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My Week in Manga: April 4-April 10, 2016

April 11, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

In case anyone was wondering just how much I was looking forward to seeing Akiko Higashimura’s Princess Jellyfish released in English, I apparently ended up devoting an entire week to it at Experiments in Manga. (Sort of.) First was the announcement of the winner of the Princess Jellyfish giveaway, which also includes a list of upcoming manga releases that I and the giveaway participants are especially looking forward to. (Yes, Princess Jellyfish was mentioned multiple times, and not just by me.) The honor of the first in-depth manga review for April goes to the first Princess Jellyfish omnibus which I (unsurprisingly) loved. I’m enjoying the manga immensely, but I’m especially looking forward to getting to the point in the series where the anime adaptation left off. Princess Jellyfish even got a specific mention in March’s Bookshelf Overload, which was posted over the weekend.

There were a few manga-related things caught my eye last week. Brigid Alverson’s article on the state of the North American manga industry, which focuses on the impact of a few of the top-selling series, is now free to read at Publishers Weekly. The translation and quality of Digital Manga’s original release of the first volume of Kou Yoneda’s Twittering Birds Never Fly drew a fair amount of criticism from fans, so much so that the publisher decided to completely revise and re-release it. Apparently 200 of the 223 pages were redone in some fashion. The new edition should be available sometime in late May or early June. Also, Vertical launched it’s most recent licensing and readership survey for anyone who might have any manga or light novel requests. And last but certainly not least—Kodansha Comic’s will be releasing more of Vinland Saga!

Quick Takes

Beyond: The Queer Sci-Fi & Fantasy Comic Anthology edited by Sfé R. Monster. A fair number of independent queer comics anthologies have been released relatively recently, but I’m always happy to see more. Beyond collects twenty works from twenty-seven creators. I was previously familiar with a few of the contributors, but most of them were actually new to me. Overall, it’s a strong, well-thought-out collection. The anthology shows a wonderful range of stories and characters, but I was especially happy to see a wide variety of diverse trans identities represented. While many of the works in Beyond include some romantic elements, romance isn’t at all at the forefront of the collection. Instead, the stories tend towards science fictional and fantastical adventures—space exploration, battles against monsters, survival in strange worlds, and so on—in which queer characters are not only the protagonists but the heroes of their stories. A second Beyond anthology focusing on urban fantasy and post-apocalyptic worlds is currently in the works; I’m looking forward to it a great deal and will definitely be picking it up.

Goodnight Punpun, Omnibus 1 by Inio Asano. The first omnibus of Goodnight Punpun is one of the manga that has left the greatest impression on me so far this year, though I have difficulty coherently explaining why I find it so extraordinary. The series has been described as a surreal and dark coming-of-age story, which is accurate but doesn’t quite capture the intense experience of actually reading the manga. Punpun is the titular character, an elementary school student who, along with the rest of his family, is portrayed as a bird-like creature. This perhaps slightly softens the blows of the story. In addition to dealing with the normal sorts of problems associated with getting older, Punpun’s family is also violently falling apart. And if growing up wasn’t terrifying enough, most of the adults in Goodnight Punpun seem to be on the verge of insanity if they haven’t already succumbed to it. Although there are wonderful moments of hope and humor, the worldview presented in Goodnight Punpun is a pessimistic one and Punpun is learning some very hard truths. Goodnight Punpun is heart-wrenching, but very good.

Paradise Residence, Volume 1 by Kosuke Fujishima. Oh My Goddess! has been one of the mainstays of the North American manga industry, so it’s probably no too surprising that one of Fujishima’s most recent series, Paradise Residence, was licensed. I’m not entirely sure if the series is being released in an omnibus edition or not, but the first volume from Kodansha Comic’s also includes Volume 0 as bonus material at the end. I would actually recommend reading Volume 0 first as some of the jokes and characterization in Volume 1 make much more sense with more context. This is important because the humor, which can be legitimately if inconsistently funny, tends to be based on the characters’ personalities. Despite some of the more outrageous scenarios in Paradise Residence, the comedy is actually fairly subdued. Paradise Residences is a largely episodic manga about dorm and school life at an all-girls boarding school. At times Paradise Residence can be a really sweet and charming series, but every once in a while some nonsensical fanservice is thrown in that’s more distracting than anything else.

Manga the Week of 4/13

April 7, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Anna N, Ash Brown and MJ Leave a Comment

SEAN: Technically, this is the smallest week of the month. That does not mean there aren’t a lot of titles, just slightly less than the deluge of the other weeks.

I Am A Hero has been a long-awaited title here, and Dark Horse has it. It’s not just a zombie apocalypse manga, it’s a multiple award-winning zombie apocalypse manga, which runs in Big Comic Spirits (yes, that means it’s another seeming Viz title that went to Dark Horse – possibly for aesthetic reasons, like Gantz). This is an omnibus of the first two volumes.

MICHELLE: I’m eager to see reviews of this, as I can’t tell yet whether it’s something I’d like.

ANNA: I’m also intrigued by this series.

ASH: I’m very excited for this one, even considering that I’m a bit burned out on zombies.

SEAN: And while one popular title begins, another ends, as we see the last Lone Wolf and Cub omnibus, Vol. 12. But fear not, New Lone Wolf and Cub is still around.

ASH: I’m so glad that Lone Wolf and Cub is back in print in its entirety in an edition that doesn’t cause as much eyestrain.

SEAN: And we have a giant omnibus of the Evangelion spinoff Campus Apocalypse, which is a sort of shoujo-ish BL-ish mystery-ish take on the series. Ish.

ASH: Ish, eh?

SEAN: Kodansha theoretically gives us a 34th volume of Air Gear. I say theoretically as of all the titles that have sliding release dates, Air Gear’s has been the most egregious – don’t blame me if it’s delayed till August by next week.

Attack on Titan: Before the Fall turns out to be a much longer spinoff than I expected, as we’re at 7 volumes and still running.

Fairy Tail 53 continues… some plot, I guess, I’m about 20 volumes behind by now, alas. There will be fights and nudity, no doubt. The staple of all Shonen Magazine series.

And Tsubasa World Chronicle 2… I got nothin’, sorry. MJ?

MJ: I… don’t either. I admit I haven’t been reading this, and suddenly I’m feeling kinda guilty.

MICHELLE: I can’t remember whether I didn’t know this existed or whether I did and promptly forgot. Which is worse? I dunno; I guess I’ve still got CLAMP fatigue.

SEAN: Seven Seas has the 4th volume of dark romantic fantasy The Ancient Magus’ Bride, which I quite like.

ASH: As do I!

SEAN: And there’s a 3rd volume of awkward college romance Golden Time.

And also a 3rd of Monster Guy gag manga Merman In My Tub.

SubLime has a new debut, the first volume of Midnight Stranger, which apparently involves goat demons? I assume they’re sexy goat demons.

MJ: Goat demons do not sound promising.

ASH: Of course they’re sexy goat demons, Sean.

SEAN: Udon has the 3rd volume of Steins;Gate and its damned semicolon of awful.

