Manga Xanadu

Viz Media ends 2014 for their expected end of the year sale of their digital titles and some unexpected new Viz Select titles. The sale is their typical $2-off-to-bring-pricing-back-down-where-it-should-be promotion and lasts through January. You know what to do with that Christmas money, and even Amazon gift cards as they seem to have extended the promotion to their site. Read on for all the details.

Master Keaton is a series I have been wanting to read ever since I first heard about it. It is a reality based series that features an anthropologist as the protagonist! It’s a detective suspense series that just pushes it up higher in my esteem. Despite my hit and miss record with Urasawa, I loved Pluto, but didn’t care for 20th Century Boys and Monster, I have pre-ordered not jut the first volume, but the second as well. I really hope it lives up the hype I’ve been giving it.

Viz has some strong debuts and sales hitting the month of December. Assassination Classroom, and bundled sales of digital manga that makes catching up on some of the longer shonen titles not to hard to swallow hit this month. A new Jump Start title  hits this month as well that Takeshi Obata fans as well as Phoenix Wright/court room dramas will want to get out; Gakkyu Hotei: School Judgement. Gift certificates would make a great present.

I know everyone raves about Junji Ito, but I’ve found a lot of his work too far on the disturbing side. I don’t think I’ve been able to finish one of his titles, and I’m still haunted by Gyo‘s fish with metallic spider legs. **shudder**. It’s great that we’re getting this new collection of his so soon, but when are we gonna get his Cat Diary? I’ll bet that’s a series I can complete!

Just reading the description of this new series makes me think it’s a mash-up of Blue Exorcist and Nisekoi. But since it’s been licensed, it must have something going for it. Guess we’ll have to wait until next summer to find out.

At the beginning of October, Seven Seas Entertainment touted that they would announce seven new licences over the next seven days. Starting on October 1st, Seven Seas posted the announcements to Twitter first, stirring up fans with some surprising and not so surprising titles.      The first title announced was Non Non Biyori. This rural slice of life comedy follows Hotaru Ichijo, who has just moved from Tokyo to the countryside, where the nearest bookstore is 20 minutes away by bike, a certain popular manga magazine comes out Wednesdays instead of Mondays, and the video store is 10 stations away. Helping Hotaru adjust to the slower life in the country are her new classmates Natsumi, Komari, Renge, and Komari’s older brother Suguru. There are currently seven volumes available in Japan. It had an anime which was shown last October and a second season is in the works. Crunchyroll streamed the first season, and Sentai Filmworks will be releasing it on DVD. The first volume will be available here at the end of June 2015. I might be interested in checking out this series, though I haven’t had much luck with slow titles that feature cute girls. I’ll wait and see. The…

Not sure what to get the manga lover in your life? Viz Media has some suggestions from their extensive library of titles! VIZ MEDIA SPOTLIGHTS EXCITING MANGA TITLES FOR WISH LISTS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON  2014 Holiday Releases Include New Manga Box Sets, Shojo And Action/Sci-fi Manga Series And Other Exciting Gift Ideas For Any Special Fan!  San Francisco, CA, November 11, 2014 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in North America, has announced a compelling array of manga, special box sets, novels and other titles that will make ideal gifts to suit a wide range of budgets and interests to delight readers and fans of all ages this holiday season. Notable selections, which will be available in plenty of time for the start of the 2014 holiday shopping season, include lavish new box set editions for manga series BLACK BIRD, ONE PIECE, and VAMPIRE KNIGHT as well as the hardcover  storybook – PRINCESS MONONOKE: THE FIRST STORY – an oversized, full-color edition of the original Princess Mononoke story, created by Hayao Miyazaki in 1980 while he was first conceptualizing the landmark animated film. New and exemplary shojo manga series from VIZ Media’s Shojo…

It’s been less than a week since Digital Manga Publishing’s Tezuka’s World Release kickstarter ended, failing to meet its $380K minimum funding goal. But, like the proverbial good man, DMP is not staying down. Six days later they are back with a smaller, more modest kickstarter, and a completely different series. Ludwig B is a two-volume series, and one of the last three series’ Tezuka worked on before his death. It is about the famous composer, Ludwig Beethoven. It looks at his younger years, as he struggles with being used and abused by aristocrats and his pushy alcoholic father. Charged with watching his younger brothers during a French war, Ludwig deals with his conflicted thoughts the only way he knows how; through his music. The goal for this kickstarter is back in line with previous DMP Tezuka kickstarters, at $21,600. The reward tiers are also more like previous kickstarters, with digital only copies of the books starting at $15, and print copies at $32. They are also offering tiers what allow backers to get two copies of the first volume to share. There are only 20 tiers, so multiple spreadsheet are not needed to track them this time. Also included…

