MangaBlog

Square Enix is shutting down its U.S. and French digital manga sites; they were so loaded down with DRM and bad design that it’s doubtful anyone will miss them. In case you did succeed in buying manga from them, here’s a page describing how to continue reading your purchased books; unfortunately, it’s only for Windows users. The good news is that Yen Press will start distributing Square Enix manga digitally sometime this year, so a better system will soon be in place.

Lissa Pattillo picks the best of this week’s new manga in her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA, and at Manga Bookshelf, the team looks over next week’s new releases.

Reviews: Carlo Santos gives us a quick rundown of recent releases in his Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Ash Brown looks back on a week’s manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Connie on vol. 1 of 07-Ghost (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 11 of 13th Boy (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 2 of 21st Century Boys (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Angelic Layer (Okazu)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Angel Sanctuary (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Matt Cycyk on vol. 7 of Animal Land (Matt Talks About Manga)
Connie on vol. 16 of Bakuman (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 8 of Bokurano: Ours (The Comic Book Bin)
Anna on vol. 1 of Crimson Empire (Manga Report)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 9 of Dorohedoro (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 9 of Dorohedoro (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 9 of Dorohedoro (The Fandom Post)
Matthew Warner on The Drops of God: New World (The Fandom Post)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 25 of Excel Saga (The Fandom Post)
Traci on vol. 1 of The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel (Experiments in Manga)
Matt Cycyk on vol. 2 of Knights of Sidonia (Matt Talks About Manga)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on Love Makes Everything Right (All About Manga)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Mixed Vegetables (Blogcritics)
Matt Cycyk on vol. 1 of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (Matt Talks About Manga)
Matt Cycyk on NonNonBa (Matt Talks About Manga)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 9 of Oh My Goddess (Blogcritics)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 10 of One Piece (Blogcritics)
Connie on vol. 5 of Pokemon Adventures (Slightly Biased Manga)
Matthew Warner on vol. 11 of Rosario + Vampire: Season II (The Fandom Post)
Connie on vol. 7 of Sailor Moon (Slightly Biased Manga)
Helen on vols. 9 and 10 of Sailor Moon (Narrative Investigations)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 10 of Sailor Moon (Blogcritics)
Connie on vol. 9 of Sakura Hime (Slightly Biased Manga)
Derek Bown on this week’s issue of Shonen Jump (Manga Bookshelf)
Victoria K. Martin on vol. 11 of Soul Eater (Kuriousity)
Matthew Warner on vol. 2 of Strobe Edge (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 3 of Strobe Edge (Blogcritics)
Connie on vol. 11 of Toriko (Slightly Biased Manga)
Drew McCabe on Unico (Comic Attack)
Matthew Warner on vol. 16 of Vampire Knight (The Fandom Post)
Connie on vol. 3 of X (Slightly Biased Manga)

Sorry about the radio silence—I live just north of Boston, so it has been a very strange week. I’m looking forward to things getting back to normal and to heading out to Chicago later this week for C2E2.

Back in the heyday of global manga, Tania Del Rio was one of its more articulate practitioners, and I was happy to have the chance to interview her for MTV Geek about Archie’s re-release of her manga-style Sabrina comics in a black-and-white tankoubon format.

The Manga Bookshelf team looks over this week’s new releases and discusses their Pick of the Week. And in her 3 Things Thursday column, MJ names three series she wishes she could like—but doesn’t.

This month’s Manga Moveable Feast, featuring Kaori Yuki, kicks off at host blog The Beautiful World; Katan writes about Yuki’s art, and at Manga Bookshelf, MJ and Michelle Smith devote their Off the Shelf column to Angel Sanctuary.

Erica Friedman has a new edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu.

Lori Henderson looks at manga that is available digitally and reviews the first volume of Knights of Sidonia in her Manga Dome podcast at Manga Xanadu.

Tony Yao looks at critical thinking in Naruto at Manga Therapy.

Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf team kicks off the week with some short reviews of recent releases in their Bookshelf Briefs column. Ash Brown looks at another week of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of 21st Century Boys (I Reads You)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Alice in the Country of Joker: Circus and Liar’s Game (ANN)
Carlo Santos on vol. 55 of Bleach (ANN)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 56 of Bleach (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 7 of A Certain Scientific Railgun (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Erica Friedman on Dolce Due (Okazu)
Rebecca Silverman on Hiroaki Samura’s Emerald and Other Stories (ANN)
Victoria K. Martin on vols. 2 and 3 of Is This a Zombie? (Kuriousity)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 8 of Itsuwaribito (The Comic Book Bin)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on vols. 1 and 2 of I’ve Seen It All (All About Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vols. 1 and 2 of Kanokon (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on Love Circumstances (All About Manga)
Connie on Picnic (Slightly Biased Manga)
Matthew Warner on vol. 9 of Psyren (The Fandom Post)
Philip Anthony on vol. 7 of Sailor Moon (Manga Bookshelf)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 10 of Sailor Moon (Blogcritics)
Derek Bown on the April 15 issue of Shonen Jump (Manga Bookshelf)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 9 of The Story of Saiunkoku (The Comic Book Bin)
Anna N. on vol. 9 of The Story of Saiunkoku (Manga Report)
Matthew Warner on vol. 2 of Strobe Edge (The Fandom Post)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Umesato the Third! (Okazu)
Sean Gaffney on Unico (A Case Suitable for Treatment)

More PW stories about manga! I interviewed Seven Seas founder Jason DeAngelis and I also wrote a short piece about Dark Horse’s 25 years of publishing manga.

Lissa Pattillo checks out the past week’s new manga in her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA.

The Manga Bookshelf team looks forward to this week’s new manga, and MJ files a first-quarter report on her three favorite manga of the year (so far).

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

Lissa Pattillo has word of a new manga publisher, the fledgling Kansai Club, and she’s guardedly optimistic about them despite some reservations; their first project will be a Kickstarter drive to fund a limited edition of Osamu Tezuka’s Crater.

Jason Thompson Shaenon Garrity looks at some classic shoujo manga, Love Song and Four Shojo Stories, in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

Caitlin McGurk spotlights Jiji Manga, a newspaper supplement published in 1921 that is the first publication anyone can find that used the word “manga” in its title. And the cover feature is about women’s liberation!

I’m really late to the party with this, but Matt Brady is doing an amazing series on why Eiichiro Oda’s art in One Piece is so awesome at his blog, Warren Peace Sings the Blues. He has lots of analysis and examples—Matt takes his One Piece seriously! Here’s the first post, if you like to start at the beginning.

Lori Henderson debuts her Manga Dome podcast, which covers a wide variety of manga topics, at Manga Xanadu.

News from Japan: The March issue of Nakayoshi came with a bonus: The Super Saikyo Manga-ka Set, a manga kit containing drawing tools and a guide to drawing like a pro. The editors seem to be serious about encouraging would-be manga-ka, as they are running a drawing contest and plan to have more special supplements in the future. Rocket24 pays a visit to the new manga park in Tachikawa City, where you can read manga from their 30,000-volume library for just 400 yen per day. Kazune Kawahara and Kimi ni Todoke creator Karuho Shiina are working together on a one-shot manga for the 50th anniversary issue of Shueisha’s Betsuma Margaret magazine. Dragon Ball manga-ka Akira Toriyama has created a short stand-alone comic to promote environmental awareness among children. And while it looked like the threat letters to anyone associated with Kuroko’s Basketball had stopped for a while, the latest doujinshi event, scheduled for Shizuoka next week, has been cancelled after a new threat was received.

