Archives for March 2009

Short takes for Tuesday

God Len lists this week’s new releases at Japanator. (Image is of vol. 1 of Samurai 7, a manga remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, but with cyborgs.)

Deb Aoki has a sneak preview of vol. 2 of Kasumi at About.com.

Kris has some encouraging words about Aurora at Manic About Manga, and she points out that their fate really is in our hands (or our wallets). At the Yaoi Press blog, Yamila Abraham clarifies her explanation of a little returns game that some wholesalers play.

Congratulations to Tangognat on her sixth blogiversary. Sixth!

Reviews: Derik Badman presents part 2 of his analysis of Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix at Madinkbeard; Derik is going in depth here, so expect spoilers. At Blogcritics, Bill Sherman reviews Jonathan Clements’ book Schoolgirl Milky Crisis: Adventures in the Anime and Manga Trade. Yen Plus Info has a brief look at the April issue of Yen Plus. Chris Mautner takes a look at Shintaro Kago’s ero-guro manga Dance! Kremlin Palace, which is available only in scanlation at the moment.

Alex Hoffman on vol. 1 of Black God (Comics Village)
Xen on vol. 1 of Croquis Pop (Manga Jouhou)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 4 of Croquis Pop (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Snow Wildsmith on vol. 1 of Detroit Metal City (ICv2)
Michelle Smith on The Devil’s Trill (Comics Should Be Good)
Kevin Church on Disappearance Diary (BeaucoupKevin(dot)com)
Lori Henderson on vol. 3 of Honey and Clover (Comics Village)
Julie on vol. 2 of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Manga Maniac Cafe)
LKK on NG Life (LKK) (Via When Fangirls Attack)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 1 of Nightschool (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (Kuriousity)
Otaku Librarian on xxxHolic (The Otaku Librarian)
Erica Friedman on vol. 15 of Yuri Hime (Okazu)

What we’re reading this week

Curious about what’s at the top of the stack chez MangaBlog? The folks at Robot6 were kind enough to invite me to contribute to this week’s What are you reading? feature, so I contributed a few notes on my current reading. (Image is of the first volume of Crown, one of the books on my stack.)

We mentioned on Friday that Aurora has a big sale on, and Deb Aoki tweeted that returns were the problem. At the Yaoi Press blog, Yamila Abraham sheds some light on the process, and the problems, from the small publisher’s point of view. Simon Jones of Icarus Comics offers some thoughts on where Aurora is in a publisher’s life cycle right now.

Lori Henderson lists this week’s all-ages comics and manga and makes some recommendations at Good Comics for Kids.

Matt Blind is changing his format a bit at Rocket Bomber. He posted last week’s executive summary and index and emerging trends report and then offers some commentary on what he sees. (Also, he points out a correction for the New York Times.)

At Anime Vice, Gia asks her readers: Would you switch from scanlations to legal digital manga if the price was right?

Erica Friedman brings home the yuri news at Okazu.

Robots Never Sleep posts more cool stuff from Japan, including a manga illustrated by Taiyo Matsumoto.

Paul Gravett has an article on the Utagawa Kuniyoshi exhibit in London and that artist’s links to manga. (Via Journalista; art swiped from the Gravett piece.)

Margaret O’Connell looks at manga mishaps involving Valentines Day chocolates at Sequential Tart.

Over at the Manga Talk LJ community, psychoe posts a review of the Samurai Reimagined exhibit at the Pacific Asia Museum.

Lori Henderson on VIZBIG editions of Rumiko Takahashi’s work: Do want!

Yaoi Press will be at Anime Wasabi in Denver next weekend.

Lissa Pattillo files a con report from Animaritime 2009, a fan-run convention in New Brunswick, at Kuriousity.

Digital is offering some giveaways to tempt fans to try their new DokiDoki line; Deb Aoki has all the details.

