Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Brigid Alverson

Kicking off the Year of the Dragon

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Daniella Orihuela-Gruber shares her personal top ten manga list at All About Manga.

Kate Dacey will be hosting the next Manga Moveable Feast, which will focus on Osamu Tezuka, at The Manga Critic.

Lori Henderson celebrates the Year of the Dragon with a roundup of manga that feature dragons. And Three Steps Over Japan spots some Dragonball Kai postage stamps!

It’s Luffy vs. Buggy in Derek Bown’s latest Combat Commentary piece at Manga Bookshelf.

News from Japan: A shoplifter stole all 64 volumes of One Piece from a bookstore in Shizuoka Prefecture, carting away ten volumes at a time in his duffel bag. Store personnel noticed the guy but the store was full of holiday shoppers, so they didn’t twig to the crime until the next day, when they noticed the missing volumes. The Freezing: First Chronicle spinoff manga has come to an end in the most recent issue of Comic Valkyrie.

Reviews: Carlo Santos takes an unvarnished look at a stack of recent releases in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN.

David Brothers on 7 Billion Needles (4thletter!)
Kristin on The Art of the Secret World of Arrietty (Comic Attack)
Lori Henderson on vols. 11-20 of Black Cat (Manga Xanadu)
Connie on Boys Love (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on Cafe Latte Rhaphsody (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on Green (Okazu)
Connie on vol. 3 of Natsume’s Book of Friends (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 2 of No Longer Human (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 2 of Sailor Moon (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 6 of Sakura Hime (Slightly Biased Manga)
Rebecca Silverman on vols. 5 and 6 of The Story of Saiunkoku (ANN)
Snow Wildsmith on vol. 2 of Wandering Son (Good Comics for Kids)
Connie on vol. 6 of Wild Adapter (Slightly Biased Manga)

Shonen Jump makes the leap to digital

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The big news this week is the launch of Shonen Jump Alpha, Viz’s weekly digital edition of Shonen Jump, which will replace their monthly print magazine. Crunchyroll has a wide-ranging interview with Viz VP and general manager Alvin Lu, and John Jakala kicks the tires on the new magazine and finds a few glitches. The biggest problem: Despite Viz’s push to speed up releases of the English-language series, they still lag the Japanese releases by quite a few chapters—and since SJ Alpha runs each chapter two weeks after it runs in Japan, readers are left with a gap in the stories.

The Usamaru Furuya Manga Moveable Feast has wound up, and Ash Brown posts roundup posts for day two and day three, as well as a final roundup, at Experiments in Manga. Over at Manga Bookshelf, Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith devote their latest Off the Shelf column to Furuya’s No Longer Human, and at Slightly Biased Manga, Connie explains why Palepoli should be translated into English.

The Manga Bookshelf team (myself included) discusses their Pick of the Week. What’s yours? Also at Manga Bookshelf, Matt Blind posts a new set of recent manga bestsellers and a Manga Radar column about up-and-coming future releases.

Erica Friedman rounds up the latest yuri news at Okazu.

Three Steps Over Japan looks at a seasonal Japanese magazine, Jump Next.

Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo will be a guest at this year’s San Diego Comic Con.

Makoto Tateno (Yellow) and Tomo Maeda (Beyond My Touch) will be guests at MangaNEXT later this month.

If you’re reading this in the Philippines, take a minute to take Khursten Santos’s survey on Philippine anime fandom at Otaku Champloo.

News from Japan: A Japanese manga called It’s Not My Fault I’m Not Popular has apparently become a hit on 4chan (Anonymous is scanting it, although the scanlations seem to be hosted elsewhere), and the latest volume bears a cover line celebrating that: “A smash hit on the overseas version of 2chan!!” Princess Resurrection manga-ka Yasunori Mitsunaga has a new series in the works that will launch in the April issue of Kodansha’s Monthly Shonen Sirius magazine. Yūki Kodama’s spinoff of Sakamichi no Apollon will start in the May issue of Shogakukan’s Monthly Flowers.

Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf gang posts a new set of Bookshelf Briefs to greet the new week. Ash Brown post an unusually varied weekly roundup at Experiments in Manga.

Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan (Okazu)
Kate Dacey on The Art of the Secret World of Arrietty (The Manga Critic)
Anna on vols. 9 and 10 of Basara (Manga Report)
Michelle Smith on vols. 1 and 2 of Dawn of the Arcana (Soliloquy in Blue)
Kristin on vol. 1 of A Devil and Her Love Song (Comic Attack)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Durarara!!! (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Ash Brown on vol. 1 of Genkaku Picasso (Experiments in Manga)
Shannon Fay on vol. 5 of Highschool of the Dead (Kuriousity)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 15 of Higurashi: When They Cry (The Fandom Post)
Erica Friedman on Houkago Kanon (Okazu)
Alex Hoffman on vol. 1 of Mardock Scramble (Manga Widget)
Ash Brown on vol. 1 of No Longer Human (Experiments in Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 3 of Sailor Moon (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 6 of Sakura Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura (The Comic Book Bin)
Ash Brown on vol. 1 of Short Cuts (Experiments in Manga)
Ben Leary on vol. 16 of Slam Dunk (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 7 of Tears of a Lamb (Blogcritics)
Ken Haley on vol. 6 of Vampire Hunter D (Sequential Ink)
Kate Dacey on Yakuza Cafe(The Manga Critic)

Pick of the Week: Time Warp

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We may have stepped into a wormhole this week at Midtown Comics, whose incoming manga list is comprised mainly of not-quite-fresh releases. Fortunately, this gives the Battle Robot an excuse to recommend some well-loved titles.

MICHELLE: This week’s new manga list at Midtown Comics is comprised mostly of Vertical titles, some of which have been available elsewhere for a while now. Still, this is a good opportunity to recommend No Longer Human, Usumaru Furuya’s intriguing adaptation of the novel by Osamu Dazai. Melinda and I devoted our most recent Off the Shelf column to the title, which I enjoyed far more than I expected to. Yes, it’s dark and rather depressing, but there’s enough distance and self-analysis from and by the protagonist that one can enjoy it without getting bogged down. I recommend the series heartily and look forward to volume three!

SEAN: I’m not quite sure why the 6th volume of sublime baseball manga Cross Game is three weeks later than it should have been, but that’s okay. It gives me another chance to rave about this very different type of shonen we’re seeing here. Make no mistake, this series is a classic example of everything that doesn’t sell well in North America: subtle character humor, low-key art, no fights, no supernatural content (unless you think Wakaba has reincarnated as Akane), and a bunch of baseball. And that’s what makes it one to cherish. As the market continues to contract and companies keep looking for things that the kids will buy, series like these that take chances will be fewer and farther between. Never mind that Adachi is a household name in Japan: here he’s a cult, and as such, deserves love.

KATE: Since I’m a proud owner of a cat, I feel duty-bound to recommend the seventh volume of Chi’s Sweet Home. It’s totally accessible to the feline-free, of course; I was an unabashed Dog Person at the time I reviewed volume one, and I thought it was utterly charming then. Now that I can compare my cat’s behavior with Chi’s, however, I have a new appreciation of Konami Konata’s artistry. She nails the small details, whether it’s the sound of Chi’s feet on a hard floor or Chi’s tendency to misconstrue everyday objects as “prey.” (So far, I’ve had limited experience with cat barf, though years of dog ownership have prepared me for the worst.) Not much happens in a typical volume of Chi’s Sweet Home, but the scenes are artfully staged, whether the intent is humorous or heart-tugging.

BRIGID: Hmpf. Midtown seems to be well behind the rest of the world, but given the list in front of me, I would go for one of the volumes of Twin Spica. I can’t say enough about how much I like this series, and the characters, and I also like that Vertical is releasing it in double-size volumes so we get a lot of pages for the money. Go Asumi!

MELINDA: With all these Vertical catch-up releases coming in, it’s tough to know which to choose, but I think I’ll take the opportunity to back up Michelle on this one and recommend No Longer Human. It’s the kind of series that leaves me mulling over it for days after I’ve finished a volume, so despite the fact that it “had me craving cheese puffs” (not so good for my waistline!), I highly recommend it.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Two manga win top prizes at Angouleme

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There’s lots of digital manga news in my latest Digital Comic Resources roundup at CBR, and check out my dual review of vol. 1 of Dawn of the Arcana and vol. 1 of Princess Sakura at MTV Geek.

Two manga took awards at this past weekend’s Angoulême International Comics Festival: Kaoru Mori’s A Bride’s Story won the Prix Regards sur le monde (World Outlook Award), and Yoshihiro Tatsiumi’s A Drifting Life took the Prix Intergénérations (Intergenerational Award).

Jason Thompson takes a look at Rumiko Takahashi’s Ranma 1/2 in his weekly trip through the manga swayback machine, House of 1000 Manga, at ANN.

