The Book Standard analyzes the graphic novel charts, and the success of Tokyopop and Viz.
Good news for fans of The Dreaming: Queenie Chan has finished volume 2 (a little earlier than she expected) and has posted some samples. The book is due in stores on November 22.
Perhaps David Welsh has been reading shoujo for too long. In this week’s Flipped column, he seems to be uttering phrases like “Fortunately, she’s befriended a beautiful classmate who is secretly a male pop idol in need of a manager” with a completely straight face. No one reviews shoujo like David, so be sure to check it out.
Pata finds video of Comiket. And this Business Week article on otaku is worth checking out for the slide show alone.
Once again, ChunHyang72 points us toward the best of the Tokyopop blogs.
New blog watch: Otaku Champloo, intended to be a record of one otaku’s reading. The blogger is a very informed otaku, from the looks of things, familiar with works in English and Japanese, judging from the posts so far, an essay on the history of Shonen Jump and an analysis of Happy by Naoki Urasawa.
This local-newspaper story about cosplayers in Brownsville, Texas, is a cut way above the usual treatment, because the reporter obviously spent some time talking to people.
Someone is asking for manga recommendations! Beppo has three criteria:
1. cool female main character
2. minimal/no romance
3. not too genre-heavy, ie. action or sci-fi
(Via When Fangirls Attack.)
Reviews of note: Emily reviews Haio Airen, and comics-and-more devotes its Manga Monday to this month’s Shoujo Beat.
Speaking of “The Dreaming,” Queenie Chan just posted her first entry on the Tokyopop site…
Let’s hope that Tokyopop updates its blog interface soon. Many site users are so caught up in their anime/manga polls that they haven’t realized that editors and artists are in the blogging soup along with them. It’s a real shame—if promoted properly, these blogs could be a powerful marketing tool, especially for titles in need of a boost.
Also of note at TP: a new user interface that allows browsers to block unwanted comments and unwanted friend solicitations. The new controls should cut down on the flaming and make it harder for users to overwhelm newbies with “be my friend!” requests. A few people are grumbling, but so far the consensus is favorable.
Oh! Thanks for the little advertisement. lol. I’m quite flattered with what you said… lol but I’m really an idiot at this. ^u^;; Ehehehe. Thanks so much!
that newsweek article is pretty lame. Unlike the all-emcompass geek label in the US, there are various layers of Otaku in Japan. Pasu-con Otaku (tech Otaku) is definately in the minoriy in Akiba; the majority of the visitors are anime or eroga (Ero-Game) Otaku, the proper kind. If there’s a lot of Otaku buying computers or parts, it’s only because they need to play the latest eroga from TYPE-MOON.