Accentuating the positive

Jason Thompson sings the praises of Ai Morinaga’s gender-bender Your and My Secret in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

At Otaku Champloo, Khursten Santos waxes just as enthusiastic about the work of Kaoru Mori, creator of Emma and A Bride’s Story.

Margaret O’Connell kicks the tires—and then some—at JManga.com and finds it’s not bad but could use some streamlining.

Connie posts a wonderfully quirky best-of-2011 list at Slightly Biased Manga.

The Manga Village team recommends the best of two weeks’ worth of new manga, and Lori Henderson checks out the past week’s all-ages comics and manga at Good Comics for Kids.

Erica Friedman has the latest edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu, and at Manga Bookshelf, she takes a look at Kodansha’s Evening magazine, the stay-out-late big brother of Morning, Morning Two, and Afternoon magazines.

News from Japan: Saturn Apartments won the Japanese government’s Media Arts Award in the manga division. Two new series will debut in the first issue of Young Gangan: Iroha-saka, Agatte Sugu (The Iroha-saka Path Is Up Ahead), by Hanamaru Kindergarten manga-ka Yuto, and Donyatsu, a sci-fi series featuring cute animal-food hybrids, by Speed Grapher creator Yuusuke Kozaki.

Reviews: Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss a handful of recent releases, mostly of the fluffy kind, in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf. Three Steps Over Japan posts a few short reviews of miscellaneous manga.

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 8 of Arata: The Legend (The Comic Book Bin)
Anna on vols. 5 and 6 of Basara (Manga Report)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 11 of Black Bird (ANN)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 2 of A Bride’s Story (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 19 of Claymore (The Fandom Post)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 2 of Codename Sailor V (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Thomas Zoth on vol. 2 of Dorohedoro (The Fandom Post)
Kate Dacey on vols. 1 and 2 of The Drops of God (The Manga Critic)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 2 of The Drops of God (Comics Worth Reading)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of The Drops of God (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Emily on Futari no Himitsu (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 5 of House of Five Leaves (The Comic Book Bin)
Kate O’Neil on The Innocent (The Fandom Post)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 4 of K-ON! (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lori Henderson on vol. 6 of Kurozakuro (Manga Village)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Love Hina (Blogcritics)
Sakura Eries on vol. 8 of Maoh: Juvenile Remix (The Fandom Post)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Mr. Tiger and Mr. Wolf (Kuriousity)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 59 of One Piece (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Princess Knight (ANN)
Julie Opipari on vol. 1 of Sailor Moon (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 2 of Sailor Moon (ANN)
Sakura Eries on vol. 5 of Sakura Hime: The Story of Princess Sakura (The Fandom Post)
Kristin on vol. 19 of Slam Dunk and vol. 41 of Case Closed (Comic Attack)
Sweetpea616 on The Vision of Escaflowne (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)