MangaBlog

As the year winds to a close, Katherine Dacey takes a year-end snapshot of the manga industry at Good Comics for Kids. Amazingly, the news isn’t all bad. Kate also makes a big announcement at Manga Recon: She’s moving on from her senior editor post and turning over the reins to the very capable Michelle Smith. While I’m delighted, because this leaves Kate more time to write for GC4K, I will miss her Manga Recon posts; she has definitely left the place in better shape than she found it.

Roland Kelts alerted me to this article in The Christian Science Monitor about the surging popularity of Japanese pop culture in the U.S.; naturally, as one of the go-to guys on the topic, he is among those quoted. The article has plenty of interesting nuggets, including an interview with the creators of The Kindaichi Case Files and the news that Sarah Palin’s glasses were Japanese.

David Welsh takes a look back at the year in manga at Precocious Curmudgeon, with lists of the best series debuts and conclusions of the year.

Deb Aoki lists her picks for the top manga of 2008 at About.com.

Matt Blind posts the top manga rankings for September 2008 at ComiPress.

At the MangaCast, Ed Chavez takes a look at the demise of Manganovel. His diagnosis: Not enough buy-in from the Japanese publishers, and as a result, not enough compelling series to draw in the readers. Ed also posts the manga list from the January Previews for those who like to plan ahead, and Simon Jones highlights upcoming manga from Previews Adult. In his New Year’s Wish List, Simon suggests breaking up Previews into several different genre-based catalogs, which strikes me as a good idea, actually.

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

Lissa Pattillo finds a few new items on Amazon, including a possible unannounced new title for Go!Comi, and another from Kitty Media at RightStuf.

Lori Henderson finds an interesting example of supply and demand at Manga Xanadu: A back issue of Yen Plus goes for over $100 on Ebay.

Meanwhile, at the Icarus blog, Simon Jones wants to know how price-sensitive yaoi readers are. Read the comments for some responses.

PingMag, a Japanese online shopping magazine, has an interesting interview with 1960s-era mangaka Eiko Hanamura, who didn’t set out to be a manga artist but ended up having the knack.

LJ’er lynkemma links to two literary essays on Death Note at Manga Talk.

Matt Blind is highlighting some interesting manga finds at Rocket Bomber. Go take a look!

Here’s an interesting story from November that I found while cleaning out my in-box: the German government is using manga to turn Muslim youth away from extremism. Because nothing gets to teenagers like government-sponsored propaganda!

Your super-global manga moment for the day: Manga in Gaelic, drawn by a Brazilian artist.

Job board: Viz is looking for interns. (Hat tip: Charles Tan.)

News from Japan: MangaCast posts the Dec. 22 manga rankings from Taiyosha.

Reviews: The Manga Guide to Statistics gets the once-over at Slashdot. J. Caleb Mozzocco weighs in as well at Blog@Newsarama, and Mark C. Chu-Carroll focuses on the math content in his review at Good Math, Bad Math. Carlo Santos ushers in the holidays with a look at Yokaiden, Rosario+Vampire, and Beet the Vandel Buster, among others, in his latest Right Turn Only!! column. Edward Zacharias is finally inspired to write a review of vol. 19 of One Piece, after following the series all this time. Read all about it at Animanga Nation. Dale North reviews the Genshiken Official Book at Japanator. Ed Chavez podcasts his thoughts on Object of Desire and Mangamaniac Julie reviews Today’s Ulterior Motives at MangaCast. At the Manga Maniac Cafe, Julie goes in a different direction with a look at vol. 2 of Gantz. Tiamat’s Disciple checks out vol. 3 of Kaze no Hana and vol. 4 of Alice on Deadlines. Lissa Pattillo reads Color of Rage, vol. 4 of Freak: Legend of the Nonblonds, Shards of Affection, and vol. 5 of Moon Boy at Kuriousity. Charles Tan checks out vol. 6 of Chinese Hero at Comics Village. New at Active Anime: Scott Campbell on vol. 2 of Ghost Talker’s Daydream, Holly Ellingwood on vol. 8 of Kitchen Princess, and Rachel Bentham on Secret Moon. At Manic About Manga, Kris reads vol. 1 of breath (from new kid on the block Yaoi Generation), vol. 4 of Star Project Chiro, and The Lily and the Rose. Snow Wildsmith takes a good look at vol. 1 of breath as well at Fujoshi Librarian. Mania is making their site a bit more user-friendly by posting lists of recent reviews; recent entries include Greg Hackmann on Solanin, Robert Harris on vol. 15 of The Wallflower, Matthew Alexander on the adult title Aqua Bless, and Danielle Van Gorder on A Capable Man (another 18+ title), vol. 13 of Nana, and vol. 6 of Black Sun, Silver Moon. New at The Star of Malaysia: Shaun A. Noordin on vol. 1 of Ghost Slayers Ayashi and Kurogane on vol. 1 of S.S. Astro and vol. 1 of Nui. Alex Hoffman reads vol. 1 of Stray Little Devil at Manga Widget. Leroy Douresseaux reviews Junior Escort, vol. 1 of Princess Ai: The Prism of Midnight Dawn, and vol. 1 of Black Sun at The Comic Book Bin. AnaKhouri is not too impressed with vols. 1 and 2 of Dark Metro at Yellow Menace. At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie checks out vol. 3 of Suppli, vol. 2 of Time Stranger Kyoko, Dear Myself, vol. 1 of Croquis Pop, vol. 6 of Bastard, vol. 3 of Aria, and vol. 8 of Let Dai.

