MangaBlog

David Welsh looks at this week’s new releases, but he’s fixated on one book: The final volume of After School Nightmare, in which everything finally comes together.

The Eastern Edge translates part 1 of an interview with Naoki Urasawa. It’s short, but there’s more to come.

Park Cooper talks to Chynna Clugston about manga, comics, and other stuff at Manga Life.

Same Hat posts a video interview with Junji Ito and some photos from Ax editor Sean Michael Wilson’s talk on gekiga and underground manga at the last APE. They also have some disappointing news about the latest Suehiro Maruo artbook.

Erica Friedman rounds up the latest yuri news and offers some advice for niche publishers at Okazu.

Deb Aoki continues her year-end polls at About.com with opportunities to vote for your favorite manga magazine or anthology, yaoi manga, and book about manga/art book. Also: Tokyopop is looking for interns, and Digital confirms a June release date for Tezuka’s Swallowing the Earth.

Lissa Pattillo spots some new Viz titles on Amazon.

Noah Berlatsky contrasts samurai and superheroes in a surprising way at comiXology.

Miriam Beetle joins the conversation about manga at The Hooded Utilitarian, but she doesn’t add much other than to say that Akira was great and the rest of it is too simplistic. (Akira is, of course, the token manga that almost all non-manga-readers will admit isn’t crap.) My initial reaction was to think that she is picking the wrong books—most of the titles on her list are pitched at younger audiences (Steady Beat, Nana, Beck,) and while she also includes Good-Bye and Lone Wolf and Cub, neither of them is exactly the pinnacle of manga (and both of them are older books as well). But then, as I started thinking of stories that would fit her criteria, I realized that what I like about manga is that it is so readable. A series like ES: Eternal Sabbath or Suppli has plenty of complexity and draws me into its world, but what Beetle sees as overly simple, I see as easy to follow, or, to put it another way, the medium not interfering with my reading experience. By the same token, I find many non-manga comics downright impenetrable. So there you have it—different people like different types of comics. Go figure.

News from Japan: ANN has the list of Shogakukan Award winners. Gia reports that Nodame Cantabile creator Tomoko Ninomiya has carpal tunnel syndrome. The series is already on hiatus because Ninomiya recently had a baby, and there’s no word yet on what happens next.

Reviews: Katherine Dacey is guest blogging at a new home, Precocious Curmudgeon, and she kicks it off with a lively review of Yu Yagami’s Go West! Danielle Leigh’s latest entry in her reading diary is about two very different series that are both set in schools, We Were There and Sundome, at Comics Should Be Good. Phil Guie reads vols. 1 and 2 of Cross x Break at Manga Recon. New at Comics Village: Katherine Farmar on Dash!, Justin Colussy-Estes on vol. 1 of After School Nightmare, and John Thomas on vol. 10 of Suzuka. Casey Brienza reads the VizBig edition of vol. 1 of Fushigi Yugi at ANN. Connie has been busy at Slightly Biased Manga, with recent reviews of vol. 9 of +Anima, vols. 1, 2 and 3 of I Shall Never Return, vol. 5 of Human Club, vol. 1 of Oishinbo: Japanese Cuisine, Wanted, vol. 6 of My Heavenly Hockey Club, vol. 26 of Detective Conan, and vol. 12 of Let Dai. Diana Dang weighs in on Cowa! and One♥Pound Gospel at Stop, Drop & Read. Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane checks out vol. 11 of Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs and vols. 11 and 12 of Nana at Manga Life. Lissa Pattillo takes a look at one of Yen’s recent manhwa, vol. 3 of You’re So Cool, at Kuriousity. Julie reviews vol. 2 of Kurohime, vol. 1 of Crown, vol. 3 of Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden, and vol. 24 of Red River at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Huamulan03 writes about one of my favorite shoujo series, Oyayubihime Infinity, at Blogcritics. Erica Friedman reads vol. 5 of Stray Little Devil at Okazu. Billy Aguiar likes Deja Vu at Prospero’s Manga. Kiki Van De Camp reviews vol. 4 of Sand Chronicles at Animanga Nation.

Michelle Smith lists her picks of the week at Manga Recon. Lori Henderson looks over the latest Previews at Manga Xanadu.

At Comics Worth Reading, Johanna Draper Carlson lists her picks for the best manga of 2008. And at Rocket Bomber, Matt Blind posts his favorite manga of 2008 and his wish list for 2009.

Ed Chavez issues his 2008 report card on BLU manga at MangaCast.

Diamond releases their list of the top 300 graphic novels in December, and a number of manga make respectable showings.

