I’ll jump on the band wagon and give some of my reactions to Rin-ne, Rumiko Takahashi’s new manga. I’m not completely sold on this one yet. It was a good introduction to the two main characters, but it didn’t really grab me. I like supernatural stories, so I’m hoping she’ll take the Shinigami concept into a different direction, though that is how it appears with her emphasis on reincarnation. It seems to have more of a Buddhist take on the afterlife, which is more interesting to me than Bleach‘s. I did like the ghost Chuhuahua. The buggy eyed dog. LOL. Takahashi really likes red-headed protagonists too, doesn’t she? I’m going to keep reading, and see how things go. It fits perfectly into my lunch 1/2 hour. On the Inuyasha VIZBIG new: YES! THEY GOT IT!! THEY FIGURED IT OUT!!! Okay, I feel better now, and little vindicated. I am so glad that Inuyasha is coming out unflipped finally. What I have to figure out is how to justify buying 32 volumes all over again… Now, all we have to work on is getting Ranma 1/2 and Urusei to get the same treatment.
There are manga that are based on video games and have had CCGs created about them, but this is the first time (that I am aware of), that a CCG is getting a graphic novel made about it! Alderac Entertainment has announced a graphic novel for it’s CCG Legend of the Five Rings. Titled Death at Koten, it follows Imperial Magistrate Seppun Tashime as he investigates the assassination of the Crab Clan Leader. It’s about time that Legend of the Five Rings got a graphic adaptation. The concept was just made for graphic novels, and shouldn’t have taken 15 years to get here! Legend of the Five Rings was born in the CCG boom, and it differentiated itself from other CCGs by having a storyline running through the game. The base set would set up a story, and then players could influence the direction of the story through voting and tournament play. It also set itself apart by being based on Asian culture instead of European or some fantasy/sci-fi universe. It takes place in the land of the Emerald Empire which is ruled by the Emerald Emperor, and the clans sworned to serve and protect him. The conflict comes from…
ANN has reported that the Japanese supernatural mystery manga, Majin Tantei Nogami Neuro will end this month. Starting in 2005, it’s racked up 21 volumes. The only thing I want to know, is WHEN ARE WE GONNA GET THIS?! I’m a professed lover of supernatural and mystery manga, so where there’s one that combine these two great tastes, I want to taste them together. I’ve seen some of Nogami. The anime was fansubbed, and being a mystery series, I had to check it out. And I loved it. Neuro is a demon who eats mysteries. The stranger the mystery, the better the taste. He teams up with (enslaves more accurately, he is a demon after all) a high school girl Yako Katsuragi. She loves to eat, and has an unsolved mystery about the death of her father. Neuro will help her solve the mystery if he can eat it. Neuro uses Yako as his “public face”. He solves all the mysteries, and she takes the credit. They are joined by Godai Shinobu, a yakuza who is roped into working for Yako and Neuro after he wins a bet and takes over the Yakuza’s small office, and Akane, a disembodied braid…
I was reading the latest issue of Shonen Jump (May 2009), and though I may despise it, I do read Bobobo-Bo Bo-Bobo. Don’t ask me why, it’s there, so I just do. So, I’m coming to the end of the chapter, and at the bottom is says next issue will be Bobobo’s final chapter in the magazine. Hurray! Finally Bobobo is leaving! There is really nothing funny about this manga. It’s the embodiment of “Stupid is as stupid does.” But then real question here is, what’s going to replace it? There hasn’t been any announcements (that I’m aware of) of any new titles going in. Tegami Bachi was just added, and nowhere in the issue is there any indication of what will be replacing it. Will they try to squeeze in another manga that will get only one chapter a month (like Yu-Gi-Oh! GX), or will this space just be filled with more Naruto? In order to keep pace with the Japanese releases of the manga, Viz will have to up the chapter count in Shonen Jump, or take Naruto out of the magazine and so they don’t have to wait. I don’t see the latter happening though. Naruto is…
