The Manga Revue: A Silent Voice and Your Lie in April

July 3, 2015 by

It’s been a while since I checked in with Kodansha, so this week I reviewed two recent additions to the KC catalog: A Silent Voice, which explores the complex relationship between a bully and his victim, and Your Lie in April, which focuses on a piano prodigy who flamed out at an early age.

A Silent VoiceA Silent Voice, Vol. 1
By Yoshitoki Oima
Rated T, for Teens
Kodansha Comics, $10.99

Thirteen-year-old Shouya Ishida is at loose ends: he’s a mediocre student, a latch-key kid, and a thrill-seeker who goads his friends into dangerous stunts. When deaf girl Shoko Nishimiya joins Ishida’s class, however, Ishida’s recklessness shades into cruelty. He orchestrates a systematic campaign of harassment against her, mocking her speech, stealing her hearing aides, and blaming her for “ruining” the class.

As manga-ka Yoshitoki Oima capably shows, Ishida’s inability to control his worst impulses stems from a toxic mixture of loneliness, frustration, and immaturity. Oima resists the urge to blame Ishida’s mother for her son’s behavior, portraying her as a hard-working, decent woman who’s struggling to run a business and raise two children on her own. Instead, Oima zeroes in the complex dynamic between Ishida and his classmates, acknowledging the degree to which their own hostility towards Nishimiya validates–and encourages–Ishida’s cruelty.

In one scene, for example, the teacher calls on Nishimiya to read a passage out loud. Her words are labored and difficult to understand, prompting uncomfortable stares from the class. When Ishida is asked to do the same, he’s emboldened by his peers’ response. “Uwah! Uwoh! Argle! Bargle!” he declares, feasting on the giggles and snickers his impression elicits. Though the teacher issues Ishida a stern warning, Mr. Takeuchi’s own contempt for Nishimiya seeps into their conversation, granting Ishida further license to harass his classmate.

I’d be the first to admit that A Silent Voice is a difficult read, not least for the scenes in which Ishida torments Nishimiya; Nishimiya’s crestfallen expressions will rip your heart out. It’s a worthwhile series, however, for its truthful exploration of adolescent cruelty, and for its steadfast refusal to paint its troubled protagonist as a monster–or a victim.

your_lie_april_EnglishYour Lie in April, Vol. 1
By Naoshi Arakawa
Rated T, for Teens
Kodansha Comics, $10.99

Your Lie in April follows the budding relationship between Kosei Arima, a piano prodigy, and Kaori Miyazono, a violinist who plays by her own rules. When Arima first meets Miyazono, he’s so crippled by his own perfectionism that he can’t play in public. Miyazono, on the other hand, is fearless, giving messy but emotionally authentic performances that irk judges and wow audiences. Miyazono has an equally messy personality–she’s impetuous, petulant, and bossy–but captivates Arima with the sheer force of her enthusiasm.

I’ll be honest: I’d like Your Lie in April a lot more if it focused on a drama troupe or a sports team. That may seem like an odd admission from a musicologist, but Miyazono’s character embodies what I dislike most about popular depictions of classical music. Her eclectic performances are offered as evidence of her “true” musical ability, while the judges’ disapproval is portrayed as a failure of imagination–it’s like Shine in manga form, and boy howdy, did I hate Shine. Why? Because a score isn’t a loose set of guidelines to be followed at the musician’s whim; it’s an explicit representation of the composer’s intentions. Willfully ignoring tempo markings, dynamics, and phrasing misses the entire point of musical notation. Miyazono may make Beethoven’s Kreutzer sonata “unequivocally her own,” but is she really capturing the spirit of the piece by taking so many liberties with it?

Given my own bias, I don’t know if I can give Your Lie in April a fair shake. I found the artwork clean and expressive, and the dynamic between Arima and his non-musical friend Tsubaki Sawabe true to life. (In contrast to Miyazono, Sawabe is not simply a vehicle for the hero’s self-actualization, but a character in her own right.) I also enjoyed the program notes at the end of every chapter–a nice touch for readers who recognize Saint-Saens’ name, but can’t quite tie him to a specific composition or stylistic period. I’m not sure these small pleasures are enough inducement for me to pick up volume two, but a less fussy music lover might well enjoy this coming-of-age drama.

