With a long list of wish lists and license requests, and not too good a prospect on getting a lot of those titles in English for whatever reason (too long, too old, too niche, etc), it makes a manga fan seriously consider learning to read Japanese. Why go through a middleman when you can go straight to the source? And Japanese tankoban are cheaper, even with the exchange rate, to buy. But learning a new language can be intimidating, especially when the letters that look nothing like you’re used to. Fortunately the internet is filled with resources to help you buy and read your Japanese manga. One really good resource is Rainbow Hill Language Lab which features entries about Japanese language and culture. Recently the blog has been featuring several entries about reading manga as an aid to learning Japanese. One such entry was a list of tools to help you start reading manga. This list featured both resources that could be found online as well as books and study aids, all with links. He gives resources to the basics of the alphabet, basic grammar and vocabulary and kanji. If you’re serious about your manga, and don’t want to wait…
Coded Licenses After the debut of their new website for manga, Bandai Entertainment puts up some license news. They’ve announced two new titles to add to their Code Geass line. Code Geass: Knights and Code Geass: Queens are both anthologies each with a slant toward a demographic. Knights is written to appeal to the girls, and Queens is for the boys. There are several short stories that are written by different mangaka. This is good news to me, since I love the Code Geass franchise, both anime and the manga. I really like that these are anthologies, giving us not just a lot of different stories with our favorite characters, but a lot of different looks as well. I’ve grown quite fond of anthologies, and getting more narrow ones like this would be great.
Since I started the week with a Kaori Yuki title, let’s stay with that theme. And since vampires are all the rage this year, let’s make it a vampire manga. Yorugata Aijin Senmonten – DX aka Blood Hound is a one shot volume that was serialized in Hana to Yume from January 2003 to June 2004. Blood Hound is about Rion, a loudmouthed teenager who goes to a host club full of vampires looking for her best friend. She believes the vampires are behind her friend’s disappearance, as well as of those around the neighborhood. During her investigation, she begins to befriend them, including their leader, Suou. He believes that Rion is the re-incarnation of Ellone, “the one with the purest blood”, and a woman he once loved. A romantic relationship starts to develop between the pair. The volume ends with Rion discovering who is behind the disappearances. This title was made into a J-Drama as well, called Vampire Host, that ran on TV Tokyo from April to June, 2004. It went for 12 1/2 hour episodes, which made 6 1 hour stories. It’s loosely based on the manga, and has a much more humorous vibe to it. Suou isn’t…
I was late in discovering Kaori Yuki’s work. It wasn’t until Shojo Beat and Godchild, which was one of the debut titles, that I learned how great her work was. But before Godchild and it’s prequel The Cain Saga, another series by Kaori Yuki was released in the US. That was Angel Sanctuary. This 20 volume series was first released by Viz in 2004 and completed it’s run in 2007. The story is about Setsuna Mudo, the re-incarnation of the Organic Angel Alexiel. Alexiel rebelled against heaven and as punishment was sentenced to be re-incarnated as a mortal and to live a life filled with pain and suffering. Setsuna is discovered to be the latest re-incarnation and is pulled into the war between heaven and hell. I’ve only read the first volume, and wasn’t quite ready for her style of writing then. But after reading her other titles that are available in English, I would like to try this series again. I was bothered by the incest introduced in the first volume of Angel Sanctuary, but now realize that is a common theme in her titles. My only problem now is, the series is 20 volumes long! 20 volumes is…
Learning Japanese from popular culture such as anime and manga is nothing new. Mangajin, a magazine from the early 90’s used manga to teach lessons. In fact, it’s exactly these things that inspire westerners to want to learn to read and speak Japanese. The Japanese have recognized this and have created a website to help learners of their language. But it’s not exactly what you’d expect. The website, anime-manga.jp doesn’t show you manga panels with translations. No, the purpose of the site is to help teach learners about colloquial expressions that often show up in anime and manga, but not in textbooks. Languages are fluid, they are always changing. Anime and manga, which are all about popular culture reflect these changes, which often stump new readers who don’t live in the culture and see and hear these changes. On the site, you can see and hear expressions from typical characters from anime and manga such as school age boys and girls, butlers, and samurai. You can even hear an Osaka dialect from an old man! I’ve heard people try to discourage others from using anime and manga as a resource for learning Japanese precisely because of the colloquialisms. But in…
There’s no real news in this month’s Shonen Jump, which is kind of surprising. You’d think they would want to start hyping any new titles coming soon now. But not this month. So what do we learn in this issue of SJ? I learned that Bleach has entered the endless “lather, rinse, repeat” mode of shonen manga. I still don’t find Gin Tama funny, and the magazine is going to get boring real fast if they don’t add something that isn’t just about fighting.
The following titles are available for bid on eBay right now: Metro Survive v1-2 Complete Divine Melody v 1-3 Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Complete v1-7 Please check them out and bid if you’re interested.
Moveable Manga Feast Moves Out In a massive collaboration, several blogs have gotten together to review the same book on the same week, as suggested by David Welsh of the Manga Curmudgeon blog. It kicked off this week, with Sexy Voice and Robo, with new reviews going up every day. You can find an introduction to the book and all the reviews posted here. From the long list of reviews, this turned out to be a big success with such a wide breadth of reviews, both good and bad. This is a shining example of the power of social media. An idea on Twitter became a week long celebration (or panning) of a title, bringing together the mangasphere. I just think that’s cool.
Just days after Amazon conceded to MacMillian’s demands for an agency model for e-book pricing (ie, variable pricing), Robert Murdoch’s Harper Collins started rattling it’s saber that it wanted the same deal. By the end of the week Hachette had joined Harper Collins. So like dominoes, the major publishers are falling in line to continue their old publishing strategy of initial high price (hardback), price drop 1 (trade paperback) and price drop 2 (mass market paperback for digital books. Since Amazon capitulated to MacMillian, they will have to do the same with the publishers.
Revenge and redemption seems to be the theme of this sixth volume of Black Jack. Whether it’s a Mob Boss taking revenge on a prideful and corrupt doctor, or a father and son reconciling during a volcanic eruption, Tezuka explores these issues through Black Jack’s dealings with his patients. By Osamu Tezuka Publisher: Vertical Inc. Age Rating: Teen+ Genre: Medical Drama Price: $16.95 Rating: Buy This Book Revenge can come in may forms. Whether it’s the traditional “eye for an eye”, or in the name of justice, Black Jack ends up getting involved with people seeking revenge, and the patients often are the true victims. In “Twice Dead”, Black Jack’s skills are sought to help save a boy just so he can be put on trial for murder. “Brachydactyl” has a father trying to get revenge on his wife for cheating on him by denying their son the medical treatment he needs. The ably titled “Revenge” has a Mob Boss punishing a doctor for not letting Black Jack help his son. It’s Black Jack that administers the finale blow in this story. “Terror Virus” has Black Jack and his rival Dr. Kiriko working to save men exposed to a biological…
I’ve put back up some manga that didn’t sell the first time. Next time I’ll have new titles to go up. But if you missed them the first time and were interested, here they are again. Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President v1-5 Princess Resurrection v1-3 Case Closed v1-5 Please check them out and happy bidding!
Most of the time, when comparing a manga to an anime, the anime takes liberties that can make it less like its source, and often not as good. 07-Ghost is one of those rare exceptions. The manga started in Japan in 2005 in the magazine Monthly Comic Zero Sum, the same magazine that publishes Saiyuki. Eight volumes are available The manga was licensed by Go Comi! here in the states, and there are 4 volumes published. The anime ran from April to Septermber 2009, and went for 25 episodes.