In this week’s PWCW, Kai-Ming Cha takes a look at Crunchyroll, which started as a fan-supplied site with lots of pirate content and is evolving into a commercial site with content provided by manga and anime publishers.
“I was Keitaro Urashima”: Scott VonSchilling explains the appeal of the everynerd hero of Love Hina at The Anime Almanac.
A manga fan in the UK pushes his local library to increase their manga holdings from one volume to 1,000.
Digital Manga has launched the website for their new imprint, DokiDoki.
Meanwhile, Yaoi Generation announced two new licenses: Tender Affairs (Yasashii Kankei) and Perfect World, both by Shinri Fuwa. Cover images are up on their manga page, with more info to follow.
Attention bloggers: Everythingyaoi.com has a new affiliate program, similar to Amazon except, they say, it pays more.
News from Japan: Ed Chavez has this week’s manga rankings from Taiyosha at MangaCast. Walkin’ Butterfly creator Chihiro Tamaki will be starting up a new manga in Cutie magazine. Me & My Brothers is coming to an end, and a new edition of Azumanga Daioh is in the works to mark the 10th anniversary of its magazine launch.
Reviews: Over at Graphic Novel Reporter, I reviewed (and field-tested) The Manga Cookbook, and I also have a few non-manga reviews up: Dear Dracula, Amelia Rules!, vol. 1 of Luuna, and Gettysburg: The Graphic Novel. At Good Comics for Kids, Kate Dacey has come up with a trio of good manga for kids. Also, I couldn’t stop laughing at the title of Tantric Stripfighter Trina long enough to review it, so I passed along my copy to Erica Friedman, who expertly skewers it at Okazu. At Comics Worth Reading, Ed Sizemore checks out vol. 3 of Mechademia, the scholarly journal of otaku culture. And the Manga Recon team looks over some prose books for their Otaku Bookshelf.
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of 20th Century Boys (Comics Should Be Good)
A Library Girl on vol. 2 of After School Nightmare (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Casey Brienza on vol. 1 of Akihabara@DEEP (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Connie on vols. 7, 8, and 9 of Basara (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 5 of Black God (Kuriousity)
Courtney Kraft on The Cain Saga (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Kris on Clan of the Nakagamis (Manic About Manga)
Adam Beck on vol. 4 of Cy-Believers (Advanced Media Network)
Michelle Smith on Desire (soliloquy in blue)
Timothy Callahan on The Drifting Classroom (Comic Book Resources)
Courtney Kraft on Gorgeous Carat (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Greg Hackmann on Goth, the novel (Mania.com)
Erica Friedman on vol. 4 of Hakodate Youjin Buraijou Himegami (Okazu)
Connie on vol. 2 of Hayate x Blade (Slightly Biased Manga)
David Rasmussen on vol. 10 of Hayate the Combat Butler (Manga Life)
Emily on Hidari Te no Love Letter (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Carlo Santos on vol. 3 of Kamichama Karin Chu (ANN)
Julie on vol. 8 of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Katherine Farmar on Last Portrait (Comics Village)
Matthew Brady on vol. 10 of Monster (Warren Peace Sings the Blues)
Noah Berlatsky on vols. 13 and 14 of Nana (The Hooded Utilitarian)
Julie on vol. 1 of NG Life (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of Oishinbo: A la Carte (Prospero’s Manga)
Amy Culbertson on vol. 1 of Oishinbo: A la Carte (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
James Fleenor on Orange (Anime Sentinel)
Rob Vollmar on vol. 1 of Pluto (Ramble On)
Dan Polley on vol. 20 of Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle (Comics Village)
David Rasmussen on vol. 6 of Yumekui Kenbun Nightmare Inspector (Manga Life)
The comments on the UK library posting are a hoot.