Archives for October 2009

Just in time for Halloween, Deb Aoki talks to Matt Alt and Hiroko Yoda about their book Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide.

Derik Badman will be cooking dishes from Viz’s foodie series Oishinbo all week at Graphic Novel Review. Here’s his first post.

Queenie Chan posts the trailer for her latest book: She did a number of short comics for The Boy’s Book of Positive Quotations.

At The Eastern Edge, gottsu-iiyan shares another glimpse of Hayao Miyazaki’s comic Kaze Tachinu.

News from Japan: Honey Bitter, by Kodocha creator Miho Obana, is back after a one-year hiatus.

Reviews: David Welsh rounds up manga bloggers’ favorite horror manga for his latest Flipped column. Carlo Santos casts a critical eye on some new releases in his Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Other reviews of note:

Dave Ferraro on vol. 1 of 10 Beautiful Assassins (Comics-and-More)
Michael Buntag on vol. 3 of 20th Century Boys (NonSensical Words)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 5 of 20th Century Boys (Kuriousity)
Casey Briena on vols. 1-3 of Andromeda Stories (ANN)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 6 of Croquis Pop (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Julie on vol. 1 of Deka Kyoshi (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Scott VonSchilling on vol. 1 of Deka Kyoshi (The Anime Almanac)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 1 of Fire Investigator Nanase (i heart manga)
John Thomas on vol. 1 of Four-Eyed Prince (Comics Village)
Connie on vol. 16 of Monster (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kate Holden on Much Ado About Nothing (Comic Mole)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of NG Life (Good Comics for Kids)
Matthew J. Brady on vol. 5 of Pluto (Warren Peace Sings the Blues)
Michael C. Lorah on Red Snow (Blog@Newsarama)
Connie on Sake Jock (Slightly Biased Manga)
Snow Wildsmith on Sense and Sexuality (Fujoshi Librarian)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 2 of Sugarholic (Manga Bookshelf)
Michelle Smith on Tokyo Zombie (Soliloquy in Blue)
Kris on Utahime – The Songstress (Manic About Manga)
Danielle Leigh on vols. 1 and 2 of What a Wonderful World (Comics Should Be Good)

Lori Henderson posts another excellent manga news roundup at Manga Xanadu, covering the Dragon Ball incident, a fascinating Twitter conversation, and more. She also reminds readers to comment on their favorite titles at Sigikki if they want them to see print someday. Speaking of Sigikki, David Welsh brings us up to date on the lineup and asks his readers how much they are using the site.

ANN’s Evan Miller interviews Shatia Hamilton, winner of the Rising Stars of Manga competition and creator of the webcomic Fungus Grotto.

Christopher Butcher critiques the Shojoberry business model at Comic212, and he critiques it pretty hard. Read the comments for some interesting insights into licensing and other issues.

Erica Friedman talks to yuri manga artist Morishima Akiko and rounds up the week’s yuri news at Okazu.

Ed Sizemore contributes the latest license request at Precocious Curmudgeon, and it’s a classic: Doraemon.

Writer Jesse McCann, who worked on some Dragon Ball activity books, has some thoughts on the cultural differences that got Dragon Ball banned from all school libraries (including high school, the intended audience) in Wicomico County, MD.

The Manga Village crew has a roundtable discussing the FTC’s recent guidelines for bloggers who receive free review copies.

John Thomas discusses horror manga for Halloween in the latest Sci-Guys podcast.

At Rocket Bomber, Matt Blind is catching up on the online graphic novel sales rankings; he’s up to the week of August 2.

Are Japanese emoticons only comprehensible to those who read manga? I would say no, but that “anguished face” looks more like a “sleepy face” to me, so who knows?

News from Japan: Simon Jones reports that Shogakukan is folding three children’s magazines, although he links to a news article that says two of them will be replaced by a different magazine. Tatsuya Egawa, creator of Golden Boy, is creating an iPhone manga that will be a prequel to the live-action movie If Blessed. Mushishi creator Yuki Urushibara also has a new manga in the works, this one in more traditional format (it will run in Kodansha’s Monthly Afternoon.)

Reviews: The Manga Recon team posts a fresh batch of Manga Minis to start the week right. EvilOmar posts some brief reviews at About Heroes.

Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 3 of Apothecarius Argentum (i heart manga)
Alain Mendez on vols. 1 and 2 of Aqua (Comics Village)
Shannon Fay on vol. 2 of Cat-Eyed Boy (Kuriousity)
James Fleenor on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (Anime Sentinel)
Kate Dacey on Domu: A Child’s Dream (The Manga Critic)
Jen Dunbar on vols. 1 and 2 of Fairy Tail (A word is a unit of language)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of Four-Eyed Prince (Prospero’s Manga)
Jen Dunbar on vols. 1 and 2 of Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden (A word is a unit of language)
Alex Hoffman on vol. 1 of High School Debut (Comics Village)
Greg McElhatton on Japan as Viewed by 17 Creators (Read About Comics)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of Karakuri Odette (Manga Recon)
Julie on Liberty Liberty! (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Julie on vol. 15 of Love*Com (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 1 of The Name of the Flower (i heart manga)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of Nightschool (Soliloquy in Blue)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Rin-ne (Kuriousity)
Ken Haley on vol. 1 of Silent Möbius, Complete Edition (Manga Recon)
Tangognat on vols. 3 and 4 of Swan (Tangognat)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of A Tale of an Unknown Country (Tangognat)
Snow Wildsmith on Where Has Love Gone (Fujoshi Librarian)

The Viz folks have a Q&A with Rumiko Takahashi on The Rumic World, the site that hosts her manga Rin-ne. It’s about as informative as every other interview with a manga creator, which is to say, not very.

All the school libraries—elementary, middle, and high school—in Wicomico County, Maryland, have removed all the volumes of Dragon Ball from their shelves because of some nudity and sexual innuendo in the first volume, which was erroneously placed in an elementary-school library, ICv2 reports:

The district did become aware that the books were intended for young adults during the review process, according to the report, but still decided to remove the books from high school shelves as well for reasons that were not explained. Superintendent Frederickson did defend the use of graphic novels as an educational tool, according to the report.

Here’s a little treat to start the weekend off right: Kurutta posts a few pages of Osamu Tezuka’s Crime and Punishment (translated by Fred Schodt). (Via Robot 6.)

And at Same Hat!, Ryan shows off some of Steve Oliff’s original coloring guides for Akira.

The latest ANNCast is up, and the special guest is Gia Manry of Anime Vice.

News from Japan: Meiji University announced that it will establish an international manga library in 2014.

Reviews

Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Akira (The Manga Critic)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 9 of The Antique Gift Shop (Kuriousity)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 2 of Apothecarius Argentum (i heart manga)
Connie on vol. 28 of Bleach (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on vol. 4 of Hayate x Blade (Okazu)
Danielle Leigh on vol. 2 of Nightschool (Comics Should Be Good!)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of Oh! My Brother (Manga Recon)
Julie on vol. 27 of Red River (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Rin-ne (The Manga Critic)
Sesho on vol. 8 of Sorcerer Hunters (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
D.M. Evans on vols. 4-6 of Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning (Manga Jouhou)
Diana Dang on vols. 1-14 of Tramps Like Us (Stop, Drop, and Read!)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 5 of With the Light (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)

First things first: Head over to The Eastern Edge, where gottsu-iiyan has translated an interview with Naoki Urasawa about how he makes his comics.

Last week was a bit of a blur, so I don’t remember if I linked to Jason Thompson’s excellent column on culture clash and manga at io9. If you haven’t read it already, go check it out; he has some interesting things to say, not just about the Dragon Ball and Spice and Wolf controversies but about the medium in general. Meanwhile, at Anime Diet, Moritheil does a little digging on Joe Holloway, the county councilman whose grandstanding got the whole Dragon Ball controversy started.

Udon’s Matt Moylan talks about his company’s plans for Mega Man artbooks and manga.

David Welsh gets to B in the manga/manhwa alphabet and asks his readers to suggest their favorites.

DMP has a sale on right now, and Melinda Beasi recommends some titles.

My Paranoid Next Door Neighbor creator Haruka Minami is blogging in English at the DMP site. (Via ANN.)

News from Japan: It has been suggested that a reader-designed monster in the manga Toriko is awfully similar to the monster in Dragon Quest. A new website has been set up to translate the news of the day into manga form in a number of languages, including English. And ANN has the latest comics rankings.

Reviews: Here’s a new review blog to check out: A word is a unit of language, where Jen Dunbar, the newest contributor to Manga Recon, stretches her wings a little. Her latest review at the site is of vols. 1 and 2 of Vampire Knight.

