MangaBlog

Broccoli announced this week that they have licensed sola.

At Comicsnob, Matt Blind posts the online best-sellers for the week ending December 23, plus commentary on his methods and findings.

The 2007 retrospectives and best-of lists are still rolling in. At PopCultureShock’s Manga Recon blog, Katherine Dacey-Tsuei and
Erin F., who have already posted their favorites for the year, list the also-rans and must-read-it-this-years. Meanwhile, Precocious Curmudgeon’s David Welsh looks at the biggest stories of 2007 and rounds up critical praise for his pick for best graphic novel of 2007, Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms.

The voting is open for best josei manga of 2007 at Deb Aoki’s manga blog. It’s worth a look just to see the list Deb has compiled, especially if you’re running low on things to read.

Felicia J., blogger of Scaling Mount TBR, just started reading manga this year, and she posts a mini-retrospective.

Tokyopop editor Tim Beedle has some advice for aspiring manga writers.

Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page, which is a great if sporadically updated review site focusing on untranslated manga, celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2008. Watch for a revamp of her magazine page and more frequent updates. She starts off the new year with a review of Strobe Edge.

Comics are now respectable enough to be taught in college, thanks in part to the popularity of manga. But how will the “special panties version” go over in the ivory tower?

Same Hat blogger Evan recounts, with pictures, his personal experience with Tatiana the Tiger.

Tiamat’s Disciple vents about the Tokyopop website—the UK version, but U.S. readers, especially those with slow connections, may have some of the same issues. The good news is that another redesign is on the way, and user-friendliness is on the radar this time.

The blog Mutant Palm, which seems to be about Chinese culture, points out an Uighur separatist character in vol. 9 of Eden. And they link to some interesting shots of Chinese manhua.

The Daily Yomiuri reports that Tokyo University Hospital is helping with research for a new medical manga by Yakitate!! Japan creator Takashi Hashiguchi. (Via ComiPress, which fills in a few of the blanks.)

The latest installment of Manga Zombie is about “incredibly strange” artist Tokunan Seiichiro.

Registration is open for Anime Expo 2008.

Reviews: John T looks at vol. 2 of Gyo at Mecha Mecha Media. At the MangaCast, MangaManiac reviews Dash! Back at the Manga Maniac Cafe, Julie checks out vol. 1 of Operation Liberate Men, vol. 1 of Sand Chronicles, Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy Ultimate Edition, and vol. 10 of Skip Beat. Katherine Dacey-Tsuei enjoys Do Whatever You Want at PopCultureShock. Leroy Douresseaux reviews vol. 6 of Reborn! and vol. 1 of Sand Chronicles at The Comic Book Bin. At ComicMix, Andrew Wheeler cracks open The Mammoth Book of Best New Manga 2 and finds “Best” to be an overstatement. Ariadne Roberts checks out Your Honest Deceit at Anime on DVD. Michelle reviews vols. 22 and 23 of Basara at Soliloquy in Blue. Khursten starts the new year with vol. 1 of Welcome to the N.H.K. at Otaku Champloo. Billy Aguiar reviews vol. 1 of Tanpenshu at CBGXtra. Seemingly bent on reading every manga ever published in English, Connie posts reviews of vol. 15 of Astro Boy, vol. 29 of Dragon Ball, vol. 3 of Moon Child, vol. 21 of Jojos Bizarre Adventure, vols. 3 and 4 of Skip Beat, vol. 1 of Zombie-Loan, and vol. 11 of From Eroica With Love. At The Star of Malaysia, Pauline Wong reviews vol. 1 of S.A. AsianWeek looks at Manga: The Complete Guide. Terri Gudowicz checks out Azumanga Daioh: The Omnibus at PLAYBACK:stl.

Same Hat! Same Hat!! has a nice holiday gift for everyone… who is over 18 and not at work: They’re hosting a scanlation of Shintaro Kago’s Labyrinth.

Booklist Watch: The Naruto wave finally ebbs, with only vol. 27 making the USA Today Booklist, at nmber 135.

MangaCast checks Diamond Previews for manga shipping in March and April.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review profiles Undertown creator Jim Pascoe. The article mentions that Scholastic has picked up the book, which is aimed at kids 9 to 14.

Here’s a sketch and some info on the Hellgate: London manga, which is based on the game.

