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Saturday Spotlight: Webtoons

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Today’s Off the Shelf column featuring the Korean webcomic, or “webtoon,” Aron’s Absurd Armada has put webtoons in general on my mind. With only a handful licensed for North American release (mainly from online publisher NETCOMICS and iOS publisher iSeeToon), Korean webtoons represent a huge untapped source of East Asian comics.

So, this week’s Saturday Spotlight shines on Hana Lee’s An introduction to Korean webcomics, written for Manhwa Bookshelf in the summer of 2010.

Read and dream of what we could be reading!

Off the Shelf: Armada, Roses, Crazy for You

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MICHELLE: Hey, MJ! What did Geronimo say when he jumped out of an airplane?

MJ: Hm, I don’t know, what did he say?

MICHELLE: “Me!!!!”

MJ: I guess I should have seen that coming.

MICHELLE: Yeah, probably. So! What’ve you been reading this week?

MJ: My solo read this week was the debut volume of MiSun Kim’s Aron’s Absurd Armada, a Korean webtoon published in English by Yen Press. This series has been running since August of 2010 in the online incarnation of Yen Plus, and I checked out the first chapter for this column back when it debuted. Since it’s been quite a while, I’ll take a moment to refresh the premise.

Aron is a young nobleman and heir to a prominent dukedom with dreams of becoming a pirate. Thanks in part to his mother’s delusions regarding his intelligence and cunning (she believes he aspires to piracy in order to keep a rival family’s military influence in check), he is allowed to do so, accompanied by his pretty-boy bodyguard, Robin, whose reluctant participation hinges entirely upon his unapologetic greed. Though Aron is a fairly ridiculous pirate, random luck and Robin’s skills as a swordsman actually manage to win them a small crew, and the two embark on their journey to conquer the seven seas. Members of Aron’s ragtag crew include Ronnie, a young woman rescued from a shipwreck who is consistently mistaken for a man; Mercedes, a swanky transvestite who claims to be a hairdresser but is actually a deadly assassin; hulky Vincent, the world’s worst chef; and underlings Anton and Gilbert, whose primary function seems to be complaining and making jokes about other people’s sexuality.

True to its name, Aron’s Absurd Armada is devoted to humor rather than plot, and in this it largely succeeds. Though translating foreign comedy tends to err on the “miss” side of “hit-or-miss,” Kim’s sense of humor easily bridges cultural barriers—most of the time, at least. Only two or three jokes rely too heavily on Korean pop culture references to translate effectively in this first volume, which is a fairly good track record when compared to much of the Japanese 4-koma that’s been licensed for English-language release. In fact, the biggest cultural disconnect is the unfortunate volume of gay jokes that crop up, a large number of which originate in the series’ deliberate BL overtones. As a general rule, however, the series is genuinely funny, light, and satisfyingly whimsical.

Having originated as a webcomic, Absurd Armada is in full color, and Yen has thankfully preserved this in its print volumes as well. While, as a manga fan, I often find that full color comics result in sensory overload, in this case, color pages just enhance the series’ cartoonish feel, which is really quite effective. On top of that, both Kim’s comedic sense and her clear, expressive art style remind me of nothing more than Hiromu Arakawa’s omake strips for Fullmetal Alchemist, which, coming from me, is definitely a compliment.

MICHELLE: Since I generally don’t like consuming stories on a chapter-by-chapter basis, I’ve been waiting to read any of Aron’s Absurd Armada until it was finally collected, so I was very excited to see that a tangible copy is finally available. I’m kind of dubious about comedies a lot of the time, but this one sounds like it could be right up my alley.

MJ: I think it could be! Actually, I’d theorize that the best way to consume this series would be as a daily webcomic, one strip at a time, but it’s enjoyable in collected form as well.

So, what have you been reading this week?

MICHELLE: I’ve spent the last week catching up on Rinko Ueda’s Stepping on Roses in order to talk about its eighth volume, which came out early last month.

