Archives for May 2010

New blog alert! Gia Manry has been liberated from the black-and-neon confines of Anime Vice and has started a new blog of her own, Anime Briefs. Gia is a great writer, and one of the few people in the MangaBlogoSphere who will pick up a phone and call the source when news is breaking, so her blog should be on your RSS feed. She’s splitting it into news and features, and you can subscribe to one or the other or both, as your fancy strikes. Check out her picks of the week for starters!

And as long as we’re blogging about blogging, congratulations to Lissa Pattillo, who will be writing regular reviews for ANN, and Melinda Beasi, who will be writing regularly at Examiner.com. Melinda kicks it off with a look at the May manga releases.

The NANA project (Melinda Beasi, Danielle Leigh, and Michelle Smith) takes on a special topic in their latest discussion: The four pages that were removed from volume 4, and the other edits to the series.

Ed Sizermore wraps up the Manga Moveable Feast at Comics Worth Reading. At Panel Patter, Rob McMonigal reviews vols. 2 and 3 of Mushishi.

David Welsh counts all the seinen manga beginning with the letter B at The Manga Curmudgeon. David also posts his take on this week’s new releases, and at Flashlight Worthy, he compiles a list of the best one-volume manga.

Josh Tolentino looks at this week’s new anime and manga at Japanator.

Jason Thompson’s Manga: The Complete Guide will be available for Kindle in November.

News from Japan: InuBaka: Crazy for Dogs is coming to an end. Young Ace magazine will launch four new series in the June 4 issue, including Sugar Dark: Umerareta Yami to Shōjo (Sugar Dark: The Buried Darkness and the Girl), based on the light novel by Enji Arai and adapted by Kendi Oiwa, who worked on the Welcome to the NHK and Goth adaptations.

Reviews

Julie Opipari on vol. 4 of Animal Academy (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Rob McMonigal on vol. 4 of Bleach (Panel Patter)
Rob McMonigal on vols. 6 and 7 of Cantarella (Panel Patter)
Becky Fullan on vol. 1 of Clear Skies! (Manga Jouhou)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Gatcha Gacha (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
James Fleenor on .hack//Alcor (Anime Sentinel)
Gia Manry on vol. 1 of Portrait of M&N (Anime Briefs)
Lori Henderson on vol. 4 of Rin-ne (digital edition) (Manga Xanadu)
Rob McMonigal on vol. 2 of Re:Play (Panel Patter)
Rob McMonigal on vol. 3 of Rosario+Vampire (Panel Patter)
Emily on Usotsuki Lily (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 10 of We Were There (The Comic Book Bin)

Melinda Beasi takes a look at the month to come in this week’s Manhwa Monday column at Manga Bookshelf.

Kate Dacey checks out this week’s shoujo-heavy new comics list.

Michelle Smith checks in with a late entry to the Manga Moveable Feast, her review of vol. 1 of Mushishi, at Soliloquy in Blue, and host Ed Sizemore gathers a number of the participants to the table for a podcast to wind up the festivities.

Erica Friedman joins The Hooded Utilitarian and starts things off by introducing herself; because it’s Erica, and The Hooded Utilitarian, a lengthy comments thread follows.

The Toronto Comics Art Festival happens this weekend, and Deb Aoki rounds up all the manga-friendly panels and publishers at About.com.

Same Hat has some photos of the Garo exhibit in NYC.

News from Japan: Elemental Gelade creator Mayumi Azuma has a new series in the works, Toraneko Folklore. And Comic Yuri Hime is speeding up its release schedule, going from quarterly to bi-monthly.

Reviews: The Manga Recon team kicks off the week with a new set of Manga Minis.