The philosophers down at The Hooded Utilitarian are having a discussion about manga right now. It starts with Tom Crippen admitting that he just doesn’t get it and asking for help in seeing what he’s missing. (It actually started with Tom’s first version of the post, which is worth reading only for the comments at the end.) Co-blogger Noah Berlatsky does a good job of answering the question, including a spirited defense of shojo manga.

The Ninjaconsultants post part 2 of their SITACon 2008 podcast, with the theme of Otaku Shame.

At Manga Widget, Alex Hoffman expresses serious reservations about manga-style books like The Manga Bible and manga guides to … anything.

At Consequentialart’s Sequential Art Class, Josiah Leighton presents an early Katsuhiro Otomo story, flipped but untranslated, and analyzes why it works. Be warned: It’s violent. (Via Anime Vice.)

News from Europe: Jonathan posts the list of German manga releases for January at Manly Manga and More. Tiamat’s Disciple points out a new law whose troublingly vague wording could lead to censorship or prosecution for manga owners in the UK. TD links to a BBC report with more details; the telling legal point, I think, is that the owner of the offending material can be prosecuted, not just the producer.

News from Japan: ANN reports on lots of comings and goings this week. Kadokawa’s Comic Charge will cease publication, but the three titles by Eiji Otsuka that run in it, MPD-Psycho, Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, and Yakumo Hyakki, will continue in a new magazine to launch this summer. It looks like Yu Yagami’s comic will live on as well. Harlequin is launching Monthly Harlequin, a manga magazine featuring one-shot romance stories, this week. Kimi ni Todoke is going on hiatus because the creator, Karuho Shiina, is having a baby. Nominations for the 2nd Manga Taisho awards are out, and they include the much-loved Saint Young Men. (I’ll admit it: This is one of the few titles I have bothered to read in scanlation, and it was worth it.) Peach-Pit is back after an illness, and the duo will resume their three current manga, Zombie Loan, Rozen Maiden, and Shugo Chara! Missed it: Jog reports that Kazuo Koike and Ryochi Ikogami, creators of Crying Freeman, have completed a new manga, a side story to Lady Snowblood. Caught it: Gia. And Ed posts the weekly manga rankings from Taioysha and the doujinshi rankings from Toranoana at MangaCast.

Reviews: Ed Sizemore takes a look at Bat-Manga at Comics Worth Reading, and he ignores the controversy in favor of a look at the book itself on its own terms. Johanna Draper Carlson also reviews Sand Chronicles and vol. 7 of High School Debut and wholeheartedly recommends both. Greg McElhatton is delighted by The Walking Man at Read About Comics. Melinda Beasi reviews vol. 1 of Momo Tama, Melinda and Michelle Smith take a look at a handful of Shojo Beat titles, and the staff pitches in for some Manga Minis at Manga Recon. And check out Melinda’s review of vol. 1 of Captive Hearts at her own blog, there it is, plain as daylight. Bad Jew has some thoughts on solanin at Sleep Is For the Weak. John Thomas sings the praises of vol. 3 of Gantz at Mecha Mecha Media. At Manic About Manga, Kris reads vol. 2 of Hitohira and vol. 5 of I Shall Never Return. Snow Wildsmith gives her take on Love Quest at Fujoshi Librarian. Carlo Santos takes on Hollow Fields, Me and the Devil Blues, and Fire Investigator Nanase, among others, in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Carlo also has some harsh things to say about vol. 2 of Kujibiki Unbalance. Mitch is pleasantly surprised by Dorothea at Blogfonte. Tangognat reviews vols. 1-5 of Seimaden. Emily blogs about Love Root Zero and Minimum Queen at Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page. Dave Ferraro has mixed feelings about vol. 1 of Mixed Vegetables at Comics-and-More. At Manga Xanadu, Lori Henderson has some thoughts on vols. 16-18 of Hunter x Hunter. Tom Flinn gives vol. 1 of Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka five stars at ICv2. Tiamat’s Disciple takes a look at vol. 1 of Bleach. At Kuriousity, Lissa Pattillo checks out vol. 1 of Future Lovers and vol. 1 of Togainu no Chi, Gizmo reads vol. 1 of Higurashi When They Cry, and Marsha Reid reviews vol. 3 of Goong. Ed Chavez has audio reviews of vol. 1 of Pumpkin Scissors and vol. 8 of Suzuka, and Mangamaniac Julie has a print review of Tomorrow’s Ulterior Motives, at MangaCast.

The MangaCast crew post this week’s new releases and discuss their favorites. At Precocious Curmudgeon, David Welsh reveals what he will be reading as well.