ANN brings news of some new projects over in Japan. You may not have heard of NisiOisin yet, but you will, as a wave of his work is headed our way from Viz and Del Rey. Viz has licensed his novel Death Note: Another Note, and over in Japan, Weekly Shonen Jump will be running a one-shot manga by NisiOisin and Death Note artist Takeshi Obata. And Welcome to the N.H.K. artist Kendi Oiwa is launching a new series, Yume-Watari Pulcinella, in March. Finally, for those who can’t get enough of Genshiken, game creator Katsuoshi Iida is writing a spinoff novel, to be published by Kodansha.

More news from Japan: Zatch Bell is coming to an end. ComiPress has that scoop plus a long list of new series, as well as a nerd/retailer bonus: circulation figures for Japanese manga magazines for 2004-2006.

Simon Jones (not very NSFW today) heard that France has 40 manga publishers and starts counting their American counterparts. He has 33 so far; check it out and see if he has missed anyone.

The voting has started for best shonen manga of 2007 at Deb’s Manga Blog at About.com.

We’ll be looking for a copy of Hello, Please! Very Helpful Super Kawaii Characters from Japan, now that Serge the Concierge has brought it to our attention. (Via Giapet.)

At Industry Babble, Shizuki posts photos of Broccoli and Bandai’s year-end get-together.

A German company is using characters from Crows and Worst to peddle hair coloring.

Reviews: Julie checks out vol. 9 of Moon Child and vol. 1 of Camera Camera Camera at the Manga Maniac Cafe. At Comics Worth Reading, Johanna Draper Carlson enjoys vol. 1 of High School Debut but is less enthusiastic about Pop Japan Travel. Greg Hackmann gives vol. 1 of Aventura a qualified thumbs-up at Anime on DVD. Tiamat’s Disciple posts an overview of With the Light. At Active Anime, Scott Campbell reviews vol. 1 of I, Otaku: Struggle in Akihabara, Davey C. Jones reads vol. 2 of Atelier Marie and Elie Zarlburg Alchemist, and Sandra Scholes reviews vol. 2 of Operation Liberate Men. Julie Gray reviews The Manga Bible at The Comic Book Bin. Ferdinand checks out vol. 1 of Hanami: International Love Story at Prospero’s Manga. Tangognat is hooked after reading vol. 1 of Venus in Love. It’s another manga-thon at Slightly Biased Manga, where Connie reviews vol. 28 of Dragon Ball, vol. 10 of Iron Wok Jan, vol. 2 of Moon Child, vol. 5 of Stray Little Devil, vol. 15 of Tsubasa, vol. 14 of Astro Boy, vol. 2 of Berserk, vols. 9 and 10 of RG Veda, and vol. 11 of Hikaru no Go.

It’s a light week for new manga, but the MangaCast team make their picks anyway. Meanwhile, Ed posts some holiday covers from Japan.

David Welsh reviews this week’s list as well.

Business Week looks at the popularity of manga in Europe.

At About.com, Deb Aoki invites readers to vote on the year’s best shoujo manga and names Mushishi the best new manga of 2007.

Erica Friedman presents her top ten yuri countdown for 2007.

Occasional Superheroine asks “Where Are All Teh Female Comics Readers?” then finds them at NYAF. Interesting discussion in comments that includes the “manga formula” and this:

Manga is also incredibly easy to pick up. It’s collected in clear and consistent formats.

I wanted to find out about Naruto, so I just went and read *Naruto, Volume 1*.

A pal wanted to try reading *X-Men* and asked me where she should start. I had absolutely no idea.

(Via When Fangirls Attack.)

Aria is coming to an end in Japan.

ComiPress has a Backstage article about Anime News Service, one of the pioneers of anime coverage on the web.

Resplendent Beard has some thoughts on the manga version of X-Men.

