Good morning! I’m heading out to New York Comic Con/New York Anime Fest this morning, so the blog will be late today. If you are going to the con and want to meet up, DM me via Twitter or send an e-mail to the address on the upper right In the meantime, feel free to follow me on Twitter, where I will be breathlessly reporting on the action..
Archives for October 2010
Kodansha reactions, the Bechdel Test, and Gon
October 5, 2010 by
Around the blogosphere everyone had something to say about the news that Kodansha was moving from licensing their manga to Del Rey to publishing their manga through their Kodansha USA division but having Random House (Del Rey’s parent company) help with editing, production, and distribution.
Deb Aoki wonders if Kodansha USA will be putting a bit more marketing muscle behind manga that are more popular in Japan than here, such as Moyasimon and Nodame Cantabile.
Christopher Butcher has harsh words for Kodansha’s American venture so far, and his reaction to yesterday’s announcement is “Disappointment bordering on dread.”
Lissa Pattillo thinks we should hold off on the dismal predictions, noting that we may see continuity in design and editing and an expanded range of titles… or then again, maybe not.
Kate Dacey thinks Kodansha should do a better job of communicating with fans. Seconded!
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber has some advice for Kodansha USA.
ANN lists Del Rey’s remaining unfinished series.
A number of people point out that the Kodansha Comics website contains only the press release. This is disappointing but not that unusual; Yen Press didn’t have a working website until their books started coming out either. Publishers in general seem to understimate the importance of having a good website. The important thing is to get the Del Rey manga off the horrible Suvudu.com and onto their own website.
In other news and commentary:
Erica Friedman has an interesting piece at The Hooded Utilitarian asking which manga pass the Bechdel Test; she ends up asking Alison Bechdel herself for her opinion, and that in turn leads her to some deeper thoughts about the portrayal of women in comics in general, and the difference between the letter and the spirit of the Bechdel Test. David Welsh follows up with a discussion of both general issues and specific manga at The Manga Curmudgeon.
Melinda Beasi takes a look at manhwa at NYCC in her latest Manhwa Monday post.
Oliver Ho takes a fond look at Gon, the wordless dinosaur comic that was published not once but twice in the U.S.
Kaiji Kawaguchi shows how he draws a manga character from scratch in the latest video at Masters of Manga.
News from Japan: Big Comic Spirits is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a series of one-shots by well-known manga-ka, including Rumiko Takahashi and Taiyo Matsumoto. Hiroyuki Tamakoshi, who drew Boys Be… and Gacha Gacha, is working on a new series, Double Heroine.
Reviews
Julie Opipari on vol. 12 of Gantz (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Tangognat on vols. 1-4, 6, and 8 of Kaze Hikaru (Tangognat)
Lori Henderson on vol. 7 of Mixed Vegetables (Comics Village)
Connie on vol. 1 of NG Life (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lexie on vol. 1 of Nightschool (Poisoned Rationality)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Pink Innocent (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Dave Ferraro on vol. 9 of Sand Chronicles (Comics-and-More)
Greg McElhatton on vol. 12 of Slam Dunk (Read About Comics)
Breaking: Kodansha to take over Del Rey Manga
October 4, 2010 by
Just last week, some folks noticed that a number of Del Rey titles had disappeared from Amazon and Previews, and we started speculating that a big announcement might be in the offing (as often happens before a big comic convention). Turns out we were right: Kodansha is, as they say, shifting from a licensing model to a distribution model with Random House, the parent company of Del Rey manga. Basically, Kodansha will be taking over as publisher of a number of Del Rey series (not every series will continue, I gather), while Random House will provide help with editing, production, and distribution of the books. Editor Dallas Middaugh stays on under the new regime, but the fate of the rest of the group is not yet clear. Also, Del Rey may continue to publish non-manga graphic novels under that name. I posted the full press release at Robot 6, and you should also check out PW’s story on the move, which includes a few more details.
Monday morning news update
October 4, 2010 by
Sean Gaffney starts us off with a look at this week’s new manga at A Case Suitable for Treatment, and he also wraps up the latest Manga Moveable Feast, which featured After School Nightmare.
The Comics Village team, meanwhile, picks the best of the past week’s new releases.
Lori Henderson takes us through the week’s manga news at Manga Xanadu, and Erica Friedman posts the latest edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu.
