MangaBlog

The organizers of the Toronto Comic Arts Fest, a.k.a. TCAF, announced their first round of guests this week, and it includes Taiyo Matsumoto (Tekkonkinkreet, GoGo Monster) and Gengoroh Tagame. Both will be debuting new books at the show: Matsumoto will have the first volume of Sunny and Tagame will premiere The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame.

Good news for fans of Jen Lee Quick’s Off*Beat, originally published by Tokyopop: She will be reprinting the first two volumes, with some extras, and she’s working on volume 3.

Both Viz and Tokyopop redesigned their websites lately, and Lissa Pattillo critiques the new designs.

News from Japan: Yu Yagami returns to his classic story with Those Who Hunt Elves 2, which will run on the Comic Meteor website starting January 30. Kiichi Toyoda, the first editor-in-chief of Shonen Sunday, has died at the age of 87.

Reviews: Carlo Santos has some strong opinions on recent releases in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. The Manga Bookshelf team gets their two cents in with a new set of Bookshelf Briefs.

Ash Brown on vol. 17 of Blade of the Immortal (Experiments in Manga)
Anna on vol. 3 of Jiu Jiu (Manga Report)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 10 of Loveless (The Comic Book Bin)
Ken H. on vol. 1 of Trigun (Comics Should Be Good)

I talked to the editor of IKKI’s webcomics site, Yumetaro Toyoda, and translator Simona Stanzani about the new site, which carries a House of Five Leaves spinoff (in Japanese only, alas) and a very interesting new comic, Pandemonium, by Sho Shibamoto, which is in both English and Japanese.

And I got a little cranky about how-to-draw-manga books at Robot 6.

As the countdown continues to simultaneous release with Japan, Shonen Jump Alpha adds a new series, One Punch Man, by Eyeshield 21 manga-ka Yusuke Murata and the pseudonymous ONE. Sean Gaffney has more on One Punch Man.

The Manga Bookshelf bloggers discuss their pick of the week.

Matt Thorn notes a few lines of missing text in Heart of Thomas. ‘Fess up, now—how many of you even noticed?

Daniel BT isn’t that excited about the return of Tokyopop; he’d rather see a revival of CMX, DC’s sometimes excellent but sadly neglected manga imprint. But he can’t resist highlighting a few bloopers.

News from Japan: Keiko Suenobu, creator of The Limit (licensed by Vertical) and Life (formerly licensed by Tokyopop) will launch a new series, Hope, in the Feb. 13 issue of Bessatsu Friend. Nanae Chrono is winding up Vassalord in the Feb. 15 issue of Comic Avarus. Buronson and Ryoichi Ikegami are also bringing their series Soul Lord 2 to an end. Gokusen manga-ka Kozueko Morimoto has a new rom-com series in the works for for Monthly You.

Reviews: Ash Brown shares some thoughts on a week of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Kristin on vol. 22 of 20th Century Boys (Comic Attack)
Ken H on vol. 1 of Attack on Titan (Comics Should Be Good)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Jiu Jiu (The Comic Book Bin)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 7 of One Piece (Blogcritics)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1 and 2 of Paradise Kiss (Manga Xanadu)

The slow return of Tokyopop continues with the relaunch of their website. A much calmer version than the previous iterations, it puts the books front and center, with a selection of print manga (Hetalia and OEL titles) that are available via RightStuf, some e-books from Graphicly, and some merch from CafePress. I took a look at what’s going on at MTV Geek, and Mike liveblogged their Anime LA panel, at which they discussed what’s going on, at Anime Diet. And at Robot 6, I picked six of their OEL manga that rate a second look.

Diamond lists the top-selling manga in comics shops. Spoiler alert: Sailor Moon and Naruto dominate.

The Manga Bookshelf team takes a look at this week’s new manga, both in print and coming up from JManga. Lissa Pattillo looks at the past week’s new releases in her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA.

Back at Kuriousity, Lissa opens up the swag bag and discusses her latest purchases, and Victoria Martin concludes her countdown of her favorite manga of 2012 with parts 3 and 4.

Justin lists his top ten manga of 2012 at Organization ASG.

Derek Bown kicks off a new column at Manga Bookshelf: A weekly Shonen Jump Alpha recap.

Erica Friedman posts a new episode of Yuri Network News at Okazu, and she also announced a new yuri manga from ALC and JManga, Ameiro Kouchakan Kandan, by Fujieda Miyabi.

