Broken Blade Volume 1 By Yunosuke Yoshinaga Publisher: CMX/Flex Comics Rating: T+ (Older Teens) Price: $9.99 ISBN: 978-1-4012-1882-9 Rating: Rygart Arrow is a man with a problem. He’s one of the tiny minority, perhaps one in a million, who cannot charge the quartz crystals that power all of the machines in his world. He cannot drive vehicles, he cannot use machinery, he’s what is known as an “unsorcerer”. However, he is well educated and old college friends with the King and Queen of Krisna, who are facing an incursion from their neighboring nation of Athens. When they learn that the Athen army is led by Zess, the final part of their college foursome and he’s marching on their borders, they call on Rygart in their time of need. Can he figure out how to operate the Under-Golem, an ancient magic-less machine in time to save his friends?
I’ve put my Inuyasha manga collection up on Ebay. I need to make some space, and little extra money never hurt. Here are the auctions, please check them out. Inuyasha Volumes 1-5 Inuyasha Volumes 6-10 Inuyasha Volumes 11-15 Inuyasha Volumes 16-20 Inuyasha Volumes 21-25 Inuyasha Volumes 26-31 Or you can check out my Manga for Sale or Trade page. I’m willing to deal on multiple volumes and shipping.
It’s another slow week for news in general, though there were some cool announcements and interesting discussions. There’s still some SDCC fallout too. That should start petering out though as NYAF starts to loom ahead. Video Recap of Ikki Panel at SDCC Over at the Ikki Blog, Viz has put together a nearly 4 minute recap of the Ikki panel at SDCC. It’s no the same as being there, but it’ll give you an idea of what went on. A full recording of the panel would have been much cooler though.
RIN-NE Volume 1 By Rumiko Takahashi Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating: Teen Genre: Supernatural/Comedy Price: $9.99/Free online Rating: Ever since a childhood incident Sakura Mamiya has had the power to see ghosts. Now her life has gotten a lot more complicated with the arrival of her mysterious classmate Rinne, who seems to know a thing or two about detecting ghosts himself! Having enjoyed so far Takahashi’s shonen titles since Urusei Yatsura, I was thrilled to hear that we in the US would not only be getting her newest, Rin-ne, at the same time as Japan, but it would available for free online to read. Having now read the first volume’s worth of chapters, I have to say my initial excitement may have been premature.
Recently, Amazon quietly announced a price drop for it’s Kindle 2 e-reader. Slashing $60 from the price to $299, the Kindle is now coming closer to the price of other ebook readers. If Amazon wants the Kindle to be competitive in any way, it had too. Sony, not to be out done, not only slashed prices, but also came out with two new devices. The E-Reader Pocket for $199 and the E-Reader Touch for $299 and will be out by the end of August. The older Sony E-Reader 505 is $279, and can be found at Staples stores now. Bebook, another competitor is also $279. Cooler Books has it’s own e-reader now, the Cool Reader, which looks a lot like an iPod and comes in different colors, and is only $249.
Naruto Volume 32 By Masashi Kishimoto Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating: Teen Genre: Action Price: $7.95 Rating: A new ninja causes trouble among the ranks of Team Kakashi when they return from the battle against Sasori. The secrets this stranger hides could be disastrous for Naruto. Meanwhile, Naruto’s old nemesis Orochimaru has troubles of his own-his stronghold may be infiltrated by a spy! After saying their goodbyes at the Sand Village, Teams Kakashi and Guy return to the Hidden Leaf. Kakashi is laid up since his new jutsu takes so much out of him, so a new leader is needed for the team as well as member to even it out to four members. There’s only six days left until the rondevou Sasori told them about. Naruto goes searching out his old friends to get them to join, and we see Choji, Shino, Kiba and Hinata. But the team has already been decided. Sai, a member of the Foundation of the Black Ops is chosen, and Yamato, also Black Ops, is chosen to lead. Sai gets on Naruto’s nerves immediately, and on Sakura’s only a few moments later. But, in order to accomplish the mission, both try to tolerate Sai.
