Archives for March 2010

Kate Dacey, Gia Manry, and David Welsh look at this week’s new releases.

At PWCW, Kai-Ming Cha talks to Matt Thorn about the new line of manga from Fantagraphics, which Thorn will be editing and “curating.” Also, Ada Price talks to comics retailers about sales in the past year; they observe that manga buyers seem to be getting older, and that series like (wait for it) Akira are selling well. It looks like Naoki Urasawa and Osamu Tezuka titles are strong sellers as well. Of course, that’s partly a reflection of the comics-shop demographic; one of the things that surprised me in Brian Hibbs’s BookScan analysis this year was the complete absence of any Viz Signature titles on the BookScan top 750 sellers. Maybe everyone was buying them at their LCS.

At The Beat, Heidi has a preview of the Twilight graphic novel. At Anime Vice, Gia Manry summarizes a raging moe-vs-Twilight discussion on Twitter, and the conversation continues in the comments thread. Meanwhile, the grownups at USA Today take a look at the challenges of making a graphic novel of a popular property. (Last link via the Icarus blog.) And Lissa Pattillo turns in the first review at Kuriousity.

Snow Wildsmith spots some signs of life at DramaQueen, which has updated their forum and apparently has a new book, The Summit, which is at the printer’s right now! Developing…

Beth Wagner looks at some early Japanese sequential art at Myth and Manga.

Leave it to Lori Henderson to find some manga that tie in with St. Patrick’s Day.

News from Japan: ANN reports that manga sales are down in Japan by 6.6%, the largest year-to-year decrease since folks started keeping track. This year’s Manga Taisho award goes to Thermae Romae, a gag manga about public baths, apparently.

David Brothers discusses suspended expectations in One Piece at 4thletter!

Reviews: Carlo Santos takes on Black Butler, Lucky Star, and a handful of other manga in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN.

Deb Aoki on vol. 1 of Arata: The Legend (About.com)
Rob on vol. 3 of Basara (Panel Patter)
Bill Sherman on Blood Honey (Blogcritics)
Sam Kusek on vol. 1 of Bokurano: Ours (Manga Recon)
Tiamat’s Disciple on L’Etoile Solitaire (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 10 of Gakuen Alice (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Billy Aguiar on Haru Hana: The Complete Collection (Prospero’s Manga)
Emily on Hitsuji ga Ippiki (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 1 of In the Walnut (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Kristin on vols. 1 and 2 of Ouran High School Host Club (Comic Attack)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Reversible (The Comic Book Bin)
David Welsh on Ristorante Paradiso (The Manga Curmudgeon)
Julie on vol. 2 of Sumomomo, Momomo (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Taimashin: The Red Spider Exorcist (Kuriousity)
Susan S. on vol. 3 of Very! Very! Sweet (Manga Jouhou)
Rob on vol. 2 of Yotsuba&! (Panel Patter)

Amid the flurry of new licenses and license requests, Sean Gaffney pauses to consider why some manga are not licensed (with particular focus on Kimagure Orange Road).

The Comics Village team make their picks from the past week’s new manga.

Dark Horse is soliciting Evangelion: Campus Apocalypse for an August release.

This is more about anime than manga, but it’s kind of interesting: Joe Snyder lays down the four rules of moe at Japanator.

Matt Blind builds some shelves for his manga.

Reviews: The Manga Recon reviewers start off the week with an eclectic set of Manga Minis. EvilOmar also posts some short takes at About Heroes.

Danielle Leigh on vol. 1 of Biomega (Comics Should Be Good!)
Sophie Stevens on vol. 1 of Biomega (Animanga Nation)
Snow Wildsmith on Blood Honey (Fujoshi Librarian)
Connie on The Box Man (Manga Recon)
Rob on vol. 2 of Bride of the Water God (Panel Patter)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 4 of Excel Saga (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Amy Grockl on How to Capture a Martini (Comics Village)
Tangognat on vols. 2-5 of Kekkaishi (Tangognat)
D.M. Evans on vol. 2 of Kieli (Manga Jouhou)
Rob on vol. 4 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (Panel Patter)
Connie on vol. 16 of Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investgation (Slightly Biased Manga)
Danica Davidson on vol. 1 of My Darling! Miss Bancho (iFMagazine.com)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 2 of Nabari no Ou (Manga Bookshelf)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 34 of One Piece (The Comic Book Bin)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 35 of One Piece (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vols 37 and 38 of One Piece (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Melinda Beasi on Physical Attraction (Manga Bookshelf)
Rob on vol. 2 of Rosario + Vampire (Panel Patter)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 15 of S.A. (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Eric Robinson on vol. 1 of Shakugan no Shana (Manga Jouhou)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 20 of Skip Beat! (Kuriousity)
Connie on vol. 15 of Swan (Slightly Biased Manga)

