Features

My Week in Manga: February 8-February 14, 2016

February 15, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Life has gotten to be rather hectic again for me, though hopefully things should settle back down soon. In the meantime, I’ve returned to a reduced posting schedule for a little bit. Last week I only posted one in-depth review, but it was for the most recent installment in one of my favorite series currently being released—Aya Kanno’s Requiem of the Rose King. In this volume a tenuous peace has been established while the story moves away from the battlefield to delve into the dangerous political intrigue of the court.

Elsewhere online, The Organization of Anti-Social Geniuses (which has moved, by the way), posted a short interview with Casey Brienza, the author of the recently released Manga in America (which I hope to review in the not too distant future). The wonderful folks behind MASSIVE have launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund The Queer Japan Project documentary, which should be phenomenal. In manga news, Kodansha Comics has announced that its release of the final volume of My Little Monster will include an additional sixty pages of content. Over the weekend, Vertical announced the addition of a few more titles: the Bakemonogatari novels by Nisioisin, the manga Immortal Hounds by Ryo Yasohachi, the master edition of Tsutomu Nihei’s manga Blame!, and (the one I’m most excited about) the josei horror manga Dissolving Classroom by Junji Ito. Not to be left out, Seven Seas snuck in a license announcement on Sunday as well—Nakatani Nio’s yuri manga Bloom Into You.

Quick Takes

Batmanga, Volume 1 by Jiro Kuwata. Back in the 1960s, Kuwata was commissioned to create a manga series featuring the iconic American masked vigilante Batman specifically tailored for a Japanese audience. This series was nearly forgotten in the United States but was rediscovered and introduced in translation relatively recently. DC Comics is now releasing the entire series in English. Although I do enjoy Batman and grew up with the franchise, I don’t really consider myself to be a huge fan or aficionado. But I was very interested in the publication history of Batmanga, and it’s not very often that an older manga is licensed. Kuwata’s Batmanga is understandably most reminiscent of the 1960s television series starring Adam West than any of Batman‘s more recent incarnations (the sixties apparently saw a Batman craze in Japan). The manga is a lot of fun with plenty of ridiculous action, camp, and wordplay. I believe that all the villains are unique to the manga, their origin stories often having something to do with devious scientific innovations or experiments gone awry.

False Memories, Volumes 1-2 by Isaku Natsume. A few of Natsume’s boys’ love manga have been released digitally, but I believe False Memories is only the second one to be released in print. It’s been a while since I’ve read any of Natsume’s manga, so I was surprised by how charming and touching False Memories ended up being. Nakano and Tsuda drifted apart soon after they slept together in high school. Ten years have passed since their graduation, but they suddenly find themselves assigned to work together on the same project by their respective companies. The misunderstandings surrounding their high school days continue to prove problematic, though. The two men will at least need to pretend to be friendly, but old feelings can be difficult to ignore. I enjoyed False Memories more than I expected I would, largely because I found the characters to be so likeable and relatable. Nakano’s insecurities are understandable, having unintentionally been hurt by Tsuda in the past. As for Tsuda, he’s a well-meaning goofball. The two of them do honestly care for each other, it just takes them a little while to figure that out.

Firefighter! Daigo of Fire Company M, Volume 1 by Masahito Soda. I recently happened across the first volume of Firefighter! and so picked it up. It’s been out-of-print for some time now, but the entire series is now available digitally from Viz Media. When Daigo Asahina was a child, he almost died in a fire but was rescued by a heroic local firefighter. Ever since then, it has been his dream to become a firefighter himself. Fresh out of training he’s eager to prove himself, only the station that he’s been assigned to deals with very few major fires. While this would normally be considered to be a good thing, for Daigo it’s frustrating, especially when his rival at another company has already seen plenty of action. Despite the seemingly relaxed atmosphere of Company M, Firefighter! quickly ramps up the excitement. Only one volume in and Daigo’s had to rescue a cat, help prevent a potential gas explosion, fight multiple fires, and face the fact that he’s not nearly as well-prepared as he thought he was. The veterans of Company M know their stuff, though, and are very good at what they do.

Manga the Week of 2/17

February 11, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, MJ, Michelle Smith and Anna N Leave a Comment

SEAN: There’s one title I’m really excited about next week, but there are several other books of interest. Let’s go through them, starting, as ever, with Dark Horse. (If a manga company started beginning with A-C, they’d clean up.)

Fate/Zero is a prequel to the insanely popular visual novel franchise Fate/Stay Night, taking place 20 years prior. It still has Saber (Arturia version) in it, though, no worries.

If you missed it the first time, there’s a 3rd Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service omnibus, with Vol. 7-9.

ASH: Still a great series; glad that Dark Horse found a way to keep it in print!

SEAN: Vampire Hunter D has reached its 23rd novel. I think Dark Horse put out the first one in 1922 or something like that.

ASH: Ha! Indeed, something like that.

SEAN: One Peace has a 3rd volume of the light novel Rise of the Shield Hero.

Seven Seas gives a 9th Dragonar Academy, which continues to attempt to titillate its core audience, and while I am not remotely that, I hear it does a good job.

It may surprise some to see me getting so excited about a “monster girl” series, particularly given my ambivalent attitude towards their recent popularity. But Franken Fran is not just any monster girl series . Fans have been waiting for its blend of grotesque horror and pitch-black humor to be licensed for years, and Seven Seas now obliges us with 4 big omnibuses, of which this is the first. Get this, folks (well, over-18 folks).

MJ: Well, you’ve sold me! :D

ASH: This is the series I’m most intensely curious about this week.

SEAN: I missed another one last week: there’s a 2nd digital-only volume of Crown of Thorns, by the Hana Yori Dango author.

MICHELLE: I’m not sure Franken Fran is for me, but I’m definitely excited about more Crown of Thorns!

ANNA: ACK! I forgot to get the first volume of Crown of Thorns! Oh well, it is an excellent excuse to binge-read!

SEAN: Tokyo Ghoul’s 5th volume, out next week via Viz, will sell more copies than all the other titles in this list combined.

ASH: I’ve fallen behind on the series, but I’m happy to see it doing so well for Viz.

SEAN: And there’s a 3rd Ultraman, also from Viz, which I really should know more about than I do.

Go get Franken Fran. What else will you get?

My Week in Manga: February 1-February 7, 2016

February 8, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

I posted a few different things at Experiments in Manga last week. For starters, the Love at Fourteen Giveaway Winner was announced. The post also includes a list of some of the manga available in English which feature a bit of romance. Last week I also reviewed Tokyo Decadence: 15 Stories by Ryu Murakami which in some ways is about love, or at least lust. Due to be published later this year, the collection is engaging but definitely not for everyone as some of the stories are quite disturbing. Over the weekend January’s Bookshelf Overload was posted for those of you curious about what made it onto my shelves last month. I also had a taiko gig over the weekend that took up a fair amount of time. As a result of that and other some other life stress, I’ve fallen a bit behind on my writing (just when I thought I’d finally gotten ahead!), so there’ll likely only be one review coming this week instead of the two that were originally planned.

