Archives for October 2013

My Week in Manga: September 30-October 6, 2013

October 7, 2013 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

It’s the beginning of one month and the end of another, which means it’s one of the slower weeks here at Experiments in Manga. I announced the winner of the Arisa manga giveaway. The post also includes a list of some of the manga available in English that feature twins. For those of you who are interested in the absurd amount of manga and other related materials that make their way into my home, September’s Bookshelf Overload was also posted. Finally, the honor of the first in-depth manga review for October goes to Satoshi Kon’s Tropic of the Sea. I thought it was fantastic. Hopefully it does well and more of Kon’s manga will be able to be released in English.

For anyone looking for more anime and manga blogs to follow, CryMore.Net (formerly known as Whiners.Pro) has put together the most comprehensive list of active sites that I’ve seen. (And yes, Experiments in Manga is included.) If you’re interested in yokai, Matthew Meyer recently launched a Kickstarter project for his most recent artbook/guide The Hour of Meeting Evil Spirits. It’s already met its goal (and I was one of the people to support it), but it’s still worth checking out if you like yokai. I reviewed Meyer’s previous book (also funded through Kickstarter) The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons: A Field Guide to Japanese Yokai and really enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to seeing more of his work in print.

Quick Takes

Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, Volume 18 by Yukito Kishiro. I could be wrong since I haven’t read the entire series, but I believe that the eighteenth volume of Battle Angel Alita: Last Order is the first volume to prominently feature Figure Four (the burly dude on the cover). A love interest in the original Battle Angel Alita manga, up until this point in Last Order he’s been mostly relegated brief references. The eighteenth volume concludes the fallout from the ZOTT combat tournament with the series’ titular chapter “Last Order” before jumping nearly a year back in time to follow Figure for the rest of the volume. He’s hard at work training in anti-cyber martial arts when he learns that Alita may be dead and so goes searching for both her and the truth. Sechs makes a brief, but important appearance in the volume, which made me happy since Sechs is one of my favorite characters in the series. And as a side note, Kishiro designs some really creepy cyborgs.

Dengeki Daisy, Volumes 9-12 by Kyousuke Motomi. It’s been a while since I’ve read any of Dengeki Daisy. I’d forgotten how much I enjoy the series. Dengeki Daisy is kind of a strange manga, mixing rather mundane school life with hackers and cyber espionage, but I am consistently and highly entertained by it. I really like the quirkiness of characters in Dengeki Daisy. Motomi calls Dengeki Daisy a love comedy, which I suppose in the end it is, but in addition to being funny and occasionally romantic, the series also has a lot of action and drama. Kurosaki’s past and his guilt over it continues to be a major driving force behind the story. His disappearance is resolved fairly quickly, which surprised me, but that fact emphasizes how much he cares for Teru and how much Teru and the others care about him. Motomi has a tendency to use stereotypical shoujo plot devices but then completely turns them on their head. The fake-outs are both effective and refreshing.

Incubus, Volumes 1-3 by Yayoi Neko. The mythology in Incubus is fairly complex and the comic’s exposition can be somewhat long-winded, but I overall I’m liking this yaoi series. It has humor and drama, and I’m rather fond of the two leads–a college student named Judas and the surprisingly endearing half-demon Lennial. Judas’ dream sequences are great. In them, the different sides of his psyche try to make sense of what is going on around him as he is repeatedly confronted by demonic powers. The results are often amusing, but his emotional struggles can be heartbreaking. Judas has a very troubled past and what little good there was in it has been torn from him. Not everything has been revealed about his and Lenniel’s history together, but Neko seems to have a firm grasp on the series’ direction. Incubus is currently on hiatus due to the creator’s health–the first three volumes only cover the first half or so of the story–but I look forward to reading more of it if she is ever able to continue the series.

Sickness Unto Death, Volume 1 written by Hikari Asada and illustrated by Takahiro Seguchi. I didn’t know much about Sickness Unto Death before picking it up, but I’m willing to give anything released by Vertical a try. Emiru is a frail young woman suffering from despair–a sickness of the spirit that is causing her body to fail. Kazuma has recently enrolled in college to pursue a career in clinical psychology. When he meets Emiru he not only wants to do all that he can to help her, but he falls in love with her as well. I found the manga’s basic premise intriguing, but in the end I was largely disappointed with the first volume of Sickness Unto Death, though I can’t seem to quite pinpoint why. However, I am still interested in reading the second half. The big reveal as to the cause of Emiru’s despair has been set up and I am very curious about it. I’ll admit that don’t have a lot of confidence, but I am hoping that it will be worth it and that it won’t be something too absurd or overblown.

Free!: Iwatobi Swim Club directed by Hiroko Utsumi. I really enjoyed Free!, finding it to be both a fun and funny series. At times it even manages to be rather touching. The anime has a lot of self-aware goofiness in addition to a decent story and great animation. The swimming in particular is beautifully animated and, for the most part, realistically portrayed. (This also means that there are plenty of muscles to appreciate.) Although it is an important part of the series, Free! is actually less about swimming than it is about the relationships between its characters and their personal struggles and doubts. They all have their own reasons for swimming, but ultimately what brings them together is their desire to connect with one another–swimming just happens to be the way they go about doing it. A second season has been hinted at for the series; I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing more of Free! I’d also love to see it licensed for a physical release.

Attack on Titan dominates the charts

October 7, 2013 by Brigid Alverson

The Manga Bookshelf bloggers look forward to next week’s new releases.

The third volume of Mobile Suit Gundam tops the New York Times manga best-seller list; four volumes of Attack on Titan make the list, which is not surprising as that series dominated last month’s BookScan chart as well.

Ash Brown’s Bookshelf Overload column at Experiments in Manga looks at September releases and purchases.

