Hi, all! Its been a relatively slow news week manga-wise and a crazy week for me work-wise, so I’m going to dispense with the snappy introduction and get right to the links! As always, if there’s a great blog, podcast, or YouTube channel that you think should be featured in The Manga Review, leave a comment below or contact me through Twitter. Your suggestions have already helped me make this a more inclusive and representative space, so keep ’em coming!
NEWS AND FEATURES
The folks at J-List have posted a thoughtful article explaining the steps the United Workers of Seven Seas will need to take in order to unionize. If you don’t know much about the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and its role in “mediat[ing] between the employer, union, and other parties to iron out all the details,” start here. [J-List Blog]
Erica Friedman’s latest Yuri Studio episode is now live, and focuses on sports in yuri anime and manga. [Okazu]
After a brief hiatus from blogging, Allison Ziebruh has revived Bloom Reviews with a raft of new reviews, as well as a thoughtful reflection on the current isekai manga boom. [Bloom Reviews]
Kelli Ewings posts a sneak preview of new works by Gengoroh Tagame, explaining why she’s excited to see more of his ground-breaking work available in English. [Panel Patter]
Wondering what’s new at Seven Seas? Carrie McClain has you covered with licensing news, unionization updated, and brief reviews of The Muscle Girl Next Door, Until I Meet My Husband, and more. [Women Write About Comics]
Laura Grace continues working her way through the shojo manga alphabet with a look at her favorite titles that begin with the letter D. [Beneath the Tangles]
Buckle up, Ryuko fans: Andrew Osmond just sat down for an interview with creator Eldo Yoshimizu. When asked why all his manga feature tough, sexy women in leading roles, he responded, “I like the strong woman, maybe that’s the reason. Especially when I started writing Ryuko, I wanted a lot to have female readers. I had that idea in my head. Especially in Japan, the woman is treated as vulnerable, kawaii… For child readers, that’s fine, but I wanted to provide something more sophisticated, better for the adult readers. Asura [the protagonist in Hen Kai Pan] and Ryuko, they make mistakes and they suffer a lot, and they’re going to grow up… That’s the kind of story I wanted.” [Anime News Network]
REVIEWS
Over at The Guardian, Rachel Cooke posts a thoughtful review of Yamada Murasaki’s Talk to My Back, due out from Drawn & Quarterly this summer. “Murasaki captures her character’s every mood shift and internal contradiction, her guilt as well as her longing (more than once, other people tell Chiharu she should be “grateful” for her life – as if she didn’t know this herself),” Cooke observes. “But Murasaki leavens this by recalling, too, the quotidian pleasures and rituals of home: the jokes, the teasing, a delicious (“slurp”) bowl of noodles. The result is a cross-cultural book about female self-worth – about where it comes from and why it sometimes disappears – that stands the test of time in the most remarkable way.”
Also of note: The OASG’s Justin and Helen offer their perspectives on the latest volume of Witch Hat Atelier, while ANN’s Lynzee Loveridge gives Hideshi Hino’s The Town of Pigs a solid grade of B, and Solrad’s Helen Chazan posts capsule reviews of several new releases.
- Black Clover, Vol. 29 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)
- Call of the Night, Vols. 7-8 (King Baby Duck, Boston Bastard Brigade)
- Days (Krystallina, Daiyamanga)
- Death Note: Short Stories (darkstorm, Anime UK News)
- Ghost Reaper Girl, Vol. 1 (Brett Michael Orr, Honey’s Anime)
- Golden Cain (Megan D., The Manga Test Drive)
- The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated!, Vol. 2 (Justin, The OASG)
- Hikaru in the Light!, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman)
- Housekeeping from Another World: Making Your Adventures Feel Like Home, Vol. 1 (AM Ziebruh, Bloom Reviews)
- Hyperventilation (Sarah, Anime UK News)
- Island in a Puddle, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)
- Kenka Bancho Otome: Love’s Battle Royale, Vols. 1-2 (Kaley Connell, Yatta-Tachi)
- The King’s Beast, Vol. 1 (Kaley Connell, Yatta-Tachi)
- Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible, Vol. 1 (Harry, Honey’s Anime)
- Kubo Wont’ Let Me Be Invisible, Vol. 1 (King Baby Duck, Boston Bastard Brigade)
- Look Back (MrAJCosplay, Anime News Network)
- Lost Lad London, Vol. 1 (Sarah, Anime UK News)
- Mizuno and Chayama (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)
- Monologue Woven For You, Vol. 2 (Matt Marcus, Okazu)
- My Brother’s Husband (Andy Oliver, Broken Frontier)
- Only the Ring Finger Knows (Megan D., The Manga Test Drive)
- The Savior’s Book Café Story in Another World, Vol. 1 (AM Ziebruh, Bloom Reviews)
- Sleepy Princess in the Demon King’s Castle, Vol. 17 (Justin, The OASG)
- To Strip the Flesh (Eric Alex Cline, AiPT!)
- Turns Out My Online Friend Is My Boss (Helen, The OASG)
- Welcome Back, Alice, Vol. 1 (Demelza, Anime UK News)