News from Japan: Kadokawa Shoten has announced a new magazine, Young Ace, which will debut in July with a lineup that includes, among other things, Neon Genesis Evangelion, MPD-Psycho, and a Haruhi Suzumiya spinoff. Also, Saiyuki Gaiden, the prequel to the Saiyuki series, is coming to an end. Yutaka Izubuchi is picking up Kishin Gensō Rune Masquer again after an 18-year hiatus, and Tokyo Tribes creator Santa Inoue is starting a new series, Dan Da Barbarian, in Comic Birz. And while it’s not manga, click over to Mecha Mecha Media to see some interesting Obama sightings in Japan. (Dan Da Barbarian image borrowed from ANN.)

Reviews: Lori Henderson posts some Manga Drive-Bys, quick reviews of books she has been reading recently, and the Manga Recon team posts another set of Manga Minis.

Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of 20th Century Boys (Kuriousity)
Alexandra Duff on vols. 1-3 (collection) of Ai Yori Aoshi (Sequential Tart)
Connie on vols. 24 and 25 of Basara (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 4 of Battle Royale (Ultimate Edition) (Slightly Biased Manga)
Donnelle Ficca on vol. 35 of Boys Over Flowers (Sequential Tart)
Steve Bennett on vol. 1 of Children of the Sea (ICv2)
Kris on Dash! (Manic About Manga)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 1 of GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Rachel Bentham on vol. 1 of Gakuen Prince (Active Anime)
Holly Ellingwood on vol. 2 of Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo (Active Anime)
Karen Maeda on vol. 10 of Hayate the Combat Butler (Sequential Tart)
Connie on vol. 2 of Kikaider Code 02 (Slightly Biased Manga)
Margaret Viera on vol. 16 of The Law of Ueki (Active Anime)
Connie on Leave it to PET! (Slightly Biased Manga)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of Maid-Sama (Tangognat)
Matthew J. Brady on vol. 15 of Monster (Warren Peace Sings the Blues)
Julie on Naughty but Nice (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Patti Martinson on NG Life (Sequential Tart)
Karen Maeda on vol. 4 of Nora: The Last Chronicle of Devildom (Sequential Tart)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 1 of Pig Bride (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Nick Smith on vol. 1 of Pokemon Adventures (ICv2)
Karen Maeda on vol. 10 of Reborn! (Sequential Tart)
Clive Owen on vol. 5 of Rosario + Vampire (Animanga Nation)
Jenni Moody on vol. 15 of Skip Beat! (Sequential Tart)
Matthew J. Brady on vol. 3 of Slam Dunk (Warren Peace Sings the Blues)
Sesho on vol. 7 of Sorcerer Hunters (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Danielle Leigh on vols. 6 and 7 of Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning (Comics Should Be Good)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 1 of Step (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 3 of Sunshine Sketch (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Karen Maeda on vol. 1 of Tsubasa: Those With Wings (Sequential Tart)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of Tsubasa: Those With Wings (Manga Recon)
Holly Ellingwood on Utahime the Songstress (Active Anime)
James Fleenor on Wanted (Anime Sentinel)
Julie on The Way to Heaven (MangaCast)
Cynthia on vol. 1 of Ze (Boys Next Door)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Ze (Kuriousity)

Strong women and cheap otaku

We’re celebrating Women’s History Month over at Good Comics for Kids with a look at comics and manga that feature strong women characters, and Kate Dacey and Sabrina Fritz polled all our bloggers to get a list of manga with heroines we love.

The NYT “Graphic Books” best-seller lists are up, and there’s a bit more variety in the manga lineup this week, with Fruits Basket (not Fruit Baskets, NYT copyeditors!), Bleach, Vampire Knight, Rosario + Vampire, and Code Geass joining the obligatory five volumes of Naruto—which, for the first time, each have a different blurb. But the question on Twitter was: Why was Appleseed on the paperback list and not the manga list? Who can fathom the NYT?

Over at Rocket Bomber, Matt Blind posts his list of the top 500 manga in online sales last week.

