Inu x Boku SS

The anime con season kicked off this past weekend with SakuraCon, where both Yen Press and Dark Horse had license announcements and other news. Yen Press announced it has licensed the Kingdom Hearts series and will re-release the volumes previously released by Tokyopop and publish the later volumes as well. They have also licensed Inu x Boku SS, by Cocoa Fujiwara, No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular! (Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaete mo Omaera ga Warui!), by Nico Tanigawa, and the manga adaptation of the film Wolf Children Ame and Yuki.

Editor Carl Gustav Horn had two new licenses to announce at the Dark Horse panel: New Lone Wolf and Cub, an 11-volume sequel to the original Lone Wolf and Cub series, and Hatsune Miku: Unofficial Hatsune Mix (Maker Hikōshiki Hatsune Mix), a series about the Vocaloid idol and her friends that originally ran in Comic Rush from 2008-2010.

It doesn’t look like there were any new license announcements at the Viz Media panel, but they did announce two new box sets, Bakuman and One Piece, as well as their publishing schedule for the coming year.

Sean Gaffney took a closer look at the new Yen Press and Dark Horse licenses at his blog.

This past week had an unusually strong set of new releases; I covered ’em all at MTV Geek. And the Manga Bookshelf team takes a look at this week’s new manga as well.

I’m playing a little catch-up here, but I wanted to get this in print before JManga went dark: The most fun interview I had at New York Comic Con was with manga-ka Masakazu Ishiguro, the creator of Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru, and his editor at Young King Ours magazine, Masahiro Ohno. It’s up now at MTV Geek, along with a preview of SoreMachi, which will stay up after JManga goes down.

Erica Friedman cues up the latest edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu.

Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss an assortment of new titles, including the Sabrina the Teenage Witch manga, in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf. And Melinda looks at three older series she is enjoying in her 3 Things Thursday column. And Anna, Melinda and Sean open up the Manga Shopping Bag and discuss their recent purchases.

Somehow I was so busy last week that I missed the Manga Moveable Feast, which focused on history; it was hosted by Khursten Santos at Otaku Champloo, and here are her introduction, Day 1 roundup, discussion of the power of historical manga, Day 2 roundup, review of Ooku, and a post on World War II as viewed by three manga artists. This is a very nice collection and well worth a read. Also: Ash Brown is giving away a copy of Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths at Experiments in Manga.

Travis Anderson has a license request: Tea Girl.

Reviews: Ash Brown looks back on the weeks’ manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 2 of 21st Century Boys (Comics Worth Reading)
Manjiorin on Accidental Princess (Organization ASG)
Matthew Warner on vol. 1 of Alice in the Country of Hearts: My Fanatic Rabbit (The Fandom Post)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 4 of Attack on Titan (The Fandom Post)
Matthew Warner on vol. 54 of Bleach (The Fandom Post)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1 and 2 and vols. 3 and 4 of A Bride’s Story (Manga Xanadu)
Jocelyne Allen on vols. 2 and 3 of Chokodoshoujin (Brain Vs. Book)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 1 of The Dark-Hunters: Infinity (The Fandom Post)
Connie C. on A Drifting Life, Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga, and I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow (Comics Should Be Good)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Emma (Manga Xanadu)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on vol. 2 of Finder (All About Manga)
Ash Brown on The Heart of Thomas (Experiments in Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 21 of Higurashi: When They Cry (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Ash Brown on vol. 1 of The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel (Experiments in Manga)
Jocelyne Allen on vol. 1 of Ippo (Brain Vs. Book)
Angela Eastman on vol. 3 of Jiu Jiu (The Fandom Post)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on Kimi Shiruya—Dost Thou Know? (All About Manga)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on vols. 1 and 2 of Kiss Blue (All About Manga)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on vol. 3 of Kizuna (All About Manga)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on A Love Song for the Miserable (All About Manga)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on Mr. Convenience (All About Manga)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 14 of Pandora Hearts (The Fandom Post)
Anna on vols. 2 and 3 of Paradise Kiss (Manga Report)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on Restart (All About Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 10 of Sailor Moon (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Derek Bown on the March 25 issue of Shonen Jump (Manga Bookshelf)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on Shy Intentions (All About Manga)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on Sleepless Nights (All About Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Tokyo Babylon (omnibus edition) (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Ash Brown on vol. 3 of Vagabond (omnibus edition)
John Rose on vol. 30 of Wallflower (The Fandom Post)

Jason Thompson’s House of 1000 Manga column this week offers a concise history of manga in the U.S. from 1961 to the present.