Viz gives us a 58th volume of Case Closed, which is a lot.

And a 17th Itsuwaribito, which is another series that turns out to be much longer than I had originally expected.

There’s also a 17th Magi, but I’m absolutely delighted that it’s running this long. I still boggle this is written by the same person who gave us Sumomomo Momomo.

MICHELLE: It is?! I never noticed.

SEAN: Lastly, there’s a new manga debut with Monster Hunter: Flash Hunter, which I think is primarily for the PokeMarket, though I could be wrong.

As with many 2nd weeks of the month, it’s very much a hodgepodge of stuff. What catches your eye?

My Week in Manga: March 28-April 3, 2016

April 4, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

A couple of different things were posted at Experiments in Manga last week. For starters, since it’s the end of one month and the beginning of another, it’s time for another manga giveaway! There’s still an opportunity to enter for chance to win the first omnibus of Akiko Higashimura’s wonderful Princess Jellyfish. I also posted an in-depth review last week of The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa, which is an engaging work in addition to being surprisingly entertaining and humorous. Fukuzawa helped to shape modern-day Japan; I was inspired to pick up his autobiography after reading Minae Mizumura’s The Fall of Language in the Age of English.

Quite a few Kickstarter projects have caught my attention over the last week or so. I’m especially excited to see that Sparkler Monthly has launched a campaign to release the first volume of Jenn Doyle’s Knights-Errant in print. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund launched a project for She Changed Comics, a book that will profile women comics creators from around the world, including Moto Hagio, Machiko Hasegawa, Rumiko Takahashi, the Year 24 Group, and others. There’s an illustration zine inspired by and dedicated to gay manga called Burl & Fur that looks like it will be amazing. As promised, Digital Manga’s most recent classic manga Kickstarter is for a non-Tezuka title—Izumi Matsumoto’s Kimagure Orange Road. Finally, I wanted to take the opportunity to mention the campaign for the North American release of the Skip Beat! anime again. The series needs financial support in order to be dubbed, which is a requirement by the licensor for its release.

Quick Takes

Caramel by Puku Okuyama. The cover art of Caramel makes it look like a cute and sweet boys’ love one-shot, and at times that’s exactly what it is, but there’s enough about the story and the leads’ relationship that’s dubious and questionable that overall I can’t say that I really enjoyed it all that much. Part of the point of Caramel is the contrast between the two main characters, Roku and Iori, each of whom is childish in his own way. Roku is a successful businessman who is afraid of the dark and picky about his food. Iori has just moved to Tokyo to begin his first year of university, and being younger has had less experience in life and love. I think most of my annoyance with Caramel stems from Roku—I have little patience for and a difficult time sympathizing with adults who exhibit such an astounding lack of self-responsibility, not to mention that he’s an utter creep at first. I have no idea how he even survived before Iori became his roommate and eventual lover. Iori, on the other hand, I found to be much more likeable. He’s the oldest of four siblings and so has developed into a very responsible young adult. Iori also loves to cook and I liked how food was incorporated into Caramel.

Livingstone, Volume 1-2 written by Tomohiro Maekawa and illustrated by Jinsei Kataoka. I’m not especially familiar with Maekawa, a respected playwright and director, but I recognized Kataoka as one of the creators of the manga series Deadman Wonderland. One of Maekawa’s short plays provides the inspiration for Livingstone, a largely episodic manga exploring themes of life, death, and the human soul. The series follows Sakurai and Amano who help to collect and preserve psycholiths, stones that are the physical manifestations of human souls after they have left their respective bodies. Though at this point frustratingly incomplete, I find the worldbuilding in Livingstone to be one of the most fascinating aspects of the manga, especially in regards to souls. There are a limited number of souls and the world is beginning to run out so that some people, like Amano, are born without them, which is one reason that the work of psycholith collectors is so important. Additionally, souls that are irrevocably damaged at the end of a person’s life will shatter, leaving behind psychic stains that will continue to contaminate others unless the cycle can be stopped.

Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, Omnibuses 3-4 (equivalent to Volumes 5-8) by Satoshi Mizukami. I’m definitely behind in reading Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer but I do enjoy the manga. It’s a rather peculiar series with oddball characters who are in the position to either save the world or destroy it—the line between heros and villains can be very thin. Most of the characters have something dark or tragic about their pasts, so their feelings about the world and the other people in it are understandably conflicted. Tragedy isn’t limited to their pasts, either. These two omnibuses include multiple deaths that have great impact, as well as other moments of pain and devastation. But the characters also grow and overcome many of these challenges, becoming stronger mentally and emotionally as well as physically. There are betrayals, both real and imagined, as well as love confessions as friendships and relationships change, some characters drifting apart while others are realizing that people might not be so bad after all. All of this interpersonal drama plays out against the backdrop of a literal battle against monsters as the series ramps up the danger in preparation for its finale.

Manga the Week of 4/6

March 31, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Michelle Smith, Anna N and MJ Leave a Comment

SEAN: This is it, folks. We’ve hit peak manga boom. Every week of next month has at least 15 titles out. All you can do is whimper, really. What’s out next week? Well…

Kodansha gives us an 18th volume of Attack on Titan, which is such an obscure title with very few readers. To try to pump up that readership, there’s also a limited edition with a DVD!

And there’s a 4th volume of oddball shoujo romance Kiss Him, Not Me!.

ASH: I’ve already fallen behind, but I do enjoy oddball shoujo!

SEAN: Seven Seas gives us a third volume of Ten Little Lesbians sitting down to dine, aka Akuma No Riddle.

Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends has an unlucky 13th volume. We left off with Kadota and Sena engaged. I suspect that won’t last.

Seven Seas is debuting a zombie title, Hour of the Zombie. This runs in Comic Ryu, and is apparently a pure horror series.

Udon has a 2nd volume of clothes and fanservice battle manga Kill La Kill.

And Vertical gives us a 4th omnibus of Tokyo ESP.

MICHELLE: Yay! I enjoyed part one of the series quite a lot and am looking forward to more of the story.

SEAN: Viz, believe it or not, has no debut titles this month. But that doesn’t stop them from giving us many, many volumes of its ongoing series, like the 9th Assassination Classroom.

The Demon Prince of Momochi House gives you more Aya Shouoto with a 4th volume.

ANNA: I enjoy this series, as you might expect.

SEAN: And Food Wars! is still having intense food competitions in Vol. 11.

MICHELLE: I delayed on reading volume 10 just so I could enjoy a two-volume binge. Looking forward to it!

SEAN: Honey So Sweet has a 2nd volume. How sweet is it? You’ll just have to read.

ANNA: Pretty darn sweet!

SEAN: The 15th volume of Library Wars: Love & War wraps up the story, despite hints of some side-story volumes that don’t appear to have materialized. Luckily, the final volume is immensely satisfying, and will make fans very happy.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to this, too!

ASH: As am I!

ANNA: Me too, although I have an odd habit of postponing reading the final volumes of series I really like, so I can lie to myself that the series hasn’t actually ended.

