MangaBlog

At MangaCast, Ed Chavez posts the latest manga rankings from the BookScan charts, which track sales in bookstores. The numbers after the titles are the difference in sales from the one above. One thing this chart bears out is the theory that there are one or two top-selling manga and then a big drop to the rest of the list. Also, Erica Friedman takes a look at Ultra Jump, the Japanese home of Tenjho Tenge, Battle Angel Alita, and Hayate x Blade.

Kate Dacey highlights two ghost stories, The Dreaming and Rin-ne, in her latest Good Manga for Kids column at Good Comics for Kids.

Robin Brenner has six tips for getting your local library to carry more manga at About.com.

Jason Thompson writes about Rumiko Takahashi’s classic Maison Ikkoku in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

Translators Alethea and Athena Nibley show some original dialogue together with literal translations and notes on the actual meanings to show a bit of the translator’s thought process.

Jonathan Bethune highlights two sports manga he’d like to see translated, Captain Tsubasa (soccer) and Kuroko no Basuke (basketball), at Publishers Weekly Comics Week.

David Welsh reaches the letter H in his review of the seinen alphabet at The Manga Curmudgeon.

Alex Woolfson notes the demise of the scanlation site Baralover, which features bara manga (gay male romances written for a male audience).

Convention season is coming up, and Deb Aoki has the skinny on NYAF/NYCC and MangaNEXT at About.com.

Shop talk: Emma Vieceli talks about how she uses Manga Studio at the Smith Micro Blog.

News from Japan: ANN has the latest Japanese comics rankings. Shuho Sato discusses his decision to publish his work online as well as provide a platform for others in a short video at Masters of Manga.

Reviews: Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss a handful of recent releases in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf. Tangognat has quick takes on some new releases at her eponymous blog.

Shannon Fay on vol. 1 of Brilliant Blue (Kuriousity)
Shaenon Garrity on vol. 1 of Eureka Seven Collection (About.com)
Lori Henderson on vol. 3 of Jack Frost (Manga Xanadu)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 15 of Oh My Goddess (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Erica Friedman on vol. 3 of Rakuen le Paradis (Okazu)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Toriko (ANN)
Ken Haley on vol. 1 of Wolf God (Sequential Ink)

At Manga Bookshelf, Melinda Beasi’s Pick of the Week is Arata: The Legend. David Welsh chooses three favorite titles from this week’s new releases at The Manga Curmudgeon, while Kate Dacey singles out three titles for younger readers at The Manga Critic and Japanator’s Brad Rice looks at the whole list.

Gottsu-Iiyan has translated some blog posts by Takehiko Inoue, the creator of Vagabond, Slam Dunk, and Real, in which the creator explains his recent slowdown on Vagabond: He was concerned about his health, so he took some time off.

The iReader Review blog takes a look at Mangle, a dedicated manga reader for the Kindle.

Udon has announced Darkstalkers/Red Earth: Maleficarum, an action manga that combines features of two games, and they have a nice preview at that link.

Reviews

Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 2 of Chi’s Sweet Home (Comics Worth Reading)
Grant Goodman on vol. 6 of Cirque du Freak (Comics Village)
Erica Friedman on vol. 12 of Hayate x Blade (Okazu)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 6 of Portrait of M&N (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Ai Kano on vol. 13 of Strawberry 100% (Animanga Nation)
Julie Opipari on When the Heavens Smile (Mania.com)

Deb Aoki polls her readers to compile a list of 50 manga every library should own, and real-life librarian Robin Brenner explains why the selections are shelf-worthy.

John Thomas went to the Dark Horse panel at Kumoricon and got a scoop: Both Eden: It’s an Endless World and MPD-Psycho are coming off hiatus.

Gottsu-Iiyan presents part four of his translation of a conversation between Takehiko Inoue and Eiichiro Oda at The Eastern Edge.

Both One Piece and Naruto were inspired by Dragon Ball, Lori Henderson points out, and she examines why One Piece is burning up the charts in Japan while Naruto isn’t.

The Comics Village team looks at the best options from the past week’s new releases.

Sean Gaffney counts down his top ten favorite moments in Negima.

Johanna Draper Carlson looks at the most promising manga due out in November.