Amazon once again takes the wind out publisher’s sails with some solicitations outing unannounced licenses. This time, Yen Press, who has just recently resolved its issued with the online retailer, had some pre-orders go up for two new manga titles and one light novel. All three new titles are related to existing licenses and just expand on their libraries. Sword Art Online: Girl Ops just started last year in Dengeki Bunko Magazine and only has one volume out so far. It follows the girls of Sword Art Online: Aincrad in their real life adventures at the SAO Survivor School and their online adventures in ALFheim. This series looks cute, if the cover art is any indication. I liked the manga adaptation of the novel, though I wasn’t enthralled with it. I haven’t checked out the other spin-off, Fairy Dance, but it’s in my to-be-read pile. Sword Art Online has been doing well for Yen Press, so this is a good, if obvious pick up for them. Amazon has it scheduled to be released in May 2015. Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Rebellion Story is an adaptation of the movie by the same name and is three volumes. After the end…

I’ve been looking forward to Yukarism ever since it was announced back in February. But then, I’m always looking forward to a new Chka Shiomi title. I love her works Yurara and Rasetsu from Viz, and Canon from CMX. While the premise of gender-bending and past lives doesn’t thrill me, I’ll trust Shiomi to provide a title I’ll enjoy. TRAVEL BACK TO EDO-ERA JAPAN WITH THE LAUNCH OF THE SEXY NEW SHOJO MANGA SERIES YUKARISM FROM VIZ MEDIA  Dreamy Historical Romance Depicts A Teenage Writer’s Extraordinary Past Life As A Courtesan In Edo-era Japan; New Series From The Creator Of YURARA And RASETSU Debuts In Print And Digitally!!  San Francisco, CA, November 19, 2014 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of manga and anime in North America, entices shojo manga (graphic novel) readers with the print and digital launch of the new series – YUKARISM – on December 2nd. The nostalgia-tinted historical romance comes from creator Chika Shiomi, who is widely known among manga fans for her series YURARA and RASETSU (both available from VIZ Media). YUKARISM will be published under the Shojo Beat imprint and is rated ‘T’ for Teens. Print MSRP will be $9.99…

I wonder if Viz has a catalog of Tokyopop former releases and they just check off the books they want, or if they are going from a list from the staff, either way, they are adding even more to their Viz Select line, so they must like how the sales are doing. VIZ MEDIA ANNOUNCES SUBSTANTIAL NOVEMBER DIGITAL MANGA UPDATE AND SPECIAL PRICING ON SEVERAL POPULAR SERIES Catch Digital Launch Of 6 Hot New Manga Series And Updates To More Than 20 Ongoing Titles; Special November Pricing On 5 Fan-Favorite Series And Titles To Debut on ComiXology VIZ Media continues the drive into fall with the announcement of an array of digital manga updates and new series debuts for November. Fans and readers can catch today’s launch of two new series debuts including creator Aya Shouoto’s paranormal shojo drama, KISS OF THE ROSE PRINCESS and the final volume of NEON GENESIS EVANGELION. Other notable new digital series kicking off throughout the rest of the month include 3 titles from the VIZ Select imprint. Return to the world of CHIBI VAMPIRE with CHIBI VAMPIRE AIRMAIL on November 11th, savor the dark, demonic suspense of ZONE-00, which launches on November 18th, and…

Before Digital Manga Publishing scooped up the whole Tezuka catalog, Vertical, Inc. had been cherry picking from the library and pulled out several gems such as Black Jack, Princess Knight, and Dororo. Sadly, Vertical’s licenses for print rights of these books expired, and the books have since gone out of print. But, just this last Friday, the Vertical tumblr announced that the Comics imprint had gotten the e-Book rights to their entire catalog. This is really good news, as so many of these titles are not just classics, but great books that have something meaningful to say. I haven’t had the pleasure of reading all of them, but the majority that I have read have been exciting, disturbing and fun. And with the future of the Digital Manga Publishing Tezuka World kickstarter in doubt, it’s good news to hear we will not lose the Tezuka titles already printed for good. The titles in the Vertical Comics catalog that are going to e-Book are: Apollo’s Song Black Jack Dororo Princess Knight Ode to Kirihito MW Ayako Book of Human Insects Buddha Message to Adolf The Twin Knights The titles will be appearing on the usual platforms Kindle, iBooks, and Nook, and…