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My Week in Manga: September 30-October 6, 2013

October 7, 2013 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

It’s the beginning of one month and the end of another, which means it’s one of the slower weeks here at Experiments in Manga. I announced the winner of the Arisa manga giveaway. The post also includes a list of some of the manga available in English that feature twins. For those of you who are interested in the absurd amount of manga and other related materials that make their way into my home, September’s Bookshelf Overload was also posted. Finally, the honor of the first in-depth manga review for October goes to Satoshi Kon’s Tropic of the Sea. I thought it was fantastic. Hopefully it does well and more of Kon’s manga will be able to be released in English.

For anyone looking for more anime and manga blogs to follow, CryMore.Net (formerly known as Whiners.Pro) has put together the most comprehensive list of active sites that I’ve seen. (And yes, Experiments in Manga is included.) If you’re interested in yokai, Matthew Meyer recently launched a Kickstarter project for his most recent artbook/guide The Hour of Meeting Evil Spirits. It’s already met its goal (and I was one of the people to support it), but it’s still worth checking out if you like yokai. I reviewed Meyer’s previous book (also funded through Kickstarter) The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons: A Field Guide to Japanese Yokai and really enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to seeing more of his work in print.

Quick Takes

Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, Volume 18 by Yukito Kishiro. I could be wrong since I haven’t read the entire series, but I believe that the eighteenth volume of Battle Angel Alita: Last Order is the first volume to prominently feature Figure Four (the burly dude on the cover). A love interest in the original Battle Angel Alita manga, up until this point in Last Order he’s been mostly relegated brief references. The eighteenth volume concludes the fallout from the ZOTT combat tournament with the series’ titular chapter “Last Order” before jumping nearly a year back in time to follow Figure for the rest of the volume. He’s hard at work training in anti-cyber martial arts when he learns that Alita may be dead and so goes searching for both her and the truth. Sechs makes a brief, but important appearance in the volume, which made me happy since Sechs is one of my favorite characters in the series. And as a side note, Kishiro designs some really creepy cyborgs.

Dengeki Daisy, Volumes 9-12 by Kyousuke Motomi. It’s been a while since I’ve read any of Dengeki Daisy. I’d forgotten how much I enjoy the series. Dengeki Daisy is kind of a strange manga, mixing rather mundane school life with hackers and cyber espionage, but I am consistently and highly entertained by it. I really like the quirkiness of characters in Dengeki Daisy. Motomi calls Dengeki Daisy a love comedy, which I suppose in the end it is, but in addition to being funny and occasionally romantic, the series also has a lot of action and drama. Kurosaki’s past and his guilt over it continues to be a major driving force behind the story. His disappearance is resolved fairly quickly, which surprised me, but that fact emphasizes how much he cares for Teru and how much Teru and the others care about him. Motomi has a tendency to use stereotypical shoujo plot devices but then completely turns them on their head. The fake-outs are both effective and refreshing.

Incubus, Volumes 1-3 by Yayoi Neko. The mythology in Incubus is fairly complex and the comic’s exposition can be somewhat long-winded, but I overall I’m liking this yaoi series. It has humor and drama, and I’m rather fond of the two leads–a college student named Judas and the surprisingly endearing half-demon Lennial. Judas’ dream sequences are great. In them, the different sides of his psyche try to make sense of what is going on around him as he is repeatedly confronted by demonic powers. The results are often amusing, but his emotional struggles can be heartbreaking. Judas has a very troubled past and what little good there was in it has been torn from him. Not everything has been revealed about his and Lenniel’s history together, but Neko seems to have a firm grasp on the series’ direction. Incubus is currently on hiatus due to the creator’s health–the first three volumes only cover the first half or so of the story–but I look forward to reading more of it if she is ever able to continue the series.

