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JManga in the rear view window

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At PW, I take a look back at JManga’s brief existence with business manager Robert Newman. And Justin rounds up some thoughts on the demise of JManga at Organization ASG.

I also rounded up the new license announcements from SakuraCon at MTV Geek.

PictureBox, which published Yoichi Yokoyama’s Garden and Travel, announced two new titles yesterday: World Map Room, by Yokoyama, and Gold Pollen and Other Stories, a collection of short stories by Seiichi Hayashi, the creator of Red-Colored Elegy.

Matthew Cycyk writes about Cross Game and the Artistic Subtleties of Mitsuru Adachi at Matt Talks About Manga.

Laura looks forward to some upcoming shoujo releases at Heart of Manga.

Reviews

Jeremiah Fajardo on vols. 50 and 51 of Bleach (Inside AX)
Sweetpea on Gunslinger Girl (Organization ASG)
Ken H on vol. 1 of Inazuman (Comics Should Be Good)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 5 of Love Hina (omnibus edition) (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Manjiorin on Neon Genesis Evangelion: Comic Tribute (Organization ASG)
Matthew Cycyk on vols. 1-7 of Ooku: The Inner Chambers (Matt Talks About Manga)
Anna on vols. 1-5 of Please Save My Earth (Manga Report)
Matthew Warner on vol. 8 of Psyren (The Fandom Post)
Derek Bown on this week’s issue of Shonen Jump (Manga Bookshelf)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 13 of Soul Eater (The Fandom Post)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 9 of The Story of Saiunkoku (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 6 of Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle (Blogcritics)
Matthew Warner on vol. 8 of Ultimo (The Fandom Post)

Love Hina Omnibus, Vol. 5

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By Ken Akamatsu. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

When I reviewed the first omnibus of Love Hina, I noted that one of its major faults was that, compared to the pacing of the end of the series, it seemed glacially slow. Now we’ve gotten to the final volume, and I’m starting to see the opposite problem. Akamatsu has discovered he can do fast chases well, so after an entire volume spent chasing Naru to the north of Japan, we get another one devoted to chasing Keitaro around the MolMol Kingdom, with all the wacky hijinks that entails. Indeed, reality, which always had a tenuous hold on this series anyway, seems to mostly go out the window here.

lovehina5

As you can see, Kodansha spoils the entire volume on its cover (I have this image of Angry Naru haters replacing her head on the cover with Motoko or Kitsune or whoever and giggling). Yes indeed, the series does end with a wedding. But before that, we have to run through the pick of the best of some of Love Hina’s Greatest Hits, Vol. 2. Which means archaeological ruins, chase scenes, the girls all trying to stop Keitaro and Naru simply because the plot requires it – indeed, Su basically admits she’s only doing this for fun. Speaking of Su, turns out she’s MolMol’s princess, which probably gives some justification as to why she acts the way she does. Motoko gets a lot of stuff to do at the start of this omnibus, even if most of it is a repeat of a previous volume (notice a pattern?). Shinobu less so, but at least she gets out a confession. And Seta and Haruka get married, in one of the fastest weddings you’ll ever see, barely giving Haruka a chance to turn red.

As for Keitaro and Naru, well, life continues to conspire against them. A popular fan theory is that the universe LITERALLY does not want to see them together, and constantly sends disasters their way just to prevent it, and you see a glimpse of this sort of thing here. Things aren’t helped by Naru, who clearly loves Keitaro, wants to become more intimate with him (she takes him to a love hotel here)… but still has issues that lead to disaster and Keitaro getting whacked. (I’m a huge foe of the “Naru is insane and needs therapy” fandom block, mostly as it rarely comes from sympathy, but I will admit I do wonder if something in her childhood happened that led her to be this twitchy.) As for Keitaro, by now he’s accepted his lot in life, freely admitting his supposed immortality and going with the flow provided the flow takes him back to Naru.

The title ends with an epilogue showing the Hinata Inn four years later, with the arrival of a new girl who’s heard it’s legendary for helping hopeless students get into Todai. She’s essentially a female Keitaro, so it’s no surprise that she runs into the residents of the inn (now older) naked, accidentally screws something up, and ends up in a giant chase scene. And if she’s Keitaro, then who does Keitaro get to be? I think most of the “Keitaro turns into Seta Mk. 2!” fan displeasure came from this epilogue, where admittedly he pretty much does act like Seta. But then again, a relaxed Keitaro who’s resolved his Todai and love life issues may very well go in that direction… we’ve seen how Seta and Haruka parallel Keitaro and Naru to begin with. More likely, he was Seta’d up to make the situation funnier, because this is still a manga.

