Archives for October 2009

Halloween treat

I had to rush out yesterday—the TV crew showed up at City Hall at 7 a.m.—so I figured I’d toss in a bonus post today so you wouldn’t miss all the Halloween goodness that’s out there.

Halloween isn’t the only event this weekend—Yaoi-Con is going on as well, and Deb Aoki posts a handy guide for manga fans at About.com. And The Yaoi Review is tweeting live updates.

The New York Times best-seller list is up, and among the usual suspects (Naruto, Bleach) is a global title, Vampire Kisses, based on Ellen Schrieber’s YA novels.

David Welsh’s license request this week is Hime-Chan’s Ribbon.

Reviews: EvilOmar posts a handful of brief manga reviews at About Heroes.

Cynthia on Age Called Blue (Boys Next Door)
Julie on vol. 1 of Beast Master (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Snow Wildsmith on vol. 1 of Blue Sheep Reverie (Manga Jouhou)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 2 of Cat Paradise (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of Detroit Metal City (Prospero’s Manga)
Cynthia on vol. 3 of Dog Style (Boys Next Door)
Sesho on vol. 4 of Fullmetal Alchemist (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 2 of Higurashi When They Cry: Cotton Drifting Arc (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Erica on vol. 1 of Hinagiku Junshin Jogakuen (Okazu)
James Fleenor on vol. 4 of Inukami! (Anime Sentinel)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 1 of March on Earth (i heart manga)
Julie on vol. 4 of Mixed Vegetables (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 2 of Nightschool (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Ken Haley on Red Snow (Manga Recon)
Andrew Wheeler on Red Snow (ComicMix)
Snow Wildsmith on Rica ‘tte Kanji!? (Fujoshi Librarian)
Michelle Smith on vols. 5-7 of Vampire Knight (Soliloquy in Blue)
Sesho on the December 2008 issue of Yen Plus (Korean and global titles) (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Joy Kim on vol. 6 of Yotsuba&! (Joy Kim)

Halloween Eve blogging

At Good Comics for Kids, Lori Henderson lists this week’s new kid-friendly comics and manga.

There’s plenty of manga goodness at comiXology today, as Shaenon Garrity lists her top five untranslated manga and Jason Thompson writes about long-running manga series.

News from Japan: ANN has the latest comics rankings.

Reviews: Danielle Leigh discusses three Halloween-friendly manga at Comics Should Be Good. Kate Dacey checks out three more spooky titles at The Manga Critic. Lissa Pattillo lists her recommendations at Kuriousity, and Lori Henderson gets in on the act as well with a look at monster manga at Manga Xanadu.

Dan Polley on vols. 3-4 of B.Ichi (Comics Village)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 2 of Fire Investigator Nanase (i heart manga)
Connie on Hino Horror 13: Zipangu Night (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 5 of I.N.V.U. (Comics Worth Reading)
Melinda Beasi on Mijeong (Manga Recon)
Emily on Oniisamakata Goranshin! (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Blog)
Connie on vol. 3 of Rasetsu (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sam Kusek on vol. 1 of Rin-ne (Manga Recon)
Kinukitty on Tale of the Waning Moon (The Hooded Utilitarian)
Diana Dang on vol. 1 of X-Men: Misfits (Stop, Drop, and Read)

More PR: Viz to publish Jormungand

The Viz folks have been busy, despite the flooding and all. Here’s the hot skinny on their newest release, Jormungand, which apparently involves mercenaries ‘n’ stuff.

VIZ MEDIA LETS THE BULLETS AND ACTION FLY IN NEW MANGA SERIES JORMUNGAND

Death Is A Business And Business Is Good For A Crack Team Of Mercenaries; Staying Alive Becomes Even More Dangerous When A New Young Recruit Joins The Team

San Francisco, CA, October 29, 2009– VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, will premiere the exciting new manga series JORMUNGAND to readers across North America next month. The new action adventure by Keitaro Takahashi will be published by VIZ Media’s Signature imprint and will release on November 10th. JORMUNGAND is rated ‘M’ for Mature Readers and will carry an MSRP of $12.99 U.S. / $16.99 CAN.