Sean Gaffney takes a closer look at two recently announced licenses: Prophecy, a thriller licensed by Vertical, and Whispered Words, a yuri series from the small independent publisher One Peace Books.

Lori Henderson also looks at the new licenses, as well as vols. 4-7 of Highschool of the Dead, in her latest Manga Dome podcast at Manga Xanadu.

Erica Friedman is in Japan right now, and she paid a visit to the Yoshiya Nobuko Memorial Museum, dedicated to one of the pioneers of yuri manga.

At Comics Should Be Good, Connie C. is going to spotlight the lesser-known works of horror master Kazuo Umezu for the next week, and she kicks it off with a look at Cat-Eyed Boy, Orochi: Blood, and Scary Book.

Meanwhile, at Organization Anti-Social Geniuses, Justin and Manjiorin discuss vols. 5 and 6 of Attack on Titan.

News From Japan: Dengeki Daisy is coming to an end. Welcome to the NHK manga-ka Kenji Oiwa is drawing an Assassin’s Creed IV manga for Jump X magazine. Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine says that 25 million copies of the 11 volumes of Attack on Titan have been sold in Japan.

Reviews

Daniel Briscoe on vol. 2 of Berserk (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 7 of Bleach (Lesley’s Musings… on Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 58 of Bleach (The Comic Book Bin)
Sakura Eries on vol. 5 of A Bride’s Story (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of Happy Marriage?! (I Reads You)
Kristin on vols. 1 and 2 of Magi (Comic Attack)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 3 of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
A Library Girl on vol. 2 of Nightschool (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Ash Brown on Tropic of the Sea (Experiments in Manga)
Erica Friedman on Tsuki to Suppan (Okazu)

Otome Games Review: Kiss of Revenge and Be My Princess

October 6, 2013 by Anna N

Kiss of Revenge

Kiss of Revenge is available on the iphone and on android.

This is another Voltage game like Pirates in Love which I reviewed previously. I’ve decided after playing this game that there was not nearly enough kissing or revenge, so the title was a bit misleading. Also, while the story is certainly going to appeal to fans of melodrama, I found the hospital setting to be not very interesting in the absence of pirates or ninjas. Perhaps I would have enjoyed this game more if it was a ninja hospital.

The storyline focuses on a young doctor who is determined to get her REVENGE after her mother was killed in a botched operation many years ago. She went to medical school and selected the hospital that was the site of her mother’s death in order to expose injustice and coldly execute her revenge. Unfortunately she is surrounded by a variety of handsome co-workers.

The current director of the hospital was the surgeon who botched the operation many years ago, so one easy course for revenge on the part of the heroine is to target his son.

Although she is occasionally distracted by the presence of her childhood friend, who just happens to have a salesman job pushing medical supplies.

While there are plenty of dramatic descriptions of close calls digging up ancient medical files and surgical preparations, I found the real world setting of this game to be a bit humdrum. Also, I was expecting more revengy antics earlier in the game but there’s more of a slow build to all of the emotional trauma that occurs in the later episodes. There’s also a narrative device that is interesting due to the branching storylines, but at the same time a bit annoying because it represents another set of episodes that has to be paid for. At one point in the story the heroine is prompted to chose revenge or give it up, and if you want to play the non-revenge ending (who wouldn’t choose revenge!) you have to buy those separate episodes.

The other thing that I found less than interesting about this game is that while there are other characters to play, clearly the one where the heroine concentrates on the son of the evil hospital director is going to be the most interesting one. I wasn’t all that invested in finding out what the story variations would be if I picked a different character. Overall, this game didn’t really capture my interest. The storyline also ensured that there wouldn’t be as much humor, and I wasn’t very entertained. If you enjoy more melodramatic stories with real world elements though, this might appeal to you.

Be My Princess

Be My Princess is available for itunes and android

This is a game that is actually fairly easy to play without spending any money on it, and after an attempt to buy game credit that didn’t show up in my account, I would really recommended that people do not even attempt to spend money on this game.

Be My Princess is the story of a young fashion designer who ends up in a tiny imaginary European country that seems to be bursting at the seams with princes! They all seem to be strangely attracted to her! They are also somewhat bland and fairly interchangeable, but their prince outfits have a hilarious amount of ruffles.

The storylines so far in this game are really not that interesting. So far I’ve played through three endings of a special event storyline, where the heroine runs off with a prince, and in each variation Their Love is not accepted so there’s an elopement scandal but it all works out in the end.

The virtual paper doll aspects of the game are probably the most entertaining aspect of it all. Here’s a screenshot of my character.

And her extremely cluttered room.

If you play this game you get five passes to read further along in each chapter that reset every morning. There are often checkpoints where you have to swap out your clothes for more elaborate clothes, and have to exchange your free virtual game money for a new handbag or dress. If you do not spend money on the game your closet and furniture storage is limited, thus you are Less Charming. I haven’t found this to be a tremendous hardship so far, although it sometimes led my character to have incredibly wacky outfits as she went through checkpoints. Overall, this game was fairly bland, and I wasn’t happy about the snafu that denied me the opportunity to buy more closet space. At the same time, it does seem to be ideally set up for very casual gaming. The plot might not be all that interesting, but it is entertaining enough to login for 10 minutes a day or so and progress through the princess rankings system.

Here are some random out of context screenshots from Pirates in Love, which I continued to play after my initial review.

Up next: the very entertaining Love Letter from Thief X, which is probably my favorite game so far.

License Roundup – Pre-NYCC Edition

October 6, 2013 by Sean Gaffney

There’s only 2 titles here, but I though I’d get them out of the way rather than include them with all the NYCC stuff. Plus they’re both excellent.

