Manga Xanadu

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 6, 2015 Naruto Vol 70     ∗ Assassination Classroom  Vol 4     ∗ Fairy Tail Vol 48     ∗ Trinity Seven Vol 1     ↓ 2 Food Wars Vol 6     ∗ Big Hero Six Vol 1     ↑ 4 High School DxD Vol 5     ↓ 2 Attack on Titan Vol 1     ↓ 2 Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past     ↓ 8 Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon Vol 1     ↓ 7 After a month at the top, Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past finally gets knocked down falling the furthest,…

Teenage manga artist Kanna Tezuka’s series about a high school for Buddhist statues is facing cancellation! Meanwhile, the manga course that’s given her so much free time to draw at school is under threat from a principal taken with the next big thing: light novels! Their teacher’s solution to this existential crisis is an inspiring field trip, but will it be enough to get these dogs to start drawing at last?! Manga Dogs Volume 3 By Ema Toyama Publisher: Kodansha Comics Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Comedy Price: $10.99 Rating: I didn’t really care for the first volume of Manga Dogs. The characters weren’t interesting and the stories weren’t funny. But I was given the opportunity to read the final volume, so I decided to give it a try to see if anything had improved. I can safely say, the series didn’t get any worse, but neither did it get any better. Kanna continues to struggle to keep her series from being canceled. She gets a new editor who believes in her talent, but doesn’t actually do anything to help her improve the story. The boys continue to be delusional, and be more of a hindrance than help to Kanna, until they…

And we go from feast to famine as this week’s list is tiny in comparison to last week. I love that we’re getting all these new licenses, but I really wish the release schedule was a little more even. It makes buying (and writing) about them much easier. Only three publishers have anything coming out, and Udon Entertainment’s title is only tangentially related. Of course I’m going to recommend Say I Love You Volume 8. This is an auto-response in my brain. I can’t not. Viz also releases their Shonen Sunday titles with a dash of Jump added for good measure. I would recommend Magi vol 12 and One Piece 3-In-1 Vol 12 which moves the series into one of the best (and longest) arc of the series, “Waters Seven.” I’m gonna give Udon Entertainment a shout out for their Manga Classics series. I’ve been enjoying them a lot, as well as finally reading the classic literature I never got to when I was in school. This time it’s Emma, another Regency romantic comedy by Jane Austin. I really enjoyed Pride and Prejudice, the first Jane Austin novel they adapted, so I expect to feel the same about Emma. Full…

Crunchyroll, the anime and manga streaming service, continues to add manga titles to their all-you-can-eat manga service. This time, they are pulling titles from the Square-Enix library, and are available world-wide. Aizawa-san Multiples is a rom-com harem series. The frail beauty of the school Shino Aizawa confesses her feeling for Souta Mizutani. Soon after another Aizawa appears, and another, and another! Each one is slightly different, but they are all Aizawa. Are they twins? Clones? Dopplegangers? This series sounds like it takes the comedy in romantic comedy very serious. It might be interesting to see how this gag manga handles the harem model with the boy being surrounded by several of the same girl. There are currently 2 volumes of the series out so far. Father and Son is a slice of life shonen comedy. It follows former gangster You-san who has to take care of his wild and unpredictable son Shou and the eventful everyday life of the lively pair. This series sounds like it would not just make a good light comedy, but could also be suitable for younger readers, with slap-stick as part of the otherwise easy-going comedy. It would be a good pick up for Yen…

Viz has raided the old Tokyopop vaults to come up with three new titles to debut under their Select digital imprint. Welcome to the N.H.K. was one of the first light novel manga adaptations to come to the states, and arrived shortly after the anime, giving the title a lot of name recognition. Aion is by Yuna Kagesaki, the creator of Chibi Vampire. This follow-up didn’t do as well as Chibi Vampire, a sentiment I agree with. I didn’t find the first volume all that great. Metamo Kiss is by a mangaka not previously published here, and is a gender/body switching shojo, if you’re into that sort of thing. They’ve got some good bundles this month too. Saint Seiya, Knights of the Zodiac, is an awesome series that didn’t get the love it deserved in print. That can be corrected with one of the two bundles they have available: vol 1-14, or the whole thing, 1-28. Also available is the older teen historical, time travel series Red River, filled with action and romance. A very addictive series. I recommend both!

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 May 30, 2015 Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past     ↔ Trinity Seven Vol 1     ↑ 2 Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon Vol 1     ↑ 3 Sword Art Online: Girl’s OPs Vol 1     ↑ 3 High School DxD Vol 5     ∗ Attack on Titan Vol 1     ↓ 2 Rosario + Vampire: Season II Vol 14     ↓ 5 Naruto Vol 69     ∗ Assassination Classroom  Vol 1      ↑ 1 Big Hero Six Vol 1     ↓ 5 Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past holds on to the top spot for the 4th consequential week….

