Manga Xanadu

It started with Kodansha announcing they licensed Sherdock, and then the unconfirmed (but hopefully true) license by Seven Seas of Dictatorial Grimoire. But starting on Valentines Day, February 14, it started to rain manga licenses from Viz Media and Seven Seas Entertainment (officially). Viz announced at total of 5 titles, 4 shojo/josei and one shonen. The two shojo titles are by creators who have already been published in the US. Yoroshiku Master, or Sweet Rein as Viz is calling it, is by Sakura Tsukuba. Two of her titles, Land of the Blindfolded and Penguin Revolution were originally published by CMX. It’s a 3 volume title about a girl and boy who bump into each other and become bound together, and the boy tells the girl, Kurumi, that is a Santa Claus and his master. This one looks a little shaky for my taste. I don’t quite get the obsession the Japanese seem to have to make Santa Claus a cute girl, so this one will have to get a “wait and see.”  This title will be available in November. Seems appropriate to come out right before Christmas. Voice Over! Seiyuu Academy has a little more appeal to me. This 11…

Over at Good E-Reader, Brigid Alverson recently conducted an interview with Kevin Hamric, the director of publishing, marketing and sales about Viz Media’s digital strategy. We learn that Viz’s digital titles are selling strong on all the platforms it is available on, that digital rights are now just as important as print rights, and that recent WSJ title Nisekoi was digital only, but Viz is now going back for print rights. It was good to see that Viz recognizes that DRM is only harmful to consumers and that just making titles available in the format people want will fight piracy better than just trying to stamp out scanlation site. On the whole is a good informative article, and I was with it all the way until this quote from Kevin: The more you make it easy for everybody, the more you are going to sell stuff. We want to make our product available in any format [readers] want. Whatever way they want it, we are going to give it to them. Okay Kevin, I and a lot of other people judging from the comments on the Google Play site for the Viz Manga app, want it available on 10″ Android…

September is shaping up to a good month for new releases. All-Fiction.net dug up a new solicitation on Amazon for a new series from Seven Seas. Dokusai Grimoire, or Dictatorial Grimoire as Seven Seas is calling it is a three-volume manga series. It follows Grimm Otogi, a far-flung descendant of the original Brothers Grimm, has inherited a mansion from the deceased father he never knew. Along with that inheritance comes a curse; his ancestors made a deal with the mystical beings known as Marchen Demons who now have a claim on his soul. Otogi, with the help of a male Cinderella, must find a way to free himself by unlocking the power of a manuscript and stop the demons before they get him. I had found a love for fairy tales back in college, when for a paper, I had to write about Andrew Lang, an inspiration for Joseph Campbell, the well-known mythologist. Since then, I grab up titles that have something to do with fairy tales, which makes this title a must have for me. Over the course of the volumes Otogi will have to deal with tales featuring Cinderella, Snow White, and Little Red Riding Hood. While this…

I check out Baka-Updates Manga for occasionally for new and interesting titles. When I see an interesting title, I throw it into my wish list so I won’t forget it. This site is especially helpful for License Season at Vertical. I few weeks ago, I saw a title go by that made me raise my eyebrows and even comment about it on Twitter; Tanteiken Sherdock. I was attracted to it because of the “tantei” in the title, denoted this as a detective series. But when I clicked on the link, I was surprised to find what it was about! Sherlock Holmes is re-incarnated as a talking dog! His Watson/side kick is a high school boy named Takeru Wajima, who can understand him for some reason. I thought it was silly, but not to surprising considering the interest in Sherlock Holmes lately. Imagine my surprise when I learned yesterday that Kodansha Comics has licensed this for the US! I was stunned, but in a good way! I’ve been bemoaning the fact that there aren’t a lot of good detective titles available in English. Detective Conan/Case Closed and Young Miss Holmes are about the only ones that come to mind. I’m thrilled…

There’s a lot of manga out there to read, and not a lot of time or shelf space for it all. But just because I can’t have it all doesn’t mean I can’t dream! Every month I’ll go through the new releases and pick one or two titles that best fit in three categories: What I’m Going to Read is for those titles I collect, or already know I want. What I Want to Read are for those that I’ve read at least one other volume of and am curious for more, and What I’m Interested In is for those that I’m become curious about, either through word of mouth or description. What I’m Going to Read: 07-Ghost is a license Viz rescued from GoComi! Even though I already have the first two volumes, I had to have the new Viz editions because 1) I want to read the new translation and see if the story makes any more sense, and 2) so I have a nice, consistent look on my bookshelf. I loved 07-Ghost even with its confusing story, mostly for the bishi, and for its similar look to Saiyuki, another favorite of mine. Volume 2 is out this…

