Archives for January 2012

Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

January 4, 2012 by Michelle Smith

From the back cover:
It’s not every day that you come across a naked man on the side of the road. That’s why cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse doesn’t just drive on by. Turns out the poor thing hasn’t a clue who he is, but Sookie does. It’s Eric the vampire—but now he’s a kinder, gentler Eric. And a scared Eric, because whoever took his memory now wants his life. Sookie’s investigation into who and why leads straight into a dangerous battle among witches, vampires, and werewolves. But a greater danger could be to Sookie’s heart—because this version of Eric is very difficult to resist…

Review:
I think I’d been lulled into a false sense of “hey, this series isn’t that smutty” by the previous book, Club Dead, in which Sookie’s vampire beau Bill is missing and in which the closest thing to a sex scene is Eric’s… enthusiasm when Sookie drinks his blood at one point. But now that Sookie and Bill are good and broken up (yay!), she is free to pursue other opportunities, which manifest in the form of an amnesic Eric who has been cursed by a witch for spurning her advances as well as for owning a profitable nightclub she’d like to take over. He ends up hiding at Sookie’s place while he’s not himself and though she resists his charms for a while, she eventually goes “to hell with thinking” and then we get way too much detail about what they get up to together.

Anyways, aside from the “Sookie hooks up with Eric” plot, there are two main things going on: the big bad coven of witches is attempting to take over various supernaturally owned businesses and eventually the vampires and werewolves ally together to take them out. Sookie gets involved in the attack and it’s not a pleasant experience. Secondly, Sookie’s brother has been abducted and she spends most of the book thinking that his disappearance is somehow connected to the witches. Of the two, I preferred the Jason storyline, as it has far greater potential for interesting complications down the road. The witches were rather dull, really.

I seem to like the endings of these books more than what comes before, and that’s no exception here. I like where Sookie and Eric are at the end of the volume, I like Bill’s menacing return (I actually went “ohhhhh shit”), and I like the ultimate fate of Debbie Pelt. This last possibly frees Sookie to hook up with Alcide the hunky werewolf next, and while part of me cringes at the idea of this series becoming something akin to the works of Laurell K. Hamilton, the other part appreciates that Harris doesn’t keep her heroine tied down with notions of true love.

And really, that’s about all I have to say about Dead to the World. It was fluffy and pleasantly diverting. I’ll keep reading more. I’ll keep going “ooh” at certain things and “ew” at others. I still haven’t summoned the fortitude to give the TV adaptation another shot, but that might be only a matter of time.

Bandai cancels new anime and manga releases

January 3, 2012 by Brigid Alverson

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)

Higurashi: When They Cry, Vol. 16

January 3, 2012 by Sean Gaffney

Story by Ryukishi07; Art by Karin Suzuragi. Released in Japan as “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Tsumihoroboshi-hen” by Square Enix, serialized in the magazine Gangan Powered. Released in North America by Yen Press.

As the Higurashi series has gone on, the descent into murder and gore has seemingly come faster and faster, with far less build-up. This is, of course, because the audience is well aware of what’s going to happen and needs less setup. Of course, just because the first volume ended with Rena committing bloody murder doesn’t mean things get to wrap up quickly. What’s going to happen in Volume 2?

Well, another murder. Right away. The first images we see are of Rena luring Satoko’s uncle out to the trash heap and killing him brutally with an axe. Of course, this leaves her with two corpses she has to get rid of. And it doesn’t help that she killed them in the one place that everyone who knows her well would go if they wanted to find her. So it does not take long for her to be discovered. This is where much of the horror comes in this volume – Keiichi and the others are determined to cheer Rena up, and the discovery of her hacking the corpses to pieces with her billhook… it’s chilling. As is Rena’s desperate response, asking why they had to show up *now* when she was almost finished covering everything up?

And so the next half of the manga deals with Rena’s confrontation with the rest of her friends. It’s an interesting examination of guilt, with Keiichi and company all feeling the exact same way – “why didn’t we notice how badly Rena was hurting before?” This is not helped by Rena slowly sinking back into paranoia and madness, and accusing them of the same thing. Here, though, is where Keiichi really steps up. In my previous reviews, I tended to call him an idiot a lot, and indeed he was. But in this arc, where he’s not the main character, he shows amazing insight and strength – I particularly liked him noting that Rena was crying “in her heart” this whole time, which helps lead to Rena finally shedding actual tears.

