Archives for May 2011

Over at MTV Geek, I summed up some recent developments in digital manga, took a look at the work of Natsume Ono, and checked out Kodansha USA’s debut lineup, which includes lots of Del Rey favorites.

And be warned: Go! Comi’s web domain expired over a year ago, and whoever has put up a site at the gocomi.com domain, reposted a bunch of their content, and is asking (in broken English) for donations for a relaunch… is a fraud.

Lissa Pattillo spotted that site too, along with some tantalizing new manga listings on Amazon.com.

Jason Thompson takes a fond look at the otaku-friendly manga Genshiken in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

David Welsh checks out this week’s new releases. Sean Gaffney takes a look at next week’s new manga, with an eye toward the ones you will find in a comic shop.

Nastume Ono’s The House of Five Leaves gets Tony Yao thinking about “chivalrous robbers” and why people turn to crime at Manga Therapy.

Lissa Pattillo reports on the Usamaru Furuya panel at TCAF, and at Anime Diet, Animemiz files her report on an evening with Natsume Ono in New York.

Johanna Draper Carlson celebrates Viz’s 25th anniversary with a list of her favorite Viz manga.

David Welsh reaches the letter O in his josei alphabet.

Attention bloggers: The next Manga Moveable Feast will have Cross Game as the main dish.

News from Japan: It’s awards season: The Kodansha Manga Awards have been announced, and the winners include Chika Umino’s March comes in like a lion. The 40th Japan Cartoonist Awards went to a diverse selection of titles, including Riki Kusaka’s Help Man!, and Moto Hagio was honored with a special award. On the other hand, the people who run the Kyoto Animation Award decided that no manga merited a grand prize or even an honorable mention this year. Volume 62 of One Piece sold 2.37 million copies, which is not too shabby, and ANN has the complete Japanese comics rankings for last week. Detroit Metal City creator Kiminori Wakasugi has a new series in the works, to run in Hakusensha’s Young Animal magazine: a comedy called Kappei whose tagline is “when the times need him the least, a hero will appear!!” And the Tokyo National Museum has an exhibit that pairs images from Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha with classic depictions of the Buddha, some of which may have inspired Tezuka.

Reviews: Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss some new releases in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf.

Julie Opipari on vol. 15 of Claymore (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Julie Opipari on The Expectant Princess (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Gente: The People of Ristorante Paradiso (The Comic Book Bin)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 7 of Jormungand (The Comic Book Bin)
Carlo Santos on vol. 4 of Kurozakuro (ANN)
David Welsh on vols. 4 and 5 of Maoh: Juvenile Remix (The Manga Curmudgeon)
Alex Hoffman on vol. 1 of Monkey High (Manga Widget)
Ai Kano on vol. 2 of Seiho Boys’ High School (Animanga Nation)
Kristin on vol. 16 of Slam Dunk and vol. 3 of Kamisama Kiss (Comic Attack)

Despite the removal of some titles, Animate U.S.A. continues to be bullish on the Kindle Store; they announced four new titles this week, including the first volume of Selfish Love, which was originally published by Central Park Media. Animate said in an e-mail to me that some of their manga have been removed from the Kindle Store, although they did not specify which titles. I did find a few that they had announced in previous press releases that were no longer there, and The Yaoi Review has compiled the most comprehesive list so far of the manga that Amazon has removed and notes that a few are back up. Animate told ANN that they had “no current plans to deal with the issue.”

The Manga Bookshelf bloggers discuss their favorite Viz manga for this week’s Pick of the Week. The Manga Village team, meanwhile looks over the best of the past week’s new releases.

Lori Henderson disputes Stu Levy’s claim that he was the glorious leader of the Manga Revolution.

Jason Thompson takes a lighthearted look at manga’s greatest apocalypses at io9.

Rob McMonigal continues his yearlong appreciation of the work of Rumiko Takahashi with a look at Rin-ne, which he calls her “Rodney Dangerfield manga.”