Reviews

Matthew Warner on vol. 1 of Barrage (The Fandom Post)
Ash Brown on vol. 20 of Blade of the Immortal (Experiments in Manga)
Matthew Warner on vol. 55 of Bleach (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 4 of A Bride’s Story (Blogcritics)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Btooom! (Manga Village)
Kristin on vol. 1 of Crimson Empire (Comic Attack)
Seth T. Hahne on vols. 1 and 2 of Cross Game (Good OK Bad)
Ken H on vol. 1 of Cyborg 009 (Comics Should Be Good)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 5 of A Devil and Her Love Song (Blogcritics)
Sweetpea on Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President (Organization ASG)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 25 of Excel Saga (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Victoria Martin on vol. 11 of Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden (Kuriousity)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on Good Morning (All About Manga)
Justin on vol. 7 of GTO: 14 Days in Shonan (Organization ASG)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 20 of Higurashi When They Cry (The Fandom Post)
Infinite Speech on vol. 8 of Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit (Comic Attack)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 7 of Jack Frost (The Fandom Post)
Brian Gardes on vol. 1 of Knights of Sidonia (Stumptown Trade Review)
Connie C. on Lychee Light Club, No Longer Human, and Genkaku Picasso (Comics Should Be Good)
Victoria Erica on vol. 1 of Magic Knight Rayearth (omnibus edition) (Inside AX)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 6 of Naruto (Blogcritics)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 8 of Oh My Goddess! (Blogcritics)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 4 of Punch Up! (I Reads You)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Tiger & Bunny (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 15 of Toriko (The Comic Book Bin)
Manjiorin on Trigun: Multiple Bullets (Organization ASG)

Christopher Butcher, who is the manager of the Toronto comics shop The Beguiling in addition to marketing director of Udon, talks about manga from a retailer’s point of view, looking both at who is buying manga these days and what manga can do for retailers who are willing to invest a bit of time and money. This should have been part of my big manga story at PW, and it’s definitely a worthy addendum.

At Manga Bookshelf, the team discusses their Pick of the Week, and MJ and Michelle Smith discuss Library Wars, The Dark-Hunters: Infinity, and Tiger & Bunny in their latest Off the Shelf column.

Rocket News takes a look at Japanese Shonen Jump‘s best-selling manga, the 20 series that have survived years of reader surveys, and at Manga Xanadu, Lori Henderson looks at the ones that have not been licensed in North America.

News from Japan: The messaging platform LINE has added a digital manga service that carries over 30,000 titles from top publishers such as Kodansha, Shueisha, and Shogakukan.

Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf bloggers post their latest set of Bookshelf Briefs.

Connie on vol. 1 of 21st Century Boys (Slightly Biased Manga)
TSOTE on Afternoon Dinosaur (Three Steps Over Japan)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Blood Lad (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Crimson Empire: Circumstances to Serve a Noble (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on Drops of Desire (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on Expecting the Boss’s Baby (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on Gakuen Polizi (Okazu)
Anna N. on vol. 1 of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (Manga Report)
TSOTE on vols. 1 and 2 of Monju (Three Steps Over Japan)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 13 of Nabari no Ou (The Fandom Post)
Connie on Not for a Student (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 53 of One Piece (Slightly Biased Manga)
Michael May on Pokemon the Movie: Kyurem vs. the Sword of Justice (Good Comics for Kids)
Erica Friedman on Sabegu! (Okazu)
Derek Bown on this week’s issue of Shonen Jump (Manga Bookshelf)
Connie on vol. 9 of Tenjho Tenge (omnibus edition)

It’s been a busy time: I took a comprehensive look at the manga market at Publishers Weekly, including interviews with large and small publishers. I did a lot of number-crunching, too. Overall, the market is smaller but the remaining publishers believe it’s sustainable, and several are actually seeing growth.

Big news at Yen Press: They will release the next chapter of Highschool of the Dead simultaneously with Japan.

Chromatic Press has launched their Kickstarter for the new editions of the first two volumes of Off*Beat. I covered it in my Kickstand column at CBR.

Reviews: Ash Brown chronicles another week of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 9 of Case Closed (Blogcritics)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 46 of Case Closed (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 9 of Chi’s Sweet Home (Blogcritics)
A Library Girl on vol. 1 of Gamerz Heaven (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Laura on The Infernal Devices (Heart of Manga)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 5 of Naruto (Blogcritics)
Jocelyne Allen on No Longer Human (Ningen Shikkaku) (Brain Vs. Book)
A Library Girl on vol. 2 of Strobe Edge (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Ash Brown on vol. 2 of Summit of the Gods (Experiments in Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Tiger and Bunny (I Reads You)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 4 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s (The Comic Book Bin)

PictureBox has plans to publish five manga in 2013, including Osamu Tezuka’s The Mysterious Underground Men; ICv2 has the details.

Lissa Pattillo checks out this week’s new manga releases in her latest On the Shelf column at Otaku USA. Sean Gaffney looks forward to next week’s new releases at A Case Suitable for Treatment.

