Archives for July 2009

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)

ICv2 has a bit more on Yen Press’s Twilight manga, including speculation that it could create a “halo effect” that would boost their other books. Yen Plus Info, Melinda Beasi, and Gia Manry, and the ANN commenters react, and Otaku Ohana has a poll, if you want to make your voice heard.

The Manga Critic has a poll as well, for most anticipated manga of 2009. What, no Twilight, Kate?

Fruits Basket translators Alethea and Athena Nibley take a fond look at their magnum opus.

San Diego Comic-Con is just around the corner, and for those of you who are pressed for time, Robot 6 blogger Christopher Mautner has a handy list of five things an anime and manga fan shouldn’t miss at SDCC.

The Ninja Consultants will be at Otakon; click to see pink, sparkly snark and find out where they will be.

Steve Sunu reports on the Asian American Comic Con at Comic Book Resources.

Patrick Macias gives us a peek at the 1966 manga Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster.

Tiamat’s Disciple is giving away some Yen Press titles. Click the link to find out how to win.

OT but kind of fun: I’m contributing to the Kids Comics Roundtable at The Hooded Utilitarian this week; my first piece is on British kids’ comics. Unfortunately, while looking for art to go with it I found Desperate Dan porn, and now I have to go wash out my brain with soap.

Reviews

Emily on Abunai Paradise (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Michael May on vol. 1 of Anne Freaks (Robot 6)
Michelle Smith on vol. 5 of Black Cat (Soliloquy in Blue)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 1 of Cat Paradise (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Lissa Pattillo on Clover (Kuriousity)
Tiamat’s Disciple on Dystopia (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
David Goodwin on vol. 9 of Emma (The Eastern Standard)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of Fushigi Yûgi (VIZBIG edition) (Prospero’s Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 5 of Gimmick (Comics Worth Reading)
Sean Gaffney on Gin Tama (Okazu)
Phil Guie on vol. 1 of Higurashi When They Cry: Cotton Drifting Arc (Manga Recon)
Michelle Smith on vol. 5 of Honey and Clover (Soliloquy in Blue)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 6 of Honey and Clover (Manga Life)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 2 of Honey Hunt (Manga Life)
Sesho on vol. 2 of Honey Hunt (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Julie on vol. 3 of Kiichi and the Magic Books (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Esther Keller on The Manga Cookbook (Good Comics for Kids)
Lorena on vol. 2 of Millennium Snow (i heart manga)
Anna on vol. 2 of The Name of the Flower (2 screenshot limit)
David Goodwin on vol. 7 of Parasyte (The Eastern Standard)
Laura on vols. 1 and 2 of The Recipe for Gertrude (Heart of Manga)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 2 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (There it is, Plain as Daylight)
Shojo Flash on vol. 1 of Venus Capriccio (Shojo Flash)
Billy Aguiar on You Will Drown in Love (Prospero’s Manga)

We have all been enjoying Children of the Sea for over a month now, but it turns out that was just the appetizer. Now Viz is rolling out the rest of its SIGIKKI webcomics site, with chapters of six new series debuting this month, starting with Mohiro Kitoh’s Bokurano: Ours on July 23. All the series come from Ikki, a Japanese manga magazine specializing in seinen manga (manga for young men), and the print versions will be released under Viz’s Signature imprint. All the content will be offered online for free and will be followed by print volumes. The site will also include supplemental material such as creator interviews. In addition to Children of the Sea and Bokurano: Ours, July titles include Dorohedoro, by Q Hayashida; Saturn Apartments, by Hisae Iwaoka; and I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow, by Shunju Aono, Kingyo Used Books, by Seimu Yoshizaki; House of Five Leaves, by Natsume Ono; Afterschool Charisma, by Kumiko Suekane; and Tokyo Flow Chart, by Eiji Miruno. Full press release, including descriptions of each series, after the jump.

VIZ MEDIA PARTNERS WITH
JAPAN’S IKKI MAGAZINE TO LAUNCH SIGIKKI.COM, AN ONLINE MANGA WEBSITE
TO PRESENT A DIVERSE COLLECTION OF TITLES ACCLAIMED FOR CREATIVE QUALITY

Innovative Online Destination Pushes Boundaries Of Manga With New Content Available Each Month For Free

San Francisco, CA, JULY 15, 2009 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced the full launch of its new SIGIKKI website, which represents a bold new partnership between the company’s VIZ SIGNATURE imprint and IKKI, a monthly magazine published in Japan since 2003 that has established itself as the home of some of the most innovative, bold, and compelling titles in the world of contemporary manga.

Located at www.sigikki.com, this groundbreaking online manga destination will present a broad range of seinen manga to audiences in North America. From action to comedy to drama, slice-of-life stories to surrealist fantasies, the uniting themes these works share are an uncommon emphasis on creative quality and on pushing the boundaries of the manga norm.

