MangaBlog

ICv2 has BookScan’s top-selling graphic novels for June, and manga dominates the list with 17 titles.

If you’re not a regular Yen+ reader, this might be a reason to check it out: Queenie Chan (The Dreaming, Odd Thomas) has a 33-page short-story in the July issue. She shows off a bit of the art in her LJ, and it looks quite lovely.

Kate Dacey isn’t waiting for the end of the year—she has a poll up now for the best manga of 2009. Oddly, I don’t see Witchblade up there…

Are you looking for the elusive vol. 34 of Initial D? Wilma Jandoc found listings for it—but it’ll cost ya!

Alethea and Athena Nibley discuss translators’ notes in their latest column at Manga Life.

Deb Aoki puts on her manga goggles to check out today’s events at Anime Expo.

News from Japan: ANN has the latest comics rankings from Oricon and Tohan.

Reviews: From the sound of it, Erica Friedman’s review of vol. 3 of Ghost Talker’s Daydream is much more entertaining than the book itself. David Welsh’s comments on Emma are more appreciation than review, but it’s a good opportunity to look at some nice art. And Sesho goes all multimedia on us for his review of vol. 1 of Maid Sama: His podcast review includes info on how to win a free copy, and he embeds the first chapter on his blog, using Tokyopop’s manga reader—this is the first time I have seen anyone actually do that.

Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of The Big Adventures of Majoko, vol. 2 of The Magic Touch, and vol. 1 of The Manzai Comics (The Manga Critic)
Casey Brienza on vol. 1 of Dinosaur Hour (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Connie on vol. 18 of Fullmetal Alchemist (Slightly Biased Manga)
Courtney Kraft on vol. 1 of Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo (Graphic Novel Reporter)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 1 of Gunsmith Cats Revised Edition (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Julie on vol. 10 of High School Debut (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on vol. 3 of Kiichi and the Magic Books (Slightly Biased Manga)
David Rasmussen on vol. 9 of Kurohime (Manga Life)
Lorena on vol. 1 of Land of the Blindfolded (i heart manga)
Casey Brienza on vol. 1 of Leave it to PET (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Ed Sizemore on vol. 2 of Mao-Chan (Comics Worth Reading)
Connie on vol. 2 of Mixed Vegetables (Slightly Biased Manga)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 1 of Sarasah (There it is, Plain as Daylight)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on Tail of the Moon Prequel: The Other Hanzo(u) (Manga Life)

At PWCW, Ada Price takes a look Diamond’s new minimums and the effect they are having on the comics market, while Erin Finnegan reports on the Manga Taisho Awards.

Gia, like me, has never read Witchblade, so she asks her readers if they have, and if it’s Harvey-worthy.

Shojo Flash notes this week’s new release (just one?) and asks whether readers like to see a list of new releases on publishers’ websites.

AstroNerdBoy interviews Alethea and Athena Nibley, who have taken over translation and adaptation duties on Negima as of vol. 22.

Off topic, but what the heck: I talk to Archie Comics editor Steve Oswald about Archie Comics on iPhones.

News from Japan: ANN has more info on the news that Youka Nitta is returning to Embracing Love.

Reviews

Jeff Lester on vol. 3 of 20th Century Boys (The Savage Critic(s))
Casey Brienza on vol. 1 of Black Bird (ANN)
Michelle Smith on vol. 24 of Boys Over Flowers (Soliloquy in Blue)
Danielle Leigh on vol. 1 of Children of the Sea (Comics Should Be Good)
Carlo Santos on vol. 1 of Children of the Sea (ANN)
Johanna Draper Carson on vol. 1 of Choco Mimi (Comics Worth Reading)
Michelle Smith on vol. 5 of Click (Soliloquy in Blue)
Katherine Farmar on L’Etoile Solitaire (Comics Village)
Casey Brienza on vol. 2 of Fushigi Yûgi (VizBig edition) (ANN)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vols. 13-15 of Hikaru No Go (Comics Worth Reading)
Lori Henderson on An Ideal World (Good Comics for Kids)
Oyceter on Japan Ai: A Tall Girl’s Adventures in Japan (Sakura of DOOM)
Connie on vol. 3 of Kingdom of the Winds (Slightly Biased Manga)
Snow Wildsmith on Living for Tomorrow (Fujoshi Librarian)
Julie on vol. 13 of Love*Com (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Phil Guie on vol. 1 of Maximum Ride (Manga Recon)
Lorena on vol. 1 of My Heavenly Hockey Club (i heart manga)
Connie on vol. 8 of Nightmare Inspector (Slightly Biased Manga)
Laura on vol. 1 of Pig Bride (Heart of Manga)
Lori Henderson on the last issue of Shojo Beat (Manga Xanadu)
Gia on vol. 1 of Sumomomo, Momomo (Anime Vice)
Anna on vol. 1 of Venus Capriccio (2 screenshot limit)

