Brigid Alverson

Oh My Goddess creator Kousuke Fujishima’s new series, Toppū GP, which launches next month in Kodansha’s Monthly Afternoon, will get a simultaneous digital release in English. No word yet on which services will carry it. [Anime News Network]

At Publishers Weekly, I took a look at the resurgence of manga and how the new blockbusters—first Attack on Titan, then Tokyo Ghoul and One-Punch Man—have helped sales. It turns out, when I talked to the publishers, that the backlist is doing pretty well too. [Publishers Weekly]

This year’s Eisner nominees in the manga category make a great reading list for manga veterans and newcomers alike. If you’re not reading all of these, you’re missing out! [Barnes and Noble Sci-Fi/Fantasy Blog]

Here are my picks for this month’s best new manga releases. [Barnes and Noble Sci-Fi/Fantasy Blog]

Good news for Junji Ito fans: Viz Media will publish Ito’s first manga, Tomie, in a single omnibus volume this winter. The manga was originally published in English by the now defunct ComicsOne and has been out of print for years. Viz also announced it will publish a print edition of Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata’s Platinum End, which they have been publishing digitally one chapter at a time. Ohba and Obata are the creators of Death Note and Bakuman. [ICv2]

Justin and Manjiorin discuss Goodnight Punpun. [The OASG]

Adrian Tomine talks about what it was like being Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s editor. [du9]

The Yomiuri Shinbun’s Sugoi Awards have been announced—these are readers’ picks for the manga, anime, and novels they think would do best abroad. The readers seem to be pretty good at this: The winners are One-Punch Man and Tokyo Ghoul, the top selling manga in the U.S. right now; Haikyu!!, the first volume of which is due out in North America in July; Twittering Birds Never Fly; and Monster Musume, which also makes the best-seller list whenever a new volume comes out. [RocketNews 24]

Tetsuya Kariya will return to Oishinbo, but only to finish it off: The series was serialized in Big Comic Spirit but went on hiatus right around the time a storyline involving the area around the Fukushima nuclear plant caused some controversy. Kariya said the hiatus was not related to that, and that 30 years is long enough, so he’s going to wind up the story with a special final episode that will include all the characters who have appeared during the manga’s long run. [Anime News Network]

Erica Friedman has a quick rundown of yuri news, including some upcoming manga panels and the announcement that Viz will simulcast the third season of Sailor Moon Crystal, in the latest edition of Yuri Network News. [Okazu]

Danica Davidson talks about her new book, Manga Art for Beginners. [Otaku USA]

Reviews

Matt Brady on vol. 7 of A Bride’s Story (Warren Peace Sings the Blues)
Helen on vol. 2 of Crown of Thorns (The OASG)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 6 of Demon From Afar (the Fandom Post)
G.B. Smith on vol. 9 of The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-Chan (The Fandom Post)
Gary Thompson on vol. 11 of Eden: It’s an Endless World (The Fandom Post)
G.B. Smith on vols. 10 and 11 of Food Wars (The Fandom Post)
Gabe Peralta on vol. 1 of Goodnight Punpun (The Fandom Post)
Krystallina on vol. 6 of He’s My Only Vampire (The OASG)
A Library Girl on vols. 5 and 6 of His Favorite (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 1 of Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~ (The Fandom Post)
Matt Brady on Kitaro (Warren Peace Sings the Blues)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 5 of Love Stage!! (Comics Worth Reading)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Nichijou (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 36 of Skip Beat! (The Comic Book Bin)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vols. 5 and 6 of So Cute It Hurts! (Comics Worth Reading)
Helen on Soredomo Machi wa Mawatteiru (The OASG)
Sakura Eries on vol. 4 of Sword Art Online Progressive (The Fandom Post)
Matthew Warner on vol. 10 of Terra Formars (The Fandom Post)

Wow, the manga news is rolling in faster than I can keep up with it! The big story this morning is that the Japanese publisher Kadokawa has purchased a 51% stake in Yen Press. Yen Press will become Yen Press, LLC, a joint venture of Hachette and Kadokawa; previously, Yen was an imprint of Hachette in its Orbit Books division.

Kadokawa had another big announcement on the anime side: They are partnering with Crunchyroll, which will get exclusive distribution rights for all Kadokawa anime outside of Asia for the next year. And that’s not all:

To bolster KADOKAWA’s planned formation of a publishing joint venture with the major U.S. publisher Hachette Book Group, specializing in manga and light novels (scheduled for May), Crunchyroll and KADOKAWA will seek to strengthen their relationship through a marketing campaign with the book publishing and anime distribution businesses, as well as joint efforts to expand relevant merchandising businesses, in order to maximize the growth potential of Japanese content in the North American market.

What does this mean to you, the reader? Who knows, but Kadokawa does seem to be very interested in the light novel side of things, and Yen has really been making the light novel thing work, with its Yen On line. The Yen Press press release (according to ANN’s translation) says that the plan is to “establish light novels as a new content genre by using Hachette’s existing production and distribution infrastructure, with Kadokawa providing leadership.” Kadokawa publishes a lot of light novels, and they also own BookWalker, which carries digital manga and light novels; perhaps there will be some synergy there, with Yen and/or Crunchyroll.

The questions that remain unanswered are whether Yen Press will continue to license manga from other Japanese publishers (Square Enix in particular—they are the publisher of Black Butler and Pandora Hearts) and whether Kadokawa will license to other publishers.