Melinda Beasi writes about what she likes about manhwa and asks for recommendations for similar titles. Her readers oblige in the comments section.

Otaku Librarian mulls over the problem of helping readers find 16+ manga in a library that interfiles them with other fiction, as opposed to having an adult GN section.

At The Eastern Edge, Gottsu-Iiyan bemoans Urasawa’s poor showing on the manga charts. People, there’s more to life than bishies and ninjas!

Du9 has an interesting summary of the French comics market, and the manga situation looks a lot like here: sales are leveling off and also concentrating, with Naruto and a few others leading the pack and numbers dropping off sharply after that.

I’m not sure what exactly this is a sign of, but there are a lot of manga bargains lately: Tokyopop titles for 99 cents each on Bookcloseouts.com (thanks, Lori!) and almost the entire Aurora line for four bucks a volume if you buy direct from the publisher. Deb Aoki has the details on the Aurora deal and Johanna Draper Carlson has some thoughts on the implications. Snow Wildsmith has some recommendations as well as shipping info. And Kris at Manic About Manga heard from a company rep that things are looking rocky for the small publisher.

Meanwhile, Roland Kelts thinks American anime and manga fans aren’t spending much on their hobby, although as his chief source for that seems to be Stu Levy, one might ask whether the fault lies in the fans or in other factors.

At Japanator, Dick McVengeance explains how he manages his manga and anime budget.

News from Japan: At MangaCast, Ed Chavez posts the weekly manga rankings from Taiyosha.

Reviews: At The Anime Almanac, Scott VonSchilling posts a rare positive review of vol. 1 of Tantric Stripfighter Trina. EvilOmar posts some brief reviews at About Heroes. Melinda Beasi looks at a classic by Moto Hagio, They Were Eleven, in her Tokidoki Daylight column at Comics Should Be Good. Johanna Draper Carlson finds Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (Yokohama Shopping Trip) to be a good followup to Aria at Comics Worth Reading.

Julie on vol. 10 of After School Nightmare (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Billy Aguiar on vols. 1-3 of Ai Yori Aoshi (Prospero’s Manga)
Tangognat on Battlestar Galactica: Echoes of New Caprica and Star Trek Ultimate Edition (Tangognat)
Danielle Leigh on vols. 1 and 2 of Crown (Comics Should Be Good!)
Charles Tan on vol. 2 of The Drifting Classroom (Comics Village)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Gankutsuou (Comics Worth Reading)
Julie Rosato on vol. 3 of Hero Heel (Mania.com)
Snow Wildsmith on vol. 1 of Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit (ICv2)
Erica Friedman on vol. 1 of Junsui Adolescence (Okazu)
Sakura Eries on vol. 3 of Mixed Vegetables (Mania.com)
Connie on vol. 1 of Narration of Love (Slightly Biased Manga)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 1 of Oninagi (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
David Welsh on vol. 2 of Papillon (Precocious Curmudgeon)
Connie on vol. 17 of Saint Seiya (Slightly Biased Manga)
Deb Aoki on vol. 1 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (About.com)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 2 of Suzunari (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Snow Wildsmith on Sweet Regard (Fujoshi Librarian)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 3 of Very! Very! Sweet (Kuriousity)
Emily on Wild Beat (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Eva Volin on vol. 1 of Wolverine: Prodigal Son (ICv2)
Sadie Mattox on Yen + magazine (Extremely Graphic)
Alex Hoffman on vol. 1 of Yokaiden (Comics Village)

MIMC winners announced, with commentary

The results of the third Morning International Manga Competition are up, and the chief judge’s general comments make for fascinating reading. For one thing, they did not choose a second runner-up this year because of the sharp drop-off in quality between the first two winners and the rest of the pack. They also comment that they are determined to support international artists and announced that the second-place winner from last year’s contest, Yovova, will have a 50-page story in an upcoming edition of Morning Two. They are interestingly upfront about the fact that the story was revised several times. And then there’s this:

Finally, as has been the case in each of these contests, many of the current entries have focused on bishojo, giant robots, ninja and the like, leaving a very narrow impression of “manga” style. As the judges are Japanese, we are biased toward a more creative association for the word that foreigners have come to know as “MANGA.” We cannot define exactly what manga is, but our version of manga is much broader in context and content.

