Greetings, MangaBlog readers! Brigid is away on a top-secret mission at the moment, so she’s asked me to fill in for her until next week. As always, I’ll do my best to bring you the latest manga news and reviews, but please don’t be shy about pointing me towards articles I’ve missed. The next round-up will be on Monday morning.

New Manga Bookshelf columnist Aja Romano debunks three myths about fan fiction.

Continuing this week’s discussion about where fans buy manga, Matt Blind examines manga lovers’ online shopping habits. His conclusion: Naruto, Bleach, Black Bird, and Sailor Moon are just as popular online as they are in brick-and-mortar stores.

Jason Thompson dedicates his latest House of 1000 Manga column to Kouta Hirano’s Hellsing.

Erica Friedman discusses Monthly Comic Beam, “the magazine for the comic freaks.” (That’s the magazine’s tagline, not Erica’s assessment of it, BTW.)

Say it isn’t so: Vertical, Inc. revealed that the English-language edition of Twin Spica is likely to go out of print due to poor sales.

Self-proclaimed otaku Night Rose shows off her growing manga collection at The Manga Critic.

Over at Manga Worth Reading, Ed Sizemore rounds up the latest contributions to the Jiro Taniguchi Manga Movable Feast. Among the highlights is a thought-provoking essay by Craig Fischer on The Walking Man. “Taniguchi’s art is the antithesis of expressionism: he represents the world with as much objectivity as he can, and the results are both breathtaking (in its cascade of details) and a little abstract, a little detached, not unlike the Walking Man himself,” Fischer explains. “Taniguchi’s art is cool, more like mapmaking than passionate storytelling.”

News from Japan: Hiromu Arakawa has won the fifth annual Taisho Award for Silver Spoon, a shonen manga set an an agricultural school. After a one-year hiatus, Kariko Koyama will resume work on Sheryl: Kiss in the Galaxy, a spin-off of Macross Frontier than ran in Bessatsu Friend.

Reviews: For their latest BL Bookrack column, Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith cast a critical eye over four recent releases, including Tweeting Love Birds and You and Tonight.

Carlo Santos on vol. 19 of 20th Century Boys (Anime News Network)
Connie on vol. 4 of Afterschool Charisma (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kristin Bomba on vol. 7 of Butterflies, Flowers (Comic Attack!)
Sheena McNeil on vol. 1 of A Devil and Her Love Song (Sequential Tart)
Ed Sizemore on Koduko no Gourmet (Manga Worth Reading)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 15 of La Corda d’Oro (Anime News Network)
Sheena McNeil on vol. 7 of Rosario + Vampire Season II (Sequential Tart)
Connie on A Single Match (Slightly Biased Manga)
Wolfen Moondaughter on vol. 7 of Stepping on Roses (Sequential Tart)
Connie on Tired of Waiting for Love (Slightly Biased Manga)

The nominees for this year’s Manga Taisho Award were just unveiled. Of the fifteen titles on the list, two — Flowers of Evil and Drifters — have been licensed in English. The nominees also include Hiromu Arakawa’s latest series Silver Spoon, Kengo Hanazawa’s previously nominated I Am a Hero, and Katsumasa Enokiya’s Hibi Rock.

Mark your calendars: the next Manga Movable Feast begins on January 22nd, and focuses on Usamaru Furuya. Ash Brown will host.

Deb Aoki updates her list of 15 Ways to Enjoy Manga (Without Going Broke).

The internet is still abuzz over DMP’s recent Kickstarter campaign, which raised over $8,700 towards the licensing and publication of Osamu Tezuka’s Barbara. Alex Hoffman and Lissa Patillo offer their thoughts, pro- and contra-, about DMP’s use of Kickstarter. Over at Manga Worth Reading, Johanna Draper Carlson adds her two cents to the conversation.

And speaking of Tezuka, what classic manga would you like to see licensed next? Inquiring manga critics want to know!

Reviews: Ash Brown posts an assortment of brief manga, movie, and book reviews at Experiments in Manga. Here at Manga Bookshelf, the Battle Robot assembles to review a variety of titles, including the latest volumes of 13th Boy, Bamboo Blade, Dawn of the Arcana, and Toriko.

