Archives for October 2011

Manga seemed to be a more robust presence at this year’s NYCC than in the past few years. Viz was back, with a major announcement; Kodansha was there, with a special guest, a new digital app, and stacks of Sailor Moon volumes to sell; Yen Press and Vertical were there with a few surprises as well. The indy manga magazine Gen was there, along with indy manga publisher One Peace Books. Rumors (and snark) were flying about Tokyopop’s lurch out of the coffin. The Anime Artists Alley was packed. And best of all, the manga bloggers were out in force. I was exclusive to MTV Geek for the weekend, and here are my news posts so far:

Kodansha Comics panel: iPad app, Attack on Titan and Miles Edgeworth licenses, new omnibuses
Kodansha Comics panel 2: Q&A with Fairy Tail manga-ka Hiro Mashima
Yen Press panel: Alice in the Country of Hearts rescued, Puella Magi Madoka Magica licensed, and Yen goes simultaneous with Japan with Soul Eater One in Yen Plus
Viz panel: Loveless rescued, Jiu Jiu licensed
The big Viz news of the con: Shonen Jump goes digital and nearly simultaneous with Japan

And, while it’s not quite manga, I caught the Hatsune Miku panel.

Here’s a roundup of reactions and news from other bloggers:

Deb Aoki interviews the Viz brass about Shonen Jump Alpha, the new digital version of Shonen Jump.

Melinda Beasi gets visual with a gallery of photos from the show floor and rounds up the news and announcements at Manga Bookshelf.

Christopher Butcher is dismayed that the paper version of Shonen Jump will no longer be available cheaply on newsstands.

Pedro Cortes interviews Hiro Mashima.

Kate Dacey comments on the news that Shonen Jump is going digital at The Manga Critic, and she has a roundup of all the NYCC news at Good Comics for Kids.

Erica Friedman reported on two panels she participated in, XX: The Women of Queer Comics and CBLDF: Defending Manga.

Sean Gaffney has a very thorough and entertaining writeup of his experiences at NYCC: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3.

Lori Henderson views all the announcements with cautious optimism.

Lissa Pattillo reports on the Viz Media, Vertical, Inc., and Yen Press panels at Kuriousity.

Lianne Sentar applauds the digital initiatives at Sleep Is For the Weak.

David Welsh is pleased with Vertical’s new license announcements.

Hey all! I’m back from NYCC/NYAF, and it was a wonderful weekend—manga seemed to be a bigger presence in this show, and everyone is finally jumping on board the digital bus. Well, almost everyone. I was covering the con exclusively for MTV Geek, so head over there for the manga news, and I’ll have a roundup here later today or sometime tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s some of what has been going on while I was otherwise occupied.

Lissa Pattillo lists her picks from this week’s new releases in her latest On the Shelf column at Otaku USA.

Lori Henderson has the list of the past week’s all-ages comics and manga at Good Comics for Kids.

AstroNerdBoy comments on Tokyopop’s latest flicker of life.

Connie lists her favorite medical manga at Slightly Biased Manga.

Animate USA announces their latest round of yaoi for the Kindle.

News from Japan: Six men have been arrested for uploading anime, games, and manga, including One Piece, to the internet. Their explanation: “We want to spread our favorite manga.” ANN has the manga lineup for Monthly Hero’s, a new magazine from Shogakukan that will be available only in 7-11 stores. Here comes another 4-koma manga from Houbunsha: Tae Sano’s Mura Doll, launching in Manga Time Family this week. Monthly Comic Ryū is making a comeback in March, not December as previously announced. And Gakuen Prince creator Jun Yuzuki has started a new series, Rose & Wolf, which is running in Kodansha’s Bessatsu Friend.

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

Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Bad Teacher’s Equation (ANN)
Connie on Bonds (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 4 of Bunny Drop (Comics Worth Reading)
Zack Davisson on The Color of Earth (Japan Reviwed)
Dave Ferraro on vol. 1 of Drifters (Slightly Biased Manga)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 15 of Fairy Tail (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime & Manga Blog)
Connie on Falling Into Love (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 3 of I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 5 of Kamisama Kiss (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on vol. 28 of Knights of the Zodiac (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Love Hina (omnibus edition)
TSOTE on vol. 2 of Mouryou no Hako (Three Steps Over Japan)
Carlo Santos on vol. 52 of Naruto (ANN)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 2 of Negima (omnibus edition) (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime & Manga Blog)
Connie on vols. 10, 11, and 12 of Please Save My Earth (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of Recipe for Gertrude (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 2 of Seven Days (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 25 of Skip Beat (Slightly Biased Manga)

Sorry about yesterday’s absence: I have been having a busy week, and I’m currently en route to New York Comic Con/New York Anime Fest. I’ll be blogging from the show floor all weekend at MTV Geek, so head over there for the latest updates. I’ll be back on Monday.