Vertical has added a seinen manga called Prophecy (Yokokuhan), which just finished its run in Shueisha’s Jump X. (For those wondering what Vertical’s doing with a Shueisha title, apparently this came via France and was somewhat convoluted… not sure of all the details, but don’t expect Vertical to license Medaka Box anytime soon.) The author seems to specialize in tense psychological thrillers, and this promises to be in that vein.

Meanwhile, One Peace Books has been a quiet player in the manga market so far, with a reissue of Crayon Shin-chan, and the forthcoming Black Bard in November of this year. But they really got the internet buzzing when their new license showed up on Amazon: Whispered Words, better known to yuri fans as Sasameki Koto. Running from 2007-2012 in Media Factory’s Comic Alive, Sasameki Koto tells the story of Sumika, a young woman in love with her best friend Ushio, but unable to confess her feelings as Ushio loves small, cute girls and Sumika is tall and a martial-arts prodigy in karate. It was adapted into an anime, and also featured Kiyori and her eating curry bread, something I dearly would read an entire manga of. The Amazon listing notes it’s 472 pages, so I suspect this 9-volume series may come out in 3 omnibuses.

And that’s just a taste! Wait till later this week for even more license madness!

Tropic of the Sea

October 5, 2013 by Ash Brown

Creator: Satoshi Kon
U.S. publisher: Vertical
ISBN: 9781939130068
Released: September 2013
Original release: 1990

Satoshi Kon is probably best known as a phenomenal writer and director of anime, especially in the West, but he started his career working in manga. Tropic of the Sea, serialized in Young Magazine in 1990, was Kon’s first long-form manga. Vertical’s release of the English-language edition of Tropic of the Sea in 2013 marks the first, and hopefully not the last, of Kon’s manga to be translated into the language. The volume also includes an afterword by Kon excerpted from the ninth anniversary edition of Tropic of the Sea published in Japan in 1999. Vertical’s edition of Tropic of the Sea is actually based on an even later Japanese release of the manga from 2011. Already a fan of Kon’s work in anime, I was thrilled when Tropic of the Sea was licensed. I was even more excited for the manga’s release when I saw the absolutely gorgeous and captivating cover. Added to that the manga’s focus on legends and the sea and I was sold.

For generations, the small fishing village of Ade has been blessed by calm seas and bountiful catches. This good fortune has been attributed to a promise made between a mermaid and a priest–the village receives protection and in return he will worship the sea and care for the mermaid’s egg for sixty years before returning it to begin the cycle anew. But times are changing and very few people believe the old legend to actually be true. Yosuke Yashiro’s family is responsible for guarding the egg and its shrine, but his father does the unthinkable and reveals the secret of its existence to the world. The sacred relic has now become a draw for tourists, only the most recent example of the increased commercialization of Ade. Although there have been some good things to come from the village’s development, many people are upset with the extent of the changes that have been made and what they may be losing in exchange.

At first the pacing of Tropic of the Sea is fairly leisurely, appropriate for a story that takes place in a quiet seaside village, but as the manga progresses the pace steadily quickens. The role that Ozaki, Ade’s most prominent commercial developer, plays as the manga’s villain is somewhat predictable–desiring the mermaid’s egg for his own purposes while claiming to be interested in the good of humanity–but he does have slightly more to him than first appears. One of the greatest things about Tropic of the Sea from beginning to end is Kon’s artwork. A tremendous amount of attention has been give to the backgrounds and landscapes, granting the manga a very real sense of place which is crucial for the story. The illustrations also convey a feeling of mystery and wonder, awe and foreboding, surrounding the mermaids and the sea. Some of the scenes involving water are simply stunning, the realism strikingly rendered. The artwork in Tropic of the Sea is wonderful.

What impressed me the most about Tropic of the Sea, though, is how subtly complex and deceptively simple the narrative is for such a short work. Thematically, Tropic of the Sea has many overlapping layers and the story can be viewed through a number of different lenses. Tropic of the Sea explores generational dissonance, familial disputes, the values of modernity and tradition, the tension between science and religion and skepticism and belief, the human struggle both with and against nature, the power of legends and their impact on reality. (And that’s just to name a few of the many elements in play.) Any of these aspects of Tropic of the Sea can be focused on individually but they are all interconnected and influence one another to form an engaging story with a surprising amount of depth. Out of the various conflicts portrayed, no one side is ever entirely in the right. I enjoyed Tropic of the Sea a great deal. It may be an earlier work, but Kon’s talent was already evident.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Vol. 3

October 5, 2013 by Sean Gaffney

By Yoshikazu Yasuhiko; Original Story by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Hajime Yatate; Mechanical Design by Kunio Okawara. Released in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in the magazine Gundam Ace. Released in North America by Vertical, Inc.

In the first 2 volumes of this Gundam manga it’s been fairly easy to root for our heroes. They’re fighting against an empire with fascist tendencies, and the two main antagonists we’ve gotten so far are a smug schemer and a daddy’s boy who looks to be in over his head and is dispatched fairly easily at the end of the last volume. Char will no doubt continue to be a headache, but Garma is no more. Of course, this means we need a new minor villain, and it’s not going to be Char, as he’s too busy smirking. And so we get to the title character of this book, Ramba Ral.

Make no mistake about it, Ramba Ral is exactly what this book needed at this point. Even if Char is a very popular character with fans, the fact is that the heroes and villains have been more black and white than they needed to be. This is particularly evident at Garma’s state funeral, which Gihren quickly starts using as a political rally to mobilize the troops. This, combined with the funeral choreography and the uniformed fascism, makes the Principality of Zeon look like Nazi and the Naztones to a degree. Ramba Ral is different, and reminds you that this isn’t “fighting aliens” – all of these people are ultimately human beings with human flaws and human virtues. He’s a captain who loves him men, loves to fight, and is very good at it. His wife is second in command and clearly much of the brains behind the operation. It’s a shame that the plot decrees his fate at the end of this book, as I’d much rather he have been the main antagonist.

