MangaBlog

The manga scene has been busy lately, and over at MTV Geek I posted about Viz’s new shoujo licenses and Kodansha’s announcements as well as this week’s new manga releases. What’s more, Animate USA has added three new titles to its lineup for the Kindle, including NightS, a one-shot by Kou Yoneda; vol. 9 of Kiss Ariki, by Youka Nitta; and a special Finder episode, “Viewfinder: Hard-Working Cameraman Akihito Takaba’s Romantic Life as an Indentured Servant.”

Lissa Pattillo gives her take on the latest batch of manga in her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA, and at Kuriousity she has some notes on another new license, One Peace Books’ edition of Crayon Shin-chan.

Sean Gaffney looks ahead to the manga that will be coming out next week.

Kate Dacey continues the Manga Moveable Feast at The Manga Critic, with roundups of links from days three, four, and five, all discussing Viz’s Signature manga, and she rounds it out with her own post on seven essential Signature manga. And at Slightly Biased Manga, Connie’s latest license request is a yuri romance that runs in Ikki, Gunjo.

Hunter x Hunter gets the Jason Thompson treatment in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

Daniella Orihuela-Gruber thinks Viz should pep up its Signature line by marketing more aggressively to comics shops, which seems about right—Dark Horse has had a lot of success with this tactic.

News from Japan: Deb Aoki notes that Moto Hagio has been awarded the Japan Medal of Honor; she is the first female manga-ka to be so recognized. Tomo Kimura shows off some of Koge-Donbo’s omake about how she met her husband. GTO creator Tohru Fujisawa has a food manga in the works. Paging Ed Chavez! Ghost Talker’s Daydream creator Saki Okuse is launching a new series in the next issue of Comic Gum, and Xenon manga-ka Masaomi Kanazaki also has a new series, this one in Akita Shoten’s Play Comic.

Reviews

Kristin on vol. 20 of 20th Century Boys (Comic Attack)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Bokurano: Ours and vol. 5 of Biomega (Manga Xanadu)
Connie on Boyfriend Next Door (Slightly Biased Manga)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 3 of A Bride’s Story (ANN)
Ash Brown on vol. 1 of Dorohedoro (Experiments in Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 23 of Excel Saga (The Comic Book Bin)
Kristin on vol. 6 of House of Five Leaves (Comic Attack)
Kate Dacey on I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow (The Manga Critic)
Connie on vol. 9 of InuYasha (VizBig edition) (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 5 of Itsuwaribito (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 12 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of Our Everlasting (Slightly Biased Manga)
TSOTE on vol. 25 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (Three Steps Over Japan)
Connie on vol. 27 of Skip Beat! (Slightly Biased Manga)

Kodansha made news this week with their announcement of three new licenses: Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, Ema Toyama’s Missions of Love (Watashi ni xx Shinasai!), and Natsume Ono’s Danza. Natsume Ono!

Meanwhile, in her Yuri Network News column, Erica Friedman lets slip that ALC Publishing is finishing work on Kimi no Tame nara Shineru, a yuri 4-koma comic that breaks new ground—it’s actually funny.

The Manga Bookshelf bloggers debate their Pick of the Week. Also at Manga Bookshelf: MJ, Sean Gaffney, and Michelle Smith look over some paper-free manga in their latest Going Digital column and Erica Friedman takes a look at the manga magazine IKKI.

In the same vein, Three Steps Over Japan takes a look at Comic Beam.

Kate Dacey is hosting this month’s Manga Moveable Feast, which features Viz Signature manga, at The Manga Critic, and she already has an introduction link roundups for day one and day two.

Issue 10 of the online manga magazine GEN is up!

MJ brings back her Manhwa Monday feature, because suddenly there’s news!

Matt Blind lists the manga best-sellers from early March as well as a new Manga Radar post.

Khursten Santos takes a look at the Filipino-language manga scene at Otaku Champloo.

Lissa Pattillo opens up the Swag Bag after a bit of a hiatus and chats about her recent purchases.

News from Japan: Shonen Jump will publish a “chapter 0” of Rurouni Kenshin, and there’s going to be a Kenshin smartphone app as well. Manga-ka Leiji Matsumoto and Tetsuya Chiba have joined a study group formed by the Democratic Party of Japan to promote the popularity of manga overseas. Girls High has moved from Comic Sumomo to Comic High! One-shots are in the works from Bokurano creator Mohiro Kitoh and Samurai Gun manga-ka Kazuhiro Kumagai.

