy Intentions at Fujoshi Librarian. At Manic About Manga, Kris reads vols. 1 and 2 of Magical JxR, vols. 1, 2, and 3 of Star Project Chiro, Tomorrow’s Ulterior Motives, Barefoot Waltz, You Make My Head Spin, and Ginger Mayerson’s yaoi novel The Pajama Boy. I haven’t been to The Comic Book Bin in a while (no RSS feed=I forget they exist), but Leroy Douresseaux has recently posted reviews of vol. 2 of Sugar Princess: Skating to Win, I Luv Halloween: Ultimate Twisted Edition, Love + Alpha, vol. 8 of Kurohime, The Devil’s Secret, vol. 13 of Nana, vol. 3 of B.O.D.Y., and Total Surrender. Michelle Smith reviews a Japanese title, vol. 2 of Touch, at Soliloquy in Blue. Deb Aoki gives you the pros and cons of Solanin and vol. 1 of Higurashi: When They Cry at About.com. New at Manga Life: David Rasmussen on vols. 2 and 3 of Gun Blaze West, Joy Kim on vol. 6 of Crayon Shinchan, and Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 3 of B.O.D.Y. and vol. 11 of Ouran High School Host Club.

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Comments

  1. James Moar says

    About the Tezuka site — I’m seeing it fine on a Mac.

    Currently, you can only see the first few pages of a book, then you have to pay. My Japanese isn’t good enough to know whether that’s going to change, or whether the original article was mistranslated.

    Here’s a link to all the books which are available (in Japanese) so far: http://tezukaosamu.net/jp/manga/

    If anyone wants a look at the first dozen or so pages of Shin Takarajima (New Treasure Island), you can go direct to it here: http://dres1.ebookbank.jp/sc/view3/sample/9-1282-84/index.html

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