The Harvey Awards nominations have been released. The only manga nominations were in the Best American Edition of Foreign Material category, and the three manga titles that got the nod this year are Red-Colored Elegy, Solanin, and … vols. 11 and 12 of Witchblade Takeru Manga. Seriously, is this some sort of practical joke?

At MangaCast, Ed Chavez looks over the July Previews and highlights the manga.

Red Baylon lists this week’s new releases at Japanator.

Dan Nadel hosts a roundtable conversation with Yoichi Yokoyama, creator of Travel, for Comics Comics. (Via Journalista.)

Anime Expo is this weekend, and Deb Aoki rounds up the manga highlights for those of you who will be there.

Erica Friedman rounds up the week in yuri at Okazu.

Yaoi Press has announced the winners of its Caption Contest.

Attention creators: Prism Comics is seeking submissions for its Queer Press Grant, which supports new LGBT comics creators. Read all about it at Okazu.

News from Japan: The announcement is only in Japanese, so far, but it appears that Youka Nitta may be returning to manga to write one more chapter of Embracing Love. ANN has word of several launches: A new Macross manga, a Gundam series, and a new series from Mayu Shinjo, creator of Sensual Phrase. The Toei Animation Studio is promoting its wares with a four-panel manga featuring girls dressed as its robots.

Reviews: David Welsh devotes this week’s Flipped column to Mushishi.

Laura on Ai Yori Aiyoshi (Heart of Manga)
Julie on vol. 2 of Angel Diary (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lorena on Apollo’s Song (i heart manga)
Erica Friedman on vol. 1 of Assistant Denki Keika (Okazu)
Scott VonSchilling on Ballad of a Shinigami (The Anime Almanac)
Julie on vol. 1 of Brilliant Blue (MangaCast)
Deb Aoki on vol. 1 of Children of the Sea (About.com)
Justin Colussy-Estes on vols. 1-3 of The Four Constables (Comics Village)
Lori Henderson on vol. 2 of Gimmick (Manga Xanadu)
Kate Dacey on The History of the West Wing (The Manga Critic)
Kris on vol. 3 of Hitohira (Manic About Manga)
Oyceter on vols. 4 and 5 of Honey and Clover (Sakura of DOOM)
Sesho on vol. 14 of The Law of Ueki (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
David Brothers on vol. 6 of Lone Wolf and Cub (4thletter!)
Sesho on vol. 1 of Maid Sama! (Sesho’s Aniem and Manga Reviews)
AstroNerdBoy on The Manga Guide to Physics (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Greg McElhatton on Mijeong (Read About Comics)
Edward Zacharias on vol. 38 of Naruto (Animanga Nation)
Lissa Pattillo on On Bended Knee (Kuriousity)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of One Piece (Comics Village)
Julie on vol. 1 of Sarasah (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on vol. 3 of Silver Diamond (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 5 of Slam Dunk (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Solanin (Comics Worth Reading)
Shojo Flash on vol. 20 of The Wallflower (Shojo Flash)
Lorena on vol. 1 of With the Light (i heart manga)
Dave Ferraro on vol. 1 of Wolverine - Prodigal Son (Comics-and-More)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Wolverine - Prodigal Son (Kuriousity)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 4 of You’re So Cool (Kuriousity)

Shojo Flash takes a look at the July Previews, featuring books that are due out in September.

News from Japan: Ed Chavez posts the manga rankings from Taiyosha.

Reviews: Be sure to check out my selections for this week in the Robot 6 What Are You Reading? column. Sheldon A. Weibe takes a look at a couple of recent releases from Viz at Eclipse Magazine. The Manga Recon folks line up some Manga Minis for your reading pleasure. Andrew Wheeler looks at four Yen Press titles at ComicMix. Other reviews of note:

