Reactions to Kodansha’s move to set up a U.S. subsidiary continue to roll in. David Welsh wins for the day with his concise article summing up the importance of the move and the possible consequences for readers at The Comics Reporter. At his blog, Mecha Mecha Media, John Thomas provides us with an English version of the Nikkei article that broke the news that Kodansha, the largest publisher in Japan, is opening a U.S. subsidiary. Simon Jones, always one of the most perceptive observers of the American manga market, takes a look (NSFW) at the reasons for and possible results of Kodansha’s decision, and he provides an interesting capsule survey of the American manga scene at the same time. And he points out what the rest of us tend to forget, that Kodansha has been doing the publishing thing quite well in the U.S. market for quite some time, so maybe, just maybe, they know what they are doing. At Comics Worth Reading, Johanna Draper Carlson wonders whether this move will cause prices to drop across the board. And here’s an interesting twist: Annalee Newitz of io9 thinks the move means Kodansha will publish non-Japanese manga. (Hat tip: John Thomas.)
At Manga Xanadu, Lori Henderson puts in her two cents on Kodansha and also notes that Tokyopop will be participating in panels and contests at Anime Expo, although they won’t have a booth there.
The MangaCast staff list this week’s new manga and what their picks will be.
The Manga_Talk LJ community is dormant most of the time, but whenever someone posts a question it gets interesting. The most recent one is about rape in shoujo manga, and both the post and the comments are worth a look.
Congratulations to Ryan and Evan of Same Hat! Same Hat!, who just got their advance copies of Tokyo Zombie, which they translated and edited.
Translators Alethea and Athena Nibley write about “workreation,” which is a good word to describe getting paid to read manga, at Manga Life.
News from Japan: ANN has word of a new manga by Dragonaut—The Resonance artist Satoshi Kinoshita and another Slayers manga.
Reviews: Ed Sizemore reviews two new Del Rey titles at Comics Worth Reading: Haridama: Magic Cram School and vol. 1 of Toto! The Wonderful Adventure. Also found at CWR: Lunch in a Box reviews a super-cute title, The Manga Cookbook. New reviews at Manga Life: Robert Murray on vol. 1 of Rosario + Vampire, Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 5 of S.A. and vols. 2-4 of High School Debut, and Park Cooper on vol. 1 of Real. Sakura Eries reviews vol. 1 of Walkin’ Butterfly and Erin Jones checks out vol. 2 of Good Witch of the West at Anime on DVD. Lissa Pattillo reads A Foreign Love Affair at Kuri-ousity. At Okazu, Erica Friedman doesn’t find much to like about Goshujin ni Amai Ringo no Okashi. Sesho gives vol. 2 of 10, 20, and 30 a B+. Chloe Ferguson reads vol. 1 of I-Doll at PopCultureShock’s Manga Recon blog. At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie reviews vol. 2 of Shinsoku Kiss, vol. 10 of Dragon Head, and vol. 7 of Kikaider Code 02.
Aw shucks, thanks Brigid! The big shipment will be coming in soon, and LG will be sending out advanced copies to reviewers (including you) in July. I’ve read the book so many times I have no perspective, but I’m excited to finally hear what others think.