Mike Toole muses about prequels, sequels, and spinoffs, and why we sometimes see only part of a manga or anime franchise in translation.

Next week’s Shonen Jump will include a one-shot manga, Sakuran, by Psyren creator Toshiaki Iwashiro.

Ken H. writes about the creator Shotaro Ishinomori, in preparation for a month’s worth of reviews of his work.

Reviews

Matthew Warner on vol. 53 of Bleach (The Fandom Post)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Btooom! (ANN)
Connie C. on Detroit Metal City, Nana, and 21st Century Boys (Comics Should Be Good)
Connie C. on The Embalmer, Black Jack, and Anesthesiologist Hana (Comics Should Be Good)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 5 of Fullmetal Alchemist (Blogcritics)
Angela Eastman on vol. 2 of Jiu Jiu (The Fandom Post)
Connie C. on Iron Wok Jan, Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture, and Toriko (Comics Should Be Good)
Ken H. on vol. 1 of Kamen Rider (Comics Should Be Good)
Vom Marlowe on vol. 10 of Loveless (The Hooded Utilitarian)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 66 of One Piece (ANN)
Kristin on vols. 11 and 12 of Oresama Teacher (Comic Attack)
Ken H.on Skullman (Comics Should Be Good)
Kristin on Trigun: Multiple Bullets (Comic Attack)

Erica Friedman explains why she is stepping down as Yuricon events chair and giving up on yuri publishing: “I can’t afford print, you don’t want digital, the JP companies won’t talk to me and all the many differences between JP publishers and US fans are so huge and insurmountable. I don’t have the energy or clout or money to bridge the gap.” While this is a loss for readers, Erica will continue promoting yuri manga and blogging at Okazu.

Vertical, which has resisted digital up till now, will make three of its manga series available on several digital platforms: Twin Spica, Drops of God, and 7 Billion Needles, will be available for Kindle, Nook, and iBooks later this year.

The Manga Bookshelf team devotes their Pick of the Week to JManga, with recommendations for those of you who still have some points you want to use before the shopping stops on March 26.

Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith chat about Tokyo Babylon, Durarara!! Saika Arc, and Hiroaki Samura’s Emerald in their On the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf.

Lori Henderson and Alex Hoffman discuss the digital Shonen Jump in their He Said, She Said column at Manga Village.

Lori Henderson rounds up some manga about earthquakes at Manga Xanadu.

How do you organize your manga? Melinda Beasi explains her system, then throws the thread open for others to share how they do it.

News from Japan: Banana Fish creator Akimi Yoshida has received this year’s Manga Taisho award for Umimachi Diary; Kaoru Mori’s A Bride’s Story came in second in the voting. Chitose Get You manga-ka Etsuya Mashima has launched a new series, Zombie-chan, in Shogakukan’s Sunday GX. And ANN has the latest Japanese comics rankings.

Reviews: Ash Brown wraps up a week’s worth of manga reading in one easy-to-digest post at Experiments in Manga. The Manga Bookshelf team keeps it short and sweet with a new Bookshelf Briefs column.

Kate O’Neil on vol. 7 of Afterschool Charisma (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 13 of Arata: The Legend (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Battle Angel Alita: Last Order (omnibus edition) (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 5 of The Betrayal Knows My Name (The Fandom Post)
Matthew Werner on vol. 52 of Bleach (The Fandom Post)
Chris Kirby on vol. 1 of Btooom! (The Fandom Post)
Chris Kirby on vol. 7 of Bunny Drop (The Fandom Post)
Chris Kirby on vol. 4 of Durarara!! (The Fandom Post)
Lori Henderson on vol. 4 of Flowers of Evil (Manga Village)
Daniela Orihuela-Gruber on Hot Steamy Glasses (All About Manga)
Erica Friedman on Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san (Okazu)
Ken H on vol. 1 of Kamen Rider (Comics Should Be Good)
Daniela Orihuela-Gruber on vol. 2 of Kizuna (All About Manga)
Anna N on vol. 9 of Library Wars (Manga Report)
Daniela Orihuela-Gruber on The Man I Picked Up (All About Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 2 of Message to Adolf (Comics Worth Reading)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Neon Genesis Evangelion (omnibus edition) (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Chris Beveridge on vol. 3 of Paradise Kiss (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 11 of Rin-ne (The Comic Book Bin)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1 and 2 of Soul Eater Not (Manga Xanadu)
Lori Henderson on Start with a Happy Ending (Manga Village)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Strobe Edge (Blogcritics)
Drew McCabe on vols. 13 and 14 of Toriko (Comic Attack)
Sean Gaffney on Trigun: Multiple Bullets (A Case Suitable for Treatment)