SEAN: Speaking of immensely satisfying, that’s how you can describe every volume of My Love Story!! really, and I suspect the 8th is no different.

ANNA: Yes! I always read this right away when a new volume shows up at my house.

ASH: My Love Story!! is the best.

MJ: Yes!!

SEAN: Naruto has a 14th 3-in-1, meaning it’s still nowhere near done.

Nisekoi Vol. 14 does what ever fan of harem manga hates – introduces a new main candidate late in the series.

School Judgment has a 2nd volume of chibi-Ace Attorney antics, and hopefully will continue to be slightly ridiculous.

And I have no doubts as to the ridiculousness of So Cute It Hurts!! 6, though I fear I must give up my vow of adding exclamation points with each book.

Toriko is up to Vol. 33, and I am starting to hear mutterings of people who wish it would be more about food and less about battles, to which I remind them this runs in Shonen Jump, concurrently with Food Wars!, which IS more about food than battles.

Twin Star Exorcists is getting an anime very soon, so it’s a perfect time for its 4th volume.

Lastly, Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s 9 continues to look like some sort of World War II secret code.

Are you prepared for SO MUCH MANGA? No? Well, tough.

MICHELLE: No. However, I must say it’s lovely to see all of this activity in a once-troubled publishing sector.

ASH: True that!

Manga Giveaway: Princess Jellyfish Giveaway

March 30, 2016 by Ash Brown

The end of March is drawing near, which means it’s time for another manga giveaway here at Experiments in Manga! Thanks to the fine folks at Kodansha Comics who provided the manga for this month’s giveaway, you all have a chance to win the first omnibus of Akiko Higashimura’s manga series Princess Jellyfish. And, as always, the giveaway is open worldwide!

As a fan of manga, I’m constantly looking out for new releases and license announcements. While I will happily read older titles, and find great joy in tracking down out-of-print gems, I eagerly await news of what’s to come in the future. Akiko Higashimura’s Princess Jellyfish, which hit the shelves just last week, was one of my most highly anticipated releases for 2016. I watched and loved the anime series, but it only adapted a small portion of the manga, so I was left wanting more. For years, fans wished for the original Princess Jellyfish to be licensed in English. Sadly, josei hasn’t always done particularly well in North America, so for a very long time it looked as though a license would never materialize. I was absolutely thrilled when Kodansha Comics announced that the Princess Jellyfish manga would finally be getting an English-language release, and I preordered it as soon as I was able to.

So, you may be wondering, how can you win Princess Jellyfish, Omnibus 1?

1) In the comments below, tell me a little about a upcoming manga release that you’re excited about. (If you don’t have anything in particular in mind, or don’t know what’s coming out, simply mention that.)
2) If you’re on Twitter, you can earn a bonus entry by tweeting, or retweeting, about the contest. Make sure to include a link to this post and @PhoenixTerran (that’s me).

There you go! For this giveaway, each person participating can earn up to two entries and has one week to submit comments. If preferred, or if you have trouble using the comment form, entries can also be emailed to me directly at phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com. I will then post the comments here in your name. The giveaway winner will be randomly selected and announced on April 6, 2015. Best of luck!

VERY IMPORTANT: Include some way that I can contact you. This can be an e-mail address in the comment form, a link to your website, Twitter username, or whatever. If I can’t figure out how to get a hold of you and you win, I’ll just draw another name.

Contest winner announced–Manga Giveaway: Princess Jellyfish Giveaway Winner

My Week in Manga: March 21-March 27, 2016

March 28, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

I only posted one in-depth manga review at Experiments in Manga last week, taking a look at Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi, Volume 1 by Nanao, which is an adaptation of a visual novel by the doujin group HaccaWorks*. I was actually a little surprised by how much I enjoyed the manga. Though I can imagine the series getting tiresome if at least some answers to story’s many mysteries aren’t given soon, at the moment I’m intensely intrigued. I think I’m finally starting to come to terms with the fact that much of the time I can only manage one review per week right now, though I’d honestly love to do more reading and writing. I also want to quickly follow-up on a statement that I made in the Bookshelf Overload for February—I mentioned that I wasn’t sure if Keigo Higashino’s novel Under the Midnight Sun would be released in the United States or not, but it turns out that it will be! The United Kingdom simply got it first, which is sometimes what happens with works in translation.

In other licensing news, several manga publishers made announcements over the course of last week and the weekend. Kodansha Comics will be releasing twelve new titles in print, some of which I find to be particularly exciting or intriguing (the Parasyte shoujo anthology, shounen ballroom dancing, single fathers learning to cook, and more!). Among other things Viz Media will be publishing a new deluxe edition of Junji Ito’s Tomie (which has gone out of print at least twice before from two other publishers) and will continue releasing more of the fancy JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure hardcovers. Yen Press announce seven print manga licenses, two of which were previously part of its digital manga catalog. (This gives me hope that one day, however unlikely, it could be possible to see Saki in print.) Finally, Sekai Project, is expanding its manga efforts by licensing Suzunone Rena’s Sakura Spirit manga adaptation. (Also, the first two volumes of the publisher’s debut manga, Gate, are now available for preorder.) I also came across a couple of interviews last week that were interesting: the Shojo Beat tumblr posted the second part of its interview with Arina Tanemura and Anime News Network has an interview with Inio Asano.

Quick Takes

Alice in the Country of Clover: Cheshire Cat Waltz, Volumes 5-7 by Mamenosuke Fujimaru. Overall, I must say that I rather enjoyed Cheshire Cat Waltz. It’s only the second followup to the original Alice in the Country of Hearts manga that I’ve read, but I liked how it expanded the story, characters, and world of the franchise. Cheshire Cat Waltz features two tangentially related storylines. The first is the romance between Alice and Boris which by now is well established even though she’s still working through some self-doubt. Their relationship actually ends up being rather sweet. One of the running themes in the various Alice in the Country of manga is that Alice’s very presence changes the others in Wonderland; Boris certainly has become a better person over time. The second major storyline in Cheshire Cat Waltz has to do with the mob war in which Alice unwittingly becomes embroiled in due to her association with the Hatter’s mafia family. These last few volumes of Cheshire Cat Waltz also include an Alice in the Country of Hearts story which features Boris as Alice’s romantic interest as well.

Ichigenme… The First Class is Civil Law, Volumes 1-2 by Fumi Yoshinaga. Out of all of Yoshinaga’s boys’ love manga that have been released in English, I believe that Ichigenme may very well be one of the most explicit. Like many of her other two-volume series, it does take its time getting there, though. The first volume of Ichigenme is mostly focused on introducing the various characters and their evolving relationships. The leads of the manga are two law students who happen to join the same seminar—the particularly bright and honest Tamiya, who’s in the process of coming to terms with his homosexuality, and the openly gay Tohdou, a seemingly carefree son of a politician. The second volume, which is actually set seven years later after the first, more fully explores the developments in their physical relationship. What I particularly appreciate about all of the sex in Ichigenme is that it isn’t just sex for sex’s sake—Yoshinaga uses it to delve into the character’s themselves, revealing parts of their thoughts, feelings, and personalities through their intimacy with each other.

