MangaBlog

Lori Henderson discusses why Yen Press doesn’t sell back issues of Yen+ magazine at Manga Xanadu.

This article from The Independent does state the obvious (Manga is popular! It outsells The Beano!), but it is a nice overview of the UK manga scene. (Via Gia.)

It’s mid-December, and you know what that means: Year-in-review lists! New York Magazine lists the top ten graphic novels of 2008 in a format that makes MySpace seem user-friendly by comparison; no text in the post itself, just a slideshow with commentary. Two manga made the list, Disappearance Diary and Travel, which is an interesting pair of choices. (Via Deb Aoki, without whom I would never have found it, as the site is well-nigh unnavigable.) Also, NPR’s Laurel Maury made her graphic novel picks last week, and Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s Good-Bye was the one manga to make the list. So, the non-mainstream stuff at least is making an impact. Douglas Wolk’s list for the New York Times includes Travel as well.

It seems to me that this was announced last summer, but here it is: Udon is teaming up with Crunchyroll. Isn’t everyone?

Here’s your distraction of the day: Jason Thompson directs us to the grandiosely named Great Catalog of MANGA, which features descriptions of all kinds of manga, many not translated yet. Click on “ENGLISH” to get a machine translation of the page.

Erica Friedman rounds up the week in yuri at Okazu.

At Fujoshi Librarian, Snow Wildsmith has the Deux Press release schedule for this spring.

Double congratulations to longtime manga editor Jake Forbes: He’s celebrating his first anniversary of blogging at Gobblin.net and he’s getting married!

Manly Manga and More has Tokyopop Germany’s weekly top 20.

News from Japan: Ed Chavez posts the Dec. 8 manga rankings from Taiyosha at MangaCast. One Piece, still vigorious at vol. 52, tops the list. He also posts the 2008 best seller lists, which include plenty of familiar titles, and the Dec. 6 doujin rankings from Toranoana.

Reviews: Faith McAdams finds plenty to say about vol. 6 of High School Debut at Animanga Nation. Mangamaniac Julie reivews vol. 2 of A Gentleman’s Kiss at MangaCast and vol. 6 of Alive at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Charles Tan has high praise for vol. 1 of Real at Comics Village. At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie reads vol. 5 of Let Dai, vol. 19 of One Piece, vol. 9 of Hellsing, vol. 13 of Nana, vol. 7 of Golgo 13, and vol. 1 of Embalmer. Cynthia posts her take on Lovers and Souls and The Dawn of Love at Boys Next Door. Johanna Draper Carlson gives her stamp of approval to vols. 12-14 of Nana. Michelle Smith reviews vol. 1 of Papillon at Manga Recon. Deb Aoki gets a chuckle out of vol. 1 of Yokaiden at About.com. Lori Henderson reviews vol. 3 of King of Cards at Manga Xanadu. Tiamat’s Disciple shares his opinions on vol. 1 of V.B. Rose. Lissa Pattillo reviews Secret Comics Japan and guest reviewer Gizmo checks out vol. 1 of Fate/Stay Night at Kuriousity. Erica Friedman reviews the light novel Wild Bouquet at Okazu.

You may remember that we ran a preview of Tokyopop’s upcoming manhua Orange a few days ago; now I have an interview with the editor of their world graphic novel series, Bryce Coleman, up at Good Comics for Kids.

The MangaCast team pick the best of this week’s new manga, and the Manga Villagers do the same at Comics Village.

Over at The Savage Critic, Jeff Lester asks “Is manga dying?” The discussion continues in comments but veers off into OEL vs. Japanese manga territory. Alex Hoffman has a more optimistic take at Manga Widget.

Meanwhile, Danielle Leigh is taking names of the best manga of 2008 in the comments section of her Manga Before Flowers column at Comic Book Resources. Go, nominate!

Here’s some evidence that the industry is alive and well: Tokyopop UK just confirmed 35 titles for release in July and August.

Gia Manry, who consistently unearthed scoops and kept us laughing at Giapet.net, is taking her act to Anime Vice, a new website that (despite the name) does cover manga. Reset your RSS feeds and go take a look. Already she spots some confused librarians and some quick manga bits in their Daily Shin Buun column.

News from Japan: ANN gets word that Eri Takenashi has put Kannagi on hiatus due to health problems. Kanta Ishida of the Daily Yomiuri takes a look at Beatitude, a manga based on the building where Osamu Tezuka and other budding manga-ka lived in the 1950s.