At the beginning of 2012 I decided I needed to do some catch-up reading. I had so many series’ sitting on my bookshelves unread, many of which I never read more than the first few volumes. I decided in 2012 I would try to weed some of them out. Well, that lasted about 6 months. And actually, I didn’t do too bad. I got through 100 volumes of manga covering 18 series’. I even resolved to give away 11 of these, though I haven’t quite done so yet. I’m still debating if it’s worth trying to sell them, or if I should just give them to my local library. This also constituted about 1/2 of all the books I read this year.  I’ve still got less than a week, but my tally at the moment is 215 of a commitment to read 200 books. Not to shabby, I think. I got distracted from my Manga Wrap-Up due to a growing review pile. Another distraction I discovered this year is Homestuck. I know a lot of people dismiss this webcomic as dumb or silly, but it’s actually a very good comic. It’s deeper than it appears, and gets longer with each…

While I usually do reviews for the Manga Movable Feasts, this month’s topic, manga we are thankful for, definitely calls for something more. It was hard to try to think of a particular manga I was thankful for reading. I wasn’t really introduced to manga. I was already reading coming in Jr. High, and was introduced to anime fandom in high school, and US floppy comics editions of manga came with that. I bought my first Japanese manga, Dragon Ball, after seeing my boyfriend’s (now husband) collection. I didn’t buy my first US manga Dragon Knights, until 2003, and that was while looking around at our local comic shop. So I guess the first one I am thankful for is Comic Quest, who always had, and still does have, a good selection of manga. It was through them that I was able to start my manga collection and make it grow. We didn’t have a Borders or Barnes and Noble nearby at the time, so for several years, this was my only source of manga. I am thankful to Viz for not just bringing out all the popular Shonen Jump titles, but also for their monthly magazines Shonen Jump and…

New York Comic Con, or NYCC, was this weekend, with all the manga publishers making appearances and announcements. Vertical, Viz, Yen Press, even Kodansha and Jmanga had panels to announce their new titles and new alliances.

Another San Diego Comic Con has come and gone, and it’s left us with a lot of announcements to sort through. Viz Media, Yen Press, Kodansha Comics and newcomer Jmanga all had panels filled with news and announcements. But who had exciting announcements and who were more ho-hum? Read on to find out more! Viz Media started off their first panel by announcing that their digital manga would be available on android devices. That seemed like an exciting announcement until you go to the Google Play site and get the message that the app isn’t compatible with your device. It seems Viz has made their app for only phones and not tablets. This really disappointed me, since I prefer reading comics and manga on my tablet, but at least android users can finally download their Vizmanga.com manga. They really should have just said phones instead of “devices”. That was really misleading. I’ll be satisfied when they’re available for any device. The only other big announcements from Viz was from their Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha panel. Blue Exorcist, a current title will be joining the digital magazine as a monthly title as will a new series, Takama-Ga-Hara, which just started in…

If you’re any kind of reader of this blog, you’d notice by now that I like themes. I like creating posts based on some theme, and I like to feature posts on the blog based on a theme, usually from the current month. While I already have a few for April already, Easter and April Fools Day, I’m always on the look out for more. While clearing out my email, I discovered a new one. April is the ASPCA’s Prevention of Cruelty to Animals month. I’m a big animal lover, so this is something I take very seriously. Our last two rescues were dogs that were obviously abused. The are very submissive, and for a couple of months one of them would cower and roll ever when I just walked by him. So, to show my support, I have made what changes I can to both my blogs to incorporate the color orange into it. I will also be writing a couple of posts here involving manga and the mistreatment of animals. Sadly, as in real life, it can and does happen in manga. Fortunately though, in manga, the perpetrators also usually get what they deserve. That’s not always true…

What a wonderful treat to find in my mailbox! Viz Media has rescued 07-Ghost, a title originally published by Go! Comi before they went out of business. I know 07-Ghost wasn’t a popular title with everyone. Even I had a few difficulties with the first volume, but I was still sucked into the story and absolutely loved the character designs. I’ve only been able to get a hold of the first three volumes, the third being a lucky find at a Borders not long before every store was closed. I’ve wanted so much to read more, but never though anyone would pick it up. This is a wonderful Spring gift, and just before Wondercon. I wonder if Viz will have more surprises there. November can’t come fast enough! Thank you Viz!

Here we are at week four of the great Manga Wrap Up, and thanks to being sick on Monday, I was able to get through four volumes of the next series I’ve decided to finish, Black Cat. I was off by how many volumes I had to read. I thought I had to start at volume 14, but I actually had to go back to volume 10 to find anything I remembered, so the extra time came in good use, but the being sick sucked. Black Cat is about Train Heartnet, a former Chonos assassin who gives up his life of killing turns Sweeper, or bounty hunter. His weapon of choice is a gun that he can make fast and impossible shots with. His partner, Sven Vollfied, a former IBI agent also turned Sweeper. He possesses a “Vision Eye” that allows him to see a few seconds into the future, and makes all kinds of gagdets to help them catch their quarry. Joining them is Eve, a young girl whose body is filled with nanites that she can control and transform into any kind of weapon. She was created as an ultimate weapon, until Train and Sven freed her. Now,…