Reviews: Carlo Santos rounds up his take on some recent releases in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Ash Brown has the weekly report at Manga Worth Reading. The Manga Bookshelf team starts the week with a new round of Bookshelf Briefs.

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 20 of 20th Century Boys (The Comic Book Bin)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vols. 1 and 2 of A Devil and Her Love Song (Comics Worth Reading)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Dorohedoro (Manga Xanadu)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 6 of Dorohedoro (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Durarara!! (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Ken Haley on vols. 5 and 6 of Erementar Gerad (Sequential Ink)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 18 of Higurashi: When They Cry (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kate Dacey on Love Song (The Manga Critic)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 2 of One Piece (Blogcritics)
Erica Friedman on Pie wo Agemassho, Anata ni Pie wo ne (Okazu)
Jason Wilkins on Rohan at the Louvre (Broken Frontier)
Philip Anthony on vol. 3 of Sailor Moon (Manga Bookshelf)
L.C. Moran on vols. 1-3.5 of I Married an Anti-Fan (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Connie on vol. 8 of Toriko (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 3 of Twin Spica (Blogcritics)
Connie on Working Kentauros (Slightly Biased Manga)

Kate Dacey has some good news: JManga has rescued some former Tokyopop titles, including Your and My Secret and Tactics (both originally licensed by ADV), Animal Academy: Hakabune Hakusho, The Good Witch of the West, and Monochrome Factor.

And Deb Aoki has some background on Viz’s new shoujo titles, Strobe Edge and Demon Love Spell.

At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie continues her look at the Eroicaverse with a discussion of the character known as Z.

Justin reports on the industry panels at Anime Boston at Organization Anti-Social Geniuses.

Tom Good files his con report on Sakura-Con at the Journal of the Lincoln Heights Literary Society.

News from Japan: The winners of the Osamu Tezuka Awards have been announced; the grand prize went to Hitoshi Iwaaki’s Historie, and the judges awarded a special prize to a single copy of Shonen Jump that was shared by over 100 children after the March 11 earthquake. After Silver Spoon, by Fullmetal Alchemist creator Hiromu Arakawa, won the Manga Taisho award, the publisher went back to press and printed an additional 1 million copies.

Reviews:

Ash Brown on vol. 8 of Blade of the Immortal (Experiments in Manga)
Connie on vol. 37 of Bleach (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of Blood Blockade Battlefront (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 3 of Claymore (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kristin on vol. 7 of Cross Game (Comic Attack)
Kristin on vol. 3 of Dawn of the Arcana (Comic Attack)
Lesley Aeschliman on FLCL Omnibus (Blogcritics)
Connie on Golgo 13: Hopper the Border (Slightly Biased Manga)
Shannon Fay on vol. 3 of Higurashi When They Cry: Atonement Arc (Kuriousity)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 17 of Higurashi When They Cry (ANN)
Jocelyne Allen on Hyouge Mono (Brain Vs. Book)
Michelle Smith on vols. 5 and 6 of Kamisama Kiss, vols. 5 and 6 of Oresama Teacher, and vols. 25 and 26 of Skip Beat! (Soliloquy in Blue)
Justin on vol. 3 of No Longer Human (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
J. Caleb Mozzocco on vol. 1 of Princess Knight (Every Day Is Like Wednesday)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 7 of Ranma 1/2 (Blogcritics)
Sweetpea616 on vols. 1-3 of Sailor Moon (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
TSOTE on vol. 24 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (Three Steps Over Japan)
Connie on vol. 17 of Slam Dunk (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kristin on vol. 9 of Tegami Bachi (Comic Attack)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 6 of Tenjho Tenge (omnibus edition) (The Comic Book Bin)
Lesley Aeschilman on vol. 2 of Twin Spica (Blogcritics)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Voltron Force: Shelter from the Storm (The Comic Book Bin)
Anna on Working Kentauros (Manga Report)
Connie on vol. 5 of Ze (Slightly Biased Manga)

Johanna Draper Carlson takes a look at the Yen Press manga that are due out this week. Lissa Pattillo checks out all this week’s new releases in her latest On the Shelf column for Otaku USA. The Manga Bookshelf bloggers make their picks from this week’s shipment to Midtown Comics, and Sean Gaffney skips right ahead to next week and looks at the new manga releases for April 25.