John Jakala found the Inuyasha VizBig Edition on Amazon and noticed something that I didn’t see on Simon and Schuster; it says it will be left to right, just what I DIDN’T want. Greg McElhatton commented on that blog post saying he heard a rumor that all Takahashi manga was contracted for left to right reading. As stupid as that sounds, I wouldn’t be TOO suprised if it was true. But this brings up a new question. Will Takahashi’s new manga, to be released simultaneously with the Japanese be flipped as well? If Viz does have this all-encompassing contract with Takahashi that keeps all her manga in L to R, then the simultaneous release will do nothing about scanalations (if that’s their reason for it). There will still be scanalators putting out the manga in it’s correct R to L orientation. And there will still be people reading them because THAT’S HOW THEY WANT THEIR MANGA! And don’t try and tell us “that’s the way Takahashi wants it”. No it isn’t. Any creator wants their work recreated as close to the original as possible, while still being sellable. R to L sells just fine. Don’t assume that just because it’s…
Gimmick! Volume 1 By Youzaburou Kanari Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating: T+ (Older Teens) Genre: Action Price: $9.99 ISBN: 1-4215-1778-7 Rating: In 1986, the movie F/X, starring Bryan Brown as special effects maestro Rollie Tyler and Brian Dennehy as Lt. Leo McCarthy came out, followed by F/X 2 in 1991. It was so popular that they made a TV series out of it in 1996 which ran for 40 episodes. Now we get the manga adaptation… wait, it isn’t? Could have fooled me. Gimmick is the story of Kohei Nagase and his crew at Studio Gimmick, a small special effects house that seemingly does work for just about everyone. Kohei is a makeup wizard that can do just about anything with his silver spatula and people come to him from far and wide for his expertise. Kohei and his sidekick, stuntman Kannazuki, move from job to job, and rescue the odd actress along the way, as Kohei tries to become the ultimate special effects man. It’s really impossible not to compare Gimmick to F/X, especially when in the back of the manga, Youzaborou Kanari tries desperately to take credit for the whole idea. He says he came up with the…
Mamotte! Lollipop Volume 3 By Michiyo Kikuta Publisher: Del Rey Manga Genre: Romance, Comedy Age Rating: Teen 13+ Price: $10.99 ISBN: 0-345-49667-6 Rating: Nina’s in love – but who’s the lucky boy? After all, what girl could choose between Zero and Ichi? They’re both wizards, and they’re both supercute! When a matchmaking witch slips Nina a love potion, will the magic spell help Nina choose her soul mate? It’s almost been six months since Nina swallowed the Crystal Pearl and the end of the magic exam is fast approaching. Examinees are still popping in, and Nina still can’t decide between Zero and Ichi. But it’s not like everyone isn’t trying to help her along… This volume starts with a staple of romance plots; the love potion. Nina accidentally pours it into lunch and everyone but Ichi falls for her. Only the kiss from someone who’s had the potion can break it, so she has to kiss Zero? Then Zero’s “fiancé” becomes an examinee just to try and get Zero to love her and puts a spell on him and Nina that will turn them into animals unless Zero agrees to go back with her. The last chapters have Nina getting…
My how time flies! I can’t believe Easter is already upon us! Ah, that springtime holiday where everyone buys big, flowery hats, kids color eggs and get baskets from the Easter Bunny. So, in honor of this spring holiday that’s never on the same day every year, here are some rabbits in manga. Alice 19th – This is a shojo series by Yuu Watase. Set in modern times, it’s about Alice, a girl forever living in her older sister’s shadow. During a fight over a boy, Alice’s sister, Mayura disappears. She is a Lotus Master, someone who can use the power of words to enter the inner heart of others. Alice has accidentally sent her sister to the darkness, and must now master her power to save her. Alice is told all this by Nyozeka, a white rabbit she saves at the risk of her own life. This is a relatively short series at 7 volumes. It’s the only modern-day setting manga by Watase that I like. I really like the idea of using the power of words to either help or hurt others. While not a great series, it’s an enjoyable one and worth the time to read. Dragon…