In order to bring this point home, they are changing the name of next year’s competition to the Morning International Comic Competition. And if you think you can do better than this year’s crew (the judges’ comments on individual entries are posted at the site as well), then the instructions for entering next year’s competition are here. Ed Chavez, who translated the MIMC materials into English and did some writing for them as well, has some comments at MangaCast.

Yay! Robots Never Sleep is back, and the anonymous (sort of) blogger takes a break from translating Moyashimon for Del Rey to do some triage on his manga collection. I always enjoy his posts on unlicensed manga, and I’m looking forward to more in the days to come.

John Jakala gets with the economic program and seeks out the cheapest comics he can find at Sporadic Sequential. The exercise also causes him to reflect on how waiting for lower prices has affected his buying and reading habits.

This is sort of an interesting cultural comment: A Chicago TV station uses the popularity of Oishinbo in Japan as a lead-in to a story on local Japanese cooking lessons. Granted, the writer can’t avoid referring to manga as “a form of Japanese animation,” but it’s a start.

News from Japan: Erin Finnegan has some photos from the Tokyo Anime Fair at Manga Recon. Gottsu-Iiyan posts a lovely splash page from the latest chapter of Vagabond. Satori Nagasawa, creator of Maria-sama Ga Miteru, will do a remake of the romance manga Nichiyōbi wa Issho ni in an upcoming issue of Margaret magazine. Weekly Shonen Sunday is 50 years old, and a host of manga creators showed up for the celebration. And ANN posts the Japanese comics rankings for the weeks ending March 9 and March 16.

Reviews: Erica Friedman notes the unfortunate effects of the turmoil at Tokyopop on the production of vol. 2 of Burst Angel at Okazu. The Manga Recon team check in with some short reviews for their On the Shojo Beat feature. Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane also posts some short reviews at Manga Life.

Joy Kim on vol. 1 of 20th Century Boys (Manga Life)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 2 of Hero Heel (Kuriousity)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 8 of High School Debut (Manga Life)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 1 of Honey Hunt (Manga Life)
Greg Hackmann on vol. 1 of Jyu-Oh-Sei (Mania.com)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 11 of Love*Com (Manga Life)
Ed Chavez on Mr. Flower Bride (MangaCast)
Oyceter on vol. 15 of Nana (Japanese edition) (Sakura of DOOM)
Julie on vol. 3 of The Prince of Tennis (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Snow Wildsmith on Stop Bullying Me (Fujoshi Librarian)
Oyceter on vols. 1-4 of Yotsuba&! (Sakura of DOOM)

Bell, book, and Kindle

PWCW’s Ada Price has a great article on reading comics on the Kindle. The experience is far from perfect, she reports, but publishing companies are embracing it anyway as a way to dip their toe into the digital ocean. Manga on the Kindle include Maximum Ride and Japan Ai: A Tall Girl’s Adventures in Japan. My contribution to this week’s PWCW is not manga, but what the heck: I interviewed Scott Christian Sava about his new line of children’s books, which could best be described as good, old-fashioned fun.

At Precocious Curmudgeon, David Welsh faces a “cornucopia of crack” in this weeks new releases.

Matt Blind presents this week’s online manga sales data at Rocket Bomber: summary and rankings, emerging trends report, new releases and pre-orders, and the top 500.

I don’t usually link to scanlations, but this one is too good to pass up: scans_daily offers a sample of Saint Oniisan (Saint Young Men). Note: This is a comic about Jesus and Buddha being roommates in modern-day Tokyo. The humor comes from the juxtaposition of ancient wisdom with modern ways. It’s pretty light, but if the notion of Jesus having a blog (and networking on Mixi) offends you, then don’t go there! (Via Journalista.)

