MangaBlog

Over at MTV Geek, I celebrated the 100th birthday of bluesman Robert Johnson with a look at Me and the Devil Blues, and I also checked out the seven manga that have been nominated for Eisner Awards. David Welsh also handicaps the Eisners at The Manga Curmudgeon.

Digital is now making their manga available for the Kobo e-reader, along with the Kindle, the Nook, and their own eManga site.

Publishers Weekly has an exclusive preview of the new CLAMP manga, Gate 7.

At The Comics Journal, Ryan Holmberg continues his series on gekiga manga with a look at Saitō Takao and his studio.

This month’s Manga Moveable Feast is all about Cross Game, and The Panelists is hosting. Derik Badman kicks it off with an introduction to the series, Alex Hoffman explains why the characters are not tsundere, David Tai posts an appreciation of Cross Game at A Case Suitable for Treatment, and Kristin reviews vols. 2 and 3 at Comic Attack. Check back at The Panelists for more updates all week long.

May is Mental Health Month, and Manga Therapy blogger Tony Yao is inviting all bloggers to contribute their thoughts on anime and manga characters who have dealt with mental illness. He kicks it off with an example (warning: Spoilers!) of two characters dealing with depression in Rurouni Kenshin.

Erica Friedman brings us the latest edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu, and she discusses censorship of manga and anime, by the Tokyo government and the makers of hardware, on the Otaku in Review podcast.

What are the classic manga everyone should read? Molly McIsaac has a good list at iFanboy.com.

Rob McMonigal continues his year of Rumiko Takahashi posts with a look at humor and breaking the fourth wall in vols. 18-20 of Ranma 1/2.

David Welsh asks his readers to name their favorite sports manga.

Publishers take note: Michelle Smith has a guest license request at The Manga Curmudgeon: Crazy for You, by Karuho Shiina (Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You). At Manga Widget, Alex Hoffman wants to see someone rescue The Secret Notes of Lady Kanoko, which was published by Tokyopop until its recent demise.

Speaking of which, Daniella Orihuela-Gruber reports in on her shopping spree at the Tokyopop garage sale.

News from Japan: Gakuen Prince will come to an end in the July issue of Bessatsu Friend, and a new series by Girl Got Game manga-ka Shizuru Seino begins in the June issue. Shin Takahashi (SaiKano) is launching a new series, Yuki ni Tsubasa (Wings in the Snow), in the July 16 issue of Young Magazine. Two more new series are starting in different issues of Young Magazine: Green Blood, a western, by Masasumi Kakizaki, and Mascara, a romantic comedy, by Nobuto Hagio.

Reviews: Lori Henderson and Alex Hoffman discuss vol. 1 of Oresama Teacher at Manga Village. Michelle Smith and Melinda Beasi take a look at some recent yaoi releases in their latest BL Bookrack feature at Manga Bookshelf.

Connie on vol. 14 of 20th Century Boys (Slightly Biased Manga)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of Arisa (Soliloquy in Blue)
Erica Friedman on Avare Senki (Okazu)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 4 of Bakuman (Kuriousity)
Kristin on vols. 4 and 5 of Black Butler (Comic Attack)
Connie on vol. 20 of Blade of the Immortal (Slightly Biased Manga)
Greg McElhatton on vol. 3 of Bunny Drop (Read About Comics)
Connie on vols. 5 and 6 of Butterflies, Flowers (Slightly Biased Manga)
Danica Davidson on vol. 2 of Cat Eyed Boy (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Jennifer LeBlanc on vol. 2 of Close the Last Door (The Yaoi Review)
Erica Friedman on vol. 3 of Comic Yuri Hime (Okazu)
Connie on vol. 4 of Demon Sacred (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 3 of Genkaku Picasso (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
TSOTE on vol. 6 of Geobreeders (Three Steps Over Japan)
Kate Dacey on Ginga Legend Weed (The Manga Critic)
Connie on vol. 4 of Itazura na Kiss (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on vol. 7 of Jormungand (Okazu)
Rob McMonigal on vol. 3 of Karakuri Odette (Panel Patter)
Connie on vol. 1 of Mister Mistress (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Moon and Blood (The Manga Critic)
Diana Dang on vol. 2 of Nightschool (Stop, Drop, and Read!)
Shannon Fay on vol. 1 of Oresama Teacher (Kuriousity)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 10 of Otomen (The Comic Book Bin)
Sophie Stevens on vol. 1 of Sakura Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura (Animanga Nation)
Katherine H. on Sakura No Sono (Okazu)
Connie on vols. 1 and 2 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 5 of Seiho Boys’ High School (Slightly Biased Manga)
Michelle Smith on vols. 1-9 of Shugo Chara! (Soliloquy in Blue)
Lori Henderson on vol. 11 of Slam Dunk (Manga Village)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of The Story of Saiunkoku (The Comic Book Bin)
Erica Friedman on vol. 14 of Yukan Club (Okazu)

