MangaBlog

Over at MTV Geek, we have a preview of the first chapter of the new CLAMP manga Gate 7. Many thanks to the folks at Dark Horse for sharing!

Deb Aoki talks to Digital Manga Publishing CEO Hikaru Sasahara about DMP’s takeover of Yaoi-Con (and their plans to move it south to LA) and the changing role of the Digital Manga Guild.

The Manga Village team looks at this week’s new releases.

Two editors from now-defunct publishers spill the beans on ANN’s ANNCast: Mike Kiley talks about his days at Tokyopop and Jake Tarbox discusses his stint at CMX.

Jason Thompson devotes this week’s House of 1000 Manga column to Gôjin, which he describes as “a tokusatsu giant monster comic crossed with steampunk Japanese history.”

Sean Gaffney looks ahead to next week’s new manga, including Viz’s omnibus edition of CLAMP’s X.

The Ninja Consultants wrap up New York Comic Con in their latest podcast, and I-hsiu Lin has a very thorough report on the Hiro Mashima panel at vidgle.

Help David Welsh choose between three dubious manga in the November Previews! David’s license request for this week is not at all dubious: Shimane no Bigoshi, a workplace manga set in a small town.

This month’s Manga Moveable Feast will be hosted by Alex Hoffman at Manga Widget and will feature the works of Natsume Ono.

Lissa Pattillo shows off her latest manga purchases at Kuriousity.

Read the book, then drink the wine: Vertical is holding a wine-tasting in New York next week that will allow Drops of God fans to taste six wines mentioned in the book.

News from Japan: Takehiko Inoue is working on layouts for the next chapter of Vagabond, which he put on hiatus last year due to health concerns. The first printing of One Piece set a new record with an initial print run of 4 million copies. O-Parts Hunter creator Seishi Kishimoto has a new series in the works. The doujinshi Strike Witches: Witches of Africa will be serialized in Kadokawa Shoten’s COMPTIQ magazine.

Reviews: Ash Brown checks out some manga from the library at Experiments in Manga. Sean Gaffney posts some brief reviews of manga with a supernatural twist at A Case Suitable for Treatment.

Kristin on vols. 6 and 7 of Black Butler (Comic Attack)
Serdar Yegulalp on vol. 16 of Black Jack (Genji Press)
Serdar Yegulalp on vol. 2 of A Bride’s Story (Genji Press)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 5 of Cross Game (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Anna on vol. 7 of Dengeki Daisy (Manga Report)
David Welsh on vol. 1 of The Drops of God (The Manga Curmudgeon)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Gate 7 (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Gate 7 (ANN)
Connie on vol. 4 of Gorgeous Carat (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 5 of Grand Guignol Orchestra (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 11 of Kimi ni Todoke (The Comic Book Bin)
Erica Friedman on Koigokoro (Okazu)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 7 of Kurozakuro (The Comic Book Bin)
TSOTE on Lawman S (Three Steps Over Japan)
Connie on vol. 3 of Mars (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 5 of Oresama Teacher (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 16 of Please Save My Earth (Slightly Biased Manga)
Ed Sizemore on vol. 1 of Princess Knight (Comics Worth Reading)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 4 of Sakura Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura (ANN)
Connie on vol. 8 of Seiho Boys’ High School (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 3 of Toradora! (Slightly Biased Manga)
Michelle Smith on vols. 1-5 of Yurara (Soliloquy in Blue)

I went over this week’s new manga releases at MTV Geek, and Lissa Pattillo discusses the list in her latest On the Shelf column at Otaku USA.

Deb Aoki takes a closer look at the 26 new yaoi titles announced by Digital Manga at Yaoi-Con two weeks ago.

Good news for those with more manga love than money: JManga has extended their Manga Lovers Sale through the end of November, meaning that most of the books on their site are available for $4.99 a volume. They have also added two new series to the lineup, the adult BL manga Dash! and a manga adaptation of Osamu Dazai’s novel No Longer Human—not the Usamaru Furuya version that was just published by Vertical, but a different adaptation.

