MangaBlog

Lissa Pattillo has the list of this week’s new manga—and her recommendations—in her latest On the Shelf column at Otaku USA, and the Manga Villagers make their picks as well. Sean Gaffney, meanwhile, looks forward to next week’s bountiful list.

Kellie Foxx-Gonzalez lists ten licensed manga (well, nine licensed manga and one that we would all like to see, actually) that won’t make feminists want to tear their hair out.

Tony Yao looks at ten characters who smile through their tears at Manga Therapy.

Deb Aoki rounds up the digital news at Viz, including their new Android app and their 20% off sale on digital manga.

Congratulations to Erica Friedman on the tenth birthday of Okazu! Check out her blogiversary post, because Erica isn’t sitting still—she’s taking suggestions for the next ten years.

Reviews

Matthew Warner on vols. 1, 2, and 3 of Alice in the Country of Hearts (omnibus edition) (The Fandom Post)
Connie on Ambiguous Relationship (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 13 of Bakuman (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kate O’Neil on chapters 10 and 11 of Barrage (The Fandom Post)
Connie on vol. 9 of Black Butler (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 17 of Black Jack (Slightly Biased Manga)
Ash Brown on vol. 12 of Blade of the Immortal (Experiments in Manga)
Connie on vol. 2 of Blood Blockade Battlefront (Slightly Biased Manga)
Alexander Hoffman on vol. 1 of Cousin (Manga Widget)
Connie on vol. 4 of Dawn of the Arcana (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 4 of A Devil and Her Love Song (Slightly Biased Manga)
Chris Kirby on vol. 1 of Durarara!! (The Fandom Post)
Connie on issue 6 of GEN (Slightly Biased Manga)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 6 of Kobato (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
John Rose on vol. 47 of Naruto (The Fandom Post)
Sean Michael Robinson on NonNonBa (The Comics Journal)
Brittany Vincent on vol. 1 of Oreimo (Japanator)
Kristin on vol. 11 of Otomen (Comic Attack)
Chris Kirby on vol. 1 of Puella Magi Madoka Magica (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 20 of Ranma 1/2 (Blogcritics)
Connie on Sakuran (Slightly Biased Manga)
Jessi Silver on Short-Tempered Melancholic (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 9 of Twin Spica (Blogcritics)

The Manga Bookshelf bloggers discuss their picks of the week.

John Jakala examines the significance of Viz’s announcement that it will be releasing many of its books digitally the same day as print—and he has some questions, too.

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

Jiro Taniguchi’s A Zoo in Winter has been nominated for the Ignatz Award for best graphic novel.

At Blog of the North Star (NSFW image at the link), Milo discusses X-Western Flash, a cowboy manga by the creator of Gon: “X-Western Flash is only three volumes long and filled with more gobsmacking moments than every licensed manga I’ve read in the last three years combined. It’s gorgeous, unpredictable, offensive, and hilarious.”

Reviews: It’s Bookshelf Briefs time again at Manga Bookshelf. Ash Brown stacks up a week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Lissa Pattillo on vol. 10 of Black Butler (Kuriousity)
Kristin on vols. 40 and 41 of Bleach (Comic Attack)
Erica Friedman on vol. 16 of Hayate x Blade (Okazu)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 20 of Kaze Hikaru (Kuriousity)
Sean Gaffney on Sakuran (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 7 of Ultimo (The Comic Book Bin)
Anna on vols. 1-4 of Walkin’ Butterfly (Manga Report)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 19 of xxxHoLiC (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)

Lissa Pattillo rounds up some manga news briefs, including Viz’s announcement that it will continue to re-release both Skip Beat! and Hana-Kimi as three-in-one omnibus volumes.

Matt Blind lists the manga best-sellers (online sales) for the week just ended. The latest volume of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX tops the list, and Sailor Moon takes five of the top ten slots.

Ed Sizemore reports in from Otakon.

Reviews

Melanie on 5 Centimeters Per Second, vol. 2 of Flowers of Evil, and Sakuran (About Heroes)
Arwen Spicer on Banana Fish (The Geek Girl Project)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 5 of Dawn of the Arcana (The Comic Book Bin)
Noah Berlatsky on Dokebi Bride (The Hooded Utilitarian)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 2 of Gate 7 (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 13 of GTO: The Early Years (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 10 of Kamisama Kiss (The Comic Book Bin)
Jaili on My Darling Kitten Hair (Dear Author)
Lori Henderson on vol. 3 of No Longer Human (Manga Xanadu)

Sean Gaffney looks over next week’s bumper crop of new manga.