And counterbalancing Ramba Ral being a villain who is easy to respect and admire, our heroes are having a very rough time of it. Amuro has always been a petulant teenager, but here his temper tantrums get dealt with in detail, and he runs away. Bright, meanwhile, is doing his best to try and think like a commander, but making decisions that are the right thing to do is proving to be unpopular… not only with his men, but with Mirai. As for Sayla, she’s finding that being a double agent is a lot harder than it looks, particularly when you’re not working for the villains. All three of these characters make somewhat dumb decisions, pay for them, and later learn to read people’s hearts to see what the better option is.

There’s still lots of what makes everyone love Gundam in the first place. The battles are taking up more and more space in the book, but are still very exciting. And the political back and forth and constant attempts to get the upper hand is even better. Char excels at this, of course, even when captured for insubordination. He’s just a man who wants his sunglasses. That’s all. Add in an afterward by Shimoku Kio, who draws the female cast, and has the Genshiken meet Amuro, and you have absolutely no reason not to pick this up. An excelletn volume.

Bookshelf Overload: September 2013

October 4, 2013 by Ash Brown

Recently, I’ve mostly been able to limit myself to preorders and review copies when it comes to the manga that makes its way into my domicile. However in September I took advantage of some nice sales at Right Stuf to pick up some out-of-print or otherwise hard to find boys’ love titles. Other out-of print goodies that I acquired in September included the two volumes of Sin-ichi Hiromoto’s Stone and Mari Okazaki’s Sweat and Honey. I was recently re-reading Okazaki’s Suppli and wanted to read more of her work–Sweat and Honey is the only other manga of hers currently available in English.

As for some of the preorders that made me particularly happy in September–well, technically, the first Vinland Saga omnibus won’t be released until next week, but I got my copy early! I’m very excited that the series is finally making its debut in English. Expect a review soon! You can also expect reviews of Satoshi Kon’s Tropic of the Sea and the most recent volume of Takako Shimura’s Wandering Son in the very near future, too. Most people probably won’t be seeing Wandering Son, Volume 5 until later in October, but I ordered mine directly through Fantagraphics and so got it a bit sooner.

In addition to being a good month for manga, September was also a good month for me for comics in general. Archaia’s Cyborg 009, based on Shotaro Ishinomor’s manga, was an interesting project and physically a very handsome release. Gene Luen Yang’s Boxers & Saints was also published in September. It is one of the best comics that I’ve read this year; I highly recommend it. I also picked up some comics directly from artists that I follow online: E. K. Weaver, HamletMachine, and Kori Michele Handwerker.

Manga!
Arisa, Volume 11 by Natsumi Ando
Attack on Titan, Volume 7 by Hajime Isayama
Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, Volume 18 by Yukito Kishiro
Blade of the Immortal, Volume 27 by Hiroaki Samura
A Bride’s Story by Kaoru Mori
Chi’s Sweet Home, Volume 10 by Konami Kanata
The Day of Revolution, Volumes 1-2 by Mikiyo Tsuda
Fairy Tail, Volume 30 by Hiro Mashima
Genshiken: Second Season, Volume 3 by Shimoku Kio
GoGo Monster by Taiyo Matsumoto
Junk! by Shushushu Sakura
Lies & Kisses by Masara Minase
The Man of Tango by Tetuzoh Okadaya
Missing Road by Shushushu Sakurai
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Volume 3 by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
Not Enough Time by Shoko Hidaka
Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Volume 8 by Fumi Yoshinaga
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Short Stories, Volume 1 by Naoko Takeuchi
Restart by Shoko Hidaka
Secrecy of the Shivering Night by Muku Ogura
Sherlock Bones, Volume 1 written by Yuma Ando, illustrated by Yuki Sato
Sky Link by Shiro Yamada
Sleeping Moon, Volume 2 by Kano Miyamoto
Stone, Volumes 1-2 by Sin-ichi Hiromoto
Sweat and Honey by Mari Okazaki
Tropic of the Sea by Satoshi Kon
Vinland Saga, Omnibus 1 by Makoto Yukimura
Virtuoso di Amore by Uki Ogasawara
Wandering Son, Volume 5 by Takako Shimura
Your Honest Deceit, Volumes 1-2 by Sakufu Aijimine

Comics!
Anything That Loves edited by Charles “Zan” Christensen
Boxers & Saints by Gene Luen Yang
Cyborg 009 written by F. J. DeSanto and Bradley Cramp, illustrated by Marcus To and Ian Herring
Devil’s Dance by HamletMachine
Freelancers, Volume 1 written by Eric Esquivel, illustrated by Joshua Covey
Mail Order Bride by Mark Kalesniko
Nothing Is Forgotten by Ryan Andrews
Pervert Club, Volume 1 by Will Allison
Prince of Cats, Numbers 1-4 by Kori Michele Handwerker
Whisper Grass by E. K. Weaver

Novels!
Lonely Hearts Killer by Tomoyuki Hoshino
The Shogun’s Daughter by Laura Joh Rowland

Collections!
Monkey Brain Sushi: New Tastes in Japanese Fiction edited by Alfred Birnbaum

Nonfiction!
The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan by Ivan I. Morris

Anime!
Kick-Heart directed by Masaaki Yuasa
Michiko & Hatchin directed by Sayo Yamamoto

Manga the Week of 10/9

October 3, 2013 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Michelle Smith, Anna N and MJ 2 Comments

SEAN: The 2nd week of the month still has mostly Viz (and Viz-owned imprints), but other companies get to make an appearance as well!

Dark Horse has the Trigun Omnibus, collecting the start of the series before it shifted from shonen to seinen and the author effectively rebooted it. To be honest, I think I prefer these early stories to the Maximum years.

