Manga Xanadu

Christie Holmes is a prodigy. At ten-years-old, she’s as familiar with the sciences and classics as any older student at Cambridge or Oxford. And her facility with logic is reminiscent of her uncle, the eminent Sherlock Holmes himself. So, what’s a brilliant young girl to do when her parents are away in India, leaving her behind in the care of maids and servants? Why, solve mysteries, of course. Along with her giant hound Nelson, Christie’s implacable curiosity leads her from one dangerous adventure to another, often joining forces with Uncle Sherlock and Doctor Watson on their famed investigations. Christie may look pint-sized, but her clever mind is never to be underestimated! By Kaoru Shintani Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment Age Rating: All Ages Genre: Mystery Price: $16.99 Rating: I was really excited when I heard about Seven Seas’ acquisition of Young Miss Holmes. I love mysteries and Sherlock Holmes, but have also lately acquired a taste for stories about female relatives of Holmes also solving mysteries. First, his sister Enola Holmes in novel form, and now his niece Christie. Young Miss Holmes takes classic Sherlock Holmes stories and makes changes to them, mostly to add Christie to the story, but also…

Playing catch-up doesn’t just mean reading manga, it also means writing reviews of titles I’ve read, but hadn’t got around to reviewing. So here are a couple of Seven Seas Entertainment titles that I’d read a while ago, but needed some time to figure out what I wanted to say.

It’s Ryuji’s first day as a junior in high school and it seems as if things are looking up. He gets to sit in between his only friend, Yusaku, and, more importantly, the girl he’s secretly crushing on, Minori Kushieda. But just when he thinks the stars are aligned in his favor, he unwittingly crosses the most feared girl in school, Taiga Aisaku, making her onto his arch enemy. To top it off, Taiga has moved in right next door to Ryuji and happens to be Minori’s best friend! Can this school year possibly get any worse?! Story by Yuyuko Takemiya; Art by Zekkyo Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment Age Rating: Teen Genre: Romantic Comedy Price: $12.99 Rating: Toradora, like most romantic comedies, depends on its lead characters to sell the series. If you don’t like the leads, you aren’t going to care who they get together with, or if they get together at all! Unfortunately, that’s exactly how I feel about the leads and this story. Toradora starts out by introducing Ryuuji Takasu. He’s a second year high school student who has squinty eyes that makes all of his peers think he’s glaring at them, and a flaky mother who…

The Bakertown High School cheerleading squad has a secret: behind all their pretty make-up and short skirts are five hungry vampires who sure know how to show their school spirit! When one of their own turns up missing, the senior cheerleaders have no other choice but to induct one of the eleventh grade girls from the B Squad into their vixenous ranks. But siring new recruit Heather Hartley is the easy part…keeping a sheltered virgin from not going wild and draining the entire football team on the eve of their big homecoming game is another matter! Written by Adam Arnold; Art by Shiei and Comipa Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Comedy Price: $10.99 I like Seven Seas Entertainment. Really, I do. They have a nice mix of original and licensed titles, with a very eclectic selection of genres. Sadly though, I didn’t like one of their biggest hits, AOI House. So I didn’t have high hopes for Vampire Cheerleaders when it was announced, but I was looking forward to Paranormal Mystery Squad. Boy, did I get those turned around. Vampire Cheerleaders is just as cliché as it sounds. Good girl Heather is invited to join the…

Souji Kushiki, a high school student from a well-to-do family returns home from boarding to school to find things have changed. His three sisters are strangely clingy, and their behavior borders on inappropriate and bizarre. At school, he learns that over the summer, three of his fellow students were murdered, and the links to the murders seem to lead back to his sisters. With the help of his new friend, the cheery and spunky Yukako Sasai, Souji goes in search of the truth behind the murders, the answers to which may just end everything he believes to be true. Story by Nagaru Tanigawa; Art by Natsumi Kohane Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Mystery Price: $10.99 Rating: Amnesia Labyrinth is a thriller-mystery that gave off Higurashi-When They Cry vibes when I started reading it. Many of the characters have creepy and unsettling sides to their personalities, that it seems only Souji sees. While the story moves into some areas of taboo that I don’t really care for, the mystery is intriguing. Amnesia Labyrinth centers around Souji Kushiki, the second son of the Kushiki family and now head of house when his older brother Kazushi takes off. Souji…

It was back in 2004 I think, when I first saw the solicitations from a new manga company in Previews.  Seven Seas had 3-4 full size pages advertising it’s titles.  I remember thinking how cool it was that an American company was making a go at creating original titles.  At the time, only Tokyopop had any OEL.  From those original titles, there weren’t a lot that caught my attention.  Just one did actually.  Captain Nemo.  I had been a big fan of Captain Harlock in the eighties.  I loved his cape, the high collar, and the way his hair fell over one side of his face.  The cover of Captain Nemo mimiced this, so of course I had to get it. When the first volume finally came out in 2005, I of course ordered it, and have to say I actually enjoyed it.  It very much captured the feel of Harlock’s brooding, and the lone captain trying to save the world that doesn’t realize it’s in danger.  I couldn’t wait for the next volume.  Unfortunately, I had to do just that.  Seven Seas expanded, got into licensing manga and this meant the writer of Capntain Nemo, Jason DeAngelis, who is…

It’s time to play Matchgame! Let’s meet our contestants!  Seven Seas Entertainment has teamed up with big publisher Tor books according to this press release. The company will release licensed, and original manga as well as light novels under the Seven Seas imprint beginning in March 2008. Of course, this alliance is nothing new in the manga world. Big “respectable” publishers seems to be looking for ways to get in on the manga revolution. Tokyopop and Harper Collins made a mutually beneficial deal. Del Rey created it’s own division, as did the Hachette Book Group, which created Yen Press.  All these pubs license manga of course.  But there seems to be more going on here.  Both Del Rey and Yen Press will be publishing original manga as well. Tokyopop, of course, led the way for OEL. By teaming up with Seven Seas, which initially started as an original content only publisher, Tor can jump into this market with a ready made imprint. Is this a new trend now? Do publishers see a future in original content manga? Del Rey announced a new series based on the popular novel series “Odd Thomas”. Yen Press has promised to premiere an anthology of…