Bizenghast is one of Tokyopop’s global manga that is showing some staying power—vol. 5 just came out, creator M. Alice LeGrow is working on vol. 6, and Tokyopop has extended the contract to an unprecedented vol. 7. You can check out what the fuss is all about this week, when Tokyopop is putting vol. 1 online for free. (Hat tip: Manga Xanadu.)
I missed this when it first came out, but it’s still pretty fresh: Ramsey Isler writes about Tokyopop’s troubles and the manga industry as a whole at IGN.com. I must say that I think the significance of people who read the manga in the bookstores and don’t buy it is overstated, but he makes some good points.
Planning ahead: Ed Chavez posts all the manga from the July Previews at MangaCast.
Looking for some light summer reading? Here’s a nice overview of sci-fi manga.
At Kuriousity, part three of Lissa Pattillo’s series on manga publishers focuses on boys love: Digital, 801, Blu, and Yaoi Press.
Anime Expo is coming, and Ed Chavez is ahead of the pack as usual with a rundown of all the manga programming at the MangaCast. Yamila Abraham invites everyone to the Yaoi Press booth, and Jason Thompson will be participating in the Otaku USA panel on Sunday.
Also, the latest Japanator podcast, Podtoid-San, is up, and it’s all about AnimeNEXT.
OT, but an interesting read: A longtime comics reader reflects one of the chief barriers to new comics readers: the retail comics system.
News from Japan: Koge-Donbo has a new manga in the works, titled Tame no Pavane (Pavane for a Dead Girl), to run in Comic Blade. This one is set in a Meiji-era music school. Singaporean blogger Vong Yonghow made it in to The LAST Manga Exhbition, an exhibit of Takehiko Inoue’s works, and he has the photos to prove it.
Reviews: Head over to PopCultureShock’s Manga Recon blog first, where Kate Dacey posts a host of mini-reviews. Lianne Sentar reviews Teru Teru x Shonen at Sleep Is for the Weak; check out this page for recent series updates as well. Mangamaniac checks out Feverish and Ed Chavez has a podcast review of vol. 2 of He Is My Master and vol. 1 of Kaze no Hana at the MangaCast. At Prospero’s Manga, Ferdinand reviews the how-to manual Professional Manga. Sophie Stevens has high praise for vol. 2 of Honey and Clover at Animanga Nation. James Fleenor enjoys vol. 1 of Cowa! at Anime Sentinel. New reviews are up at the Boys Next Door blog: vol. 13 of Let Dai, vol. 6 of Junjo Romantica, and Gentle Cage. Lissa Pattillo reviews vol. 1 of Honey and Clover at Kuriousity. Tiamat’s Disciple posts reviews of vol. 1 of Sunshine Sketch, vol. 1 of Very Very Sweet, and vol. 1 of You’re So Cool. Michelle reads vol. 3 of Venus in Love at Soliloquy in Blue. Katie McNeill reviews vol. 1 of Devil’s Bride at Blogcritics. Leroy Douresseaux takes a look at vol. 1 of Time Stranger Kyoko at The Comic Book Bin.
Of particular interest to manga fans— in this week’s podcast we talked a bit about the whole OEL thing, as well as about MangaNext.
And I apologize for the poor sound quality; somehow I got stuck recording and editing this one. ;)