Tokyopop reload

Tokyopop has reset all the online manga previews on their site to chapter 1. Every two weeks a new chapter will come up and the previous chapter will be locked. (This comes from the promotional e-mail they sent me; the info doesn’t seem to be anywhere on the site.) When you click on a locked video you still get a mysterious message about VIP membership, which makes me wonder what else they have up their sleeves.

It’s a festival of baking over at Shaenon K. Garrity’s website, where she features competitive cooking from three manga: Buches de Noel, a curry volcano, and pigeon pie.

David Welsh comments on buying comics at Restoration Hardware and other unlikely spots, as part of their attempt to market an entire lifestyle. A lot of these stores already have their own books—I remember my daughter picking up a Limited 2 novel, in which the characters frequently went shopping, I’m sure. But books like that have a very limited appeal. Actually, Limited 2 would be an ideal outlet for shoujo manga, as a lot of their merchandise already features Japanese characters, and they appeal to the perfect shoujo demographic.

From When Fangirls Attack: Julianne Corlath asks why yaoi seems to dominate over yuri and hentai in the manga department, while there are more hentai anime than yaoi or yuri. Is it that girls like to read and boys like to watch? I’m not sure she’s right about this, actually, but I’m counting on Simon Jones to provide enlightenment. And XStylus wonders why yaoi is so popular at all. The post is brief, but the discussion gets interesting in comments.

Tezuka show opens in Australia. This is just a news blurb, but I thought this was kind of an interesting comment from the curator:

“The culture was dealing with the issue that Japan was the aggressor in the war,” he said.

“Tezuka was perceptive and did not shy away from the issues.”

“Tezuka thought it was a gift to survive World War II and Hiroshima and the shame of losing the war,” Mr Brophy said.

“Tezuka dealt with the business of being human.

“Everyone has bad and good in them.”

That last bit sounds pretty trite, but as I’m drawing to the close of Ode to Kirihito, I can say that Tezuka’s mastery is bringing something like that to life in unexpected and powerful ways.

Pop singer swipes lyrics from manga. Details at ComiPress.

Tangognat really enjoyed volume 1 of Oyayubihime Infinity. At Anime on DVD, Matthew Alexander says the samurai manga Satsuma Gishiden gets off to a rocky start.