MangaBlog

San Diego Comic-Con is in full swing, and we’ll be covering it as the news dribbles out, but there’s plenty going on in other venues.

The USA Today Top 150 is heavily dominated by Harry Potter this week (he takes four of the top five spots) but vol. 15 of Naruto does move up two notches, from 60 to 58.

At Sporadic Sequential, John Jakala notices something odd about the sound effects in Kekkaishi.

Here’s another reason to wish you had an iPhone: MANGA!

VOICE-BANK(CEO: Yoshihide Kinokawa), Inc. announced at Red Herring 2007 “Insight Japan” that they will start delivering MANGA for iPhone users in the US with Digital Manga Association Japan (Chairman: Monkey Punch).

They had me at (Chairman: Monkey Punch).

Variety reports that Chinese officials shut down a Death Note fan site. (Via Journalista.)

New to the blogroll: a geek by any other name, by a former blogger for the late Anime Online. Blogger gia is at SDCC and providing a steady stream of news, so check it out.

Reviews: At the Manga Maniac Cafe, Julie checks out vol. 18 of Boys Over Flowers. Holly Ellingwood reviews vol. 7 of Buso Renkin and vol. 3 of My Hime. Comic Pants has another Manga Zubon column with lots of new reviews and, in the comments, lures a new reader to Gon.

ComiPress is providing a wonderfully comprehensive roundup of SDCC posts; keep checking this link for updates. Some highlights:

The Del Rey editors are blogging at Active Anime, with mostly light news and cosplay photos, as well as a daily update on Ali Kokmen’s ties. And check out One Potato Two, by translator “Satsuma” as well—yesterday she had some interesting meetings and autographed a book.

Ed Chavez reports on the Viz panel, where the big news is that they will be publishing omnibus editions (3 volumes in 1 for $17.99) of popular titles, starting with Rurouni Kenshin, Dragon Ball, and Dragon Ball Z. They also announced two new titles, Fallen Vampire and Monkey High! Ed has the covers. ANN has a pretty comprehensive report on the panel as well.

Meanwhile, at the CMX booth, Ed got to take a look at the newly licensed Zombie Fairy, a shonen title that he likens to Oh! My Goddess in its possible girl-appeal.

At the GoComics panel, Tokyopop listed the comics they will make available for cell phones.

And if you’re feeling bad about not being at SDCC, read Heidi’s description of Day 1 and count your blessings.

It’s a quiet news day—it seems like everyone is at SDCC, and things are under way, but the manga news reports haven’t started rolling in yet. General comics bloggers are all checking in, but at the moment, all I’m seeing from the mangasphere are early reports from One Potato Two and the Broccoli blog. Expect a deluge shortly.

Blogger James Vance comments on the sins of the manga pirates. (Via The Comics Reporter.)

Newsarama talks to Jeremy Ross about Tokyopop’s “digital strategy.” (Via Manganews.)

Erica Friedman has written a beginner’s guide to yuri for Afterellen.com.

Madeline Rosca has more of her adventures in Japan as runner-up in the international manga competition.

New York Magazine’s Vulture blog has a somewhat NSFW preview of Osamu Tezuka’s Apollo’s Song. (Via Blog@Newsarama.)

Yaoi Press hears from a male reader.

Congratulations to Connie of Slightly Biased Manga on her third blogiversary!

Reviews: At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie looks at vol. 8 of Astro Boy. The Anime on DVD reviewers have a new batch of Small Bodied Manga Reviews up. At Comics Worth Reading, Johanna reviews the Harlequin Violet manga Response. Julie checks out vol. 1 of Gon at the Manga Maniac Cafe. At Manga Life, Lisa Anderson reviews vol. 1 of Red String and Dan Polley reads Abandon the Old in Tokyo. Active Anime’s Christopher Seaman reviews vol. 6 of Old Boy and vol. 4 of Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny, Scott Campbell looks at vol. 2 of Mushishi, and Holly Ellingwood checks out vol. 3 of Kitchen Princess and vol. 3 of Shaman Warrior. At Okazu, Erica Friedman reviews vol. 1 of Yuri Hime Selection. At Otaku Champloo, Khursten looks at the classic Japanese manga Touch. Miranda reviews vol. 1 of Alive and Ferdinand checks out the Minx title Clubbing at Prospero’s Manga. Savage Critic Jeff Lester reviews vol. 6 of The Drifting Classroom. And No Flying, No Tights updates with a long list of recent reviews.

After the cut, info on the second volume of the Star Trek manga. I believe volume 1 sold pretty well, probably because they have a built-in customer base. Nice lineup of creators, including global manga writer Paul Benjamin and artist Bettina Kurkoski.