Benjamin Birdie on vol. 3 of 20th Century Boys (Comic Book Resources)
Connie on All You Need Is Kill (novel) (Slightly Biased Manga)
Gia on Blood+ Adagio (Anime Vice)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 1 of Children of the Sea (There it is, Plain as Daylight)
Sam Kusek on vol. 1 of Children of the Sea (Manga Recon)
Matthew J. Brady on vol. 1 of Detroit Metal City (Warren Peace Sings the Blues)
Sam on vol. 1 of Disgaea 2 Cursed Memories (The Otaku’s Study)
Lorena on vol. 1 of Dororo (i heart manga)
Shojo Flash on vol. 2 of Gakuen Prince (Shojo Flash)
Grant Goodman on vol. 1 of Gestalt (Manga Recon)
Jason Yadao on Ninja Baseball Kyuma and Leave it to PET (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
Danielle Leigh on vol. 2 of Love Control (Comics Should Be Good)
Greg Hackmann on vol. 1 of Step (Mania.com)
Bill Sherman on Ultimo (Blogcritics)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 6 of Yuri Monogatari (There it is, Plain as Daylight)

Hell Girl, vol. 1
By Miyuki Eto
Rated OT, for Older Teens (16+)
Del Rey, $10.99

Nightmares for Sale, vol. 1
by Kaoru Ohashi
Rated OT, for Older Teens (16+)
Aurora, $10.99*

Presents, vol. 1
By Kanako Inuki
Rated M, for Mature readers (18+)
CMX, $12.99

One of the most interesting mini-genres of manga what John Jakala brilliantly named “comeuppance theater,” in which we get to watch someone behave badly and then pay a creative and usually bloody price for their sins.

Read the rest of this entry »

ICv2 lists the top 25 manga properties of spring 2009.

The New York Times manga best-seller list is up, and alongside the Viz and Del Rey regulars is vol. 3 of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, so I guess that franchise is holding up pretty well.

At the Icarus blog, Simon Jones discusses the significance of Diamond’s cancellation of some manga titles.

Digital has posted a complete list of titles in their Juné web-a-thon, which will allow fans to push up the publication dates of certain books by ordering them en masse. (Via Kuriousity.) Lori Henderson explains why pre-ordering any manga is a good idea at Manga Xanadu.

This week’s license request from David Welsh: Children of the Earth.

News from Japan: Nana translator Tomo Kimura reports that the most recent chapter of the series has been postponed because creator Ai Yazawa has fallen ill. She is expected to take several months to recover. ANN notes the end of one series and the start of another in Monthly Bessatsu Hana to Yume, plus another series ending in IKKI. Also, Mizuki Kawashita, creator of Strawberry 100%, has a new series in the works.

Reviews

Holly Ellingwood on vol. 1 of Angelic Runes (Active Anime)
Connie on vol. 1 of Black Bird (Slightly Biased Manga)
Michelle Smith on vol. 27 of Bleach (Soliloquy in Blue)
Wolfen Moondaughter on vol. 5 of Captive Hearts (Sequential Tart)
Lori Henderson on vol. 7 of Crimson Hero (Comics Village)
Karen Maeda on vol. 13 of Gin Tama (Sequential Tart)
Lorena on Good-Bye (i heart manga)
Patti Martinson on vol. 10 of High School Debut (Sequential Tart)
Julie on vol. 2 of Honey Hunt (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Wolfen Moondaughter on vol. 2 of Honey Hunt (Sequential Tart)
Marsha Reid on vol. 1 of Ichiroh! (Kuriousity)
Gia on vol. 1 of Maid-Sama (Anime Vice)
Connie on vol. 1 of Maid War Chronicle (Manga Recon)
Holly Ellingwood on vol. 2 of Me and the Devil Blues (Active Anime)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 7 of Mushishi (There it is, Plain as Daylight)
Michelle Smith on vol. 11 of Nana (Soliloquy in Blue)
Patti Martinson on vol. 45 of Naruto (Sequential Tart)
Emily on Odeko no Mahou (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 8 of One Thousand and One Nights (There it is, Plain as Daylight)
Lorena on chapter 9 of Rin-Ne (i heart manga)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Suzunari (Okazu)
Wolfen Moondaughter on vol. 5 of We Were There (Sequential Tart)

Shojo Flash takes a look at the latest ICv2 Insider’s Guide and highlights the shoujo manga and anime items.

David Welsh peruses the July Previews at Precocious Curmudgeon.

Erin Finnegan reports that The Shinji Ikari Raising Project, the latest spinoff of the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise, will be more romance than robots.

