Improbable anatomy alert!
Sean Gaffney takes a look at next week’s new manga, and it looks like there’s a better selection this week than last, with new volumes of Black Butler, Gakuen Alice, and Pet Shop of Horrors Tokyo; a new shonen manga, Lives, from Tokyopop; the brand-new Highschool of the Dead, which is pretty much what it sounds like, from Yen; a couple of new yaoi one-shots from Digital and Blu; and the final volume of Mad Love Chase.
Jason Thompson looks at Swan, the surprisingly shonen manga about ballet, in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.
The latest dish in the Manga Moveable Feast is Ash Brown’s review of vol. 1 of Karakuri Odette at Experiments in Manga, and Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith come to the table with their Off the Shelf dialogue on the entire series at Manga Bookshelf.
Manga Critic Kate Dacey (who once gave Banya The Explosive Deliveryman an A!) muses on the role of hyperbole and ennui in manga reviews. As always, her readers weigh in with some interesting comments.
Speaking of manga critics, this week, The Hooded Utilitarian unveiled their Best Online Comics Criticism 2010 results. In the interest of full disclosure, I was invited to be a member of the roundtable but dropped out because of work and personal issues. When done right—and this was done right—it’s a big commitment, especially for the organizers, and Ng Suat Tong deserves a lot of credit for making this a year-long effort. Anyway, I can’t argue at all with the results, and for added value, the members are all posting their personal lists along with their comments. Pray for a snow day, because this is a lot of reading: Derik Badman, Melinda Beasi, Johanna Draper Carlson, Shaenon K. Garrity, Tim Hodler, Chris Mautner and Bill Randall.
Melinda Beasi explores the joys of shipping at Manga Bookshelf with a trio of made-up romances from her favorite manga.
ANN rounds up some recent announcements of new manga licenses, ten from Digital and one from Yen Press.
License request: David Welsh would like to see Akuma to Dolce, by Julietta Suzuki (Karakuri Odette):
It’s apparently about a girl with an aptitude for both magic and cooking. She inadvertently summons a powerful demon who, conveniently enough, will do just about anything for a sweet treat. From there, I would imagine that standard but charming, slightly idiosyncratic shôjo antics ensue. And this is sometimes all I require from a series.
Christopher Butcher samples the delights of Shinjuku at Comics212.
Reviews
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Kamisama Kiss (Comics Village)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 3 of Peepo Choo (ANN)
Kristin on Romeo x Juliet (Comic Attack)
David Welsh on vols. 9 and 10 of Sand Chronicles (The Manga Curmudgeon)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 32 of Shaman King (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of What’s Michael (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Can we keep things a bit more grounded with the whole Best Online Comics Criticism thing? I think Jason Thompson is cool, but in the comments and articles that are linked he is branded “the best English language writer about manga” a bit too much. If the manga bloggers could nominate a Tezuka-like God for manga articles, it would be Jason.
I think it is pure hubris to say anyone is the best “English writer” in any field in any way, well, except for Shakespeare. Now, THERE is a god whose face you cannot look upon. The voting manga-wise seemed to devolve into the same old manga-Blods clique back-patting as usual. I find it kind of boring when manga bloggers think of themselves as “critics”. They’re just writing or talking about something they like. Sometimes I feel some forget that. My podcasts are recorded on water. They mean nothing. They are merely enthusiasm about something I love. People should not kid themselves that they are producing art or academic essays. I guess instead of saying “Best”, the list should be changed to “notable” or “These people are my friends” list.