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Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

News

Viz Licenses Bakuman, Reviewer Collapses From Glee

July 24, 2009 by MJ 10 Comments

bakumanIt was inevitable, I suppose. As long as a Weekly Shonen Jump title continues doing well, it is probably going to be picked up by Viz eventually. Still, I can’t deny that my heart leapt with joy over the news today from Comic-Con that Viz is licensing Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata’s Bakuman for serialization in Shonen Jump here in the US.

In general, I am a bigger fan of Obata than Obata/Ohba, and I had very mixed feelings about their earlier collaboration, Death Note. What is fantastic about Bakuman, however, is that it retains some of the best aspects of Death Note and chucks most of the rest. …

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Filed Under: NEWS Tagged With: bakuman, manga

Robot Six Roundtable, Women Make Comics T-shirts and More!

July 22, 2009 by MJ 4 Comments

Time for a little link-blogging!

First of all, it’s probably obvious that I enjoyed the Girls and fandom roundtable with the Good Comics for Kids folks over at the Robot 6 blog, considering that I’ve been commenting up a storm. I wanted to be sure to pass on the link, though, because it’s important and exciting discussion. Sparked by the recent spate of fanboy hostility towards teen girl fans of Twilight, the discussion continues and expands in comments to adult perception of the novels and more. Many thanks to everyone at Good Comics for Kids for speaking out on behalf of young female fans.

Speaking of girls and women in comics fandom, thanks to Deb Aoki’s efforts, the Women Make Comics t-shirt is available now (in many shapes and sizes!) at Cafe Press. Profits go to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, the Cartoon Art Museum, and Friends of Lulu. Buy them for all your friends!

Deb has also posted her 20 Manga Must-Sees / Must-Do’s at San Diego Comic-Con 2009 at about.com, which I am linking to mainly out of envy. What a great lineup of events! Special mention must be made of item #3, the Women in Manga panel with JuYoun Lee (Yen Press), Lillian Diaz-Pryzbyl (TokyoPop), Leyla Acker (VIZ), Becky Cloonan, Robin Brenner, and Deb herself. Oh how I wish I could attend!

While I’m making impossible wishes, I’ll also add (in the category of Jobs I Wish I Was Qualified For) Viz Media’s advertisement for a Brand Manager. Check it out for yourselves, especially if you live in the San Francisco area.

As a little post-script here, I’d just like to mention how much I enjoy and appreciate the manga blogosphere as a whole. The bloggers are seriously fantastic and discussion is almost uniformly thoughtful and invigorating. I’m constantly impressed by this community and immensely grateful to be a part of it. I think I’ve expressed things along these lines before, but it bears repeating. Thanks, manga bloggers!

Filed Under: NEWS Tagged With: manga, twilight, women in comics

News: Welcoming Lorena Nava Ruggero!

July 20, 2009 by MJ 2 Comments

Please give a warm welcome to new guest reviewer, Lorena Nava Ruggero! I first encountered Lorena’s writing at her blog, i heart manga, and I’m thrilled that she has agreed to become a contributor here.

To quote her bio, “Lorena Nava Ruggero is a professional writer and editor in Southern California. She loves nothing more than reading manga with her French bulldog, Rocky, at her side. When she’s not writing reviews or reading manga, she enjoys cooking, hiking and watching movies, including anime. Each year since high school, she has saved up all her nickels and dimes to head to San Diego Comic-Con International, where she immerses herself in all things “nerd” for an all-too-glorious four and a half days. In addition to writing for There it is, Plain as Daylight, she also contributes to MangaCast and writes daily reviews for her own blog, i heart manga.”

Please enjoy Lorena’s first review here, for volume one of Sesuna Mikabe’s Tena on S-String from Yen Press, and make her feel at home!

Also, don’t miss other reviews posted here over the weekend, for the final volume of beloved shojo series Fruits Basket and for the first volume of CMX series Venus Capriccio! Happy Monday!