Ed Chavez continues his manga report cards at MangaCast with a look at Bandai Entertainment. What, you don’t think of them as a manga publisher? That’s OK: Neither does Ed.

Part two of ANN’s smart women’s roundtable on censorship is up.

Over at Manly Manga and More, Jonathan takes a look at Tokyopop Germany’s Kodansha licenses and notes that two of the five licenses in question were selling poorly. He also lists Tokyopop Germany’s new licenses.

Sharp-eyed Simon Jones spotted this one: A comics publisher called Studio 407, which neither of us was familiar with before now, is talking to Bambi and her Pink Gun creator Atsushi Kaneko as well as “one of the biggest manga artists in China” about publishing their work here. Simon also points to an interesting discussion of the age-old question of why manga characters look white to white people, at Alas, a blog.

Matt Blind does his weekly number-crunching at Rocket Bomber and comes up with the top 500 manga (online sales), new releases and pre-orders, an emerging trends report, and rankings summary for the week.

Ryan Sands posts his picks for best manga of 2008 at Same Hat! Same Hat!

Deb Aoki has more manga polls up, for the best original English language manga, all-ages manga, and one-shot of 2008, at About.com.

Bill Randall posts some notes and sources for his article on Kazuo Kamimura’s Dousei Jidai, which appears in this month’s issue of The Comics Journal.

Translators Alethea and Athena Nibley have an interesting discussion of Japanese ritual expressions at Manga Life, including some thoughts on their translation of Fruits Basket.

Manga Widget writer Alex Hoffman points us to the first issue of Eye of the Vortex, a gaming magazine that also includes anime and manga reviews. You can read it using issuu or download your very own PDF.

Eigomanga and Visionary Comics Studio announce that they will publish The Frog Princess, a graphic novel written by Jeff Loew, a finalist in Visionary’s comics contest. Indonesian artist Rie Ikaza (Fitri) will do the art.

News from Japan: ANN posts the Japanese manga rankings for last week. Canned Dogs notes that there is a new bishoujo comics magazine, Gelatin, on the horizon. Also, the Otaku Awards results are up, and the 2chan crowd weighs in on the best eromanga of 2008.

Reviews: Webimpulse reviews The Manga Guide to Statistics at Japanator. Seanan McGuire takes a look at a global manga that ended too soon, vols. 1 and 2 of Divalicious. The latest Manga Pulse podcast features reviews of Beck and Priest; the latter promises to be scathing. Faith McAdams takes a look at vol. 4 of Honey and Clover at Animanga Nation. Sesho has a podcast on Edu-manga: Ludwig von Beethoven. Casey Brienza roundly pans vol. 4 of Ai no Kusabi at her Kethylia LJ but has much nicer things to say about vol. 1 of 07-Ghost at ANN. Micole reviews vol. 9 of Saiyuki Reload at coffeeandink, and readers chime in with opinions (and spoilers) in the comments. Adam Stephanides reads The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, the fourth Haruhi novel, at Completely Futile. Erica Friedman critiques vol. 7 of Yuri Hime S at Okazu, and unfortunately for us, she tells a reader what Love Cubic is about. Apparently there really is a comic for everything in Japan. Cyn checks out vol. 1 of Blue Sheep Reverie and vol. 15 of Let Dai at Boys Next Door. Dan Polley takes a brief look at vol. 4 of Shiki Tsukai at Comics Village. Over at Slightly Biased Manga, Connie checks out vol. 20 of One Piece, vol. 11 of Let Dai, and vol. 4 of Fairy Tail. Melinda Beasi reads vol. 14 of Nana at there it is, plain as daylight. The Yaoi Review takes a brief look at Lovers and Souls. James Fleenor posts his impression of vol. 1 of Hayate x Blade at Anime Sentinel. Billy Aguiar reviews Solanin and Be With You at Prospero’s Manga. Tangognat thinks vol. 1 of Blank Slate “might be the perfect shojo title for people who hate shojo.” Julie reads vol. 3 of Dance in the Vampire Bund, vol. 2 of Basilisk, vol. 1 of The Record of a Fallen Vampire, and vol. 2 of Sugar Princess at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Lissa Pattillo checks out vol. 1 of Blue Sheep Reverie, vol. 5 of Nightmare Inspector, vol. 1 of breath, and White Brand at Kuriousity. Tiamat’s Disciple reviews vol. 6 of One Thousand and One Nights, vol. 3 of You’re So Cool, and vols. 1 and 2 of D.Gray-Man. Joy Kim takes a look at vol. 3 of Silver Diamond and Park Cooper checks out vol. 1 of Dragon Ball Z, the VizBig edition, at Manga Life.

