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Manga Bookshelf Forum

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A few months ago, I polled Manga Bookshelf readers to see if there was enough interest to warrant opening a discussion forum here on the site. In the end, the vote came down to a similar number of “Yes” and “No” responses, and a whoooole slew of “Maybe”s. So I’ve decided to give it a shot and see how things go.

Manga Bookshelf Forum

If you already have a user account at Manga Bookshelf, you should be automatically registered in the forums. If not, I’ve opened up site registration to all. I’ve opened up a few public forums to start, and reader participation is strongly encouraged! Here are a few options, right off the bat:

Reader Reviews: Post your own reviews of new (or old!) manga. Be sure to follow instructions on formatting your subject lines to that people will be able to easily identify who you are and what you’re reviewing!

Where to Buy Manga: Profile your favorite local shops to help other fans in your area find the best prices and selection!

Manga Sales-Watch: Heard about a great manga sale? Tell everyone about it here!

Fandom & Fanworks: Talk about fanfiction, fanart, and your favorite ‘ships here!

I’ve kicked things off with our first Topic of the Week—a weekly moderator-led discussion. This week’s topic: What’s on your manga wish list for this holiday season?

Come join me!

ETA: I am aware of a problem with the stylesheet not loading on the Profile Options pages. I am working on trying to get this resolved. In the meantime, though the current form is ugly as hell, it seems to be functional. Update: As of 9:40 EST this is fixed!

Manga Radar, 18 November 2012

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this week’s charts
about the charts
The last Manga Radar column was 13 weeks ago. ouch.

So welcome back to the most recent installment of the very occasional feature: Manga Radar. Here I share with you some of the bleeding-edge preorders I’ve been discovering while compiling my manga bestsellers, and also taking some deeper dives into all this data, to either make sense of what’s happening or just gawk at it.

The current online performance of Sailor Moon is interesting to me for two reasons: First, of course, it’s Sailor Moon. In a mangaverse supposedly ruled by Shonen Jump, it’s amazing as both a Kodansha and shoujo title, and really shows what a couple of decades of pent-up demand will get you.

Secondly, though: its online performance isn’t really all that different from Naruto, Death Note, or Bleach – in profile, particularly now in it’s first year of release, it’s a good way to illustrate what sales of a top-tier manga look like:

Sailor Moon Volumes, rankings, 12 Aug to 18 Nov 2012, logorithmic scale

Before I get too deep into the discussion, note the y-axis and its scale: logorithmic means the top 3rd [1-10] is given equal weight as the middle third [10-100] and the bottom third [100-1000] – this is a bit of necessary compression, else the chart would be way too tall and the Top 10 would be compressed to a single, illegible line.

That explanation out of the way: Notice how ordinary the graph looks, and how little it has changed over the past 15 weeks: the individual titles ebb and flow a bit, but there are always 5 Sailor Moons in the top 10 and a dozen in the top 100. The rather slow fall of Codename: Sailor V is more indicative of what we’d expect, actually; the other volumes of Sailor Moon didn’t actually follow suit until about 4 weeks ago.

Surprising, however, is the meteoric rise of the Vols 1-6 Box Set. The sharp upward slope of its ranking is even more impressive when I remind you the y-axis is logorithmic – in 9 weeks it has gone from barely registering (#1171) to a top 10 title. However, since the books themselves have been available all year (volume one released September of last year, volume six has been out since June) this means that a whole new group of fans are now “buying in” to this series – not just the Superfans who have driven sales to date but a new second wave. I’ve noticed this before on things like Death Note – when both the box set and the ‘black editions’ drove additional sales – but in the case of Death Note and the similar VizBig editions: these sales bumps occurred only after the series was completed, or to goose sales of early volumes that had been released years before.

Sailor Moon is like watching a Shonen Jump release but on a more intense, shorter timescale.

##

With the analysis part done, now it’s time for the eye-numbingly-long lists. (this is my forté)

Also, please note that each week I post the ranking pre-orders, both in my Top 10s summary post, and the full Top 50 in the extended reports. You all know I post more than just a Top 10, right? There are seven ancilliary rankings and a full Top Manga 500 ranking that posts each week – this is where the fancy numbers come from for the fancy line graphs, like the one posted above.

