Manga Xanadu

It’s that time of year again when ghosts and goblins come out to play. Do you want to get into the Halloween spirit, but just don’t know what to get? Well, here’s a list of manga that I’ve either read, or know something about enough to recommend (or warn you away from). I first posted this on my Tokyopop blog, but I’m bringing here with a few updates.  Well, I thought it was going to be just a few, but every time I start to think I’m done, I come up with another book!  I tried to keep the books in this list to more appropriate to a Halloween theme, than just ghosts, vampires and monsters, etc.  It would take forever to list ALL manga with those in it!

Hellsing Volume 8 By Kohta Hirano Publisher: Dark Horse Age Rating: 13+ Genre: Horror/Action Price: $13.95 Rating: London is already bathed in blood, its citizenry almost entirely slaughtered by vampiric, reborn Nazi soldiers. And marching through the rivers of blood–thousands of extreme Catholic warriors in creepy cloaks. But the focus of this chaotic either volume is the return of Alucard, the slave-paladin of the British Protestants, who’s just piloted an aircraft carrier up the Thames to join the fray. It’s a crazy face-off between three gory armies and their primary killers, and if you think that sounds nuts, wait until you dive into the crimson-stained new volume of Kohta Hirano’s creepy-cool Hellsing manga series. Now, I generally don’t read blood-spilling horror manga, but for Hellsing, I make an exception. My husband started getting this series originally, but, having nothing to read one day I picked it up, and was instantly hooked. This volume is a good example why. We are still in the middle of a battle that started back in volume 6 with first the vampiric Nazis and then the invasion of the Catholics to take back Protestant England. It was not a good day to be a Londoner….

I guess I’ll be doing this every other week from now on.  That seems to be the pattern I’m falling into.  Not intentionally mind you.  Last weekend I was sick, and spent most of it on the couch.  It just seems to be something comes up every other weekend.  I guess that’s better than every weekend.  Anyway…on to the reviews! I start things out with a look at Togari Volume 6 from Viz.  Charles Tan checks out an older series with Warcraft: Dragon Hunt Volume 1 from Tokyopop.  Katherine Farmar goes into a Freefall Romance from DMP/June Manga.  John Thomas takes a virtual trip to Japan with The Akiba: A Manga Guide to Akihabara from Kondansha America.  Does Dan Polley object to Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Case Book Volume 1 from Del Rey?  You’ll have to click the link to find out. Week 2 starts with  Charles Tan has more football antics with Volume 21 of Eyeshield 21 from Viz.  Katherine Farmar is back with a Deux title this time with Future Lovers Volume 1.  Dan Polley spreads his wings with a look at a new Del Rey title, Papillon Volume 1.  John Thomas ends the week with an old…

Between the news about the economy and the negativism in this years elections (If I hear one more person in my office go off about the Gay marriage initiative, I’m going to scream!), I’ve been retreating more and more into my own fantasy world.  One of those fantasies is getting out of this office of increasingly closed-minded individuals, and into a business of my own. This particular fantasy just started as I’ve been reading about the city I live in wanting to revitalize downtown, which still has an old time “Main Street” feel to it.  The city wants to keep that feel, and get more businesses that are unique and won’t compete with the big box stores that have been opening recently (Target, JC Penney, etc).  Now, one of the stores in downtown is our local comic shop, where I sometimes get awesome manga deals.  So, I started thinking, wouldn’t it be cool if, in conjunction with the comic shop, maybe in a shop upstairs, there was a Manga Lounge/Reading Room? I can just see it, the walls lined with shelves of manga.  Bean bags and lounge chairs scattered around; no set seating, so you can either read by yourself,…

I was listening to my tech podcasts this morning, like I do every Monday, and I got to Jumping Monkeys, parenting in the digital age.  And, on this show, the hosts Leo Laporte and Megan Morrone do a segment called Spend, Save, Give where they take about websites that have interesting things to spend on, save on, or give to the community, etc.  On today’s show, the Save was dedicated to Bookcloseouts.com, a site I have featured a few times myself on this blog.  Megan was featuring it for the great deals you can get on kids books (which can be REALLY expensive).  But Leo…I don’t know how he found it, but started taking about this title he found: When he first said the title, I thought I was mishearing him.  He pronounced manga wrong (man-ga instead of mahn-ga), so I had to look this thing up myself, just to see if it was real.  And, as you can see, it is.  Check out the description of the book here.  It’s as good as the picture.  And buy a copy while you’re there.  There are only 58 left and at 80% off, it’s a steal!  Make it a new holiday…

