Manga Xanadu

Vertical Comics, the comics imprint of Vertical, Inc., announced through their Tumblr that they had acquired a new manga license, Tokyo ESP.  Vertical had the title confirmed since just after New York Comic Con, but retailers were starting to put solicitations out for the first volume, so there was little reason to sit on it any longer. The story follows Rinka Urushiba, a high school student who works a part-time job to help her father make ends meet. One day she sees a penguin chasing some glowing fish flying through the sky. She is touched by one of the fish and loses conscious. When she wakes up, she has a supernatural power; she can walk through inanimate objects. She is not the only one to gain powers, and she joins up with another high school student, Kyotaro Azuma who can teleport. They take on other powered people who have decided to use their powers for evil. The series is published by Kadokawa Shoten in their magazine Shonen Ace and is currently 11 volumes. There is an anime adaptation that ran last summer that Crunchyroll streamed and Funimation licensed. This title was also one of the debut titles in Kadokawa Shoten’s Comic…

Some of the smaller publishers pop up this week. BL readers will note Digital Manga Publishing has some print books coming out. Netcomics has the second volume of their new series Give to the Heart, and a one shot of the classic novel The Prince by Machiavelli. Seven Seas Entertainment pleases both the boys and girls with the new Alice in the Country of Clover: The Lizard Aide, and Strike Witches: One- Winged Witches. Kodansha only has one title this week, the sixth volume of Seven Deadly Sins, marking the half way for the current releases in Japan. After reading some older Case Closed titles, I’m back in the mood to read more. Viz Media releases volume 53, which isn’t even close to being caught up. This title has been running in serialization for 20 years, and doesn’t seem to show any signs of slowing down! At 85 volumes and counting, it may be another 20 years before we’ve caught up! Vertical Comics has the top manga of the week with their first volume of My Neighbor Seki. The description makes the title sound ridiculous, but it is so much better than that. It is so funny, I loved every…

On Friday Yen Press announced new licenses for their manga and Light Novel lines through their Twitter account. There are a total of 8 titles; 3 Light Novels and 5 manga, but two of those are adaptations of the light novels. Still, that is a lot of content to commit to in 2015. The first manga announced was Rust Blaster. This was the debut work of Yana Toboso, the creator of the very popular Black Butler series that Yen Press also publishes. The story follows the most unvampire-like vampire Aldred and a human transfer student Kei. They meet by chance at a vampire academy, but there meeting wasn’t just an accident, it was fate. The one volume series ran in Square Enix’s G-Fantasy. There was no release date announced. Vampires are really my thing, but at one volume I’d be willing to give this series a go. The next two manga titles are from the Puella Magi Madoka Magica series. Puella Magi Homura Tamura is a slice of life 4 koma comedy series. This spin-off is based on the main manga series by Magical Quartet. It ran in Houbunsha’s Manga Time Kirara Magica and there is one volume available. Puella…

Every week, Viz Media and the New York Times posts the top ten bestselling books. For Viz Media, it is the bestsellers on their site, Vizmanga.com. The New York Times gets their numbers of print sales from retailers. Offered here is a listing of these books with their status this week compared with the previous week, and some way-off analysis of the activity.   Vizmanga for the week of December 30, 2014 Vizmanga didn’t send out a top ten for the fifth week. I will no longer be including them on the list until they begin posting them regularly again.   New York Times Bestseller List for January 3, 2015 Unofficial Hatsune Mix     ↑ 5 Assassination Classroom Vol 1     ↑ 3 Attack on Titan No Regrets Vol 2     ↵ 9 Naruto Vol 68     ↔ Deadman Wonderland Vol 6     ∗ Sword Art Online: Fairy Dance Vol 2     ↓ 6 Noragami Vol 1     ↵ 6 Citrus Vol 1     ∗ He’s My Only Vampire Vol 1    ↓ 1 Master Keaton Vol 1     ∗ This is one very surprising list! There is a new top title, and it’s Dark Horse’s vocaloid manga about Hatsune…

