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Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

emanga

Eat for Your Life vol. 1

September 9, 2013 by Anna N

eatforyourlife

Eat for Your Life Volume 1 by Shigeru Tsuchiyama

This book is available on emanga.com

I do enjoy food manga now and then, and since unfortunately this is a genre that we only get a small sampling of here I’m always interested in a new title. While there are plenty of manga that I’ve read devoted to particular dishes or types of food, eating with friends, or in the case of Toriko eating incredibly weird things, this is the first eating competition manga that I’ve read. I found the combination of sports manga plot structure and endless drawings of bowls of katsudon compelling.

Ohara is a salaryman with a reputation as a gourmet. Perpetually broke due to his habit of going on food tours, he stumbles across an eating competition and decides to try his luck. Ohara fails, but he catches the eye of a professional food competitor named George. I could tell at a glance that George was going to be Ohara’s eccentric mentor because he was wearing a fringed leather jacket, sunglasses, and a ponytail. George appreciates Ohara’s ability to savor what he is eating as well as his rudimentary but sound eating technique.

Ohara begins to be pulled into the world of competative eating, but with some informal coaching from George, he might be ready to take his love of eating to the next level. The situations and characters in Eat For Your Life follow the “try your best” theme of most sports manga, except here one tries to conquer insane serving amounts of food as opposed to facing an opponent on the sports field. Eat For Your Life was amusing. The art was well executed, but not particularly distinctive, and there wwas a decent amount of humor as Ohara reacts with a rookie’s amazement to the world of competitive eating. I recommended this title for foodie manga fans.

Electronic access provided by the publisher.

Filed Under: REVIEWS Tagged With: digital manga publishing, dmg, emanga

Weekly Astro Boy Magazine Vol. 1

June 19, 2013 by Anna N

Weekly Astro Boy Magazine Vol. 1

I was intrigued when Emanga.com announced that they would be releasing an Astro Boy magazine. I’m feeling a bit nostalgic for manga magazines at this point, with the demise of print anthologies. I’ve read some Tezuka, but I’m definitely not familiar with all of his works. The magazine format for Tezuka works very well, because his art and storytelling style varies so much with the titles presented in the magazine, it is interesting to compare and contrast the differences between his different titles in this format.

I haven’t read much Astro Boy before, but the storyline for inclusion in the first issue of this manga magazine is a strong one, as it is “The Greatest Robot on Earth,” where the robot Pluto created to battle all the other great robots that exist, until he is hailed as the supreme robot. This storyline is what Naoki Urasawa used for his manga series Pluto. Astro Boy tangles with Pluto for a little bit, but his creator calls him off. Astro Boy responds to the existence of the new robot by requesting an upgrade of his own power. Astro Boy really displays the virtue of simplicity. The robot designs are so distinct, and the action in Astro Boy is so clear and easy to follow, it makes me think that some of the detail and opaque action in modern manga has really missed the mark.

Phoenix is the next title featured in this magazine, and this is a real treat because I believe some of the print volumes released by Viz are now out of print. The story comes from the fourth volume of Phoenix, called Karma. It is easy to see why Phoenix is often called Tezuka’s masterwork. This chapter featured the story of a boy who was injured just after being born, becoming a monster due to the harsh treatment from his fellow villagers. He encounters a sculptor in the woods and damages one of his arms. The sculptor finds refuge in a temple and begins to reach a different stage of consciousness as he attempts to take up art again. Reading Phoenix itself is a bit of a philosophical experience, as the characters encounter each other in this fable-like story, with stylized depictions of nature inter cut with both action and personal reflection.

The rest of the book is rounded out by shorter chapters for Dororo and Black Jack. It was a bit difficult for me to get a handle on Dororo just due to the small page count. Black Jack, I automatically read with feelings of affection, because the two-fisted surgeon is one of my favorite Tezuka characters. Overall, I really enjoyed the opportunity to read different Tezuka works back to back. It is a bit different than diving into a full volume of manga, but it really gives the reader an appreciation for the variations in art and theme that is expressed in Tezuka’s manga. This is definitely worth checking out if you don’t have an extensive Astro Boy collection and especially if you want an accessible way of reading Phoenix.