At The Manga Critic, Kate Dacey highlights some new additions to Viz’s digital lineup.

Daniella Orihuela-Gruber writes about the perfect manga editing scenario and the extremely imperfect scenarios that are becoming more and more the norm.

April is Prevention of Cruelty to Animals month, and Lori Henderson takes the opportunity to highlight manga that deal with the mistreatment of animals.

News from Japan: Bakuman will come to an end in next week’s issue of Shonen Jump, and the 20th volume will be out in July. Creators Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata told their readers to look forward to their next work, which suggests that there will be a next work to look forward to. Natsume Ono has drawn a short promotional manga for an online site. Stepping on Roses manga-ka Rinko Ueda is drawing a two-part story for the manga anthology You. Kazume Kawahara (High School Debut) is the writer for the new series Ore Monogatari!! for Bessatsu Margaret. The last volume of the D.C. II ~Da Capo II~ spinoff manga A.C.D.C. II will be published this week.

Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf team files the latest set of Bookshelf Briefs. Kristin posts some short takes on recent Digital Manga Guild releases at Comic Attack. Ash Brown looks back at another week of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Connie on vol. 18 of 20th Century Boys (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 4 of Ai Ore! (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1-10 of Antique Gift Shop (Manga Xanadu)
Connie on The Apartments of Calle Feliz (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kate Dacey on The Apartments of Calle Feliz (The Manga Critic)
Anna on vols. 11 and 12 of Basara (Manga Report)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 5 of Bunny Drop (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 5 of Bunny Drop (ANN)
Connie on vol. 4 of Cross Game (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 6 of Cross Game (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 7 of Cross Game (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 6 of Dorohedoro (The Comic Book Bin)
Ken Haley on vols. 3 and 4 of Erementar Gerade (Sequential Ink)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 23 of Excel Saga (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 5 of House of Five Leaves (Slightly Biased Manga)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Is This a Zombie? (ANN)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 5 of Itsuwaribito (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on vol. 6 of Maoh: Juvenile Remix (Slightly Biased Manga)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 4 of Negima (omnibus edition) (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Connie on Open the Door to Your Heart (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on vol. 9 of Sasamekikoto (Okazu)

It’s been busy around here lately: PWCW just published my interview with Makoto Tateno as well as my article about being an Eisner judge—in case you haven’t figured it out, that’s what I was doing when I disappeared a few weeks ago. This week I’m out in Chicago for C2E2, which is why posting has been spotty of late. Next week we’ll be back to normal.

After a weekend of new license announcements, we have another one this week: The small publisher One Peace books has picked up Crayon Shin-Chan, which makes the third time this series has been licensed (first by Comics One, then by CMX). One Peace will also release some manga adaptations of classic works of literature (Don Quixote, Ulysses, Moby-Dick) that were originally published by Variety Art Works.

ANN rounds up the latest additions to JManga’s digital lineup, including new manga by set em and Takao Saito.

Sean Gaffney takes a look ahead to next week’s new manga releases.

AstroNerdBoy looks at the drop in manga sales and blames it more on the economy, high prices, and a dearth of legitimate digital alternatives than on piracy.

Kodansha has announced the winners of its Morning International Manga Competition. The grand prize winner is Demi-Human Symbiosis, by Taiwan’s Ya Shen, and the second prize went to Over the Rainbow, by Brazilian artist Maguinha.

Vol. 4 of Sailor Moon and vol. 55 of Naruto placed second and third on BookScan’s list of the top 20 graphic novels sold in bookstores.

Sara K. presents another look at the Condor Trilogy manhua at Manga Bookshelf.

News from Japan: Black Jack Sōsakuhiwa, manga biography of Osamu Tezuka, focusing on the creation of Black Jack, will debut in the June 12 issue of Bessatsu Shonen Champion.

Reviews: Carlo Santos delivers the verdict on a handful of recent titles in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Ash Brown recount’s a week’s worth of reading at Experiments in Manga. MJ and Michelle Smith find plenty to squee about in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf.