Also, ANN has the list of new additions to JManga for the next week or so, including some more one-volume romance manga.

Jason Thompson calls Path of the Assassin “the anti-bishonen manga.” Actually, he calls it “THE ANTI-BISHONEN MANGA.” Find out why in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

Molly McIsaac counts down the top ten gay manga at iFanboy. Whatever you may think of her list, it seems odd that so many people bothered to comment that they don’t like manga. Guys, that’s so 2004!

At Blog of the North Star, Milo is really enjoying Toriko, all the more so because he’s getting it for $3.99 a volume during Viz’s digital sale.

Reviews

Laura on Alice in the Country of Hearts (Heart of Manga)
Anna on vol. 5 of Dawn of the Arcana (Manga Report)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 3 of Love Hina (omnibus edition)
TSOTE on Noble Farmer (Three Steps Over Japan)
Lexie on vol. 1 of Polterguys (Poisoned Rationality)
Kristin on vol. 3 of Wandering Son (Comic Attack)

Lissa Pattillo gives her take on this week’s new manga in her latest On the Shelf column at Otaku USA.

At The Hooded Utilitarian, subdee has a thoughtful analysis of Rohan at the Louvre (part 1, part 2). Also at HU: Melinda Beasi on the Bechdel Test and Nana.

The Otakon reports are rolling in. At the Journal of the Lincoln Heights Literary Society, I-hsiu Lin reports on the Viz Media panel, the Kodansha Comics panel, and the con as a whole. Vicky Kariolic checks in with Graphic Novel Reporter. The Ninja Consultants, meanwhile, put their reflections in a podcast, and Linda sums up all the manga panels, including the translation one, in a single post at Anime Diet.

Three Steps Over Japan checks out another manga magazine, Weekly Manga Sunday.

Reviews

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 6 of Ai Ore! (The Comic Book Bin)
Kristin on vols. 9 and 10 of Black Butler (Comic Attack)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Oreimo (Blogcritics)
Michael Buntag on vol. 3 of Sailor Moon (NonSensical Words)
TSOTE on Sengoku Youko (Three Steps Over Japan)
Ash Brown on vol. 3 of Wandering Son (Experiments in Manga)

Here’s my roundup of this week’s new manga: Plenty of shojo and shonen favorites, and two new series from Seven Seas.

Big news from Viz: They are releasing some of their line in digital the same day as print. Now would be a good time to check this out, as they are having a 20% off sale on their digital manga through August 20, meaning most volumes are $3.99.

Deb Aoki talks to F.J. DeSanto, who is scripting Archaia’s graphic-novel adaptation of Cyborg 009.

At Manga Widget, Alex Hoffman takes a closer look at Wolfsmund, which was recently licensed by Vertical.

Viz editor Nancy Thistlethwaite interviews Mayu Shinjo, the creator of Ai Ore.

License requests: Connie would like to see more Setona Mizushiro manga please! Misuzhiro is the creator of Afterschool Nightmare, and Connie wants to read some of her more straighforwardly BL manga. Meanwhile, Daniel BT sees some obvious parallels between The Hunger Games and National Quiz, a sadistic-game-show manga that has yet to be translated into English.

News from Japan: Kanoko Sakurakoji is winding up Black Bird in the near future. Go Nagai is starting Sirene-Chan, a Devilman spinoff, and Silent Mobius creator Kia Asamiya has launched a new sports car manga, Aika ga Hashiru!

Reviews

Rebecca Silverman on Alice in the Country of Clover: Bloody Twins (ANN)
Carlo Santos on vol. 11 of Bakuman (ANN)
Ken Haley on vol. 25 of Blade of the Immortal (Sequential Ink)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 4 of Dawn of the Arcana (ANN)
Kristin on vol. 10 of Dengeki Daisy (Comic Attack)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 20 of Fairy Tail (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 4 of GTO: 14 Days in Shonan (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 8 of Itazura Na Kiss (ANN)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Jiu Jiu (ANN)
Drew McCabe on vol. 32 of Kekkaishi (Comic Attack)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 12 of Natsume’s Book of Friends (ANN)
Kristin on vol. 23 of Slam Dunk (Comic Attack)
Anna on vol. 23 of Slam Dunk and vol. 6 of Ai Ore (Manga Report)
Carlo Santos on vol. 9 of Toriko (ANN)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Until Death Do Us Part (ANN)