In his latest House of 1000 Manga column, Jason Thompson takes a long, thoughtful look at Barefoot Gen, whose creator, Keiji Nakazawa, passed away last month.

Molly McIsaac lists the ten manga she is most looking forward to in 2013.

Justin and Manjiorin discuss Attack on Titan at Organization ASG.

Khursten Santos introduces Blush, a BL fan anthology, which is up on the web for free, although you’ll have to log in to Issuu to read it.

Starsamaria discusses beta couples—second bananas—in shoujo manga at Shoujo Corner.

Anna is giving away a copy of vol. 1 of 07-Ghost at Manga Report; hit the link to find out what you have to do to enter.

News from Japan: Two manga magazines, Manga Sunday and Comic Cawaii, have ceased publication. A Touhou Project doujinshi event scheduled for late February has been cancelled after the management of the Sapporo Teisen Hall, where the event was to take place, received a threatening letter. The incident follows a string of threats to people and venues involved with Kuroko’s Basketball, but there doesn’t appear to be any connection between the two other than the venue—a Kuroko’s Basketball event was scheduled to take place in the same hall on February 10. A manga series based on the film A Certain Magical Index will begin running in Shonen Gangan in March. Btoom manga-ka Junya Inoue is working on a new series, La Vie en Doll, which will begin running in Monthly Jump X this spring. The March issue will also include a one-shot by Saturn Apartments creator Hisae Iwaoka. And Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun is coming to an end.

Reviews

Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of 07-Ghost (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of 21st Century Boys (I Reads You)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Angel Heart (Comics Worth Reading)
Sakura Eries on vol. 17 of Bakuman (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 54 of Bleach (The Comic Book Bin)
Sweetpea on Bride of the Water God (Organization ASG)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 7 of Bunny Drop (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Angela Eastman on Danza (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on Emerald and Other Stories (Blogcritics)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 24 of Excel Saga (The Fandom Post)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Girl Friends (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Helen on vol. 1 of The Good Witch of the West (Narrative Investigations)
Victoria Erica on vol. 1 of Gossip Girl (Inside AX)
Connie C. on Jyu-Oh-Sei, Paradise Kiss, and X (Comics Should Be Good)
Lori Henderson on Kaoru Mori: Anything and Something (Manga Village)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 1 of Mayo Chiki! (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 4 of Oh My Goddess (Blogcritics)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Paradise Kiss (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 8 of Psyren (The Comic Book Bin)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle (Blogcritics)
Erica Friedman on Wagamama Millefeuille (Okazu)

The Manga Bookshelf team discusses their picks of the week.

Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss the end of Chocolat in their latest Off the Shelf column.

Johanna Draper Carlson takes a detailed look at Digital Manga’s revamped eManga site.

Alex Hoffman muses about whether we need more manga micropublishers at Manga Widget.

News from Japan: Ikki magazine debuted its webcomics site this week with two new comics, one a House of Five Leaves spinoff by Natsume Ono. Recorder and Randsell creator Meme Higashiya and Shiba Inuko-san manga-ka Uzu both launched new series in the latest issue of Manga Town. The Shonen Jump series Nisekoi (which is published here by Viz) and Haikyū (which is not) will cross over. And there are 10 million copies of Blue Exorcist in print in Japan.

Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf team kicks off the new year with a fresh set of Bookshelf Briefs. Ash Brown takes a look at a week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Carlo Santos on vol. 45 of Case Closed (ANN)
Infinite Speech on vol. 7 of Dorohedoro (Comic Attack)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Heroman (Manga Xanadu)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 25 of Hunter x Hunter (I Reads You)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 13 of Natsume’s Book of Friends (The Fandom Post)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 8 of Psyren (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Rosario + Vampire (Blogcritics)
Anna on vol. 2 of Strobe Edge (Manga Report)

Jason Thompson looks at censorship of manga (usually done internally by the publisher) and the greatest censorship fails of all time in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

The Manga Bookshelf bloggers look forward to next week’s new manga.

Moto Hagio’s Heart of Thomas is out, finally, and Comics Alliance has a preview.

Erica Friedman has a new installment of Yuri Network News for us.

Lissa Patillo looks back at the year 2012 and she looks over the past week’s new releases in her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA. Khursten Santos looks back at 2012 and picks 12 favorites at Otaku Champloo. Dave Ferraro names his top ten manga of 2012 at Comics-and-More.

At Organization ASG, Justin takes a look at the state of the manga world in 2012.

Matt Blind has the manga best-sellers for the past week.