Quick Takes

Orange, Omnibus 1 by Ichigo Takano. I had heard very good things about Orange and so was greatly looking forward to reading the manga, but I honestly didn’t anticipate that the series might become one of my favorite releases of the year. (It all depends on exactly how the story plays out in the second and final omnibus.) Orange sensitively deals with some fairly heavy subject matter, including suicide and crippling regret, but at the same time the manga also has a lighter sweetness to it. The manga is both heartwrenching and heartwarming, a melancholic story about close relationships and human connection. Admittedly, Naho is incredibly dense when it comes to recognizing other people’s feelings for her, even when they basically come right out and tell her, which can be a bit exasperating. But overall, the feelings and emotions in Orange ring true, especially as the series progresses and it’s revealed just why everyone is behaving in the ways that they are. I can see Orange ending either in tragedy or in happiness and I’m very curious to see which it will be.

Prison School, Omnibus 2 by Akira Hiramoto. The first omnibus of Prison School established the manga as a series that is simultaneously appalling and strangely engaging. This of course assumes that readers aren’t immediately offended by its highly sexualized and incredibly vulgar nature to begin with. Prison School is definitely not a series for everyone even if, surprisingly, it has its sweet moments. The second omnibus very much continues in the same vein, so the initial shock caused by the manga’s obscenity, over-the-top fanservice, and ridiculous premise has diminished some. Even so, Prison School is a page-turner. The series has been building up to Kiyoshi’s escape attempt, resulting in a situation that gets progressively worse as time goes by. Seeing just how bad things can possibly get (which is pretty bad) is one of Prison School‘s major draws. That and Hiramoto’s impressive skills as an artist. The manga’s content will certainly not be to everyone’s taste, but it’s hard to deny Hiramoto’s talent.

SuperMutant Magic Academy by Jillian Tamaki. Originally a webcomic, the best of SuperMutant Magic Academy has now been collected into a single volume along with newly-created content. I hadn’t actually read any of the comic while it was being released online, but I was obviously missing out—SuperMutant Magic Academy is great stuff. The comic takes place in a high school where students study magic and learn to control their superpowers (sort of an odd mix between Harry Potter and X-Men that bizarrely works), all while dealing with the more normal sorts of teenage angst and anxiety. Except for the series’ lengthy finale, created specifically for the collected volume, most of SuperMutant Magic Academy consists of single-page, and in some cases single-panel, gag comics.There’s no real overarching plot, but there are recurring characters and running jokes. Some of the social commentary can be fairly biting, but SuperMutant Magic Academy is very funny, frequently absurd, and wholly enjoyable.

Manga the Week of 2/10

February 4, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Michelle Smith, MJ and Anna N 1 Comment

SEAN: Next week and the week after are blissfully small, allowing most of us to recover from the hideous amount of manga that we still have to read. This does not mean there are not some interesting things coming out, however.

Fans of Berserk might be interested in the new science fiction manga by its creator, called Giganto Maxia. Kate Dacey already gave it a review here.

ASH: As a fan of Berserk, I’m definitely interested in this, but Miura’s other manga have been pretty hit-or-miss for me.

SEAN: Seven Seas has a third volume of fantasy parody-ish manga 12 Beast.

Their new title this week is Angel Beats! Heaven’s Door, based on the visual novel by Key. Whenever I see the words ‘visual novel’ and ‘Key’ together, I know I’m in for some tear-jerking, heartwarming tragedy, and I suspect that will be the case here as well.

There’s a 2nd volume of fantasy Mushoku Tensei.

SubLime, which has been awfully quiet recently, has a 5th volume of Awkward Silence, which is what happens when I ask out loud why they’ve been so quiet recently.

ASH: Not my favorite Takanaga manga, but it does have it’s charm.

SEAN: Udon gives us the debut of the Persona 4 manga in North America, and get ready for me to be saying ‘Persona’ quite a bit this year, as other companies are also dipping their toe into those waters.

ASH: I know quite a few Persona fans, so I’m actually rather curious about this release despite never having played the game myself.

SEAN: Viz time. We have reached the end of Deadman Wonderland with the 13th volume, and I can only assume they’re out of prison at last?

Hayate the Combat Butler continues to not sell well enough to have more than 2 volumes a year, but well enough not to be cancelled. Here’s a 27th volume.

Lastly, there’s a 16th volume of one of my favorites, Magi.

MICHELLE: I guess this is the only thing I’m buying this week. This’ll make my pick of the week easy!

MJ: And I guess I’ll just have to live vicariously through you. Wow.

ANNA: Magi is also the only thing I’m enthusiastic about this week. I’ve even started reading through some of my stockpiled volumes, although I have a long way to go before I get to the 16th volume.

SEAN: What’s your manga valentine?

My Week in Manga: January 25-January 31, 2016

February 1, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

A couple of different things were posted at Experiments in Manga last week in addition to the usual My Week in Manga feature. First up was the first manga giveaway of the year, and there’s still time to enter for a chance to win Fuka Mizutani’s Love at Fourteen, Volume 1. Last week I also reviewed the first omnibus of Hiroaki Samura’s Die Wergelder, which is brutal and intense to say the least. The manga is greatly influenced by violent, erotic Japanese films from the 1970s and it shows. And speaking of explicit manga, Digital Manga’s Project-H imprint is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to publish Yamatogawa’s Vanilla Essence hentai collection. It seems like Digital Manga is now relying on Kickstarter projects for just about everything, and I have no idea how long the publisher will be able to last like that; it’s a bit concerning.

Quick Takes

The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Volume 3 by Kore Yamazaki. I continue to love The Ancient Magus’ Bride and look forward to future volumes a great deal. The series has this sort of atmospheric melancholy to it that I really like along with touches of horror and darkness that have yet to become overwhelmingly bleak. In large part, The Ancient Magus’ Bride seems to be dealing with loneliness and the intense longing and need to belong somewhere. It’s only after being purchased by Elias that Chise feels as though she’s actually wanted and that is a dangerously enticing feeling to have. Their relationship is a peculiar one, but it is also compelling. For better or for worse, Chise still knows very little about Elias. He seems very reluctant to reveal his true nature to her, whether out of fear that he will be rejected or for some other reason entirely. What is clear is that Elias is very powerful, very dangerous, and not entirely honest. Despite this and despite the warnings of others, Chise remains devoted to him. She, too, is powerful and dangerous, though she has yet to learn how to completely control and claim that power for her own.