On the heels of Banned Books Week, Daniella Orihuela-Gruber has some thoughts on self-censorship, as opposed to the type imposed from the outside.
How-to-draw-manga books come to Japan. It looks like this one is a Japanese book that has been translated.
News from Japan: Arina Tanemura has drawn a 32-page chapter of I.O.N., which she last worked on 13 years ago, for the second issue of Ribon Fantasy Zōkan-gō magazine.
Reviews
Richard Bruton on Black Blizzard (Forbidden Planet)
Connie on vol. 6 of Blade of the Immortal (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 31 of Bleach (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kate Dacey on vols. 1 and 2 of Cat-Eyed Boy (The Manga Critic)
Shannon Fay on Chibi-Vampire (Kuriousity)
Jaime Samms on Cold Sleep (Kuriousity)
Nicola on The Dreaming: The Collection (vols. 1-3) (Back to Books)
Oyceter on A Drunken Dream and Other Stories (Sakura of DOOM)
Carlo Santos on vol. 12 of Fairy Tail (ANN)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Grand Guignol Orchestra (The Comic Book Bin)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 16 of Hayate the Combat Butler (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
J. Caleb Mozzocco on vol. 1 of Hetalia: Axis Powers (Blog@Newsarama)
Connie on vol. 2 of Laon (Slightly Biased Manga)
James Fleenor on Manga for the Beginner: Shoujo (Anime Sentinel)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 6 of Negima!? Neo (I Reads You)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Odd Is On Our Side (Comics Worth Reading)
Connie on vol. 5 of Pet Shop of Horrors (Slightly Biased Manga)
Katherine Farmar on Utahime: The Songstress (Comics Village)
Tangognat on vols. 7 and 8 of Vagabond (VizBig Edition) (Tangognat)
Review: Ugly Duckling’s Love Revolution, vols. 1 and 2
October 3, 2010 by
Ugly Duckling’s Love Revolution, vols. 1 and 2
By Yuuki Fujinari
Rated T, for Teens
Yen Press, $10.99
This story is based on a dating-sim game, which explains a lot—the lack of backstory, plot, and character development, for instance. It’s kind of like a boy-harem version of Aria, a pleasant slice-of-life book in which the characters interact cheerfully but nothing much actually happens.
The main character, Hitomi, is fat and unattractive, and the story makes no bones about that. It wasn’t until I read the Wikipedia entry on the original game (Otometeki Koi Kakumei Love Revo!!) that I learned that she actually does have a backstory—she used to be a beauty queen, in fact, but she gave in to the temptations of junk food and put on a ton of weight. The story ignores all possible physical or psychological explanations for this—we’re here for good-natured fun, not complexity.
Hitomi goes to one of those high schools where the most popular boys have been chosen by some type of secret ballot, so we get introduced to them right away, in order. They fit the standard stereotypes: The alpha male, the hot misunderstood guy, the sporty guy (he doubles as the token shouta character), the yakuza heir who is trying to shake off his past, and the bookish, sickly guy. There’s also a doctor, of the type that pops up a lot in manga—young, hot, drinks and smokes a lot, and flirts outrageously with his patients. There are a couple of girls other than Hitomi but they might as well be cardboard cut-outs for all we see of them.
By an astounding coincidence, Hitomi and her brother (who is also quite cute and has a weird little-sister complex) live in the same residence as the doctor and the five hot guys. Hitomi’s brother is the apartment manager, and a number of their little adventures are centered around this building.
So what do they do? In the first chapter, the guys staple some papers for school orientation packets. Seriously, that’s the main action in the chapter. OK, it’s a way for us to get to know the characters and start getting a feel for the story, but really… In the next chapter, Hitomi can’t figure out a math problem and keeps asking everyone to help her, without success. It turns out (spoiler alert!) that she was mistakenly using a college study guide. In the third chapter, Hitomi and her friends make a special sitting area in their apartment building’s sunroom for the sickly, bookish character. And so it goes. My favorite chapter: When Hitomi is away at summer camp, the boys go shopping, eat candied apples, and win a bunch of plushies for her at a shooting gallery.
And that’s how it goes. Little stories about everyday life, played out by characters with very few neuroses or conflicts. It’s bubble-bath reading, blatant wish-fulfillment with little connection to everyday life.