Reviews: Bust out your handkerchief–the final installment of House of 1000 Manga has been posted! Jason Thompson takes a few minutes to reflect on the column, list his ten favorite manga, and discuss what he’ll be doing next. Like many of ANN’s regular readers, I will miss House of 1000 Manga dearly; Shaenon and Jason did a terrific job of sharing their knowledge of and enthusiasm for manga with readers in a consummately effortless style.

Courtney Sanders on vol. 16 of 07-Ghost (Three If By Space)
Connie on vol. 2 of Alice in the Country of Clover: Knight’s Knowledge (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 3 of Alice in the Country of Clover: Cheshire Cat Waltz (Slightly Biased Manga)
Al Sparrow on vol. 1 of The Ancient Magus’ Bride (ComicSpectrum)
Ken H. on vol. 4 of Attack on Titan: Before the Fall (Sequential Ink)
Erica Friedman on Awajime Hyakkei (Okazu)
Connie on vol. 18 of Black Bird (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 10 of Black Lagoon (The Fandom Post)
Connie on vol. 28 of Blade of the Immortal (Slightly Biased Manga)
Helen on Cardcaptor Sakura (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Connie on vol. 1 of Citrus (Slightly Biased Manga)
TSOTE on vol. 29 of C.M.B. (Three Steps Over Japan)
Connie on vol. 2 of Demon Love Spell (Slightly Biased Manga)
Rebecca Silverman on Dream Fossil (ANN)
Holly Saiki on Fragments of Horror (Examiner)
Courtney Sanders on Fragments of Horror (Three If By Space)
Ken H. on In Clothes Called Fat (Sequential Ink)
Luke Halliday on vol. 2 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood (Snap 30)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 18 on Kamisama Kiss (ANN)
Sakura Eries on vol. 4 of Kiss of the Rose Princess (The Fandom Post)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 14 of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery System (Comics Worth Reading)
Connie on vol. 5 of Love Pistols (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kristin on vol. 3 of Master Keaton (Comic Attack)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 3 of Master Keaton (WatchPlayRead)
Anna N. on vol. 2 of Meteor Prince (The Manga Report)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Non Non Biyori (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Al Sparrow on Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt (ComicSpectrum)
TSOTE on vol. 1 of Q.E.D. iff (Three Steps Over Japan)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 9 of Sankarea (The Fandom Post)
Megan R. on Seraph of the End (The Manga Test Drive)
Al Sparrow on vol. 1 of A Silent Voice (ComicSpectrum)
Connie on vol. 34 of Skip Beat! (Slightly Biased Manga)
L.B. Bryant on vol. 1 of So Cute It Hurts! (ICv2)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 9 of Triage X (The Fandom Post)
Connie on vol. 16 of We Were There (Slightly Biased Manga)
Ash Brown on vol. 7 of What Did You Eat Yesterday? (Experiments in Manga)

The True Meaning of ‘Attack on Titan’

June 29, 2015 by

attack_titan1What is Attack on Titan really about? Vernieda Vergara puts it in context and discusses the social and political issues that Japanese readers might pick up on.

The folks at Sparkler Monthly are launching a Kickstarter to fund their third year. They have a lot of great premiums, and if you don’t want to be part of the Kickstarter, you can just get a plain ol’ membership instead. If you want to support global manga, this is the way to do it!

Taiyo Matsumoto will bring Sunny to an end in the July 27 issue of Monthly Spirits magazine; the fifth volume is due out on July 7 in North America.

The first volume of Tokyo Ghoul tops this week’s New York Times manga best-seller list, with vol. 70 of Naruto and vol. 5 of Seraph of the End in the number two and three spots. It’s worth noting that the first volume of Seraph is also on the list, which means new readers are still discovering it.

Erica Friedman has a special rainbows-and-weddings-infused edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu.