And so in the end I think I have finished unleashing all my inner fandom demons at Love Hina, and can appreciate it for what it is; an intermediate work of Ken Akamatsu’s, filled with memorable characters, sweet moments and a lot of humor, but also poorly paced, about 5 volumes too long, and over-relying on physical comedy. His next series, Negima, gets better at all of these, but still has the same essential weaknesses. Luckily, his strengths also get even stronger there. So let’s leave Keitaro and Naru, married now, living at the Hinata Inn and no doubt spawning a new generation of comedic misunderstandings that could be worked out if only anyone would stop for two seconds.

Weekly Shonen Jump Recap: April 1, 2013

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April 1 CoverpageIf I might, perhaps, offer a piece of well meaning criticism to the Weekly Shonen Jump team at Viz? This may not bother many other people, but it does bother me when it takes longer than it should to figure out which series comes in which order while putting this column together. The layout of the contents page is very nice, as far as just the looks are concerned. But functionally it has terrible flow. Meaning, I can’t tell which series comes next just by allowing my eyes to flow from one to the next. I actually have to take a second and check the page numbers. Part of the purpose of the table of contents is to actually let the reader know what order the chapters are in. And while many weeks you achieve some form of flow that makes sense, what you’ve given us this week, and a few other weeks as well, is harder to decipher than it should be. Just putting that out there, the design could use a bit of work.

Now, let’s talk about the manga itself.

One Piece Ch. 703
I absolutely love One Piece this week. Even though I (and probably everyone else) saw Luffy’s gag coming a mile away, it still managed to get a broadside in on us. Or at least that’s what it did for me. I was in hysterics by the end of the chapter. Not only was this chapter funny, but it also promises something we’ve never seen before, namely, Luffy fighting without using his powers. Since he has to keep a low profile, he won’t be able to use his powers. It’ll be worth the tournament arc just to see him fight normally. Of course he’ll end up giving himself away; the question is how long will it take? And the answer is, it will be unexpected when it does happen. Because somehow Oda can do that. What he’s going to do will be obvious, and yet the impact will be as strong as if it were a complete surprise.

One Piece

I’m looking forward to seeing what Oda does with the Hans Christian Andersen references this arc, and particularly what the role of the toy soldier will be. And whatever Sanji is getting into—whether he gets lucky or just gets stabbed—I’m looking forward to seeing how all these separate elements tie together.

Sakuran (Tentative) One-Shot
Random fanservice aside (and I mean really random), I quite liked this one-shot. I wonder what exactly the purpose was in putting it into our edition of WSJ. It’s either an experiment to see whether one-shots work well in this format, or it’s because there is a strong push for this to become a series, and the main Shonen Jump offices want as much exposure for the story as possible.

I find it interesting how many new series are all romance series. It’s as if aspiring manga artists are afraid of going against the big three (four if you count Toriko) action series. Does this mean we won’t get a new big shounen hit until after the big three have finished? I certainly hope not, I like shounen action series. And while I’m perfectly happy reading romance series, I would still like to see some more action series.

Toriko Ch. 228
Speaking of action series, nothing like an action-centric episode involving a character we only just met a few months ago, and an antagonist we never met. But somehow Shimabukuro makes it work. Brunch has been a great character ever since his introduction, and I love how his lightning powers are supposed to work in the natural world. That’s what’s great about Toriko; it takes abilities that occur in nature, and amps them up to the nth degree.

Though I am a bit miffed that Shimabukuro used the power I thought up years ago for my X-Men O.C. I’ll sue! (This is a joke, I won’t actually sue, Shueisha lawyers that may be reading).

Nonetheless, Brunch is fun, his opponent is OP as heck, and I look forward to seeing how this fight turns out.

Toriko

Naruto Ch. 625
That’s it! I’m getting those buttons made. “Tobirama was right,” is my new catchphrase. I really enjoyed Hashirama when he first was introduced. But literally every single decision he made was the wrong decision. He wanted to make Madara the Hokage. I’m sure that would have turned out swimmingly—it’s not like his entire family is emotionally unstable. And even in this chapter alone, we find out that he’s so emotionally unstable that he turns evil because Tobirama says the leader should be chosen democratically and that everyone would choose Hashirama. I’m so glad that the ultimate villain of the series turned evil because he lost a popularity contest!