Ranking Preorders, September 2012 and forward:

Itazura na Kiss 9 – DMP, Sep 2012
Love Chemistry Lab – DMP Digital Manga Guild, Sep 2012
Merry Men – DMP Digital Manga Guild, Sep 2012
Want To Be Happy? – DMP Digital Manga Guild, Sep 2012
Weekend Of Dreams – DMP Digital Manga Guild, Sep 2012
I Want a Love Story – DMP Digital Manga Guild, Sep 2012
Paradise Kiss 1 – Vertical, Sep 2012
Arata the Legend 11 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Sep 2012
Fluffy Fluffy Cinnamoroll 5 – Vizkids, Sep 2012
Jack Frost 6 – Yen Press, Sep 2012
Raiders 8 – Yen Press, Sep 2012
GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class 4 – Yen Press, Sep 2012

The Garden Where The Ivy Plant Grows – DMP Digital Manga Guild, Oct 2012
A Taste of Honey – DMP Digital Manga Guild, Oct 2012
Fever (yaoi) – DMP Digital Manga Guild, Oct 2012
Spider – DMP Digital Manga Guild, Oct 2012
Love Is Like a Hurricane PLUS – DMP Digital Manga Guild, Oct 2012
Longing for Spring – Enjugroup, Oct 2012
Kitchen Princess Omnibus 2 – Kodansha Comics, Oct 2012
Heroman 1 – Vertical, Oct 2012
Bloody Monday 8 – Kodansha Comics, Oct 2012
Air Gear 26 – Kodansha Comics, Oct 2012
Dracula Everlasting 2 – Seven Seas, Oct 2012
Limit 1 – Vertical, Oct 2012
A Devil & Her Love Song 5 – Viz Shojo Beat, Oct 2012
Jiu Jiu 2 – Viz Shojo Beat, Oct 2012
Toriko 12 – Viz Shonen Jump, Oct 2012
Slam Dunk 24 – Viz Shonen Jump, Oct 2012
Kekkaishi 34 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Oct 2012
Black God 17 – Yen Press, Oct 2012
The Infernal Devices 1 – Yen Press, Oct 2012
Demon Consort (novel) – Yaoi Press, Oct 2012

The Name Of Love – DMP Digital Manga Guild, Nov 2012
Sailor Moon vols 1-6 box set – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2012
Animal Land 6 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2012
Queen’s Blade: Visual Collection – Vertical, Nov 2012
Limit 2 – Vertical, Nov 2012
Neon Genesis Evangelion vols 1-3 collection – Viz, Nov 2012
We Were There 15 – Viz Shojo Beat, Nov 2012
Strobe Edge 1 – Viz Shojo Beat, Nov 2012
Oresama Teacher 11 – Viz Shojo Beat, Nov 2012
Rin-Ne 10 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Nov 2012
March Story 4 – Viz Signature, Oct 2012
Thermae Romae 1 – Yen Press, Nov 2012
Haruhi Suzumiya The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-Chan 6 – Yen Press, Nov 2012
Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro 3 – Yen Press, Nov 2012
Umineko When They Cry Legend of the Golden Witch 1 – Yen Press, Nov 2012
Nabari no Ou 12 – Yen Press, Nov 2012

Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service 13 – Dark Horse, Dec 2012
Vampire Hunter D (manga) 7 – DMP, Dec 2012
Attack on Titan 3 – Kodansha Comics, Dec 2012
Heroman 2 – Vertical, Dec 2012
Natsume’s Book of Friends 13 – Viz Shojo Beat, Dec 2012
Bakuman 17 – Viz Shonen Jump, Dec 2012
D. Gray-Man 23 – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Dec 2012
Arata the Legend 12 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Dec 2012
Itsuwaribito 7 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Dec 2012
Kaoru Mori: Anything and Something – Yen Press, Dec 2012
Pandora Hearts 13 – Yen Press, Dec 2012
Higurashi When They Cry 20 Massacre Arc 2 – Yen Press, Dec 2012

Oreimo 2 – Dark Horse, Jan 2013
Missions of Love 2 – Kodansha Comics, Jan 2013
Fairy Tail 23 – Kodansha Comics, Jan 2013
Limit 3 – Vertical, Jan 2013
GTO: 14 Days in Shonan 7 – Vertical, Jan 2013
Loveless vols 3-4 collection – Viz, Jan 2013
Jiu Jiu 3 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jan 2013
Haruhi Suzumiya The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-Chan 3 – Yen Press, Jan 2013
Soul Eater 12 – Yen Press, Jan 2013
Book Girl and the Undine Who Bore a Moonflower (novel) – Yen Press, Jan 2013

