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Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

July 5, 2013 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith and MJ 11 Comments

Manga the Week of 7/10

SEAN: Not as big as week 1 of July, but there’s plenty of tasty treats to check out as the summer continues to be hot.

tokyobabylon2

Dark Horse has the 2nd and final omnibus of Tokyo Babylon. I didn’t buy this one, so will forever imagine it ends with a big picnic, and possibly puppies and unicorns. :)

MICHELLE: I will allow you to have your dreams.

MJ: I’m sure everyone can guess how eagerly I’ve been anticipating this release. I was over the moon for Dark Horse’s first omnibus, and since I actually like to be beaten into a sobbing pulp by my fiction, I’m willing to move forward without those puppies and unicorns. Note: This volume will also contain Hokuto’s side story of epic awesomeness, so there’s that.

SEAN: Digital Manga Publishing is finally returning to print manga, and what better title to see returning to our shelves than the 7th volume of Vampire Hunter D?

MICHELLE: While this personally doesn’t excite me much, I was very pleased to see that the tenth volume of Itazura Na Kiss is now available for pre-order. Hurray for print manga!

SEAN: SubLime has two new debuts. False Memories has a cute cover, so I have less to say about it. It’s by the author of Devil’s Honey and Dash!

MICHELLE: The cover is very cute indeed. I confess that was all it took to convince me to read it, and I didn’t connect the author with Devil’s Honey. The latter was pretty good, though, so I’m definitely intrigued.

MJ: Agreed!

hideandseek

SEAN: Oh Dear Lord. Look at the cover for Hide & Seek. Have you seen two people you want to punch in the face more than these two? :) This is by the author of Bond of Dreams, Bond of Love, which if I recall also had ridiculous covers. Recommended for those who enjoy large yaoi hands.

MICHELLE: *snerk* While I liked Yaya Sakuragi’s Stay Close to Me, Bond of Dreams, Bond of Love was so generic and the characters so unappealing that I now view anything else by the author with trepidation.

MJ: Heh. I deeply disliked Bond of Dreams, Bond of Love, but on the upside, at least these two characters both look like adults, so I’ll give it a try.

SEAN: Vertical has the 6th volume of Flowers of Evil, whose sales will hopefully be bumped by the recent conclusion to the anime version.

MJ: I hope so, too! I’m looking forward to this volume in any case.

SEAN: Viz has Case Closed Vol. 47. In Japan, Vol. 79 came out this April. Sadly, I suspect we will not be seeing the great Case Closed speedup anytime soon.

MICHELLE: I find this series to be fun occasionally, but it’s one of those cases where I’m very grateful my local library purchases it so I don’t have to. I can’t imagine housing dozens of volumes of goofy, episodic mysteries.

SEAN: The 5th Fullmetal Alchemist omnibus contains Vols. 13-15 of this shonen series that everyone should own. And I hope Viz can negotiate digital rights back now that Square Enix shuttered their digital site.

MICHELLE: It’s a classic.

rinne12MJ: Fullmetal Alchemist is absolutely a must-own, and I’m glad it’s being given a second run like this.

SEAN: The 4th Loveless omnibus, with Vol. 7 & 8, I think catches us up with Viz’s newer releases, right?

MICHELLE: It does, as volume 11 came out in June. It also catches us up with Japan.

MJ: I honestly can’t wait. The new volumes have been mocking me from the shelf for so long.

SEAN: Rin-Ne has hit a dozen volumes, and is doing well enough that it doesn’t have to worry about getting as behind as Case Closed is. Not that this means any legitimate plot is happening, mind you…

MICHELLE: I’m happy that RIN-NE exists for whenever I want a dose of Takahashi, but it’s true there’s not really anything to get excited about.

SEAN: Finally, we see the second volume of superhero manga Tiger & Bunny. He’s a superhero. He’s also a superhero. THEY FIGHT CRIME!

Anything here catch your fancy?

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Filed Under: FEATURES, manga the week of

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. JRB says

    July 5, 2013 at 2:15 pm

    Re Loveless omnibus 4: Congratulations! You will now get to experience the GIANT CLIFFHANGER that those of us following the Tokyopop version got to dither over for four years (or however long it was until the Viz rescue). At least you can move on the the later volumes right away. In other news that will not surprise anyone, V11 also ends on a cliffhanger. :)

    Reply
    • Melinda Beasi says

      July 6, 2013 at 1:21 pm

      Aaaaaaaaaah yes. Heh.

      Reply
  2. wandering-dreamer says

    July 5, 2013 at 5:38 pm

    Oh wow, they put Tokyo Babylon out in just two omnibuses? Those must be enormous!

    Reply
    • Melinda Beasi says

      July 6, 2013 at 1:23 pm

      Well, the original volumes were pretty slim, so the omnibuses are actually pretty reasonably-sized. They each have sort of 3.5 vols in them, but they are slimmer than, say, the Cardcaptor Sakura omnibuses.

      Reply
  3. li_izumi says

    July 5, 2013 at 6:11 pm

    Bond of Dreams, Bond of Love I was pretty meh on though I bought them all, but the first series by Yaya Sakuragi that came over to America, Tea for Two, remains one of my favorite yaoi manga. I loved the characters, they felt like equals to me unlike so much of the highly uneven power dynamics found in much of the yaoi/boys love world. It was because of how much I love this series that I got all of Bond of Dreams, Bond of Love when I probably wouldn’t have (from the cover of vol 1 alone) otherwise. Stay Close to Me and Hey Sensei were good but not great, and certainly not as awesome as I found Tea for Two. That being said, I will probably check out her new book Hide and Seek. Because of Tea for Two.

    Reply
    • Michelle Smith says

      July 5, 2013 at 6:42 pm

      I actually have all of Tea for Two, but I have never read it.

      Reply
    • Melinda Beasi says

      July 6, 2013 at 1:25 pm

      I like Tea for Two. I wouldn’t count it as a top favorite, but I have kept my volumes of it rather than giving them away (I’d say I only keep about 40% of the BL manga I acquire), so that must say something!

      Reply
      • li_izumi says

        July 6, 2013 at 8:52 pm

        I suspect you read a lot more BL manga than I have, hence why it might not rate as highly as it does for me. Once I no longer had a local comic shop and went to buying through Amazon, I stopped picking up random single-volumes/new series, so my BL buying has been much lower in recent years. Having discovered this blog, though, and your discussions, I have already discovered and enjoyed several new books/series, so thank you for that, by the way.

        Reply
  4. Lee says

    July 8, 2013 at 12:02 pm

    The good regarding Hide and Seek: the characters are both pretty interesting and are adults who act like adults. So refreshing. And it has some humor. The bad: I hate that “sensei” is translated to “doctor” and “-san” is translated to “Mr.” It turns out to be very grating in a the context of developing intimacy.

    I don’t think the cover is too bad compared to a lot of cringeworthy BL covers but I’m probably desensitized at this point.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. MangaBlog — So, what happened at AX this past weekend? says:
    July 8, 2013 at 7:51 am

    […] Meanwhile, the Manga Bookshelf team looks ahead to this week’s new manga. […]

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  2. Manga Bookshelf | Pick of the Week: Omnibuses & More says:
    July 8, 2013 at 9:22 am

    […] This week’s manga is full of tempting omnibus editions! I think I’ll cast my vote for the series that we […]

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