Features

Ciao, For Now

January 13, 2014 by Erica Friedman Leave a Comment

In previous posts, we’ve discussed two of the best-known Shoujo manga magazines, Ribon and Nakayoshi. So many popular manga series have come from these two magazines, it’s almost certain that any western manga fan will have at least seen their names. But, of the three most popular girls’ manga magazines, these are #2 and #3. The best-selling girls’ manga magazine in Japan is Ciao (ちゃお).

How much more popular? According to the Japanese Magazine Publisher’s Association data for 2011-2012, where Ribon sells about 225K copies a month and Nakayoshi about 171K/month, Ciao sells 620,000 copies a month. In a market that shrinks a little bit with every passing year and better technology, this is a significant number of young girls reading actual print copies of a manga magazine.

While most of the Ciao titles familiar to a western fan are those that we might consider “for children”—Pocket Monsters (Pokemon,) Hamtaro and some of the Di Gi Charat series—at least one series that developed an older following, the Chiho Saito and Be-Papas collaboration Revolutionary Girl Utena, ran in Ciao. Based on my Twitter feed of manga artists and fans the number one series running in Ciao right now is Aikatsu!, the manga for a popular anime/collectable card game/video game franchise about girls in a idol academy.

At 540 yen per issue, ($5.23 at time of writing) for about the same number of pages, Ciao is a good buy. Ciao Land, the website for the magazine, is filled with colorful shininess and a number of tools that create audience engagement without breaking barriers between creators and readers. Reader diaries and messages from authors let each feel connected to the other. Like Ribon and Nakayoshi, Ciao‘s print edition comes bundled with toys such as accessories, writing sets, and phone and calendar stickers.

While any given issue of Ciao will be filled with typically passive shoujo manga female protagonists waiting for romance, from time to time, Ciao escapes from the shoujo manga stereotype. And when it does, as in Utena, Bloody Lily or Waza-ari Kiwami-chan, the result is not at all what you might expect. Ciao heroines have the potential do amazing things.

Ciao magazine from Shogakukan: http://www.ciao.shogakukan.co.jp/

My Week in Manga: January 6-January 12, 2014

January 13, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Two reviews were posted at Experiments in Manga last week! The honor of the first in-depth manga review of the month (and of the year, for that matter) goes to Tetsu Kariya and Akira Hanasaki’s Oishinbo, A la Carte: Fish, Sushi & Sashimi. I love food, I love manga, and so I love Oishinbo, too. I happen to really like fish and sushi as well, so I particularly enjoyed this volume. I also posted a review for Edogawa Rampo’s mystery adventure The Fiend with Twenty Faces which is the first novel in his series The Boy Detectives. I’ve read some of his stories and essays written for adults, but this was his first work for younger audiences that I read. It’s a lot of fun.

As for news and other interesting things found online: The English translation of Toh EnJoe’s Self-Reference Engine (one of my most notable release of 2013) has been nominated for a Philip K. Dick Award. The University of Michigan will be hosting an international conference on Natsume Sōseki from April 18 through April 20. (If you happen to be in Michigan around then, it’s be free and open to the public!) After months of no news, it looks like those who supported the Kickstarter for Osamu Tezuka’s The Crater may actually receive their rewards. And finally, Joe McCulloch takes a look at some of Suehiro Maruo’s most recent work over at The Comics Journal. Now if only more of his manga would be licensed in English!

Quick Takes

Basara, Volumes 6-10 by Yumi Tamura. I love this series so much! It really is a shame that Basara is going out-of-print in English, but at least Viz has begun to release it digitally as well. The story is epic and engaging and the characters are complex and multi-layered. These particular volumes of Basara include the Okinawa story arc, which I especially enjoyed. It’s very interesting to see how Tamura is using events and politics from throughout Japan’s history to inform her post-apocalyptic world and culture. There are definite echos from the Warring States period, World War Two, and so on. Just as it was historically, in Basara Okinawa is a separate country from Japan that maintains its own traditions, relies heavily on trade, is largely at the mercy of foreign military influence, and is beset by natural disasters. Also, it’s the homeland of karate, which plays a part in some of the battles. (As a karateka myself, I couldn’t help but appreciate this.) I’m really looking forward to reading more of the series.

Entangled Circumstances by Kikuko Kikuya. I ended up enjoying Entangled Circumstances much more than I thought I would. I found the first chapter or so to actually be a little boring, but by the end of the volume Entangled Circumstances had managed to turn itself into a rather funny, and even a little sweet, boys’ love story. Actually, bonus chapters after the main story were the funniest and probably the favorite part of the manga for me because of that. Shibui and Himeko were once college classmates, but now they work at the same advertising agency. Himeko’s been in love with Shibui for a while now, but after a past awkward love confession, things have been strained between the two men. Often they seem to act like high schoolers rather than full-grown adults, so it’s difficult to take Entangled Circumstances completely seriously. It’s a lighthearted and fluffy sort of manga. The manga is nothing extraordinary, and I don’t know that I will necessarily need to read it again, but it was quite enjoyable.

Zoo by Andy MacDonald. I haven’t read the original novel Zoo, a science fiction thriller written by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge, but MacDonald’s graphic novel adaptation somehow came into my possession, so I figured I’d give it a try. Since I haven’t read the original, I can’t definitively say how the graphic novel works as an adaptation, but I get the impression that MacDonald has been very faithful to the source material. The Zoo graphic novel can be somewhat text-heavy and some of the plot lines are a little compressed (though not exactly rushed) but I was never confused as to what was going on. Even so, I may have rolled my eyes a bit at the plot’s development and some of the rather predictable “twists.” Unfortunately, Zoo just doesn’t have that original or great of a story to begin with and I had a difficult time suspending my incredulity. The ending in particular was rather disappointing. Zoo starts out as a fairly action-packed, and bloody, doomsday scenario, but its heavy-handed moral can be a bit much.

Meganebu! directed by Soubi Yamamoto. I already knew that I enjoyed Yamamoto’s visual style from her previous work and so I wasn’t disappointed by Meganebu!‘s brightly colored and slightly eccentric animation. Even so, it took a few episodes for the series to really grow on me. There’s not really much of a plot to Meganebu!. There are the members of the Glasses Club and their continuing efforts to create a pair of glasses with X-Ray vision (with some very unexpected and explosive results) but mostly the series just follows their daily lives and the trouble they all get into. Once I got over the fact that Meganebu! is fairly pointless, I could sit back and enjoy its peculiar sense of fun. As a glasses wearer myself, I could particularly appreciate all of the humor surrounding eyeglasses. To the members of the Glasses Club, glasses are more than just a fashion accessory. Neither are they simply used to correct vision. Glasses have the power to change the world. Meganebu! is an absurd anime, but I’ll admit to enjoying it.

Manga the Week of 1/15

January 9, 2014 by Sean Gaffney, MJ, Ash Brown, Michelle Smith and Anna N 2 Comments

SEAN: This is it, folks! The 27th and final volume of Excel Saga ships next week! There will be laughs! Romance! Resolution! … Perhaps less resolution than we would like, but hey! Everyone in the entire world will be buying this volume!

MJ: Or we will at least pretend to, in order to keep you smiling.

SEAN: So, what are you reading this week?

…

Oh right, there are other releases as well, which are being nice enough to share their release date with the majesty that is the final volume of Excel Saga, so I suppose I should discuss them.