Hold on to your hats! This promises to be an interesting ride.

ComiXology made a big announcement on Friday: They are getting in the simulpub business, releasing new chapters of Attack on Titan, Fairy Tail, and other Kodansha series the same day they come out in Japan. The chapters will be available on comiXology and Kindle, and each chapter will cost $1.99, although if you’re playing catch-up, you may want to check out the full volumes (also available on comiXology) as that’s usually the cheaper way to go.

This gives dedicated fans of these series an interesting choice, because Crunchyroll’s manga service also offers new chapters, many of which are simulpubbed—and the latest chapter is always free. Subscribers who pay $6.95 a month can read earlier chapters as well, but it’s all streaming—you don’t own the manga, and if you stop subscribing you lose access.

So which will readers prefer? Pay two bucks to own the chapter or read it for free but have it disappear in a week? Or maybe the third option—go for Crunchyroll’s all-you-can-eat model?

Here’s the full list of series that will be available on comiXology and Kindle the same day they come out in Japan:

Weekly:

As the Gods Will: The Second Series
Fairy Tail
Fuuka
GTO Paradise Lost
The Seven Deadly Sins
UQ Holder
Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches

Bi-weekly:

Inuyashiki
Space Brothers

Monthly:

Ajin: Demi-Human
Attack on Titan
Kiss Him, Not Me
The Heroic Legend of Arslan
Magatsuki
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth Side: P4
Sweetness and Lightning

Semi-regularly:

Princess Jellyfish

Monday was a big day for Kodansha Comics: They announced seven new print titles: Attack on Titan: Lost Girls, Cells at Work!, The Prince in His Dark Days, Welcome to the Ballroom, That Wolf-Boy Is Mine, In/Spectre, and Sweetness and Lightning. All will launch in the fall. [Kodansha Comics]

Here’s another new license: Dark Horse will publish the Psycho-Pass prequel Psycho-Pass: Inspector Shinya Kogami. [Dark Horse]

Speaking of Kodansha, they have posted the full first chapter of Princess Jellyfish for you to read for free. [Kodansha Comics]

ANN has posted a great interview with Inio Asano, done during the Salón del Manga in Barcelona last fall. Here’s a sample:

I’m kind of ashamed to say this, but for me to create convincing stories, I need to bring the characters as close to my own experiences as possible. So it’s true that many of my characters have things in common with me.

Anyway, I try to make stories that are not based on the experiences of one single character. They are choral stories that rely on several characters with important roles based on outside reference from people close to me. I need it to be that way, otherwise I couldn’t create stories that are able to breathe a sense of reality.

[Anime News Network]

Here’s a first look at the English-language version of Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Pink, which is based on the BBC series starring Benedict Cumberbatch. [io9]

Why are there no shoujo titles on the U.S. best-seller lists? Krystallina investigates. [The OASG]

The Manga Bookshelf team discusses their pick of the week… [Manga Bookshelf]

… and they look over this week’s new releases. [Manga Bookshelf]

Viz has signed a deal with United Talent Agency to develop its properties into live-action programming. [ICv2]

Reviews: In a hurry? Catch up with the latest releases with this week’s edition of Bookshelf Briefs at Manga Bookshelf. Ash Brown reviews a week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Rebecca Silverman on vol. 13 of Deadman Wonderland (ANN)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Danganropa: The Animation (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Adrienne on Devil’s Game (Heart of Manga)
Ash Brown on A Girl on the Shore (Experiments in Manga)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 2 of Idol Dreams (WatchPlayRead)
Laura on Kiss of the Rose Princess (Heart of Manga)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Monster Hunter: Flash Hunter (ANN)
Helen on vols. 4 and 5 of The Morose Mononokean (The OASG)
Ash Brown on vols. 8-10 of Mushishi (Experiments in Manga)
Matthew Warner on vol. 13 of Nisekoi (The Fandom Post)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Paradise Residence (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Sean Gaffney on vols. 25 and 26 of Ranma 1/2 (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Anna N on vol. 1 of Shuriken and Pleats (Manga Report)
Anna N on vol. 36 of Skip Beat! (Manga Report)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 11 of Terraformars (WatchPlayRead)

For the first time in her career, manga-ka Moto Hagio is collaborating with an artist. Hagio is writing the story for a new series, Tenshi Kamoshirenai (Might be an Angel), which will run in Shueisha’s YOU magazine, and Yū Hatano will draw it. [Anime News Network]

Are manga sales increasing? Signs point to yes, according to Justin Sevakis, who looks at some recent sales reports and discusses some possible reasons. [Anime News Network]

The Manga Bookshelf team discusses this week’s new releases. [Manga Bookshelf]

The fifth volume of One-Punch Man tops the New York Times manga best-seller list, with vol. 8 of Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal coming in second and vol. 66 of Bleach in third place. [New York Times]

How much money is lost to anime piracy? GoBoiano writer JenBae does some rough calculations, and the results are eye-opening. [GoBoiano]

French manga scholar Xavier Hebert is about to publish his own manga. [Asahi Shimbun]

Akita Shoten has plans to release all its magazines digitally (in Japan) as well as in print. [Anime News Network]

Kamisama Kiss is coming to an end. [Anime News Network]

Reviews: Ash Brown reviews Mechademia, volume 10: World Renewal, a collection of essays about manga, at Experiments in Manga.