Gantz 26 – Dark Horse, Feb 2013
See Me After Class 1 – DMP Project H, Feb 2013
Tender Hearts – DMP Project H, Feb 2013
Kitaro – Drawn & Quarterly, Feb 2013
Kitchen Princess Omnibus 3 – Kodansha Comics, Feb 2013
Stepping on Roses 9 – Viz Shojo Beat, Feb 2013
Inuyasha VizBig Edition 14 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Feb 2013
Tenjo Tenge: Full Contact Edition 11 – Viz Signature, Feb 2013
Pokemon Diamond & Pearl/Platinum 7 – Vizkids, Feb 2013
Umineko When They Cry Legend of the Golden Witch 2 – Yen Press, Feb 2013
Pandora Hearts 14 – Yen Press, Feb 2013

Vampire Hunter D (novel) 19 – Dark Horse, Mar 2013
Blade of the Immortal 26 – Dark Horse, Mar 2013
Genshiken Second Season 2 – Kodansha Comics, Mar 2013
Fairy Tail 25 – Kodansha Comics, Mar 2013
Dark Hunters Infinity 1 – St. Martin’s Griffin, Mar 2013
Paradise Kiss 3 – Vertical, Mar 2013
Neon Genesis Evangelion vols 4-6 collection – Viz, Mar 2013
Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden 11 – Viz Shojo Beat, Mar 2013
Skip Beat! vols 10-12 collection – Viz Shojo Beat, Mar 2013
Higurashi When They Cry 21 Massacre Arc 3 – Yen Press, Mar 2013
Durarara!! Saika Arc 1 – Yen Press, Mar 2013

Oh My Goddess! 44 – Dark Horse, Apr 2013
Ray’s Days – DMP Project H, Apr 2013
Missions of Love 3 – Kodansha Comics, Apr 2013
Arisa 10 – Kodansha Comics, Apr 2013
Fairy Tail 24 – Kodansha Comics, Apr 2013
Dawn of the Arcana 9 – Viz Shojo Beat, Apr 2013
Library Wars: Love & War 9 – Viz Shojo Beat, Apr 2013
Kimi ni Todoke 16 – Viz Shojo Beat, Apr 2013
Kamisama Kiss 13 – Viz Shojo Beat, Apr 2013
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds 4 – Viz Shonen Jump, Apr 2013
Blue Exorcist 9 – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Apr 2013
Itsuwaribito 8 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Apr 2013
Pandora Hearts 15 – Yen Press, Apr 2013
Spice & Wolf (novel) 8 – Yen Press, Apr 2013

Gantz 27 – Dark Horse, May 2013
Sailor Moon 11 – Kodansha Comics, May 2013
Fairy Tail 26 – Kodansha Comics, May 2013
Zero’s Familiar Omnibus 1 – Seven Seas, May 2013
Neon Genesis Evangelion vols 7-9 collection – Viz, May 2013
Black Bird 16 – Viz Shojo Beat, May 2013
La Corda d’Oro 17 – Viz Shojo Beat, May 2013
Claymore 22 – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, May 2013
Inuyasha VizBig Edition 15 – Viz Shonen Sunday, May 2013
Alice in the Country of Joker Circus & Liar’s Game 2 – Seven Seas, May 2013
Haruhi Suzumiya The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-Chan 4 – Yen Press, May 2013

Sailor Moon 12 – Kodansha Comics, Jul 2013
Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossoms Pink – Seven Seas, Jun 2013
Sleeping Moon 1 – SuBLime, Jun 2013
Puella Magi Kazumi Magica 1 – Yen Press, Jun 2013
Pandora Hearts 16 – Yen Press, Jun 2013
Higurashi When They Cry 22 Festival Accompanying Arc 1 – Yen Press, Jun 2013
Highschool of the Dead Color Omnibus 2 – Yen Press, Jun 2013

I Don’t Like You At All, Big Brother! vols 5-6 collection – Seven Seas, Jul 2013
Twin Knight (Princess Knight) – Vertical, Jul 2013
Naruto 62 – Viz Shonen Jump, Aug 2013
Rosario+Vampire Season II 12 – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Aug 2013
Kimi ni Todoke 17 – Viz Shojo Beat, Aug 2013
Rin-Ne 12 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Jul 2013
Until Death Do Us Part 4 – Yen Press, Jul 2013
Black Butler 14 – Yen Press, Jul 2013
Spice & Wolf (novel) 9 – Yen Press, Aug 2013

##

I’ve omitted certain DMP titles, which have been delayed (and as noted here DMP Project H titles are *not* being delayed), but that’s a ton of books in a market ‘niche’ that is supposedly in decline. I think I might also have to double-dip, and get the Kitchen Princess omnibi – if only to see if Kodansha added some additional extras to the Del Rey releases.

