Manga Xanadu

I’ve made no bones about my support for Sparkler Monthly, the online monthly female-gaze magazine that started two years ago. I loved the idea of getting books, comics and audio dramas that were marketed directly for me, and I’ve been a subscriber since the 4th issue. Sparkler Monthly is a subscriber supported magazine, and for Year Two, they did a subscription drive to try to up membership to increase material in the magazine as well as advances to the creators. The drive is currently at 231 members, having made it past the first two tiers. But for the magazine to really be self-sustaining, a minimum of 1000 subscribers were needed for Year Three to go forward. While the move to 231 was quite an improvement, it wasn’t really enough. But instead of throwing in the towel or downsizing, the resourceful women at Chromatic Press, the publisher of Sparkler Monthly, have put together a Kickstarter campaign to help fund Year Three. Over 40 days, Chromatic Press is looking to raise $15,000 to put out 12 issues of the magazine as well as new surprises in bonus content, as well as experimenting with different formats and distribution. There are plenty of reward…

An imperial capital in an era of splendor and romanticism… Orphaned in an earthquake, Sorath is taken in by Baron Kamichika, the lord of “Blood Blossom Manor.” There, he pledges eternal friendship with Garan, the Baron’s heir, and Kiyora, Garan’s fiancée. But their friendship turns grisly by events none of them could foresee. The tender feelings each secretly harbors, the machinations of Baron Kamichika and his strange and seductive female companion, and a fateful encounter with a young girl with bizarre powers…all draw them to the Walpurgis Night and the nightmare’s climax! Demon From Afar Volume 1 By Kaori Yuki Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Teen Genre: Supernatural/Horror Price: $18.00 Rating: In general, I’ve enjoyed more of Kaori Yuki’s works than not. Her blend of bishonen characters with elements of horror and a touch of humor usually appeal to me. In Demon From Afar, all of the elements are there, they’re just not striking the right chord for me. Sorath, the protagonist, is a boy with no memory of his past and is saved by Garan, the heir to Baron Kamichika, after a terrible earthquake strikes the capital. There really isn’t anything remarkable about Sorath. He is devoted to Garan,…

 For the last week of the month, this is quite a haul from manga publishers! Fans of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service can rejoice as they get their yearly volume with Vol 14 out from Dark Horse. Seven Seas Entertainment has a new volume for Toradora fans who have been waiting quite a while, though not as long as KCDS fans. Vertical Comics is one more step closer to the end of their surprisingly successful (to just about everyone) edition of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, with Vol 10 out this week. Only two more volumes after this. If I had to choose just one of Kodansha’s releases this week it would be really hard. I really enjoyed Let’s Dance a Waltz and can’t wait to find out what happens in volume 2. The same with Your Lie In April. The characters were so fun and refreshing in that one, I can’t wait to see how the recital goes. I binge read vols 2-4 of Noragami Stray God and am now hooked on the title. I really want to see Yato start to get somewhere. I really just have to have all of them. This week is Yen Press’ big week,…

It’s been just over a month since DMP ended their last Tezuka Kickstarter project, the printing of Clockwork Apple, with the stretch goals of printing Brave Dan, and reprinting of Barbara and Swallowing the Earth. On June 16, they launched the next project, to print the shojo short story title Storm Fairy. After 4 days, the project is $823 shy of hitting its base goal of $14, 200. Storm Fairy is a collection of the 3 short stories. “Storm Fairy,” or “Fairy of Storms,” is the main story that the collection is named after. An Empress fleeing her burning castle and meets a wood fairy. In exchange for the fairy’s favor, the must give up the face of her next born child. That is Princess Ruri, who must wear a mask to hide her disfigured face. Ruri is usurped when an unscrupulous man learns her secret and steal her mask for his daughter. On the run, Ruri meets the samurai Tonosuke who takes her in, and the fairy Hanoke, who unknowingly has Ruri’s face. The second story, “Kokeshi Detective Agency,” is described as having a similar tone to the Encyclopedia Brown detective stories. Paco is not afraid of things that go…

Viz Media is celebrating Shojo Beat’s 10th Anniversary by bringing Shojo manga artist Julietta Suzuki to Anime Expo this year. Her latest title, Kamisama Kiss, is published by Viz, but she’s got a few other titles that would be to see brought over/back. Karakuri Odette was her first title to be published here by Tokyopop. It’s a short series at 5 volumes and was actually published complete. It would be a great addition to the Select line. Then there’s Akuma to Dolce, a two-volume series that is unfortunately on hiatus, possibly due to Kamisama Kiss‘s popularity. Hoshi ni Naru hi is both the name of her debut title and a collection of short stories that would also make a great license since it also includes the prototype story for Kamisama Kiss. Any of these would make a great Anniversary present!

