Here’s my look at this week’s new releases (plus a new license from Yen) at MTV Geek. The list includes vol. 1 of Magi and the Tiger & Bunny short story anthology from Viz, the second volume of No. 6 from Kodansha Comics, new Knights of Sidonia from Vertical, and more. Lissa Pattillo gives her take in her latest On the Shelf column at Kuriousity.

The Manga Bookshelf folks, one step ahead as always, are already looking at next week’s new releases.

Jason Thompson writes about Kaoru Mori’s A Bride’s Story in his latest House of 1,000 Manga column at ANN.

Charles Brownstein, executive director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, went to Comiket this year, not to shop (well, not only to shop) but to deliver this speech about manga and the importance of freedom of expression in both North America and Japan.

It’s Tezuka Week at Digital Manga, and they are announcing a contest as well as discounts on the first ten issues of Weekly Astro Boy Magazine.

News from Japan: Some sad news: Ramen Fighter Miki creator Jun Sadogawa has died, and police suspect it was a suicide. Two new series are debuting in Princess Gold: Makoto Tateno’s Vampire Romanshiki and Yuu Higuri’s Princess Ledalia: Bara no Kaizoku (Princess Ledalia: The Rose Pirate) It looks like Negima creator Ken Akamatsu will have a new series as well, Uo Holder, which will run in Weekly Shōnen Magazine. And ANN has the latest Japanese comics rankings.

Reviews

Chris Kirby on vol. 2 of 21st Century Boys (The Fandom Post)
Ash Brown on vol. 24 of Blade of the Immortal (Experiments in Manga)
Josh Begley on vol. 9 of Bloody Monday (The Fandom Post)
Lissa Pattillo on Body Guard (Kuriousity)
Connie C. on The Dark-Hunters, Sabrina the Teenage Witch: The Magic Within, and Soulless (Comics Should Be Good)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Dengeki Daisy (Blogcritics)
John Rose on vol. 4 of The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-Chan (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 10 of Kamisama Kiss (Blogcritics)
Kory Cerjak on vol. 1 of Magi (The Fandom Post)
Erica Friedman on vol. 6 of Morita-San ha Mukuchi (Okazu)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 17 of Pokemon Adventures (Blogcritics)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 10 of Pokemon Black and White (Lesley’s Musings on Manga)
Anne Ishii on Sunny (Guernica)
Anna N. on vol. 1 of Takasugi-San’s Obento (Manga Report)
Kate O’Neil on The Twin Knights (The Fandom Post)
Ken H. on The Two Faces of Tomorrow (Comics Should Be Good)
Erica Friedman on vol. 7 of Yuri Hime Wildrose (Okazu)

Here’s my roundup of Otakon news at MTV Geek.

Yen Press has licensed the Blood Lad spin-off Bloody Brat, a single volume of short stories and four-panel gag manga about the characters in the main series.

The Manga Bookshelf bloggers discuss their Pick of the Week.

How do I read manga—legally? Justin counts the ways and gives a detailed rundown of each digital manga service at Organization Anti-Social Geniuses.

Tony Yao recounts his first trip to Otakon at Manga Therapy.

South Korea’s only comics convention, the Bucheon International Comics Festival, is going on this week.

Reviews: Carlo Santos looks at the latest manga releases in his Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Ash Brown takes us through a week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Shannon Fay on vol. 5 of The Betrayal Knows My Name (Kuriousity)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Blood-C (Kuriousity)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Don’t Tell My Husband (Kuriousity)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 2 of Doubt (Comics Worth Reading)
Drew McCabe on vol. 1 of Dragon Ball (3-in-1 edition) (Comic Attack)
Carlo Santos on vol. 1 of Dragon Ball (3-in-1 edition) (ANN)
Sean Gaffney on Kitaro (A Case Suitable For Treatment)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Magi (ANN)
Ash Brown on The Strange Tale of Panorama Island (Experiments in Manga)
Chris Randle on The Strange Tale of Panorama Island (Hazlitt)
Chris Kirby on vol. 13 of Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee (The Fandom Post)

Otakon News: Vertical has licensed Fumi Yoshinaga’s What Did You Eat Yesterday? (Kinō Nani Tabeta?), and Viz is going to reprint Naoki Urasawa’s Monster in omnibus format. Sean Gaffney has a roundup of the Otakon news and some other recent manga license announcements at his blog.

Here’s my guide to the latest batch of new manga releases at MTV Geek, and the Manga Bookshelf team discusses this week’s new releases.

Deb Aoki has a great piece on the digital manga stories that came out of this summer’s cons at Publishers Weekly; they include the licensing of Doraemon and Kodansha’s shift from iPad app to e-books.

I was so busy with other stuff this past week that I totally missed the latest Manga Moveable Feast! Khursten Santos of Otaku Champloo was the host for this month’s Feast, which was all about yaoi. Khursten came up with some interesting posts, and so did everyone else, and I highly recommend you check them out; I’ll just link to her MMF tag so you can see them all in one place.

Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss Totally Captivated in their latest BL Bookrack column at Manga Bookshelf.

Here’s a translation of a conversation between Naoki Urasawa and European creators Benoît Peeters and François Schuiten at last year’s International Manga Fest in Tokyo.

Erica Friedman brings us all the latest yuri news in this week’s Yuri News Network post.

Lori Henderson discusses Sparkler Magazine, the new global shoujo manga magazine, in her latest Manga Dome podcast at Manga Xanadu.

News from Japan: The shonen series Nisekoi and the shoujo series Ore Monogatari!! are going to cross over. Dengeki Daisy is coming to an end. Chris Beveridge takes a look at the new manga series that Kodansha is showing off, Shoujo Kesshu Kokoro Jikaru and Koisuru Futago to Megane no Blue.

Reviews

Erica Friedman on Aigaaru: I-girl (Okazu)
Elliot Gay on vols. 1-5 of Attack on Titan (Japanator)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 20 of Bakuman (Comics Worth Reading)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 20 of Bakuman (I Reads You)
Erica Friedman on Bloody Lily (Okazu)
Rob McMonigal on vols. 1 and 2 of Eat-Man (Panel Patter)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 26 of Excel Saga (The Fandom Post)
Ken H. on vol. 4 of Heroman (Comics Should Be Good)
Erica Friedman on vol. 3 of Kanojo to Camera to Kanojo no Kisetsu (Okazu)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 21 of Kaze Hikaru (The Fandom Post)
Kory Cerjak on vol. 2 of Lone Wolf and Cub (omnibus edition) (The Fandom Post)
Manjiorin on Maple Leaves (Organization ASG)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Midnight Secretary (Comics Worth Reading)
Lexie on vol. 1 of Midnight Secretary (Poisoned Rationality)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 62 of Naruto (The Comic Book Bin)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 10 of Omamori Himari (The Fandom Post)
Lindo Korchi on One-Punch Man (Inside AX)
Lori Henderson on vol. 3 of Paradise Kiss (Manga Xanadu)
TSOTE on vol. 18 of Q.E.D. (Three Steps Over Japan)
Anna N. on Red Blinds the Foolish (Manga Report)
Chris Kirby on vol. 16 of Toriko (The Fandom Post)
Lori Henderson on Two of Hearts (Manga Xanadu)
Justin on Ultimate Venus (Organization ASG)
Josh Begley on vol. 34 of Vagabond (The Fandom Post)
Erica Friedman on vol. 5 of Wandering Son (Okazu)

Big news for Sailor Moon fans: The anime is coming this winter, and it will be live streamed on NicoNico Douga, although there is no guarantee it will be subtitled.

I talked to Viz CEO Ken Sasaki at San Diego about how Viz is changing to fit the realities of the new market. One interesting statistic is that in a very short time, their digital program has grown to 10% of print (in terms of units sold).

ICv2 has a two-part interview with Viz execs Leyla Aker and Kevin Hamric in which they talk about manga sales, digital comics, and how many books Viz publishes a year—300 seems to be about right.

I also interviewed Dallas Middaugh about Kodansha Comics’ digital program, which is shifting from their app to e-book platforms such as Kindle, Nook, and iBooks.

The Manga Bookshelf team discusses this week’s new releases and reveals their picks of the week.

Fullmetal Alchemist creator Hiromu Arakawa talks about her manga about life on the farm, Silver Spoon. (Via Deb Aoki.)

If you’re in the Bay Area, mark your calendar: Junko Mizuno will be at Kinokuniya on August 10.

Reviews: Here’s the latest round of Bookshelf Briefs from Manga Bookshelf. Ash Brown takes us through her week in manga at Experiments in Manga.

Matthew Alexander on vol. 4 of Black God (The Fandom Post)
Ash Brown on Black-Winged Love (Experiments in Manga)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Crimson Empire: Circumstances to Serve a Noble (ANN)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Doubt (ANN)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of The Earl and the Fairy (Lesley’s Musings… on Manga)
Ken H. on vol. 14 of Erementar Gerade (Comics Worth Reading)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 13 of Kamisama Kiss (The Comic Book Bin)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 21 of Kaze Hikaru (The Comic Book Bin)
Jocelyne Allen on Keimusho no Naka (Brain Vs. Book)
Sean Gaffney on Last of the Mohicans (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 6 of Limit (Comics Worth Reading)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 8 of Naruto (Blogcritics)
Jocelyne Allen on Pluto (Brain Vs. Book)
Kris on Princess Honey (Manic About Manga)
Matthew Cycyk on The Strange Tale of Panorama Island (Matt Talks About Manga)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 2 of Thermae Romae (ANN)
Johanna Draper Carlson on The Twin Knights (Comics Worth Reading)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Utsubora (Comics Worth Reading)
Thomas Zoth on vol. 1 of Wolfsmund (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal (Blogcritics)

Lissa Pattillo takes a closer look at some new license announcements at Kuriousity.

