MangaBlog

Square Enix is shutting down its U.S. and French digital manga sites; they were so loaded down with DRM and bad design that it’s doubtful anyone will miss them. In case you did succeed in buying manga from them, here’s a page describing how to continue reading your purchased books; unfortunately, it’s only for Windows users. The good news is that Yen Press will start distributing Square Enix manga digitally sometime this year, so a better system will soon be in place.

Lissa Pattillo picks the best of this week’s new manga in her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA, and at Manga Bookshelf, the team looks over next week’s new releases.

Reviews: Carlo Santos gives us a quick rundown of recent releases in his Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Ash Brown looks back on a week’s manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Connie on vol. 1 of 07-Ghost (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 11 of 13th Boy (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 2 of 21st Century Boys (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Angelic Layer (Okazu)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Angel Sanctuary (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Matt Cycyk on vol. 7 of Animal Land (Matt Talks About Manga)
Connie on vol. 16 of Bakuman (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 8 of Bokurano: Ours (The Comic Book Bin)
Anna on vol. 1 of Crimson Empire (Manga Report)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 9 of Dorohedoro (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 9 of Dorohedoro (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 9 of Dorohedoro (The Fandom Post)
Matthew Warner on The Drops of God: New World (The Fandom Post)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 25 of Excel Saga (The Fandom Post)
Traci on vol. 1 of The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel (Experiments in Manga)
Matt Cycyk on vol. 2 of Knights of Sidonia (Matt Talks About Manga)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on Love Makes Everything Right (All About Manga)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Mixed Vegetables (Blogcritics)
Matt Cycyk on vol. 1 of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (Matt Talks About Manga)
Matt Cycyk on NonNonBa (Matt Talks About Manga)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 9 of Oh My Goddess (Blogcritics)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 10 of One Piece (Blogcritics)
Connie on vol. 5 of Pokemon Adventures (Slightly Biased Manga)
Matthew Warner on vol. 11 of Rosario + Vampire: Season II (The Fandom Post)
Connie on vol. 7 of Sailor Moon (Slightly Biased Manga)
Helen on vols. 9 and 10 of Sailor Moon (Narrative Investigations)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 10 of Sailor Moon (Blogcritics)
Connie on vol. 9 of Sakura Hime (Slightly Biased Manga)
Derek Bown on this week’s issue of Shonen Jump (Manga Bookshelf)
Victoria K. Martin on vol. 11 of Soul Eater (Kuriousity)
Matthew Warner on vol. 2 of Strobe Edge (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 3 of Strobe Edge (Blogcritics)
Connie on vol. 11 of Toriko (Slightly Biased Manga)
Drew McCabe on Unico (Comic Attack)
Matthew Warner on vol. 16 of Vampire Knight (The Fandom Post)
Connie on vol. 3 of X (Slightly Biased Manga)

Sorry about the radio silence—I live just north of Boston, so it has been a very strange week. I’m looking forward to things getting back to normal and to heading out to Chicago later this week for C2E2.

Back in the heyday of global manga, Tania Del Rio was one of its more articulate practitioners, and I was happy to have the chance to interview her for MTV Geek about Archie’s re-release of her manga-style Sabrina comics in a black-and-white tankoubon format.

The Manga Bookshelf team looks over this week’s new releases and discusses their Pick of the Week. And in her 3 Things Thursday column, Melinda Beasi names three series she wishes she could like—but doesn’t.

This month’s Manga Moveable Feast, featuring Kaori Yuki, kicks off at host blog The Beautiful World; Katan writes about Yuki’s art, and at Manga Bookshelf, Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith devote their Off the Shelf column to Angel Sanctuary.

Erica Friedman has a new edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu.

Lori Henderson looks at manga that is available digitally and reviews the first volume of Knights of Sidonia in her Manga Dome podcast at Manga Xanadu.

Tony Yao looks at critical thinking in Naruto at Manga Therapy.

Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf team kicks off the week with some short reviews of recent releases in their Bookshelf Briefs column. Ash Brown looks at another week of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of 21st Century Boys (I Reads You)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Alice in the Country of Joker: Circus and Liar’s Game (ANN)
Carlo Santos on vol. 55 of Bleach (ANN)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 56 of Bleach (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 7 of A Certain Scientific Railgun (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Erica Friedman on Dolce Due (Okazu)
Rebecca Silverman on Hiroaki Samura’s Emerald and Other Stories (ANN)
Victoria K. Martin on vols. 2 and 3 of Is This a Zombie? (Kuriousity)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 8 of Itsuwaribito (The Comic Book Bin)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on vols. 1 and 2 of I’ve Seen It All (All About Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vols. 1 and 2 of Kanokon (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on Love Circumstances (All About Manga)
Connie on Picnic (Slightly Biased Manga)
Matthew Warner on vol. 9 of Psyren (The Fandom Post)
Philip Anthony on vol. 7 of Sailor Moon (Manga Bookshelf)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 10 of Sailor Moon (Blogcritics)
Derek Bown on the April 15 issue of Shonen Jump (Manga Bookshelf)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 9 of The Story of Saiunkoku (The Comic Book Bin)
Anna N. on vol. 9 of The Story of Saiunkoku (Manga Report)
Matthew Warner on vol. 2 of Strobe Edge (The Fandom Post)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Umesato the Third! (Okazu)
Sean Gaffney on Unico (A Case Suitable for Treatment)

More PW stories about manga! I interviewed Seven Seas founder Jason DeAngelis and I also wrote a short piece about Dark Horse’s 25 years of publishing manga.

Lissa Pattillo checks out the past week’s new manga in her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA.

The Manga Bookshelf team looks forward to this week’s new manga, and Melinda Beasi files a first-quarter report on her three favorite manga of the year (so far).

Erica Friedman posts the latest edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu.

Lissa Pattillo has word of a new manga publisher, the fledgling Kansai Club, and she’s guardedly optimistic about them despite some reservations; their first project will be a Kickstarter drive to fund a limited edition of Osamu Tezuka’s Crater.

Jason Thompson Shaenon Garrity looks at some classic shoujo manga, Love Song and Four Shojo Stories, in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

Caitlin McGurk spotlights Jiji Manga, a newspaper supplement published in 1921 that is the first publication anyone can find that used the word “manga” in its title. And the cover feature is about women’s liberation!

I’m really late to the party with this, but Matt Brady is doing an amazing series on why Eiichiro Oda’s art in One Piece is so awesome at his blog, Warren Peace Sings the Blues. He has lots of analysis and examples—Matt takes his One Piece seriously! Here’s the first post, if you like to start at the beginning.

Lori Henderson debuts her Manga Dome podcast, which covers a wide variety of manga topics, at Manga Xanadu.

News from Japan: The March issue of Nakayoshi came with a bonus: The Super Saikyo Manga-ka Set, a manga kit containing drawing tools and a guide to drawing like a pro. The editors seem to be serious about encouraging would-be manga-ka, as they are running a drawing contest and plan to have more special supplements in the future. Rocket24 pays a visit to the new manga park in Tachikawa City, where you can read manga from their 30,000-volume library for just 400 yen per day. Kazune Kawahara and Kimi ni Todoke creator Karuho Shiina are working together on a one-shot manga for the 50th anniversary issue of Shueisha’s Betsuma Margaret magazine. Dragon Ball manga-ka Akira Toriyama has created a short stand-alone comic to promote environmental awareness among children. And while it looked like the threat letters to anyone associated with Kuroko’s Basketball had stopped for a while, the latest doujinshi event, scheduled for Shizuoka next week, has been cancelled after a new threat was received.

Reviews

Matthew Warner on vol. 1 of Barrage (The Fandom Post)
Ash Brown on vol. 20 of Blade of the Immortal (Experiments in Manga)
Matthew Warner on vol. 55 of Bleach (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 4 of A Bride’s Story (Blogcritics)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Btooom! (Manga Village)
Kristin on vol. 1 of Crimson Empire (Comic Attack)
Seth T. Hahne on vols. 1 and 2 of Cross Game (Good OK Bad)
Ken H on vol. 1 of Cyborg 009 (Comics Should Be Good)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 5 of A Devil and Her Love Song (Blogcritics)
Sweetpea on Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President (Organization ASG)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 25 of Excel Saga (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Victoria Martin on vol. 11 of Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden (Kuriousity)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on Good Morning (All About Manga)
Justin on vol. 7 of GTO: 14 Days in Shonan (Organization ASG)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 20 of Higurashi When They Cry (The Fandom Post)
Infinite Speech on vol. 8 of Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit (Comic Attack)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 7 of Jack Frost (The Fandom Post)
Brian Gardes on vol. 1 of Knights of Sidonia (Stumptown Trade Review)
Connie C. on Lychee Light Club, No Longer Human, and Genkaku Picasso (Comics Should Be Good)
Victoria Erica on vol. 1 of Magic Knight Rayearth (omnibus edition) (Inside AX)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 6 of Naruto (Blogcritics)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 8 of Oh My Goddess! (Blogcritics)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 4 of Punch Up! (I Reads You)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Tiger & Bunny (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 15 of Toriko (The Comic Book Bin)
Manjiorin on Trigun: Multiple Bullets (Organization ASG)

