Breaking: Kodansha to take over Del Rey Manga

October 4, 2010 by

Kodansha Comics logo red

Just last week, some folks noticed that a number of Del Rey titles had disappeared from Amazon and Previews, and we started speculating that a big announcement might be in the offing (as often happens before a big comic convention). Turns out we were right: Kodansha is, as they say, shifting from a licensing model to a distribution model with Random House, the parent company of Del Rey manga. Basically, Kodansha will be taking over as publisher of a number of Del Rey series (not every series will continue, I gather), while Random House will provide help with editing, production, and distribution of the books. Editor Dallas Middaugh stays on under the new regime, but the fate of the rest of the group is not yet clear. Also, Del Rey may continue to publish non-manga graphic novels under that name. I posted the full press release at Robot 6, and you should also check out PW’s story on the move, which includes a few more details.

Monday morning news update

October 4, 2010 by

Sean Gaffney starts us off with a look at this week’s new manga at A Case Suitable for Treatment, and he also wraps up the latest Manga Moveable Feast, which featured After School Nightmare.

The Comics Village team, meanwhile, picks the best of the past week’s new releases.

Lori Henderson takes us through the week’s manga news at Manga Xanadu, and Erica Friedman posts the latest edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu.

On the heels of Banned Books Week, Daniella Orihuela-Gruber has some thoughts on self-censorship, as opposed to the type imposed from the outside.

How-to-draw-manga books come to Japan. It looks like this one is a Japanese book that has been translated.

News from Japan: Arina Tanemura has drawn a 32-page chapter of I.O.N., which she last worked on 13 years ago, for the second issue of Ribon Fantasy Zōkan-gō magazine.

Reviews

Richard Bruton on Black Blizzard (Forbidden Planet)
Connie on vol. 6 of Blade of the Immortal (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 31 of Bleach (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kate Dacey on vols. 1 and 2 of Cat-Eyed Boy (The Manga Critic)
Shannon Fay on Chibi-Vampire (Kuriousity)
Jaime Samms on Cold Sleep (Kuriousity)
Nicola on The Dreaming: The Collection (vols. 1-3) (Back to Books)
Oyceter on A Drunken Dream and Other Stories (Sakura of DOOM)
Carlo Santos on vol. 12 of Fairy Tail (ANN)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Grand Guignol Orchestra (The Comic Book Bin)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 16 of Hayate the Combat Butler (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
J. Caleb Mozzocco on vol. 1 of Hetalia: Axis Powers (Blog@Newsarama)
Connie on vol. 2 of Laon (Slightly Biased Manga)
James Fleenor on Manga for the Beginner: Shoujo (Anime Sentinel)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 6 of Negima!? Neo (I Reads You)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Odd Is On Our Side (Comics Worth Reading)
Connie on vol. 5 of Pet Shop of Horrors (Slightly Biased Manga)
Katherine Farmar on Utahime: The Songstress (Comics Village)
Tangognat on vols. 7 and 8 of Vagabond (VizBig Edition) (Tangognat)

Review: Ugly Duckling’s Love Revolution, vols. 1 and 2

October 3, 2010 by

UGLYDUCK_1Ugly Duckling’s Love Revolution, vols. 1 and 2
By Yuuki Fujinari
Rated T, for Teens
Yen Press, $10.99

This story is based on a dating-sim game, which explains a lot—the lack of backstory, plot, and character development, for instance. It’s kind of like a boy-harem version of Aria, a pleasant slice-of-life book in which the characters interact cheerfully but nothing much actually happens.

The main character, Hitomi, is fat and unattractive, and the story makes no bones about that. It wasn’t until I read the Wikipedia entry on the original game (Otometeki Koi Kakumei Love Revo!!) that I learned that she actually does have a backstory—she used to be a beauty queen, in fact, but she gave in to the temptations of junk food and put on a ton of weight. The story ignores all possible physical or psychological explanations for this—we’re here for good-natured fun, not complexity.

Hitomi goes to one of those high schools where the most popular boys have been chosen by some type of secret ballot, so we get introduced to them right away, in order. They fit the standard stereotypes: The alpha male, the hot misunderstood guy, the sporty guy (he doubles as the token shouta character), the yakuza heir who is trying to shake off his past, and the bookish, sickly guy. There’s also a doctor, of the type that pops up a lot in manga—young, hot, drinks and smokes a lot, and flirts outrageously with his patients. There are a couple of girls other than Hitomi but they might as well be cardboard cut-outs for all we see of them.

