Manga Xanadu

Shizuku Mizutani has a goal; to have an annual income of 100 Million Yen. To do that, she has to have perfect grades and is always studying. She doesn’t have any friends and doesn’t think she needs any. Then she meets Haru Yoshida. He is a First Year like her, who should be in the desk next to her, but hasn’t been to school since the first day. She takes some printouts from their home room teacher to him, and he decides they are friends. This starts Shizuku on a path of making friends and maybe even falling in love, as long as they don’t get in the way of her grades. My Little Monster Volume 1-2 By Robico Publisher: Kodansha Comics Age Rating: Teen Genre: Romance Price: $10.99USD Rating: My Little Monster sort of sounds like a “good girl falls for the bad boy” story, but it really couldn’t be further from the truth. The characters are more like misfits, damaged from events in their past that have kept them from finding real friendship and relationships, making them much more interesting to watch and their stories more compelling. The story centers around the relationship of Shizuku and Haru. Neither…

This week has some interesting titles coming out, as well as ending. Kodansha has just one title; Noragami: Stray God Vol. 1. This title was announced to some excitement last year, as it also has an anime that was streamed on Funimation, giving it name recognition that may help move the volume. We’ll have to see if it makes to the NYT bestseller list next week. Vertical Inc., releases the 4th volume in their foodie series, What Did You Eat Yesterday? Seriously, if you’re not reading this series, why not?! It has something for everyone, foodie or not, and Vertical always puts out great editions. Viz Media says good-bye to two of its titles. Midnight Secretary, the josei-as-shojo ends this week with Vol. 7. I did enjoy the first two volumes with caveats, but am still interested in reading more. It’s on the to-read list. Dawn of the Arcana, a true shojo also ends it’s run with Vol. 13. I have the first two volumes that have been languishing in my to-be-reviewed pile for a while now. Maybe this is a good time to pick them up and finally check them out. Finally, Time Killers by Kazue Kato comes out….

Every week, Viz Media and the New York Times posts the top ten bestselling books. For Viz Media, it is the bestsellers on their site, Vizmanga.com. The New York Times gets their numbers of print sales from retailers. 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.   Vizmanga.com for the week of August 19, 2014. Food Wars! Vol. 3     ∗ One-Punch Man Vol. 4    ∗ Lucky☆Star Vol. 1     ∗ Chibi Vampire Vol. 11     ∗ JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Vol. 13     ∗ JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Vol. 14     ∗ D•N• ANGEL Vol. 11     ∗ Fate/stay Night Vol. 7     ∗ Bleach Vol. 61     ↓ 5 Naruto Vol. 66     ↓  2 New digital releases wipe nearly all the new print titles out from last week. Only Bleach and Naruto survived, and they only just barely scrapped by, taking the last two spots. All the rest of the list are either digital only or digital firsts. I really wish I knew how JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure kept doing the double taps. Are all JoJo fans in…

I know I did an episode already about how much it sucks for something you like to go on hiatus. I’m making a big assumption that people like my podcast, but this is something I need to do. It’s been starting to weigh on me for a while. Coming up with topics, doing the research, the recording and editing and video; I’ve been coming to dread it. It’s become more of a chore than something fun. I’ve been putting it off more and more each week, a sure sign that I’m not enjoying it anymore. Added to this is stress from RL, and doing the podcast just seemed to add to my frustration instead of taking away from it. So, as of this weekend, I am putting the podcast on hiatus. If and when things settle down I may come back to it. One of the things I’ve come to realize is that I want to work more on my writing, and I’ve found that working on the podcast has been eating up those precious hours I have on the weekend. I will continue to write and review manga. I may even bring some of my podcast segments to written…

This week I check out some of this week’s manga, some stories in the news, the Top Ten Department, and look at one of the problems OEL creators have with selling their work. http://archive.org/download/MangaDomeEpisode71/MangaDomeEpisode71.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download

