MangaBlog

ICv2 reports that comic and graphic novel sales were down in October, and they post the top 300 graphic novels in the direct market.

David Welsh looks at this week’s new releases and moves on to the letter E in his shoujo-sunjeong alphabet.

The Smithsonian is holding an Osamu Tezuka retrospective, and the website includes essays by Fred Schodt, Helen McCarthy, and other luminaries. (Via Helen McCarthy.)

Kris has some thoughts on manga-ka Yugi Yamada.

Danielle Leigh has an interesting challenge in her latest Manga Before Flowers column: Tell her what you like, and she’ll recommend a manga for you.

Deb Aoki has more details on DMP’s online original manga program.

New website alert: Manga Views is billed as “a hub for manga reviews and reviewers from around the world.” It features links to reviews all over the blogosphere as well as already active forums. Jump in and take a look! With Tangognat and Lissa Pattillo behind the scenes, it has to be good!

Manga University branches out with the Manga University Cooking Show, featuring how-to videos based on the recipes in The Manga Cookbook.

News from Japan: Hunter x Hunter is making a return, Canned Dogs reports.

Reviews: Noah Berlatsky opines on several manga and manhwa at The Hooded Utilitarian. Snow Wildsmith checks out two manga by Makoto Tateno at Good Comics for Kids.

Grant Goggans on The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga (The Hipster Dad’s Bookshelf)
Julie on vol. 1 of Comic (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Joe Iglesias on vol. 1 of Jormungand (The Eastern Standard)
Emily on King no Urashigoto (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of Moyasimon (Prospero’s Manga)
Danielle Leigh on vol. 1 of Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture (Comics Should Be Good)
Diana Dang on The Official xxxHolic Guide (Stop, Drop, and Read)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 6 of Pet Shop of Horrors Tokyo (Kuriousity)
Dan Polley on vols. 1-6 of Yotsuba&! (Comics Village)

Kate Dacey looks at this week’s new manga and finds plenty to please the ladies at The Manga Critic.

David Welsh looks at Moyasimon, Genshiken, and other manga with college settings in this week’s Flipped column, and he follows that up with a poll at Precocious Curmudgeon asking readers to vote for their favorites. Over at Myth and Manga, Akemi discusses why so many manga are set in schools.

Christopher Handley’s sentencing on charges of possession of obscene manga has been set for January 25. UPDATE: Hey, Ed Sizemore has a blog of his own! And he has an interesting perspective on the Handley case: Handley is a political prisoner.

Jason Yadao is not impressed with Kodansha’s first two releases, reissues of Akira and Ghost in the Shell.

It looks like Drawn & Quarterly is pimping a new gekiga manga creator: Imri Sakabashira. (Via The Beat.)

News from Japan: Keiko Takemiya and Trina Robbins will give a talk to kick off the opening of an exhibit about American women comics artists at the Kyoto International Manga Museum.

Reviews: Carlo Santos treats us to another round of concise manga reviews in his latest Right Turn Only!! column.

Dave Ferraro on vol. 1 of Beast Master (Comics-and-More)
Lexie on vol. 1 of Beast Master (Poisoned Rationality)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 7 of Black Jack (Kuriousity)
Connie on Clover (Slightly Biased Manga)
Cynthia on Dining Bar Akira (Boys Next Door)
Connie on vol. 2 of Dogs (Slightly Biased Manga)
Julie on vol. 7 of Gantz (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Scott VonSchilling on The Ghost in the Shell (Anime Almanac)
Cynthia on vol. 1 of Happy Boys (Boys Next Door)
D.M. Evans on vol. 2 of Kaze no Hana (Manga Jouhou)
Edward Zacharias on vol. 43 of Naruto (Animanga Nation)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of Oh! My Brother (Tangognat)
Erica Friedman on Ruri-iro Yume (Okazu)
Ken Haley on vol. 1 of Soul Eater (Manga Recon)
Katherine Farmar on vol. 1 of Walkin’ Butterfly (Comics Village)
Kinukitty on The Way to Heaven (The Hooded Utilitarian)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Yu-Gi-Oh (Good Comics for Kids)
Gia Manry on vol. 2 of Zone-00 (Anime Vice)

Lori Henderson rounds up the week’s manga news at Manga Xanadu.

Deb Aoki and the Comics Village team take a look at recent and upcoming manga releases.

Alex Hoffman muses on the place of one-shot manga stories in the Western market.

