After months of speculation, Kodansha formally announced that it would be launching K Manga, a digital platform that will allow fans to read the latest chapters of current series as well as the full run of old favorites. The app, which will debut on May 10, 2023, will be available for both iOS and Android, and will function as “Kodansha’s official serialization platform.” As Deb Aoki notes, Kodansha’s press release was “vague in some key areas,” with no information about “pricing or subscription models,” but included a brief list of titles that would be available right away, from Attack on Titan and Blue Lock to Ghost in the Shell, Fairy Tail, and Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagataro. Speaking with The OASG, Deputy Editor Yuta Hiraoka explained Kodansha’s decision to create its own digital platform for English-language readers. “To produce many simulpub titles, we had to be able to control the entirety of the process directly in-house,” Hiraoka told The OASG. “We also thought that by having all the titles available on the same service, we would be able to provide the same comfortable reading experience as we do in Japan.”
NEWS
Coming soon to a theater near near you: My Neighbor Totoro, which celebrates its 35th anniversary this year. Screenings will take place across the US between March 25th and March 29th. [Otaku USA]
ICYMI: Astro Boy’s boots have inspired one of 2023’s most outlandish—and fun!—fashion trends. [Black Girl Nerds]
Drawn & Quarterly will be publishing Yokai: The Art of Shigeru Mizuki in October 2023. [Anime News Network]
In other licensing news, Seven Seas announced that it will release a deluxe edition of Nagata Kabi’s My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness as well as a new, follow-up volume called My Pancreas Broke, But My Life Got Better. Seven Seas will also publish Black Night Parade, a comedy from the creator of Arakawa Under the Bridge and Saint Young Men. [Seven Seas]
ARTICLES AND OPINION
Sam Moore explores the horror of Kazuo Umezz’s classic The Drifting Classroom, comparing it with more recent coming-of-age stories. “Both Classroom and Promised Neverland create their horror by changing the ways in which time functions for these adolescent characters,” he notes. “Instead of being on the cusp of something – and growing as people to face whatever that might be – they’re thrown into the future both temporally and personally.” [The Gutter Review]
Is it too soon to start composing your Best Manga of 2023 list? The gang at Noisy Pixel don’t think so, and have just named their ten favorite manga of 2023… so far. Don’t be surprised if one or two of these make the final cut in December. [Noisy Pixel]
The latest Chatty AF focuses on how asexual and aromantic characters are represented in Our Dreams at Dusk, Sex Ed 120%, and I Want to Be a Wall. [Anime Feminist]
Kory, Apryll, and Helen review The Girl That Can’t Get a Girlfriend and Run on Your New Legs. [Manga in Your Ears]
The Trash Manga Friends jump in the WABAC machine for a look at Ultimate Muscle (Kinnikuman), a Shonen Jump classic from the 1970s. [Trash Manga Friends]
The OverMangaCast crew discuss the first twelve chapters of Tokyo Revengers. [OverMangaCast]
Xan dedicates the most recent Spiraken Manga Review to two new series: The Invisible Man & His Soon-To-Be Wife and Lazy Dungeon Master. [Spiraken Manga Review]
Before Naoya Matsumoto created Kaiju No. 8, he wrote Nekowappa!, a story about a human raised by cat gods. David and Jordan offer their first impressions of this two-volume series. [Shonen Flop]
Small press alert: the Manga Machinations crew focus on three indie manga: Mermaid Town, The Karman Line, and WONDER HOUSE OF HORRORS. [Manga Machinations]
Over at SOLRAD, Ayla Marsden posts an in-depth reflection on Kiyoko Okazaki’s Helter Skelter, in which an aging model who takes extreme measures to preserve her youthful body. “What fascinates me most is the woman’s body as a grounds for transformation, as a place of not only beauty and youth, but also of extreme ugliness and decay,” Marsden observes. “In that vein, I am fascinated by the woman’s body as a location of horror through transformation – the great potential that this body has to shock, disgust, and ultimately liberate.” [SOLRAD]
REVIEWS
If you need a reminder why Scott Cederlund is one of the best comics critics out there, check out his poignant review of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Look Back. Elsewhere, Arpad Okay praises Mothers, a new anthology from Glacier Bay Books… Megan D. takes Blue Giant for a test drive… The Reverse Thieves name Skip and Loafer their manga of the month… Justin and Marcella continue their read-through of Revolutionary Girl Utena… and the latest Reader’s Corner offers pithy assessments of Call the Name of the Night, Ima Koi, and The Remarried Empress.
New and Noteworthy
- Blood Moon (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)
- Disobey the Duke If You Dare, Vol. 1 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)
- The Girl Who Can’t Get a Girlfriend (Jaime, Yuri Stargirl)
- Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, Vol. 1 (Harry, Honey’s Anime)
- Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, Vol. 1 (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
- Hand in Hand (Eve Healy)
- Insomniacs After School, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman, ANN)
- Karate Master Isekai, Vol. 1 (Adam Symchuk, Asian Movie Pulse)
- Mermaid Scales and the Town of Sand (Harry, Honey’s Anime)
- My Clueless First Friend, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman, ANN)
- My Clueless First Friend, Vol. 1 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)
- My Gently Raised Beast, Vol. 1 (Noemi10, Anime UK News)
- Vampeerz, Vol. 1 (Christian LeBlanc, Okazu)
- The Villainess Stans the Heroes, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman, ANN)
- The Villainess Stans the Heroes, Vol. 1 (Sakura Eries, The Fandom Post)
- Why Raelina Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion, Vol. 1 (Sara Smith, The Graphic Library)
- Yumeochi: Dreaming of Falling for You, Vol. 1 (Chris Beveridge, The Fandom Post)
Complete and Ongoing Series
- Adachi and Shimamura, Vol. 4 (Jaime, Yuri Stargirl)
- Black Clover, Vol. 32 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)
- Chainsaw Man, Vol. 2 (Sara Smith, The Graphic Library)
- Crazy Food Truck, Vol. 3 (Christopher Farris, ANN)
- Otherside Picnic, Vol. 3 (Onosume, Anime UK News)
- The Remarried Empress, Vol. 2 (Sakura Eries, The Fandom Post)
- Rooster Fighter, Vol. 3 (King Baby Duck, Boston Bastard Brigade)
- Sakamoto Days, Vol. 6 (King Baby Duck, Boston Bastard Brigade)
- She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat, Vol. 2 (Rebecca Silverman, ANN)
- Snow White with the Red Hair, Vols. 20-21 (Demelza, Anime UK News)
- Soul Eater: Perfect Edition, Vol. 10 (Krystallina, The OASG)
- Spy x Family, Vol. 9 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)
- Tomb Raider King, Vol. 2 (Adam Symchuk, Asian Movie Pulse)
- Touring After the Apocalypse, Vol. 2 (Azario Lopez, Noisy Pixel)
- YoRHa: Pearl Harbor Descent Record, Vol. 2 (Krystallina, The OASG)
- Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, Vol. 9 (King Baby Duck, Boston Bastard Brigade)