News from Japan: Online doujin and eroge store Dejipare has rethought things a bit and decided not to place restrictions on cosplay or doujin, Canned Dogs reports. Things can’t be too bad in the magazine market, because Kodansha has just announced a monthly spinoff from Weekly Shonen Magazine, to be titled Bessatsu Shonen Magazine. ANN reports that the manga-ka known as kakifly has created a one-shot 16-page manga about K-On! for Hobunsha’s Manga Time Kirara Forward magazine. And ANN has the past week’s manga rankings.

Reviews: Danielle Leigh rounds up a healthy handful of shoujo volumes at Comics Should Be Good. Kate Dacey serves up some short takes as well: vol. 9 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service and Oishinbo A La Carte. Other reviews of note:

David Ford on vol. 3 of 20th Century Boys (Are You A Serious Comic Book Reader?)
Laura on Ceres Celestial Legend (Heart of Manga)
John Thomas on vol. 1 of Detroit Metal City (Comics Village)
Deb Aoki on Dogs: Prelude (About.com)
Sesho on vol. 1 of Fullmetal Alchemist (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Faith McAdams on vol. 9 of High School Debut (Animanga Nation)
Erica Friedman on vol. 9 of High School Girls (Okazu)
Connie on vol. 22 of Iron Wok Jan (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of Kimi ni Todoke (Slightly Biased Manga)
Noah Berlatsky on vol. 1 of Lady Snowblood (The Hooded Utilitarian)
Lissa Pattillo on Living for Tomorrow (Kuriousity)
David Brothers on Lone Wolf and Cub: Black Wind (4thletter!)
Connie on vol. 8 of MPD-Psycho (Slightly Biased Manga)
Julie on vol. 11 of Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lorena on vol. 6 of Skip Beat (i heart manga)
Connie on U Don’t Know Me (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 13 of xxxHolic (Slightly Biased Manga)

Those of you who buy your manga in comics shops may have to look elsewhere for most of Yen Press’s July releases, or ask your retailer to order from someone other than Diamond Comics Distributors, because Diamond cancelled a number of the manga and manhwa solicited in the May Previews. Sean Gaffney noted this yesterday on Twitter, so I e-mailed Kurt Hassler, who got back to me right away. Here’s what he said:

So far as the Yen titles on this list are concerned, these are not publisher cancelations. These are Previews cancelations which simply means that Diamond for whatever reason has opted not to make these titles available through their service. The books are all still very much being published, and retailers have the option of ordering them directly through Hachette Book Group or through any number of other wholesalers like Ingram or Baker & Taylor.

When I asked if that was because of Diamond’s new order minimums, Kurt replied that he really didn’t know but that that was “as likely a reason as any.” Affected titles include Croquis Pop, Mr. Flower Groom, and the Kieli novel. Other books cancelled by Previews this month include upcoming volumes of Breath from Yaoi Generation, Ultimate Venus and 07-Ghost from Go!Comi, and Gorgeous Carat Lesperanza from Tokyopop. Looking back at previous cancellation lists, this doesn’t seem to be unusual except for the number of Yen titles falling under the ax this month.

At MangaCast, Ed Chavez is pretty pleased that Viz is publishing Children of the Sea.

Deb Aoki presents her summer reading list—12 manga that grownups can enjoy—at About.com.

This is pretty cool: Colleen Doran digs out some old photos of a 1996 trip to Japan with a host of comics luminaries, including Jeff Smith, Frederick Schodt, and Jules Feiffer. Enjoy!

At the Studio QT blog, Susie muses a bit on whether scanlations have affected manga sales. Her conclusion: Hard to say, but it’s not killing print.

Patrick Macias has an advance look at the upcoming Otaku USA magazine.

Lori Henderson thinks through her shopping list at Manga Xanadu.

Christopher Butcher is in Japan, buying cat manga, drinking jellied coffee, and taking pictures of everything he sees. Enjoy!

News from Japan: The online doujin and eroge shop delipare is announcing restrictions on works with certain keywords, such as loli, Canned Dogs reports.

Reviews: Kate Dacey has some short reviews of Black Jack, Firefighter Nanase, and Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit up at The Manga Critic. At Manga Life, Park Cooper and Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane post brief writeups of various series they are following.