Kodansha has the 6th volume of Missions of Love, which keeps riding the edge between trashy good and trashy bad, but as long as it keeps riding that edge, I’ll keep reading.

ASH: As will I!

MICHELLE: I read the first couple of volumes last year and just never went back to it.

SEAN: There’s also the 3rd Sherlock Bones volume, combining mysteries and cute dogs as only Japan can.

And for those who enjoyed Tokyo Mew Mew and wish it had a followup, well, here’s Tokyo Mew Mew A La Mode in one omnibus. It is not controversial at all, and is beloved by all TMM fans. Really. Trust me.

SubLime has the 6th volume of His Favorite, whose cover is slightly less silly looking than previous ones, but which hopefully is still just as much fun for BL fans. I’ve heard good things about this series.

MJ: I’ll be looking forward to see how well this series wears, six volumes in.

SEAN: A brief reminder that NONE of these series are Excel Saga. Ask your local bookseller for EXCEL SAGA 27 by name. Accept no imitations!

SubLime also gives us a short story collection with the oddly capitalized title NightS. The S stands for… who knows. Seme? Sadist? Saucy?

ASH: I have no idea, but I do know I love Kou Yoneda’s work. I’ve been looking forward to this release.

MICHELLE: Me, too. I really liked No Touching At All.

MJ: Apparently, it stands for $. I’ll be picking it up, too.

SEAN: Vertical has the 3rd volume of Medieval manga Wolfsmund, which I have no doubt will continue to be depressing as hell, but I know some others on the Bookshelf enjoy it.

ASH: Yeah, that would be me. The first two volumes were extremely dark and intense to say the least.

SEAN: Viz has the 8th volume of 07-Ghost, still packed with ghosts, gods, and bishops, and still featuring heavily in my “I need to catch up with that” list.

MICHELLE: And mine, as well.

MJ: And mine!

ANNA: Mine too. I need to schedule a catch up with 07-Ghost day, because I did really enjoy the first few volumes, and the subsequent volumes keep piling up.

SEAN: And there’s Vol. 49 of Case Closed, which began in Japan in 1994, and thus manages to be the only series on this list older than Excel Saga. It is also 22+ volumes longer than Excel Saga. And it also has some very well written mystery and suspense… which, by the way, Excel Saga also had, to the surprise of those expecting what the anime gave them.

So, to sum up, Excel Saga. Final Volume. Get It. And some other stuff. What are you getting next week (hint: Excel Saga)?

MICHELLE: *snerk*

MJ: Yep. Totally Excel Saga. Yep.

ANNA: What is this about? I’m assuming it is about office workers and spreadsheets.

SEAN: You will all be first against the wall when Il Palazzo conquers the world. Hrmph.

My Week in Manga: December 30, 2013-January 5, 2014

January 6, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week I announced the 4-Koma for You Winner. In case you’re looking for something to read, the post includes a list of yonkoma manga that have been released in print in English, too. I also posted December’s Bookshelf Overload last week, for those of you interested in following my adventures in buying way too much manga and other media. Finally, over the weekend I posted a review of Delavier’s Mixed Martial Arts Anatomy. This is one of the most tangentially related reviews I’ve written at Experiments in Manga. Why is it here? Simply because I’m a karateka and found it to be a useful book. It’s a great strength training resource for any martial artist. Plus, it has lots of illustrations.

I’ve more or less been on vacation for the last two weeks, so I haven’t been online much except to make sure that things were updated here at Experiments in Manga. Even so, there were two things in particular that caught my eye recently. First and foremost, the Massive anthology of gay manga originally scheduled to be published by PictureBox has been picked up by Fantagraphics! Right now, it looks like we should see the release sometime in October 2014. The other news that I was excited to hear about is that we’ll be getting a second season of the Mushishi anime nearly ten years after the first season aired. I loved Yuki Urushibara’s original manga (which is now unfortunately out-of-print in English) and I loved the first anime series so I’m looking forward to the second season a great deal.

Quick Takes

A Bride’s Story, Volume 5 by Kaoru Mori. The art in A Bride’s Story always blows me away. Mori’s illustrations are so beautiful and detailed that it’s no surprise that there’s such a long wait in between each volume’s release. Most of the fifth volume of the series is devoted to the wedding between the twins and their husbands-to-be. The best word that I can think of to describe this volume is “joyous.” Mori shows the preparations that both families make for the happy occasion–a celebration that lasts an entire week. There’s dance and song, levity, plenty of food, and numerous guests. It’s extremely satisfying to see the entire community’s participation in the event. The manga as a whole is a gorgeous work, but the wedding itself is quite lovely. I enjoyed seeing the twins’ story develop. Their outgoing personalities might be annoying for some readers, but in the end I found the two of them to be quite endearing. Now begins the long wait for the next volume of A Bride’s Story.

Castle Mango, Volume 1 written by Narise Konohara and illustrated by Muku Ogura. Despite what the cover and title page of Digital Manga’s release indicate, Konohara wrote Castle Mango while Ogura was responsible for the artwork. Konohara is the same author who wrote About Love, which I quite enjoyed, so I was interested in reading Castle Mango. Both manga are slightly atypical boys’ love stories. Instead of being straightforward man-meets-man romances, the stories are more layered. There is an emphasis on well-developed characters and actual plot; it’s not just about getting guys into bed with each other. The leads of Castle Mango are rather unusual as well. Yorozu’s family owns and runs a love hotel while Tagame is a well-known porn director. Yorozu more or less blackmail’s Tagame into a relationship in order to keep him away from his brother, but he doesn’t even really like the older man. Their story is concluded in the second and final volume of Castle Mango. I’m very curious to see how things unfold, so I’ll definitely be picking it up.

A Centaur’s Life, Volume 1 by Kei Murayama. One of several “monster girl” manga recently released by Seven Seas, A Centaur’s Life is far less ecchi than the other titles. Plus, this one includes plenty of monster boys in addition to the monster girls, which I greatly appreciate. The manga is definitely centered around the series’ young women, though. The titular centaur is Kimihara Himeno; the manga is mostly a slice-of-life story which follows her and her other high school friends. (As a side note, I adore Himeno’s wild mass of hair on the cover.) Some people might find reading the first chapter a little uncomfortable as the story revolves around the girls’ privates, but following chapters are much less questionable. Overall, the manga was rather charming. And I am interested in learning more about the world that Murayama has imagined; it seems that some significant thought has been put into it. Although not the focus of the series, politics, law, cultural differences, disputes between races, and history have all been taken into consideration.

Ranma 1/2, Volumes 15-20 by Rumiko Takahashi. It’s been so long since I’ve read any of Ranma 1/2 that I had forgotten how much I love the series. After the main characters and basic premise are established, the manga becomes fairly episodic so it’s easy to pick up part way through the series and still know what’s going on. I find Ranma 1/2 to be hilarious and particularly enjoy the absurd martial arts that Takahashi comes up with. These particular volumes feature martial arts based around eating food extremely quickly and cheerleading, just to give two examples. I like the characters and I like the story, as silly and superfluous as it can be. Akane and Ranma seem to be no closer to getting married than they were at the beginning of the series. They argue quite a bit, but there are moments of genuine affection, too. Granted, those moments are frequently interrupted and don’t tend to last very long. The series’ off-the-wall comedy won’t be to everyone’s taste, but for me Ranma 1/2 is highly entertaining and a lot of fun.