YA librarian Nicole Dolat writes about manga that teens should not miss just because the books were originally written for adults.

Digital Manga had lots of announcements last week: Two batches of new digital manga (here and here) and a new license, Momoko Tenzen’s Flutter.

News from Japan: The March issue of LaLa features Detarame Mōsōryoku Opera, a one-shot manga by Ouran High School Host Club manga-ka Bisco Hatori. Dai Suzuki will launch Kuzu!!, a spinoff of Hiroshi Takahashi’s gangster manga Crows, in the next issue of Young Champion. And Santa Inoue is wrapping up Tokyo Tribe 3; the last chapter will appear next month. Yasuhiro Yoshiura’s anime Sakasama no Patema (Patema Inverted) will be adapted into a manga, which will run in Monthly Big Champion.

Reviews: Omar Valdivieso, Tommy Pfeiffer, and Melanie Valdivieso post some brief reviews of recent manga at About Heroes.

Justin on vols. 2-4 of 7 Billion Needles (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Sarah Boslaugh on vol. 16 of Black Jack (PLAYBACK:stl)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 6 of Blue Exorcist (The Comic Book Bin)
Jocelyne Allen on Moyoco Anno’s Chameleon Army (Brain Vs. Book)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of A Devil and Her Love Song (The Comic Book Bin)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of A Devil and her Love Song (ANN)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Genkaku Picasso (Manga Xanadu)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 5 of House of Five Leaves (ANN)
TSOTE on Kurogane (Three Steps Over Japan)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 3 of Negima (omnibus edition) (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Kristin on vol. 2 of No Longer Human (Comic Attack)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 7 of Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan (The Comic Book Bin)
Serdar Yegulalp on vols. 1 and 2 of Princess Knight (Genji Press)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 26 of Skip Beat! (ANN)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 8 of Tegami Bachi (The Comic Book Bin)
Carlo Santos on vol. 11 of Twin Spica (ANN)

New manga, Usamaru Furuya giveaway

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I posted my take on this week’s new manga releases at MTV Geek, and Sean Gaffney takes a look at next week’s list.

The Manga Moveable Feast continues at Experiments in Manga with a guest post by Jim Hemmingfield about this month’s creator, Usamaru Furuya, and a Genkaku Picasso giveaway.

Ed Sizemore guests on the latest Eeper’s Choice podcast, which features a discussion of Kingyo Used Books.

Reviews

Shannon Fay on vol. 2 of The Betrayal Knows My Name (Kuriousity)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 2 of The Betrayal Knows My Name (The Fandom Post)
Connie on vol. 11 of Black Bird (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 2 of Boys With Tomorrow to Conquer (Slightly Biased Manga)
Adam Stephanides on The Children’s Crusade (Completely Futile)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of Dawn of the Arcana (The Comic Book Bin)
Chris Kirby on vol. 21 of D.Gray-Man (The Fandom Post)
Kristin on vol. 21 of D.Gray-Man and vol. 53 of Naruto (Comic Attack)
Danica Davidson on vol. 1 of Gente (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Tom Gill on The Incident at Nishibeta Village (The Hooded Utilitarian)
Sesho on vol. 1 of Sailor Moon (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Sean Gaffney on vols. 1 and 2 of Short Cuts (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 1 of Step (Slightly Biased Manga)
Chris Kirby on vol. 7 of Tegami Bachi (The Fandom Post)
Connie on vol. 5 of Wild Adapter (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on Yurikan Feuille (Okazu)
Connie on vol. 4 of Ze (Slightly Biased Manga)

Great Graphic Novels list is out!

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Dark Horse has been adding manga and manhwa to their digital site pretty aggressively; Deb Aoki notes the newest additions.

YALSA has released its Great Graphic Novels for Teens list, and it includes a number of manga; vol. 1 of Wandering Son and vol. 1 of A Bride’s Story made the top ten.

Ash Brown presents the first roundup for the Usamaru Furuya Manga Moveable Feast at Experiments in Manga.

Derek Bown introduces a new column at Manga Bookshelf, Combat Commentary, that will analyze and critique combat scenes in manga. He kicks it off with a corker from Bleach.

Kate Dacey points us toward a preview of Shigeru Mizuki’s NonNonBa.

Matt Alt explains why you need a copy of his new book Yurei Attack! The Japanese Ghost Survival Guide, which is due out in a few months.