Tomodachi x Monster, Volume 1 by Yoshihiko Inui. I’ve heard Tomodachi x Monster described as a dark parody, but after reading the first volume, I’m not sure how accurate that really is. The humor that I would expect seems to be missing (granted, parody doesn’t necessarily mean comedy), but the darkness is certainly there—Tomodachi x Monster is what you get when you take a series like Pokémon and turn it into a bizarre horror manga accompanied by heavy doses of violence and gore. Confrontations between middle school students become much more dangerous and deadly when their little monster pals inflict extraordinary amounts of damage and pain. Characters start dying off surprisingly quickly in Tomodachi x Monster, generally in some sort of gruesome fashion. The series can be pretty ridiculous and over-the-top with its violence. While the art style tends towards creepy-cute designs, some of the most effective imagery in the manga is legitimately disturbing. The mental states of most of the characters are perhaps even more terrifying, though.

Manga the Week of 3/30

March 24, 2016 by Sean Gaffney Leave a Comment

SEAN: For a 5th week of the month, there’s a surprising amount of stuff coming out, though it’s nothing compared to April, which features 895,623 new and ongoing series. But it’s still March, so what’s happening next week?

The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame is getting a re-release from the Bruno Gmuender publisher, giving you more of the famous gay manga author. I know a lot of people who are eagerly awaiting this.

ASH: I’m so glad to seeing this coming back into print, and with additional content, even!

ANNA: I’m not likely to read this manga, but I think it is great that the market now supports publishing titles like this. I can’t imagine this being published 10 years ago.

SEAN: Kodansha has the 13th and final volume of My Little Monster, a bumper volume not only featuring various sequels and side stories to the main plot, but also selected highlights from the fan book! A must buy.

MICHELLE: And buy it I shall!

SEAN: And The Seven Deadly Sins is also at Volume 13, but is nowhere near its final volume.

UQ Holder reaches Vol. 7, and by now has given up any pretense of being anything but a sequel to Negima.

And there’s a 6th volume of shonen romance Your Lie In April.

Seven Seas gives us an 8th volume of always interesting if sometimes a bit uncomfortable series A Centaur’s Life.

They also have the debut of Not Lives, yet ANOTHER survival game manga (2013: Alice in the Country of Hearts, 2014: Vampires, 2015: Zombies, 2016: Survival Game, 2017: ???), which also has gender bending to shake things up.

MICHELLE: I don’t suppose we could parlay the survival game trend into a license for Yumi Tamura’s 7SEEDS, eh?

SEAN: Speaking of familiar genres, Vertical debuts Nichijou, a humorous slice-of-life high school comedy – NO WAIT COME BACK! Nichijou is fantastic! It’s very weird and quirky (as the cover might indicate), and has some great characters. I’ve been eagerly awaiting it. For fans of Seki and Sakamoto.

ASH: I have heard good things, and I’m a fan of Seki and Sakamoto, so I should probably pick this up.

MICHELLE: It definitely looks intriguing.

ANNA: That sounds interesting.

MJ: Hm, okay, I’m in.

SEAN: The rest is all digital, but there’s a lot of it. Viz has a 2nd volume of the Boys Over Flowers sequel, appropriately named Boys Over Flowers Season Two.

MICHELLE: I read a chapter or two of this, but should try to get back into it.

ANNA: Yay! I enjoy this series.

SEAN: And Yen’s digital-only titles give us new volumes of Aphorism, Crimson Prince, Renaissance Eve, Scarlet Empire, and Sekirei.

ANNA: I need to catch up on Scarlet Empire – I think I bought the first volume and it disappeared into the mass of titles on my kindle.

SEAN: Is there a title here that cries out to your heart?

My Week in Manga: March 14-March 20, 2016

March 21, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

I managed to post two in-depth manga reviews at Experiments in Manga last week, though it looks like I’ll only be posting one this coming week since taiko will be keeping me pretty busy with a number of different performances and related events. Inio Asano’s A Girl on the Shore was the first manga that I reviewed last week. Like the rest of Asano’s work that I’ve read, it can be emotionally intense and hard-hitting at times, but it’s very well done. As part of my monthly horror manga review project, last week I also took a look Mushishi, Volumes 8, 9, and 10, the final installment in the English-language release of Yuki Urushibara’s award-winning debut. Although I’ve reached the end of the series proper, I’m planning on at least more Mushishi-related post before I’m through.

Elsewhere online: The BBC has an interesting piece on Keiko Takemiya—The godmother of manga sex in Japan. Rokudenashiko was interviewed by the Anne Ishii of MASSIVE about controversial art and free speech. Otaku USA posted an interview with translator and scholar Frederik L. Schodt about his work and Osamu Tezuka. An interview with Steve Oliff, the colorist who worked on Marvel’s release of Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira, was posted at Anime News Network. In licensing news, Dark Horse has picked up the Psycho-Pass: Inspector Shinya Kogami manga written by Midori Goto and illustrated by Natsuo Sai. Finally, the Skip Beat! crowdfunding effort that I mentioned a couple weeks ago has moved from Indiegogo to Kickstarter.

Quick Takes

Dream Fossil: The Complete Stories of Satoshi Kon by Satoshi Kon. Compiling fifteen of Kon’s short manga from between 1984 and 1989, as well as an essay by Susumu Hirasawa (which was a pleasant surprise), Dream Fossil is a somewhat peculiar volume which will probably be of most interest to Kon enthusiasts although other readers may find parts of it appealing as well. As is the case with so many collections, some stories are much stronger than others. Some of the unevenness can likely be attributed to the fact that Dream Fossil consists of Kon’s early works in which his narrative techniques were still being refined and developed. I actually found myself frustrated with some of the stories because they read less like manga and more like a storyboard or broad outline for a more involved work; some of the stories and ideas seem like they would have been better conveyed through animation rather than sequential art. Even so, as a whole I did enjoy Dream Fossil. While the storytelling itself was sometimes weak, the underlying concepts and imagery were great.

Master Keaton, Volumes 2-4 written by Hokusei Katsushika and Takashi Nagasaki and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa. It’s been some time since I read the first volume of Master Keaton, but being a fairly episodic series without much of an overarching story it wasn’t at all difficult to fall right back into the manga. I first picked up Master Keaton because of Urasawa’s involvement with the manga. This is still a major draw for me, but I continue to read the series because I genuinely enjoy the stories and characters. Keaton is sent all over the world to investigate a wide range of cases, so there’s plenty of variety in the manga’s stories as well. Although the series’ drama, action and adventure is certainly engaging, I especially like the chapters that take advantage of Keaton’s archaeological and academic interests. Master Keaton, while fictionalized, makes use of actual people, places, and events, which I like. (I’ve even learned a few factual tidbits from the manga.) Occasionally the series does get bogged down in historical details that don’t necessarily further the story, though.