Otome Yokai Zakuro directed by Chiaki Kon. The Otome Yokai Zakuro anime is based on an ongoing manga series by Lily Hoshino (which hasn’t been licensed in English.) The story takes place in an alternate version of Japan’s Meiji Era in which yokai and humans coexist. The office of Spirit Affairs is created in order to improve relations between the two groups. It’s made up of a small contingent of military officers and half-spirit girls who team up to work together. I’ll admit, I liked the first part of the series which explored the concerns over Japan’s Westernization and loss of traditions through the conflicts between humans and yokai much more than I did its end. Seeing as the opening has a bit of a spoiler in it, the series’ major plot twist was clearly planned well in advance, but it just didn’t seem to flow well as a whole as the narrative suddenly changes direction. The romantic subplots are broadcast from the very first episode–it’s obvious who will be falling in love with who–so none of those developments were particularly surprising or unexpected, either.

Manga the Week of 1/8

January 2, 2014 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, MJ, Anna N and Michelle Smith 3 Comments

SEAN: Well, the holidays are over. HOPE YOU LIKE MANGA. We have, between Amazon and Comic Shop sources, 26 titles coming out this week (some of which have already shipped from certain distributors, yes). Buckle up, folks, we’ll be here a while.

ASH: Excellent. I happen to love manga.

MJ: Yes, yes, yesssssss.

SEAN: Dark Horse has the 2nd Trigun Maximum omnibus. I’m hoping that in larger form the art will somehow make more sense.

Digital Manga Publishing has had a slow return from Print Hiatus, but they seem to be back with a vengeance this week. First we have A Century of Temptation, a vampire/barista romance. The author is best known here for Brave 10 (from DMG) and Sengoku Basara (from Udon).

ANNA: Wow, vampire/barista romance? I am somewhat intrigued.

ASH: Indeed! I had somehow missed that particular detail.

MJ: Well, huh.

SEAN: Volume 2 of Depression of the Anti-Romanticist wraps things up, hopefully with less depression and less anti-romance. Given its BL demographic.

Mr. Mini-Mart certainly wins the cute cover of the week award. A NEET shut-in tries to hold down a job at a convenience store, but must deal with his loud, outgoing coworker. Will romance develop? (Spoiler: yes.)

MICHELLE: Heehee. I approve of the presence of a kitty. I wonder if it figures into the story?

MJ: I’m completely on board with this. I almost don’t care what’s inside.

SEAN: Also with a cute cover, President Momoi-kun is, I inform my fellow Manga Bookshelf writers, an Opera manga. It also looks to be very silly indeed, with lots of funny gags in among the BL. Intriguing.

MICHELLE: I like that the lead dude is crushing on an older, married coworker!

MJ: Anything from Opera deserves a look, so count me in!

SEAN: And in DMP’s one non-BL title, we have – finally – Volume 1 of Takasugi-san’s Obento, which feels like it was pushed back about eight times. A grad student has to take in his cousin after her mother dies, and they learn to bond through cooking. The cousin is twelve, so I think this is meant to be more of a family bonding. It’s 7+ volumes in Japan, and runs in one of my favorite magazines, Comic Flapper, so I definitely want to try this out.

MICHELLE: Me too!

ANNA: I read this when it was available digitally, and liked it! We get food manga so seldom, titles like these are a treat.

ASH: More food manga is always a good thing.

MJ: I’m so glad to see this in print!

SEAN: Fantagraphics shipped the 6th volume of Wandering Son when I wasn’t looking, so most of you may have it already. We’ve talked before about why this should be a must-buy title for all of you.

MICHELLE: I am so dreadfully behind on Wandering Son. Catching up will be one of my resolutions, methinks.

ANNA: Ugh, me too! Too much manga!

ASH: I am still eagerly waiting for my copy to arrive. I can’t wait!

MJ: Same here!

SEAN: Kodansha has Fairy Tail 34, still in the Grand Magic Games arc. I’m falling behind on my Fairy Tail, need to catch up.

Seven Seas expanded greatly in 2013, and this shows no sign of stopping now that it’s 2014. We start with the 2nd and final volume of Alice in the Country of Hearts: The Mad Hatter’s Late-Night Tea Party, which continues the romance between Alice and Blood Dupre.

Dictatorial Grimoire has the 2nd in the Snow White arc, featuring its Alice in the Country of Hearts genderswap-esque plot. I was more interested in Vol. 1 than I expected, so will check the 2nd out.

ASH: I haven’t read the first volume yet, but I am tempted.

SEAN: Monster Musume was a giant hit, and everyone except me seemed to love it. Proving, if nothing else, that I do not drive the taste of most manga readers. Vol. 2 should make even more people happy.

ASH: Monster Musume was a huge success for Seven Seas! I had no idea it was such a popular series.

SEAN: Zero’s Familiar wraps up with the 3rd omnibus, containing Vols. 6-7. Fear not, though, the sequel has been licensed and is coming in the spring.

Flowers of Evil has gotten to Volume 8. Is it still just as twisted? I’m curious.

ASH: The cover art for this story arc is absolutely beautiful.

MJ: I’m still pretty well engaged with this series, so bring it on!

SEAN: And there is the traditional Pile Of Viz. Bleach has a 7th 3-in-1 omnibus, getting towards the end of the Soul Society arc, which many people feel it has never bettered.

Hana-Kimi also gets its 7th 3-in-1. If I recall, it should wrap up with the 8th. Bleach, not so much.

ANNA: I love Hana-Kimi!

SEAN: I adore every single volume of Kimi ni Todoke that comes out, even now that it’s at Volume 18. The cast start to think about their futures around this point, as graduation is near.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to this one, too. It’s a definite favorite.

ANNA: Viz does great shoujo.

SEAN: Midnight Secretary 3 continues to combine office lady romance with vampire romance, and is doing a damn fine job of it. I expect more intrigue to happen here.

ANNA: I do enjoy this series.

MJ: As do I.

SEAN: Oh look, another 3-in-1 Volume 7. This is Naruto.

Natsume’s Book of Friends 15! Another series I always love to read. I wish it had more Taki in it, but I’m happy to accept whatever gentle, melancholy yokai antics it will give me.

MICHELLE: Another definite favorite!

SEAN: I reviewed Nisekoi Volume 1 when the digital volume hit, and it’s now coming to print. It’s a fairly typical Shonen Jump romantic comedy, which will appeal to those who like tsunderes, yakuza, and lots of shouting.

MICHELLE: Which is not me, I’m afraid. I found the premise and characters tiresome.

MJ: I’ll be checking this one out for sure, despite Michelle’s reservations.

MICHELLE: I look forward to seeing what you think of it!

SEAN: Otomen 17, completing a trilogy of addicting shoujo I always read first whenever the new volumes come out. Last time we had a nasty cliffhanger, are things going to get worse?

MICHELLE: Someday I will catch up on Otomen.

ASH: I’ve been saving the last few volumes to read in one go; I really enjoy this series.

SEAN: Psyren 14 barrels on to its finale, and will presumably be bringing all the major players together back in the Psyren World for a big battle royale.

Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration has now fulfilled its purpose of advertising the recent movie, so it can end with Vol. 2, which indeed it does.

MICHELLE: Ha! Really? I wonder if it was always intended to be so short! Does this mean it doesn’t attempt to rewrite the Kyoko Arc, which needed no rewriting? I am relieved!

ANNA: I didn’t realize that it was going to be so short either, but it makes sense. The original manga was so good, it didn’t really need a reboot.

