MangaBlog

David Welsh looks at this week’s new manga at The Manga Curmudgeon, and at Manga Bookshelf he discusses the pick of the week with fellow bloggers Kate Dacey and Melinda Beasi. Brad Rice also checks out today’s new releases at Japanator.

The Manga Moveable Feast continues with Sean Gaffney’s review of vol. 5 of Karakuri Odette at A Case Suitable for Treatment.

This week is ero week at Japanator, so Brad Rice talks to Yen Press honcho Kurt Hassler about the choices involved in publishing mature manga such as Sundome.

Hetalia is a lighthearted treatment of World War II in which the various nations are portrayed by characters with definite national traits. But is it offensive? Daniella Orihuela-Gruber (who edits Hetalia) thinks not, but she invites her readers to have their say.

Rob McMonigal continues his Rumiko Takahashi series with a look at the early days of Ranma 1/2 at Panel Patter.

David Welsh looks at seinen manga whose titles begin with the letter Y in the latest edition of his seinen alphabet.

Otaku USA editor Patrick Macias and voice actress Yuu Asakawa try out the ComiPo! manga drawing software and interview the company president in the latest Otaku-Verse Zero video.

Reviews: Kate Dacey posts some short takes on recent releases at The Manga Critic. Michelle Smith catches up on the newest Shojo Beat manga at Soliloquy in Blue.

Anna on vol. 6 of Honey Hunt (Manga Report)
Deb Aoki on vol. 1 of Lives (About.com)
Erica Friedman on vol. 6 of Lucky Star (Okazu)
Charles Webb on vol. 3 of Peepo Choo (Manga Life)
Katherine Farmar on vols. 1 and 2 of Under Grand Hotel (Comics Village)

David Welsh takes a look at the nominees for the Manga Taisho awards and notes one thing I missed: A Bride’s Story, by Kaoru Mori, has been picked up by Yen Press.

Japanator’s Brad Rice talks to Lilllian Diaz-Przybyl about Tokyopop’s yaoi manga line—how it started, how it sells, and why they have a separate imprint for it. Good stuff.

Melinda Beasi rounds up all the Korean-comics news in her latest Manhwa Monday post.

At The Hooded Utilitarian, Sean Michael Robinson talks to Frederick Schodt, the author of Manga! Manga!, about how things have changed (and not changed) since this seminal work was published over 30 years ago.

Daniella Orihuela-Gruber has some good advice for freelancers on filing their taxes.

News from Japan: ANN has the 2010 circulation numbers for manga magazines covered by the Japanese Publishers Association. Weekly Shonen Jump was the bestseller for the year, and it was one of only a handful of magazines whose circulaton rose. And is Pikachu growing up? Manga Therapy’s Tony Yao notes a new Pokemon series will be starting up in Weekly Shonen Sunday, and it’s slanted toward older readers.

Reviews: The Manga Moveable Feast continues with Lori Henderson’s review of vol. 1 of Karakuri Odette at Manga Xanadu. Kinukitty looks for some yaoi manga that won’t disappoint her at The Hooded Utilitarian.

Julie Opipari on vol. 1 of AiON (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Eduardo Zacarias on vol. 1 of Cross Game (Animanga Nation)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Cross Game (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 1 of Dengeki Daisy (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of Dragon Girl (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on Flower Festa (Okazu)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 10 of Sand Chronicles (Comics Worth Reading)

Deb Aoki lists the 17 manga that made the Great Graphic Novels for Teens list, and she is now taking nominations for her own best-of-the-year polls.

Lori Henderson has the list of this week’s all ages comics and manga at Good Comics for Kids. Sean Gaffney looks ahead to next week’s new manga at A Case Suitable for Treatment. The resident bloggers at Manga Bookshelf discuss their picks of the week with guest Michelle Smith.

Yen Press has launched its iPad app, and I bought a volume of manga to check it out at Robot 6. Verdict: Spiffy but pricey. Kate Dacey calls it “a promising start” at The Manga Critic, and Chris Beveridge kicks the tires as well at Mania.com. The app includes no Japanese or Korean titles at present, and the books are priced at $8.99 per volume (less than the list price, but in some cases more than what the print book would cost at Amazon). On the plus side, it’s a nice looking app that gives you generous free samples and some nice extras, and since the app itself is free, it’s worth a look if you have an iPad.