I knew going in that Stepping on Roses wasn’t going to be a masterpiece, but ye gods, is it ever dumb! The basic premise is that pauper Sumi Kitamura agrees to marry rich Soichiro Ashida in order to provide for the orphans her ne’er-do-well brother, Eisuke, keeps bringing home. Soichiro needs to be married in order to inherit his grandfather’s fortune, but schemes to have his friend Nozomu fall in love with Sumi with hopes of causing a scandal that’ll allow Soichiro to triumph in business somehow. He succeeds wildly, causing Nozomu to essentially go insane with his love for Sumi and become the series’ main antagonist. Meanwhile, Soichiro and Sumi fall in love for real. In volume eight, they’re living together in the slums until Soichiro gets ill and Sumi decides to yield to Nozomu’s aggressive courtship as a means to provide for her husband’s treatment. Misunderstandings, manual labor, and jumping from cliffs ensue. (Really.)

Being dumb doesn’t preclude Stepping on Roses from occasionally being entertaining. In particular, I’m fond of Soichiro’s manservant, Komai, and the best moment in the series so far is the super-short flashback side story in which he introduces his young charge to commoner cuisine in the form of riceballs. The series is also an extremely fast and easy read, with large, uncluttered panels and uncomplicated dialogue. Unfortunately, “uncomplicated” is pretty much the theme of the day. Despite the dramatic goings-on, the story lacks oomph and I find it hard to care about the characters. Sumi is mostly a passive heroine, and whenever she musters some gumption to do something about her plight, it’s usually something dangerous that requires one of the men in her life to rescue her. Soichiro is the classic misunderstood rich boy who’s never known love, and all of the villains are so obvious that they might as well be twirling mustaches. Speaking of obvious, the plot twist that will presumably be unveiled in the ninth and final volume was telegraphed so strongly in volume seven that it’s now just a matter of waiting for the pieces to fall into place.

That said, I undoubtedly will read the last volume to see how it all wraps up.

MJ: You are a lot more patient with this series than I have been. I gave up on it many volumes ago, for most of the reasons you mention here. Somehow it managed to eclipse my tolerance for brainless shoujo. I hadn’t realized that was possible, really, until Stepping on Roses. Though I have enjoyed Sean’s repeated wish that it would turn into a shogi manga. Sumi’s unexpected skill at shogi is pretty much all the series has going for it, in my view. Heh.

MICHELLE: I would much prefer it as a shogi manga!

Anyways, I think it’s your turn this time to introduce our tandem read!

MJ: Indeed it is! Our mutual read this week was the first two volumes of Crazy for You, a recent addition to the JManga catalogue from Karuho Shiina, best known in North America as the creator of Kimi ni Todoke.

Okay. So, Sachi is a shoujo everygirl—physically and intellectually unremarkable—whose best friend, Akemi, sets her up on a group date with a bunch of her boyfriend’s classmates. Though the boyfriend, Yuuhei, has been charged by Akemi with not letting any questionable guys latch on to inexperienced Sachi, he somehow lets known womanizer Yuki chat her up for the entire evening. Sachi predictably falls for Yuki and, despite Akemi’s alarmed disapproval, continues to pursue him even though she knows that most of what he says are lies. Thanks to Sachi’s sweet, guileless nature, she actually manages to befriend Yuki for real (to the dismay of both Akemi and Yuki’s more straightforward friend, Akahoshi), but their friendship’s unbalanced nature only spells doom for Sachi’s romantic heart. Just when Sachi begins to believe that her feelings might be returned, it becomes clear that Yuki harbors feelings for Akemi (and vice-versa), shattering relationships on all sides.

Though the typical love-triangle (or double-triangle?) setup and Sachi’s downright eagerness to be jerked around by Yuki becomes quickly wearying in the series’ early chapters, Shiina’s talent for exploring teen emotion eventually shines through. Early on, I’ll admit that my assessment of the series was pretty much, “not as good as We Were There,” to which it bears a number of similarities in terms of romantic setup, but Shiina adds some appealing touches later on.

First, I’m quite taken with the friendship between Sachi and Akemi, which (for once) is portrayed as being at least as important as their romantic aspirations—something Shiina perfected later in Kimi ni Todoke. Also, while Akahoshi could easily be set up as the ill-fated, stalwart “nice guy,” there’s actually quite a bit of doubt about just how “nice” he actually is, which makes his attachment to Sachi more interesting than tragic. Emotional complication is the real key to good romance, and there’s just enough here to make Crazy for You an engaging read.

MICHELLE: Nicely put! I was thinking that this really is the opposite of Stepping on Roses in terms of complicated versus uncomplicated!