The Tipping Point edited by Alex Donoghue and Tim Pilcher. Published as part of the fortieth anniversary celebrations of the comics publisher Humanoids, The Tipping Point collects thirteen short works from creators influenced by Japanese, Franco-Belgian, and American comics traditions. The anthology specifically caught my attention due to the mangaka involved—Taiyo Matsumoto, Atsushi Kaneko, Naoki Urasawa, Keiichi Koike, and Katsuya Terada—although the European and American creators are notable in their own right. (Sadly, though the collection touts its own innovation and diversity, only male creators are represented, something that is quickly glossed over in the introduction.) I greatly enjoyed the individual comics which range in subject, genre, and tone, but as a collection The Tipping Point seems to be missing a sense of cohesiveness and context. In the end, I was left wondering why these particular creators and why these particular works were selected to be brought together. Perhaps the theme of a “tipping point” was simply too vague or broad.

Manga the Week of 3/23

March 17, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown, MJ and Anna N Leave a Comment

SEAN: It is somewhat sad that with the huge number of manga out towards the end of every month, I can be relieved that there are “only” 33 titles out next week. Let’s plow through them.

Dark Horse has a 3rd Astro Boy omnibus.

Kodansha has an awful lot of stuff. There’s a 4th volume of that pesky Devil Survivor.

And Noragami is still sped up with its 12th release.

If you prefer 4 to 3, then the debut of Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth Side P4 will delight you. I’ll be in the corner looking baffled.

At long last, North America sees the debut of possibly the most anticipated josei title ever: Princess Jellyfish, which runs in Kiss magazine, gets an omnibus release, and it is fantastic. The Manga Bookshelf team would normally all pick it as Pick of the Week automatically, but see below. (FYI: PJ’s creator, Akiko Higashimura, has a younger brother, who happens to draw My Neighbor Seki.)

MICHELLE: I feel like I have been waiting for this for ages and ages. So excited!

ASH: Same here! (Also, I had no idea Akiko Higashimura and Takuma Morishige were related!)

MJ: So ready for this!

ANNA: I feel like I’ve been waiting for this FOREVER! Very much looking forward to reading this.

SEAN: Also debuting is Real Account, which is a survival game manga, and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzsnooooore – sorry, fell asleep there. Moving on.

MICHELLE: It can’t be worse than BTOOOM!, can it?

MJ: We shouldn’t underestimate it, Michelle. We should give it a chance to prove that it’s worse. It’s only fair.

SEAN: And a 7th volume of Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches. One volume per witch!

Seven Seas gives us a 5th volume of Servamp, which I believe still has vampires.

And Vertical has a 7th volume of Ajin, a series I know many people are excited about.

ASH: Especially now that there’s an anime series.

SEAN: Viz finally debuts the new shoujo title from the Vampire Knight creator, who has switched from Vampires to Ninjas with Shuriken and Pleats.

MICHELLE: I didn’t love Vampire Knight, but I’m still looking forward to checking this out.

MJ: Same.

ANNA: I will read this!

SEAN: And now it’s Yen time, starting with the Yen On light novel imprint. Accel World gets a 6th volume, as we try to figure out if our hero is going to turn possessed and evil or not.

The third Durarara!!, meanwhile, focuses on Masaomi, the third member of our high school power trio.

Log Horizon has a 4th volume, resolving the cliffhanger from the third, and possibly featuring Shiroe pushing his glasses up his face a few more times.

And there’s a 4th No Game No Life, which I wasn’t as pleased with as usual. I reviewed it here.

Akame Ga KILL! ZERO is the new spinoff series of the week, a prequel taking place a few years before the main series and focusing, appropriately enough, on Akame.

There’s a third Black Bullet manga, with plenty of disturbing yet well choreographed loli assassin action for you.

Bloody Cross nears its end, but isn’t there yet, even as we hit double digits with Volume 10.

And we get the 2nd to last volume of Chaika the Coffin Princess as well, which is sadly far below the most important coffin carrying manga this week. More later.

Demon from Afar must have run out of cast members, as the 6th volume is its last.

So The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan has resolved its main romance, and has finished promoting its anime. It has to wrap up soon. Right? Right?

He’s My Only Vampire is only half finished, but I’m enjoying it more than Shouoto’s other titles, and so I look forward to Vol. 6.

MICHELLE: Same here, though Demon Prince of Momochi House is pretty pleasant, too.

SEAN: The second The Honor Student at Magic High School continues to tell an alternate viewpoint of the novel we haven’t quite gotten to yet.

There’s also a 4th omnibus of Karneval’s circus mysteries.

And if you enjoy seeing a girl attempt to do life correctly and fail constantly, you no doubt are already aware that No Matter How You Look At It, It’s You Guys’ Fault That I’m Not Popular!! has an 8th volume next week.

And if you enjoy pretty supernatural people, have a 2nd Of The Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi.

MICHELLE: Yay! Volume one was a surprise delight!

ASH: I actually just finished reading the first volume; I’m intrigued and look forward to more.

MJ: Hm, I guess I should check out that first volume!

SEAN: Poor Princess Jellyfish! An obvious Pick of the Week… except oh look, here’s the final Pandora Hearts volume! Michelle, MJ, you aren’t allowed to pick both this time. (evil grin)

MICHELLE: Oh, man. Well, I’m pretty sure where MJ’s heart lies, but I am less committed.

MJ: Oh, the final one. Oh. Oh.

SEAN: And a third Prison School volume, which I think will give readers all the excess bodily fluids they could possibly want.

ASH: And then some, most likely.

SEAN: Rose Guns Days has a third volume of its Season 1 arc.

The only coffin manga that matters next week, we finally see a 5th volume of Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro. Yay!

Spice & Wolf has a 12th manga volume, and for those who want to catch up with the series, 1-12 will also now be available digitally starting next week.

Sword Art Online begins the Mother’s Rosary arc, despite having just started the Phantom Bullet arc as well. The series ran at the same time in Japan, and will do so here as well.

Lastly, there’s a 4th volume of Sword Art Online Progressive’s manga, featuring Argo!, and also those other two I guess.

Even if you don’t get a lot of manga, there’s STILL a lot to get next week. Can you keep up?

MICHELLE: Not really, no!

My Week in Manga: March 7-March 13, 2016

March 14, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

I was finally able to post February’s Bookshelf Overload at Experiments in Manga last week, a few days later than I originally intended, but at least it’s up. I’ve been intentionally decreasing the number of new manga and other things that I’m buying at the moment, which means that I’ll be happily digging into my backlog and catching up on older series. I also posted an in-depth review last week, though perhaps it’s more of a summary. Either way, Mechademia, Volume 10: World Renewal contains some interesting material for those looking for a more scholarly approach to the study of manga, anime, and other Japanese popular culture. The volume also includes “Nanohana,” a short manga by Moto Hagio, and a story by Tomoyuki Hoshino called “Good Morning.” I am very fond of both creators’ work, so that made me especially happy to see.