Nisekoi Ch. 68
Somehow Naoshi manages to combine comedy with drama in the same chapter. The pattern that I’ve noticed is that he’ll go with comedy for a few chapters, and then he’ll end a chapter with a dramatic question. In this case the question in…question is in regards to who Chitoge likes. This is a big deal because it’s Onodera asking the question. While we all know that Chitoge is the main romantic interest, Naoshi manages to keep the stakes high for the other girls. Chitoge’s answer to Onodera’s question will most definitely set the course for the rest of the series. Hopefully Naoshi manages to find a way to keep it going without dragging the plot out unnecessarily. Which wouldn’t be too hard, since he could keep filling in the gaps with comedic chapters, but he seems to be moving the plot along much faster than I would have expected initially. Still, I’ve enjoyed this series greatly, so I will have faith in Naoshi for the rest of the series.

World Trigger Ch. 008
I enjoyed this chapter well enough. We finally get an explanation for how Osamu got his arm back. But by now I’d already figured the basic idea out. It seems like Ashihara is answering questions that most readers have already figured out. Which says some iffy things about the pacing of this series. I’d have to say, it’s been going far too slowly. Pacing in manga is a tricky beast. Even long serialized pros sometimes have a hard time getting it right. And while we had some good action this chapter, overall I’m still lukewarm. I really enjoyed the first chapter, but right now I can’t say I’m too excited. Action is all good and fine, and I want more action, but it needs something a little more for me to really get into it.

Cross Manage Ch. 027
Cross Manage continues to give us a lot more focus on the characters, in this case the current antagonist Chihara. Since Cross Manage is set in a version of the real world, Chihara is refreshingly not some kind of cookie cutter antagonist. She’s the kind you find in real life. She’s not there to ruin the protagonist’s life; she’s just there, doing her own thing, and just happens to be an opponent for the protagonist. She manages to be the opponent without actually being evil. While this is refreshing, it does leave little to the imagination as to what her fate will be. She’ll lose, she’ll learn something, then she’ll become a friend. But at least she’d be that type of character without going further than would be realistically forgivable.

Also, Toyoguchi makes some terrifying faces when she’s happy.

Cross Manage

Bleach Ch. 531
I grew up in Germany. I speak German, though it’s a bit rusty at the moment. So it drives me crazy seeing Kubo make some pretty basic grammatical errors (or just plain make up words). And I know that he likes Germany—his notes have been talking about the trip to Germany he took. But still, it’s one of those little things that is driving me up the wall.

Also, Ryuuken starts talking about “mixed breeds” and all that. Man, the Germans can’t catch a break even from their old allies. Overall, an enjoyable enough chapter, though I find the random soul reaper worried about jurisdictions while Isshin is fighting the unknown hollow to be absolutely laughable. I’m pretty sure jurisdictions aren’t that important in the middle of combat.

And then Aizen shows up and attacks Isshin. Can we please have an arc where he doesn’t come back as the villain? All goodwill from his reveal at the end of the Soul Society arc was wasted with the Fake Karakura Town arc.

Dragon Ball Z Ch. 009
And thus, Goku begins his cycle of death and rebirth. I don’t find there’s much I can say about this chapter. Mostly because this isn’t a brand new chapter for me. I’ve watched the anime, and read the manga ages ago. So all I can really say is that this current arc is definitely one of my favorites of the Dragon Ball manga. I think as far as shonen action series go it flows the best. The transition from Goku’s death to his training will be a lot of fun to read, but the individual chapters are a bit difficult to comment on. While good, they tend to lack in substance.

One-Punch Man Ch. 011
Once again, the same basic joke, supplemented by a new twist. I just…I really just love this manga. It’s the funniest manga running in WSJ online, with Nisekoi being a close tie. And yet, we somehow still rely on the same basic premise and the same basic gag. Fortunately there was plenty to enjoy this chapter, beyond just the buildup for the final joke.

One-Punch Man

And that’s it for this week. Let me know in the comments which chapter you liked best. And what do you think of the table of contents layout? Am I just overreacting? (The correct answer is: No.)

If you want to hear more, check out the Manga^3 Podcast Archives. Or go directly to last week’s episode, Episode 041 – March 25, 2013 – Manga Art Styles | Toriko Vol. 3.