Matthew Alexander on vol. 7 of Alive (Mania.com)
Danica Davidson on vol. 1 of Ballad of a Shinigami (Graphic Novel Reporter)
James Fleenor on Battlestar Galactica: Echoes of New Caprica (Anime Sentinel)
Julie on vol. 1 of Cat Paradise (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Kris on Chocolate Surprise (Manic About Manga)
Connie on vol. 27 of Eyeshield 21 (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 7 of Fairy Tail (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kinukitty on Foreign Love Affair (The Hooded Utilitarian)
Matthew Rozier on vol. 20 of Fullmetal Alchemist (Comics Village)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 7 of Honey and Clover (Manga Life)
Jennifer Dunbar on vols. 1 and 2 of March on Earth (Manga Recon)
Connie on vol. 15 of Monster (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sesho on vol. 46 of Naruto (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Joy Kim on vol. 2 of Nightschool (Manga Life)
Connie on vol. 19 of O-Parts Hunter (Slightly Biased Manga)
Steven M. Bari on vol. 6 of Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka (Manga Life)
Penny Kenny on vol. 1 of Rasetsu (Manga Life)
Lissa Pattillo on part 2 of Legend of Zelda – Four Swords (Kuriousity)
Connie on vol. 1 of Tale of an Unknown Country (Manga Recon)

Deb Aoki talks to Garrett Boast, the founder of ShojoBerry, a new manga magazine that is still in the works.

Here’s a blog title I wish I’d snapped up first: Nevermind the Bollocks, Here’s NANA. Check out the first (and so far, only) post, Inspirations and Aspirations of NANA. (Via Journalista.)

Librarian and manga fiend Tangognat finds a project that many librarians will find useful: A cataloging manual for manga.

Reviews

Emily on Billion Girl (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Blog)
Danica Davidson on vols. 1-4 of Bride of the Water God (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Andre on vol. 1 of Detroit Metal City (Kuriousity)
Casey Brienza on vols. 1 and 2 of Gravitation Collection (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Courtney Kraft on vol. 2 of Higurashi When They Cry: Cotton Drifting Arc (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Dan Polley on vol. 1 of The Lapis Lazuli Crown (Comics Village)
Danica Davidson on vols. 1-3 of Peach Fuzz (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Danielle Leigh on vol. 8 of Vampire Knight (Comics Should Be Good)
Dave Ferraro on vol. 1 of What a Wonderful World (Comics-and-More)
Greg McElhatton on vol. 1 of X-Men: Misfits (Read About Comics)
Julie on the November issue of Yen Plus (part two) (Manga Maniac Cafe)

David Welsh, Deb Aoki, and Brad Rice look over this week’s new releases.

ICv2 has the direct market graphic novel chart for September, and Matt Blind posts the online sales manga chart from the week ending July 26.

Viz’s offices were hit by a flash flood yesterday, but don’t worry, staff and manga are all safe and dry.

The Astro Boy manga is coming to the iPhone.

News from Japan: Things seem to be kind of slow there, actually, but ANN has news of a new one-shot in Ultra Jump by Hiroyuki Takei (Shaman King, Ultimo) and Katsuya Terada (character designer for Blood). Also, the unfortunately named Beans Ace is folding.

Reviews: The Manga Recon team serves up an extra helping of Manga Minis today. Tangognat posts some short reviews of new volumes as well.

Melinda Beasi on Boys Over Flowers Jewelry Box (Manga Bookshelf)
Theron Martin on vol. 14 of Chibi Vampire (ANN)
Cynthia on Gay’s Anatomy (Boys Next Door)
Katherine Farmar on The History of the West Wing (Comics Village)
David Welsh on Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu (The Comics Reporter)
Julie on vol. 4 of Minima! (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Edward Zacharias on vol. 42 of Naruto (Animanga Nation)
Gia Manry on Oh! My Brother (Anime Vice)
Connie on vol. 7 of Record of a Fallen Vampire (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 18 of Tenjho Tenge (Slightly Biased Manga)
Tangognat on vol. 3 of Tsubasa: Those With Wings (Tangognat)
Bill Sherman on vol. 1 of What a Wonderful World (Pop Culture Gadabout)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 14 of xxxHolic (Manga Bookshelf)
Cynthia on vol. 3 of ZE (Boys Next Door)