In other digital news, Dark Horse announced yesterday that they have significantly beefed up the manga content in their digital store and app. It’s old but it’s good—vintage manly manga like Crying Freeman, Hellsing, and Old Boy, priced mostly at $5.99 a volume ($6.99 for Crying Freeman). And you can read it from right to left within the app.

The first volume of Sailor Moon was the top-selling graphic novel in bookstores last month, according to Nielsen’s BookScan charts, and vol. 52 of Naruto was number three.

News from Japan: Golgo 13 reminds you that a hanko is more secure than a mere signature. Crunchyroll translates a survey of Shonen Jump manga people are most likely to drop halfway through; Naruto tops the list. Vol. 63 of One Piece is the third volume in a row of that estimable series to sell over 3 million copies. The latest manga by GTO creator Tohru Fujisawa, Soul Reviver, will launch soon in Shogakukan’s new Monthly Hero’s magazine. Haru Karuki will start a Rozen Maiden spinoff, titled Rozen Maiden dolls talk, in Ribon magazine. And ANN has the latest Japanese comics rankings, with Saint Young Men once again leading the pack.

Reviews

Kristin on vol. 17 of 20th Century Boys and vol. 3 of March Story (Comic Attack)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Ai Ore! (The Comic Book Bin)
Sweetpea616 on Andromeda Stories (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
David Welsh on vol. 2 of A Bride’s Story (The Manga Curmudgeon)
Erica Friedman on Hatsukoi Tectonics (Okazu)
Ken Haley on One Missed Call 1 + 2 (Sequential Ink)
Cian O’Luanaigh on Professor Munakata’s British Museum Adventure (New Scientist)
Carlo Santos on vol. 3 of Tenjho Tenge: Full Contact Edition (ANN)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 13 of We Were There (The Comic Book Bin)
Kristin on vol. 1 of X (omnibus) (Comic Attack)
Tony Yao on Yamikin Ushijima-Kun (Ushijima the Loan Shark) (Manga Therapy)

The Manga Bookshelf bloggers discuss their Pick of the Week, while the Manga Villagers go over the best of the past week’s new releases.

Erica Friedman posts the latest yuri news at Okazu.

Alex Hoffman takes a second look at JManga.

The Halloween Manga Moveable Feast is over, and here’s a roundup of the archives: Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8. There’s lots of great reading here, and unlike Halloween candy, it won’t go stale, so dig in or save some for later.

David Welsh’s license request for this Halloween season is Franken Fran.

News from Japan: Love Hina manga-ka Ken Akamatsu is arguing that doujinshi could become a thing of the past if Japan joins the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. The romantic comedy Nise Koi (Fake Love), which started as a one-shot in Jump NEXT! magazine, will launch as a full-fledged series in issue 47 of Weekly Shonen Jump. Nyan Koi! will resume on November 9 after a hiatus due to manga-ka Sato Fujiwara’s illness.

Reviews: Ash Brown posts short reviews of a week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga. The Manga Bookshelf team greets the week with a fresh set of Bookshelf Briefs.

Brenda Gregson on vol. 1 of Cage of Eden (Animanga Nation)
Jocelyne Allen on vol. 3 of Kaze to Ki no Uta (Song of the Wind and the Trees) (Brain Vs. Book)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 10 of Kimi ni Todoke (I Reads You)
Ash Brown on Nightmare Inspector (Experiments in Manga)
Khursten Santos on vol. 1 of No Longer Human (Otaku Champloo)
Erica Friedman on Otome Ranbu (Okazu)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 1 of Sailor Moon (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 5 of The Story of Saiunkoku (The Comic Book Bin)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 2 of Toradora! (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Greg McElhatton on vol. 9 of Twin Spica (Read About Comics)
Anna on vol. 1 of Urameshiya (Manga Report)

Viz unveiled their new yaoi line, SuBLime, at Yaoi-Con last weekend with the exciting news that some of the books will be released digitally worldwide, in a convenient download-to-own format. Deb Aoki was there, and she goes in depth with a transcript of the Viz panel and an interview with the editors at About.com.

Shaenon Garrity takes an affectionate look at the long-running Basara as a guest writer for the House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

At Organization Anti-Social Geniuses, Justin talks to GEN Manga editor Robert McGuire.

