MangaBlog

Here are the official announcements of Broccoli’s latest licenses, sola and Honoka Level Up! Both sound interesting in different ways: sola just one piece of the multimedia sola project (link is to the official website, which is mostly in Japanese) and Honoka Level Up! is about gaming, but it’s not based on a game, it’s a career comic about a girl who is trying to succeed in the industry.

Broccoli Books announces new title, sola and Honoka Level Up!

Los Angeles, CA (January 25, 2008) – Broccoli Books is extremely proud to announce that they have acquired the publishing rights and license for the extremely popular manga series sola by Chako Abeno and the video game-centric manga series Honoka Level Up! written by Akiyoshi Ohta and illustrated by MATSUDA98.

About sola
sola is a continuing series serialized through the monthly Japanese seinen manga Dengeki Daioh, which is published by MediaWorks.

Yorito is a high school student who likes to take photographs of the sky. A chance meeting introduces him to Matsuri, but she is no ordinary girl—it turns out that she’s actually a 350 year-old Yaka, an immortal being that cannot go out into the light! As such, Matsuri has been forced to live a life of solitude, and Yorito is the first friend she’s ever had. But there is much more to the Yaka than first meets the eye, and a sword-wielding man named Takeshi seems intent on harming Matsuri, but for what reason? Thrust into a supernatural battle, will Yorito have the courage to protect their friendship for Matsuri’s sake?

About Chako Abeno
Chako Abeno is a prolific illustrator and manga artist whose works include the manga in white Pure Story and My-Otome zwei.

About sola project
The manga sola is part of a huge mixed media venture known as sola project, which encompass manga, anime, drama CDs, music CDs, and internet radio shows. All of them are based off of the original story by Naoki Hisaya and character designs by Naru Nanao. Naoki Hisaya is most widely known for being the main writer for the highly successful visual novel Kanon while working under Key/Visual Art’s. Naru Nanao is a famous character designer whose works include the original character designs for the D.C. ~Da Capo~ visual novel by Circus and the female character design for the game series Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two by Minori.

The animated sola was well received in Japan, earning the best anime that aired in 2007 in a poll from the company Spider Networks. Over 2 million votes in Japan were tallied for sola to result in first place.

About Honoka Level Up!
Honoka Level Up is serialized in the monthly magazine, Monthly Dengeki Comic Gao!

As a lonely girl who draws for fun, Honoka was just a regular student until the day her uncle, Ryuichi, hired her to work as a character designer at his newly created game company. Now thrust into a complex, corporate world, newcomer Honoka begins to learn the ins and outs of the video game industry: the politics involved, each person’s responsibilities, and how a game is put together. It’s a lot to take in, but one thing’s for sure—she’s going to step up her game if she wants to succeed, as putting together a video game is no easy task!

A realistic story about what it’s like to work for a video game company. Learn about the gaming industry through Honoka’s eyes.

About Akiyoshi Ohta
Akiyoshi Ohta is a superb writer for manga and video games. His experience working in the video game industry provides realistic situations in Honoka Level Up!. He has also worked on titles such as CLANNAD Anthology Novel 2 and We Are – Cruel Angels-.

About MATSUDA98
MATSUDA98 (Read as Matsuda Kyuu Hachi) is a manga artist, illustrator, and doujinshi creator. Her unique and cute art style has been used for the trading card game, Aquarian Age Saga II, and the Ragnarok online anthology comic. She also has multiple color magazine illustrations, novel covers, and other arts throughout the anime, manga, and game industry.

Happy birthday to UK artists’ group Sweatdrop Studios which celebrates six years of making manga this week. They have become a fairly remarkable collective: Several of their members (Sonia Leong, Emma Vieceli, Fehed Said) have gone pro, and a large percentage have made it into the UK Rising Stars of Manga competitive anthologies. To celebrate, they’re having a prize draw and offering a 50 percent discount at their web store—plus free international shipping. (I reviewed their dual anthologies, Pink is for Girls and Blue is for Boys, last year.)

At the MangaCast, Ed Chavez spots some new titles from Viz on Amazon—Gimmick!, Mixed Vegetables, Black Lagoon—and posts cover images from some series licensed by Seven Seas.

Ryan at Same Hat is enthusiastic about another Viz title, Kazuo Umezu’s Cat-Eyed Boy. Click for freaky cat-eyed pictures!

Xavier Guilbert has translated his Myth Quest column into English. It’s an amusing critique of a comic that goes to great lengths to look Japanese when it’s not. Meanwhile, here’s the other side of the coin: At Comic Book Resources, Joe Casey talks about Krash Bastards, the global manga he’s writing for Image Comics:

“It’s not just the art style,” he said. “This is 100% authentic manga in its presentation. It reads right to left, it deals with sweeping emotions and white-knuckled angst, it moves fast, and it’s action-packed.”