ICv2 has Diamond’s top 300 graphic novels for November chart.

David Welsh looks back at Five Memorable Moments in Manga for 2008 in his latest Flipped column. Back at Precocious Curmudgeon, he puts in the good word for Suppli, a josei manga that may be in jeopardy.

I predict this will be a memorable moment of 2009: First Second, which is known for their high-quality graphic novels, will be publishing their first manhwa, The Color of Earth.

ANN updates its list of new manga expected in 2009.

At Okazu, Erica Friedman rounds up the week in yuri, provides a sneak peek at Yuri Monogatari 6, and launches her consulting service specializing in Microniche Marketing, that is, getting the word out to a niche within a niche.

John Thomas writes about end-of-the-year traditions and offers some gift ideas at Mecha Mecha Media. Also getting into the holiday spirit are Lori Henderson, who is counting down the Twelve Manga of Christmas at Manga Xanadu, and Ed Chavez, who is looking at Japanese Christmas manga covers at MangaCast.

Jonathan lists the German manga releases for December at Manly Manga and More.

News from Japan: ANN lists the top-selling manga in Japan last week (part one, part two) and notes a couple of new manga launches: Mirai Nikki: Paradox, by Sakai Esuno, in Kadokawa Shoten’s Ace Assault, and Asuka@Mirai-Kei, by Kazuhiko Shinamoto, in Shogakukan’s Monthly Sunday GX. Sensual Phrase creator Mayu Shinjo will relaunch Ayakashi no Koi Emaki in the Jan. 5 issue of Margaret.

Reviews: Here’s a new find: Stop, Drop, and Read, where teenager Diana Dang posts brief reviews of what she’s been reading lately, including vol. 1 of Koi Cupid and Japan Ai: A Tall Girl’s Adventure in Japan. At Comics Village, Katherine Farmar reads one of my favorites, vol. 1 of ES: Eternal Sabbath. Michelle Smith is unimpressed by vol. 25 of Bleach but looks more favorably on vol. 13 of Monster and vol. 2 of Cat Street at Soliloquy in Blue. Mangamaniac Julie reviews Today’s Ulterior Motives at MangaCast and Object of Desire and vol. 2 of Blank Slate at the Manga Maniac Cafe. At Okazu, Erica Friedman continues her look at vol. 14 of Yuri Hime and also checks out vol. 2 of Girl Friends. Greg McElhatton reviews vol. 1 of Yokaiden at Read About Comics.

Because you can never get enough ninjas…

DEL REY MANGA ANNOUNCES THE ACQUISITION OF NINJA GIRLS

NEW YORK, NY – December 19, 2008 – Del Rey Manga, an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group, today announced the acquisition of the manga NINJA GIRLS, by Hosana Tanaka. In Japan’s distant past, ninja warriors ruled the land. Raizo, a young man disfigured by a strange horn in the middle of his forehead, is an outcast who has a long way to go before becoming a ninja. But an encounter with a beautiful female ninja leads him to realize his destiny—he’s the last living descendant of a feudal lord family, and now he has a group of gorgeous, glamorous ninjas who will do anything to help him regain his throne!

