MangaBlog

Last week, at Comic Book Resources, I reported on a U.S. citizen who faces criminal child pornography charges in Canada because of manga that were found on his laptop computer during a customs search. Christopher Butcher posts his reaction at Comics212.net:

I’ve been aware of this case since just before I gave my talk on comics and censorship this past February, and every aspect of it makes my blood boil. That ‘manga’ is targeted as a buzzword that encourages Customs agents to do more thorough searches, that an illustration of a person or act is the same thing as the person or act under Canadian law, that Art has no legal defense in Canada anymore. It’s all awful, and I am very, very glad that the CBLDF has stepped in to provide funding and support for this case, to ensure that at the very least this man is rigourously defended, and with any luck a precedent can be set under Canadian law.

At Okazu, Erica Friedman posts some self-defense tips for manga fans planning on international travel.

The Manga Moveable Feast wraps up with a Let’s Get Visual column at Sololoquy in Blue analyzing the art in this month’s selection, Wild Adapter, and two roundups of other people’s writing about the series at Manga Bookshelf.

Digital Manga has assigned its first three licenses to a localization team in the Digital Manga Guild: Kawaii Neko will be translating three yaoi titles, vol. 1 of Only the Flower Knows (Hana no mizo shiru), by Rihito Takarai; The Faithful Dog Waits for Flowers (Chuuken wa hana wo matsu), by Mario Yamada; and Tired of Waiting for Love (Aisotsukashi) by Saki Aida and Yugi Yamada.

Erica Friedman updates us on doings in the yuri world in the latest edition of Yuri Network News.

The Manga Village bloggers pick the best of the newest manga releases.

The Manga Bookshelf team focuses on manga written for women for their Pick of the Week.

David Brothers wraps up his weeklong analysis of Akira at 4thletter! and writes about the “perfect panels” of Akira at Comics Alliance.

Translator Tomo Kimura provides some notes on vol. 3 of Kamisama Kiss.

At Neojaponisme, Matt Alt translates, and puts into context, a 1983 essay from lolicon magazine Manga Burikko telling the otaku to grow up and move beyond their attachment to an idealized notion of puberty. Ogiue Maniax translates a recent Japanese blog post about Genshiken and otaku.

As his josei alphabet draws to a close, David Welsh asks his readers: Which alphabet would you like to see next? Sentiment seems to be leaning toward an Awful Alphabet.

News from Japan: Yoki Matsushita is resuming work on Descendants of Darkness after an eight-year hiatus. Yasuhiro Kano (Mx0) is launching a romantic comedy manga, Kagami no Kuni no Harisugawa, in Weekly Shonen Jump. Kairi Shimotsuki will illustrate a manga series based on the Makai Ishi Mephisto novel series by Hideyuki Kukichi (Vampire Hunter D) Seven manga-ka, including You Higuri (Cantarella), drew chibi personifications of Tokyo neighborhoods for the website of the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition center (the home of Comiket).

Reviews: Sean Gaffney posts some short takes on recent manga at A Case Suitable for Treatment. Michelle Smith, Katherine Dacey, Melinda Beasi, and David Welsh file a fresh set of Bookshelf Briefs at Manga Bookshelf. Ash Brown looks over a week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 15 of 20th Century Boys (Comics Worth Reading)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 15 of 20th Century Boys (Kuriousity)
Kimi-chan on vol. 1 of Bad Teacher’s Equation (Kimi-chan Experience)
Connie on vol. 1 of The Betrayal Knows My Name (Slightly Biased Manga)
TSOTE on vol. 3 of A Bride’s Story (Three Steps Over Japan)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 4 of Dengeki Daisy (I Reads You)
Noah Berlatsky on vol. 1 of Dinosaur King (The Hooded Utilitarian)
Kristin on Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga (Comic Attack)
Connie on vol. 2 of Gunslinger Girl (omnibus edition) (Slightly Biased Manga)
David Welsh on vol. 1 of Kekkaishi (omnibus edition) (The Manga Curmudgeon)
Connie on Little Butterfly (omnibus edition) (Slightly Biased Manga)
Casey Brienza on Lychee Light Club (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Kimi-chan on vol. 1 of Moon & Blood (Kimi-chan Experience)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 51 of Naruto (The Comic Book Bin)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 1 of Negima (omnibus edition) (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Negima (omnibus edition) (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan (The Comic Book Bin)
Clive Owen on vol. 4 of Rosario + Vampire: Season II (Animanga Nation)
Anna on vols. 1-3 of Saiyuki (Manga Report)
Lori Henderson on the June/July issue of Shonen Jump (Manga Xanadu)
A Library Girl on vols. 1 and 2 of Wild Ones (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)