Yen Press has announced it will be doing a manga adapatation of James Patterson’s Daniel X young adult novels; this follows the success of their adaptation of Patterson’s Maximum Ride.

Lissa Pattillo is reviewing manga publishers’ websites at Kuriousity and she starts off with Digital Manga.

Deb Aoki reports on the Tezuka manga iPhone app.

Casey Brienza will be speaking on manga at the National Communication Association convention in Chicago on Friday and Saturday.

Lisp manga may sound like a type of moe, but it’s really another instructional manga, this one about the computer language Lisp. (Actually, it is pretty moe.)

News from Japan: Sankaku Complex (NSFW) reports that Shonen Sunday mangaka Tamiki Wakiki has declared that the Japanese manga industry is “in decline,” and that mangaka who expect to make a living will need to stick to ero, parody, bishonen, and bishoujo titles. Mahoromatic mangaka Bow Ditama is a bit more optimistic, though. Meanwhile, not one but two manga based on Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex are in the works, ANN reports. Deb Aoki gives us a sneak peek at Takehiko Inoue’s mural at the Tokyo Museum.

Reviews: The Manga Recon team starts off the week with a new set of Manga Minis.

Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of 07-Ghost (Manga Xanadu)
Danielle Leigh on vol. 2 of Brilliant Blue (Comics Should Be Good)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Cat Paradise (Comics Village)
Megan M. on vol. 14 of Gin Tama (Manga Bookshelf)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 7 of Goong (Manga Bookshelf)
Connie on vol. 1 of InuYasha (Vizbig edition) (Slightly Biased Manga)
Julie on vol. 1 of The Lizard Prince (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Julie on vol. 6 of Parasyte (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Michelle Smith on vol. 2 of Shinobi Life (Soliloquy in Blue)
Jen Dunbar on vols. 3 and 4 of Vampire Knight (A word is a unit of language)
Brad Rice on What’s the Answer and I Am a Turtle (Japanator)
Connie on vol. 4 of With the Light (Slightly Biased Manga)

Lori Henderson lists this week’s all-ages comics and manga at Good Comics for Kids.

There are plenty of familiar names on this week’s New York Times manga best-seller list.

Erica Friedman posts the latest yuri news at Okazu. Also, Erica solicits suggestions from her readers on some non-manga reading to broaden our horizons. Good list!

David Welsh asks his readers for some shonen suggestions for his License Request posts. The readers come through, and his first shonen request is Pyu to Fuku! Jaguar.

David E. Ford, Jr., discusses how Naoki Urasawa sends shivers up your spine at Are You A Serious Comic Book Reader? (Via The Manga Critic.)

The Rumic Word posts 50 questions (with answers!) for Rumiko Takahashi.

Attention German speakers: Tokyopop Germany director Joachim Kaps is taking part in a live chat on Nov. 20.

News from Japan: Mari Okazaki is winding up Suppli but will start a side story in the February issue of Feel Young.

Reviews: The Manga Recon team takes a look at three books for aspiring manga artists. Melinda Beasi has some additional comments on Shoujo Art Studio at Manga Bookshelf. About Heroes posts some brief manga reviews.

Greg McElhatton on vol. 1 of Akira (Read About Comics)
Kris on vol. 4 of breath (Manic About Manga)
Brenda Gregson on vol. 1 of Deka Kyoshi (Animanga Nation)
Lissa Pattillo on Exotic and Delicious Fate (Kuriousity)
Danielle Leigh on vol. 1 of Hero Tales (Comics Should Be Good!)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 1 of Hero Tales (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Phil Guie on vol. 1 of Higurashi When They Cry: Curse Killing Arc (Manga Recon)
Julie on vol. 2 of Jack Frost (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Justin Colussy-Estes on vol. 1 of Kitchen Princess (Comics Village)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu (The Manga Critic)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of The Lizard Price (Soliloquy in Blue)
Shannon Fay on vol. 4 of Love Roma (Kuriousity)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of Mikansei (Prospero’s Manga)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 1 of Oh! My Brother (i heart manga)
Connie on vol. 4 of Otomen (Slightly Biased Manga)
Diana Dang on vol. 1 of Reiko the Zombie Shop (Stop, Drop, and Read!)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 1 of Soul Eater (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Julie on vol. 5 of Two Flowers for the Dragon (Manga Maniac Cafe)

The Eastern Edge translates an interview with Moebius about manga in general and Naoki Urasawa in particular. (Doesn’t Moebuis sound like some sort of noir superhero—like Rorschach, only maybe he forms a one-sided strip or something? But he’s really a French comics creator.)

