The New York Times Graphic Books best-seller list is up, and the manga are an interestingly mixed bag: Naruto, Fruits Basket, Negima, Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunters, Kitchen Princess, Junjo Romantica. Junjo Romantica! Yes, yaoi hits the best-seller list for, I believe, the first time ever. Deb Aoki has some commentary at her blog. Naruto and Fruits Basket make the USA Today Booklist as well. Just for good measure, ANN posts the Japanese comic rankings as well.
Danielle Leigh thumbs through the July Previews and notes the happy news that the next volume of Yotsuba&! is on the way.
Deb Aoki reviews some of Digital Manga’s offerings for Kindle on the iPhone.
David Welsh takes a look at IKKI magazine at Precocious Curmudgeon, and he has another license request: What Did You Eat Yesterday?
Susie has another of her awesome process posts at the Studio QT LiveJournal; this one is about retouching the sound effects in Gantz.
News from Japan: Canned Dogs reports on some manga and novel cancellations that suggest publishers are tightening up on content. Also: Manga-ka Anagappashoujogun, who is leaving the field, has announced that his final work will be a mahjong horror manga.
Reviews:John Thomas and some other sci-fi fans have started a podcast, and the latest episode features Lone Wolf and Cub. The Manga Recon bloggers turn in some mini-reviews for their regular On the Shojo Beat feature and issue a mid-year report card on a number of series as well. Tangognat doesn’t just review Detroit Metal City, she’s giving away her copy. Other reviews of note:
Emily on Ai no Tame ni (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Diana Dang on vol. 1 of Amefurashi: The Rain Goddess (Stop, Drop, and Read!)
Julie on vol. 1 of Amefurashi: The Rain Goddess (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 3 of B.ichi (Kuriousity)
Alex Hoffman on vol. 2 of Black God (Comics Village)
Erica Friedman on vol. 1 of Butterfly Kiss Blade (Okazu)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Cat Paradise (The Manga Critic)
Danielle Leigh on vol. 1 of Cat Paradise (Comics Should Be Good)
Dani Moure on vols. 1 and 2 of Claymore (Mania.com)
Lorena on vol. 1 of Emma (i heart manga)
Cathy on vol. 13 of Love*Com (it can’t all be about manga…)
Bill Sherman on The Manga Guide to Physics (Blogcritics)
Erica Friedman on Morita-san no Mukuchi (Okazu)
Lissa Pattillo on Oishinbo: FIsh, Sushi & Sashimi (Kuriousity)
Julie on vol. 12 of The Prince of Tennis (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Dan Polley on vol. 1 of Vampire Hunter D (Comics Village)
“Yes, yaoi hits the best-seller list for, I believe, the first time ever.”
Well, the NYT best-seller list, maybe, but they’re only 6 months old. If you keep an eye on Rocketbomber’s online sales charts, Amazon’s manga bestsellers, or even ICv2’s graphic novels charts, Junjo Romantica has been showing up occasionally since volume 1 (along with a handful of other yaoi titles, such as The Crimson Spell) . Blu/Tokyopop must be quite pleased…