Please Save My Earth, Vols. 1-5

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One of the things I was most excited about when Viz launched their digital store was the possibility that some of their backlist shoujo titles would get released in digital format. The one series I was most wanting to experience again was Please Save My Earth. I read the first few volumes of the series many years ago, but dropped it. At the time I was a bit frustrated about the lack of forward movement in the story, even though I thought the manga was interesting and well-constructed. I know that plenty of people have read the whole series and consider it a favorite so I was anxious to give it a second try.

The first volume opens by introducing the slightly strange heroine of Please Save My Earth. Alice has just moved to Tokyo from Hokkaido, and she’s having a hard time adjusting. She has an affinity towards plants and feels cut off from nature in the big city. Alice is tormented by an oddly precocious neighbor boy named Rin. As she’s excaping the stress of school she happens upon an oddly intimate conversation between two of her male classmates, Jinpachi and Issei. At first Alice thinks that she’s stumbled across a moment from a yaoi manga and concludes “this is what manga fangirls are supposed to weep with joy over!” Later, Jinpachi and Issei explain the meaning behind their conversation – every night they share the same dreams where they are male and female scientists marooned on the moon.

Rin has an accident while Alice is babysitting him and is in a coma for several days. When he wakes up, the bratty boy seems to be taken over by a much more cynical and manipulative personality and he begins to exhibit an obsessiveness over Alice that would be even more disturbing in a grown man. Alice has a dream where she’s a woman named Mokuren, on the moon with Shion, the man she loves.

As the early part of the series progresses, Alice, Jinpachi, and Issei start tracking down other people who share their alien moon dreams by placing an ad in a kooky paranormal magazine. They start having regular meetings, trying to piece together the history of what happened to the alien scientists. Many of the feelings of the adult scientists tend to transfer over to their female incarnations, as Jinpachi starts to exhibit signs of the unrequited love his counterpart Gyokuran had for Mokuran/Alice and Issei/Enju remains on the sidelines.

Hiwatari’s art shifts back and forth from a cartoonish classic 80s style showing the schoolkids to a much more lush and detailed way of portraying life on the moon. One thing that I’d forgotten that I noticed much more the second time around were the touches of humor included in the story such as a random Saint Seiya reference and the occasional mention of shoujo magazine publishing conventions. Jinpachi is congratulated on his emotional conviction when he’s so stirred that he has to be portrayed in a two page spread.

A manga that focused only on characters sharing their dreams about being teeny tiny aliens on the moon might not seem to be very compelling reading on the surface, but there’s plenty of dramatic tension in the way the Moon and Earth stories intersect. The aliens are the last outpost of a dying race, spending their remaining time observing the Earth. But some events show Mokuren and Shion together after all of their companions have died off from an unexpected disease. The mystery behind the final days of the aliens is tricky to put together, as the events shown in the dream flashbacks shift forwards and backwards in time.

Rin is Shion reincarnated, and it is difficult to tell if his scheming is a desperate attempt to put things right or a form of revenge for being left alone on the Moon base for so long that he went insane. Rin is able to manipulate both the adults and high school kids around him, tagging along with Alice and coming up with an elaborate scheme to hide his true reincarnated identity. There’s a bit of a race against time element at play, as the other reincarnated high schoolers start to piece together more and more information about their previous lives, Rin may be able to manipulate them into revealing some information that would allow him to access the dormant alien technology from Earth. Rin also has developed psychic powers, which makes him quite terrifying as a hidden antagonist to the story.

With the digital availability of this series it is very easy to read several volumes at once, and I think that will end up being the most rewarding option for most readers. I wonder if part of the reason why I was starting to grow impatient the first time around was due to delays between volumes. The story of Please Save My Earth progresses in a very compelling way, with past lives informing the reader of the character’s current motivations. I’m interested to see if they are going to play out their tragic fates again, or if free will and the changed personalities of Alice and her gang are going to cause their lives to take a turn for the better. I’m happy to have the chance to revisit this series.

Humming a Love Song with LaLa Dx

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laladxSo, we’ve talked many times about the vague lines that differentiate shounen/seinen and shoujo/josei. In real life, there is no one age when all boys shift from caring about becoming ninjas to liking looking at girls in bikinis and there is no one moment when girls stop wanting to be a princess and suddenly start paying attention to the cute boy in class.