The big release this week comes from Kodansha, with the long-awaited first omnibus of the epic history Vinland Saga. It’s an omnibus, with 2-in-1 hardcovers, and has some extras as well. People have been clamoring for this to be licensed for years, so they’d better buy it, or I’ll be very mad indeed.

ASH: I am one of those who have been clamoring for years. I’m thrilled that Vinland Saga is finally being released!

MICHELLE: While I haven’t exactly been clamoring, I am nonetheless grateful.

ANNA: Planetes was so wonderful, I am really looking forward to reading this. This is one of those titles that has been on my radar for a long time, and I’m happy Kodansha is bringing it out in English.

MJ: I’m extremely interested in this, and all your excitement here is amplifying that considerably!

SEAN: So much for non-Viz. Meanwhile, back with our manga overlords, there’s Vol. 2 of Sleeping Moon. Supernatural BL with a cover that not only doesn’t look like it was made using Photoshop but I would actually say is quite good? Sign me up! (Well, not me *personally*, but the rest of the MB team…)

ASH: I haven’t read the first volume yet, since I wanted to wait to read both volumes of Sleeping Moon at once, but I’ve enjoyed Miyamoto Kano’s work in the past.

MICHELLE: So have I.

ANNA: I have a feeling that I’d find supernatural BL more enjoyable to read than non-supernatural BL, I’m eager to hear what everybody thinks of this.

MJ: I absolutely loved the first volume of this little series, so this is a major draw for me this week.

SEAN: In addition, we have the 20th volume of Tableau Numero from SubLime… wait, no, scratch that, it’s the only volume of Tableau Numero 20, which is by Est Em, and is about painting and stuff, but admit it, you stopped to preorder it when I said ‘by Est Em’, didn’t you? Also, the cover is very nipple-ey.

ASH: I would totally buy twenty volumes of manga by Est Em! I was very happy when SuBLime picked Tableau numéro 20 up. I’m greedy and want even more of her work to be licensed in print, though.

MICHELLE: I actually had no idea there was more est em in the pipeline! Huzzah!

ANNA: I had NO IDEA this was coming out but I say Huzzah too! I’m assuming that this features deeply psychologically nuanced slice of life stories about bullfighting centaurs who are also fans of soccer and not wearing shirts.

MJ: I was completely surprised by this, too! Where have I been?? Also: YAY.

SEAN: Case Closed has hit Vol. 48. In Japan, it’s up to Vol. 80, and I’ve got a spoiler for you: Conan is still trapped in the body of a kid. (Or Jimmy, whatever, phooey to localized names.) Indeed, this volume came out 8 years ago in Japan. Which, to be fair, means they’re catching up – when it debuted, it was 10 years behind. In any case, expect some cool mysteries.

I hope I didn’t overhype Magi, which starts slow, as all Shonen Sunday series do. But I really love this type of Arabian Nights fantasy to bits, and it has some entertaining young kids as its leads. Vol. 2 is coming out. I hope it takes off here.

MICHELLE: I definitely enjoyed the first volume more than I expected to and am looking forward to seeing if that trend continues with volume two.

SEAN: Lastly, there’s not one, but *three* Tiger & Bunny books coming out. Tiger & Bunny 3 continues the manga adaptation of the hit anime, and Tiger & Bunny: The Beginning seems to be a 2-volume adaptation of the movie… I’m not even sure it’s a manga or some sort of anime screencap thing. I’m just about Tiger & Bunnied out, to be honest. Do they ever fight Panty & Stocking?

MICHELLE: I keep trying to really like the manga, but the most I can achieve so far is not hating it. Maybe the third volume will be the charm?

MJ: Let’s hope?

SEAN: What floats your Knarr this week? (Google it.)

Kodansha Comics is hiring; Nakayoshi is awesome

October 3, 2013 by Brigid Alverson

Scott Green speculates about what series will replace Akira Toriyama’s Jaco the Galactic Patrolman in Viz’s Shonen Jump magazine.

When my mom was getting a room painted or papered, she used to let my kids come in and draw on the walls first. Shogakukan did that on a larger scale in August, letting their manga artists come in and draw on the walls of their building, which was demolished a few days later. Now ANN has a photo set of the drawings, which include work by Naoki Urasawa and Fujiko Fujio A.

Tony Yao compares the anime adaptation of Attack on Titan with the original manga.

Job hunting? Kodansha Comics is looking for a manga editor. Ability to read Japanese is a must!

Erica Friedman writes about that shoujo-est of shoujo manga magazines, Nakayoshi, home of Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura.

News from Japan: Suzuhito Yasuda is the artist of Durarara!! and the writer of Yozakura Quartet, so it’s little wonder the two are crossing over—again—this time in a 100-page manga that will come with a limited edition of the Yozakura Quartet: Hana no Uta home video. The spinoff manga K -Days of Blue- will launch next month in Kodansha’s Aria magazine. Speaking of Aria, here’s a sneak peek at Kuinaki Sentaku (A Choice With No Regrets), the Attack on Titan prequel (it’s about Levi) that will launch in the January issue. And ANN has the latest Japanese comics rankings.

Reviews

Ken H. on vols. 17 and 18 of Eremetar Gerade (Comics Should Be Good)
Erica Friedman on vol. 17 of Hayate x Blade (Okazu)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 11 of Naruto (Lesley’s Musings on Manga)
Sakura Eries on vol. 16 of Otomen (The Fandom Post)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Sickness Unto Death (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
John Rose on vol. 1 of Umineko: When They Cry 3 – Turn of the Golden Witch (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Voice Over: Seiyuu Academy (I Reads You)

Manga Giveaway: Arisa Giveaway Winner

October 2, 2013 by Ash Brown

And the winner of the Arisa manga giveaway is…Ana Death Duarte!

