Manga Bookshelf's Weekly Features

SEAN: Far be it from me to break with what I suspect is going to be unanimous. The clear pick this week is the first omnibus re-release of CLAMP’s Tokyo Babylon. I joked about it being the story of Hokuto and those two other guys, but it is certainly true that Hokuto is my favorite thing about it, and I’ll likely be digging into this volume especially for her. That said, the tragic story of Subaru and Seishirou is no slouch, and if I want to pretend things end happily I can just stop with this first volume anyway. This is one of the books that made CLAMP famous, and justifiably so.

MJ: I’m sure that by now it’s obvious I concur. Though there are at least two series I love just as much on this week’s list (Fullmetal Alchemist and Paradise Kiss) Dark Horse’s re-release of Tokyo Babylon is one of my most euphorically anticipated of the year, and there’s no way I can turn down the opportunity to try to bring more readers into the fold. I love everything about this series—its overblown comedy, its sometimes-clunky drama, and its eighties fashion sense—but mostly I love it for its slow-developing characterization and, well, its cruelty. CLAMP goes at this story with full force, and isn’t satisfied until they’ve beaten you into an hysterical, bloody heap. If you think I’m exaggerating, you haven’t read Tokyo Babylon. So go to it!

MICHELLE: I’m not gonna be the one to buck the trend! The best thing about the series being in print again is that readers who missed out the first time will be able to discover it. I hope we see some reviews from first-time readers in the near future!

ANNA: I think all of this peer pressure means I have to give this series a second chance.

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Readers, what looks good to you this week?

MJ: There’s a lot to choose from this week, including a number of my traditional favorites (Bakuman, Fushigi Yûgi: Genbu Kaiden), but I’m going to betray everything I thought I knew about myself and pick something from the pen of Mayu Shinjo. That’s right—I’m getting behind Demon Love Spell, the latest volume of which is due out this week. I read volume two for this weekend’s Off the Shelf, and I’ll be damned if it didn’t just charm the heck out of me. Mayu Shinjo, I judged you too soon.

MICHELLE: Given that I have only one more chance to say it after this time… my vote goes to Fushigi Yûgi: Genbu Kaiden. Events are moving very briskly towards the end!

SEAN: It feels like forever since I’ve PotW’d One Piece, which almost gets taken for granted these days as simply being omnipresent. But there’s a reason why it is so popular (in Japan, at least): it’s amazing fun, week after week, balancing comedy, drama, action, and more comedy. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if it does make it to 100 volumes, even if that might make Viz cry a bit.

ANNA: I would normally go for Genbu Kaiden, which I adore, or Demon Love Spell which I expect to adore when I pick it up. But since those are taken I will go for Oresama Teacher. Bancho forever!!!!!!

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Readers, what looks good to you this week?

To keep things consistent, we’re officially transitioning to Sean’s Manga the Week of lists as our source for Pick of the Week, in place of the Midtown Comics list we’ve traditionally used. That said… maybe we picked the wrong week?

SEAN: Um… Cage of Eden? I guess? Whatever… you all can choose among the Yen stuff if you like, given what else there is… Zzzzzzzzzzzzz…

MICHELLE: I suppose I’ll throw in for Kitchen Princess. I’ve never read it, but I know David liked it, and that’s good enough for me!

MJ: Well, given the choices, I guess I’ll take advantage of the description of this as a “transition” and go for one of the Yen titles that’s turning up at Midtown this week (but appeared on Sean’s list last week). And that title would be BTOOOM!, a sort of adventure/survivalist story by Junya Inoue. I read it for Off the Shelf a couple of weeks ago, and found it to be great (if unoriginal) fun.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

MICHELLE: Wow, pickings sure are slim at Midtown this week. If you’re not interested in the latest Evangelion tie-in, volume 30 of Wallflower, or the paperback reprint of Ayako, you are out of luck. Of these, Ayako would be the one I’d choose (if I didn’t already own it in hardcover)—it may be misanthropic, but it’s definitely worth reading.

ANNA This is somewhat sad. So sad in fact that I’m going to pick something that isn’t even manga at all! It looks like the 10th issue of Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples’ Saga is coming out this week. I enjoyed the first trade paperback of this series very much, and it is nice to see more nifty titles coming out from Image Comics. I’m looking forward to the second volume of this adult space opera.

SEAN: Sheesh, I do all I can to expand Manga The Week Of, and everyone then proceeds to stick with Midtown’s paltry offerings. My pick this week is therefore the second Umineko omnibus, which wraps up the first arc. Less heartwarming than Higurashi so far, its grand guignol over-the-top style appealed to me, and you gotta love those screaming faces (from those still alive, that is).