When we read manga that has been licensed from Japan, we’re often seeing the very best of the bunch—the Fruits Baskets and the One Pieces—and yet, when you see pictures of manga stores in Japan, there are acres of shelves filled with…what?

Today we’ll talk about LaLa Dx, one of those fields filled with flowers of shoujo romance that you are never likely to see here in the US.

LaLa is a relatively well-known monthly magazine, home to several properties that have made to our shores, such as  Yuki Midorikawa’s Natsume’s Book of Friends and Hiro Fujiwara’s Kaicho wa Maid-sama, because of the relationship Viz has with LaLa publisher Hakusensha. LaLa Dx was originally a supplement to LaLa and is now its own bimonthly shoujo manga magazine. Like most of the Bestu, Za and Dx issues of monthly manga magazines, LaLa Dx is smaller than it’s better-known sister—international size A5 rather than the typical B5 size for the monthly magazines. According to the Japanese Magazine Publisher’s Association, Dx comes in at about 67,050  per issue circulation in 2011 (as compared with LaLa‘s 155,950). Small, but packed, Dx comes in at a hefty 850 pages with surprisingly little advertising—none of these series are making it to anime. So for the 690 yen ($7.32 at time of writing) you’re getting a lot of love.

LaLa Dx has a website, but perched in that vague space between childhood and maturity, it’s not quite interesting enough to be appealing to children, and doesn’t quite have content for an older audience. Part of the LaLa family of websites, the site is mostly and advertisement for the current issue. Interviews and other features are integrated with the other magazines on the site. Giveaways are, as well. These days, you’re likely to find a LOT of nyanko-sensei items as LaLa gifts and contest prizes.

When one opens the pages of Dx, one is looking at story after story of young women and young men not getting together for any number of reasons—you know, typical romance stuff. The plot might be driven by horror or comedy, but the story is romance. Friendships will be torn, secrets will be revealed, kind faces will become stern and angry faces will prove to be protective.  This magazine is a field of smiles, of tears, of love. This is what you see, when you look at all those shelves in manga stores. And this is the space between pop idols and cute boy in class…with a little princess thrown in for good measure. ^_^

LaLa Dx by Hakusensha: http://www.hakusensha.co.jp/lala/mag_laladx/now.html

 

 

Seven Seas licenses Senran Kagura, loses Blood Alone

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Senran Kagura

Senran Kagura

Seven Seas confirmed a new license, Senran Kagura: Skirting Shadows, which follows the adventures of a quintet of teenage girls in a secret ninja high school.

Still catching up with manga news… Lissa Pattillo has a quick roundup in which she notes that Seven Seas will not license future volumes of Blood Alone, as the title has shifted to a new publisher, Kodansha, in Japan. Kodansha, of course, has their own American arm, Kodansha comics, although they do license to other publishers as well (and they are co-owners of Vertical).

The Manga Bookshelf bloggers discuss their Pick of the Week.

Reviews: Adam Stephanides posts some quick reviews of untranslated manga at Completely Futile. Ash Brown looks at a week’s worth of reading at Experiments in Manga. And it’s time for more Bookshelf Briefs at Manga Bookshelf.

Kristin on vol. 2 of 21st Century Boys (Comic Attack)
Katherine Hanson on vol. 1 of Asagao to Kase-san (Yuri no Boke)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 18 of Black God (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 4 of Bleach (Blogcritics)
L.B. Bryant on vol. 1 of Dark-Hunters: Infinity (ICv2)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 4 of A Devil and Her Love Song (Blogcritics)
John Rose on vol. 23 of Fairy Tail (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Ghost (The Comic Book Bin)
Lori Henderson on vols. 3-5 of Hero Tales (Manga Village)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 7 of Kamisama Kiss (Blogcritics)
Ken H on vol. 1 of Kikaider (Comics Should Be Good)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of Neon Genesis Evangelion (omnibus edition) (I Reads You)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 66 of One Piece (The Comic Book Bin)
TSOTE on vol. 31 of QED (Three Steps Over Japan)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 27 of Slam Dunk (The Comic Book Bin)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 2 of Strobe Edge (Blogcritics)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 34 of Vagabond (I Reads You)

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin 1

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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.