Connie on 100 Blossoms to Love (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 20 of 20th Century Boys (Comics Worth Reading)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 3 of A Bride’s Story (Comics Worth Reading)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of A Devil and Her Love Song (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 23 of Excel Saga (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 23 of Excel Saga (The Fandom Post)
Rob McMonigal on issue 2 of Gen (Panel Patter)
Lori Henderson on vols. 9 and 10 of Honey and Clover (Manga Xanadu)
Zack Davisson on Ichiro (Japan Reviewed)
Kristin on vol. 8 of Kamisama Kiss and vol. 7 of Oresama Teacher (Comic Attack)
Annaon vols. 12 and 13 of Kimi ni Todoke (Manga Report)
Erica Friedman on vol. 7 of Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari (Okazu)
Ash Brown on Rohan at the Louvre (Experiments in Manga)
Connie on vol. 3 of Saturn Apartments (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 7 of Tegami Bachi (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kristin on vol. 8 of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (Comic Attack)

This was a busy weekend, with Sakura Con on the West Coast and Anime Boston out East, and publishers at both cons had some new licenses to announce. Sean Gaffney has a good roundup; here are the highlights:

As we noted on Friday, Vertical announced it had rescued Ai Yazawa’s Paradise Kiss, originally published by Tokyopop.

Yen Press announced Thermae Romae, Kaoru Mori’s Anything and Something (a book of short stories), Umineko When They Cry (a sequel to Higurashi When They Cry), Blood Lad, Alice in the Country of Hearts: My Fanatic Rabbit, The Misfortune of Kyon and Koizumi (a Haruhi spinoff), and Triage X, by the creator of Highschool of the Dead.

Dark Horse’s new announcements included Oreimo/My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute, Blood-C (based on the anime), Evangelion: Comic Tribute, Emerald and Other Stories (by Blade of the Immortal manga-ka Hiroaki Samura), and a novel by Yoshitaka Amano, Deva Zan.

For those who are fascinated by process, MJ describes her work as an editor for the Digital Manga Guild. MJ is very articulate, so I’m sure she is a good editor, but Digital has is no managing editor supervising her work, nor is there a proofreader checking it, which is troubling.

Kristin picks the manga highlights from the April Previews at Comic Attack.

Connie puts the artist spotlight on BL manga-ka Toko Kawai.

Lori Henderson celebrates Easter with some manga that feature eggs.

Reviews

Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 10 of Bakuman (Comics Worth Reading)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 10 of Bakuman (The Comic Book Bin)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 39 of Bleach (The Comic Book Bin)
Drew McCabe on Dororo (Comic Attack)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 12 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (Comics Worth Reading)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 4 of Sailor Moon (Blogcritics)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 27 of Skip Beat! (A Case Suitable for Treatment)

Big licensing news today: Vertical announced they will be publishing Ai Yazawa’s Paradise Kiss. The five-volume series was originally published in the U.S. by Tokyopop, and marketing director Ed Chavez Tweeted that Vertical will publish it as three 300-page volumes with color plates, new covers, and a new translation.

JManga announced a number of new releases for next week, including three by est em that have already been published in English: Age Called Blue, Red Blinds the Foolish, and Seduce Me After the Show. They are also having a big Takao Saito promotion, with six new volumes up this week and a 100-point rebate on all purchases of works by the Golgo 13 creator.

Jason Thompson checks out Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN:

In a manga world where every artist tries hard to create the most memorable character with the craziest hair, Black Jack is an icon among icons. That scar. That hair (too bad it’s often concealed under a surgical cap). That suit. That job. It’s nothing special to have a hero that looks like a villain, but it’s incredibly rare to have a hero whose power doesn’t involve killing; the opposite, in fact. Black Jack, the outlaw doctor, has waded through as much blood as anybody, but he only cuts people open to make them better.

Erica Friedman reports in from Yaoi and Yuri Con (YaYCon) in the Netherlands.

Feast your eyes on Morgan’s wonderful, and wonderfully organized, manga collection at The Manga Critic.

Sara K. has some more lovely manhua goodness from The Condor Trilogy at Manga Bookshelf.

News from Japan: Manga-ka Oh! Great is winding up Air Gear after just five more chapters. Yumeiro Pâtissière returns for a one-shot in Ribon magazine.

Job board: Viz is looking for interns.

