Manga Xanadu

Just in time for year-end, Kodansha announced one last title on its Tumblr account. Your Lie In April is by Naoshi Arakawa, a relative unknown to Western readers, and currently has an anime airing in Japan that is also streaming on Aniplex Channel, Hulu, and Crunchyroll. Your Lie in April is about Kosei Arima, a piano prodigy until his cruel taskmaster of a mother dies suddenly. His life forever changed, he abandons piano, and resigns to live in a colorless, monotonous world. His bland world is shaken when he meets Kaori Miyazono, a violinist with an unorthodox style, and possibly the only one who can teach him not only to play, but to live again. This series is currently at 10 volumes, with the 11th due out in May 2015. Kodansha plans to publish the first volume here in Spring 2015. This series looks really cute, and it features music, so it’s got my attention. It also won the Best Shonen Category at Kodansha’s 37th Annual Manga Awards last year. With the anime preceding it, it will at least have some name recognition when it comes out to draw people in and good writing to keep them. I’m looking forward…

I know everyone raves about Junji Ito, but I’ve found a lot of his work too far on the disturbing side. I don’t think I’ve been able to finish one of his titles, and I’m still haunted by Gyo‘s fish with metallic spider legs. **shudder**. It’s great that we’re getting this new collection of his so soon, but when are we gonna get his Cat Diary? I’ll bet that’s a series I can complete!

Just reading the description of this new series makes me think it’s a mash-up of Blue Exorcist and Nisekoi. But since it’s been licensed, it must have something going for it. Guess we’ll have to wait until next summer to find out.

This week I make my weekly wish list, look at a new license announcement from Vertical, the Vizmanga.com update, and review High school of the Dead vol 4-7. http://archive.org/download/MangaDomeEpsiode26/MangaDomeEpsiode26.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download

September is shaping up to a good month for new releases. All-Fiction.net dug up a new solicitation on Amazon for a new series from Seven Seas. Dokusai Grimoire, or Dictatorial Grimoire as Seven Seas is calling it is a three-volume manga series. It follows Grimm Otogi, a far-flung descendant of the original Brothers Grimm, has inherited a mansion from the deceased father he never knew. Along with that inheritance comes a curse; his ancestors made a deal with the mystical beings known as Marchen Demons who now have a claim on his soul. Otogi, with the help of a male Cinderella, must find a way to free himself by unlocking the power of a manuscript and stop the demons before they get him. I had found a love for fairy tales back in college, when for a paper, I had to write about Andrew Lang, an inspiration for Joseph Campbell, the well-known mythologist. Since then, I grab up titles that have something to do with fairy tales, which makes this title a must have for me. Over the course of the volumes Otogi will have to deal with tales featuring Cinderella, Snow White, and Little Red Riding Hood. While this…

I check out Baka-Updates Manga for occasionally for new and interesting titles. When I see an interesting title, I throw it into my wish list so I won’t forget it. This site is especially helpful for License Season at Vertical. I few weeks ago, I saw a title go by that made me raise my eyebrows and even comment about it on Twitter; Tanteiken Sherdock. I was attracted to it because of the “tantei” in the title, denoted this as a detective series. But when I clicked on the link, I was surprised to find what it was about! Sherlock Holmes is re-incarnated as a talking dog! His Watson/side kick is a high school boy named Takeru Wajima, who can understand him for some reason. I thought it was silly, but not to surprising considering the interest in Sherlock Holmes lately. Imagine my surprise when I learned yesterday that Kodansha Comics has licensed this for the US! I was stunned, but in a good way! I’ve been bemoaning the fact that there aren’t a lot of good detective titles available in English. Detective Conan/Case Closed and Young Miss Holmes are about the only ones that come to mind. I’m thrilled…

Hetalia: Axis Powers Does Digital Tokyopop, who has tried to be a leader in digital manga, takes a step to try to reclaim that title. Hetalia: Axis Powers is a title that been highly anticipated by fans, but the print copy won’t be out until Sept 21. But if you don’t mind reading manga on a computer screen, you can get it now through the Zinio service. Tokyopop has made this title available early through the download service and for about half the price, $5.99. But that not all! Hetalia will also be available through the Overdrive, the digital checkout service for libraries. If you’re library uses Overdrive, but doesn’t have Hetalia, tell Tokyopop. They get a digital copy to them for free! I was going to pass on this title initially, but if I can check out a digital copy from my library, yeah, that would be worth it. It would be nice if publishers made more titles available digitally through Overdrive. With libraries budgets getting slashed by cities, online will be about the only way 9-5 workers can get library books. I know I can’t get to my local library now with their hours slashed to closing at…

Just off the presses from ANN and Comipress, Seven Seas/Tor has just confirmed that they have licensed Inukami!. This is a manga series based on Mamizu Arisawa’s light novel series of the same name. I found out about this series through a podcast I listen to, Anime Pulse, where it was reviewed. It’s a comedy/romance in the vein of Urusei Yatsura, only much more risque. It’s about a boy named Keita who comes from a family of Inukami (dog diety) tamers and who is also a letch, in the tradition of Ataru. Yoko, the Inukami he makes a contract with, decides she doesn’t like that, and wants to be Keita’s girlfriend, and not just Inukami. She has a fire attack that she hits him with, as well as the ability to transport instantly, which she does to him, minus his clothes. The anime was hysterical, and I was following the manga through scanalation, since I didn’t think *ANYONE* would *EVER* license it. But then, here comes Seven Seas, with their new buddy Tor, going and making ANOTHER series I now have to buy. I picked the wrong year to cut down on manga…