To the San Diego Comic Con. It’s our annual summer vacation trip that we share with 40,000+ other fans. Unfortunately is always feels like ALL 40,000 are in the Exhibit room at the same time… Oh well. Hopefully this year there will be better crowd control. And we go for the panels just as much as the shopping. At least Brian and I do. The girls have DSes to keep them busy. So Doctor Who, Stargate, and an MST3K reunion! Whoo Hoo! (Yes, I’ve been an MiSTie since CC’s second season.) And of course the manga. There’s certainly plenty of it spread around the Exhibit room. Panels are sparcer this year than I remember last year. Anyway, if we can get the WiFi in our hotel room working, I’ll post some thoughts Thursday and Friday night. I know there’s going to be Wifi at the con, but I’m not lugging my laptop around in addition to all my purchases. It’s not like there won’t be plenty of others giving you the scoops. I’ll just do the commentary afterwards. I can’t wait to see what Tokyopop’s “viral marketing” is going to be. They were looking for volunteers who were going to…
The denizens of our village have harvested another batch of manga reviews for your enjoyment. Have a seat at the Inn, order some saki. Charles Tan brings Hayate Combat Butler Volume 7 from Viz to serve you. Dan Polley gets a cut above with Pumpkin Scissior Volume 3 from Del Rey. John Thomas may be a little unstable with Kujibiki Unbalance Volume 1 from Del Rey. And I don’t mind bareing my neck for Vampire Hunter D Volume 1 from Digital Manga Publishing. Then check the menu for our weekly picks. You might be surprised by what we choose! And if that still isn’t enough for you, head on over to Good Comics for Kids, to see my latest picks for All Ages Comics, and Sabrina has her picks of Web comics. There’s lots of good stuff, so check it out!
From the Great Ideas Dept: John Thomas over at Mecha Mecha Media takes another look at Light Novels in the US and comes up with a GREAT new name for them: J-Pulp. I think this is a perfect name for them! It describes them exactly as they are meant to be. Short prose books meant to kill a few hours. And it’s a term book retailers and publishers can understand. They aren’t meant to be high literature, nor shoved into the foreign books section (is that really a category in bookstores?) It’s all about the genre. Get the light novels with the other novels they fit into best; Ghost in the Shell and Vampire Hunter D in the Sci Fi/Fantasy section. Then at the end of the novel, mention that the manga series is available for more stories, etc. If you’re not going to tell anyone about these book except the people who already know about them (don’t get me started on the incestuous relationship manga and anime keep cultivating), then at least get them into places where non-manga fans might stumble on them and decide to find out more.
The Kindaichi Case Files, Vol. 16: The Magical Express Story: Yozaburo Kanari, Art: Fumiya Sato Publisher: Tokyopop Age Rating: Teen Genre: Mystery Price: $9.99 Rating: Kindaichi is summoned to examine a mysterious note declaring that a train bound for Hokkaido will be transformed into a “magic train of death.” When Kindaichi boards the train to investigate the threat, he meets members of a magic troupe who perform on the train. But as the magicians go missing before they can complete their tricks, it’s up to Kindaichi to uncover the identity of “Hell’s Puppeteer” — who has announced that he has planted a bomb aboard the train. Is this the end of the line for Kindaichi? What was supposed to be a trip to police headquarters for a commendation turns into another tantalizing mystery from Kindaichi. A package has arrived at the police station containing a twisted marionette and note promising magic and death on a train to Hokkaido. Kindaichi, Miyuki, Kenmochi and videographer Saki get on the train, where the Magic & Illusion Troupe perform on the way to Shikotsu-ga-hara to the hotel and theater at the end of the line. The first murder happens on the train. The Troupe’s…
What I’ve been dreading has finally become official: Kindaichi Case Files has been canceled. As part of Tokyopop’s slashing, the January 2009 solicitation of volume 18, Burial Francs, is on the list. I was hoping against hope that this title would some how survive, since it was one of the few good titles Tokyopop had to offer. Even though it’s a shonen title, it’s mysteries could keep an adult guessing. Engaging characters and intriguing mysteries made this a series a must for mystery aficionados. Even though I love mysteries, I didn’t pick up Kindaichi immediately. Wanna know why? Because Tokyopop can’t market a title properly to save their life! When this series first came out, they advertised it as a Japanese “Scooby Doo”, emphasizing the supernatural parts over the mystery. That was a failure on so many levels. Kids looking for short, quick mysteries with goofy characters would be disappointed, and people looking for a good murder mystery series (like me) would avoid it like the plague. I’m not quite sure what made me pick up the series. I think I just kept seeing it in our local Waldens Books, and finally gave it a real look over. I bought…
We’ve been hard at work at Manga Village, bringing you another great round of reviews. Dan Polley masters the creepy-crawlies with Mushishi Volume 4 from Del Rey. Charles Tan is spiking Eyeshield 21Volume 4 from Viz Media. John Thomas checks out some stomach turning sci-fi with Gantz Volume 1 from Dark Horse. And I’ve got some historical shojo with Kaze Hikaru Volume 9 from Viz Media. We’ve also got our weekly picks up in the columns section, as well as a special announcement in Manga Village News. Webcomic creators should take special notice! And for the kids, there’s a new All Ages Comics list for this week up at Good Comics for Kids. So start making with the clickee!
Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai By Ryo Takamisaki Publisher: Viz Media/VizKids Age Rating: All Ages Genre: Game/TV Tie-in/Action Price: $7.99 Rating: Storyline: Ash and his friends have discovered that they’re walking toward the ancient Alamos Town after befriending a girl named Alice. Once they’ve arrived, they find out that the sacred garden of Alamos town has been ransacked, the mysterious Darkrai appears, appearantly not pleased and tells Ash and everyone else to leave immediately. Strange things have been happening as well… What I liked about this manga: Practically everything. The best parts were Brock (he’s so loveable) and the Palkia, Dialga and Darkrai battle scenes. Being that I’m a great Pokemon fan, that adds to the liking of this manga. What I did not like about this manga: Almost nothing. The great graphics and how it’s extremely alike to the movie makes it hard not to like the manga. Although, the character’s scripts make it really obvious to what just happened. It makes me want to say “Dur da durrr.” Nope, not even a script change. Baron Alberto is quite annoying, however.
I know, I’m late again. But holidays will do that. Anyway, despite my slowness, the rest of the gang got their reviews up on time! John Thomas didn’t fall to pieces and got his review of Dororo Volume 2 from Vertical out on time. I take a walk down memory lane with High School Girls Volume 9 from DR Masters. And Charles Tan hefts a Claymore Volume 12 for some monster fighting action from Viz. Then, we’ve got our weekly picks up, giving you a checklist of what to by for your summer reading. And over at Good Comics For Kids, I’ve got my latest picks for All Ages.
Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai By Ryo Takamisaki Publisher: Viz Kids Age Rating: A (All Ages) Genre: Game/TV tie-in/Action Price: $7.99 Rating: What is the story about? It’s about Ash, Pikachu, and Darkrai. Darkrai fights both Dialga and Palkia before he disappears into space. What did you like about the story? I liked the fight against Dialga and Palkia. I also like the pokemon Dialga. What did you dislike about the story? I hate it when Baron turned into Lickilicky, because it is freaky. I also hate the way they drew Infernape. Would you recommend the story to kids your age? Yes.
There is a lot of speculation going on about Kodansha and it’s reasons for joining the US Manga market. I think it’s a little premature to speculate now, but I guess that’s what bloggers and fans like to do. This is obviously something Kodansha has had in the works for a while. You don’t get $2,000,000.00 in capital without some planning, and to throw in my .02 about this, I would say it’s Tokyopop restructuring that has more to do with things than Kodansha wanting to “cash in” on the US market.
ANN has reported on a press release from Suncorp, a digital distribution company in Japan. Leiji Matsumoto, the creator of iconic titles such as Space Pirate Captain Harlock, Galaxy Express 999, and Space Battleship Yamato, is creating an original online comic project that will appear on Nintendo Wii’s Wiiware store sometime this summer. For now, the announcement only states this will be available in Japan, but it also states that the unnamed comic “is aimed at his [Matsumoto’s] global fans.” Now, a new series from Matsumoto is exciting enough. But seeing it distributed online through the Wii is even cooler! Even though there is no official announcement of overseas distribution, the mention of how global his work is does give one hope that there will be. The Wiiware store so far only has older and/or independent games. This branching out into other medium seems to show Nintendo’s commitment to make the Wii more of an entertainment console than just gaming as originally stated. But, I do like this slower roll-out than Sony’s or Microsoft’s proclamation to take over your entertainment system with their consoles. At least with the Wii, you can also get games and demos for the DS, which…
Tokyopop, being one of the few companies to embrace the potential of online manga is doing it again. Starting this week, and until Wed. 7/2/08, you can read all of Bizenghast Volume 1 on their website. And for every week after, you can read another volume leading up to Volume 5, which will be available to read on 7/15/08 only. I got hooked on this series through reading it online. Last year Tokyopop did this for the first two volumes, for the release of the third. If you want to check out a series, reading it online is a great way to sample it. And if you do like it, buy the volumes. Online manga lets you taste the series, but having the book in your hand gives you the real experience.