With NYCC still two weeks away, Dark Horse broke some big manga news at Anime Weekend Atlanta: Two new licenses, two new editions. The new licenses are Trigun: Multiple Bullets, an anthology of stories by different creators (including one by Trigun manga-ka Yasuhiro Nightow), and Neon Genesis Evangelion: Shinji Ikari Detective Diary, a detective story with characters from the original NGA set in a different universe. The new editions are omnibus editions of the original Trigun and Lone Wolf and Cub, with the latter in a slightly larger format than the originals.
Vertical also had a new license to announce at AWA: Utsubora – A Story of a Novelist, a mystery by Asumiko Nakamura.
And last week, Seven Seas confirmed that they have licensed Milk Morinaga’s Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink, a collection of 14 short yuri stories.
The Manga Village team takes a look at the past week’s new releases and picks the best.
Erica Friedman posts an interview with Hayate x Blade manga-ka Hayashiya Shizuru that she did whom she met during Winter Comiket, and she also posts the latest Yuri Network News roundup.
Vertical marketing director Ed Chavez is the guest on the latest ANNCast, where he delivers some straight talk on Vertical’s licenses, manga sales in general, and the one that got away.
And speaking of Vertical, they just released the first volume of their new edition of Paradise Kiss, which prompts Jason Thompson to take a long look at what makes this manga so special in his House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.
Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith compare the Tokyopop and Vertical editions of ParaKiss in their On the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf, and they also take a look at vol. 20 of Kaze Hikaru and vol. 1 of Limit, the new manga from Life creator Keiko Suenobu.
Attention Wandering Son fans: If you’re willing to pay your money upfront, Fantagraphics is offering a pretty good subscription deal for the next three volumes.
Chris, the Vertical intern who is now writing their blog, discusses his relationship with Great Teacher Onizuka.
Vol. 7 of Sailor Moon tops the New York Times manga best-seller list, with vol. 58 of Naruto and vol. 22 of 20th Century Boys right behind it. Matt Blind does his own calculation of the manga best-sellers for the week ending September 9 and the week ending September 16, working from online sales.
News from Japan: Kekkaishi creator Yellow Tanabe is working on a new manga, which will run in Shonen Sunday sometime in the near future. Pokemon Reburst will end in the October 10 issue of Shonen Sunday. And there are now 17 million copies of Hayate the Combat Butler in circulation.
Reviews: Ash Brown checks out some books from the library at Experiments in Reading.
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Angelic Layer (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Sean Kleefeld on vol. 15 of Bakuman (Kleefeld on Comics)
A Library Girl on vol. 1 of Code:Breaker (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Ash Brown on Elements of Manga Style (Experiments in Manga)
AstroNerdBoy on Elements of Manga Style (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Anna on vols. 5-7 of Full Moon O Sagashite (Manga Report)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 20 of Hayate the Combat Butler (The Comic Book Bin)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Limit (The Manga Critic)
Joseph Luster on vol. 1 of Limit (Otaku USA)
Ken Haley on vols. 2 and 3 of Mega Man Megamix (Sequential Ink)
A Library Girl on Part-Time Pets (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Jocelyne Allen on vols. 6 and 7 of Song of the Wind and Trees (Kaze to Ki no Uta) (Brain Vs. Book)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 11 of Twin Spica (Blogcritics)
Just a quick clarification – I did not do the interview with Hayashiya-sensei at Comiket, I met her then. The interview was conducted by email.
Cheers,
Erica
I keep hoping for TokyoPop license rescue announcements, or even a rescue of Bandai’s “Kannagi.” *sigh*
Agreed. It seems like nowadays, most manga distributors treat those of us who want to see license rescues like chopped liver.