There’s an examination of “inaction” as a whole here, and in fact all of the others – Keiichi, Mion, Satoko and Rika – all apologize to Rena for various things they could have noticed and taken action about, but didn’t. And then they all choose to forgive each other – including Rena, the murderer here – and help her take care of her problems. Which, yes, means helping her chop up and hide the bodies. It’s amazing how heartwarming this is given what’s actually going on. But that’s Higurashi for you.

Of course, things have only just begun. Just as Rena is getting back to her regular school life, along comes the school nurse, Miyo Takano, with her notebook filled with Hinamizawa analysis. I’m really getting to dislike her – yes, she keeps getting killed off, but she manages to be quite creepy regardless, in a skin-crawling way. What’s more, she gets Rena reading about Hinamizawa’s past, including the three families. Is everything that’s gone on before a giant conspiracy? And why is Rena being followed all the time now? She does try to confide in Keiichi, but can she even trust him?

This book starts out very gore-laden, but quickly becomes an examination of what trust is – and what people can be forgiven for. The cast are very quick to blame themselves for what Rena did, and forgive her for the murders – but was that really the right thing to do? Moreover, if everyone is involved in a townwide conspiracy, is there anyway to trust someone without overanalyzing everything until you draw the inevitable conclusions? For all that the cast descends into paranoia in this series, it’s not as if they don’t have help. And oh look, there’s Oishii as well, the police officer who means well, but tends to make everything worse. So we’re now halfway through, and not any closer to Atonement. Will this all end as badly as Shion’s arc did?

Pick of the Week: Manga & More

January 2, 2012 by MJ, Katherine Dacey, Sean Gaffney and Michelle Smith 7 Comments

It’s a new year, and Midtown Comics gets things started with a hefty shipment of new manga. See what Michelle, Sean, Kate, and MJare looking forward to this week!

MICHELLE: It’s the first pick of the new year! There are actually several likely candidates on the list of manga due to arrive this week, including Kimi ni Todoke, One Piece, and Oresama Teacher. But I am going to have to award my pick to a shoujo manga that I continue to love even as it approaches its 30th volume: Skip Beat!. In practically any other series, the fact that the heroine, Kyoko, is still oblivious to the hero’s feelings for her would be series-droppingly annoying by this point, but somehow, Skip Beat! makes it work. It helps that Kyoko is spirited, determined, and focused on her career, and the funny moments (pretty much any time Kyoko wears a chicken costume) are also worth the price of admission.

KATE: I’m just getting up to speed with Skip Beat!, so my vote goes to Government Issue: Comics for the People, 1940s – 2000s. This anthology has actually been available for a couple of months, so it’s a little surprising to see it appear on the Midtown Comics list this week. But if you missed it when it was originally released in November, now’s your chance to see how the American government has harnessed the comics medium to educate its constituents about a range of topics, from nuclear war to AIDS. The book is divided into four sections: comics about the military; comics about employment and economics; comics about civil defense, safety, and health; and comics about landscapes and lifestyles. Though the contextual essays are a little too brief to be truly revelatory, the comics speak for themselves, offering readers a fascinating window into twentieth-century history.

SEAN: It’s getting so that every new volume of Oresama Teacher is making me even happier than the last. The author has a flair for writing very dumb characters in such a way that you not only like them but root for them, and yet at the same time your jaw drops every time they miss the blatantly obvious. It also manages to ride a very fine line, not quite being supportive of young teenagers being in gangs, but at the same time showing the deep bonds of friendship that exist within such structures. As for Mafuyu’s various relationships with the various males in the series, I can honestly say I have absolutely no idea who she’ll end up with, if anyone. Which is a rarity for most manga both shonen and shoujo, where the end pairing always seems set in stone from the very beginning. And she kicks everyone’s ass as well. Fantastic series.