The martial-arts-themed manga is an ongoing series that currently has five volumes published in Japan under the title Rappi Rangai. NINJA GIRLS marks Tanaka’s US manga debut.

I’m posting late today as I spent the morning battening down the hatches, figuratively speaking, for the anticipated first blizzard of winter. The flakes are just starting to fall, so I figure I’d better post this in case we lose power. I’ll have more later. Probably.

Gloom and doom watch: Tokyopop’s Marco Pavia doesn’t have much new to say in this brief article on the most recent round of layoffs, other than to neatly summarize the problem:

“Publishers and booksellers are describing this as one of the worst retailing environments in memory and I don’t know what to add,” he said.

On the other side of the retail coin, Diamond’s Roger Fletcher says comics stores are staying above water, although sales are down a bit because retailers are cutting back on inventory. Bad news for BL fans, though: Snow Wildsmith spots an item on the DramaQueen forum indicating a problem with the printing of the long-awaited Tyrant in Love, which is now slated for January; things are getting a little testy there as the fans anticipate having the football yanked away from them yet again.

Meanwhile at Rocket Bomber, Matt Blind takes a long look at Borders’ financial situation and some possibilities for a brighter future, and then goes into it a bit more after a comment from Shannon Smith.

The Manga Recon crew have a roundtable discussion about which manga they want to see rescued from licensing limbo.

As for the future of manga on the web, well, Manganovel, which was basically an attempt to institutionalize scanlation, has come to an end. ANN has a little more background. It sounded like a good idea, but I never used it because it was Windows-only.

Jumpland, the Weekly Shonen Jump website, has posted the first chapter of the soccer manga Meister in English. To read it, you must download their browser, for which you must have… Windows. Sigh.

If you want to stave off Armageddon by, you know, buying some manga, the MangaCast team has some suggestions for you from this week’s new releases, as well as news of new shounen titles from CMX, josei from Aurora, and yaoi from Deux.

Also, Alex Hoffman has some manga-oriented gift suggestions at Manga Widget.

Christopher Butcher highlights the April Drawn & Quarterly offerings at Comics212, and one of them is the 840-page autobiography of Yoshihiro Tatsumi, the creator of The Push Man, which looks like a giant cube of depressingness from here (although one hopes that his autobiography will be cheerier than his fiction).

Jason Thompson asks a question; the internet answers, and wins some free manga.

News from Japan: Anime Vice reports that Shueisha is launching a new manga anthology featuring work by, among others, Range Murata (Robot). They also spotted some new variation of moe (bushido moe!) running around on the internets. Manga Life magazine is going to do a 4-koma “real-time” parody of the American TV show 24. Patrick Macias looks back at Akihabara in 2008.

Reviews: I was in a hurry yesterday and left out two of the reviews I wrote for Graphic Novel Reporter: Short-Tempered Melancholic and vol. 1 of Apothecarius Argentum. Huamulan03 reviews Butterfly in your thumb (released in the U.S. as Oyayubihime Infinity) at the Sunny Side Up Anime Blog. The Indonesian version is easier to pronounce but the CMX edition has a nicer cover. Casey Brienza reviews vols. 17 and 18 of Monster at ANN. Lissa Pattillo reviews vol. 4 of Black God, vol. 1 of Kyo Kara Maoh!, and vol. 1 of Red Angel at Kuriousity. New at Comics Village: Justin Colussy-Estes on vol. 1 of S.S. Astro and John Thomas on vol. 3 of Translucent. Lianne Sentar turns a jaded eye on the fifth anniversary issue of Shonen Jump at Sleep Is For the Weak. At Manga Recon, Melinda Beasi checks out vol. 1 of Hitohira, Ken Haley looks at vol. 1 of Gankutsuou, and Michelle Smith and Erin Finnegan check out the latest Shojo Beat offerings. Connie reviews vol. 2 of V.B. Rose, vol. 1 of June and vol. 3 of Suppli at Slightly Biased Manga. Snow Wildsmith reads and re-reads Two of Hearts at Fujoshi Librarian. Kris checks out vol. 1 of Time Stranger Kyoko and presents more short reviews of BL for beginners at Manic About Manga. Kethylia has nice things to say about Ai no Polgtergeist. Tangognat reviews vol. 1 of We Were There. Emily takes a look at Zenbu Chodai at Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page. Billy Aguiar is not impressed withPokemon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea at Prospero’s Manga.