At some point, Hitomi starts dieting. You would expect that there would have been some dramatic turn of events—she was rejected by a potential boyfriend because of her weight, or someone said something hurtful—but nope, she just starts dieting because it’s the right thing to do, and in one chapter she wins free tickets to a pool so she starts exercising there. Once the chapter is over, the pool never shows up again; continuity is not this story’s strong suit.
Hitomi’s character is drawn in a completely different style from the rest of the cast. The other characters are very much in a standard shoujo/bl style, willowy boys with fairly detailed faces, hair, and clothing. Hitomi is a set of simple curves, and her eyes are mere dots in her face. Presumably that is because she stands in for the reader, and too much detail would make that hard to achieve. There is one male character, Touru, who is chubby and bespectacled and is drawn in the same style; he seems to have a very small part, and according to Wikipedia he eventually goes to America and loses the weight and the glasses.
The one icky thing about this book is Hitomi’s brother, Takashi, who is beyond overprotective and well into stalker territory when it comes to his little sister. In the last chapter of volume 1, Hitomi and her friends dig up a mysterious box which turns out to contain Takashi’s diaries of his day-to-day observations of his sister. There is no explicitly sexual content, but it certainly is weird. Takashi takes this cheerfully in stride, although Hitomi is mildly embarrassed by the episode. And then she swoons in Takashi’s arms. Again, you could connect some dots regarding Takashi’s attitude and Hitomi’s weight, but this book certainly isn’t going to do it for you.
Ugly Duckling’s Love Revolution is fine for what it is, a daydream world in which the boys are hot but still friendly with an unattractive girl (and with each other, for that matter). The art is quite competent and the dialogue isn’t bad, although more translator’s notes would be helpful. I imagine it would work even better in the format in which it originally appeared, as chapters in a weekly or monthly manga magazine; when those chapters are gathered together, the weaknesses are more apparent. If you’re looking for action, give this one a pass, but for simple stories, the manga equivalent of a cup of tea, a rocking chair, and a cat, this series will fill the bill nicely.
The secret history of shoujo, manga on your handheld, and more!
October 1, 2010 by
Jason Thompson’s latest House of 1000 Manga column dredges up a classic that has a small but dedicated band of fans: Firefighter: Daigo of Fire Company M.
Be sure to check out Sean Gaffney’s blog, A Case Suitable for Treatment, for the latest additions to the Manga Moveable Feast, which is celebrating After School Nightmare this month. David Welsh’s latest license request is another manga by Setona Mizushiro, The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese.
Lori Henderson has this week’s top all-ages manga and comics releases at Good Comics for Kids.
At Masters of Manga, Marc Bernabe has a great video of manga creator and expert Akira Maruyama talking about the changing perceptions of manga, from funnybooks to real stories, and manga’s own “Seduction of the Innocent” moment—yes, there were real manga burnings—and its lasting effects.
And to celebrate Banned Books Week, Erica Friedman is offering free yuri manga to libraries.
Lori Henderson posts her thoughts on censorship at Manga Xanadu.
There seems to have been a flurry of activity lately with Japanese publishers releasing manga in varous digital formats. ANN has a roundup of some recent announcements, including Joan and Jesus, by Mobile Suit Gundam creator Yoshikazu Yasuhiko in the Apple app store, and Kazuo Umezu’s Cat-Eyed Girl in the Nokia Ovi store.
News from Japan: The Japanese magazine Jump Square is announcing it will publish a one-shot CLAMP story, Gate 7, in an upcoming issue. Dark Horse had listed this as the title of one of its “mangettes,” short standalone manga by CLAMP, but the listings for the mangettes have been removed from most retail sites.
Reviews
Lori Henderson on vol. 28 of Bleach (Comics Village)
Shaenon Garrity on vols. 1 and 2 of Hanako and the Terror of Allegory (About.com)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Hetalia: Axis Powers (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
J. Caleb Mozzocco on vol. 1 of Hetalia: Axis Powers (Blog@Newsarama)
Julie Opipari on Moonlit Promises (Mania.com)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 55 of One Piece (The Comic Book Bin)
Kiki Van De Camp on vol. 3 of Rin-ne (Animanga Nation)
Carlo Santos on vol. 4 of Rin-ne (ANN)
Kristin on vol. 12 of Slam Dunk (Comic Attack)
Lissa Pattillo on Your Love Sickness (ANN)