On Wednesday, Seven Seas Entertainment announced on their Twitter feed several new licenses set to be released in October and November of this year. Four titles were announced, all either having an anime adaptation, or are an adaptation of a light novel series, a trend that is continuing from last year.  Akuma no Riddle: Riddle Story of Devil follows Haru Ichinose, an ordinary student at an all female boarding school filled with assassins. She is the target of the other students; “The Hare.” Tokaku Azuma, an assassin who transfers into the school to join the hunt, but after meeting Haru, is drawn to her, and begins to protect her. The series is published in Kadokawa Shoten’s Newtype and is currently 3 volumes. It has a 12 episode anime adaptation that has been licensed by Funimation. This description doesn’t move me, but it doesn’t sound bad either. It was written by Yun Kouga, the creator of Loveless and Gestalt, neither series that I had much interest in, but a lot of other people have. It also has a lot of elements that make it fit the Seven Seas library. Golden Time is a light novel series by Yuyuko Takemiya, the creator…

Yuko, Watanuki, Domeki and Himawari are back! xxxHolic Rei represents a “return” to the otherworldly setting of Yuko’s shop, where wishes are granted., but always for a price. The visitors are as strange as ever–two best friends whose cell phone trinkets share eerie similarities, a disembodied voice that is impossible to resist–but even by Yuko’s sordid standards, something is truly odd…Return to the elegant world of CLAMP’s metaphysical masterpiece. xxxHolic Rei Volume 1 By CLAMP Publisher: Kodansha Comics Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Supernatural Price: $10.99 Rating: xxxHolic returns after a 19 volume run to continue the adventures of Yuko, Watanuki, Domeki and Himawari as they grant wishes at Yuko’s wish-granting shop. While this is a return for the characters, only returning readers will really have an idea of what is going on. xxxHolic Rei starts out as if it were another chapter of the xxxHolic series before it ended. Watanuki is the cook and housekeeper for Yuko, the shop owner with strange mystical powers that draw people to the shop “because they need to.” Domeki is Watanuki’s classmate who also works at a shrine, and drops by for Yuko’s help. While the opening scene shows that there is an established…

It’s a new year with plenty of new manga to check out. There is a nice mix of titles this week in both shonen, shojo and the young reader demographics. Dark Horse releases the first volume in the sequel/continuation of the CLAMP series Legal Drug with Drug and Drop omnibus coming out. Viz’s kid imprint, Perfect Square has new Pokèmon, Adventures and Black and White. I’ve only just caught up with Vertical Comics’ What Did You Eat Yesterday Vol 4-5, and now I’ve got 6 breathing down my neck! Kodansha has the fifth volume of a shojo series I really enjoy, Say I Love You. I have vols 3-4 stacked up, so with vol 5 I can indulge in another binge read. This is always good and bad. I love getting big doses of my favorite titles, but then it’s a long wait for the new volume! This is Viz Media’s big shonen and shojo week, but it’s not as big usual. The Akira Toriyama One-shot Jaco the Galactic Patrolman finally makes it’s digital and print debut. Joining it is the new shojo title Meteor Prince Vol 1. I wasn’t wowed by the premise of Meteor Prince but those who…

It was announced in the second volume of Secret, a psychological horror series by Yoshiki Tonogai, that the series would end in the third volume, scheduled to be released in Japan in April. The series, like Tonogai’s other two titles, Doubt and Judge, is about people trapped in a situation where they must root out a perpetrator to escape. Secret puts six survivors of tragic bus accident to the test. Three of them are murderers. They all have one week to discover who the murderers are. These three must then show remorse for their crimes and find a way to atone for them, or evidence of their sins will be given to the police. But when everyone has a secret, it isn’t easy to know who to trust. Tonogai, who contributed to the series Higurashi: When They Cry, seems to be have been strongly influenced by its psychological horror and mystery aspects, as all three of his titles involve these elements. Reception of Doubt and Judge has been mixed here in the West, with Judge just edging out Doubt. Yen Press, who licensed Doubt and Judge, also licensed this series, and has been simulpubing the individual chapters digitally beginning with chapter 7….