Dog X Cat, Volume 4 by Yoshimi Amasaki. I believe Dog X Cat is up to six volumes or so and still ongoing in Japan, but it seems unlikely that more of the series will be released in English any time soon if ever. It’s been a few years since I read the first three volumes of the boys’ love series, but it didn’t take very long to get reoriented with the manga. The fourth volume is actually a fairly self-contained story, too. Atsu and Junya used to only be best friends but now they’re also well-established lovers. Junya is the more adventurous and demanding when it comes to sex to the point of ignoring Atsu’s needs and desires which is unfortunate; otherwise their relationship is quite good and they obviously love each other. Keeping with the rest of the series, Amasaki finds plenty of opportunities to include sex scenes. However, their vacation-cum-research trip to the mountains takes an extremely unfortunate turn when an earthquake traps them under a burning building. Though there are sweet moments, most of the forth volume of Dog X Cat deals with this traumatizing event and its lasting aftermath.

Library Wars: Love & War, Volumes 11-14 by Kiiro Yumi. I’ll readily admit to enjoying Library Wars and its dramatic and fantastical portrayal of librarianship. I don’t think that librarians will militarize themselves any time soon in the fight for freedom of expression and information, but it does make for an interesting story that does actually explore some of the complexities of the debates surrounding censorship. Library Wars has two sides to it that don’t always mesh with each other very well, but I do like them both. There’s the romantic and comedic side of things as many of the characters come to terms with their evolving feelings for their colleagues and then there’s the more action-oriented part of the story, complete with shootouts and attempted kidnappings. These particular volumes have some pretty exciting developments on both fronts. Although Iku’s ineptitude is often emphasized, which is something that I dislike about the series, she continues to prove her reliability in dangerous situations when it really counts. I didn’t realize that there is only one more volume left in this series, but I’m really looking forward to it; it should be a good one.

Manga the Week of 2/3

January 28, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Anna N, MJ and Michelle Smith Leave a Comment

SEAN: It’s a busy February, so let’s jump right into next week’s releases.

Dark Horse has a 4th volume of Oreimo spinoff Kuroneko.

Kodansha has a 3rd volume of the reluctant reverse harem manga Kiss Him, Not Me!.

ASH: I largely enjoyed the first volume of Kiss Him, Not Me!, but I’ve somehow already managed to fall behind in the series!

SEAN: Seven Seas has a couple of releases. Magika Swordsman and Summoner has reached Vol. 3, which means, given I think the hero is supposed to get a harem of 72 women, it has a ways to go.

And Monster Musume has reached Volume 8, but has not even begun to run out of Monster Girls.

I apologize for leaving out a book last week. Vertical has the first novel of Seraph of the End, whose manga has been coming out via Viz. I think Anna will be interested in this title.

ANNA: I think you are right! Thanks for the heads-up! I am interested in this light novel series, because it features Guren Ichinose, who people have seen in the manga as a more established authority figure. I think the light novel series focuses more on a prequel to the story that’s established in the manga, so it should be really interesting to existing fans of this franchise.

MJ: I’m definitely more interested in this than the manga, so count me in for that, too.

SEAN: There’s also a 3rd omnibus of Tokyo ESP.

MICHELLE: Yay!

MJ: And this!

SEAN: And Viz has its traditional giant pile. There’s an 8th Assassination Classroom, with more wacky death shenanigans. Not that the teacher has ever been killed.

Behind the Scenes!! is the new manga by the creator of Ouran High School Host Club, and it also runs in LaLa. It’s about a shy guy who ends up pulled into a wacky drama club.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to this one! Or perhaps I should use two!!

ANNA: Me too!!!!!!

MJ: This is *so* on my list!

SEAN: Bleach has a 14th 3-in-1, which if I recall correctly has some of the best scenes in the entire series for IchiHime shippers like me.

Food Wars! has hit double digits, but the food battle carries on regardless.

MICHELLE: I will always rejoice over more Food Wars.

ASH: I enjoy it as well.

SEAN: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has a 2nd volume of its 2nd arc, Battle Tendency. Expect great faces.

ANNA: I really have not much to say about this other than JOJO!!!!

ASH: JooooooJoooooo!!!

SEAN: And Kamisama Kiss is at Volume 20! I really hadn’t expected it to last this long. It’s still great, though.

ANNA: It is a rare series that manages to be so consistently great for so long.

SEAN: Maid-sama! has a 3rd omnibus, and is as problematic yet readable as ever. Hope you like lots of words.

MICHELLE: And yet I like it enough to keep reading.

ANNA: It has moments of charm despite being problematic.

SEAN: And superhero school manga My Hero Academia has a 3rd volume.

Naruto has another of those epilogue light novels, this one called Shikamaru’s Story. My guess is it stars Shikamaru.

One Piece is up to Volume 77, and yes, it’s still in Dressrosa. But who cares, it’s One Piece, it will be awesome.

MICHELLE: I actually never read 76. Must rectify.

SEAN: QQ Sweeper finally gets a 2nd volume. I had wondered where it was.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to more of this!

ANNA: Super excited for this!

ASH: Same!

MJ: Yes, yes!! So much yes!

SEAN: School Judgement is a new Weekly Shonen Jump series by the artist who did Bakuman and Death Note, this time paired with a new writer. It’s Ace Attorney meets Jump, I hear?

MICHELLE: And to this!

ANNA: I’m going to check this out for sure.

ASH: I somehow completely missed hearing about this until now.

MJ: I was so surprised to see this, considering the intensity of my Takeshi Obata fandom. I’m so on this.

SEAN: So Cute It Hurts!!!!! now gets 5 punctuation marks for its 5th volume.

MICHELLE: But not so much this.

ANNA: I like it, but it is a middle of the road title. Fun disposable reading though.

SEAN: Toriko has no punctuation parks after its title, and thank God, as it’s Vol. 32.

Lastly, the original Yu-Gi-Oh has a 5th 3-in-1.

What are you going to get from this list?

Manga Giveaway: Love at Fourteen Giveaway

January 27, 2016 by Ash Brown

January is almost over so here it is, Experiments in Manga’s first manga giveaway of the year! Let’s get right to it: For this giveaway you will all have the opportunity to enter for a chance to win Love at Fourteen, Volume 1 created by Fuka Mizutani and published in English by Yen Press. And, as always, the giveaway is open worldwide!

Had I been thinking about it thematically, a giveaway for Love at Fourteen—a sweet and somewhat nostalgic story of first love—would have been nicely suited for a February or March giveaway because of Valentine’s Day or White Day, respectively. Then again, my love of manga and my love of spreading that love cannot be contained or limited to a single month! Looking at it that way, and following a peculiar train of logic, a manga giveaway featuring a love story would be more than appropriate any time of the year. Thus, Love at Fourteen! Because, why not?

So, you may be wondering, how can you win Love at Fourteen, Volume 1?

1) In the comments below, tell me a little about your favorite manga love story. (If you don’t have one, 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).

And there you have it! Each giveaway participant can earn up to two entries and has one week to submit comments. Entries can also be emailed directly to me at phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com if needed or preferred. I will then post the comments here in your name. The giveaway winner will be randomly selected and announced on February 3, 2016. Best of luck to you all!