Connie on vol. 6 of B.O.D.Y. (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kate Dacey on The Cat in the Coffin (The Manga Critic)
Deb Aoki on Clover (About.com)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Detroit Metal City (Comics Worth Reading)
Greg McElhatton on vol. 1 of Detroit Metal City (Read About Comics)
David Welsh on vol. 1 of Detroit Metal City (The Comics Reporter)
Connie on vol. 14 of D.Gray-Man (Slightly Biased Manga)
Julie on vols. 13 and 14 of D.Gray-Man (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on A Drifting Life (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 2 of Future Lovers (Slightly Biased Manga)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 10 of High School Debut (Manga Life)
Ken Haley on The History of the West Wing (Manga Recon)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Imadoki! (Kuriousity)
Connie on vol. 21 of Iron Wok Jan (Slightly Biased Manga)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of KimiKiss (Prospero’s Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of KimiKiss (Comics Worth Reading)
Lorena on vol. 1 of Kitchen Princess (i heart manga)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 1 of The Lapis Lazuli Crown (Manga Life)
Dave Ferraro on Leave it to PET (Comics-and-More)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 2 of Ludwig II (Kuriousity)
Lorena on vol. 1 of Mars (i heart manga)
Sandy Bilus on Mijeong (I Love Rob Liefeld)
Michelle Smith on vol. 10 of Nana (Soliloquy in Blue)
Lorena on vol. 1 of Parasyte (i heart manga)
David Welsh on vol. 3 of Real (Precocious Curmudgeon)
James Fleenor on vol. 1 of Samurai Harem: Asu no Yoichi (Anime Sentinel)
Emily on Sonnan Janeeyo (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Katherine Farmar on vol. 2 of Sunflower (Comics Village)
Connie on vol. 14 of Swan (Slightly Biased Manga)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 1 of Tsubasa: Those With Wings (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Tangognat on Two Flowers for the Dragon (Tangognat)

Kate Dacey and David Welsh check out this week’s new manga at their respective blogs.

The NY Times manga best-seller list is up, and it’s getting more varied now that Naruto Nation is fading into distant memory. Viz is still pretty well represented, with 9 of the 10 titles. The sole outlier is an interesting one: The latest of Tokyopop’s Warriors books.

Matt Thorn updates us on Christopher Handley’s sentencing (scheduled for August 18) and then switches to a happier topic: Pictures of him and a bunch of other manga folks at a party celebrating Moto Hagio’s 40th anniversary as a professional manga-ka.

The Mainichi Daily News has a nice article on the history of gekiga manga, their relationship to manga rental shops, and some new reprints of classic gekiga titles.

If you’re in NYC tomorrow, join Ed Chavez and some like-minded manga readers for another Vertical Vednesday. This week’s topic is Yanki, and Ed and the gang will be getting their Yakuza on at Kinokuniya, 1073 Avenue of the Americas, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. RSVP to ed@vertical-inc.com please.

News from Japan: ANN spots some new manga in the latest round of magazines and notes that Shiawase Kissa 3-chome is winding down.

Reviews: Head on down to Manga Recon for this week’s helping of Manga Minis. Other reviews of note:

Melinda Beasi on vol. 1 of Black Bird (There it is, Plain as Daylight)
Carlo Santos on vol. 1 of Children of the Sea (ANN)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 5 of Goong (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Danielle Leigh on vol. 3 of Il Gatto Sul G (Comics Should Be Good)
Julie on vol. 3 of Jyu-Oh-Sei (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Laura on Pretty Poison (Heart of Manga)
Erica Friedma on vol. 3 of Sunshine Sketch (Okazu)
Lori Henderson on Utahime the Songstress (Comics Village)
Lexie on issue 1 of Yen + (Poisoned Rationality)
Scott VonSchilling on vol. 6 of Yuri Monogatari (The Anime Almanac)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 6 of Zombie Loan (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)

First of all, big congrats to Friends of MangaBlog Erin and Noah, who celebrated their zero-gravity wedding this past weekend. There’s more info here. All our best wishes to the happy couple!

Christopher Butcher is the guest on this week’s edition of What Are You Reading at Robot 6. I’m reading Faust, vol. 5 of Black Jack, and a couple of webcomics, myself.

Erica Friedman picks up the bits and pieces of this week’s yuri news at Okazu.

Reviews

Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Angelic Runes (Comics Worth Reading)
Julie on vol. 1 of Angelic Runes (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lorena on vol. 2 of Blank Slate (i heart manga)
Erica Friedman on vol. 3 of Burst Angel (Okazu)
Connie on vol. 2 of Eden (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 4 of Flower of Life (Comics Worth Reading)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Jack Frost (Kuriousity)
Shannon Fay on Live for Love (Kuriousity)
Emily on Me to Te de Kanjitai! (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Lorena on vol. 1 of Monster (i heart manga)
Julie on vol. 3 of Papillon (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lorena on Sexy Voice and Robo (i heart manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of WaqWaq (Slightly Bised Manga)