The latest Manga Moveable Feast is under way, and host Anna kicks it off with a brief intro at Manga Report. David Welsh reviews the first three volumes at The Manga Curmudgeon, while Michelle Smith takes on volumes 4 and 5 at Soliloquy in Blue.

Rob McMonigal continues his year of posts on Rumiko Takahashi with a close look at vol. 1 of InuYasha at Panel Patter.

Lori Henderson suggests some good reading for a snow day at Manga Xanadu.

At The Manga Critic, Kate Dacey looks at some attempts to define a manga canon and adds a few suggestions of her own. Kate also looks at an early attempt at publishing “prestige manga,” Hotel Harbour View.

David Welsh’s license request: More by Bunny Drop creator Yumi Unita, please!

At Manga Therapy, Tony Yao discusses how Yotsuba presents the positive aspects of ADHD.

Jason Thompson takes a look at Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

AstroNerdBoy is pleased that the Nibley Twins are re-translating the first three volumes of Negima! for Kodansha’s omnibus edition, but he notes that they took a 40% pay cut compared to what Del Rey used to pay. are being paid less because they were only hired to adapt the book, not translate it. (Thanks for pointing out the clarification, Sean!) The twins themselves weigh in at Manga Life on how long it takes them to finish a book.

At Neojaponisme, Matthew Penney takes a look at the Japanese manga scene in 2010 and finds a lot of strong titles. (Via The Manga Critic.)

Erica Friedman is reading a lot of magazines lately: She samples the delights of the Japanese manga magazine Comic Beam at MangaCast, and she checks out the new magazine Girls Jump and the relaunched Comic Yuri Hime Rebirth (formerly Comic Yuri Hime) at Okazu. Erica also posts all the yuri news that’s fit to print in the latest edition of Yuri Network News.

Ash Brown offers some quick tips for shopping at Borders.

Tokyopop has signed on with Diamond Book Distributors to handle distribution of its books, which means, if I’m reading the press release right, that their agreement with HarperCollins is ending. There was a lot of activity when Tokyopop first joined hands with HC, such as graphic novels based on the popular pre-teen Warriors novels (the ones about the cats) and Ellen Schreiber’s Vampire Kisses, but there doesn’t seem to have been much new from that corner lately. Tokyopop president and COO John Parker is decamping for Diamond, where he will be vice president of business development.

News from Japan: Every now and then we hear about a virulently anti-Korean manga; the latest is K-Pop Boom Lies, which libels several Korean girl groups, calling them out by name. Koreans are up in arms, and the agent for one of the girl groups is threatening “strong countermeasures.” The medical manga Iryū – Team Medical Dragon is coming to an end. The nominees for the 4th Manga Taisho awards have been announced; it doesn’t look like any of the 13 nominees has been licensed for sale in the U.S. A new Pokemon manga is in the works; it will run in Shonen Sunday beginning this spring. And ANN has the latest Japanese comics rankings.

Reviews: Omar posts a new batch of quick manga reviews at About Heroes. Ash Brown looks at a week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Alex Hoffman on vols. 8 and 9 of 20th Century Boys (Comics Village)
Connie on vol. 12 of 20th Century Boys (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of Afterschool Charisma (The Comic Book Bin)
Charles Webb on Ayako (Manga Life)
Adam Stephanides on vol. 5 of Billy Bat (Completely Futile)
Connie on vol. 10 of Blade of the Immortal (Slightly Biased Manga)
Snow Wildsmith on vols. 1 and 2 of Bunny Drop (Good Comics for Kids)
Brett Newhall on vol. 1 of Cardcaptor Sakura (Otaku, no Video)
Kristin on vol. 4 of Children of the Sea (Comic Attack)
Shannon Fay on vol. 14 of Crimson Hero (Kuriousity)
Connie on vol. 1 of Cross Game (Slightly Biased Manga)
Anna on vol. 3 of Dengeki Daisy (Manga Report)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Dorohedoro (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 34 of Eyeshield 21 (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 22 of Hikaru no Go (Comics Worth Reading)
Emily Kazanecki on vol. 4 of Jack Frost (Manga Life)
Connie on vol. 7 of Kimi ni Todoke (Slightly Biased Manga)
Rob McMonigal on Korea as Viewed by 12 Creators (Panel Patter)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1 and 2 of Millennium Snow (Manga Xanadu)
Connie on Missing Road (Slightly Biased Manga)
Ken Haley on episodes 1 and 2 of Mizuki (Sequential Ink)
Lissa Pattillo on My Bad (ANN)
Rob McMonigal on vol. 3 of Nightschool (Panel Patter)
Michelle Smith on vols. 32-45 of One Piece (Soliloquy in Blue)
Connie on vol. 7 of Otomen (Slightly Biased Manga)
Anna on vol. 1 of The Secret Notes of Lady Kanoko (Manga Report)
David Welsh on vol. 1 of The Secret Notes of Lady Kanoko (The Manga Curmudgeon)
Connie on Sense & Sexuality (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kristin on vol. 13 of Slam Dunk and Mistress Fortune (Comic Attack)
Casey Brienza on vol. 4 of Soul Eater (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 5 of Twin Spica (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Katherine Farmar on vols. 1 and 2 of Vampire’s Portrait (Comics Village)

