This week manga celebrates six months of manga news, views and reviews! I can’t believe how quickly the time has passed! I hope everyone has found our reviews useful and enjoyable to read. It’s a smaller celebration this week. We start this week with John Thomas’s review of Haridama: Magic Cram School from Del Rey. Rather appropriate as it’s the end of the school year, and lots of students are probably cramming. Charles Tan then gives us a look at Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Volume 6 from Dark Horse. Then I let the dogs out with Inubaka Volume 8 from Viz. They were barking up a storm anyway. Over in the columns, we’ve got our weekly picks. It’s shojo week with all the Viz titles as well as a few sprinkled around the other publishers. Come check out if we recommend any.
In the article by Publisher’s Weekly, and picked up by AnimeonDVD.com, Tokyopop has pulled out of it’s exhibit space at the San Diego Comic Con. Some might see this as another sign of them going down. I see it as another smart move. Exhibit space has no doubt become very expensive at Comic Con International, as it’s at a premium. The Exhibit Hall (aka Dealer’s room as it was once called many, many moons ago), now takes up the entire convention hall first level. And the space Tokyopop has been getting for the last few years was an entire block, enough to fit at least 10 vendors in, but they weren’t doing anything really productive with this space. Maybe 1/4 of it was used for a local vendor to seel books (not them), the other 3/4’s was used for computers to log into their website (last year) and hold autograph sessions with their creators. For the money that they must have been pouring in, that’s not a very effective use of the space, if you ask me. Now, just because they pulled out of the Exhibit Hall, does that mean they won’t show up at the convention? Hardly. San Diego…
Jumping on the bandwagon once again, I’ll throw in another 2 cents about Tokyopop. No ranting this time though. I think this is a good move for Tokyopop. Attention can be divided up properly, and well as investment. Tokyopop has alway tried to be on the cutting end of bring manga to new technologies, something I wholeheartedly believe in. But, I think these new digital mediums may have been distracting to the publishing side, and the publishing may even have been at odds with the digital side. Separating the two may help both grow without having to worry what the other is thinking or may do to stop them. I think the reduction of releases is also a good idea. Quality is always better than quantity, and Tokyopop seemed to be doing the latter. I did some number crunching of TP titles at the end of 2007, and in just a 5 month period, they had 212 releases, with 37 new titles and 34 titles ending. About 1/6th of their titles monthly were either starting or ending. A lot of these titles were mediocre and short. As has been mentioned elsewhere, TP doesn’t have access to the super hot titles….
In case you missed it the first time around, Bookcloseouts.com has another sale on Tokyopop books. They range in 50%-75% off, but most of the books I’ve looked at are 60% off. That’s still only $3.99 a book. It’s a steal if there are some older titles that you’ve been thinking about getting. My suggestions: Pet Shop of Horrors Genju no Seiza Dragon Voice Dragon Knights Vampire Game Crescent Moon Planetes RG Veda – For Clamp Fans Clamp no Kisenki – For Clamp Fans Comic Party That should be a good start. Some of those series are only the first couple of volumes. For others, you can get a near complete run! The books are in good shape with maybe just a black mark on the bottom of the books to mark them for closeout. I couldn’t find an expiration date for this sale, but the last one was for a month, so I’m gonna guess the same for this one. On an unrelated note, but I wanted to point out that Walmart and Amazon.com has the One Piece Season One Uncut Collection for only $22.00. That’s half off the regular price! It’s only for half a season (13 episodes),…
With the start of the 2008 Book Expo America, Viz has announced a new addition to their Vizkids line, a sadly neglected line if you ask me. But today, they announced chapter books about who? Why, everyone’s favorite ninja, Naruto! They’re older brother are reading the manga, they’re watching the anime, with their Leaf Village Headbands. Those young ‘uns should be able to read about him too! And now they can. And I know this will sell. Taking my own kids to the bookstore always had them drifting toward the books with TV and movie character they knew. This will be no different. Press Release after the break
Well, it’s been a tough week at the Manga Village, but still, we persevere! First, Memorial Day greeted us with the site being hacked, but it’s all patched up now, with practically no damage. But then, yours truly went and caught a nasty flu bug. Trust me, don’t want this! So, things are a little late, but still up before the end of the week! The week starts out with Enchanter Volume 1 from Digital Manga Publishing? Was I spellbound by it? Check out the review to find out! Revisit the Museum of Terror Volume 2 from Dark Horse with Charles Tan. Dan Polley’s on vacation this week, and John Thomas had a bout with real life, but they’ll both be back next week. There’s also our weekly picks. It’s an eclectic selection as always. Over at Good Comics for Kids, I’ve got the newest All Ages Comics list up. Sabrina Fritz has a review of many of the All Ages comics that were available on Free Comic Book Day. Come check out what she found, and the other reviews that are up!
