Manga Xanadu

Black Bird is a series I wanted to like, but had some systemic problems that kept it from being a regular read for me, which is too bad because I loved Sakurakoji’s first series here, Backstage Prince. There were a lot of elements of the plot surrounding the Senka Maiden that I was interested in, but the icky feeling I got from the series in general made it hard to follow regularly. If you can get past, or aren’t bothered by those parts, then Viz has some great news for you! Keep reading for the details! VIZ MEDIA’S BLACK BIRD MANGA SERIES TAKES FLIGHT IN A NEW BOX SET EDITION  Catch The Entire Romantic Supernatural Adventure In This Complete Box Set; Release Also Features Exclusive Bonus Hardcover Art Book  San Francisco, CA, September 25, 2014 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of manga and anime in North America, ignites the passions of readers with the release on October 21st of the manga (graphic novel) box set for creator Kanoko Sakurakoji’s hit supernatural fantasy series, BLACK BIRD. The BLACK BIRD Complete Box Set features the entire series run of 18 volumes and will be released under…

Crunchyroll has been really been working hard to become the legal streaming site for manga. Their “all you can read” plan puts a lot of titles at readers fingertips for one monthly price, and they are adding new titles all the time. Recently, they added two new titles, The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer and Kippo. Kippo is a new title to western readers. It is by Hiroshi Tanaka and runs in Shonengahosha’s Young King magazine. The story is about some boys whose family life is anything but happy, and the people they meet in their “spot”, who become more family than their own. When disaster strikes, it’s these people who come together to protect what is important to them. The first chapter is available for anyone to read, while the rest of the first and only volume published so far is behind the subscription wall. It’s violent and disturbing at times, but does appear to have potential for some real drama. The Lucifier and Biscuit Hammer is not a new title to western readers. Jmanga started releasing it and got out 5 volumes before they closed up. Crunchyroll has been rescuing a lot of Jmanga’s titles, and hope they continue…

Just this week, Yen Press released the first volume of Durarara!! The Yellow Scarves Arc. This is an adaptation of the third light novel and continues the outrageous story of Mikado, Shizuo, Izaya, Celty, Anri, Kida and more. However, in the October issue of Square Enix’s Monthy G Fantasy magazin that came out in September, it was announced that the manga will end in the November issue out next month. The final chapter will feature a color page, and it looks like the series will be three volumes total. Seems Yen Press picked the perfect time to pick up this series, as it’s just started. But with their first two volumes coming out in quick succession, there’s no tell when the last volume will be out. I hope it won’t be long. I hope even more that Yen Press will license the Durarara!! light novels soon. This is the last manga adaptation. How will I get my Shizuo fix after this?!  

Viz Media must have found an audience for its racier shojo titles since they keep coming out. Of course it has to feature vampires/bloodsucking of some sort. That seems to be where all the action is. I guess it’s appropriate considering the season, but I would like to see more non-supernatural romances, even though I do enjoy them. But there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

Like sports manga, we don’t get a lot of sci-fi manga, so it’s a big deal when a series launches. World Trigger isn’t that new, having been serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump since February of 2013 here in the US. But finally Viz is releasing the manga for everyone to read! Keep reading for more details. VIZ MEDIA LAUNCHES SCI-FI MANGA SERIES WORLD TRIGGER IN GRAPHIC NOVEL FORMAT Two Unlikely Heroes Are Earth’s Last Hope Against Alien Invaders In New Manga Action Series Straight From The Pages Of WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP; Series To Debut In Print And Digitally San Francisco, CA, September 16, 2014 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of manga and anime in North America, announces the print and digital launch of creator Daisuke Ashihara’s thrilling sci-fi action manga series – WORLD TRIGGER – in a dedicated graphic novel format on October 7th. The series is currently being serialized chapter-by-chapter SIMULTANEOUS to Japan in the pages of the digital anthology WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP. WORLD TRIGGER will be published under the Shonen Jump imprint with the first two volumes releasing simultaneously on October7th. Volumes 1 and 2 are rated ‘T’ for Teens and will…

This news item seems rather timely. I’ve been catching up on my backlog of Library Wars: Love and War over the last few days. Banned Books Week is next week and I wanted to try to review them for it. I have a love/hate relationship with this title. The story is well written and I love the characters, but I can’t handle the dystopian future it portrays. The censorship, hardball tactics by the Media Betterment Committee, the push to destroy books that some disagree with for the “betterment of society”  just leaves an empty pit in my stomach, and makes it a difficult series for me to enjoy all the time and re-read. It seems it won’t be a struggle for me for much longer. The November issue of Hakusensha’s LaLa Magazine announced that Library Wars: Love and War would be ending in the next three chapters. This would put the series finale in the February issue due out in December. There are currently 13 volumes out in Japan, and Viz Media, the US licensor of the title, just released volume 12 in print and digital. The series is based on a light novel series that went 4 volumes, and resulted…

