Women creators in manga isn’t as an unusual thing as they are here in the US. Over here, publishers have special events to show that women can create comics, while in Japan no one even bats an eye at the idea. With March being Women’s History month, I thought I would highlight some of the women manga creators who have been influential in the medium in Japan and the US.
One Piece Exceeds 3 Million
The print run for the newest volume of One Piece has been reported to be 3 MILLION copies. That’s right, 3 million. As the post points out, that’s even more copies than the Japanese edition of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which previous held the record for largest print run of a first edition. That’s quite an accomplishment, especially for a comic. American publishers can only dream of print runs like this. What’s really sad though, is how under appreciated One Piece is in the US. It should on the NYT list ever week with Naruto and Bleach! Viz is doing a good job of making the manga available with their 3-in-1 for the early volumes and the catch-up to the Japanese releases.
Rin-ne Volume 3
By Rumiko Takahashi
Publisher: Viz Media
Age Rating: Teen
Genre: Supernatural/Comedy
Price: $9.99/Free Online
Rating: 
This set of chapters starts out stumbling under the weight of more “been there, done that”, but manages to shake some of it off by the end, leaving a volume of work that is at least palatable.
Chapter 19 starts out with another typical shtick of Takahashi’s; the rival love interest. Every one of her romantic comedies has one, all the way back to Urusei Yatsura, and Tsubasa Jumonji is right out of that boiler plate. He tries to look cool and in control, but in reality he’s just a bumbling fool. He’s ineffectual as a exorcist, his soul dust only causing people and spirits to cough, but not get rid of them. Of course, he fell in love with Sakura when they were children. Sakura was nice to him after he transferred to her school for a few days, and it was enough that now he’s declaring his love for her, and treating Rinne as his rival.
These chapters also introduce the damashigami. They are rogue shinigami that take the life of a person who isn’t meant to die to fill their quota. I found them to be an interesting development. I prefer there to be some sort of antagonist outside the group rather than the infighting that usually runs through Takahashi’s romantic comedies, or a new random ghost-villain every few chapters. It’s good to have a reason for all the rivals to come together and fight a common foe rather than each other all the time.
I still get a “meh” feeling about this series. The introduction of the rival is another typical plot device that feels very tired to me. Tsubasa just screams Mendo to me so much, it’s not even funny. However, I did enjoy the stand alone stories in this volume, especially the final one with the “ghost” haunting the art students. These chapters play out as a nice little mystery, with an ending you might not expect. The quality of the stand alone stories are improving, and if a plot other than Rinne’s poorness is introduced, it could break up the “ghost of the week” feel the first two volumes had. It’s enough for me have hope for further improvement of the series as a whole, and to keep reading.
I was reading the comments on this post at Anime Vice. Most of the debate over justification for scanlations didn’t interest me, as I’ve seen them all before, but one comment did sort of bother me. Fellow Manga Village reviewer and blogger John Thomas had joined the conversation and made a simple statement. “Why not just learn to read Japanese?” It was the response to this that made me go “Huh?”
I have to confess, that is the one answer I loathe seeing in scanlation debates, and it appears every time.
He goes on to give excuses of no time, too expensive, too difficult, etc., which then steers the conversation toward learning Japanese.
Many of my manga wish list titles come from anime. Since so many anime are based on a manga, this can be a quick and easy way to find the good titles, assuming the anime stays close to the manga. And that’s exactly what I hope for this title.
And the Battle Rages On
The debate over scanlations continued this week, coming out of the brouhaha over Nick Simmon’s “homage” (his words) to Bleach. It grew out of the post by Deb Aoki at Manga.about.com, where comments exploded, with readers of scanlations coming to scans defense, while anti-scans tried to convince them otherwise. This “debate” led to a post on Anime Vice by a guest writer who tried to defend his reason for reading scans. More debate continues in the comments there as well. Watching people’s reactions to the scanlation debate has been interesting to say the least. It’s like discussing religion, politics, or “dubs vs subs” in the anime community. There is no real debate going on, because there are two groups with a set of beliefs that they are a prepared to defend to the death it seems. It’s become a shouting match with both sides making points and counterpoints to each other’s arguments. So, it becomes like talking to a wall, with neither side gaining ground or able to claim victory. While it does appear to be a wasted effort, these debates can be useful. You don’t argue with a fanatic to change their mind, you argue in the hopes that a fence-sitter, or newbie who doesn’t know better will see your arguments and be persuaded by them. That’s what makes all the frustration and sometimes anger you feel worth it.