SEAN: Strobe Edge is nearing the end of its run with Vol. 8, and so surely the two leads will finally start to work out their angst and get closer… no, huh? Oh well.

MICHELLE: Soon!

ANNA: I hope so! I do enjoy this series, but am ready for it to wrap up.

MJ: This series continuously surprises me with its ability to keep me engaged… but I do hope we’ll see some movement here, finally.

SEAN: Lastly, Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal 4 does whatever it is Yu-Gi-Oh volumes do these days. It could have become a wacky 4-koma about high school girls for all I know. :)

How much of this pile appeals to you?

My Week in Manga: December 23-December 29, 2013

December 30, 2013 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week I posted a review of Hinoki Kino’s manga No. 6, Volume 4. The series has been getting better with each installment and things are starting to get really good. I also wrote a little bit about some of the manga, comics, and fiction releases that for me were particularly Notable in 2013. It’s not exactly a “best of” list, and it isn’t exactly a list of my favorite manga of the year, either. Basically it’s a list of interesting releases from 2013. And speaking of 2013, there’s still time to enter the last manga giveaway of the year! Check out the 4-Koma for You manga giveaway for a chance to win the omnibus edition of Kiyohiko Azuma’s yonkoma manga Azumanga Daioh.

Quick Takes

Fairy Tail, Volume 33 by Hiro Mashima. It’s the second day of the Grand Magic Games and it’s still not looking good for the two Fairy Tail teams, although some of their members have surprising victories. Unfortunately, considering their prior string of defeats, it’s not enough to make much of a difference this early in the tournament. There are some great battles and moments of humor in this volume, but I still don’t find the tournament arc to be as compelling as the arcs that came before it. New characters continue to be introduced; I particularly enjoyed the addition of Bacchus, a powerful wizard from the Quatro Cerberus guild. Personality-wise, he can be a bit of a drunken jerk and isn’t always particularly likeable. What caught my interest is that his style of magic is based on Piguaquan, a legitimate Chinese martial art. Not too surprising considering his name, Bacchus combines this with Zui Quan, or “drunken fist.” Granted, it’s the fictionalized version of drunken fist that requires the practitioner to actually be intoxicated, but this is fitting and meshes well with the existing magic systems in Fairy Tail.

Smuggler by Shohei Manabe. Originally released in English by Tokyopop, Smuggler is now available in a new edition from One Peace Books. I missed the manga the first time around, and since it also received a live-action film adaptation, I was particularly curious to read it. Kinuta is a failed actor who has accumulated a fair amount of debt. In order to pay back what he owes he has been smuggling and illegally dumping cargo outside of Tokyo. What he didn’t initially realize was that he was helping to transport and dispose of dead bodies for the yakuza. And now that he does know, Kinuta owes the mob his life as well as his money. When a job goes terribly wrong and an extraordinarily dangerous assassin escapes on his watch, Kinuta suddenly finds himself pulled even deeper into Japan’s underworld. Smuggler is a dark and violent manga, quickly paced, and unrelenting. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart. Smuggler held my interest, and there were some marvelously gut-wrenching scenes, but in the end I can’t say that the manga left much of a lasting impression on me.

Swan, Volumes 4-9 by Kyoko Ariyoshi. I am still completely in love with Swan and am astounded that it has taken me this long to actually get around to reading it. The series is incredibly well done–it’s just so intense and passionate, not to mention beautifully drawn. I’m also learning a bit more about ballet and its history as I read, which I count as a bonus. There are quite a few themes being addressed in these particular volumes. One of the themes that is especially prominent deals with sacrifice and what people are willing to give up in order to pursue what the truly love. It’s not always an easy decision. As someone who was deeply involved in the performing arts (in my case music, not dance), it’s a conflict with which I can personally identify. The characters in Swan all have to struggle to find the balance between their lives as dancers and their relationships with other people. Matters of love and romance complicate things greatly, but they also serve as a source of inspiration for creative expression. Swan piles on the drama and it’s fantastic.

Wolfsmund, Volume 2 by Mitsuhisa Kuji. While the first volume of Wolfsmund was violent and intense, the second volume is arguably even more so. In response to the rebellion gaining strength and numbers, the questioning of those trying to cross through the Wolf’s Maw at Sankt Gotthard Pass has become even more invasive and thorough. The gate’s overseer Wolfram–who is almost always shown with a terrifyingly pleasant smile on his face–seems to take particular delight in this. In order to get the information he needs, he’s more than willing to order the death or torture of a person no matter who they are. Cruelty isn’t limited to Wolfram. Even the rebellion’s heroes are capable of terrible deeds. I am a fan of dark historical manga, so Wolfsmund is right up my alley. Wolfsmund is definitely for mature readers. Considering its brutal nature (women and girls in particular suffer greatly in this volume) it’s not a series that I would recommend to just anyone. That being said, I am looking forward to the next volume.

Random Musings: Notable in 2013

December 28, 2013 by Ash Brown

Despite having written at Experiments in Manga for over three years, I have never once attempted to create a “best of the year” list and I’m not about to start. However, I thought it would be interesting to write a post reflecting on what I have read in the past year. This isn’t a best of list. It’s not even necessarily a list of my favorite releases of the year (although, some of them certainly are). Instead, it’s a collection of manga, comics, and fiction from 2013 that, for one reason or another, were particularly notable for me.

I’ll start out with Moto Hagio’s The Heart of Thomas. Fantagraphics released the entire series in a beautiful, hardcover omnibus. Technically, I think it was published at the end of 2012, but I wasn’t able to get my hands on one until 2013. I adore Hagio’s manga and wish more of it was available in English. The Heart of Thomas in particular is a historically significant work and one of the precursors to the boys’ love genre. Plus, it’s a wonderful work in its own right.

The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame: The Master of Gay Erotic Manga probably couldn’t be more different from The Heart of Thomas, but I anticipated its release just as much. Tagame is an incredibly influential gay comics artist. The volume was not only the first collection of his work to be released in English, it was also the first collection of bara manga to be released in print. Happily, it won’t be the last. More of Tagame’s manga is already scheduled to be published.

I have become increasingly interested in yokai over the last few years. And so I was thrilled when Drawn & Quarterly released Kitaro by Shigeru Mizuki. The volume collects stories from the first few volumes of Mizuki’s GeGeGe no Kitaro which is the yokai manga that started it all and which continues to influence creators to this day. I found Kitaro to be utterly delightful and can understand why it’s so well-loved. I hope more of the series will be translated.

I picked up Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin for one reason–it was written and drawn by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. I’m not at all a Gundam fan, but I am a fan of Yasuhiko’s work. Even so, I didn’t anticipate how much I would enjoy The Origin. The manga ended up being an extremely well done space opera. It doesn’t hurt that Vertical’s edition of the series is one of the highest quality manga releases available in English, either. I’m still not a Gundam fan, but I am a fan of The Origin.

Another manga that I was pleasantly surprised by was Osamu Tezuka’s Unico. As much as I appreciate Tezuka’s work, I will admit to have grown a little tired of it. (I wish that other classic manga received the same amount of attention in English.) I approached Unico more as a curiosity than anything else; the full-color artwork and unusual page layouts had caught my attention. It turned out to be an endearing manga that is both heartbreaking and charming.

After years of delay, Suehiro Maruo’s The Strange Tale of Panorama Island was finally released by Last Gasp in 2013. The manga is an adaptation of Edogawa Rampo’s novella Strange Tale of Panorama Island which, coincidentally, was also released in English in 2013. I cannot think of a more perfect artist to adapt Rampo’s work; Maruo’s exquisite, sensual, and erotically charged illustrations with hints of the macabre are an ideal fit. The Strange Tale of Panorama Island was worth the wait.