Reviews

Sakura Eries on vol. 8 of Are You Alice? (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 13 of Blue Exorcist (WatchPlayRead)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 15 of Dorohedoro (The Fandom Post)
Marissa Lieberman on vol. 1 of Dragon Ball (3-in-1 edition) (No Flying, No Tights)
Kory Cerjak on vol. 45 of Fairy Tail (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 6 of Food Wars (WatchPlayRead)
Manjiorin on Gyo (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Richard Gutierrez on vol. 1 of Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (The Fandom Post)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 6 of Judge (Comics Worth Reading)
Sarah on vol. 18 of Kamisama Kiss (nagareboshi reviews)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 14 of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 5 of LBX (The Comic Book Bin)
Kristin on vol. 2 of Master Keaton (Comic Attack)
Trisha on My Neighbor Seki (Guys Lit Wire)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Secret (Comics Worth Reading)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 5 of Seraph of the End (WatchPlayRead)
Erica Friedman on Strawberry Shake (Okazu)
Lesley Aeschiliman on vol. 11 of Voice Over: Seiyu Academy (WatchPlayRead)
Helen on Wish (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)

The Manga Revue: Alice in Murderland and Demon From Afar

June 26, 2015 by

Reading Kaori Yuki is a little bit like eating a bag of Pop Rocks and washing it down with a can of Tab: the rush is undeniable, but the aftertaste is pretty gnarly. I swore off her manga years ago–too much stimulation for my taste–but her two latest series looked so snazzy I couldn’t resist giving her work a second chance.

AliceinMurderlandv1Alice in Murderland, Vol. 1
By Kaori Yuki
Rated OT, for Older Teens
Yen Press, $17.00

Nine Is Enough might be a better title for Alice in Murderland, as it neatly summarizes the main plot: per their mother’s orders, the nine Kuonji children must fight to the death to determine who will inherit the family fortune. Of course, if you’ve read Godchild or Angel Sanctuary, you know that even Kaori Yuki’s most basic story ideas are complicated by a profusion of subplots and supporting characters. Alice in Murderland is no exception: Yuki introduces over thirty people in volume one, each of whom has a stake in the outcome of the Kuonji Battle Royale.

The characters are so hastily conceived, however, that their behavior makes no sense; when they turn on each other, those reversals register not as betrayals but as speed bumps on the road to the next gruesome showdown. Even the revelation that the Kuonji matriarch is a bandersnatch–no, really–barely makes an impression, as her breathless monologue about demonic powers is no more shocking or ridiculous than the violent melodrama that precedes it. (On the plus side, it does explain her rotten parenting skills.) The artwork, though attractive, barely hangs together; small wonder that Yuki relies so heavily on dialogue to plug the holes in her storytelling.

The verdict: No amount of Lewis Carroll references can disguise the fact the Alice in Murderland is a flaming hot mess.

Yuki_DemonFromAfarV1_HCDemon From Afar, Vol. 1
By Kaori Yuki
Rated T, for Teens
Yen Press, $18.00

In contrast to Alice in Murderland, Demon From Afar has a discernible storyline and real characters. Three teens–Sorath, Garan, and Kiyora–live on the estate of the wealthy, ruthless Baron Kamichika. As children, they found solace in each others’ company; as young adults, however, they unwittingly become pawns in their guardian’s elaborate scheme to achieve immortality.

Though Kaori Yuki can’t help but populate the fringes of the story with beautiful, inscrutable figures, the main narrative never loses it focus on Sorath, Garan, and Kiyora’s increasingly tenuous allegiance. The supernatural elements–another potential distraction–prove organic to the story as well; from the very first pages, it’s clear that Sorath possesses unusual powers, though we don’t see them fully manifested in volume one. Only Yuki’s decision to invoke Walpurgisnacht raises a few eyebrows: surely there was a Japanese festival or tradition that would have made more sense in the context of the Taisho-era setting. (The story takes place shortly after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923.) Faust tributes aside, Demon From Afar manages the difficult feat of juggling many stylistic sensibilities–horror, romance, teen angst–without sacrificing coherence or pacing.

The verdict: Demon From Afar won’t win the Tezuka Prize, but it scores points for readability and visual flair.

Reviews: Sad news for fans of ANN’s House of 1000 Manga: Jason Thompson and Shaenon Garrity have announced that their final column will run next week. To mark the occasion, Shaenon counts down her ten favorite manga from the House archives.