Although I’m usually the first one to get riled up at female leads who don’t assert themselves, somehow I felt fairly tolerant of Sachi’s eagerness. Not the way she agrees to be duped, but how, even after Yuki and Akemi’s illicit smoochies shatter the group of friends, she still considers meeting Yuki—and experiencing a whole new world of love and heartbreak—the luckiest thing that’s happened to her. It’s almost as if she appears weak, but is actually strong, determined not to deny the love she feels, no matter what else is happening with other people. She’s glad that detached Yuki is able to feel love after all, and simply being capable of such an emotion herself is sustaining. If that makes sense.

And man, yes, the similarities with We Were There are pretty striking. Not so much the plot, but Yuki and Yano are so much alike they’re practically interchangeable. And the discoveries our heroine makes about their romantic pasts are rather similar, as well. I wonder if that’s part of why VIZ hasn’t licensed it.

MJ: Oh, you may have a point! One thing I’m glad of is that at least Akahoshi is not as straightforwardly awesome as Takeuchi, which I’m hoping means that I won’t have to be heartbroken over his inevitable rejection by Sachi. Heh.

MICHELLE: Yeah, he’s a really interesting character! Just another example of Shiina’s flair for developing her supporting characters in unexpected ways. Who could tell from the first couple of chapters that he would wind up being so important to the story? It’s hard to tell whether he genuinely wants Sachi to “save” him in a way, bestow upon him the faith she had for Yuki, or if this is another deliberate attempt to seduce a girl on his part. Is she a challenge? Does he genuinely like her?

MJ: In any case, I’m dying to find out! Which I guess means that I’m hooked.

MICHELLE: Me, too! Thanks again, JManga (and Shueisha)! I seriously was not getting far with my German editions and Google Translate! I hope we get more volumes of this (and Pride) in the near future.

Negima! Magister Negi Magi, Vol. 36

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By Ken Akamatsu. Released in Japan as “Mahou Sensei Negima!” by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

With this volume, we finally wrap up the Magic World arc that began almost half the series ago. Even Ken Akamatsu admits that it took a lot longer than expected (which may have ended up having a bigger influence on the end of Negima itself – more on that later), but at least the finale gives us a lot of the shonen tropes we like Negima for best: lots of shonen battles, enemies becoming friends, everyone reaching out with their bonds of friendship to save a fellow classmate… you know, the works.

First off, despite Negi’s best efforts, he and Fate are destined to fight for this final battle. Even if you get the sense that it’s less due to a difference of opinion and more because they really want to. This leads, as many shonen fights do, to a flashback, where we get a better look at the inner workings of Fate’s mind. He’s not just a stoic, he’s a cynical stoic, deliberately crafted to be different from the arrogant and hotheaded Secundus by his creator. This seems to annoy Fate, who I think wants some surety in his life. Unfortunately, part of being human is lacking that surety. As he flashes back to a girl he was unable to save, and to Nagi and Rakan talking about what humanity really means, he finally gives in, and agrees to at least listen to what Negi says.

If you know shonen, you know what comes next. That’s right, they’re both taken out by an influx of MORE enemies. Negima does seem to rejoice in hammering on its cliches, but it does so in such a assured way that you can’t really blame it. This is a Boy’s Own story, and this is how they go. So the enemies show up, and then our heroes have their own teachers and mentors show up to help them, and so forth. Meanwhile, the actual 3-A class is tasked with trying to wake up Asuna, who is still being a giant unconscious magic battery. Naturally, this requires the entire class, even those nowhere near the battle, as well as Yuna and Sayo (conveniently cured).

And it works, and thus Asuna enters the fray (the cover should have clued you in). And this… well, this is where Akamatsu starts to go a bit off the rails. He’d already had pacing problems earlier, resolving Setsuna and Mana’s fights in about 4 pages so he could get them out of the way (and we never see Tsukuyomi again, as the extras for this volume note). Now he has to deal with what happens when one of your characters is basically The Messiah. And, just like Usagi in Sailor Moon, he knows that if you’re going to have the Messiah card, you have to play it eventually. And so, after finally defeating the Lifemaker (whose identity is a plot point that isn’t remotely resolved here, so I’ll ignore it), Asuna proceeds to resurrect everyone and everything. And I mean everything – we hear her muttering about plants and animals as well.

And while this leads to many heartwarming scenes of our heroes being reunited with those who sacrificed their lives for them, it does bring up the point of where to go from here. Any ongoing threats are going to be next to impossible to take seriously. And by now the audience of Negima really is not going to be content to going back to the wacky “oh no, sensei saw me naked” Love Hina shenanigans. We have a giant pile of unanswered questions – Nagi, Arika, Asuna’s fate, Chao – but are those going to require a whole new adventure arc?