Reviews

Justin on vol. 1 of Dawn of the Arcana (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of A Devil and Her Love Song (Soliloquy in Blue)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1 and 2 of No Longer Human (Manga Xanadu)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 60 of One Piece (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Anna on vol. 6 of Sakura Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura (Manga Report)
Ash Brown on Secret Comics Japan: Underground Comics Now (Experiments in Manga)

Jason Thompson on what went wrong with manga

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Here’s your must-read manga post of the day: Editor, creator, and all-around manga pundit Jason Thompson pens a thoughtful essay at io9 titled Why Manga Publishing Is Dying (And How It Could Get Better). Jason’s description of the reasons for the decline of manga publishing is impeccable, but I’m not sure I’m on board with his suggestions for improving the picture. Be sure to read the comments for some more pointed criticism.

The Manga Bookshelf bloggers (myself included) discuss their Pick of the Week.

At The Beat, Torsten Adair looks at some of the new manga due out this month.

Attention translator wannabes: The digital manga site JManga is having a translation contest! Do your best translation of a four-koma strip from JManga title Young-kun and send it in, and you could win a copy of the full book plus 1,000 points. You have to have a JManga account to enter, which means you must live in North America.

The competition will be judged by veteran translator William Flanagan, and JManga also has an interview with him in which he talks about the finer points of manga translation.

News from Japan: Crunchyroll has the list of winners of the Shogakukan Manga Awards, with nice cover images and a summary of each one—none are licensed in English yet. Shin Mashiba, creator of Nightmare Inspector: Yumekui Kenbun, is working on a new series set in Kyoto in the Heian era. Utau! Heian-kyō will debut in the March issue of Square Enix’s Monthly G Fantasy magazine. Boys Be… Next Season will come to an end in the Feb. 20 issue of of Kodansha’s Magazine Special.

Reviews: Short takes on new manga are the order of the day in this week’s Bookshelf Briefs column at Manga Bookshelf. At Experiments in Manga, Ash Brown takes a break from hosting the Usumaru Furuya Manga Moveable Feast to present a weeks’ worth of manga reading that, not surprisingly, includes a lot of Furuya’s work.

Erica Friedman on vol. 15 of Hayate x Blade (Okazu)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Hyakusho Kizoku (The Manga Critic)
Victoria Martin on vol. 4 of K-ON! (Kuriousity)
Ken Haley on vol. 1 of Princess Knight (Sequential Ink)

Pick of the Week: Expect the Unexpected

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There’s plenty of good manga coming in to Midtown Comics this week. Check out picks from the Battle Robot below!

KATE: I think I was the only person in the mangasphere who liked Nao Yazawa’s Moon and Blood, so I was happy to see the second volume on Midtown Comics’ shipping list this week. What charmed me the most about this jokey horror-romance was its retro vibe: Yazawa’s characters seem to have stepped out of a shojo manga from the late 1980s/early 1990s. There’s an imperious, handsome boy who’s an ace at everything (and looks like the lead in Itazura na Kiss); a ditzy but energetic heroine with long, curly hair; a dumb but kind thug who’s loved the heroine since childhood; and a child-vampire who looks like a refugee from an early Rumiko Takahashi story. The script won’t win any prizes for originality, but it’s brisk, funny, and — most importantly — never takes itself too seriously. For folks who have OD’ed on angstful horror-romances — and I count myself among that number — Moon and Blood is a great palate cleanser.

MICHELLE: There’s actually quite a bit on this list that I can see myself picking up at some point in time. Perhaps the most obvious pick is the third volume of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, but I think I’ll choose volume six of Arisa this time, for a little variety. Even though I’m not entirely convinced that mangaka Natsumi Ando knows where her story is going, it is nevertheless the fast-paced and suspenseful tale of a girl masquerading as her twin sister to find out what made her attempt suicide. I don’t know a lot about Nakayoshi, the magazine in which this is serialized, but it’s darker fare than I’d generally expect to find there, all while looking as stereotypically shoujo as can be. An interesting mix, to be sure!

BRIGID: I’m going to go with Michelle’s choice and pick up vol. 6 of Arisa. I find Natusme Ando’s manga strangely addictive, despite her wholesale embrace of shoujo manga cliches. I think it’s because she throws in a twist now and then to keep me guessing. I’m really enjoying Arisa, even more than Kitchen Princess, so this week’s choice is an easy one for me.

