Bootleg manga on the iPhone
Manga expert Jason Thompson has been looking at manga on digital devices, and he concludes that Apple products are not the way of the future because of the Apple store’s rigid content standards, which means manga must be Bowdlerized to get into iTunes. In fact, he goes so far as to say
Personally, I think this sucks, and frankly — I say this knowing full well the accusations of unprofessionalism and manga-industry-treachery I’ll get for saying it — I’d rather read scanlations than pay for censored manga.
Apparently plenty of other folks feel the same way, as Robot 6’s Kevin Melrose recently reported that OneManga.com made Google’s list of the 1,000 highest-traffic websites. OneManga is both a scanlation site (they post amateur translations of the most popular Shonen Jump titles) and a plain ol’ pirate site, with plenty of scans made directly from English-language manga. Oh, and it has several iPhone and iPad apps that don’t seem to be affected by Apple’s content restrictions at all.
Sean Gaffney has some license requests, drawn from the latest best-sellers, and he also takes a look at a 2001 issue of the shoujo manga magazine Hana to Yume.
Kate Dacey and Brad Rice look over this week’s new releases, and Lori Henderson is looking forward to Tokyopop’s summer schedule.
Melinda Beasi counters some fanboy outrage by posting links to some comics that have gotten favorable reviews from female critics lately—and notes that there is quite a range.
Japan and Stuff Press is publishing a manga biography of Kenji Miyazawa. Click for a preview and lots of interesting info.
ANN reports three new books have popped up on Amazon, all listed as being from Tokyopop: You Higuri’s BL title Gakuen Heaven Endou ver. ~Calling You~, Warcraft: Shaman, and Ai-Land Chronicles Collection, presumably another Princess Ai book.
The bad news: Anime Briefs is no more. The good news: Gia Manry is taking her journalistic talents to Anime News Network, where she will hopefully be posting often and collecting a regular paycheck.
News from Japan: Canned Dogs lists a handful of upcoming Jump one-shots.
Reviews
Julie Opipari on vol. 2 of Biomega (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Penny Kenny on vols. 3 and 4 of Black Bird (Manga Life)
Charles Webb on vol. 11 of Black Jack (Manga Life)
Tangognat on vol. 2 of Deadman Wonderland (Tangognat)
Connie on vol. 3 of Fushigi Yugi (VizBig edition) (Slightly Biased Manga)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 13 of Hayate the Combat Butler (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime & Manga Blog)
Connie on vol. 1 of Kabuki (Slightly Biased Manga)
Thomas Zoth on vol. 3 of Karakuri Odette (Mania.com)
Erica Friedman on Kusare Joshi In Deep! (Okazu)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Library Wars: Love and War (Comics Worth Reading)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Library Wars: Love and War (The Manga Critic)
Emily on Love Love Shock! (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
D.M. Evans on vol. 1 of Nightschool (Manga Jouhou)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 3 of Rin-Ne (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
You know, every time I think about manga going digital, I think “Apple is going to kill this.” It will never kick off as long as Apple continues its stringent censorship policies. Because unfortunately, Apple has a large hold on the market. There’s the Droid, of course, but with the iPhone and iPad being dominant in the market…. I hate to say this, but I feel comfortable a digital revolution will not kick off (as I hate reading online) as long as Apple continues to dominate with their product and continues their current policies.
Also, that Gakuen Heaven TP book was listed in this month’s Previews catalog, scheduled for…probably September. So there’s more confirmation.