Yul continues his machinations against Shin, determined to get both Chae-Kyung and the title Crown Prince. His mother only cares about him becoming prince, and even sets him up in an engagement with the daughter of a powerful business man who is possibly more horrible that her. Shin and Chae-Kyung’s relationship continues down a rocky road as they alternate between loving and alienating each other, and causing the royal family public humiliation. Add to that the King who won’t show his feeling for his own son and royal baby on the way that could just complicate things further, and  you have just another day at the Royal Palace. Goong: The Royal Palace Volume 9-10 By SoHee Park Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Teen Genre: Romance Price: $18.99 Rating: The drama continues to crank up, as if that’s possible, in these two volumes. The soapiness just froths over like a wrongly loaded washing machine from a sitcom. The power plays and political intrigues start coming to the forefront, while Shin and Chae-Kyung’s relationship hit more bumps than smooth patches. While I still find Goong a compelling read, it isn’t as satisfying as it once was. The main problem I have had with…

Publisher Seven Seas Entertainment recently made another license announcement on their Twitter feed and Tumblr blog. They have picked up another title that fits into their “dark and violent take on kid’s franchises” line. Tomodachi x Monster is a recent series by Yoshihiko Inui and is published in Futabasha’s seinen magazine Manga Action. The story follows middle school student Wataru, who hears a mysterious voice after wandering away from school in his mountainous village in rural Japan. He discovers a new “friend”, a monster from the mountain, and one of many that want to befriend young kids like Wataru. This new friendship may transform Wataru’s life, or it may shorten it, as he is needed for his “friend” to participate in a horrifying death match. If you’ve ever dreamed of being able to kill the Pokemon, or trainers in the video game, then this is probably the series for you. Tomodachi x Monster is described as an “ultra-violent, dark parody” of the Pokemon series, as if the blood-splattered cover wasn’t enough of a clue. It fits in with Magical Girl Apocalypse, taking on the kids-with-monsters genre in a smiliar fashion. Kids with no conscience get a hold of monsters. What could…

It’s a good week for variety, with most of the major publishers releasing something. Perfect Square is an imprint of Viz Media for their all-ages titles, and gets mentioned here most often for their Pokemon Adventures titles. Back when Pokemon Black and White came out, Perfect Square released essentially chapter books just to get the title going quickly and later collected them into full volumes. They appear to be following the same pattern with Pokemon XY, the third volume of which is out this week. They are quick hits to keep younger fans who can’t wait happy. Older manga fans can be happy for Vertical Comics’ Ajin Demi-Human. I finally sat down and read the first four volumes and there were fantastic! I was afraid it would be gory, but it wasn’t really. It is a compelling tale with some great cliffhangers and tantalizing mysteries to keep you coming back, so you can be sure I’ll be picking up vol 5, out this week. Viz Media releases their shonen and shojo titles this week. One new title debuts, So Cute It Hurts. This is a gender bender rom-com that might actually be interesting. I wouldn’t mind checking it out at…

As much as you love a title, at some point it’s got to come to an end, usually. There are the few exceptions that got 10, 20, 45 years, but they are not the rule. Most manga titles do (and should) have an end. Lately, the end for some titles released here have been announced to be ending serialization in Japan. Chi’s Sweet Home is a cute, heartwarming series about a family who find and adopt a grey and white tabby kitten. Each short chapter shows the family and kitten, Chi, interacting as well as Chi’s adventures with other pets in their apartment complex and neighborhood. The series recently when on a year hiatus and only just returned. It has now been announced that the next volume to be released, Volume 12, would be its final. The series was being released by Vertical Comics, and has been a big hit for the company, with fans of all ages picking it up. The series has been fun, heartwarming and sometimes heartbreaking, but always a great read. I will certainly miss it when it’s gone. Vertical will release the final volume in August, and will follow-up with a re-release of the series…

Gender-Bender titles aren’t usually my thing, but because it’s twins switching places rather than some science/magic causing it, it might not be too bad. We’ve seen lots of titles of a girl passing off as a boy in an all-boys school plenty of times. Seeing how a boy deals with pretending to be a high school girl would be much more interesting. Hopefully it won’t hurt to read.

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 May 23, 2015 Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past     ↔ Rosario + Vampire: Season II Vol 14     ↑ 2 Trinity Seven Vol 1     ∗ Attack on Titan Vol 1     ↑ 5 Big Hero Six Vol 1     ↓ 2 Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon Vol 1     ∗ Sword Art Online: Girl’s OPs Vol 1     ∗ JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Book 1: Phantom Blood Vol 2     ↓ 6 Akame ga Kill Vol 1     ↵ 12 Assassination Classroom  Vol 1      ↓ 2 The top title this remains unchanged as Legend of Zelda A Link to the…