Interviews! I interviewed Dirk Tiede about the creative process behind his manga-style webcomic Paradigm Shift, which just wound up its first act—it’s an excellent time to jump in if you’re not reading it already. The Viz folks talk to Afterschool Charisma manga-ka Kumiko Suekane at SigIKKI and Arata: The Legend creator Yuu Watase at Shonen Sunday. Meanwhile, as we reported a few weeks ago, Hiroki Otsuka (The Boys of Summer) is manga-ka-in-residence at the Japan Society of New York; now the society has posted an interview with Otsuka on their website.

Bleach tops the New York Times manga best-seller list this week; could sales have been pushed by folks curious about Nick Simmons’s “tribute”?

In case you were otherwise occupied, Lori Henderson provides a quick recap of the week’s manga news at Manga Xanadu, and Erica Friedman presents a fresh edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu. Over at Manga Bookshelf, Melinda Beasi has another comprehensive Manhwa Monday post.

This month’s Manga Moveable Feast continues with Matt Blind’s ruminations on vol. 5 of Emma, and Jason Yadao and Lissa Pattillo on Shirley.

His mind boggled by the recent announcement of Fantagraphics’ new line of manga (to be edited by Matt Thorn), David Welsh considers the many possibilities for license requests and asks for help from his readers (who cheerfully oblige). David also goes back and revisits his early reviews of One Piece.

Speaking of One Piece, Tim Rogers at Kotaku calls it “the ADHD-addled Dragon-Ball-Z-inspired One Piece, a manga for the Twitter age if there ever was one.” This comment is embedded in a lengthy discussion of everything he hates about Japan, but Japanator’s Karen Gellender helpfully pulled it out and asked the readers: Really?

Lori Henderson marks Women’s History Month with a look at influential women manga creators at Manga Xanadu.

Heidi MacDonald notes that Drawn & Quarterly is planning to publish another Yoshihiro Tatsumi manga, Black Blizzard, and this one is in color.

Alex Hoffman takes exception to a subscription reminder from Yen Plus.

A helpful commenter explains how to pronounce Love*Com and .hack// at the Manga Critic.

News from Japan: A number of manga-ka, including Tetsuya Chiba (Ashita no Joe) held a press conference to protest Tokyo’s proposed law restricting sexually provocative depictions of minors. They presented a written statement, signed by Rumiko Takahashi and Ken Akamatsu, among others, to the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly. Peach Girl‘s Miwa Ueda has started a new series, Pure-Mari (Pre-Marriage) in Bessatsu Friend, and ANN chronicles several other starts and stops in the same magazine. Yubisaki Milk Tea is coming to an end. Natsume Ono, creator of not simple and House of Five Leaves, is launching a new series. Meanwhile, Canned Dogs takes a look at ITAN, a new anthology magazine in the works from Kodansha.

Reviews

Penny Kenny on vol. 2 of Black Bird (Manga Life)
Deb Aoki on vol. 1 of Bunny Drop (About.com)
David Welsh on vol. 1 of Bunny Drop (The Manga Curmudgeon)
Snow Wildsmith on vols. 1 and 2 of Clear Skies (Fujoshi Librarian)
Connie on vol. 4 of Detroit Metal City (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 15 of From Eroica With Love (Slightly Biased Manga)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 3 of Kimi Ni Todoke (Manga Life)
Michelle Smith on vols. 15 and 16 of Love*Com (Soliloquy in Blue)
Connie on vol. 7 of Magic Touch (Slightly Biased Manga)
Greg Burgas on MPD-Psycho (Comics Should Be Good)
Julie Opipari on vol. 15 of Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Bill Sherman on vol. 1 of My Darling! Miss Bancho (Blogcritics)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Ooku: The Inner Chambers (Kuriousity)
James Fleenor on vol. 1 of Red Hot Chili Samurai (Anime Sentinel)
Kate Dacey on Ristorante Paradiso (The Manga Critic)
Dave Ferraro on Ristorante Paradiso (Comics-and-More)
Ai Kano on vol. 11 of Strawberry 100% (Animanga Nation)
Michelle Smith on vol. 3 of ZE (Soliloquy in Blue)

EDIT: Bad links fixed. Thanks, everyone!