Earlier in May, the SIGIKKI site posted the first chapter of CHILDREN OF THE SEA by Daisuke Igarashi, with Volume 2 currently being serialized on the site. Starting this month, new chapters from half a dozen manga series will be offered for viewing online in their entirety – FOR FREE. After a particular volume completes its online serialization, that edition will be published as a VIZ Signature graphic novel (subject to reader demand). Additional content such as creator interviews, feature articles, news, and free downloads will also be posted on the website each month.

“We are very excited to formally launch our new SIGIKKI website in partnership with IKKI magazine,” says Shie Lundberg, Sr. Director, Strategy & Business Development, VIZ Media. “The convenience of web accessibility combined with some of the most compelling and diverse content manga will allow fans to sample a range of acclaimed new titles each month, for free. As these series begin to develop their own domestic following, audiences can then look forward to the eventual publication of these titles with the high quality VIZ SIGNATURE presentation befitting manga of this caliber.”

On July 23rd the SIGIKKI site will debut BOKURANO: OURS, by Mohiro Kitoh; DOROHEDORO, by Q Hayashida; SATURN APARTMENTS, by Hisae Iwaoka; and I’LL GIVE IT MY ALL…TOMORROW, by Shunju Aono. These titles will be quickly followed on July 30th with the opening chapters of KINGYO USED BOOKS, by Seimu Yoshizaki; HOUSE OF FIVE LEAVES, by Natsume Ono; AFTERSCHOOL CHARISMA, by Kumiko Suekane; and TOKYO FLOW CHART, by Eiji Miruno.

Manga Summaries Follow Below:

CHILDREN OF THE SEA By Daisuke Igarashi
(Rated ‘T+’ for older teens)
The sea has a story to tell, one you’ve never heard before…
When Ruka was younger, she saw a ghost in the water at the aquarium where her dad works. Now she feels drawn toward the aquarium and the two mysterious boys she meets there, Umi and Sora. They were raised by dugongs and hear the same strange calls from the sea as she does. Ruka’s dad and the other adults who work at the aquarium are only distantly aware of what the children are experiencing as they get caught up in the mystery of the worldwide disappearance of the oceans’ fish. Volume 1 now also available in print!

BOKURANO: OURS By Mohiro Kitoh
(Rated ‘T+’ for older teens)
Saving the world is hard. Saving yourself is even harder.
One summer, fifteen kids innocently wander into a nearby seaside cave. There they meet a strange man who invites them to play an exciting new video game. This game, he explains, pits one lone giant robot against a horde of alien invaders. To play the game, all they have to do is sign a simple contract. The game stops being fun when the kids find out the true purpose of their pact.

DOROHEDORO By Q Hayashida
(Rated ‘M’ mature)
A blood-spattered battle between diabolical sorcerers and the monsters they created.
In a city so dismal it’s known only as “the Hole,” a clan of sorcerers have been plucking people off the streets to use as guinea pigs for atrocious “experiments” in the black arts. In a dark alley, Nikaido found Caiman, a man with a reptile head and a bad case of amnesia. To undo the spell, they’re hunting and killing the sorcerers of the Hole, hoping that eventually they’ll kill the right one. But when En, the head sorcerer, gets word of a lizard-man slaughtering his people, he sends a crew of “cleaners” into the Hole, igniting a war between two worlds.

SATURN APARTMENTS By Hisae Iwaoka
(Rated ‘T’ for teens)
A touching, character-rich vision of an intriguing new world.
Far in the future, humankind has evacuated the Earth in order to preserve it. Humans now reside in a gigantic structure that forms a ring around the Earth, thirty-five kilometers up in the sky. The society of the ring is highly stratified: the higher the floor, the greater the status. Mitsu, the lowly son of a window washer, has just graduated junior high. When his father disappears and is assumed dead, Mitsu must take on his father’s occupation. As he struggles with the transition to working life, Mitsu’s job treats him to an outsider’s view into the various living-room dioramas of the Saturn Apartments.

I’LL GIVE IT MY ALL…TOMORROW By Shunju Aono
(Rated ‘T+’ for older teens)
Life begins at forty…even for pathetic losers.
This is the story of a forty-year-old salary man who quits his job to pursue his dream of becoming a manga artist—and the family that has to put up with him. While not terribly unhappy, Shizuo Oguro can’t fight the feeling that something in his life just isn’t right, so he walks away from his stable (yet boring) day job to embark on a journey of self-discovery. Unfortunately for his family, this journey also involves playing video games all day while his teenage daughter and elderly father support him. Will Shizuo succeed in creating a true manga masterpiece or will he be just another drop-out living a life of slack?