SEAN: It’s tough for me as well, as this week features volumes of two of the most essential shoujo series available in English. Tempted as I am to pick Sailor Moon – which is awesome – I’m going to make my pick the third omnibus of Cardcaptor Sakura. Back in the days when CLAMP didn’t need to confuse its audience, this is still one of their best and most heartfelt series, and Sakura is still one of the quintessential shoujo heroines. This omnibus begins the second half of the series, where the reader wonders where the manga can go now that she’s collected all the cards (answer: quite a long way), and also begins to move forward her cute romance with Syaoran. Great stuff, and Dark Horse’s package is wonderful.

MELINDA: It’s not too often that I choose a BL title for this column, but I admit I’m pretty psyched to see the second volume of Kai Asou’s Only Serious About You finally making its way to Midtown Comics. I enjoyed volume one immensely, and I’ve been eagerly anticipating its continuation. Good romance is so difficult to write, and in a genre where shoddy writing is so widely-tolerated, it’s no wonder few writers really make the effort. Fortunately, Asou is one of the few. She’s the kind of skilled writer who is able to make standard genre tropes feel fresh again, and perhaps even reminds us why they became”standard” to begin with. Though this was officially released in December, Midtown and I are equally behind the times, as I hadn’t realized it was already available. It’s just become this week’s must-buy manga! My only regret is that it isn’t yet available by way of DMP’s iPad app.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

ALC and JManga partner to bring new yuri online

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Here’s an intriguing new development: A partnership between the small yuri manga publisher ALC and the digital manga portal JManga. The two are working together to bring the yuri manga Poor Poor Lips to North American readers—and alas, only North American readers, as JManga is available only in this region. Erica Friedman announced the news at Okazu, and she devotes most of her Yuri Network News post to answering some criticisms and reminding readers that the manga scene is evolving, and this is just one moment in that evolution.

Ash Brown is hosting this month’s Manga Moveable Feast, which focuses on the works of Usumaru Furuya, at Experiments in Manga.

At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie puts the spotlight on the popular shoujo manga creator Arina Tanemura.

Deb Aoki guests on the latest edition of Crunchyroll’s internet-TV show The Live Show, which focuses on Manga Maniacs.

Matt Blind crunches the numbers and comes up with the best-selling manga for the week ending January 1, and he also looks at some up-and-coming titles in his latest Manga Radar post.

Three Steps Over Japan takes a look at one of the lesser-known seinen magazines, Grand Jump.

Khursten Santos explores the manga scene in the Philippines, and she makes some recommendations as well.

News from Japan: The Japan Times has an interesting piece on two prefectures that are trying to grow a local manga industry: Kochi, the home of AnPanMan creator Takashi Yanase, and Tottori, the home of Shigeru Mizuki (GeGeGe No Kitaro, Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths) Meanwhile, lots of new projects are under way: Bunny Drop manga-ka Yumi Unita will publish a series of manga essays focusing on technique in Kodansha’s online magazine Digital Kiss. Miki Yoshikawa (Yankee-kun to Megane-chan) will launch a new series in Kodansha’s Monthly Shonen Magazine next month. Cloth Road artist okama is also working on a new series, Tail Star, which will start next month in Shueisha’s Ultra Jump. And yuri manga creator Milk Morinaga has wrapped up Kuchibiru Tameiki Sakurairo (Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink), but she has a new series in the works that will launch in the June issue of Comic High!

Reviews: Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss three yaoi manga from Digital in the latest edition of BL Bookrack at Manga Bookshelf. Michelle also checks out three shoujo series from Kodansha at Soliloquy in Blue. Daniella Orihuela-Gruber discusses some older manga series she just finished reading at All About Manga. Lori Henderson posts some short takes on recent reading at Manga Xanadu.

Justin on vol. 18 of 20th Century Boys (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 5 of Chobits (Blogcritics)
Kristin on vols. 5 and 6 of Kamisama Kiss (Comic Attack)
Queenie Chan on Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (Queenie Chan)
Justin on vol. 2 of No Longer Human (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Rebecca and Jennifer Silverman on One Piece Color Walk Art Book 2 (ANN)
Lori Henderson on vol. 4 of Oresama Teacher (Manga Xanadu)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 26 of Skip Beat! (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Julie Opipari on vol. 6 of Stepping on Roses (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Chris Kirby on vol. 6 of Tegami Bachi (The Fandom Post)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 2 of Wandering Son (ANN)

GTO preview, new yuri, and scary shoujo

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Lori Henderson has the list of this week’s new all-ages comics and manga at Good Comics for Kids.

Good news for yuri lovers: JManga and ALC Publishing have formed a partnership to publish the yuri manga Poor Poor Lips on the JManga site.