Reviews

Kelakagandy on vol. 7 of Arisa (kelakagandy’s ramblings)
Anna on vols. 1-3 of Cousin (Manga Report)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of The Earl and the Fairy (The Manga Critic)
Milo on vols. 1 and 2 of The Monkey King (Blog of the North Star)
Snow Wildsmith on vol. 1 of Skip Beat! (omnibus edition) (ICv2)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 21 of Slam Dunk (The Comic Book Bin)
Lissa Pattillo on Sun Fish Moon Fish (Kuriousity)
TSOTE on Tousei Gensou Hakubutsushi (Three Steps Over Japan)

The big news of the week is that the Eisner nominations are out. I won’t have too much to say about this because I was one of the judges who helped choose them this year, except to say that it was an honor to serve and that the manga category was exceptionally strong this year. Of course, the real reason such awards exist is for people to argue about what is and isn’t on the list, and which book should be the winner, and Kate Dacey is offering a manga-focused open thread for just that at The Manga Critic. At About.com, Deb Aoki notes that this year marks the third nomination for 20th Century Boys and the sixth year that Naoki Urasawa has been nominated.

Lissa Pattillo makes her recommendations from this week’s new manga releases in her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA. Sean Gaffney looks at next week’s new manga but he has to work hard to see anything beyond vol. 23 of Excel Saga.

Yen Press is having a Black Butler giveaway; “like” their Facebook page and you could win a copy of the Black Butler anime or manga.

News from Japan: A magazine is born: Akita Shoten’s Shonen Champion magazine announced the launch of Bessatsu Shonen Champion on June 12.

Reviews

Matthew Warner on vol. 13 of Black Bird (The Fandom Post)
Zack Davisson on Breathe Deeply (Japan Reviewed)
Paige McKee on vol. 4 of Deltora Quest (Sequential Tart)
Anna on vol. 9 of Dengeki Daisy (Manga Report)
James Bacon on vol. 1 of Soulless (Forbidden Planet)

This is a really good week for new manga releases, and I picked the best of the best at MTV Geek.

Also at MTV Geek, check out Battle Arena Otaku Fight! Fight, which pits your favorite characters of manga, anime, and film against each other in a bracket-style tournament—it’s like March Madness only interesting. Mameshiba or Totoro? Speed Racer or Kamen Rider? Sailor Moon or Hatsune Miku? (Is that even a contest?) Only the strong will survive, so go check it out and vote for your favorites.

Blue Exorcist was the top pick in Deb Aoki’s Readers Choice Manga Awards; click through to see the winners in all the categories.

Shaenon Garrity is calling for more cat manga, and she has put together her own catalog for the publishers’ convenience.

Chris Sims looks at some ersatz Batman manga created for the animated cartoon Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Check it out, it’s pretty good!

At Manga Bookshelf, Sara K. is looking at manhua adaptations of the Condor Trilogy. Up this week: Tony Wong’s The Eagle Shooting Heroes. Click for some cool art!

News from Japan: Excel Saga manga-ka Koushi Rikoudou has a new series, Kimi to Batsu (Kari), that will run in Young King Ours starting with the April 28 issue.

Reviews

Connie on Abandoned Cat’s House (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 6 of Dorohedoro (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 3 of The Drops of God (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kristin on vols. 1 and 2 of Gate 7 (Comic Attack)
Connie on vol. 2 of Kiss Blue (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of Scent of Apple Blossoms (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 5 of Tenjho Tenge (omnibus edition) (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 7 of Toriko (Slightly Biased Manga)

Lissa Pattillo has the scoop on two new licenses from Digital, See Me After Class and President Momoi-kun.

MJ discusses her experiences with the Digital Manga Guild at Manga Bookshelf.

The Manga Bookshelf team discusses their Pick of the Week.

News from Japan: The end of the Cyborg 009 story will be made into a manga series, Cyborg 009 Kanketsu-Hen conclusion God’s War, which will run on the Club Sunday website. Translator Tomo Kimura shows off the alternate cover for the Japanese edition of vol. 17 of Pandora Hearts. And Hokkaido launches a Lupin-themed train—autographed by creator Monkey Punch—to boost tourism in the area.

Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf bloggers keep it short and sweet in their latest set of Bookshelf Briefs. Ash Brown discusses a week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Matthew Warner on vol. 2 of @Full Moon (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 7 of Blue Exorcist (The Comic Book Bin)
Alex Hoffman on The Book of Human Insects (Manga Widget)
Justin on Breathe Deeply (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 5 of Bunny Drop (Comics Worth Reading)
Anna on vol. 2 of A Devil and Her Love Song (Manga Report)
Rob McMonigal on issue 1 of Gen Manga (Panel Patter)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Is This a Zombie? (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Sakura Eries on vol. 9 of Maoh: Juvenile Remix (The Fandom Post)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Mastering Manga with Mark Crilley (Comics Worth Reading)
Matthew Warner on vol. 8 of Rin-ne (The Fandom Post)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 8 of Soul Eater (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Twin Spica (Blogcritics)

Lissa Pattillo picks up on two new Digital Manga licenses that were announced via Facebook and Twitter: Wild Honey and Tender Hearts. And speaking of Lissa, Justin interviewed her at Organization Anti-Social Geniuses.