Sean Gaffney takes an advance look at next week’s new manga.

Jason Thompson talks about one of my favorite manga of all time, Chikyu Misaki, in his latest House of 1000 Manga column. And speaking of Jason Thompson, the second volume of his King of RPGs graphic novel is coming out, and he is celebrating with launch parties at Seattle’s Green Lake Games on May 26 and San Francisco’s Cartoon Art Museum on June 4.

A Feminist Otaku has a new URL. Update your bookmarks and RSS feeds accordingly!

Ash Brown has some kind words for this site at Experiments in Manga. Thank you!

News from Japan: ANN has a list (NSFW) of the first manga to face restrictions in Tokyo under the new law, along with the stated reasons for the restrictions. A Nagoya man has been arrested for illegally uploading games and manga (Strawberry Marshmallow). ANN also has the latest Japanese comics rankings and notes that two Madoka Magica side stories made it into the top five.

Reviews: Ash Brown wraps up a week’s worth of manga at Experiments in Manga.

Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 2 of Arisa (Comics Worth Reading)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 4 of Bakuman (The Comic Book Bin)
A Library Girl on vol. 1 of Chi’s Sweet Home (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 16 of Gakuen Alice (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Anna on vols. 1-3 of Genkaku Picasso (Manga Report)
Dave Ferraro on Lychee Light Club (Comics-and-More)
Sean Gaffney on vols. 1-3 of Naruto (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Ed Sizemore on Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths (Comics Worth Reading)

Lori Henderson has the list of the past week’s all-ages comics and manga at Good Comics for Kids, and the Manga Village crew looks at all the past week’s new manga.

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

At Anime Sentinel, James Fleenor surveys the post-Tokyopop mangascape and lists the series he hopes will be picked up by another publisher.

The recent news that someone has taken over Go! Comi’s website and is asking for donations to restart the company (don’t do it—it’s a scam!) has David Welsh asking his readers which Go! Comi series they would like to see continue, and he revisits an old Flipped column about some of his favorites. David’s latest license request is the train-travel manga Karechi.

News from Japan: Big news for yaoi fans: Hinako Takanaga has announced she is ending The Tyrant Falls in Love. Cross Game creator Mitsuru Adachi has just started a new baseball manga, Asaoka Kōkō Yakyū-Bu Nisshi – Over Fence (Asaoka High School Baseball Team Journal – Over Fence), and Club Sunday has a preview up in Japanese. Lelouche Lamperouge is a convenience store clerk in the latest Code Geass spinoff, which is a 4-koma manga. The Strike Witches doujinshi is now available in both Japanese and English. Gantz manga-ka Hiroya Oku drew a one-shot spinoff for the latest issue of Weekly Young Jump. And Monochrome Factor is coming to an end.

Reviews: Adam Stephanides analyzes Shintaro Kago’s Fraction at Completely Futile. Anna looks over some recent Harlequin manga at Manga Report.