If you’re going to rewrite one of the most renowned and influential anime of all time, you have a lot of difficulties ahead of you. You have to tell the same story but add your own spin on it, making sure it’s not just a word-for-word copy. You need to draw the audience in by showing things that you were unable to the first time, for either budget or time reasons. And of course you need to remind everyone why the original was so legendary. It helps, of course, when you’re actually one of the architects of that original vision. And that’s what we have here, as one of Gundam’s creators has decided to tell the original story from the 1979 anime as a manga, adapting, expanding, and illuminating its plot and characters. And so far, I’m impressed.

gundam1

I must admit, I’ve never gotten into the Gundam phenomenon – as a kid, Battle for the Planets was more my speed, which is about a generation earlier in mecha shows, and I didn’t really follow the Wing/Seed phenomenon. That said, I do know a few things by fandom osmosis. Giant robots, only serious. War is bad. Char Aznable. Lots of tragic deaths. Colony drops. And everyone hates Turn A. That pretty much sums up my knowledge. So I was looking forward to delving into this to see what made it so compelling. The story begins in media res, as we follow a platoon of commandos trying to get into on a secret new weapon the enemy ship has… which turns out to be a Gundam, as we realize the enemy ship is actually Our Heroes.

This feels very much like an epic motion picture, and at times it almost felt like I was reading storyboards rather than a manga volume. Events slide smoothly from one to another, with little to no chance for a breather in between. The lead character, Amuro Ray, is somewhat sullen and teenagery, but not as hard to like as I’d thought, and clearly shows compassion when it’s in his sphere of things he cares about. (There’s a beautifully drawn shot of his childhood friend Fraw running towards him as a huge explosion bursts behind her, and I was sure this would be the first of many deaths, but amazingly no; the “named character” body count in this volume is pretty low.) As for Char, it’s immediately apparently why he is the breakout character from this series. Cool and cocky, but lacking the evil arrogance of some of his friends (like the guy we see right at the cliffhanger), he’s a bad guy you love to hate. Also, his mobile suit is named the Red Comet, which just makes me imagine that the Zeon base is at Cedar Point.

On the presentation end, Vertical has produced possibly its most impressive book to date, with a gorgeous hardcover with thick pages (many color), suitable for any coffee table. It really goes above and beyond the call of duty; kudos to the designers. That said, the main reason to get the Gundam manga is probably the same reason the original anime became so legendary; you can’t stop wondering what happens next. These people and their struggle to survive are amazingly compelling, and everything about this manga adaptation – the plot, the artwork, the characterization – makes it justify its existence. I am very happy to see it coming out here, and can’t wait for more.

Oh yes, and red makes things go three times faster. I remember that as well.

Pick of the Week: Saiunkoku conclusion & more

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potw-4-1SEAN: It’s rare that I go off of my own reservation, especially in a week with so much stuff piling in. But my pick of the week just arrived in the mailbox, and will be hitting stores soon: Unico, the new release of Osamu Tezuka’s put out by DMP’s Kickstarter label. Unico is a children’s title (in full color) about a unicorn who can bring others happiness; that said, it’s not as happy and fluffy as you’d expect, and can be quite tearjerking. It’s great to see, and I can’t wait to dig into it.

MICHELLE: Despite the presence of favorites like Sailor Moon, Dawn of the Arcana, Kimi ni Todoke, and Slam Dunk on Sean’s list, I am going to have to give my pick to a beloved series that’s ending this week: The Story of Saiunkoku. I’m very glad we got the chance to read this, but I’m so sad the manga has ended already, when there’s so much story in the light novels that we will never see! Still, that’s no reason not to read the part of the story that we did get, because it’s utterly charming.

ANNA: Since I can’t pick Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin two weeks in a row, I will highlight Library Wars Vol. 9, which is reaching increasing heights of romantic adorableness as Dojo and Kasahara seem to spend most of the volume blushing, lost in thoughts about their feelings for each other, and occasionally fighting the evil forces of library censorship. This shoujo manga isn’t very deep, but it is consistently enjoyable and always makes me smile.

MJ: There are a lot of strong titles on this week’s list, including all those mentioned above, but given that it’s reached its eighth and penultimate volume, I feel I must continue to root for Toru Fujisawa’s GTO: 14 Days in Shonan. When I placed this at the head of my Top Five New Print Manga of 2012, I talked a lot about Onizuka’s status as a genuine badass, and after volume seven’s terrifying blow against the kids he’s worked so hard to protect, I’m counting on his stubborn, badass nature to see us through. This is a series I’ll savor to the end.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

SakuraCon: Yen gets Kingdom Hearts manga

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Inu x Boku SS

Inu x Boku SS

The anime con season kicked off this past weekend with SakuraCon, where both Yen Press and Dark Horse had license announcements and other news. Yen Press announced it has licensed the Kingdom Hearts series and will re-release the volumes previously released by Tokyopop and publish the later volumes as well. They have also licensed Inu x Boku SS, by Cocoa Fujiwara, No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular! (Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaete mo Omaera ga Warui!), by Nico Tanigawa, and the manga adaptation of the film Wolf Children Ame and Yuki.