Wizard has announced that it’s ending the publication of its Anime magazine, Anime Insider. This neither surprises me nor bothers me. I didn’t care for Anime Insider. The articles read like one info-mercial after another, a problem not just for this publication, but all of Wizards magazines (except maybe Toyfare). I remember back in 2005-06, there was a lot of chatter on the interwebs about it. And let’s face it, Wizard hasn’t been doing real well in the last few years. Conventions cancelled, and this is the second of their pubs to be cancelled, Inquest, their gaming mag to go first. It was only a matter of time, before a niche mag like this would see the chopping block. Of course, this isn’t just a trend in anime/manga, as some have suggested. Yes, advertising for anime and now manga has been going down in the last few years. And anime and manga mags have been biting the dust (Animerica, Newtype/PIQ, etc.). But let’s face it. This is a trend in publishing in general. Printing and distributions costs have gone up a lot, with daily/weekly publications taking the biggest hits. Newspapers are either shutting down or searching desparately to keep their…
Being carried around everywhere and having handsome Megumi act like a slave may seem ideal, but Suzuka just wishes he would stop. Can anything be done about Megumi’s captive state? Or is Megumi doomed to see Suzuka as his master…forever? Captive Hearts Volume 1 By Matsuri Hino Publisher: Viz Media – Shojo Beat Age Rating: Teen (13+) Genre: Romance/Comedy Price: $8.99 Rating: Long ago, a thief named Kuroneko-maru stole a family heirloom of a samurai family, the “Scroll of the Rising Dragon”. When he tried to read it, the guardian dragon appeared and cursed Kuroneko and all of his descendants to a life of servitude to the Kogami family. Megumi Kuroishi, a descendant of Kuroneko, has lived most of his life not knowing about the curse, as the Kogami family was believed dead in China while on a trip. But, the daughter of the Kogami, Suzuka, appears and returns, and the curse kicks in, making for much comedy and the stirrings of some romance…maybe? Captive Hearts is first and foremost a comedy. Megumi’s sudden “Manservant fits” can be funny, hitting him suddenly, and making him obsess over Suzuka even when he’s not with her. Reverting him back to normal usually…
St. Lunatic High School Volume 1 By Majiko! Publisher: Tokyopop Rating: Teen Genre: Horror/Comedy Price: $9.99 Rating: ISBN: 1-59816-944-7 Forced to attend the prestigious St. Lunatic High School, Niko Kanzaki discovers a haunting secret in her demon-filled night-classes! She applies higher learning to find out the differences between humans and demons, but the handsome and mysterious Ren shows her that the races also share some things in common… When I read in Previews that the mangaka of this series also wrote the manga adaptation of Code Geass, I was excited to read this series. Code Geass is an awesome story. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it sure wasn’t this… Tokyopop once again uses the genre horror for this series, very inappropriately. There is nothing horrific about this series. It might have helped if it had. Niko and her brother Atchan are poor. But Atchan gets a job teaching at the prestigious St. Lunatic High School, so they think their worries are over. Think again. One rundown apartment is skipped out on for a rundown shed on the school’s grounds. And the night classes that Niko gets to attend? Full of demons. None of them look normal, except…
Viz has been a great supporter of manga in the US. They were among the first companies to bring translated manga here in the form that would best reach it’s audience; flipped (read left-to-right), and in floppies. They were also smart enough to snag one of the most popular manga artists to translate; Rumiko Takahashi. Viz’s Urusei Yatsura was among the first manga-comics I ever bought. I missed out on the comic versions of Ranma 1/2 and Inuyasha, as I wasn’t reading comics at the time, but when they started to collect them as graphic novels, I gave them a serious look. The biggest problem I had, and still have, is that these titles continued to come out as flipped after they discontinued the floppies. All their other books were coming out unflipped. Dragonball and Dragonball Z, titles that also came out as floppies first, got second edition reprints as unflipped. Why not Ranma and Inuyasha? Michelle Smith, blogger for soliloquy in blue, in her twitter feed, pointed out an entry at Simon and Schuster website for a VIZBIG edition for Inuyasha, scheduled for November 2009. All I can say is, ABOUT TIME! I dropped Inuyasha, even though I was…