As for continuing series in 2013, Takako Shimura’s Wandering Son remains a manga that is incredibly important to me on a very personal level. I’m pretty sure that I’ve mentioned it before, but Wandering Son has quite literally been life-changing for me. In addition to that, I simply think it’s a wonderfully sensitive and sincere look at personal identity. Fantagraphics released both the fourth and fifth volumes of Wandering Son in 2013; I’m looking forward to reading more of the series great deal.

2013 also saw the release of Ai Yazawa’s Paradise Kiss, Part 3–the third and final volume in Vertical’s edition of the series. I missed out on the manga when it was originally licensed by Tokyopop and I’m very glad to have had the opportunity to read it. Over the last year, I have been extremely impressed by Yazawa’s work. I don’t have a particular interest in fashion, but the complex characters and complicated relationships in Paradise Kiss were extraordinary.

The One Trick Rip-Off + Deep Cuts is a fantastic anthology which collects fifteen comics by Paul Pope, including those he created for Kodansha while in Japan. The volume makes a great introduction to Pope’s comics, exhibiting a nice range of styles and stories selected from nearly a decade of his work. The influence of manga can be seen in the collection, but Pope definitely has his own approach to comics. I’ve become very fond of his work and the quirkiness of his stories and characters.

Written and illustrated by Gene Luen Yang with colors by Lark Pien, the Boxers & Saints duology is honestly one of the best comics that I read in the past year. It’s a powerful retelling of the Boxer Rebellion–a violent uprising in China that began in the late 1800s–from two different sides of the conflict, neither of which were entirely in the right. Yang put a tremendous amount of research into the work, making it historically accurate while still maintaining a very human element to the story.

I already knew that I enjoyed Toh EnJoe’s short stories and essays and so I was excited for the release of Self-Reference Engine, the first book-length work of his to be translated into English. It’s not quite a novel, and it’s not quite a collection of short stories, but whatever it is it’s good stuff. I expected Self-Reference Engine to be intellectually stimulating as well as entertaining, and it was, but I wasn’t prepared for how funny and mind-bending it would be.

Manga the Week of 1/1

December 26, 2013 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown and MJ 1 Comment

SEAN: Attack on Titan 10.

Thoughts?

(sorry, couldn’t resist)

(Happy Holidays all)

MICHELLE: *snerk* Same to you!

ASH: I have thoughts! I have lots of thoughts!

MJ: I see that the manga gods have taken this opportunity to remind me how out of step I am with the world, having let this series go after the first volume. Perhaps I’ll rectify this in the new year?

Manga Giveaway: 4-Koma for You (Azumanga Daioh)

December 25, 2013 by Ash Brown

2013 may be nearing its end, but there’s still time for one more manga giveaway here at Experiments in Manga before the year is over! For December’s giveaway, you all have a chance to win a copy of the Yen Press omnibus edition of Kiyohiko Azuma’s yonkoma manga Azumanga Daioh. The entire series collected in one convenient volume! As always, the giveaway is open worldwide.

If I recall correctly, Azumanga Daioh was the first yonkoma manga that I ever read. Yonkoma, or 4-koma, is a four-panel format frequently used for gag manga. I know several people who consider Azumanga Daioh to be one of the best examples of yonkoma manga currently available in English. Yonkoma tends to be fairly hit-or-miss for me, but I was consistently entertained by Azumanga Daioh–it’s a goofy yet charming series.

So, you may be wondering, how can you win a copy of the Azumanga Daioh omnibus?

1) In the comments below, tell me a little about a four-panel manga that you have read and why you did, or didn’t, like it. (Haven’t read any? You can simply mention that.)
2) If you’re on Twitter, you can earn a bonus entry by tweeting about the contest. Make sure to include a link to this post and @PhoenixTerran (that’s me).

And there you have it! Each person can earn up to two entries for this giveaway. As usual, there will be one week to submit comments. Entries may also be sent via e-mail to phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com and I will post them in your name. The giveaway winner will be randomly selected and announced on January 1, 2014. Good luck and a Happy New Year, everyone!

VERY IMPORTANT: Include some way that I can contact you. This can be an e-mail address, 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: 4-Koma for You Winner

My Week in Manga: December 16-December 22, 2013

December 23, 2013 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Two reviews were posted last week at Experiments in Manga. The first review was for Yaya Sakuragi’s boys’ love manga Bond of Dreams, Bond of Love, Volume 3. Although the series isn’t my favorite work by Sakuragi, I tend to enjoy her manga and Bond of Dreams, Bond of Love has been growing on me. The second review was for Tales of Moonlight and Rain, the most recent English translation of Ueda Akinari’s Ugetsu monogatari, a collection of short stories about ghosts and other mysterious happenings that was originally published in Japan in 1776. It may be over two centuries old, but it’s still a great read.

I came across quite a few interesting things online last week: The Advocate posted its 10 Great Graphic Novel Gifts. It’s a great list of queer comics that came out this year and it includes a few excellent manga selections as well; Some Fog uses Kazuo Umezu’s Drifting Classroom as an example on how to creat comics–Lessons from Umezu; Voting has opened for the second Manga Translation Battle; The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund reports that Core Magazine Pleads Guilty in Japanese Obscenity Case, feeling that a “guilty plea would be a better option than a protracted legal battle.; On a happier note, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival has announced it’s initial list of featured guests. Among other great comics creators, Est Em will be coming to TCAF 2014!

Quick Takes

About Love written by Narise Konohara and illustrated by Tomo Ootake. Despite his family’s misgivings over his choice of career, Asaka has become an enthusiastic wedding planner. But recently things haven’t been going so well–several of the couples that he has been working with have canceled their weddings. That’s when he reunites with his first client, a man by the name of Sasagawa who has the perfect marriage and serves as an inspiration to Asaka. However, his marriage isn’t nearly as perfect as it seems. About Love is a slow-burning romance; Asaka and Sasagawa’s relationship takes a great deal of time to develop and solidify, but it’s a natural progression from acquaintances, to friends, to possibly something greater. About Love focuses on the emotional connection between the two men more than it does on their physical intimacy, although that has a role to play as well. In addition to their evolving relationship, About Love addresses some issues of same-sex marriage and there are other gay and lesbian couples important to the story as well.

Attack on Titan, Volume 10 by Hajime Isayama. I’m not entirely sure how Isayama pulls it off, but it’s rather impressive how many twists and turns Attack on Titan has been taking lately. I went into this volume expecting a respite from major plot reveals since there have been so many recently. I was wrong. The focus of the tenth volume is on 104th’s struggle to survive against a massive titan attack on the castle in which they were hoping to hide and recover. They are without weapons or maneuvering gear, making their situation particularly precarious. This alone would have been enough to carry the volume and there are some very exciting moments in the fight. But no. After an extended action sequence, Isayama throws in not one but two (well, maybe three depending on how you’re counting) major story twists. Although there are still plenty of questions that need to be answered, the titans themselves are becoming less of a mystery. I actually kind of miss when they were beyond humanity’s comprehension, but I’m still interested in seeing how things play out.

