MangaBlog

The Vertical folks announced a new license at their Anime Weekend Atlanta panel this past Friday: Flowers of Evil, a story of romance, blackmail, and Baudelaire set in a high school. It currently runs in Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine, and if you want to get a jump on it, Kodansha has published the first chapter for free (in Japanese).

At MTV Geek, I devoted my weekly news roundup to the online chatter about Sailor Moon, I did an in-depth review of GEN, the online manga magazine, and I posted a preview of I Love Kawaii, an artbook that features super-cute art by 32 artists from all over the world.

Erica Friedman posts the latest Yuri News Network roundup at Okazu.

The Manga Village team looks over the latest manga releases and picks their favorites. At Good Comics for Kids, Lori Henderson checks out the past week’s all ages comics and manga.

Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss pretty, pretty shoujo manga art in their latest Let’s Get Visual column at Soliloquy in Blue.

David Welsh asks his readers: What manga just didn’t do it for you? Some of the answers may surprise you… And David’s latest license request is the josei series Papa Told Me, yet another entry in the single-dad-raising-a-daughter genre.

Lissa Pattillo shows off her latest purchases in her Swag Bag feature at Kuriousity.

Congratulations to Kate Dacey, The Manga Critic, who celebrated her fifth anniversary as a manga reviewer recently; she’s marking the occasion by redesigning her blog.

Reviews: Omar posts a handful of brief manga reviews at About Heroes.

Emily on Iine (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Jocelyne Allen on vol. 1 of IS (Brain vs. Book)
Steve Bennett on vol. 1 of Mardock Scramble (ICv2)
Ash Brown on vol. 1 of Mardock Scramble (Experiments in Manga)
TSOTE on vol. 1 of Muuryou no Hako (Three Steps Over Japan)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 4 of My Girlfriend’s a Geek (Kuriousity)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 7 of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Connie on Peach (artbook) (Slightly Biased Manga)
Greg McElhatton on vol. 1 of Sailor Moon (Read About Comics)
Sakura Eries on vol. 3 of Sakura Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura (The Fandom Post)
Chris Kirby on vol. 2 of Sasameke (The Fandom Post)
Lori Henderson on the September issue of Yen Plus (Manga Xanadu)

Lissa Pattillo looks over this week’s new releases in her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA.

Jason Thompson takes a look at the foodie manga Oishinbo in this week’s House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

Matt Blind posts the past summer’s manga best-sellers, compiled from online sales, at Manga Bookshelf.

Erica Friedman takes a look at the Japanese manga magazine Monthly Comic @Bunch:

Compared with other Seinen magazines, Monthly Comic @Bunch feels very much as if the editorial staff’s main requirement is that the artists draw something they want to draw, as opposed to something that will sell. As a result, there’s no one cohesive thread in Bunch’s choices. Explosion- and violence-filled “BTOOOM!” by Inoue Junya sits side by side with Mizu Asato’s children-and-animals story ”Meina no Fukurou.”

Sounds good to me!

David Welsh reaches the letter E in his alphabet of favorite manga.

Reviews: Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith check out three new releases from Netcomics in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf. Anna reviews two Harlequin manga, Acting on Impulse and Vengeful Seduction, at Manga Report.

Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Animal Land (Good Comics for Kids)
Steve Bennett on vol. 1 of Bloody Monday (ICv2)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Bloody Monday (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kristin on vols. 1 and 2 of Finder (Comic Attack)
Sean Gaffney on Kitty Hawker (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 31 of Negima! (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)

This was a thin week for new manga, but I looked over the latest releases in print and digital at MTV Geek. At A Case Suitable for Treatment, Sean Gaffney checks out next week’s new manga, including a new series from Viz.

Alex Hoffman is asking his readers to help choose his next digital manga.

Ash Brown is giving away a copy of vol. 1 of Hikaru no Go at Experiments in Manga.

