Are there any good manga out there for adults? Yes, says Christopher Butcher, but the quality titles aren’t getting enough attention. He takes Journalista’s Dirk Deppey to task for linking to scanlations and instead suggests mentioning some actual books by name. And then he suits the action to the word by talking about Tekkonkinkreet, which, by the way, is on my stack. I’ll throw in a few suggestions of my own: ES: Eternal Sabbath, Afterlife, by Stormcrow Hayes and Rob Steen, and, on Netcomics, cm0 (first chapter is free). More suggestions, anyone?
The Otaku lists this week’s manga releases, and at the Weekly Recon, Katherine Dacey-Tsuei gives her list along with a handful of brief reviews.
Anime on DVD’s Matthew Alexander talks to Kodansha’s Eijiro Shimada about the International Manga Competition.
An editorial in the Wall Street Journal criticizes Japan for choosing manga and anime as paths to cultural understanding. Chloe isn’t buying it, but Simon Jones (link is NSFW) points out that even some anime/manga folk worry about a perception problem. There’s a big discussion at ANN, but the first commenter gets it exactly right, in my opinion:
Anime is a medium. Every medium has its good, bad, and ugly titles. This is like saying “movies shouldn’t be used for PR campaign because there are such-and-such pornographic films.”
They’re playing guess-the-license again at the Broccoli Blog, where Shizuki drops some hints about soon-to-be-announced titles.
Yet another yaoi magazine will be debuting soon. For some reason, this seems to be the most fertile genre for anthology magazines—maybe because the fan base is so devoted. Anyway, look for the straightforwardly titled Yaoi Magazine to debut later this year, featuring plenty of global yaoi.
Reviews: There are some new names over at Manga Life, along with the veteran writers: Dan Polley reviews vol. 5 of Yuyu Hakusho, Steven Mortiboy checks out vol. 1 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, Matt Brady reads vol. 1 of Eden: It’s an Endless World, Chloe Ferguson reviews vol. 1 of Kami-Kaze, and Ryan Lewis succumbs to the charms of vol. 1 of Love Roma. Lots of manga reviews up at Active Anime, as well, where Sandra Scholes checks out vol. 1 of Winter Demon and vol. 9 of Boy Princess, Holly Ellingwood reviews vol. 1 of Moonlight Meow and vol. 1 of the light novel Trinity Blood: Reborn on Mars, and Christopher Seaman checks out vol. 14 of Tsubasa. At the MangaCast, Mangamaniac Julie reviews vol. 2 of Nosatsu Junkie, and back at the Manga Maniac Cafe she’s cluttering up the tables with Spell, vol. 2 of Time Guardian, and vol. 2 of Yurara. I think I would buy this book based on the title alone: Anime on DVD’s Andrew Kent reviews vol. 1 of You Nitwit! Heroes are Extinct! At Hobotaku, Nick enjoys vol. 1 of ME2. Billy Aguiar reviews vol. 1 of Captain Nemo for CBGXtra.com. At Manganews, Firedog reviews vol. 4 of Lunar Legend Tsukihime and mjules checks out The Way of Tea.
May I add Mushishi to your list? Although to be honest, I am willing to latch on to almost anything dealing with post-teenage life, so I enjoy Nana and Genshiken too.
An editorial in the Wall Street Journal criticizes Japan for choosing manga and anime as paths to cultural understanding.
I don’t think you can assume that manga/anime accurately portray Japanese culture any more than Seinfeld and Law & Order accurately portray American culture. They contain elements of truth, yes, BUT…
On the “manga/manwha for grown-ups” front, I’d recommend Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms, Blue Spring, Phoenix, Mitsukazu Mihara: The Embalmer, Buja’s Diary, Vagabond, Run, Bong-gu, Run!, Samurai Legend, and the unceremoniously canceled Satsuma Gishiden. Of the Fanfare/Ponent Mon books, The Walking Man is my favorite, though I’m fond of Blue and The Times of Botchan as well.
I’d certainly throw Monster on the list, and both Abandon the Old in Tokyo and The Push Man and Other Stories as well.
Is this the same Yaoi Magazine I think it is— the one that tried starting up in 2005? Most of us just assumed that peoject died in-utero, but if it is that project, I’m glad to see it hasn’t died.
It doesn’t look like it’s going to have the same distribution as BL-Twist, which is being sold in stores. This looks like it’s going to remain in ‘fanzine’ territory, and strictly mailorder. That means, unlike BL-Twist, the content is going to 18+ only. That’s good news for creators and readers who want ‘explicit’ content, but has anyone talked to Melinda Cote, to see if this is her project?
Ack! How could I have forgotten Emma or Club 9?
Psst… Matt Alexander actually spoke to Shimada-san and Shiina-san. Chris was the one who posted it.
Wow, thanks for the suggestions, everyone! I own a lot of these already, and I’m going to have to check out the others.
Tina, I don’t know but I’ll try to find out.
Ed, thanks for catching that. I always have this problem with the Manganews reviews, because the person who posts is not the person who wrote the review. But there I at least know to look out for it.
Pingback: Picture Perfect Paranoia » Blog Archive » Japanese Media as a Diplomatic Tool?
Pingback: Journalista - the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » Sept. 4, 2007: It’s Celebrate Spanish Royalty Week!