Baron Gong Battle, Volumes 1-6 by Masayuki Taguchi. Only six out of the nine volumes of Baron Gong Battle have been released in English. After his girlfriend is horrifically murdered by a Neo Hume, Baron is determined to seek revenge against those who killed her. The Neo Hume’s are extraordinarily powerful creatures born out of the Nazi’s biological experiments. Baron Gong Battle is an utterly absurd and violent action-packed manga series that can be a tremendous amount of trashy fun when it’s not being completely offensive. Baron is an over-the-top badass and the dialogue is extreme. However, the more that I read, the less enamored I became with Baron Gong Battle. The manga’s utter ridiculousness is highly entertaining, and it becomes more and more outrageous as the series progresses, but I soon became tired of the role that the women play. Occasionally they can be very competent fighters, but more often than not they seem to only be a part of the series in order to fawn over Baron and to run around mostly if not entirely naked.

Pink by Kyoko Okazaki. While I didn’t find Pink to be as brutal or as hard-hitting as Okazaki’s later work Helter Skelter, I still think that the manga is an excellent work and I enjoyed it a great deal. Pink is rather curious manga filled with rather curious characters. In general, they are much more likeable than those in Helter Skelter, but they are definitely an odd bunch. Yumi works as a part-time call girl in order to feed her pet crocodile Croc. Although Yumi’s on great terms with her younger stepsister Keiko–a precocious girl with a bottomless stomach–she and her stepmother hate each other. Things get a little complicated when Yumi becomes involved with Haruo, her stepmother’s manstress and wannabe novelist. I was actually surprised by how much of the Pink was told from Haruo’s perspective. His strange relationships with these three women, and Croc, forms the basis for much of the story. But even so, it’s Yumi who really seems to be the focus of the manga. Pink has a very cynical and oddball sense of humor which I could appreciate.

From the New World directed by Masashi Ishihama. Overall I really liked the story and setting of the From the New World anime, an adaptation of the novel by the same name written by Yusuke Kishi (which sadly has yet to be licensed in English.) However, I frequently found the series’ pacing and narrative structure to be frustrating and somewhat disjointed. Saki, the main protagonist, also had an annoying habit of echoing back whatever was being said to her by someone else. I did like that the story focused on the characters at several different points in their lives. From the New World takes place in what is eventually revealed to be a post-apocalyptic environment. I actually would have liked to have seen more about how society reached the point that it is at in the series; most of the past events are merely hinted at. From the New World deals quite a bit with the terrible lengths humanity is willing to go to when driven by fear. It’s very well done in places. The anime also gets bonus points for the nice use of music from Dvořák’s From the New World symphony.

Manga the Week of 12/25

December 19, 2013 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Anna N, Michelle Smith and MJ Leave a Comment

SEAN: For the most part, it’s a Merry Christmas and not a lot of manga, as most publishers take the holidays off. We do have a couple of titles trickling in, however…

Kodansha has the 4th volume of Sankarea, which continues to walk the line between harem romance and horror movie. As you can see from the cover art seen here, Kodansha is gunning more for the latter.

ASH: Sankarea is such a strange manga. I’m enjoying it more than I thought I would, but some of the fanservice really detracts from the series’ quirky charms.

SEAN: And Seven Seas has the 3rd and final volume of Crimson Empire. I really like the heroine and basic premise of this series, but I admit I have not really enjoyed the manga as much as I have the author’s Alice series. Perhaps the otome game plays out better, or perhaps this volume will give us a big finish.

ANNA: I actually enjoyed the first volume of Crimson Empire quite a bit, and was planning on picking up subsequent volumes but hadn’t got around to it yet. Perhaps I’m just easily amused by the idea of an assassin maid in a reverse harem series.

SEAN: That’s it. Either of these under your stocking?

MICHELLE: Not for me, this time.

MJ: Sadly, I’m with Michelle, in that neither of these titles is for me. But that doesn’t mean I’m not buying this week! So much to catch up on…

My Week in Manga: December 9-December 15, 2013

December 16, 2013 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week I posted the first review in my new monthly review project, A Year of Yuri. This project will focus on comics and manga with yuri and lesbian themes. For this month’s review, I took a closer look at June Kim’s debut graphic novel 12 Days which was even better than I remembered it being. It’s a beautiful work that addresses the complexities of grief, family, love, and loss.

Also last week, I wrote a post that focused on how to find manga in libraries–Finding Manga: Library Love. The post is sort of a combination of two of my semi-regular features–Finding Manga and Library Love. (I’ve actually decided to retire Library Love, so the post was also a way for me to give the feature a nice send-off.) It’s a pretty long post; if you don’t feel like reading the whole thing, you can always just skip to the quick tips at the end.

As for interesting things found online: The Pew Research Center coincidentally posted its report on How Americans Value Public Libraries in Their Communities the same day I was expressing my own love of libraries; over at Geekscape, Kari Lane discussed yaoi with Jennifer LeBlanc, SuBLime’s editor; and Erica Friedman talked about some of the differences between the U.S. and Japanese comic book industries on Quora.

Quick Takes

Fake Fur by Satomi Yamagata. For a boys’ love manga, Fake Fur is surprisingly realistic in its portrayal of Yamashita–a young man who in high school is just starting to come to terms with his sexuality and homosexuality. The manga follows him as he becomes aware that he is in love with his close friend Kubo and how he handles the aftermath of that realization and his changing relationships. Fake Fur deals with both physical and romantic desire and how those two aspects of love can often be in conflict with each other. In some cases, sex and physical pleasure is used as a replacement for true affection. For Yamashita and several of the other characters in Fake Fur, this is something that is both comforting and heartbreaking. On the other hand, for better or for worse, physical intimacy can naturally lead to emotional intimacy. After all, a sexual relationship is still a relationship. In Fake Fur Yamashita and the others grapple with this, hoping to find love but also recognizing that there is more than one way to be close to another person.

Sankarea: Undying Love, Volume 4 by Mitsuru Hattori. The covers for the English-language edition of the Sankarea manga tend to focus on the horror elements of the series. While that horror is certainly a part of Sankarea, I still see it as more of a romantic comedy than anything else. Granted, it is a very strange romantic comedy with even stranger characters. I like the series best when it’s focusing on the relationship between Chihiro and the recently zombified Rea, which has some interesting developments in this volume. For one, Rea continues to become more zombie-like, her cravings for flesh barely being held in check by her natural inhibitions. However, I was less impressed with the mostly unnecessary scene between Chihiro and Rea’s mother in which she drunkenly and nakedly propositions him. Apparently the volume’s fanservice quota needed to be met somehow. My favorite part of this volume was actually the side-comic “I Am Also…A Zombie…” which is told from the perspective of Chihiro’s pet cat (and zombie) Bub. Bub is the greatest.

Showa: A History of Japan, 1926-1939 by Shigeru Mizuki. Originally published in Japan as an eight-volume series, Drawn & Quarterly’s edition of Showa: A History of Japan is being released in four, two-volume omnibuses. Japan’s Showa era, corresponding to Emperor Hirohito’s reign, lasted from December 25, 1926 to January 7, 1989. In the introduction to the first volume of Showa, Frederik L Schodt describes the Showa era as one of “the most tumultuous, violent, and tragic” periods in Japan’s history. There are actually two intertwining stories contained in Mizuki’s Showa: the factual history of the country as a whole at that time and Mizuki’s personal history as someone who lived through it. Mizuki’s artwork also reflects these two different portrayals of the Showa era. The illustrations range from the highly detailed and realistic, based on news and photographs from that period, to the more free-form and cartoonish. Showa is an informative read. I’m personally more familiar with the late Showa era, so I appreciated being able to learn more about early Showa in such an engaging format.