I’m running out the door today, but I wanted to point out a few things.

First of all, Graphic Novel Reporter launched today! There are a ton of manga reviews on this site, way too many for me to link to individually, so go explore on your own. In the spirit of shameless self-promotion, here are links to the reviews I wrote for the kids’ section: vols. 1-3 of Hollow Fields, vols. 1 and 2 of The Palette of 12 Secret Colors, Shirley, vol. 1 of Sugar Princess: Skating to Win, vols. 1-8 of Sugar Sugar Rune, vol. 1 of Suihelibe!, vols. 1 and 2 of Warriors: The Lost Warrior, and vol. 1 of Yokaiden. There’s some heavy talent writing for this site, including Robin Brenner and Eva Volin, so it’s well worth checking out.

Also, my colleagues at Good Comics for Kids have collaborated on a Best Graphic Novels of 2008 post. It’s more of a discussion than a list; we were each supposed to pick two titles, one for readers under 12 and one for teens, but some people can’t limit themselves…

This is not manga, but to put everyone in the holiday spirit, I have posted on my personal site about a book of twisted Yuletide tales that became a big part of my family’s Christmas tradition. I hope you get a smile out of it!

Udon, which publishes an interesting mixed bag of manga, manhwa, and manhua, is going after the under-12 crowd with its new line of Kids Manga. This looks like a good move. There isn’t a lot of manga for the younger set, but kids love it, so they end up reading age-inapropriate titles. This gives them manga of their own. The first four are a mixed bag, featuring ninja baseball players, a magical fantasy, a girl whose fairy friend transforms her into a pop idol, and a space patrol staffed by, apparently, a bear and two swans. So, something for everyone! Udon promises to avoid toy and cartoon tie-ins, which should please the adults if not the kids. We’ll be watching with interest to see how these turn out.

‘UDON KIDS MANGA’ GIVES YOUNGER KIDS THEIR FIRST TASTE OF MANGA!
UDON Announces Manga Line for Kids 12 and Under

Toronto, ON – December 17, 2008 – Manga’s popularity in North America has exploded in recent years, with diverse titles covering almost every genre imaginable. But for kids 12 and under, there are still almost no age appropriate manga series available on bookstore shelves other than occasional spin off or promotional tie-ins from Anime shows or products. To fill the void, UDON Entertainment has teamed with Japanese publisher Poplar to bring a new line of original Kids Manga to North America.

This new line, branded UDON KIDS will give younger readers their first chance to join in on the exciting world of manga they’ve seen their older brothers and sisters enjoying so much. Each series under the UDON Kids Manga banner will be guaranteed safe for kids 12 and under, giving parents and librarians a variety of books they can be confident are suitable for their young ones.

“We have spent the last two years researching the Japanese manga market to look for titles suitable for kids in America.” says UDON’s Chief of Ops Erik Ko. “The titles we`ve chosen to launch this line are meant to be enjoyed for their captivating stories, and are not trying to sell kids on the latest animated series or card game like too many manga series are these days.”

The first four series in the UDON Kids Manga line cover popular genres that kids love – Fantasy, Sports, Music, and Space. They all follow the idea of ordinary kids teaming up with a fantastic new friend for wondrous and exciting adventures:

THE BIG ADVENTURES OF MAJOKO – Follow the adventures of a human girl and her new wizard friend Majoko, as they explore the Land of Magic and its many wonders.

NINJA BASEBALL KYUMA – After a little ninja named Kyuma mistakes the team captain for his master, he becomes the local baseball team’s first ever ninja player!

FAIRY IDOL KANON – Kanon was just an ordinary girl who loved to sing… but now with the help of a magical fairy, she’s on her way to becoming a pop idol!

SWANS IN SPACE – Two young girls are recruited by a cute, bear-like alien into the Space Patrol, a secret organization dedicated to helping others across the galaxy.

The all-new UDON Kids Manga launches in April 2009 with the first volumes of THE BIG ADVENTURES OF MAJOKO and NINJA BASEBALL KYUMA. FAIRY IDOL KANON and SWANS IN SPACE will follow in May and June, respectively.