Manga Xanadu

At school, Kyouko Hori is known for being smart, attractive, and popular. On the other hand, her classmate, the boring, gloomy Izumi Miyamura, tends to get painted as a “loser fanboy.” But when a liberally pieced and tattooed (not to mention downright gorgeous) Miyamura appears unexpectedly on the doorstep of the secretly plain-Jane homebody Hori, these two similarly dissimilar teenagers discover that there are multiple sides to every story…and person!

There’s a good selection of titles for this week. Kodansha Comics releases Noragami Stray Stories, a collection of short stories set in the Noragami universe. I really like the main Noragami series, so this is a volume I’ll be picking up. Seven Seas has the third volume of their popular shojo Ancient Magus’ Bride. I swear I am going to check this series out at some point. I keep hearing nothing but good things about it. I also want to check out Udon Entertainment’s Stein’s Gate. Being a Doctor Who fan, I’m of course interested in stories about time travel. Volume 2 is out this week.

Bookwalker, the manga website from Kadokawa added another 35 volumes spanning over 8 titles from Japanese publisher Shonengahosha.

Vampires seem to still be an “in” thing as Viz Media release its newest shojo series Bloody Mary. But don’t let the names of the main characters fool you. This isn’t your typical, “supernatural hero seduces human heroine.” Mary and Maria are both guys, but with a teen rating, don’t expect any Boys Love action. It’s gonna be all talk and no action, which is just fine by 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 and Vizmanga.com 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, and some way-off analysis of the activity.

Kodansha releases the mother lode as 5 of their titles are all volumes I need in my collection. My Little Monster, Noragami, Seven Deadly Sins, Silent Voice and Yamada-Kun and the Seven Witches all have volumes out this week, but want makes this so hard is that there isn’t one I want more than the other. I want them all! Over on the digital side, Kodansha releases another round of the collections of their Crunchyroll titles, but I think their pricing is off. Looking at Viz Media and Yen Press, who are bringing out new titles as well as re-releasing older ones, Kodansha is nearly double. I would think it would be hard to justify $11 for an e-book vs a $5.99 subscription where I could read them all. I can see this backfiring on them.

Maybe “announce” is a strong word, since in 2 of the 3 titles announced in the last few weeks have been from fans discovering listings on Amazon. Only one was officially teased and announced at an event.

Looking for something to fill the wish list for the manga fan in your life? Viz Media has several suggestions including Box Sets, prose novels, and art books. You’re sure to find something to fill a spot on that list.

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 and Vizmanga.com 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, and some way-off analysis of the activity.

Wow, this week digital releases outnumber print ones. Only four publishers have print titles. Drawn and Quarterly continues their releases of Shigeru Mizuki’s catalog, with the biography Hitler out this week. Kodansha releases the Master’s Edition of Fairy Tail, that collects the first 5 volumes in one massive tome which is good for new readers wanting to get in or die-hard completests.

Square Enix’s Young Gangan magazine revealed that the title Until Death Do Us Part will be ending in the 22nd issue out November 20, after almost 10 years of serialization.

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 and Vizmanga.com 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, and some way-off analysis of the activity.