MangaBlog

Over at MTV Geek, I looked at the evolution of digital manga in 2011 and picked my favorites from this week’s new releases. At Robot 6, I did a rough tally of responses to a Tokyopop Facebook post and concluded that manga readers still prefer print over digital.

Lissa Pattillo checks out this week’s new releases in her latest On the Shelf column at Otaku USA, and Sean Gaffney takes a look at next week’s new manga.

Bandai Entertainment president and CEO Ken Iyadomi explains what happened to his company in an interview at ANN; long story short: The Japanese parent company wanted to keep anime prices higher than U.S. customers were willing to pay.

MJ and Michelle Smith discuss the long-running series Fullmetal Alchemist, which just ended with volume 27, in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf.

Sean Kleefeld looks at the universe of One Piece, in which government is bad and oppressive and pirates are the good guys, and ties it in to today’s political reality.

A couple of the Udon guys got to talk to Hitoshi Ariga, creator of Mega Man: Gigamix.

Sharpen your pencils: Kate Dacey posts this year’s schedule of Manga Moveable Feasts.

If you speak French, check out this interview with Izumi Tsubaki, creator of Oresama Teacher.

News from Japan: Rinko Ueda is bringing her shoujo manga Stepping on Roses to an end in the issue of Margaret that ships Feb. 20.

Reviews

Alexander Case on vol. 1 of Bakuman (Bureau 42)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 37 of Bleach (Kuriousity)
Alex Hoffman on Breathe Deeply (Manga Widget)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 4 of Chobits (Blogcritics)
Thomas Zoth on vol. 3 of Dorohedoro (The Fandom Post)
Kristin on vol. 5 of Grand Guignol Orchestra (Comic Attack)
John Rose on vol. 19 of Hayate the Combat Butler (The Fandom Post)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 8 of Nabari no Ou (The Fandom Post)
Joe Iglesias on Nabari no Ou (Eastern Standard)
John Rose on vol. 53 of Naruto (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 54 of Naruto (The Comic Book Bin)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 13 of Pokemon Adventures (Blogcritics)
Greg McElhatton on vol. 2 of Wandering Son (Read About Comics)
Erica Friedman on vol. 1 of Warratte! Sotomura-san (Okazu)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 8 of Yu-Gi-Oh GX (The Comic Book Bin)

Today’s big story is the loss of another manga publisher: Bandai Entertainment, which is chiefly known for its anime but also put out a small but solid line of manga, will stop releasing new material as of February. Check ANN later today for an interview with Bandai president Ken Iyadomi; in the meantime, they have already posted the list of manga that have been cancelled:

Code Geass: Renya (Code Geass: Shikkoku no Renya)
Gurren Lagann volume 7
Kannagi volumes 4-6
Lucky Star Boo Boo Kagaboo (spinoff by Eretto)
Mobile Suit Gundam 00I
Tales of the Abyss: Jade’s Secret Memories volumes 1 and 2

Manga was clearly a sideline for Bandai—most of their titles were tie-ins to their anime—but aside from the early translations of Lucky Star, they did a nice job with it and their marketing director, Robert Napton, made it a point to reach out to the manga community and make their manga accessible to us. Obviously this will have a bigger impact on anime fans than manga readers, but Bandai put out some nice books—I’m particularly fond of their version of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time—and they will be missed.

At MTV Geek, I took a look back at the big manga events of 2011. Lissa Pattillo has a year in review post at Kuriousity as well.

The Manga Bookshelf bloggers discuss their Pick of the Week—I haven’t joined this discussion yet, but hopefully I’ll be there next week.

Deb Aoki updates her list of the 10 must-read shoujo manga to reflect the latest releases.

Jason Yadao checks in at the end of the Sailor Moon Manga Moveable Feast with a post on how his view of Sailor Moon has evolved over the years.

Three Steps Over Japan takes a look at a Shigeru Mizuki manga that hasn’t been licensed over here yet, GeGeGe no Kakeibo.

Alex Hoffman starts the new year with a new URL for Manga Widget.

Tech talk: CNET’s Eric Mack picks up on the manga Sweet Android High School, in which different brands of smartphones are anthropomorphized as Japanese schoolgirls. Oddly, there’s no iPhone version yet, but check out this Steve Jobs tribute doujinshi that portrays the late co-CEO of Apple as a woman.