“Manga rarely has anything to do with ‘art style. Japanese comics have just as diverse a selection of artistic approaches as Western comics do. I was interested in the form and the format, that’s why we did it as though it were an authentic, translated-from-Japanese manga.”

Shaenon Garrity posts the first half of her reader-generated Overlooked Manga Festival.

Tangognat lists all the manga she’s reading, and why.

ComiPress translates the epilogue to “The Reason I Quit My Job as a Manga Editor” and reports that the Guinness Book of World Records has decided that manga-ka Shotaro Ishinomori (Cyborg 009, Kamen Rider) is the most published manga-ka ever.

Attention journalists: Has your editor just assigned an article on this “women in comics” thing? David Welsh has some tips for you!

Web designer and comics artist Dave White writes about the visual side of comics at 741.5 Comics, which he has recently revived after a period of, uh, quietude. He writes about all kinds of comics and has a keen eye for manga—check out his review of vols. 1 and 2 of Kashimashi.

We see lots of articles about crimes that were supposedly caused by manga, so it’s refreshing to see this article mentioning a kid who goes back to school because of manga.

News from Japan: ANN reports that the manga magazine Monthly Dengeki Comic GAO! is wrapping up a dozen series in the March and April issues, including newly licensed series Inukami! (Seven Seas) and Honoka Lv. Up! (Broccoli). Click for lots more details. Also: D.N.Angel is back, and W-Juliet creator Emura has a new manga. On the business side, Animate and Broccoli have teamed up.

Erica Friedman rounds up some international yuri news, including the happy tidings that Rica Takashima (Rica ‘tte Kanji!?) plans on doing more manga featuring Rica and Miho.

German blog Manly Manga and More posts Tokyopop’s February releases and their own shopping list.

Reviews: It’s Shojo Beat Week at Manga Recon, where Erin Finnegan reviews vol. 1 of Honey and Clover, vol. 1 of The Sand Chronicles, and vol. 2 of Fall in Love Like a Comic. Ben Leary reviews vol. 1 of Yurara and Greg Hackman takes a look at the Demon Ororon Complete Collection at Anime on DVD. Ed Chavez podcasts his thoughts on Witchblade Takeru and Dorothy of Oz at the MangaCast. At the Manga Maniac Cafe, Julie checks out vol. 4 of Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs and I’ll Be Your Slave Tiamat’s Disciple enjoys vol. 1 of Black God but can’t even finish Pandora: A Death JR Story. Mely has lots to say about vol. 8 of Godchild at coffeeandink. At Active Anime, Holly Ellingwood reviews vol. 3 of Le Chevalier d’Eon and I’ll Be Your Slave, and Rachel Bentham has an early look at Party. Mahou Meido Meganekko reads Rosario + Vampire in scanlation and posts a lengthy critique. Jason Punda checks out vol. 1 of Hollow Fields at Manga Jouhou.

I just picked up the February Shojo Beat at B&N the other day and noticed that it was the MUSIC AWARDS ISSUE, but dove straight into the comics. It turns out SB is partnering with MYX (not to be confused with Mixx!), “the first and only music lifestyle channel focused on the Asian American market,” on this promotion. Lots of interesting stuff after the cut.

VIZ MEDIA RELEASES THE THIRD ANNUAL SHOJO BEAT MUSIC AWARDS ISSUE, FEBRUARY 2008

Featuring A Reader’s Choice Vote And Exciting Contest In Partnership With MYX!

San Francisco, CA, January 24, 2008 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced that its Third Annual SHOJO BEAT Music Awards Issue features a reader’s choice vote and a new, exclusive contest in conjunction with MYX, the first and only music lifestyle channel focused on the Asian American market. The February issue, on sale at retail outlets now, offers a host of new surprises and exciting editorial content sure to delight even the most discriminating fan.

The February 2008 issue of SHOJO BEAT, rated T+ for Older Teens, celebrates the best in Japanese music with a beginner’s guide to Japanese bands, a Tokyo record store’s top 10 and two music-themed Hot Lists in addition to the featured awards. For the Music Awards, SHOJO BEAT takes a look at previous up-and-comers in the awards competition as well as this year’s newest and most talented artists. In the Best Pop Artist or Group category, artists include: Budo Grape, Puffy AmiYumi, Swinging Popsicle and HALCALI. In the Best Rock Artist or Group category, artists include: L’Arc~en~Ciel, AN CAFÉ, ROCKET K and DOGG BONE. There is also a new category for Music Videos made possible by the folks at MYX.

