Brigid Alverson

Time to use your gift cards: This is a great week for new manga, with Heart of Thomas, the second volume of Message to Adolf, and a big stack of shoujo and shonen manga hitting the stores (vol. 3 of Jiu Jiu FTW!). Check out my picks at MTV Geek.

The Manga Bookshelf Team also looks at the new manga coming out this week week, both in stores and on JManga, and they discuss their Pick of the Week.

Writing for The Atlantic, Noah Berlatsky analyzes Moto Hagio’s Heart of Thomas and introduces Boys Love to mainstream readers.

ANN has a preview of the art from Yoshitaka Amano’s first novel, Deva Zan.

MJ makes her picks for the best manga of the year: Part 1, Part 2; she talks about the manga she found under her Christmas tree in a special holiday edition of My Week in Manga, and she’s back for more with this week’s episode.

At Okazu, Erica Friedman picks the top ten yuri manga of the year and the top ten yuri events of the year, and she posts the latest episode of Yuri Network News.

This month’s Manga Moveable Feast will focus on Moyoco Anno, and host Ash Brown has posted the call for participation and the archive page.

Matt Blind has the list of manga best-sellers for the past week at Manga Bookshelf.

Lori Henderson looks back at the year 2012 at Manga Xanadu.

At Heart of Manga, Laura looks at the new shoujo series that debuted in 2012.

News from Japan: Winter Comiket attracted 170,000 people on each of its first two days, but the Kuroko’s Basketball area was kept empty and no kurobas doujinshi circles were allowed to exhibit because of a series of threats. SaiKano creator Shin Takahashi has a couple of short projects on the drawing board.

Reviews: Carlo Santos takes aim at a crop of new manga in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Ash Brown reviews a week of manga reading at Experiments in Manga. The Manga Bookshelf bloggers bring us up to date on some recent volumes in their latest set of Bookshelf Briefs.

Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 3 of A Bride’s Story (Blogcritics)
Connie on vol. 3 of A Bride’s Story (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Bunny Drop (Blogcritics)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 23 of D.Gray-Man (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on vol. 1 of Demon Love Spell (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 5 of A Devil and Her Love Song (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 8 of Dorohedoro (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Rebecca Silverman on vols. 3 and 4 of The Earl and the Fairy (ANN)
Rebecca Silverman on Higurashi When They Cry vol. 1: Massacre Arc (ANN)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 20 of Higurashi: When They Cry (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lori Henderson on vols. 18-23 of Hikaru No Go (Manga Xanadu)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Missions of Love (ANN)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Nisekoi (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 6 of One Piece (Blogcritics)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 2 of Strobe Edge (Comics Worth Reading)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 10 of Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee (ANN)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Thermae Romae (ANN)

Happy New Year! Sorry I dropped out of sight over the past week—I was busy writing a ton of posts for Robot 6, where we are celebrating our fourth anniversary by filling the blog with exclusive content—you should go take a look! We had two good manga stories: Fantagraphics will publish Inio Asano’s horror story Nijigahara Holograph, complete in one volume. Hit that link to get an early look at some of the pages. And we also ran a preview of Shigeru Mizuki’s Kitaro, coming this spring from Drawn and Quarterly.

Meanwhile, I posted my list of the best manga of 2012 (in my humble opinion) at MTV Geek.

There will be no Yaoi-Con in 2013, according to an announcement from Hikaru Sasahara, the president of Digital Manga, which started running the con last year; the next one will be in spring 2014.

We lost manga creator Kieji Nakazawa, creator of Barefoot Gen, last month; Matt Thorn wrote his obituary for The Comics Journal.

This month’s Manga Moveable Feast had Hikaru No Go for the main dish; Linda hosted it at her blog, animemiz’s Scribblings, and here’s the archive page.