News from Japan: Manga-ka Hisao Maki, who wrote WARU and worked on a number of anime adaptations, has died. Ran Igarashi (Hōzuki-san Chi no Aneki) will launch a new coming-of-age manga in Young Ace magazine. Kodansha’s Young Magazine has six new series lined up to launch in the next few weeks, including yet another GTO spinoff.

Reviews: Carlo Santos takes an unsparing look at a stack of new manga in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Ash Brown posts the first weekly manga roundup of the new year at Experiments in Manga. The Manga Bookshelf team files this week’s set of Bookshelf Briefs.

Justin on vols. 1 and 2 of A Bride’s Story (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Rob McMonigal on vols. 1 and 2 of A Bride’s Story (Panel Patter)
Connie on vol. 10 of Cipher (Slightly Biased Manga)
Rebecca Silverman on D.Gray-Man Illustrations Artbook (ANN)
Connie on vol. 1 of Fluffy Fluffy Cinnamoroll (Slightly Biased Manga)
Joanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Fluffy Fluffy Cinnamoroll (Comics Worth Reading)
Connie on vol. 25 of Fullmetal Alchemist (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on Haru Hana (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 16 of Higurashi: When They Cry (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 6 of Kamisama Kiss (ANN)
Connie on vol. 3 of Kingyo Used Books (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lori Henderson on vols. 5 and 6 of Pandora Hearts (Manga Village)
Connie on vol. 16 of Reborn (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 12 of We Were There (Slightly Biased Manga)

Lissa Pattillo ticks off her favorite manga of 2011 in a number of different categories.

Alex Hoffman rounds up the manga news highlights of the year (as well as the Alex Hoffman news highlights–spoiler: He got a degree and got married) at Manga Widget.

Sean Gaffney rounds up the links from the final day of the Sailor Moon MMF.

Mike Toole jumps into the wayback machine and takes a look at the early, early days of manga.

Job Board: Viz Media is taking applications for internships.

News from Japan: Jormungand is coming to an end in the February issue of Sunday GX, but manga-ka Keitarō Takahashi already has a new series in the works. Switch creator Naked Ape (Saki Otoh) and Wolf God manga-ka Ai Tenkawa are working on a school comedy series, Kisshō7 -seven-, that launched in Monthly Comic Zero-Sum last week.

Reviews

Kristin on vol. 5 of The Story of Saiunkoku (Comic Attack)

Happy new year! If you think things look a little different around here, you’re right: MangaBlog is now part of the Manga Bookshelf family of blogs, meaning I will be sharing internet space with my favorite manga bloggers—Kate Dacey, Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, David Welsh, and our fearless leader, MJ. MJ is an amazing webmaster (webmistress?) and I’m delighted that she will be handling all the technical bits that I don’t understand at all, and even better, I’m looking forward to participating in group discussions with my fellow Bookshelf bloggers.

Onward!

The second volume of Wandering Son is the highlight of this week’s new manga releases; Fantagraphics lists it as out next week, but ComicList listed it this week and Amazon shows it as available now. Crazy. The Manga Village team makes their picks, Lissa Pattillo surveys the latest manga in her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA, Lori Henderson has this week’s all-ages comics and manga at Good Comics for Kids, and Sean Gaffney, always one step ahead, is already looking at next week’s new manga.

We have many best-of-the-year lists! Deb Aoki lists her picks for the best continuing series of 2011, as well as the year’s big disappointments, and she also tallies the manga that the critics liked the best. Kate Dacey gives her top picks, plus a few near misses, at The Manga Critic. Ed Sizemore emerges from retirement to give his list of the best manga of 2011 at Comics Worth Reading. Victoria Martin gives her top five at Kuriousity. Erica Friedman posts her top ten yuri of 2011 at Okazu.

At The Manga Critic, Kate Dacey inducts five of this year’s series into her Manga Hall of Shame.

Derik Badman discusses some manga he enjoyed in 2011, including Nastume Ono’s House of Five Leaves.

Lori Henderson looks forward to 2012 with some thoughts on digital comics and managing her manga collection as well as an exhortation to JManga that I will second: Put some volume 2s on your site!!

It’s holiday time, and Jason Thompson relaxes with a look at Jiro Taniguchi’s Walking Man in this week’s House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

Connie looks at manga that have a picture running across their spines at Slightly Biased Manga.

Three Steps Over Japan muses over whether Herge’s Tintin was one of Osamu Tezuka’s early influences.

