But Is It Contagious? Love to love it, or love to hate it, the release of the Twilight manga is eminent. Manga fans have been expressing (mostly) their disdain for the series and a NIBY attitude about it. Shaenon Garrity, a respected writer about manga points out that the themes in Twilight are nothing new. In fact, the themes in Twilight are not only prevalent in shojo, a lot of it has been done before! So quit whining about it. In the end, it’ll do more good than harm. Someone needs to be able to challenge Viz, and right now, it seems like Yen Press’ adaptations are the only ones with the steam power. See the NYT Bestseller List below.
Late Friday night, reports started coming in about a dispute between Amazon and publisher MacMillian. According to the New York Times, Amazon has “temporarily” pulled all books by MacMillian, including all imprints such as First Second, Seven Seas Entertainment, and Tor, because MacMillian is pushing for a raise in price of their e-book on the Kindle to $15. The grousing between Amazon and publishers has been going on for a while now, so that this has finally happened is no surprise. Nor is it a surprise that it happens right after Apple announced it’s iPad, which MacMillian is one of the publishers that signed on to provide books for. To get a full range of the story, he’s some links to check out. Johanna Draper Carlson posts about it at Comics Worth Reading. Check out the comments for interesting information on the breakdown of who gets what in the publishing pie. Business Insider has a look at the dispute from the Apple side of the equation. Cory Doctorow, a big proponent of e-books, has his own take at BoingBoing. Definitely check out his post for how the whole battle affects consumers. He’s got some really interesting insights. The Los Angeles…
Well, it finally happened. After all the hype over the last few months, Apple finally announced the device that has been touted as a game changer; the savior of print; the e-reader to end all e-readers; the iPad. Yeah.
Jack Frost Volume 1 By JinHo Ko Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Horror Price: $10.99 Rating: Any high schooler on a nerve-wracking first day at a new school is apt to lose his or her head a little. But in Noh-A’s case, she literally does! When she wakes up in one piece with a little help from a mysterious doctor, Noh-A quickly realizes that nothing is as it seems at Amityville High, where paranormal creatures battle for supremacy. Caught in the crossfire, Noh-A may have to rely on the unlikely (and possibly unreliable) aid of the most sinister student at Amityville…the deadly Jack Frost! By all outward appearances, this title looks to be a pale shadow of the horror manga Hellsing. Cracking open the book doesn’t do much to alter that appearance. There is lots of action and decapitation, but not much in actual plot.
I make no bones about it. I love cats. I will read just about any manga that has cat in it, even that peripherally revolves around them. What’s Michael, Free Collar Kingdom, Cat Paradise, even Backstage Prince, Dragon Ball and Ranma 1/2 that only have supporting characters that are cats I’ll read and enjoy. But there just isn’t nearly enough to sate my appetite for titles about the four-footed furries. Vertical’s license of Chi’s Sweet Home is a BIG win, and I can’t wait to get my hands on Viz’s Natsume’s Book of Friends. But then, over on Twitter, Deb Aoki had to start showing off her cat manga purchases from Japan. Neko Mocchiri is a 1 volume collection about a 20-something and her cat, and was published in Ikki. Junjo Ito’s Cat Diary is also a 1 volume collection, and looks cool in a weird way. Nekoe Juubee Otogi Soushi is two volume so far and is about a painter and his yokai cat companion. And I want to read them all! Especially Nekoe Juubee, since I love yokai so much, and yokai cats all the more! Ed Chavez commented: There is a saying in the Japanese manga world……
Ikki Takes a Holiday You might have noticed that the Ikki Comix website hasn’t had any updates for a while. Well, that’s because they’re taking the holidays off. There’s no word about when the updates will return, and hopefully this is just what they say, just an intermission and not a break that becomes a hiatus. Ikki’s got some great titles that deserve the exposure that the website gives them. So take this as an opportunity to get caught up!
