Manga Xanadu

Chi’s adventures continue as she meets the Yamadas friend from Hokkaido and their very active daughter Juli, goes hunting with Blackie and nearly gets caught by the super. But salvation comes in the form of a billboard that advertises apartments that welcome pets. So it’s an all new adventure for Chi to move, get comfortable in a new place and meet a variety of new friends.

It’s the valentine’s issue, with pink cover and all, but there isn’t a lot of loving going on. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot to love about the chapters. Gossip Girl takes a break, and instead we get a short story from the artist, HyeKyung Baek. I certainly don’t mind the switch-up. On to the manga.

The countdown to issue #100 is almost complete! This issue starts out with the usual anime ads, though I’d like to point out the newest addition to Vizanime: Neuro. It’s based on a manga about a demon who eats mysteries. He comes to the human world after devouring all the mysteries in the underworld. He teams up with a human girl Yako who loves to eat and has a mystery of her own to solve. The anime is good, but what I really want to see is the manga licensed. So show your support and watch the anime! Maybe we’ll get the manga then!

Speed Racer: Mach GoGoGo volume 1-2 By Tatsuo Yoshida ♦ Digital Manga Publishing ♦ Teen ♦ Action ♦ $39.99 Rating: Speed Racer is the son of famous race car engine builder “Pops” Racer. Speed wants to be a race car driver. Pops thinks it’s too dangerous. Speed decides to enter races anyway with a car Pops designed and build for him, the Mach 5. With the help of his girlfriend Trixie, best friend and mechanic Sparky, and some interference by his little brother Spridle and his pet/friend Chim Chim, Speed enters dangerous races to prove to Pops and the world that he is the best race car driver in the world. This title is an unabridged printing of the original Mach GoGoGo manga, and was published to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the series. The stories in the manga involve Race participating in some dangerous race where his skills as a driver are tested, and he always defeats the villain. most of these were animated in the cartoon, and reading them was like going back in time to my childhood. It was very nostalgic. I could almost hear the voices from the cartoon as I read the chapters, fast talking…

Over on her blog, The Manga Critic, Kate Dacey talks about how she’s moved away from reading longer manga titles, that now she has a “fear of committment” for titles more than 4-5 volumes long. Johanna Draper Carlson of Manga Worth Reading sympathizes with Kate and talks about some longer titles that she’s lost interest in as well. Reading these two posts made me think about how I look at the titles in my collection. I have several titles that go well beyond 10 volumes. In fact, I think I might have MORE titles that go over 10 than not. Is it because I’m really committed to these titles? Not so much. I’m a collector. I love to collect things. Books, comics, toys, if I have an interest in it and it’s part of a series, I’m probably gonna get it. All of it if possible. And in a lot of ways, that how I’ve treated my manga. It’s become something I collect more than something I get to read. Just like the toys on the shelf and the comics in boxes, manga has become in many ways something with holes to fill in and a lined shelf of different…

This harrowing story of Hiroshima was one of the original Japanese manga series. New and unabridged, this is an all-new translation of the author’s first-person experiences of Hiroshima and its aftermath, is a reminder of the suffering war brings to innocent people. Its emotions and experiences speak to children and adults everywhere. Volume one of this ten-part series details the events leading up to and immediately following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Kiri’s friend Kanako gives a present to one of the members of the Scissors Project. Her act of kindness is interpreted as a bribe to get a makeover, and they reject her out of hand for being too ugly. Kiri decides to help Kanako and give the boys a lesson in what true beauty is.

Fourteen-year-old Kisaki Tachikawa has psychic powers. She works for PSI, a secret government agency that fights aliens. She’s in love with her partner Giniro, but PSI won’t allow operatives to get involved. Just when Kisaki thinks she may be getting closer to Giniro, she finds out she’s going to be transferred to California!

Intent on being an independent young woman, high schooler Himeyuka lives on ther own inan unremarkable apartment complex in a corner of the city. But one day, she discovers her ordinary building has turned into something extraordinary. Her beloved “castle” is covered in childish scribbles–both inside and out! And waiting for her at the end of this rainbow-colored mess…is the perpetrator of the crime-a little boy name Rozione. Is he just someone’s lost child, or is there a greater mystery behind his appearance. In this collection, Sumomo Yumeka presents four charming, melancholy vignettes that explore the trickling of time and the machinations of the heart.

So, cute and cuddly rabbits don’t do it for you? How about cute and (not so) cuddly girls dressed as bunnies? Yes, not only does manga like the furry bunnies, it also like the playboy versions. Here are some bunny girls from both manga and anime, who aren’t quite so playful, but will be a handful.

The western new year has come and gone, but over in the Asian world, their new year starts this week. With the Chinese New Year come a new animal in the zodiac. This year is the cute and cuddly rabbit. I have already written a post featuring rabbits for Easter, so for this one, I have expanded the scope from just real rabbits to anyone rabbit-esque.

Wolf God vol 1 By Ai Tenkawa ♦ Digital Manga Publishing ♦ Teen ♦ Supernatural ♦ $12.99 Rating: Kyounosuke will have to become the alpha of the Inugami clan unless his older brother Kokuyou returns. Believing his brother is more deserving to lead, Kyounosuke follows his scent to Tokyo where he meets Koyuki, a girl with no direction for her life, who helps Kyounosuke and unwittingly has a connection to Kokuyou. Kyonosuke will stop at nothing to find his brother, no matter the cost to him personally.