Interesting things found online last week: Viz Media will apparently be releasing a new volume of Haikyu every month after it’s debut in July until the English edition catches up with the Japan’s releases, which is rather impressive. Yokai scholar and manga translator Zack Davisson wrote a great piece for The Comics Journal called Confessions of a Manga Translator. (Some of the comments are worth reading, too.) VICE has an interview with Gengoroh Tagame, who will also be participating in the Queer Japan documentary. (The Kickstarter campaign for the project ends very soon and could use some additional support; if it at all interests you, please consider contributing!) Graham Kolbeins, the filmmaker behind the documentary was recently interviewed as well.

Quick Takes

Alice in the Country of Clover: Cheshire Cat Waltz, Volumes 1-4 by Mamenosuke Fujimaru. With the extraordinary number of retellings, spinoffs, and sequels to Alice in the Country of Hearts, it can be somewhat daunting to know where to start. Fortunately, I have people looking out for me; Cheshire Cat Waltz was one of the series that was repeatedly recommended by multiple individuals. Although it still has the same vaguely ominous atmosphere (which I like), the Country of Clover is actually a slightly different setting than the Country of Hearts. Even the personalities of the characters that are shared between the two are somewhat changed as they adapt to their modified roles. I found Boris, the Cheshire Cat, an especially interesting character in the first manga series, so it probably makes sense that I would enjoy a series where he plays a leading role. Admittedly, the pairings in the various Alice in the Country of manga that I’ve read certainly shouldn’t be lauded as examples of healthy relationships. Boris, as sweet and considerate as he can sometimes be, is also very possessive. The story is engaging, though, and Cheshire Cat Waltz is surprisingly steamy as well.

Behind Story, Volumes 2-3 by Narae Ahn. I enjoyed the first volume of Behind Story more than I thought I would, so I wanted to be sure to read more of the boys’ love manhwa. At the time, I didn’t even know how long the series was, and I wasn’t able to find out much about the creator, either. It turns out Behind Story is only three volumes, was Ahn’s debut series, and was originally published online. The final two volumes of Behind Story take place three years after the first. Johann has survived his teacher’s attempted murder-suicide, but his life is still a complicated mess; he’s more or less forced transfer out of school, leaving Taehee—one of the very few people who legitimately cared for him and his well-being—behind with no way to contact him. Eventually the two of them do reunite, but they’ve both changed over the years and neither are sure what direction their relationship will take in the future. Behind Story is a fairly solid debut with interesting characters and a story that, for the most part, moves beyond the genre’s standard tropes. The series’ ending does perhaps wrap up a little too quickly and nicely and could have used a little more development, but overall the manhwa is enjoyable.

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, Volume 1 by Izumi Tsubaki. I absolutely loved the anime adaptation of Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, so I was very happy when Yen Press announced that it would be releasing the original manga series. The success of four-panel manga can be rather hit-or-miss in the North American market as their comedy is often firmly situated within a Japanese sense of humor and context. A few of the jokes in the first volume of Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun I may not have immediately understood if I hadn’t already seen the anime (which was able to more fully expound on things due to its format) but overall the manga and its gags are largely accessible and very funny. The series revolves around Nozaki—a relatively successful shoujo mangaka who has a difficult time convincing many of his high school classmates of that fact due to his large stature and seemingly stoic nature—and the various students who become his assistants or the inspiration for his characters. The manga is good-natured fun, much of the humor the result of the differences between the characters’ personalities and how most other people actually perceive them. I especially appreciate the series’ willingness to play with gender roles and expectations.

Manga the Week of 3/16

March 9, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown, MJ and Anna N Leave a Comment

SEAN: Third weeks are usually the most diverse manga weeks. And that’s the case here, with lots of new titles debuting. Let’s see what we’ve got.

Dark Horse gives us the first volume of Dangan Ronpa: The Animation, which contrary to its name is indeed a manga. It’s based on a game and has had tons of adaptations – this is the Shonen Ace one. A lot of folks I know like it, but it is set in a school where people die one by one, so be warned.

And there’s a 3rd Oh My Goddess! omnibus as well.

Kodansha has a couple of debuts next week. Forget Me Not (aka Soredemo Boku wa Kimi ga Suki) is a somewhat ecchi romance from the Shonen Magazine group (it’s been in both Weekly and Betsu), and should appeal to fans of Suzuka and other titles where you just scream in rage and bafflement at the male lead for months on end.

MICHELLE: Heh.

SEAN: There’s a second volume of supernatural mystery series Livingstone.

Kosuke Fujishima, author of Oh My Goddess!, actually finished that series, and so needed something to draw. That something is Paradise Residence, whose first omnibus volume is due out next week. It runs in Afternoon. I’m not sure if this collects Vol. 0 and 1 or 1 and 2 – it’s that kind of series. It also has a female lead at an all girls’ school, because Fujishima knows no one reads his series for the men.

MICHELLE: I’m kind of interested in this one, though I know virtually nothing about it.

SEAN: Seven Seas has a 4th omnibus of Freezing, with lots of girls fighting and being busty.

And the fourth and final volume of Evergreen, the bittersweet not-quite-romance from the author of Toradora!.

Vertical has the 7th My Neighbor Seki, which I think catches us up with Japan, so it may be a while till Seki 8.

ASH: My Neighbor Seki is still an utterly delightful series.

MJ: This, yes.

SEAN: They also debut a quirky romance called Mysterious Girlfriend X, which also ran in Afternoon. It’s an omnibus of the first two volumes, and should be fun to read provided you’re OK with drool. If you aren’t, this is probably not the title for you.

MICHELLE: Ew.

ASH: I actually know quite a few people who are excited about this series; I may need to check it out, drool and all.

ANNA: I know I am not ok with drool and will be skipping this.

MJ: I… wow, drool?

SEAN: The big debut this week for bloggers, who never met a depressing artsy manga they didn’t love, is Goodnight Punpun, a series by Inio Asano, author of Solanin, Nijigihara Holograph, etc. This is his longest series, I believe, and ran in Young Sunday (then Big Comic Spirits when YS folded). It’s extremely weird, extremely cruel, and extremely heartwarming. It too is an omnibus with 2 volumes inside.

MICHELLE: I am still not recovered from A Girl on the Shore, honestly. I don’t know if I can take more Asano right now.

ASH: Asano can be rough, but I’m looking forward to this one.

ANNA: I own but have not read A Girl on the Shore because I haven’t felt up to it, but I’m going to get this and I think that more Asano is always a good thing.

MJ: I am always ready for more depressing artsy manga, as long as it’s from Asano.

SEAN: There’s also a 6th volume of insurance madness with Master Keaton.

ANNA: Yay!

SEAN: And Manga Bookshelf peeps will be delighted to hear we’re getting a 14th volume of Real as well.

MICHELLE: Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!

ASH: Excellent.

ANNA: Extra Yay!!!!!

MJ: Hurray!!

SEAN: Lastly, Terra Formars has Volume 11 coming out.

A whole bunch of new series next week. Which ones are you getting?