MJ: Though this week is chock full of (mostly Viz) goodness, I find myself drifting to a book I picked up from last week’s list, volume two of Takako Shimura’s Wandering Son from Fantagraphics. I absolutely loved the first volume of this series, and I was thrilled to see this pop up a couple of weeks ahead of what I’d thought was its official release date. This is one of those highly-anticipated series that turned out to be even better than I expected, which is a pretty rare treat. Though its beautiful hardcover presentation puts it in a higher price bracket than most manga, it’s required reading as far as I’m concerned, deserving of a nice, long shelf life. Definitely worth saving up for.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Bookshelf Briefs 1/2/12

January 2, 2012 by MJ, Sean Gaffney and Michelle Smith 1 Comment

This week, Sean, Michelle, & MJtake a look at recent releases from Viz Media, Yen Press, and Del Rey Manga.

Blue Exorcist, Vol. 5 | By Kazue Kato | Viz Media – The revelation from Volume 4 continues to reverberate in this volume, as now that Rin is known to be the son of Satan most of the class is treating him differently – even Shiemi, much to his dismay. To her credit, she at least realizes that what she’s doing is wrong. Still, it was nice to see Izumo step up and show she doesn’t think anything has changed. A lot of this volume deals with what Rin is supposed to be because of his heritage versus what he actually is in real life – as Rin notes, he did not personally destroy entire families, so why is he being blamed for it? Meanwhile, we meet Ryuji, Renzo and Konoekomaru’s families, and get into the next big plot point, involving the theft of demonic artifacts. As always with Jump titles, a lot of the time the resolution comes down to shouting at other people. But that’s OK, it’s still a lot of fun.-Sean Gaffney

Kamisama Kiss, Vol. 6 | By Julietta Suzuki | Viz Media – Much of tis volume has another old, tried-and-true trop from shoujo manga. We meet a girl, Kayako Hiragi, who would appear to be a new rival as well as a horrible person who sneers at Nanami and has no idea how she could possibly get anyone to follow her… then spend the next few chapters showing how this attitude is a facade and she’s really broken and terrified deep down. It works here because Suzuki is a good writer and because Nanami does not let lack of raw power interfere with her basic niceness. Of course, she also DOES show some awesome new power here. One thing to note: the scene with the black tar spider demon attempting to possess/eat Nanami was bad enough, but Nanami’s cry of “don’t come inside me” gave it an even creepier feeling I wasn’t expecting from a cutesy Hana to Yume manga.-Sean Gaffney

Kobato., Vol. 5 | By CLAMP | Yen Press – The fifth volume of Kobato. provides some long-awaited details concerning how supernatural being Iorogi found himself chaperoning human Kobato on her heart-healing journey while stuck in the body of a stuffed animal. Unfortunately, despite this information and some truly gorgeous illustrations, I still just cannot connect with this series. I just don’t care that Kobato has fallen in love with Fujimoto, the hardworking part-time employee of Yomogi Kindergarten, and I just don’t care that her failure to complete her mission and have her wish granted has some sort of unfortunate consequence for Iorogi and his former underlings, who spend most of this volume standing around telling each other things they already know in order to fill in background for the reader. The most intriguing aspect of the series continues to be the yakuza, Okiura, but he’s only around for a few pages. Still, I’ll read the final volume to see how it wraps up. – Michelle Smith

My Girlfriend’s a Geek, Vol. 5 | By Rize Shinba and Pentabu | Yen Press – There’s nothing too exciting about the conclusion to My Girlfriend’s a Geek, but I think it’s probably better that way. Instead of manufactured drama, there are chapters about Taiga allowing the BL story he wrote for Yuiko’s eyes only to be posted to a website, the continuing effort to figure out whether Taiga’s friend Kouji has picked up on his sister’s otaku interests or is just really dense, and the final story, in which Taiga concludes that, though Yuiko is kind of bizarre and manipulative, being her boyfriend is “not such a bad life really.” It’s a pretty satisfying ending, though I could’ve done without the side story, in which a BL fanboy coerces his roommate to partake in his hobby with lines like, “You will do as I say, or I will sell your soiled underwear to dirty old men!!” What a charmer! – Michelle Smith