As the winner, Ana will be receiving copies of the first and most recent volumes of Natsumi Ando’s manga series Arisa to be released in English. (Namely, the first and eleventh volumes.) Because Arisa features a set of twins, for this giveaway I asked that entrants tell me a little about the twins that they’ve encountered while reading manga. Do check out the giveaway comments for all of the responses. And thank you to everyone who shared and participated!

Now, because I use giveaways as an excuse to compile lists, here are some of the manga licensed in English that feature twins:

Another written by Yukito Ayatsuji, illustrated by Hiro Kiyohara
Arisa by Natsumi Ando
Ax: Alternative Manga by Various
Basara by Yumi Tamura
Black Lagoon by Rei Hiroe
Blue Exorcist by Kazue Kato
Bond of Dreams, Bond of Love by Yaya Sakuragi
A Bride’s Story by Kaoru Mori
Cage of Eden by Yoshinobu Yamada
Deadman Wonderland written by Jinsei Kataoka, illustrated by Kazuma Kondou
Chobits by CLAMP
Clover by CLAMP
D.N. Angel by Yukiru Sugisaki
A Drunken Dream and Other Stories by Moto Hagio
Fushigi Yûgi: Genbu Kaiden by Yuu Watase
Ghost Hunt by Shiho Inada
Goth written by Otsuichi, illustrated by Kendi Oiwa
Grand Guignol Orchestra by Kaori Yuki
GTO: 14 Days in Shonan by Tohru Fujisawa
Hayate X Blade by Shizuru Hayashiya
Higurashi: When They Cry written by Ryukishi07
Jiu Jiu by Touya Tobina
Jyu-Oh-Sei by Natsumi Itsuki
King of Thorn by Yuji Iwahara
Knights of the Zodiac by Masami Kurumada
Mars by Fuyumi Soryo
Miracle Girls by Nami Akimoto
Monster by Naoki Urasawa
MW by Osamu Tezuka
No. 5 by Taiyo Matsumoto
Ouran High School Host Club by Bisco Hatori
Pandora Hearts by Jun Mochizuki
Papillon by Miwa Ueda
Pretty Face by Yasuhiro Kano
Revolutionary Girl Utena by Chiho Saito
Tokyo Babylon by CLAMP
Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle by CLAMP
The Twin Knights by Osamu Tezuka
Utahime by Aki
Utsubora by Asumiko Nakamura
Vampire Knight by Matsuri Hino
Vassalord by Nanae Chrono
xxxHolic by CLAMP
Zatch Bell by Makoto Raiku
Ze by Yuki Shimizu

The above list is mostly made up of manga that I have either read or that were mentioned by those participating in the giveaway. Although lengthy, it is by no means comprehensive; there are many, many more manga with twins (licensed and unlicensed) that could have been named. Thank you again to everyone who entered the giveaway! I hope you’ll stop by again when it’s time for the next one.

Dropping Our Gaze Before the Glory of Nakayoshi

October 2, 2013 by Erica Friedman Leave a Comment

In a world of stories about and for Princesses, Nakayoshi is Queen.

Nakayoshi Magazine, published by Kodansha Publishing, is the oldest continuously-published manga magazine for girls. Begun in 1954, Nakayoshi sells 170,834 copies a month, according the the Japanese Magazine Publishers’ Association. Nakayoshi has disctictively colorful covers wrapped around 500 pages of stories that range from the most light-hearted magical girl to far more serious travails of love, life and even adventure.

In the 1990s, Nakyoshi branched out into anime. Sailor Moon, a popular series running in Nakayoshi at the time, is widely considered to be the catalyst that broke shoujo out of being a small, self-contained niche, into mainstream anime and manga awareness, both in Japan and the West. Now that Sailor Moon is on the verge of a revival for it’s 20th anniversary, the pages of Nakayoshi are once again filled with teasers, and themed goods for the series.

If you’ve been reading manga for more than a few years, I’d bet dollars to donuts that you’ve heard of, if not read, a Nakayoshi series. Sailor Moon, Card Captor Sakura, Magic Knight Rayearth and Saint Tail are all “gateway” series for folks who came to anime and manga in the 1990s. Recent popular series are Ghost Hunt by Inada Shiho, Shugo Chara! by Peach Pit and Jigoku Shoujo and Jigoku Shoujo R (Published in English as Hell Girll) illustrated by Etou Miyuki.

Nakayoshi, like its competition in the girls’ manga market, comes packaged with “furoku;” small gifts, jewelry, accessories, stickers, etc., branded with series from the magazine, or with the Nakayoshi brand itself. The current issue, for instance, contains a paper stationary set. Nakayoshi has a website on which each series is given a page with character introductions, links to published volumes, available downloads and other typical website features. Trial chapters of current manga is available on the website as are video trailers and promotions. Nakayoshi also has ongoing recruitment for new artists, a change from even a few years ago.

At 500 pages for 580￥ per volume, ($5.90 at time of writing,) Nakayoshi can surprise you with nearly every page. Following “DokiDoki Precure,” which as an extremely popular anime franchise in Japan, is a pretty straightforward magical girl story. “Watashi ni XXX Shinasai” is a comedy-romance, Andou Narumi returns with “Waltz no Jikan,” a love story built around that favorite of young girls everywhere…ballroom dancing. “Sabagebu~!” follows a transfer student who finds herself embroiled with the heavily armed Survival Game Club at her new school and has just been slated for 2014 anime. And even wildly popular music idols such as Vocaloids and AKB48 have a niche in Nakayoshi, as their manga runs in the pages. You really just never know what you’ll find in the pages of this Grand Old Dame of girls’ manga.

