My dad is out of the hospital and doing a bit better, so I’m starting to get everything back in order again. Here are a few links, with more coming later.
Here is a look at Takeshi Obata’s art for Blue Dragon, his newest manga.
ChunHyang72 rounds up the latest news and reviews on and off the Tokyopop site.
Pata is celebrating the holidays with 25 (or so) days of beautiful girls. Translator Tomo Kimura, on the other hand, has some Christmas cake instead of cheesecake.
For those who like to think ahead, David Welsh lists all the new manga series debuting in February.
At Completely Futile, Adam Stephanides links to some other works by Kaworu Watashiya, the manga-ka of Kodomo no Jikan, which has been attracting some comment lately for its loli-esque qualities.
Queenie Chan drew a Zelda fan manga and she’s inviting audience participation. She also confesses
And my lifelong ambition is to draw swords-and-sorcery fantasy manga. I’m not kidding. *flexes muscles*
In the meantime, she’s doing OK with The Dreaming, which has been picked up in four European countries.
At the MangaCast, cover scans and more info on Del Rey’s three new licenses, My Heavenly Hockey Club, ALIVE, and Dragon Eyes. Also: more Comiket tips.
Telophase highly recommends The Mammoth Book of Best New Manga, based on the first story alone. This sounds soooo British—they love to make big, fat books that promise plenty of delights inside. I used to get books with titles like “The Big Book of Fun and Games” every Christmas from my Irish aunts, along with my Bunty and Beano annuals.
Anime on DVD reviewer Matthew Alexander thinks My Hime will appeal mainly to people who have already seen the manga and don’t mind the book taking off in a different direction. This is the most positive review I have seen yet for this particular title (which I’m finding unreadable, but then, I haven’t seen the anime).
Mely has brief reviews of three books she likes, Emma, Skip Beat, and VS. (Versus). Be sure to read the comments for more.
Otaku Champloo has set up a fan site for Nodame Cantabile.
At Okazu, Erica thinks DrMaster did a terrible job with Tori Koro Meanwhile, Kethylia thinks volume 4 of Yuri Monogatari is too uneven, with the weaker pieces detracting from the whole. At Tokyopop, ChunHyang72 reviews Trinity Blood.
Minx Linx: It’s not really manga, but as it touches on some of the same issues we discuss, here’s a roundup of recent comments: At The Beat, Heidi has a lengthy meditation that covers a lot of the bases: Yes, it’s a step forward for DC; yes, it’s good that they are putting some serious marketing into it; yes, the name is rather unfortunate; and yes, it’s a bit odd that there are so few women creators. Tiredfairy, who worked on the line, is cautiously optimistic. Remix17 is offended. Lucy_anne has doubts and is hosting an open thread, so check it out. There’s lots more at When Fangirls Attack, which is where I got most of these links.