Phantom Volume 2 By Ki-Hoon Lee/Seung-Yup Cho Publisher: Tokyopop Rating: 13+ Genre: Action/Mecha RRP: $9.99 Rating: Reviewed by Brian Henderson K agrees to work for the anti-corporation organization Athena, mostly because they promise to help his girlfriend recover if he does. He goes off to their training facility in the middle of the desert to prepare to fight against the mega-corporations, still not quite convinced that the people he’s fighting with aren’t just as much terrorists as those they fight against. Unfortunately, the mega-corps discover their secret base and launch an all-out attack to cut off the head of the serpent. K and his fellow trainees are left to defend the base and allow the civilians to escape and finally, K is reunited with Cerebus, the super TC that no one but him can operate.
At the recent “State of the Manga Industry” panel at NYCC, representatives from manga publishers from Del Rey, Viz. and Tokyopop talked about the health of manga sales and fielded questions and concerns. As a whole, they agreed that the industry was “strong and healthy”, with titles shaking out into one of three categories; the “definitely will sell” or A list titles, the “probably will sell”or B list titles, and the “must compete to sell” or C list titles, which is where the majority of titles fall. The big issue is of course with the last category; how to get these books into the right hands. Promoting awareness of titles was mentioned as a problem for all publishers. Why? Even if most of the sales of titles come from brick and mortar retail, getting the word out about titles shouldn’t be such an issue in the internet age. If manga publishers would make better use of their online resources, C list titles would have a better chance. Here are some things I think they should consider.
Gon Volume 1 by Masahi Tanaka Publisher: CMX Rating: Teen Genre: Action/Adventure Price: 5.99 Rating: What was the story about? It was about Gon and other animals. Gon sees a hyena, coyote, bob cat, lion, bears, fish and beavers. What did you like about the story? I liked the second story when Gon shares with the lion. I also like how Gon made his mansion. What did you dislike about the story? I hate it in the story with the baby eagles, when Gon can’t fly, because he is a dinosaur. I also hate Gon’s violence. Would you recommend this story to kids your age? No. There is too much violence
I loved the anime of Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, and now not only is the manga, but the light novels that started the phenomenon are coming over here! The anime was great, so I expect the source material to be even better! Haruhi is fun and quirky, and Kyon’ sarcastic wit is the best. Don’t pass these up! Press Release after the cut.
Project D.O.A. Volume 1 By Jeffrey Nodelman & Wagner Fukuhara Publisher: Tokyopop Genre: Action Rating: 13+ RRP: $9.99 Rating: Reviewed by Brian Henderson I’ll do this review, even though I don’t really consider Project D.O.A. to be a manga. To me, and some may disagree, it needs to be written and published initially in Japan in order to be a manga. Graphic novels that come from Korea or China or France or the United States, while they may be generally modeled after the manga artform, are not manga, any more than animation that comes from anywhere but Japan is not anime. That said though, Project D.O.A. is from one of the minds that brought you the wonderful Cartoon Network show Venture Bros.and in a lot of ways has that kind of vibe. In other ways, it strikes me as similar in feel to Buckaroo Banzai and maybe a little bit like Crusher Joe although officially, Jeff Nodelman attributes his inspirations to films like Indiana Jones, Flash Gordon and the works of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. In any case, it’s a not-quite-serious romp around the world, adventure-style. Meet Dr. Dylan Oliver (also the name of Jeff Nodelman’s real life son)…
It’s another Shonen Jump edition of my Mini Musings. Expect to see a lot of these, as I read a lot of Viz. I’ll try to mix it up a little with some other pubs and some Shojo. But a look at my shelves will show more SJ than Robofish. Reviews after the cut.
These mini musings are meant to be quick reviews of manga of ongoing series, mostly titles I follow on a regular basis and don’t really need the full analysis I usually give a volume. Enjoy. Reviews after the cut.
New week, new reviews! We’ve got a full compliment this week. Lissa Patillo leads off this week with a return to Nightmares for Sale Volume 2 from Aurora Publishing. Hope she kept the receipt. John Thomas takes a slight detour away from manga to get sucked into Black Hole from Pantheon. Charles Tan takes a look at a shojo omnibus from Tokyopop with Kare Kano Volume 1-3 Collection. Dan Polley gives a good licking to Mamotte! Lollipop Volume 4 from Del Rey. And I close the book on The Guin Saga Manga: The Seven Magi Volume 3 from Vertical Inc. We’ve also got our weekly picks from this week’s new releases, and there were a lot of good books this week, so go check out our recommendations.
Nana From: Viz Pictures Directed by Kentaro Otani Running Time: 114 min Rating: Not Rated/PG suggested Japanese Language/English Subtitles Rating: Based on the popular manga by Ai Yazawa, NANA follows the adventures of two girls both named Nana. While they share the same name, they couldn’t be more different. Nana “Hachi” Komatsu follows her boyfriend to Tokyo in the hopes of making a new start, while Nana Osaki, who arrives in the city at the same time, is a punk rock beauty who has the ambition of making it big in the world of rock and roll. Although these two young women come from different backgrounds, they quickly become best friends while chasing their happiness and dreams. I wasn’t feeling well last Friday, and took a rare day off from work. Fortunately for me, I had received the Nana the Movie DVD just a few days before, so I had something to help while away the time between medicines. Review after the cut.
New reviews from the crew at Manga Village are up! Starting things off, I revisit a title from Shojo Beat’s beginnings with Kaze Hikaru Volume 8 from Viz. Dan Polley has the first of two reviews as he breezes through Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time Volume 1 from Viz. Lissa Pattillo flies by Innocent Bird Volume 3 from Blu/Tokyopop. Charles Tan takes you through the Portus from Viz, and Dan Polley returns with not one but TWO volumes of Fairy Tale Volumes 1 & 2 from Del Rey! We’ve also got our weekly picks to satisfy the Manly Manga urge to the Boy’s Love obsession, to a touch of shojo and lots of shonen in between! Come share the manga love with us!
Gon: Volume 2 By Masashi Tanaka Publisher: CMX Genre: Action/Adventure Rating: Teen Price: $5.99 Rating: Storyline: Gon meets many animals, which were a Giant Tortoise, a Shark, Buffalo, a Hard Tick, a Warthog, Baboons, an Elephant, a Hedgehog, a Squirrel Monkey, a Tamandua, an Ocelot, and a whole bunch of Penguins! What I liked: I liked it when Gon chased the squirrel. I liked how angry Gon was drawn. I also liked how Gon played with the Penguins. What I didn’t like: I hated it when Gon gave one piece of a banana to the Shark and how he behaved. It was a bit violent. Would you recommend this to kids your age? Yes. It’s not too violent and Gon is cute!
It was really hard getting through Previews this month. In the catalog, May is Manga Month, so along with all the regular series, there were new ones coming out that had to be evaluated. Top that with a weakening economy, and you get some really tough decisions to be made with this month’s order. More after the cut.