Carlo Santos on vol. 5 of Black Butler (ANN)
Connie on vol. 18 of Blade of the Immortal (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kate Dacey on vols. 1-3 of Blood Alone (The Manga Critic)
Jennifer LeBlanc on vol. 1 of Close the Last Door (The Yaoi Review)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 4 of Dengeki Daisy (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 9 of Detroit Metal City (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kristin on vol. 5 of Dogs: Bullets and Carnage and vol. 5 of Biomega (Comic Attack)
Ken Haley on vol. 2 of Fafner: Dead Aggressor (Sequential Ink)
Sarah Sammis on vol. 1 of Fullmetal Alchemist (Puss Reboots)
Christopher Mautner on Yoichi Yokoyama’s Garden (Robot 6)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Gente: The People of Ristorante Paradiso (The Comic Book Bin)
TSOTE on Geobreeders, Atomic Attack (Three Steps Over Japan)
Todd Douglass on vol. 2 of Haruhi-Chan (Anime Maki)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow (The Comic Book Bin)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 7 of Jormungand (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vols. 1-3 of Kekkaishi (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kristin on No Touching At All (Comic Attack)
Animemiz on Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths (Anime Diet)
Alex Hoffman on vol. 1 of Otomen (Manga Widget)
Shannon Fay on vol. 10 of Otomen (Kuriousity)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 10 of Otomen (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 9 of Rasetsu (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Saturn Apartments (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on vol. 14 of Sgt. Frog (Slightly Biased Manga)
Anna on vol. 1 of Vagabond (omnibus edition) (Manga Report)

Over at MTV Geek, I summed up some recent developments in digital manga, took a look at the work of Natsume Ono, and checked out Kodansha USA’s debut lineup, which includes lots of Del Rey favorites.

And be warned: Go! Comi’s web domain expired over a year ago, and whoever has put up a site at the gocomi.com domain, reposted a bunch of their content, and is asking (in broken English) for donations for a relaunch… is a fraud.

Lissa Pattillo spotted that site too, along with some tantalizing new manga listings on Amazon.com.

Jason Thompson takes a fond look at the otaku-friendly manga Genshiken in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

David Welsh checks out this week’s new releases. Sean Gaffney takes a look at next week’s new manga, with an eye toward the ones you will find in a comic shop.

Nastume Ono’s The House of Five Leaves gets Tony Yao thinking about “chivalrous robbers” and why people turn to crime at Manga Therapy.

Lissa Pattillo reports on the Usamaru Furuya panel at TCAF, and at Anime Diet, Animemiz files her report on an evening with Natsume Ono in New York.

Johanna Draper Carlson celebrates Viz’s 25th anniversary with a list of her favorite Viz manga.

David Welsh reaches the letter O in his josei alphabet.

Attention bloggers: The next Manga Moveable Feast will have Cross Game as the main dish.

News from Japan: It’s awards season: The Kodansha Manga Awards have been announced, and the winners include Chika Umino’s March comes in like a lion. The 40th Japan Cartoonist Awards went to a diverse selection of titles, including Riki Kusaka’s Help Man!, and Moto Hagio was honored with a special award. On the other hand, the people who run the Kyoto Animation Award decided that no manga merited a grand prize or even an honorable mention this year. Volume 62 of One Piece sold 2.37 million copies, which is not too shabby, and ANN has the complete Japanese comics rankings for last week. Detroit Metal City creator Kiminori Wakasugi has a new series in the works, to run in Hakusensha’s Young Animal magazine: a comedy called Kappei whose tagline is “when the times need him the least, a hero will appear!!” And the Tokyo National Museum has an exhibit that pairs images from Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha with classic depictions of the Buddha, some of which may have inspired Tezuka.

Reviews: Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss some new releases in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf.