Moonlitasteria has some personal reflections on digital vs. print manga.

Reviews

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of Barrage (I Reads You)
Connie C. on Doing Time, Disappearance Diary, and Panorama of Hell (Comics Should Be Good)
Milo on Gundam: The Origin (Blog of the North Star)
Michael Buntag on vol. 9 of Honey and Clover (NonSensical Words)
Matthew Warner on vol. 3 of Is This A Zombie? (The Fandom Post)
TSOTE on vol. 32 of QED (Three Steps Over Japan)
Kristin on Sakuran (Tentative) (Comic Attack)

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

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

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

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

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

Reviews

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

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

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

The Manga Bookshelf bloggers discuss their Pick of the Week.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Travis Anderson has a license request: Tea Girl.

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

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

Jason Thompson’s House of 1000 Manga column this week offers a concise history of manga in the U.S. from 1961 to the present.

Mike Toole muses about prequels, sequels, and spinoffs, and why we sometimes see only part of a manga or anime franchise in translation.

Next week’s Shonen Jump will include a one-shot manga, Sakuran, by Psyren creator Toshiaki Iwashiro.

Ken H. writes about the creator Shotaro Ishinomori, in preparation for a month’s worth of reviews of his work.

Reviews

Matthew Warner on vol. 53 of Bleach (The Fandom Post)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Btooom! (ANN)
Connie C. on Detroit Metal City, Nana, and 21st Century Boys (Comics Should Be Good)
Connie C. on The Embalmer, Black Jack, and Anesthesiologist Hana (Comics Should Be Good)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 5 of Fullmetal Alchemist (Blogcritics)
Angela Eastman on vol. 2 of Jiu Jiu (The Fandom Post)
Connie C. on Iron Wok Jan, Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture, and Toriko (Comics Should Be Good)
Ken H. on vol. 1 of Kamen Rider (Comics Should Be Good)
Vom Marlowe on vol. 10 of Loveless (The Hooded Utilitarian)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 66 of One Piece (ANN)
Kristin on vols. 11 and 12 of Oresama Teacher (Comic Attack)
Ken H.on Skullman (Comics Should Be Good)
Kristin on Trigun: Multiple Bullets (Comic Attack)

Erica Friedman explains why she is stepping down as Yuricon events chair and giving up on yuri publishing: “I can’t afford print, you don’t want digital, the JP companies won’t talk to me and all the many differences between JP publishers and US fans are so huge and insurmountable. I don’t have the energy or clout or money to bridge the gap.” While this is a loss for readers, Erica will continue promoting yuri manga and blogging at Okazu.

Vertical, which has resisted digital up till now, will make three of its manga series available on several digital platforms: Twin Spica, Drops of God, and 7 Billion Needles, will be available for Kindle, Nook, and iBooks later this year.

The Manga Bookshelf team devotes their Pick of the Week to JManga, with recommendations for those of you who still have some points you want to use before the shopping stops on March 26.

MJ and Michelle Smith chat about Tokyo Babylon, Durarara!! Saika Arc, and Hiroaki Samura’s Emerald in their On the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf.

Lori Henderson and Alex Hoffman discuss the digital Shonen Jump in their He Said, She Said column at Manga Village.

Lori Henderson rounds up some manga about earthquakes at Manga Xanadu.

How do you organize your manga? MJ explains her system, then throws the thread open for others to share how they do it.

News from Japan: Banana Fish creator Akimi Yoshida has received this year’s Manga Taisho award for Umimachi Diary; Kaoru Mori’s A Bride’s Story came in second in the voting. Chitose Get You manga-ka Etsuya Mashima has launched a new series, Zombie-chan, in Shogakukan’s Sunday GX. And ANN has the latest Japanese comics rankings.

Reviews: Ash Brown wraps up a week’s worth of manga reading in one easy-to-digest post at Experiments in Manga. The Manga Bookshelf team keeps it short and sweet with a new Bookshelf Briefs column.

