Lori Henderson has the list of the past two weeks’ all-ages comics and manga at Good Comics for Kids. Manga Curmudgeon David Welsh looks at this week’s new releases, and rather than choose one of two books in Previews, he orders them both. David teams up with Kate Dacey and Melinda Beasi to discuss their Pick of the Week at Manga Bookshelf. Sean Gaffney looks ahead to next week’s new manga. at A Case Suitable for Treatment. At ComicAttack, Kristin takes the long view with a look at the best manga in the February Previews. And David looks even further into the future with a request for a book that hasn’t been licensed yet, the award-winning mountain-climbing manga Gaku.
Judit Kawaguchi interviews Yoshitaka Amano, the artist for Vampire Hunter D (among many, many other things) for the Japan Times. (Via Japanator.)
Melinda Beasi files her second insider report from the Digital Manga Guild.
It’s funny to think that manga has been around long enough that some of it seems dated, but it’s true. At All About Manga, Daniella Orihuela-Gruber has been catching up with some older series, as well as a few newer ones that are now out of print.
Now this is seriously out of print: Same Hat presents a gallery of art and the short story “Oni” by Go Nagai; both ran in Epic Illustrated #18 in 1983.
After telling Yen Press that they really shouldn’t publish the second volume of Sasameke, Alex Hoffman meditates a bit on the relationship between reviewers and publishers.
Sesho protests the high price of manga, as well as the inconsistency of some publishers in pricing their books, and he is surprised that he didn’t get much support from readers on the ANN forums. Readers, feel free to weigh in: Is manga too expensive? Do you resent the different prices for apparently similar manga? Do you miss the days of the standard $9.99 price point?
Jason Thompson is traveling in charming but apparently manga-free Jordan, so he devotes a second House of 1000 Manga column to odd, old cell-phone manga.
At Manga Bookshelf, Melinda Beasi muses about dreamy manga boys and teams up with Michelle Smith for a boob-free version of Off the Shelf, their weekly new manga discussion. (The title refers to the fact that last week’s column focused on fanservice.)
Tony Yao examines how Bunny Drop portrays single-father parenting at Manga Therapy.
Fruits Basket translators Alethea and Athena Nibley examine the question of what, exactly, is shoujo manga in their latest column at Manga Life.
In the second installment of The Josei Alphabet, David Welsh looks at josei manga that begin with the letter B.
An English-language release of Professor Munakata’s Museum Adventure, created by Yukinobu Hoshino (2001 Nights) for the British Museum, seems to be in the works, as a listing has popped up on Amazon UK.
Erin and Noah, a.k.a. The Ninja Consultants, are featured guests at Genericon this weekend, doing panels on the Japanese Commercial Apocalypse, Unusual Manga Genres, and 50 Manga Recommendations in 45 Minutes.
News from Japan: One Piece continues to break records; the latest release, vol. 61, sold 2 million copies in just three days. Here’s an interesting sidelight: Sankaku Complex (NSFW) reports that almost 90% of One Piece readers are adults. (They don’t really give a source for this, that I can see, just screenshots from a TV show.) There’s a new manga in the works based on the movie Hoshi o Ou Kodomo: Children who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below, by Voices of a Distant Star director Makoto Shinkai, and Makoto Raiku has a one-shot Gash/Zatch Bell story due out in March. ANN also has the most recent Japanese comics rankings.
Reviews: Ng Suat Tong examines Oji Suzuki’s A Single Match at The Hooded Utilitarian. Anna has some quick takes on recent Shoujo Beat releases at Manga Report. Rob McMonigal continues his appreciation of Rumiko Takahashi with a look at vols. 6 and 7 of Ranma 1/2 at Panel Patter.
Alex Hoffman on All My Darling Daughters (Manga Widget)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 3 of Bakuman (Comics Worth Reading)
Greg McElhatton on vol. 3 of Bakuman (Read About Comics)
Connie on vol. 1 of Bambi and Her Pink Gun (Slightly Biased Manga)
Michelle Smith on vols. 11-13 of Banana Fish (Soliloquy in Blue)
Kristin on vol. 7 of Black Bird and vol. 2 of Grand Guignol (Comic Attack)
Connie on vol. 13 of Blade of the Immortal (Slightly Biased Manga)
Ken Haley on vol. 23 of Blade of the Immortal (Sequential Ink)
Rob McMonigal on vol. 6 of Bleach (Panel Patter)
Clive Owen on vol. 31 of Bleach (Animanga Nation)
Nicola on vol. 4 of Children of the Sea (Back to Books)
David Welsh on Chi’s Sweet Home (The Manga Curmudgeon)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 3 of Fairy Tail (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Connie on vol. 5 of Fushigi Yugi (VizBIG edition) (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 21 of Gin Tama (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lori Henderson on Himeyuka & Rozione’s Story (Manga Xanadu)
Anna on vol. 1 of Itsuwaribito (Manga Report)
Julie Opipari on vol. 1 of Itsuwaribito (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on vol. 2 of Kamisama Kiss (Slightly Biased Manga)
Anna on vol. 2 of Kurozakuro (Manga Report)
Carlo Santos on vol. 4 of Library Wars: Love and War (ANN)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of LIVES (I Reads You)
Snow Wildsmith on vols. 1-4 of MAOH: Juvenile Remix (Good Comics for Kids)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 4 of MAOH: Juvenile Remix (The Comic Book Bin)
Lori Henderson on Mistress Fortune (Manga Xanadu)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Ohana Holoholo (Okazu)
Emily Kazanecki on vol. 10 of The Sand Chronicles (Manga Life)
Erica Friedman on Soredemo Yappari Koi wo Suru (Okazu)
Bill Sherman on The Story of Lee (Blogcritics)
Connie on vol. 2 of Yurara (Slightly Biased Manga)
