As 2022 draws to a close, there’s still time to support your favorite manga charity with a book or cash donation. Two organizations I highly recommend are Reader to Reader, which is based in Amherst, MA, and the Carolina Manga Library, which is based in Fayetteville, NC. Reader to Reader has dedicated itself to providing books “free of charge, to under-resourced school libraries and public libraries across the United States,” while the Carolina Manga Library brings its collection directly to readers: “The Library travels to conventions, book festivals, schools, and other libraries to set up free reading rooms of graphic novels” with the goal of “using graphic novels, comics, and Japanese manga as genuine tools for improving literacy.” Another way to make a difference in a young person’s life is Donors Choose, a site that enables public school teachers to crowd-source funding for supplies, books, and projects. Right now, over 150 educators around the country need your help purchasing manga for their students. No donation is too small; even a few dollars can make a difference!
One programming note: The Manga Review will be on hiatus until Friday, January 6th. If you have a best-of-2022 post that you’d like included in the January 6th column, leave a comment below or DM me on Twitter (@manga_critic). Wishing everyone a safe and happy new year!
NEWS AND VIEWS
Don’t forget to take the 2022 Yuri Fandom Survey; Erica Friedman is keenly interested in hearing about your experiences with yuri. Why now? Friedman explains: “Over the years there has been a lot of research into Boys Love and BL fandom and it seemed time to set up something to get a feel for what Yuri fandom is like in the 2020s, now that it has an established presence in most Japanese pop-culture media.” [Okazu]
Good news from Japan: Akira Toriyama’s criminally under-appreciated SAND LAND is getting the big-screen treatment. No word yet on when the film will be released, but there’s already a teaser trailer. [Otaku USA]
Also coming to the silver screen is an adaptation of Shinichi Ishikzuka’s Blue Giant, which will arrive in theaters on February 17, 2023. [Otaku USA]
Ed Piskor and Jim Rugg dedicate a recent episode of Cartoonist Kayfabe to one of my all-time favorite manga: Jiro Taniguchi’s Hotel Harbour View, a collection of intertwined stories that owe a big debt to Dashiell Hammett. [Cartoonist Kayfabe]
Also worth a listen is Katie Skelly, Sally Madden and Bhanu Pratap’s in-depth conversation about Seiichi Hayashi’s Red-Colored Elegy. [Thick Lines]
The newest issue of the Journal of Anime and Manga Studies is now available online, with articles about Grave of the Fireflies, Sailor Moon, Stop!! Hibari-Kun!, and Mobile Suit Gundam, as well as essays about the impact of COVID-19 on anime conventions. [JAMS]
Jocelyne Allen is cautiously optimistic about Natsume Ono’s newest series Bokura ga Koi o Shina no wa. “This is the story I have wanted to read from Ono for so long,” Allen notes. “Her thoughtful style with an eye for capturing little moments works so well on this kind of leisurely character study. She knows just what to put on the page to evoke a certain mood or give us a little insight into a particular character’s thinking, often letting her images speak entirely for themselves. So I will dare to pick up volume three and hope that Ono keeps going in this very welcome direction.” [Brain vs. Book]
THE BEST AND WORST OF 2022
Whether you’ve been a long-time listener or just discovered the Mangasplaining podcast, you’ll want to check out their year-in-review episode for some great recommendations. [Mangasplaining]
Kory, Helen, and Apryll name their favorite–and least favorite–manga of 2022. [Taiiku Podcast]
Krystallina posts a two-part round-up of 2022’s biggest anime and manga news stories, from the Seven Seas unionization effort to the debut of Square Enix’s MangaUP! platform. [The OASG]
The Multiversity Comics crew name Shuna’s Journey the best manga of 2022. [Multiversity Comics]
The New York Public Library offers a list of the year’s best new manga for adults, from Talk to My Back to Rooster Hunter. [NYPL]
Kotaku’s Best Manga of 2022 list is a nice mixture of crowd-pleasers and serious titles. [Kotaku]
Also offering a list of this year’s best manga and manhwa is Barnes & Noble. [B&N]
REVIEWS
This week’s must-read review is Masha Zhdanova’s thoughtful reflection on Good-Bye, Eri. She starts with a deceptively simple question–“Why is Goodbye, Eri a comic?”–then proceeds to do a rigorous analysis of the panel structure and narrative flow. “Fixed grids allow the cartoonist to control the pacing of the narrative in a different way than more experimental layout choices can, by repeating images and intercutting sequences together, much like a movie,” she observes. “In a movie, this sequence would require a linear juxtaposition, probably with a soundtrack behind it. In a comic, all of the individual moments of this wordless sequence can be viewed by the reader simultaneously, and the reader can choose whether to perceive them all at once or down each page, right to left.”
- Afro-Samurai, Vol. 1 (MrAJCosplay, ANN)
- Be My Love, My Lord (MrAJCosplay, ANN)
- Black Clover, Vol. 31 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)
- Black Paradox (Terry Hong, BookDragon)
- Drip Drip (Megan D., The Manga Test Drive)
- I Think Our Son Is Gay, Vol. 3 (Helen, The OASG)
- In the Clear Moonlit Dusk, Vol. 1 (Megan D., The Manga Test Drive)
- In the Clear Moonlit Dusk, Vol. 1 (Demelza, Anime UK News)
- Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish (Noemi10, Anime UK News)
- The Liminal Zone (Terry Hong, BookDragon)
- Look Back (Megan D., The Manga Test Drive)
- No Longer Heroine, Vol. 1 (Megan D., The Manga Test Drive)
- Rainbow Days, Vol. 1 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)
- Sakamoto Days, Vols. 4-5 (King Baby Duck, Boston Bastard Brigade)
- The Shonen Jump Guide to Making Manga (Danica Davidson, Otaku USA)
- Shuna’s Journey (Megan D., The Manga Test Drive)
- Snow Fairy (Sarah, Anime UK News)
- Soulmate, Vol. 2 (Laurent Lignon, Okazu)
- Super Shoku King, Vol. 1 (Krystallina, Daiyamanga)
- To Strip the Flesh (Terry Hong, BookDragon)
- Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga li, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman, ANN)
- YoRHa: Pearl Harbor Descent Record – A NieR:Automata Story, Vol. 1 (James Beckett, ANN)