Kate O’Neil on vol. 7 of Afterschool Charisma (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 13 of Arata: The Legend (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Battle Angel Alita: Last Order (omnibus edition) (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 5 of The Betrayal Knows My Name (The Fandom Post)
Matthew Werner on vol. 52 of Bleach (The Fandom Post)
Chris Kirby on vol. 1 of Btooom! (The Fandom Post)
Chris Kirby on vol. 7 of Bunny Drop (The Fandom Post)
Chris Kirby on vol. 4 of Durarara!! (The Fandom Post)
Lori Henderson on vol. 4 of Flowers of Evil (Manga Village)
Daniela Orihuela-Gruber on Hot Steamy Glasses (All About Manga)
Erica Friedman on Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san (Okazu)
Ken H on vol. 1 of Kamen Rider (Comics Should Be Good)
Daniela Orihuela-Gruber on vol. 2 of Kizuna (All About Manga)
Anna N on vol. 9 of Library Wars (Manga Report)
Daniela Orihuela-Gruber on The Man I Picked Up (All About Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 2 of Message to Adolf (Comics Worth Reading)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Neon Genesis Evangelion (omnibus edition) (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Chris Beveridge on vol. 3 of Paradise Kiss (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 11 of Rin-ne (The Comic Book Bin)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1 and 2 of Soul Eater Not (Manga Xanadu)
Lori Henderson on Start with a Happy Ending (Manga Village)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Strobe Edge (Blogcritics)
Drew McCabe on vols. 13 and 14 of Toriko (Comic Attack)
Sean Gaffney on Trigun: Multiple Bullets (A Case Suitable for Treatment)

I weighed in on the demise of JManga at MTV Geek. Sean Gaffney works through several of the stages of grief, while Lori Henderson discusses JManga’s good and bad points and speculates on what may have gone wrong. At The Digital Reader, Nate Hoffelder argues that publishers who use DRM are punishing their paying customers (like the people who are about to lose the comics they thought they purchased). Lissa Pattillo compares JManga to other digital manga services and points out some of the flaws at Kuriousity.

I looked over the past week’s new manga at MTV Geek, and Lissa Pattillo tackled the list as well at her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA.

Jason Thompson takes a look at Black Lagoon in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

The local paper interviews Chris Beveridge, the guy behind the anime/manga blog The Fandom Post.

Reviews

Connie on vols. 3 and 4 of Ai no Kusabi (Slightly Biased Manga)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on Apartments of Calle Feliz and Yakuza Cafe (All About Manga)
Connie on vol. 15 of Bakuman (Slightly Biased Manga)
Ash Brown on vol. 19 of Blade of the Immortal (Experiments in Manga)
Manjiorin on vol. 1 of Blood-C (Organization ASG)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on Caramel (All About Manga)
Erica Friedman on the March issue of Comic Yuri Hime (Okazu)
Justin on chapters 22, 23, and 24 of Cross Manage (Organization ASG)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 3 of A Devil and Her Love Song (Blogcritics)
Connie on vol. 6 of A Devil and Her Love Song (Slightly Biased Manga)
Drew McCabe on vol. 23 of D.Gray-Man (Comic Attack)
Connie on vol. 6 of Dogs (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of His Favorite (I Reads You)
Connie on I Love You, Chief Clerk! (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 5 of Kamisama Kiss (Blogcritics)
Jocelyne Allen on vol. 8 of Kaze to Ki no Uta (Song of the Wind and Trees) (Brain Vs. Book)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on vol. 1 of Kizuna (All About Manga)
Anna N on vol. 1 of Knights of Sidonia (Manga Report)
Connie on Laugh Under the Sun (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of Limit (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 2 of Lizzie Newton: Victorian Mysteries (Comics Worth Reading)
Connie on vol. 1 of Neon Genesis Evangelion (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on New Beginnings (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sweetpea on Oresama Teacher (Organization ASG)
Kristin on vol. 14 of Otomen (Comic Attack)
Matt Cycyk on Planetes (Matt Talks About Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 11 of Rosario + Vampire: Season II (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on vol. 6 of Sailor Moon (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 9 of Sailor Moon (Blogcritics)
Daniela Orihuela-Gruber on Same Difference (All About Manga)
Connie on vol. 2 of Strobe Edge (Slightly Biased Manga)
Anna N on vol. 3 of Strobe Edge (Manga Report)
Katherine Hanson on A Transparent Orange in the Lip (Yuri no Boke)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 5 of Tsubasa (Blogcritics)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 16 of Vampire Knight (The Comic Book Bin)
Justin on chapters 3, 4, and 5 of World Trigger (Organization ASG)

Wow! An e-mail came in overnight from JManga, saying they are shutting down as of May 30. They have already stopped selling points, but users can buy manga with their existing points through March 26. Unused points will be refunded in the form of Amazon gift cards. Details are here, and I’ll be back with analysis later.