New blog find: The Otaku Librarian, which is just what it sounds like, the reflections of a YA librarian who loves anime and manga and embraces new technology as well. Well worth a click!

Registration is now open for Yaoi-Con, and the dates have been announced: October 30-November 1. (Hat tip: Snow Wildsmith)

The Royal Academy is preparing an exhibit on the godfather of manga—no, not Osamu Tezuka, Udagawa Kuniyoshi, silly! Check it out if you’re in London, to see whether it’s really ur-manga or just a come-on to get people to look at some old art.

Reviews

Connie on vol. 23 of Basara (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 19 of Black Cat (Kuriousity)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of Classical Medley (Tangognat)
Deb Aoki on Happy Happy Clover (About.com)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 6 of Le Chevalier d’Eon (Mania.com)
Casey Brienza on Love Quest (ANN)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of Magic Touch (Prospero’s Manga)
Emily on Mainichi Kimi ni Koishiteru (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Krisy Valenti on vols. 1 and 2 of Return to Labyrinth (comiXology)
Briana Lawrence on vol. 1 of Shards of Affection (Mania.com)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 6 of Totally Captivated (Manga Recon)
Julie on vol. 6 of Vampire Knight (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on vol. 3 of We Were There (Slightly Biased Manga)

Tuesday quick links

God Len has the list of this week’s new releases at Japanator.

Danielle Leigh makes her picks from Previews in her latest Manga Before Flowers column at Comics Should Be Good.

Aurora Publishing is going the Borders Exclusive route for its new Chika Shiomi series, Queen of Ragtonia.

Yamila Abraham was a victim of her own success when Borders over-ordered some yaoi bundles from Yaoi Press. She had the brilliant idea of hosting a bundling party, but nothing ever goes as planned…

Tokyopop is looking for a manga editor to work on licensed properties.

News from Japan: Yuu Watase has announced she won’t resume work on Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden until spring of 2010 because of health problems and other commitments. Leiji Matsumoto’s new manga Out of Galaxy Koshika will be distributed online via the Wii Shopping Channel, with readers paying for each episode with Wii points. The manga will be presented in both Japanese and English but so far there is no announcement of a print edition or distribution outside Japan.

Reviews: Start your day with David Welsh’s excellent Flipped column on vols. 1-10 of After School Nightmare, one of the best manga series of the past few years. Then move on to Ed Sizemore’s comprehensive review of vols. 1-20 of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles and the Tsubasa Character Guide at Comics Worth Reading. Carlo Santos treats us to another Right Turn Only!! column at ANN, and at Warren Peace Sings the Blues, Matthew J. Brady takes a break from his ongoing evaluation of Monster to review the April issue of Shojo Beat. Other reviews of note:

Sam Kusek on vol. 1 of BakéGyamon: Backwards Game (Manga Recon)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 26 of Bleach (Kuriousity)
Joe McCulloch (Jog) on A Drifting Life (Bookforum)
Ed Chavez on vol. 2 of Kaze no Hana (MangaCast)
Holly Ellingwood on vol. 9 of Kitchen Princess (Active Anime)
Julie on vol. 3 of Kurohime (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Michelle Smith on vol. 10 of Love*Com (soliloquy in blue)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 1 of Lunar Legend Tsukihime (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Magic Touch and vol. 3 of Captive Hearts (Comics Worth Reading)
Scott Campbell on vol. 7 of My Heavenly Hockey Club (Active Anime)
Noah Berlatsky on vol. 15 of Nana (The Hooded Utilitarian)
Connie on vol. 2 of Otomen (Slightly Biased Manga)
Dave Ferraro on vol. 1 of Pluto (Comics-and-More)
Snow Wildsmith on Romantic Illusions (Fujoshi Librarian)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 1 of Trinity Blood: Rage Against the Moon (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Connie on vol. 1 of Wild Act (Slightly Biased Manga)