Despite the many, MANY unanswered questions, I’ll be honest with you – if you want a very open-ended but satisfying ending to Negima, Vol. 36 is a really good place to drop the series. For those who want to see how everything is resolved in the last two volumes, I will be reviewing them in time. But don’t say I didn’t warn you. Still, this volume is recommended, provided you aren’t allergic to Asuna Ex Machinas.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 8

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By Naoko Takeuchi. Released in Japan as “Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon” by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Nakayoshi. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

The third arc of Sailor Moon ends here, with more apocalypse than ever before. Given that this arc was all about trying to prevent the Senshi of Destruction from waking and destroying everything – and that in the end they basically fail – it makes total sense that there’s a lot of, well, destruction. Of course, Saturn is not the Plot-In-A-Box that she was in ancient times anymore – she’s also Tomoe Hotaru, and thus can take things in a different direction.

We pick things up, however, with Hotaru still very much being a disembodied spirit held back by Mistress Nine, the Black Lady of the S arc, who is possessing her body. Hotaru thus uses her disembodied spirit power to help save Chibi-Usa, who proceeds to take off with Mamoru so she can join the others for the end of the world, then destroys her body and Mistress Nine’s taking them both out. Of course, this leaves the traditional final boss, a miasma of evil energy. Luckily, our heroes have an insane amount of power, especially when Usagi let’s the Power Of Christ… erm, the Holy Grail compel her and pours a large amount of sweetness and light into the darkness… which just makes it grow stronger and stronger. Whoops.

Sailor Moon, being who she is, decides to turn herself into a giant nuclear bomb and throw herself into the maw of the enemy. This, as if to show the universe finally throwing up its hands and saying “OK, I’ve had all I can stands, I can’t stands no more!”, seems to be what inspires the talismans (with very little input from their three owners, who mostly get to join the Inners is standing around gasping “Sailor Moon!” a lot) to do what they have to do – resurrect Saturn to destroy everything. Saturn, of course, being Hotaru. And give Takeuchi credit – she does indeed destroy everything. Saturn has an INSANE amount of power, and we briefly see shots of the few bits of Tokyo that weren’t taken out by the villains falling over dead and crumbled.

Of course, Saturn does this knowing that they have an ‘out’ clause – Sailor Moon, who is now SUPER Sailor Moon, can resurrect everyone and everything. So after Saturn shoves herself and Pharaoh 90 (the villain, in case you had forgotten) into a different dimension, Moon proceeds to do just that. Everyone and everything not evil (well, supernaturally evil) is resurrected – including Hotaru, who is now a little baby and presumably lacking cybernetic implants.

This arouses the other Outers’ maternal instincts, in a scene that screams ‘crap I only have 10 pages to wrap this up’ but oh well. They grab Baby Hotaru, thank the others, say they’ll surely see them again, and take off in their private helicopters to a land where they can presumably raise Hotaru and be really freaking rich. All they leave behind is a shot of them nude from the shoulders up in the sky, a classic ‘they may be dead but we will always remember them’ shot only slightly marred by their not actually being dead. This whole arc, honestly, has lost something in textual description, and really does sound less silly and more epic if you read it. It’s quite good.

The last third of the book is the start of the fourth arc, which brings us a new set of villains, a new set of adorably quirky minions (the Amazoness Quartet, who get a lot to do in the manga, and the Amazon Trio, who don’t), and a new theme, this one being dreams. Everyone is now in high school (and Makoto has a real uniform that fits at last), and Chibi-Usa is ready to finally return to the future. But don’t sigh with relief just yet. She can’t quite make it due to unknown forces. Could it be the unicorn that appears and begs her for help? Could it be the evil-looking Circus that’s just gotten into town? Or could it be that she still needs to grow up (as does her mother), with Chibi-Usa whining about wanting to be adult and Usagi whining about how kids have it easy. If you’ve ever watched a wacky Disney movie, you can see what the cliffhanger of this volume will be!

Super S’s arc starts off slow here, but will really pick up next volume, as it (finally!) focuses on the other Inners and their own dreams and desires. Still the epitome of magical girl shoujo, even if I sometimes wish it would take a bit to catch its breath.

