MangaBlog

Thanks to Kris at Manic About Manga for pointing out that Netcomics has begun serializing est em’s manga Age Called Blue. The first chapter is free, and each chapter subsequent chapter is just a quarter, making this a pretty good deal. Netcomics has also started carrying other Aurora and Deux titles, including their first josei manga, Walkin’ Butterfly.

David Welsh talks Takahashi with Viz senior editorial director Elizabeth Kawasaki, who doesn’t give too much away but does provide some details about the plan to publish Rumiko Takahashi’s new manga Rin-ne online in English the same week each installment comes out in print in Japan, including the news that episodes will be up for a limited time only.

Marco Werman of PRI’s The World interviews Adrian Tomine, editor of A Drifting Life. (Via Robot 6.)

Translators Alethea and Athena Nibley discuss translating material you don’t really like in this week’s column at Manga Life.

The Independent has an interesting article on cell phone manga and novels in Japan. (Via Anime Vice.)

News from Japan: Good news for Azumanga Daioh fans: Creator Kyoko Azuma will be doing three new chapters for the book’s anniversary edition; they will run in Monthly Shonen Sunday in May and June as well. And the Pani Poni gag manga is coming to an end.

Reviews: Graphic Novel Reporter has just updated, and my latest review there is not manga, but it’s cute: Benny and Penny: The Big No-No! Casey Brienza has a couple of reviews up there as well: vol. 1 of Momo Tama, vols. 1 and 2 of Higurashi When They Cry, and vol. 1 of Honey Hunt. And Courtney Kraft weighs in on Wolverine: Prodigal Son. At The Hooded Utilitarian, Noah Berlatsky jumps in with part three of the roundtable on Kyoko Okazaki’s Helter Skelter. At ANN, Theron Martin reviews the light novel vol. 1 of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

Greg McElhatton on vol. 1 of 20th Century Boys (Read About Comics)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of BakeGyamon (Prospero’s Manga)
Julie on vol. 13 of Chibi-Vampire (Manga Maniac Cafe)
hahapages on Chocolate Surprise (Fujoshi Librarian)
Michelle Smith on vol. 3 of Click (soliloquy in blue)
Anne Ishii on A Drifting Life (Publishers Weekly)
Emily on Kinkyori Renai (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Greg Hackmann on vol. 8 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (Mania.com)
Kris on vol. 3 of Kyo Kara MAOH! (Manic About Manga)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 12 of Love*Com (Manga Life)
Scott Campbell on vol. 3 of Nora: The Last Chronicle of Devildom (Active Anime)
Holly Ellingwood on vol. 31 of Oh My Goddess! (Active Anime)
Michelle Smith on vol. 5 of One Piece (soliloquy in blue)
Joy Kim on vol. 1 of Oninagi (Manga Life)
Holly Ellingwood on vol. 1 of Orange Planet (Active Anime)
Xavier Guilbert on Pluto (in English!) (du9)
Lori Henderson on vol. 6 of SA (Comics Village)
Danielle Leigh on vol. 1 of Samurai 7 (Comics Should Be Good)
Matthew J. Brady on the latest issue of Shojo Beat (Warren Peace Sings the Blues)
Tangognat on You Will Drown in Love (Tangognat)

Yaoi Press is adopting their manga for the iPhone! People who know about such things tell me that a huge percentage of the cell phone manga in Japan is yaoi, and that most of it is downloaded late at night, so they may be on to something there. They will launch with Zesty, Surge, and Treasure, and their mature titles will be modified slightly to meet iTunes’ terms of service.

God Len posts this week’s new releases at Japanator.

Here’s a manga Lori Henderson would like to see in English: Majin Tantei Nogami Neuro, which is just winding up its 21-volume run in Japan.

At Same Hat, Same Hat, Ryan posts a bit of info about Panorama-tou Kitan, for which Suehiro Maruo won the Tezuka Osamu award for best new artist.

Jake Forbes has a sneak peek at the art for vol. 3 of Return to Labyrinth.