Nakayoshi Magazine from Kodansha Publishing: http://kc.kodansha.co.jp/magazine/index.php/01033

Sickness Unto Death, Vol. 1

October 2, 2013 by Sean Gaffney

By Hikaru Asada and Takahiro Seguchi. Released in Japan as “Shi ni Itaru Yamai” by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Young Animal. Released in North America by Vertical.

This manga starts in right away telling you that it’s going to be a tragedy. The very first scene shows us our hero, as an adult, visiting the grave of the heroine. It’s very stark, especially considering how much emphasis the rest of the text puts on trying to save her from her inner demons and her despair. But given how the efforts to save her are, much of the time, exactly the wrong thing to do (or being handled by the wrong person), it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. This isn’t a romantic comedy, it’s ‘watching a car crash in slow motion’ manga. Still, that can be riveting, and it in here.

We get most of the story, as I said, in flashback. Kazuma, a young man going to college so he can study psychology, answers an ad providing lodging for him if he could care for a sick person. Said person is Emiru, an emaciated young woman whose hair has turned white and who seems to exist in a perpetual state of “almost dying” without actually doing so. Kazuma is immediately attracted to her, and decides that he’s going to try his best to get her out of this gloom that her life has become. As I noted above, this is a giant mistake. Emiru’s butler, who should step in as a mature adult and say this, doesn’t say anything as he’s beholden to the family, and also gets conveniently written out. Kazuma’s teacher helps him understand the psychological aspects of Emiru’s mindset, but thinks he’s speaking in the abstract. And then things get more intimate…

I’ll be honest with you, it’s hard for me to read this work without thinking of another manga that revolves, supposedly, around despair. It doesn’t help that as an adult, Kazuma bears a distinct resemblance to Itoshiki-sensei, the lead teacher in Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei, and that manga too has him dealing with young women with psychological problems. This is an altogether darker work, though, and where it best succeeds is focusing on Emiru’s all-encompassing pain and despondency. It doesn’t help that we see flashbacks to her about two years ago, and she’s a cute, outgoing young high school student – the sort of girl who would be the love interest in some shonen harem manga. Now her hair has turned white, she’s so thin you can almost see through her, and she lives on the verge of despair. Of course, this is a two-volume series, so we don’t actually find out her tragic past till next volume, but I can hazard a few guesses…

I greatly enjoyed this volume, but I have to admit that a lot of the time I was screaming at Kazuma “No, no, don’t do that, argh, are you stupid?!” But hey, he’s a young smitten teenager who’s fallen for someone who seems to be drifting away from him even as he meets her. It’s no wonder he’s so desperate. And so here, in this volume, we have the Sickness. I can only presume Volume Two will bring the Death. It looks to be riveting.

September Switch, new manga, and more

October 1, 2013 by Brigid Alverson

Digital Manga’s September Switch promotion is still going on for a bit longer; at Panel Patter, Rob McMonigal takes a closer look at what it entails—basically, sign up with eManga and show you have bought an e-book somewhere else, and they will give you a free volume of manga. As eManga now offers DRM-free downloads, this may be something for yaoi fans in particular to explore.

The Manga Bookshelf team discusses their Pick of the Week.

News from Japan: Writer Tow Ubukata (Fafner, Mardock Scramble, Le Chevalier d’Eon) is teaming up with artist Rururu Kondoh to launch a new series, Gargoyle, in the November issue of Young King Ours. The series is set at the end of the shogunate and Ubukata describes it as “Shinsengumi in the style of X-Men.”

Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf team look over some recent releases in their latest set of Bookshelf Briefs. Ash Brown looks at My Week in Manga at Experiments in Manga.

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 23 of Claymore (The Comic Book Bin)
Erica Friedman on the September issue of Comic Yuri Hime (Okazu)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 4 of Missions of Love (Comics Worth Reading)
Matthew Warner on vol. 11 of Sailor Moon (The Fandom Post)
Derek Bown on the September 23 issue of Shonen Jump (Manga Bookshelf)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 5 of Strobe Edge (Blogcritics)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Voice Over: Seiyuu Academy (ANN)

Weekly Shonen Jump Recap: September 23, 2013

October 1, 2013 by Derek Bown 1 Comment

Hey kids! Do you like rants!? You do? Well lucky you because we’ve got another classic comedy moment this week, all thanks to Kishimoto-sensei!

Fortunately everything else was actually okay otherwise I might have lost it this week.

Jaco The Galactic Patrolman Ch. 010
I was right about the rocket going down, not so much about Pants (or whatever her name is) dying. But I guess I should have expected as much, this is, after all, Toriyama, the man that figured out a way to kill every single one of his characters and bring them back anyway. I guess I was just hoping it would go a darker route. Still, with this being the second to last chapter of the series I still find myself more or less at a loss of what to say. I guess I enjoyed that the detective turned out to be reasonable, so at least we don’t have to worry about an irritatingly stubborn kind of antagonist. And I do admit that Jaco’s line at the end of the chapter was the best thing in existence. But, am I the only one that remembers there was supposed to be an upcoming alien invasion?

Naruto Ch. 647
For everything that Kishimoto does to make me maybe like Naruto again he then ruins it all with his awful sense of comedy. I’m almost speechless at how horrible his humor has gotten. What exactly was supposed to be funny about Karin’s scene? Here we had a decently tense scene and what does Kishimoto do? He brings his second worst character back and has her think something perverted. The world is about to be destroyed, this is no time for misplaced comedy. He keeps doing this too. Kishimoto used to be moderately funny, but it’s like he lost his mind. It’s almost like he became a father or something and lost all sense of humor. As all fathers inevitably do.

