MangaBlog

Viz launched its Shonen Sunday website last week, featuring free online manga from the Japanese magazine of the same name. Here’s the official rundown on the launch titles.

VIZ MEDIA PREVIEWS THREE EXCITING MANGA SERIES TO BE PUBLISHED UNDER THE NEW
SHONEN SUNDAY IMPRINT
AT THE 2009 COMIC-CON SHOW

New Manga Chapters From Each Series Will Be Previewed For Free On The Official SHONEN SUNDAY Website With Print Versions Scheduled To Be Published In 2010

San Francisco, CA, JULY 28, 2009 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, previewed three upcoming manga titles to be published under the company’s newest imprint – SHONEN SUNDAY – for a packed audience at its Anime & Manga panel discussion at the recent 2009 Comic-Con International show in San Diego, CA.

The new manga series will debut in 2010 and will include ARATA: THE LEGEND by renowned manga creator Yuu Watase, MAOH: JUVENILE REMIX based on the original story by Kotaro Isaka with story and art by Megumi Osuga, and HYDE & CLOSER by Haro Aso. Every month, the official SHONEN SUNDAY website at www.ShonenSunday.com will present a new chapter from each of the three new titles online for free, as well as post a new chapter from the ongoing action/fantasy adventure KEKKAISHI by Yellow Tanabe (rated ‘T’ for Teens; published domestically by VIZ Media).

The new manga line-up will complement the current online serialization of another SHONEN SUNDAY series, RIN-NE, which is now available at www.TheRumicWorld.com, the official North American website for all Rumiko Takahashi news. RIN-NE is the first SHONEN SUNDAY manga series to be published simultaneously in Japan and North America, and the graphic novels will go on sale nationwide on October 20, 2009.

“The expansion of our new SHONEN SUNDAY imprint and website with these new titles give manga fans a lot to be excited about,” says Shie Lundberg, Sr. Director, Strategy and Business Development. “The official SHONEN SUNDAY website is a comprehensive destination for new manga chapters, featured previews, trailers, downloadable wallpapers, news, creator interviews and more. We invite fans to visit the site regularly for free updates and keep and eye out for the debut of these acclaimed new series in 2010.”

ARATA: THE LEGEND • Rated ‘T’ for Teens •
MSRP: $9.99 U.S. / $12.99 CAN • Available: March 2010
In a mythical world where humans and gods co-exist, a ceremony marking the new governing princess is about to occur for the first time in 60 years. Only a girl from the Hime Clan may take this position, but the lack of females born to this family means that a boy called Arata must pose for the role. Meanwhile in modern-day Japan, a boy named Arata Hinohara is starting his new life in high school. He wants to put memories of his difficult past behind him, but things aren’t going to be simple when he discovers a mysterious connection to the first Arata…
VIZ Media has also publishes the following works by Yuu Watase:
ABSOLUTE BOYFRIEND
ALICE 19TH
CERES: CELESTIAL LEGEND
FUSHIGI YÛGI
FUSHIGI YÛGI: GENBU KAIDEN
IMADOKI!

MAOH: JUVENILE REMIX • Rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens•
MSRP: $9.99 U.S. / $12.99 CAN • Available: May 2010
“As crazy as your ideas might be, as long as you believe in yourself and tackle the issue head-on, you can even change the world.”
Ando is a high school student who has the power to make others say out loud what he’s thinking. Inukai is the mysterious leader of a vigilante group called Grasshopper, which is at odds with the city’s redevelopment plan. In this chaotic city, these two will come together to weave a story of courage, determination and confrontation.
MAOH: Juvenile Remix is based on the original novel MAOH by Kotaro Isaka.
HYDE & CLOSER • Rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens •
MSRP: $9.99 U.S. / $12.99 CAN • Available: July 2010
Shunpei Closer is your average…well, slightly below average kid in junior high who finds himself in the middle of a great battle of dark sorcery. With cursed dolls coming after him one after another, Shunpei Closer’s life is in danger! If that weren’t enough, Hyde, the teddy bear given to him by his grandfather, suddenly comes alive to rescue him. With Hyde’s help, can Shunpei save himself and live to see another day?

It has been a busy week, manga-wise, but Lori Henderson has a great roundup of all the latest news at Manga Xanadu, while David Welsh looks over the most promising of the new manga announcements at Precocious Curmudgeon.