Matthew Alexander on vol. 7 of Assassination Classroom (The Fandom Post)
Erica Friedman on the January 2016 issue of Comic Yuri Hime (Okazu)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Demonizer Zilch (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Helen on Futaba-Kun Change! (The OASG)
Katherine Parker on vol. 4 of He’s My Only Vampire (The Fandom Post)
A Library Girl on vols. 3 and 4 of His Favorite (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Muse on vol. 1 of Honey So Sweet (The OASG)
Anna N. on vol. 2 of Idol Dreams (Manga Report)
Erica Friedman on Junsui Adolescence Perfect Edition (Okazu)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of My Hero Academia (The Comic Book Bin)
Matthew Warner on vol. 4 of So Cute It Hurts! (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 5 of So Cute It Hurts! (The Comic Book Bin)
Matthew Warner on vol. 2 of Ultraman (The Fandom Post)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 12 of Umineko: When They Cry (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Helen on vols. 1-5 of Vinland Saga (Narrative Investigations)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 4 of The World’s Greatest First Love (I Reads You)

Manga titles accounted for half of BookScan’s list of the top 20 graphic novels of February (bookstore sales): Four volumes of Tokyo Ghoul (vol. 5 was the number one seller), three volumes of One-Punch Man, the Naruto novel and the series sequel, Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring, and vol. 8 of Monster Musume. [ICv2]

Last week was Manga Week at the retailer website ICv2, and they had a ton of interesting content. Here’s the list:

“A Lot of People Are Paying Attention to Us Right Now”: New Trends in Manga
ICv2 Interview: Todd MacFarlane on His Anime/Manga Line [of toys]
2016 Yaoi Titles from SuBLime
Interview with the Dark Horse Manga Brain Trust, Part 1
Interview with the Dark Horse Manga Brain Trust, Part 2
Top 10 Manga Franchises—Fall 2015

Retailer Brian Hibbs has released his annual analysis of the previous year’s BookScan charts, and it looks like 2015 was a great year for manga. His article is lengthy but fascinating reading if you’re interested in the fine points of the graphic novel market, but if you’re not, here’s one fact that kind of sums it up: In terms of dollar sales, Viz was the number two publisher of graphic novels in bookstores. Hibbs links to the actual spreadsheet of the top 750 graphic novels, in case you want to look it over for yourself. [Comic Book Resources]

Lori Henderson finds some free manga on the Kindle. [Manga Xanadu]

Chuya Koyama talks about Space Brothers. [Kodansha Comics]

Lone Wolf and Cub creator Kazuo Koike has done an Ask Me Anything (AMA) on Reddit! His answers to many of the questions are kind of vague, but he does say he thinks Samurai Executioner is his best work, and he is working on a new manga—that will be published as a motion comic. [Reddit]

Massive editor Graham Kolbeins talks gay manga. [Girls Like Comics]

Arina Tanemura releases the details of her new manga, to be titled Akuma ni Chic×Hack. [Anime News Network]

Tite Kubo has come down with something, so Bleach will skip a week. [Anime News Network]

There’s a lot going on in the world of yuri, and Erica Friedman rounds it up for us in the latest edition of Yuri Network News. Also, Erica will be participating in an alt-manga symposium at Baruch College in New York on April 7—check it out if you’re in town! [Okazu]

You may have heard of Kazuto Tatsuta before—he’s the guy who got a job as part of the cleanup crew in the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear reactor, which was damaged during the 2011 earthquake, and made a manga about it, Ichiefu. (You can read the first chapter in English here.) With the fifth anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami coming up, Tatsuta talks about his manga and the problems it revealed. [Japan Times]

In case you needed another excuse to read Yotsuba&!, here’s an article explaining why it’s a good choice for learning Japanese. [Japan Info]

If you read French, check out this interview with Minetaro Mochizuki, creator of Chiisakobé. [Nostroblog]

Reviews: At Manga Xanadu, Lori Henderson takes a look at Kimetsu no Yaiba, the new series that has just started running in Shonen Jump.

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 8 of Assassination Classroom (The Comic Book Bin)
L.B. Bryant on vol. 1 of Behind the Scenes (ICv2)
Gregory Smith on vol. 3 of Chaika the Coffin Princess (The Fandom Post)
Erica Friedman on the March 2016 issue of Comic Yuri Hime (Okazu)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 13 of Deadman Wonderland (WatchPlayRead)
Matt Brady on Junji Ito’s Fragments of Horror (Warren Peace Sings the Blues)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 77 of One Piece (The Comic Book Bin)
Gregory Smith on vol. 1 of Princess Knight (The Fandom Post)
Gregory Smith on The Secret Sakura Shares (The Fandom Post)
Justin on vol. 1 of Taboo Tattoo (The OASG)
Kory Cerjak on vol. 2 of Tokyo ESP (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 5 of Tokyo Ghoul (WatchPlayRead)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 5 of Tokyo Ghoul (The Comic Book Bin)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 3 of Ultraman (WatchPlayRead)

Seven Seas has announced another new license: Haruyoshi Kobayakawa’s Re:Monster, about a teen who dies and is reborn as a goblin in a swords-and-sorcery fantasy world. The first volume will be out in November. [Anime News Network]

The Japanese National Police Agency has arrested 44 people on charges of illegally uploading and sharing files; among them are five men accused of uploading volumes of Attack on Titan, Bleach, and other manga via Share. [Anime News Network]