Sickness Unto Death, Volume 1 written by Hikari Asada and illustrated by Takahiro Seguchi. I didn’t know much about Sickness Unto Death before picking it up, but I’m willing to give anything released by Vertical a try. Emiru is a frail young woman suffering from despair–a sickness of the spirit that is causing her body to fail. Kazuma has recently enrolled in college to pursue a career in clinical psychology. When he meets Emiru he not only wants to do all that he can to help her, but he falls in love with her as well. I found the manga’s basic premise intriguing, but in the end I was largely disappointed with the first volume of Sickness Unto Death, though I can’t seem to quite pinpoint why. However, I am still interested in reading the second half. The big reveal as to the cause of Emiru’s despair has been set up and I am very curious about it. I’ll admit that don’t have a lot of confidence, but I am hoping that it will be worth it and that it won’t be something too absurd or overblown.

Free!: Iwatobi Swim Club directed by Hiroko Utsumi. I really enjoyed Free!, finding it to be both a fun and funny series. At times it even manages to be rather touching. The anime has a lot of self-aware goofiness in addition to a decent story and great animation. The swimming in particular is beautifully animated and, for the most part, realistically portrayed. (This also means that there are plenty of muscles to appreciate.) Although it is an important part of the series, Free! is actually less about swimming than it is about the relationships between its characters and their personal struggles and doubts. They all have their own reasons for swimming, but ultimately what brings them together is their desire to connect with one another–swimming just happens to be the way they go about doing it. A second season has been hinted at for the series; I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing more of Free! I’d also love to see it licensed for a physical release.

Attack on Titan dominates the charts

October 7, 2013 by Brigid Alverson

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

The third volume of Mobile Suit Gundam tops the New York Times manga best-seller list; four volumes of Attack on Titan make the list, which is not surprising as that series dominated last month’s BookScan chart as well.

Ash Brown’s Bookshelf Overload column at Experiments in Manga looks at September releases and purchases.

Sean Gaffney takes a closer look at two recently announced licenses: Prophecy, a thriller licensed by Vertical, and Whispered Words, a yuri series from the small independent publisher One Peace Books.

Lori Henderson also looks at the new licenses, as well as vols. 4-7 of Highschool of the Dead, in her latest Manga Dome podcast at Manga Xanadu.

Erica Friedman is in Japan right now, and she paid a visit to the Yoshiya Nobuko Memorial Museum, dedicated to one of the pioneers of yuri manga.

At Comics Should Be Good, Connie C. is going to spotlight the lesser-known works of horror master Kazuo Umezu for the next week, and she kicks it off with a look at Cat-Eyed Boy, Orochi: Blood, and Scary Book.

Meanwhile, at Organization Anti-Social Geniuses, Justin and Manjiorin discuss vols. 5 and 6 of Attack on Titan.

News From Japan: Dengeki Daisy is coming to an end. Welcome to the NHK manga-ka Kenji Oiwa is drawing an Assassin’s Creed IV manga for Jump X magazine. Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine says that 25 million copies of the 11 volumes of Attack on Titan have been sold in Japan.

Reviews

Daniel Briscoe on vol. 2 of Berserk (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 7 of Bleach (Lesley’s Musings… on Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 58 of Bleach (The Comic Book Bin)
Sakura Eries on vol. 5 of A Bride’s Story (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of Happy Marriage?! (I Reads You)
Kristin on vols. 1 and 2 of Magi (Comic Attack)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 3 of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
A Library Girl on vol. 2 of Nightschool (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Ash Brown on Tropic of the Sea (Experiments in Manga)
Erica Friedman on Tsuki to Suppan (Okazu)

Otome Games Review: Kiss of Revenge and Be My Princess

October 6, 2013 by Anna N

Kiss of Revenge

Kiss of Revenge is available on the iphone and on android.

This is another Voltage game like Pirates in Love which I reviewed previously. I’ve decided after playing this game that there was not nearly enough kissing or revenge, so the title was a bit misleading. Also, while the story is certainly going to appeal to fans of melodrama, I found the hospital setting to be not very interesting in the absence of pirates or ninjas. Perhaps I would have enjoyed this game more if it was a ninja hospital.