Giving Thanks

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Today is the one day of the year when even Americans—divided and selfish as we often are—come together as a whole with our families and friends to give thanks. Privately, I have much to be thankful for, and I look forward to expressing gratitude to my own family and friends as the day goes on. I also have some particular thanks to share here at Manga Bookshelf.

First, I’m endlessly grateful to each of the writers who has contributed to the site this year. Phillip, Matt, Derek, Jaci, Angela, Erica, Sara, Jia, Megan, Emily, Nancy, Eva, Paul, Justin, and Aja—thank you so much for your thoughtful contributions. You have given Manga Bookshelf a depth and breadth of content it could not possibly have achieved without you.

I must also express my gratitude to the site’s current bloggers—Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Brigid Alverson, and newcomer Anna Neatrour—whose brilliant work and general awesomeness keeps me blogging even when (perhaps especially when?) I fear I’m losing my passion. Thanks, too, to Kate Dacey and David Welsh, without whom the multi-site incarnation of Manga Bookshelf surely would not exist!

Thanks to artists, writers, and publishers who continue to fuel our obsession with their wonderful storytelling, and who give us something to keep writing about.

And most of all, many, many thanks to everyone who reads Manga Bookshelf, both for your continued readership and the ongoing conversation you’re willing to indulge in with us, day after day. You are the reason this site exists, and you inspire us all.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Manga Report joins Manga Bookshelf

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Good morning, Manga Bookshelf readers! Today, we’re pleased to announce that Anna Neatrour has officially joined the Battle Robot, bringing her blog Manga Report into the Manga Bookshelf family of blogs.

From her bio: Anna Neatrour is a librarian with too much manga in her house. She started blogging at TangognaT in 2003 about libraries, books, manga, and comics. She created Manga Report to focus only on manga reviews in 2010. Anna is a member of the writing collective known as The Bureau Chiefs, authors of FakeAPStylebook and the book Write More Good.

Anna has been running the roundtable series Bringing the Drama here since February of this year. She joins Sean, Michelle, Brigid, and I in today’s Pick of the Week—her first column as a Manga Bookshelf blogger.

Please join me in welcoming Anna to the fold!

Announcement: Dramafever’s Worldwide Preview

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First of all, Dramafever has finally made episodes of Fated to Love You available. I explain why everybody should watch this in my column (hey, if MJdidn’t want this announcement to be biased by my personal opinions, she shouldn’t have let me write it).

If you want to know why Chen Xinyi put Ji Cunxi in a trash can, or if you want to know what she plans to do next, you’ll have to watch Fated to Love You.

But now it’s not just limited to people in North and South America. For a limited time, Dramafever is available to everybody who is not in China, Japan, or Korea. This is the post from their official blog.

The way the deal works is that, if you are in a country outside of North and South America which is not China, Japan, or Korea, you can sign up and watch the latest two episodes of any series currently airing, and watch the first five episodes of any older series.

Well, that’s how it’s supposed to work. Since this is brand new, there have been technical difficulties. The most common technical difficulty—and the Dramafever team says they are working on this—is that many people can’t get subtitles to work. I’m one of those people, by the way. However, there is enough in their catalogue that has caught my interest (that I don’t need subtitles to enjoy) that this wouldn’t be such a problem for me, specifically, if I weren’t running into other technical difficulties. I still admire Dramafever’s boldness, and I am sure they are doing their best to fix all of the technical problems.

Anyway, this is a limited time offer. But it does not have to be limited. In countries where Dramafever gets sufficient users, they will maintain a permanent presence. So if you want Dramafever in your corner of the world (and you’re not in China/Japan/Korea), now is the time to a) sign up, and b) tell your fellow residents to sign up.

