Anime Expo is upon us! Viz, Digital Manga, and Bandai will all have panels, and the Sugoi Books folks will have a demo as well. I’ll update with news as it breaks, so stay tuned!
At School Library Journal, the Good Comics for Kids bloggers (including yours truly and The Manga Critic, a.k.a. Kate Dacey) offer our summer reading suggestions for young readers (preschool to teens). And back at the home base, Lori Henderson has this week’s all-ages comics and manga releases.
I took a look at Mameshiba, the super-cute bean-dog hybrids that started out in short cartoons in Japan and are now starring in two graphic novels from Viz, at MTV Geek.
Everybody’s talking about josei manga this week, and David Welsh has two license suggestions, both from Kiss magazine.
Sean Gaffney also has a license request: Ema Toyama’s Watashi Ni xx Shinasai!
At the Dark Horse website, editor Carl Horn discusses the significance of CLAMP’s Magic Night Rayearth (via The Manga Critic, who has more to say on the topic).
Melinda Beasi discusses characterization and emotional truth at Manga Bookshelf.
With convention season now upon us, Erica Friedman offers some tips for networking at cons.
Here’s something different: Ill-fated Relationship, a manhwa for the iPhone. Daniella Orihuela-Gruber, who worked on the book, has the scoop at All About Manga.
Julie is giving away a bundle of shoujo manga at Manga Maniac Cafe; go to the link to see how to enter.
News from Paris: Bakuman, Maid Sama!, Drops of God, and A Distant Neighborhood were all winners of this year’s Japan Expo awads.
Reviews
Kristin on vols. 2 and 3 of Afterschool Charisma (Comic Attack)
Connie on vol. 1 of A Bride’s Story (Slightly Biased Manga)
TSOTE on vol. 12 of Geobreeders (Three Steps Over Japan)
Zack Davisson on vol. 3 of Hanako and the Terror of Allegory (Japan Reviewed)
A Library Girl on vol. 2 of Kimi ni Todoke (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Carlo Santos on vol. 3 of Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan (ANN)
Sean Michael Robinson on Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths (The Comics Journal)
Michelle Smith on vols. 1 and 2 of Oresama Teacher (Soliloquy in Blue)
Connie on vol. 7 of Seiho Boys’ High School (Slightly Biased Manga)
Rebecca Silverman on vols. 1-3 of The Story of Saiunkoku (ANN)
A Library Girl on vol. 3 of Wild Ones (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)