PopCultureShock, home of Manga Recon, just opened their new discussion boards, and they are having a Naruto-themed contest to encourage folks to sign up. Check here for the details, and make sure you do it before Friday!

News from Japan: Shuho Sato has revealed more details of his plan to release New Say Hello to Black Jack online; each new episode will cost 30 yen (about 30 cents) and old episodes will be 10 yen. Leiji Matsumoto’s latest manga, Koshika, which debuted on the Wii, will also be coming to the iPhone, and an anime is in the works as well. ANN also records some comings and goings: Bokke-san is coming to an end, NisiOisin’s Medaka Box manga is relaunching, and D.Gray-Man is going on hiatus. More at the link.

Reviews: Tom Crippen posts his thoughts on Helter Skelter as the manga roundtable continues at The Hooded Utilitarian.

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of 20th Century Boys (The Comic Book Bin)
Michelle Smith on The Color of Earth (Manga Recon)
David Goodwin on A Drifting Life (Eastern Standard)
Connie on vol. 1 of Evyione: Ocean Fantasy (Manga Recon)
Connie on vol. 1 of Full House (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Hey, Class President (The Comic Book Bin)
Dave Ferraro on vol. 1 of Honey Hunt (Comics-and-More)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 1 of Hot Gimmick (VIZBIG edition) (there it is, plain as daylight)
Katherine Farmar on Maid in Heaven (Comics Village)
Erica Friedman on vol. 4 of My-Hime (Okazu)
Casey Brienza on vol. 15 of Nana (ANN)
DI on Oishinbo: A la carte: Sake (Otaku Public Library)
Casey Brienza on vol. 2 of Otomen (ANN)
Julie on vol. 5 of The Palette of 12 Secret Colors (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on vol. 4 of Real (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Train*Train (Kuriousity)

Over at Good Comics for Kids, we had a lively roundtable on the question of whether manga should be flipped, and if it works better for some types than for others. Check it out, and tell us what you think in the comments! (Image is of Tekkonkinkreet, which did just fine despite being flipped.)

At Icarus Comics, Simon Jones has some followup thoughts on Shuuhou Sato’s post about the economics of manga, and he raises some larger questions about the Japanese business model, pointing out that manga magazines aren’t that different from newspapers.

Meanwhile, Joey Manley applauds Viz for going with the free webcomic model for this week’s release of Rumiko Takahashi’s Rin-ne, rather than some pay-per-view or iTunes type release. But he’ll be watching to see how they actually execute it.

Attention, everyone: John Jakala has declared this week to be Rumiko Takahashi Appreciation Week. All the details are available at his blog, Sporadic Sequential. You may now resume normal activities.

The winners of the 13th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize have been announced, and some of the winners will sound familiar: Fumi Yoshinaga’s Ōoku: The Inner Chamber and Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s A Drifting Life share the grand prize, Saint Young Men got the Short Work Prize, and oddly, the New Artist prize went to Suehiro Maruo, who has actually been around for quite a while, for Panorama Tōkitan. Both Ōoku and A Drifting Life have been licensed in the U.S., and Gia is agitating for Del Rey to pick up Saint Young Men as well. Is there a petition somewhere we can sign? (Image is from the Saint Young Men site which is, sadly, only in Japanese.)

Sadie Mattox lists her top 5 most addictive shoujo manga at Extremely Graphic.

Christopher Butcher reacts badly to the idea of hipster manga, but I think it’s a valid concept—manga that’s acceptable to the manga-is-crap crowd.

Also, Chris points us to a dense but interesting article about Osamu Tezuka and Hayao Miyazaki, Why is the Manga Version of Nausicaa So Hard to Read?

Are you reading Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto? If so, have you read vol. 3 of Astro Boy yet? Having done the exercise myself, I can tell you it makes a big difference, because it gives a good indication of where the story is going. And be sure to check out this very interesting chart that compares characters from Pluto to their Astro Boy analogues. (Via Comics Worth Reading.)

Lori Henderson has some thoughts on changes in the Shonen Jump lineup at Manga Xanadu.