This week I check out This Week’s Manga, some stories In the News, the Top Ten Department, and the new licenses out of Otakon last week. http://archive.org/download/MangaDomeEpisode70/MangaDomeEpisode70.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Oriko is a magical girl with foresight. She is struck with a terrible vision of the future-of the devastation to be caused by one powerful witch. She decides she must do something about it, and she is willing to use, and if necessary sacrifice, anyone to stop this threat. But what will she do when her unstoppable force hits an immovable object determined to protect the very one Oriko seeks to destroy? Puella Magi Oriko Magica Volume 1-2 Story by Magica Quartet; Art by Mua Kuroe Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Fantasy/Magical Girl Price: $11.99 Rating: I didn’t care of Oriko Magica when I read the first volume. I didn’t like Yuma, and didn’t see where the story was going, until I read the second and concluding volume, which not only put everything into perspective, made the series a fantastic read. Oriko Magica is set in an alternate universe to the main Madoka Magica universe. In this world, Kyouko save a young girl Yuma, and takes her in. But Oriko, with her foresight, has seen that she has the potential to be a magical girl and manipulates both Yuma and Kyubey into making her a magical girl….

This week I check out some new releases, some stories In the News, the Top Ten Department, and some in-between license announcements from Seven Seas Entertainment. http://archive.org/download/MangaDomeEpiosde69/MangaDomeEpiosde69.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download

It was one year ago that I first spoke about Sparkler Magazine, mentioning it as one of the stories on my podcast. It was just one of the news stories, but I used the cover of the premiere issue as my featured image and got the attention of the editors, which got me a  review copy, and the issue an in-depth look on my next podcast. I really enjoyed that first issue. Back then, the issue was broken down into 6 features; two manga, Dire Hearts and Off Beat, two prose novels Gauntlet and Tokyo Demons Book 2, an audio, Awake, and a subscriber only feature. Dire Hearts was very intriguing. Gauntlet was heart-pounding. Awake set up a great sci-fi thriller. I enjoyed the magazine and digital format so much that I dropped my subscription to Yen Plus, and picked up Sparkler, even though Sparkler cost more. But I was getting more of what I wanted and enjoyed with it. Twelve months of updates later, a lot has changed. Dire Hearts sadly has to go on hiatus due to health issue for its creator Christy Lijewski. Off Beat, then Gauntlet and Tokyo Demons Book 2 ended. Plenty of new titles have…

Manga at San Diego Comics Con 2014 This week I check out This Week’s Manga, a couple of stories In the News, the Top Ten Department, and look at the license announcements from San Diego Comic Con. http://archive.org/download/MangaDomeEpisode68/MangaDomeEpisode68.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download

This week I check some stories In the News, the Top Ten Department including the Nielson Bookscan for June, and I advocate for the licensing of an older title, Captain Harlock. http://archive.org/download/MangaDomeEpisode67/MangaDomeEpisode67.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Read this energizing comic and feel proud (or simply unashamed!) of your geek hobbies. Although manga artist Rompers (Happy Mania, Sugar Sugar Rune) doesn’t consider herself too far gone, she’s gotten married to a towering figure of the otaku persuasion, Director-kun (Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cutey Honey). Insufficient Direction By Moyoco Anno Publisher: Vertical Inc. Age Rating: Teen Genre: Slice of Life/Geek Culture Price: $14.95 Rating: Insufficient Direction is the semi-autobiographical story of manga artist Moyoco Anno’s daily life with her husband director Hideaki Anno. Starting with their marriage, Anno, who calls herself Rompers and depicts herself as a baby with swirly eyes, picks humorous moments showcasing her husband Director-kun’s otakuness, and her slow but steady slide to join him. When Vertical first announced this title, I was looking forward to it. I enjoy stories about otaku and the otaku lifestyle, so this title sounded right up my alley. And it does lay on the otakuness thick. Director-kun is very much a tokusatsu, live action sci-fi, fan, and most of his otaku obsessions revolve around these series’. Ultraman, Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, and other shows that fit that genre are mentioned constantly. Director-kun has lots of toys and figures for these…