Manga death watch begins

51c9hcB8T2LAs I noted yesterday, the Good Comics for Kids gang posted our picks for the best comics for kids and teens of 2009, and there were quite a few manga on the list. Gia linked to it at Anime Vice, and her fans have some suggestions of their own for younger readers. Gia also wonders if digital distribution would work for a manga magazine in the U.S.

Are manga and anime dying in Japan? Roland Kelts makes that bold assertion in a recent blog post at the new Comics Journal site, and he enlarges on that point in this audio interview at The Monocle. Gottsu-Iiyan adds his thoughts on what ails the industry at The Eastern Edge.

Noting that the same book may appeal to different readers in different ways—one may like the characters, while another may be reading strictly for plot—librarian Joy Kim suggests some different “doorways” into manga for new readers.

David Welsh and Kate Dacey take a look at this week’s new releases, and both David and Tangognat look over the upcoming titles featured in the December Diamond Previews.

Kate Dacey is giving away a fresh copy of Butterflies, Flowers, which has been getting a lot of ink lately; check the details here at The Manga Critic.

rowsofcherrytrees4Tokyo Scum Brigade (warning: rather off-putting header art) interviews manga creator Kazuo Umezu (part 1, part 2). In a totally different vein, Kurutta posts some beautiful old shoujo manga art by Macoto Takahashi and wonders who he is. (All these links have in common is that I got them all via Same Hat.) And I may stick with Kurutta after looking at the latest post, which is some nice Taiyo Matsumoto art.

In case you missed it, I posted short takes on three manga this week in my contribution to the What Are You Reading? column at Robot 6, and several other contributors, including guest Charles Hatfield, are reading manga as well. Also, while they are not manga, you might enjoy the two laugh-out-loud webcomics I reviewed in this week’s Unbound column.

Reviews: Carlo Santos checks out a handful of recent releases in his latest Right Turn Only!! column. EvilOmar has some brief reviews up at About Heroes as well.

itazura1logooutlineDerik Badman on vol. 1 of A Distant Neighborhood (Madinkbeard)
Lori Henderson on vol. 5 of Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President (Manga Xanadu)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Itazura Na Kiss (Comics Worth Reading)
Julie on vol. 19 of Kekkaishi (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 7 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (i heart manga)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 2 of Lucky Star (About.com)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Lucky Star (Okazu)
Emily on Otona no Jikan (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Joy Kim on vols. 11 and 12 of Ouran High School Host Club (Joy Kim)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 13 of xxxHolic (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Jason Punda on vol. 1 of Yotsuba&! (Manga Jouhou)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 1 of Yotsuba&! (i heart manga)

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Comments

  1. “Tokyo Scum Brigade (warning: rather off-putting header art)”

    Hahahahaha, that is the best intro to our site I could ever dream of getting! Thank you for the link.