SHOJO BEAT readers who vote for their favorite music will be entered into a random drawing for one of 15 cool prizes. Prizes include 100 song downloads on JapanFiles.com, and the latest edition of Dance Dance Revolution, SuperNOVA2 donated by Konami. For more details and Official Rules, visit http://shojobeat.com/music/rules.php

In addition to its help with the Music Video category in the Awards, MYX is also working with SHOJO BEAT this month and allowing readers to get even more into the exciting world of Asian music. The ‘MYX a Music Spot SHOJO BEAT Style’ contest promotes a search for creative SHOJO BEAT and J-Music-loving fans to help MYX create a 10-30 second spot to be featured between their regular programming of music videos and Asian-American oriented shows! Participants will simply upload their ideas to the MYX.tv website, MYX and SHOJO BEAT will pick the best concepts, and one lucky grand prize winner will have their concept turned into an actual spot produced by MYX. The grand prize winner will also receive a SHOJO BEAT goodie bag containing a T-shirt and Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution game. Each of the three runner-up winners will receive a SHOJO BEAT goodie bag containing a T-shirt and Konami’s latest Dance Dance Revolution game. For more details and official rules, visit http://www.shojobeat.com/myx32/.

MYX is also offering an exclusive promotion in conjunction with the SHOJO BEAT music issue on its website (http://myx.tv) where participants can enter to win a new 16gb iPod Touch. Site visitors who join the MYX newsletter are automatically entered in a random drawing to win.

“MYX is committed to raising awareness about some of the hottest musical artists sweeping Asia and we’re very excited to partner with SHOJO BEAT for this exciting issue,” states Enrique Olives, Director for Business Development of ABS-CBN Global. “The popularity of J-Music among anime and manga fans is widespread and growing and we welcome the opportunity to have so many talented and unique artists featured in this special issue. We encourage readers to vote for their favorite artists and lend support to this growing genre of music.”

“Rock and pop music from Japan and other Asian countries has complemented the popularity of anime and manga across North America,” says Kristine Givas, Director Advertising & Marketing, VIZ Media. “Many artists lend theme songs to popular anime series and our readers have become avid fans. This issue will explore a range of cutting edge artists and we are pleased to team with MYX to also present several contests and ways that SHOJO BEAT readers can become involved in this musical phenomenon that is quickly gaining domestic momentum.”

In addition to extensive and exciting music coverage, the February issue features all the fun stuff that SHOJO BEAT is known for— dramatic, cathartic, romantic and fantastic shojo manga: Monkey High! preview, plus the exciting continuation of serialized titles Absolute Boyfriend, Crimson Hero, Vampire Knight, Honey and Clover, Haruka and Sand Chronicles. The fresh Japanese infused lifestyle editorial, along with the incredible addiction of the shojo manga titles has helped this unique magazine increase its circulation over 57% percent since launching in June 2005 and shows no signs of slowing its growth as the appeal of manga for girls and Japanese pop culture continues to rise.

About MYX
Launched in April 2007, MYX is the first and only music lifestyle channel focused on the Asian American community and a broader audience hungry for music fusion. A nationally-distributed premium television channel, MYX targets the 15 to 34 demographic. MYX fuses mainstream hits, the biggest jams from Asia and a healthy dose of independent music 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Based in Redwood City, Calif., MYX is developed by ABS-CBN Global, a media company with a 15-year track record in successful ethnic programming in the U.S. For more information, please visit www.myx.tv.

Weekly Recon writer Katherine Dacey looks forward to the week ahead in manga.

Editor extraordinaire Dallas Middaugh blogs about how he got hooked on comics.

At the MangaCast, Ed supplies cover images for the manga announced by Tokyopop at NYAF.

Bloomberg goes to Winter Comiket, and they find the usual cliches: big eyes, big boobs, and cell phone manga on the train. Bonus vocabulary word: “therianthropic,” a handy descriptor for the Sohma family. You can read the whole thing, or you can skip directly to Zero-chan’s dissection of it on Japanator, which is much better. (Second link via Simon Jones.)

At One Potato Two, translator Satsuma blogs a bit about the Code Geass manga and gives us a peep at the art.

Did Akira inspire an Italian murderer? The British tabloid The Sun wants you to think so. After all the suspect’s computer password was “Akirafuga.” (Via Blog@Newsarama, which has better art.)

News from Japan: ANN reports on Kodansha’s Shonen Rival, a manga magazine pitched at junior high students that replaces Comic BonBon, which skewed younger. The new magazine launches with a print run of 300,000 copies. And Shueisha’s Jump Square, which occasionally features one-shot manga by well-known artists, will run one-shots by Hideaki Sorichi, creator of Gin Tama, and Akiko Higashimura. Not to be outdone, Shogakukan’s Weekly Shonen Sunday will feature a one-shot by Law of Ueki mangaka Tsubasa Fukuchi.

Gia Manry links to all her underrated manga posts for Fanboy.com.