Deb Aoki recaps the first day of TCAF, including appearances by Natsume Ono and Usamaru Furuya, at About.com. Lissa Pattillo reports on her first day as well as the Natsume Ono spotlight panel.

And a note to New Yorkers: Ono will be appearing at Kinokuniya this evening.

Reviews: Carlo Santos checks out a stack of recent releases, including the last volume of 7 Billion Needles and the latest Pandora Hearts, in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Ash Brown reports on another week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Arisa (Comics Worth Reading)
Anna on vol. 3 of Gente (Manga Report)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 5 of Itazura Na Kiss (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 5 of MAOH: Juvenile Remix (The Comic Book Bin)
Kristin on Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths (Comic Attack)

Bad news for BLU manga fans: Digital was supposed to keep the Tokyopop yaoi books available on their eManga site until May 20, but they were told last week that the titles had to be pulled down within 24 hours so they were gone without warning. My understanding is that anyone who has already purchased a BLU book will still be able to read it on the site, but the books are no longer available for new buyers.

Kate Dacey, The Manga Critic, extols Book-Off as a great place to find, cheap pre-owned manga.

Erica Friedman brings us the latest yuri news as well as news of a Yuricon art contest at Okazu.

Kristy Valenti files her con report on Sakura-Con at comiXology; while the con is growing and getting better organized, there was only little American manga presence, although it’s interesting that Amazon staffers were handing out free prose novels to the attendees.

At Manga Widget, Alex Hoffman is thinking about some Tokyopop and CMX licenses he would like to see rescued, starting with Stolen Hearts.

Michael Buntag discusses an interesting early look at manga from a foreign perspective: Manga-Jutsu, a 1997 short story by French artist François Boucq.

Three Steps Over Japan posts some photos of a little Moyashimon extra, drawings that show up only when you flex the edges of the pages.

Reviews: Be sure to check out David Welsh and Kate Dacey’s joint review of Lychee Light Club at The Manga Curmudgeon. The Manga Bookshelf reviewers give their quick takes on some recent releases. I reread two Natsume Ono manga this week and posted some thoughts as part of Robot 6’s What Are You Reading? column.

Oyceter on vols. 1-8 of One Piece (Sakura of DOOM)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Oresama Teacher (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
James Fleenor on vol. 1 of Pavane for a Dead Girl (Anime Sentinel)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 5 of Urusei Yatsura (A Case Suitable for Treatment)

May 7 is Free Comic Book Day. Daniella Orihuela-Gruber notes the complete absence of manga among this year’s offerings and wonders if publishers are missing an opportunity to diversify. But it’s not entirely manga-free: Yen Press is giving away the first chapter of Svetlana Chmakova’s adaptation of Witch & Wizard.

At Publishers Weekly, I talked to Fred Lui of Digital about Amazon’s removal of some of their yaoi manga from the Kindle Store. And at MTV Geek, I list all the things that are wrong with the Sugoi Books app. Meanwhile, The Yaoi Review suggests some alternatives to the Kindle.

Sean Gaffney peers into his crystal ball at the manga being released next week.

At Manga Report, Anna asks if Ai Ore is clever satire or sexist trash. If you have to ask, the question has probably answered itself.

Jason Thompson looks at a classic, Reiko the Zombie Shop, in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

Viz turns 25 this summer, and David Welsh celebrates by naming his 25 favorite Viz manga and six more he’d like to see them license. David also reaches the letter N in his josei alphabet.

Melinda Beasi marks the release of the last volume of Hikaru no Go by hosting a roundtable on the series, and she also discusses its slashability in her Fanservice Friday post. And at Soliloquy in Blue, Michelle Smith reviews vols. 21-23 of the long-running series.

Rob McMonigal reflects on the Rumiko Takahashi Manga Moveable Feast at Panel Patter.

The Contemporary Japanese Literature blog has a nice roundup of the best of Tokyopop, including Suppli, Dramacon, and Gerard & Jacques.

A Day Without Me starts out reading Baseball Heaven but ends up discussing why bad translations are bad.