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: Love at Fourteen Giveaway Winner

My Week in Manga: January 18-January 24, 2016

January 25, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Two in-depth reviews were posted at Experiments in Manga last week. The first was of The Fall of Language in the Age of English by Minae Mizumura, a fascinating and immensely readable work of nonfiction about literature and language. (Mizumura’s A True Novel also greatly impressed me, so at this point I’ll basically read anything written by her; if only more would be translated!) The second review was of KaiJu’s Mahou Josei Chimaka, one of Chromatic Press’ most recent paperback releases and a delightfully entertaining parody of and a loving homage to the magical girl genre. The comic is playful, humorous, and a lot of fun.

Elsewhere online: The Toronto Comic Arts Festival has announced its first round of featured guests. The list includes Rokudenashiko, whose manga What Is Obscenity? will be making its English-language debut at the festival. Bruno Gmünder will be bringing The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame back into print later this year in a newly revised and expanded edition. Ryan Holmberg’s most recent What Was Alternative Manga? includes a translation of a discussion between Hayashi Seiichi and Sasaki Maki. And on Twitter, Digital Manga is hinting at a launch of another classic manga Kickstarter, only this time it won’t be Tezuka.

Quick Takes

Bug Boys, Volume 1: Welcome to Bug Village by Laura Knetzger. Although I’ve read and enjoyed a few of Knetzger’s short autobiographical comics, I picked up Bug Boys more by chance than anything else. I’m so glad that I did, because I’m absolutely loving this comic. Originally a series of self-published mini-comics, the first book was recently released by Czap Books. The hefty volume collects all of the previously released Bug Boys comics in addition to new, never-before-seen content. The comics are mostly black-and-white, but Knetzger also occasionally uses color. The story follows Rhino-B and Stag-B, two young beetles and best friends living in Bug Village, as they grow up, go on adventures, and explore their world. It’s all incredibly cute and touching, even when the two of them are dealing with some fairly big, weighty issues. Friendly enough for children, but also thoroughly enjoyable for adults, Bug Boys is one of the most wonderfully delightful and charming comics that I’ve read in a very long time. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for more of the series and for more of Knetzger’s work.

Butterflies, Flowers, Volume 1 by Yuki Yoshihara. Once wealthy aristocrats, the members of the Kuze family have fallen on hard times. They no longer have any servants and have instead become the masters of a soba noodle shop. Choko is now searching for separate employment, only discovering after the fact that her new boss, Masayuki Domoto, is the son of the family’s old chauffeur. Butterflies, Flowers is a somewhat peculiar romantic comedy that’s hard to take seriously. Granted, I don’t think that the manga is really intended to be taken seriously. And I’ll admit, the first volume of the manga made me laugh on several occasions. The power dynamics in Butterflies, Flowers are all over the place, so it’s difficult to know what to expect from one page to the next, especially where Choko and Domoto are involved. At first Choko doesn’t have much confidence—working in an office is a new experience for her—but every once in a while she’ll take charge of the situation. As for Domoto, he frequently switches from being an overbearing and demanding boss to being completely subservient to the woman and family that used to employ his father.

Terra Formars, Volumes 5-8 written by Yu Sasuga and illustrated by Ken-ichi Tachibana. It’s been a while since I’ve read any of Terra Formars, but it wasn’t too difficult to pick it up again where I left it—even considering the various plot twists, the series is pretty easy to follow and tends to be fairly action-oriented. By far the best thing about Terra Formars for me are the over-the-top battles between super-powered combatants. Not only have humans been crossed with insect genetics, there are examples of those who have been crossed with birds, mammals, aquatic creatures, plants, and even bacteria, giving the individuals a wide variety of incredible abilities. Realistic? Perhaps not, but the resulting battles are epic. (Surprisingly, Terra Formars has actually taught me quite a few things about plants and animals.) The political maneuvering back on Earth, while being portrayed in a very dramatic fashion, frankly doesn’t interest me that much. However, it is that drama that largely propels what little story the series has. It also means that the modified humans end up having to fight each other in addition to the Martian inhabitants.

Manga the Week of 1/27

January 21, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Michelle Smith, Anna N and MJ 1 Comment

SEAN: It’s time to bury you in manga releases once more, folks. What do the companies have up their sleeves?

ASH: All right, let’s do this!

Kodansha has the 12th and penultimate volume of My Little Monster. I can’t believe it’s ending so soon.

MICHELLE: I know! Thankfully, Say I Love You. is still ongoing.

SEAN: Noragami has hit double digits, likely to the delight of Kodansha.

ASH: I’m a few volumes behind, but I have been enjoying Noragami.

SEAN: And there’s a 12th volume of The Seven Deadly Sins.

Seven Seas has a bunch of stuff for us. Akuma no Riddle intrigued me more than I was expecting, so I look forward to the second volume.

MICHELLE: I need to investigate this one.

SEAN: Magical Girl Apocalypse does not intrigue me at all, but it has its fans who will enjoy this 6th volume.

And possibly the polar opposite of that title, Non Non Biyori has a 3rd volume.

Lastly, there’s an omnibus Vol. 1 release of the manga Orange, which has been up digitally on Crunchyroll, but Seven Seas now gives us a print release. It originally ran in Betsuma, then moved to Manga Action, showing it can be both shoujo and seinen. I think this is the first half.

ASH: I’ve heard good things and am looking forward to this one!

ANNA: Huh, I think I’m now officially intrigued.

MICHELLE: Me, too!

MJ: I’m always surprised when I’m interested in a Seven Seas release, but here we are!

SEAN: Vertical gives us another omnibus of Chi’s Sweet Home, with Vol. 4-6. Adorable kitties!

MICHELLE: Yay, kitties!

MJ: Chiiiiiii!

SEAN: And now it’s time for the Yen deluge. First up is Yen On. The Isolator was a new series by the author of Sword Art Online and Accel World, new enough so that it’s been a year since the first volume. Vol. 2 should be interesting.

And there’s a third volume of somewhat surreal teenage superpowers novel Kagerou Daze.

Yen Digital has a bunch of new titles coming out, and I’ll just note the complete volumes. Aphorism 2, Crimson Prince 2, Renaissance Eve 2, Scarlet Empire 3, and Sekirei 2. For those who enjoy tablet reading, try one of these series out.

On to actual print manga titles from Yen Press. There’s a 6th Accel World manga, which should be in the middle of one of the angstiest arcs.

Akame Ga KILL! reaches Vol. 5, continuing to try to excite us with capital letters and exclamation points.

Alice in Murderland 3 doesn’t have capital letters or exclamation points, but it has murder. Isn’t that enough?

A Certain Magical Index 4 decides it’s best to skip the boring vampire girl and move right to what readers really want, the sister clones.

The Devil Is A Part-Timer! 4 also adapts the novels for those who prefer exciting artwork with your plotting.

Final Fantasy Type-0 Side Story Volume 3 still remains very difficult to say.

First Love Monster’s 3rd volume will remind its readers of the discomfort they felt while reading Bunny Drop, I suspect.

Horimiya’s first volume was absolutely terrific, and I am delighted to see the 2nd one out next week.

MICHELLE: Me, too! The first volume was a lovely surprise!