Reviews:

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of 07-Ghost (The Comic Book Bin)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of 21st Century Boys (Comics Worth Reading)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 17 of Black God (The Fandom Post)
Connie on Blade of the Immortal, Bride of the Water God, and Oh My Goddess (Comics Should Be Good)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Blood Lad (Comics Worth Reading)
Sweetpea on Cantarella and Brave Story (Organization ASG)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 3 of Chi’s Sweet Home (Blogcritics)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 21 of Claymore (The Fandom Post)
Justin on chapters 13 and 14 of Cross Manage (Organization ASG)
Kristin on vol. 1 of Demon Love Spell (Comic Attack)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 11 of Dengeki Daisy (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
John on issue 16 of GEN (Anime Nation News Blog)
Erica Friedman on Girls’ Ride (Okazu)
Ash Brown on Good-Bye Geist (Experiments in Manga)
John Rose on vol. 14 of GTO: The Early Years (The Fandom Post)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 29 of Hunter x Hunter (The Fandom Post)
Chris Beveridge on vol. 2 of The Limit (The Fandom Post)
Helen on vol. 1 of Lizzie Newton: Victorian Mysteries (Narrative Investigations)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Message to Adolf (Manga Village)
Jocelyne Allen on Mushi to Uta (Brain Vs. Book)
Chris Beveridge on vol. 2 of Paradise Kiss (The Fandom Post)
Erica Friedman on R.O.D. Rehabilitation (Okazu)
Katherine Hanson on vol. 6 of Sailor Moon (Yuri no Boke)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 11 of Soul Eater (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of Strobe Edge (I Reads You)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 10 of Tenjho Tenge (The Comic Book Bin)
Matthew Cycyk on vol. 1 of Thermae Romae (Matt Talks About Manga)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of W Juliet (Blogcritics)

Time to use your gift cards: This is a great week for new manga, with Heart of Thomas, the second volume of Message to Adolf, and a big stack of shoujo and shonen manga hitting the stores (vol. 3 of Jiu Jiu FTW!). Check out my picks at MTV Geek.

The Manga Bookshelf Team also looks at the new manga coming out this week week, both in stores and on JManga, and they discuss their Pick of the Week.

Writing for The Atlantic, Noah Berlatsky analyzes Moto Hagio’s Heart of Thomas and introduces Boys Love to mainstream readers.

ANN has a preview of the art from Yoshitaka Amano’s first novel, Deva Zan.

Melinda Beasi makes her picks for the best manga of the year: Part 1, Part 2; she talks about the manga she found under her Christmas tree in a special holiday edition of My Week in Manga, and she’s back for more with this week’s episode.

At Okazu, Erica Friedman picks the top ten yuri manga of the year and the top ten yuri events of the year, and she posts the latest episode of Yuri Network News.

This month’s Manga Moveable Feast will focus on Moyoco Anno, and host Ash Brown has posted the call for participation and the archive page.

Matt Blind has the list of manga best-sellers for the past week at Manga Bookshelf.

Lori Henderson looks back at the year 2012 at Manga Xanadu.

At Heart of Manga, Laura looks at the new shoujo series that debuted in 2012.

News from Japan: Winter Comiket attracted 170,000 people on each of its first two days, but the Kuroko’s Basketball area was kept empty and no kurobas doujinshi circles were allowed to exhibit because of a series of threats. SaiKano creator Shin Takahashi has a couple of short projects on the drawing board.

Reviews: Carlo Santos takes aim at a crop of new manga in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Ash Brown reviews a week of manga reading at Experiments in Manga. The Manga Bookshelf bloggers bring us up to date on some recent volumes in their latest set of Bookshelf Briefs.

Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 3 of A Bride’s Story (Blogcritics)
Connie on vol. 3 of A Bride’s Story (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Bunny Drop (Blogcritics)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 23 of D.Gray-Man (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on vol. 1 of Demon Love Spell (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 5 of A Devil and Her Love Song (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 8 of Dorohedoro (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Rebecca Silverman on vols. 3 and 4 of The Earl and the Fairy (ANN)
Rebecca Silverman on Higurashi When They Cry vol. 1: Massacre Arc (ANN)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 20 of Higurashi: When They Cry (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lori Henderson on vols. 18-23 of Hikaru No Go (Manga Xanadu)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Missions of Love (ANN)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Nisekoi (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 6 of One Piece (Blogcritics)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 2 of Strobe Edge (Comics Worth Reading)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 10 of Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee (ANN)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Thermae Romae (ANN)