News from Japan: Shueisha has announced a new manga magazine to launch this summer; they claim that it won’t cater to any particular demographic, which is a bit hard to imagine. A manga adaptation of Black Rock Shooter will begin in Young Ace in June. And ANN has the latest Japanese comics rankings, in which One Piece and Naruto lead all the rest.

Reviews

Connie on vol. 1 of Ai Ore (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Ai Ore (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Katherine Farmar on vol. 1 of Amnesia Labyrinth (Manga Village)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 6 of Biomega (The Comic Book Bin)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Genkaku Picasso (The Comic Book Bin)
TSOTE on vol. 5 of Geobreeders (Three Steps Over Japan)
Julie Opipari on vol. 6 of Goong (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Rob McMonigal on vol. 6 of Jormungand (Panel Patter)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 8 of Kimi ni Todoke (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 4 of Kurozakuro (The Comic Book Bin)
Kristin on vol. 5 of Maoh: Juvenile Remix and vol. 3 of Kingyo Used Books (Comic Attack)
Connie on Marriage Scandal, Showbiz Baby! (Slightly Biased Manga)
Danica Davidson on vols. 4-7 of Monster (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Christopher Mautner on Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths (Robot 6)
Connie on vol. 2 of Peepo Choo (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on vol. 4 of Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari (Okazu)
Erica Friedman on vol. 5 of Rakuen Le Paradis (Okazu)
Danica Davidson on vols. 4-6 of Rasetsu (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Lori Henderson on the May issue of Shonen Jump (Manga Xanadu)
Kyla Hunt on vol. 1 of Skip Beat (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Kate Dacey on vol. 4 of Spice and Wolf (The Manga Critic)
Todd Douglass on vol. 4 of Spice and Wolf (Anime Maki)
Connie on vol. 2 of Under Grand Hotel (Slightly Biased Manga)

Today’s big story is still a moving target, but here’s the gist of it: Amazon has removed a number of yaoi titles from the Kindle store, although most (not all) of the books remain available in print form through their website. [UPDATE: More on this at Robot 6.] The manga publisher Digital first posted about this yesterday, and what’s surprising is that it is not just affecting their fairly steamy 801 imprint; several of their milder June titles, including The Color of Love, have also been removed. The Yaoi Review reports that Yaoi Press titles have also been affected:

Yaoi Press’s founder Yamila Abraham has stated they will now have to change their explicit images on their prose titles to more ‘romantic’ images that will be acceptable to KINDLE.

Oddly, none of Animate’s titles seem to have been removed. Books that have already been purchased will remain available, and of course, there’s plenty of male-female and female-female porn comics available for Kindle. I have a few inquiries out about this, and if you can add anything from your own experience, feel free to comment below or e-mail me at the address on the right.

David Welsh looks over this week’s new manga at The Manga Curmudgeon.

Viz Media is adding four more manga titles to their iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch app: The House of Five Leaves, not simple, MAOH: Juvenile Remix, and Hyde & Closer. At Manga Xanadu, Lori Henderson is disappointed that Viz is moving to the iPhone but not to Android devices.

Khursten Santos has an introduction to and appreciation of Natsume Ono’s work at Otaku Champloo. Ono and Usumaru Furuya (Genkaku Picasso, Lychee Light Club) are going to be guests at this year’s Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF), which takes place this weekend, and Deb Aoki has a guide to TCAF for manga lovers at About.com.

Erica Friedman has an essay on the theme of the “girl prince” in yuri manga at The Hooded Utilitarian. She also has some thoughts on translating anime and the latest edition of Yuri Network News at her own blog, Okazu.

Rumiko Takahashi and her work are the topics for this week’s edition of the Manga Out Loud podcast.

Daniella Orihuela-Gruber reads all 26 volumes of the out-of-print classic Basara at All About Manga.

News from Japan: The shoujo magazine Margaret has announced five new series, including one by Arina Tanemura. We Were There/Bokura Ga Ita is coming to an end next year, and the Togari Shiro sequel manga wraps up next month. Three Steps Over Japan shows off an old issue of Garo and goes shopping for manga in the fairly remote town of Kagoshima.