Editor Carl Gustav Horn had two new licenses to announce at the Dark Horse panel: New Lone Wolf and Cub, an 11-volume sequel to the original Lone Wolf and Cub series, and Hatsune Miku: Unofficial Hatsune Mix (Maker Hikōshiki Hatsune Mix), a series about the Vocaloid idol and her friends that originally ran in Comic Rush from 2008-2010.

It doesn’t look like there were any new license announcements at the Viz Media panel, but they did announce two new box sets, Bakuman and One Piece, as well as their publishing schedule for the coming year.

Sean Gaffney took a closer look at the new Yen Press and Dark Horse licenses at his blog.

This past week had an unusually strong set of new releases; I covered ’em all at MTV Geek. And the Manga Bookshelf team takes a look at this week’s new manga as well.

I’m playing a little catch-up here, but I wanted to get this in print before JManga went dark: The most fun interview I had at New York Comic Con was with manga-ka Masakazu Ishiguro, the creator of Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru, and his editor at Young King Ours magazine, Masahiro Ohno. It’s up now at MTV Geek, along with a preview of SoreMachi, which will stay up after JManga goes down.

Erica Friedman cues up the latest edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu.

MJ and Michelle Smith discuss an assortment of new titles, including the Sabrina the Teenage Witch manga, in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf. And MJlooks at three older series she is enjoying in her 3 Things Thursday column. And Anna, MJand Sean open up the Manga Shopping Bag and discuss their recent purchases.

Somehow I was so busy last week that I missed the Manga Moveable Feast, which focused on history; it was hosted by Khursten Santos at Otaku Champloo, and here are her introduction, Day 1 roundup, discussion of the power of historical manga, Day 2 roundup, review of Ooku, and a post on World War II as viewed by three manga artists. This is a very nice collection and well worth a read. Also: Ash Brown is giving away a copy of Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths at Experiments in Manga.

Travis Anderson has a license request: Tea Girl.

Reviews: Ash Brown looks back on the weeks’ manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 2 of 21st Century Boys (Comics Worth Reading)
Manjiorin on Accidental Princess (Organization ASG)
Matthew Warner on vol. 1 of Alice in the Country of Hearts: My Fanatic Rabbit (The Fandom Post)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 4 of Attack on Titan (The Fandom Post)
Matthew Warner on vol. 54 of Bleach (The Fandom Post)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1 and 2 and vols. 3 and 4 of A Bride’s Story (Manga Xanadu)
Jocelyne Allen on vols. 2 and 3 of Chokodoshoujin (Brain Vs. Book)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 1 of The Dark-Hunters: Infinity (The Fandom Post)
Connie C. on A Drifting Life, Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga, and I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow (Comics Should Be Good)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Emma (Manga Xanadu)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on vol. 2 of Finder (All About Manga)
Ash Brown on The Heart of Thomas (Experiments in Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 21 of Higurashi: When They Cry (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Ash Brown on vol. 1 of The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel (Experiments in Manga)
Jocelyne Allen on vol. 1 of Ippo (Brain Vs. Book)
Angela Eastman on vol. 3 of Jiu Jiu (The Fandom Post)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on Kimi Shiruya—Dost Thou Know? (All About Manga)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on vols. 1 and 2 of Kiss Blue (All About Manga)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on vol. 3 of Kizuna (All About Manga)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on A Love Song for the Miserable (All About Manga)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on Mr. Convenience (All About Manga)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 14 of Pandora Hearts (The Fandom Post)
Anna on vols. 2 and 3 of Paradise Kiss (Manga Report)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on Restart (All About Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 10 of Sailor Moon (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Derek Bown on the March 25 issue of Shonen Jump (Manga Bookshelf)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on Shy Intentions (All About Manga)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on Sleepless Nights (All About Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Tokyo Babylon (omnibus edition) (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Ash Brown on vol. 3 of Vagabond (omnibus edition)
John Rose on vol. 30 of Wallflower (The Fandom Post)