Reviews

Matthew Warner on vol. 8 of Blue Exorcist (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 2 of Cactus’s Secret (Blogcritics)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 4 of Cardcaptor Sakura (omnibus edition)
Kylee Strutt on vol. 4 of Durarara!! (Animanga Nation)
Amy Grockl on vol. 3 of Flowers of Evil (Manga Village)
Andre Paploo on vol. 1 of Heroman (Kuriousity)
Ash Brown on vol. 1 of Hikaru no Go (Experiments in Manga)
Lori Henderson on vols. 12-17 of Hikaru No Go (Manga Xanadu)
Connie on One Piece, Fairy Tail, and The Law of Ueki (Comics Should Be Good)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 12 of Pandora Hearts (The Fandom Post)
Jocelyne Allen on Wata no Kuni Hoshi (Brain Vs. Book)
Matthew Warner on vol. 11 of Yotsuba&! (The Fandom Post)

Keiji Nakazawa, the creator of Barefoot Gen, has died at age 73. I wrote about him for Robot 6, and Jonathan Clements reprints an interview he did a few years back at Schoolgirl Milky Crisis. David Brothers recalls the impact the anime had on him when he watched it as a pre-teen:

Barefoot Gen is an important movie to me because it turned an abstract idea concrete. “The atomic bomb is awe-inspiring and amazing, a true triumph for America!” turned into “The atomic bomb is awful. We murdered innocent people and the effects are still being felt today.” I’ve spent most of my life on or around air force bases, and as a kid, war was exciting. Fighter pilots, right? Glamorous. Awesome. But I didn’t understand the cost. I didn’t understand collateral damage, acceptable losses, and war crimes.

I was a kid then. I’m glad I learned better.

Johanna Draper Carlson takes a look back at the year 2012 in manga at Comics Worth Reading.

The Manga Bookshelf bloggers discuss their picks of the year for 2012 as well as this week’s new print manga and this week’s new releases from JManga. Also at Manga Bookshelf, MJ and Michelle Smith devote their final Off the Shelf column of the year to two books of short stories, Kaoru Mori: Anything and Something and Takako Shimura’s The Devil Is So Cute, MJposts a new episode of her video series My Week in Manga, and Travis Anderson has a license request, Fumi Yoshinaga’s Kinou Nani Tabeta? Also: Matt Blind compiles his list of the manga best-sellers for the week ending December 23.

Tony Yao discusses a moment from Pandora Hearts that reflects his own feelings about the burdens of life.

News from Japan: Rumiko Takahashi will draw a special InuYasha one-shot for the tenth issue of Shonen Sunday, which is a benefit for the Heroes Come Back earthquake charity. Kekkaishi creator Yellow Tanabe plans to launch a new series in Shonen Sunday in the spring.

Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf bloggers file their final set of Bookshelf Briefs for the year. Ash Brown looks at a week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Alice in the Country of Hearts (Manga Village)
Ash Brown on vol. 1 of Aron’s Absurd Armada (Experiments in Manga)
Sakura Eries on vol. 1 of Aron’s Absurd Armada (The Fandom Post)
Erica Friedman on Asago to Kase-san (Okazu)
Erica Friedman on Akaniero Confiture (Okazu)
Kristin on vols. 16 and 17 of Bakuman (Comic Attack)
Andre Paploo on vol. 3 of Blood Blockade Battlefront (Kuriousity)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Blood Lad (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 6 of Bunny Drop (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Justin on chapter 12 of Cross Manage (Organization ASG)
Richard Bruton on Danza (Forbidden Planet)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 2 of A Devil and Her Love Song (Blogcritics)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 7 of Dogs: Bullets and Carnage (The Comic Book Bin)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 4 of The Earl and the Fairy (The Comic Book Bin)
Erica Freidman on Eden no Higastotsuka (Okazu)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 19 of Higurashi (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 19 of InuYasha (Blogcritics)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 7 of Itsuwaribito (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on Kaoru Mori: Anything and Something (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Phillip Anthony on vol. 1 of A Kiss on Tearful Cheeks (Manga Bookshelf)
Erica Friedman on Kisu wa Owari de Hajimari de (yuri doujinshi) (Okazu)
Erica Friedman on K-ON! College (Okazu)
Alex Hoffman on vols. 1 and 2 of The Limit (Manga Widget)
Matthew Warner on vol. 4 of March Story (The Fandom Post)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Mayo Chiki! (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
John Rose on vol. 1 of Missions of Love (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 13 of Natsume’s Book of Friends (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vols. 1-3 of Neon Genesis Evangelion (omnibus edition) (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Manjiorin on vol. 2 of Oreimo (Organization ASG)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 3 of Oh My Goddess (Blogcritics)
Matthew Warner on vol. 65 of One Piece (The Fandom Post)
Ken H. on Orion (Comics Should Be Good)
Connie C. on Parasyte, Skip Beat! and Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths (Comics Should Be Good)
Anna on vols. 3 and 4 of Pride (Manga Report)
Matthew Warner on vol. 7 of Psyren (The Fandom Post)
Erica Friedman on vol. 3 of Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Okazu)
Matthew Warner on vol. 10 of Rosario + Vampire: Season II (The Fandom Post)
Erica Friedman on vol. 8 of Sailor Moon (Okazu)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Slam Dunk (Blogcritics)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 2 of Soulless (The Fandom Post)
Shannon Fay on vol. 1 of Start With a Happy Ending (Kuriousity)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 1 of Triage X (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL (I Reads You)