Jonah is a child soldier, born amidst the chaotic conflicts that rage across West Asia. His family was lost to a war fueled by weapons supplied by the so-called Merchants of Death – international arms dealers. Despite Jonah’s hatred of weapons and violence, he employs them extremely well in the service of high-flying arms dealer named Koko Hekmatyar and her band of mercenaries. Their journey through the dark underbelly of the world’s arms markets may lead to damnation, but will Jonah somehow make his way back to the light? Only one thing is certain: it’s going to be a long, hard road out of hell… Death is their business, and business is good!

In Volume 1, Koko Hekmatyar, the head of H&C Logistic Incorporated, introduces new recruit Jonah to her expert team of troubleshooters, and it isn’t long before they find some trouble to shoot. An Eastern European government official holds up a shipment of aircraft parts that would shift the balance of power in the region. But the real trouble is that shipment belongs to Koko, and she’s not about to miss an opportunity to make a profit, even if it means two nations go to war!

“JORMUNGAND takes its name from the fabled ferocious sea serpent in Norse mythology, and readers will be at the edge of their seats with this fierce band of mercenaries that live up to the name with an insatiable taste for trouble and gunplay,” says Gonzalo Ferrerya, Vice President, Sales & Marketing. “JORMUNGAND is a must-read for any action fan, and Keitaro Takahashi’s manga delivers plenty of bullet-riddled adventures as he fills each chapter with plenty of shady characters, double deals, and enough heavy metal weaponry to make any modern paramilitary jealous! Just remember to keep your head down and eyes glued to the page!”

Keitaro Takahashi’s debut manga, Ordinary±, won the Four Seasons Prize in 1999 and was subsequently serialized in Gekkan Afternoon magazine in Japan. Prior to creating JORMUNGAND in 2006, Takahashi worked as an illustrator for several books and he has drawn considerable acclaim for his striking, realistic and angular style.

For information on VIZ Media titles, please visit www.VIZ.com.

Pre-Halloween roundup

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) has posted the nominations for its Great Graphic Novels for Teens list, and as always, manga is well represented.

Laura lists her favorite supernatural shoujo manga at Heart of Manga. And David Welsh is up to the letter C in his shojo-sunjeong alphabet.

Just in time for Halloween, Manga University is starting a new webcomic, Net Auction, by Atsuhisa Okura, the Japanese artist who illustrated the Wired article on manga.

Deb Aoki goes for the classics with her list of 15 essential manga by Osamu Tezuka at About.com. Deb also has the scoop on two manga events: Haruka Minami has cancelled her planned appearance at Yaoi-Con, but Domo-kun creator Tsuneo Goda will be in LA today and will be a guest on Tokyopop’s webcast this evening.

Hey, this is cool: The Ohio State University Libraries have a manga blog, written by Japanese Studies Librarian and Associate Professor Maureen Donovan. From there I found Catholic University of Leuven’s blog, Let’s Manga, which isn’t updated much but has a lot of interesting links to academics and research (such as this essay on manga depictions of the World War II German army).

News from Japan: A new manga, Calendar Boy, turns the Japanese national holidays into manga characters. Sounds kind of interesting. Close the Last Door creator Yugi Yamada is restarting her BL manga based on the novel Mahoro Ekimae Tada Benrikan.

Reviews: David Welsh takes a look at some volume 2s at Precocious Curmudgeon.

Brad Rice on Afterschool Charisma (Japanator)
Michael May on vol. 1 of Bizenghast (Robot 6)
Julie on vol. 1 of Cirque du Freak (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 1 of Crimson Shell (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Michelle Smith on Cowa! (Soliloquy in Blue)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 2 of The Embalmer (i heart manga)
Tangognat on vol. 11 of High School Debut and vol. 18 of Nana (Tangognat)
Connie on vol. 15 of Lovely Complex (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vols. 17 and 18 of Monster (Slightly Biased Manga)
Tangognat on vol. 2 of Rasetsu (Tangognat)
Connie on vol. 19 of Skip Beat (Slightly Biased Manga)
Matthew Rozier on vol. 1 of The Summit of the Gods (Comics Village)

PR: Viz to release Beast Master manga

Although you wouldn’t guess it from the name, Beast Master is a shoujo manga, and in fact, it’s the latest entry in Viz’s Shojo Beat imprint. Read on for the details!

VIZ MEDIA INVITES READERS TO A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE WITH THE NEW BEAST MASTER MANGA SERIES

It’s Animal Attraction When A High School Girl Meets A Cute Boy Who Is Not All He Appears To Be

San Francisco, CA, October 28, 2009 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, expands its popular SHOJO BEAT imprint with the release of Kyousuke Motomi’s BEAST MASTER manga on November 3rd. The new series is rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens and will carry an MSRP of $9.99 US / $12.99 CAN.