AFTERSCHOOL CHARISMA By Kumiko Suekane
(Rated ‘T+’ for older teens)
History repeats itself… Or does it?
St. Kleio Academy is a very exclusive school: all of the students are clones of famous historical figures such as Beethoven, Queen Elizabeth I, Napoleon, Mozart, and Freud. All of them, that is, except for Shiro Kamiya. As Shiro struggles to adapt to this unusual campus, St. Kleio’s first graduate, a clone of John F. Kennedy, is killed. Are the clones doomed to repeat the fate of their genetic progenitors, or can they create their own destinies? And how does a normal boy like Shiro fit in?

KINGYO USED BOOKS By Seimu Yoshizaki
(Rated ‘T+’ for older teens)
This manga bookstore has a thousand stories to tell.
A businessman discovers how his childhood memories can brighten his day. An art student finds inspiration. An archer hits a surprising bull’s eye. A housewife rediscovers romance. A teenager discovers his true self in the pages of a manga magazine. Welcome to Kingyo Used Books, a place where people find their dreams in manga…

HOUSE OF FIVE LEAVES By Natsume Ono
(Rated ‘T+’ for older teens)
A many-sided tale of faith and betrayal, drama and intrigue, set in the world of old Edo.
Masterless samurai Akitsu Masanosuke is a skilled and loyal swordsman, but his naïve, diffident nature has time and again caused him to be let go by the lord whom he has worked for. Hungry and desperate, he becomes a bodyguard for Yaichi, the charismatic leader of a gang called “Five Leaves.” Although disturbed by the gang’s sinister activities, Masa begins to suspect that Yaichi’s motivations are not what they seem. And despite his misgivings, the deeper he’s drawn into the world of the Five Leaves, the more he finds himself fascinated by these devious, mysterious outlaws.

TOKYO FLOW CHART By Eiji Miruno
(Rated ‘T+’ for older teens)
This manga will f(low) with your brain!
Have you ever wished that somebody else would just DO SOMETHING about the chaos in your life? Then this is the perfect manga for a slacker like you! Tokyo Flow Chart is (probably) the world’s first four-frame comic strip in flow chart format. It breaks down the complexities of life and aids in the mastery of brain skills such as flow-chart-manga comprehension or mental bullet-dodging. As Confusious say: “let your brain flow with the chart!”

It’s official: Yen Press will be publishing a Twilight manga. This isn’t entirely unexpected—the Twilight novels are published by Yen’s sister company Little Brown and Company (both are owned by Hachette), and the idea came up a lot at NYCC.

Will the blogosphere react with scorn or admiration? Comments are muted so far, but keep an eye on Heidi’s post at The Beat, as it is usually the bellwether for the comics blogosphere’s collective opinion.

My Unbound column at Robot 6 this week is an interview with Gina Biggs, who draws the unabashedly girly Red String, which was published for a while by Manly Manga for Manly Men (TM) publisher Dark Horse.

David Welsh takes his turn at this week’s new releases.

The Manga Recon bloggers have a fun roundtable discussing who would be the royalty of The Manga Kingdom.

David Goodwin addresses a question that frankly had never occurred to me before: Is Urasawa schmaltzier than Tezuka?

Kyoto Seika University, which already has a manga department, is offering a graduate course in manga. Check out the comments for some serious manga hatin’, though. (Via Mecha Mecha Media.)

Kate Dacey, a.k.a. The Manga Critic, is giving away two copies of vol. 17 of Nana. Click the link to find out how you can win one!

Laura writes about Ocean Day at Heart of Manga.

Courtney Kraft reports on Anime Expo for the Graphic Novel Reporter, and Kai-Ming Cha has an article on the first Asian American Comicon at PWCW.

News from Japan: Canned Dogs reports that the tankoubon for the manga Akuma to ore shirudaku has been cancelled and GanGan Online pulled it from their site as well. Apparently it’s “borderline” eromanga. Naru Nanao’s sketch of a character from Lucky Star garnered over 1 million yen at auction. Cromartie High School manga-ka Eiji Nonaka is starting a new series, Double J, in Weekly Shonen Magazine.

