Bad news for Vinland Saga fans: The sixth volume has been removed from sales listings, and Kodansha Comics says the series has been “temporarily suspended.” In case you aren’t already reading the series, Johanna Draper Carlson explains why this is bad.
Good news for Shonen Jump readers: This week’s issue will include the one-shot story RKD-EK9 by Medaka Box writer NisiOisin and Death Note artist Takeshi Obata.
The Manga Bookshelf team look back at the most important manga of 2014.
Also at Manga Bookshelf, Erica Friedman has a nice introduction to the Japanese magazine Dengeki Daioh.
Twenty-five years after his death, Osamu Tezuka lives on in Japan, celebrated by murals, subway chimes, inventors, and the merchants in his old neighborhood, who trade Astro Money for civic-minded acts and serve up his favorite dish.
Erica Friedman posts a fresh edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu.
Happy blogiversary to Organization Anti-Social Geniuses, which turned four years old last week; if you haven’t checked it out from the links here, go take a look now!
News from Japan: Naoki Urasawa is taking a break from Billy Bat; the series, which has already had several interruptions, will go on hiatus until April. Library Wars: Love & War may just have ended in Japan, but artist Kiiro Yumi already has a new series, Toshokan Sensō: Love & War Bessatsu-hen, in the works. Plans are in the work for a Kabuki play based on Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece.
Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf team posts another round of quick reviews in their latest Bookshelf Briefs. Ash Brown looks back at The Week in Manga at Experiments in Manga.
Ash Brown on vol. 1 of Afterschool Nightmare (Experiments in Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 3 of Food Wars (Comics Worth Reading)
Anna N. on vols. 1 and 2 of Honey Blood (Manga Report)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Mail (Comics Worth Reading)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 2 of Manga Dogs (Comics Worth Reading)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Noragami (Manga Xanadu)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 4 of Say I Love You (Comics Worth Reading)
Erica Freidman on Stretch (Okazu)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1-3 of Sweet Rein (Good Comics for Kids)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 3 of Sword Art Online: Fairy Dance (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Erica Friedman on vol. 3 of Tsuki to Sekai to Etoile (Okazu)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 8 of Umineko: When They Cry (ANN)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 5 of What Did You Eat Yesterday? (Comics Worth Reading)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Yukarism (ANN)