Lori Henderson checks out this week’s all-ages comics and manga at Good Comics for Kids. At Anime Vice, Geekachu presents this week’s quick picks in text rather than video form, and at Manga Worth Reading, Johanna takes a look at what we will be buying in May.

Lots of good stuff to read this weekend: Here are parts three and four of Matt Thorn’s interview with Moto Hagio at The Comics Journal, and at the same site, Shaenon Garrity explains why Hagio is so awesome. At comiXology, Jason Thompson discusses why incest is such a common theme in manga, while at io9 he takes a look at the morality of action manga.

One more: When I read this article, by some guy who hates manga but didn’t totally hate Scott Pilgrim, I totally disregarded it. Kate Dacey, on the other hand, was inspired to offer a primer for the clueless on how to write about manga, even if it’s not your favorite medium. I certainly think that even if we don’t care much for superhero comics, most manga readers could come up with a more intelligent critique than “It’s in color and the pages are too big!” (Also, I may be going out on a limb here, but I have never regarded Scott Pilgrim as manga, and I don’t believe Bryan Lee O’Malley does, either.)

ICv2 has the February sales numbers from Diamond, which distributes comics and graphic novels to comics stores. Graphic novel sales were up a touch from this time last year, the first uptick since last March. Here’s their list of the top 300 graphic novels for the month featuring Naruto and Berserk in the top ten.

Wondering what to do this summer? Why not go for an internship at Tokyopop?

Here’s an interesting review of a San Diego restaurant that keeps manga around for its patrons.

Reviews: The Manga Moveable Feast continues with David Welsh’s look at vol. 10 of Emma. Other reviews of note:

Lissa Pattillo on 9th Sleep (Kuriousity)
Ed Sizemore on vols. 4-8 of Alive: The Final Evolution (Comics Worth Reading)
Chris Zimmerman on vol. 1 of Arata the Legend (cbs4.com)
Connie on vol. 3 of Astral Project (Slightly Biased Manga)
Michelle Smith on vol. 2 of Banana Fish (Soliloquy in Blue)
Shaenon Garrity on Blood Honey (About.com)
Julie Opipari on vol. 4 of B.O.D.Y. (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Sarah Boslaugh on vol. 1 of Bokurano Ours (PLAYBACK:stl)
Snow Wildsmith on vol. 1 of Dorohedoro (ICv2)
Carlo Santos on vol. 1 of Eureka Seven (omnibus) (ANN)
Sadie Mattox on GoGo Monster (Extremely Graphic)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of Hanako and the Terror of Allegory (Prospero’s Manga)
Snow Wildsmith on vol. 1 of Hanako and the Terror of Allegory (ICv2)
Tangognat on vol. 13 of High School Debut (Tangognat)
Julie Opipari on vol. 1 of Loudest Whisper (Mania.com)
Lori Henderson on vol. 3 of Rin-ne (Manga Xanadu)
Snow Wildsmith on Ristorante Paradiso (ICv2)
Connie on vol. 6 of St. Dragon Girl (Slightly Biased Manga)
John Zakrzewski on vol. 1 of Samurai Harem (Mania.com)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 1 of Stepping on Roses (Manga Bookshelf)
Russell Williams on vol. 4 of Sunshine Sketch (Manga Jouhou)

Let’s wind up this evening with Ayane Yamane’s Finder Series from DMP. This one is a license rescue; the series was originally published by Central Park Media under their BeBeautiful imprint. Digital will begin its releases this summer, and they have set up a special Finder website to tide readers over while they wait.

Gardena, CA (3/11/10)- Digital Manga Publishing and Libre Shuppan are proud to announce the licensing of the Finder Series by Ayano Yamane! The Finder series has been one of the most heavily requested series from our readers, and has been considered by fans of the yaoi genre to be the quintessential yaoi title. From one of Japan’s top-selling yaoi mangaka, Ayano Yamane, DMP is proud to release the Finder series beginning with volume one in the summer of 2010 under the June’ imprint. For more information, news updates, and to keep on top of all things Finder, visit the Finder website at www.finderseries.com!