Is his editor not doing his job? Or is his sense of humor just as bad? At what point does any professional with a working brain think, “Hey, this tense moment? Let’s screw it up with bad comedy.” It probably wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t Karin, who has become a poster child for everything wrong with Kishimoto’s writing. She was the first girl to escape from the dreaded “Sasuke Crush Syndrome” and the first character who actually went from “Well this is a stereotypical waste of space” to a character I actually kind of admired for finally learning that Sasuke is a raving lunatic. So what does Kishimoto do with her? He goes on to show that apparently Sasuke is so irresistible that even his attempted murder victims can’t help but fall in love with him again.

What is going through his mind that makes him think this is okay? Sasuke would be perfectly fine, if he were a completely different character, but how exactly are we supposed to take anything he does seriously when women are falling for him left and right and won’t leave him be even when he tries to murder them. This isn’t a well written character, it’s a stinking harem series protagonist.

The rest of the chapter doesn’t even matter, because all I could think about was how terrible Kishimoto writes Karin and how he apparently has lost all understanding of what humor is. Reading this series is like reading something written by a space alien. They clearly are trying really hard, but they just don’t understand humans and can’t properly represent them in writing.

Toriko Ch. 250
Well then. I guess it doesn’t count as cannibalism if you feed your young to pigs and then eat the pigs, rather than just eating the young yourself. I…wow…yeah…

What is up with Toriko and randomly getting far darker than a series with such a goofy premise has any place being. Granted, I loved Midora’s back-story, it’s certainly unique, but I can’t focus on anything but this image of babies being fed to pigs. I…jeez…

I do like the explanation for how Midora’s power works. It’s not a, “I have this power because.” It actually ties in to the ability he’s already displayed. Which is solid writing. Now if only I could get that image out of my head.

One-Punch Man Ch. 26
This is turning out to be the goriest week for shonen manga. First we’ve got pigs eating babies, and now Genos pretty much must have lost all his biological components to that acid.

I appreciate Mummen Rider’s scene. It may be mimicking previous scenes from this arc, but in this case I think it works better because we got rid of any illusion that “determination will win the day”. It’s very clear he’s not going to win this under any circumstances. And yet he fights, and this makes him even more sympathetic. I can only hope that he becomes the third member of Saitama’s group. He just seems like he’d be a lot of fun.

World Trigger Ch. 031
Aaaand I’m starting to hate this series again. Sure there were some good moments, such as Director Shinoda’s declaration, and the fact that he’s apparently the only sane person there. But anytime Kido does anything I keep thinking, “Why hasn’t the board removed him from power? The man is obviously imbalanced, somebody impeach the guy before he blows up a town!”

Pretty much most of the problems this series has can be symbolized with a picture of Kido’s face. The guy is obviously an antagonist, but he’s in a position of authority in what is clearly a militaristic/corporate setting. Do we not think that Bill Gates would have been kicked off the board at Microsoft if he’d decided to send a hit squad after the Genius Bar in the local apple store? There are just some things that don’t work in the real world, and the more a story relates its events to the real world the fewer leaps of logic and plot holes there can be.

Nisekoi Ch. 091
Yeah, uh, amnesia does not work that way. I’m pretty sure you don’t forget everything from the time you had amnesia when you remember everything before that. Well, I guess it works to further confuse the readers about what exactly happened in the past. As long as this series goes back to being funny I won’t complain. For someone that prefers a different girl with Raku this kind of chapter can be tedious or frustrating. Speaking as someone that prefers most of the girls over Chitoge I have to say this wasn’t my favorite chapter. And yet, it’s not like those Ryoga/Akari chapters from back in the day when I was reading Ranma 1/2, in that I can actually tolerate Chitoge’s presence and even enjoy her most of the time. So kudos, Naoshi, you’ve created my least favorite character and yet you’re able to keep me from hating her. Not sure how you did it, but you did.

Bleach Ch. 549
Dammit manga artists, stop murdering/maiming children! First we got Toriko and now we’ve got this chapter. I may not have my own kids, but I’m certainly old enough for any violence against children to make me very uncomfortable. So please, knock it off!

And what exactly is up with Soi Fon mastering the Shunko because she doesn’t have her bankai? She specifically said, the first time she used it, that she doesn’t like her bankai because it’s the exact opposite of how she likes to fight. How exactly would having her bankai to rely on keep her from training her preferred method of fighting when she never wants to rely on it in the first place? It’s like a fist fighter not practicing his best punch because he has a knife to rely on. Sure a knife is more powerful, but if he’s better with his fists and prefers using his fists why would having a knife keep him from practicing his punches?

I understand what Kubo is doing, he wants his characters to find new power without relying on their trump cards. But Soi Fon is not the character to do that with, because she never relied on her bankai in the first place. In fact, why was she one of the ones to pull out her bankai during the Quincy invasion?

At least the Quincy aren’t going down so easily. Sure I’d like to just get to the conclusion of this series, but I’d prefer if we do it right rather than rushing through everything. So for now I’ll sit here, judging every move Kubo makes as if he were a beginner. Because there is a point where an experienced creator starts getting lazy and making rookie mistakes. If he can avoid those we might actually remember this series fondly after all.

Dragon Ball Z Ch. 032
Well, Nappa’s served his purpose and now it’s time for the main event. Nappa may not have been a very interesting character, but I always feel a bit of regret that he didn’t stick around for longer. Vegeta is fun and all, but I would have loved to have all the three Saiyan characters stick around together. It could have been a wacky sitcom.

Though, to be fair, most of my wish to keep Nappa around revolves entirely around the DBZ Abridged version of his character.

Not a good week to be a manga child. Not sure where the sudden violence against children is coming from, but let’s hope it doesn’t repeat next week. Besides that, the chapters were mostly okay to not so great. There was still enough to enjoy, but more than a few series chose this week to show off their weaknesses.

If you want to hear more, check out the Manga^3 Podcast Archives.