Translation talk, Tamai, and To Terra

The past couple of weeks have been tough ones for the manga world, with the disappearance of Go! Comi, the summary execution of CMX, and the staff cuts from Viz. But Matt Blind looks at the history of manga sales in the U.S. and finds some reason for cheer, if only because we are way ahead of where we were ten years ago. Meanwhile, the comments in Julie Opipari’s farewell to CMX at Blog@Newsarama turn into a smackdown between CMX-haters and professional translator William Flanagan. It is either interesting or tiresome, depending on how much you have followed the scanlation debates.

The Manga Moveable Feast begins today, and this month’s subject is Keiko Takemiya’s To Terra. Kate Dacey gets us started with a history and summary, and Jason Yadao has a nice overview at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

Lori Henderson boils down this week’s manga news to a handy digest form at Manga Xanadu.

Helen McCarthy has been having some fun researching manga creators who are relatively unknown in English-speaking countries; her latest find is Yukio Tamai, the creator of Omega Tribe and one of the creators protesting a recent attempt to ban depictions of characters that appear to be under 18 in “sexually provocative” situations.

Pod-castic: Tokyopop editor Cindy Suzuki talks about their new title, Neko Ramen, in the latest Anime Today podcast. And Lissa Pattillo guests on the latest ANNCast, discussing the demise of CMX and Go! Comi.

Jacob Martin reflects on the death of heavy metal rocker Ronnie James Dio, who, like Osamu Tezuka, died of stomach cancer, and then he takes a look at a documentary on Tezuka that was made near the end of his life.

Udon Entertainment will be publishing the manga Darkstalkers / Red Earth: Maleficarum, based on the video games Darkstalkers and Red Earth, in the fall.

Ready for a laugh? Erin Finnegan has some Initial D humor for you.

New website alert: AnimeQuotes.net is exactly what the name says—sort of a Bartlett’s Quotations for the otaku set. Check it out if you’re looking for that perfect epigraph—or maybe just inspiration.

Reviews: Christopher Mautner reviews a trio of recent graphic novels, including Black Blizzard, at Robot 6.

Kelly on vol. 1 of Alice in the Country of Hearts (kelkagandy’s ramblings)
Todd Douglass on vol. 3 of Alice in the Country of Hearts (Anime Maki)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of AX: A Collection of Alternative Manga (The Manga Critic)
Julie Opipari on vol. 2 of Black Butler (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on vol. 5 of Blade of the Immortal (Slightly Biased Manga)
Rob McMonigal on vol. 5 of Bleach (Panel Patter)
Bill Sherman on vol. 1 of Diamond Girl (Blogcritics)
Kristin on Dry Heat (Comic Attack)
Shannon Fay on Dry Heat (Kuriousity)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 12 of Excel Saga (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 6 of Gentlemen’s Alliance+ (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 7 of Gestalt (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 19 of Hikaru no Go (Comics Worth Reading)
Connie on vol. 8 of I Hate You More Than Anyone (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 3 of Karakuri Odette (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 2 of Kitchen Princess (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Connie on vol. 1 of Kobato (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 2 of Mad Love Chase (Slightly Biased Manga)
Julie Opipari on vol. 6 of Mixed Vegetables (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Noah Berlatsky on vol. 1 of Monster (The Hooded Utilitarian)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of My Girlfriend’s a Geek (ANN)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of Neko Ramen (Tangognat)
Rob McMonigal on vol. 1 of Nightschool (Panel Patter)
Sean Kleefeld on Ode to Kirihito (Kleefeld on Comics)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 2 of One Fine Day (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Ratman (Comics Worth Reading)

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Comments

  1. Laethiel says

    With the death of CMX, I hope somebody else will pick up Hyakko. I was excited when I heard it was listed on Amazon, but now CMX is dead without even volume 1 published.