Just a few links today, as I’m working extra hours due to the blizzard out here in the East. I’ll be back tomorrow with the rest of the news.

Al Kahn, the chairman and CEO of the anime company 4Kids, is retiring. Kahn got tongues wagging at the 2006 ICv2 Graphic Novel Conference, which was held just before the first New York Comic-Con, when he announced that “U.S. kids don’t read!” I can’t find the original PWCW article, but here’s what happened next:

After the provocative statements, Kahn’s point was that entertainment firms need to think beyond print to digitizing content for a generation that will get most of its content electronically. “The content is disposable,” Kahn said. “More and more of it is available for free.”

Actually, that seems remarkably prescient. I was there for the ICv2 panel in December 2007 when Kahn made another categorical statement: “It’s over in Japan. We’re moving to Korea. In Japan, the manga is tired.” Maybe not so prescient.

In other industry news, the financially troubled bookstore chain Borders stopped making payments to its vendors about two weeks ago, and Diamond Book Distributors appears to have stopped shipping books to them (at least one major book publisher has stopped as well). While reasonable, this action could lead to a death spiral: With no books to sell, the hole that Borders is in will just get deeper and deeper. There’s a big meeting today in which everyone hopes to hammer out an agreement. Borders was instrumental in popularizing manga in the United States, as Kurt Hassler and several other visionary buyers promoted the medium when it was just getting started, and it would be a shame to see them go.

The Japanator staff posts this week’s new releases.

News from Japan: Chinese artist Xiao Bai is the winner of the Japanese government-sponsored International Manga Award. Takashi Morita, creator of Mobile Suit Gundam Climax U.C., is starting a new series, Adventurier – Shinsetsu Arsène Lupin, based on Maurice Leblanc’s novels about the exploits of gentleman thief Arsène Lupin.

Reviews

Todd Douglass on vol. 4 of Jack Frost (Anime Maki)
Greg McElhatton on vol. 1 of Kurozakuro (Read About Comics)
Julie Opipari on vol. 10 of Sand Chronicles (Manga Maniac Cafe)

The denizens of Manga Village pick the best of the past week’s new manga.

Erica Friedman posts the latest edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu, and she also talks a bit about the business of licensing manga, which in her case involved several miracles.

Alex Hoffman takes an advance look at one of the manga Kodansha will be publishing this summer, Cage of Eden.

Melinda Beasi rounds up the latest manhwa news and reviews in this week’s Manhwa Monday post. Melinda also weighs in on the AX discussion, pointing out that the North American Ladies really like books with sexy content, they just like a bit of craft with it.

At The Manga Curmudgeon, David Welsh invites his readers to name their favorite alternative manga.

Meanwhile, Brent Newhall compiles a list of the classics of manga at Otaku, no Video.

At Manga Therapy, Tony Yao looks at Eastern-style parenting and how Japanese parents react when their children want to become manga artists.

The latest Ninja Consultant podcast is all about Comiket.

Daniella Orihuela-Gruber files her con report on Anime Los Angeles, where, among other experiences, she met anime scholar Helen McCarthy.

News from Japan: The 1960s manga character Tiger Mask is apparently the inspiration for a wave of anonymous donations to children’s institutions.

Reviews: Ash Brown reviews what she read this week at Experiments in Manga. Michelle Smith looks at four BL stories by Hinako Takanaga at Soliloquy in Blue.

