Now we are six!

Today is our birthday: The first MangaBlog post went up six years ago today, and I’m happy to say we have grown and changed a lot since then. Thank you all for reading—it’s the community that really makes this site interesting and helps keep it fresh. So have a cupcake and celebrate!

In the news…

Jason Thompson devotes his House of 1000 Manga column to Sailor Moon this week. Appropriately enough, this was the book that got the whole manga thing started in our house—I found a couple of the books at a garage sale, 5 for a dollar, and picked them up for my kids. It turned out to be an expensive bargain, because they quickly developed a full-blown manga habit.

Sean Gaffney takes us through next week’s new releases at A Case Suitable for Treatment, and Lori Henderson has this week’s all-ages comics and manga at Good Comics for Kids.

Viz has announced a whole slew of new licenses and releases. David Welsh knows which one he wants.

Melinda Beasi looks at the three faces of Tokyopop.

The 50th volume of Naruto was the top-selling graphic novel in bookstores last month, according to ICv2.

David Welsh’s latest license request is Jin, one of the nominees for the Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize.

I think I missed this when it first went up: Michael Arthur presents a gay man’s perspective on BL manga at The Hooded Utilitarian; Melinda Beasi uses that as a starting point for her own essay on “intimacy porn” at Manga Bookshelf.

Also at The Hooded Utilitarian, Erica Friedman looks at some Japanese manga magazines that don’t fit the standard categories.

Kodansha International is shutting down, but that’s not as huge a deal as it seems to we manga folk, because they don’t publish manga (except for books about manga, like Fred Schodt’s Manga! Manga!). Kodansha USA and Kodansha Comics are still around, and it was the parent company that bought a stake in Vertical last week.

Alex Woolfson posts some character designs for yaoi superheroes at Yaoi 911.

News from Japan: Rule 35: If it exists, someone in Japan will make a moe version of it. The latest example: Kawaii Security, a book that discusses computer viruses and security using a combination of manga and illustrated text.

Reviews

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Kurozakuro (The Comic Book Bin)
Ng Suat Tong on Oishinbo (The Hooded Utilitarian)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Oresama Teacher (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kristin on vol. 1 of Oresama Teacher and vol. 2 of Kamisama Kiss (Comic Attack)
Kate Dacey on Qwan (The Manga Critic)
Rob McMonigal on vols. 11 and 12 of Ranma 1/2 (Panel Patter)
Ken Haley on vol. 1 of Replica (Sequential Ink)
Erica Friedman on Strawberry Panic Omnibus (Okazu)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 11 of Trinity Blood (I Reads You)