A member of the Digital Manga Guild group Cynical Pink tries to clarify the situation with regard to the DMG groups, noting that they are all independent and are freelancing for Digital Manga Inc., so dissatisfaction with one should not transfer over to all the others. And here’s some excellent advice:

Readers have commented that the quality of DMG titles can be hit or miss, and with the huge selection of titles available now, it’s difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. To that, I say – PLEASE REVIEW. If one out of every 10 people who read a DMG title left a review on Amazon or B&N or even just on their own blog site (which would then show up in a Google search), then deciding what to read would be that much easier. The localizing group is listed on the credit page of each book. If you find a book you like, look for more by the same group, and vice versa if you unfortunately didn’t like it.

On a more technical note, Erica Friedman explains how manga is produced and how the process differs from other books. The bottom line: Fewer eyes during the editing and production phases results in more typos and clunkier translations in the finished product.

On the latest Manga Out Loud podcast, Ed Sizemore and Johanna Draper Carlson discuss the Jiro Taniguchi MMF, the possible surge of manga sales in comics stores, and the news that Vertical will allow Twin Spica to go out of print.

MJ and Michelle Smith discuss the rather odd vintage manga Moon Child in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf.

Khursten Santos turns the spotlight on BL/josei manga-ka Tomoko Yamashita at Otaku Champloo.

Elisabeth Watson talks to Kurt Hassler about scanlation and its effect on overseas licenses at Publishing Trends:

Hassler argues that rather than “pushing” manga publishing into the digital age, the genre’s robust digital piracy-base has retarded its progress. As if the challenges of image-rich content weren’t enough, Japanese publishers have feared that licensing digital editions internationally is as good as hanging out a “pirates welcome” Jolly Rodger. Consequently, digital rights have been all but impossible for US and other international publishers to negotiate.

At Manga Xanadu, Lori Henderson reviews the April issue of Shonen Jump, which is the final print issue, and she has some thoughts on how Viz handled the digital transition.

Anna is giving away vol. 1 of Toradora at Manga Report; click the link to see how to enter.

News from Japan: Here’s exciting news for those of you who read Japanese (and even those who don’t): A free online version of Hana to Yume. According to the French site Manganews, the site will update every Friday and right now, only series by the younger creators are available online but more are on the way. AstroNerdBoy calls attention to a proposed Japanese copyright law that has some rather alarming provisions—including forcing creators to share copyright with publishers and allowing publishers to shut down doujinshi—and suggests that may be the reason Ken Akamatsu wound up Negima so quickly.

Reviews: Lissa Pattillo links to some short reviews by her and Shannon Fay in their local paper, The Coast.

Page McKee on vol. 6 of Blue Exorcist (Sequential Tart)
Sheena McNeil on vols. 1 and 2 of A Devil and Her Love Song (Sequential Tart)
Kate Dacey on vol. 2 of A Devil and Her Love Song, vol. 3 of Drops of God, and vol. 2 of GTO: 14 Days in Shonan (The Manga Critic)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 3 of Drops of God (Comics Worth Reading)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Gate 7 (Blogcritics)
Margaret O’Connell on In the Bed of My Dear King (Sequential Tart)
Rob McMonigal on vol. 8 of Jormungand (Panel Patter)
Sheena McNeil on vols. 7 and 8 of Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan (Sequential Tart)
Sheena McNeil on vol. 7 of Rosario + Vampire: Season II (Sequential Tart)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 8 of Rosario + Vampire: Season II (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 4 of Sailor Moon (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 7 of Sakura Hime (The Comic Book Bin)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Soulless (Comics Worth Reading)
Wolfen Moondaughter on vol. 7 of Stepping on Roses (Sequential Tart)

Here’s my quick rundown of this week’s new manga releases at MTV Geek. Johanna Draper Carlson and Lissa Pattillo give their takes as well.

Sean Gaffney looks over next week’s new releases at A Case Suitable for Treatment.