The storyline focuses on a young doctor who is determined to get her REVENGE after her mother was killed in a botched operation many years ago. She went to medical school and selected the hospital that was the site of her mother’s death in order to expose injustice and coldly execute her revenge. Unfortunately she is surrounded by a variety of handsome co-workers.

The current director of the hospital was the surgeon who botched the operation many years ago, so one easy course for revenge on the part of the heroine is to target his son.

Although she is occasionally distracted by the presence of her childhood friend, who just happens to have a salesman job pushing medical supplies.

While there are plenty of dramatic descriptions of close calls digging up ancient medical files and surgical preparations, I found the real world setting of this game to be a bit humdrum. Also, I was expecting more revengy antics earlier in the game but there’s more of a slow build to all of the emotional trauma that occurs in the later episodes. There’s also a narrative device that is interesting due to the branching storylines, but at the same time a bit annoying because it represents another set of episodes that has to be paid for. At one point in the story the heroine is prompted to chose revenge or give it up, and if you want to play the non-revenge ending (who wouldn’t choose revenge!) you have to buy those separate episodes.

The other thing that I found less than interesting about this game is that while there are other characters to play, clearly the one where the heroine concentrates on the son of the evil hospital director is going to be the most interesting one. I wasn’t all that invested in finding out what the story variations would be if I picked a different character. Overall, this game didn’t really capture my interest. The storyline also ensured that there wouldn’t be as much humor, and I wasn’t very entertained. If you enjoy more melodramatic stories with real world elements though, this might appeal to you.

Be My Princess

Be My Princess is available for itunes and android

This is a game that is actually fairly easy to play without spending any money on it, and after an attempt to buy game credit that didn’t show up in my account, I would really recommended that people do not even attempt to spend money on this game.

Be My Princess is the story of a young fashion designer who ends up in a tiny imaginary European country that seems to be bursting at the seams with princes! They all seem to be strangely attracted to her! They are also somewhat bland and fairly interchangeable, but their prince outfits have a hilarious amount of ruffles.

The storylines so far in this game are really not that interesting. So far I’ve played through three endings of a special event storyline, where the heroine runs off with a prince, and in each variation Their Love is not accepted so there’s an elopement scandal but it all works out in the end.

The virtual paper doll aspects of the game are probably the most entertaining aspect of it all. Here’s a screenshot of my character.

And her extremely cluttered room.

If you play this game you get five passes to read further along in each chapter that reset every morning. There are often checkpoints where you have to swap out your clothes for more elaborate clothes, and have to exchange your free virtual game money for a new handbag or dress. If you do not spend money on the game your closet and furniture storage is limited, thus you are Less Charming. I haven’t found this to be a tremendous hardship so far, although it sometimes led my character to have incredibly wacky outfits as she went through checkpoints. Overall, this game was fairly bland, and I wasn’t happy about the snafu that denied me the opportunity to buy more closet space. At the same time, it does seem to be ideally set up for very casual gaming. The plot might not be all that interesting, but it is entertaining enough to login for 10 minutes a day or so and progress through the princess rankings system.

Here are some random out of context screenshots from Pirates in Love, which I continued to play after my initial review.

Up next: the very entertaining Love Letter from Thief X, which is probably my favorite game so far.

License Roundup – Pre-NYCC Edition

October 6, 2013 by Sean Gaffney

There’s only 2 titles here, but I though I’d get them out of the way rather than include them with all the NYCC stuff. Plus they’re both excellent.

Vertical has added a seinen manga called Prophecy (Yokokuhan), which just finished its run in Shueisha’s Jump X. (For those wondering what Vertical’s doing with a Shueisha title, apparently this came via France and was somewhat convoluted… not sure of all the details, but don’t expect Vertical to license Medaka Box anytime soon.) The author seems to specialize in tense psychological thrillers, and this promises to be in that vein.