Every week, the New York Times and Amazon posts the top ten bestselling books. The New York Times gets their numbers from print sales from retailers, while Amazon and Vizmanga.com calculates their own numbers. Once a month the Nielsen Bookscan posts their top twenty graphic novels of which manga is included. 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. New York Times Bestseller List for the week ending June 13, 2015 Naruto Vol 70     ↔ Deadman Wonderland Vol 9     ∗ Fairy Tail Vol 48     ↔ Assassination Classroom  Vol 4     ↓ 2 Kamisama Kiss Vol 18     ∗ Food Wars Vol 6     ↓ 1 Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon Vol 1     ↑ 3 Attack on Titan Vol 1     ↔ Big Hero Six Vol 1     ↓ 3 Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past     ↔ Quite a few titles held on to their spots this week, an unusual event for the NYT list. Naruto Vol 70 keeps its hold on the…

Makoto Amano wants to be come an actor instead of taking over the family dojo. His stern father decrees he can only do so if he spends the last two years of high school disguised as a girl and no one finds out. Ito Miura is a popular girl in her school’s drama department, but is always being given boy’s roles due to her tomboyish ways. The two become friends after Ito discovers Makoto’s secret, but as they constantly protect Makoto’s secret, they start to become something more. W Juliet Volume 1-5 By Emura Age Rating: Teen Genre: Romance Price: $9.99 print/$6.99 digital Rating: When I was tracking the new releases on Vizmanga.com, the release of W Juliet in digital caught my eye. I remember seeing the series in my local comic book store back in the day, but I never got around to picking it up. With it out in digital, and my daughter taking drama in school, I decided to try it out. It wasn’t a bad series, but neither did it ring any bells. The two leads, Makoto and Ito are likable enough. Makoto is very earnest in his desire to be an actor and takes playing…

I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since the debut of Shojo Beat. I remember resenting my Animerica subscription being turned into a Shojo Beat sub, but I never regrets not canceling it. I loved Shojo Beat the magazine and still have every single issue. I wish there was a way to resurrect it digitally. I didn’t just love the comics, I loved the features and stories that were in the magazine as well. The magazine introduced me to so many titles I would never have read otherwise. It was great and I still miss it. At least we still have the line that is still going strong!

A couple of long-awaited titles from Viz Media finally debut this week. Tokyo Ghoul has been on reader’s radars since it was announced, and even with the first volume being released digitally early, it doesn’t seem to have stifled reader’s desire for the print edition. I expect it to debut pretty high on the NYT bestseller list next week. Also out from Viz is the short story collection Fragments of Horror by Junji Ito, the master of Japanese horror manga. You have to really love horror and be able to stand disturbing or gory images to get through some of his titles, but for the true horror connoisseur, it is a must have. My must have this week is Master Keaton Vol 3. I still have read Vol 2, but that not because I don’t want to, it more like I’m saving it to savor it, like saving dessert for last, so you can enjoy every last bite. Seven Seas has quite the collection of releases this week. The first volume of Freezing Omnibus collects the first two volumes of the series and is very male gaze heavy. It’s that not your thing, you’ve been warned. Also coming out are…

Mythical Detective Loki is a series I have wanted released in the west for years. It’s had a bumpy history here. ADV Manga first licensed the continuation of the series, Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok, and released two volumes before they folded. Jmanga licensed the first series and managed to release five volumes before it folded. A third series, Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok: Gods of the New World, never saw translation here, but has now ended in Japan. The series is about Loki, the Norse god of mischief, who is banished to Earth in the form of a young boy. To return to the land of the gods, he must collect auras of evil, so he opens a detective agency. As well as collecting the auras, he has to deal with other Norse gods who come to visit and/or taunt him, some of whom do not want him returning. I love boy detective titles, as well as any kind of mythology, so I’ve been dying to read this series. I still have the two volumes ADV Manga released, but lost the Jmanga titles when they went under. But this is a series that so deserves another chance! It’s not the manga’s fault…

I must confess I have read any Junji Ito titles. They either freak me out or gross me out too much. The one title I will even try is his cat manga, Cat Diary: Yon and Mu that Kodansha is releasing. I’m not sure if a collection of short stories would be either better or worse than a full length title. Being short they would be over fast, but sometimes a shorter story can be more creepy, and gross. I’ll just have to wait to see if I can stomach these stories. Fans of Ito and horror in general should snag this title up regardless.

I’d heard about this series when the anime came out, and was curious, until I read about how graphic it was, and was about the flesh-eating undead. Not my cup of tea. But fans of the series have been pre-ordering this series like gangbusters, even with releasing the digital version early, so Viz has another potential hit on their hands. This is one series I’ll have to watch from the sidelines, but readers with no qualms about characters that don’t eat just brains, but the rest as well should check this series out.