Today marks the first official day of Anime Boston, which celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year. Guests include anime and manga scholar Helen McCarthy, artist Shiu Yoshijima, GeekGal Sara Hodge-Wetherbe, and translator Zack Davisson. If you’re planning to attend, be prepared for big crowds; last year’s convention saw more than 29,000 people pass through the show floor.
In other news, AbramsComicArts is getting into the manga publishing biz; Kodansha revealed two new licensing acquisitions; Netflix unveiled the trailer for The Drops of God; Jun Mayazuki is TCAF’s guest of honor this year; PW named TOKYOPOP one of the fastest-growing publishers in North America; and volume nine of Spy x Family was the best-selling book in America last week. Last but not least, Rumiko Takahashi was awarded France’s Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, a distinction she shares with fellow manga artists Akira Toriyama, Katsuhiro Otomo, Go Nagai, Leiji Matsumoto, and Jiro Taniguchi.
AROUND THE WEB…
Carrie McClain’s latest Seven Seas Pubwatch highlights three of the publisher’s best March releases: orange—to you, dear one, The Villainess and the Demon Knight, and I Didn’t Mean to Fall in Love. [WWAC]
The Yatta-Tachi crew compile a master list of April’s new manga and light novel offerings. [Yatta-Tachi]
Dee, Alex, and Cy dedicate a second episode of Chatty AF to the depiction of aromantic and asexual characters in anime and manga. [Anime Feminist]
Walt Richardson, Emily Myers, and Zack Wilkerson discuss chapters 1033-1057 of One Piece. [Multiversity Manga Club]
Suit up with the Manga Mavericks for a lively discussion of Shotaro Ishinomori’s Super Sentai: Himitsu Sentai Gorenger. [Manga Mavericks]
The latest installment of Shojo & Tell focuses on CLAMP School Detectives. [Shojo & Tell]
Can’t get enough CLAMP? Gee and Ray are also exploring the highs and lows of the CLAMP canon, from Cardcaptor Sakura to Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. [Read Right to Left]
In memory of the late, great Leiji Matsumoto, Jon Holt and Teppei Fukuda translate Natsume Fusanosuke’s “The Ruins of Space Battleship Yamato: An Essay on Matsumoto Leiji and War.” [The Comics Journal]
REVIEWS
This week’s must-read review comes from Kristin, who names The Horizon one of the best new series of 2023. “The Horizon only has 21 chapters, but it is still as impactful, if not more impactful, than stories I’ve read with 100 chapters or more,” she observes. It didn’t take as much of a toll on me as Goodnight Punpun by Inio Asano or No Longer Human by Usamaru Furuya did, but it came close, and for a series that’s this compact, this is a huge feat.” Sold!
At No Flying No Tights, Gail describes Shuna’s Journey as “a fascinating look at the creator’s earliest work”… at Good Comics for Kids, Renee Scott reviews Call the Name of the Night, while Johanna Draper Carlson tackles Embrace Your Size: My Own Body Positivity… and the Manga Bookshelf gang post a new set of Bookshelf Briefs.
New and Noteworthy
- Blue Lock, Vol. 1 (SKJAM! Reviews)
- A Galaxy Next Door, Vol. 1 (Helen, The OASG)
- A History of Modern Manga (Karen Gellender, The Fandom Post)
- If You Could See Love, Vols. 1-3 (Luce, Okazu)
- Insomniacs After School, Vol. 1 (Katherine Dacey, The Manga Critic)
- Kitaro, Japan’s Classic Manga (Zach Quaintance, The Beat)
- Minami’s Lover (Publishers Weekly)
- My Dear Agent, Vol. 1 (Demelza, Anime UK News)
- No Longer Heroine, Vol. 1 (Kaley Connell, Yatta-Tachi)
- The Otherworlder, Exploring the Dungeon, Vol. 1 (Adam Symchuk, Asian Movie Pulse)
- The Otherworlder, Exploring the Dungeon, Vol. 1 (Richard Gutierrez, The Fandom Post)
- Sugar Apple Fairy Tale, Vol. 1 (Brett Michael Orr, Honey’s Anime)
- Tista, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman, ANN)
- Tista, Vol. 1 (Adam Symchuk, Asian Movie Pulse)
- Tista, Vol. 1 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)
- The Valiant Must Fall, Vol. 1 (Adam Symchuk, Asian Movie Pulse)
Complete and Ongoing Series
- The Girl I Saved on the Train Turned Out to Be My Childhood Friend, Vol. 2 (Azario Lopez, Noisy Pixel)
- Nina the Starry Bride, Vols. 4-6 (Helen, The OASG)
- Shadows House, Vols. 2-3 (Adam Symchuk, Asian Movie Pulse)
- Shadows House, Vol. 3 (Sarah, Anime UK News)
- Tokyo Aliens, Vol. 2 (Demelza, Anime UK News)