This question came in from Kyle just this week: where can i download manga directly and for free xcept for (stoptazmo & animea)….. where can i download pig bride manhwa & captive heart for free???? pls. help me Um…no Kyle. Just….no. Pig Bride and Captive Hearts are licensed titles in the US. If you can not find scanalations to download, that is a good thing. If you want to read these titles you need to either buy the books, or borrow them from a friend or the library. Many public and even school libraries are adding and building up collections of manga and graphic novels. The value of these books is finally being recognized, not just for stories, but because they also help encourage reading. If your local library doesn’t have the books you want, ask about inter-library loan. Get your friends to ask too. The more interest librarians see in a type of book, the more likely they are to add them. If you want to read manga online, then check out Viz’s Shonen Sunday website, where new chapters of mang are put up weekly. Or you can read some new titles straight from Japan with Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen…
Yamaoka and his father Kaibara Yuzan, have never enjoyed an ideal father-son relationship. In fact, it’s about as far from ideal as possible, and when they start arguing about food–which they inevitably do–the sparks really fly. In this volume of Oishinbo, the subject of dispute is fish, starting with the question of whether mackerel can ever be truly good sashimi. Later, things come to a head during the “Salmon Match” which pits father against son in an epic contest to develop the best dish before a panel of judges. Will Yamaoka finally defeat Kaibara? Or will he once again be left in his father’s shadow? Story by Tetsu Kariya; Art by Akira Hanasaki Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating: Teen Genre: Food Price: $12.99 Rating: The overall premise of Oishinbo is that Yamaoka and his partner Kurita are compiling the “Ultimate Menu” of Japanese cuisine for the 100th anniversary of the publishers of Tozai News. Each volume of Viz’s compilation of this long running series is centered around a type of food. This volume is all about fish. The stories are episodic, and can be broken down into two types; Yamaoka helping someone out or putting someone in their place about…
Day two started out with a real breakfast. Eggs, pancakes, french toast and toast. This hotel is awesome! It’s a lot better than the fast food sandwiches we usually end up with. Didn’t make it to Stargate Universe, but we weren’t looking forward to the line, and we were tired last night.
It’s that time of month again when I have to place my Previews order. But now, besides my usual problems of deciding what to buy, I have to wonder if the books I order will be canceled. Diamond Distributing has had their red pen going at break-neck speed, what with canceling the entire Yen Press solicitation from last month’s order. They’re back again and while not the only publisher to get red-lined, they just the most jaw-dropping. So, do I chance another manga order through Previews? I want to support what titles I can with pre-orders, but is it a losing battle with Diamond who seem happy to slash their catalog back to the stone age of just DC, Marvel, Dark Horse and Image? If I want a manga to survive, and I want the publishers to know I enjoy the title by pre-ordering it, will the publisher still get my message even after Diamond cancels my order? Do the publishers see the numbers before the cancellation order comes down? Am I wasting time pre-ordering with Diamond and risking my favorite, not so popular manga to an untimely death? I ponder these questions even as I prepare my next order. …
July 20, 1969: The day mankind first walked on the moon. Just as with the assassination of JFK, and 9-11, you can ask someone (old enough to remember) what they were doing when Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, and they could tell you. With the 40th Anniversary of this event coming up, I thought I would look at some manga that takes a more realistic approach to mankind’s reach into space.
Manga’s version of the “Sub vs Dub” debate Found this on Twitter via aicnanime: Helen McCarthy weighs in on the OEL manga label debate, and she puts into words something I’ve always thought but don’t think I’ve ever expressed properly: And that’s the reason. Semantics is the study of meanings, and to writers and historians, meanings matter. Fans and businesses exploiting the power of the word ‘manga’ are tapping in to one of the oldest magics known to man – the belief that real names have real power, and that attaching a name to a thought or act can give it weight, can bring it into being. But to me, attaching the word ‘manga’ to non-Japanese comics doesn’t change anything important about those comics, and may well dilute and weaken the power of the word in its original form.