Back in September, it was announced that the manga Library Wars:Love & War was going to end in the December issue of Hakusensha’s LaLa magazine.  That very same issue, with the final chapter of the series, is now also announcing the title’s return. Toshokan Senso: Love & War Bessatsu-hen, Library Wars: Love & War Extra, would begin as a new series in the May issue of LaLa out in March. It’s hard to say what this new series would cover. The main series went 15 volumes and could have easily covered all 4 of the original light novels. A second series of light novels, titled Bessatsu Toshokan Senso, Supplemental Library Wars, was published from 2008-2009. Considering the similarity in the titles, I think it makes sense that this new series will be based on the second. All we know for sure is that it will continue the adventures (and loves) of Iku, Dojo, Shibasaki, Tezuka, Komaki and Marie. Back when it was announced that the first series was ending, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I hate the Media Betterment Committee and everything they do to undermine or outright attack the Library Forces. But I love all of…

Every week, Viz Media and the New York Times posts the top ten bestselling books. For Viz Media, it is the bestsellers on their site, Vizmanga.com. The New York Times gets their numbers of print sales from retailers. Offered here is a listing of these books with their status this week compared with the previous week, and some way-off analysis of the activity.   Vizmanga for the week of December 23, 2014 Vizmanga didn’t send out a top ten for the fourth week in a row.   New York Times Bestseller List for the week ending December 27, 2014 Kingdom Hearts II Vol 3     ↑ 9 Attack on Titan Vol 1     ↓ 1 Sword Art Online: Fairy Dance Vol 2     ↑ 1 Naruto Vol 68     ↓ 2 Assassination Classroom Vol 1     ↓ 2 Unofficial Hatsune Mix     ↓ 1 Attack on Titan Vol 2     ↔ He’s My Only Vampire Vol 1     ∗ Spice and Wolf Vol 10     ∗ Attack on Titan No Regrets Vol 1     ↓ 4 Pre and post-Christmas sales and the list doesn’t change too much this week. Kingdom Hearts II Vol 3 makes a huge leap from #10…

Shiro turns down an offer to become a celebrity and Kenji’s culinary adventures are reprised. Accomplished home chef though he may be, Shiro proceeds on the assumption that no two of his curries will ever taste the same in a manga about a gay couple for mature–in the true sense–readers. What Did You Eat Yesterday? Volume 4-5 By Fumi Yoshinaga Publisher: Vertical Comics Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Cooking/Slice of Life Price: $12.95 Rating: What Did You Eat Yesterday? continues to follow the lives and menus of two gay men, Shiro and Kenji. These volumes expand more on their personal lives served up with a staggering menu of dishes such as bean rice, horse mackerel tataki, hamburgers in mushroom sauce and caramel-simmered apples on toast. Shiro, the cook and penny-pincher of the pair gets pulled into personal problems with his co-workers and friends with the temptation of free food. It seems like a good deal at the start, but there is always a catch, and seeing Shiro’s reaction, usually internal is always funny. But even though he has to listen to his boss complain about her daughter-in-law, or his female friend Kayoko’s husband butt into their daughter’s life. Shiro also…

The week between Christmas and New Year’s is always very new-release light, so this year I’ve decided to look back at some of my favorite new manga that came out in 2014. I say favorite because I don’t like saying best. There are still so many titles waiting for me to read them, I don’t feel qualified to claim these were the best of 2014, but they are the ones that I enjoyed the most. 2014 is the year I discovered Attack on Titan. Yeah, I know. I’m waaayyyy behind the times, but I seemed to have joined the fold at just the right time. Several spin-off titles were released this year, and my favorite among them was Attack on Titan: No Regrets from Kodansha Comics. I had no idea who Levi and Erwin were beyond being leaders of the Survey Corps in the main series when I picked up this two-volume series. Levi quickly became my favorite. I loved his brooding, angry attitude combined with his concern for his friends and clean-freak-ness. The art was great too, making it a bit of a shock when I finally did see him in the main series. Spin-offs have been doing well…