MangaBlog

The Vertical folks announced a new title yesterday at their Anime Weekend Atlanta panel: Velveteen & Mandara (Becchin to Mandara), by Jiro Matsumoto.

Erica Friedman has all the yuri news that’s fit to print in the latest edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu.

The Itochu Corporation will release classic manga by Shotaro Ishinomori and Harlequin romance manga on the iPhone, beginning in October. Thirty Ishinomori titles, including Kamen Rider and Cyborg 009, are in the works. The first chapter will be free, and subsequent chapters will be $1 each.

Yuki Tanaka examines War and Peace in the Art of Tezuka Osamu at Japan Focus.

Daniella Orihuela-Gruber asks her readers: Why do some people shun shoujo manga?

Reviews

Connie on vol. 9 of 20th Century Boys (Slightly Biased Manga)
Chris Zimmerman on vol. 1 of Afterschool Charisma and vol. 44 of One Piece (cbs4.com)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 4 of Alice in the Country of Hearts (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 3 of Dogs (Slightly Biased Manga)
Ai Kano on vol. 1 of Gente (Animanga Nation)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Hetalia: Axis Powers (The Manga Critic)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of Hetalia: Axis Powers (Tangognat)
Connie on vol. 19 of Hoshin Engi (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of The House of Five Leaves (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on vol. 2 of Icaro (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 2 of Itazura Na Kiss (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie C. on I Want to Bite (Comics Village)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 11 of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 2 of Neko Ramen (Comics Worth Reading)
Zack Davisson on vol. 2 of Neko Ramen (Japan Reviewed)
Connie on vol. 4 of Pet Shop of Horrors (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 4 of Rin-ne (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Shannon Fay on Romeo x Juliet (Kuriousity)
Connie on vol. 2 of Seiho Boys High School (Slightly Biased Manga)
Michelle Smith on vols. 5-7 of Silver Diamond (Soliloquy in Blue)
Andre on vol. 8 of St. Dragon Girl (Kuriousity)
Connie on vol. 2 of Stolen Hearts (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lissa Pattillo on Tale of a White Night (ANN)
Connie on vol. 3 of Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 3 of Twin Spica (Comics Worth Reading)

The Japanese publisher Square Enix, whose properties include Black Butler and Fullmetal Alchemist, revealed its plans for online manga publishing at the Tokyo Game Show yesterday. It looks like the website launch will be pushed back to winter and the iPad/iPhone apps will be Japanese only, at least for now.

Sean Gaffney takes an advance look at next week’s new manga.

Marc Bernabe profiles manga creator Kaiji Kawaguchi (Zipang) at Masters of Manga.

What did Jason Thompson find in his crazy attic full of manga this week? Why it’s The Drifting Classroom! Read all about it in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN. (I still think John Jakala gets the last word on this one, though.)

A josei pastry manga? That’s all David Welsh needs to know to request that Patisserie Mon be licensed.

Reviews: EvilOmar posts some short manga reviews at About Heroes. Other reviews of note:

Zack Davisson on Basic Buddhism Through Comics (Japan Reviewed)
Julie Opipari on vol. 4 of Black Bird (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 32 of Bleach (Kuriousity)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 4 of Dogs: Bullets and Carnage (The Comic Book Bin)
Zack Davisson on vol. 7 of Future Diary (Japan Reviewed)
Kate Dacey on vols. 1-5 of Toto: The Wonderful Adventure (The Manga Critic)
Cynthia on vol. 1 of The Tyrant Falls in Love (Boys Next Door)
Cynthia on vol. 5 of Ze (Boys Next Door)

Takehiko Inoue's Vagabond

Gottsu-Iiyan continues his translation of the conversation between Eiichiro Oda and Takehiko Inoue at The Eastern Edge. Here’s a philosophical moment from Inoue:

To draw a scene in which that many people are cut dead… It really made me no longer believe in simple victory or defeat. It’s a battle, so of course there is a winner and loser. However, I ended up doubting the value in victory. If you doubt what you’re doing, you can’t draw the comics, can you? I thought, is winning truly victory? Is it a good thing? It was tough because I was disturbed by that feeling of contradiction. However, I made of point of drawing a scene in which 70 people are cut down precisely to experience that feeling.

Helen McCarthy continues her research on pioneer manga creator Ippei Okamoto with an annotated list of his works (and some sample art) at her blog.

Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith talk about some recent manga, working from worst to best, in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf.