Deb Aoki and Rebecca Silverman discuss the best manga of 2012 and what lies ahead for 2013 in the latest ANNCast.

At Blog of the North Star, Milo looks back on the past year’s manga releases and isn’t too impressed.

News from Japan: Namco Bandai Group will open a Shonen Jump theme park in Ikebukuro next summer. Akiyo Satorigi is bringing his Durarara!! Saika Arc to an end. Yen Press, which licensed the original Durarara!!, will publish the first volume of Saika Arc in March. Minami Ozaki, creator of Bronze: Zetsuai since 1989, has just launched a new series, Devil x Children x AS, in Enterbrain’s web magazine Comic B’s Log Air Raid. A new Rozen Maiden spinoff, Maite wa Ikenai Rozen Maiden, is coming to the next issue of Shueisha’s Miracle Jump. Black Lagoon will return to the pages of Sunday GX magazine in January or February, according to creator Rei Hiroe. And Five Star Stories will resume in the May issue of Newtype.

Reviews: Carlo Santos rounds up the latest manga releases in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Ash Brown looks at My Week in Manga at Experiments in Manga.

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 21 of 20th Century Boys (I Reads You)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Alice in the Country of Hearts: My Fanatic Rabbit (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kristin on vols. 14 and 15 of Bakuman (Comic Attack)
Justin on vols. 3 and 4 of Drops of God (Organization ASG)
Katherine Hanson on vol. 1 of Himawari-san (Yuri no Boke)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 8 of Pokemon Black and White (Blogcritics)
Helen on vol. 1 of Soul Eater Not! (Narrative Investigations)
Ben Leary on vol. 2 of Witch and Wizard (The Fandom Post)
Justin on Wolf (Organization ASG)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 11 of Yotsuba&! (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)

Tezuka Productions director of licensing Yuriko Fukuzawa and Diamond vice president for business development John Parker discuss their plans for next year; Diamond has just become the worldwide distributor for TezukaPro. They identify Astro Boy as the most important property, and Kimba the White Lion as one with a lot of potential for the U.S.

The Manga Bookshelf team discusses their Pick of the Week, and they also look at this week’s new releases from JManga. MJ and Michelle Smith talk about some recent reading in their Off the Shelf column.

Erica Friedman has the latest yuri news, and she also has an interesting post for would-be manga creators on how to write a query letter to a publisher.

Matt Blind counts down the manga best-sellers for the week ending December 16.

Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf team takes a quick look at some recent releases in their latest set of Bookshelf Briefs.

Connie on vol. 36 of Berserk (Slightly Biased Manga)
Ash Brown on vol. 16 of Blade of the Immortal (Experiments in Manga)
Lissa Pattillo on vols. 50 and 51 of Bleach (Kuriousity)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 2 of Chi’s Sweet Home (Blogcritics)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Danza (Comics Worth Reading)
Connie on Devil’s Secret (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kylee Strutt on vol. 3 of Durarara!!! (Animanga Nation)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 24 of Excel Saga (The Comic Book Bin)
Jocelyne Allen on Golondrina (Brain Vs. Book)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Honey Darling (Comics Worth Reading)
Connie on vol. 13 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (Slightly Biased Manga)
Andre Paploo on vol. 1 of The Limit (Kuriousity)
Connie on Love Syndrome (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Message to Adolf (Comics Worth Reading)
Lori Henderson on vols. 10 and 11 of Oresama Teacher (Manga Xanadu)
Connie on vol. 20 of Slam Dunk (Slightly Biased Manga)
Ben Leary on vol. 20 of Slam Dunk (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on Songs to Make You Smile (Blogcritics)

Guest writer Shaenon Garrity discusses the works of Inio Asano, including Solanin, What a Wonderful World, and a few others that haven’t made it into English yet, in the latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

The Manga Bookshelf bloggers take a look at next week’s new releases.

