MangaBlog

In case you missed the excitement, the first volumes of Sailor Moon and the prequel, Codename Sailor V, are out—I just got my copies yesterday. At Anime Diet, wintermuted meditates on Why the World Needs Sailor Moon. Incidentally, if you’re thinking about picking it up, check out The Right Stuf, which is offering all their Del Rey and Kodansha manga at 33% off, which brings each volume of Sailor Moon down to less than eight bucks.

Johanna Draper Carlson looks at this week’s new comics releases and sees some interesting manga. Sean Gaffney looks ahead to next week’s new manga.

Otaku USA interviews Robert McGuire, editor of the online manga magazine GEN.

Daniella Orihuela-Gruber reflects on how angry she was at the abrupt closure of CMX, and she asks the readers: What do manga publishers do that makes you mad?

Does canceling series make you mad? Inspired by Alex Hoffman’s license rescue request yesterday, Johanna Draper Carlson asks her readers: Which manga would you like to see rescued?

Matt Blind has joined Manga Bookshelf, and he starts off strong with a list of the past week’s manga bestsellers.

Job Board: Orbit/Yen Press is looking for a publicist and an online marketer.

Reviews: At MTV Geek, I reviewed the first volume of Blood Blockade Battlefront, a new manga from Trigun creator Yasuhiro Nightow.

Angela Eastman on vol. 1 of Gon (The Fandom Post)
John Rose on vol. 18 of Hayate the Combat Butler (The Fandom Post)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 13 of Higurashi: When They Cry (The Fandom Post)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 6 of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Matthew Warner on vol. 2 of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (The Fandom Post)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Sailor Moon (ANN)
Erica Friedman on vol. 13 of Tsubomi (Okazu)

I posted my picks from this week’s new manga releases at MTV Geek, and Lissa Pattillo has the full list in her latest On the Shelf column at Otaku USA. David Welsh posts his choices at The Manga Curmudgeon.

The Manga Village bloggers celebrate September with some recommendations for manga set in schools.

Sean Gaffney posts his plans for New York Anime Fest, which is coming up in mid-October. I’ll be there too, probably following a schedule similar to Sean’s.

Attention publishers: Alex Hoffman requests that someone rescue The Stellar Six of Gingacho.

Reviews

John Rose on vol. 1 of Blood Blockade Battlefront (The Fandom Post)
Charles Webb on The Book of Human Insects (MTV Geek)
David Welsh on vol. 2 of Cardcaptor Sakura (omnibus edition) (The Manga Curmudgeon)
Greg Barbrick on The Manga Guide to the Universe (Blogcritics)
Anna on vol. 1 of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Manga Report)
Matthew Warner on vol. 1 of Until the Full Moon (The Fandom Post)
Diana Dang on vol. 17 of xxxHolic (Stop, Drop, and Read!)

The first Digital Manga Guild manga, Tired of Waiting for Love, was released to the Kindle last week and promptly shot to number one in the manga best-seller list—and Digital has the screen grab to prove it.

David Welsh takes a look at this week’s new manga releases at The Manga Curmudgeon.

News from Japan: Shogakukan is starting a new manga magazine, Hero’s, which will be sold only in 7-Elevens (at least for now) and will launch with a series from GTO creator Tohru Fujisawa and an Ultraman story from Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi (Linebarrels of Iron). Three Steps Over Japan takes a look at another men’s magazine, Big Comic Original.

Reviews: Ash Brown looks at the past week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Anna on vol. 1 of Codename Sailor V (Manga Report)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Codename Sailor V (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Deltora Quest (Kuriousity)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 10 of Detroit Metal City (ANN)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 4 of House of Five Leaves (The Comic Book Bin)
Erica Friedman on Omoi no Kakera (Okazu)
Ken Haley on vols. 1 and 2 of Ultimo (Sequential Ink)

Matt Blind has a news flash for Tokyopop fans: Starting this morning, Barnes & Noble will put all Tokyopop books on clearance at 50% off.

I rounded up the highlights of the past week’s manga news at MTV Geek, and Erica Friedman has the latest yuri news at Okazu.

Sean Gaffney takes a comprehensive look at JManga, paying particular attention to the publishers involved and how the site has changed in its first month.

Issue 5 of Gen Manga magazine is now available online, and issue 3 is now free.

The Manga Village team looks over the latest batch of new releases, and the Manga Bookshelf bloggers discuss their Pick of the Week.

Connie puts the spotlight on You Higuri at Slightly Biased Manga.

Ash Brown buys some manga at Akadot Retail and offers some tips for would-be shoppers.

News from Japan: Two new manga magazines are in the works: Shueisha, which recently folded Business Jump and Super Jump, will continue some of their series in Grand Jump, billed as a magazine “for liberated adults.” And Kadokawa Shoten will launch the bimonthly Altima Ace in October. Christopher Butcher pays a visit to a massive Kinokuniya bookstore in Shinjuku.

