MangaBlog

Great work by The Yaoi Review, which caught news of Digital’s “secret project” to hire scanlators on spec to translate them. In a followup post, Digital prez Hikaru Sasahara answers some concerns, stating that Digital will be acquiring the licenses on spec as well. I posted a summary and a bit of commentary at Robot 6; drop by and let me know what you think.

At bunny_phobic, Jenny looks at the anti-scanlation move and publishers’ recent changes in quality from a consumer’s point of view, and she even ranks the publishers in terms of translation quality. Helen McCarthy discusses the difficulty of taking copyright infringers to court and expresses optimism about legal digital delivery of manga.

At Reverse Thieves, Hisui and Narutaki discuss the SigIKKI website.

The latest Sci-Guys podcast includes some manga talk and a farewell to to the late blogger Tiamat’s Disciple.

News from Japan: I haven’t been following this very closely, but Simon Jones has a nice summary: The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly defeated the “nonexistent youth” bill that would have classified some manga as “harmful to minors.” Dan Kanemitsu has more.

Reviews: Michelle Smith and Melinda Beasi chat about recent titles in their Off the Shelf feature at Manga Bookshelf, and Michelle and Jennifer Dunbar look at some recent Shojo Beat releases at Manga Recon.

Shannon Fay on vol. 8 of 20th Century Boys (Kuriousity)
Deb Aoki on vol. 1 of Afterschool Charisma (About.com)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Afterschool Charisma (The Comic Book Bin)
Sesho on vol. 1 of Biomega (Sesoh’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Julie Opipari on vol. 5 of B.O.D.Y. (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Zack Davisson on vol. 2 of Deadman Wonderland (Manga Life)
Connie on vol. 9 of Gentlemen’s Alliance+ (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 15 of Hayate the Combat Butler (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kate Dacey on vols. 1-4 of Honey Hunt (The Manga Critic)
Faith McAdams on vol. 1 of Saturn Apartments (Animanga Nation)
Erica Friedman on Shitsuji Shoujo to Ojousama (Okazu)
Lori Henderson on the July issue of Shonen Jump (Manga Xanadu)
Joe Iglesias on vol. 1 of Toriko (The Eastern Standard)
Sakura Eries on vol. 6 of With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child (Mania.com)
Sam Kusek on World of Warcraft: Mage (Manga Recon)

Kai-Ming Cha surveys the landscape at PWCW and concludes that despite a tough year, the remaining manga publishers are holding on pretty tight. While several publishers say that scanlations (and scan aggregators) do hurt their sales, I was also interested by the comments of Hikaru Sasahara, president of DMP, who thinks that scanlation isn’t the problem, it’s high licensing fees.

At Robot 6, I rounded up some reactions to last week’s announcement that publishers would be working to shut down scan sites, and I note a couple that have simply folded their doors. Deb Aoki takes a look at the scanlation scene as well at About.com. AstroNerdBoy editorializes a bit on the topic, pointing out two lessons from history: Attempting to stop others from disseminating your product seldom works, but seizing on new opportunities often does. Daniella Orihuela-Gruber looks at it from the point of view of someone who makes her living as a freelance editor.

David Welsh has a quick look at this week’s new comics at Precocious Curmudgeon.

Melinda Beasi rounds up the latest manhwa linkage in her weekly Manhwa Monday post at Manga Bookshelf.

Kate Dacey lists her 10 favorite CMX series at The Manga Critic, and it’s a good reminder of the diversity and quality of their books.

The Japanese e-book publisher Bitway has invested $750,000 in the anime site Crunchyroll. As Bitway publishes some manga, this raises the possibility of anime-manga synergy, which has been known to boost sales in the past.

News from Japan: Shogakukan has launched a Shonen Sunday app for the iPhone; the app itself is free, and users can buy content through it. Also, Satoshi Arai, recently apointed the State Minister for National Policy, has acknowledged that it was not a good idea for his political organization to charge a couple of volumes of Paradise Kiss and Kami no Shizuku (Drops of the Gods) as official expenses.