Meanwhile, One Peace Books has been a quiet player in the manga market so far, with a reissue of Crayon Shin-chan, and the forthcoming Black Bard in November of this year. But they really got the internet buzzing when their new license showed up on Amazon: Whispered Words, better known to yuri fans as Sasameki Koto. Running from 2007-2012 in Media Factory’s Comic Alive, Sasameki Koto tells the story of Sumika, a young woman in love with her best friend Ushio, but unable to confess her feelings as Ushio loves small, cute girls and Sumika is tall and a martial-arts prodigy in karate. It was adapted into an anime, and also featured Kiyori and her eating curry bread, something I dearly would read an entire manga of. The Amazon listing notes it’s 472 pages, so I suspect this 9-volume series may come out in 3 omnibuses.

And that’s just a taste! Wait till later this week for even more license madness!

Tropic of the Sea

October 5, 2013 by Ash Brown

Creator: Satoshi Kon
U.S. publisher: Vertical
ISBN: 9781939130068
Released: September 2013
Original release: 1990

Satoshi Kon is probably best known as a phenomenal writer and director of anime, especially in the West, but he started his career working in manga. Tropic of the Sea, serialized in Young Magazine in 1990, was Kon’s first long-form manga. Vertical’s release of the English-language edition of Tropic of the Sea in 2013 marks the first, and hopefully not the last, of Kon’s manga to be translated into the language. The volume also includes an afterword by Kon excerpted from the ninth anniversary edition of Tropic of the Sea published in Japan in 1999. Vertical’s edition of Tropic of the Sea is actually based on an even later Japanese release of the manga from 2011. Already a fan of Kon’s work in anime, I was thrilled when Tropic of the Sea was licensed. I was even more excited for the manga’s release when I saw the absolutely gorgeous and captivating cover. Added to that the manga’s focus on legends and the sea and I was sold.

For generations, the small fishing village of Ade has been blessed by calm seas and bountiful catches. This good fortune has been attributed to a promise made between a mermaid and a priest–the village receives protection and in return he will worship the sea and care for the mermaid’s egg for sixty years before returning it to begin the cycle anew. But times are changing and very few people believe the old legend to actually be true. Yosuke Yashiro’s family is responsible for guarding the egg and its shrine, but his father does the unthinkable and reveals the secret of its existence to the world. The sacred relic has now become a draw for tourists, only the most recent example of the increased commercialization of Ade. Although there have been some good things to come from the village’s development, many people are upset with the extent of the changes that have been made and what they may be losing in exchange.

At first the pacing of Tropic of the Sea is fairly leisurely, appropriate for a story that takes place in a quiet seaside village, but as the manga progresses the pace steadily quickens. The role that Ozaki, Ade’s most prominent commercial developer, plays as the manga’s villain is somewhat predictable–desiring the mermaid’s egg for his own purposes while claiming to be interested in the good of humanity–but he does have slightly more to him than first appears. One of the greatest things about Tropic of the Sea from beginning to end is Kon’s artwork. A tremendous amount of attention has been give to the backgrounds and landscapes, granting the manga a very real sense of place which is crucial for the story. The illustrations also convey a feeling of mystery and wonder, awe and foreboding, surrounding the mermaids and the sea. Some of the scenes involving water are simply stunning, the realism strikingly rendered. The artwork in Tropic of the Sea is wonderful.

What impressed me the most about Tropic of the Sea, though, is how subtly complex and deceptively simple the narrative is for such a short work. Thematically, Tropic of the Sea has many overlapping layers and the story can be viewed through a number of different lenses. Tropic of the Sea explores generational dissonance, familial disputes, the values of modernity and tradition, the tension between science and religion and skepticism and belief, the human struggle both with and against nature, the power of legends and their impact on reality. (And that’s just to name a few of the many elements in play.) Any of these aspects of Tropic of the Sea can be focused on individually but they are all interconnected and influence one another to form an engaging story with a surprising amount of depth. Out of the various conflicts portrayed, no one side is ever entirely in the right. I enjoyed Tropic of the Sea a great deal. It may be an earlier work, but Kon’s talent was already evident.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Vol. 3

October 5, 2013 by Sean Gaffney

By Yoshikazu Yasuhiko; Original Story by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Hajime Yatate; Mechanical Design by Kunio Okawara. Released in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in the magazine Gundam Ace. Released in North America by Vertical, Inc.