Pick of the Litter Volume 1 (Buy Now) By Yuriko Suda Published by: Tokyopop Age Rating: Teen Genre: Comedy RRP:$9.99 Rating: Riku joins his whacky long-lost family in the mythical land of Yamato and finds he’s got a few new siblings! On cat, two rabbits… Sounds more like a zoo than a home! He may be new in town, but Riku’s pledged to lead the family business of Hiyokoya to the top—and no sneaky competitors, smart-mouthed cats, or mysterious magic stones are about to stop him! Well…not really. Riku only said he’d work part-time.
I may as well jump into the Tokyopop fray, as I’ve had a draft about the TP.com website sitting here for a while. I may as well add my two cents (rant) to the current discussion as well. Tokyopop’s Pilot Program pact has stirred up a lot of people in the last few days, with it’s casual language and questionable practices. But, is this really a surprise to anyone? Tokyopop is about as two-faced as you can get in the manga publishing industry. Their public face, the one they put out in press releases and at conventions, is one of a teen friendly publisher that is trying to help new artists get a break in the comics/manga industy, get them published, and give them a place to meet, talk and share their work online. Take a closer look at them, and you’ll see the truth that lies hidden underneath.
You’ll notice a few changes to the site. The most obvious is the theme. While I liked the old one, it was old and wouldn’t let me use widgets. This new one is more up to date, has a second side bar, and I just like it. 🙂 I can now add things like the Upcoming Reviews widget. I’ve also added a few new pages. There’s now a reviews archive, with all the reviews on this site listed by title, company and age rating, all linked to the reviews. I’ve also added a page for the manga I’ve got to trade. There’s a list of manga that I’ll trade for, but I’m always interested in new titles, so make me an offer.
Magical Pokemon Journey Volume 1: How Do You Do, Pikachu? by Yumi Tsukirino Publisher: Viz Media Rating: All Ages Genre: Game Price: Only available used Rating: What is the story about? A new trainer named Hazel that started without a pokemon. Soon, she goes into the grass and finds a Pikachu. She trys to draw Pikachu but fails. What did you like about the story? I liked it when Hazel yelled at the Ekans. I loved how they drew the pokemon. I also loved how they made the Clefairy act. What did you dislike about the story? I hated when Pikachu was knocked out. I also hated the way Hazel drew Pikachu. Would you recommend the story to kids your age? Yes
Ordering from the Previews catalog can be like gambling. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. And I lost big time. See, the problem with Previews is, I’m ordering books 2-3 months in advanced, based solely on a picture of a cover, and a brief marketing copy that meant more to entice retailers into buying than the individual consumer. When there’s a new title in the catalog, I can sometimes try and research it, if it looks like something I want, as long as the US title is the same as the Japanese (or at least close to). But often, there isn’t much to find, and I’m stuck going on instinct.
There’s been some freaky weather here in Southern California this week, but nothing can stop the Manga Village crew from their appointed round of reviews! Charles Tan starts us off by teaching us Death Note: How to Read Volume 13 from Viz. Dan Polley’s gonna Gacha Gacha Next Revolution Volume 6 from Del Rey. I fly in with Fairy Cube Volume 1 from Viz. John Thomas searches the rainbow for the Color of Rage from Dark Horse. We make our weekly picks, of course, from a list that isn’t so wallet-busting, but still has some must haves. Check it out for some Memorial Day reading. (Day off! Whoo Hoo!!!) And for the kids, check out the All Ages Comics list at the Good Comics for Kids blog, as well as the reviews and links posted by my fellow bloggers.