MangaBlog

First things first: Head over to The Eastern Edge, where gottsu-iiyan has translated an interview with Naoki Urasawa about how he makes his comics.

Last week was a bit of a blur, so I don’t remember if I linked to Jason Thompson’s excellent column on culture clash and manga at io9. If you haven’t read it already, go check it out; he has some interesting things to say, not just about the Dragon Ball and Spice and Wolf controversies but about the medium in general. Meanwhile, at Anime Diet, Moritheil does a little digging on Joe Holloway, the county councilman whose grandstanding got the whole Dragon Ball controversy started.

Udon’s Matt Moylan talks about his company’s plans for Mega Man artbooks and manga.

David Welsh gets to B in the manga/manhwa alphabet and asks his readers to suggest their favorites.

DMP has a sale on right now, and Melinda Beasi recommends some titles.

My Paranoid Next Door Neighbor creator Haruka Minami is blogging in English at the DMP site. (Via ANN.)

News from Japan: It has been suggested that a reader-designed monster in the manga Toriko is awfully similar to the monster in Dragon Quest. A new website has been set up to translate the news of the day into manga form in a number of languages, including English. And ANN has the latest comics rankings.

Reviews: Here’s a new review blog to check out: A word is a unit of language, where Jen Dunbar, the newest contributor to Manga Recon, stretches her wings a little. Her latest review at the site is of vols. 1 and 2 of Vampire Knight.

Matthew Alexander on vol. 7 of Alive (Mania.com)
Danica Davidson on vol. 1 of Ballad of a Shinigami (Graphic Novel Reporter)
James Fleenor on Battlestar Galactica: Echoes of New Caprica (Anime Sentinel)
Julie on vol. 1 of Cat Paradise (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Kris on Chocolate Surprise (Manic About Manga)
Connie on vol. 27 of Eyeshield 21 (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 7 of Fairy Tail (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kinukitty on Foreign Love Affair (The Hooded Utilitarian)
Matthew Rozier on vol. 20 of Fullmetal Alchemist (Comics Village)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 7 of Honey and Clover (Manga Life)
Jennifer Dunbar on vols. 1 and 2 of March on Earth (Manga Recon)
Connie on vol. 15 of Monster (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sesho on vol. 46 of Naruto (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Joy Kim on vol. 2 of Nightschool (Manga Life)
Connie on vol. 19 of O-Parts Hunter (Slightly Biased Manga)
Steven M. Bari on vol. 6 of Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka (Manga Life)
Penny Kenny on vol. 1 of Rasetsu (Manga Life)
Lissa Pattillo on part 2 of Legend of Zelda – Four Swords (Kuriousity)
Connie on vol. 1 of Tale of an Unknown Country (Manga Recon)

Deb Aoki talks to Garrett Boast, the founder of ShojoBerry, a new manga magazine that is still in the works.

Here’s a blog title I wish I’d snapped up first: Nevermind the Bollocks, Here’s NANA. Check out the first (and so far, only) post, Inspirations and Aspirations of NANA. (Via Journalista.)

Librarian and manga fiend Tangognat finds a project that many librarians will find useful: A cataloging manual for manga.

Reviews

Emily on Billion Girl (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Blog)
Danica Davidson on vols. 1-4 of Bride of the Water God (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Andre on vol. 1 of Detroit Metal City (Kuriousity)
Casey Brienza on vols. 1 and 2 of Gravitation Collection (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Courtney Kraft on vol. 2 of Higurashi When They Cry: Cotton Drifting Arc (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Dan Polley on vol. 1 of The Lapis Lazuli Crown (Comics Village)
Danica Davidson on vols. 1-3 of Peach Fuzz (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Danielle Leigh on vol. 8 of Vampire Knight (Comics Should Be Good)
Dave Ferraro on vol. 1 of What a Wonderful World (Comics-and-More)
Greg McElhatton on vol. 1 of X-Men: Misfits (Read About Comics)
Julie on the November issue of Yen Plus (part two) (Manga Maniac Cafe)

David Welsh, Deb Aoki, and Brad Rice look over this week’s new releases.

ICv2 has the direct market graphic novel chart for September, and Matt Blind posts the online sales manga chart from the week ending July 26.

Viz’s offices were hit by a flash flood yesterday, but don’t worry, staff and manga are all safe and dry.

The Astro Boy manga is coming to the iPhone.

News from Japan: Things seem to be kind of slow there, actually, but ANN has news of a new one-shot in Ultra Jump by Hiroyuki Takei (Shaman King, Ultimo) and Katsuya Terada (character designer for Blood). Also, the unfortunately named Beans Ace is folding.

Reviews: The Manga Recon team serves up an extra helping of Manga Minis today. Tangognat posts some short reviews of new volumes as well.

Melinda Beasi on Boys Over Flowers Jewelry Box (Manga Bookshelf)
Theron Martin on vol. 14 of Chibi Vampire (ANN)
Cynthia on Gay’s Anatomy (Boys Next Door)
Katherine Farmar on The History of the West Wing (Comics Village)
David Welsh on Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu (The Comics Reporter)
Julie on vol. 4 of Minima! (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Edward Zacharias on vol. 42 of Naruto (Animanga Nation)
Gia Manry on Oh! My Brother (Anime Vice)
Connie on vol. 7 of Record of a Fallen Vampire (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 18 of Tenjho Tenge (Slightly Biased Manga)
Tangognat on vol. 3 of Tsubasa: Those With Wings (Tangognat)
Bill Sherman on vol. 1 of What a Wonderful World (Pop Culture Gadabout)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 14 of xxxHolic (Manga Bookshelf)
Cynthia on vol. 3 of ZE (Boys Next Door)

The Comics Village team picks the best of this week’s new releases.