ANNA: I’m intrigued again!

MJ: This is the volume I’m looking forward to most this week, I think!

SEAN: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend (aka Saekano) is based on a light novel Yen doesn’t have the license for. It seems to feature an otaku hero and his collection of eccentric female acquaintances, just like every single other light novel ever.

Kagerou Daze also has a 4th manga volume out.

Log Horizon has a manga spinoff coming out, The West Wind Brigade, focusing on bishonen guild leader Sojirou.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica has a 2nd volume of its manga adaptation of the Rebellion movie.

So I Can’t Play H! has a 4th volume.

Sword Art Online has a 2nd volume of its side story Girls’ Ops, focusing on the female characters who get progressively ignored by the novels.

And it also starts to adapt a new arc, with the first Sword Art Online: Phantom Bullet volume.

MJ: I wish I was more interested in the manga adaptations of SAO, but they haven’t thrilled me.

SEAN: Taboo Tattoo is the other new title from Yen this month, running in my old nemesis, Media Factory’s Comic Alive. I have low expectations, but we shall see.

Triage X has reached Volume 11, despite all the prayers to the gods and curses I’ve attempted to put on it.

There’s a 5th Ubel Blatt omnibus, helpfully called Ubel Blatt 4. You know, if it had a light novel series, which Yen licensed with the same numbering, Amazon might literally explode into shards trying to keep track.

ASH: Ha! (It probably would.)

SEAN: Umineko When They Cry finishes up another arc, and if it helps this is definitely the low ebb of the series. From here out, things can only get better. Well, mostly better. Somewhat better?

And lastly, there’s an 11th omnibus of Until Death Do Us Part. Or its British version, Until Death Us Do Part.

MICHELLE: Aaaand now I have The Kinks in my head!

SEAN: Aside from staring at me blankly for that last obscure joke, what’s everyone doing next week?

My Week in Manga: January 11-January 17, 2016

January 18, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

It was entirely unintentional, but last week was apparently the week for sevens—both of my in-depth manga reviews last week were for the seventh installment of their respective series. They both happen to be manga currently licensed by Kodansha Comics, as well, which was also a coincidence. On Wednesday, I reviewed the seventh omnibus of Vinland Saga by Makoto Yukimura. The series continues to be magnificent. The seventh omnibus might be the last of the series to be released in English, which would truly be a shame. The volume does bring to a close one of the series’ major story arcs, but I really hope more of Vinland Saga will be able to be translated. The second review, part of my monthly horror manga review project, was of Yuki Urushibara’s Mushishi, Volume 7. Mushishi continues to be one of my favorite manga. I’m really enjoying my reread of the series and the opportunity to write about it in more detail. One other thing I wanted briefly to mention was a Kickstarter project to help Yamakiya Taiko, a wonderful youth taiko ensemble from Fukushima, raise money to defray the cost of their upcoming trip to the United States in March. I’ll actually be playing with the group a bit while they’re in Michigan, so I especially hope that the campaign succeeds.

Quick Takes

Core Scramble, Volume 1 by Euho Jun. I’ve been slowly making my way through Netcomics’ new series which is what brought Core Scramble to my attention. That and the promise of boys’ love mixed with science fiction, fantasy, and action. At this point, romance doesn’t seem to be the priority of Core Scramble, though there is some sexual harassment thrown in. Chaeun is a fairly average soldier—one of many fighting in a war against swarms of extra-dimensional monsters invading the planet—but he has developed a knack for surviving situations that many seasoned veterans would consider hopeless. His tenacity has impressed his comrades as well as those who would like to take advantage of the invasion for their own purposes. The first volume of Core Scramble spends quite a bit of time establishing the series’ setting, explaining how the world’s magic, science, and inter-dimensional portals function and interact. Infodumps are a regular occurrence and break up the flow of the story itself, but I suspect that this shouldn’t be as much of an issue for the series’ later volumes. Granted, there are only two more.

Deep Dark Fears by Fran Krause. What started out as a project to illustrate all of his irrational fears eventually evolved into an ongoing series of online comics in which Krause would not only draw his own fears but the fears submitted by his readers as well. Just over a hundred of those comics have now been brought together in the print collection of Deep Dark Fears, about half of them being newly published while the other half were selected by Krause as some of his favorites from online. While the subject matter can be disturbing and occasionally even grotesque, the comics themselves are actually quite charming. Krause doesn’t comment on or judge any of the fears but simply presents them as they are, irrational but still discomfiting whether they be based on known falsehoods learned as children or overactive imaginations as adults. Deep Dark Fears is a great collection of short comics about strange and bizarre fears. Some are only a single panel long while others may be a few pages, but they all leave an impression. I’m not sure if Krause has plans for additional print collections, but the series continues to grow online.

Witchcraft Works, Volumes 3-7 by Ryu Mizunagi. Although I quite enjoyed the first two volumes of Witchcraft Works, I recently realized that I had fallen behind in actually reading the series. After catching up I can say that there are still things that I like about the manga, but I also find myself slightly less enamored with it than I once was. Primarily, I continue enjoy the reversal of stereotypical gender roles. If it wasn’t for that, I think the series would have bored me fairly quickly, even despite its other entertaining quirks. With the seemingly endless of author’s notes, it’s obvious that Mizunagi has put plenty of thought into the world of Witchcraft Works, but it isn’t always incorporated well into the story itself which is unfortunate. This seems to especially be a problem during the series’ battle and action-oriented story arcs where it feels like the characters spend more time explaining things they already know to one another rather than fighting, though they do eventually get around to that, too. Witchcraft Works is a great looking manga, though, Mizunagi’s visual style working wonders with all of the magic and mayhem. But ultimately, I think what I want is a little more substance to accompany all the spectacle.

Manga the Week of 1/20

January 14, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Michelle Smith and MJ 1 Comment

SEAN: Next week’s releases really run the gamut of styles and genres. Let’s see what we’ve got.

Kodansha gives us a 2nd volume of Devil Survivor, meaning I am now officially behind.

And a 5th A Silent Voice, which I am definitely caught up on.

ASH: A Silent Voice continues to be a very strong series.

SEAN: And there’s also a 6th Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches. I am also caught up here. Will we see more witches?

ASH: Time will tell!

SEAN: On the Seven Seas end, we have a 2nd volume of Golden Time, from the Toradora! author.

And the debut of The Testament of New Sister Devil, which sounds like it might hit every single current popular fetish out there, and a few more besides. We’ll see if I’m wrong.

Vertical gives us A Girl on the Shore, a complete omnibus of an Inio Asano series from the cult and sadly cancelled Manga Erotics F magazine. It’s Inio Asano, so I expect good, if depressing, things.

MICHELLE: This should be interesting.

ASH: I’m very much looking forward to this release.

MJ: Okay, this. Yes, this.

SEAN: And there’s a 6th volume of My Neighbor Seki, which is possibly the antidote if you’re read too much Inio Asano at once.

