The big news from Japan yesterday was of course, the 8.9 magnitude earthquake that struck offshore earlier today (yesterday for them), and the tsunami that followed. I rounded up tweets and blog posts from comics and manga people in Japan and the affected areas at CBR, and I’ll update here and there as more information comes in. ANN has a list of manga creators and other industry types who have checked in to say they are OK and another list of events that have been cancelled because of the earthquake. AstroNerdBoy translated some manga-ka tweets from the Japanese for us. And at All About Manga, Daniella Orihuela-Gruber rounded up some resources for those who want to help.
In other news…
At Robot 6, Sean T. Collins interviews Yuichi Yokoyama about his upcoming book Garden and posts a nice preview as well.
Sean Gaffney looks at the coming week’s new manga. Looking farther ahead, Kristin devotes her Bento Bako Lite column to manga in the March Previews.
Lissa Pattillo gets some more information on Viz’s upcoming release of Pokemon Black and White. And Lori Henderson wonders whatever happened to Magical Pokemon Journey.
David Welsh’s license request this week is for a classic shoujo manga, Glass Mask. Also, the people have spoken, and David will be buying A Certain Scientific Railgun, despite the use of the annoying word “esper.” (I hate it too.) Also at that link is an interesting discussion, in comments, following Shaenon Garrity’s discussion of crazy creator sidebars.
The Comics Journal website has relaunched, with a much improved design and better curation. They also seem to be giving plenty of space to manga, with Ken Parile’s detailed analysis of Moto Hagio’s short story “Bianca” and Chris Mautner’s review of the first three volumes of Bakuman.
At Otaku Champloo, Khursten posts an appreciation of Fumi Yoshinaga.
Tony Yao muses on Twin Spica at Manga Therapy.
On the occasion of her tenth anniversary, Melinda Beasi looks at manga marriages. Warning: Link contains a major spoiler for Fruits Basket!
Melinda and Michelle Smith look at a big stack of recent manga in their latest Off the Shelf column.
Alex Hoffman asks his readers what manga they would like to see licensed in English at Manga Widget.
Translators Alethea and Athena Nibley have some more fun with Google Translate.
Atsushi Suzumi (Venus Versus Virus) is coming to Sakura-Con.
Other news from Japan: American yuri manga publisher ALC has donated yuri manga to the Kyoto International Manga Museum. ALC publisher Erica Friedman writes about both the donation and the earthquake at Okazu.
Reviews
Todd Douglass on vol. 8 of Bamboo Blade (Anime Maki)
Kristin on vol. 1 of The Beautiful Skies of Houhou High (Comic Attack)
Anna on vol. 1 of Claymore (iPad version) (Manga Report)
Ken Haley on vol. 1 of Countdown 7 Days (Sequential Ink)
Michael C. Lorah on vol. 2 of Cross Game (Blog@Newsarama)
David Welsh on vol. 2 of House of Five Leaves (The Manga Curmudgeon)
Julie Opipari on vol. 24 of Kekkaishi (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Ken Haley on vol. 1 of Replica (Sequential Ink)
Erica Friedman on vol. 8 of Sasamekikoto (Okazu)
Connie on vol. 4 of Sensual Phrase (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Skyblue Shore (I Reads You)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of Skyblue Shore (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on vol. 1 of Under Grand Hotel (Slightly Biased Manga)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of Wandering Son (Soliloquy in Blue)
Connie on vol. 1 of Wounded Man (Slightly Biased Manga)