Well, I’m minus one bathroom at the moment, and my kitchen has relocated to my dining room, but progress is being made. Sort of. Here’s a quick roundup, and I’ll be posting more later today.

David Welsh has a lively column up at The Comics Reporter in which he asks manga industry folks about their favorite manga of the past year.

PWCW has a ten-page preview of the last volume of one of my favorite series, After School Nightmare.

Tania del Rio reflects as she wraps up the manga-style Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

Lori Henderson is getting a jump on spring cleaning by pruning her manga collection, and she posts some sites where you can get rid of your unwanted manga—and get new manga as well!

The other side of the comics blogosphere has erupted into one of its periodic discussions of why there are so few superheroine comics; over at The Hooded Utilitarian, Noah Berlatsky takes up the question just a bit but points out the obvious:

There are a number of extremely successful female super-hero comics. They just aren’t put out by Marvel and DC.

Of course, the format is different too. Maybe that’s what’s throwing people.

News from Japan: Ed Chavez posts the latest manga rankings from Taiyosha at MangaCast.

Reviews: Charles Hatfield gives vol. 1 of Black Jack the Thought Balloonists treatment. Lots of pictures, too! Danielle Leigh posts her latest reading diary at Comics Should Be Good. Johanna Draper Carlson posts short reviews of a number of Viz titles at Comics Worth Reading. Tom Baker of the Daily Yomiuri roundly pans Bat-Manga! The Manga Recon folks cover a number of books in a short time in their latest Manga Minis. New at Comics Village: Katherine Farmar on vol. 1 of Shout Out Loud!, Alex Hoffman on vol. 1 of Battle Royale, John Thomas on vol. 7 of MPD-Psycho, and Lori Henderson on vols. 1-3 of Dororo. Diana Dang enjoys vols. 1 and 2 of Song of the Hanging Sky at Stop, Drop, and Read!

A bit of personal news that may affect the site: Burly men are coming to my house today to dismantle my kitchen and bathroom. Yes, I’m getting a new kitchen, plus a new bathroom floor and fixtures (the ugly tiles stay, unfortunately—curse you, 1930’s craftsmen!), so posts may be late or short for the next few days while we adjust to the new way of living and the first wave of work.

Onward! Matt Blind crunches the numbers and comes up with the top 300 series and top 100 volumes of 2008 at ComiPress.

Ed Chavez begins his manga report cards with a look at Aurora and its imprints Deux and LuvLuv.

The Manga Recon team present their picks of this week’s new manga.

Deb Aoki’s latest poll is for the best new edition of classic or reissued manga at About.com.

Matthew J. Brady lets his little brother read his manga and then interviews him about it at Warren Peace Sings the Blues.

Erica Friedman summarizes the yuri news of the past week at Okazu.

Lori Henderson has been reading mystery novels lately, and she has a suggestion for a new global manga for grownups.

Lissa Pattillo learns that CLAMP’s Legal Drug is still alive but still on hiatus and she reports on a fan initiative to get the third volume of Off*Beat published at Kuriousity.

News from Japan: Ed Chavez takes a look at recent developments in his MangaScope column at MangaCast. Kodansha is debuting a new magazine, Good! Afternoon, and they will post the first issue online for free, according to ANN.

Reviews: Johanna Draper Carlson remains unperturbed by the ending of vol. 18 of Monster and recommends vol. 2 of Black Jack at Comics Worth Reading. Greg Hackmann reads vol. 1 of Bogle at Mania.com. Erica Friedman reviews vol. 1 of Gokujou Drops and vol. 4 of Sakura no Kiwa at Okazu. Mangamaniac Julie checks out White Brand at the MangaCast and vol. 6 of Crimson Hero and vol. 6 of Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Lissa Pattillo finds Ruff Love to be disappointing at Kuriousity. Michelle Smith enjoys Red Blinds the Foolish and vol. 1 of Her Majesty’s Dog at Soliloquy in Blue. Ed Chavez is unimpressed with Make More Love and Peace at MangaCast. Tiamat’s Disciple reviews a big stack of manga and manhwa: vol. 4 of Legend, vol. 3 of Goong, vol. 8 of Angel Diary, vol. 6 of Cynical Orange, and vol. 4 of Sundome. Billy Aguiar takes a look at vol. 1 of We Were There at Prospero’s Manga. At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie reads vol. 1 of Future Lovers, vol. 12 of Moon Child, vol. 16 of Skip Beat, vol. 7 of Bastard, and vol. 5 of Parasyte. Tangognat reviews vol. 1 of Togainu No Chi and Crown.