Reviews: Charles Tan looks at vol. 17 of Eyeshield 21 at Bibliophile Stalker. Tiamat’s Disciple posts an overview of A.I. Love You. At Comics Worth Reading, Rob Vollmar reviews vol. 11 of Swan. Greg Hackmann finally cracks open Fruits Basket: Ultimate Edition at Anime on DVD and while he likes the manga OK, he’s disappointed with the presentation (maybe they should call it the “penultimate edition”). Also at AoD: Julie Rosato checks out Lover’s Flat. Ferdinand reviews vol. 1 of Red String and Miranda critiques vol. 1 of Shaman Warrior at Prospero’s Manga. Kethylia enjoys vol. 1 of With the Light but wonders if it belongs over here. EvilOmar posts another set of brief manga reviews at About Heroes. At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie reviews vols. 6 and 7 of RG Veda, vols. 25, 26, and 27 of Dragon Ball, vols. 7, 8, and 9 of Iron Wok Jan, vol. 5 of Princess Princess, and vol. 16 of Tenjho Tenge. Julie reads vol. 1 of Andromeda Stories, vol. 8 of Nana, and vol. 8 of Yakitate!! Japan at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Carlo Santos reviews The Manga Bible at ANN.

Erica Friedman counts down the top ten yuri manga of 2007, five in English and five in Japanese, at Okazu.

ANN reports that the Japanese publisher Kodansha has apologized for unwittingly publishing a manga with images plagiarized from Death Note, MPD-Psycho, and Air Gear in its Weekly Shonen Magazine Extra: Magazine Dragon. Follow the link for links to side-by-side comparisons. Also: The Japanese government plans to spread the gospel of anime and manga to Eastern Europe.

The 11th Japan Media Arts Festival releases its recommended works, including Sgt. Frog and Fullmetal Alchemist.

ComiPress has a blog!

Gia rounds up last week’s Death Note incidents.

Reporters from The Star of Malaysia report on last week’s Comic Fiesta and answer a concerned mother’s questions about manga.

Shizuki posts some more Christmas cards at Industry Babble.

Reviews: Here’s a nice pre-Christmas gift: After a lengthy absence from the blogosphere, Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page is back with new reviews of Animal Jungle, Secret Kiss, Kimi no Kiss de Furete, and Chocolate Cosmos. David Welsh has some brief comments on vol. 3 of Wild Adapter. At the Manga Maniac Cafe, Julie reviews vol. 1 of High School Debut, After I Win, vol. 2 of My Heavenly Hockey Club, and vol. 3 of Love*Com. Michelle gives vol. 2 of The Last Uniform a C- at Soliloquy in Blue. Tiamat’s Disciple posts overviews of Gunsmith Cats, Yubisaki Milk Tea, and Recast. Dan Polley reviews vol. 1 of Juror 13 and Between the Sheets, and Michael Aronson checks out vol. 4 of Claymore, at Manga Life. Tangognat enjoys vol. 1 of Suppli. At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie reviews vol. 17 of Fruits Basket, Reptilia, vols. 3 and 4 of Iron Wok Jan, Cain Saga 5: Seal of the Red Ram 2, vol. 10 of Hikaru No Go, vol. 1 of Variante, vol. 8 of Nana, vol. 4 of Princess Princess, and vol. 13 of Astro Boy. Ed Chavez pans Vampire Hunter D and SunDome in a podcast review at MangaCast. Jog posts a lengthy review of Reptilia. At The Star of Malaysia, Tom Baker reviews vols. 17-19 of Detective Conan, Kurogane reads vol. 1 of Shinsoku Kiss, and an anonymous reviewer takes on vol. 10 of RG Veda.

ICv2 kicked off NYAF with a really interesting afternoon of panel discussions. Al Kahn stole the show with his comment that “Japan is over,” but there was plenty more to hear. Below the cut is my summary of the panel entitled “Girls—The Other Half of the Otaku Generation.”

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OK, MangaBlog readers, here’s an opportunity to use your extensive knowledge of all things manga to make the world a better place: Laura Hale of Fanhistory.com, a Wiki about the history of fan communities, would like your help in cleaning up and improving the anime section of their site (which also covers manga). (Someone could start by correcting the title of Fruits Basket). If you’re interested, go over and take a look.

Japan’s Daily Yomiuri profiles rem, the winner of Kodansha’s International Manga Competition and the artist of Tokyopop’s Vampire Kisses. (Via Blog@Newsarama.)

Jason Thompson wonders if Japanese students really look up to the cliques, as depicted in manga, or whether that just makes for easier storytelling.

At the MangaCast, Ed Chavez reports on the Vertical and Udon panels at NYAF, including covers of new titles.

An Australian newspaper takes a look at Siku’s The Manga Bible, which features a “kick-ass Jesus,” as one of many different ways of “gift-wrapping” the Good Book.

ComiPress presents another installment of Manga Zombie, this one about gekiga artist Takeuchi Kanko.

