Catching up and looking back

As the year winds to a close, Katherine Dacey takes a year-end snapshot of the manga industry at Good Comics for Kids. Amazingly, the news isn’t all bad. Kate also makes a big announcement at Manga Recon: She’s moving on from her senior editor post and turning over the reins to the very capable Michelle Smith. While I’m delighted, because this leaves Kate more time to write for GC4K, I will miss her Manga Recon posts; she has definitely left the place in better shape than she found it.

Roland Kelts alerted me to this article in The Christian Science Monitor about the surging popularity of Japanese pop culture in the U.S.; naturally, as one of the go-to guys on the topic, he is among those quoted. The article has plenty of interesting nuggets, including an interview with the creators of The Kindaichi Case Files and the news that Sarah Palin’s glasses were Japanese.

David Welsh takes a look back at the year in manga at Precocious Curmudgeon, with lists of the best series debuts and conclusions of the year.

Deb Aoki lists her picks for the top manga of 2008 at About.com.

Matt Blind posts the top manga rankings for September 2008 at ComiPress.

At the MangaCast, Ed Chavez takes a look at the demise of Manganovel. His diagnosis: Not enough buy-in from the Japanese publishers, and as a result, not enough compelling series to draw in the readers. Ed also posts the manga list from the January Previews for those who like to plan ahead, and Simon Jones highlights upcoming manga from Previews Adult. In his New Year’s Wish List, Simon suggests breaking up Previews into several different genre-based catalogs, which strikes me as a good idea, actually.

God Len lists this week’s new releases at Japanator.

Lissa Pattillo finds a few new items on Amazon, including a possible unannounced new title for Go!Comi, and another from Kitty Media at RightStuf.

Lori Henderson finds an interesting example of supply and demand at Manga Xanadu: A back issue of Yen Plus goes for over $100 on Ebay.

Meanwhile, at the Icarus blog, Simon Jones wants to know how price-sensitive yaoi readers are. Read the comments for some responses.

PingMag, a Japanese online shopping magazine, has an interesting interview with 1960s-era mangaka Eiko Hanamura, who didn’t set out to be a manga artist but ended up having the knack.

LJ’er lynkemma links to two literary essays on Death Note at Manga Talk.

Matt Blind is highlighting some interesting manga finds at Rocket Bomber. Go take a look!

Here’s an interesting story from November that I found while cleaning out my in-box: the German government is using manga to turn Muslim youth away from extremism. Because nothing gets to teenagers like government-sponsored propaganda!

Your super-global manga moment for the day: Manga in Gaelic, drawn by a Brazilian artist.

Job board: Viz is looking for interns. (Hat tip: Charles Tan.)

News from Japan: MangaCast posts the Dec. 22 manga rankings from Taiyosha.

Reviews: The Manga Guide to Statistics gets the once-over at Slashdot. J. Caleb Mozzocco weighs in as well at Blog@Newsarama, and Mark C. Chu-Carroll focuses on the math content in his review at Good Math, Bad Math. Carlo Santos ushers in the holidays with a look at Yokaiden, Rosario+Vampire, and Beet the Vandel Buster, among others, in his latest Right Turn Only!! column. Edward Zacharias is finally inspired to write a review of vol. 19 of One Piece, after following the series all this time. Read all about it at Animanga Nation. Dale North reviews the Genshiken Official Book at Japanator. Ed Chavez podcasts his thoughts on Object of Desire and Mangamaniac Julie reviews Today’s Ulterior Motives at MangaCast. At the Manga Maniac Cafe, Julie goes in a different direction with a look at vol. 2 of Gantz. Tiamat’s Disciple checks out vol. 3 of Kaze no Hana and vol. 4 of Alice on Deadlines. Lissa Pattillo reads Color of Rage, vol. 4 of Freak: Legend of the Nonblonds, Shards of Affection, and vol. 5 of Moon Boy at Kuriousity. Charles Tan checks out vol. 6 of Chinese Hero at Comics Village. New at Active Anime: Scott Campbell on vol. 2 of Ghost Talker’s Daydream, Holly Ellingwood on vol. 8 of Kitchen Princess, and Rachel Bentham on Secret Moon. At Manic About Manga, Kris reads vol. 1 of breath (from new kid on the block Yaoi Generation), vol. 4 of Star Project Chiro, and The Lily and the Rose. Snow Wildsmith takes a good look at vol. 1 of breath as well at Fujoshi Librarian. Mania is making their site a bit more user-friendly by posting lists of recent reviews; recent entries include Greg Hackmann on Solanin, Robert Harris on vol. 15 of The Wallflower, Matthew Alexander on the adult title Aqua Bless, and Danielle Van Gorder on A Capable Man (another 18+ title), vol. 13 of Nana, and vol. 6 of Black Sun, Silver Moon. New at The Star of Malaysia: Shaun A. Noordin on vol. 1 of Ghost Slayers Ayashi and Kurogane on vol. 1 of S.S. Astro and vol. 1 of Nui. Alex Hoffman reads vol. 1 of Stray Little Devil at Manga Widget. Leroy Douresseaux reviews Junior Escort, vol. 1 of Princess Ai: The Prism of Midnight Dawn, and vol. 1 of Black Sun at The Comic Book Bin. AnaKhouri is not too impressed with vols. 1 and 2 of Dark Metro at Yellow Menace. At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie checks out vol. 3 of Suppli, vol. 2 of Time Stranger Kyoko, Dear Myself, vol. 1 of Croquis Pop, vol. 6 of Bastard, vol. 3 of Aria, and vol. 8 of Let Dai.