Victoria Martin presents the second part of her countdown of the top manga of 2012 at Kuriousity.

Tony Yao looks at the theme of deception, including self-deception, in Sakuran.

News from Japan: The Daily Yomiuri takes a look at the popularity of manga courses in Japanese universities, what they can offer an aspiring manga-ka, and the attraction they hold for students from overseas. Mitsukazu Mihara will resume her series The Embalmer in the January 8 issue of Shodensha’s Feel Young magazine after a three-year hiatus. Manga professionals ranked their favorite titles of the year for the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! guidebook. And ANN has the latest Japanese comics rankings.

Reviews

Rebecca Silverman on vol. 7 of Bunny Drop (ANN)
Justin on chapter 11 of Cross Manage (Organization ASG)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Demon Love Spell (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie C. on Dorohedoro, Itazura na Kiss, and Bakuman (Comics Should Be Good)
Angela Eastman on vol. 10 of Kamisama Kiss (The Fandom Post)
Carlo Santos on vols. 1-7 of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (box set) (ANN)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 6 of Pokemon Adventures Diamond and Pearl Platinum (Blogcritics)
Erica Friedman on vol. 1 of Rock it GIRL!! (Okazu)
Ken H on vol. 7 of Rurouni Kenshin (VizBig edition) (Comics Should Be Good)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Thermae Romae (Manga Village)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 13 of Toriko (The Comic Book Bin)

Lissa Pattillo looks over this week’s new manga releases in her latest On the Shelf column at Otaku USA.

Seven Seas confirmed that it has licensed two more Alice in the Country of Hearts manga, Alice in the Country of Clover: Ace of Hearts and Alice in the Country of Hearts: The Clockmaker’s Story.

MJ treats us to another episode of her video feature My Week in Manga.

Erica Friedman takes a look at Hana to Yume, the magazine that has been the source for many series that made it big in translation (Fruits Basket, Kamisama Kiss), as well as a number we have never heard of.

Reviews

L. B. Bryant on vol. 1 of Demon Love Spell (ICv2)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 13 of Neon Genesis Evangelion (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 12 of Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan (The Comic Book Bin)
Sakura Eries on vol. 11 of Oresama Teacher (The Fandom Post)
Erica Friedman on vol. 8 of Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari (Okazu)
Lexie on vol. 1 of Strobe Edge (Poisoned Rationality)
Victoria Erica on vol. 2 of X (three-in-one edition) (Inside AX)

It’s Pick of the Week time at Manga Bookshelf!

Shonen Jump Alpha will publish Kurapika Tsuioku-hen, a two-chapter Hunter x Hunter flashback arc; the first chapters is in this week’s Japanese Shonen Jump.

ANN looks at the manga best-sellers in U.S. bookstores last month; Naruto was the top seller, at number 7 on the graphic novels best-seller list.

Otaku News has a (NSFW!) interview with tentacle manga creator Toshio Maeda.

Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf team has some short takes on recent releases in their latest Bookshelf Briefs. Ash Brown sums up a week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Sean Gaffney on Danza (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Demon Love Spell (Manga Xanadu)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 1 of Genshiken: Second Season (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Alex Hoffman on vol. 1 of Heroman (Manga Widget)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Kaoru Mori: Anything and Something (Comics Worth Reading)
Kristin on Kaoru Mori: Anything and Something (Comic Attack)
Sean Kleefeld on vol. 1 of Real (Kleefeld on Comics)
Katherine Hanson on vol. 3 of Paros no Ken (Yuri no Boke)
Anna N on vol. 8 of The Story of Saiunkoku (Manga Report)
Michael Buntag on vol. 1 of Sundome (NonSensical Words)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 11 of Yotsuba&!, vol. 13 of Otomen, and vol. 13 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (Comics Worth Reading)

The Manga Bookshelf team of Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, and MJ looks forward to this week’s new manga and this week’s new releases from JManga.