At ComicMix, Andrew Wheeler tries a little experiment: He reads just volume 2 of four different manga series, to see how easy it is to pick up the story.

Booklist watch: I’m a little late with the news this week, but it’s just more of the same anyway: vol. 27 of Naruto ranks 92 on this week’s USA Today best seller list, and vol. 26 is at 129. I guess only having two volumes on the list adds a bit of novelty value, but with the Naruto wave now over, it will be interesting to see what other titles make the list in the weeks to come. Meanwhile, Manly Manga and More has November’s German manga charts.

Gia Manry, a.k.a. Giapet, has been posting on anime and manga to watch for in 2008 at Fanboy.com. Check out her comments on Gakuen Alice, which is currently making the rounds at my house (and good news for Tokyopop: Both my teenage daughters liked it). Back at her own blog, Gia spots another kid-writes-a-Death-Note story.

If you read French, head on over to the French blog du9 where Xavier Guilbert writes about a derivative global manga whose format encapsulates the “myth” of manga—including structure derived from a nonexistent manga magazine and word balloons that look like they were designed for Japanese text. (Guilbert translates a lot of his work into English, so hopefully this will be available for non-Francophones soon.)

Contest updates: ComiPress has all the links for the Japan Foreign Ministry’s Second International MANGA Award. And don’t forget that December 31 is the deadline for Kodansha’s Weekly Morning International Manga Competition.

Here’s a little holiday fun: At dot-anime USA’s Industry Babble blog, Broccoli insider Shizuki shows off Christmas cards from different anime and game companies and gives a peek at the Square Enix holiday party.

Reviews: Matthew Alexander enjoys the 18+ title Swing Out Sisters at Anime on DVD, and Julie Rosato checks out Ordinary Crush. Dan Polley reviews vol. 6 of Suzuka and vol. 7 of ES: Eternal Sabbath at Manga Life. Erica Friedman eviscerates vol. 1 of Key Princess Story: Eternal Alice Rondo with wit and style at Okazu (for the uninitiated: LF = Loser Fan Boy). Ferdinand gives vol. 1 of Translucent 4 out of 5 stars at Prospero’s Manga. Sakura Kiss reviews vol. 1 of Flock of Angels at The Yaoi Review. At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie checks out Cain Saga 4: Mark of the Red Ram 1. Michelle reads vol. 21 of Basara at Soliloquy in Blue. At Comics Worth Reading, Johanna updates her reviews of Emma and Beauty Pop with info on the latest volumes. Sasa describes Suppli as “a real josei manga” and compares it to Hataraki Man at Heterochromia. Tiamat’s Disciple posts an overview of Gakuen Heaven. Scott Campbell reviews vol. 1 of Mr. Grieves and Sandra Scholes checks out vol. 1 of Romance Papa at Active Anime. Billy Aguiar reviews vol. 1 of me2 at CBGXtra. At Manga Recon, Katherine Dacey-Tsuei reviews vol. 2 of Jim Henson’s Return to Labyrinth and vol. 1 of Jim Henson’s Legends of the Dark Crystal: The Garthim Wars. John T enjoys vol. 2 of Parasyte at Mecha Mecha Media. J. Bowers reviews vols. 6 and 7 of Pastel at PLAYBACK:stl. Leroy Douresseaux pulls vol. 1 of High School Debut out of The Comic Book Bin.

The folks at DrMaster sure have been busy lately. Here’s the latest on their newest art book.

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My year-in-review column on web manga is up at Comix Talk. Enjoy!

Newsarama has their annual interview with DC prez Paul Levitz. I’ll spare you the blinky interface and reams of superhero stuff and excerpt the only part we care about here on MangaBlog:

NRAMA: Somewhat connected to WildStorm – CMX. As a whole, how is it performing compared to expectations and within the marketplace?

PL: The goal with CMX was to get us into the world of manga and to begin to build the relationships in Japan as we saw them as a growing part of the world of popular culture. It’s done that job – evidenced in part by opening the opportunity for the investment in FLEX Comics, which we think is a very interesting learning experience for us, and will hopefully lead to some very interesting projects both here and overseas.

