Manga Xanadu

In the Monster Soul world, a war was waged between humans and monsters, with the monsters falling on the losing end of a treaty. The peace between the monsters and humans is tenuous and monsters are frequently persecuted by humans. As a result, monsters tend to stay away from humans and keep a low profile. One group of monsters, known as the Black Airs, lives boldly with a purpose: to have fun and take care of each other. They get into all kinds of trouble with reckless abandon, but as long as they stick together, they’ll be all right…probably. Monster Soul Volume 1-2 By Hiro Mashima Publisher: Kodansha Comics Age Rating: Teen Genre: Action/Fantasy Price: $10.99 Rating: Monster Soul is a two-volume series created by Hiro Mashima before starting on his latest title, Fairy Tail. In the world of Monster Soul, humans and monsters share the land of Elvenland. Since losing the war, monsters have retreated underground, living in dungeon cities. There is still a lot of anger and mistrust between humans and monsters, especially with humans coming down to steal from the monsters’ dungeons. Enter the Black Airs, Mummy, James, Toorah and Aki, four monsters commandos who fought in…

Manga makes its triumphant return this week, and it’s all thanks to Yen Press. While Seven Seas Entertainment does have some titles coming out, it’s Yen that getting a cut of my paycheck. After far, far too long, we finally get the next Durarara!! series. Yellow Scarves Arc is the third manga series and is based on the third light novel. So why hasn’t Yen licensed the light novel series again? It’s gonna be hard to read this first volume, because I will then have to wait for the rest! Spice and Wolf is another series I’ve come to love, so getting a new volume is always exciting. This week’s it’s volume 9, and even though the light novels are further ahead in volumes, I’m happy to wait for the manga. I love the art, and the interactions between Holo and Lawrence. I will read the light novels someday, but for now the manga has my full attention. I’m also curious about Void’s Enigmatic Mansion volume 1. I get a comeuppance vibe from it, with a tag live about granting one’s greatest wish and it not what you expected. I do enjoy those kinds of stories and it’s getting to be that season again…

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.com for the week of September 9, 2014 One Piece Vol 72     ∗ Seraph of the End Vol 2     ∗ JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 1 Vol 1     ∗ Time Killers     ∗ Skip•Beat Vol 33     ∗ Library Wars Vol 12     ∗ Dawn of the Arcana Vol 13     ∗ Food Wars! Vol 3     ↓  7 Seraph of the End Vol 1     ↵ One-Punch Man Vol 4     ↓ 2 Well, what a surprise. New shonen releases take over the list, and they are all at top. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 1 debuts respectably at #3 as does Time Killers, Kazue Kato’s short story collection. The three shojo titles on the list bunch together in the middle with what is third-to-last volume of Library Wars, and the final volume of…

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…

In the year 2022, gamers rejoice as Sword Art Online–a VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) like no other–debuts, allowing players to take full advantage of the ultimate in gaming technology: NerveGear, a system that allows users to completely immerse themselves in a wholly realistic gaming experience. But when the games goes live, the elation of the players quickly turns to horror as they discover that, for all its amazing features, SAO is missing on of the most basic functions of any MMORPG–a log-out button. Now trapped in the virtual world Aincrad, their bodies held captive by NerveGear in the real world, users are issued a chilling ultimatum: conquer all one hundred floors of Aincrad to regain your freedom. But in the warped world of SAO, “Game Over” means certain death–both virtual and real… Sword Art Online: Aincrad Art by Tamako Nakamura; Original story: Reki Kawahara Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Teen Genre: Drama/Game Price: $20.00 USD Rating: Sword Art Online: Aincrad manga is based on the first two light novels from a series of the same name, and belongs to a genre that become popular lately; players of an MMORPG become trapped in the game world and…

Wow. I thought I was stretching it last week. This week there is hardly any manga being released. Kodansha and Viz Media are about the only companies with anything coming out, and barely any at that. So let’s spotlight some related-but-not-manga titles. Kodansha releases the first to 2 books about Attack on Titan. Attack on Titan Guidebook: Inside and Outside is a look behind the scenes of the manga and anime. At nearly 400 pages, it features interviews with creator Hajime Isayama, his editor and staff of the anime adaptation, concept art from both the manga and anime, and an exhaustive guide to the characters and world of Attack on Titan. There is even a papercraft kit to make your own Colossal Titan head! This is a must for any Attack on Titan fan. Vertical, Inc. isn’t just a manga publisher. They also print novels, so it’s of no surprise that their leap onto the Attack on Titan bandwagon was to get the light novel series, Attack on Titan Before the Fall. This first novel is a prequel not only to the Attack on Titan series, but also to the manga of the same name as well. This first novel…

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…

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.com didn’t post at top ten this week, so no activity from them. However, I did discover I missed a month of the Nielson Book Scan Top 20 for July, so I will include it as well as August.   New York Times Bestseller List for the week ending September 6, 2014. Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds Vol. 6     ∗ One Piece Vol. 72     ∗ Attack on Titan Vol. 13      ↓ 2 Nisekoi! False Love Vol. 5     ∗ Pokemon Adventures Vol. 24     ∗ Time Killers: Kazue Kato Short Story Collection     ∗ Monster Musume Vol. 4     ↓ 4 Skip Beat Vol. 33     ∗ Attack on Titan Vol. 1     ↓ 4 High School DxD Vol. 2     ↓ 6 Viz Media, which had been purged from the list last…

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…

Mei Tachibana has always been a loner. In her 16 years, she has never had a friend or a boyfriend. She doesn’t talk to anyone at school, and is teased mercilessly. All that starts to change when she catches the eye of the popular Yamato, who decides she will be his girlfriend. Mei doesn’t know what to think of Yamato, or if she can trust him, but she does think she might be falling in love with him. Say I Love You Volume 1-2 By Kanae Hazuki Publisher: Kodansha Comics Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Romance Price: $10.99USD Rating: Say I Love You has the all too familiar premise of the popular boy taking a liking to the most unpopular girl, but this series succeeds with its quirky yet relatable characters and a realistic look at the problems teens face in high school. Mei Tachibana is a loner. Betrayed by those she thought were her friends in elementary school, Mei turns her back on friends and friendship, and relies on herself. She is strong-willed and speaks her mind when she thinks it’s called for which can get her into scuffles. Her dislike of her fellow students and the cliques they…

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…

It’s a slow release week this week, so it’s all about the titles I want to catch up on, but other shinies keep distracting me! Kodansha has picked up the pace lately by adding many titles I want to read. I’ve read the first volume of Sherlock Bones and did enjoy it, but 2-4 have been languishing on the shelf waiting for me to pick them up. With the release of volume 7, the final volume, I may as well just wait and read the whole rest of the series in one go! Seven Deadly Sins vol 4 comes out this week, adding to another growing stack of unread shonen. I have a lot of those I keep meaning to wheedle down, but then things like new Attack on Titan volumes come out and I’m off after the shiny things again. Viz Media is my usual point and click into a virtual basket, but this week there is only one title that I am of course woefully behind on. 07-Ghost vol 12 comes out this week, bringing the series only 5 volumes from finishing, and me 7 volumes behind. At least it has an end in sight and I unlike so many shonen titles….