My Girlfriend’s A Geek, Vol. 5 | By Rize Shinba and Pentabu | Yen Press – I really enjoyed Volume 4, feeling that it finally managed to give Yuiko enough depth so that we could accept why Taiga would continue to be with her despite simply liking her looks. I was hoping for more from this, the final volume, but instead it seems a bit more like “we’ve run out of plot, do a few more chapters then wrap it up.” Not to say there’s not interesting material here – I was highly amused at finding that Kouji sees his sister in such a set way that he doesn’t realize that in reality she’s MUCH WORSE – but the chapter focusing on two roommates who are a BL version of Yuiko and Taiga felt very tacked on and pointless. Luckily, the last chapter was rather sweet – it stems from Yuiko’s fujoshi tendencies, and intimacy is still some ways away, but I’m happy we got to know this couple, and pleased we got to read this amusing if cynical look at BL fans and the men who put up with them.-Sean Gaffney

Natsume’s Book of Friends, Vol. 10 | By Yuki Midorikawa | Viz Media – This volume was a more slice-of-life turn from Natsume, as we see his attempts to help an old classmate who has fallen for a spirit, and impersonating a harvest god so that a local festival can go on. The latter is the far more dangerous task, and we get to see several action sequences that I’m not really used to seeing in this manga that’s usually more mellow about its yokai. This story also involves Natori and Hiragi as well, and I enjoy the way that Midorikawa-san draws their relationship. I also like the fact that the yokai are still not used to Natsume’s basic kindness and concern. Everyone continues to try to see an ulterior motive. Luckily, we have other characters to be the flawed types in this manga. Natsume’s just the upright noble lad – and we’re glad to see that.-Sean Gaffney

Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, Vol. 6 | By Hiroshi Shiibashi | Viz Media – I generally try to avoid letting my shipping biases affect my reviews of any manga, so I will limit my discussion of the first chapter of Nura 6 to a brief SQUEE! and a note that Yuki-Onna really gets to be utterly badass. That said, the rest of the volume is not without its pleasures as well. The Tamazuki arc finally comes to an end, but not before he gets to show off exactly why he’s never going to beat Rikuo – the scene where he starts sacrificing his own Night Parade is chilling. The second half of the manga shows off Rikuo and his classmates investigating a rumored yokai at a coastal village, and features some chilling art – Shiibashi is particularly good at drawing good guys revealed to be bad guys in a creepy way. Nura is nice, solid Shonen Jump, and will appeal to those who enjoy Jump-type relationships and a more active yokai series than Natsume’s Book of Friends.-Sean Gaffney

Toriko, Vol. 7 | By Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro | Viz Media – After wrapping up their search for jewel meat (and saving Rin, who was not quite dead, as I suspected when I read Vol. 6), the majority of this volume shows Toriko on his own, accompanied only by his battle wolf Terry. Though it’s odd seeing him separated from pint-size best friend Komatsu, we do get a few character moments here and there – most notably Toriko’s hard love towards Terry, who has a tendency to try to protect Toriko from lethal creatures that Toriko doesn’t necessarily need protecting from. As always, though, the main reason to read this is to see what ludicrous food the author will come up with. BB Corn may look normal, but proves to be anything but – and we hear for the first time about what Toriko plans to make his entree. God. That is to say a food named God, before people start to panic. Still dumb fun.-Sean Gaffney

xxxHolic, Vol. 18 | By CLAMP | Del Rey Manga – One of several metaphysical themes that runs through the entirety of xxxHolic is the idea that time and place for are not things to be taken for granted. The series is filled with searching and waiting for that right time or place, and it tirelessly urges its characters to be patient as they endure. And though the series proper ended a couple of volumes ago, I find I’m grateful that it did not quite end, because watching someone like Watanuki actually learn how to wait has been a very special joy for me. To hear some factions of fandom tell it, I shouldn’t be enjoying this series anymore, but if anything, I’m enjoying it more than ever. Readers should not expect the kind of dramatic tension one usually finds in a series’ penultimate volume—that moment passed several volumes ago—but this postscript is well worth reading. Still recommended. -MJ

Highlights, roundups, and a trip back through time

January 2, 2012 by Brigid Alverson

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)

Sailor Moon MMF: Final Day Links

January 2, 2012 by Sean Gaffney

It’s the end! Thank you all so much for your participation!

Just one link today: Jason Yadao examines his history with the series, and reminds us of that half-dubbed Mixx translation once more. :)

Again, special thanks to everyone who participated and promoted this MMF! It was a blast hosting it. And don’t forget the next MMF, hosted by Experiments in Manga, focusing on Usamaru Furuya. Details are here. I’ll be writing about Short Cuts!