Filed Under: NEWS Tagged With: guest reviewers, lorena

News: Manga Recon 2009 Midterm Report Card

July 17, 2009 by MJ 5 Comments

9781421521923Today is Midterm Report Card day at Manga Recon, where we each list what we think were the best volumes of manga released in the first half of 2009. This was an incredibly difficult question for me, and there are so many titles I would like to have listed and didn’t have room for.

The volumes that made the top five for me were Hikaru no Go, Vol. 15, Future Lovers, Vol. 2, Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, Vol. 1, We Were There, Vol. 4, and Pluto, Vol. 3. Check out the full report to find out why and to read everyone else’s fantastic lists!

A few volumes I wanted to mention, but couldn’t: xxxHolic, Vol. 13, One Thousand and One Nights, Vol. 7, NANA, Vols. 15 & 16, Mushishi, Vol. 7, Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 18, Fruits Basket, Vol. 22, and Age Called Blue.

One title I hadn’t read yet, but might have included if I had: Venus Capriccio, Vol. 1.

It’s been a fantastic six months for manga! What have been some of your favorites?

Filed Under: NEWS Tagged With: manga, midterm report card

News: Children of the Sea, NANA contest, & more!

July 15, 2009 by MJ 2 Comments

Beginning with a bit of link blogging, here are a few items for the day:

First of all, Kate Dacey is holding a NANA contest over at Manga Critic! Click here for details on how to win a copy of NANA volume seventeen! If you’re unaware of how fantastic I think this series is, check out my post, Why You Should Read NANA. Then go get yourself a book!

Secondly, my cohorts over at Manga Recon have a new Roundtable up for your reading pleasure: The Manga Kingdom. The conversation is awesome and it’s already continuing in comments, so don’t miss out!

Speaking of Manga Recon, I had a review in this week’s Minis, for volume four of Del Rey’s series Kamichama Karin Chu, a trippy, over-the-top magical girl drama I had a lot of fun reading. For something completely different, check out my review of volume two of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei: The Power of Negative Thinking here at PAD. I loved the second volume at least as much as the first, and something I didn’t get to mention in the review is that there is even a tiny Hikaru no Go reference in this volume! Warmed my heart, it really did.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughtful, revealing comments on Getting Our Geek On: What Our Symbols Mean to Us! I’m really enjoying the discussion.

…

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Filed Under: NEWS Tagged With: links, manga

News: CSBG NANA Project Debuts!

July 7, 2009 by MJ 2 Comments

First, a quick link to a review of mine in yesterday’s Manga Minis, for volume six of Nora: The Last Chronicle of Devildom from Viz Media.

Today’s real news, however, is the debut of the Comics Should Be Good NANA Project! Inspired by an unexpectedly passionate exchange in the comments of one of Danielle’s recent reviews, CSBG’s Danielle Leigh, Michelle Smith, and I have started a monthly roundtable in which we will discuss the manga in-depth. We’ll tackle two volumes a month with Danielle at the helm (no spoilers for future volumes!) and if this first installment is anything to go by, it is guaranteed to be fantastic fun, at least for us. :) Please come on over and join us in comments!

If you are not yet one of the converted, check out my post, Why You Should Read NANA for additional information on the series.

Filed Under: NEWS Tagged With: nana, NEWS

Site News!

July 5, 2009 by MJ 3 Comments

I did some redesigning over the weekend, but most importantly, I added several new categories to the blog:

News: As you can see, this post is categorized as “news” which will apply to site news, linkblogging, and anything else that is not a review or feature article/essay. The front page will always display the most recent news post on top of the left-hand column.

Short Takes: In an effort to be able to cover more manga each week, I’ve started writing mini-reviews for some releases, especially later volumes of continuing series. The front page will always display the two most recent of these, below the regular “Review” section on the right-hand column (not the sidebar). My first two Short Takes are for Legend, Vol. 5 and Hikaru no Go, Vol. 16. Check them out!