It’s opened up a number of opportunities for us over there as well that we haven’t pursued, but that might not have been available to us otherwise. So the basic bsuienss goals, I think, we’ve met quite nicely. The success of the CMX print line itself has been…okay – not awe inspiring yet, but manga remains a very viable and growing segment fo the market, and hopefully, we’ll continue to improve our track record of what we pick and how we publish, and get a bigger and bigger share of that. We’re not in any danger of overtaking Viz any time soon.

NRAMA: I think that was a lot of the reaction when CMX was first announced – “Look out Viz, look out TokyoPop!”… and when it wasn’t that, the imprint took a hit in image (as well as for other issues at the time, too)…

PL: It would be pretty ridiculous for someone to assume that they could overtake Viz since they have the base relationship with the two best oil wells in the field. TokyoPop has had years to build their relationships with creators, hone their skill sets as a publisher, and get product out there that people wanted. It’s not shocking that they’re still doing well at it.

So, we’re content to be behind the two of them, but hopefully making our own place in the game.

Well, that puts a nice spin on the admission that CMX manga don’t seem to be selling very well. Let me be up front here: I have a lot of admiration for Asako Suzuki and Jim Chadwick and the rest of the CMX crew. They cleaned up the TenTen mess and have been publishing some very strong books: Emma, Oyayubihime Infinity, Canon. They are branching out into horror with Presents, which got some good critical buzz, and they also publish a lot of kid-friendly manga that doesn’t get as much attention, such as Time Guardian, Chikyu Misaki, and Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne. My girls, who turn up their nose at the Minx line that is supposedly designed just for them, really like a lot of the CMX titles. And they’re not alone; Emma, Canon, and Gon were all nominated for the ALA Great Graphic Novels for Teens list, and David Welsh recently remarked that Shaenon Garrity could do an Overlooked Publisher Festival about them.

I think CMX would do a lot better if DC would back them up a bit more, maybe shell out for more color pages and better paper and a more commanding web presence. Perhaps if the guys in Corporate regarded them as a book publisher, rather than a tool for making deals with third parties, that would happen.

At PWCW, Kai-Ming Cha interviews Aimee Steinberger about Japan Ai: A Tall Girl’s Adventure in Japan, and Laurel Maury sums up the ICv2 Anime and Technology panel.

The last volume of The Dreaming is out, and creator Queenie Chan takes a moment to look back. Also: She’s got a secret. Go to the post to find a link—I’m not going to give it away here!

Speaking of looking back, ’tis the season to compile best-of lists. At PopCultureShock’s Manga Recon blog, Katherine, Erin, and Ken present their picks for the best—and worst—manga and books of 2007.

At the MangaCast, the team checks out this week’s new manga, Ed Chavez posts covers and his thoughts on Yen Press’s new titles, and Jack Tse podcasts his thoughts on This Week in Manga.

There’s gold in them thar otaku: ANN reports that sales of anime, manga, plastic figurines with removable panties, etc. in Japan totaled 187 billion yen ($1.651 billion) in 2007. It’s worth a peek at their chart, if only to see that doujinshi accounted for 14.9% of the market. Stateside, Kethylia goes to Borders and photographs a happy scene: Shelves of manga, stretching as far as the eye can see.

GTO creator Tohru Fujisawa has a new manga series, Animal Joe.

Reviews: Connie checks out vol. 15 of Fullmetal Alchemist, vol. 12 of Astro Boy, Silky Whip Extreme, vol. 2 of Iron Wok Jan, vols. 6 and 7 of Land of Silver Rain, and vol. 7 of 3×3 Eyes. At the Sunny Side Up Anime Blog, huamulan03 posts a lengthy synopsis and review of the shoujo manga M to N no Shouzou (Portrait of M & N). David Welsh makes some quick comments on vol. 1 of Psycho Busters and vol. 1 of High School Debut at Precocious Curmudgeon. Miranda reviews vol. 1 of Orfina and Ferdinand checks out vol. 1 of Teru Teru x Shonen at Prospero’s Manga. Michelle checks out vol. 20 of Basara at Soliloquy in Blue. Johanna Draper Carlson enjoys the Azumanga Daioh omnibus at Comics Worth Reading. At Active Anime, Scott Campbell checks out vol. 1 of The Outcast, Holly Ellingwood checks out vol. 2 of Hoshin Engi, and Sandra Scholes enjoys Honey Senior, Darling Junior. and EvilOmar posts a heap of short reviews at About Heroes, and at Anime on DVD, the staff contributes their Small Bodied Manga Reviews.