Deionte Coates on vol. 5 of Cardfight!! Vanguard (BentoByte)
Megan R. on City Hunter (The Manga Test Drive)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Demon From Afar (Manga Xanadu)
Adam Caps on Dream Fossil (BentoByte)
Holly Saiki on Dream Fossil (Examiner)
Leroy Douresseaux on Fragments of Horror (Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on Fragments of Horror (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Orrin Gray on Fragments of Horror (Innsmouth Free Press)
Vernieda Vergara on vols. 1-3 of The Heroic Legend of Arslan (Women Write About Comics)
Ash Brown on vol. 2 of Hide and Seek (Experiments in Manga)
Alice Vernon on Judge (Girls Like Comics)
Nic Wilcox on Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink: The Complete Collection (No Flying No Tights)
Sarah on vol. 1 of Love Stage! (Anime UK News)
Wolfen Moondaughter on vol. 5 of Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign (Sequential Tart)
Ken H. on vols. 5-8 of The Seven Deadly Sins (Sequential Ink)
Paige Sammartino on vol. 1 of A Silent Voice (Women Write About Comics)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of So Cute It Hurts! (Comics Worth Reading)
Richard Eisenbeis on vols. 1-2 of Sword Art Online: Girls’ Ops (Kotaku)
Thomas Maluck on vol. 1 of Sword Art Online: Progressive (No Flying No Tights)
Karen Maeda on vol. 6 of Terraformars (Sequential Tart)
Ian Wolf on Tony Takezaki’s Neon Genesis Evangelion (Anime UK News)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 7 of Toradora! (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Sheena McNeil on vol. 28 of Toriko (Sequential Tart)
Rob Clough on Trash Market (High-Low)
James Hadfield on Trash Market (The Japan Times)
L.B. Bryant on vol. 1 of Trinity Seven: The Seven Magicians (ICv2)

Summer Reading and a Tokyopop Teaser

June 23, 2015 by

The next volume of Attack on Titan isn’t out till August—what do you read in the meantime? At the Barnes & Noble blog I suggest some manga that offer many of the same pleasures as Attack on Titan as well as a roundup of June releases.

Tokyopop is “evolving,” although it’s not clear what that means. In a blog post on the Tokyopop site, CEO Stu Levy writes cryptically about “rebuilding” Tokyopop in a different form; more concretely, they will have panels at Anime Expo and San Diego, so something may be afoot.

Udon has licensed the manga adaptation of the Persona4 game.

Shonen Jump will publish a short story by American creators Bikkuri and rem in this week’s issue; the story, “Folie À Deux,” was published on the Shonen Jump + app in Japan. Bikkuri and rem were the winners of the 2007 Morning International Manga Competition, and rem is the illustrator of Yen Press’s adaptation of Gail Carriger’s Soulless.

Vol. 70 of Naruto tops the New York Times manga best-seller list, with the latest volume of Deadman Wonderland coming in at number two.

The Seven Seas folks explain why it’s not a good idea to wait till the end of a series to buy all the volumes:

Due to reader attrition, sales drop off after each volume is released–this is a natural thing for almost any series. Unfortunately, due to smaller sales with each passing volume, vendors/retailers order less. When they order less, we print less. It’s a classic case of supply-and-demand.

At Contemporary Japanese Literature, Kathryn Hemmann writes about how shoujo manga has changed the American comics scene, in terms of both the comics we read and the way we read them.

Tony Yao writes about fandom and shipping in the context of Kiss Him, Not Me.

Scott Green rounds up some artists’ tributes to JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Memories, including a CLAMP doujinshi.

News from Japan: Kodasha’s Shonen Magazine will run a one-shot prequel to the Avengers: Age of Ultron movie in its 31st issue. Moviegoers who see Boruto: Naruto the Movie in theaters in August will get a special booklet with a new one-shot story by Masashi Kishimoto, as well as the final chapter of Naruto in full color. Inio Asano is taking a break from his current series, Dead Dead Demon’s Dededededestruction, which runs in Big Comic Spirits; it will be back at the end of August. Shueisha has posted an entire issue of Shonen Jump for free on its app: Issue #34 from 1997, which launched One Piece. Unfortunately, it seems to be only available in Japan. It looks like Hiromu Arakawa’s Silver Spoon will be coming to an end shortly.