Yaoi Corner: Since I’m going to be reviewing more yaoi in this blog, I thought I’d create a section just for those books. As you can see, the latest yaoi review will always be displayed at the bottom of the right-hand column, just below “Short Takes.” Please check out the first of these reviews, for the fantastic DokiDoki release, Color.

ETA: To make it easier to find what’s new, I’ve also added a “Recent Posts” widget to the top of the sidebar.

This week’s upcoming reviews include Kimi ni Todoke, Otomen Vol. 3, Hey, Class President! and more!

Filed Under: NEWS Tagged With: announcements, manga

Monday links

June 29, 2009 by MJ 2 Comments

A few quick links for today! First off, I have a review in today’s Manga Minis, for the first volume of Tokyopop’s KimiKiss. This was a fairly depressing read and the best I can think of to say about it is that it is too bland to be offensive. It breaks my heart that this is the kind of manga Tokyopop is putting money into nowadays, while more deserving works languish in cancellation limbo. I realize that sales are (and must be) the driving force behind it all, but really, this? I read the story synopsis of the game it is based on, and it sounded more interesting than the manga. That’s pretty sad.

Secondly, don’t miss my reviews from the weekend! Yuri Monogatari is a fantastic look at lesbian comics from across the globe and a must-read for female comics fans, and Children of the Sea is a gorgeous, thoughtful supernatural mystery story nobody should miss out on.

Looking at this week’s shipping news (thanks, Kate Dacey), I see we have yet another adaptation of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time coming our way–this time of the animated film. I must admit I’m fan enough of this story to be interested in more, so I’ll probably be looking to pick that up. It might be interesting to compare it to CMX’s The Girl Who Runs Through Time, which I own but have never reviewed.

Lastly, please read Erica Friedman’s post at Ozaku where she discusses the “Girls Read Comics” project that was developed recently via Twitter as a response to some of the deeply sexist press revolving around Comic Con this year. This is a very exciting project and I’ll be advertising it more here when there is more to advertise, but if you’re interested in participating, especially as an artist, please read Erica’s post and contact project organizer Deb Aoki ASAP!

Filed Under: NEWS Tagged With: girls read comics, manga, the girl who leapt through time

News in Brief

June 26, 2009 by MJ 8 Comments

Reviews have been appearing here in short bursts lately, but I should be back to a more rigorous schedule soon. Shouldn’t the summer be relaxing? :) A few short items:

– For those curious about my non-manga-related activities, I have joined the staff at Act Too Studio, coaching young singers and actors alongside two incredible teachers who also happen to be my parents. I’m pretty excited. Here is some information about us, and here is a page full of people saying we (and by “we” I mean mostly my folks) are great. We are also developing our website as we go, so if that’s your kind of thing, keep an eye out for new content!

– Just yesterday, I got myself on the list to review 801 Media titles, so look for a little more yaoi content here from time-to-time! They also introduced me as a new reviewer in their blog!

– As a testament to my deep love for Yen Press’ One Thousand and One Nights, my review copy of volume eight arrived on my doorstep just yesterday and was immediately pushed to the front of the line (and believe me, it’s become quite a long line). Don’t miss my review!

– On a very different note, I reviewed a new volume in another of my favorite series this week–volume seven of Mushishi. I suppose the contrasting nature of these two series should put aside any lingering worry I might have about this blog not representing me (or my tastes) fully. :) ETA: Also, translator William Flanagan has linked to my review on his Facebook page, filling my fangirlish heart with glee!

– The ever-fabulous Danielle Leigh posted a shojo round-up a day or two ago, and we ended up rambling on together in comments about NANA. Look for more of this to come. /cryptic

I wonder how much of this actually constitutes “news”? Ah, well. More reviews tomorrow!

Filed Under: NEWS Tagged With: act too studio, manga, mushishi, nana, one thousand and one nights, yaoi/boys' love

Tea for Two and Assorted Links

June 19, 2009 by MJ Leave a Comment

Just a quick collection of links to share today! As my Anime Boston coverage finally went up early this morning, I realized that there were a few recent reviews of mine at Manga Recon that I’ve failed to link to from here. Check out the AB coverage for discussion of some of the panels I attended, particularly Saturday’s “What Is Boys’ Love?” which I know I tweeted from in some distress at the time.