Reviews: Erin Jameson reviews a stack of yaoi manga that focus more on relationships than smut at PLAYBACK:stl. The Manga Bookshelf team hands in a fresh set of Bookshelf Briefs to start the new week.

Chris Kirby on vol. 16 of 20th Century Boys (The Fandom Post)
John Rose on vol. 19 of Air Gear (The Fandom Post)
Chris Kirby on vol. 1 of Animal Land (The Fandom Post)
Lori Henderson on Aron’s Absurd Armada (Manga Xanadu)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Blood Blockade Battlefront (Kuriousity)
Chris Kirby on vol. 1 of Bloody Monday (The Fandom Post)
Matthew Warner on vol. 3 of Blue Exorcist (The Fandom Post)
Alex Hoffman on vol. 1 of Butterfly (Manga Widget)
John Rose on vol. 1 of Gate 7 (The Fandom Post)
Kate O’Neil on vols. 2 and 3 of Grand Guignol Orchestra (The Fandom Post)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 3 of Honey and Clover (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Angela Eastman on vol. 6 of Kurozakuro (The Fandom Post)
Sakura Eries on vol. 6 of Maoh: Juvenile Remix (The Fandom Post)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 1 of Mardock Scramble (The Fandom Post)
Kristin on vol. 3 of Oresama Teacher and vol. 3 of Sakura Hime (Comic Attack)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 4 of Oresama Teacher (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
John Rose on vol. 10 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (The Fandom Post)
Chris Kirby on vol. 6 of Toriko (The Fandom Post)
Matthew Warner on vol. 9 of Twin Spica (The Fandom Post)

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

Jason Thompson devotes his latest House of 1000 Manga column to an extended review of the new ComiPo! manga creation software, and he uses it to make his own comic about the legal problems that manga readers face. Otaku no Podcast has a video as well.

Manga editor Daniella Orihuela-Gruber shows off her manga collection at Manga Bookshelf.

Deb Aoki started an interesting Twitter discussion on why manga can be banal and boring, and what can be done about it.

Alex Hoffman weighs in on JManga at Manga Widget.

News from Japan: CLAMP is collaborating with the singer Gackt to create a stage play titled Moon Saga Yoshitsune Hiden (Moon Saga: The Secret of Yoshitsune); they will also produced a manga series based on the same story. Weekly Shonen Champion will start serializing Resident Evil/Biohazard Marhawa Desire, which ties in to the game franchise of the same name, in February.

Reviews: Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss Arata: The Legend, xxxHolic, and Cross Game in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf.

Ed Sizemore on vol. 1 of Codename Sailor V and vol. 1 of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Comics Worth Reading)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Ekiben Hitoritabi (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kristin on vols. 1 and 2 of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Comic Attack)
TSOTE on vol. 2 of Taimashin (Three Steps Over Japan)
Katherine Farmar on Tired of Waiting for Love (Manga Village)
Voitachewski on Yuichi Yokoyama’s Travel (Voyage in French) (du9)

This is the week Sailor Moon arrives in bookstores, although comics shops seem to be running a bit behind. I look over this week’s new manga at MTV Geek, and Lissa Pattillo does the same in her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA. Sean Gaffney, meanwhile, has already moved on and is looking at next week’s new releases.

Big news from Fantagraphics this morning: They will publish Moto Hagio’s pioneering BL manga Heart of Thomas in August 2012. The book will be published as an omnibus that collects all three volumes of the original, and it will be printed in duotone. Matt Thorn will translate.

At comiXology, Kristy Valenti gives eight reasons to read Moyoco Anno’s Flowers and Bees.

Alex Hoffman turns a jaundiced eye on Stu Levy’s Hetalia stunt at Manga Widget.

David Welsh reaches the letter C in his favorite manga alphabet.

News from Japan: JManga has a report on Summer Comiket, featuring lots of photos. Erica Friedman reports in on the yuri doujinshi event Girls Love Festival. Ninja Girls creator Hosana Tanaka has started a new series with the somewhat cumbersome title Tokisaka-san wa Boku to Chikyū ni Kibishisugiru (Tokisaka-san is Too Harsh Toward Me and the Earth). And ANN has the latest Japanese comics rankings.

Reviews: Carlo Santos has a fresh batch of concise reviews in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN.

AstroNerdBoy on vol. 3 of Bunny Drop (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Cage of Eden (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Anna on vol. 5 of Kamisama Kiss (Manga Report)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 39 of Oh My Goddess! (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Ash Brown on vol. 1 of Parasyte (Experiments in Manga)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Soliloquy in Blue)
Eduardo Zacarias on vol. 17 of xxxHolic (Animanga Nation)