Reviews

Connie on vol. 10 of Black Bird (Slightly Biased Manga)
David Welsh on The Book of Human Insects (The Manga Curmudgeon)
Connie on vol. 18 of Claymore (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Codename Sailor V (Kuriousity)
Scott Spaziani on vol. 1 of Codename Sailor V (Otaku in Review)
Erica Friedman on Concerto (Okazu)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Countdown 7 Days (Manga Xanadu)
Zack Davisson on Doing Time (Japan Reviewed)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 18 of Hayate the Combat Butler (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on vol. 3 of Kizuna (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 27 of Knights of the Zodiac (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 4 of My Girlfriend’s A Geek (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vols. 4 and 5 of Please Save My Earth (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 15 of Slam Dunk (Slightly Biased Manga)

I reviewed vol. 1 of Codename Sailor V, the prequel (more or less) to Sailor Moon, at MTV Geek.

As Sailor Moon finally arrives in his comics shop, David Welsh takes a look at the best of this week’s new arrivals, and all the Manga Bookshelf bloggers discuss their Pick of the Week.

Ed Sizemore, Johanna Draper Carlson, and guests Erica Friedman and Emily Snodgrass discuss Sailor Moon and magical girls on the latest Manga Out Loud podcast.

Matt Blind charts this week’s best-sellers (online sales), and it looks like Sailor Moon for the win!

Lissa Pattillo spots two new yaoi manga licenses in the latest Digital Manga newsletter.

Deb Aoki takes a look at the Catwoman/Starfire controversy through manga-colored glasses, discussing why she doesn’t read superhero comics any more and how shonen manga does a better job of making comics that please both genders.

Happy Blogiversary to Daniella Orihuela-Gruber, who is celebrating two years of All About Manga.

News from Japan: Three new manga series will launch in the December issue of Dengeki Maoh, and the magazine will expand to 1,000 pages—twice the normal heft—to accommodate them. A manga adaptation of the anime A Letter to Momo is in the works, to be serialized in Monthly Asuka, and the live-action film Wild 7 will be adapted into a manga to run in Young King magazine. Tomo Kimura lists the top-selling manga-ka in Japan, as determined by Nikkei Entertainment magazine.

Reviews: Ash Brown looks at a week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga. The Manga Bookshelf bloggers do some manga speed-dating in their latest Bookshelf Briefs column. At ANN, Carlo Santos takes a quick trot around the comics shop with reviews of Sailor Moon, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Witch and Wizard, among others, in his latest Right Turn Only!! column.

Kristin on vol. 1 of Blood Blockade Battlefront and vol. 1 of Drifters (Comic Attack)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 4 of Bunny Drop (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Alexander Hoffman on vol. 1 of Butterfly (Manga Village)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on Gandhi: A Manga Biography (All About Manga)
Sweetpea on vols. 1-6 of Karakuri Odette (Organization Anti Social Geniuses)
Erica Friedman on vol. 4 of Morita-san ha Mukuchi (Okazu)
Alex Hoffman on vol. 7 of Otomen (Manga Widget)
Dave Ferraro on vol. 1 of Psyren (Comics-and-More)
Matthew Warner on vol. 1 of Sailor Moon (The Fandom Post)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 6 of Seiho Boys High School (The Fandom Post)
Anna on vol. 25 of Skip Beat and vol. 8 of Seiho Boys High School (Manga Report)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Stargazing Dog (Comics Worth Reading)

At MTV Geek, I rounded up the highlights of the past week’s manga news and commentary, and I reviewed The Art of Vampire Knight—which got an enthusiastic reception from the Vampire Knight fans in the audience.

At Okazu, Erica Friedman rounds up this week’s yuri news.

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

Otaku News talks to GEN Manga editor-in-chief Robert McGuire.

Daniel BT writes about the significance of Sailor Moon and problems in text placement in manga at Sunday Comics Debt.

Deb Aoki is looking forward to next year’s release of Moto Hagio’s Heart of Thomas.

News from Japan: The Japan Times talks to Kimagure Orange Road manga-ka Izumi Matsumoto (via Three Steps Over Japan). Shaman King manga-ka Hiroyuki Takei will write a 44-page prequel to the series for Jump X magazine, which also teased a “Big Project” related to the story for next spring. Mari Yamazaki, the creator of Thermae Romae, has a new manga, Giacomo Foscari, in the works. And Jae-Ho Yoon plans a spinoff to the Freezing series.