Deb Aoki was at Kawaii-Kon last weekend, and she has all the highlights, in words and pictures, at About.com. And at Okazu, Erica Friedman reports on the Yuri Monogatari 6 launch party.

News from Japan: Banri Hidaka just wound up V.B. Rose in Japan, but she will be doing a one-shot manga, Berry Berry, for the next issue of Hana to Yume.

Reviews: At The Hooded Utilitarian, Bill Randall starts off the latest roundtable with a vivid description of the topic, Kyoko Okazaki’s Helter Skelter, which is not (legally) available in English. The Manga Recon reviewers read a varied selection of titles for this week’s Manga Minis. At ComicMix, Andrew Wheeler checks out four schoolgirl stories. And Melinda Beasi has some thoughts on reviewing and reviewers at her personal blog.

Marsha Reid on vol. 3 of Alice on Deadlines (Kuriousity)
Michelle Smith on vol. 26 of Bleach (soliloquy in blue)
Connie on vol. 4 of Captive Hearts (Slightly Biased Manga)
Alex Hoffman on vol. 1 of DearS (Comics Village)
Connie on Dogs: Prelude, vol. 0 (Slightly Biased Manga)
Ken Haley on Dogs: Prelude, vol. 0 (Manga Recon)
Sesho on vol. 11 of Eden (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Tangognat on vols. 1 and 2 of Firefighter! Daigo of Company M (Tangognat)
Cynthia on vol. 1 of Hey, Class President! (Boys Next Door)
Kris on vol. 2 of Higurashi: When They Cry (Manic About Manga)
Faith McAdams on vol. 8 of High School Debut (Animanga Nation)
Julie on vol. 1 of Honey Hunt (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on I Saw It (Slightly Biased Manga)
Holly Ellingwood on vol. 12 of Kaze Hikaru (Active Anime)
Julie on Live for Love (MangaCast)
Kris on vol. 4 of Magical JxR (Manic About Manga)
Snow Wildsmith on Mr. Flower Bride (Fujoshi Librarian)
Oyceter on vols. 1 and 2 of Nabi (Sakura of DOOM)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 16 of Nana (there it is, plain as daylight)
Julie on vol. 1 of Nightschool (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on vol. 4 of One Pound Gospel (Slightly Biased Manga)
Deb Aoki on Orange (About.com)
Julie on Princess Princess + (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Danielle Leigh on Princess Princess + (Comics Should Be Good)
Lissa Pattillo on Princess Princess + (Kuriousity)
Scott Campbell on vol. 3 of Ral Grad (Active Anime)
Sesho on vol. 1 of Wolverine: Prodigal Son (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Cynthia on You Will Drown in Love (Boys Next Door)
Snow Wildsmith on You Will Drown in Love (Fujoshi Librarian)

Kristy Valenti reports in from Sakura-Con at comiXology, and her takes on the con as a whole and the Dark Horse panel in particular are pretty upbeat. Here’s Carl Horn on the manga market:

In regards to the Direct Market, Horn said that “what we’ve heard from [Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc.] is that there’s no evidence whatsoever that the readership for manga is declining or losing interest.” However, “the troubles with the manga industry are, again, I hate to pass on to the larger economy, but that’s what I’m going to do. Most manga is moved through bookstores […] and they’ve been having their own problems. So, any sales reduction in manga in bookstores is nothing personal against manga, it has more to do with the larger problems that bookstores have. On the other hand, we have been seeing market sales increase on Amazon.”

So, not entirely upbeat, but the world doesn’t seem to be coming to an end just yet. Also interesting is Roland Kelts’ comment that the Japanese are much less interested than Americans about marketing manga in the U.S. I think they’re starting to catch on, though. (Image: Vol. 3 of Bride of the Water God, due out from Dark Horse on May 13.)

The MangaCast team is back with their weekly selections from this week’s new manga, and Ed posts all the manga in the April Previews as well.

At Newsarama, Michael C. Lorah talks to Kim Dong Hwa about The Color of Earth.