In the first 2 volumes of this Gundam manga it’s been fairly easy to root for our heroes. They’re fighting against an empire with fascist tendencies, and the two main antagonists we’ve gotten so far are a smug schemer and a daddy’s boy who looks to be in over his head and is dispatched fairly easily at the end of the last volume. Char will no doubt continue to be a headache, but Garma is no more. Of course, this means we need a new minor villain, and it’s not going to be Char, as he’s too busy smirking. And so we get to the title character of this book, Ramba Ral.

Make no mistake about it, Ramba Ral is exactly what this book needed at this point. Even if Char is a very popular character with fans, the fact is that the heroes and villains have been more black and white than they needed to be. This is particularly evident at Garma’s state funeral, which Gihren quickly starts using as a political rally to mobilize the troops. This, combined with the funeral choreography and the uniformed fascism, makes the Principality of Zeon look like Nazi and the Naztones to a degree. Ramba Ral is different, and reminds you that this isn’t “fighting aliens” – all of these people are ultimately human beings with human flaws and human virtues. He’s a captain who loves him men, loves to fight, and is very good at it. His wife is second in command and clearly much of the brains behind the operation. It’s a shame that the plot decrees his fate at the end of this book, as I’d much rather he have been the main antagonist.

And counterbalancing Ramba Ral being a villain who is easy to respect and admire, our heroes are having a very rough time of it. Amuro has always been a petulant teenager, but here his temper tantrums get dealt with in detail, and he runs away. Bright, meanwhile, is doing his best to try and think like a commander, but making decisions that are the right thing to do is proving to be unpopular… not only with his men, but with Mirai. As for Sayla, she’s finding that being a double agent is a lot harder than it looks, particularly when you’re not working for the villains. All three of these characters make somewhat dumb decisions, pay for them, and later learn to read people’s hearts to see what the better option is.

There’s still lots of what makes everyone love Gundam in the first place. The battles are taking up more and more space in the book, but are still very exciting. And the political back and forth and constant attempts to get the upper hand is even better. Char excels at this, of course, even when captured for insubordination. He’s just a man who wants his sunglasses. That’s all. Add in an afterward by Shimoku Kio, who draws the female cast, and has the Genshiken meet Amuro, and you have absolutely no reason not to pick this up. An excelletn volume.

Bookshelf Overload: September 2013

October 4, 2013 by Ash Brown

Recently, I’ve mostly been able to limit myself to preorders and review copies when it comes to the manga that makes its way into my domicile. However in September I took advantage of some nice sales at Right Stuf to pick up some out-of-print or otherwise hard to find boys’ love titles. Other out-of print goodies that I acquired in September included the two volumes of Sin-ichi Hiromoto’s Stone and Mari Okazaki’s Sweat and Honey. I was recently re-reading Okazaki’s Suppli and wanted to read more of her work–Sweat and Honey is the only other manga of hers currently available in English.

As for some of the preorders that made me particularly happy in September–well, technically, the first Vinland Saga omnibus won’t be released until next week, but I got my copy early! I’m very excited that the series is finally making its debut in English. Expect a review soon! You can also expect reviews of Satoshi Kon’s Tropic of the Sea and the most recent volume of Takako Shimura’s Wandering Son in the very near future, too. Most people probably won’t be seeing Wandering Son, Volume 5 until later in October, but I ordered mine directly through Fantagraphics and so got it a bit sooner.

In addition to being a good month for manga, September was also a good month for me for comics in general. Archaia’s Cyborg 009, based on Shotaro Ishinomor’s manga, was an interesting project and physically a very handsome release. Gene Luen Yang’s Boxers & Saints was also published in September. It is one of the best comics that I’ve read this year; I highly recommend it. I also picked up some comics directly from artists that I follow online: E. K. Weaver, HamletMachine, and Kori Michele Handwerker.