MJ: I’ll admit that I feel hesitant about choosing from Sean’s lovely selection of Yen titles, as even online retailers list their release dates as yet a full week away, but I guess I’ll take this opportunity to highlight a series that rarely makes it into our Picks. That series would be Nabari no Ou—you know, the other ninja manga. I’ve been a fan of this series from the start and though I’ve fallen behind, now that its penultimate volume has arrived, I feel the time for a marathon is now. I’ll be setting up a “book club” marathon in the forums later today. Come join me?

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

SEAN: Given I can barely move my arms after digging out from over 3 feet of snow, I’d better have a comfort manga for my pick of the week. So let’s go with the biannual release of Hayate the Combat Butler. Yes, its art is moe and pandering, and yes, it’s a harem genre of the most brutal kind. But I admire its ability to never take itself seriously, and (when it doesn’t feature Athena) it’s really, really funny. Every single character, even the minor ones, has the ability to bring the funny to any situation. It may sell poorly, but that just makes each new volume a cherished treat. Well, unless lack of romantic resolution upsets you. Then this is the WORST MANGA EVER, as that is its main bread and butter. Not resolving anything.

MJ: I’m in similar pain today, but instead of comfort manga, I will opt for just immersing myself in something really compelling and go with Tsutomu Nihei’s Knights of Sidonia, arriving at Midtown this week from Vertical. Michelle and I read this for Saturday’s Off the Shelf, and I am not sure I’ve gone more than five minutes since without it on my mind, at least lurking around in the background. I found it incredibly engaging and visually stunning to boot. And though I’m anxious for the next volume, for the time being I’ll settle for re-reading the first. It’s that good.

MICHELLE: A big “me too!” on the Knights of Sidonia front. More human and accessible than BLAME!, Knights of Sidonia is still pure Nihei, both visually and in the particular, mysterious feeling reading his works evokes in me. I loved it without reservation.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

MJ: Midtown’s list this week includes a mix of genuinely new releases and a few Yen Press titles that most stores received a while ago, and I’m going to use that as an excuse to once again take up the call for Kaoru Mori’s A Bride’s Story, volume four of which is hitting Midtown’s shelves this week. This is a particularly fun volume, featuring two new characters who contribute considerable pep to this generally quiet series, without compromising any of its wistful charm. As a result, this is probably the series’ warmest volume so far—which is always a draw for me. And of course, it’s beautiful to look at as always.

MICHELLE: Because I am a terrible person and haven’t even started A Bride’s Story, I’m going to go off-list and note that Amazon lists volume nine of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon as coming out this week. And can I ever resist the chance to pick Sailor Moon? No, I cannot.

SEAN: Yeah, given that this and Vol. 10 are my favorite parts of the Sailor Moon manga entirely, there’s no way I’m not picking it. It has chapter focuses for each of the Inners, and tops it off with a chapter devoted to the Outers that is flawless and perfect (it was so perfect the anime had to put it in the Stars anime sort of retroactively as it was simply impossible to not adapt). And it has the Amazoness Quartet, some of my favorite mini-villains. It is simply fabulous, you will all buy it.

ANNA: I’ll just go with Limit #3. Since volume two ended on a bit of a cliffhanger I am particularly anxious to see what is going to happen next to the schoolgirl bush crash victims.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

MJ: This is a tough week for me. My favorite item from this week’s shipping list at Midtown Comics would be volume two of Girl Friends: The Complete Collection, but since Sean chose that last week, it feels a bit late to the party. So instead, I’ll go out on a limb and name volume three of Punch Up!, a SuBLime title about which I’ve heard nothing but raves. Obviously I need to catch up first, but I’m feeling optimistic that once I have, I’ll be pouncing on volume three in no time! So, yeah, Punch Up!

MICHELLE: I’m in the exact same boat. Definitely check out Girl Friends, if you haven’t already, but I’ll go with Punch Up! too, since its kitties-interrupting-bedtime-shenanigans cover is quite original and charming. I found volume one to be intriguing, if not exactly my cup of tea. Good enough to challenge me to keep reading, though!

SEAN: Whereas I’m getting quite a few titles from Yen, any of which would be a decent pick of the week. But I’m still going with Book Girl and the Undine Who Bore a Moonflower, the 6th in the light novel series. Book 5 was a major turning point in both the plot and in the disposition of Konoha, our hero with PTSD from his middle school days who has been slowly brought back out into the world through the series. Now that he seems to have resolved a lot of issues, what will happen? Will he finally open up to Nanase? (I doubt it.) Realize how important Tohko is to him? (Likely that will wait a book.) Find disturbing similarities between himself and whichever screwed-up person the book focuses on this time? (Always.) I must find out!

