Manga Xanadu

Fourteen-year-old Kisaki Tachikawa has psychic powers. She works for PSI, a secret government agency that fights aliens. She’s in love with her partner Giniro, but PSI won’t allow operatives to get involved. Just when Kisaki thinks she may be getting closer to Giniro, she finds out she’s going to be transferred to California!

Intent on being an independent young woman, high schooler Himeyuka lives on ther own inan unremarkable apartment complex in a corner of the city. But one day, she discovers her ordinary building has turned into something extraordinary. Her beloved “castle” is covered in childish scribbles–both inside and out! And waiting for her at the end of this rainbow-colored mess…is the perpetrator of the crime-a little boy name Rozione. Is he just someone’s lost child, or is there a greater mystery behind his appearance. In this collection, Sumomo Yumeka presents four charming, melancholy vignettes that explore the trickling of time and the machinations of the heart.

So, cute and cuddly rabbits don’t do it for you? How about cute and (not so) cuddly girls dressed as bunnies? Yes, not only does manga like the furry bunnies, it also like the playboy versions. Here are some bunny girls from both manga and anime, who aren’t quite so playful, but will be a handful.

The western new year has come and gone, but over in the Asian world, their new year starts this week. With the Chinese New Year come a new animal in the zodiac. This year is the cute and cuddly rabbit. I have already written a post featuring rabbits for Easter, so for this one, I have expanded the scope from just real rabbits to anyone rabbit-esque.

Wolf God vol 1 By Ai Tenkawa ♦ Digital Manga Publishing ♦ Teen ♦ Supernatural ♦ $12.99 Rating: Kyounosuke will have to become the alpha of the Inugami clan unless his older brother Kokuyou returns. Believing his brother is more deserving to lead, Kyounosuke follows his scent to Tokyo where he meets Koyuki, a girl with no direction for her life, who helps Kyounosuke and unwittingly has a connection to Kokuyou. Kyonosuke will stop at nothing to find his brother, no matter the cost to him personally.

While the question of good and evil was at the heart of the first volume, these next two look at fate and the roles people play in the world. Is there a master plan and everyone has their role to play in it? Or is it all coincidence and free will that is shaping the world?

Vertical is a publisher that never fails to surprise, or deliver. Whenever licensing time comes up, Marketing Director Ed Chavez would get on Twitter and ask for license requests. In variably, there would be several people who would pipe up with Princess Knight, Osamu Tezuka’s first shojo, and invaribly, Ed would shoot the request down. Now we know why. On Anime News Network’s AnnCast, Ed was a guest where he announced not one, but two licenses, one of which was the oft-requested Princess Knight. The other was Drops of God, a wine manga that has been getting some press in the media for the affect it can have on a wine’s price that is featured in the title. It was hinted at last April by the creators that the manga had been licensed in the US, but no publisher had stepped up. Now we know why. I have to give Ed a lot of credit. He has quite the poker face/text. From his tweets in the last wrong, I got the distinct impression that Princess Knight was off the table as a request. He had said they were working on a Tezuka license, but with his catalog, that could mean…

It’s a new year, and that means another new series in Yen Plus! Yeah! And it’s about a cat! Double yeah!! More on that later. But first, we’re six months in with Yen Plus being on-line. For the most part, things have been running smoothly. This issue was the first time I ran into any problems, and they were minor. First, it took a week after payment for the issue to go up, so it wasn’t available until the middle of January, but the holidays could be blamed for the delay. And I did have some trouble reading the issue, but those technical issues were taken care of quickly, and I could read the issue just fine the next day. Kudos to Yen Press for their quick response! MilkyWay Hitchhiking is not only on the cover, but also starts the magazine this month. It’s in full color, with a nice water-colored look to it. It starts by introducing Milky Way, a special cat with a coat pattern on her back that looks like the Milky Way galaxy. She is able to make wishes come true. Her first wisher is a male cat named Sarah. He wants to be human for…

Back in 2009, I wrote a post expressing my desire to see the manga series Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro licensed after its end was announced in Japan, based on the anime series from 2007.  It’s been a long 4 years, hoping and waiting for that announcement that said I would finally get to read the adventures of my favorite demon detective, and now I believe we are half way to that point. Viz Media has confirmed that the anime will begin streaming on the Vizanime.com website in February. Why does this give me hope of a manga license? Look at the last time Viz started streaming an anime; Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan. They streamed nearly the whole series before they announced the license of the manga, officially. What did Viz say when asked about Neuro? It’s “not on the schedule through September”. That doesn’t mean it won’t be announced though. Con season is starting to gear up. I wouldn’t be surprised if Neuro isn’t one of the licenses announced at San Diego Comic Con, assuming a listing for it isn’t found for it before then. Anime licenses have been a good gauge of manga licenses for the last…

It’s a new month, so that means a new issue of Shonen Jump! Do the changes I liked last month hold up? Let’s dive in and see! The issue starts with the usual features/ads. This month adds a full-page for the Viz app on the iPad. **yawn** Call me when I don’t have to worship at the altar of Steve Jobs to read manga digitally. There is also a one page column written by Stan Lee that basically pimps the new Marvel movies coming out and Ultimo. The video games feature which used to be at the end of the issue is now at the beginning. And I notice the brain teasers that used to be at the back are gone. I guess no one really cared about them. Psyren starts off the issue with all the newbies taking off toward the sound of a siren that they think is where the gate is. They ignore Ageha’s warnings of monsters and leave him with the still unconscious Sakurako. They are thinking of only the reward or going home. They are going to find out how wrong they are. Ageha, the delinquent with a heart of gold, after learning where the…

Kohako is a normal student in the General Education department with absolutely no musical skill, but all that changes when she catches a glimpse of an elusive fairy who lives on campus. The fairy grants Kohako a magic violin, and before she knows it, she’s nominated to participate in the school’s music competition with five very attractive boys. Will she win love and fame, or will bitter rivalry rule the day?

As Kyousuke and Tena go about their contentious daily lives in Japan, they’re blissfully ignorant that something’s afoot at the tuner headquarters in France. And whatever it is, it’s starting to make the world a much more dangerous place for Kyousuke with his sought-after soul score! Though he’s managed to avoid detection by other tuners, like Arun, thanks to the gadget bestowed upon him by Mezzo and Sopra, it’s not long before his good luck charm runs out, landing him in a whole mess of trouble with tuners he’s never seen before! Will Tena be able to save him from a life as a tuner test subject, or will Tena need saving too!? By Sesuna Mikabe Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Fantasy/Romantic Comedy Price: $10.99 Rating: This volume is a marked improvement over the last one. There is a lot less emphasis on Tena, and more attention given to the  Tuner plot and Kyousuke. The focus of this volume is on Kyousuke. His musical abilities goes beyond technical skill. He can read people and see what kind of music they may need. When he, Tena and his students go to a hospital for some musical therapy for…