Reviews: Ash Brown recounts a week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 4 of Black Rose Alice (The Comic Book Bin)
A Library Girl on Cold Sleep (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 46 of Fairy Tail (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Ken H on Fragments of Horror (Sequential Ink)
Sakura Eries on vol. 18 of Goong (The Fandom Post)
Matthew Warner on vol. 7 of Inu x Boku SS (The Fandom Post)
Sakura Eries on vol. 3 of My Love Story!! (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 9 of Nisekoi: False Love (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Tokyo Ghoul (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 9 of Until Death Do Us Part (The Fandom Post)

The Manga Revue: Dream Fossil

June 19, 2015 by

The last two years have been kind to Satoshi Kon fans: Dark Horse and Vertical Comics have each released two volumes of Kon’s manga, from Tropic of the Sea, a supernatural mystery, to Seraphim 266613336 Wings, an unfinished collaboration with Ghost in the Shell director Mamoru Oshii. This week, I investigate Dream Fossil, which collects all of Kon’s published short stories into a single volume.

dream_fossilDream Fossil: The Complete Stories of Satoshi Kon
By Satoshi Kon
No rating
Vertical Comics, $24.95

Dream Fossil is a window into a crucial stage in Satoshi Kon’s development: the six-year period between the publication of his first short story (1984) and his first long-form manga (1990). Readers may be astonished by Kon’s undisguised homage to Katsuhiro Otomo, and the flaws in his storytelling technique. Yet Dream Fossil is not simply a collection of juvenilia; these stories represent Kon’s first meaningful attempt to grapple with the themes that define his mature work, from Perfect Blue and Tokyo Godfathers to Paranoia Agent and Paprika.

Consider “Carve” and “Toriko,” two of Kon’s earliest works. Both take place in dystopian societies that stress conformity and obedience over individualism and free will–an ideal set-up for exploring the boundaries between reality and illusion. Though Kon delineates these boundaries more baldly in “Carve” and “Toriko” than in his later films, all of Kon’s characters exist in a false state of consciousness; only shattering acts of violence force them to question what they think is real. These early stories also suggest Otomo’s strong influence on Kon; “Carve,” in particular, feels like a compressed retelling of Akira, as both feature a young male protagonist whose extrasensory powers turn him into God-like being.

“Beyond the Sun” and “Joyful Bell” are another instructive pairing. Both stories evoke the humanist spirit of Tokyo Godfathers in their fond, funny depictions of two city-dwellers who temporarily escape the confines of their daily routines. As in Tokyo Godfathers, the urban landscape proves an essential component of both stories; Kon treats the city as a playground where adults can shed the burdens of age, failure, and loneliness to recover their optimism and youthful wonder.

Other stories work well on their own terms. “Guests,” a cautionary tale about real estate, skillfully blends humor and horror, while “Picnic,” one of Dream Fossil‘s briefest selections, depicts the sepulchral beauty of an underwater city. At the other end of the spectrum are Kon’s coming-of-age stories “Horseplay,” “Summer of Anxiety,” and “Day Has Dawned,” all of which suffer from tonal schizophrenia, see-sawing between wacky hijinks and meaningful lessons about adulthood. This combination might have worked in a longer format, but Kon’s characters are so underdeveloped that they never register as distinct individuals who are motivated by their own beliefs, fears, and desires.

If pressed to say whether I “liked” Dream Fossil, I’d be reluctant to give a simple yes-or-no answer. It’s difficult to overlook the rubbery faces and clumsy internal transitions in the volume’s weakest stories, or Kon’s flagrant efforts to cop Otomo’s style. Yet many of the stories feature the kind of arresting sequences, amusing plot twists, and flashes of genuine imagination that are hallmarks of Kon’s best films, making it difficult to dismiss this uneven body of work as “good,” “bad,” or “okay.”

Reviews: Jason Thompson makes a strong case that Kekkaishi is the best shonen manga you haven’t read. At Anime UK News, Sarah reviews Servamp, a supernatural adventure about–what else?–vampires. Closer to home, TCJ columnist Joe McCulloch sings the praises of Professor Layton, an untranslated manga in which “a top-hatted archeologist and his adolescent weed carrier solve extremely unlikely and sentimental mysteries” by means of word games, puzzles, and riddles.

