The denizens of our village have harvested another batch of manga reviews for your enjoyment. Have a seat at the Inn, order some saki. Charles Tan brings Hayate Combat Butler Volume 7 from Viz to serve you. Dan Polley gets a cut above with Pumpkin Scissior Volume 3 from Del Rey. John Thomas may be a little unstable with Kujibiki Unbalance Volume 1 from Del Rey. And I don’t mind bareing my neck for Vampire Hunter D Volume 1 from Digital Manga Publishing. Then check the menu for our weekly picks. You might be surprised by what we choose! And if that still isn’t enough for you, head on over to Good Comics for Kids, to see my latest picks for All Ages Comics, and Sabrina has her picks of Web comics. There’s lots of good stuff, so check it out!
What I’ve been dreading has finally become official: Kindaichi Case Files has been canceled. As part of Tokyopop’s slashing, the January 2009 solicitation of volume 18, Burial Francs, is on the list. I was hoping against hope that this title would some how survive, since it was one of the few good titles Tokyopop had to offer. Even though it’s a shonen title, it’s mysteries could keep an adult guessing. Engaging characters and intriguing mysteries made this a series a must for mystery aficionados. Even though I love mysteries, I didn’t pick up Kindaichi immediately. Wanna know why? Because Tokyopop can’t market a title properly to save their life! When this series first came out, they advertised it as a Japanese “Scooby Doo”, emphasizing the supernatural parts over the mystery. That was a failure on so many levels. Kids looking for short, quick mysteries with goofy characters would be disappointed, and people looking for a good murder mystery series (like me) would avoid it like the plague. I’m not quite sure what made me pick up the series. I think I just kept seeing it in our local Waldens Books, and finally gave it a real look over. I bought…
We’ve been hard at work at Manga Village, bringing you another great round of reviews. Dan Polley masters the creepy-crawlies with Mushishi Volume 4 from Del Rey. Charles Tan is spiking Eyeshield 21Volume 4 from Viz Media. John Thomas checks out some stomach turning sci-fi with Gantz Volume 1 from Dark Horse. And I’ve got some historical shojo with Kaze Hikaru Volume 9 from Viz Media. We’ve also got our weekly picks up in the columns section, as well as a special announcement in Manga Village News. Webcomic creators should take special notice! And for the kids, there’s a new All Ages Comics list for this week up at Good Comics for Kids. So start making with the clickee!
Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai By Ryo Takamisaki Publisher: Viz Media/VizKids Age Rating: All Ages Genre: Game/TV Tie-in/Action Price: $7.99 Rating: Storyline: Ash and his friends have discovered that they’re walking toward the ancient Alamos Town after befriending a girl named Alice. Once they’ve arrived, they find out that the sacred garden of Alamos town has been ransacked, the mysterious Darkrai appears, appearantly not pleased and tells Ash and everyone else to leave immediately. Strange things have been happening as well… What I liked about this manga: Practically everything. The best parts were Brock (he’s so loveable) and the Palkia, Dialga and Darkrai battle scenes. Being that I’m a great Pokemon fan, that adds to the liking of this manga. What I did not like about this manga: Almost nothing. The great graphics and how it’s extremely alike to the movie makes it hard not to like the manga. Although, the character’s scripts make it really obvious to what just happened. It makes me want to say “Dur da durrr.” Nope, not even a script change. Baron Alberto is quite annoying, however.
I know, I’m late again. But holidays will do that. Anyway, despite my slowness, the rest of the gang got their reviews up on time! John Thomas didn’t fall to pieces and got his review of Dororo Volume 2 from Vertical out on time. I take a walk down memory lane with High School Girls Volume 9 from DR Masters. And Charles Tan hefts a Claymore Volume 12 for some monster fighting action from Viz. Then, we’ve got our weekly picks up, giving you a checklist of what to by for your summer reading. And over at Good Comics For Kids, I’ve got my latest picks for All Ages.
Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai By Ryo Takamisaki Publisher: Viz Kids Age Rating: A (All Ages) Genre: Game/TV tie-in/Action Price: $7.99 Rating: What is the story about? It’s about Ash, Pikachu, and Darkrai. Darkrai fights both Dialga and Palkia before he disappears into space. What did you like about the story? I liked the fight against Dialga and Palkia. I also like the pokemon Dialga. What did you dislike about the story? I hate it when Baron turned into Lickilicky, because it is freaky. I also hate the way they drew Infernape. Would you recommend the story to kids your age? Yes.