Welcome, Brigid!

January 1, 2012 by MJ 5 Comments

Exactly one year ago today, Kate, David, and I launched the new multi-blog incarnation of Manga Bookshelf. It’s been a wonderful year, during which we also welcomed Michelle and Sean into our little blogging family. Today, I’m pleased to welcome Brigid Alverson and Mangablog into our circle as well! Brigid has been both a good friend and a valuable mentor to me over the past few years, and I’m thrilled to have her here with us.

You can find Brigid’s first post in her new home here, and her most recent entry will always be displayed on Manga Bookshelf’s front page in a new, dedicated spot on the right-hand side.

Welcome, Brigid! It’s going to be another great year!

New year, new look, new digs!

January 1, 2012 by Brigid Alverson

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)

Usamaru Furuya Manga Moveable Feast: Call for Participation

January 1, 2012 by Ash Brown

A happy new year to you all!

I am very pleased (and very nervous) to officially announce that Experiments in Manga will be hosting the first Manga Moveable Feast of the year. What exactly is the Manga Moveable Feast? Each month, the manga blogging community gathers to celebrate, discuss, and examine a particular manga, creator, genre, or theme. Anyone and everyone is invited and encouraged to participate.

January 2012’s Manga Moveable Feast (which will be held January 22-January 29) will feature mangaka Usamaru Furuya and his work. If you would like to join in the Feast and need somewhere to post your contribution, as the host I would be happy to coordinate with you. You can reach me by e-mail at phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com.

During the Feast, you can notify me of contributions by e-mail or via Twitter. Simply include @PhoenixTerran (that’s me!) and the #MMF or #MangaMoveableFeast hashtag. If you have previous articles or reviews that you would like to be included on the Usamaru Furuya Manga Moveable Feast archive page, please just let me know and I will add the links.

I am both terrified and excited to be hosting the Usamaru Furuya Manga Moveable Feast. Please be kind to me; I will do my best!

Usamaru Furuya Manga Moveable Feast: Archive

January 1, 2012 by Ash Brown

The January 2012 Manga Moveable Feast (January 22-January 29), hosted right here at Experiments in Manga, features Usamaru Furuya and his works. This page serves as the Feast’s archive and will link to posts contributed to the Feast.

Call for Participation
An Introduction
Roundup One
Roundup Two
Roundup Three
An Epilogue
A Final Farewell

Reviews:
The Children’s Crusade, Volumes 1-2 (Completely Futile)
Genkaku Picasso, Volume 1 (Experiments in Manga)
Genkaku Picasso, Volume 1 (Manga Xanadu)
Genkaku Picasso, Volumes 2-3 (BookDragon)
Genkaku Picasso, Volumes 1-3 (Otaku Ohana)
No Longer Human, Volume 1 (Experiments in Manga)
No Longer Human, Volume 2 (Comic Attack)
No Longer Human, Volume 2 (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
No Longer Human, Volume 2 (Slightly Biased Manga)
No Longer Human, Volumes 1-2 (Manga Bookshelf)
No Longer Human, Volumes 1-2 (Manga Connection)
No Longer Human, Volumes 1-2 (Manga Xanadu)
Secret Comics Japan (Experiments in Manga)
Short Cuts, Volume 1 (Experiments in Manga)
Short Cuts, Volumes 1-2 (A Case Suitable for Treatment)

Other contributions:
English, Please!: Palepoli (Slightly Biased Manga)
An Examination and Appreciation of the Works of Usamaru Furuya (Experiments in Manga)
Manga Giveaway: Genkaku Picasso Giveaway (Experiments in Manga)
My Limited Exposure with Usamaru Furuya (Animemiz’s Scribblings)
My Week in Manga (Experiments in Manga)
Usamaru Furuya’s Genkaku Picasso & Why It’s Currently the Only Shounen Manga on My Shelves (All About Manga)

From the archives (pre-Feast content):
Interview with Usamaru Furuya (Shonen Jump Magazine)
Met Usamaru Furuya in Toronto! (Same Hat!)
A Short Appreciation of Manga-ka Usamaru Furuya (Comics 212)
TCAF 2011: Spotlight on Usamaru Furuya (Kuriousity)
This Genius’s Horror Edition of MMF: Usamaru Fuyura (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Usamaru Furuya TCAF 2011 Autograph Signing Session (Flash Frame Omake)