The World Exists for Me, Volumes 1-2 written by Be-Papas and illustrated by Chiho Saito. The literal translation of the Japanese title for The World Exists for Me would actually be The World of S and M. Though I’m sure it was intentionally chosen, it’s a rather peculiar title for a rather peculiar manga. Only two volumes were ever published, but I get the feeling that The World Exists for Me was originally conceived of as a much longer work. The ending comes very suddenly and very little, if anything, is actually resolved. The series definitely had some potential–I found its use of time travel, destiny, and historical figures and events to be interesting–but the story never quite pulls together as something particularly coherent. It’s a bit of a mess, really. While it can be enjoyable, it doesn’t really make much sense at all. The World Exists for Me was developed by the same creators involved with the Revolutionary Girl Utena manga. Some similarities can be seen between the two series, but I much prefer Utena.

Manga the Week of 12/18

December 13, 2013 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, MJ, Anna N and Michelle Smith 2 Comments

SEAN: Just before Christmas, we have a fairly big week with lots of stuff to give folks for the holidays (or request for your own present.)

First off, another “Sean missed this” entry. Since I go by Amazon now, I forgot that Right Stuf shipped Hetalia Axis Powers Vols. 4 and 5 and left them off last week’s list. I’ve already devoured my own copies, and can safely assure Hetalia fans these are well worth picking up. Non-Hetalia fans likely find the whole phenomenon baffling.

ASH: I’m hoping that Hetalia continues to do well (at least I think it’s doing well) so that Right Stuf will be able to expand it’s print-on-demand program.

MJ: I’ve never been able to muster interest in Hetalia, but hearing that you’re so hooked on it, Sean, makes me feel foolish. So. Hm.

SEAN: It’s definitely not for everyone… Hetalia requires a love of World War II-era history and at the same time an ability to completely disassociate the atrocities of that period from the characters that represent each country. It’s pure fluff, and just the idea that it’s pure fluff really bothers folks – and rightly so. That said, if you can bend your brain that way, there are a lot of fun stereotypes here that are all done with a kind, loving heart.

Dark Horse’s Evangelion spinoff, The Shinji Ikari Raising Project, is getting close to actually surpassing the main manga series in terms of volume count. Vol. 13 hits next week, and promises an actual plot!

The fourth volume of No. 6 comes out from Kodansha. Is the BL tease in this series the same as the yuri tease in series like Sunshine Sketch?

ASH: I haven’t read Sunshine Sketch to be able to compare, but I am enjoying the development of Rat and Shion’s relationship in No. 6.

SEAN: One Peace has an omnibus collection of Smuggler, a seinen series that ran in Kodansha’s Afternoon back in 2000. Tokyopop apparently released this before, but I have no recollection of it at all. More seinen is always good, especially from a new-ish publisher.

ASH: One Peace tends to license some interesting manga. I’m particularly curious about this rescue since I missed Smuggler the first time around.

MJ: Ditto!

SEAN: Vertical has a new hardcover edition of Gundam The Origin, the 4th. It’s subtitled Jaburo, and I presume it will keep the stellar quality of the previous releases. Must buy.

ANNA: The world is a better place due to the existence of this glorious manga. And Char Aznable.

ASH: The Origin is definitely one of the highest quality releases of manga in English right now.

SEAN: There’s also the 2nd and final volume of Summer Wars. I was surprised how much I enjoyed the first one of this series – far more than I expected – and look forward to the 2nd with bated breath.

MJ: I’m looking forward to this as well!

SEAN: Viz has the 11th volume of one of my pet favorites, Dorohedoro. It can be hard to dip in and out of, but it’s a series that rewards close reading and re-reading. Plus it’s filled with awesome characters.

ASH: I’m always excited to see a new volume of Dorohedoro! It also makes me want to eat mushroom gyoza.

SEAN: And then there’s a giant pile of Yen. The 3rd volume of Are You Alice? continues the Alice trend we’ve seen all year, which looks to pile up even more titles in 2014.

Bloody Cross is one of those series that cried out to be licensed. Vampires, demons, hot guys, hot girls… all this and it runs in Shonen Gangan, a magazine with a very good reputation to exciting series. This should be fun.

MJ: I’m cautiously optimistic.

SEAN: High School of the Dead is still popular enough to get those giant full-color omnibuses, and here is the 2nd.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzimiya manga is wrapping up soon, mostly as the novel author hasn’t written new material. The final arc continues in this 17th manga volume.

Pandora Hearts 19. I think that says it all.

MICHELLE: Pandora (Will Break Your) Hearts!

MJ: Yes, it really will. In the best way possible. *heart*

SEAN: Puella Magi Kazumi Magica has its 3rd volume coming out. The movies have made this franchise even more popular, though I am also hearing talk of a backlash against the darkness. Will this manga make things even bigger?

The 10th Spice & Wolf novel continues to combine fantasy, moe, economics and confusing people who buy it thinking it’s the manga. This is the novel.

Sunshine Sketch not only has its 7th volume ship to stores, but it also has all 7 volumes available in ebook format next week! Great news. As for whether Sae and Hiro finally graduate and the title is forced to continue without them… I suspect that may get dragged out a bit longer.

Finally, Until Death Do Us Part has its 5th omnibus arrive. Mamoru has been having a rough time of it lately, and this volume is not likely to help him in any way.

MICHELLE: I really need to catch up on this one; I definitely liked the first omnibus more than I’d expected to.

SEAN: Deck the halls with volumes of manga! What’cha getting?

Finding Manga: Library Love

December 11, 2013 by Ash Brown

Support manga, support your library!

National Library Symbol I recently came to the decision to retire my bimonthly Library Love feature. With the slogan “Support manga, support your library!,” Library Love was a way for me to highlight manga that I was borrowing and reading from my local libraries. It’s time for me to finally say goodbye to Library Love in order to make room at Experiments in Manga for other features and reviews. In the future, I will be including my thoughts on my library manga finds in the “Quick Takes” section of the My Week in Manga feature. As I say my final farewell to Library Love (the feature, not my actual love for libraries which is eternal), I wanted to make one last special Library Love post that focused on actually finding manga in libraries. What I’ll have to say specifically applies to libraries in the United States and Canada since those are what I am most familiar with, but hopefully my comments will apply to library systems in other countries as well.

I adore libraries and I have since I was very young. I don’t think anyone was really very surprised when I fell into librarianship as a career. There are many, many reasons that I’m thankful for libraries which I won’t get into here, but I would like to say this: If it wasn’t for libraries, I would not have become the manga fanatic that I am now. When I first started reading manga, it was all borrowed from libraries. For one thing, collecting manga requires both money and space. Making use of libraries that are already doing some of that collecting is a good thing. It benefits you and it benefits libraries, too. Manga and comics tend to circulate well, and good circulations statistics help libraries in a variety of ways. Plus, by supporting manga at your library, you are also supporting the creators and publishers of that manga.

Manga can be found in all types of libraries: public, academic, school, special. Archives and museums get in on the manga action, too. It’s somewhat difficult to make generalizations regarding how to find manga in libraries because each library is different and serves a different population. Broadly speaking, libraries are organized in the way that best serves its patrons, which means that the same manga found in one library may be shelved in another area entirely at a different library. Some libraries will shelve manga and other comics by subject, mixed in with the rest of the collection. Other libraries will have an entire section devoted specifically to manga and graphic novels. In some cases, a library may divide materials by age group. There any number of ways to organize a collection, and each library is different. Familiarize yourself with your library’s system and be aware that you may need to look in multiple places to find all of the manga.