Recent reviews at PCS include GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class, Tail of the Moon Prequel, and (by far my favorite of the three) the first two volumes of Tea for Two, an engaging BL series from Tokyopop.

Also, I’ve reviewed a couple of fantastic volumes here over the past few days–volume five of Yen Press’ addictive girls’ manhwa Goong and volume 17 of one of my personal favorites, NANA, which was in my possession for only a few hours before I allowed myself to read it (and would not have lasted that long if I hadn’t set it up as my incentive to finally finish the AB coverage).

I have more reviews of upcoming Viz titles on the way, as well as Yuri Monogatari and The Manga Guide to Physics, so stay tuned!

Filed Under: NEWS Tagged With: manga

Pig Bride 1 & Bleach 27 (plus unexpected rambling)

June 1, 2009 by MJ 4 Comments

I’ve had a couple of reviews out at Manga Recon over the past couple of days. First of all, I wrote a full review of the first volume of Yen Press’ Pig Bride which I enjoyed quite a bit, though I’m not at all sure where it’s headed. I look forward to reading the second volume.

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Filed Under: NEWS Tagged With: bleach, manga, pig bride

Pig Bride 1 & Bleach 27 (plus unexpected rambling)

June 1, 2009 by MJ 4 Comments

I’ve had a couple of reviews out at Manga Recon over the past couple of days. First of all, I wrote a full review of the first volume of Yen Press’ Pig Bride which I enjoyed quite a bit, though I’m not at all sure where it’s headed. I look forward to reading the second volume.

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Filed Under: NEWS Tagged With: bleach, manga, pig bride

Manga Minis, Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 18

May 26, 2009 by MJ 2 Comments

Just a couple of quick links to reviews offsite! First of all, I reviewed DMP’s yaoi one-shot Awaken Forest for this week’s Manga Minis. In more exciting news, I just posted a review of volume 18 of Fullmetal Alchemist (reprinted here after the demise of CSBG), which still stands as one of my favorite series of all time.

Since FMA 18 was released last week, I picked it up at the Comicopia booth at Anime Boston, and it took me all of, oh, two hours before I gave in and headed to the manga library room to read it. Oh, Fullmetal Alchemist! I know I’ve already gone on and on here about how fantastic a storyteller Hiromu Arakawa is, and how I think the series is tragically underrated despite its popularity. But. Gah. I have to say it again. Hiromu Arakawa is a great storyteller of our time, and if you’ve avoided Fullmetal Alchemist for some reason, you are seriously depriving yourself of something special. If you’ve only watched the anime (which is great, yes) you honestly have no idea what you’re missing. If you think you don’t like shonen manga, try it anyway. You won’t regret it. FMA transcends its genre. Don’t let 50,000 cosplayers scare you away!


Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 18 By Hiromu Arakawa Published by Viz

At the end of volume seventeen, Winry had been brought to Fort Briggs by the ever-slimy Kimblee as a means of controlling the Elric brothers, both of whom display how much they’ve grown over the course of the series by handling the situation with surprising restraint. Al, still locked up in the Briggs brig (yes, I just wanted to say that), carefully waits for his chance to escape while Ed, under orders to carry out mass murder (or else), chooses to put aside pride, bravado, and the ever popular lying-to-people-for-their-own-protection in favor of just straightforwardly telling Winry what’s going on. Meanwhile, Lt. Hawkeye has discovered a chilling truth about President Bradley’s young son–one she can’t reveal even to Colonel Mustang. As the volume continues, Ed and Al encounter Scar once again with whom they must form an uncomfortable alliance, and Al experiences an even more disturbing encounter–with his own physical body.