JManga the Week of 11/15

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SEAN: Nothing that makes me go squee in next week’s 4 new titles, but some interesting stuff regardless.

Takatoh-sanchi no Komatta Jijyou is another Be x Boy title from Libre Shuppan, with a smug square-jawed seme feeding his startled uke some pancakes. It’s designed for audiences who like that sort of thing, I imagine.

MJ: I tend to roll my eyes at covers like this, but I’ve also learned over the years that I can’t really judge a BL manga by its cover. I haven’t read any of Natsuho Shino’s other books, though a few of them have been released by both DMP and SuBLime. I have to admit that her (apparently unfinished) series Oh My God! (SuBLime) has one of those omyouji plotlines that tend to be kinda bullet-proof for me, even when they’re awful. Maybe I’ll check that one out first before braving the pancake cover.

MICHELLE: I haven’t read any of her stuff, either, though I must point out that back in the day, Kate kind of liked Oh My God!

SEAN: A Transparent Orange in the Lip, from Ichijinsha’s Yuri Hime magazine, is exactly the same, only for yuri audiences rather than BL. Look, vulnerable high school girls in love! (Why am I getting Kentucky Fried Movie flashbacks?)

MJ: Erica Friedman reviewed this title a couple of years ago, and… well, it’s not all that encouraging. Sadly.

SEAN: Our final two titles are both from Earth Star Entertainment, a company that has clearly made a big deal with JManga recently, as we’re seeing a huge pile of their stuff. They have a couple of magazines, and tend to have titles that run across multiple platforms, with anime, CD dramas, etc. Tokyo Cycle Girl is yuri-ish (in the same way that Zero-Sum titles are BL-ish) about a girl who tries to impress her new aloof roommate by upgrading her bike.

MJ: So does it follow then, that if I like Zero-Sum titles, I’d also like this? :D I’m hoping so, because I kinda love the premise. I hope it works out for the girl!

MICHELLE: It definitely sounds more promising than A Transparent Orange! And huzzah for more yuri and yuri-ish releases!

SEAN: You may notice that Koetama has 5 creators listed. It’s a project that was “conceptualized” by four voice actresses, who created characters based on what they would likely be cast as. Naturally, it’s a manga about aspiring voice actors. For seiyuu buffs, the creators are Nakahara Mai, Ueda Kana, Hayami Saori and Yahagi Sayuri. Intriguing, even if it looks very calculated.

MJ: This idea, while interesting, is kind of artistically suspect, though I suppose I should give it a chance.

MICHELLE: Yeah, I dunno. The cover says “not for you” in its art style, even while the girl herself is pretty cute-looking. I think I’ll wait for others’ reviews before I forge ahead.

JManga Translation Battle finalists announced!

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JManga’s great experiment to discover the next generation of manga translators has moved into its final round! Though the company has gathered an impressive panel of judges, including (among others) manga super-blogger Deb Aoki and translator William Flanagan, fans can put in their two cents by heading over to JManga’s Facebook page and voting on the eleven final submissions.

Three manga were chosen for the aspiring translators to work on—Tomonori Inoue’s COPPELION, Nana Haruta’s Chocolate Cosmos, and Akira Saso’s Shindo—and a winner will be selected from each group to receive a brand new iPad. The best of three will also be named winner of the Grand Prize—a trip to Japan to attend the Japan Media Arts Festival in Tokyo.

Voting is open online until December 2nd, 2012 at 11:59 PM Pacific, and winners will be announced later that month.

Manga the Week of 11/14

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SEAN: I am debating how much longer I’m going to keep using Midtown’s list. I started using it because a) I get my manga mostly from a comic book store, and b) it usually has next week’s list out before anyone else. But its resemblance to what I get at my comic shop every week has been growing smaller and smaller. Next week’s has all the Viz stuff we got in today, but doesn’t have the titles Viz actually has scheduled for next week. And, as always, Midtown doesn’t like Seven Seas much at all.

So this list is my usual fusion of Diamond, asking my comic shop guys what’s out for me next week, and Amazon. With that in mind… there’s a HUGE PILE again this week.

First off, Dark Horse is releasing Vol. 3 of Blood Blockade Battlefront. The words “Nightow” and “Battle” still give me horrible flashbacks to Trigun’s action artwork, but I know this has a ton of fans who have no issues working out what stuff is flying where.