Reviews

Zack Davisson on vol. 3 of Alice in the Country of Hearts (Japan Reviewed)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 5 of Bamboo Blade (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Bunny Drop (Manga Xanadu)
Julie Opipari on vol. 2 of Cat Paradise (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Children of the Sea (The Comic Book Bin)
Sesho on vol. 1 of Culdcept (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Snow Wildsmith on Dry Heat (Fujoshi Librarian)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 11 of Gakuen Alice (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Susan S. on vol. 7 of Goong (Manga Jouhou)
Ken Haley on vol. 1 of I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow (Manga Recon)
Connie on vol. 16 of Inubaka (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 2 of Kobato (Slightly Biased Manga)
Shannon Fay on Maniac Shorts Shot (Kuriousity)
Sesho on vol. 6 of Negima (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Deb Aoki on vol. 1 of Neko Ramen (About.com)
Zack Davisson on vol. 1 of Neko Ramen (Manga Life)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 6 of Otomen (ANN)
Dave Ferraro on vol. 1 of Saturn Apartments (Comics-and-More)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of Toriko (Tangognat)
Erica Friedma on Yuri Pop (Okazu)

There’s lots of commentary going on about scanlations and the manga publishers’ recent move to shut down manga aggregator sites (which often host scans of licensed manga as well as scanlations of unlicensed titles).

Erica Friedman sees scanlations as the solution to a problem—fans want to read manga that is not translated, and probably never will be—and she tries to envision a legal scanlation model in which artists would agree to allow their work to be translated outside the regular publishing framework and readers and translators would pay a small fee. Fix yourself a cup of coffee before you start reading, because her post is long and the ensuing discussion in comments, while interesting, is even longer. Alex Leavitt also ponders some of the issues raised by scanlation and online manga.

Michael Pinto sees another problem: Shrink-wrapped manga, which prevents him (and other customers) from browsing and discovering new series.

At The Yaoi Review, Jennifer LeBlanc reports that Digital Manga is considering a scanlation-like project with fans translating manga that would be published strictly online. Check the comments for a robust discussion!

Most of the big scan sites were still up as of this morning, but a few of the smaller ones are shutting down. Manga Helpers has pulled its manga scans and plans to start a new site, Open Manga, which will be a legit fan translation site, apparently. Manga Downloads announced that it is closing up shop because apparently the person behind it has run out of money and time to maintain it. Interestingly, Manga Downloads appears to be affiliated with MangaFox, one of the top aggregator sites. An admin at Manga Volume stated on their forum that they are one of the 30 sites being targeted, adding, “Though, to be honest, the authors do need the money.” And Anime A announced on their website that they have stopped carrying manga due to an “indirect” request from publishers; click on a title, and you get the message “The manga publishers are asking to take down the titles in a press release. We have faith that they will come up with something that can replace online mangareaders.” And the scanlation group Nagareboshi Manga is quitting but handing over its projects to another group, so you could hardly call that a win for the rights holders.

And in Japan, a 14-year-old has been arrested for posting manga on YouTube before its official release.

Lori Henderson rounds up the week’s manga news at Manga Xanadu and posts the complete list of this week’s all-ages comics and manga at Good Comics for Kids.

Reviews: The Manga Recon team starts the week with the latest set of Manga Minis.

Kate Dacey on Black Jack, Laon, and 20th Century Boys (The Manga Critic)
Cynthia on Dry Heat (Boys Next Door)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 13 of Excel Saga (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Fairy Navigator Runa (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Mely on vols. 1-27 of Fullmetal Alchemist (coffeeandink)
kelkagandy on HaruHana: The Complete Collection (kelkagandy’s ramblings)
Snow Wildsmith on vol. 1 of I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow (Fujoshi Librarian)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 8 of The Magic Touch (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 6 of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Julie Opipari on vol. 7 of Mixed Vegetables (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Sesho on vol. 6 of Negima (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Marsha Reid on vol. 2 of One Fine Day (Kuriousity)
Sean Gaffney on vols. 52 and 53 of One Piece (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Cynthia on vol. 1 of Otodama: Voice from the Dead (Boys Next Door)
Charles Solomon on Real (Los Angeles Times)
Melinda Beasi on vols. 1-2 of Slam Dunk and vols. 1-8 of Real (Manga Bookshelf)
D.M. Evans on vol. 8 of Spiral: Bonds of Reasoning (Manga Jouhou)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Toriko (A Case Suitable for Treatment)

Drawing by Makoto Takahashi

The Daily Yomiuri profiles artist Makoto Takahashi, but neglects to include any of his art on their page. To remedy that, go look at this old post from Kurutta that features some of his work—or just glance to the right.

Sean Gaffney takes a look at next week’s new manga.

Marc Bernabe, the author of the Japanese in Mangaland books, is working on a new project, Masters of Manga, in which he interviews veteran manga creators. He’s just getting started, but already it’s well worth a look.

Translators Athena and Alethea Nibley discuss translation notes at Manga Life.

News from Japan: Four developers of cell phone manga have established the first awards for mobile-phone comics, Keitai Comic Taishō. The publishers chose 20 nominees, and users will vote for the winners. GetBackers artist Rando Ayamine is suffering from depression and has taken a break from his work on Oniwaka to Ushiwaka: Edge of the World, his current series.