Reviews: Ed Chavez posts an audio review of vol. 1 of Vagabond (the VizBig edition) at MangaCast. Lissa Pattillo takes a look at Love Quest at Kuriousity. Julie enjoys vol. 1 of Black Sun, Silver Moon at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Ferdinand succumbs to the cuteness of vol. 1 of Mao-Chan at Prospero’s Manga. Emily reads Boku no Sekai Kimi no Real at Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page. James Fleenor is impressed by All Colour But the Black: The Art of Bleach at Anime Sentinel. Alex Hoffman expands on an earlier review of vol. 1 of Ral Ω Grad at Manga Widget. Kris checks out vol. 1 of Captive Hearts and vol. 1 of Nora: The Last Chronicle of Devildom at Manic About Manga. At Comics Village, Justin Colussy-Estes enjoys Junko Mizuno’s Hansel and Gretel and Katherine Farmar has exactly the opposite reaction to World’s End at Comics Village. At Active Anime, Holly Ellingwood checks out vol. 2 of Mixed Vegetables, Gaba Kawa, and vol. 5 of Wild Ones, and Rachel Bentham reviews vol. 1 of St. Dragon Girl.

ICv2 lists the top 20 graphic novels for November. This list comes from Bookscan, so it reflects sales in bookstores, not comics shops, so it’s surprising to see that only 12 of the slots are filled by manga. On the other hand, the titles are no surprise: Fruits Basket, Naruto (twice), Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

And what does the best-seller list look like in Japan? Amazon.co.jp posts the top manga and light novels for 2008, and the top title is Nodame Cantabile, followed by Yotsuba&! The list is populated by plenty of other familiar titles, including Saint Young Men, which isn’t licensed here but seems to have built a following anyway.

Simon Jones (SFW today, for some reason) wonders what will happen when Naruto comes to an end—will the market have a lull and then rebound with the next superhit, as it does in Japan, or will the industry crash?

It’s an odd position to be in, to be simultaneously not big enough, and not lean enough to survive a long dry spell. But that might be a place where a few manga pubs are headed right now.

At Manga Life, translators Alethea and Athena Nibley present their Christmas wish list of manga they would love to translate.

Manga Recon senior editor Kate Dacey updates us on changes at the site, including naming Michelle Smith as manga editor.

One piece of sad news making the rounds is the demise of Comics Foundry magazine, after only its fifth issue. I’m one of those lucky people who contributed to it, so I’m extra sad; it struck me as having the potential to be the Spy magazine of comics, and that would have been a very good thing.

In other magazine news, Hazel picks the highlights from this month’s Otaku USA.

News from Japan: The manga Gakkou no Ojikan ends, and Stardust Wink, by Nana Haruta, begins.

Reviews: Deb Aoki has an advance look at the shoujo one-shot Heaven’s Will at About.com. Casey Brienza reviews vols. 3 and 4 of The Good Witch of the West and Carlo Santos takes a look at vol. 2 of Ghost Talker’s Daydream at ANN. Lissa Pattillo checks out Tomorrow’s Ulterior Motive at Kuriousity. At Prospero’s Manga, Ferdinand thinks younger readers will enjoy vol. 1 of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time more than he did. Sandy Bilus reads vols. 1 and 2 of Black Jack at I Love Rob Liefeld (via Journalista.) Connie reads vol. 1 of St. Dragon Girl at Slightly Biased Manga. Ed Chavez has an audio review of vol. 1 of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya at MangaCast. Nadia Oxford gives vol. 1 of Just Around the Corner a gentleman’s C+ at Mania.com. Shaun A. Noording checks out vol. 1 of Kyo Kara Maoh! at The Star of Malaysia.

At last, some answers: Manga Recon posts Tokyopop’s 2009 shipping list, which provides reassurance that many series are in fact going to live on, along with a handful of new ones. But over at The Beat, Heidi has vague news about layoffs at Tokyopop.

Kai-Ming Cha has more thoughts on the manga industry from Viz veep Alvin Lu. Alex Hoffman takes a look at the U.S. manga industry and sees it divided into haves and have-nots—but he notes that publishers can change their own fates.

For those who are thinking more about next week than next year, Deb Aoki has some gift ideas for shoujo manga fans at About.com, and Hazel takes a look at this month’s new manga at Anime Infatuation.

Park Cooper interviews manga adaptor Gerard Jones at Manga Life.

School Library Journal (which hosts another blog I edit, Good Comics for Kids) has named vol. 1 of Me and the Devil Blues as one of its Best Adult Books for High School Students 2008—the only manga to make their graphic novel list. Also, the ALA’s YALSA has published their nominations for their Great Graphic Novels for Teens list. (Via David Welsh.)