Daniella Orihuela-Gruber bought a big stack of manga at DMP’s Warehouse Sale, and she’s reading—and blogging about—one volume at a time, mixing her opinions of the books with commentary on the genre and common yaoi tropes. Here are her first four: All Nippon Air Lines, Ambiguous Relationship, Affair, and Secretary’s Job?

At Kuriousity, Lissa Pattillo opens up the swag bag and shows us her latest purchases.

News from Japan: Eiichiro Oda is taking a week off from One Piece due to illness. Highschool of the Dead will be back in the next issue of Dragon Age. Negima creator Ken Akamatsu has a new series in the works, as does Blade of the Immortal creator Hiroaki Samura. Boys Over Flowers manga-ka Yuko Kamio is starting a new series, Ibara no Kanmuri (Crown of Thorns), starting in the May issue of Bessatsu Margaret. Also coming to Bessatsu Margaret: Stand Up!, by Chocolate Underground manga-ka Aiji Yamakawa. With the release of volume 12, there are now 10 million copies of Yotsuba&! in print.

The strange saga of the Kuroko’s Basketball threats continues: Studio You, which organizes Kuroko’s Basketball doujinshi events, cancelled an event that was scheduled for April 7 in Osaka, but they have announced another one that will take place on April 21 in Shizuoka. Someone has been sending threatening letters to manga-ka Tadatoshi Fujimaki and venues associated with the manga, and at least one of them may have contained a potentially lethal chemical.

Reviews: Carlo Santos brings us up to date on recent releases in his Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Ash Brown takes us through the past week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Katherine Hanson on vol. 1 of Ameiro Kochakan Kandan (Yuri no Boke)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 18 of Bakuman (Comics Worth Reading)
Ash Brown on vol. 11 of Death Note (Experiments in Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vols. 1 and 2 of Demon Love Spell (Comics Worth Reading)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 11 of Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden (The Comic Book Bin)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 21 of Hayate the Combat Butler (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 9 of Psyren (The Comic Book Bin)
Helen on vols. 2-8 of Sailor Moon (Narrative Investigations)
Leroy Douresseaux on Three Wolves Mountain (I Reads You)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Tokyo Babylon (Comics Worth Reading)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 2 of Triage X (The Fandom Post)

We lost one of the pioneers of the manga industry last week when Toren Smith passed away at the too-young age of 52. Smith was the founder of Studio Proteus and one of the first manga entrepreneurs in the U.S. Here’s a roundup of remembrances and obituaries from around the internet:

Jonathan Clements, Toren Smith, 1960-2013: Remembering one of the prime movers of modern manga (Manga UK)
Mike Toole, Mr. Smith Goes to Osaka (ANN)
Mike Hansen, Toren Smith (All Day Comics)
Chris Warner, A Tribute to Toren Smith (Dark Horse)
Ryan Sands, Toren Smith RIP (1960-2013) (awesome cover gallery) (Same Hat!)
Scott Green, Manga Translator Toren Smith Passes Away (Crunchyroll)
Andy Khouri, Pioneering Manga Translator Toren Smith Passes Away at 52 (Comics Alliance)
James Hudnall, Toren and I: 1987 (photos) (James Hudnall)
Toren’s Barnes & Noble author page

I’m playing a bit of catch-up with the news, after a busy week and an unexpectedly heavy snowstorm. (The bad part: I had to go to work on my day off. The cool part: I rode to work in a snowplow.) Here’s a quick roundup, and I’ll have more tomorrow.

The Manga Bookshelf team discuss their Pick of the Week in print manga and look over this week’s new releases in print and the latest batch at JManga. I made my picks from the past week’s new releases at MTV Geek, and Lissa Pattillo does the same in her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA.