Lissa Pattillo checks out the list of the past week’s new manga releases in her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA. The Manga Village team checks out the new releases as well.

MJ and Michelle Smith discuss Sweet Blue Flowers, Bunny Drop, and Thermae Romae in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf.

Erica Friedman brings us up to date on all things yuri in her latest edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu.

Fist of the North Star manga-ka Buronson talked a bit about his creative process at a library in Tottori, Japan, recently.

Matt Blind calculates the past week’s manga best-sellers (online sales).

Derek Bown’s latest Combat Commentary comes from chapters 91 and 92 of Fullmetal Alchemist.

News from Japan: The Four Immigrants manga, first published in the U.S. and Japan in 1931 and arguably the first ever OEL manga, is back in print—in Japan. Kôji Kumeta, creator of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, is working on a one-shot manga to appear in Kodansha’s Weekly Shonen magazine, out December 26.

Reviews: Angela Eastman contrasts the novel and manga versions of Clockwork Angel at Manga Bookshelf.

Lexie on Anything and Something (Poisoned Rationality)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 3 of Attack on Titan (The Fandom Post)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 17 of Bakuman (Comics Worth Reading)
Carlo Santos on vols. 50 and 51 of Bleach (ANN)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 53 of Bleach (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 6 of A Devil and Her Love Song (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 6 of Cage of Eden (ANN)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Demon Love Spell (I Reads You)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 10 of Dengeki Daisy (ANN)
Ash Brown on vol. 2 of Dororo (Experiments in Manga)
Erica Friedman on Fujiyuu Sekai (Okazu)
Jessi Silver on vol. 1 of Hot Gimmick (omnibus edition)
Erica Friedman on Lemonade (Okazu)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 7 of Pokemon Black and White (Blogcritics)
Jocelyne Allen on vol. 1 of Shirokuma Cafe (Brain Vs. Book)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro (Blogcritics)
Leroy Doouresseaux on vol. 25 of Slam Dunk (The Comic Book Bin)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of The Story of Saiunkoku (Blogcritics)
Chris Beveridge on vol. 1 of Thermae Romae (The Fandom Post)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 5 of Toradora! (AstroNerdboy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 13 of Toriko (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Victoria Martin on vol. 15 of Vampire Knight (Kuriousity)

I wrote up my picks from this week’s new releases, including a new Natsume Ono short story collection, at MTV Geek.

Jason Thompson takes a look at some digital manga available via ComicLoud in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

MJ debuts a new feature at Manga Bookshelf: My Week in Manga, a video roundup of what she has been reading and what she plans to read.

Julie Opipari takes a good look at the latest issue of Shonen Jump Alpha.

Erica Friedman has found some bargains on yuri bundles at RightStuf.com

Reviews: Carlo Santos looks over a handful of new releases in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN.

Kate O’Neil on vol. 2 of Attack on Titan (The Fandom Post)
Connie on A Bride’s Story, A Devil and Her Love Song, and MAOH: Juvenile Remix (Comics Should Be Good)
Justin on vols. 9 and 10 of Cross Manage (Organization ASG)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 6 of A Devil and Her Love Song (The Comic Book Bin)
Paige McKee on vol. 2 of Jiu Jiu (Sequential Tart)
Ken H on vol. 13 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (Comics Should Be Good)
Omar, Melanie, and Tommy on Message to Adolf, vol. 20 of Claymore, and vol. 1 of Heroman (About Heroes)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 2 of Oh My Goddess! (Blogcritics)
Katherine Hanson on vol. 2 of Paros no Ken (Yuri no Boke)
Patti Martinson on Three Wolves Mountain (Sequential Tart)
Ashley on Wandering Son (Rabbit Library)

Big news from Viz: They are marking down every volume in their digital app by 20% for the holidays. And there’s more: Viz is offering Shonen Jump Alpha for free on its Android app, with advertising support. There’s also a free SJA starter pack to help bring you up to date with the Japanese releases.