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: Viz gives us a 5th Master Keaton volume, having pushed it back from its original December release date.

MICHELLE: I need to resume my catchup efforts!

ASH: As do I!

MJ: Always welcome!

SEAN: And a 7th Monster Perfect Edition.

MICHELLE: Yay, Monster!

ASH: Monster is one of my favorite Urasawa series. I’m so glad to see it back in print!

SEAN: And Terra Formars has reached double digits with Volume 10.

Most of Yen’s stuff is the week after next, but two novels seem to be coming out next week as of this writing. Pandora Hearts has finished its Caucus Race light novels with the third volume, so at least MJcan’t get any further behind.

MJ: Oops?

SEAN: And there’s a 2nd volume of Strike the Blood, which will hopefully feel more genuine and less calculated than the first volume did.

Does something from this list sing to you? Crying out, “read me and be sad yet enriched”? Or perhaps “Read me and get suggestive succubi who say oniichan a lot”?

The Island of Misfit Manga, Monthly Comic Birz

January 13, 2016 by Erica Friedman Leave a Comment

My stated intention for writing the Magazine no Mori column is to introduce the western audience to the vast, complex mass of manga magazines that are published in Japan. Where we have Shonen Jump only, a visit to a major Japanese anime/manga store will paralyze a western fan with the sheer number of magazines to choose from. But once you get past the number of magazines, what really impresses is the variety. And that variety is what I hope you can see when you look at my column. Action, romance for guys and girls, comics for children, for adult men and women and some interesting, creepy, creative and weird stuff around the edges. Which brings us this month to Gentosha Publishing’s Monthly Comic Birz (月刊コミックバーズ) magazine.

Birz‘s major claim to fame here in the west is as the official home of Hidekaz Himaruya’s Hetalia – Axis Powers. And it totally fits the “island of misfit manga” feel that the magazine has always cultivated. I wasn’t at all surprised to learn that gothic horror Red Garden manga (illustrated magnificently by Kirihito Ayamura and written by Gonzo) has run in this magazine – it was worth reading for the clothes alone, as was Peach-Pit’s Rozen Maiden. Just about the time I came across the manga for Penguindrum (illustrated by Hoshino Lilly, written by Ikuhara Kunihiko as Ikunichowder) and Yurikuma Arashi (illustrated by Morishima Akiko and written by Ikuhara as Ikunigomakinako) which are running simultaneously right now, I suddenly realized that Birz series are probably better known in America as anime than as the manga that run in the magazine. Also interestingly, Comic Birz is the home to the most recent series by popular creator Kia Asamiya, Kanojo no Carrera, in which he is able to draw sexy adult women and sports cars to his heart’s content.

The website for Comic Birz has sample chapters for all the currently running stories, upcoming releases, an editor’s blog, and links to various other Gentosha magazines. The magazine costs 650 yen/issue ($5.47 at time of writing) for about 650 pages.

Comic Birz has, for at least the last decade, cultivated a sense of the weird, with one foot firmly in the Horror genre, as you can see by the cover illustrating this review. Birz comics are sometimes disturbing, often outrageous, occasionally violent and almost always unrepentant, which is what I especially like about it. They’ve also just invested themselves heavily in Yuri manga, which I know means we’ll get stuff that makes me cringe, but it’s also more likely to have murder and mayhem than blushing confessions. Phew.

Monthly Comic Birz from Gentosha Publishing: http://www.gentosha-comics.net/birz/

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

January 11, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

The new year is now well on its way, and I finally feel like I’m getting back into my writing groove; my regular posting schedule has mostly returned, though there might be a slight interruption in February. Anyway. In addition to the regular My Week in Manga feature, there were two other posts at Experiments in Manga last week. The first was the announcement of the Merman in My Tub Giveaway Winner which also includes a compiled list of some of the giveaway participants’ favorite manga that were released in 2015. The second post last week also happened to be the second in-depth manga review for the year—JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part 1: Phantom Blood, Volume 3 by Hirohiko Araki. It’s such a ridiculous, over-the-top series, but I’m sincerely enjoying it.

As for some of the interesting things I’ve discovered online recently: The news was previously leaked, but Dark Horse has now officially announced its two new manga licenses, Kenji Tsuruta’s Wandering Island and CLAMP’s RG Veda. I thought I had mentioned it a few weeks ago when it first launched (apparently I forgot), but Digital Manga’s boys’ love imprint Juné has a new Kickstarter project to publish four titles by Sakira in print. At least three of the four manga were Digital Manga Guild publications that were previously only available digitally. The project has already succeeded, but Digital Manga’s plan is to put a fair amount of the money pledged into restocking/reprinting some of its older, hard-to-find boys’ love titles. Finally, over at MangaBlog, Kate Dacey, Brigid Alverson, and Deb Aoki talk about some of their most anticipated manga of 2016, many of which happen to be some of my most anticipated releases as well.

Quick Takes

Itazura na Kiss, Volumes 4-6 by Kaoru Tada. For the most part, I’m continuing to enjoy Itazura na Kiss. At this point in the series, Naoki and Kotoko are in college, each trying to figure out what to do with their lives. Kotoko’s infatuation with Naoki is the most important impetus for her to do just about anything, whether it be joining the tennis club, becoming a waitress, or trying her hand at office work. Normally, this would probably annoy me, but I appreciate her gusto, individuality, and willingness to follow through with what she’s started. Even though Kotoko is so incredibly focused on Naoki, her world actually doesn’t completely revolve around him and she’s not defined by him either, which I think is what makes her character work for me. Were it otherwise, I don’t think that I would enjoy the series nearly as much. Naoki continues to be aloof and more often than not a jerk. One particular instance in which Kotoko is unnecessarily treated very poorly could have been avoided entirely if he would have just had the courtesy to tell her what was going on, and there was no good reason for him not to. Thankfully, this sort of behavior isn’t romanticized or idealized in the manga.

Love in All Forms: The Big Book of Growing Up Queer edited by Serafina Dwyer. I follow the work of Kori Michele Handwerker who contributed to Love in All Forms which is how I first learned about the collection. I was also thrilled to discover that Jennifer Doyle, another artist whose work I enjoy, was also a contributor. The anthology collects fourteen comics by queer creators about queer children. Most of the creators were actually new to me, so I’ve definitely found some new artists to follow. As for the comics themselves, some of the stories are based in reality, while others are fantasy or science fiction, but they all deal with love and personal identity in one way or another. Many of the characters skew towards the feminine side of the gender non-conforming spectrum, but there’s a nice range of representation in the anthology with an emphasis on acceptance. Generally the stories tend to be fairly optimistic, which is marvelously refreshing. The name of the anthology might be a little misleading, or at least overly broad or ambitious, but it’s a lovely collection of beautifully heartfelt and touching queer comics.

