Manga Xanadu

Being a “Projectionist” can bring lots of money and fame, but only if you are good at it. If you want o become one, first you need to have the power to cast a four-dimensional image. The it is really important to be able to hone and perfect you projecting abilities. The best place to do that, of course, is at a high school filled with other aspiring projectionists. Step into this multi-dimensional world with a very special student body and see how each student deals with his or her special gifts! By Ayami Kazama Publisher: CMX Age Rating: Everyone Genre: Romance/Fantasy Price: $9.99 Rating: Buy This Book It’s an interesting world that is created in The World I Create, where completely realistic “projections” are created for entertainment.  It’s a lot of hard work, and can be very rewarding.  In this volume, we are introduced to 8 students, all attending school to learn to perfect their abilities.  The all have different reasons for wanting to be a projectionist, but in the end this title just doesn’t distinguish itself well enough from other rom-com titles. The first volume is comprised of 4 stories that feature two characters each it. It’s usually…

BakéGyamon Volume 3 By Mitsuhisa Tamura Publisher: Viz Media/Vizkids Age Rating: All Ages (8+) Genre: Game Price: $7.99 Rating: The battle begins in earnest as the final 32 contestants are paired up tournament-style.  With the playing field a mock Tokyo Tower, there’s only one way to go…up!  Sanshiro will now have to use his battle skills against the very people he wants to befriend! This volume falls into the tournament style of fighting that most shonen titles eventually get to.  But unlike those shonen titles that become tired and uninteresting in their constant need to power up, this volume doesn’t fall into that trap.  Sanshiro remains true to himself, and while his goal is now to win the game, he won’t sacrifice his monsters or having fun to do it.

Gareth writes: Hi, I am a library assistant from the UK (Liverpool), and I would be very happy if you could answer a quick question for me. I had a couple of ten-year olds playing in the library yesterday, and one of them, a young girl, said she only reads comics. My question is, is all ages Manga suitable for a 10-year-old, or if not could you perhaps recommend some graphic novels and comics for 10 year olds. Having read the recent Carol L. Tilley study finding that comics have no disadvantage compared to traditional prose, I am really keen to develop Manga and graphic novel resources especially for younger children.

Pop Japan Tours – The Artists Editon Deb Aoki of About.com:Manga blog went to Japan through Pop Japan Tours with several other artists to participate in Comitia and do the tourist thing.  They put together an anthology called Journeys to sell there.  Deb has chronicled two of the days so far with photo galleries and more days to come.  Check out her extensive posts for that “living vicariously” feeling!

It’s hard to believe, but this week marks Manga Xanadu’s second anniversary.  I hope everyone has enjoyed reading my posts from the last year.  I set myself a schedule of 3 times a week, Monday, Wednesday & Friday, and with the addition of the This Week In Manga, one on the weekends, and have actually kept with it!  I’m rather proud of that.  It can be hard to be consistent, especially with RL and other commitments.  But, I’ve done my best and I hope you’ve been able to take away something from all my random ranting. Over the past year, I think I’ve fallen behind on reviews for this site, concentrating on more commentary.  E-books and related technology have gotten a lot of coverage and remain among my most popular hits from search engines.  I will continue to cover this ever-evolving topic.  There is a definite future in e-books, one we shouldn’t ignore.  Searches for All Ages books have also remained high on the list.  Hopefully more teachers, librarians and parents are looking at manga as another avenue to get kids reading.  Manga is still misunderstood, and people still need to be educated about it.  Libraries have been under fire,…

This was brought up as a comment on twitter, but was also something I’d been thinking about.  Books rated All Ages aren’t necessarily meant for All Ages to read.  This really hit me as I was reading ChocoMimi, an all ages title in the Viz Kids line.  While there is nothing objectionable, or violent in the the title, it definitely wasn’t something I would chose to read as a 40-year-old.  On the flip side, Project X: Challengers: Seven Eleven is also rated all ages, for not having any objectionable material or violence, but wasn’t something anyone under the age of 20 would really care about reading.

Ninja Baseball Kyuma Volume 1 By Shunshin Maeda Publisher: Udon Entertainment Age Rating: All Ages Genre: Sports Price: $7.99 Rating: Kyuma and his dog Inui live in the mountains, where Kyuma trains every day to become a great ninja. But when Kyuma mistakes a baseball coach for his training master, the local baseball team ends up with its first ninja player! Can a ninja step up to the plate and learn how to play ball? Find out in Ninja Baseball Kyuma! Boys love ninjas and baseball, so it seems only natural to put them together, right?  Fortunately, in this title, the combination works.  Thanks to some great characters, good stories and a lack of “ninja magic”, Ninja Baseball Kyuma is a title anyone can read and enjoy.