Very! Very! Sweet, vols. 1 and 2
By JiSang Shin and Geo
Rated T for Teen
Yen Press, $10.99

Very! Very! Sweet is a manhwa for readers who have taken off the training wheels: With witty dialogue, nice art, and lots of Korean puns and cultural references, it’s a bit more challenging than your standard schoolgirl manhwa. I honestly wasn’t a fan of this creative team’s other works, Chocolat and Rolling, but I found this manhwa to be quirky, fun, and very readable.

Be-Ri, the lead character, is cheerful and plucky but reasonably three-dimensional. She’s a budding inventor who builds things out of junk and sells them on the internet to help with the family finances. Her widowed mother also rents out a room to make ends meet. With dubious ethics, Mom put a picture of her lovely daughter—Be-Ri’s older sister—in the ad for the spare room, and sure enough, their boarder, Oppa, fell for her. Unfortunately, Be-Ri has a crush on Oppa as well, although she battles to hide it.

The male lead is a Japanese boy named Tsuyoshi, the scion of a pickle empire whose irresponsible ways get him in hot water with his strict grandfather. Grandpa tells Tsuyoshi the family secret, that they came from Korea four generations back, and then packs him off to Japan to return to his roots and mend his errant ways.

Naturally, Tsuyoshi ends up living next to Be-Ri. And just as predictably, they hate each other almost at first sight. What’s interesting about this series is that it’s the boy who is at a disadvantage. Tsuyoshi doesn’t speak Korean very well, and his Korean name (chosen for him by his grandfather) is the word for “yellow pickle,” which the Koreans all find hilarious. Even worse, almost everything he says is misunderstood, especially by Be-Ri, who thinks he is much snottier than he actually is. By volume 2, the relationship has begun to thaw a bit, as Be-Ri realizes how lost Tsuyoshi really is and takes him under her wing a bit.

The second volume establishes the standard manga freeze-thaw-freeze relationship cycle: Be-Ri and Tsuyoshi start to get along, and then something happens and one of them gets mad at the other. Ironically, their classmate Mi-Hyuk is pursuing Be-Ri with a carefully thought-out strategy straight out of shoujo manga: Become her friend, establish a love-hate relationship, then let it blossom into true love. Mi-Hyuk is not pleased that Tsuyoshi is blocking his game. Meanwhile, Be-Ri is still getting wistful about Oppa (remember Oppa?), but she’s warming up a bit to Tsuyoshi. Tsuyoshi’s old girlfriend from Japan appears at the end of volume 2 to scramble the story a bit more. Good times.

While Be-Ri is a likeable enough heroine, the story would be more interesting with a bit more of Tsuyoshi’s point of view. It would be interesting to see him coming to terms with life in Korea, but once his background and persona are established, the authors focus exclusively on Be-Ri.

Still, the characters and the side details make this story a delight to read. Be-Ri is not just a cookie-cutter nice girl; she’s practical and clever and as down-to-earth as manga/manhwa girls get. The characters have reasonably intelligent conversations that range from environmentalism (Be-Ri has invented a special earth-friendly sponge) to feline leukemia and the theory of homeopathic medicine.

Geo’s art is lively and expressive, making for a smooth, interesting read. The characters’ faces are rather generic, but their clothing, gestures, and expressions are well articulated. Overall, the art looks quite pretty. Geo does some interesting things with panels, using overlaps, vertical slices, and other odd shapes. These books have a slightly larger trim size than manga, which shows off the art to good effect.

Production-wise, these books are a treat to the eyes, as are all Yen’s manhwa (most of which were picked up from the now defunct Ice Kunion). The covers are bright and sharp, the paper is nice and white, and the larger trim size gives the art some breathing room.

The translators have proviced copious notes, which are particularly important for this series, in which much of the humor depends on puns and cultural niceties. It would have been nice if the editors had pointed to them in the early pages, as it’s easy to miss them at the end. Korean text in the pictures is translated right on the page, and sound effects are both transliterated and translated alongside the original. The biggest faux pas was in volume 1, where the editors intended to use different lettering for Korean and Japanese speech but chose two almost identical fonts; by volume 2, that problem has been resolved and the book is a lot clearer.

As a comedy of manners and misunderstandings, Very! Very! Sweet may miss the mark with younger readers, but for hard-core shoujo (or soonjung) fans, it’s a solid, fun read.

(This review is based on a complimentary copy provided by the publisher.)