Bookshelf Briefs 4/1/13

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This week, Sean, Anna, MJ, & Michelle look at recent releases from Kodansha Comics, Viz Media, Yen Press, and Vertical, Inc.

attack4Attack on Titan, Vol. 4 | By Hajime Isayama | Kodansha Comics – The art still has issues with facial differences, but this is finally the volume where we see developed characters beyond the big three. Annie and Jean both get to show off potential antagonist chops, but my favorite was Sasha, or “Potato Girl.” In a manga as deeply depressing and bleak as this series is, we need moments of levity—moments we didn’t get in the first three volumes. Sasha’s personality, love of food, and general liveliness are a breath of fresh air. Of course, that doesn’t mean this volume is all laughs. We cycle back and forth between training flashbacks and the present day so quickly that I lose track of which is which (black borders would help, Isayama—don’t you read manga?), and the present day is bad for everyone, with more corpses, more distrust of Eren, and a bleak future promised. Also, Blouse? Not Braus? This reminds me of Fairy Tail romanization… -Sean Gaffney

demon2Demon Love Spell, Vol. 2 | By Mayu Shinjo | Viz Media I read the first volume and liked this series much more than Ai Ore!, and that was confirmed by the second volume, which kicks off with an unexpectedly poignant story of a lost fox demon. Miko continues to be a reasonable foil for any demons she encounters due to her almost bull-headed obliviousness. A scene of her fending off a demonic spirit with an extra sandwich was hilarious. Kagura is very much the typical alpha male Shinjo hero, but his frequent transformations into a tiny handbag mascot keeps him from being too insufferable. This is going to be a go-to fun read for me whenever I need a bit of a laugh. – Anna N

saika1-200x300Durarara!! Saika Arc, Vol. 1 | By Ryohgo Narita, Suzuhito Yasuda, and Akiyo Satorigi | Yen Press – As always with DRRR!!, there’s a lot going on here at the same time. Mikado fades into the background a bit, as we turn to Anri and her own self-esteem issues, which aren’t helped by a sexually harassing teacher. Shizuo is on the cover, and some of his backstory is covered here, showing why he is so incredibly strong—and why it’s a burden rather than a choice. And of course there’s also a series of assaults in the city, as everyone’s getting slashed by a mysterious demon sword—who’s also an internet troll. DRRR!! is the sort of series where explaining everything that’s going on makes it sound more complicated than it is. This is the life of a city, as filtered through about 20 different cast members. Like the author’s other series, Baccano!, there is no main character. Just lots of fun and chaos. – Sean Gaffney

books_limit4Limit, Vol. 4 | By Keiko Suenobu | Vertical, Inc. – As swiftly as Limit‘s group of survivors came together in the series’ third volume, they fall apart even more quickly in the fourth, as it becomes clear that one among them has committed a brutal murder. Accusations are hurdled from all sides, and yet another member of their party will be lost before the group finally settles into a sort of grudging paranoia that is unlikely to abate anytime soon. Volumes of this series seem to fly by, that’s how engaging they are, and I emerged from this one with a combination of dread and feverish anticipation. Fortunately, these are being released on a reasonably brisk schedule, with volume five due out before the end of May. Given the series’ tense atmosphere and quick pacing, it’ll be a great candidate for marathon reading once all six volumes have been released. I look forward to that re-read for sure. Still recommended. – MJ

saiunkoku9The Story of Saiunkoku, Vol. 9 | By Kairi Yura and Sai Yukino | Viz Media – The main storyline of The Story of Saiunkoku wrapped up quite satisfactorily in volume eight, and I never would’ve thought that a subsequent volume of side stories would be necessary. And, indeed, it really isn’t. There are three stories in this final volume—“So Began the Fairy Tale,” which offers a glimpse at the early loss of innocence suffered by Shoka, Shurei’s father; “Hurrican Ryuren Strikes the Capital,” about the eccentric member of the Ran clan who achieved the second-highest rank on the civil servants’ exam; and “Someday I Will Come to You,” about Shoka’s odd brother Reishin and his continued obsession with Shurei. Actually, rather a lot is made of Reishin and his obsession for Shoka, too, and it’s a joke that’s warn a bit thin with me. Nevertheless, this is a pleasant volume, if not the most dramatic or substantial. I’ll miss this series. – Michelle Smith