Deb Aoki continues her series on OEL manga with a look at why the Japanese model doesn’t work in North America and what can be done to make things better. The article includes a lot of resources and commentary from artists working in the manga tradition, so it’s well worth bookmarking. Evan Liu adds some interesting thoughts on the divide between OEL manga and Artists Alley.

Laura takes a look at the newest shoujo releases at Heart of Manga.

Victoria Martin starts her countdown of the top 20 manga of the year at Kuriousity.

David Brothers looks at some of Akira Toriyama’s storytelling flourishes in Dr. Slump.

Tony Yao asks readers to contribute their thoughts on creating a balanced “manga diet.”

Reviews

Justin on 5 Centimeters Per Second (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
J. Caleb Mozzocco on Animal Land (Every Day Is Like Wednesday)
Noah Berlatsky on vol. 1 of Biomega (The Hooded Utilitarian)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 1 of Attack on Titan (The Fandom Post)
Erica Friedman on Zenryaku, Yuri No Sono Yori (Okazu)

If you’re new to the CLAMP party, AstroNerdBoy gives a bit of background on xxxHOLiC and talks about why it’s surprising that they have just announced a new xxxHOLiC series.

Manga Bookshelf’s own MJ guests on Fandomspotting, where she and several other fans discuss the best manga you’re not reading.

Starsmaria takes a look at some one-hit wonders, shoujo manga creators who have hit it big just once with English-language readers, at Shojo Corner.

Reviews: Ash Brown looks back on a week of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Jessi Silver on vol. 2 of Backstage Prince (The Fandom Post)
Alex Hoffman on Barbara (Manga Widget)
Khursten Santos on Beck (Otaku Champloo)
Chris Kirby on vol. 22 of D.Gray-Man (The Fandom Post)
Erica Friedman on Himawari-San (Okazu)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 13 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1 and 2 of Late Advent (Manga Village)
Anna on Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (box set) (Manga Report)
Chris Kirby on vol. 3 of No Longer Human (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 5 of One Piece (Blogcritics)
Chris Kirby on vol. 10 of Tegami Bachi (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on Uglies: Cutters (I Reads You)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Yotsuba&! (Blogcritics)

November was a big manga month, and I looked over the last two weeks’ worth of new releases at MTV Geek; Lissa Pattillo made her picks in her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA.

The Manga Bookshelf bloggers discuss their picks of this week’s new releases in print and on JManga.

Erica Friedman queues up the latest edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu, and she also has a gift guide for the yuri lover.

Tony Yao talks about why we blush, and specifically, why Naruto‘s Hinata Hyuga blushes, at Manga Therapy.

Matt Blind calculates the manga best-sellers for the week ending December 2.

Anna N is giving away a copy of the Street Fighter X Sanrio crossover book, plus a sticker book, at Manga Report.

News from Japan: Good news for CLAMP fans: The manga super-group is working on a new series, xxxHOLiC Rei, according to an announcement made at last weekend’s CLAMP Festival. The series will launch in Kodansha’s Young Magazine in February. Arina Tanemura also has a new series in the works, Neko to Watashi no Kinyōbi (The Cat’s and My Friday), which will debut in Margaret in February. Digimon Xros Wars manga-ka Yuuki Nakashima is drawing a manga series based on the Dragon Quest X Mezameshi Itsutsu no Shuzoku online game. And ANN has the Japanese best-seller lists for the year: Top 30 by series, top 50 by volume, and #50-100 by volume.

Reviews: Ash Brown has been getting manga at the library at Experiments in Manga. The Manga Bookshelf bloggers give short takes on new releases in their latest Bookshelf Briefs.

Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of 13th Boy (Manga Xanadu)
Carlo Santos on vol. 22 of 20th Century Boys (ANN)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 15 of Black Bird (The Comic Book Bin)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 52 of Bleach (The Comic Book Bin)
Kristin on vols. 5 and 6 of Blue Exorcist (Comic Attack)
Anna N on vol. 1 of Demon Love Spell (Manga Bookshelf)
Rebecca Silverman on Honey*Smile (ANN)
Jocelyne Allen on Usamaru Furuya’s Jisatsu Circle (Brain Vs. Book)
Eden Zacarias on vol. 2 of Kingyo Used Books (Animanga Nation)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Polterguys (Comics Worth Reading)
Rebecca Silverman on Sakuran (ANN)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 8 of The Story of Saiunkoku (ANN)
Carlo Santos on vol. 11 of Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee (ANN)
Shannon Fay on est em’s ULTRAS (Kuriousity)
L.B. Bryant on vol. 1 of Umineko: When They Cry (ICv2)

Your don’t-miss link of the day is CNN’s interview with Takehiko Inoue, creator of Real, Vagabond, and Slam Dunk.