Viz and Seven Seas go 60/40 on the New York Times manga best-seller list, with six Viz titles and four from Seven Seas. The top seller is vol. 5 of Tokyo Ghoul, with vol. 8 of Monster Musume coming in second. [New York Times]

ICv2 lists the top ten manga properties for the fall of 2015; it’s a mix of old and new series, with Attack on Titan topping the list. [ICv2]

Lauren Orsini decides not to go on a doujinshi shopping spree in Japan, given the legal problems that she might run into bringing erotic manga back to the States. [Forbes]

Tomoko Ninomiya is returning to Nodame Cantabile, more than five years after the original series ended, with a one-shot chapter in Kiss that looks at Noda as she is about to turn 30. [RocketNews24]

Ichigo Takano is working on a spinoff of her manga Orange, which will run in Futabasha’s Monthly Action magazine. Seven Seas is publishing the original series in English. [Anime News Network]

The Naoki Urasawa show at the Setagaya Literary Museum in Tokyo features over 1,000 original drawings, including four chapters of 20th Century Boys and the entire final volume of Monster—which brought back some unfortunate memories: “When I was working on the final stage of this manga, the membrane of my eyes and nose became swollen, and I was a total mess,” Urasawa said. “Looking at those pages still reminds me of my obsession at the time and almost makes me sick.” [The Japan Times]

The Manga Bookshelf team looks over this week’s sparse array of new releases. [Manga Bookshelf]

Erica Friedman collects all the yuri news in one place for us with the latest edition of Yuri Network News. [Okazu]

Reviews

Ash Brown on vol. 8 of After School Nightmare (Experiments in Manga)
Mark Thomas on vol. 4 of Appleseed (The Fandom Post)
Kanta Ishida on Blue Giant (The Japan Times)
Katherine J. Parker on vols. 3 and 4 of Btooom! (The Fandom Post)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Fuku Fuku: Kitten Tales (Comics Worth Reading)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 20 of Kamisama Kiss (The Comic Book Bin)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 3 of Kiss Him, Not Me! (Comics Worth Reading)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 16 of Magi (WatchPlayRead)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 3 of Master Keaton (Comics Worth Reading)
Sakura Eries on vol. 5 of Master Keaton (Comic Attack)
Kristin on vol. 1 of Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun (Comic Attack)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vols. 5 and 6 of My Neighbor Seki (Comics Worth Reading)
Anna N on vol. 2 of QQ Sweeper (Manga Report)
Helen on vols. 2 and 3 of ReLIFE (The OASG)
Richard Gutierrez on vol. 3 of Twin Star Exorcists (The Fandom Post)
Matthew Warner on vol. 2 of Yo-kai Watch (The Fandom Post)

Titan Comics is bringing the Sherlock Holmes manga A Study in Pink to English-language readers. [Comics Worth Reading]

Vertical announced three new manga licenses at its Katsucon panel on Friday: Tsutomu Nihei’s Blame (which was published by Tokyopop back in the 2000s); Yōkai Kyōshitsu (Dissolving Classroom), by the horror master Junji Ito (Gyo, Uzumaki); and Ryō Yasohachi’s Shinazu no Ryōken (Immortal Hounds). Vertical is currently publishing Nihei’s Knights of Sidonia. [Anime News Network]

Seven Seas has licensed the yuri series Bloom Into You. [Anime News Network]

The Manga Bookshelf team discuss this week’s new releases, a bumper crop that includes new volumes of Air Gear, Inuyashiki, and Blood Lad, plus the debut of Fuku Fuku Kitten Tales. [Manga Bookshelf]

The Japanese serialization of Assassination Classroom will end in the 16th issue of Weekly Shonen Jump, due out in March. [Anime News Network]

Bkub Okawa trolls his readers. I’m not gonna spoil it—just go read! [Crunchyroll]

Erica Friedman rounds up the latest yuri news. [Okazu]

Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf team files a romantic set of Bookshelf Briefs. Ash Brown posts some short takes at Experiments in Manga.

Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 8 of Assassination Classroom (WatchPlayRead)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Behind the Scenes!! (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kristin on vol. 1 of Behind the Scenes (Comic Attack)
Anna N on vol. 1 of Behind the Scenes!! (Manga Report)
DJ Horn on vol. 2 of Black Bullet (The Fandom Post)
A Library Girl on vols. 1-3, (omnibus edition) 4, and 5 of Blood Alone (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Kory Cerjak on vol. 9 of Deadman Wonderland (The Fandom Post)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Fate/Zero (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Sean Gaffney on vols. 1 and 2 of Franken Fran (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Helen on vol. 1 of Ga-Rei (The OASG)
Manjiorin on Giganto Maxia (The OASG)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 27 of Hayate the Combat Butler (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
A Library Girl on vols. 1 and 2 of His Favorite (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 2 of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part 2: Battle Tendency (Anime News Network)
A Library Girl on vol. 3 of Mixed Vegetables (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 3 of My Hero Academia (WatchPlayRead)
Ken H. on vol. 7 of Noragami (Sequential Ink)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 77 of One Piece (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
A Library Girl on vol. 2 of One-Punch Man (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Ollie Barder on The Osamu Tezuka Story (Forbes)
Ash Brown on vol. 1 of Planetes (Experiments in Manga)
Scott Cederlund on vol. 1 of Planetes (Panel Patter)
Matthew Warnter on vol. 2 of Puella Magi Suzune Magica (The Fandom Post)
Ash Brown on vol. 3 of Requiem of the Rose King (Experiments in Manga)
Helen on vol. 1 of Samurai Drive (The OASG)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of School Judgment: Gakkyu Hotei (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of School Judgment: Gakkyu Hotei (Manga Xanadu)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Taboo Tattoo (Anime News Network)