Manga!
Arisa, Volume 11 by Natsumi Ando
Attack on Titan, Volume 7 by Hajime Isayama
Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, Volume 18 by Yukito Kishiro
Blade of the Immortal, Volume 27 by Hiroaki Samura
A Bride’s Story by Kaoru Mori
Chi’s Sweet Home, Volume 10 by Konami Kanata
The Day of Revolution, Volumes 1-2 by Mikiyo Tsuda
Fairy Tail, Volume 30 by Hiro Mashima
Genshiken: Second Season, Volume 3 by Shimoku Kio
GoGo Monster by Taiyo Matsumoto
Junk! by Shushushu Sakura
Lies & Kisses by Masara Minase
The Man of Tango by Tetuzoh Okadaya
Missing Road by Shushushu Sakurai
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Volume 3 by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
Not Enough Time by Shoko Hidaka
Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Volume 8 by Fumi Yoshinaga
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Short Stories, Volume 1 by Naoko Takeuchi
Restart by Shoko Hidaka
Secrecy of the Shivering Night by Muku Ogura
Sherlock Bones, Volume 1 written by Yuma Ando, illustrated by Yuki Sato
Sky Link by Shiro Yamada
Sleeping Moon, Volume 2 by Kano Miyamoto
Stone, Volumes 1-2 by Sin-ichi Hiromoto
Sweat and Honey by Mari Okazaki
Tropic of the Sea by Satoshi Kon
Vinland Saga, Omnibus 1 by Makoto Yukimura
Virtuoso di Amore by Uki Ogasawara
Wandering Son, Volume 5 by Takako Shimura
Your Honest Deceit, Volumes 1-2 by Sakufu Aijimine

Comics!
Anything That Loves edited by Charles “Zan” Christensen
Boxers & Saints by Gene Luen Yang
Cyborg 009 written by F. J. DeSanto and Bradley Cramp, illustrated by Marcus To and Ian Herring
Devil’s Dance by HamletMachine
Freelancers, Volume 1 written by Eric Esquivel, illustrated by Joshua Covey
Mail Order Bride by Mark Kalesniko
Nothing Is Forgotten by Ryan Andrews
Pervert Club, Volume 1 by Will Allison
Prince of Cats, Numbers 1-4 by Kori Michele Handwerker
Whisper Grass by E. K. Weaver

Novels!
Lonely Hearts Killer by Tomoyuki Hoshino
The Shogun’s Daughter by Laura Joh Rowland

Collections!
Monkey Brain Sushi: New Tastes in Japanese Fiction edited by Alfred Birnbaum

Nonfiction!
The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan by Ivan I. Morris

Anime!
Kick-Heart directed by Masaaki Yuasa
Michiko & Hatchin directed by Sayo Yamamoto

Manga the Week of 10/9

October 3, 2013 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Michelle Smith, Anna N and MJ 2 Comments

SEAN: The 2nd week of the month still has mostly Viz (and Viz-owned imprints), but other companies get to make an appearance as well!

Dark Horse has the Trigun Omnibus, collecting the start of the series before it shifted from shonen to seinen and the author effectively rebooted it. To be honest, I think I prefer these early stories to the Maximum years.

The big release this week comes from Kodansha, with the long-awaited first omnibus of the epic history Vinland Saga. It’s an omnibus, with 2-in-1 hardcovers, and has some extras as well. People have been clamoring for this to be licensed for years, so they’d better buy it, or I’ll be very mad indeed.

ASH: I am one of those who have been clamoring for years. I’m thrilled that Vinland Saga is finally being released!

MICHELLE: While I haven’t exactly been clamoring, I am nonetheless grateful.

ANNA: Planetes was so wonderful, I am really looking forward to reading this. This is one of those titles that has been on my radar for a long time, and I’m happy Kodansha is bringing it out in English.

MJ: I’m extremely interested in this, and all your excitement here is amplifying that considerably!