Yowamushi Pedal, Omnibus 1 (equivalent to Volumes 1-2) by Wataru Watanabe. I’ve watched and enjoyed part of the Yowamushi Pedal anime adaptation, so I wasn’t especially surprised by any of the developments found in the original manga. Even so, the first omnibus was great fun and I enjoyed it a great deal. Onoda is a fan of anime and manga whose surprising natural talents and regular trips by bicycle to Akihabara using less than ideal equipment have granted him some impressive cycling skills. He doesn’t even recognize his own abilities, though, not at all identifying with the more athletically inclined students at his school. But after several curious turns of events, he finds himself joining the bicycle road racing club. Watanabe isn’t very subtle when working information about cycling and bicycles into the story, which can be a little jarring, but the manga is still entertaining and I really like the characters. I’m glad that Yen Press is taking a chance on a long-running sports manga (the series is already over forty volumes in Japan and is still ongoing) and I sincerely hope that Yowamushi Pedal is a success.

Manga the Week of 1/13

January 7, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Anna N, Michelle Smith and MJ 1 Comment

SEAN: Traditionally, the first and fourth weeks of the month are the largest, as Week 1 is where Viz releases it’s Jump and Beat titles, and Week 4 is usually Yen Press. Weeks 2 and 3 therefore vie for the remaining attention, containing less spectacular stuff – Viz puts out Sunday imprints in Week 2, but otherwise it can be a hodgepodge. (Week 3, to complete the analysis, is Viz’s Signature stuff.) Is there anything vying for attention in next week’s small batch?

Dark Horse gives us an 11th volume of its Lone Wolf and Cub omnibus.

ASH: I’m finally making a point to get caught up with Lone Wolf and Cub; it’s a really great series.

SEAN: Seven Seas has a trio of releases. Arpeggio of Blue Steel is a cut above the usual ‘girls are ships/planes/whatever’ genre, and I look forward to Vol. 6 next week.

The words “monster girls” may cause the entire Manga Bookshelf team to groan, but the debut of My Monster Secret from Seven Seas is intriguing – people I trust have told me it’s very funny and well-written. It’s from Weekly Shonen Champion, also home to Yowamushi Pedal, which it resembles not at all.

And we have a third Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn, which… yeah, I can’t, really. I do hear it has an anime soon.

SubLime has an 8th volume of His Favorite, whose covers always look great, and has some fans here, I think.

ASH: That it does!

SEAN: Viz gives us 57 varieties of Case Closed, one for each volume it has out to date.

There’s a lot of fun stuff in the first half of the 12th Ranma 1/2 omnibus – including the famous “fishing rod of love” story – but let’s be honest, old-school fans will mostly want to read this for Herb. He shows up in the 2nd half.

Lastly, and thankfully for Manga Bookshelf writers desperate for a Pick of the Week, there’s a 3rd volume of Requiem of the Rose King, which is still in the Henry VI plays but possibly not for much longer.

ASH: Definitely the one volume that I’m most looking forward to this week!

ANNA: This is the ONLY volume I’m looking forward to this week!

MICHELLE: Yup. Same here.

MJ: Okay, this is probably predictable since I actually chose this series as my Pick of the Year, but: ME, me, me me me. Me. Yes, me. Me, too.

SEAN: What whets your appetite for next week?

The Most Anticipated Manga of 2016

January 4, 2016 by Katherine Dacey

We’re kicking off 2016 with a look at the manga titles and trends we’re most excited about. Joining me and Brigid is manga journalist and critic Deb Aoki, former guide to AboutManga.com, current host of Manga Comics Manga, and Publishers Weekly contributor.

What new manga are we looking forward to this year?

BRIGID: Fruits Basket! Natsuki Takaya’s tangled tale of a cursed family was one of the first shoujo manga I ever read, and I’m looking forward to re-reading it with a more experienced eye (and a better translation).

The other upcoming manga that everyone seems to be looking forward to is Princess Jellyfish, which Kodansha is publishing in double-sized omnibus volumes. This josei title about a bunch of nerdy girls living in their own rooming house sounds like it will be a lot of fun.

In terms of continuing series, I loved the first volume of Planetes and I’m looking forward to more. It’s a smart science fiction story with likeable characters and thoughtful storylines, and Dark Horse’s new edition is a beautiful two-volume omnibus that really feels like something special. I can’t wait to read more of Hiroya Oku’s Inuyashiki, about two humans given extreme superpowers in a freak accident—one uses them for good, one… doesn’t—and Yoshitoki Ōima’s A Silent Voice, an amazingly powerful story that’s about bullying but also about alienation and redemption. One more: Your Lie in April, which has kind of slid under the radar, a shonen romance about musicians that, like A Silent Voice, goes beyond the standard shonen romance tropes and has relatable characters experiencing real emotions.

On a general note: When I was compiling my lists of the best new and ongoing manga series of 2015, I was struck by how many really good manga debuted in 2015. From all accounts, 2016 is going to be even better.

DEB: I’m most excited about the trend where manga publishers are taking chances on titles and genres that were once considered the third rail/extra risky to license, like sports manga. Super excited about the Summer 2016 arrival of the first volumes of Haikyu!! by Haruichi Furudate and Kuroko’s Basketball by Tadatoshi Fujimaki from Shonen Jump/VIZ Media! I love Haikyu!! a lot — been watching the first and second seasons on Crunchyroll over and over again. the characters are really wonderful — it’s delightful to see the team grow and reach new heights every time. It’s got lots of heart and humor as well as exciting sports action. It’s now one of my all-time faves!

I’ve also been enjoying the recently released Yowamushi Pedal by Wataru Watanabe, a manga about a hapless anime otaku who discovers that he has a talent for bicycle racing. Big ups to Yen Press for publishing this fairly long series in double-sized volumes.

queen-emeraldas-small Another example of manga publishing biz in the US dipping their toes into riskier fare is the upcoming publication of three classics: Rose of Versailles by Riyoko Ikeda from Udon Entertainment, Queen Emeraldas by Leiji Matsumoto from Kodansha Comics, and Otherworld Barbara by Moto Hagio from Fantagraphics Books. For too long, the classics that are the foundation of manga in Japan have been largely unavailable in English. I’m hoping that these titles succeed so we can someday get more.

Also super excited about having more manga by Asano Inio available in English. Solanin and What a Wonderful World! are go-to recommendations for anyone who loves indie comics and is curious about manga. Now VIZ Media is publishing the mind-bending Goodnight Pun Pun, and A Girl on the Shore, coming from Vertical Comics. Both should be on your pre-order lists, as these are beautifully drawn, thought-provoking books that everyone will be talking about in the months to come.

KATE: I share Deb’s excitement about classic manga. It’s a risky undertaking for any publisher, especially when so many readers are young (under 20) and not particularly curious about the medium’s roots. It will be interesting to see if UDON can pitch Rose of Versailles to the Shojo Beat crowd; though the artwork is a little dated, the melodrama, costumes, and kick-butt female lead have obvious parallels with titles in VIZ, Kodansha, and Yen’s catalogs. Who knows? It could be a surprise hit.