Kristin Bomba on vol. 3 of Ai Ore! Love Me (Comic Attack)
Rebecca Silverman on vols. 2-3 of Animal Land (Anime News Network)
Connie on The Art of Hideshi Hino (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kristin Bomba on vols. 7-9 of Bakuman (Comic Attack!)
Jenny on vols. 2-6 of Dengeki Daisy (No Flying No Tights)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 7 of Dengeki Daisy (Anime News Network)
Katherine Dacey on vol. 1 of A Devil and Her Love Song (The Manga Critic)
Erica Friedman on vol. 4 of Girly (Okazu)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Love Hina Omnibus (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lori Henderson on vol. 3 of Oresama Teacher (Manga Xanadu)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 6 of Oresama Teacher (Anime News Network)
Nic on vols. 1-2 of Pokemon: Black and White (No Flying No Tights)

The big news this weekend: DMP is using Kickstarter to raise funds for an English-language edition of Osamu Tezuka’s Barbara (1973-74). With 28 days to go, DMP has raised nearly $5,000 of the $6,500 it needs to bring the project to fruition. Readers curious about Barbara will find a lengthy summary and critical assessment at Tezuka in English. UPDATE: DMP has just exceeded the amount of money needed to publish Barbara.

Deb Aoki and Ed Sizemore join Zac Bertschy for a discussion of 2011’s best manga.

Over at Okazu, Erica Friedman posts her weekly Yuri News Network update.

News from Japan: Motoro Mase will be bringing Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit to an end this year with one final story arc. Mitsuba Takanashi, author of Crimson Hero and The Devil Does Exist, will be launching a new series in February. Called Kujaku no Kyōshitsu (Classroom of Peacocks), the story will focus on a school for children of the rich and famous, and will run in Bessatsu Margaret.

Reviews: Michelle Smith posts an early review of the much-anticipated Durarara!! manga. Her verdict? “Weird but intriguing.”

Rebecca Silverman on vols. 1-3 of Bunny Drop (Anime News Network)
Carlo Santos on vol. 7 of Chi’s Sweet Home (Anime News Network)
Anna on vol. 2 of Dawn of the Arcana (Manga Report)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 4 of Dorohedoro (The Fandom Post)
Julie Opipari on vol. 26 of Kekkaishi (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Sakura Eries on vol. 5 of My Girlfriend’s a Geek (The Fandom Post)
Sean Michael Robinson on Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths (The Hooded Utilitarian)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 10 of Real (The Fandom Post)

“I’ll do my best!” — it’s the rallying cry of shonen manga characters, and my mantra for the next six days, as I fill in for Brigid while she takes a much-deserved vacation. If you spot any link-worthy news stories or reviews, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email.

The latest issue of GEN features a new story, Let’s Eat Ramen. From the description, Ramen sounds a bit like the Soup Nazi episode of Seinfeld, with a cute Japanese girl standing in for George Costanza.

Deb Aoki revises her list of ten essential shojo manga.

In the latest edition of Show Us Your Stuff, French comics enthusiast Gemini shares pictures of his extensive manga collection. His advice to frustrated otaku? “You should learn French,” he explains. “It’s easier than Japanese and we have a lot of different manga!”

Over at Manga Widget, Alex Hoffman has a license request: Kita Konno’s Tzusuki wa Mata Ashita (To Be Continued Tomorrow), a josei title about a family coping with loss.

Daniela Orihuela-Gruber just launched a new Tumblr blog, Ladies in Comic Book Stores. Her goal: to increase the visibility of female comic fans, and remind publishers that women are comics consumers, too.

Reviews
Connie on vol. 1 of Boys With Tomorrow to Conquer (Slightly Biased Manga)
Alex Hoffman on vols. 1-5 of Blue Exorcist (Manga Widget)
Matthew on Cafe Latte Rhapsody (No Flying No Tights)
Kate O’Neill on vol. 41 of Case Closed (The Fandom Post)
Connie on vol. 8 of Future Diary (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kristin on vol. 5 of House of Five Leaves (Comic Attack!)
John Rose on vol. 5 of Kobato (The Fandom Post)
Connie on vol. 8 of Otomen (Slightly Biased Manga)
Nic on Pokemon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions (No Flying No Tights)
Connie on vol. 2 of Wild Adapter (Slightly Biased Manga)
Katherine Dacey on Yakuza Moon: The True Story of a Gangster’s Daughter (The Manga Critic)

Kate “Manga Critic” Dacey here with a fresh crop of links. Brigid should be back tomorrow with a new post, so stay tuned. In the meantime, please give my fellow relief pitcher Melinda “Manga Bookshelf” Beasi a round of applause for her thorough round-ups — she made it look easy!