At The Manga Curmudgeon, David Welsh reaches the letter I in his Seinen Alphabet.

Reviews

Kristin on vol. 9 of Black Lagoon (Comic Attack)
Tangognat on vols. 1, 12, and 13 of Gakuen Alice (Tangognat)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 16 of Hayate the Combat Butler (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 10 of Kitchen Princess (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of K-ON! (Okazu)
Connnie on vol. 1 of Love Control (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 6 of Otomen (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lori Henderson on vol. 11 of SA (Comics Village)
Leroy Douresseaux on vols. 13-15 of Suzuka (omnibus edition) (I Reads You)
Ken Haley on vol. 3 of Vampire Hunter D (Sequential Ink)
Lori Henderson on vols. 5 and 6 of You’re So Cool (Manga Xanadu)

Kate Dacey, Brad Rice, and David Welsh choose the most likely titles from this week’s new manga. The Manga Village team looks over the best of last week’s new releases. At Manga Bookshelf, Melinda Beasi’s pick of the week is vol. 2 of Peepo Choo.

Apparently the Japanese publisher Libre is sending cease-and-desist notices to American scanlators. This is interesting as most of the C&Ds up to now have been to people posting scanlations (and simple scans) of licensed manga, but Libre is making people pull down unlicensed titles as well.

Ng Suat Tong discusses Yoshiharu Tsuge’s short story Red Flowers at The Hooded Utilitarian.

Tony Yao analyzes his relationship with the character Vegeta, from Dragon Ball, at Manga Therapy.

News from Japan: Wow! ANN reports that this year’s 42nd issue of Shonen Jump will feature one-shot comics by six “legendary” creators, including Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto) and Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball).

Reviews: Ed Sizemore post some short reviews of recent Tokyopop releases at Comics Worth Reading. Kate Dacey also has short takes on new titles at The Manga Critic.

Amy Grockl on vol. 10 of Angel Diary (Comics Village)
Katherine Farmar on vol. 1 of Angelic Runes (Comics Village)
Julie Opipari on Avoiding Mr. Right (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Zack Davisson on vol. 4 of Dogs: Bullets and Carnage (Japan Reviewed)
Nicole Rudick on A Drunken Dream (Comics Comics)
Animemiz on Gintama (Anime Diet)
Zack Davisson on vol. 1 of .hack//LINK (Manga Life)
Kristin on Solfége and Don’t Say Anymore Darling (Comic Attack)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 3 of Twin Spica (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Bill Sherman on vol. 3 of Vampire Hunter D (Blogcritics)
Erica Friedman on vol. 1 of Zettai Shoujo Seiiki Amnesium (Okazu)

Sorry for the lack of blog yesterday—I worked a good portion of the weekend, then started out Monday morning with a session in the dentist’s chair, so I lost my usual blogging times. The great thing about starting your day with 20 minutes of drill time is that your day is guaranteed to get better from there.

Anyway, we have lots of great content today to make up for yesterday’s dearth, so let’s get to it!

Interviews! Get comfortable before you settle in with Deb Aoki’s Moto Hagio post at About.com; she transcribes Hagio’s panel and her contributions to another, then interviews the veteran shoujo manga creator herself. ICv2 talks to Tokyopop’s Cindy Suzuki, the product manager of the Hetalia franchise, about the Hetalia: Axis Powers manga, which has launched electronically on Zinio and will hit bookstores on September 21.

Roundups! Lori Henderson presents the week’s manga news in a single handy package at Manga Xanadu. Melinda Beasi has another roundup of reviews of Korean comics in her latest Manhwa Monday post at Manga Bookshelf. And Erica Friedman checks in with the latest edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu.

Controversy! I linked to my Robot 6 piece about gender vs. genre on Friday, but I’ll link again because a lively argument has broken out in the comments section. For the record, I really like shoujo manga but I recognize shoujo romance (I should have clarified that) as a genre, and I merely made the point that for those *outside* the fandom, any genre is boring and easily dismissed, whether it’s sparkly girly manga, studly superheroes, or bodice-ripping romance novels. Melinda Beasi has more on shoujo manga at Manga Bookshelf. Daniel BT goes off on an interesting tangent at Sunday Comics Debt, comparing the covers of American and Japanese romance comics.

Creators! Masters of Manga has a video of Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, one of the creators of the Mobile Suit Gundam anime and the Gundam manga, drawing the villain Char Aznable. Matthias Wivel discusses the manga-ka Yoshiharu Tsuge, whose work is not well known in English, at The Hooded Utilitarian.