JManga announced that they are not stopping at going global–they are going intergalactic! Before our readers on Mars get too excited, though, you should check the date–we are awfully close to April 1. What’s not a joke is their deal on Moritasan Wa Mukuchi—they are giving away the first volume for free to anyone who signs up for a new account or upgrades to a paid subscription by midnight (PST) on April 1. Also new at JManga: Nihongo Corner, a place to buy and read untranslated manga, and a special deal on manga from Shinshokan’s Wings magazine.

Everyone has their biases, and MJ talks about her own preferences when it comes to BL.

In his latest House of 1000 Manga column, Jason Thompson takes a look at one of Naoki Urasawa’s early manga, the first to be translated into English: Pineapple Army.

Deb Aoki alerts us that Chi’s Sweet Home creator Konami Konata is coming to TCAF (the Toronto Comic Arts Festival) this May.

Matt Blind posts a recent list of manga best-sellers (based on online sales) and he also posts a fresh edition of Manga Radar with some added commentary.

Barcelona-based manga fan Sara shows off her collection at The Manga Critic.

To celebrate the coming of spring—and the start of baseball season—Ash Brown is giving away a volume of Cross Game at Experiments in Manga.

Reviews: Omar has some short manga reviews, including the last volume of Twin Spica, at About Heroes. Ash Brown posts My Week in Manga at Experiments in Manga.

Connie on vol. 9 of Bakuman (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 7 of Blue Exorcist (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 9 of Dengeki Daisy (Slightly Biased Manga)
TSOTE on Garouden (Three Steps Over Japan)
Connie on Glass Sky (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kristin on vol. 1 of GTO: 14 Days in Shonan (Comic Attack)
Erica Friedman on Kanojyo no Sekai (Okazu)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 2 of Magic Knight Rayearth (omnibus edition) (Blogcritics)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 8 of Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan (The Comic Book Bin)
Philip Anthony on Sakura Hime (Manga Bookshelf)
Connie on vol. 7 of Sakura Hime (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 3 of Summit of the Gods (Comics Worth Reading)

Hi everyone! I’m back from my trip to an Undisclosed Location—all will be revealed shortly! Thanks to Kate for her able stewardship while I was gone!

I’m a bit late in mentioning this—tomorrow is the last day—but JManga is running a yuri promotion right now: They are giving a 100-point rebate (about a dollar) on each yuri manga, although they only seem to have three. Interestingly, the JManga front page is starting to look like the front of a Japanese manga site, crowded with small banner ads offering various deals (50% off on Tsugumomo!) I like this—it’s not very elegant, but it has a feeling of richness—so many bargains!

In other digital manga news, Khursten Santos reviews Viz’s SigIKKI site, which delivers the goods in every way but one: The manga is free, it’s really good, and it is available worldwide, but the site hasn’t been updated since December, presumably because Viz is shifting its efforts toward its app and VizManga site.

Ed Sizemore wraps up the Manga Moveable Feast, which highlighted the work of Jiro Taniguchi, and he also revisits the question of whether manga can be defined in any strict, formal sense.

Reviews: Anna reviews some Harlequin manga from the JManga site at Manga Report.

Zack Davisson on vol. 1 of .hack//CELL (Japan Reviewed)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 19 of 20th Century Boys (Comics Worth Reading)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 5 of Bunny Drop (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kristin on vols. 8 and 9 of Dengeki Daisy (Comic Attack)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 8 of Kamisama Kiss (The Comic Book Bin)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of One Piece (Blogcritics)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Sand Chronicles (Blogcritics)
TSOTE on vol. 22 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (Three Steps Over Japan)
Erica Friedman on vol. 16 of Tsubomi (Okazu)

It’s almost time for the second annual Aniblog Tourney, in which dozens of anime blogs face off, March Madness style, for the honor of Best Anime Blog. This year, tournament organizers have widened the scope of the contest to include manga blogs as well, explaining that “The anime and manga spheres seem to be very disconnected from each other, so hopefully we can spread some of the readers of anime blogs into reading some manga blogs.”

Over at Manga Worth Reading, Ed Sizemore interviews Fanfare/Ponent Mon publisher Stephen Robson. As Ed notes, Fanfare is responsible for publishing almost 70% of the Jiro Taniguchi titles available in English.

Also at Manga Worth Reading: Ed Sizemore explores Jiro Taniguchi’s artistic influences.

VIZ Media announced that it would be producing an original graphic novel series based on the popular Redakai television series, currently airing on Cartoon Network. Look for the first full-color book in October 2012.