Electronic access provided by the publisher

Filed Under: REVIEWS Tagged With: digital manga publishing, emanga, Osamu Tezuka

BLU comes to eManga

October 14, 2010 by MJ 1 Comment

Fans of boys’ love manga will be excited to know that twelve titles from BLU Manga, TOKYOPOP’s BL line, are now available at eManga.com, Digital Manga Publishing’s online portal. According to a press release sent out today by eManga, the titles will be available for $5.99 apiece, significantly cheaper than the $14.99 price of BLU print volumes.

A quick login to the eManga website proves this to be true, though it’s important to note that eManga “points” are sold in set increments, and a purchase of $10.00 worth (1000 points) is necessary to obtain the $5.99 price. Interestingly, BLU titles are available only to “keep,” the eManga equivalent of permanent ownership, and not to “read” for a one-time rental fee.

Though the press release refers to this new arrangement as a “partnership” between TOKYOPOP and Digital Manga Publishing, there is no precise mention of whether additional BLU titles may soon be available as well.

Current titles up for sale include some Manga Bookshelf favorites, such as Calling (Miu Otsuki) and Blood Honey (Sakyou Yozukura). For a full list of titles, check out the new BLU page at eManga.com!

Filed Under: NEWS Tagged With: BLU, emanga, yaoi/boys' love

Harlequin manga comes to eManga.com!

December 4, 2009 by MJ 1 Comment

Earlier this year, I took a tour of eManga.com and though my experience was overall a very positive one, the one thing I wished for was more content. Well, it looks like DMP is making that wish come true, though time will tell if this is content I’ll truly enjoy. Never having been a fan of Harlequin romances, my immediate reaction was on the negative side, but that judgement is far from fair. I’ve never read any Harlequin manga and it’s only right that I give it a shot! With eManga’s recently announced weekend promo (thanks, Michelle!) this is surely the time to start!

Regardless of my own tastes, it seems likely that this is a good move for eManga. With their primary focus being boys’ love manga, romance is clearly key and I’d expect the audiences for both types of romance to overlap quite a bit. For more insight, you may want to take a look at reviews from those who have been reading Harlequin manga, like Julie at Manga Maniac Cafe, Bamboo Dong at Anime News Network, and Craig Johnson at Manga Life. Meanwhile, check out DMP’s press release for more details:…

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Filed Under: NEWS Tagged With: emanga, harlequin, oel manga

Shopping eManga

August 18, 2009 by MJ 19 Comments

ilgattosulg1It was almost two months ago, when I first started reviewing some DMP titles here, that the folks behind eManga.com asked if I’d review the website itself. Now that I’ve finally taken a good look at the place, I’m sorry it took me so long. With a few small caveats, my experience was very positive and I even discovered some new series I’d like to follow.

The general setup is similar to another pay-to-read website, NETCOMICS, with a few significant differences. While NETCOMICS charges a small fee (25 cents) per chapter for a 48-hour period (with no option to buy long-term), eManga charges by the volume–between 200 points (approximately $2) and 600 points (or less, if one takes advantage of their current sale), depending on the series. Manga released on their June imprint seems to be the cheapest, followed by 801 Media, with titles from DMP’s primary imprint coming in on top. Single volumes can be “rented” for a 72-hour period or purchased (not for download, but for unlimited online access) for an additional fee. Anything rented for a second time is automatically considered a lifetime purchase. Though the price per volume is nicely affordable, it should be mentioned that the minimum purchase is 500 points, so if you’re only interested in one low-price volume, there’s no way to buy only that.

…

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Filed Under: FEATURES Tagged With: DMP, emanga, manga, yaoi/boys' love

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