At ANN, Evan Miller talks to artist Bettina Kurkoski of My Cat Loki and Warriors fame.

Lori Henderson turns out another excellent and thorough look at the week’s manga news at Manga Xanadu.

Scott VonSchilling talks to Vertical’s Ed Chavez about his company’s presence at NYAF.

Gia goes all scientific on us at Anime Vice with some interesting reading about the different ways women and men respond to pictures of people having sex, which may shed a bit of light on the yaoi enigma.

The latest lesson at Manga University: How to Draw Males.

At Okazu, Erica Friedman has some advice for anime and manga publishers who go to conventions, and she also rounds up the week’s yuri news.

News from Japan: Apparently the hot new enteprise in Japan is turning company manuals into manga. Also, lucky moviegoers will get a copy of “vol. 0” of One PIece as a special gift.

Reviews: The Manga Recon team checks out some new titles in their latest On the Shojo Beat and Manga MInis columns. (Warning: Obnoxious interstitial ad.) Thanks to the PCS folks for removing the annoying ad!

Alex Hoffmann on Apollo’s Song (Comics Village)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 1 of Apothecarius Argentum (i heart manga)
Lexie on vol. 1 of Ballad of a Shinigami (Poisoned Rationality)
Michelle Smith on vol. 29 of Bleach (Soliloquy in Blue)
Michelle Smith on vols. 1-6 of Comic (Soliloquy in Blue)
Sesho on vol. 12 of Eden (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Julie on vol. 4 of Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on vol. 14 of Monster (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 8 of Nora: The Last Chronicle of Devildom (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 8 of One Thousand and One Nights (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 5 of Pluto (Slightly Biased Manga)
Snow Wildsmith on vols. 1-3 of Prince Charming (Manga Jouhou)
Grant on vol. 1 of Red String (The Hipster Dad’s Bookshelf)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Rin-ne (Manga Critic)
Connie on vol. 7 of Slam Dunk (Slightly Biased Manga)
Michelle Smith on vols. 15-18 of Skip Beat! (Soliloquy in Blue)
Julie on vol. 8 of Vampire Knight (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Greg McElhatton on vol. 1 of What a Wonderful World (Read About Comics)
Julie on the November issue of Yen Plus (Manga Maniac Cafe)

The Chicks on Anime Roundtable picks an interesting topic this week: The submissive man is a staple of yaoi manga, but what about submissive women?

The Same Hat guys offer a preview of the latest issue of their zine, Electric Ant #2.

Today is the last day to enter to win a copy of Jiro Taniguchi’s A Distant Neighborhood from Precocious Curmudgeon blogger David Welsh.

News from Japan: Bessatsu Young Magazine is going from bimonthly to monthly, with the new name Monthly Young Magazine, and they wound up five serials in the last issue under the old format.

Reviews: Melinda Beasi, Danielle Leigh, and Michelle Smith post the latest entry in The NANA Project, their review of vols. 5 and 6 of Nana. EvilOmar checks in with some brief reviews of recent manga at About Heroes. Yoshinori Natsume is starting a sequel to Togari in Monthly Comic Flapper.

Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 2 of 13th Boy (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vols. 1-3 of Cain (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Danielle Leigh on vol. 3 of Cirque du Freak (Comics Should Be Good!)
Connie on vol. 3 of Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 13 of Monster (Slightly Biased Manga)
Emily on Ougon Kamen (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Erica Friedman on vol. 1 of Shitsurakeun (Okazu)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Tale of an Unknown Country (Comics Village)

Lissa Pattillo posts the list of October manga releases and some yaoi updates at Kuriousity.

Jake Forbes has a sneak peek at some art from vol. 4 of Return to Labyrinth.

A is for Awesome: David Welsh asks his readers to name their favorite shoujo manga that start with the letter A.

The print edition of Rin-ne will be published simutaneously in the U.S. and Japan.

News from Japan: ANN reports that Boys Be… and Bloody Monday will be starting up again with new story arcs. They also have the latest comics rankings from Oricon and Tohan.

Reviews: Park Cooper and Barb Lien-Cooper discuss Vagabond at Manga Life. Tangognat has some short takes on recent releases from CMX.

Lissa Pattillo on vol. 2 of 13th Boy (Kuriousity)
Connie on Age Called Blue (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 2 of Black Bird (Slightly Biased Manga)
Dan Polley on vol. 6 of Black God (Comics Village)
Deb Aoki on vol. 1 of Bloody Kisstan (About.com)
Julie on vol. 4 of Bride of the Water God (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Diana Dang on vol. 1 of Crown (Stop, Drop, and Read!)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 1 of Dark Wraith of Shannara (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Julie on vol. 15 of D.Gray-Man (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Julie on vols. 5 and 6 of Gantz (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Stephen Joyce on vol. 13 of Hayate the Combat Butler (Manga Life)
Casey Brienza on vol. 2 of Hot Gimmick (VIZBig edition) (ANN)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 2 of Kaze Hikaru (Kuriousity)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol 2 of Kimi ni Todoke: From Me To You (Manga Life)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 6 of Legend (Manga Bookshelf)
Connie on vol. 12 of Monster (Slightly Biased Manga)
Matthew J. Brady on vol. 1 of Moysasimon (Warren Peace Sings the Blues)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 2 of Nightschool (Kuriousity)
Michelle Smith on vols. 1-4 of Vampire Knight (Soliloquy in Blue)