Manga comes to the Eisners

Posted on April 19, 2007 by Brigid Alverson

The 2007 Eisner award nominations are up, and unlike last year, manga is well represented.

In fact, they added a whole new category for manga:

Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Japan.

After School Nightmare, by Setona Mizushiro (Go! Comi)
Antique Bakery, by Fumi Yoshinaga (Digital Manga)
Naoki Urasawa’s Monster, by Naoki Urasawa (Viz)
Old Boy, by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi (Dark Horse Manga)
Walking Man, by Jiro Taniguchi (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)

Japanese and global manga were also nominated in a number of other categories:

Best Continuing Series
Naoki Urasawa’s Monster, by Naoki Urasawa (Viz)

Best New Series
East Coast Rising, by Becky Cloonan (Tokyopop)

Best Anthology
Japan as Viewed by 17 Creators, edited by Frédéric Boilet (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)

Best Reality-Based Work
Project X Challengers: Cup Noodle, by Tadashi Katoh (Digital Manga)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books
Abandon the Old In Tokyo, by Yoshihiro Tatsumi (Drawn & Quarterly)
Ode to Kirihito, by Osamu Tezuka (Vertical)

Special Recognition
Ross Campbell, Abandoned (Tokyopop); Wet Moon 2 (Oni)
Svetlana Chmakova, Dramacon (Tokyopop)

A few notes: As welcome as the Japan category is, it seems almost dated, now that so many publishers are bringing in manga from all over—manhwa from Korea, nouvelle manga from France, yaoi from Italy.

Also, I realize that East Coast Rising and The Abandoned are not exactly traditional manga, but they’re published by Tokyopop and referred to as global manga, so in they go.

Any way you slice it, this is a huge increase over previous years, and looking at the quality of the works nominated, it’s quite appropriate. Congratulations, everyone!

UPDATE: I just noticed something else: The Best Comics-Related Periodical category has been updated to Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism and two blogs that I read daily (and frequently link to) are nominated: Dirk Deppey’s Journalista and Tom Spurgeon’s Comics Reporter. The awesomeness of this cannot be overstated. Congrats, guys!

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Fruits Basket breaks the Booklist top 20

Posted on April 19, 2007 by Brigid Alverson

Here’s today’s big news: vol. 16 of Fruits Basket moves to number 15 on the USA Today Booklist. Unless I’m missing something, that’s the best showing ever for a manga; Naruto‘s peak position so far was 21 (for vol. 11) The current volume of Naruto, vol. 13, drops from 84 to 118 on this week’s list.

MangaCast has the Diamond Previews list for July and August, and at the top of the list is… Yotsuba&! For those who can’t wait that long, the gang goes over this week’s new comics and pull out their favorites. Ed also has PR on vol. 4 of Lunar Legend Tsukihime from DRMaster.

Otaku Champloo visits a manga cafe in the Philippines and comes back with some recommended reading. Also: The 4th Lights Out Yaoi Convention is next month.

Reviews: Active Anime’s Holly Ellingwood reviews vol. 3 of Black Knight. Mangamaniac Julie enjoys vol. 13 of Fullmetal Alchemist. At the MangaCast, Ed Chavez reviews two global BL titles, Paintings of You and Only Words. At PopCultureShock, Katherine Dacey-Tsuei reviews vols. 1-4 of R.O.D. Read or Dream.

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Quick links

Posted on April 18, 2007 by Brigid Alverson

ANN has the top ten manga in Japan for last week.

At Icarus Comics, Simon Jones points out that a magazine that is barely breaking even with a circulation of 2 million is not a business model other countries should emulate.

David Welsh turns up some interesting links to start the day.

ComiPress has the latest news from Japan: the Japanese Go Association and the Go Shogi Life Corporation have established a Y1 million prize for the best manga about the game of Go; the Kawasaki City Museum is hosting a manhwa exhibit; and manga-ka Shibayama Kaoru has died at the age of 43.

The newest member of the MangaCast crew, alierarobot, posts a brief introduction and list of favorites.

Reviews: Pata has a new Right Turn Only!! column up, with reviews of an eclectic range of manga including Avril Lavigne’s Make 5 Wishes and Sexy Voice and Robo. Anime on DVD posts their Small-Bodied Manga Reviews as well. At the Mangamaniaccafe, Julie checks out vol. 1 of Queens. At Prospero’s Manga, Miranda gives low marks to vol. 1 of Tactics, but Ferdinand finds some redeeming features in vol. 1 of Murder Princess. And at Manganews, Floating Sakura reviews vol. 2 of Old Boy, Kiara reads vol. 3 of Lunar Legend Tsukihime, and Jiji checks out vol. 1 of The Twelve Kingdoms.

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Review: Ohikkoshi

Posted on April 17, 2007 by Brigid Alverson

Ohikkoshi
by Hiroaki Samura
Dark Horse, $12.95

Ohikkoshi is mature manga for mature readers, not because it’s filled with bare breasts and panty shots—it isn’t—but simply because it’s written for grownups. Samura doesn’t give us clever plot twists or neat endings. His characters are messy, and the stories are as illogical as real life. This work is full of caricature, exaggeration, and just plain ridiculousness, but in a way, it also feels more real than other manga.

This satisfyingly chunky volume collects three stories by Hiroaki Samura, who is best known for a completely different work, Blade of the Immortal.

The longest story, “Ohikkoshi,” is a romantic comedy that uses manga elements but is still very unlike any manga I have ever seen. The main characters are a bunch of slacker art students who seem to spend all their time in bars, and much of the story unfolds through their conversations. Along the way, Samura uses blackouts, exaggeration, and frequent breaks in the fourth wall to convey emotion and ridiculousness at the same time. Somehow, it all works.