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 4 of Animal Academy (I Reads You)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 4 of Bamboo Blade (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Julie Opipari on vol. 2 of Beast Master (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Oliver Ho on Black Blizzard (PopMatters)
Connie on vol. 6 of Cipher (Slightly Biased Manga)
Todd Douglass on vol. 1 of Dorohedoro (Anime Maki)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 10 of Excel Saga (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Dave Ferraro on Flower in a Storm (Comics-and-More)
Sean Gaffney on Fruits Basket: Banquet (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 5 of The Gentlemen’s Alliance+ (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 4 of Gestalt (Mania.com)
Billy Aguiar on .hack//4Koma (Prospero’s Manga)
Becky Fullan on The History of the West Wing (Manga Jouhou)
Lori Henderson on vol. 4 of Honey Hunt (Manga Xanadu)
Tangognat on vol. 2 of Itazura na Kiss (Tangognat)
Snow Wildsmith on vols. 1 and 2 of Kabuki (Fujoshi Librarian)
Carlo Santos on vol. 3 of Karakuri Odette (ANN)
Tangognat on vols. 4-6 of Key to the Kingdom (Tangognat)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 1 of Kitchen Princess (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Connie on Love Full of Scars (Slightly Biased Manga)
Richard Bruton on Manga Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice (fictions)
Connie on vol. 13 of Oh My Goddess (Slightly Biased Manga)
Rob Vollmar on Oishinbo (Trouble With Comics)
Connie on vol. 47 of One Piece (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Rampage (Kuriousity)
David Welsh on vol. 1 of Satsuma Gishiden (The Manga Curmudgeon)
Diana Dang on vol. 1 of Stepping on Roses (Stop, Drop, and Read)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Twin Spica (The Manga Critic)
Kristin on vols. 1 and 2 of Vampire Hunter D (Comic Attack)

The latest NY Times graphic books best-seller list is up, and Yen Press owns it, with five of the top ten titles.

Lori Henderson lists this week’s new comics and manga at Good Comics for Kids, and she rounds up the latest news at Manga Xanadu.

Erica Friedman posts the latest Yuri Network News at Okazu.

Sean Gaffney has short takes on the latest new manga at A Case Suitable for Treatment.

David Welsh looks at the most likely new titles from the upcoming Previews.

Lissa Pattillo is not sold on the digital edition of Yen Plus, and she doesn’t see a lot of fans who are willing to pay for it.

A search for a hard-to-find volume of Futari Ecchi causes Anna to reflect on why some series seem to peter out, at 2 screenshot limit.

At Myth and Manga, Akemi looks at an ancient folk tale that pops up in Naruto.

Deb Aoki talks to the folks behind a new comics and art anthology, F*X*T, which is raising startup funds through Kickstarter.

The Manga Moveable Feast continues with reviews and opinions on Mushishi by Daniella Orihuela-Gruber, Derik Badman, Rob McMonigal, Matt Blind, Justin Colussy-Estes, Dan Polley, John Thomas, Michelle Smith, Reverse Thieves, and host Ed Sizemore, who has some thoughts on Mushi and Cthulhu. Also, David Welsh picks another work by Mushishi creator Yuki Urushibara for his latest license request.

Congratulations to Kate Dacey of The Manga Critic, who celebrated her first year of blogging last week. If you’re not already familiar with Kate’s blog, go check it out now—I’ll wait. Be sure to congratulate her, and then tell her what book to review next.

News from Japan: The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly may pass that bill banning sexualized depictions of “nonexistent youths” after all. The first chapter of Higurashi: When They Cry is now available for cell phones.

Reviews: EvilOmar posts some short manga reviews at About Heroes.

Andre on vol. 4 of Bamboo Blade (Kuriousity)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Bokurano: Ours (The Manga Critic)
Julie Opipari on vol. 16 of D.Gray-Man (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Danielle Leigh on vol. 1 of Dorohedoro (Comics Should Be Good)
Erica Friedman on El Cazador (Okazu)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 9 of Gakuen Alice (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Gon (Kuriousity)
Julie Opipari on vol. 19 of Hikaru no Go (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Carlo Santos on vol. 4 of Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit (ANN)
Zoey on vol. 2 of Karakuri Odette (Manga Jouhou)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 4 of Kimi ni Todoke (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Jaime Samms on The Lonely Egotist (Kuriousity)
Erica Friedman on Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Force and Vivid (Okazu)
Becky Fullan on vol. 2 of Me and the Devil Blues (Manga Jouhou)
Jason Dyer on vol. 47 of Naruto (Manga Life)
Julie Opipari on vol. 1 of Ninja Baseball Kyuma (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of Ratman (Prospero’s Manga)
Ken Haley on Remember (Manga Recon)
Snow Wildsmith on vol. 1 of Spice and Wolf (Fujoshi Librarian)
Ai Kano on vol. 12 of Strawberry 100% (Animanga Nation)
Julie Opipari on vol. 2 of Time and Again (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 8 of V.B. Rose (A Case Suitable for Treatment)