Coming soon to the NHK: the first episode of Rin-ne, which will air on April 4th. Rin-ne is Rumiko Takahashi’s eighth series to be adapted for television. French filmmakers announced plans to bring Jiro Taniguchi’s Everest drama Summit of the Gods to the big screen. The latest installment of Finder bumps Unofficial Hatsune Mix and Attack on Titan from the top […]
About Katherine Dacey
Katherine Dacey has been reviewing manga since 2006, when she joined PopCultureShock. Over the next two years, she worked with webmaster Jon Haehnle and fellow contributor Erin Finnegan to transform Erin’s “Manga Recon” concept from a bi-monthly column into a full-fledged website covering manga, anime, and Japanese pop culture. She stepped down from her post in January 2009. Kate’s resume also includes serving as a panelist at the American Library Association's national conference, New York Comic-Con, and Wondercon; contributing to Chopsticks, a “comprehensive guide to Japanese culture in New York City”; and contributing to the School Library Journal’s Good Comics for Kids blog, where she writes Good Manga for Kids, a column that focuses on manga for pre-teen readers. When she isn’t writing about manga, Kate swings a golf club, plays the oboe, runs long distances, watches old movies, and frolicks with her dog Grendel. Kate lives in Boston, MA.
Manga Star Wars Coming to a Galaxy Near You
If the phrase “manga Star Wars” is music to your ears, you’ll be happy to learn that ComiXology has just reissued manga adaptations of the original trilogy and The Phantom Menace. (Hey, the manga’s gotta be better than Episode One, right?) According to the Yano Research Institute, manga accounted for almost 80% of the overall digital book market […]
New Licenses from Kodansha
Kodansha just announced a large slate of new manga for 2015, including more Attack on Titan products–no, really!–as well as an interesting assortment of seinen, shojo, and shonen series. Here is a brief round-up of the eight titles that will be coming to a bookstore near you this year: Appleseed α (Masamune Shirow and Kuroda Iou): A prequel […]
Bookmarked! The Best Manga of 2014
File this week’s Bookmarked! column under the heading Better Late Than Never. Brigid and I sat down this week to review our favorite manga of 2014, from swashbuckling Viking sagas to goofy shojo comedies. We also chatted about the series we thought we’d love but didn’t, and looked ahead to potential candidates for the Best […]
VIZ Rescues More CLAMP Titles
Pull up a chair and pour yourself a strong cup of coffee–today’s super-sized post rounds up the best news stories, manga reviews, and personal essays from around the web! VIZ is reissuing two CLAMP titles from the Tokyopop catalog: Duklyon: CLAMP School Defenders and Shirahime-Syo: Snow Goddess. As with VIZ’s other Tokyopop license rescues, Duklyon and Shirahime-Syo […]
Quick Reviews and Links, 1/2/15
Did you receive an Amazon or RightStuf gift certificate this holiday? If so, this post is for you! Below, I’ve reviewed the first volumes of three series that debuted in 2014, offering a quick-and-dirty assessment of each. Already read Food Wars? Fear not–I’ve also rounded up reviews from around the web to help you find the […]
Review: Assassination Classroom, Vol. 1
Assassination Classroom, Vol. 1 By Yusei Matsui Rated T+, for Older Teens VIZ Media, $9.99 Here in the United States, we steadfastly believe that all students need to succeed are a few good teachers–think of how many movies you’ve seen about an unorthodox educator who helps a group of misfits, losers, or underachievers realize their full potential against […]
Quick Friday Manga Links
Once again, the fifth volume of Monster Musume tops the New York Times’ Manga Bestseller list, followed by the latest installments of Fairy Tail, Attack on Titan, and xxxHolic Rei, CLAMP’s sort-of sequel to xxxHolic. Will the Kickstarter campaign for Ludwig B. reach its goal of $21,000? Johanna Draper Carlson investigates. The Manga Bookshelf gang […]
VIZ Nabs New Junji Ito Manga
Exciting news: VIZ will publish Junji Ito’s latest manga, Fragments of Horror, in 2015. VIZ promises that Fragments has something for everyone, “from the terrifying to the comedic, from the erotic to the loathsome.” Look for a hardcover edition next summer. The latest volume of Monster Musume edges out Attack on Titan for the top spot […]
Bookmarked: Satoshi Kon-a-thon
It’s not every day that an American publisher releases a manga by the late, great Satoshi Kon, so Brigid and I decided to mark the occasion with a roundtable discussion. Joining us is David Brothers, one our favorite comics journalists. David has written for Comics Alliance, Pop Culture Shock, Publisher’s Weekly, Wired, and The Atlantic […]
VIZ, DMP, and Crunchyroll Announce New Titles
In the aftermath of its failed Kickstarter campaign to raise $380,000, DMP has announced a more modest project: the publication of Ludwig B., Osamu Tezuka’s two-volume biography of Ludwig van Beethoven. DMP seems to have listened to fans’ complaints about previous fundraising efforts, offering more low-cost options for supporting the project and getting paper copies […]
More from Masashi Kishimoto
Viz has picked up Zone-00, originally licensed by Tokyopop, as a digital release. Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto talks about his plans for the next few months, which include a Naruto spinoff that will launch in April, some other Naruto-related business, and spending some quality time with his wife and child. He will start working on […]
Tatsumi on Film; Anno on Instagram
Gekiga pioneer Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s work is now accessible to viewers on the big screen, thanks to Singaporean director Eric Khoo. Khoo adapted such classic stories as “Hell,” “Goodbye,” and “Beloved Monkey,” interleaving them with vignettes from Tatsumi’s autobiography A Drifting Life. This just in: Moyocco Anno‘s new Instagram account is pretty awesome. Marvel’s C.B. Cebulski shares a few […]
Miyazaki Talks Manga; Ninja Overload
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, legendary director Hayao Miyazaki discusses his current project: a manga about samurai warriors. Don’t hold your breath, however; Miyazaki told Variety that he doubts he’ll finish it. “I wanted to put a lot of effort into it, ignoring costs, like a hobby,” he tells the magazine. “I thought I’d […]