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Readers, what looks good to you this week?

MJ: There’s a lot going on at Midtown Comics this week, and a lot to look forward to, including lots of new shoujo from VIZ Media (Strobe Edge, Dengeki Daisy) and some hot ticket items from Vertical (Message to Adolf, The Book of Human Insects), but I only have eyes for one thing. That thing, of course, is Moto Hagio’s The Heart of Thomas, produced in beautiful hardcover by Fantagraphics, and lovingly translated by Matt Thorn. I’ve read the advance digital copy and Hagio’s writing and artwork are both more beautiful and emotionally nuanced than I even expected, but I’ll admit I can’t wait to hold this hardcover in my hands. In fact, I’m pretty sure I said the words “I can’t wait” something like ten times in my holiday edition of My Week in Manga. Michelle and I will be talking about Heart of Thomas in this month’s BL Bookrack (Off the Shelf-style) so you can listen to me gush about it more then. Endless love and gratitude to Fantagraphics for bringing us a treasure like this.

ANNA: I agree that Heart of Thomas is the most exciting release this week. I haven’t read it yet, but I am really looking forward to it.

MICHELLE: While Heart of Thomas is the standout on this list for me, too, I don’t wanna just say “ditto,” so instead I’ll note that I’m really looking forward to reading the second volume of Strobe Edge. Okay, no, it’s not exactly a groundbreaking series (firmly in comfort-read territory), but I enjoyed it and liked all the characters, which is sometimes not the case in these high-school romance stories.

SEAN: Heart of Thomas is clearly the most important manga out this week, and I’m definitely looking forward to having it sit on my review pile staring at me balefully, like most important manga does. That said, my picks of the week are the Shojo Beat volumes I always read the moment they come out – Dengeki Daisy, Oresama Teacher and Otomen. I may not know much about art, but I know what I like.

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Readers, what looks good to you this week?

SEAN: Given that this last week is rather thin, I thought I’d briefly touch on the titles I enjoyed in 2012. It was hard to pick just one, and several series – Devil and Her Love Song, Young Miss Holmes, Fallen Words, Sakuran, GTO 14 Days – were on my shortlist. But really, 2012 has a surprising winner for me, a red-blooded American male, and it comes from a young girl in a magical Wonderland choosing between many men who seem designed to fall for her. Alice in the Country of Hearts was license rescued by Yen Press and put out in 3 huge omnibuses this May, and it brought with it a host of spinoffs from Seven Seas and Yen, all of which seem to be selling quite well. More to the point, with one or two exceptions, the manga adaptations are not straying too far from the game’s central tenet – this is a broken young girl trapped in a world full of men with loose grips on sanity who think nothing of death and violence. Maintaining that balance between psychological mystery and romantic drama is the key to the series’ success, and it’s why I still enjoy reading it, even if I don’t really care who Alice ends up with.

MJ: This year was filled with a number of surprising new favorites for me, including titles like GTO: 14 Days in Shonan, Soulless, The Flowers of Evil, and Loveless, as well as a number of shoo-ins like Sakuran, Paradise Kiss, and the awesome conclusion to long-time favorite 13th Boy. It was a strong year for BL as well, as Michelle and I have discussed previously (including a last-minute entry, The Scent of Apple Blossoms). But in the end, my Pick of the Year is a publisher rather than a single title, and that publisher is JManga. When I think about my favorite new titles of the year, a full half of them come from the pages of JManga—Pride, Crazy for You, Sweet Blue Flowers, Dousei Ai, My Darling Kitten Hair, Love My Life, Kyudo Boys—and the list goes on. If I had to pick just one, it’d be impossible. I’ve loved each one of these series and many more. Thanks, JManga, for making my year!

MICHELLE: I had to think about this for a while, because the title that first sprang to mine was not one that debuted in 2012. In fact, it started coming out here in 2010, but I so loved every single volume of it, most especially the final one, that I simply must award my pick to Mitsuru Adachi’s Cross Game. Okay, yeah, maybe it’s not pushing any envelopes, but it’s incredibly heartwarming and I just adore it to pieces.

Readers, what’s your favorite title of 2012?

