Manga Xanadu

It’s that time of the year again, where you have to go shopping for the manga readers in your life, but have no idea what to get them. No worries, here’s just one more gift guide to give you ideas of what to buy for who. For suggestions from previous years (some titles maybe out of print or digital only), check out my guides from 2013, 2010, and 2009. Card Game Lover – The king of card game manga is Yu-Gi-Oh!, but it is far from the only title worth reading out there. Cardfight! Vanguard is from Vertical Comics and is about timid Aichi Sendou who knows all about the card game Vanguard, and even has a deck, but has never played. When his most prized card is stolen, he ventures into a card shop to battle for his card back. While some would call this series a derivative of Yu-Gi-Oh!, there are enough differences in character and plot to really veer it onto its own path. The emphasis on having fun and making friends eclipses the  more competitive aspects of playing games which I think is a good thing. There are currently 4 volumes available. Mystery/Thriller Lover – Everyone…

Seasons Greetings! This week there are regular features the Weekly Wish List, the Vizmanga.com update and the New York Times Bestseller List. And keeping with the season, I review Sweet Rein from Viz Media. http://archive.org/download/MangaDomeEpisode37/MangaDomeEpisode37.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download

When one thinks of the holiday season, it tends to be of being merry, giving gifts, and celebrating the end of the old year and the beginning of the new. But the holiday season also has a history of ghostly stories and ghoulish things. So in that spirit, here are two titles to make you clutch your blanket closer on these cold, dark winter nights.

Setsuna Mudo has some serious problems. He is always getting into fights, doesn’t care for authority, and worst of all, has incestuous feeling for his sister, Sara. To top all this off, he also seems to be the reincarnation of the angel Alexial, who is being punished by God for rebelling against him. Now, Alexial’s twin, Rosiel is trying to kill Setsuna before Alexial awakens, the demon Kurai wants Alexial to awake and lead the demons against heaven, and all Setsuna wants to do is run away with Sara. Angel Sanctuary Volume 1-4 By Kaori Yuki Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Shoujo Price: $9.99 Rating: I read the first volume of Angel Sanctuary a few years ago, and at the time didn’t care much for it. But after reading, and enjoying, other works by the same creator, Kaori Yuki, I decided to give the series another try, and read a few more volumes to give it a real chance. The story revolves around Setsuna Mudo, your typical angst-ridden teenage boy with the usual problems you’d expect a teenage boy to have; getting into fights and not caring for authority. But the one problem he does have, that…

Christmas isn’t exactly a holiday that gets titles dedicated to it. There are often chapters with a Christmas theme, especially in romance titles, since in Japan the holiday is more for lovers. But it finally occurred to me, that there are titles with angels, and there is no Christmas in the US without angels in song or on a Christmas tree. So here are some manga with/about angels!

Continuing the tradition from last year, I’ve decided to put together a new gift guide for the manga reader(s) in your life. I changed up some of the types this year, and am featuring all new titles. Check out last year’s guide for some other types that might not be on this list or for more variety. And check out All About Manga for other lists part of the Great Manga Gift Guide for 2010.

Well, the most stressful part of the holiday season is over!  Christmas has come and gone, and all that’s left are wads of wrapping paper, stray bows and lots and lots of manga!  At least that’s how my Christmas turned out.  Check it out! How’s that for a good haul?  In fact, I missed a few!  Pig Bride Volume 2 as well as Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 20-21 should have been included in that picture too.  12 volumes in all.  Woo Hoo! Now, while manga is nice and all, and I do appreciate getting the books I did, what I really loved wasn’t something that was purchased but that was made.  My husband works with wood, and he made me these four wooden scroll puzzles, all from oak in different finishes.  Aren’t they awesome? So, what’s you get for Christmas?

After the NYT posted a graphic novel gift list now with manga on it, David Welsh sent out a call to action on Twitter, for manga gift guides.  This is my response to that call.   I’ve decided to put together a manga gift guide for 10 different possible types of people in your life.  I really could have kept going with this list.  There are so many good titles to recommend, but I’ll leave those to my fellow bloggers who also answered the call.

Some of you out there may be wondering about my lack of posts lately.  Most of you probably haven’t, but anyway…  With the holidays and work, I’ve been really bogged down and quite frankly stressed, which tends to kill my creative juices.  Distractions by things other than manga can also do it.

“On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Twelve Ecliptic Zodiac Keys,” Lucy Heartphilia has always dreamt of joining the  guild of mages known as Fairy Tail.  While searching for the guild, she meets up with Natsu Dragonil and Happy, a blue talking cat.  They are both members of Fairy Tail, though Lucy doesn’t know it at first.  They have a few adventures together, where Lucy shows him her magic.  She is a Stellar Spirit practitioner.  She collects keys that allow her to summon spirits from another world and make contracts with them.  The rarest of these keys are the gold Ecliptic Zodiac keys.  At the start, Lucy already has two; Aquarius and Taurus.  Natsu then invites Lucy to join the Fairy Tail guild, where the two are often paired together for assignments. Fairy Tail is a new series this year, and one I was hooked on from the first volume.  It’s a great action adventure title with lots of comedy as well.  Natsu is very much like Luffy or Goku.  He doesn’t care about a lot of things, but the things that he does, he cares a lot.  Lucy is very outgoing and determined.  The…

“On the Eleventh Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Eleven Band Member Battle,” Rin Amami has a dream of becoming a singer like his mother, but it’s an impossible dream.  He has the voice of a frog.  He has all but given up on his dream until a chance meeting with a new boyband, the Beatmen and their manager rekindles his hopes.  He may possess the legendary Dragon Voice.  He begins training with the Beatmen, his abrasive personality causing problems, but some how they keep on climbing up the charts. Dragon Voice is a series I was late coming to, but I’m really glad I did!  A “male version of Jem and the Holograms” doesn’t even come close to doing it justice.  The characters have great personalities that don’t always mesh well, which only increases the fun.  The situations are a little outrageous, but with some of the Tokusatsu shows that have been seen recently, could a Voice Rangers really be that far out?  Dragon Voice also has one of the best volumes I’ve ever read.  In volume 7, there is a big battle of the bands between three groups; The Beatmen, Privee, and Baby Naked.  They…

“On the Tenth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Ten Inukami,” Keita Kawahira is from a family of Inukami tamers, people who contract with dog-spirits to vanquish evil, but he is considered a failure since he couldn’t make a contract with one.  One day, his grandmother and head of the clan, tells Keita that there is an Inukami that is willing to contract with him.  He goes to meet Yoko, a beautiful girl with green hair and a big, bushy gold tail.  He’s thrilled at first, until he finds out how difficult Yoko is to handle. Inukami is based on a series of light novels, and has only one volume out from Seven Seas so far, but I have high hopes for the manga after having seen the 2006 anime (in fansub only).  Inukami is not a harem manga.  It is closer in relation to a series like Urusei Yatsura.  It’s a romantic comedy about Keita and Yoko’s relationship.  She wants to be his girlfriend, but he has a roaming eye.  None of the other females want anything to do with Keita, not that Yoko will let him be with anyone.  She can shoot fire from her…