Comics Alliance has an exclusive 20-page preview of GTO: 14 Days in Shonan, due out soon from Vertical.

At Graphic Novel Reporter, John Hogan talks to producer Avi Arad about his new manga, The Innocent (published by Yen Press)

Deb Aoki has thrown open the floor to nominations for her 2012 About.com Manga Readers’ Choice Awards.

Jason Thompson takes a look at the autobiographical manga Doing Time in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

At The Manga Critic, Kate Dacey takes a peek at DJ Benny B’s manga library and also looks at some new manhwa available via Dark Horse Digital.

Manga Bookshelf has a new columnist: Philip of Eeper’s Choice, who will cross the gender divide to write a column titled Shoujo I’m Scared Of. And he jumps right in with a look at Sailor Moon in the very first column.

Erica Friedman takes a peek inside the pink-and-bubbly covers of the shoujo magazine Ribon.

Three Steps Over Japan, meanwhile, takes the boys’ side with a look at Weekly Shonen Jump.

Reviews: The review team catches up with some ongoing series at About Heroes.

Chris Kirby on vol. 1 of The Betrayal Knows My Name (The Fandom Post)
Danica Davidson on vol. 2 of The Betrayal Knows My Name (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Kristin on Crimson Cross (Comic Attack)
TSOTE on Gamble Fish (Three Steps Over Japan)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 10 of Genshiken (Japanese edition) (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Anna on vol. 7 of Kamisama Kiss (Manga Report)
Connie on vol. 2 of Mister Mistress (Slightly Biased Manga)
Danica Davidson on vol. 4 of My Girlfriend’s a Geek (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Sweetpea616 on Revolutionary Girl Utena (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Connie on vol. 5 of Sakura Hime (Slightly Biased Manga)
Chris Kirby on Tesoro (The Fandom Post)
Connie on Tonight’s Take-Out Night (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kayden L on vol. 2 of Wandering Son (Okazu)
Connie on vol. 4 of Wild Adapter (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 17 of xxxHoLiC (Slightly Biased Manga)

Back to work!

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I’m back from my adventure-filled trip to Ireland (if you define “adventure” as drinking a lot of tea and getting lost on the one-way streets). If you’re curious, I posted a more-or-less real-time account at Twitter and I’ll be writing more at my personal blog, once I recover from jet lag.

Thanks to Kate Dacey for doing such a great job keeping the blog going while I was away!

Over at MTV Geek, I took a look at ten manga to look forward to in 2012, and I took a look at this week’s new manga.

Lissa Pattillo discusses her picks from this week’s new releases in her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA.

Sean Gaffney looks at next week’s new manga at A Case Suitable for Treatment.

Viz has licensed the latest Yu-Gi-Oh! series, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexa!

Speaking of Viz, if you haven’t downloaded their app onto your iThing yet, now is the time to do it: New users who download the Viz iOS app and create a new account between now and January 30 can get a free volume of any of their digital manga.

DMP’s Kickstarter campaign to fund the publication of Osamu Tezuka’s Barbara was big news while I was away, and Ed Sizemore, Johanna Draper Carlson, Alex Hoffman, Lissa Pattillo, and DMP’s Ben Applegate discuss the pros and cons in a special Manga Out Loud podcast.

JManga has added vol. 1 of Hyakusho Kizoku, an autobiographical manga by Fullmetal Alchemist creator Hiromu Arakawa, to its lineup. FMA fans be warned: It’s a gag manga with a definitely different tone!

Eiji Ohtsuka, the writer of MPD-Psycho and Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, will give the keynote address at an event titled “Experiencing the Media Mix: Anime, Manga, Video Games,” part of Concordia University’s President’s Conference Series, on Feb. 4. His talk will be titled “The Unholy Alliance of Disney and Eisenstein: The Wartime Origins of Manga, Animation and Otaku Culture.”

News from Japan: Jormungand creator Keitarō Takahashi has a new series in the works, and it will launch in the May issue of Monthly Sunday GX.