Christopher Butcher, who is the manager of the Toronto comics shop The Beguiling in addition to marketing director of Udon, talks about manga from a retailer’s point of view, looking both at who is buying manga these days and what manga can do for retailers who are willing to invest a bit of time and money. This should have been part of my big manga story at PW, and it’s definitely a worthy addendum.

At Manga Bookshelf, the team discusses their Pick of the Week, and Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss Library Wars, The Dark-Hunters: Infinity, and Tiger & Bunny in their latest Off the Shelf column.

Rocket News takes a look at Japanese Shonen Jump‘s best-selling manga, the 20 series that have survived years of reader surveys, and at Manga Xanadu, Lori Henderson looks at the ones that have not been licensed in North America.

News from Japan: The messaging platform LINE has added a digital manga service that carries over 30,000 titles from top publishers such as Kodansha, Shueisha, and Shogakukan.

Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf bloggers post their latest set of Bookshelf Briefs.

Connie on vol. 1 of 21st Century Boys (Slightly Biased Manga)
TSOTE on Afternoon Dinosaur (Three Steps Over Japan)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Blood Lad (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Crimson Empire: Circumstances to Serve a Noble (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on Drops of Desire (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on Expecting the Boss’s Baby (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on Gakuen Polizi (Okazu)
Anna N. on vol. 1 of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (Manga Report)
TSOTE on vols. 1 and 2 of Monju (Three Steps Over Japan)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 13 of Nabari no Ou (The Fandom Post)
Connie on Not for a Student (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 53 of One Piece (Slightly Biased Manga)
Michael May on Pokemon the Movie: Kyurem vs. the Sword of Justice (Good Comics for Kids)
Erica Friedman on Sabegu! (Okazu)
Derek Bown on this week’s issue of Shonen Jump (Manga Bookshelf)
Connie on vol. 9 of Tenjho Tenge (omnibus edition)

It’s been a busy time: I took a comprehensive look at the manga market at Publishers Weekly, including interviews with large and small publishers. I did a lot of number-crunching, too. Overall, the market is smaller but the remaining publishers believe it’s sustainable, and several are actually seeing growth.

Big news at Yen Press: They will release the next chapter of Highschool of the Dead simultaneously with Japan.

Chromatic Press has launched their Kickstarter for the new editions of the first two volumes of Off*Beat. I covered it in my Kickstand column at CBR.

Reviews: Ash Brown chronicles another week of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 9 of Case Closed (Blogcritics)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 46 of Case Closed (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 9 of Chi’s Sweet Home (Blogcritics)
A Library Girl on vol. 1 of Gamerz Heaven (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Laura on The Infernal Devices (Heart of Manga)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 5 of Naruto (Blogcritics)
Jocelyne Allen on No Longer Human (Ningen Shikkaku) (Brain Vs. Book)
A Library Girl on vol. 2 of Strobe Edge (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Ash Brown on vol. 2 of Summit of the Gods (Experiments in Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Tiger and Bunny (I Reads You)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 4 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s (The Comic Book Bin)

PictureBox has plans to publish five manga in 2013, including Osamu Tezuka’s The Mysterious Underground Men; ICv2 has the details.

Lissa Pattillo checks out this week’s new manga releases in her latest On the Shelf column at Otaku USA. Sean Gaffney looks forward to next week’s new releases at A Case Suitable for Treatment.

Moonlitasteria has some personal reflections on digital vs. print manga.

Reviews

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of Barrage (I Reads You)
Connie C. on Doing Time, Disappearance Diary, and Panorama of Hell (Comics Should Be Good)
Milo on Gundam: The Origin (Blog of the North Star)
Michael Buntag on vol. 9 of Honey and Clover (NonSensical Words)
Matthew Warner on vol. 3 of Is This A Zombie? (The Fandom Post)
TSOTE on vol. 32 of QED (Three Steps Over Japan)
Kristin on Sakuran (Tentative) (Comic Attack)