Ash Brown on vol. 4 of After School Nightmare (Experiments in Manga)
Matthew Warner on vol. 2 of Akame ga KILL! (The Fandom Post)
Connie on vol. 1 of Alice in the Country of Clover: Knight’s Knowledge (Slightly Biased Manga)
Alice Vernon on The Angel of Elhamburg (Girls Like Comics)
Connie on vol. 17 of Black Bird (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 5 of Crimson Spell (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 10 of Dogs: Bullets and Carnage (Comic Book Bin)
Helen and Justin on Donyatsu (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Connie on vol. 1 of Earthian (Slighty Biased Manga)
Kory Cerjak on vol. 44 of Fairy Tale (The Fandom Post)
Frank Inglese on vols. 1-2 of Food Wars! Shokugeki No Soma (Snap 30)
Rich Johnston on Fragments of Horror (Bleeding Cool)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 6 of Gangsta (The Fandom Post)
Connie on vol. 11 of Inuyasha: VIZBIG Edition (Slightly Biased Manga)
L.B. Bryant on vol. 1 of Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (ICv2)
Luke Halliday on vol. 1 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood (Snap 30)
Tony Yao on Kiss Him, Not Me (Manga Therapy)
Seth Hahne on Last Man, Vol. 2: The Royal Cup (Good Ok Bad)
Kane Bugeja on The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Snap 30)
Kathryn Hemmann on The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Contemporary Japanese Literature)
Connie on vol. 9 of Maoh: Juvenile Remix (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Master Keaton (Comic Book Bin)
Robert Frazer on vol. 2 of My Neighbor Seki (UK Anime Network)
Dan Barnett on vols. 1-4 of Neon Genesis Evangelion (UK Anime Network)
Connie on Nonnonba (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on Seijun Shoujo Paradigm (Okazu)
Connie on vol. 18 of Sensual Phrase (Slightly Biased Manga)
Megan R. on Strawberry 100% (The Manga Test Drive)
Andy Hanley on vol. 1 of Sword Art Online Girls’ Ops (UK Anime Network)
Sakura Eries on vol. 2 of Sword Art Online Progressive (The Fandom Post)
Joceyln Allen on vol. 2 of USCA (Brain vs. Book)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1-5 of W Juliet (Manga Xanadu)
Erica Freidman on vol. 6 of Wandering Son (Okazu)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 8 of Wandering Son (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 15 of We Were There (Slightly Biased Manga)
Robert Frazer on vols. 5-6 of Wolfsmund (UK Anime Network)
Ken H. on vols. 1-2 of Yamada-Kun and the Seven Witches (Sequential Ink)
Connie on vol. 1 of Yukarism (Slightly Biased Manga)

 

One Piece Breaks a Record

June 16, 2015 by

One Piece 1One Piece makes the Guinness Book of World Records, setting the record for the most copies printed of a single title by a single author—the number of copies of the different volumes of One Piece stands at over 320 million. In a written statement, manga-ka Eiichiro Oda said, “Manga is an amusing way to pass time, but when I receive reports that say ‘through One Piece I made friends,’ or ‘through One Piece I found my sweetheart,’ I am really happy. I feel like this record number has the possibility to bring the same number of people together. I will not forget my predecessors in the manga world, the colleagues whom I work with, and my readers, and from now on I want to continue to draw a work that will not shame this record.”

At Organization Anti-Social Geniuses, Justin talks to four manga designers about their work.

The latest volumes of Naruto, Assassination Classroom, and Fairy Tail top this week’s New York Times manga best-seller list.

Also, in case you’re wondering, the Naruto spinoff is only going to be one volume long.

Lori Henderson has a license request: Mythical Detective Loki, please!

Kadokawa is publishing a bilingual English-Japanese edition of Sherlock: Pink-iro no Kenkyū, which is based on the BBC’s Sherlock series featuring Benedict Cumberbatch.

News from Japan: Bloody Cross will come to an end next month.

Reviews: Jocelyne Allen writes about Tsukuroitatsu Hito, a manga about sewing, at Brain Vs Book. Ash Brown looks back at the week in manga at Experiments in Manga.

Matthew Warner on vol. 6 of Bloody Cross (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 10 of Black Lagoon (The Comic Book Bin)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 3 of The Heroic Legend of Arslan (The Fandom Post)
Kristin on vols. 2-4 of Kiss of the Rose Princess (Comic Attack)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 4 of My Love Story!! (The Comic Book Bin)
John Rose on vol. 4 of Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro (The Fandom Post)
Dave Ferraro on vol. 1 of Spell of Desire (Comics-and-More)
Matthew Warner on vol. 1 of Sword Art Online: Girls Ops (The Fandom Post)
Kristin on vol. 1 of Tokyo Ghoul (Comic Attack)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 37 of Vagabond (The Comic Book Bin)
Erica Friedman on Watashi no Kiraina Otomodachi: Fatal Lies (Okazu)

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