These Are the Voyages of the Starship Enterprise…
TOKYOPOP Proudly Presents… STAR TREK®: THE MANGA – Kakan Ni Shinkou

Second Volume in Hit Manga Anthology Arrives in Stores Stardate 9.5.07

Comic-Con, San Diego CA (July 25, 2007)― Energize! TOKYOPOP and CBS Consumer Products have joined forces once again to produce an intriguing and unforgettable look at the Final Frontier with Star Trek: The Manga: Kakan Ni Shinkou, the second volume in the hit Star Trek manga series, based on Captain James T. Kirk’s historic adventures aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise™ NCC-1701. Following on the heels of the hugely successful maiden voyage of TOKYOPOP’s Star Trek: Shinsei Shinsei, this second volume covers more stories from the original Star Trek TV series.

TOKYOPOP once again beams up top artists and writers from around the galaxy to deliver brand-new tales of new worlds and new civilizations, featuring the classic Star Trek line up. Star Trek: The Manga— Kakan Ni Shinkou features stories by author/actor Wil Wheaton (‘Wesley Crusher’ on Star Trek: The Next Generation®), Diane Duane (author of 11 Star Trek novels and writer for numerous TV shows including Star Trek: The Next Generation), Mike Wellman (Mac Afro), Paul Benjamin (Pantheon High) and Christine Boylan (CBS TV’s 3 Lbs.), with accompanying art by EJ Su (Transformers), Don Hudson (Gun Powder Girl and the Outlaw Squaw), Steven Cummings (Pantheon High), Bettina Kurkoski (My Cat Loki) and Nam Kim (Adomant).

In Kakan Ni Shinkou, Kirk is put on trial for crimes he has yet to discover… Uhura demonstrates the true power of communication… Bones gets to the core of Vulcan emotion… Scotty has to extract dilithium crystals from a mine in the middle of a war zone… and an alien delegation uses the Enterprise as a vessel of deception!

According to TOKYOPOP editor Luis Reyes “The first volume cracked the surface of what the marriage of manga and Star Trek could be. With this second volume we hope to dig deeper into what the original Star Trek series was all about, and we are excited to enlist Wil Wheaton and Diane Duane in that pursuit. As in the first volume, Kakan Ni Shinkou will adhere to Gene Roddenberry’s philosophy of using the Star Trek universe as a way to explore our own humanity. An ambitious goal and one I hope we serve well in this book.”

Star Trek: The Manga: Kakan Ni Shinkou will also feature a prose story from Pocket Book’s upcoming anthology Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Sky’s the Limit.

ABOUT TOKYOPOP

TOKYOPOP is hailed as a leading youth-oriented entertainment brand and an innovator of manga creation, with a revolutionary artistic vision that transcends countless platforms. From the introduction of the first-ever extensive manga publishing program in North America, to the development of its manga-originated intellectual properties into film, television and digital entertainment, TOKYOPOP has changed the way teens experience pop culture. The company’s global reach has expanded to Europe and Asia, with recent offices opening in the UK and Germany and upcoming partnerships in Australia and China, in addition to its original Los Angeles and Tokyo operations. With millions of fans logging onto the new social networking site www.TOKYOPOP.com > , reading its books, which are licensed in 41 countries in more than 20 languages, and watching its DVDs and television programs, TOKYOPOP’s award-winning catalogue of licensed and original properties has made the company a visionary in an ever-growing teen entertainment marketplace. Visit www.TOKYOPOP.com for additional information.

ABOUT CBS CONSUMER PRODUCTS

CBS Consumer Products, a unit of CBS Entertainment, manages worldwide licensing and merchandising for a diverse slate of television brands and series from CBS, CBS Paramount Network Television and CBS Television Distribution, as well as from the company’s extensive library of titles. Additionally, the group oversees the CBS Retail Store and online sales of programming merchandise. For more information, visit www.CBS.com > .

™, ® & © 2007 CBS Studios Inc. STAR TREK and related marks are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

I’ll be off the net from this evening through tomorrow evening, in transit back to Boston (no, not SDCC—maybe next year), so talk among yourselves in the comments if you like. Here are some links to get you started:

At PWCW, Kai-Ming Cha solves the mystery of ICE Kunion: They’re being absorbed by Yen Press. Kai-Ming also has a report from Otakon, and I interviewed Elfquest and Masque of the Red Death creator Wendy Pini about her decision not to renew her contract with DC.

Tomorrow is Wednesday, and David Welsh reveals what he will be buying this week. At Comicsnob, Matt Blind updates this week’s manga watch list and explains why.