My Week in Manga: February 29-March 6, 2016

March 7, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week at Experiments in Manga, I announced the World Trigger Giveaway Winner. As usual for such announcements, the post also includes a thematic list of manga. In this case, I’ve put together a list of some of the manga licensed in English that feature parallel worlds, dimensions, and universes. Speaking of which, last week I also reviewed the first volume of a series that was included on that list–Shuji Sogabe’s Persona 4, Volume 1. I haven’t played any of the Persona 4 video games yet, but the manga adaptation is off to an intriguing start. I’m looking forward to reading more, and I’ll likely give the anime a try as well.

I found quite a few interesting things to read last week. Frederik L. Schodt (whose work I greatly admire) wrote about translating manga for World Literature Today. ICv2 has been busy interviewing folks from the North American manga industry, including a two–part interview with Viz’s Kevin Hamric and another two–part interview with Dark Horse’s Michael Gombos and Carl Horn.

There have been a few interviews with manga creators posted recently, as well. Manga Brog translated an interview with Tsutomu Nihei from earlier this year. Kazuo Koike participated in a Reddit Ask Me Anything. And Kodansha Comics has a new creator interview with Chuya Koyama, the mangaka of Space Brothers. Related to that interview is an autograph sweepstakes and survey about Space Brothers which is a great opportunity to let Kodansha know if, like me, you’d be interested in seeing a print release of the series.

In licensing news, Seven Seas slipped in an announcement for Kanekiru Kogitsune and Kobayakawa Haruyoshi’s Re:Monster manga adaptation. There’s also currently an Indiegogo campaign to add an English dub to and generally improve the quality of the upcoming North American DVD and Blu-ray release of the Skip Beat! anime adaptation.

Quick Takes

A Bride’s Story, Volumes 6-7 by Kaoru Mori. Every time I pick up A Bride’s Story I can’t help but be impressed by Mori’s stunningly detailed and beautiful artwork. The manga is gorgeous to look at, but the storytelling is lovely as well. These two volumes fall at the opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to tone, but they’re both still wonderfully engaging. Though it has its quiet moments, the sixth volume is dominated by exciting action sequences and battles as Amir’s original clan struggles to find a way to survive now that it has lost access to grazing lands. The intensity of the sixth volume isn’t found in the seventh, but there’s still plenty of drama as the series shifts to follow more of Mr. Smith’s journey. The story itself focuses Anis, a young Persian woman whose husband is quite wealthy. Because of this she leads a somewhat lonely and secluded life until, at the urging of her maid, she starts going to the public baths where she can spend more time with other women. (Much of the volume takes place at the baths, so there is a fair amount of tasteful nudity.)

Tokyo ESP, Omnibus 1 (equivalent to Volumes 1-2) by Hajime Segawa. It took me a couple of chapters to completely warm up to Tokyo ESP, but by the end of the first omnibus I was completely engaged. Segawa’s artwork doesn’t particularly grab me, but I’m immensely enjoying the quirkiness of the manga’s characters and the weirdness of its story. Tokyo ESP is ridiculous in a good sort of way. One morning, Rinka wakes up to discover that she has the ability to pass through physical objects. She’s not the only Tokyoite to have suddenly gained strange superpowers, but Rinka does appear to be one of the few to try to use her newfound skills for justice rather than personal gain. Though reluctant at first, wishing that she could just go back to normal, Rinka is quite capable and soon finds herself caught up in gang war fighting other espers. Tokyo ESP is a violent, action-packed series with a goofy sense of humor. Rinka can literally kick ass, but she also gets her fair share of beatings. The manga can actually be surprisingly brutal at times.

The World’s Greatest First Love: The Case of Ritsu Onodera, Volumes 1-3 by Shungiku Nakamura. I know quite a few people who we extraordinarily pleased when SuBLime announced that it would be releasing The World’s Greatest First Love. It was their enthusiasm that led me to giving the manga a try–I had read and even enjoyed parts of Nakamura’s earlier series boys’ love series Junjo Romantica, but overall I wasn’t especially enamored with it so I wasn’t necessarily intentionally seeking out more of the creator’s work. But I will admit, so far I am consistently amused and entertained by The World’s Greatest First Love even if I am more interested in the series’ hilarious (and I’m told accurate) portrayal of the inner workings a shoujo magazine than I am in any of the manga’s dubious romances. The World’s Greatest First Love works best for me when it’s a bit over-the-top and not trying to be taken too seriously. Though the anatomy of the characters can occasionally be rather awkward, Nakamura excels at reaction shots and the artwork is well-suited for a comedy.

Manga the Week of 3/9

March 3, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, MJ, Ash Brown, Anna N and Michelle Smith 1 Comment

SEAN: I love quiet weeks. I love them so much more given we’re in a new manga boom where the first and fourth weeks of the month can be crippling on the wallet. But don’t worry, there’s still big things afoot next week.

The big release, and I will warn in advance this is absolutely my Pick of the Week, is the debut of the space opera novel series Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Viz’s SF imprint Haikasoru has picked up the first 3 volumes, with promises of more if it sells well. Old-school anime fans will recall its adaptation being a gateway series in the 1990s, trading fansubs and joking about “That man, Yang Wen-Li”. It is also filled with very handsome young men, so has a large female fanbase as well. This isn’t space opera like the Irresponsible Captain Tylor – it takes itself Very Seriously Indeed. But don’t let that stop you getting this, it is an absolute Must Buy.

MJ: Okay, you’ve sold me. Which is good, because nothing else here really does.

ASH: I am so incredibly excited for this!

ANNA: I am also incredibly excited for this! Space Opera for the win!!!!

MICHELLE: What is that I spy, sitting in my Amazon cart? Why, it’s the first volume of Legend of the Galactic Heroes!! Hi there, little guy!

SEAN: Dance in the Vampire Bund’s spinoff, Scarlet Order, ends with its 4th volume from Seven Seas.

Seven Seas also has a 3rd volume of Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto. I’ve heard it’s selling poorly, which is a shame, as I’m very fond of it. Go get this! It’s weird and funny! It has an anime coming soon!

ASH: Oh, that is a shame; I really enjoy the series. Hopefully the anime will help sales.

SEAN: After a few false starts, I believe that we do have the 4th World’s Greatest First Love volume from SubLime.

ASH: I actually just started reading this series. Guess I’ll have to add the fourth volume to the pile!

SEAN: Ranma 1/2 omnibus 13 contains two of the more beloved arcs of the franchise, as it wraps up the Herb story and also has Shinnosuke’s arc, which highlights Ranma and Akane’s awkward love story. Oh yes, and we meet Hinako-sensei as well.

Lastly, there’s a 20th Rin-Ne volume, and I admit I waved a little white flag last time around at the extreme lack of anything happening in the series.

Aside from IMPERIAL SPACE OPERA, what interests you this week?

My Week in Manga: February 22-February 28, 2016

February 29, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

It’s the end of the month, so there were a couple of different things posted at Experiments in Manga last week, such as the launch of the most recent manga giveaway. The winner will be announced on Wednesday, but until then there’s still time to enter for a chance to win the first two volumes of Daisuke Ashihara’s World Trigger. The most recent review in my monthly horror manga review project was posted last week as well (technically it’s a week late). This month I took a look at After School Nightmare, Volume 8 by Setona Mizushiro. It’s a fairly momentous installment in the series, with several major developments and revelations.