I looked over the list of this week’s new manga at MTV Geek. Sean Gaffney takes the longer view with a look at next week’s new releases at A Case Suitable for Treatment, and Kristin peers even further into the future with an overview of the manga in the October Previews at Comic Attack.

The Love Hina Manga Moveable Feast is heating up; since I’m on the train right now, I won’t try to link to individual pieces but instead I’ll point you to the MMF archive page where everything is linked.

Robin Brenner helps a puzzled librarian find the right spots for Fullmetal Alchemist and Death Note—and offers some general advice on judging the appropriate audience for a given manga—at Good Comics for Kids.

News from Japan: A manga adaptation of Guilty Crown is in the works for Square Enix’s Monthly Shonen Gangan magazine.

Reviews: Carlo Santos rounds up the new releases in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN.

A Library Girl on vol. 10 of After School Nightmare (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
A Library Girl on vols. 21-24 of Eyeshield 21 (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Zack Davisson on Gandhi: A Manga Biography (Japan Reviewed)
Eduardo Zacarias on vol. 1 of Gon (Animanga Nation)
Kimi-chan on vols. 1-17 of Human Club (The Kimi-chan Experience)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of March Story (The Comic Book Bin)
A Library Girl on vols. 2-4 of Otomen (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Anna on vols. 6 and 7 of Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee (Manga Report)
Greg McElhatton on vol. 1 of X (omnibus edition) (Read About Comics)

Deb Aoki gives JManga its first report card—and she’s a tough (but fair) grader.

Lissa Pattillo goes over this week’s new manga in her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA, and David Welsh shares his picks at The Manga Curmudgeon.

Ed Sizemore talks translation with William Flanagan (Sailor Moon) and Mari Morimoto (Naruto) in the latest Manga Out Loud podcast.

Don’t forget, the Manga Moveable Feast continues this week with a multi-blogger appreciation of Ken Akamatsu’s Love Hina. Jason Green plays host at PLAYBACK:stl, and you can find his ever-growing list of all the participants’ posts on the archive page. Sean Gaffney posts his thoughts on vol. 1 of the Love Hina omnibus at A Case Suitable for Treatment.

Daniel BT offers a blistering critique of Kazuo Umezu’s Fourteen, which he calls “one of the stupidest comic I’ve ever read.”

News from Japan: Dragon Quest artist Kamui Fujiwara and Ghost in the Shell writer Kazunori Ito are working on Giniro no Usagi, a digital manga to be released next year. Three Steps Over Japan takes a look at another manga magazine, Dengeki Daioh.

Reviews

Sean Kleefeld on vol. 1 of A Bride’s Story (Kleefeld on Comics)
Connie on vol. 6 of Hyde & Closer (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on KuroYome (Okazu)
Nick Chidgey on vol. 1 of Laddertop (Spandexless)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 7 of Maoh: Juvenile Remix (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on vols. 1-2 of My Boyfriend Is a Vampire (omnibus edition)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Negima! (omnibus edition) (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 7 of Raiders (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 4 of Sakura Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura (The Comic Book Bin)
Kris on Tired of Waiting for Love (Manic About Manga)
Kristin on vol. 6 of Ultimo (Comic Attack)

I rounded up the past week’s manga news at MTV Geek, and Erica Friedman has the latest edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu.

Dutchie of the localization team BoysLoveBangBang provides an insider’s look at the Digital Manga Guild.

The Manga Village team looks at the past week’s new releases.

The Manga Bookshelf team discusses their latest Pick of the Week.

Kate Dacey looks at a curious artifact from the early days of manga: The Legend of Mother Sarah, which was released as both a floppy comic and a collected edition and fared a lot better in the latter format.

Matt Blind charts the manga best-sellers (online sales), and once again, Sailor Moon dominates the field.

Check out these videos of Kaoru Mori (Emma, A Bride’s Story) and Aki Irie (Blue school, Ran to Haiiro no Sekai) sketching characters from their manga.