Jason Thompson writes about five manga he found on JManga, and, more generally, about the JManga experience, in his latest House of 1,000 Manga column at ANN.

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

Connie C. kicks off her new manga column at Comics Should Be Good with a look at a couple of different genres.

Sean Gaffney has a license request: More Higurashi, please!

News from Japan: One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda talks about his long workday and admits he doesn’t get out much. The cooking manga Addicted to Curry is heading toward the final course and will end in three more chapters.

Reviews

L.B. Bryant on vol. 1 of Aron’s Absurd Armada (ICv2)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 6 of Case Closed (Blogcritics)
Bateszi on The Flowers of Evil (Bateszi’s Anime Blog)
Kristin on vol. 8 of Library Wars (Comic Attack)
Shaun A. Noordin on Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (The Star)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 00 of Omamori Himori (The Fandom Post)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Start with a Happy Ending (Comics Worth Reading)
Helen on Yumekui Merry (Narrative Investigations)

The nominees for the awards given at the international comics festival in Angouleme have been announced, and they include Thermae Romae, SOIL, and I am a Hero, which were all nominated for the Best Comic prize; Chi’s Sweet Home for the Youth Award; and 2001 Nights and Anjin San for the Heritage Award.

I have been extremely remiss in my blogging duties—I blame it on a crazy Thanksgiving weekend—because I haven’t covered this month’s Manga Moveable Feast, which was hosted by Matt Blind at Rocket Bomber and took thankfulness as its theme. Here are the links:
Call for entries
Matt’s introduction
Wednesday roundup (appetizers)
Matt’s list of manga people he is thankful for
Thursday roundup
Friday roundup
Closing remarks and final roundup

Great job, Matt!

At Okazu, Erica Friedman reports in on her trip to Japan, which included shopping for yuri in Tokyo and a visit to the Maidens Garden 7 doujinshi event.

JManga is giving away a package of Aoi Hana (Sweet Blue Flowers) merch, Ash Brown is giving away the first four volumes of Beck, and Alex Hoffman is giving away a copy of Osamu Tezuka’s Barbara; hit the links to see how you can enter.

News from Japan: I Kill Giants, the winner of this year’s International Manga Award, will be published in Ikki magazine. Seven manga creators, including Go Nagai, have sued seven companies that digitize manga; this is done for private individuals for their own use, but there is concern it leads to piracy. The Puella Magi Madoka Magica spinoff Puella Magi Kazuma Magica – The Innocent Malice is ending; the final volume will be the fifth. LaLa magazine has announced that the next story arc of Vampire Knight will be the last. ANN has the latest Japanese comics rankings.

Reviews

Anna on vol. 1 of 07-Ghost (Manga Report)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 2 of A Bride’s Story (Blogcritics)
Justin on chapter 8 of Cross Manage (Organization ASG)
Ken H on vol. 1 of The Flowers of Evil (Comics Should Be Good)
Connie on vol. 2 of Fluffy, Fluffy Cinnamoroll (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on vol. 3 of Good Witch of the West (Okazu)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends (ANN)
Erica Friedman on Hirara Special Girls’ School Life Anthology Houkago! (Okazu)
Joe on Interview with the Vampire: Claudia’s Story (Forbidden Planet)
Erica Friedman on Itazura Choucho (Okazu)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 1 of Loveless (omnibus edition)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Neon Genesis Evangelion (3-in-1 edition) (I Reads You)
Connie on No One Loves Me (Slightly Biased Manga)
Tony Yao on Onepunch-Man (Manga Therapy)
Erica Friedman on Renai Joshi File (Okazu)
Connie on vol. 8 of Tenjho Tenge (omnibus edition) (Slightly Biased Manga)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Umineko When They Cry (ANN)