Archives for August 2011

The big news of last week was that CLAMP announced they are going back to work on Legal Drug. I have a quick rundown of the details and the internet chatter at MTV Geek.

The Manga Village team looks at the best of the latest manga releases, and the Manga Bookshelf bloggers debate their Pick of the Week.

Manga Curmudgeon David Welsh peers even further into the future with a look at the manga in this month’s Previews. Princess Knight is on the way! He also points to two books he will definitely order: About Love, a yaoi manga about a wedding planner, and the Love Hina omnibus. And his license request for this week is Dragon Zakura, despite the ugly covers.

At Comic Attack, Kristin also scans Previews for some choice manga.

The folks at The Hooded Utilitarian are making a list of the best comics of all time, and they have reached out to a number of bloggers—they asked me, but the request came at a busy time and I wasn’t able to follow through. Matt Thorn and Melinda Beasi, who succeeded where I failed, both post their personal top tens.

Ed Sizemore’s Otakon coverage continues with podcasts featuring international attendees and Twitterless Ron, as well as a Sunday roundup.

News from Japan: Good news for CLAMP fans: After a long hiatus, the super-group is back at work on Legal Drug (Gōhō Drug) They will also re-publish the first three volumes with new covers. It remains unclear whether CLAMP is re-starting the series or picking up where they left off; the next chapter will appear in the December issue of Young Ace, so fans will have to wait for that. Tokyopop published the first three volumes in the U.S., so the license is up for grabs; Lissa Pattillo and Kate Dacey both speculate that Dark Horse will pick it up, but Yen Press publishes CLAMP manga as well. In other Japanese publishing news, Kadokawa Shoten will launch Newtype Ace in September; the new magazine will focus on manga tie-ins to popular anime. One of those tie-ins will be Un-Go, and monthly Newtype will also carry a series based on the anime of the same name, which will premiere in October. The September issue of Puff, which is a magazine about manga rather than a magazine of manga, has been cancelled. And Sean Gaffney takes a look at the otaku-friendly manga magazine Monthly Comic Alive.

Reviews: Ash Brown takes us through a week’s worth of manga at Experiments in Manga.

Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of The Beautiful Skies of Houhou High and vol. 2 of Fafner: Dead Aggressor (Manga Xanadu)
Danica Davidson on vol. 1 of A Bride’s Story (Graphic Novel Reporter)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 1 of Bunny Drop (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Danica Davidson on vols. 6 and 7 of Butterflies, Flowers (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 7 of Ikigami(The Comic Book Bin)
Jocelyne Allen on Ill-Fated Relationship (Brain vs. Book)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 4 of Kobato (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 4 of Kobato (Kuriousity)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Kurohime (The Manga Critic)
Kyla Hunt on vol. 1 of Love*Com (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Rob McMonigal on vol. 13 of Nana (Panel Patter)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Nephilim (The Manga Critic)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 11 of Otomen (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kyla Hunt on vol. 2 of Skip Beat! (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 24 of Skip Beat! (ANN)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 6 of Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee (The Comic Book Bin)
Rob McMonigal on vol. 2 of Twin Spica (Panel Patter)
Amy Grockl on vol. 1 of Wandering Son (Manga Village)
Shannon Fay on Yakuza Moon (Kuriousity)

Lissa Pattillo has a new gig, doing the new-releases column for Otaku USA, and she kicks it off with a look at this week’s new manga.

Rob McMonigal takes a closer look at Seven Seas’ new manga site, Zoom Comics.

Daniella Orihuela-Gruber asks her readers: Do you want to get manga as a gift?

Ed Sizemore sums up the second day of Otakon.

If you’re in Manila, check out Manga Realities: The Art of Japanese Comics Today, an exhibit opening August 16 at the Ayala Museum.

Happy birthday to anime and manga reviewer extraordinaire AstroNerdBoy!

News from Japan: Here’s an original idea: Toru Watanabe is launching Kami-Igusa Animators, a new series about an aspiring animator, for Young Ace magazine.

Reviews: Anna has quick takes on three Harlequin manga at Manga Report.

Sheena McNeil on vol. 34 of Bleach (Sequential Tart)
Carlo Santos on vol. 4 of Cross Game (ANN)
Connie on issue 2 of Gen (Slightly Biased Manga)
Rob McMonigal on vol. 7 of Jormungand (Panel Patter)
Connie on vol. 3 of K-ON! (Slightly Biased Manga)
Julie Opipari on vol. 2 of March Story (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Rob McMonigal on vol. 12 of Nana (Panel Patter)
Connie on vol. 6 of Ooku (Slightly Biased Manga)

I rounded up this week’s new manga at MTV Geek; it’s an interesting list this week, with the classic Tank Tankuro, two new CLAMP volumes from Dark Horse and Yen Press, and a boatload of new volumes from Viz. Sean Gaffney takes a look at next week’s new releases at A Case Suitable for Treatment.

Special guest author Shaenon Garrity takes over the House of 1000 Manga column to write about the vintage CLAMP manga Wish.

At Manga Therapy, Tony Yao puts Nagi from Hayate the Combat Butler on the couch.

In his latest Otakon podcast at Manga Out Loud, Ed Sizemore talks to Daryl Surat and Charles Dunbar about why people go to cons.

News from Japan: Vol. 63 of One Piece is the seventh volume of that series to have a record-breaking print run, this time of 3.9 million copies. The Mayoi Neko Overrun! manga has come to a sudden end, “due to circumstances,” according to the editors of Jump Square magazine. That’s about as generic an explanation as you can get. More Jump Square news: Seven different Shueisha magazines will publish manga stories based on Tomohiro Matsu’s Papa no Iu Koto o Kikinasai! (Listen to me, girls. I am your father!) light novels. And the editors of Shueisha’s Super Dash Bunko magazine will start a new manga magazine in the fall.