One of the benefits of a library is that it is a physical location that you can visit. After you figure out where the manga is shelved, take time to browse! It’s a quick and easy way of determining what sorts of manga your library collects and sampling what it has. There’s also this wonderful phenomena called serendipity–you might discover manga that you didn’t even know you wanted to read. But don’t limit yourself to what you can see on the shelf, because the library will always have more manga available. Be sure to make use of the library’s catalog, too. Most libraries have an online catalog that supports searches by title, creator, subject, ISBN, general keyword, and more. Some libraries are even beginning to explore digital options for manga and comics, too.

Finding manga through a library doesn’t stop there, either. Many libraries participate in interlibrary loan programs which allow one library to borrow materials that another library owns. This is a fantastic way to track down copies of hard-to-find or out-of-print manga to read. Many libraries also accept and pursue purchase suggestions from their patrons. If there’s a manga you’d like to read or that you think would be a good fit for your library, let someone know! Generally, libraries want to provide access to the materials that people want or are excited about; they want to spend money on materials that will actually be used. Which brings me to my final point about manga in libraries: Don’t be afraid to talk with the librarians and other library workers! Make suggestions, ask questions, and give feedback. We really are here to help.

Quick Tips for Finding Manga in Libraries
1) Manga might be kept in multiple areas, you may need to look around
2) Browse the shelves, but search the catalog, too
3) Check to see if your library participates in an interlibrary loan program
4) Many libraries accept purchase suggestions. Don’t see what you want? Ask for it!
5) Don’t be afraid of the librarians and other library workers (We’re here to help!)

My Week in Manga: December 2-December 8, 2013

December 9, 2013 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

I posted two reviews here at Experiments in Manga last week. The honor of the first in-depth manga review for December goes to Yoshikazu Yasuhiko’s Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Volume 3: Ramba Ral. The fourth volume in the series is scheduled to be released this month, so I wanted to make sure to catch up with my reviews. Though I wouldn’t call myself a Gundam fan, I’m still really enjoying The Origin manga. The second review was for Ivan Morris’ The Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan. Originally published in 1975, the work was recently brought back into print by Kurodahan Press. It’s an extremely illuminating and fascinating volume. I also announced the Fairy Tail Feast Winner last week. In case you’re looking for some epic manga to read, the post also includes a list of series that have had at least thirty volumes published in English.

I’ve come across quite a few manga-related things online recently. Sadly, that includes the news that PictureBox will no longer be releasing any new titles. PictureBox had some fantastic manga releases this year, including the start of the Ten-Cent Manga and Masters of Alternative Manga series. It also released The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame. PictureBox’s closing means that the previously announced anthology Massive: Gay Erotic Manga And The Men Who Make It, originally scheduled for release in 2014, is now in limbo.

In happier news, Manga Bookshelf’s MJ was interviewed at Diamond Bookshelf–Understanding Manga: Editor MJ Discusses CBLDF Presents Manga. I thought that Manga: Introduction, Challenges, and Best Practices was a great resource when I read it, so it was interesting to hear about some of the behind-the-scenes work that went into it.

And speaking of interesting interviews, Organization Anti-Social Geniuses has been Talkin’ Seven Seas and Manga Business With Conner Crooks. Crooks is the Social Media Manager at Seven Seas, which has been having a very good year. Part 1 and Part 2 of the interview series are currently available. Part 3 should be posted on Tuesday.

Continuing on with the Seven Seas theme, Sean Gaffney took a look at the publisher’s recently announced licenses over at A Case Suitable for Treatment. And if you’re interested in all of the anime, manga, artbook, and light novels that were licensed in 2013 (as well as related successful crowdfunding projects), Reverse Thieves has you covered with All the Titles Fit to License, 2013 Edition.

Quick Takes

Hero Heel, Volumes 2-3 by Makoto Tateno. Out of the boys’ love manga by Tateno that I have so far read, I think that Hero Heel is probably one of her better works. At least it has some of the most interesting and believable character development. Although that being said, I’m not sure that I’m entirely convinced by the ending, but that might just be because I feel bad for Katagiri. Minami in particular goes through a lot of change as the series progresses. In the first volume he’s almost the villain of the story, blackmailing and forcing his feelings on Sawada. By the end of Hero Heel he’s a much more sympathetic character and has matured significantly. As for Sawada, he comes across as rather harsh from the start, though how much of an asshole he really is isn’t revealed until later. The themes of hero and villain and what it means to be a good person are very prominent in Hero Heel. It’s interesting to see the parallels between the characters that Minami and Sawada play on the superhero show they costar in and their lives off the set.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Short Stories, Volume 2 by Naoko Takeuchi. For the most part, I think I probably enjoyed the second (and final) volume of Sailor Moon short stories more than I did the first. In general, they don’t rely as heavily on knowledge of the main series; a basic understanding of the Sailor Moon universe is sufficient to follow the short manga in the second collection of stories. Well, at least that’s true for the first two stories. The third short manga “Parallel Sailor Moon” requires a bit more, and even then it’s a really strange, almost nonsensical piece. I much preferred the first two stories in the collection. “Princess Kaguya’s Lover” is the longest and most involved, basically amounting to a one-sided love story between Luna and Dr. Ohzora, an astronomy professor. It has space and astronauts, which I’ll admit to having a fondness for, so that made me happy. (Takeuchi even visited the Kennedy Space Center on a research trip for the story.) “Casa Blanca Memory” is a shorter work featuring Rei, which also made me pretty happy.

Sengoku Basara: Samurai Legends, Omnibus 2 (equivalent to Volumes 3-4) by Yak Haibara. I get a huge kick out of the Sengoku Basara: Samurai Legends manga. I’ve never played Sengoku Basara 2–the video game on which it is directly based (it hasn’t been released in North America)–nor have I seen any of the Sengoku Basara anime (though I may make a point to check it out now), but I do have some familiarity with the Warring States period. Because of the number of characters, battles, alliances, castles and such to keep track of in Samurai Legends, which are all based on historical figures and events, that familiarity has come in handy. Overall, I think the first omnibus of Samurai Legends was a little stronger than the second omnibus. The last half of the series has a few continuity problems in the artwork, and there are some characters who are introduced more because they are a part of the franchise than because they had an important role to play in the manga, but it was still a lot of fun. I really enjoy the series’ over-the-top fights, characters, and dialogue.

Sickness Unto Death, Volume 2 written by Hikari Asada and illustrated by Takahiro Seguchi. Probably because it doesn’t employ nearly as many clichés, the second volume of Sickness Unto Death is much better than the first. Granted, the first volume was needed to set it up the whole scenario; I just think it could have been handled better. But the payoff is mostly satisfying. Even so, the manga still makes me vaguely uncomfortable, and not in the way I think it was intended to. The problem I have with the story of Sickness Unto Death stems from the way Emiru’s case is handled. That Kazuma wants to help and treat her I’m fine with. In fact, there’s some really interesting conflicts of interest and ethical and philosophical questions that arise because of it. At its best, Sickness Unto Death has some marvelously dark psychological elements to it. What particularly bothers me about the series is that Kazuma’s continued “treatment” of Emiru is actually encouraged by his professor, which is highly irresponsible not to mention unprofessional.