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 way-off analysis of the activity.

This week’s releases are bottom heavy with publishers from the last half of the alphabet, but light on releases overall. Most only have one or two volumes coming out.

The Western New Year has come and gone with January, but with the coming of February means it’s time for the Eastern, or Lunar New Year. It also means a new zodiac animal rolls over, and this year is the Year of the Monkey. Here are some manga that feature monkeys or monkey-like characters.

February is the month that’s all about the romance, so their digital bundles this time are almost all from the Shojo Beat imprint. Demon Love Spell, Jiu Jiu, and Kaze Hikaru all have great deals. If your love is for games, then pick up one of the Hikaru no Go bundles. If you prefer your heart spurting blood, check out the new Viz Select title Judas, a former Tokyopop title that is more horror than honey.

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 way-off analysis of the activity.

It’s the first Wednesday of the month, so that means Viz Media rains down with all their shonen and shojo releases. Smartly, other publishers keep their releases to a minimum. It’s hard to go against the Viz Shonen juggernaut.

The March issue of Kodansh’s Shonen Sirius magazine out this month has announced that Devil Survivor, by Satoru Matsuba,will end in the April issue out at the end of February.

 I must confess, I’ve only read Millennium Snow by Bisco Hatori. I never jumped on the Ouran High School Host Club bandwagon, though I considered it after reading Millennium Snow, and really loving the series. But 18 volumes is a lot to catch up on, so its lucky that she has this new series coming out that’ll be easier to keep up on than trying to play catch-up. Behind the Scenes interests me more since the characters are older and in college, and I may be able to relate to them better. And with volumes only coming out twice a year, keeping shouldn’t be that hard (ha!)

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 way-off analysis of the activity.

Tiffany Noboru doesn’t think she needs the childish talismans her parents left around her room to protect her from the things that go bump in the night. She learns how wrong she is when she is attacked and wakes up in a strange room with wings. She died and is now a gargoyle with the duty to protect the living. With many questions and few answers, she must figure out why she died and how to get home while dealing with a mentor more interested in chasing ghosts than teaching her, a dormitory of girls who taunt more than tutor, and a ghost who want to destroy them all.

It’s a Yen Press Week with the bulk of the publisher’s print titles coming out. Trying to stay above this wave is Kodansha Comics and Vertical Comics with a few strong titles, while digital releases keep up their fairly steady pace.

Before (or possibly while) the holidays were swamping everyone, Dark Horse Comics announced that they had picked up a new manga license.