Elsewhere online: Ryan Holmberg examines pro-nuclear manga of the seventies and eighties; Kodansha Comics has a two part interview with Hiroya Oku, the creator of Gantz and the more recent Inuyashiki; Justin of The Organization of Anti-Social Geniuses contacted Robert McGuire to determine the status of Gen Manga since the publisher has been rather quiet of late; finally, in an interesting move, Funimation has launched a Kickstarter for a newly dubbed blu-ray release of The Vision of Escaflowne; Anime News Network also interviewed some of Funimation’s staff members about the project.

Quick Takes

Aldnoah.Zero: Season One, Volumes 1-2 written by Olympus Knights and illustrated by Pinakes. I haven’t seen any of the original Aldnoah.Zero anime series, though I have been meaning to give at least a few episodes a try. The series mostly caught my attention for two reasons: the underlying story about interplanetary warfare between the humans on Earth and Mars (as I’ve mentioned in the past, I have particular interest in Mars), and the fact that Wandering Son‘s Takako Shimura was responsible for the character designs. Seeing as I generally have more opportunities to read manga than I do to watch anime, I figured I’d give the Aldnoah.Zero manga adaptation a try. Sadly, parts of the manga are somewhat difficult to understand if one isn’t familiar with the original. Pinakes makes heavy use of screentone, which obscures the artwork and action and gives the pages a cluttered feel. I do like the basic premise of the series, but the motivations behind the war, while cursorily explained, remain frustratingly unclear and many of the Martians come across as villainous caricatures rather than well-rounded characters.

Franken Fran, Omnibus 1 (equivalent to Volumes 1-2) by Katsuhisa Kigitsu. I tend to enjoy horror manga and I had heard great things about Franken Fran, so I was very much looking forward to giving the series a try. The manga and its characters are delightfully quirky, in turns disturbingly cute and skin-crawlingly creepy. Fran is a charming young woman who, due to her nearly irrational reverence for life, is more or less an unintentional sadist. She, along with her cadre of assistants and monsters, saves lives through extreme surgeries and bizarre experiments often with gruesome results. Although there are recurring characters, the manga is generally episodic without much of a continuing story, but the chapters all have at least one deliberately shocking twist to them. Franken Fran, with its incredibly dark sense of humor, quickly and repeatedly swings from the surprisingly heartwarming to the magnificently grotesque and back. It’s definitely not a series for everyone, but I’ll certainly be picking up the rest of the manga.

Purity: The “Post-Yaoi” Anthology edited by Anne Notation and A. E. Green. I was previously unfamiliar with most of the contributors to Purity; I learned about the anthology due to the participation of two creators whose work I currently follow—Kori Michele Handwerker and Starlock. (I was happy to discover that a comic by Alexis Cooke, one of Sparkler Monthly‘s creators, was also included.) Purity is a collection of forty-two homoerotic illustrations and short comics by forty-eight creators from around the world who have been influenced by yaoi manga. Although it’s clear that some of the artwork was originally in color, the anthology has been printed in grayscale. There’s a nice variety in the tone and style of the contributions in Purity; some are sweet while others are unapologetically smutty (and there’s nothing wrong with that). Genre-wise, the anthology tends towards the paranormal, fantastic, and futuristic, but there are contributions firmly based in reality, too. Although all of the stories stand on their own, a few do tie in with some of the creators’ existing works.

Manga the Week of 3/2

February 25, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown, MJ and Anna N Leave a Comment

SEAN: Honestly, it’s a very light week for the first of the month, helped out by Viz’s big shoujo debut getting pushed back a couple weeks for some reason. But there’s still a lot left here. (Of note, for reasons unknown to me, Diamond is not shipping any Viz next week, so I am not getting any of this.)

MICHELLE: Huh. Maybe they wanted it to stand out from the pack?

SEAN: New Lone Wolf and Cub isn’t so new anymore now that it’s on its 8th volume from Dark Horse.

ASH: Heh.

SEAN: On the Seven Seas front, there’s an 8th volume of Science vs. Fantasy manga Devils and Realist.

And a 2nd omnibus of otaku favorite Mayo Chiki.

And now for the rest of Viz, which has not been delayed but is coming out as usual (except via Diamond). Starting with the 66th volume of Bleach, now 2/3 of the way to 100 volumes. (Please do not let Bleach hit 100 volumes.)

MJ: Lord, no.

SEAN: Bloody Mary has a 2nd volume, and continues to feature vampires.

MICHELLE: I didn’t love the first volume of this, but I’m not ready to give up on it yet, so I will be checking this out.

MJ: I will follow Michelle down this road.

ANNA: I liked it ok! It is a bit different from all the other vampire manga out there, which I found refreshing.

SEAN: Dragon Ball has still not run out of 3-in-1s with its 12th, but it may be close.

I was quite fond of the first volume of Idol Dreams, but I acknowledge that it has potential to be what I cheerily refer to as “problematic”, which tends to be a code word for “they’re only xx years old!”. Gender reversed in this case. In any case, Volume 2 is next week.

MICHELLE: This is another I didn’t love, but I’m totally going to read volume two.

MJ: I will probably read this.

ANNA: I liked it well enough despite the “problematic” aspect. I’m weirdly all in for all Tanemura manga.

SEAN: Final volume! Kiss of the Rose Princess wraps up with Volume 9.

MICHELLE: And this is why I keep reading sometimes underwhelming things, as I ended up kind of liking this after a while. Enough to keep going ’til the conclusion, anyway.

ANNA: I am a couple volumes behind but will get caught up!

SEAN: And Komomo Confiserie reaches its halfway mark with Vol. 3.

MJ: This has not landed for me, sadly.

ANNA: It isn’t as great as other shoujo manga, but I like the combo of food and wacky heroine.

One Piece has not remotely reached a final volume, but here’s a 15th 3-in-1 to tide you over.

There can never be enough PUNCHING! Thank goodness for a 5th volume of One-Punch Man.

ASH: Woohoo!

SEAN: Seraph of the End has an 8th volume, and also continues to feature vampires.

ANNA: It does! I enjoy all the angst and action scenes.

SEAN: Shuriken and Pleats is… delayed 3 weeks, not sure why. Moving on…

ANNA: Boo!

SEAN: Skip Beat! Yay! I miss the days when we gorged on new volumes all the time, but it just makes the wait for some nice sweet Corn all the more satisfying. (I’m so sorry.)

MICHELLE: IT HAS BEEN SIX WHOLE MONTHS!!!!

ANNA: HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? IT IS INHUMANE!

SEAN: World Trigger is up to Vol. 9, which in Jump terms means that it can be called a definite success.

ASH: I’m behind in reading the series myself, but I do have a giveaway for the first two volumes going on right now.

SEAN: Lastly, what Viz manga list would not be complete without a Yu-Gi-Oh somewhere in it – this one the 8th volume of Zexal.

Manga is coming in like a lion next week! What are you getting?