By an astounding coincidence, Hitomi and her brother (who is also quite cute and has a weird little-sister complex) live in the same residence as the doctor and the five hot guys. Hitomi’s brother is the apartment manager, and a number of their little adventures are centered around this building.

So what do they do? In the first chapter, the guys staple some papers for school orientation packets. Seriously, that’s the main action in the chapter. OK, it’s a way for us to get to know the characters and start getting a feel for the story, but really… In the next chapter, Hitomi can’t figure out a math problem and keeps asking everyone to help her, without success. It turns out (spoiler alert!) that she was mistakenly using a college study guide. In the third chapter, Hitomi and her friends make a special sitting area in their apartment building’s sunroom for the sickly, bookish character. And so it goes. My favorite chapter: When Hitomi is away at summer camp, the boys go shopping, eat candied apples, and win a bunch of plushies for her at a shooting gallery.

And that’s how it goes. Little stories about everyday life, played out by characters with very few neuroses or conflicts. It’s bubble-bath reading, blatant wish-fulfillment with little connection to everyday life.

At some point, Hitomi starts dieting. You would expect that there would have been some dramatic turn of events—she was rejected by a potential boyfriend because of her weight, or someone said something hurtful—but nope, she just starts dieting because it’s the right thing to do, and in one chapter she wins free tickets to a pool so she starts exercising there. Once the chapter is over, the pool never shows up again; continuity is not this story’s strong suit.

Hitomi’s character is drawn in a completely different style from the rest of the cast. The other characters are very much in a standard shoujo/bl style, willowy boys with fairly detailed faces, hair, and clothing. Hitomi is a set of simple curves, and her eyes are mere dots in her face. Presumably that is because she stands in for the reader, and too much detail would make that hard to achieve. There is one male character, Touru, who is chubby and bespectacled and is drawn in the same style; he seems to have a very small part, and according to Wikipedia he eventually goes to America and loses the weight and the glasses.

The one icky thing about this book is Hitomi’s brother, Takashi, who is beyond overprotective and well into stalker territory when it comes to his little sister. In the last chapter of volume 1, Hitomi and her friends dig up a mysterious box which turns out to contain Takashi’s diaries of his day-to-day observations of his sister. There is no explicitly sexual content, but it certainly is weird. Takashi takes this cheerfully in stride, although Hitomi is mildly embarrassed by the episode. And then she swoons in Takashi’s arms. Again, you could connect some dots regarding Takashi’s attitude and Hitomi’s weight, but this book certainly isn’t going to do it for you.

Ugly Duckling’s Love Revolution is fine for what it is, a daydream world in which the boys are hot but still friendly with an unattractive girl (and with each other, for that matter). The art is quite competent and the dialogue isn’t bad, although more translator’s notes would be helpful. I imagine it would work even better in the format in which it originally appeared, as chapters in a weekly or monthly manga magazine; when those chapters are gathered together, the weaknesses are more apparent. If you’re looking for action, give this one a pass, but for simple stories, the manga equivalent of a cup of tea, a rocking chair, and a cat, this series will fill the bill nicely.

The secret history of shoujo, manga on your handheld, and more!

October 1, 2010 by

Jason Thompson’s latest House of 1000 Manga column dredges up a classic that has a small but dedicated band of fans: Firefighter: Daigo of Fire Company M.

Be sure to check out Sean Gaffney’s blog, A Case Suitable for Treatment, for the latest additions to the Manga Moveable Feast, which is celebrating After School Nightmare this month. David Welsh’s latest license request is another manga by Setona Mizushiro, The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese.

Lori Henderson has this week’s top all-ages manga and comics releases at Good Comics for Kids.

At Masters of Manga, Marc Bernabe has a great video of manga creator and expert Akira Maruyama talking about the changing perceptions of manga, from funnybooks to real stories, and manga’s own “Seduction of the Innocent” moment—yes, there were real manga burnings—and its lasting effects.

And to celebrate Banned Books Week, Erica Friedman is offering free yuri manga to libraries.

