Monday morning manga blitz

MangaCast member readilbert translates an article on a recent symposium on women in Asian comics. Meanwhile Ed has compiled a list of Japan’s new manga releases for May and he also translates the Japanese manga rankings for this week.

The LA Times has an interesting article on novels based on manga:

In English, they read like a cross between the pulp fiction of the ’40s and the juvenile novels of the postwar decades. Yet the manga characters often display greater depth. Nancy Drew never had to choose between violating an oath never to kill again and preventing a coup d’etat that could result in thousands of deaths, as Kenshin does.

David Welsh continues to track the story of the Wanganui (NZ) library where a patron has had several manga, including Chobits, officially classified as age-restricted. The library will move its YA graphic novels section further from the children’s section and consider the matter closed. However, as noted in the local newspaper’s coverage, the classified books were immediately taken off open shelves and are now available only by request—with proof of age. “The graphic novel collection was popular among teenagers,” the paper states, but that’s less likely to be true if they have to ask a grownup whenever they want to check out a title.

David also checks out the fall titles in the latest Previews catalogue and lists readers’ recommendations for shoujo manga.

New at ComiPress: the Q&A session from a lecture by manga-ka Hirohiko Araki. They also translate a letter from the editors of Monthly Shonen Jump to their readers about the fate of several serials from that soon-to-be-discontinued magazine and relay the news that Rozen Maiden will soon end. On the other hand, Honey and Clover manga-ka Chika Umino has a new title in the works.

At Comics Worth Reading, Johanna comments on the upcoming Naruto blitz:

I’m surprised that I haven’t seen anyone comment on how more frequent releases make manga more like the traditional superhero comic. Naruto’s only $7.95 a book, and some of the Prestige format superhero series are $6.95 for a much thinner (although color) issue. If this plan succeeds, it’s one more thing that superhero comics used to be the only choice for (frequent serialized chapters) that manga might make inroads on. (And one more thing for retailers uncomfortable with manga to bitch about: “they come out too often!”)

Same Hat! Same Hat!! enjoys Chip Kidd’s cover designs for Vertical’s classic manga.

Not manga, but an excellent read anyway: Shaenon Garrity eviscerates Chris Muir’s Day by Day. I personally have always found this strip incomprehensible; it’s good to know I’m not alone.

Reviews: LJ’er exlibris76 reviews vol. 1 of Innocent Bird (via tokyojupiter). At the BasuGasuBakuhatsu Anime Blog, Hung checks out vol. 2 of Stray Little Devil, vol. 2 of The World of Narue, and vol. 1 of Penguin Musume, which is in Japanese. Robots Never Sleep is back with a review of the series Ressentiment, which is also available only in Japanese. Mecha Mecha Media enjoys vol. 1 of Mail. At the MangaCast, mangamaniac Julie reviews vol. 2 of Oyayubihime Infinity, and back at the Mangamaniaccafe she checks out vol. 2 of O-Parts Hunter, vol. 1 of Junk, and vol. 4 of Chibi-Vampire. At Manga Punk, Joey reviews vol. 1 of Dark Angel. Katherine Dacey-Tsuei has short reviews of Blue Spring, vol. 2 of E’S, and vol. 5 of Yakitate!! Japan at PopCultureShock.