Reviews

Ken Haley on vols. 2 and 3 of 7 Billion Needles (Sequential Ink)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Ai Ore (The Comic Book Bin)
Anna on vol. 8 of Black Bird, vol. 5 of Stepping on Roses, and vol. 5 of Seiho Boys’ High School (Manga Report)
Connie on vol. 17 of Blade of the Immortal (Slightly Biased Manga)
Eduardo Zacarias on vol. 34 of Bleach (Animanga Nation)
Sean Gaffney on vols. 11 and 12 of Higurashi: When They Cry (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 2 of Itsuwaribito (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on The Manga Guide to Relativity (Comics Worth Reading)
Michael C. Lorah on Onwards Towards Our Noble Deaths (Blog@Newsarama)
Connie on vol. 5 of Sensual Phrase (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lori Henderson on the April issue of Yen Plus (Manga Xanadu)

Here’s some big digital news: Viz is expanding its manga app to the iPhone and iPod Touch. I had the opportunity to test-drive the app, and the manga was surprisingly readable on the small screen. They have marked down select volume 1’s to $2.99 to encourage people to check it out.

Sequential Tart’s Margaret O’Connell starts the week with a look at Tokyopop’s role in creating the boys-love readership in the U.S., and how they gained fans with inexpensive manga and then turned them off by raising prices without improving quality. Tokoyopop’s BL-lite titles like Fake and Challengers helped them to get yaoi manga into bookstores that balked at more explicit offerings, which in turn helped create a wide readership for the genre.

And here’s some news about Blu digital manga: Digital’s eManga website has been carrying Blu manga for a while, but today they warned that the titles will be disappearing at 5 p.m. PST on May 20. If you buy them before then, however, you will continue to be able to read them after that time.

This month’s Manga Moveable Feast draws to a close with host Rob McMonigal posting links for day six and day seven as well as Megan Smith’s Rumiko Rummy and a very nice wrapup post.

Help David Welsh decide which yaoi manga to buy this month at The Manga Curmudgeon. David also shares his picks from the May Previews., and he teams up with Melinda Beasi, Kate Dacey, and Michelle Smith to discuss the Manga Bookshelf Pick of the Week.

Lissa Pattillo shows off this week’s purchases at Kuriousity.

Michelle Smith and Melinda Beasi discuss some manga pages that make them laugh in their latest Let’s Get Visual dialogue at Soliloquy in Blue.

RightStuf has a sale on Udon books right now, and Lissa Pattillo points out some good bets at Kuriousity.

News from Japan: The winners of the 15th Osamu Tezuka Cultural Awards have been announced. Only one is licensed here: Hiromu Arakawa won the New Artist Prize for Fullmetal Alchemist. Khursten Santos gives us a bit more background on all the winners at Otaku Champloo. A manga with an unfortunately timed nuclear-power arc, the yakuza series Hakuryū Legend, which was suspended from the magazine Weekly Manga Goraku, will return with a new storyline. And Michiyo Kikuta (Fairy Navigator Runa, Mamotte! Lollipop) has a new series in the works.

Reviews: Ash Brown shares a week’s worth of manga at Experiments in Manga. At Manga Bookshelf, Melinda Beasi, Kate Dacey, Michelle Smith, and David Welsh have a new round of Bookshelf Briefs.

David Welsh on vol. 1 of Ai Ore (The Manga Curmudgeon)
Connie on vol. 16 of Blade of the Immortal (Slightly Biased Manga)
Katherine Hanson on Claudine (Yuri no Boke)
Connie on vol. 2 of ES: Eternal Sabbath (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 3 of Genkaku Picasso (Slightly Biased Manga)
Dave Ferraro on Hipira (Comics-and-More)
Johanna Draper Carlson on I’ll Give It My All … Tomorrow (Comics Worth Reading)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 5 of Tegami Bachi (The Comic Book Bin)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 5 of Toriko (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 12 of V.B. Rose (A Case Suitable for Treatment)