Kuriousity has the full list of November manga releases.

Patrick Macias treats us to a gekiga version of Jaws at his blog.

Craig Fischer reads God of Comics: Osamu Tezuka and draws some analogies with film at Thought Balloonists.

Welcome Datacomp translates a Japanese essay on Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaa.

David Welsh is up to the letter D in his shoujo-sunjeong alphabet. Readers kick in with more suggestions in the comments section.

At Skepticblog, Brian Dunning has a few nice things to say about the Manga Guides to various subjects.

This story on the Vancouver Opera notes that their online manga retellings of classic operas have contributed to their success.

News from Japan: Editors discovered some unpublished pages by the late Crayon Shin-Chan manga-ka Yoshito Usui, which will allow the comic to continue until the March issue of Monthly Manga Town. Kaiji Kawaguchi is ending Zipang and planning a new series for next year. And ANN has the latest Japanese comics rankings.

Reviews: Chris Mautner has some pithy manga reviews up at Robot 6.

Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 5 of Apothecarius Argentum (i heart manga)
Connie on vol. 2 of Arm of Kannon (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on Aromatic Bitters (Slightly Biased Manga)
Chloe Ferguson on The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga (Manga Recon)
Theron Martin on vol. 12 of Battle Angel Alita: Last Order (ANN)
Connie on vol. 31 of Berserk (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 3 of Detroit Metal City (Slightly Biased Manga)
Dan Polley on vol. 8 of Fairy Tail (Comics Village)
Grant Goodman on vol. 2 of The King of Debris (Manga Recon)
Connie on vol. 22 of One Piece (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 2 of Ooku (Slightly Biased Manga)
Julie on vol. 4 of Papillon (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Carlo Santos on vol. 9 of Rosario + Vampire (ANN)
Tangognat on vols. 5 and 6 of Swan (Tangognat)
George R. on vol. 1 of Taisho Yakyuu Musume (Okazu)
D.M. Evans on vol. 5 of Zombie-Loan (Manga Jouhou)

Brad Rice and David Welsh check out this week’s new releases, which are heavy on the shoujo, apparently, and Tangognat looks at the month ahead.

Deb Aoki takes a look at the Harlequin manga that Digital will be publishing online.

Publishers Weekly has posted its Best Books of 2009 list and both Pluto and A Drifting Life make the “comics” list.

Cathy shows off her collection at it can’t all be about manga.

InuYasha creator Rumiko Takahashi blogs about Kagome’s uniform at The Rumic World.

Neither of these is manga, but they are both sort of interesting for other reasons: I interviewed Mark Waid of Boom Studios for PWCW, and at Robot 6 my Unbound column takes a look at dead webcomics.

Reviews: Ed Sizemore reviews Hayao Miyazaki’s Starting Point: 1979-1996, a book of writings by and interviews with the director, at Comics Worth Reading.

Danielle Leigh on vol. 1 of Beast Master (Comics Should Be Good!)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 2 of Black Bird (Manga Bookshelf)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of Bloody Kiss (Prospero’s Manga)
Julie on Boys Love (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Michelle Smith on vols. 4 and 5 of Case Closed (Soliloquy in Blue)
Steven M. Bari on vol. 32 of Case Closed (Manga Life)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 10 of The Gentlemen’s Alliance+ (Manga Life)
Joy Kim on vol. 1 of Hero Tales (Manga Life)
Andre on An Ideal World (Kuriousity)
Emily on Kanojo wa Uso wo Aishisugiteru (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 14 of Love*Com (Manga Life)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Manga no Tsukirikata (Okazu)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of Mikansei and vol. 1 of Momogumi Senkei (Tangognat)
Nick Popio on vol. 1 of Nightschool (Girlamatic)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 1 of Ouran High School Host Club (i heart manga)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of Papillon (Tangognat)
Danica Davidson on vols. 1-3 of Romance Papa (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Jennifer Dunbar on vols. 1 and 2 of Two Flowers for the Dragon (A word is a unit of language)
Katherine Farmar on Weekend Lovers (Comics Village)
John Martone on vol. 1 of X-Men: Misfits (Anime Vice)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Yokaiden (Manga Xanadu)
Barb Lien-Cooper on vol. 1 of Yotsuba&! (Manga Life)