I’m almost caught up with reading my back issues of Shonen Jump.  I started reading October last night.  Both October issues of Shonen Jump and Shojo Beat had previews for new manga, and I thought I’d share my thoughts on them. In Shonen Jump, the preview was for Nora: The Last Chronicle of Devildom.  I wasn’t sure what to make of this title when it was first announced, and when I started reading it, the first thing that came to mind was that it seemed like a cross between Inuyasha and Death Note.  We have a demon who can take the shape of a dog (or hell hound) that needs to be controlled.  He is sent to the human realm and put in the hands of human high school student who is successful at everything and bored.  I was thinking the “demon animal under human control” was also a genre that was getting old.  Inuyasha, Her Majesty’s Dog, and Mugen Spiral (from Tokyopop), had all done it before, so I really wondered if this series could do anything better.  By the end of the preview chapter, I was actually liking it!  It doesn’t do anything new.  But for some reason,…

I missed another week, I know, but I did have an almost good reason.  Starting in October, the Good Comics for Kids blog has moved to School Library Journal, and I had to wait for my login to start posting my weekly comic list post, which I didn’t get until late in the weekend, and then I forgot.  Anyway… September finished with Metro Survive Volume 2 from DR Masters by me, and Cat Eyed Boy Volume 2 from Viz by Charles Tan.  October started with Wild Rock BL from DMP/June by Katherine Farmar, and John Thomas gave his own take on Cat Eyed Boy Volume 1 from Viz. Dan Polley started this week out with Air Gear Volume 9 from Del Rey Manga.  Charles Tan got big again with the VizBIG edition of Rurouni Kenshin Volume 3 from Viz.  John Thomas continued with the gore-fest that is Gantz Volume 2 from Dark Horse Comics.  Katherine Farmar hopes you have enough time for her reivew of the BL title Not Enough Time from DMP/June. We made our new releases picks for last week and this week.  We also picked our Manga of the Month for September.  Don’t forget that you can…

Lissa of Kuriosity did some searching of Amazon for Tokyopop titles, and while she spotted some new licenses, I’m more concerned with the fates of older series.  Some of my favorites that show their staying power such as Chibi Vampire and Petshop of Horrors: Tokyo appear frequently on the list.  Manga based on properties such as TV, video games and Harper Collins YA novels also seem to be doing well for them as they alot as well. But what really caught my eye was the relisting of Dragon Voice Volume 11!  The final volume was cancelled from it August 2008 listing, and I thought it was gone for good.  I don’t think it sold all that well, so to see it listed for a July 2009 release raises my hopes some what.  I won’t have to live the rest of my life not knowing how it ends! I was also surprised to see that Lupin III: Most Wanted also appeared on the list.  I didn’t think that one sold well either, but it’s got two volumes over a six month period, which appears to complete this series as well. Perhaps then there is hope that Kindaichi Case Files might get…

When I like a magazine enough that I want to read it every month, I subscribe to it.  That’s why I get both Shonen Jump and Shojo Beat.  But, sometimes I don’t quite get my renewal in on time, and that happened unfortunately to me this last April with Shonen Jump.  Sooo…  I missed getting an issue.  May 2008.  By the time I realized I wasn’t getting it, It was already gone from news stands, and both my local and online comic shop didn’t have it.  No big deal, I thought, it’d show up somewhere.  And it did.  Finally.  Two weeks ago!  So I have six months worth of Shonen Jump to catch up on, because I won’t read an issue without reading the preceding chapters.  Silly sounding, I know, but I want the full story, in order. This weekend I dove back into Shonen Jump with this ill-fated issue.  It would figure it was the April Fool’s issue too.  Boy did I miss it!  After two volumes of that overstuffed and over hyped Yen Plus, I was glad to get back into some real shonen stories and battles!  It started with four chapters of Naruto.  Not a lot of…

Earlier this week, I ranted about manga publishers and their head-in-the-sand attitudes toward digital distribution of books.  One of their seemingly cited reasons for not supporting digital books is the lack of e-readers in circulation.  Sony and Amazon seem to be trying to rectify that.

In my continuing evaluation of Yen Plus to decide if it’s worth subscribing to, I picked up issue 2.  I read it the same way as last issue, reading the Japanese side first, and then flipping to the OEL/Korean side.  With this second issue, most of my original impressions stand, if not becoming more ingrained.  The entire Japanese side is a complete and total waste.  The fan service continues unabated, and overrides any story that might be there, especially in Soul Eater and Sumomomo Momomo.  Bamboo Blade has really deteriorated in it’s next two chapters.  Higurashi and Nabari stand on the edge, but they are not intriguing enough to hold up the other three.  The whole Japanese side is a write off as far as I’m concerned. The OEL/Korean side carries this magazine.  Nightschool and Pig Bride stand as the strongest titles, with Maximum Ride and Sarasah close behind.  One Fine Day is a take or leave title, and Jack Frost continues to show it’s Hellsing influence.  Actually it’s just plain a rip-off, but still has some potential. All of these titles together as a package just doesn’t do it for me.  I’m paying $9 a month or $50 a…