Don’t know what to watch? Aside from Fated to Love You, here are posts from the Manga Bookshelf archives discussing various dramas offered on Dramafever:

It Came from the Sinosphere: Autumn’s Concerto
It Came from the Sinosphere: My Queen
Bringing the Drama: To the Beautiful You
Bringing the Drama: Rooftop Prince
Bringing the Drama: Big
Bringing the Drama: You’re Beautiful
Bringing the Drama: City Hunter
Joseon Female Detective Damo Vol. 2

So, what are your recommendations for us in Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania and Australia who have access to Dramafever for the first time?

Sara K. started as a guest blogger, then she got a column, and now she’s making announcements. This is all a part of her nefarious plot to take over Manga Bookshelf and rule the blogosphere. She will govern with an iron fist and make everybody listen to her bad jokes.

Saturday Spotlight: Webtoons

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Today’s Off the Shelf column featuring the Korean webcomic, or “webtoon,” Aron’s Absurd Armada has put webtoons in general on my mind. With only a handful licensed for North American release (mainly from online publisher NETCOMICS and iOS publisher iSeeToon), Korean webtoons represent a huge untapped source of East Asian comics.

So, this week’s Saturday Spotlight shines on Hana Lee’s An introduction to Korean webcomics, written for Manhwa Bookshelf in the summer of 2010.

Read and dream of what we could be reading!

JManga Translation Battle finalists announced!

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JManga’s great experiment to discover the next generation of manga translators has moved into its final round! Though the company has gathered an impressive panel of judges, including (among others) manga super-blogger Deb Aoki and translator William Flanagan, fans can put in their two cents by heading over to JManga’s Facebook page and voting on the eleven final submissions.

Three manga were chosen for the aspiring translators to work on—Tomonori Inoue’s COPPELION, Nana Haruta’s Chocolate Cosmos, and Akira Saso’s Shindo—and a winner will be selected from each group to receive a brand new iPad. The best of three will also be named winner of the Grand Prize—a trip to Japan to attend the Japan Media Arts Festival in Tokyo.

Voting is open online until December 2nd, 2012 at 11:59 PM Pacific, and winners will be announced later that month.

Open thread: fannish highlights of 2012

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Hello Manga Bookshelf readers! Between a sudden wave of blogger/contributor illnesses and Kate’s recent departure, we’re running a bit lean on the Manga Bookshelf roster this week. So let’s chat amongst ourselves, shall we?

As 2012 begins to wind down, a blogger’s thoughts are filled with one thing and one thing only: end-of-the-year lists and roundups. Here at Manga Bookshelf, we can (and probably will) jabber on about our favorite this and our top ten that, as thoroughly and as often as possible.

Looking back in preparation for the roundup onslaught, I can see that I spent my year reading BL at JManga, test driving the DMG, questioning Apple’s content policies, falling unexpectedly in love with Eikichi Onizuka, finally reading Loveless, indulging in hatred, saying tearful goodbyes to Fullmetal Alchemist and 13th Boy, fawning over old shoujo, experimenting with video, and geeking out on CLAMP.

But as I ponder my fannish activities over the past year, I have to admit it’s pretty insular. With such a wide variety of voices available both here and in the wider manga blogosphere, I’m free to let my tastes drive my own content—and it’s clear that they do. So with that in mind, I find that what I’m most interested in now is what you’ve been doing in 2012.

What have been the fannish highlights of your year? Profound moments? Favorite fandoms? Favorite fans? We can talk anime, manga, western comics—If you’ve had a fannish year, I want to hear about it!

Come forth and share!

Saturday Spotlight: The Jibblies

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Before Halloween week is officially over, it seems prudent to take advantage of this last opportunity to get our creep on. To that end, this week’s Saturday Spotlight archive post comes from Soliloquy in Blue’s Let’s Get Visual column, in which Michelle and I talk about what gives us “the jibblies,” featuring pages and panels from After School Nightmare, Tokyo Babylon, Pandora Hearts, and Junji Ito’s short manga story “The Enigma of Amigara Fault.”

Come take a look at what scares us!

Fall 2012 Call for Contributors!

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Around this time last year, I posted a Call for Contributors here at Manga Bookshelf, which resulted in the creation of a slew of great new columns, some of which are still going strong and some of which have faded away, as these things sometimes do. So here I am, a year later, making a fresh call!

Join us!

Got a great idea for a weekly or monthly column? Send us your pitch! Contact us with the following:

Your name
Your pitch
Links to 2 samples of similar writing you’ve done

Also seeking 1-2 writers interested in accepting regular news/interview assignments. To apply: same as above.