Caddy C. posts another interesting essay at A Feminist Otaku, this one about class issues in Skip Beat!

Young Jump magazine is running a two-part history of the Ig Nobel prizes. Check out these sample pages (warning: cleavage!) which are in Japanese but kind of fun nonetheless (theres an explanation in the text). (Via Neatorama.)

Reviews

Kate Dacey on The Art of Osamu Tezuka and Korea as Viewed by 12 Creators (The Manga Critic)
Michelle Smith on vols. 7 and 8 of Banana Fish (Soliloquy in Blue)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of Children of the Sea (Prospero’s Manga)
Dave Ferraro on vol. 1 of Dengeki Daisy (Comics-and-More)
Bill Sherman on vol. 1 of Happy Boys (Blogcritics)
Katherine Farmar on vol. 1 of Ichigenme… The First Class Is Civil Law (Comics Village)
Cynthia on vol. 12 of Junjo Romantica (Boys Next Door)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 9 of Kitchen Princess (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Cynthia on vol. 4 of ZE (Boys Next Door)

The Manga Moveable Feast continued over the long weekend with Ed Sizemore’s look at Yotsuba&! and Aria at Manga Worth Reading. Jason Yadao examines the question of what, exactly, constitutes kids’ manga at Otaku Ohana. David Welsh writes about Yotsuba!& and Ultra Maniac, a manga he thinks Yotsuba would enjoy. Matt Blind comments on Yotsuba!& and other comics that aren’t only for kids, such as Calvin and Hobbes. And at host site Good Comics for Kids, the bloggers discuss Graphic Novel Reporter’s core list of manga for kids.

Lori Henderson looks back at the past week’s manga news at Manga Xanadu. Melinda Beasi looks forward to September’s manhwa releases in her latest Manhwa Monday post at Manhwa Bookshelf. And at Okazu, Erica Friedman updates us with another edition of Yuri Network News.

Helen McCarthy has an interesting article about early manga-ka Ippei Okamoto. At Masters of Manga, Marc Bernabe has a just-the-facts-ma’am profile of manga-ka Hideki Ohwada, the creator of The Legend of Koizumi.

Manga editor Daniella Orihuela-Gruber takes a busman’s holiday and reads some older manga, wincing as she notices the errors. (As an editor myself, I sympathize.) Also, best definition of censorship ever:

(and by censorship, I mean someone has a pair of pants on that they didn’t have before)

Hey, it happened to Michelangelo!

ANN launches a weeklong tribute to the late anime director Satoshi Kon with a look at his work as a manga creator.

Here’s some free online manga, and it’s legal: The Japanese web provider NEC Biglobe has launched Manga Boshi, a free online manga magazine featuring new works by young creators in Japanese and English—with French and Italian versions to follow soon.

Donten Prism Solar Car

News from Japan: Some new projects are in the works: Yasuo Ohtagaki (Moonlight Mile) and Yuusuke Murata (Eyeshield 21) are collaborating on a new series, Donten Prism Solar Car, for Jump Square. Hit the link for more Jump Square series news. Banri Hidaka (V.B. Rose) is also launching a new series, Tenshi 1/2 Hōteishiki (Angel 1/2 Equation), in Hana to Yume. Again, check the link for more sudsy shoujo news. And Alice in the Country of Hearts and pPoi! are both coming to an end. At Okazu, Erica Friedman looks at some yuri-ish stories in the shoujo/josei magazine The Margaret.

Reviews: At A Feminist Otaku, Caddy C. explains why she was disappointed by Blood +:

Blood+ has some interesting elements, and I wanted to like the idea of a schoolgirl fighting vampires with a sword. That sounds awesome, right? How could you go wrong? Unfortunately, Blood+ has potential, but just squanders it by introducing needless fanservice, themes that go nowhere, and having its heroine be so helpless and dependent on others that she ceases to be badass in any way.