Sean Gaffney rounds up the links for day one, days two and three, day four, day five, and day six of the Manga Moveable Feast, which features Sailor Moon. There are a lot of interesting articles, including Manga Bookshelf’s own Sailor Moon Roundtable, so go, click, read!

Meanwhile, Ash Brown is inviting everyone to participate in the next MMF, which will feature Usumaru Furuya.

Tell Ash Brown about your favorite magical girl manga, and you could win the first volume of Sailor Moon.

Erica Friedman made a last-minute trip to Winter Comiket; check out her photos and commentary here and here.

Reviews

Connie on Angel’s Coffin (Slightly Biased Manga)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 8 of Arata: The Legend (ANN)
Connie on vol. 7 of Black Butler (Slightly Biased Manga)
Carlo Santos on vol. 16 of Black Jack (ANN)
Matthew Warner on vol. 37 of Bleach (The Fandom Post)
Sweetpea616 on vol. 3 of Cardcaptor Sakura (omnibus edition) (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Connie on vol. 9 of Cipher (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 2 of Cross Game (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 4 of ES: Eternal Sabbath (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 5 of Kobato (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 5 of Kobato (Kuriousity)
Rebecca Silverman on vols. 1 and 2 of K-ON! (ANN)
Connie on vol. 3 of March Story (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vols. 7 and 8 of Mars (Slightly Biased Manga)
Rebecca Silverman on Mr. Convenience (ANN)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 9 of Natsume’s Book of Friends (The Fandom Post)
Zack Davisson on Oishinbo A La Carte (Japan Reviewed)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 6 of Oresama Teacher (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on vol. 3 of Please Please Me (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 3 of Pokemon Adventures Diamond and Pearl Platinum (Blogcritics)
Connie on vol. 1 of Pokemon Black and White (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of Psyren (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on vol. 3 of Redmoon (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on Rumic Theater (Slightly Biased Manga)
TSOTE on Sayonara Nippon (Three Steps Over Japan)
Connie on vol. 2 of Shadow Lady (Slightly Biased Manga)
Jocelyne Allen on Tatsumi (Brain Vs. Book)
Connie on A Truthful Picture (Slightly Biased Manga)
Carlo Santos on vol. 8 of Twin Spica (ANN)

Rob McMonigal lists his picks for the best manga of 2011 at Panel Patter. Dave Ferraro posts his top manga list at Comics-and-More, and it skews heavily toward Vertical titles (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

Sean Gaffney posts the links for the first day of the Sailor Moon Manga Moveable Feast.

News from Japan: Foxy Lady manga-ka Ayun Tachibana has a new series in the works, about two girls who trade places, for Manga Time Kirara Forward magazine.

Reviews: Ash Brown discusses a week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Justin on vol. 1 of 7 Billion Needles (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Nick Smith on vol. 1 of Dawn of the Arcana (ICv2)
Lori Henderson on vol. 18 of Hayate the Combat Butler (Manga Village)
Rob McMonigal on vols. 1-3 of I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow (Panel Patter)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 12 of Kimi ni Todoke (The Comic Book Bin)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Magic Knight Rayearth (Blogcritics)

A lot of people have been waiting for more news about DramaQueen, and this may be it. Translator T. reveals, in a locked post on the DramaQueen forum that was re-posted at the Boys Next Door blog, that the company has been “waiting for investors” for months now. You may recall that I spoke to company president Tran Nguyen at Anime Boston, and she told me that she had an investor lined up and was about to send books to the printer.

Apparently this was news to T., who has been hearing that the investors would be coming through “next month” for a number of months now. Here’s what comes next:

When I spoke to Tran about the article, I asked plainly what the investors had told her to make her believe that this “next month” would be any different from the last “next month.” After some prodding, she let it slip that if DramaQueen did not print by the end of May, the company was pretty much dead in the water anyway. When I asked her to repeat what she had just said, she quickly retracted the statement. That was the first and only time I’ve ever heard her confidence waver.

The end of May has come and gone.

I spoke to Tran at the end of May, 2008, before writing this, to ask her what news there is of the investors, and I received the same answer I have been hearing for the past year: “next month.”

There’s nothing definite here, but it doesn’t look too good. It’s a sobering reminder that there’s more to publishing than turning out high-quality books.

Boys Next Door also has the latest on Iris Print, which was essentially a one-person operation and also hit financial troubles earlier this year. Author RW Day reports that Iris owner Kellie Lynch is planning to shut down operations and would be making an announcement; Tina Anderson, another author, has heard nothing although she is owed royalties.