What’s new in January? I did a quick roundup of this month’s new manga releases, which include the one-shot Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring, as well as new volumes of One-Punch Man, Blue Exorcist, The Demon Prince of Momochi House, and My Neighbor Seki. [Barnes and Noble Sci-Fi/Fantasy Blog]

There’s a bumper crop of new manga out this week, and the Manga Bookshelf team is here to sort them out for you. [Manga Bookshelf]

One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda says the manga he is most jealous of is Your Lie in April, Naoshi Arakawa’s shonen romance about young musicians. Oda pointed out that music is difficult to portray on the page and praised Arakawa’s depiction. “Before a deadline [I got it] as a change of pace, but I ended up reading the whole thing and forgot about my manuscripts. I got the whole studio buying it on the way home,” Oda said. [Anime News Network]

A new Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney manga is in the works, to go with the anime. [Manga Xanadu]

Ollie Barder writes about the appeal of One-Punch Man, which is topping the charts in the U.S. as well as Japan. [Forbes]

Erica Friedman rounds up all the yuri updates, including word of a Takarazuka show coming to New York, in the latest episode of Yuri Network News. [Okazu]

Jocelyne Allen writes about Manga Henshusha, a book of interviews with five manga editors. [Brain Vs. Book]

Here’s an interesting interview with Koré Yamazaki, the creator of The Ancient Magus’ Bride, although it’s in French. [Manganews]

Oh My Goddess creator Kousuke Fujishima has brought Paradise Residence (which will be published in English by Kodansha Comics) to an end and is starting a new series. [Anime News Network]

Reviews

Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 14 of Blue Exorcist (WatchPlayRead)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of The Demon Prince of Momochi House (The Comic Book Bin)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vols. 9 and 10 of Food Wars (Comics Worth Reading)
Gabe Peralta on A Girl on the Shore (The Fandom Post)
Andrew Wheeler on vols. 1-4 of Gou-Dere Sora Nagihara (ComicMix)
Erica Friedman on vol. 6 of Himawari-San (Okazu)
Kristin on vol. 1 of Honey So Sweet (Comic Attack)
Kory Cerjak on vol. 1 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 2: Battle Tendency (The Fandom Post)
Kristin on vols. 11-13 of Kamisama Kiss (Comic Attack)
Kory Cerjak on vol. 2 of Komomo Confiserie (The Fandom Post)
Kory Cerjak on vol. 12 of Magi (The Fandom Post)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 2 of Master Keaton (Comics Worth Reading)
Ash Brown on vol. 7 of Mushishi (Experiments in Manga)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 7 of My Love Story!! (WatchPlayRead)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of My Monster Secret (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Christian Chiok on Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring (Japanator)
Kristin on vols. 3 and 4 of One Punch Man (Comic Attack)
Matthew Warner on vol. 2 of Peepo Choo (The Fandom Post)
Sean Gaffney on vols. 23 and 24 of Ranma 1/2 (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Anna N. on vol. 3 of Requiem of the Rose King (Manga Report)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 9 of Say I Love You (Comics Worth Reading)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Shuriken and Pleats (Comics Worth Reading)
Ken H on vol. 3 of A Silent Voice (Sequential Ink)
L.B. Bryant on vol. 1 of Steins;Gate (ICv2)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Strike the Blood (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Marion Olea on vol. 2 of Tokyo Ghoul (No Flying, No Tights)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 3 of Twin Star Exorcists (WatchPlayRead)

I rounded up ten of my favorite ongoing series of 2015, including Vinland Saga and Black Butler. [Barnes and Noble Sci-Fi/Fantasy Blog]

Ash Brown looks at some notable manga of 2015. [Experiments in Manga]

The Manga Bookshelf team discusses this week’s new releases. [Manga Bookshelf]

Laura has some shoujo manga recommendations in different genres. [Heart of Manga]

Who better qualified to create a shoujo manga than a teenage girl? Ran Tokiwa, the winner of the Shogakukan Newcomer Comic Grand Prize, is just 14; her series, Idol Kyūkō (“Idol Bustle”), runs in Ciao magazine. Her work won praise from Afterschool Nightmare creator Setona Mizushiro, one of the judges in the competition, who said, “She draws cute illustrations and makes characters’ personalities easy to understand. I look forward to her future growth.” [Anime News Network]

Reviews

A Library Girl on vols. 1-7 of Alice in the Country of Joker – Circus and Liar’s Game and vols. 1-3 of Alice in the Country of Joker: The Nightmare Trilogy (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 17 of Attack on Titan (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 7 of A Bride’s Story (Comics Worth Reading)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 12 of Deadman Wonderland (WatchPlayRead)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 3 of Emma (Comics Worth Reading)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 9 of Food Wars (WatchPlayRead)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Idol Dreams (Comics Worth Reading)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 2 of Kiss Him, Not Me (Comics Worth Reading)
Johanna Draper Carlson on The Manga Guide to Physiology (Comics Worth Reading)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Master Keaton (Comics Worth Reading)
A Library Girl on vol. 1 of Milkyway Hitchhiking (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
A Library Girl on vol. 1 of One-Punch Man (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Helen on vol. 1 of Planetes (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
LB Bryant on vol. 1 of Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Movie—Rebellion (ICv2)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of School-Live! (Comics Worth Reading)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 7 of Seraph of the End (WatchPlayRead)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vols. 3 and 4 of So Cute It Hurts!! (Comics Worth Reading)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 8 of Sunshine Sketch (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Yowamushi Pedal (Comics Worth Reading)