Flowers
Flowers (Completely Futile)

Garden
Garden (Completely Futile)

Lychee Light Club
Lychee Light Club (Ani-Gamers)
Lychee Light Club (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lychee Light Club (Comics-and-More)
Lychee Light Club (Experiments in Manga)
Lychee Light Club (The Fandom Post)
Lychee Light Club (Genji Press)
Lychee Light Club (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Lychee Light Club (Kimi-chan Experience)
Lychee Light Club (The Manga Curmudgeon)
Lychee Light Club (Manga Worth Reading)
Lychee Light Club (Manga Village)
Lychee Light Club (Manga Widget)
Lychee Light Club (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Lychee Light Club (Otaku USA)
Lychee Light Club (Slightly Biased Manga)

The Music of Marie
The Music of Marie, Volumes 1-2 (Completely Futile)
The Music of Marie, Volumes 1-2 (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
The Music of Marie, Volumes 1-2 (Ryu’s Dreams)

Love Exposure
Love Exposure (Animemiz’s Scribblings)

Plastic Girl
Plastic Girl (Completely Futile)

Secret Comics Japan
Looking Back at Secret Comics Japan (Same Hat!)
Secret Comics Japan (Comics-and-More)
Secret Comics Japan (Slightly Biased Manga)

Short Cuts
Short Cuts, Volume 1 (Slightly Biased Manga)
Short Cuts, Volume 2 (Slightly Biased Manga)
Short Cuts, Volumes 1-2 (The Manga Critic)

Suicide Club
Suicide Club (Completely Futile)
Suicide Club (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)

Other Feast Archives

Sailor Moon MMF: Day 6 Links

January 1, 2012 by Sean Gaffney

We are getting near the end of the Feast! What will today bring?

Animemiz gives us two more articles on Sailor Moon, the first talking about the gorgeous Sailor Moon artbooks, and the second discussing her dislike of Chibi-Usa, and how she compares with the final arc’s Chibi-Chibi.

Zoe Alexander reviews the first Sailor V manga, and also gives us a look at her Top 10 favorite manga moments from Sailor Moon.

Lastly, I also did a list of my favorite moments.

Tomorrow will be the final post! Will there be more amazing stuff?

MMF: Top Five Sailor Moon Moments

January 1, 2012 by Sean Gaffney

(There are obviously spoilers here for the anime and manga.)

These are my own personal top five, of course; if you asked ten different Sailor Moon fans you’d get ten lists. But these five are good examples of why I keep coming back to this manga/anime again and again. Three manga moments, and two from the anime.

5) Sailor Moon Super S manga – Dream 6: New Guardian Dream. I chose this chapter for many reasons. First of all, it’s fantastic to see the Outer senshi at rest, as it were. For all that they tend to be seen as the driven and pragmatic counterparts to the more emotional and caring senshi, they’re still meant to be high school girls, after all. (Well, mostly. Setsuna is debatable, see my previous post.) Here we see them all living as a family, celebrating their six month anniversary of having done so, since the end of S when Hotaru became an infant. They’ve also been unable to transform, so it’s been a bit of an idyllic rest for the three of them. However, Hotaru (who has gone from baby to 4-year-old in 6 months, and ages here to approximately 13 or so) is also there to remind them of their duties as senshi, and notes it’s time to get involved. This chapter, showing a different side of Haruka, Michiru and Setsuna, was so much fun that the anime, which had removed the Outers from the Super S story, went back and redid it as a prelude to Stars, just so they could show off how cool it was. I love the Outers, and this chapter is basically just seeing them all relax, then seeing them all kick ass. It’s great.