Digital Manga Publishing has a quartet of titles due out. I’m not sure if DMP is using the bunko books as sources for Bad Teacher’s Equation or not – if they are, Vol. 5 may be the final volume of this series.

MICHELLE: I *think* that they are, though I’m not sure about that.

SEAN: Secret Thorns is a one-off that features my favorite kind of BL manga: a cover I don’t hate!

The same cannot be said for Sleepless Nights (though it’s not horrible), but the Odd-Couple-esque premise at least sounds like it will promise wacky shenanigans before the good stuff.

MJ: I feel like I should have something to say here… but I don’t. None of these really sound like My Kind of BL.

MICHELLE: I too like the Secret Thorns cover, but it’s by Kikuko Kikuya, whose Entangled Circumstances *also* had a really cute cover but was ultimately kinda disappointing. I’m wary.

SEAN: And lastly, in the non-BL category, DMP have the first volume of a seinen manga from Houbunsha’s Manga Time Jumbo, one of the infinite Manga Time titles that litter the landscape in Japan. Start with a Happy Ending seems to be about a newly deceased woman becoming a cat for 7 days before she goes to heaven, and the heartwarming stories that follow. Sounds intriguing.

Kodansha has a debut shoujo title! Ema Toyama, author of I Am Here!, has a longer series that also ran in Nakayoshi about a cell-phone novelist ignorant of romance and her blackmailing friendship with the class heart-throb, which Kodansha has smartly retitled Missions of Love. I talked about this as a license request a long time ago, and was very pleased to see Kodansha pick it up. If you like Devil and Her Love Song, but want something a bit sweeter, this may be for you.

MJ: I never read I Am Here! (despite the fact that Michelle loaned me the first couple of volumes ages ago), but maybe this will win me over to Toyama? It certainly sounds intriguing!

MICHELLE: It does, but probably more so because I ended up liking I Am Here! more than expected.

SEAN: Seven Seas is absent from Midtown’s list, but my store says they have some titles coming in. The biggie for me is Volumes 3-4 of Young Miss Holmes by Kaoru Shintani. I read Vol. 1-2 expecting something a lot more lolicon, but was surprised to find an addictive set of mysteries that treated Holmes with respect and had the best Action Maids I’d seen in ages. This 2nd omnibus deals with, among other familiar stories, The Hound of The Baskervilles (like they were gonna not do a pastiche of that), and The Five Orange Pips (wait, what? Seriously?!) The release comes out slow as molasses, but I’m so glad the next one is here!

MICHELLE: I have the omnibus of 1-2. Must get ’round to reading it!

SEAN: There’s also Vol. 1 of the new debut, Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends, the latest in Seven Seas’ autumn of moe. This is still pretty ecchi, and runs in Monthly Comic Alive, but if asked to choose between the Big Brother title, the forthcoming Mayo Chiki, and this, I would take this in a heartbeat. It’s about a club of misfits supposedly devoted to learning social skills.

Angel Para Bellum hits Vol. 2, and I must admit Vol. 1 did not impress me, so I have little to add.

And Alice in the Country of Clover hits Vol. 3 of Cheshire Cat Waltz, which has walked a nice line between innocent and saucy, as well as between meaningful and aggravating. As the best game tie-ins always do.

MJ: I still haven’t read anything in this series! Shame on me.

MICHELLE: Don’t start with these Clover spinoffs. At least Cheshire Cat Waltz is a lot better than Bloody Twins!

SEAN: Vertical also has a debut, HeroMan, which comes from the pen of Stan Lee (with an assist from the anime studio BONES) that ran in Square Enix’s Shonen Gangan. It’s a title for younger readers (though still readable for adults), about a kid who wants to be, well, a hero.

MJ: Given my reaction to Ultimo, I am not optimistic about the chances of me liking something from the pen of Stan Lee, sorry to say.

MICHELLE: Yeah. Sorry, comics fans!

SEAN: And there’s the final volume of GTO: The Early Years, which rounds out this delinquent manga with a flourish (and has a few mild hints of GTO proper, mostly Onizuka realizing he has no clue what to do with his life). I wish it had sold better, but kudos to Vertical for finishing this classic.

Midtown lists for Viz all the titles we talked about last week, so go there to see those. As for this week… deep breath…

MJ: *facepalm*

SEAN: It’s Excel Saga 24!!! Five months earlier than I had expected! Not only that, 25 is due out in April! It’s an Excel Saga speed up, just like Naruto! We’re only 4 away from the end now, and things are well into the endgame, with Excel’s very existence now at stake. You cannot miss this title!

