Manga News, Reviews and Commentary
A few weeks ago my Twitter TL is was filled with comments about a post that went up on Vice about Tokyopop. It is a very long puff piece that espouses the virtues of the old Tokyopop, blames its fall on the economy, and then puffs it back up with all the great things they will be doing.
Every week, the New York Times and Amazon posts the top ten bestselling books. The New York Times gets their numbers from print sales from retailers, while Amazon calculates their own numbers. Once a month the Nielsen Bookscan posts their top twenty graphic novels of which manga is included. Offered here is a listing of these books with their status this week compared with the previous week, along with some way-off analysis of the activity.
As 2015 comes to a close, so too did several manga titles, some that were only with us a little while, some that spanned some years.
It’s the last release week of the year, and publishers are pulling out all the stops with releases galore for readers to spend Christmas money and gift cards on.
SMAC, the Silent Manga Auction Committee, announced on their website earlier this month that they would be offering an English translation and serialization of Angel Heart, the spin-off to the popular 1980s manga City Hunter, by Tsukasa Hojo.
With this final box set and epilogue volume, Viz Media gives a fond farewell to Naruto, one of their flagship titles of the 2000s. It’s hard to believe it is finally over, but Naruto‘s saga spanned 72 volumes, which is more than respectable for a shonen series. Even though I didn’t make it through whole series, I jumped off shortly after the time jump, I did enjoy the parts I did read. I wouldn’t mind going back to pick up where I left off. Though space constraints would dictate going digital.
Every week, the New York Times and Amazon posts the top ten bestselling books. The New York Times gets their numbers from print sales from retailers, while Amazon calculates their own numbers. Once a month the Nielsen Bookscan posts their top twenty graphic novels of which manga is included. Offered here is a listing of these books with their status this week compared with the previous week, along with some way-off analysis of the activity.
It’s not much of a week for print manga from Diamond. Kodansha and Seven Seas Entertainment are the only ones releasing anything, and none of them are anything I’m reading. Thank goodness for the growth of digital manga!
Continuing their licensing bonanza, Seven Seas Entertainment announces another 7 titles to add to their eclectic library. Like the week before, one license a day was released, with the exception of Monday and Friday that got bonus announcements.
There’s a lot of good stuff coming from Viz in the last two weeks of the year. If you haven’t been following the free chapters of Boys Over Flowers Season 2, then picking up the first volume is really the way to go, especially if the free chapters are limited. There are some really good bundles available this week. I highly recommend Cross Manage, and at $10 it’s a steal for the whole series! Also tempting are the Dragon Ball (the only good series) and Dr. Slump bundles. Next week, Otomen‘s first 5 volumes are up and also get a recommendation from me.
Every week, the New York Times and Amazon posts the top ten bestselling books. The New York Times gets their numbers from print sales from retailers, while Amazon calculates their own numbers. Once a month the Nielsen Bookscan posts their top twenty graphic novels of which manga is included. Offered here is a listing of these books with their status this week compared with the previous week, along with some way-off analysis of the activity.
Bell Cranel is just trying to find his way in the world. Of course, in his case, the “world” is an enormous dungeon filled with monsters, below a city run by gods and goddesses who have way too much time on their hands. He’s got big dreams but not much more when a roll on the random encounter table brings him face-to-face with the girl of his dreams-but what does a beginning adventurer have to offer a brilliant swordswoman? And what if the lonely goddess who sponsors his solo adventuring gets jealous…?!