Speaking of vintage titles, I’m ecstatic about Drawn & Quarterly’s new Kitaro volumes. D&Q will be releasing these previously untranslated stories in slimmer, kid-friendly editions–a departure from their 2013 Kitaro release, which screamed “prestige project!” I think that’s a smart move: adults with an interest in Shigeru Mizuki’s work will buy it in almost any format, but younger manga fans need a length and trim size that reflects their own reading habits.

Another title on my must-read list is Jiro Taniguchi’s Guardians of the Louvre, which NBM Publishing will be releasing in April. The previous installment of the Louvre series–Hirohiko Araki’s Rohan at the Louvre–was the ultimate otaku two-fer: a ghost story and a standalone chapter in the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure saga. Taniguchi’s book will undoubtedly be a more sober affair, but one I’m anticipating with the same eagerness: I can’t wait to see how Taniguchi integrates the museum’s famous collection into his story.

In the just-for-fun department, I Am a Hero, a zombie thriller from Dark Horse, is near the top of my list, as are VIZ’s Haikyu! (mentioned by Deb above), Vertical’s FukuFuku: Kitten Tales, and the final installment of DC Comics’ Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga. I’m also looking forward to Wandering Island, a story about a gutsy young woman who runs an air mail service in a remote corner of Japan. The illustrations are by Kenji Tsurata, the creator of the criminally under-appreciated Spirit of Wonder, which was published by Dark Horse in 1998.

Last but not least, I’d also make a plug for The Osamu Tezuka Story: A Life in Anime and Manga. This visual biography clocks in at a hefty 900 pages, highlighting important periods in Tezuka’s career as an illustrator and animator. Its author, Toshio Ban, worked closely with Tezuka in the 1970s and 1980s, giving Ban a unique perspective on his subject. As an added bonus for American readers, Stone Bridge Press brought in Frederick L. Schodt to do the translation.

How about conventions—does anything look particularly tempting?

DEB: I’m always curious to see what Toronto Comic Arts Festival will be bringing as their guests this May. Last year was Gurihiru and Aya Kanno, prior years brought Konami Kanata, Moyoco Anno, Akira Himekawa, Usamaru Furuya, Est Em, Natsume Ono and Yoshihiro Tatsumi to name just a few. I don’t know what they have planned, but I know it’ll be worth the trip!

As booth space and tickets get harder and harder to get at San Diego Comic-Con, Anime Expo in Los Angeles has turned into the Japanese content biz must-go show. I’ve noticed that more companies from Japan are buying booths, and see lots of meetings / business being conducted at the show.

It’s great that AX is getting bigger and bigger, but I worry that it creates a situation where the anime/manga world becomes even more segregated/separated from the general pop culture community that converges at Comic-Con and similar American shows. This is especially irksome because it seems like most of the Western comics / pop culture press corps basically ignore / don’t report on / don’t attend Anime Expo or any of the announcements that come out of this show.

This pisses me off because anime/manga matter more than ever — especially as its fandom tend to skew younger, are more active, and more interested in all kinds of entertainment from US and Japan compared to their counterparts on the superhero side of the comic shop. So much for my “be less crabby in 2016” resolution… ;-)

KATE: I had a blast attending shows like New York Comic Con and Wondercon in the late 2000s. The last time I attended NYCC, however, I felt that the show had taken a much sharper turn towards the television, film, and gaming industries, and was losing its identity as a comics convention. The manga publishers were still there, of course, but it was harder to circulate and interact with editors and sales reps because of the enormous crowds. That experience pretty much soured me on going to any more big conventions. TCAF always sounds like a blast, but the timing never works for me; I’m always knee-deep in final exams and student papers when it rolls around!

BRIGID: I echo Deb’s concern about AX, but it does seem like this year, the news was spread across a broader swath of conventions—and many of the new licenses, including Fruits Basket, were announced on Twitter. The presence of so many people from the Japanese publishers—not just creators but editorial staff as well—was very noticeable this year and shows that the publishers are taking the American audience seriously. It also enhanced the experience to see, for instance, the editor of Noragami explaining the process of how it went from sketches to finished page. I’m looking forward to more of that at the larger shows as well as the more intimate experience at the smaller shows, where the creators and their readers are not so far apart.

Any predictions about the industry?

DEB: Almost all signs point to a healthier, more robust manga publishing business in 2016, which is a great thing. I don’t see the same rush to publish anything and everything vaguely manga-ish (even crappy manga) that I saw prior to the crash of the late 2000’s — publishers seem to be making more careful choices, more calculated risks. The fact that they’re taking any risks at all — by expanding genres, offering their stories via more digital channels and doing more simulpub/same day as Japan releases, is a good sign.

I’m also intrigued/encouraged by the efforts being made by Japanese manga publishers to welcome submissions by creators from outside of Japan, like Comics Zenon’s Silent Manga Audition contests and the Japanese edition of Shonen Jump’s latest contest to get published in their online magazine, Jump Plus. It’s no secret that many up-and-coming comics creators from around the world are inspired by manga, so it’ll be very interesting to see what happens when more of these creators get exposure in Japan and guidance from Japan’s top-notch manga editors.

KATE: I’m consistently impressed by Seven Seas’ tenacity and business acumen, but not so impressed with the actual titles they license. Last year, however, Seven Seas published The Ancient Magus’ Bride and acquired Orange, neither of which fit the profile of a typical Seven Seas manga; if anything, both seemed like the kind of titles that CMX used to license. That gamble has paid off with Bride, which recently cracked the NY Times Manga Bestseller list. My prediction: Seven Seas will continue to make bold licensing choices in 2016, even as vampire-monster girls remain their core business.

BRIGID: I see publishers taking manga more seriously as the audience expands. While the “pile ‘em high and sell ‘em cheap” attitude that made Tokyopop and Viz’s Shonen Jump lines such a success ten years ago works well with teen readers, who gobble up manga in quantity, publishers are starting to cater to older readers who want a somewhat better experience. The oversized omnibus isn’t that much more expensive than single volumes, but it allows for a more satisfying reading experience, and publishers often include extras like better quality covers and color pages. Viz’s new edition of Monster, Dark Horse’s Planetes, and Yen Press’s Emma are all examples of this, and Kodansha gets a shoutout for not only its superb editions of Vinland Saga but its deluxe Attack on Titan Colossal Edition. This seriousness goes beyond production values to the licensing of quality manga that might not have found a market in earlier years, including Inuyashiki and Naoki Urasawa’s Master Keaton.

gekiga01 If any publishers are reading this, I have a very specific licensing request. There’s a small French publisher called Lezard Noir that is publishing some amazing manga in French; I spoke to the publisher when I was in Angouleme two years ago and was really impressed with his line, which includes Minetaro Mochizuki’s Chiisakobé, Bonten Taro’s Sex & Fury, and Masahiko Matsumoto’s Gekiga Fanatics. I’m not the only one—every year at least one of his books is picked as an official selection by the Angouleme festival. I’d love to see some U.S. publishers pick up these titles in a similar format—I think they would have a lot of appeal to those older, more sophisticated manga readers.