Reviews

Chris Kirby on vol. 17 of 20th Century Boys (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 5 of Afterschool Charisma (The Comic Book Bin)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 5 of Afterschool Charisma (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 5 of Bakegyamon (Blogcritics)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 14 of Black God (The Fandom Post)
Chris Kirby on vol. 5 of Cross Game (The Fandom Post)
Connie on vol. 5 of Dogs (Slightly Biased Manga)
Ken Haley on vol. 4 of Dorohedoro (Sequential Ink)
Justin on vols. 1 and 2 of The Drops of God (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Connie on vol. 1 of Gate 7 (Slightly Biased Manga)
Justin on GoGo Monster (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Connie on vol. 7 of Kamisama Kiss (Slightly Biased Manga)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 5 of Kobato (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Matthew Warner on vols. 3 and 4 of K-ON! (The Fandom Post)
Connie on The Reason Why He Loves Him So Much (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 6 of Tears of a Lamb (Blogcritics)
Connie on vol. 3 of Wild Adapter (Slightly Biased Manga)

Off to the Emerald Isle

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Hey folks: Just a few quick links for today, because as you may have read on Twitter, I am in Ireland at the moment for a family wedding and have limited internet. Kate Dacey will be taking over for the next few days, so please make her feel welcome! I’ll be back at the end of next week. In the meantime…

I looked over this week’s new manga releases at MTV Geek, and I also took a look at the free digital issue of Shonen Jump Alpha that Viz has put up as a teaser for the new magazine, which debuts on Jan. 30.

At ANN, Jason Thompson takes a look at one of my favorite older series, ES: Eternal Sabbath, in his latest House of 1000 Manga column.

David Brothers spends a bit of time exploring a gag he really enjoys from One Piece at 4thletter!

Reviews

Rebecca Silverman on vol. 12 of Black Bird (ANN)
Matthew Warner on vol. 1 of Dawn of the Arcana (The Fandom Post)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Himawari-san (Okazu)
John Rose on vol. 54 of Naruto (The Fandom Post)
Anna on vol. 26 of Skip Beat! (Manga Report)
Rob McMonigal on vol. 1 of Wandering Son (Panel Patter)

Antiques and shiny new manga

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Here’s the article you should be reading today, but set aside a bit of time, as it’s long: Ryan Holmberg’s fascinating piece on Akahon manga, the cheap precursors of today’s comics.

I joined my new Manga Bookshelf colleagues yesterday for a discussion of this week’s Pick of the Week.

At Manga Widget, Alex Hoffman looks back at some of the manga highlights of 2011. The Manga Village team takes a look back at 2011 as well.

Connie has a license request: Tokumu Sentai Shinesman, about a group of color-coordinated corporate spies.

Erica Friedman is just back from Comiket, and she shows off her purchases at Okazu.

News from Japan: Translator Tomo Kimura shows off some Black Butler extras. Est em, the creator of Seduce Me After the Show and Red Blinds the Foolish, has a new series in the works, titled Ippo, about a young man who makes fine shoes by hand. Hayate the Combat Butler creator Kenjirou Hata says that the series, which is about to go on hiatus, is about 60% complete. Three Steps Over Japan is curious about a Vagabond parody.

Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf team files the latest set of Bookshelf Briefs. It’s time for Ash Brown to present the latest week’s manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Kristin on vol. 5 of Afterschool Charisma (Comic Attack)
Sakura Eries on vol. 3 of Ai Ore (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 2 of Beauty Pop (Blogcritics)
John Rose on vol. 17 of Black Jack (The Fandom Post)
Connie on vol. 26 of Fullmetal Alchemist (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 8 of Jormungand (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on Kyudo Boys (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on Lonely Wolf, Lonely Sheep (Okazu)
TSOTE on The Minotaur’s Plate (Three Steps Over Japan)
Ken Haley on vol. 10 of MPD Psycho (Sequential Ink)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 6 of Oresama Teacher (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 17 of Ouran High School Host Club (Kuriousity)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 14 of Pokemon Adventures (Blogcritics)
Tomo K. on Prunus Girl (Okazu)
Connie on vol. 26 of Skip Beat (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Song of the Hanging Sky (Blogcritics)
Erica Friedman on vol. 14 of Tsubomi (Okazu)
Matthew Warner on vol. 10 of Yotsuba&! (The Fandom Post)

Pick of the Week: Farewell, Bandai

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The pickin’s are somewhat slim this week at Midtown Comics, but the Battle Robot is able to find a few comics worth buying.

SEAN: … I’ll be honest, nothing thrills me from this week’s manga list. Instead, my vote goes to Vol. 3 of IDW’s Best of Dan DeCarlo, another in their line of Archie Comics series devoted to classic authors. Admittedly, it would have been nice to see the fine folks at Archie show love to these artists while they were still alive, but we can’t have everything. The first collection of Dan’s work focused almost entirely on his Betty and Veronica classics, and that makes sense: Dan is most famous for the way he drew the female form, and those comics best show that off. Now that we’re three volumes in, I’m wondering if we’ll see some more variety. Plus this collection likely means even more scripts by Frank Doyle, who was simply the best writer Archie ever had in its classic years.