From our friends at Libre Shuppan:

We are pleased to announce that Kazuma Kodaka’s KIZUNA-絆- and Ayano Yamane’s Finder Series, both of which were previously licensed by Central Park Media, are now acquired by Digital Manga Publishing (DMP). For these series, all volumes will be newly translated and will be published under DMP’s June imprint. Finder Series is set to be released in Summer of 2010 and Kizuna is scheduled for September of 2010.

For further inquiries regarding this matter, feel free to contact us at rights@libre-pub.co.jp or Digital Manga Inc, at contact@emanga.com We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for reading our books and for your continued support.

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FINDER VOL. 1: TARGET IN THE VIEWFINDER, Rated M+ (for ages 18+), MSRP: $13.95, Available: SUMMER 2010, SIZE: B6, June’ Imprint

While out on assignment trying to document the illegal activities of the Japanese underworld, photographer Takaba crosses paths with the dark and mysterious leader Asami. Asami takes Takaba captive, in an attempt to subjugate and possess him. But when the son of the Chinese mafia enters demanding evidence that Takaba may have, will Takaba be able to survive being caught in the crosshairs of a deadly underworld feud?

Next up is Ristorante Paradiso, a one-shot manga that should be lovely to look at, and promises an intriguing story as well. Viz has been going long on Natsume Ono; they have already published not simple in print (the first chapter is still up at the link) and House of Five Leaves on the SigIKKI site. While this one doesn’t look like your standard restaurant manga, it promises to be a bit lighter in tone than Ono’s other works. Although this story is complete in one volume, it looks like Viz will be publishing a sequel, Gente, later this year.

SAVOR A TASTY MANGA TREAT WITH NATSUME ONO’S RISTORANTE PARADISO
NEW FROM VIZ MEDIA

New VIZ Signature Release Comes From The Talented Creator of HOUSE OF FIVE LEAVES And not simple

San Francisco, CA, March 10, 2010 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced the release on March 16th of the manga -Natsume Ono’s RISTORANTE PARADISO. The story, a romance among the staff at a bistro in Rome, is offered in a single volume and will be published under the VIZ Signature imprint. RISTORANTE PARADISO is rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens and will carry an MSRP of $12.99 U.S. / $16.99 CAN.

At the age of 21, Nicoletta travels to Rome to find her mother, Olga, who abandoned her long ago. Nicoletta finds her at Casetta dell’Orso, a charming little restaurant owned by Olga’s husband. The staff of bespectacled gentlemen welcomes Nicoletta warmly, but Olga’s reception is not so pleasant. Olga has never told her husband that she had a child – and he must never know.

In exchange for Nicoletta’s playing “the daughter of an old friend,” Olga offers her a place to live and an apprenticeship at the restaurant. Nicoletta fits in well among the unique personalities at Casetta dell’Orso. She gets along particularly well with the kindly headwaiter, Claudio, a divorced man who, in spite of the many years, has still never removed his wedding ring. As Nicoletta’s feelings for Claudio become complicated, she finds a sympathetic ear in Olga, leading the estranged pair to form a friendship neither expected. But as they grow closer, the pressure of the secret they share may become too much to bear.

“Natsume Ono continues to push the manga genre in intriguing new directions with her minimalist art style and strong, character-driven stories that deliver surprising quirks and touching endings,” says Gonzalo Ferreyra, Vice President Sales & Marketing, VIZ Media. “Two of Ono’s other works, HOUSE OF FIVE LEAVES and not simple, both now available for free preview on SigIKKI.com, have garnered accolades from older readers looking for more sophisticated stories. Don’t miss the opportunity to explore the unique work of this very talented manga creator.”

Natsume Ono made her professional debut in 2003 with the web comic, LA QUINTA CAMERA, and subsequent works not simple, RISTORANTE PARADISO, and GENTE (a continuation of RISTORANTE PARADISO) have met with both critical and popular acclaim. In 2009, RISTORANTE PARADISO was adapted into an animated TV series. Her manga drama HOUSE OF FIVE LEAVES is currently published in Japan in IKKI magazine.

For more information on other VIZ Signature titles please visit www.VIZsignature.com.

Ristorante Paradiso © 2006 NATSUME ONO