ANN has reported on a press release from Suncorp, a digital distribution company in Japan. Leiji Matsumoto, the creator of iconic titles such as Space Pirate Captain Harlock, Galaxy Express 999, and Space Battleship Yamato, is creating an original online comic project that will appear on Nintendo Wii’s Wiiware store sometime this summer. For now, the announcement only states this will be available in Japan, but it also states that the unnamed comic “is aimed at his [Matsumoto’s] global fans.” Now, a new series from Matsumoto is exciting enough. But seeing it distributed online through the Wii is even cooler! Even though there is no official announcement of overseas distribution, the mention of how global his work is does give one hope that there will be. The Wiiware store so far only has older and/or independent games. This branching out into other medium seems to show Nintendo’s commitment to make the Wii more of an entertainment console than just gaming as originally stated. But, I do like this slower roll-out than Sony’s or Microsoft’s proclamation to take over your entertainment system with their consoles. At least with the Wii, you can also get games and demos for the DS, which…
It’s time for another update from the Village Centre and see what’s up at Manga Village. Our reviews start off with Dan Polley cleaning up his act with The Reformed from Del Rey. John Thomas checks out a one shot from the creator of Blade of the Immortal with Ohikkoshi from Dark Horse. Charles Tan is running back to sports with Eyeshield 21 Volume 3 from Viz. And, I get a late night snack from Viz’s Yumekui Kenbun: Nightmare Inspector Volume 2. Then John has a comics craving to fill and brings us a review of the graphic novel Mouse Guard: Fall 1152. Over in our columns, we give our picks for the week from the new releases. And just because you can’t get enough of John, check out the interview he did for the podcast Anime Today #69, and find out what makes our John tick! Are you tired of waiting for me to post this? What to get your Manga Village fix as soon as it happens? The check out our new RSS feeds! You can get one for the Latest Reviews and Latest Columns. Get your news the way it was meant to be; fresh! And don’t…
I has them. At least I thought I did until I saw this forum thread. I’m way behind compared to some of these people. Maybe if I added in all my Shonen Jump and Shojo Beats… Anyway, that’s not to say my manga collection isn’t still growing. This month is going to be another tough Previews order. There are a lot of not just manga but comic books that are coming out that look good. A new Doctor Who (10th Doctor), a new Fathom series, and I new Voltron in addition to the titles I’ve already added over the last few months: Madame Xanadu, Indiana Jones, and Chuck.
Kat & Mouse Volume 1: Teacher Torture Story by Alex de Campi / Art by Federica Manfredi Publisher: Tokyopop Age Rating: 8+ (Tween) Genre: Mystery Price: $5.99 Rating: What is the story about? Kat moves in to a new city and a new school. She meets someone named Mouse and makes friends with her. What did you like about the story? I liked Kat and Mouse’s style. I liked the story. It was ineresting. There was a weird mystery going on. I thought the experiment would be fun to do. What did you dislike about the story? There was nothing I disliked about the story. Would you recommend the story to kids your age? Yes.
Eagle : The Making of an Asian-American President Volume 2 By Kaiji Kawaguchi Publisher: Viz Media Genre: Drama/Politics Rating: Teen+ (16+) Price: $19.99/used only Rating: In this second volume of Kenneth Yamaoka’s campaign to be come president, more time is spent on his past, and what could have make him the person he is now. The politics takes a backseat for the first third of the volume as Takashi meets with Yamaoka’s sister, getting a touching, sentimental image of the Senator. Yamaoka quickly squashes that image with stories from Viet Nam. Takashi’s doubts about Yamaoka killing his mother return. The importance of family starts to become a major theme with this volume, as Takashi struggles to figure out how he fits in. He has strong feelings for Rachel, and finds common ground with Alex, but Yamaoka’s intentions are still a mystery.
Everyone’s back for this week’s reviews and picks! Charles Tan start off, and he has seen the light and is Reborn! Volume 3 from Viz. Dan Polley gets down with a little Yozukura Quartet Volume 2 from Del Rey. I got a Love*Com Volume 6 from Viz, while John loses it with MPD-Psycho Volume 5 from Dark Horse. We’ve got our picks for the week, and I’ve written an article on the Tokyopop situation (I know, not another one). But I did this more in a Mythbusting vein than just trying to rehash old news. And don’t forget to check out the Good Comics for Kids Blog and my new releases list for all ages comics this week.