SEAN: So much for non-Viz. Meanwhile, back with our manga overlords, there’s Vol. 2 of Sleeping Moon. Supernatural BL with a cover that not only doesn’t look like it was made using Photoshop but I would actually say is quite good? Sign me up! (Well, not me *personally*, but the rest of the MB team…)

ASH: I haven’t read the first volume yet, since I wanted to wait to read both volumes of Sleeping Moon at once, but I’ve enjoyed Miyamoto Kano’s work in the past.

MICHELLE: So have I.

ANNA: I have a feeling that I’d find supernatural BL more enjoyable to read than non-supernatural BL, I’m eager to hear what everybody thinks of this.

MJ: I absolutely loved the first volume of this little series, so this is a major draw for me this week.

SEAN: In addition, we have the 20th volume of Tableau Numero from SubLime… wait, no, scratch that, it’s the only volume of Tableau Numero 20, which is by Est Em, and is about painting and stuff, but admit it, you stopped to preorder it when I said ‘by Est Em’, didn’t you? Also, the cover is very nipple-ey.

ASH: I would totally buy twenty volumes of manga by Est Em! I was very happy when SuBLime picked Tableau numéro 20 up. I’m greedy and want even more of her work to be licensed in print, though.

MICHELLE: I actually had no idea there was more est em in the pipeline! Huzzah!

ANNA: I had NO IDEA this was coming out but I say Huzzah too! I’m assuming that this features deeply psychologically nuanced slice of life stories about bullfighting centaurs who are also fans of soccer and not wearing shirts.

MJ: I was completely surprised by this, too! Where have I been?? Also: YAY.

SEAN: Case Closed has hit Vol. 48. In Japan, it’s up to Vol. 80, and I’ve got a spoiler for you: Conan is still trapped in the body of a kid. (Or Jimmy, whatever, phooey to localized names.) Indeed, this volume came out 8 years ago in Japan. Which, to be fair, means they’re catching up – when it debuted, it was 10 years behind. In any case, expect some cool mysteries.

I hope I didn’t overhype Magi, which starts slow, as all Shonen Sunday series do. But I really love this type of Arabian Nights fantasy to bits, and it has some entertaining young kids as its leads. Vol. 2 is coming out. I hope it takes off here.

MICHELLE: I definitely enjoyed the first volume more than I expected to and am looking forward to seeing if that trend continues with volume two.

SEAN: Lastly, there’s not one, but *three* Tiger & Bunny books coming out. Tiger & Bunny 3 continues the manga adaptation of the hit anime, and Tiger & Bunny: The Beginning seems to be a 2-volume adaptation of the movie… I’m not even sure it’s a manga or some sort of anime screencap thing. I’m just about Tiger & Bunnied out, to be honest. Do they ever fight Panty & Stocking?

MICHELLE: I keep trying to really like the manga, but the most I can achieve so far is not hating it. Maybe the third volume will be the charm?

MJ: Let’s hope?

SEAN: What floats your Knarr this week? (Google it.)

Kodansha Comics is hiring; Nakayoshi is awesome

October 3, 2013 by Brigid Alverson

Scott Green speculates about what series will replace Akira Toriyama’s Jaco the Galactic Patrolman in Viz’s Shonen Jump magazine.

When my mom was getting a room painted or papered, she used to let my kids come in and draw on the walls first. Shogakukan did that on a larger scale in August, letting their manga artists come in and draw on the walls of their building, which was demolished a few days later. Now ANN has a photo set of the drawings, which include work by Naoki Urasawa and Fujiko Fujio A.

Tony Yao compares the anime adaptation of Attack on Titan with the original manga.

Job hunting? Kodansha Comics is looking for a manga editor. Ability to read Japanese is a must!

Erica Friedman writes about that shoujo-est of shoujo manga magazines, Nakayoshi, home of Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura.

