Gia is working hard at ACEN, where despite a lack of internets (boo!) she is posting regularly. It’s mostly about anime, but she has a few scooplets: Yaoi Press announced a new Dany&Dany title, Anima, Viz and ADV were no-shows for their panels, and there’s a rumor that Iris Print has closed up shop, although it’s only a rumor—Gia has a few links. (Anima cover lifted from Dany&Dany’s website.)
One of those links is to Boys Next Door, which has been around for a while but apparently just got a shiny new blog. Take a peek!
I think I missed this when it first appeared, but PWCW’s Ed Chavez talked to Aurora Garcia and Diana Fernandez, the duo known as Kosen, about the manga industry in Spain and their new title Daemonium, which is being published by Tokyopop. (Via The Yaoi Review.) Over at the MangaCast, Ed has the unedited audio of his conversation with the duo.
Xavier Guilbert has two articles about George Akiyama’s work at du9: The first, a review of Ashura, is in English, and the second, about Zeni Gaba, is in French.
The MangaCast crew also looks at last week’s new manga, with recommendations and commentary, as always.
Some Dark Horse musings at Sporadic Sequential, where John Jakala wonders whether he should read Gantz (the readers help out in comments) and what ever happened to XS Hybrid.
Oigue Maniax discusses how the stories of manga convey complex meanings with clear storytelling.
Muslimah Media Watch, a blog that covers the way Muslim women are viewed in popular culture, has a very interesting post on the work of Asia Alfasi, a British manga artist, and the way she and her characters are covered in the media. (Via When Fangirls Attack; image lifted from the link and presumably copyright (c) Asia Alfasi.)
At The Anime Blog, Rachel discusses whether the Japanese notice global manga—and why it doesn’t matter. Global manga creators with thin skins should avoid the comments on this post.
Anime Diet takes on the thorny question of which is better: anime or manga.
Congratulations to Erica Friedman on reaching 1,000 posts and 1,000,000 visitors at Okazu! Erica also has this week’s yuri news.
Sonia Leong writes about Manga Life, her how-to manga series, on her LJ.
Life Imitates Manga: Dan Pink notices a new product that is very like one mentioned in his manga, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need.
Reviews: Johanna finds much to criticize about The Reformed and Ed Sizemore compares two Mother Teresa manga at Comics Worth Reading. Erica Friedman deconstructs vol. 4 of Eternal Alice Rondo at Okazu. At Active Anime, Scott Campbell reviews vol. 7 of Suzuka and vol. 3 of Galaxy Angel II, Davey C. Jones reads vol. 14 of YuYu Hakusho, and Holly Ellingwood checks out vol. 3 of Kedamono Damono, vol. 1 of Red Angel, vol. 1 of Dragon Sister, and Red. Lissa Pattillo reads vol. 7 of +Anima at Kuri-ousity. Snow Wildsmith checks out Star at Manga Jouhou. Darren Pangan reviews Mx0, which I don’t believe is licensed in English, at Anime2Manga. Michelle enjoys vols. 9 and 10 of Boys Over Flowers at Soliloquy in Blue. Julie takes a look at vol. 7 of After School Nightmare, vol. 13 of Kekkaishi, and vol. 1 of Kiss All the Boys at the Manga Maniac Cafe. At Manga Xanadu, Lori Henderson has mini-reviews of several different volumes and her daughter Jenny gives her take on vol. 6 of Dragon Drive. The Anime on DVD reviewers take a look at Viz’s UK titles, while Sakura Eries reads vol. 6 of School Rumble and Julie Rosato checks out Love Control. At PopCultureShock’s Manga Recon blog, Ken Haley reviews vol. 1 of Hellgate: London, Phil Guie checks out vols. 1 and 2 of Junk: Record of the Last Hero, and Katherine Dacey reads Voiceful. Tiamat’s Disciple finds that vols. 1-3 of Suki are that rare CLAMP manga that he doesn’t like. Huamulan03 links to a series of reviews at the Sunny Side Up Anime Blog. Ferdinand finds vol. 1 of Pokemon: Diamond and Pearl Adventure to be pretty good despite being a kids’ comic written to a formula. Connie reviews vol. 1 of Dororo, vol. 2 of Battle Royale (ultimate edition), and vol. 19 of Eyeshield 21 at Slightly Biased Manga. Ed Chavez has an audio review of two from Tezuka, vol. 1 of Dororo and Apollo’s Song at the MangaCast. Thomas Pfeiffer turns the manga spotlight on xxxHolic at About Heroes. Oyceter explains why vol. 5 of Wild Adapter is her favorite volume so far. The Animanachronism looks at SelfMadeHero’s manga Hamlet, among other adaptations. Prizm looks at vol. 1 of Blood+ at The Star of Malaysia.
‘Star’ over at MangaNews was actually reviewed by Snow Wildsmith ^^ Thanks for the Sunday update! Weekends always seem so slow, nice to have a bunch of fun links to splunk through.
The problem with the Viz UK release is is it’s a fake. Viz started to officially release through their own brand (rather than Gollanz or other publisher) just over a year ago. Also despite having the license for a number of titles they refuse to release them over here. Their token releases do nothing but fuel the anger of UK fans, and really just propagate the grey market even more.
If they genuinely want to get into the UK market they need to do more, and release more. As it is it’s nothing more than a publicity stunt.
Sorry about that Lissa! I fixed it. This was really the Friday post, but I got busy with other things and didn’t finish it until today. But maybe I should do more posting on weekends, when RL allows.
Hi Brigid! Thank you very much for commenting the interview with Ed and linking the recorded audio version (we hadn’t had the chance to hear it ourselves, ha ha)… it’s been a surprise to find this entry in our feeds. ^^
BTW, the title of our series for Tokyopop is ‘Daemonium’. Let us know your opinion if you have the chance to read it, please! :D
*Waves* ^^/
Sorry—I was spelling it like an American! ^_^ I’ll keep my eye open for it.