Free manga: King Tractor Press is posting its manga backlist on Wowio.com for free download.

Manga academy: There’s going to be an academic conference on gender roles in manga and anime at McGill University this weekend, with some interesting guests and scheduled talks.

Coming this weekend: Phoenix Cactus Con. Svetlana Chmakova is going to be there, and so is Yaoi Press.

Reviews: It’s a Manga Bible smackdown at About.com, where Deb Aoki contrasts Doubleday’s The Manga Bible and vol. 1 of Zondervan’s Manga Bible. Deb also skewers vol. 1 of Hell Girl. New reviews are up at Comics Village: John Thomas on vol. 1 of Psycho Busters, Lissa Pattillo on Love Me Sinfully, Sabrina on Harlequin Pink: A Prince Needs a Princess, Charles Tan on vol. 1 of Apollo’s Song, and Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of The Guin Saga: The Seven Magi. Ben Leary reviews vol. 1 of Legends of the Dark Crystal and the staff chips in with some Small Bodied Manga Reviews at Anime on DVD. In case you missed the Shoujo Manga issue of The Comics Journal, back in 2005, Jog reprints his review of Here is Greenwood. At Okazu, Erica Friedman is way ahead of we mere English speakers with a review of vol. 11 of Aria. M. Jules Michel reviews Sensitive Pornograph at Manga Jouhou. Michelle enjoys vol. 2 of Boys Over Flowers at Soliloquy in Blue. Nick gives his take on vol. 1 of Alice on Deadlines at Hobotaku. Julie checks out The Prime Minister’s Secret Diplomacy at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Holly Ellingwood also reviews The Prime Minister’s Secret Diplomacy at Active Anime, as well as vol. 1 of From Up Above; also checking in are Davey C. Jones on vol. 8 of School Rumble, Scott Campbell on vol. 4 of Kamiyadori, and Sandra Scholes on vol. 1 of Trinity Blood. At the UK graphic novel blog Grovel, Andy reviews vol. 1 of The Guin Saga Manga: The Seven Magi.

New comics are out today, and the MangaCast crew makes their selections.

Comics: Not just for boys any more. The Guardian notices, and they give manga credit for opening the medium up to female readers and creators.

In this week’s Flipped column, David Welsh contrasts The Manga Bible and Manga Sutra.

Charles Tan discusses why fans prefer fansubs and scanlations to licensed anime and manga. (Snobber and purism loom large.)

Meanwhile, Same Hat! Same Hat!! hosts an extremely unlicensed (and NSFW) manga, Drunkard Condo Syndrome, scanlated by Anonymous K.

ComiPress has the winners of the 53rd Shogakukan Awards and the nominees for the 2008 Manga Taisho (Manga Grand Prize). MangaCast has more on the Shogakukan awards.

Submit to Del Rey! No, I don’t mean buy all their books—they’re accepting submissions of graphic novel proposals and portfolios from would-be manga artists.

Reviews: Briana Lawrence reviews Glass Sky at Anime on DVD. Julie checks out vol. 1 of Aria and vol. 2 of Andromeda Stories at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Ed Sizemore has a thorough critique of The Manga Bible at Comics Worth Reading.

It’s that time of the month again: ICv2 brings us the December direct market sales numbers for pamphlets and graphic novels. The short version is that comics were up 3 percent and GNs rose 11 percent, yielding a 4 percent gain overall.

Anyway, we’re all about the manga here, so here are the top-selling manga, pulled from ICv2’s graphic novel chart (the number in parentheses before the title is the ranking on the overall GN chart; the number after the title is estimated sales in comics shops only). Enjoy!

1. (4) Naruto, vol. 27 (4,862)
2. (5) Naruto, vol. 26 (4,777)
3. (6) Naruto, vol. 25, (4,755)
4. (15) Fullmetal Alchemist, vol. 15 (3,353)
5. (47) Appleseed (1,879)
6. (52) Gunsmith Cats Omnibus, vol. 4 (1,801)
7. (66) Oh My Goddess, vol. 7 (1,509)
8. (71) Robot, vol. 4 (1,417)
9. (72) Welcome to the NHK, vol. 5 (1,367)
10. (73) Genshiken, vol. 9 (1,360)
11. (80) Gakuen Alice, vol. 1 (1,253)
12. (82) Dramacon, vol. 3 (1,246)
13. (90) Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, vol. 5 (1,160)
14. (93) Girls Bravo, vol. 10 (1,125)
15. (95) Naruto, vol. 23 (1,075)
15. (98) Air Gear, vol. 6 (1,061)
16. (100) Hana Kimi, vol. 21 (1,046)

It’s unusual to have more than one manga in the top ten, but Naruto conquers all. On the other hand, the rest of the list seems rather sparse. But then again, this is comics stores only.