4) Sailor Moon Super S manga side-story – Rei and Minako’s Girl School Battle. Sailor Moon is a very funny series. However, I’ve noticed that a lot of the people talking about how funny it is tend to focus only on the anime. Now, it’s true that the anime has some side-splittingly funny episodes – I could easily have picked Nurse Minako from R or Minako’s Heart Crystal from S here as well, and debated it. But I went instead with this small chapter as I think it showed that Takeuchi’s characters are still her characters, and that they don’t need the expansion/exaggeration the anime sometimes gives them in order to be funny. The Rei we see here is definitely the manga version – the cool beauty and queen of her school – but we see how she gets driven to be just as angry as her anime counterpart. And Minako is simply fantastic – her drive to find out about Rei’s private school, completely being unable to fit in, and accidentally releasing the monster of the chapter through her own foolishness. And, of course, there’s the part that *everyone* remembers, which is Minako asking Rei if she has ever farted. Leaving aside that it’s Minako’s own way of trying to get Rei to admit that she’s just another girl like the rest of them, it is gloriously in character. What’s more, the punchline to the chapter – where Rei angrily says she has never farted, and that she’s nothing like Minako at all, makes me laugh hysterically – because of Takeuchi’s little side comment of an arrow pointing to a blushing Minako saying “has farted before”. Glorious.

3) Sailor Moon R – The Movie (climax). Sailor Moon had 3 movies made for the theater while it was running. But in general, when people talk about Sailor Moon movies, they mean *this* one – the first, and the best. Towards the end of the movie we see the other inner senshi watching Sailor Moon get throttled by the villain of the piece, and they all have little flashbacks to their lives before Usagi. And they’re all *incredibly depressing* – each one shows the girls being ostracized for being different or strange. Ami the intellectual, Rei the shrine maiden, Makoto the supposed “thug”, and Minako “always leaving” but unable to say she’s Sailor V. It’s beautifully done, and heartbreaking. Then later on Sailor Moon has defeated the villain, but there’s still the small matter of an asteroid headed for the Earth. Everyone teams up to stop it, and we see the Inner Senshi having another set of flashbacks – these showing Usagi coming into their lives, and her honest kindness and friendship being more than anyone could ask for. It shows how closely linked these five girls are, and it’s simply brilliant.

2) Sailor Moon R manga – Never Ending. This is the first of two to deal with the deaths of a sailor senshi. It’s a credit to both Takeuchi and the anime that even after we know about the senshi’s tendency to be resurrected and reincarnated, death is still a horrible, tear-jerking thing. This is the final chapter of the second arc, and all seems completely lost. Chibi-Usa is possessed as “Black Lady”, and Prince Diamond is about to cause a time paradox that will destroy not only Crystal Tokyo but causality. This leads Sailor Pluto to do the unthinkable – she stops time, allowing Sailor Moon to resolve things. As this happens, though, we see a much younger Pluto talking with Queen Serenity in a flashback, and she is told point blank that stopping time is forbidden, and that if she ever does it she will die. And that’s what happens, with Pluto barely getting time to say farewell before passing away. That’s not, however, why this is here. This is #2 because of Black Lady, who is startled to find tears streaming down her cheeks, becoming unpossessed and reverting to Chibi-Usa again. What’s more, Chibi-Usa has finally become able to unlock her powers – she transforms, and is now Sailor Chibi-Moon! Delighted, she turns to Pluto (who previous chapters have shown is essentially her only friend) and remarks on her transformation – only to become hysterical as she sees Pluto’s corpse, and begs her to open her eyes. I don’t think anyone can read this chapter and not be affected – it’s been over ten years since I read it, and I’m still tearing up just typing this.

1) Sailor Moon anime, episode 45. Yeah, there really wasn’t any question what number one would be. If the climax of R is, in my opinion, the manga’s finest hour, the climax of the first arc is where the anime surpassed it, both in dramatic tension and in heartbreaking loss. It should be noted that the anime does not exactly make this a big secret – the episode is TITLED “The Sailor Senshi Die!”. And sure enough, that’s what happens, as the senshi travel to the North Pole to take on Beryl. Now, there is a manga equivalent here – the senshi die there as well, though in a completely different situation – but the tension and agony are just incredible in the anime, where first Jupiter, then Mercury, then Venus and finally Mars sacrifice themselves so that the others can continue, each showing off just how powerful and badass they are even as they are killed. And Sailor Moon, her despair growing with each death, is left alone at the end – except that the spirits of the four fallen girls appear once more, telling her that they will always be with her and giving her the strength to go on. The anime came close to hitting these highs later on (Episode 125 comes closest), but never quite topped it – an episode that shows that even a magical girl may need to pay the ultimate price in order to save the world.

So those are my five favorites. If you think I missed something, let me know in a comment!