Julie Opipari on vol. 15 of Claymore (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Julie Opipari on The Expectant Princess (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Gente: The People of Ristorante Paradiso (The Comic Book Bin)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 7 of Jormungand (The Comic Book Bin)
Carlo Santos on vol. 4 of Kurozakuro (ANN)
David Welsh on vols. 4 and 5 of Maoh: Juvenile Remix (The Manga Curmudgeon)
Alex Hoffman on vol. 1 of Monkey High (Manga Widget)
Ai Kano on vol. 2 of Seiho Boys’ High School (Animanga Nation)
Kristin on vol. 16 of Slam Dunk and vol. 3 of Kamisama Kiss (Comic Attack)

Despite the removal of some titles, Animate U.S.A. continues to be bullish on the Kindle Store; they announced four new titles this week, including the first volume of Selfish Love, which was originally published by Central Park Media. Animate said in an e-mail to me that some of their manga have been removed from the Kindle Store, although they did not specify which titles. I did find a few that they had announced in previous press releases that were no longer there, and The Yaoi Review has compiled the most comprehesive list so far of the manga that Amazon has removed and notes that a few are back up. Animate told ANN that they had “no current plans to deal with the issue.”

The Manga Bookshelf bloggers discuss their favorite Viz manga for this week’s Pick of the Week. The Manga Village team, meanwhile looks over the best of the past week’s new releases.

Lori Henderson disputes Stu Levy’s claim that he was the glorious leader of the Manga Revolution.

Jason Thompson takes a lighthearted look at manga’s greatest apocalypses at io9.

Rob McMonigal continues his yearlong appreciation of the work of Rumiko Takahashi with a look at Rin-ne, which he calls her “Rodney Dangerfield manga.”

Deb Aoki recaps the first day of TCAF, including appearances by Natsume Ono and Usamaru Furuya, at About.com. Lissa Pattillo reports on her first day as well as the Natsume Ono spotlight panel.

And a note to New Yorkers: Ono will be appearing at Kinokuniya this evening.

Reviews: Carlo Santos checks out a stack of recent releases, including the last volume of 7 Billion Needles and the latest Pandora Hearts, in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Ash Brown reports on another week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Arisa (Comics Worth Reading)
Anna on vol. 3 of Gente (Manga Report)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 5 of Itazura Na Kiss (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 5 of MAOH: Juvenile Remix (The Comic Book Bin)
Kristin on Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths (Comic Attack)

Bad news for BLU manga fans: Digital was supposed to keep the Tokyopop yaoi books available on their eManga site until May 20, but they were told last week that the titles had to be pulled down within 24 hours so they were gone without warning. My understanding is that anyone who has already purchased a BLU book will still be able to read it on the site, but the books are no longer available for new buyers.

Kate Dacey, The Manga Critic, extols Book-Off as a great place to find, cheap pre-owned manga.

Erica Friedman brings us the latest yuri news as well as news of a Yuricon art contest at Okazu.

Kristy Valenti files her con report on Sakura-Con at comiXology; while the con is growing and getting better organized, there was only little American manga presence, although it’s interesting that Amazon staffers were handing out free prose novels to the attendees.

At Manga Widget, Alex Hoffman is thinking about some Tokyopop and CMX licenses he would like to see rescued, starting with Stolen Hearts.

Michael Buntag discusses an interesting early look at manga from a foreign perspective: Manga-Jutsu, a 1997 short story by French artist François Boucq.

Three Steps Over Japan posts some photos of a little Moyashimon extra, drawings that show up only when you flex the edges of the pages.

Reviews: Be sure to check out David Welsh and Kate Dacey’s joint review of Lychee Light Club at The Manga Curmudgeon. The Manga Bookshelf reviewers give their quick takes on some recent releases. I reread two Natsume Ono manga this week and posted some thoughts as part of Robot 6’s What Are You Reading? column.

Oyceter on vols. 1-8 of One Piece (Sakura of DOOM)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Oresama Teacher (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
James Fleenor on vol. 1 of Pavane for a Dead Girl (Anime Sentinel)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 5 of Urusei Yatsura (A Case Suitable for Treatment)