Manga goes mainstream watch: Naruto made the list of Yahoo’s top ten search terms this year. Can world domination be far behind?

Happy blogiversary to Lori Henderson, who has been delivering news, opinion, and reviews at Manga Xanadu for a year now. Well done!

There’s a manga show on right now at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.

ComiPress translates a Chinese article on the French and Chinese comics markets.

News from Japan: Ed Chavez posts the weekly manga rankings from Taiyosha at MangaCast. The boy band Hey! Say! JUMP is getting its own manga in Ciao magazine. Kitchen Princess creator Natsumi Ando is launching a new series, Arisa, about twin sisters with very different personalities, in Nakayoshi magazine. Also in Nakayoshi, Haruka Fukushima has drawn a five-page spinoff of her popular Instant Teen – Just Add Nuts manga.

Reviews: Danielle Leigh reviews vol. 1 of Bound Beauty, a new manga from Her Majesty’s Dog creator Mick Takeuchi, at Comics Should Be Good. John Jakala scratches the James Bond itch with a review of vol. 5 of Golgo 13 at Sporadic Sequential. At Comics Worth Reading, Ed Sizemore recommends vol. 14 of Tail of the Moon Johanna Draper Carlson is pleased to discover You Will Fall in Love. Johanna also posts some brief reviews of new Viz titles. While everyone else was arguing about Bat-Manga, Deb Aoki actually read it, and she posts her thoughts at About.com. At Comics Village, Dan Polley reviews vol. 1 of Gankutsuou and Alex Hoffman reads vol. 1 of Kieli. Connie checks out vol. 3 of Sand Chronicles, vol. 3 of Kedamono Damono, vol. 8 of Loveless, and vol. 6 of MPD-Psycho at Slightly Biased Manga. James Fleenor gives his impression of vol. 1 of Inukami! at Anime Sentinel. Ben Leary enjoys vol. 2 of Coyote Ragtime Show at Mania.com. Dave Ferraro has a quick take on vol. 1 of Papillon at Comics-and-More. Michelle Smith reads vol. 1 of One Piece and vol. 1 of Case Closed at Soliloquy in Blue. At Manga Life, Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane reviews vol. 4 of Honey and Clover and Park Cooper checks out vol. 3 of Dororo and vol. 20 of Whistle! Tiamat’s Disciple posts his thoughts and impressions on vol. 1 of Hoshin Engi. Julie reads vol. 1 of St. Dragon Girl at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Emily’s latest find is Half and Half at Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page. Lissa Pattillo reviews vol. 1 of Vampire’s Portrait and vol. 4 of Winter Demon, guest reviewer Marsha Reid reads vol. 2 of Goong, and guest reviewer Gizmo checks out vol. 4 of Zombie Loan at Kuriousity. Sakurapassion posts a brief take on FreshMen at The Yaoi Review. Kris, who seems to be on a quest to review every yaoi manga ever published, posts reviews of Just Around the Corner, vol. 3 of Magical JxR, and Say Please at Manic About Manga.

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

There’s a new volume of Fullmetal Alchemist in the works, and Jake Forbes, who edits the translation, explains what there is to like about the series, how the manga has more to offer than the anime, and what to expect in the next few volumes.

Michelle Smith has some advice for those who hunt unannounced manga licenses at Manga Recon.

Reviews: David Welsh has a perceptive review of two Takehiko Inoue basketball manga, Real and Slam Dunk, at The Comics Reporter. Over at Fujoshi Librarian, Snow Wildsmith takes a look at two yaoi titles by Hinako Takanaga, A Capable Man and You Will Fall in Love. Kris checks out vol. 2 of Ichigenme… The First Class is Civil Law at Manic About Manga. Lori Henderson finds vol. 1 of Nightmares for Sale to be adequately entertaining at Comics Village. Ed Chavez has an audio review of vol. 2 of Sunshine Sketch at MangaCast. Connie reads vols. 4 and 5 of Hellsing and vol. 23 of Astro Boy at Slightly Biased Manga. Tangognat reviews a You Higuri one-shot, Angel’s Coffin.

Here’s a treat from Tokyopop to ease the transition back from the long weekend: A 21-page preview of Orange, the first of a planned series of full-color graphic novels from around the world. Orange was originally published in China, and the creator is Benjamin, a Chinese artist who makes digital media look amazingly like real paint.

Click here for the Orange preview (PDF)

You can read more about Benjamin here, on Paul Gravett’s site, and get more information on Orange from Tokyopop’s catalog page.