I linked to Tiamat’s Disciple’s post justifying scanlations yesterday, and I’m linking to it again for two reasons: There’s quite the lively discussion going on in the comments section, and Simon Jones has addressed the issue quite admirably from the publisher’s point of view at the Icarus Blog (possibly NSFW; wouldn’t fly in my office). Read the comments there as well.

Deb Aoki picks out the 30 most memorable moments of SDCC from a manga-lovers point of view.

Matt Blind posts the top 500 manga (online sales) at Rocket Bomber, and the New York Times has their much smaller best-seller list up as well.

News from Japan: The new Kingdom Hearts manga has begun in Shounen Gangan, but Gia points out that the U.S. won’t get the game until September. At Same Hat! Same Hat!, Ryan presents a look at chapter 2 of Suehiro Maruo’s Imomushi (in Japanese).

Reviews: The Manga Recon team posts another set of Manga Minis for your enjoyment, and Michelle Smith takes a look at a manga-related book, Manga Kamishibai: The Art of Japanese Paper Theater. Elsewhere:

Melinda Beasi on vol. 1 of Amefurashi: The Rain Goddess (Manga Recon)
Scott VonSchilling on vol. 1 of The Battle of Genryu: Origin (The Anime Almanac)
Dave Ferraro on vol. 1 of Black Bird (Comics-and-More)
Kate Dacey on vols. 1-3 of Dororo (The Manga Critic)
John Mitchell on A Drifting Life (the johnandjanaverse)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Gokujou Drops (Okazu)
Connie on vol. 7 of Honey and Clover (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 6 of Land of the Blindfolded (i heart manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of Papillon (Slightly Biased Manga)
Julie on vol. 1 of Pluto (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on vol. 1 of Record of a Fallen Vampire (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carson on Swallowing the Earth (Comics Worth Reading)
Laura on vol. 1 of To Terra (Heart of Manga)
Melinda Beasi on Unsophisticated and Rude (There it is, Plain as Daylight)

Lori Henderson attended the women in manga panel at SDCC and got some interesting insights, but overall she feels the con has become too crowded to be worthwhile. Lorena Nava Ruggero writes about the Best and Worst Manga panel, and Lissa Pattillo files her report on the Del Rey panel.

During the Yen Press panel, one panelist stated flat out that scanlations hurt the manga industry. Tiamat’s Disciple articulates the opposite point of view.

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

Erica Friedman checks in with the latest from Yuri Network News, and she also comments on the continuing conversation about women and comics—and urges us to buy the T-shirt!

Ed Sizemore reports on his experiences at Otakon (part 1, part 2) at Comics Worth Reading, and Scott VonSchilling reports on the highlights at The Anime Almanac. Grant Goodman checks in with part 2 of his con report at Manga Recon.

Completely OT, but fun to look at: A set of trade cards, published around 1900, that show what life will be like in the 21st century: Balloon rides to the North Pole, personal airplanes, roofed cities. Well worth a click. (Via one of my favorite non-comics blogs, Weekend Stubble.)

Reviews: Noting “It’s a great time to be a grown-up (manga fan),” Christopher Butcher reviews the new stories posted at Viz’s Sig-IKKI website. I gave some quick first impressions of Tokyopop’s new releases in the What Are You Reading? column at Robot 6.

Melinda Beasi on vol. 1 of Afterschool Nightmare (Comics Should Be Good)
Connie on vol. 1 of Angelic Runes (Manga Recon)
Connie on Anywhere But Here (Slightly Biased Manga)
Julie on vol. 1 of Bloody Kiss (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 4 of Emma (i heart manga)
Andrew Cunningham on vol. 7 of Faust (Japanese edition) (The Eastern Standard)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 2 of Goong (i heart manga)
Shannon Fay on vol. 1 of Ikigami – The Ultimate Limit (Kuriousity)
Michelle Smith on vols. 1 and 2 of Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit (Soliloquy in Blue)
Julie on In Odd We Trust (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on vols. 25, 26, and 27 of Iron Wok Jan (Slightly Biased Manga)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 1 of Key Princess Story: Eternal Alice Rondo (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Sesho on vol. 36 of Naruto (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 23 of Negima (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Danielle Leigh on On Bended Knee and Unsophisticated and Rude (Comics Should Be Good)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of Pig Bride (Soliloquy in Blue)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 4 of Pluto (Comics Worth Reading)
Connie on vol. 5 of Real (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 6 of Sand Chronicles (Slightly Biased Manga)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 8 of Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Julie on vol. 2 of Steal Moon (MangaCast)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of A Strange and Mystifying Story (Soliloquy in Blue)
Billy Aguiar on Tail of the Moon, Prequel: The Other Hanzo(u) (Prospero’s Manga)
Diana Dang on vol. 1 of Tokyo Boys and Girls (Stop, Drop, and Read)
Melinda Beasi on Toxic Planet (There it is, Plain as Daylight)
Connie on vol. 4 of Vagabond (VIZBIG edition) (Slightly Biased Manga)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 2 of Wild Animals (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Erica Friedman on vol. 3 of Zombie-Loan (Okazu)