News from Japan: Suzuhito Yasuda is the artist of Durarara!! and the writer of Yozakura Quartet, so it’s little wonder the two are crossing over—again—this time in a 100-page manga that will come with a limited edition of the Yozakura Quartet: Hana no Uta home video. The spinoff manga K -Days of Blue- will launch next month in Kodansha’s Aria magazine. Speaking of Aria, here’s a sneak peek at Kuinaki Sentaku (A Choice With No Regrets), the Attack on Titan prequel (it’s about Levi) that will launch in the January issue. And ANN has the latest Japanese comics rankings.

Reviews

Ken H. on vols. 17 and 18 of Eremetar Gerade (Comics Should Be Good)
Erica Friedman on vol. 17 of Hayate x Blade (Okazu)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 11 of Naruto (Lesley’s Musings on Manga)
Sakura Eries on vol. 16 of Otomen (The Fandom Post)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Sickness Unto Death (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
John Rose on vol. 1 of Umineko: When They Cry 3 – Turn of the Golden Witch (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Voice Over: Seiyuu Academy (I Reads You)

Manga Giveaway: Arisa Giveaway Winner

October 2, 2013 by Ash Brown

And the winner of the Arisa manga giveaway is…Ana Death Duarte!

As the winner, Ana will be receiving copies of the first and most recent volumes of Natsumi Ando’s manga series Arisa to be released in English. (Namely, the first and eleventh volumes.) Because Arisa features a set of twins, for this giveaway I asked that entrants tell me a little about the twins that they’ve encountered while reading manga. Do check out the giveaway comments for all of the responses. And thank you to everyone who shared and participated!

Now, because I use giveaways as an excuse to compile lists, here are some of the manga licensed in English that feature twins:

Another written by Yukito Ayatsuji, illustrated by Hiro Kiyohara
Arisa by Natsumi Ando
Ax: Alternative Manga by Various
Basara by Yumi Tamura
Black Lagoon by Rei Hiroe
Blue Exorcist by Kazue Kato
Bond of Dreams, Bond of Love by Yaya Sakuragi
A Bride’s Story by Kaoru Mori
Cage of Eden by Yoshinobu Yamada
Deadman Wonderland written by Jinsei Kataoka, illustrated by Kazuma Kondou
Chobits by CLAMP
Clover by CLAMP
D.N. Angel by Yukiru Sugisaki
A Drunken Dream and Other Stories by Moto Hagio
Fushigi Yûgi: Genbu Kaiden by Yuu Watase
Ghost Hunt by Shiho Inada
Goth written by Otsuichi, illustrated by Kendi Oiwa
Grand Guignol Orchestra by Kaori Yuki
GTO: 14 Days in Shonan by Tohru Fujisawa
Hayate X Blade by Shizuru Hayashiya
Higurashi: When They Cry written by Ryukishi07
Jiu Jiu by Touya Tobina
Jyu-Oh-Sei by Natsumi Itsuki
King of Thorn by Yuji Iwahara
Knights of the Zodiac by Masami Kurumada
Mars by Fuyumi Soryo
Miracle Girls by Nami Akimoto
Monster by Naoki Urasawa
MW by Osamu Tezuka
No. 5 by Taiyo Matsumoto
Ouran High School Host Club by Bisco Hatori
Pandora Hearts by Jun Mochizuki
Papillon by Miwa Ueda
Pretty Face by Yasuhiro Kano
Revolutionary Girl Utena by Chiho Saito
Tokyo Babylon by CLAMP
Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle by CLAMP
The Twin Knights by Osamu Tezuka
Utahime by Aki
Utsubora by Asumiko Nakamura
Vampire Knight by Matsuri Hino
Vassalord by Nanae Chrono
xxxHolic by CLAMP
Zatch Bell by Makoto Raiku
Ze by Yuki Shimizu

The above list is mostly made up of manga that I have either read or that were mentioned by those participating in the giveaway. Although lengthy, it is by no means comprehensive; there are many, many more manga with twins (licensed and unlicensed) that could have been named. Thank you again to everyone who entered the giveaway! I hope you’ll stop by again when it’s time for the next one.