Breaking news: The CBLDF will join the defense of a U.S. citizen who faces criminal child pornography charges because of manga that Canadian customs agents found on his computer.

A new manga magazine debuted this week with very little fanfare: GEN magazine debuted with four stories in its first issue, which is available for free download at the link. What gives? Julie Opipari interviews GEN editor-in-chief Robert McGuire at the Manga Maniac Cafe. McGuire says the digital edition of the magazine will be published simultaneously in Japan and the U.S. and that it will feature original seinen and doujinshi stories solicited from underground artists. A special collector’s print edition is also available at a price.

Crunchyroll is opening up its JManga online manga service to beta testers in North America; it’s a lottery, and ANN has the details and a link to the signup form.

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

In his latest House of 1000 Manga column, Jason Thompson writes about Dame Dame Saito Nikki, a 4-koma manga about life among American manga fans, which was supposed to be published over here but for some reason never made it.

The Manga Moveable Feast continues with Melinda Beasi’s essay on “intimacy porn” in Wild Adapter, Chou Jones’s look at themes, and David Welsh’s license request for more manga from Wild Adapter creator Kayuza Minekura.

Tony Yao puts Chi’s Sweet Home on the couch at Manga Therapy.

David Brothers continues his analysis of Akira here, here, and here at 4thletter!

Houston Press blogger Karen Rust puts together a list of her top 20 manga.

Lissa Pattillo shows off her latest purchases at Kuriousity.

AstroNerdBoy notes that Viz has reprinted some scarce volumes of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

News from Japan: Eri Takanashi says that Kannagi, which has been on hiatus due to her health problems, will resume in the September issue of Monthly Comic Rex, due out on July 27. Yu Yagami, creator of Those Who Hunt Elves and Hikkatsu!, has a new series, Kankyō Hogo-Tai Mottai-9 (Evironmental Protection Team Mottai-Nine), in the online manga magazine Flex Comic Next. Ryusuke Hamamoto, who drew the color comic Compass for the U.S. publisher Image and designed the characters for the Petite Eva manga, is launching two new series. There was a bit of a dustup over the Fractale franchise this week, after the artist for the manga adaptation complained online that she found it “uninteresting” and would prefer to work on something else, and the director of the anime from which the manga was drawn asked her to do just that. And the most recent issue of Kodansha’s E-no magazine will be its last; the replacement magazine will start up in October and will include at least three current E-no series.

Reviews: Carlo Santos takes a look at Tenjho Tenge and a handful of other recent manga in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Other reviews of note:

TSOTE on vol. 11 of Geobreeders (Three Steps Over Japan)
Michelle Smith on vols. 1 and 2 of March on Earth (Soliloquy in Blue)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1-3 of Saiyuki (Manga Xanadu)
Kristin on The Spiral of Sand (Comic Attack)
Jeff Chuang on vol. 5 of Sunshine Sketch (Japanator)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 5 of Sunshine Sketch (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Ed Sizemore on vol. 1 of Wandering Son (Comics Worth Reading)

I looked at this week’s new manga at MTV Geek, and I also took a peek at Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s, the latest iteration of that venerable franchise, coming out in graphic novel form soon from Viz. Meanwhile, David Welsh gives his take on this week’s new manga and Sean Gaffney, always one step ahead, takes a look at next week’s new releases.