Connie has a licensing request: Setona Mitzushiro’s Heartbroken Chocolatier.

The Manga Bookshelf gang declare Dororo and Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service this week’s must-buy manga.

News from Japan: In a recent interview with Geijutsu Shincho, Katsuhiro Otomo revealed that he is working on his first long series since AKIRA. Otomo was stingy with details, saying only that the story would appear in a shonen magazine.

Reviews: In their latest Going Digital column, MJ and Sean Gaffney review both manga apps and online manga. Over at Experiments in Manga, Ash Brown shares his thoughts on A A’, King of Thorn, and Mister Mistress.

Connie on vol. 3 of Dawn of the Arcana (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on Golgo 13: Ice Lake Hit (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vols. 1-3 of Hana-Kimi (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Rob McMonigal on vol. 8 of Jormungand (Panel Patter)
Sakura Eries on vol. 7 of Oresama Teacher (The Fandom Post)
Matthew Warner on vol. 3 of Psyren (The Fandom Post)
Lori Henderson on The Quest for the Missing Girl (Manga Xanadu)
Rebecca Silverman on vols. 5-6 of Sakura Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura (Anime News Network)
Lori Henderson on Samurai Legend (Manga Xanadu)
Anna on vol. 7 of Stepping on Roses (Manga Report)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 2 of Summit of the Gods (Manga Worth Reading)
Anna on Tenka Ichi!! (Manga Report)
Sean Gaffney on Young Miss Holmes, Casebooks 1-2 (A Case Suitable for Treatment)

Greetings, MangaBlog readers! Brigid is away on a top-secret mission at the moment, so she’s asked me to fill in for her until next week. As always, I’ll do my best to bring you the latest manga news and reviews, but please don’t be shy about pointing me towards articles I’ve missed. The next round-up will be on Monday morning.

New Manga Bookshelf columnist Aja Romano debunks three myths about fan fiction.

Continuing this week’s discussion about where fans buy manga, Matt Blind examines manga lovers’ online shopping habits. His conclusion: Naruto, Bleach, Black Bird, and Sailor Moon are just as popular online as they are in brick-and-mortar stores.

Jason Thompson dedicates his latest House of 1000 Manga column to Kouta Hirano’s Hellsing.

Erica Friedman discusses Monthly Comic Beam, “the magazine for the comic freaks.” (That’s the magazine’s tagline, not Erica’s assessment of it, BTW.)

Say it isn’t so: Vertical, Inc. revealed that the English-language edition of Twin Spica is likely to go out of print due to poor sales.

Self-proclaimed otaku Night Rose shows off her growing manga collection at The Manga Critic.

Over at Manga Worth Reading, Ed Sizemore rounds up the latest contributions to the Jiro Taniguchi Manga Movable Feast. Among the highlights is a thought-provoking essay by Craig Fischer on The Walking Man. “Taniguchi’s art is the antithesis of expressionism: he represents the world with as much objectivity as he can, and the results are both breathtaking (in its cascade of details) and a little abstract, a little detached, not unlike the Walking Man himself,” Fischer explains. “Taniguchi’s art is cool, more like mapmaking than passionate storytelling.”

News from Japan: Hiromu Arakawa has won the fifth annual Taisho Award for Silver Spoon, a shonen manga set an an agricultural school. After a one-year hiatus, Kariko Koyama will resume work on Sheryl: Kiss in the Galaxy, a spin-off of Macross Frontier than ran in Bessatsu Friend.

Reviews: For their latest BL Bookrack column, MJ and Michelle Smith cast a critical eye over four recent releases, including Tweeting Love Birds and You and Tonight.

Carlo Santos on vol. 19 of 20th Century Boys (Anime News Network)
Connie on vol. 4 of Afterschool Charisma (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kristin Bomba on vol. 7 of Butterflies, Flowers (Comic Attack!)
Sheena McNeil on vol. 1 of A Devil and Her Love Song (Sequential Tart)
Ed Sizemore on Koduko no Gourmet (Manga Worth Reading)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 15 of La Corda d’Oro (Anime News Network)
Sheena McNeil on vol. 7 of Rosario + Vampire Season II (Sequential Tart)
Connie on A Single Match (Slightly Biased Manga)
Wolfen Moondaughter on vol. 7 of Stepping on Roses (Sequential Tart)
Connie on Tired of Waiting for Love (Slightly Biased Manga)