Erica Friedman has the latest episode of Yuri Network News for us at Okazu.

Reviews

Johanna Draper Carlson on Beautiful Creatures: The Manga (Comics Worth Reading)
John Rose on vol. 12 of Black Butler (The Fandom Post)
Rebecca Silverman on Danza (ANN)
Sakura Eries on vol. 11 of Dengeki Daisy (The Fandom Post)
Rebecca Silverman on vols. 5 and 6 of A Devil and Her Love Song (ANN)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 8 of Dorohedoro (The Fandom Post)
Josh Begley on Emerald and Other Stories (The Fandom Post)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Girl Friends: The Complete Collection (Okazu)
Rebecca Silverman on Good-Bye Geist (ANN)
Michael Buntag on vol. 8 of Honey and Clover (NonSensical Words)
Rebecca Silverman on vols. 2 and 3 of Jiu Jiu (ANN)
Rebecca Silverman on Kaoru Mori: Anything and Something (ANN)
Steve Bennett on The Misfortune of Kyon and Koizumi (ICv2)
Carlo Santos on vol. 12 of Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan (ANN)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 9 of Omamori Himari (The Fandom Post)
Nicholas Smith on chapter 701 of One Piece (Kaleo)
Sakura Eries on vol. 9 of Oresama Teacher (The Fandom Post)
Chris Beveridge on vol. 13 of Pandora Hearts (The Fandom Post)
Erica Friedman on vol. 9 of Pure Yuri Anthology, Hirari (Okazu)
Carlo Santos on vol. 8 of Psyren (ANN)
Mark Thomas on vol. 8 of Raiders (The Fandom Post)
Josh Begley on vol. 3 of Tale of the Waning Moon (The Fandom Post)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 3 of Until Death Do Us Part (The Fandom Post)

I talked to Kevin Hamric, director of publishing, marketing, and sales for Viz Media, about his company’s digital program and the logistics of simultaneous U.S./Japan publication of Shonen Jump. Lori Henderson responds by calling on Viz to offer digital manga on 10″ Android tablets.

Viz has been busy lately. Last week, they announced two new box sets, the full run of Bakuman (vols. 1-20 plus the mini-comic Otter #11 and a poster) and the first 23 volumes of One Piece. If you like your manga all in one place these are the products for you; both will be out next fall. Another fall release is an updated My Neighbor Totoro artbook and a new novel, marking the 25th anniversary of Hayao Miyazake’s film.

Reset your bookmarks: Erica Friedman has moved Okazu to its own domain! Go pay her a visit in the new digs, and savor the design by Kuriousity’s Lissa Pattillo. While you’re there, check out her most recent Yuri Network News post.

The Manga Bookshelf bloggers discuss their Pick of the Week.

At Heart of Manga, Laura looks forward to the new shoujo volumes coming in March.

Reviews: Check out the latest round of Bookshelf Briefs at Manga Bookshelf.

Kristin on vols. 1 and 2 of 07-Ghost (Comic Attack)
Anna on vol. 1 of Alice in the Country of Joker: Circus and Liar’s Game (Manga Report)
L.B. Bryant on vol. 1 of Barrage (ICv2)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Barrage (I Reads You)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 8 of Cross Game (Comics Worth Reading)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of Demon Love Spell (The Comic Book Bin)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 8 of Dorohedoro (The Comic Book Bin)
Lori Henderson on vols. 3 and 4 of Durarara!! (Manga Xanadu)
Sean Gaffney on Emerald and Other Stories (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Erica Friedman on vol. 17 of Hayate x Blade (Okazu)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 21 of Hayate the Combat Butler (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 21 of Hayate the Combat Butler (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on Message to Adolf, Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms, and Barefoot Gen (Comics Should Be Good)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 14 of Otomen (The Comic Book Bin)
Serdar Yegulalp on vols. 2 and 3 of Paradise Kiss (Genji Press)
Anna on vol. 30 of Skip Beat (Manga Report)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 3 of Strobe Edge (Comics Worth Reading)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 11 of Tenjho Tenge (Full Contact Edition) (The Comic Book Bin)
Ken Haley on vol. 2 of Trigun (Comics Should Be Good)