In non-Excel Saga Viz releases, the license rescued 07-Ghost has its debut, with Viz redoing Vols. 1-3 (originally put out here by Go! Comi) before finishing the series. It’s an Ichijinsha (is this shoujo or josei?) series, which runs in Comic Zero-Sum, and is a fantasy supernatural thing with BL overtones. As is Zero-Sum in general, really.

MJ: I tend to like manga from Comic Zero-Sum, so I’m kinda looking forward to this!

SEAN: After being delayed for four months, we finally see the final volume of Cross Game (and judging by sales, it may be the last Adachi we see over here for some time.) The ending to this manga is terrific, I want to say. Don’t miss it.

MJ: I’m behind on this series, but definitely hooked. I’ll be picking this up!

MICHELLE: I can’t wait to read the ending of this, though low sales bum me out. In the continuing theme of “stuff I have but need to somehow find time to read,” I’m reminded that I’ve got a couple series of his in French. One of these days…

SEAN: Inu Yasha’s BIG edition trundles along, hitting lucky No. 13 this time around.

And speaking of Takahashi, Rin-Ne also keeps trundling along, finally arriving at double digits. Its hero and heroine may bear no resemblance whatsoever to Ataru or Lum, but it’s still Takahashi through-and-through, and has just as much chance of resolving.

MICHELLE: RIN-NE is a nice comfort read. Interesting enough not to bore you, simple enough not to challenge you in any way.

SEAN: And for those who saw Evangelion 13 this week and thought about giving it a try, Vol. 1-3 are out in an omnibus. Get it for Shinji. You mustn’t run away.

Lastly, Midtown (hey, back to their list!) has a giant pile of Yen releases that are coming out later on Amazon, so it’s back to the comic shops. Bunny Drop 7 finally gets around to working out the unresolved issues between Rin and her birth mother, and sounds fantastic.

MJ: I was skeptical of the later volumes of Bunny Drop, but after reading volume six, I’m definitely looking forward to more!

MICHELLE: Now it’s my turn to be ashamed for not having read any of a series!

SEAN: Haruhi-chan, the 4-koma spin-off that I care about and no other blogger does has reached Vol. 6. It’s funny and adorable. And genuinely moe, as opposed to “loli boobies!” moe. :)

Nabari no Ou is headed towards its climax as we reach Vol. 12, and yet is still sadly known as “that other ninja manga.”

MJ: “Sadly” really is the word here. Nabari no Ou is so much more interesting than the much bigger ninja manga. I wish it was getting more attention in the manga blogosphere.

MICHELLE: I’m happy that Yen’s continuing to release it, though. Looks like we’ll safely reach the conclusion.

SEAN: Omamori Himari Vol. 9 is.

Coming out a mere 4 years after Vol. 2 (blame Japan, not Yen – the author found an actual hit in GA Art Design Class and took a looooooong hiatus), we have Vol. 3 of Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro! It’s adorable and creepy and sweet and sort of sad all at the same time.

MJ: Kate recommended this quite a while back, which is a strong recommendation indeed. Between the two of you, I’m convinced!

SEAN: Soul Eater hits Vol. 11 right after its moe counterpart had Vol. 2 arrive. This is more serious and action-packed, and I suspect far more depressing as well.

Spice and Wolf is up to Vol. 7, and I presume still teaching us economic theory?

Lastly (thank GOD), There’s the debut of Umineko When They Cry, the sort of sequel to Higurashi from the same author. Darker in tone than its predecessor, it still has a lot of cute wacky comedy before everything goes to hell. It too runs in arcs, and this first omnibus collects the first two books of the first arc, which ran in Square Enix’s Gangan Powered.

MICHELLE: This time, I’m going to follow this one from the beginning!

SEAN: That’s… a lot of manga. Wow.

3 Things Thursday: Miracle Comics

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Unfinished manga series… everyone’s got a favorite—at least one beloved manga whose abrupt cancellation or apparently indefinite hiatus serves only as a source of pain. And we all know the score, don’t we? Vanished series almost never return to publication, so chances are, our disappointment is permanent. Still, sometimes, just sometimes, a beloved series does come back. Perhaps it finds a new publisher, or the artist recovers from a long-time illness—every once in a while, a manga miracle occurs.