Manga Recon’s Katherine Dacey-Tsuei says: If you’re going to SDCC, be sure to stop by the Fanfare/Ponent Mon booth. She gives a sneak peek at their catalog so you can see the coming attractions. Katherine’s alter ego ChunHyang72 has another excellent Tokyopop Round-up to keep you busy.

Good news for Madeline Rosca: Vol. 1 of Hollow Fields has gone back for a second printing after a first printing of 25,000, mighty respectable for a new title by a new creator.

Blog@Newsarama has some suggestions for anime and manga fans who are heading to SDCC. Also, Chris Mautner has a report, with photos, from Otakon and JK Parkin interviews I Luv Halloween creator Ben Roman.

More Otakon: Erica Friedman continues her report from the con, and ANN reports that it pulled in $21 million this year. And Toon Zone has a post about the Del Rey panel.

ANN also has a nice story about volunteers who transcribe manga for the blind, putting the words in braille and rendering the art in raised dots.

The Japanese Defense Ministry goes moe to explain defense policy to the masses, or at least the otaku portion of the masses. Of course, this is Wai Wai, so read it with a grain of salt.

Reviews: Congratulations to Dave Ferraro of Comics-and-More, who celebrates the first anniversary of Manga Monday with a roundup of his favorite posts and a review of vols. 15-18 of Hana-Kimi. Greg Hackmann reviews the one-shot Million Tears at Anime on DVD. At Completely Futile, Adam Stephanides has some comments on vol. 3 of Absolute Boyfriend. Michael Aronson reviews vol. 1 of Barefoot Gen at Manga Life. Carlo Santos checks out the last volume of Death Note and some interesting first volumes in his latest Right Turn Only!! column. At Active Anime, Christopher Seaman reviews Frederick Schodt’s The Astro Boy Essays, Scott Campbell checks out vol. 2 of Shaman Warrior, and Holly Ellingwood reads vol. 3 of Free Collars Kingdom. At the Manga Maniac Cafe, Julie enjoys vol. 3 of Punch! Cornerofmadness reviews vols. 1-17 of Bleach at Manganews. Leroy Douresseaux reviews vol. 1 of Kingdom Hearts II at the Comic Book Bin.

ComiPress kicks off the work week with Part III of “Why I Quit My Job as a Manga Editor.” Also: One of the three men arrested in May for file-sharing manga via Winny has been found guilty and sentenced to one year in prison.

Check out the Weekly Recon for a list of manga shipping this week and brief reviews of some new titles.

At MangaCast, Ed has the list of manga from this month’s Diamond Previews (shipping in October and November) as well as the Japanese manga rankings for July 21.

Tina Anderson checks out some bara manga from Japan.

At Deutsche Mangaka, Elae highlights the latest German manga newsletters.

Attention Shaenon Garrity fans: Here’s where you can find her at SDCC! David Welsh won’t be there, but if he were going, here is where he would be.

Over at Comic World News, David devotes his Flipped column to Run, Bong-Gu Run and other one-shots.

Otakon coverage: ANN was there, and the complete list of panel reports and videos is here. At Okazu, Erica Friedman posts an Otakon report and explains why you shouldn’t waste your money on yuri paddles.

Simon Jones has an interesting comment on the story of the Bangkok maid cafe that was shut down for having obscene manga:

It should be noted that despite its infamous sex industry, Thailand has some of the strictest censorship laws and enforcement in the entire world. All forms of pornography are illegal in Thailand; the Thai government goes so far as to filter all web traffic.

Go figure.

Here’s one for the otaku of Oz: Madman Entertainment will be distributing Tokyopop manga in Australia.

FUNimation has shut down their Anime Online website; reports are mixed as to whether it’s going up again.

Reviews: At Manganews, Firedog reviews vol. 6 of Eden and cornerofmadness reads vols. 1-6 of Ghost Hunt. Connie reviews vol. 1 of Golgo 13 and Love Song at Slightly Biased Manga. At the MangaCast, Ed does an audio review of vol. 1 of Alive and vol. 1 of Le Chevalier d’Eon, and Mangamaniac Julie checks out Reborn! And at the Manga Maniac Cafe, Julie posts reviews of vol.1 of Train + Train and vol. 4 of After School Nightmare. Sakura Kiss checks out Jungle King at The Yaoi Review. At Mecha Mecha Media, John Thomas checks out vol. 1 of Kon Kon Kokon. At the Nijomu blog, artist Nick Mullins reviews Ode to Kirihito. (While you’re there, check out Nick’s awesome webcomics.) Ron Quezon reviews vol. 1 of Moon Boy for Anime on DVD.