Reviews: Michelle Smith and Melinda Beasi take on CLAMP, Pokemon, and the new manga magazine, Gen, in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf.

Lexie on vol. 1 of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (Poisoned Rationality)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 12 of Higurashi: When They Cry: Eye Opening Arc #2 (The Fandom Post)
Alexander Hoffman on Lychee Light Club (Manga Village)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Wandering Son (ANN)

It’s con season for sure, so let’s start with that: I rounded up the manga and anime news from Otakon at MTV Geek, Erin Finnegan has a podcast of her Unusual Manga Genres panel at the Ninja Consultant website, and Ed Sizemore reports on Friday at Otakon at Comics Worth Reading.

Deb Aoki reports on the Shonen Jump panel at San Diego Comic-Con, in which Weekly Shonen Jump editor Hisashi Sasaki critiqued storyboards sent in by readers.

Sharp-eyed Lori Henderson picks up on a second-time-around announcement at SDCC: Udon will publish a two-volume Sengoku Basara manga, a project they announced a few years ago but never followed through on.

Daniella Orihuela-Gruber takes a break from some heavy reading to ask her readers’ opinion: Can manga get too wordy? My take: If you’re asking that question, you have already answered it.

David Welsh wraps up the Manga Moveable Feast, which featured Fruits Basket this month, with Saturday and Sunday roundups. David also looks at this week’s new manga, and he winds up his josei alphabet with a look at books that start with the letter Z at The Manga Curmudgeon.

The Manga Village team looks at the best of the past week’s new manga.

Khursten Santos puts the spotlight on Iou Kuroda, creator of Sexy Voice and Robo, at Otaku Champloo.

News from Japan: Peach-Pit popped in unannounced to the September issue of Kodansha’s Nakayoshi magazine with the first installment of a two-chapter suspense manga titled Kugiko-san. The digital manga magazine Dengeki Comic Japan is running a digital manga competition with prizes in five categories. Three Steps Over Japan takes a look at Big Comic Superior. Tomo Kimura gives us a peek at the Jun Mochizuki exhibit at Animate Yokohama.

Reviews: Carlo Santos has plenty to say about a stack of new manga in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Ash Brown looks at the past week’s manga reading at Experiments in Manga. In a Very Special Episode of The Manga Critic, Kate Dacey reviews some Short Takes from the past.

Danica Davidson on vol. 1 of The Betrayal Knows My Name (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Anna on Black Blizzard (Manga Report)
John Rose on vols. 14 and 15 of Black Jack (The Fandom Post)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Blood+ (The Manga Critic)
Connie on vol. 4 of Challengers (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sakura Eries on vol. 25 of Fullmetal Alchemist (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 23 of Gin Tama (The Comic Book Bin)
Danica Davidson on vol. 1 of House of Five Leaves (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Kelakagandy on vol. 2 of I Am Here! (kelakagandy’s ramblings)
Julie Opipari on vol. 5 of Jack Frost (Manga Maniac Cafe)
John R. Platt on Japan as Viewed by 17 Creators (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Connie on vol. 2 of Kizuna (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on Love Gene Double X (Okazu)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 30 of Negima! (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 11 of Otomen (Comics Worth Reading)
Ai Kano on vol. 1 of Pluto (Animanga Nation)
Connie on vol. 1 of Seven Days (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lori Henderson on the August issue of Shonen Jump (Manga Xanadu)
Ben Leary on vols. 14 and 15 of Slam Dunk (The Fandom Post)
Theron Martin on vol. 4 of Spice & Wolf (ANN)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 4 of The Story of Saiunkoku (The Fandom Post)
Kristin on vol. 2 of Tenjho Tenge (Comic Attack)
Connie on vol. 2 of Tyrant Falls in Love (Slightly Biased Manga)

Today is Yaoi Day (for the uninitiated, it’s a pun on 801), and yaoi-friendly publisher Digital Manga is celebrating with a trivia contest on Twitter.

Also, Otakon was this past weekend; most of the announcements were about anime, but Bandai announced two manga licenses, Nichijō (My Ordinary Life) and Code Geass: Shikkoku no Renya (Code Geass: Renya of the Darkness).

The Manga Bookshelf team discusses their Pick of the Week.

Deb Aoki recaps the SDCC Best and Worst Manga of 2011 panel, in which she took part.

strong>News from Japan: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin creator Yoshikazu Yasuhiko discusses his focus on “human drama” in the series as he wraps up a 10-year run. Hakusensha is launching a new BL anthology, Hanmaru; contributors include Nase Yamato (Cigarette Kisses).

Reviews: David Welsh, Michelle Smith and Melinda Beasi file a fresh set of Bookshelf Briefs at Manga Bookshelf.

Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of A Certain Scientific Railgun (ANN)
Connie on vol. 3 of Challengers (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 3 of Dengeki Daisy (Slightly Biased Manga)
Michelle Smith on vols. 1-3 of Kobato (Soliloquy in Blue)
Connie on vol. 4 of Kobato (Slightly Biased Manga)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 5 of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Queenie Chan on One Piece (Queenie Chan)
Connie on vol. 5 of Ooku (Slightly Biased Manga)
Caleb Dunaway on vol. 1 of Wandering Son (Otaku USA)
Kristin on vol. 1 of Wandering Son (Comic Attack)