Reviews

Julie on vol. 1 of Ballad of a Shinigami (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Eva Volin on vols. 1-5 of Black Jack (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Courtney Kraft on vol. 1 of Brilliant Blue (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Cirque du Freak (Kuriousity)
Connie on vol. 6 of Fairy Tail (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lorena on vol. 2 of Fall in Love Like a Comic (i heart manga)
Lorena on vol. 4 of Honey and Clover (MangaCast)
Kiki Van De Camp on vol. 1 of Hot Gimmick (VIZBIG Edition) (Animanga Nation)
Danielle Leigh on vol. 1 of Kimi ni Todoke (Comics Should Be Good)
Connie on vol. 2 of Me and the Devil Blues (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lori Henderson on vols. 28 and 29 of Naruto (Manga Xanadu)
Sesho on vol. 34 of Naruto (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Connie on vol. 17 of O-Parts Hunter (Slightly Biased Manga)
Katherine Farmar on Red Blinds the Foolish (Comics Village)
Eva Volin on Swallowing the Earth (Graphic Novel Reporter)
David Welsh on V.B. Rose (Precocious Curmudgeon)
David Goodwin on vols. 1-7 of The World Is Mine (The Eastern Standard)

The headline says it all. Lee and Takei are collaborating on the Ultimo manga, which is now running in both the U.S. and Japan. If you’re going to SDCC, I would recommend checking out this panel; I saw these two at NYCC last year, and Lee really looked like he was having a good time. Details after the cut.

VIZ MEDIA WELCOMES ULTIMO CREATORS
STAN LEE AND HIROYUKI TAKEI FOR RARE PERSONAL APPEARANCES AT
2009 COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL

Legendary Manga And Comic Book Creators To Participate In SHONEN JUMP Panel Discussion
And A Special In-Booth Signing Session

San Francisco, CA, JULY 14, 2009 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, is proud to welcome comic book and manga legends Stan Lee and Hiroyuki Takei for a very special series of appearances at the 2009 Comic-Con International, taking place July 23-26 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, CA.

The pair will appear at the nation’s largest comic book and science fiction convention to celebrate their historic creative collaboration for the ULTIMO manga series (KARAKURIDÔJI ULTIMO), which debuted in the July 2009 issue of VIZ Media’s SHONEN JUMP magazine.

Stan Lee and Hiroyuki Takei will be welcomed as special guests at the SHONEN JUMP panel, scheduled for Friday, July 24th from 10:30-11:30 a.m. in Room 10. Lee and Takei will also appear together in VIZ Media’s Booth #2813 on the main show floor for an exclusive autograph session on Friday July 24th from 2:15-3:15 p.m. The first 40 fans to purchase the July issue of SHONEN JUMP magazine featuring ULTIMO from the VIZ Media retail area each day from Wednesday through Friday will receive a ticket to have their issue personally autographed by Lee and Takei.

ULTIMO represents an innovative and historic collaboration between comics legend Stan Lee, co-creator of many iconic superheroes including Spider-Man™, the Fantastic Four™, and the X-Men™, and Hiroyuki Takei, the creator of the popular SHAMAN KING manga series, published in Japan by Shueisha and in North America by VIZ Media.

The ULTIMO back-story: High above Farmless City, citizens are stunned by the sudden appearance of two floating figures. Are they human boys, monolithic robots, or something much more strange? As the battle ensues between them, destruction and devastation falls on the hapless city. One figure is Vice, and seems to be as evil as his name implies. The other is Ultimo, intent on trying to stop Vice from wreaking more havoc. But who are Vice and Ultimo really? Where did they come from? Find out in the first chapter of ULTIMO!

For over half a century, Stan Lee has been synonymous with superhero comics. In addition to co-creating countless memorable series and characters, including Spider-Man™, the Incredible Hulk™, and Daredevil™, he served as the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics. Lee remains a hugely respected and dynamic figure in the entertainment industry and continues to develop a variety of film, television and video game properties.

Unconventional author/artist Hiroyuki Takei began his career by winning the coveted Hop Step Award (for new manga artists) and the Osamu Tezuka Award. After working as an assistant to famed artist Nobuhiro Watsuki (RUROUNI KENSHIN), Takei debuted in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997 with Butsu Zone, an action series based on Buddhist mythology. His multicultural adventure manga series SHAMAN KING debuted in Japan in 1998 and has been adapted into a popular animated television series. The SHAMAN KING manga series is published in North America by VIZ Media and has sold more than 400,000 copies in the U.S. to-date; for many years it was also serialized in English in VIZ Media’s SHONEN JUMP magazine.

“We are extremely honored to host two creative luminaries as huge as Stan Lee and Hiroyuki Takei to Comic-Con this year,” says Grant Lowery, SHONEN JUMP Editor-In-Chief. “Their groundbreaking new collaboration, ULTIMO, is an exciting, action-packed story that blends the best attributes of the Western and Eastern comic book and manga traditions. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and we look forward to welcoming visitors to this year’s Comic-Con which promises to be the most exciting one yet!”

Lee’s own company, POW! Entertainment (Pinksheets: POWN.PK), worked with VIZ Media parent company Shueisha, and with JEA and Dream Ranch to facilitate the development of ULTIMO.

For more information on ULTIMO, SHONEN JUMP and VIZ Media please visit www.shonenjump.com or www.viz.com and on TWITTER: VIZ-Media