Samura drops you right into the middle of the action on page 1, and it’s disorienting at first. He puts up character profiles at the end of Chapter 1, which is a bit late; by then I had pretty much doped it out. The basic story is simplicity itself: it’s a love triangle, with a male lead who has delusions of inadequacy, the girl he loves (who is pledged to an absent boyfriend), and the childhood friend who pines after him. What makes it different from every other love-triangle story is the way it is played out. Ohikkoshi isn’t any more realistic than other manga, but the characters behave more naturally. They drink, they strike poses, they misunderstand each other, and they have moments of clarity where one character has to set another straight. The very pretentiousness with which the story is told, with background music, pseudo-literary pronouncements, and obscure pop-culture references, is part of this realism. As a former art student myself, I have to say that it all rang true, even if it is a manga-ized version.

The second story, “Luncheon of Tears Diary (Vagabond Shoujo Manga-Ka)” is almost a parody of the shoujo manga genre, in that the heroine, a manga artist, goes through a series of extreme personal catastrophes: her comic fails, she moves in with a guy, his café burns down and he dies, she moves in with another guy, he turns out to be a heel, she becomes a mah jong player… on and on it goes, but each episode of her life seems separate and unrelated to the others. The ending is satisfying, though, and the story is quite entertaining, just somewhat disjointed. The third story is short and basically an omake, with a lot of in-jokes about Kyoto.

Samura’s scratchy, sketchy drawing style is different from the more polished style of most manga. His figures are more solid than most comic figures, and his command of anatomy, gesture, and expression suggest a lot of time spent drawing from life. In fact, many of the manga panels could be taken straight from a sketchbook, all the more so because of the self-conscious poses the characters strike.

At just over 240 pages, Ohikkoshi is thicker than most manga. The paper quality is not spectacular but the cover is very nicely done, with muted colors on heavy matte stock. The volume includes translator’s notes in the back, which are very helpful given the number of in-jokes. My only criticism is I could have used twice as many, because references to things like “Tokyo bananas” went right by me.

Ohikkoshi is in a class by itself. It’s manga for grown-ups, especially those who can grasp complexity and ambiguity. These are not stories you whip through in an hour; I found myself going back and re-reading parts in order to really understand what was going on, particularly in the beginning. But that’s part of its charm. Samura doesn’t talk down to his readers; instead, he winks and invites them along on a very bumpy ride.

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

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Links and self-promotion

Posted on April 17, 2007 by Brigid Alverson

Be sure to check out this week’s Publisher’s Weekly Comics Week, which includes an article on Shojo Beat by yours truly and a story about the newest manga publisher, Aurora. There’s also a review of the new, improved, Parasyte.

Top Mangaka? David Welsh envisions a possible reality show.

Shojo Beat is coming up on its second anniversary, and that means it’s party time! They’ll be celebrating at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, and 50 lucky winners will win invitations.

Manga comes to the funny pages. Sort of.

Simon Jones does his own version of the new comics list, pulling out all the manga titles from Previews Adult.

On an entirely different note, the Louisville Courier-Journal discovers Christian manga.

Reviews: Connie Zhang reviews vol. 1 of Seimaden at Anime on DVD. At the Comic Book Bin, Leroy Douresseaux checks out vol. 1 of King City.

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Coming attractions

Posted on April 17, 2007 by Brigid Alverson

Comicsnob posts this week’s manga (and “manga-ish”) list, and David Welsh takes an early look at some titles.

ChunHyang72 checks out the best blogging at Tokyopop—and beyond.

DramaQueen announced yesterday that their BL anthology, Rush, will be published every three months instead of every two. Also, if the pages fall out of your copy of vol. 2 of Audition, let them know and they’ll replace it—now that’s service!

Meanwhile, at the Rush blog, Tina Anderson has asks her readers: Do you prefer your BL in modern or historical settings?

Manganews translates an article about manga rental shops in Japan.

A treat for Skip Beat fans: Check out the blog of translator Tomo Kimura, who has put up a series of short translation notes about vol. 3.

MangaCast has cover shots of the finalists for the 2007 Seiun Awards, which honor the best science fiction works of the previous year. Some of these will look familiar. Also: Viz has the license for the Blue Dragon anime, but the press release doesn’t specifically mention the manga.

There’s a new destination for Case Closed fans: The Gosho Ayoma Manga Factory has opened its doors.

The latest issue of Craft Magazine is devoted to Japanese crafts, and the cover features Vertical’s latest stars, Aranzi Aronzo.

Is the Japanese magazine Comic Birz ripping people off by putting Rozen Maiden on hiatus? ComiPress has a legal perspective. Also: the circulation of Weekly Shonen Magazine drops below 2 million, while Weekly Shonen Jump is up slightly.

LJ’er redplasticglass revisits the yaoi wars and refutes those who would compare the exclusion of gay men from yaoi with the exclusion of women from superhero comics. It’s worth reading not only her argument but also the discussion that follows in comments (Via When Fangirls Attack.)

Reviews: Here’s something a little different: At PopCultureShock, Erin F has witty reviews of some new light novels: Boogiepop and Others, vol. 1 of Twelve Kingdoms, vol. 1 of The Man Who Doesn’t Take Off His Clothes, and Don’t Worry Mama. Dave Ferraro checks out some highly rated horror, vol. 2 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service and vol. 6 of Dragon Head. At Active Anime, Holly Ellingwood reviews vol. 3 of Rin! and Christoher Seaman reads vol. 11 of The Wallflower. At the Mangamaniaccafe, Julie enjoys vol. 8 of Kekkaishi. Over at Manganews, Floating Sakura reviews vol. 1 of Trinity Blood and vol. 4 of Real/Fake Princess, and anitra reviews vol. 2 of Dokebi Bride.

Posted in Mangablog | 5 Comments