Shonen Jump will publish a Boruto one-shot, by Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto, and an ongoing Boruto series by Mikio Ikemoto and Ukyō Kodachi, this spring, simultaneously with the Japanese releases. [Anime News Network]

This was an unusually good year for new manga series; my roundup of my favorites includes Planetes, A Silent Voice, and Prophecy—plus a lot more. [Barnes and Noble Sci-Fi/Fantasy Blog]

I also picked some notable titles from this month’s new releases. [Barnes and Noble Sci-Fi/Fantasy Blog]

Log Horizon creator Mamare Tounu was placed under house arrest on Thursday due to allegations of tax evasion; the Toyko Public Prosecutor’s Office claims that his rights management company, m2ladeJAM, owes 30 million yen ($250,000) in unpaid taxes. In a statement made last April, when the case first came to light, Tounu said that he had cooperated with investigators and paid his back taxes. [Anime News Network]

The Manga Bookshelf team looks at the coming week’s new manga releases—both of them. [Manga Bookshelf]

Erica Friedman checks in with the latest edition of Yuri Network News. [Okazu]

Reviews

Ash Brown on vol. 7 of Afterschool Nightmare (Experiments in Manga)
Matthew Warner on vol. 4 of Akame ga KILL! (The Fandom Post)
A Library Girl on Alice in the Country of Clover (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
A Library Girl on Alice in the Country of Hearts: The Clockmaker’s Story (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
A Library Girl on vols. 1 and 2 of Are You Alice? (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
A Library Girl on vol. 2 of Attack on Titan: No Regrets (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
A Library Girl on vols. 15-20 of Black Butler (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Anna N on vol. 6 of Black Rose Alice (Manga Report)
Matthew Warner on vol. 8 of Bloody Cross (The Fandom Post)
Kristin on vol. 1 of Bloody Mary (Comic Attack)
Anna N. on Boys Over Flowers, Season 2 (Manga Report)
A Library Girl on vol. 11 of Chi’s Sweet Home (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
G.B. Smith on vol. 8 of The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-Chan (The Fandom Post)
Ken H. on vol. 50 of Fairy Tail (Sequential Ink)
Erica Friedman on vol. 3 of Hayate x Blade 2 (Nyan) (Okazu)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1 and 2 of Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (Manga Xanadu)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of L♥DK (Comics Worth Reading)
Sakura Eries on vol. 10 of My Little Monster (The Fandom Post)
A Library Girl on vol. 55 of Naruto (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
A Library Girl on vols. 1-8 of Natsume’s Book of Friends (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Planetes (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
A Library Girl on vol. 1 of Secret (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Sean Gaffney on Shigeru Mizuki’s Hitler (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
A Library Girl on vols. 33 and 34 of Skip Beat! (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 4 of So Cute It Hurts!! (ANN)
Rebecca Silverman on vols. 3 and 4 of Tokyo Ghoul (ANN)
Matthew Warner on vol. 3 of Ubel Blatt (The Fandom Post)
A Library Girl on vols. 1-5 of Wandering Son (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Nick Smith on vols. 1 and 2 of Yo-Kai Watch (ICv2)

Big news from Yen Press: Fruits Basket is coming back! One of the top selling shoujo manga of all time, Fruits Basket helped create the shoujo manga fanbase in North America, plus it’s a really great series, but it has been out of print since the last volumes of Tokyopop’s editions left the shelves. Yen is bringing it back in the same format as the “collectors edition” that Hakusensha just started releasing in Japan; that means two-in-one omnibus volumes (the original series was 23 volumes, the new one is 12) and a new translation. Yen also announced they have licensed two other series by Natsuki Takaya, her current one, Liselotte & Witch’s Forest (Liselotte to Majo no Mori), and the older Twinkle Stars. [ANN]

The Good Comics for Kids bloggers immediately convened a roundtable to discuss this piece of news. [Good Comics for Kids]

Seven Seas, meanwhile, has announced another new license: My Girlfriend Is a T-Rex. [ANN]

Jonathan Soble writes about the life and legacy of the late Shigeru Mizuki, who died last week at the age of 93. [New York Times]

The Manga Bookshelf team discuss this week’s new releases. [Manga Bookshelf]

One-Punch Man and Tokyo Ghoul get three volumes each on this week’s New York Times best-seller list. [New York Times]

Kodansha Comics are now available via the library e-book service OverDrive. [Manga Xanadu]