The latest manga to migrate to the iPhone and iPod Touch is Vampire Hunter D; Uclick and DMP have put the first volume up at a cost of 99 cents per chapter.

WoW Insider interviews Dan Jolley, a writer for the World of Warcraft manga series.

Yamila Abraham of Yaoi Press explains how to print doujinshi at rock-bottom prices.

Christopher Mautner of Robot 6 goes to see Tekkonkinkreet and gets to hear about it from manga and anime scholar Frederick Schodt as well.

Jason Thompson, author of The Complete Guide to Manga, will be at the Stumptown Comics Fest this weekend.

Johanna Draper Carlson notes a cameo by Detective Conan in the latest volume of Hayate the Combat Butler.

ANN spotlights three new academic books about anime, manga, and otaku culture.

Over in Germany, Jonathan plays catch-up by posting February’s German manga releases and his own February shopping list at Manly Manga and More.

News from Japan: The first tankoubon of American artist Felipe Smith’s series Peepo Choo (cover at right) goes on sale in Japan next week. ANN posts this week’s manga charts, and they have plenty of other tidbits as well: Shuho Sato will post his New Say Hello to Black Jack online one month after it appears in print. (Canned Dogs has more on this.) Kazuo Koike is also going the digital route with his most recent Lone Wolf and Cub series, which is now being published in eBook Japan’s web magazine Katana. A 26-year-old woman has been arrested for breaking into the office of the late manga-ka Masamichi Yokoyama and stealing 800 of his original drawings for the erotic manga Yaruki Manman. The issue of Hana to Yume that ships on April 20 will include a one-shot Hana-Kimi story, and manga-ka Hisaya Nakajo will draw the cover as well. And We Were There will return from hiatus in the July issue of Betsucomi. Canned Dogs reports that Niwano Makoto is drawing a sequel to Majima-kun suttobasu!!, titled Majima, bazeru!! for Comic Break magazine.

Reviews

Julie on vol. 1 of Animal Academy (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on vol. 10 of Bastard (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of Captive Hearts (Slightly Biased Manga)
A Library Girl on vol. 2 of Chobits (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Connie on vol. 2 of Croquis Pop (Slightly Biased Manga)
Marsha Reid on vol. 6 of Cynical Orange (Kuriousity)
James Fleenor on vols. 10, 11, and 12 of D.Gray-Man (Anime Sentinel)
Julie on vol. 1 of Future Diary (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Hey, Class President! (Kuriousity)
Justin Colussy-Estes on vol. 1 of Higurashi When They Cry: Abducted by Demons Arc (Comics Village)
Emily on Katakoi Triangle (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Blog)
Barb Lien-Cooper on vols. 38 and 39 of Naruto (Manga Life)
Erin Finnegan on vols. 1 and 2 of Oishinbo: a la Carte (Manga Recon)
Connie on vol. 3 of One Pound Gospel (Slightly Biased Manga)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 2 of Otomen (Manga Life)
Joy Kim on vol. 1 of Pig Bride (Manga Life)
Xavier Guilbert on Pluto (in French) (du9)
Park Cooper on vols. 26-31 of Prince of Tennis (Manga Life)
Snow Wildsmith on vols. 1-4 of S (yaoi novels) (Fujoshi Librarian)
Melinda Beasi on Solanin (Comics Should Be Good)
Leroy Douresseaux on Star Trek: The Next Generation The Manga: Boukenshin (The Comic Book Bin)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 10 of Suzuka (Mania.com)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of Wolverine: Prodigal Son (Prospero’s Manga)
Diana Dang on vol. 1 of Wolverine: Prodigal Son (Stop, Drop, and Read)
Julie on vol. 1 of Wolverine: Prodigal Son (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Gizmo on vol. 2 of World of Quest (Kuriousity)

PWCW reports that Rumiko Takahashi’s new manga, Rin-ne, will be released simultaneously in Japan and the U.S., and the first chapter will be available in English on a new website, The Rumic World, beginning on April 22, and in Japanese in Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine. New chapters will be released weekly in both venues.