Next week’s list of new manga includes one of these miracle series, as the third volume of Satoko Kiyuduki’s Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro (a former subject of Kate Dacey’s The Best Manga You’re Not Reading series) is due for release from North American publisher Yen Press after a five-year hiatus in Japan.

I have my own list of favorite comics that were prematurely interrupted, and a few of these have had their miracles! None has seen republication in English yet, but I have hope once again! And so…

3 Favorite Miracle Comics

1. Wild Adapter | Kazuya Minekura | Original publisher: Tokyopop – I know, I know, I’ll jump on any excuse to talk about Kazuya Minekura’s Wild Adapter, but that is seriously how often it is on my mind. Interrupted both by the author’s health problems and rumored content conflicts with its original Japanese publisher (Tokuma Shoten), the series finally resumed serialization in Ichijinsha’s Comic Zero Sum last year, starting from the beginning, with new chapters scheduled to begin next spring. Though Wild Adapter‘s original US publisher, Tokyopop, ceased their North American publishing operations last year, the prospect of new chapters certainly reawakens hope for fans that the series could be re-licensed in the future. We live in hope. So much hope.

2. Legal Drug | CLAMP | Original publisher: Tokyopop – Though it’s easy to pile on Tokyopop for their list of unfinished series, here is another case in which a canceled manga’s problems originated in Japan. CLAMP’s supernatural detective series Legal Drug ran from 2000 to 2003 in Kadokawa Shoten’s shoujo magazine Monthly Asuka, until the magazine itself went out of publication. Despite CLAMP’s (and particularly the series’ primary artist Nekoi’s) occasional remarks about wanting to continue the series, I think most of us had pretty much left it for dead. Much to our surprise, then, the series resumed publication in Kadokawa’s Young Ace Magazine, with a new name (Drug and Drop) and for a new (seinen) demographic. Though the series has been running again for nearly a year, it hasn’t been re-licensed… yet. With CLAMP, this seems thankfully inevitable. I can’t wait!

3. Off*Beat | Jen Lee Quick | Original publisher: Tokyopop – This one actually is Tokyopop’s fault, though it’s also to their credit that the series ever saw publication to begin with. Years ago, when Tokyopop was experimenting heavily in the world of OEL manga, a fantastic little series called Off*Beat was born. This idiosyncratic comic about a genius teenager figuring out who he is went down in flames with the rest of Tokyopop’s OEL program after only two volumes, but its quiet fandom lived on. I discovered the series thanks to a plea from my former PopCultureShock colleague, Isaac Hale, and followed that up with a plea of my own. Though contractual issues hung up many of the Tokyopop writers from carrying on with their series after cancellation, even after TP’s North American demise, hope seemed bleak. So imagine the joy and surprise that followed this article last year (sourced from Johanna Draper Carlson who spotted this tweet from Lissa Pattillo—see how news travels in the manga blogosphere?). The new volume hasn’t seen the light of day quite yet, but recent posts still sound positive. Hurrah!

Do you have favorite miracle comics?

Open thread: fannish highlights of 2012

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Hello Manga Bookshelf readers! Between a sudden wave of blogger/contributor illnesses and Kate’s recent departure, we’re running a bit lean on the Manga Bookshelf roster this week. So let’s chat amongst ourselves, shall we?

As 2012 begins to wind down, a blogger’s thoughts are filled with one thing and one thing only: end-of-the-year lists and roundups. Here at Manga Bookshelf, we can (and probably will) jabber on about our favorite this and our top ten that, as thoroughly and as often as possible.

Looking back in preparation for the roundup onslaught, I can see that I spent my year reading BL at JManga, test driving the DMG, questioning Apple’s content policies, falling unexpectedly in love with Eikichi Onizuka, finally reading Loveless, indulging in hatred, saying tearful goodbyes to Fullmetal Alchemist and 13th Boy, fawning over old shoujo, experimenting with video, and geeking out on CLAMP.

But as I ponder my fannish activities over the past year, I have to admit it’s pretty insular. With such a wide variety of voices available both here and in the wider manga blogosphere, I’m free to let my tastes drive my own content—and it’s clear that they do. So with that in mind, I find that what I’m most interested in now is what you’ve been doing in 2012.

What have been the fannish highlights of your year? Profound moments? Favorite fandoms? Favorite fans? We can talk anime, manga, western comics—If you’ve had a fannish year, I want to hear about it!

Come forth and share!