Numbers! Matt Blind has the top 500 manga (online sales) for the past week at Rocket Bomber.

Daniella Orihuela-Gruber asks her readers to help hunt down manga that include prostitution or “compensated dating” at All About Manga.

Melinda Beasi pauses to consider why she continues to like shoujo manga even though she’s all grown up now.

News from Japan: Shiho Inada is bringing Ghost Hunt to a close after 12 volumes. At MangaCast, Ed Chavez takes a look at the doujin scene and notes that more and more doujinshi are being labeled 18+ (which sometimes means more explicitness between the covers) and that doujin events are starting to be restricted to adults only as well.

Reviews: Carlo Santos gives his quick take on some new manga in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Erica Friedman doesn’t just review Ebisu-san to Hotei-san at Okazu, she’s also giving away a couple of copies.

Connie on vol. 8 of 20th Century Boys (Slightly Biased Manga)
Brenda Gregson on vol. 1 of Afterschool Charisma (Animanga Nation)
Sesho on vol. 1 of Andromeda Stories (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Julie Opipari on vol. 3 of Biomega (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on vol. 1 of Black Lagoon (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 4 of Butterflies, Flowers (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 34 of Case Closed (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Kleefeld on Destiny’s Hand (omnibus edition) (Kleefeld on Comics)
Connie on vol. 6 of Detroit Metal City (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 6 of Detroit Metal City (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on A Drunken Dream and Other Stories (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on Fidanzato no Tameiki (Okazu)
Kris on Finder, vol. 2: Cage in the Finder (Manic About Manga)
Connie on vol. 4 of Fushigi Yugi (VizBIG edition) (Slightly Biased Manga)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of Gente (Tangognat)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of .hack//CELL (Prospero’s Manga)
Connie on vol. 18 of Hoshin Engi (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lori Henderson on vol. 18 of Kaze Hikaru (Manga Xanadu)
Charles Webb on vol. 4 of Maximum Ride (Manga Life)
Julie Opipari on Midnight Bloom (Mania.com)
Greg Hackmann on vols. 8-10 of Mushishi (Mania.com)
Connie on vol. 6 of Rasetsu (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on vol. 4 of Saki (Okazu)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 2 of Seiho Boys High School (Kuriousity)
Kelakagandy on vol. 8 of St. ♥ Dragon Girl (kelakagandy’s ramblings)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 3 of Stepping on Roses (Comics Worth Reading)
David Welsh on There’s Something About Sunyool (The Manga Curmudgeon)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Toriko (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Carlo Santos on vol. 3 of Twin Spica (ANN)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of The Tyrant Falls in Love (ANN)
Billy Aguiar on World of Warcraft: Mage (Prospero’s Manga)

Good morning! Today’s discussion will be about shoujo manga. You should start with two posts, Melinda Beasi’s commentary on Twilight and the plight of the female fan and Christopher Mautner’s review of Moto Hagio’s A Drunken Dream and Other Stories, and then go on to the further commentary by David Welsh on the question of whether shoujo manga (and works by women, for women in general) doesn’t get the respect it should, and Melinda Beasi’s tangent, in which she points out that Fruits Basket and Boys Over Flowers actually have very little in common. UPDATE: I added some thoughts of my own at Robot 6.

Sean Gaffney takes a quick look at next week’s new manga, and Lori Henderson mines this week’s list for all-ages comics and manga.

Ed Sizemore and Erica Friedman talk moe on the latest Manga Out Loud podcast.

Daniel BT spots some bloopers in Dark Horse’s samurai manga at Sunday Comics Debt.

Manga University digs out a 2004 interview with the late anime director (and manga-ka) Satoshi Kon.

Reviews

Kate Dacey on Black Blizzard (The Manga Critic)
Jones on Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha (Let’s you and him fight)
Danica Davidson on vols. 5-8 of Death Note (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Snow Wildsmith on How to Seduce a Vampire (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Snow Wildsmith on Isle of Forbidden Love (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Chris Zimmerman on vol. 3 of Laon (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Library Wars: Love and War (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Emily on Nobara no Hanayome (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Danica Davidson on vol. 2 of One Fine Day (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Chris Zimmerman on vol. 3 of One Fine Day (The Comic Book Bin)
Kristin on vol. 16 of Reborn! (Comic Attack)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 4 of Rin-ne (I Reads You)
Lori Henderson on Swallowing the Earth (Comics Village)