At Manga Xanadu, Lori Henderson is unhappy that Viz flips Takahashi’s manga and is hoping they won’t do that with Rin-ne.

I link to Deb Aoki’s blog at About.com because she’s an awesome manga blogger, but did you know that she also draws her own comic, Deb Aoki’s Bento Box? Johannna Draper Carlson reviews her latest print edition at Comics Worth Reading.

Danielle Leigh picks the best manga from the April Previews in her latest Manga Before Flowers column.

The New York Times has a nice, big article on Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s A Drifting Life.

Way back when manga was still a novelty, the Archie Comics folks took the plunge and manga-ized Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, with lively art by Tania Del Rio. Tania has moved on, but the Archie folks are continuing to tweak the formula, and managing editor Mike Pellerito tells Johanna Draper Carlson what’s in store for Sabrina and her compatriots at Comics Worth Reading.

Following up on John Jakala’s addictive manga post, David Welsh lists the shojo manga he just can’t live without.

Shaenon Garrity finally made it to Japan, and she and hubby Andrew Farago got their picture taken with Hayao Miyazaki!

Reviews: At The Hooded Utilitarian, Noah Berlatsky gives vol. 1 of Fruits Basket a second chance and finds he likes it better than he did the first time. Carlo Santos treats us to his opinion on a variety of new manga in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Johanna Draper Carlson checks out a handful of yaoi from Deux Press at Comics Worth Reading. Meanwhile, Michelle Smith and Melinda Beasi are On the Shojo Beat at Manga Recon, with a look at several new titles in that imprint, including the new series Honey Hunt.

Sesho on vol. 10 of Eden (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
John Jakala on vol. 8 of Emma (Sporadic Sequential)
Carlo Santos on The Genshiken Official Book ()
Brian Henderson on vol. 1 of Gimmick! (Manga Xanadu) ANN
Melinda Beasi on vol. 15 of Hikaru no Go (there it is, plain as daylight)
Tangognat on Love Song (Tangognat)
Oyceter on vols. 2 and 3 of Pumpkin Scissors (Sakura of DOOM)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Wolverine: Prodigal Son (Comics Worth Reading)
John Thomas on vol. 1 of Wolverine: Prodigal Son (Comics Village)

David Welsh checks out this week’s new releases and upcoming titles from Previews at Precocious Curmudgeon.

David also wonders if the whole idea of the Eisner awards may be passe in this era of social networking, while Eisner judge Andrew Wheeler gives some commentary from his point of view at his own blog. (Hat tip to Charles Tan for that second link.)

As he wrestles with the Ranma 1/2 monkey on his back, John Jakala asks his readers what they think are the most compulsively addictive manga series. Also: Readers chime in with suggestions for cheap manga and John does his own foodie manga crossover.

Deb Aoki files a con report from Kawaii-Kon at About.com.

At Rocket Bomber, Matt Blind discusses returnability and profit margins.

Erica Friedman rounds up the week in yuri at Okazu.

New York Anime Fest is having a contest to design their mascot; the prizes include NYAF tickets and free manga from Del Rey! (Via The Otaku Librarian)

Reviews

A Library Girl on vol. 2 of Angelic Layer (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Connie on vol. 9 of Bastard (Slightly Biased Manga)
Michelle Smith on Battlestar Galactica: Echoes of New Caprica (Manga Recon)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of Bride of the Water God (Tangognat)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Dinosaur Hour (Comics Village)
Greg McElhatton on A Drifting Life (Read About Comics)
Sophie Stevens on vol. 5 of Honey and Clover (Animanga Nation)
Danielle Leigh on vol. 1 of Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit (Comics Should Be Good)
Emily on Kimi wa Boku no Toriko nare (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Greg McElhatton on Oishinbo: A la carte: Sake (Read About Comics)
Connie on vol. 2 of Real (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on vol. 4 of Sasamekikoto (Okazu)
Tangognat on Solanin (Tangognat)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of Venus Capriccio (Prospero’s Manga)
Emily on vol. 1 of Venus Capriccio (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Snow Wildsmith on The Way to Heaven (Fujoshi Librarian)