I’ve decided that Fridays at Manga Xanadu will for now on be Tech Friday! I’ll post all my tech/gadget type stories on this day from now on. To inaugurate this, let’s take a look at the newest story about the Kindle; it’s getting apps. That’s right. You can’t have a device that connects to the net anymore without having some sort of app store to go with it. And the Kindle is apparently no different. With CES just recently past, and the Apple iMyth–err iSlate to be announced next week, Amazon has to do something to keep to not only stay competitive, but keep their e-Reader on top, with a wave of new devices threatening to wash them away. And apps is the new, hip thing.
Princess Resurrection Volume 3 By Yasunori Mitsunaga Publisher: Del Rey Manga Age Rating: 16+ Genre: Supernatural Price: $10.95 Rating: Mummies, vampires, and a ghost ship: a typical day in the life of Princess Hime, monster slayer extraordinaire. But when her kid sister visits, Princess Hime may have finally met her match. Now she’s facing her toughest battle of all: sibling warfare! The campiness we saw in the first two volumes of this series starts to get toned down in the third. The fight between Hime and her brothers goes past simply sending hordes of monsters to something more serious. It’s not going to be all fun and games from here on out. It’s too bad the fan service doesn’t also take a hike.
Deka Kyoshi Volume 1 By Tamio Baba Publisher: CMX Age Rating: Teen Plus Genre: Drama/Suspense Price: $9.99 Rating: Toyama, a tall and beefy detective, goes undercover as a fifth-grade teacher. The previous teacher was discovered on the ground outside of her condo and rumors say she jumped…or was she pushed? Toyama is determined to get to the bottom of this mystery, but it seems like he has a more pressing task at hand: his rowdy students. One student, Makoto is a little strange and his eccentricities make him a prime target for bullies. Makoto can actually see the demons inside people, which manifest themselves as visions of horrible monsters. Will this strange student be able to help Toyama? Sounding more like a take off of Kindergarten Cop, Deka Kyoshi is actually a title that looks at serious issues that kids are facing everyday. It presents them in an interesting and unusual way, but CMX’s overly-conservative age rating of the book may keep it from reaching the audience it is meant and most appropriate for.
Some Advice for Bloggers and Reviewers Brigid of Mangablog first lists some good tips on how to make you blog more user friendly and possibly improve your Google ranking! Many of them are the same that I’ve heard on the tech podcasts I listen to, so you can be sure the advice is sound. And then found via Twitter, Deb Aoki of About.Manga blog has some sound tips for manga reviewers: manga reviewing tip #1: “Did you like it or not? I should have some idea whether it’s worth buying or not after reading your review” manga reviewing tip #2: “grab my attention in the first 1-2 paragraphs & give me a reason to keep reading, or I’ll just click away.” manga reviewing tip #3: “write like you’re having fun, not writing a term paper.” manga reviewing tip #4: “yes, by all means tell me what the story is about — but can you skip the rehash of the entire book?” Solicitations made the next day has brought the count from 4 to 19. You can check Deb’s twitter feed for them all. There are a lot of good suggestions, though not all are practical for a short review of…
This year is being touted as the year of the slate computer. CES was filled with announcements of new computers that are like over-glorified e-book readers. Of course, e-book readers are also being announced right and left. This Christmas was Amazon’s biggest year for the Kindle so far, and claimed that on Christmas day sold more e-books than print. But the worth of e-readers like the Kindle and Sony’s E-Reader are being questioned. Well, more specifically, the E-Ink technology they use is being questioned. E-Ink techonogy is one of the main reasons prices for e-readers remain high. So, is E-Ink worth the price?
Princess Resurrection Volume 1 By Yasunori Mitsunaga Publisher: Del Rey Manga Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Supernatural Price: $10.95 Rating: Werewolves, demons, monsters, vampires – all these ferocious creatures are afraid of the same thing: the beautiful Princess Hime, an awesome warrior who fights the forces of evil with a chainsaw and a smile. Not only does she look great in a tiara, she has magical powers that allow her to raise the dead. She’s a girl on a mission, and with the help of her undead servant and a supercute robot, there’s no creature of darkness she can’t take down! Take a Princess with a chainsaw, an androids in maid costume and a bit of a loser student who gains semi-immortality by accident and throw them into a battle with monsters out of a drive-in double feature and you have the first volume of Princess Resurrection, a series that balance’s campy horror with a more serious fight to become the King of Monsters.