David Welsh’s latest license request is Osamu Tezuka’s Barbara. With Halloween just around the corner, Connie has a horror manga in mind for her latest license request: Kazuo Umezu’s Fourteen.

David Welsh asks the readers: What are your favorite tear-jerkers?

News from Japan: Manga-ka Teruaki Mizuno will draw a manga series based on a Square Enix robot game for Shueisha’s Saikyō Jump magazine. The musician DAIGO will team up with his sister, who goes by Eiki Eiki (Train*Train), to create a manga titled Scissors Sisters, which will feature five magical girls who run a hair salon and use the tools of their trade to fight for world peace, when they aren’t trimming bangs and giving perms. Ghost in the Shell creator Mamoru Oshii is working on a manga/anime hybrid, a digital comic that will start as an iOS app and move on to other platforms. Sounds a lot like a motion comic to me!

Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf team checks out the latest digital manga in their monthly Going Digital column. Johanna Draper Carlson posts some short reviews of recent Viz releases at Comics Worth Reading. Ash Brown takes us through a week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga. And there’s a new set of Bookshelf Briefs up at Manga Bookshelf.

Rebecca Silverman on vol. 2 of Ai Ore! (ANN)
Leroy Douresseaux on The Art of Vampire Knight (I Reads You)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 36 of Bleach (ANN)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Cage of Eden (ANN)
Nick Smith on vol. 1 of Gon (ICv2)
Connie on vol. 2 of Gorgeous Carat (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1-3 of Highschool of the Dead (Manga Xanadu)
Connie on Just Around the Corner (Slightly Biased Manga)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 5 of Kamisama Kiss (ANN)
Jennifer Ouellette on The Manga Guide to the Universe (Discovery News)
Sweetpea on Ode to Kirihito (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Connie on vols. 8 and 9 of Please Save My Earth (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sam Kusek on vol. 1 of Sailor Moon (Spandexless)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 3 of Sakura Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura (ANN)
Connie on vol. 24 of Skip Beat! (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of Spellbound (Slightly Biased Manga)
Greg McElhatton on Stargazing Dog (Read About Comics)
David Welsh on Stargazing Dog (The Manga Curmudgeon)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 4 of The Story of Saiunkoku (ANN)

The Manga Moveable Feast kicks off this week with Love Hina as the main course. Jason Green, who is hosting this month’s Feast at PLAYBACK:stl, starts us off with an introduction to Love Hina, and the archive page that collects links to all the participating articles is here.

I took a look at this week’s new manga releases at MTV Geek, and Lori Henderson has the list of this week’s all-ages comics and manga at Good Comics for Kids.

Jason Thompson features the 4-koma schoolgirl manga Azumanga Daioh in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

Melinda Beasi writes about what the Canadian customs case means to her at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund blog.

David Welsh reaches the letter F in his alphabet of manga favorites.

Alex Hoffman checks out Toribako House, an as-yet-unlicensed manga by Bunny Drop creator Yumi Unita.

NYCC/NYAF is coming up next week. I’ll be there, covering it for MTV Geek. Ed Sizemore posts his list of the panels he wants to see at Comics Worth Reading, and Linda Thai interviews Yen Press publishing director Kurt Hassler about his plans for the show.

News from Japan: Vampire Princess is winding up; the 22nd chapter will be the last.

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

Lori Henderson on vols. 3 and 4 of 7 Billion Needles (Manga Village)
Kimi-chan on The Color of the Clear Blue Sky (The Kimi-chan Experience)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Edo Nekoe Jubei Otogizoshi (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kate Dacey on Gandhi: A Manga Biography (The Manga Critic)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 18 of Hayate the Combat Butler (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Kimi-chan on Healing Music (The Kimi-chan Experience)
Anna on vol. 6 of Library Wars (Manga Report)
Kimi-chan on Mr. Tiger and Mr. Wolf (The Kimi-chan Experience)
Queenie Chan on Mushishi (Queenie Chan)
John Rose on vol. 52 of Naruto (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 18 of Slam Dunk (The Comic Book Bin)
Julie Opipari on Stargazing Dog (Manga Maniac Cafe)
TSOTE on vol. 4 of Taimashin (Three Steps Over Japan)
Kristin on Temperature Rising and vol. 1 of Seven Days (Comic Attack)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 13 of Vampire Knight (The Comic Book Bin)