Reviews: Connie continues her tour of the Eroicaverse with a look at Allman Stories at Slightly Biased Manga. The Eeper’s Choice podcast focuses on vol. 1 of A Bride’s Story. Other reviews of note:

Chris Kirby on vol. 9 of Bamboo Blade (The Fandom Post)
Chris Kirby on The Book of Human Insects (The Fandom Post)
Serdar Yegulalp on The Book of Human Insects (Genji Press)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 4 of Bunny Drop (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Connie on vol. 4 of Bunny Drop (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 7 of Future Diary (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Gandhi: A Manga Biography (Comics Worth Reading)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 4 of Grand Guignol Orchestra (The Comic Book Bin)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 4 of Grand Guignol Orchestra (The Fandom Post)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 18 of Hayate the Combat Butler (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 2 of House of Five Leaves (Slightly Biased Manga)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 6 of Itazura Na Kiss (ANN)
Connie on vol. 3 of Itsuwaribito (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kristin on vol. 4 of Oresama Teacher and vol. 6 of Library Wars (Comic Attack)
Kiki Van De Camp on vol. 2 of Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney (Animanga Nation)
Connie on vols. 2 and 3 of Please Save My Earth (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on vol. 5 of Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari (Okazu)
Connie on vol. 3 of Sakura Hime (Slightly Biased Manga)
Diana Dang on vols. 1-3 of Uzumaki (Stop, Drop, and Read!)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 17 of xxxHolic (The Fandom Post)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 17 of xxxHolic (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)

New York Anime Fest and New York Comic-Con are coming up soon! I’ll be there, and at MTV Geek I look at some of the manga and anime highlights of the weekend.

Lori Henderson checks out this week’s all-ages comics and manga at Good Comics for Kids.

Alex Hoffman discusses Gen Manga, the online manga magazine that publishes doujinshi straight from Japan.

Jason Thompson continues his tour of obscure manga with a look at Spriggan, an action manga about a high school student whose secret double life is protecting various powerful items of ancient technology.

Matt Blind has an interesting chart plotting online sales of Fruits Basket against a timeline that includes Tokyopop’s last days and the closure of Borders. His conclusion: Fans knew what was up, and vol. 17 of FB is going to be the hard one to find.

David Welsh’s latest license request is Amai Seikatsu, a seinen manga about a lingerie designer. And David reaches the letter D as he runs through his favorite manga in alphabetical order.

News from Japan: Kenichi Sato of the Daily Yomiuri pays a visit to the Doraemon museum. A manga adaptation of the Appleseed XIII anime is in the works. Aki Sora creator Masahiro Itosugi has launched a new series, Uwakoi, in the November issue of Monthly Young King. Hobby Japan has plans to start up a new online manga magazine, Comic Dangan, in December. And ANN has the most recent Japanese comics rankings.

Reviews: Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss three yaoi manga from Digital’s June imprint in the latest edition of BL Bookrack at Manga Bookshelf.

Kristin on vol. 16 of 20th Century Boys and vol. 4 of House of Five Leaves (Comic Attack)
Matthew Warner on vol. 1 of Codename Sailor V (The Fandom Post)
Connie on vol. 1 of Crying Freeman (omnibus edition) (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of Drifters (Slightly Biased Manga)
Danica Davidson on vols. 1-3 of The Drifting Classroom (Graphic Novel Reporter)
J. Caleb Mozzocco on vol. 1 of Kamisama Kiss and vol. 1 of Library Wars (Every Day Is Like Wednesday)
Connie on vol. 10 of Kimi ni Todoke (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Ninja Papa (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 39 of Oh My Goddess (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of Please Save My Earth (Slightly Biased Manga)
Danica Davidson on vol. 2 of Red Angel (Graphic Novel Reporter)
TSOTE on vol. 3 of Taimashin (Three Steps Over Japan)
Sarah Sammis on vol. 3 of xxxHolic (Puss Reboots)