Reviews

Tom Baker on Black Blizzard (The Daily Yomiuri)
Erica Friedman on vol. 1 of Comic Lily Plus (Okazu)
Shaenon Garrity on vol. 1 of The Dark Hunters (About.com)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 5 of Ikigami (The Comic Book Bin)
Zack Davisson on vol. 1 of Maoh: Juvenile Remix (Japan Reviewed)
D.M. Evans on Mugen Spiral (omnibus edition) (Manga Jouhou)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 26 of Negima (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Charles Webb on Not Simple (Manga Life)
Ken Haley on vol. 1 of Ratman (Manga Recon)
Bill Sherman on vol. 1 of Red Hot Chili Samurai (Blogcritics)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 7 of Sand Chronicles (Manga Life)
Connie on vol. 8 of Sand Chronicles (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kate Dacey on Silent Möbius (The Manga Critic)
Emily on Ume ni Uguisu (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Connie on vol. 11 of We Were There (Slightly Biased Manga)

Jake Forbes adds his two cents to the scanlation conversation with something constructive: A possible new model for digital manga publishing that includes fan translations but allows the creators to stay in control. Chris Beveridge editorializes at Mania.com (formerly Anime on DVD); in his opinion, the publishers need to offer a digital alternative. Gottsu-Iiyan (who is a professional translator, so like Jake, he does have a dog in this race) doesn’t buy the noble-scanlator version of things. Helen McCarthy, author of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga, looks at the whole situation from an author’s perspective. Japanator’s Brad Rice goes straight to the sources and talks to the publishers about their new anti-piracy coalition.

Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss a variety of recent releases in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf.

Lori Henderson looks over all the commentary on the demise of CMX and concludes that parent company DC was ultimately to blame for the line’s failure.

Gia Manry talks about sex, religion, and piracy with Gilles Poitras, author of The Anime Companion.

Chih-Chieh Chang reports on a talk by Kenshi Hiroikane, the creator of many business manga, including Kosaku Shima.

Khursten sings the praises of Nakamura Asumiko, creator of Double Mint, at Otaku Champloo.

News from Japan: The Japan Basketball Association is giving Slam Dunk manga-ka Takehiko Inoue a special commendation for helping boost the popularity of the sport. Also, ANN has the latest Japanese comics rankings.

Reviews: If you’re in a shoujo kind of mood, check out my review of vol. 1 of Fairy Navigator Runa at Graphic Novel Reporter.

Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on AX: Alternative Manga (All About Manga)
Connie on vol. 4 of Baby & Me (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 2 of Black Butler (Slightly Biased Manga)
Snow Wildsmith on vol. 2 of Black Butler (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Connie on vol. 9 of Black Lagoon (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of Ikigami (Slightly Biased Manga)
Julie Opipari on vol. 2 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (Blog@Newsarama)
Julie Opipari on vol. 1 of Library Wars: Love and War (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Library Wars: Love and War (ANN)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of Millennium Prime Minister (Tangognat)
Andre on vol. 1 of My Darling! Miss Bancho (Kuriousity)
Snow Wildsmith on vol. 1 of Otodama: Voice from the Dead (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Clive Owen on vol. 1 of Rosario + Vampire, Season II (Animanga Nation)
Connie on vol. 19 of Saint Seiya (Slightly Biased Manga)
Deb Aoki on vol. 1 of Toriko (About.com)

At Robot 6, I rounded up reactions to yesterday’s announcement that Japanese and U.S. publishers are uniting to fight rampant copyright infringement by scan sites.

Reviews: Carlo Santos looks over a handful of recent releases in his latest Right Turn Only!! column. And if you want to take a break from all the scanlation news, check out Erin Finnegan’s review of all 15 volumes of Swan.

Kate Dacey on vols. 1-4 of 13th Boy (The Manga Critic)
Shawn O’Rourke on Black Blizzard (PopMatters)
Lori Henderson on vol. 4 of Cirque du Freak (Comics Village)
Connie on vol. 16 of Claymore (Slightly Biased Manga)
Ed Sizemore on vols. 1 and 2 of Deadman Wonderland (Comics Worth Reading)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 5 of Detroit Metal City (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on vol. 11 of Elemental Gelade (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 8 of Gentlemen’s Alliance+ (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on vol. 3 of Jormungand (Okazu)
D.M. Evans on vol. 2 of Nightschool (Manga Jouhou)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 50 of One Piece (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 18 of Saint Seiya (Slightly Biased Manga)
Zack Davisson on vol. 1 of Toriko (Manga Life)