BRIGID: I probably wouldn’t do this if there were a stronger selection to choose from, but my pick is vol. 3 of Kannagi, both because it’s a nice series and as a tribute to the publisher, Bandai Entertainment, which is closing up shop next month. That means there will be no new volumes of Kannagi. That might be a good thing. The first volume was a pleasant surprise, the second volume a bit weaker. Still, I enjoy Eri Takenashi’s elegantly simple art, and Bandai did a nice job with production on these books. I’ll miss Kannagi.

MELINDA: I’m going to follow Brigid’s example here, and throw my vote to Kannagi. I enjoyed the series’ first volume quite a bit, and was disappointed by the second, but I’ve held out hope that the third might steer the story back to its original trajectory. I’m sorry to see Kannagi and Bandai go. Manga was never the compay’s focus, but they worked hard to do well by it and learned from their mistakes. It’s a shame this series won’t be completed in English.

KATE: My choice is the final volume of Hyde & Closer. At seven volumes, the series never overstays its welcome, offering readers an enjoyable mixture of comedy and horror, with a sprinkling of life lessons. The crisp, imaginative artwork is another plus; Haro Aso had a talent for transforming seemingly benign toys — a kokeshi doll, a teddy bear — into lethal weapons. (Do I really need to say more than “teddy bears with chainsaws” to sell you on the concept?) It’s a pity the series was saddled with an Older Teen rating, as it’s a perfect choice for younger teens who’ve outgrown material like BakeGyamon: Backwards Game but aren’t quite ready for the more mature shonen titles in VIZ, Yen Press, and Kodansha’s catalogs.

MICHELLE: Ordinarily, I’d cast my vote for volume five of Bokurano: Ours, but as I’ve done so at least once already, I’ll focus instead on volume 41 of Case Closed, which I talked about in a recent Off the Shelf column. I realize it’s unlikely that anyone new to a series would decide to start with volume 41, but Case Closed is the rare example of a manga where one could legitimately do this, not be lost, and enjoy it. All it takes is being in the mood for a mystery that features gadget-assisted sleuthing and convoluted murder puzzles. If this were seinen, no doubt the series would be more grim and realistic. Because it’s shounen, though, readers are in for uncomplicated fun.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Kodansha concerns, convention update

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Lissa Pattillo takes a look through the manga listings in the January Previews.

The Manga Village team examines the past week’s new manga releases, and at Good Comics for Kids, Lori Henderson has the list of the latest all-ages comics and manga.

Melinda Beasi and Sean Gaffney look at the Digital app and some new titles on JManga.com in their Going Digital column at Manga Bookshelf.

AstroNerdBoy has some concerns about Kodansha, after a few glitches with marketing and quality control in the books themselves.

Jason Thompson takes a fond look back at the manga magazine Raijin in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

Matt Blind tallies the manga best-sellers of the first week in December at Manga Bookshelf, and he also introduces a new feature, Manga Radar, in which he looks at new additions to the sales charts.

Do you have any plans for 2012? Deb Aoki has a handy list of this year’s manga-friendly cons for those who like to think ahead.

Reviews: Johanna Draper Carlson reviews Kodansha’s December releases at Comics Worth Reading. Omar returns to manga reviewing with some short takes, mostly on Vertical manga, at About Heroes. Andrew Wheeler balances that out with a stack of Yen Press titles at ComicMix. Lori Henderson is whittling down her manga stack at Manga Xanadu.

Justin on vol. 1 of Anestheseologist Hana (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Justin on vols. 7 and 8 of Bakuman (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 5 of Bokurano: Ours (The Comic Book Bin)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 2 of Border (ANN)
Andre Paploo on vol. 4 of Dorohedoro (Kuriousity)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Fluffy, Fluffy Cinnamoroll (The Manga Critic)
Julie Opipari on vol. 15 of Gantz (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Shannon Fay on vol. 2 of Higurashi When They Cry – Atonement Arc (Kuriousity)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 7 of Hyde & Closer (The Comic Book Bin)
Sweetpea616 on Me and the Devil Blues (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 17 of Ouran High School Host Club (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Julie Opipari on La Quinta Camera (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Kristin on vol. 2 of Wandering Son (Comic Attack)