Lori Henderson on The 14th Dalai Lama: A Manga Biography and Che Guevara: A Manga Biography (Manga Xanadu)
Rob McMonigal on vol. 2 of 20th Century Boys (Panel Patter)
Brent Newhall on Ayako (Otaku, no Video)
Anna on vols. 2 and 3 of Biomega (Manga Report)
Todd Douglass on vol. 11 of Black God (Anime Maki)
Connie on vol. 9 of Blade of the Immortal (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kate Dacey on Blue Spring (The Manga Critic)
Kristin on vol. 1 of Cardcaptor Sakura (omnibus edition) (Comic Attack)
Penny Kenny on vol. 1 of The Clique (Manga Life)
Charles Webb on vol. 1 of Cross Game (Manga Life)
Anna on vol. 2 of Cross Game (Manga Report)
Connie on vol. 3 of Dorohedoro (Slightly Biased Manga)
Todd Douglass on vol. 3 of GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class (Anime Maki)
Michelle Smith on vols. 1 and 2 of Hetalia: Axis Powers (Soliloquy in Blue)
Todd Douglass on vol. 1 of Highschool of the Dead (Anime Maki)
Connie on vol. 55 of InuYasha (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kristin on vols. 1 and 2 of Kabuki (Comic Attack)
Ed Sizemore on Korea as Viewed by 12 Creators (Comics Worth Reading)
David Welsh on vol. 11 of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (The Manga Curmudgeon)
Emily on Liar x Liar (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Connie on vol. 3 of Library Wars (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on Manga no Tsukurikata (Okazu)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 5 of Natsume’s Book of Friends (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Alex Hoffman on Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy (Comics Village)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 15 of Ouran High School Host Club (ANN)
David Brothers on Pluto and Vagabond (4thletter!)
Erica Friedman on Sayonara Folklore (Okazu)
Connie on vol. 1 of Spiral (Slightly Biased Manga)
Victoria Martin on vol. 3 of Stepping on Roses (Manga Life)
Lori Henderson on the December issue of Yen Plus (Manga Xanadu)

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

Sean Gaffney looks forward to the week’s new manga at A Case Suitable for Treatment.

At Robot 6, I questioned a comment by Sean Michael Wilson, editor of the alt-manga anthology AX, that North American women seemed to be put off by the sexual and scatological content in that book. A lively discussion followed in the comments, and Kate Dacey added her own thoughts at The Manga Critic. Ten points to Kate for stating the case so succinctly:

As one of those North American ladies who gave mixed marks to AX (it made both my Best Manga of 2010 list and my 2010 Manga Hall of Shame), let me assure male readers that it wasn’t the presence of sex or poop that turned me off of stories like “Arizona Sizzler” and “Black Sushi Party Piece” — it was the strong whiff of pointlessness.

Jason Thompson takes a long look at Mushishi in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

Rob McMonigal is going to spend the year spotlighting the prolific manga-ka Rumiko Takahashi, and he explains why he chose her in his kickoff post at Panel Patter.

Oh, and I was very honored to be the subject of one of Tom Spurgeon’s holiday interviews at The Comics Reporter this weekend. He asked me a series of essay questions about the comics world as a whole and various subsets of it; check out the interview and let me know what you think.

News from Japan: xxxHolic is coming to an end this spring, with the final volume, vol. 19, due out in Japan in March.

Reviews: Johanna Draper Carlson relaxes with some escapist manga at Comics Worth Reading. David Welsh writes about two manga by Fumi Yoshinaga at The Manga Curmudgeon.

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Death Note (Black Edition) (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 3 of Dengeki Daisy (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Rob McMonigal on vol. 8 of Emma (Panel Patter)
Tiger Holland on vol. 1 of Fruits Basket (Girls Love Graphic Novels)
Chris Beveridge on vol. 1 of Highschool of the Dead (Mania.com)
Rob McMonigal on vol. 3 of Jormungand (Panel Patter)
Brenda Grigson on vol. 2 of Library Wars: Love and War (Animanga Nation)
Ash Brown on vol. 2 of Ooku: The Inner Chambers (Experiments in Manga)
A Library Girl on vol. 1 of Princess Princess (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Carlo Santos on vol. 8 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (ANN)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of Vanilla (I Reads You)