Your pitch should include a theme for your column, a general outline for the column’s inaugural entry, how often you’d write it (weekly or monthly), and how you envision maintaining its theme over time. If your idea is a one-shot or short series of posts, please indicate that as well. We are particularly interested in columns that offer something different than what we do now. Areas of particular interest include Korean manhwa, anime (especially something other than straight-out reviews), fandom, and industry news, but all creative ideas are welcome! We’d also be open to expanding into video or audio features. Please allow at least four weeks for a response.

At this time, we are unable to offer monetary compensation for contributors, but we look forward to doing so in the future.

Poll: Manga Bookshelf Front Page Experience

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Hello Manga Bookshelf readers!

We watch our page stats pretty closely, and one of the main reasons for this is to try to learn something about how people get to Manga Bookshelf and how easy it is for them to find the content they want once they get here. Historically, the vast majority of our site traffic has come from links accessed offsite, on Twitter, Facebook, and other blogs, or from search engine results—links that usually go directly to an article the individual wants to read. Lately, however, a growing number of readers have been entering the site from the Manga Bookshelf front page. But where they go from that point on has been a little surprising.

As a result, the questions most on my mind are, “Are people finding the content they’re looking for?” and “Have we made that content easy to find?”

You can help me answer these questions by participating in the poll below! Please feel free to use the comment section to elaborate on your experience or what you’d like to see on the Manga Bookshelf front page. I can’t guarantee that we’ll be able to adjust the site to please everyone (certainly an impossible task!) but we will take everyone’s comments into consideration while contemplating our front page layout!

[poll id=”5″]

[poll id=”6″]

[poll id=”7″]

Elaboration strongly encouraged. (If you don’t tell me what you’re missing, I can’t fix it!)

If there’s anything else you’d like to share, I’d love to hear it! What regular columns are the first ones you look for? Do you come to read a particular writer? What kind of content would you like to see more of?

Thanks for your feedback!

Edited to add: I’ve already made some changes based on comments here, so keep the feedback coming!

Department of Excuses: Hurricane edition

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Good [insert your time of day here], Manga Bookshelf readers!

We’ve got some great content planned for you this week, along with the usual weekly columns and whatever passes as “news” in the North American manga industry. Unfortunately, Mother Nature may have other ideas! As nearly all of our primary bloggers* live somewhere in the path of Hurricane Sandy, it’s likely that power outages (hopefully just power outages) may disrupt our ability to geek out on manga, or at least our ability to share that geeking out with you!

In case of abrupt blog silence, please accept our apologies. We promise to make it up to you!

Sincerely,

The Manga Bookshelf Battle Robot

*It’s all up to you, Michelle. Y’know. No pressure.

Saturday Spotlight: “There is this fish.”

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As we here on the east coast prepare for the arrival of Sandy, my mind turns to visions of water, water, and more water. And being an obsessive fan of 80s shoujo manga, thoughts of water lead to Moon Child.

Today’s Saturday Spotlight archive post comes from March of this year, when Michelle Smith and I sat down to discuss mermaids, aliens, giant fish, Broadway dancers, Chernobyl, environmentalism, Vaslav Nijinsky, and the epic weirdness awesomeness of Reiko Shimizu’s Moon Child.

Come reminisce with us, and if you’re on the east coast, get some batteries in those flashlights!

Conventions: AM2 opens panel registration

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For those who haven’t yet reached convention saturation for 2013, AM2, Anaheim’s three-day celebration of anime, manga, and J-pop, is now accepting applications for panels and workshops at next year’s con, scheduled for August 21-23 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

From today’s press release: “Ever wanted to host a panel on your favorite anime/manga or have a discussion with like-minded people on your favorite j-rock/j-pop band/idol? Ever wanted to be part of a workshop on designing your very own unique and one-of-a-kind maid or cosplay outfit? You can now!”

Originally formed as a counter-convention to LA’s massive Anime Expo in response to the cancellation of a popular J-pop guest, AM2 has continued as a full-fledged con since 2011. Though first known for free admission to both its Artist Alley and main exhibit hall, the con eventually began instituting a small general admission fee for attendees, as well as premium “Passport” badges offering VIP seating to concerts and special events.

This year’s pricing structure offers general admission for $5.00 a day ($10.00 for all three), and Passport access ranging from $20.00 to $55.00, depending on duration and date of purchase. Note: all panel and workshop hosts must be Passport holders.

Pitch your panel or workshop idea at AM2’s website.