Reviews

Erica Friedman on Before You Go 2 Halfway There (Okazu)
Anna N on vol. 1 of Bloody Mary (Manga Report)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 3 of Demon From Afar (The Fandom Post)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Devil Survivor (ANN)
Justin on vol. 1 of Dragons Rioting (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Horimiya (Manga Xanadu)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Idol Dreams (ANN)
Helen on vol. 1 of Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Sakura Eries on vol. 6 of My Love Story!! (The Fandom Post)
Matthew Warner on vol. 19 of Rin-Ne (The Fandom Post)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 2 of Trinity Seven (The Fandom Post)
Ash Brown on vol. 1 of Windrose (Experiments in Manga)
Ardo Omer on vol. 1 of Yo-Kai Watch, vol. 1 of Horimiya, and vol. 1 of Monthly Girls Noazki-kun (Panels)

We have lost a true manga master: Shigeru Mizuki, author of GeGeGe no Kitaro, NonNonBa, Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths, and the massive, four-volume Showa, has died at the age of 93. Born in Osaka in 1922, Mizuki was drafted into the Japanese army during World War II, and he chronicled the miseries of that life in Onward Toward Our Noble Deaths. Mizuki’s body of work includes some serious nonfiction but he is probably best know in Japan for his yokai stories, which draw on his memories of growing up in a small coastal village as well as extensive research into Japanese folklore. Manga such as GeGeGeNo Kitaro and NonNon Ba helped popularize the genre, and his hometown of Sakaiminato has put up not only a Mizuki museum but also 153 bronze statues of yokai to honor him (and attract tourists). [The New York Times]

Jinpachi Mori, the writer of Benkei in New York, has died at the age of 57. His series Kasai no Hito ran in Shogakukan’s Big Comic Original magazine and was adapted into a drama in 1993; his most recent series is Kasai no Hito kara Kimi e no Yuigon: Sasebo Kōichi Dōkyūsei Satsugai Jiken to Shōnen-hō, a history of Japanese juvenile law. Our own Kate Dacey called Benkei “the best manga you’re not reading” in a 2012 review. [Anime News Network]

Viz has announced two new digital-only licenses: Crown of Thorns, by Boys Over Flowers manga-ka Yoko Kamio, and the 1990s CLAMP title Man of Many Faces (20 Mensou ni Onegai!), which was previously published by Tokyopop. [ANN]

Yen Press Tweeted out news of some new licenses yesterday: The manga and light novel The Asterisk War, the manga and light novel Re: Zero, and the light novel Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Sword Oratoria. [ICv2]

Seven Seas has announced three new manga licenses: Lord Marksman and Vanadis, My Pathetic Vampire Life, and Love in Hell: Death Life. [ICv2]

Oh, and one more for Seven Seas: Holy Corpse Rising. [Crunchyroll]

Just in time for gift-buying season, I checked out a stack of manga artbooks. [Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi/Fantasy Blog]

The Manga Bookshelf team discuss their Pick of the Week. [Manga Bookshelf]

Reviews: Haven’t you heard? It’s the latest edition of Bookshelf Briefs! Ash Brown discusses a week of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Stergios Botzakis on vol. 1 of Black Jack (Graphic Novel Resources)
Katherine J. Parker on vol. 1 of BTOOOM! (The Fandom Post)
Kristin on vol. 2 of The Demon Prince of Momochi House (Comic Attack)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 8 of The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-Chan (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 2 of Karneval (The Fandom Post)
J. Caleb Mozzocco on vol. 1 of Kiss Him, Not Me (Every Day Is Like Wednesday)
Sean Gaffney on vols. 9 and 10 of Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Anna N on vol. 1 of Monthly Girls Nozaki-Kun (Manga Report)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Isaac Akers on vol. 2 of My Hero Academia (The Fandom Post)
Kristin on vols. 15 and 16 of Oresama Teacher (Comic Attack)
A Library Girl on vols. 1 and 2 of A Silent Voice (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Sakura Eries on vol. 11 of Spice and Wolf (The Fandom Post)

Wondering what to read? I picked some promising titles from November’s new releases. [Barnes & Noble Sci Fi/Fantasy Blog]

Viz owns this week’s manga-best-seller list: Volume 1 of Tokyo Ghoul is in the number one slot, and volume 3 is lurking at number 4. All three volumes of One-Punch Man are there, as well as the latest volumes of One Piece, Bleach, Naruto, and My Hero Academia, and vol. 1 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency. [New York Times]

BookWalker just added 35 more manga volumes, including Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, Sun-Ken Rock, and And Yet the Town Moves (Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru), a favorite of mine since I interviewed the creator, Masakazu Ishiguro, and his editor at NYCC a couple of years ago. [Anime News Network]

AstroNerdBoy writes about scanlation in the wake of several arrests in Japan, one of a deliveryman who was stealing magazines en route from the printer to the newsstand, the other of five other people who were uploading scans to the web before the release date. He talks a bit about how bootleg sites operate and also points out that two scanlation groups have closed up shop, although the arrests may have just hastened the inevitable. [AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog]

Erica Friedman lines up all the latest yuri manga news in this week’s edition of Yuri Network News. [Okazu]

Gangsta is going on hiatus because the manga-ka, Kohske, is having health problems. [Anime News Network]

Shiro Amano has confirmed that his Kingdom Hearts series is over. [Anime News Network]