I weighed in on the demise of JManga at MTV Geek. Sean Gaffney works through several of the stages of grief, while Lori Henderson discusses JManga’s good and bad points and speculates on what may have gone wrong. At The Digital Reader, Nate Hoffelder argues that publishers who use DRM are punishing their paying customers (like the people who are about to lose the comics they thought they purchased). Lissa Pattillo compares JManga to other digital manga services and points out some of the flaws at Kuriousity.

I looked over the past week’s new manga at MTV Geek, and Lissa Pattillo tackled the list as well at her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA.

Jason Thompson takes a look at Black Lagoon in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

The local paper interviews Chris Beveridge, the guy behind the anime/manga blog The Fandom Post.

Reviews

Connie on vols. 3 and 4 of Ai no Kusabi (Slightly Biased Manga)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on Apartments of Calle Feliz and Yakuza Cafe (All About Manga)
Connie on vol. 15 of Bakuman (Slightly Biased Manga)
Ash Brown on vol. 19 of Blade of the Immortal (Experiments in Manga)
Manjiorin on vol. 1 of Blood-C (Organization ASG)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on Caramel (All About Manga)
Erica Friedman on the March issue of Comic Yuri Hime (Okazu)
Justin on chapters 22, 23, and 24 of Cross Manage (Organization ASG)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 3 of A Devil and Her Love Song (Blogcritics)
Connie on vol. 6 of A Devil and Her Love Song (Slightly Biased Manga)
Drew McCabe on vol. 23 of D.Gray-Man (Comic Attack)
Connie on vol. 6 of Dogs (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of His Favorite (I Reads You)
Connie on I Love You, Chief Clerk! (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 5 of Kamisama Kiss (Blogcritics)
Jocelyne Allen on vol. 8 of Kaze to Ki no Uta (Song of the Wind and Trees) (Brain Vs. Book)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on vol. 1 of Kizuna (All About Manga)
Anna N on vol. 1 of Knights of Sidonia (Manga Report)
Connie on Laugh Under the Sun (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of Limit (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 2 of Lizzie Newton: Victorian Mysteries (Comics Worth Reading)
Connie on vol. 1 of Neon Genesis Evangelion (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on New Beginnings (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sweetpea on Oresama Teacher (Organization ASG)
Kristin on vol. 14 of Otomen (Comic Attack)
Matt Cycyk on Planetes (Matt Talks About Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 11 of Rosario + Vampire: Season II (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on vol. 6 of Sailor Moon (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 9 of Sailor Moon (Blogcritics)
Daniela Orihuela-Gruber on Same Difference (All About Manga)
Connie on vol. 2 of Strobe Edge (Slightly Biased Manga)
Anna N on vol. 3 of Strobe Edge (Manga Report)
Katherine Hanson on A Transparent Orange in the Lip (Yuri no Boke)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 5 of Tsubasa (Blogcritics)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 16 of Vampire Knight (The Comic Book Bin)
Justin on chapters 3, 4, and 5 of World Trigger (Organization ASG)

Wow! An e-mail came in overnight from JManga, saying they are shutting down as of May 30. They have already stopped selling points, but users can buy manga with their existing points through March 26. Unused points will be refunded in the form of Amazon gift cards. Details are here, and I’ll be back with analysis later.

Daniella Orihuela-Gruber bought a big stack of manga at DMP’s Warehouse Sale, and she’s reading—and blogging about—one volume at a time, mixing her opinions of the books with commentary on the genre and common yaoi tropes. Here are her first four: All Nippon Air Lines, Ambiguous Relationship, Affair, and Secretary’s Job?

At Kuriousity, Lissa Pattillo opens up the swag bag and shows us her latest purchases.

News from Japan: Eiichiro Oda is taking a week off from One Piece due to illness. Highschool of the Dead will be back in the next issue of Dragon Age. Negima creator Ken Akamatsu has a new series in the works, as does Blade of the Immortal creator Hiroaki Samura. Boys Over Flowers manga-ka Yuko Kamio is starting a new series, Ibara no Kanmuri (Crown of Thorns), starting in the May issue of Bessatsu Margaret. Also coming to Bessatsu Margaret: Stand Up!, by Chocolate Underground manga-ka Aiji Yamakawa. With the release of volume 12, there are now 10 million copies of Yotsuba&! in print.

