Manga Xanadu

Viz Media makes another move to spread its manga to other platforms as Weekly Shonen Jump finally jumps from the Vizmanga app to get on comiXology and Amazon’s Kindle. The jump to just these two platforms and not Nook, Kobo, iOS, or Googleplay is probably due to Amazon’s ownership of comiXology. Hopefully Viz will be able to announce expanding to those other platforms soon as well.

Maki Minami has become another of Viz Media’s go-to creators with this, her third series to be published by the Shojo Beat imprint. It’s starting up at a perfect time as well, as Voice Over! Seiyuu Academy has just ended. I don’t know if I’ll read it, since it uses the Rich-to-Poor trope that I don’t care for, but it can some times work for me, so may be I’ll at least check out the first volume.

Ultraman is a Japanese superhero who has been getting a lot of attention lately in the US. Crunchyroll has been streaming the older episodes and now Viz Media has licensed the manga that acts as a sequel to original TV series, to attract old and new fans alike. And it’s finally out this week!

Superheroes have been all the rage lately on TV and movie screens, so it should come as no surprise that they’re popping up in manga too.  My Hero Academia has been serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump since late last year, but this simultaneous release of both the print and digital edition of the first volume finally makes the series available to non-WSJ readers.  I wasn’t wowed by the chapters that were made available in January of this year, but sales are putting me into the minority. Check it out yourself to see where you stand.

If you’ve been following my Top Ten posts every week, you will have seen that Tokyo Ghoul has been popular even before the print volumes came out. Part of this is probably because of the anime series which streamed earlier last year. If you’ve been curious about the series, but want to try before you buy, Viz Media has a deal for you. You can read an extended except of the first volume online for free. You can get almost half of the first volume to try, but only for a limited time. Check it out while you can!

Kodansha Advanced Media, or KAM, is going to be a big deal to those of us who want more of our manga in digital, as they have taken over managing Kodansha Comics’ digital media. This exhibit features several prominent Kodansha manga artists, and is not only free for visitors who are in San Francisco, but online as well for those of us not so fortunate.

Viz Media does a pretty decent job of spreading out its license announcements. They aren’t always big or mind-blowing, but at all three conventions in July they made sure they had something to for fans to look forward to, and I think that in itself is pretty cool.

Maid-Sama is a license rescue from Tokyopop. It was a series they launched after their restructuring in 2008 and they published 8 volumes before shutting down publication in 2011. While a lot of Viz’s rescues are digital only, this title is not only getting a print release, it is coming out as 2-in-1 omnibuses. This should get the series through the previous published material fast and into the unpublished that fans will really be looking for.

Viz is a little late in getting this press release out. Not only did the series come out at the beginning of July, but pre-release copies were sold at Anime Expo. Better late than never though, right? I’m interested in this series, and hope my copy will arrive soon. I’ve seen people seeing it’s similar to Kamisama Kiss, but since I like that series too, I can only see this as a good thing.

It’s been a long time coming to finally see this series in print. New digital volumes always did really well on the Vizmanga site, so it’s surprising it’s taken this long to get it in print. I’ve heard a lot of people go on about how great and funny this series is and since it does do well even as a digital only release I shouldn’t be surprised, but I can’t say I was impressed with the few chapters I read in WSJ back in January. Maybe that just wasn’t a good place to start.

I already discussed these new licenses in my Anime Expo manga roundups. I’ll give the two new shojo manga, Behind the Scenes and Shuriken and Pleats a try. It would be nice to find a good Drama club manga. I could do without another Dragon Ball Z release just to add some color. I also really want to read School Judgement: Gakkyu Hotei. I really enjoyed the few chapters I read in Shonen Jump back in January, so I’m thrilled it’s coming out in print.

Didn’t I just write about this last week? Oh, wait, that was for Anime Expo! SDCC usually doesn’t come this early, and it leaves fans and companies with barely any down time before they’re packing up for the next show. At least it’s only a 2 hour drive between LA and San Diego. With SDCC being the bigger of the two cons, Viz has more activities planned for SDCC, with more giveaways at their booth, more panels and some con exclusives that SDCC is becoming just as known for. Badger a friend who’s going to get you some.