CMX: Here’s the list of new titles, via Lissa Pattillo, who attended the panel:

Nyankoi!, by Sato Fujisawa
Shisso Holiday, by Otsuichi/Hiro Kiyohara
The Phantom Guesthouse, by Nari Kusawkawa
Tableau Gate, by Rika Suzuki
51 Ways to Save Her, by Usaramu Furuya

ANN has cover art and genre information. Click on either post to see a list of other manga that were officially announced for the first time at SDCC but were already revealed through other channels. ANN has a writeup of the panel discussion by Evan Miller, and Gia Manry liveblogged it for Anime Vice.

Dark Horse: 20th anniversary omnibus editions of two CLAMP series, Chobits and Cardcaptor Sakura, are in the works, Gia reports, with all eight volumes of Chobits squeezed into two fat new volumes. Magic Knight Rayearth will also get the omnibus treatment. All three were originally published in the U.S. by Tokyopop. Bamboo Dong has more at ANN, including the news that five CLAMP omnibuses are planned altogether (Clover was released last month) and that the new volumes will be edited by Carl Horn.

Del Rey: New titles:

Code:Breaker, by Akimine Kamijyō
Panic x Panic, by Mika Kawamura
Pink Innocent, by Kotori Momoyuki

Gia adds that Del Rey is developing a manga version of The Last Airbender, written by Dave Roman and illustrated by Nina Matsumoto (of Yokaiden fame). Also, CLAMP in America has been delayed from October to March. Carlo Santos reported on the panel as well for ANN.

Robot 6 liveblogged the Eisners, and congratulations are due to their parent site, CBR, on winning the award for best comics journalism. (I write a weekly column for Robot 6, although I’m sure that had nothing to do with it!) Dororo took the award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material (Japan), and it was the only manga to win, although several others were nominated. Heidi has the full list of nominees and winners at The Beat. Gia puts in her two cents at Anime Vice.

UPDATE: An alert commenter points out that a short OEL manga, “Murder He Wrote,” by Ian Boothby, Nina Matsumoto, and Andrew Pepoy, in The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror #14, took the award for best short story.

Lori Henderson shows off her swag and reports on Day 2 of SDCC, and Gia looks forward to the day ahead. Apparently there is big news coming at the Dark Horse panel.

Lissa Pattillo, Gia Manry, and Deb Aoki are breathlessly following the manga panels at SDCC. There don’t seem to be as many new license announcements as in previous years, but Yen Press steals the show with their acquisition of CLAMP’s Kobato. We learned about Black Butler earlier this week, but Yen unveiled a nine other titles as well:

Darker Than BLACK, by Bones, Tensai Okamura, Nokya, Arklight
Romeo x Juliet, adapted by COM, Gonzo, SPWT
Bunny Drop, by Yumi Unita
Sasameke, by Ryuji Gotsubo
Omamori Himari, by Milan Matra
My Girlfriend’s A Geek (Fujyoshi Kanojo), by Pentabu and Rize Shinba
Otome, by Yuuki Fujinari
Dragon Girl, by Toru Fujieda
Natsukashi Machi no Rozione, by Sumomo Yumeka

Meanwhile, Viz only had two new manga announcements, both at their Shonen Jump panel: Toriko, by Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro, and Bakuman, by Takeshi Obata and Tsugumi Ohba. Toriko sounds like another foodie manga, which should be cool; Bakuman is a manga about making manga.

UPDATE: Melinda Beasi is pleased.

Links

Viz Shonen Jump Panel (Deb Aoki)
Viz Shonen Jump panel liveblog (Gia at Anime Vice)
Viz Shonen Jump panel (Lissa Pattillo at Kuriousity)
Viz Anime and Manga panel liveblog (Gia at Anime Vice)
Viz Anime and Manga panel (Lissa Pattillo at Kuriousity)
Yen Press panel (Lissa Pattillo at Kuri-ousity)
I’ll add in more links as they are posted.

(For faster updates, follow Deb Aoki and Lissa Pattillo on Twitter. Then follow everyone they are following for some interesting conversations.)