Reviews

Matthew Warner on vol. 6 of Ajin (The Fandom Post)
Sakura Eries on vol. 6 of Barakamon (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 65 of Bleach (WatchPlayRead)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 56 of Case Closed (The Fandom Post)
Erica Friedman on Cider to Nakimushi (Okazu)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 27 of Claymore (The Comic Book Bin)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 6 of High School DxD (The Fandom Post)
Richard Gutierrez on vol. 1 of The Honor Student at Magic High School (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Idol Dreams (WatchPlayRead)
Connie on vol. 1 of Idol Dreams (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency (I Reads You)
Connie on vol. 10 of Junjo Romantica (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 7 of Kiss of the Rose Princess (WatchPlayRead)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Helen on vol. 2 of The Morose Mononokean (Organization Anti Social Geniuses)
Connie on vol. 7 of No. 6 (Slightly Biased Manga)
Matthew Warner on vol. 5 of Noragami (The Fandom Post)
Matthew Warner on vol. 8 of Say I Love You (the Fandom Post)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of School-Live! (Anime News Network)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 3 of Secret (Comics Worth Reading)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 3 of The World’s Greatest First Love (Comics Worth Reading)

Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo was awarded the Grand Prix d’Angouleme last year, and part of the prize is being invited to be the President of the following year’s festival. Zainab Akhtar has all the details of his planned appearances, as well as a look at the poster he designed. [Comics & Cola]

Dark Horse has licensed Kenji Tsuruta’ manga Wandering Island. It’s the story of a “free-spirited young girl” who delivers packages in her seaplane; one day she learns of a mysterious “wandering island” and sets out to find it. [Anime News Network]

Kodansha Comics announced yesterday that it will publish Hiro Mashima’s Fairy Tail prequel Fairy Tail Zero. [Anime News Network]

There’s more Monster Musume coming from Seven Seas: They announced last week that they have licensed the 4-koma series Monster Musume: I Heart Monster Girls. [ICv2]

Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto reflects on the end of his long-running series and the changes that came about in the manga industry during that time—as well as the changes he expects to see in the future. [Entertainment Weekly]

Three men are under arrest in Kyoto on charges that they uploaded a chapter of One Piece to the scanlation site mangapanda—before the issue of Weekly Shonen Jump in which it appears had hit the newsstands. Also under arrest is an employee of a delivery service who allegedly liberated the magazine between the printer and the newsstand and gave it to the scanners. All four are denying the charges. [Anime News Network]

Volume 3 of One-Punch Man tops the New York Times manga best seller list, with the first volume of the new JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure story arc, Battle Tendency, in the number two slot. [New York Times]

Justin Stroman talks to Yoichi Yasumoto, the president of the e-book company BookWalker, about selling digital manga outside Japan. [Organization Anti-Social Geniuses]

The Manga Bookshelf team checks out this week’s new releases. [Manga Bookshelf]

Erica Friedman posts the latest edition of Yuri Network News. [Okazu]

Reporter Justin McCurry looks at some manga controversies in Japan. [The Guardian]

Ardo Omer talks about getting started reading manga, thanks to Sailor Moon and One Punch Man. [Panels]

Reviews: At Brain Vs. Book, translator Jocelyne Allen writes about Inio Asano’s Dead Dead Demons Dededededestruction. Ash Brown looks back at this week’s manga reading at Experiments in Manga. Sean Gaffney and Michelle Smith post this week’s set of Bookshelf Briefs at Manga Bookshelf.

Jessikah Chautin on vol. 1 of Akame ga Kill! (No Flying, No Tights)
Ollie Barder on All You Need Is Kill (Forbes)
Helen on The Ancient Magus Bride (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Nic Wilcox on vols. 1 and 2 of Arpeggio of Blue Steel (No Flying, No Tights)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 4 of Assassination Classroom (The Fandom Post)
DJ Horn on vol. 1 of Black Bullet (The Fandom Post)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of A Certain Scientific Accelerator (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 27 of Claymore (The Fandom Post)
Richard Gutierrez on vol. 1 of Dragons Rioting (The Fandom Post)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Golden Time (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Scott Cederlund on Gyo (Panel Patter)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Horimiya (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Idol Dreams (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Anna N on vol. 1 of Idol Dreams (Manga Report)
Kristin on vol. 3 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood (Comic Attack)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Zainab Akhtar on Junji Ito’s Cat Diary: Yon & Mu (Comics & Cola)
Ash Brown on Junji Ito’s Cat Diary: Yon & Mu (Experiments in Manga)
J. Caleb Mozzocco on vol. 1 of Kill La Kill (Every Day Is Like Wednesday)
Thomas Maluck on vol. 1 of Monster (Perfect Edition) (No Flying, No Tights)
Erica Friedman on vol. 5 of Murciélago (Okazu)
Ash Brown on vol. 6 of Mushishi (Experiments in Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of My Hero Academia (I Reads You)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 76 of One Piece (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 19 of Oresama Teacher (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Jarius Taylor on chapter 1 of Platinum End (The Fandom Post)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 2 of Requiem of the Rose King (The Fandom Post)
Laura on vols. 1-3 of So Cute It Hurts! (Heart of Manga)
L.B. Bryant on vol. 1 of Strike the Blood (ICv2)
Sakura Eries on vol. 3 of Sword Art Online: Progressive (The Fandom Post)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 10 of Triage-X (The Fandom Post)
Kory Cerjak on vol. 5 of UQ Holder (The Fandom Post)
Ash Brown on vol. 6 of Vinland Saga (Experiments in Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of The World’s Greatest First Love (Comics Worth Reading)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 4 of Yukarism (Comics Worth Reading)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 4 of Yukarism (I Reads You)
Anna N on vol. 4 of Yukarism (Manga Report)