The latest installments in the Manga Moveable Feast include Lori Henderson’s Ladies of J-Horror and David Welsh’s list of his favorite spooky manga. David also resurrects (heh) an old Flipped column on Tokyo Zombie. Rob McMonigal reviews vol. 1 of Raiders, and the roundtable on Kazuo Umezu’s The Drifting Classroom continues at The Hooded Utilitarian with essays on Umezu’s use of splash pages and the parent/child dynamic. Lori rounds up all the day’s posts at Manga Xanadu.

Matt Blind crunches the online sales numbers to come up with the list of this week’s manga best-sellers at Manga Bookshelf.

Ash Brown is giving away a copy of vol. 1 of Sugar Sugar Rune to get everyone in the Halloween spirit; go check the rules at Experiments in Manga to enter.

Reviews

Connie on vol. 5 of Arata: The Legend (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on the September issue of Comic Yuri Hime (Okazu)
Connie on A Fallen Saint’s Kiss (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kristin on vols. 3 and 4 of Finder (Comic Attack)
Connie on vol. 3 of Gorgeous Carat (Slightly Biased Manga)
Ash Brown on Goth (Experiments in Manga)
Connie on vol. 5 of Itazura Na Kiss (Slightly Biased Manga)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Lovephobia (ANN)
Connie on vol. 2 of Mars (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lissa Pattillo on No Longer Human (Kuriousity)
Connie on vol. 15 of Please Save My Earth (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 2 of Recipe for Gertrude (Slightly Biased Manga)
TSOTE on vol. 2 of Retro Hero Story (Three Steps Over Japan)
Connie on vol. 7 of Rin-ne (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of Sailor Moon (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 7 of Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on vol. 3 of Tenjho Tenge (omnibus edition) (Slightly Biased Manga)

Sean Gaffney takes a look ahead to next week’s new manga releases.

Lori Henderson rounds up all the links for day three of the Manga Moveable Feast at Manga Xanadu.

Guest posters Shaenon Garrity and Jason Thompson share their thoughts on Kazuo Umezu’s The Drifting Classroom at The Hooded Utilitarian.

News from Japan: Respondents to a survey from the Japanese news site Ameba picked Death Note as the greatest Shonen Jump manga of the 2000s. Kyoto Seika University, the first university in Japan to offer a course of manga studies, is launching a manga community website where users can upload their original manga and critique the work of others. ANN has the weekly comics rankings, and the fifth volume of Saint Young Men is at the top, meaning every volume of the series has made number one.

Reviews: Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss a handful of Halloween-friendly manga in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf.

Rebecca Silverman on vol. 8 of Butterflies, Flowers (ANN)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 10 of Detroit Metal City (The Comic Book Bin)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Musashi #9 (Blogcritics)
Alex Hoffman and Lori Henderson on vols. 1 and 2 of Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan (Manga Xanadu)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Psyren (A Case Suitable for Treatment)

I rounded up this week’s new manga at MTV Geek; there weren’t a lot this week, but what there is looks good. Lissa Pattillo gives her take in her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA. David Welsh chimes in as well, and he’s happy to see vol. 1 of Drops of God on the list.

The horror-themed Manga Moveable Feast continues, with hostess Lori Henderson posting about ghostbuster manga and Michelle Smith kicking in a review of vols. 1-3 of Uzumaki. Lori rounds up all the Day 2 links on her archive page at Manga Xanadu.

The Globe and Mail interviews Vertical’s Ed Chavez about Drops of God.

Daneilla Orihuela-Gruber, who has been traveling lately, asks readers: Would you bring your smutty manga with you or wipe it from your laptop and leave the books at home?

News from Japan: ANN links to a survey that asked women in their 20s which manga they thought were moe. The answers probably won’t surprise you. GTO creator Tohru Fujisawa has a new manga in the works; chances are it won’t be moe. Vampire Miyu manga-ka Narumi Kakinouchi has a new series in the works, Fairy Jewel.

Reviews

Ken Haley on vol. 1 of Blood Blockade Battlefront (Sequential Ink)
Kristin on vols. 8 and 9 of Detroit Metal City (Comic Attack)
David Welsh on GoGo Monster (The Manga Curmudgeon)