Longtime Tokyopop freelancer Lianne Sentar has a great post about the demise of that company at Sleep Is For the Weak in which defends the company and asks why it got so much hate over the years. Her answer is a good one:

My best guess is that Tokyopop was a “teenager” company. It mostly published books for teenagers, it included a fair number of teenagers in its staff, and the changes and/or mistakes that drew criticism – paper changes, printing/typing errors, wacky editorial decisions – were things teenagers mostly don’t care about. They cut corners and were less concerned with pissing off older fans and/or critics than they were with keeping their young fanbase.

…

If I have to hear another person frame their opinions of Tokyopop as a company based on their incomplete publishing of Aria, I’m going to start smacking people with copies of Bizenghast and Chibi Vampire. You’re not seeing the big picture. The manga industry isn’t just about you. Teenagers are people too, and in many facets of the industry, they outnumber you by about a billion. Their opinions are not invalid just because you don’t agree with them.

There’s much more at the link, and it’s all great. I would totally support getting Lianne a MacArthur grant so she could just write about manga all day.

The Manga Moveable Feast continues at Manga Bookshelf, with a roundtable on this month’s book, Wild Adapter, a roundup of MMF posts on other blogs, a look at three not-so-guilty pleasures of the series, and a reprise of David Welsh’s Flipped column about it.

David Welsh reaches the letter U in his josei alphabet.

Reviews

Alexander Hoffman on All My Darling Daughters (Manga Village)
Anna on vols. 4 and 5 of Dengeki Daisy (Manga Report)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 5 of Library Wars: Love and War (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kristin on vol. 5 of Library Wars: Love and War (Comic Attack)
Connie on vol. 6 of Rin-ne (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 6 of Seiho Boys High School (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 13 of Sensual Phrase (Slightly Biased Manga)
Charles Webb on vol. 6 of Soul Eater (MTV Geek)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on vols. 1-6 of Sundome (All About Manga)
Anna on vol. 1 of Tenjho Tenge: Full Contact Edition (Manga Report)
Lori Henderson on the May issue of Yen Plus (Manga Xanadu)
Connie on vol. 7 of Your and My Secret (Slightly Biased Manga)

The Manga Bookshelf bloggers—Melinda Beasi, Kate Dacey, Michelle Smith, and David Welsh—discuss their pick of the week, and readers chime in with theirs in comments. Also at Manga Bookshelf: David Welsh lists some manga that make good bathtub reading.

Ryan takes a fond look back at Secret Comics Japan at Same Hat.

Reviews: Ash Brown takes us through a week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga. Melinda Beasi, Kate Dacey, Michelle Smith, and David Welsh look over some recent releases at Manga Bookshelf.

Lori Henderson on vol. 9 of Detroit Metal City (Manga Village)
Joe Iglesias on Lychee Light Club (Eastern Standard)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Saigo no Seifuku (Okazu)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Tenjho Tenge: Full Contact Edition (The Comic Book Bin)
Kristin on vol. 12 of Vampire Knight (Comic Attack)

Jason Thompson’s pick for this week’s House of 1000 Manga column is the Manga of Deep Feminist Shame, Hot Gimmick. Go, read, and remember why you kept on reading it even though you hated yourself for it.

Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith are hosting this month’s Manga Moveable Feast at Manga Bookshelf, and they kick it off with an introduction to this month’s main course, Wild Adapter. This inspires fellow Bookshelf-er David Welsh to ask his readers to name the sexiest manga they ahve ever read.

The Manga Village team looks at the best of the most recent batch of new manga.

Erica Friedman brings us the latest yuri news at Okazu, and she catches a bit of yuri in a shoujo magazine with a look at Blue Friend, Second Season.

At The Manga Critic, Kate Dacey notes that Viz has just announced a round of new series on their iPad app and makes some suggestions for their next move, including using the app to bring back some out-of-print gems; this inspires David Welsh to make a list. David’s latest print license request is Sakuna Hitona, a josei manga that has already been licensed in France.