Lori Henderson posts her thoughts on censorship at Manga Xanadu.

There seems to have been a flurry of activity lately with Japanese publishers releasing manga in varous digital formats. ANN has a roundup of some recent announcements, including Joan and Jesus, by Mobile Suit Gundam creator Yoshikazu Yasuhiko in the Apple app store, and Kazuo Umezu’s Cat-Eyed Girl in the Nokia Ovi store.

News from Japan: The Japanese magazine Jump Square is announcing it will publish a one-shot CLAMP story, Gate 7, in an upcoming issue. Dark Horse had listed this as the title of one of its “mangettes,” short standalone manga by CLAMP, but the listings for the mangettes have been removed from most retail sites.

Reviews

Lori Henderson on vol. 28 of Bleach (Comics Village)
Shaenon Garrity on vols. 1 and 2 of Hanako and the Terror of Allegory (About.com)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Hetalia: Axis Powers (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
J. Caleb Mozzocco on vol. 1 of Hetalia: Axis Powers (Blog@Newsarama)
Julie Opipari on Moonlit Promises (Mania.com)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 55 of One Piece (The Comic Book Bin)
Kiki Van De Camp on vol. 3 of Rin-ne (Animanga Nation)
Carlo Santos on vol. 4 of Rin-ne (ANN)
Kristin on vol. 12 of Slam Dunk (Comic Attack)
Lissa Pattillo on Your Love Sickness (ANN)

Short stack

September 30, 2010 by

This is Banned Books Week, and Erica Friedman celebrates with a look at some anime and manga about armed librarians fighting for justice at Okazu.

ComiXology or Kindle? ANN’s Brian Ruh samples several different flavors of digital manga.

David Welsh counts up all the seinen manga he can find that begin with the letter K at The Manga Curmudgeon.

News from Japan: ANN posts the latest Japanese comics rankings and notes that every volume of Kimi ni Todoke made the top 100 list this week, possibly pushed by the opening of the live-action movie based on the series.

Reviews: At The Hooded Utilitarian, Noah Berlatsky finds Moto Hagio’s short story A Drunken Dream to be less coherent, but more interesting, than the other stories he has reviewed from the anthology of the same name. Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss some recent releases in their latest Off the Shelf feature at Manga Bookshelf. Other reviews of note:

Katherine Farmar on vols. 1 and 2 of Brilliant Blue (Comics Village)
Shannon Fay on vol. 2 of Knights (Kuriousity)
Kristin on When the Heavens Smile and Boys Love (Comic Attack)

New manga, Del Rey questions, indy manga previews

September 29, 2010 by

What’s going on at Del Rey? I speculate a bit at Robot 6, and Johanna discusses it as well at Comics Worth Reading.

Kate Dacey, Brad Rice, and David Welsh look at this week’s new releases. Melinda Beasi’s pick of the week is the first volume of 7 Billion Needles.

The Manga Moveable Feast continues today with more reviews and thoughts on After School Nightmare; check Sean Gaffney’s blog for the latest updates.

At Masters of Manga, Marc Bernabe profiles manga creator Miyako Maki.

At Same Hat, Ryan alerts us to the Japanese indy-manga publisher Serinkogeisha, which has been posting previews (in Japanese) at its website. Also, he’s unloading some manga for just the cost of shipping.

Happy blogiversary to Daniella Orihuela-Gruber, who celebrates one year of All About Manga today!

Reviews

Connie on vol. 11 of 20th Century Boys (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 6 of Bamboo Blade (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Bill Sherman on Baseball Heaven (Blogcritics)
James Fleenor on vol. 1 of Beast Master (Anime Sentinel)
Kristin on Clover (omnibus edition) (Comic Attack)
Zack Davisson on vol. 1 of Demon Sacred (Japan Reviewed)
Deb Aoki on vols. 1 and 2 of Demon Sacred (About.com)
Kate Dacey on vols. 1 and 2 of Demon Sacred (The Manga Critic)
Penny Kenny on vol. 13 of High School Debut (Manga Life)
Animemiz on Monkey High (Anime Diet)
J. Caleb Mozzocco on Suihelibe! (Every Day Is Like Wednesday)
Zack Davisson on Tenken (Japan Reviewed)

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