SEAN: Not a lot to say. I tend to pick Dorohedoro every time a new volume comes out, because I love its art, its characters, its humor, its worldbuilding, and its plot. This love has only gotten stronger as the series progresses, so Vol. 8 is my pick this week. MJ: I’m going to take a real leap this week and put my money behind GEN Manga’s Good-bye Geist. Though the premise sounds a little sketchy (sexual assault and animal cruelty are not topics I’m a fan of), a quick flip through suggests that these aspects may be overstated, and I’ve long wanted to pay more attention to releases from GEN. So in the spirit of adventure, I’m jumping in! I’ll let you know how it goes. MICHELLE: Brave woman! I suppose I’m jumping in a little with my pick of Kaoru Mori: Anything & Something from Yen Press. I reluctantly admit that I’ve only managed to read a couple volumes of Emma so far, and none of A Bride’s Story, so this short story collection is a low-commitment way to get in and experience more of Mori’s storytelling skills. Look for it in next week’s Off the Shelf! ANNA: I will go for Vagabond VizBig volume 11, because Vagabond is one of my favorite series and being able to read three volumes at once is always a welcome treat.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

MJ: Midtown’s list is pretty limited, and though Sean’s roundup includes more, I’m going to stray off of both lists and go with Amazon, who tells me we’ll get the second volume of Paradise Kiss this week, in its lovely new edition from Vertical. I had a few reservations about the English adaptation in Vertical’s first omnibus, but those are squashed by volume two, which is really just fantastic from start to finish. I’ve been a fan of this series for a long time, and have reread it more than once, yet this gorgeous edition still manages to bring out new highlights, especially in this volume. It’s well worth picking up, for old fans and new!

MICHELLE: I am sorry to say that there’s nothing on Midtown’s list that particularly appeals to me. However, Sean’s list provides some more likely offerings. Of them, I’m going to have to go with Kekkaishi, which finally reaches its 35th and final volume. I’ve been hoarding this series for some time, and look forward to using some holiday vacation time to immerse myself in it at long last!

SEAN: This week seems to feature a lot of series I pretty much enjoy, but nothing I’m absolutely over the moon over. Some decent Jump, some decent comedy, some decent horror. As a result, I’ll take my chance and pick a short story collection by Kaoru Mori, Anything and Something. I admit I have some trouble getting into Mori’s mild style a lot of the time, but then I have the same issues with Natsume Ono and like several of her series. I’m hoping that the switch to shorter stories will help me to appreciate what everyone else loves about this artist (aside from the gorgeous art, which trust me has already enraptured me.) and that this collection will be a winner.

ANNA: If we are veering off lists, I am going to veer even further and choose as my pick the anime adaptation of Rose of Versailles, now streaming on Viki. I long for the day that we have the manga translated here, but I will console myself with watching all the fencing, cross dressing, and aristocratic scheming in the anime.

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Readers, what looks good to you this week?

MJ: There is an avalanche of new manga flooding Midtown Comics this week, including some regular favorites of mine like Pandora Hearts, Bakuman, and Natsume’s Book of Friends, but I only have eyes for one title, and that’s volume 8 of Chocolat, a girls’ manhwa series from Yen Press that has been on hiatus since 2008. This omnibus includes the series’ final three volumes, and I can’t wait to read it! Well, I admit I probably have to go back and read the rest of the series again first (it has been a while), but that doesn’t dampen my excitement in the slightest. Chocolat marathon, anyone?

SEAN: Midtown may be getting a pile, but my store is only getting a tiny amount, for some likely Diamond-related reason. And I already talked about Higurashi a couple of days ago. So for my pick, I’ll go with the 13th volume of Toriko, another Shonen Jump success story about food and manliness. After a lull where it fell into “3 volumes of fight,” Toriko has picked right back up again, and it always seems to find the right balance between fighting and food. And the food is getting more and more gloriously weird, with every menu item almost becoming a new character that has to be defeated. Like One Piece, which it resembles a bit, Toriko gives off an old-school Jump feeling of boys with their toys. And the toys are MEAT. (P.S. – Also get the 2nd Pogo volume from Fantagraphics, as Pogo is awesome. Sincerely, Sean.)

MICHELLE: I’d be up for that Chocolat marathon, but I’m going to award my pick to volume 13 of Natsume’s Book of Friends. Though episodic stories aren’t generally my preference, Natsume is consistently excellent and maintains a certain… ethereal air? I’m not sure how to describe it. It’s not quite gentle, it’s not quite wistful… But it’s entirely wonderful. If you haven’t checked this series out yet, you really should!

ANNA: My Pick of the week is the new Mayu Shinjo title, Demon Love Spell. This quite funny send-up of paranormal romance manga features a chibified incubus and a bumbling yet sassy shrine maiden. It should appeal to fans of Ai Ore, and for people who dropped Ai Ore due to some of the squicky gender issues in the first volume, I think that the humor in this manga is much easier to relate to.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?