Tom Langston looks at the popularity of yon-koma (four-panel) gag manga in the U.S. in recent years.

Chris Beveridge asks “Is ‘Alice in the Country of…’ the best manga series you’re not reading?” My own answer would be “nope,” but Chris points out that there are a lot of new volumes coming out.

News from Japan: Demon Ororon manga-ka Hakase Mizuki is launching a new series, Dracul, which will run in Ichijinsa’s Zero Sum Ward magazine starting in the September 14 issue. Gokusai will come to an end this week. Sarakiel, by Excel Saga creator Koushi Rikudou, is also winding up soon.

Reviews: Carlo Santos checks out K-ON! College, Twin Knights, and some other recent manga in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Ash Brown takes us through a week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Matthew Alexander on vol. 3 of Black God (The Fandom Post)
Justin on Cross Manage (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Justin on Give My Regards to Black Jack (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Anna N. on vols. 1 and 2 of Goong: The Royal Palace (Manga Report)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 5 of I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow (Comics Worth Reading)
Helen on Kitchen Princess (Narrative Investigations)
Erica Friedman on vol. 5 of Ohana Holoholo (Okazu)
Manjiorin on vol. 3 of Oreimo (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Justin on Shamrock (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)

I’m back from a long Comic-Con induced hiatus—first I went to the show, then I had to write up all my experiences for people who, you know, pay me to do that. Here’s my roundup of manga news at MTV Geek.

My roommate at Comic-Con was Deb Aoki, formerly of About.com, who has struck out on her own with a much more user-friendly blog, mangacomicsmanga.com. As the name suggests, it’s about one-third comics and two-thirds manga. I got to watch Deb in action all through the long weekend, so I can tell you from an insider’s perspective that she has a lot of great content planned. Two stories to check out right now: Doraemon is finally going to be licensed in English—as a digital comic—and her writeup of the Best and Worst Manga panel at San Diego (audio here).

Lori Henderson rounds up all the manga news from SDCC in her latest Manga Dome podcast at Manga Xanadu. Sean Gaffney rounds up the new license announcements, with commentary.

Daniella Orihuela-Gruber spells out five reasons why this year’s Anime Expo was good for manga, starting with the fact that there was so much manga there.

Seven Seas has announced four more Alice in the Country of… licenses; it will now be releasing one Alice book a month.

The Manga Bookshelf team discusses their Pick of the Week. Also at Manga Bookshelf, Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss Off*Beat, soon to be serialized in Chromatic Press’s Sparkler Monthly, and the other things they have been reading lately in their Off the Shelf column.

Johanna Draper Carlson takes a closer look at Kodansha’s new digital program.

Erica Friedman brings us up to date on the world of yuri with the latest edition of Yuri Network News.

Having just read Jiro Matsumoto’s Velveteen and Mandala, Sarah Horrocks decides to write about another book of his, Jyoshikohei.

At Comics Should Be Good, Connie C. looks at three manga by Suehiro Maruo.

News from Japan: Naoki Urasawa has drawn his first monster manga, a one-shot titled Kaijū Ōkoku, for Big Comic; the issue will be out on August 10. 07-Ghost will come to an end in the October issue of Comic Zero Sum. Also in the pages of Comic Zero Sum, Kazuya Minekura will slow down the schedule for Saiyuki Reload Blast and Wild Adapter due to health problems. Attack on Titan continues to be a runaway success: Kodansha’s first printing for the 11th volume was 1.85 million; there are 20 million copies of the first ten volumes in print. The artist for the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic manga has been announced: It’s Akira Himegawa, a two-person team best known for drawing Legend of Zelda manga. The final volume of Gantz will be released in January 2014.

Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf team kicks off the week with a new set of Bookshelf Briefs.

Shannon Fay on Beautiful Creatures (Kuriousity)
Matthew Alexander on vols. 1 and 2 of Black God (The Fandom Post)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 2 of BTOOOM! (Comics Worth Reading)
Justin on chapter 40 of Cross Manage (Organization ASG)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 9 of A Devil and Her Love Song (The Comic Book Bin)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Doubt (Comics Worth Reading)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 5 of GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class (Comics Worth Reading)
Josh Begley on vol. 4 of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (The Fandom Post)
Tony Yao on Gin Tama (Manga Therapy)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Happy Marriage?! (Comics Worth Reading)
Anna N. on vol. 1 of Happy Marriage?! (Manga Report)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 17 of La Corda D’Oro (ANN)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 9 of Naruto (Blogcritics)
TSOTE on vol. 10 of Q.E.D. (Three Steps Over Japan)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Sleeping Moon (ANN)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 15 of Soul Eater (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 5 of Strobe Edge (The Comic Book Bin)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 16 of Toriko (ANN)
Ken H. on vol. 7 of Vampire Hunter D (Comics Should Be Good)