E-books have been in the news a lot lately, what with the iPad, Amazon vs Publishers, and the Nintendo DSi XL all relating to e-books or e-readers in someway. But none of this news has really had much of an impact on manga readers except to build up hope that we might one days see manga on these platforms. Well, finally news comes from Japan through mobile manga provider NTT Solmare, that 3 publishers will not only be bringing out manga magazines for mobile devices in Japan, but that they plan to release these for the US as well.
These magazines won’t just be re-releases of previously printed material, as most mobile manga has been. These will have new titles premiering on the mobile platform. NTT Solmare has released some mobile manga already, but only on the Apple apps store for iPhone/iTouch users only. This new inititive intends to reach out to other mobile platforms and to e-readers such as the Kindle.
What really makes this announcement exciting is some of the creators that are being tapped for the debut. One of the creators is Sakura Kinoshita. I love her work even through it hasn’t done so well over here. She’s only had two titles licensed so far, Mythical Detective Loki Ragnorok and tactics. Both were licensed by ADV Manga and only had two volumes released before they stopped publishing. tactics was picked up by Tokyopop, but has been a slow seller. To get to read a new series from her would be totally awesome! And the title of one of the proposed magazines, Takeshobo’s Shin Kindan Grimm Dowa (Grimm’s True Forbbiden Fairy Tales) sounds like it will be full of cool titles as well. I love the Japanese take on fairy tales.
This is an announcement to really look forward to.
You know you’ve hit it being online when you’re thought to be part of some big conspiracy. I’ve always wondered about conspiracy theorists. Why do they feel the need to concoct some big, elaborate theory or have some big shadow corporation controlling everything? There are people who believe NASA’s trips to the moon were hoaxes (Mythbusters disproved their theories). And there are people who believe the US government was behind the 911 attacks (yeah, like our government could co-ordinate something so well planned and keep it a secret.) And now, manga bloggers are in cahoots with publishers to bring down the scanalation community.
Nightschool: The Weirn Books Volume 1
By Svetlana Chmakova
Publisher: Yen Press
Age Rating: Teen
Genre: Supernatural
Price: $10.99
Rating:
[May Contain Spoilers]
Schools may lock up the the night, but class is in session for an entirely different set of students. In the Nightschool, vampires, werewolves, and weirns (a particular breed of witches) learn the fundamentals of everything from calculus to spell casting. Alex is a young weirn whose education has always been handled through homeschooling, but circumstances seem to be drawing her closer to the Nightschool. Will Alex manage to weather the dark forces gathering?
Mystery, magic, and a little mayhem have always made for a good combination in a story. Nightschool: The Weirn Books provides all of these elements in a way to make an intriguing world and a great cast of characters to live in it.
With a long list of wish lists and license requests, and not too good a prospect on getting a lot of those titles in English for whatever reason (too long, too old, too niche, etc), it makes a manga fan seriously consider learning to read Japanese. Why go through a middleman when you can go straight to the source? And Japanese tankoban are cheaper, even with the exchange rate, to buy. But learning a new language can be intimidating, especially when the letters that look nothing like you’re used to. Fortunately the internet is filled with resources to help you buy and read your Japanese manga.
One really good resource is Rainbow Hill Language Lab which features entries about Japanese language and culture. Recently the blog has been featuring several entries about reading manga as an aid to learning Japanese. One such entry was a list of tools to help you start reading manga. This list featured both resources that could be found online as well as books and study aids, all with links. He gives resources to the basics of the alphabet, basic grammar and vocabulary and kanji.
If you’re serious about your manga, and don’t want to wait for a license that might never come, then learning to read Japanese is the way to go. And if you don’t have a lot of time to take a class, this is a good way to start. I know I’m sorely tempted to pull out the Highschool Kimengumi manga we have and try this out!