The strange saga of the Kuroko’s Basketball threats continues: Studio You, which organizes Kuroko’s Basketball doujinshi events, cancelled an event that was scheduled for April 7 in Osaka, but they have announced another one that will take place on April 21 in Shizuoka. Someone has been sending threatening letters to manga-ka Tadatoshi Fujimaki and venues associated with the manga, and at least one of them may have contained a potentially lethal chemical.

Reviews: Carlo Santos brings us up to date on recent releases in his Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Ash Brown takes us through the past week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Katherine Hanson on vol. 1 of Ameiro Kochakan Kandan (Yuri no Boke)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 18 of Bakuman (Comics Worth Reading)
Ash Brown on vol. 11 of Death Note (Experiments in Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vols. 1 and 2 of Demon Love Spell (Comics Worth Reading)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 11 of Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden (The Comic Book Bin)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 21 of Hayate the Combat Butler (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 9 of Psyren (The Comic Book Bin)
Helen on vols. 2-8 of Sailor Moon (Narrative Investigations)
Leroy Douresseaux on Three Wolves Mountain (I Reads You)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Tokyo Babylon (Comics Worth Reading)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 2 of Triage X (The Fandom Post)

We lost one of the pioneers of the manga industry last week when Toren Smith passed away at the too-young age of 52. Smith was the founder of Studio Proteus and one of the first manga entrepreneurs in the U.S. Here’s a roundup of remembrances and obituaries from around the internet:

Jonathan Clements, Toren Smith, 1960-2013: Remembering one of the prime movers of modern manga (Manga UK)
Mike Toole, Mr. Smith Goes to Osaka (ANN)
Mike Hansen, Toren Smith (All Day Comics)
Chris Warner, A Tribute to Toren Smith (Dark Horse)
Ryan Sands, Toren Smith RIP (1960-2013) (awesome cover gallery) (Same Hat!)
Scott Green, Manga Translator Toren Smith Passes Away (Crunchyroll)
Andy Khouri, Pioneering Manga Translator Toren Smith Passes Away at 52 (Comics Alliance)
James Hudnall, Toren and I: 1987 (photos) (James Hudnall)
Toren’s Barnes & Noble author page

I’m playing a bit of catch-up with the news, after a busy week and an unexpectedly heavy snowstorm. (The bad part: I had to go to work on my day off. The cool part: I rode to work in a snowplow.) Here’s a quick roundup, and I’ll have more tomorrow.

The Manga Bookshelf team discuss their Pick of the Week in print manga and look over this week’s new releases in print and the latest batch at JManga. I made my picks from the past week’s new releases at MTV Geek, and Lissa Pattillo does the same in her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA.

Erica Friedman has the latest episode of Yuri Network News for us at Okazu.

Reviews

Johanna Draper Carlson on Beautiful Creatures: The Manga (Comics Worth Reading)
John Rose on vol. 12 of Black Butler (The Fandom Post)
Rebecca Silverman on Danza (ANN)
Sakura Eries on vol. 11 of Dengeki Daisy (The Fandom Post)
Rebecca Silverman on vols. 5 and 6 of A Devil and Her Love Song (ANN)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 8 of Dorohedoro (The Fandom Post)
Josh Begley on Emerald and Other Stories (The Fandom Post)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Girl Friends: The Complete Collection (Okazu)
Rebecca Silverman on Good-Bye Geist (ANN)
Michael Buntag on vol. 8 of Honey and Clover (NonSensical Words)
Rebecca Silverman on vols. 2 and 3 of Jiu Jiu (ANN)
Rebecca Silverman on Kaoru Mori: Anything and Something (ANN)
Steve Bennett on The Misfortune of Kyon and Koizumi (ICv2)
Carlo Santos on vol. 12 of Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan (ANN)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 9 of Omamori Himari (The Fandom Post)
Nicholas Smith on chapter 701 of One Piece (Kaleo)
Sakura Eries on vol. 9 of Oresama Teacher (The Fandom Post)
Chris Beveridge on vol. 13 of Pandora Hearts (The Fandom Post)
Erica Friedman on vol. 9 of Pure Yuri Anthology, Hirari (Okazu)
Carlo Santos on vol. 8 of Psyren (ANN)
Mark Thomas on vol. 8 of Raiders (The Fandom Post)
Josh Begley on vol. 3 of Tale of the Waning Moon (The Fandom Post)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 3 of Until Death Do Us Part (The Fandom Post)