Though it is a matter of characterization more than plot, the most exciting aspect of this volume is actually Ed’s willingness to be fully honest with Winry about her role in Kimblee’s machinations, something which he surely would have tried to “protect” her from earlier in the series. This actually puts Winry in a position to make her own informed decisions on well-earned equal ground, and though it may not (and does not) keep her safe, it gives her the opportunity to grow up just as her two childhood friends have, something which will inevitably benefit them all. Already her grounded fortitude is an asset, particularly to Ed, and though she’s in peril once again by the end of the volume, there is no doubt she will continue to lend her strength to both brothers in the future. A romantic future with Ed also begins to feel inevitable (if undeniably distant), assuming they both survive, and this volume contains a surprisingly touching scene in which Winry gives her earrings (too dangerous to wear in the deadly cold outside Fort Briggs) to him for safekeeping, leaving him stammering after her. Arakawa plays this perfectly simple and matter-of-fact, which is somehow much more romantic than any labored, tearful goodbye could ever be. This is actually Winry’s volume all over–another highlight being her confrontation with Scar, the man who killed her parents.

With each new volume, this series gets stronger and stronger. Arakawa’s ability to maintain an incredibly complex plot with multiple locations and dozens of supporting characters, thick with moral and philosophical themes, while still turning out kick-ass shonen-style action sequences (of which there are at least two in this volume) is unmatched in my experience, and her story is as satisfying and honestly moving as anything I’ve encountered in any genre. I tend to consider Fullmetal Alchemist to be the most popular underrated series out there–tragically overlooked despite (or maybe because of) its massive sales numbers.

This volume ends with a sense of strong foreboding, as Al is trapped in a snowstorm, battling the effects of coming in contact with his real body, Winry is headed into a deadly trap, and Ed is stuck playing “human weapon” under Kimblee’s watch. For fans of the series, this volume provides new revelations, strong character development, and some anxious anticipation of what’s to come. For those who have avoided picking up this long-running shonen series, it’s never too late to catch up. Head to your local library before volume nineteen arrives on July 21st!

Filed Under: NEWS Tagged With: fullmetal alchemist, manga, tokiday

Kindle Blogs & Anime Boston

May 19, 2009 by MJ 6 Comments

A little bit of news I keep forgetting to share here is that this blog is now available for subscription on the Kindle! If you’re a Kindle user and reading this blog for free online is just not convenient enough for you, check it out. Subscriptions are cheap ($1.99/month with a 14-day free trial period to start) and while you’re there, check out the other manga-centric blogs that are turning up! Lori Henderson has a list at Manga Xanadu here.

I was waiting to talk about Anime Boston here until the panel schedule was up, but since the con is just a few days away with no schedule in sight, I’ll just keep it general. I’ll be at Anime Boston for all three days (schedule pending) and though I tend to be a bit of a shy loner at cons, I’d love to say hello to any of you who might be there! The one place I you can be sure I’ll be is sitting on our PCS panel, “Please Save My Manga,” at 10:00 am on Friday. Other than that, it’s all TBA. Feel free to stop me for a hello if you see me (here’s a photo with my current hair–please note that head tops a roly-poly body) or drop me an e-mail if you want to be more formal about it. Hope to see you there!

Filed Under: NEWS Tagged With: conventions, kindle

Manga Minis & New Look!

May 4, 2009 by MJ 2 Comments

First of all, I have a review in today’s Manga Minis, for DMP one-shot, Live for Love. This was a rough call for me, because while I really dislike one of the common BL elements present in this story (why, why must someone always be raped?) I really enjoyed the rest of it on a fun, fluffy kind of level, much more so than usual for this type of story. So there you have it.

Secondly, and I’m very happy about this, the site has a new look! After seeing Kate Dacey’s fancy new blog, I was inspired to give this place a slightly more professional look, particularly to make it easier for people to find recent reviews. Please drop me a comment or e-mail if you run into any problems with the site!

I’ve got lots of new content coming this week, including new reviews and discussion topics. We should be hearing more from guest blogger Deanna Gauthier in the next month as well! Stay tuned!

Filed Under: NEWS Tagged With: manga, wordpress

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