The outcome, therefore, has been pure comedy, with comments that read very much like “I love spending all day reading about forced underage incestuous sex with squirrel fisting on top, but of course I’m not interested in that in real life — that’d make me a pervert!”
Warren Ellis, on the Great LiveJournal purge. (Thanks, Heidi!)
Late LJ update: LiveJournal CEO Barak Berkowitz (current mood: mortified) admits he screwed up and pledges to review all the suspended journals and reinstate the ones that he finds do not encourage pedophilia. (Hat tip: Tina Anderson.)
Comics are shipping late this week, due to the holiday, so it’s not too late to check out David Welsh’s selections. Matt Blind has the full list at Comicsnob.
ChunHyang72 also includes her picks in this week’s Tokyopop Round-Up, along with other news and a request for underrated titles.
Heterochromia has a nice appreciation of josei manga. And the Honolulu Star-Bulletin’s Wilma Jandoc takes a look at Tokyopop’s defunct Passion Fruit line. Actually, “line” is an overstatement as only two Passion Fruit books were actually published. And this was sort of curious:
According to company officials, the third book that was supposed to be part of the imprint was scrapped after plagiarism concerns, and “Dolis” was scheduled in its place, but Tokyopop instead published it outside the line.
At Manga Life, Park Cooper interviews several global manga creators, including Stormcrow Hayes (Afterlife), Jim Jimenez (Grand Theft Galaxy), and Lincy Chan (Rhysmyth).
Takeshi Miyazawa, who incorrectly assumes that nobody reads his blog, has some thoughts on the Heroes for Hire cover that caused so much consternation on the other side of the blogosphere last week. Since Tak drew the previous cover, he has a bit more insight than most of us, and as he is living in Japan at the moment, his take on the cultural difference is interesting.
Why is it that I never heard of the infelicitiously named PLAYBACK:stl before last week, and all of a sudden they have all kinds of great manga content? Anyway, they have a long-ish article up on Maison Ikkoku, the last volume of which came out last February, accompanied by an interview with manga adaptor Gerald Jones, who worked on the series.
Chloe ponders why manhwa never seems to sell well—could it be that most of it is not very good.
Mainichi is reporting that the creator of the Doraemon “final episode” doujinshi has apologized to Shogakukan, the publisher of the Doraemon manga, and Fujiko Productions, the copyright holder, and has turned over some of the money he made on the book to Fujiko.
A Japanese survey of otaku reveals surprising diversity: When they were asked which manga or anime property inspired their otaku-ness, the respondents came up with so many different titles that even the winner, Gundam, only got 3.7 percent of the vote.
The Broccoli Blog has extensive coverage of Fanime, where Murder Princess manga-ka Sekihiko Inui was a guest. Anime Online’s coverage contains two interesting tidbits: The BL title Delivery Cupid may have to have a cover sheet over it at Borders/Waldenbooks, as the buyer didn’t like something about it, and editor Shizuki Yamashita is hinting at extending the Disgaea properties into some “new type of book.” (Via Yaoi Suki.)
A copy of MPD Psycho turns up in the room of a teenage murderer, who also discussed the manga in online chats. The Newsarama blog follows up with more info on the title, which is due out here next week.
The Tezuka exhibit is opening soon, and it’s starting to get some press. Wired has a background piece, while the Marin Independent Journal goes into more depth, including interviews with curator Philip Brophy and Viz chairman and founder Seiji Horibuchi. And Inside Bay Area interviews Fred Schodt.
Reviews: Here’s a special bonus review: Jason Green reviews the many versions of Densha Otoko/Train Man for PLAYBACK:stl, and James Nokes reviews vol. 2 of ES: Eternal Sabbath. Active Anime’s Christopher Seaman reviews vol. 9 of Nodame Cantabile and vol. 8 of Guru Guru Pon Chan, and Holly Ellingwood sinks her teeth (sorry!) into vol. 1 of the Chibi Vampire novel. Ed Chavez checks out vol. 1 of Shakugan no Shana and Robert Harris reads vol. 1 of Galaxy Angel II at Anime on DVD. Leroy Douresseaux reviews vol. 19 of Bleach for the Comic Book Bin. Reviewers at the Star of Malaysia take a look at vol. 1 of Black Sun, Silver Moon and vol. 1 of Tactics. At PopCultureShock, Katherine Dacey-Tsuei finds a touch of Disney in vol. 1 of Apothecarius Argentum. Robots Never Sleep checks out Chinatsu’s Voice. Manga Monday is Hana-Kimi Day at Comics-and-More. At Okazu, Erica Friedman reviews the English version of Iono-Sama Fanatics. At the tastefully redesigned Mangamaniaccafe, Julie checks out vol. 1 of Love*Com, Socrates in Love, and vol. 17 of Red River. At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie reviews vols. 1 and 2 of Just A Girl, vols. 25 and 26 of Oh My Goddess, and vol. 2 of Gals! Ferdinand enjoys vol. 1 of King of Thorn and Miranda wraps up vols. 4 and 5 of Basilisk at Prospero’s Manga. Tangognat checks out two CMX titles, Time Guardian and Go Go Heaven. At Manga Life, Michael Aronson reviews vol. 4 of Lunar Legend Tsukihime, vol. 3 of Hikaru no Go, and vol. 1 of DN Angel.
Sorry to nitpick, but volume 15 of Maison Ikkoku was published back in February. I highly recommend the series.
Thanks, Ed. That post must be older than I thought. I’ll fix it.