OK, the post-Thanksgiving stupor is finally wearing off and I’m getting back to business again. Let’s start off with something completely different: Steven Schulz e-mailed me with a link to his scanlation of an anti-anti-whaling screed by insane right-wing cartoonist Kobayashi Yoshinori. Yes, all you Greenpeace-loving whale-huggers, did you realize that whales are actually marauders of the deep and that the best thing we can do for the earth is kill more of them? And that the anti-whaling movement is actually a plot by the Anglo-Saxon countries, whose beef-eating habits are much worse for the environment? No? Well, read on, and be enlightened!
The MangaCast team make their picks from this week’s new manga, and for those who like to plan ahead, Ed posts the manga list from the December Previews (shipping next February and March). The Manga Villagers list their picks as well at Comics Village.
As Broccoli Books prepares to close its doors, Shizuki is sending out promotional trinkets to libraries with anime clubs. Click for details.
It looks like Tania del Rio’s manga version of Sabrina the Teenage Witch is coming to an end; Johanna Draper Carlson has some thoughts at Comics Worth Reading.
Over at Precocious Curmudgeon, David Welsh’s readers have been sharing their ideas for saving the comics market. He has a bunch of posts up, so go take a look.
At Manic About Manga, Kris talks about how she started reading BL and recommends some titles for beginners, then follows up with more suggestions.
Looking to score some cheap manga? Kate Dacey has some tips on shopping on E-bay at Manga Recon.
Erica Friedman catches us up on the week in yuri at Okazu.
Xavier Guilbert translates his interview with Tori Miki into English at du9.
Mike Gombos of Dark Horse posts some fresh art from Vampire Hunter D creator Yoshitaka Amano. These are of the character he persists in calling Tacoman, although he’s really modeled on an octopus (tako), not a Mexican treat.
At Japanator, Dick McVengeance admits there are some manga even he won’t read, and the readers chime in with their own do-not-wants.
News from Japan: The 24th issue of Young Animal magazine features a one-shot manga, Samurai Sword, based on the film Kill by director Mamuro Oshii, whose other credits include Ghost in the Shell and Patlabor. Bones’ Xam’d: Lost Memories anime will get the manga treatment as well, in Ace Assault. A speaker at the World Congress III Against the Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents criticized the Japanese government for allowing anime and manga with representations of children in sexual situations. Japan allows drawings, but not photographs, of children in sexual acts.
Reviews: Jog surrounds his review of vol. 1 of Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo with a discussion of manga derived from anime at Jog – The Blog. He had me at “homoerotic space vampires.” At Manga Widget, Alex Hoffman celebrates Thanksgiving with short takes on nine manga about food, then posts a longer review of vol. 1 of Kasumi. Tom Spurgeon has a brief review of vol. 2 of Black Jack up at The Comics Reporter. Scott Green reviews issue #1 of Electric Ant at Aint It Cool News (via the authors’ blog, Same Hat! Same Hat!). Ken Haley takes a look at vol. 1 of 01-Ghost, the latest entry from Go!Comi, and Sam Kusek gives low marks to vols. 1 and 2 of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, at Manga Recon. Kris reads Lies and Kisses, vol. 1 of Blank Slate, Gakuen Heaven, vol. 1 of Ichigenme… The First Class is Civil Law, and Two of Hearts at Manic About Manga. Win Wiacek checks out vol. 1 of Hellgate: London and vol. 5 of Eden: It’s an Endless World at Now Read This! Connie reviews vol. 12 of Nana, vols. 2, 3, and 4 of Hellsing, and vols. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 of Tramps Like Us at Slightly Biased Manga. Allen Lujo reads Mana at Manga Jouhou. John Thomas takes a look at vol. 2 of Black Jack and Alex Hoffman reads vol. 1 of RalΩGrad at Comics Village. Ed Sizemore reads vol. 3 of Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time at Comics Worth Reading. Holly Ellingwood reviews vol. 1 of Yokaiden and Rachel Bentham chekcs out vol. 7 of Mamotte! Lollipop at Active Anime. Tiamat’s Disciple shares some thoughts on vol. 3 of With the Light. Lissa Pattillo reads vol. 3 of Your and My Secret and vol. 1 of B.Ichi at Kuriousity. Down at the Manga Maniac Cafe, Julie manages to fit in a post on vol. 3 of Parasyte before heading out for vacation. Erica Friedman reviews vol. 1 of Hanjuku Joshi and vol. 2 of Sunshine Sketch at Okazu. Gary Thompson reviews vol. 3 of Pumpkin Scissors and Briana Lawrence looks at vol. 1 of Fate/Stay Night at Mania.com. Sesho posts a written review of vol. 4 of Negima and a podcast of vol. 1 of Hayate Cross Blade.
About the pro whaling manga, this guy is a looney, but when it comes to the environmental impact of raising and feeding livestock, he is not wrong.
Just because he has an agenda doesn’t mean everything he wrote is wrong, there’s a grain of truth.
He wrote that fast food companies are cutting trees in Brazil to sell hamburgers.
Well the Brazilian Amazonian forest is cut down at a very fast rate to increase land available for soy culture.
And imported soy is a very big part of the food that is fed to American livestock. There is the oil that is used to carry to the US, then to carry processed meat everywhere in the country.
Also, fertilizers necessitate oil to be made, so there is another oil consumption.
The impact of raising livestock on the environment and global warming is real. We don’t need to eat animal proteins several times a day, once is enough. If we scaled back, we could reduce our oil consumption, and use all those grains and cereals that we use to feed livestock to feed more people.
Hi! Thanks for linking to the Kobayashi Yoshinori scanlation! ありがとう！