The latest volume of Vampire Knight tops the Bookscan August graphic novel chart, one of three vampire manga in the top 20 (the other two are Rosario + Vampire and new Tokyopop title Bloody Kiss).
Lori Henderson ponders the question of whether “taboo” describes an actual genre of manga. (I would say it’s too vague, myself, but I do think there are enough stepsibling romances for that to be its own genre.)
Apparently believing that there are not enough cat manga in the U.S., David Welsh asks publishers to please license Chi’s Sweet Home.
It’s not too often that my husband comes up with a link for MangaBlog, but this one is in his field: Symmetry magazine (subtitle: Dimensions of Particle Physics) has a boffo manga cover and an interview with Youhei Morita, who draws an “edutainment” web manga for the website of the Japanese particle accelerator KEK. (Also, this is OT but too cute to pass up: Particle plushies!)
Reviews: David Welsh explains why Real is more than just a sports manga at Precocious Curmudgeon. Kate Dacey has some short takes on Black Lagoon, Dogs: Bullets and Carnage, and Zone-00 at The Manga Critic.
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Aoi Shiro (Okazu)
Connie on vol. 27 of Berserk (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 4 of Beauty Is the Beast (i heart manga)
Danielle Van Gorder on vol. 4 of Captive Hearts (Mania.com)
Connie on vol. 3 of Gestalt (Slightly Biased Manga)
Shojo Flash on vol. 11 of High School Debut (Shojo Flash)
Michelle Smith on vol. 11 of High School Debut (Soliloquy in Blue)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 7 of Honey and Clover (There it is, Plain as Daylight)
Emily on Kataomoi no Mukougawa (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of Maria Holic and vol. 1 of Mad Love Chase (Tangognat)
Julie on vols. 6 and 7 of Nora: The Last Chronicle of Devildom (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Bill Sherman on vol. 1 of Venus Capriccio (Pop Culture Gadabout)
Erin Finnegan on vol. 1 of Vermonia (Erin Finnegan’s LJ)
Connie on vol. 5 of Wild Act (Slightly Biased Manga)
Edward Zacharias on vol. 1 of Wolverine: Prodigal Son (Animanga Nation)
Danielle Leigh on vol. 1 of X-Men: Misfits (Comics Should Be Good!)
Nick Popio on vol. 1 of X-Men: Misfits (Girlamatic)
Nick Smith on vol. 1 of X-Men: Misfits (ICv2)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Yokaiden (Kuriousity)
Dan Polley on vol. 1 of Yokai Doctor (Comics Village)
Thanks for the mention of symmetry and our Manga cover! Just to correct the record: Youhei Morita, who wrote the commentary for this issue, is director of communications for KEK, the Japanese high-energy physics lab. The artist who drew our cover and created the Manga edutainment series for KEK is Takuya Uruno.