GEN Manga ramps up; Evangelion goes global

Robert McGuire explains GEN Manga to ICv2 and reveals that they will be publishing 9 to 12 tankoubon next year, three times as many as this year.

Viz published vol. 13 of Neon Genesis Evangelion on Friday, digitally and in print, as part of a worldwide simultaneous release. I talked to Viz VP Leyla Aker about why that’s important—and why manga publishers are working hard to eliminate the gap between Japanese and English-language publication.

The Manga Bookshelf team discusses this week’s new manga releases. Lissa Pattillo goes over the past week’s rather sparse list of new manga releases in her latest On the Shelf column at Otaku USA.

Digital posts a short interview with Miki Araya, creator of Secretary’s Job.

Melinda Beasi looks at manga lovers who share the joy via Pinterest and Tumblr.

Starsamaria takes a look at power and gender in Kamisama Kiss at Shojo Corner.

Fantagraphics posts a first look at their edition of Heart of Thomas, translated by Matt Thorn; there’s a link to a preview as well.

News from Japan: Expect some turnover at Shonen Jump, which announced three new series this week: Yūki Tabata’s Hungry Joker, a science/action series; Masahiro Hirakata’s Shinmai Fukei Kiruko-san, a comedy; and Shun Saeki and Yūto Tsukuda’s Shokugeki no Sōma, a cooking manga.

Reviews

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 6 of Afterschool Charisma (The Comic Book Bin)
Leroy Douresseaux on vols. 14 and 15 of Bakuman (The Comic Book Bin)
Ash Brown on vol. 1 of Bond of Dreams, Bonds of Love (Experiments in Manga)
Phillip Anthony on vol. 2 of Codename Sailor V (Manga Bookshelf)
Ken Haley on Godzilla (Sequential Ink)
Kate Haddock on Kamisama Kiss (The Collegian)
Victoria Martin on vol. 10 of Soul Eater (Kuriousity)

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Comments

  1. R. Kasahara says

    One thing about the simultaneous publication about NGE vol. 13 that I didn’t see mentioned is that it’s been nearly two years since the last English-language volume (Sadamoto works on this manga *that slowly*). A lot of us who follow the series devotedly have become impatient with these long times between volumes, so I could see this move as, in part, one to please loyal readers because of that. Of course, I’d like to see Viz do more of this (especially with their Sig line), but it just seems especially significant with this title.

    Preordered this volume in both Japanese (the Limited Edition) and English (the print version). Can’t wait for either of them!

    • Yeah, Evangelion is SLOW. Which actually makes it a really good choice for a simultaneous release, not just so that English-speaking fans don’t have to wait any longer, but because the translator has plenty of time to work on it and still be in sync with Japan. XD

  2. Not so worldwide, I see a number of places in Europe where it isn’t out yet.