I just read the first issue of Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers, and I have to say, I really liked it.  I wasn’t sure what I was in store for when I first ordered it, but I can safely say, it was $3 well spent. Throg (Frog Thor) is really the character that really made this issue.  He is the first “teammate” that Lockjaw goes to after he finds one of the Infinity Gems.  Apparently Lockjaw has decided that animals are better for finding the gems than the humans.  Throg’s whole backstory is just what you’d expect from a Marvel Universe origin.  Bad things happen to a good man who is then rewarded with superpowers; after being turned into a frog.  Throg himself is just great.  He speaks for Lockjaw, jabbering on with the other animals as he convinces each of them to join the cause and journey to find the gems.  Just like Thor, he speaks with lots of “thee”s and “thou”s, and “wouldst”s and “dost”s.

Fairy Idol Kanon Volume 1 By Mera Hakamada Publisher: Udon Entertainment Age Rating: All Ages Genre: Magical Girl/Fantasy Price: $7.99 Rating: Can a regular girl become a superstar celebrity? Kanon is an ordinary fourth grader who loves to sing more than anything else. When a magical fairy princess named Alto meets Kanon and decides to help start her singing career, their journey to fame takes off! Friendship and magic combine in this cute musical story! Fairy Idol Kanon is another title aimed directly at girls.  Singing, fashion, stardom and fairies all make this the perfect title for young girls.  Almost too perfect.  It’s a safe story with all the messages that parents and teachers will love, while the girls will love the magic and bits of drama.

The Big Adventures of Majoko Volume 1 By Tomomi Mizuna Publisher: Udon Entertainment Age Rating: All Ages Genre: Fantasy Price: $7.99 ISBN: 1897376812 Rating: While cleaning her room, a young girl named Nana finds a mysterious diary. As soon as she opens it, out pops Majoko, a rambunctious wizard girl from the Land of Magic! Together, these two girls explore a fantastic world full of magic spells, wondrous creatures, and endless surprises. Every day is a big adventure when Majoko is around! The Big Adventures of Majoko has ever thing to please a young girl; easy to relate to characters and stories that are filled with fun and adventure.  The simplistic and self-contained stories are perfect for the emerging to chapters reader, but don’t expect to see it in the hands of many over the age of 10.

Well, it’s been quite a week at Manga Village.  You might see some new faces as you look around, but I’ll get to that in a little bit.  Let’s start with our reviews for this week.  Charles Tan starts things off with another season-appropriate sports title, Eyeshield 21 Volume 22 from Viz.  Dan Polley has quite a tale with Fairy Tail Volume 4 from Del Rey.  Katherine Famar gets aquainted with You and Harujion from Deux.  I take a new Viz title for a walk with Nora: The Last Chonicle of Devildom Volume 1.   John Thomas gets his learn on with Style School Volume 3 from Dark Horse. We make our weekly picks this week as usual, with just one minor change.  We have a new villager!  Yes, Alex Hoffman from the blog Manga Widget has joined the crew and starts out with giving a pick with the rest of us.  Hopefully we’ll have reviews going up from him real soon!  Good Comics for Kids has been pretty busy this week too.  Not only do I have my weekly all ages list up, but I also have a review of the first new Naruto Chapter book, Naruto, The Boy Ninja…

It’s another round of reviews from the Villagers, with this week leading off in a gentile way with A Gentleman’s Kiss from Deux by Katherine Famar.  A true Gentleman needs a butler, so Charles Tan serves us a new Hayate Combat Butler Volume 8 from Viz.  And since butlers always need some little kid to look after, Dan Polley brings the cute Mao-Chan Volume 1 from Del Rey.  But where will they all live?  How about the Magic Lover’s Tower Volume 1-2 from DR Masters reviewed by me?  And who will guard the tower?  Inukami! Volume 1 of course from Seven Seas Entertainment reviewed by John Thomas. Over in our columns, we’ve got our picks for the week, as well as our top manga for the month of October.  It was another close run again this week.  Check out what we liked.  And then over at Good Comics for Kids, I’ve have the latest All Ages list, and check out the review of Avalon: Web of Magic by Ester Keller.