Leo Aoi looks like a crazy animal with wild eyes – and no one at his new high school will go near him! He does seem to have a special connection with animals, which intrigues overzealous animal lover Yukio Kubozuka. In reality, Leo isn’t nearly as frightening as he appears, but Yukio finds out that he goes berserk whenever he sees blood! Will Yukio be able to get through to Leo during one of these violent fits? Or will his ferocious side eventually devour her? The debut volume also includes a special bonus short story called FLY.

Manga artist Kyousuke Motomi debuted in Japan’s popular shojo manga magazine Betsucomi with No Good Cupid in 2002, and she is also the creator of Handsome! Beads Club. Her latest work, Electric Daisy, is also currently being serialized in Betsucomi.

“BEAST MASTER is part comedy, part romance, part drama and all fun as it adds a new twist to the idea of animal attraction,” says Gonzalo Ferreyra, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, VIZ Media. “Readers will empathize with Leo and his terrible secret and root for the tender relationship he forms with Yukio. Will she be able to tame Leo’s wild side? Will the pair find true love or will his secret destroy them both? Find out in this truly wild new series from VIZ Media!”

New manga and books about manga

It’s not manga, but an issue that affects a lot of manga readers: Two circulation desk employees (not librarians) in a Kentucky library were fired for stopping an 11-year-old child from checking out a volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen because they regarded it as “porn.” We had a roundtable discussion of this at Good Comics for Kids, with both librarians and parents well represented.

Kate Dacey, Brad Rice, and David Welsh make their picks from this week’s new manga.

At PWCW, Kai-Ming Cha talks to Patrick Galbraith, the author of The Otaku Encyclopedia, and Steve Bunche interviews Eric P. Nash, the writer of Manga Kamishibai, a book about manga’s ancestor, “paper theater.”

Lorena Nava Ruggero suggests some manga for Halloween reading. Matthew Alexander and Chris Beveridge post their Halloween manga and anime recommendations at Mania.com. And while it’s not about manga, check out my latest Unbound column at Robot 6 for some webcomics that don’t need zombies to creep you out.

Evan Miller has a nice, meaty interview with manga scholar Fred Schodt at ANN.

Translators Alethea and Athena Nibley ponder the problem of matching characters with dialogue at Manga Life.

Simon Jones is not impressed with Kodansha’s new editions of Akira and Ghost in the Shell, which are a lot like Dark Horse’s old editions.

Lori Henderson puts Bloody Monday on her license wish list.

News from Japan: A manga based on the anime So-Ra-No-Wo-To is in the works; it will run in Dengeki Daioh.

Reviews: PWCW reviews a number of recent graphic novels, including vol. 1 of What a Wonderful World. Park Cooper and Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane discuss what they have been reading lately at Manga Life. Erica Friedman has serious problems with vol. 1 of Maria Holic at Okazu.

Ed Sizemore on vol. 2 of The Big Adventures of Majoko (Comics Worth Reading)
Connie on vol. 29 of Bleach (Slightly Biased Manga)
Steven M. Bari on vol. 31 of Case Closed (Manga Life)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 3 of Cirque du Freak (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of Deka Kyoshi (Prospero’s Manga)
Phil Guie on vol. 1 of Dream Gold: Knights in the Dark City (Manga Recon)
Katherine Farmar on Endless Rain (Comics Village)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 1 of Full House (Manga Bookshelf)
Emily on Honey Darling! (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Charles Webb on vol. 2 of Jack Frost (Manga Life)
Andre on vol. 1 of Karakuri Odette (Kuriousity)
Eva Volin on vol. 1 of Mad Love Chase (ICv2)
Julie on vol. 13 of Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation and vol. 3 of Rosario + Vampire (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 2 of The Name of the Flower (MangaCast)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 33 of Oh My Goddess! (Mania.com)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 4 of Papillon (Comics Worth Reading)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 1 of Rin-ne (Manga Life)
Kiki Van De Camp on vol. 6 of Sand Chronicles (Animanga Nation)
Penny Kenny on vol. 1 of Soul Eater (Manga Life)
Connie on Too Long (Slightly Biased Manga)