Viz is looking for a yaoi/BL editor to help “establish and grow Viz Media’s line of mature content titles.” This is a verrry interesting development, as Viz doesn’t really publish yaoi at the moment. Lissa Pattillo rounds up some other Viz news, including their 25th anniversary plans and their announceent that they have licensed the Cinnamoroll manga, based on the Sanrio character of the same name.

David Brothers analyzes an example of multi-strand storytelling in Akira, and he also takes a look at the character of Kaneda.

Noah Berlatsky writes about identity and essence in Ghost in the Shell, but he’s not too impressed with it.

Erica Friedman dusts off a column that ran at MangaCast but is well worth another look, about Ultra Jump, the home of Tenjho Tenge, Hayate x Blade, and Battle Angel Alita.

If you’re yearning for some snippets of classic shoujo manga, and you don’t mind bad words in your browser window, go check out Fuck Yeah Year24, a tumbler devoted to the art of the Magnificent 49ers.

Convention season is upon us! Lissa Pattillo has a sneak peek at the manga programming for Animaritime, which takes place July 1-3 and will feature Vertical, Inc. marketing director Ed Chavez as a special guest.

Speaking of Ed Chavez: Animemiz reports on the Vertical, Inc. panel at AnimeNEXT, at which Ed provided a wealth of information on Vertical’s schedule and what we can expect from them in the next few months.

News from Japan: Last week brought news of two new projects from well known manga-ka: Hana-Kimi creator Hisaya Nakajo is launching a new series, Wild Kiss, that will run for just two chapters in Hana to Yume, and Arina Tanemura is embarking on a manga about the idol group Fudanjuku, to be titled Fudanjuku Monogatari. And Kathryn Hemman posts a guide to finding doujinshi in Tokyo at Contemporary Japanese Literature. (Via The Manga Critic.)

Reviews: Michelle Smith and Melinda Beasi discuss snacks and recent releases in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf. Anna looks at the last volumes of some Tokyopop series at Manga Report.

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 15 of 20th Century Boys (The Comic Book Bin)
Diana Dang on vols. 1-3 of Bakuman (Stop, Drop, and Read!)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 5 of Bakuman (Comics Worth Reading)
Connie on vol. 9 of Black Bird (Slightly Biased Manga)
TSOTE on vol. 2 of A Bride’s Story (Japanese edition) (Three Steps Over Japan)
David Welsh on vol. 1 of A Certain Scientific Railgun (The Manga Curmudgeon)
Theron Martin on vol. 18 of Claymore (ANN)
TSOTE on vol. 10 of Geobreeders (Three Steps Over Japan)
Carlo Santos on vol. 5 of Hyde and Closer (ANN)
Julie Opipari on The Palette of Twelve Secret Colors (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on vol. 5 of Papillon (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 9 of Rasetsu (Kuriousity)
Lori Henderson on vol. 4 of Rosario + Vampire Season II and vol. 18 of Claymore (Manga Xanadu)
Connie on vol. 12 of Sensual Phrase (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on World’s End (I Reads You)

AstroNerdBoy posts his “dream list” of the Tokyopop series he’d like to see rescued.

Sean Gaffney takes a look at next week’s new manga, which apparently will include some Tokyopop titles—I heard this from Matt Lehman of Comicopia as well. In fact, one series, Hanako and the Terror of Allegory, will actually be wrapping up.

Kate Dacey is compiling her manga for newcomers list at The Manga Critic, and she asks readers to help her compile a list of manga genres.

David Welsh reaches the letter T in his josei alphabet.

Reviews

Connie on vol. 13 of Black Jack (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 7 of Butterflies, Flowers (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 7 of InuYasha (omnibus edition) (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Ash Brown on Oishinbo A la Carte: Sake (Experiments in Manga)
Connie on vol. 11 of Sensual Phrase (Slightly Biased Manga)