‘Tis the season for best-of lists! Casey Brienza compiles her list of the year’s top manga for Graphic Novel Reporter, while David Welsh, Brigid Alverson, and I offer our nominations at Flashlight Worthy Books.

The Reverse Thieves examine page design in Kyoko Arioshi’s ballet classic Swan.

David Welsh demonstrates his considerable poetry chops with a rhyming ode to One Piece and shares links to the latest Manga Movable Feast contributions.

Brian Ruh uses My Girlfriend’s a Geek as a jumping-off point for discussing the portrayal of female otaku in Japanese pop culture.

For her latest Bento Bako Lite column, Kristin flips through the December Previews and finds a mother lode of good manga scheduled for a Spring 2011 release.

Reviews: In their latest Off the Shelf column, Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith say good-bye to Del Rey with reviews of Ghost Hunt and Papillon, and hello to Fumi Yoshinaga’s latest title, Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy!

Juli Opipari on Crimson Hero, Vol. 13 (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Chris Kirby on D. Gray-Man, Vol. 19 (Mania.com)
Lissa Patillo on Genkaku Picasso, Vol. 1 (Anime News Network)
Nick Smith on K-On!, Vol. 1 (ICv2)
Matthew Warner on K-On!, Vol. 1 (Mania.com)
Lori Henderson on One Piece, Vols. 43-45 (Manga Village)

Hi there! This is Kate Dacey (a.k.a. The Manga Critic). I’ll be sharing manga-blogging duties with Melinda Beasi this week while Brigid is away. As Shonen Jump characters are fond of saying, “I’ll do my best!”, though I have no illusions about the size of the shoes I’m filling. On to the links!

The December Manga Movable Feast continues with more essays and reviews; David Welsh shares day two highlights. And in a special guest post at The Manga Curmudgeon, Erica Friedman examines those time-honored shonen themes of friendship and teamwork in One Piece.

Planning to go to the comic store this week? Melinda Beasi offers her pick for Wednesday’s must-read manga.

Over at The Manga Critic, I post a holiday gift guide for readers under fourteen.

Do you have a secret stash of old manga in your garage or basement? You might find Sheena McNeil’s article on the valuation of comics informative, especially if you’re trying decide which titles might be worth selling and which ones have depreciated in value.

Melinda Beasi offers recommendations from the Yen Press/ICE Kunion catalog in her latest Manhwa Monday column.

Esther Keller, Lori Henderson, Robin Brenner, and I discuss what we’re reading at Good Comics for Kids.

VIZ Media is hiring! They’re looking for an Associate Producer (Animation Production) and a Digital Production Coordinator (Editorial). If you’re still in school, consider applying for one of VIZ’s Spring 2011 Internships; applications are being accepted now.

News from Japan: Anime News Network reports that The Magic of Chocolate, a shojo horror manga set in an enchanted confectioner’s shop, will be getting the anime treatment in 2011. Take that, Godiva! Also on the ANN news blotter: VIZ is sponsoring the world premiere of the first two Gantz live-action movies on January 20, 2011 at theaters around the US.

Reviews: Johanna Draper-Carlson is first out of the gate with her review of the eagerly anticipated Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy!, Fumi Yoshinaga’s valentine to the Tokyo restaurant scene, while Ash Brown offers quick takes on an assortment of books, manga, and DVDs. Other reviews of note:

Alexander Hoffman on Ayako (Manga Village)
Connie on Deka Kyoshi, Vol. 1 (Slightly Biased Manga)
Karen Maeda on Hikaru no Go, Vol. 21 (Sequential Tart)
Connie on I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow, Vol. 2 (Slightly Biased Manga)
Danica Davidson on Monster, Vols. 1-3 (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Lori Henderson on One Piece, Vols. 1-4 (Manga Xanadu)
Victoria Martin on Ooku: The Inner Chambers, Vol. 3 (Manga Life)
Carlo Santos on Pandora Hearts, Vol. 3 (Anime News Network)
Leroy Douresseaux on Papillon, Vols. 5-6 (Comic Book Bin)
Grant Goodman on The Push Man and Other Stories (Manga Village)
Erica Friedman on Rakuen Le Paradis, Vol. 4 (Okazu)
Karen Maeda on Shinobi Life, Vol. 6 (Sequential Tart)
Wolfen Moondaughter on Slam Dunk, Vol. 13 (Sequential Tart)
Carlo Santos on Ultimo, Vol. 3 (Anime News Network)