Manga Xanadu

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 commentary on the activity.

So much for thinking Diamond might get their Viz Media releases back on track. It’s a good thing I pre-ordered School Judgement Vol 2  through Amazon instead of my LCS. I’d still be waiting for it instead of getting a day early!

Back in December Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump announced that the creators of Beet the Vandel Buster, Riku Sanjo and Koji Inada, would be returning to the manga after a ten-year absence. The manga, previously serialized in the now-defunct Monthly Shonen Jump would return in the spring in Shueisha’s monthly Jump SQ Crown.

Viz Media made their debut at Anime Boston this year, snubbing the closer west coast con Wondercon for an east coast outing. They brought some new licenses including two new hardcover deluxe releases. Tomie is a horror manga by the master Junji Ito that hasn’t seen print in over a decade. It truly deserves the deluxe treatment. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Stardust Crusaders already had a print run here in the US, where it barely made an impression. Just a decade later, the stardust has been re-ignited with Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 1 and 2 not only selling gangbusters, but as deluxe hardbacks as well. It seems only right that Part 3 get the same treatment. Not having matching releases on the bookshelf can be maddening, and you don’t want to make Jojo fans mad. They might pose furiously at you.

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 commentary on the activity.

Variety is the name of the game with this week’s new releases, with several different publishers releasing both new titles as well as ending a few. Diamond Distributors is still a little wonky with regards to Viz Media’s books. Maybe they are trying to make up for last month’s delays.

Wondercon, for those who may not know, is a younger sibling to Comic-Con International’s San Diego Comic Con. For many years it was held up north in San Francisco, but starting in 2012 is moved down to Southern California in the LA area. It’s first four years were spent taking over the Anaheim Convention Center, but this year, the con moved up to the Los Angeles Convention Center. Since its move down to SoCal, its major manga publisher presence has been practically non-existent. Other than a Viz Media booth the first year in 2012, there have been no panels or booths on the exhibition floor. Not even vendors selling manga come to the show. So imagine my excitement when I learned that Kodansha Comics would be coming to Wondercon, and have both a booth AND a panel!

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 commentary on the activity.

In the curious town of Utsuwa, where spirits know as ayakashi roam, lives Yue, a sheltered boy born and raised at the local shrine. On the night of the winter festival, Yue descends the mountain for the first time and encounters two boys. Though Yue wants nothing more than to become friends with his new acquaintances, Mikoto, the master of the shrine who rules over Utsuwa, declares that Yue must choose one of the boys as his “Meal”! Faced with this incomprehensible decision, what will Yue do?!

There is so much good stuff out this week that I don’t even know where to start! Kodansha Comics, Seven Seas, Viz Media and Yen Press all have a good variety of titles as well as some long-awaited debuts. This week is a serious wallet buster!

Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine has announced in its 16th issue that Hunter x Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi is slated to return to serialization in the issue due out on April 18.

While Monster Hunter is a well-known franchise in video game circles, it’s certainly not unknown to manga readers. We were given a taste of the franchise when Kodansha published the 4 volume series Monster Hunter Orage by Hiro Mashima, the creator of Fairy Tail. Now Viz is taking it from taste to full meal with the licenses of this 10 volume series. I enjoyed Orage and the world, so I’m looking forward to the debut of this series.