Other reviews of note:

Andrew on vol. 2 of Dorohedoro (Kuriousity)
Daniel BT on A Drunken Dream and Other Stories (Sunday Comics Debt)
Kristin on La Esperanca (Comic Attack)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 4 of Happy Cafe (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
James Fleenor on vol. 1 of Hyde & Closer (Anime Sentinel)
Christopher Butcher on vol. 1 of Kingyo Used Books (About.com)
Sesho on vol. 12 of The Prince of Tennis (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Zack Davisson on vol. 4 of Ooku: The Inner Chamber (Japan Reviewed)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee (The Comic Book Bin)
Michelle Smith on When the Heavens Smile (Soliloquy in Blue)

The Manga Moveable Feast continues, hosted by Good Comics for Kids and joined by quality comics blogs everywhere. At the host blog, all of us go at it in a roundtable on reviewing kids’ manga, and Robin Brenner discusses who Yotsuba&! appeals to. Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss several manga for kids, including Yotsuba&!, in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf. Erica Friedman takes Yotsuba&! in context and decides it has something for everyone, not just kids, at Okazu. Alex Leavitt tackles the same question at Department of Alchemy. At Comics Village, Lori Henderson rounds up all the children’s manga her team has reviewed in the past few years. All this month’s MMF posts are archived here.

Also at Good Comics for Kids, Lori Henderson has the list of this week’s new all-ages comics and manga.

Sean Gaffney looks ahead to next week’s new manga.

David Welsh reaches the letter G in his seinen alphabet, and his license request for the week is Gokusen.

Deb Aoki goes all meta on us with a look at 15 manga about making manga.

Ken Akamatsu discusses his schedule and talks a little bit about how he makes the magic in this short video (subtitled) at Masters of Manga.

At Manga Therapy, Tony Yao looks at nihilism in Bleach, as embodied by the character Ulquiorra Cifer.

Matt Blind compiles his list of the top 500 manga (online sales) for the past week, and then he takes a look at how Dark Horse is doing.

Alt-manga artist Akino Kondoh will appear at MangaNEXT in New Jersey next month, together with M. Alice LeGrow (Bizenghast), Nina Paley (Sita Sings the Blues), and Lea Hernandez (Texas Steampunk). Kondoh’s work appeared in the first volume of Top Shelf’s AX anthology.

Reviews: EvilOmar launches the long weekend with some short manga reviews at About Heroes.

Billy Aguiar on vols. 1-3 of Alice in the Country of Hearts (Prospero’s Manga)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of Bakuman (Comics Should Be Good)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1 and 2 of Chi’s Sweet Home (Manga Xanadu)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1 and 2 of Dinosaur King (Comics Village)
David Welsh on A Drunken Dream and Other Stories (The Manga Curmudgeon)
Andrew Cunningham on Halcyon Lunch (Eastern Standard)
Julie Opipari on vol. 5 of Honey Hunt (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of House of Five Leaves (Tangognat)
Andre on vol. 9 of Magic Touch (Kuriousity)
Andrew Cunningham on Mysterious Girlfriend X 6 (Eastern Standard)
Connie on Tenken (Slightly Biased Manga)
Ken Haley on vol. 2 of Vampire Hunter D (Sequential Ink)

At MangaCast, Ed Chavez looks at the BookScan’s top-selling manga for the past week and sorts them according to publisher and demographic.

In his latest trip to the grandma’s attic of manga, Jason Thompson unearths another horror classic, Demon City Hunter.

In a more modern vein, ANN has a roundup of new manga on handheld devices. This month, Animate is launching five yaoi titles, including an exclusive by Youka Nitta, on Kindle; a Japanese company, Recruit, has a new iPhone app that displays manga in English; and NTT Solmare has announced several titles, including Appleseed and Cyborg 009, will be released through the Nokia Ovi store this month.

Reviews

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Akira (I Reads You)
Kate Dacey on vols. 1 and 2 of Apollo’s Song (The Manga Critic)
Christopher Butcher on vol. 1 of Bakuman (About.com)
Bill Sherman on Chibi Vampire: Airmail (Blogcritics)
Briana Lawrence on Finder, vol. 1: Target in the Viewfinder (Mania.com)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 4 of Karakuri Odette (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 8 of Kitchen Princess (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Penny Kenny on vol. 21 of Nana (Manga Life)
Kiki Van De Camp on vol. 8 of Sand Chronicles (Animanga Nation)