Yen Press has really been piling on the licences lately, both in manga and light novels. One of each was just announced and confirmed in the last couple of weeks. The one manga was announced on Twitter. Karneval follows the mysterious young boy Nai, who knows nothing but his name and Karoku. With only Karoku’s bracelet from “Circus,” he goes in search of Karoku. He is helped by an older boy Gareki and after an incident, they are recruited by the National Defense Agency Circus. As they travel, searching for Karoku, they meet new people and find new opportunities along the way. A lot of people were excited for this license when it was announced. There was an anime that aired last year, which was streamed and licensed by Funimation. I’m not really seeing anything from the description that excites me, but that’s nothing new. This is a title I will have to wait and see. It is currently 13 volumes and is scheduled for release in March 2015. Adding to their YenOn imprint is So, I Can’t Play H!, a romantic comedy light novel series. This one follows Ryuosuke Kaga, a high school student who is both a hopeless romantic…

Viz Media continues to push the boundaries of digital manga and simultaneous release with their new Jump Start initiative. WSJ readers will get essentially sneak peaks at new titles the same time as Japanese readers, titles that could potentially become regular titles in the English edition. Sports, Sci-Fi crime thriller and sports medicine manga will start the program. It will be interesting to see how well the more niche titles do. VIZ MEDIA’S “JUMP START” INITIATIVE TO DELIVER ENGLISH DIGITAL PREMIERES OF BRAND NEW WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP MANGA SERIES ON THE SAME DAY OF JAPANESE DEBUT Digital Publishing Campaign Eliminates Time And Distance Barriers To Offer International Fans The Opportunity To Sample Hot New Manga Titles; New Series JUDOS Launches Today!   San Francisco, CA, September 8, 2014 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest publisher, distributor and licensor of manga and anime in North America, generates additional synergy between its English language WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP digital manga magazine and the original Japanese print counterpart with the launch of the new “Jump Start” initiative. WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP is the world’s premiere manga brand and leading international weekly manga magazine. Moving forward, VIZ Media will simultaneously premiere the first three chapters…

Over the last few weeks Crunchyroll manga has been busy adding new titles to their growing library. Three of the titles are traditional manga, and three are part of their “Manga 2.5” line, which I would recommend avoiding, but your mileage may vary. The Kawaii Complex Guide to Manors and Hostel Behavior is published by Shonengahosha in their magazine Young King Ours. It follows Usa, a boy who starts living on his own when his parents move for work. His residence is filled with eccentrics and perverts, but so does his crush, Ritsu. This series is a rom-com that has 5 volumes and is ongoing. It also has an anime that just streamed on Crunchyroll in the spring. The current chapter is now up, and new chapters will be added monthly. No word yet on when/if previous chapters will be available. The inclusion of the description “perverts” is enough to turn me off from this series. The Legend of Onikirimaru sounds much more like my kind of title. It is published by Leeds Publishing in the magazine Sengoku Bushou Retsuden. A demon boy with no horns or name wields the blade Onikirimaru, the Demon Slayer. He is fated to kill…

This last week at Baltimore Comic Con, the Harvey Awards were held. Like the Eisners, the Harveys honor the best in comics and sequential art. Unlike the Eisners, the Harveys are nominated and voted on by the comic professionals themselves. It’s about creators honoring other creators for their work. While the awards center mostly around American comics, manga does get a nod in the “Best American Edition of Foreign Material” category. This year, three manga got nods: Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama and published by Kodansha Comics, Sunny by Taiyo Matsumoto and published by Viz Media, and Showa: A History of Showa Japan by Shigeru Mizuki and published by Fantagraphics. All three titles have their merits. Attack on Titan, while sorely lacking the art department has a compelling story and interesting characters, things that have made it a huge franchise both in Japan and here in the States. Volume 1 of the series has been on the New York Times Bestseller List for almost 70 consecutive weeks. Sunny is a semi-autobiographical slice of life story about several kids living at the Star Kids Home orphanage, and one of the few constant things in their life is the old yellow Sunny…

Yen Press has confirmed, thanks to some Amazon listings, that they have two more Puella Magi Madoka Magica spin-off titles: Puella Maki Oriko Magica: Extra Story and Puella Magi Tart Magica: The Legend of Jeanne d’Arc. This news makes me very happy since I’ve really come to enjoy the Magica spin offs. I didn’t like Puella Magi Oriko Magica initially, but the second volume redeemed any doubt I had at the beginning. Oriko’s story gets to continue now with a  “what if” side story. This new story asks, what if Oriko had met Yuma Chitose before she gained her vision of the end of the world? Would she still have used and manipulated the girl in order to reach her own ends of trying to stop the end of the world? I didn’t find Yuma interesting in the main series, but I am curious to see what Mura Kuroe, the artist of the main Oriko series, comes up with this time. The series is one volume and is scheduled to be released in March of 2015 Puella Magi Tart Magica is a spin-off from the main series, and takes tidbit that was thrown out, that Joan of Arc was a…

Viz Media has plenty of digital manga ending and beginning this month, even a few surprises for their VIZ Select imprint. They are seriously mining the Tokyopop catalog, and from their weekly top tens, it’s been doing alright for them. I might even check out their newest acquisition. Find out what it is and more after the break!