As many parents with school age children know, getting your child to read can sometimes be a real hassle. This is especially true if your child is struggling in school. In this post-“No Child Left Behind”-world, this can mean pressure from teachers and schools to get your child to improve. I was having this problem with my youngest daughter. Now, I’ve always believed the way to get someone interested in reading, was to give them a book about something they were interested in or enjoyed. So with my youngest, we tried finding books that she would like, and let her choose the books she wanted to read, but she still struggled with her reading, and never wanted to do it. We were at a loss of what to do, until we found a breakthrough in the form of an anime. As well as reading manga, I enjoy watching anime based on manga. One series I got interested in was Sgt. Frog from Tokyopop. When I found some fansubs online, I downloaded them to check the anime out. So, I’m out in the living room, watching the shows, and both my daughters come out to see what I was doing. Since…
(Originally posted on Popculture Shock) Rin Amami is a regular middle school student—regular, that is, except for his gruff, gravelly voice. Though his classmates tell him he sounds like Godzilla or a toad, Rin has a secret dream: he wants to sing. He has an idol’s looks, and can pick up any dance style after seeing it once, but his voice crushes any attempts to go after that dream. While working on a street corner selling pictures of pop stars and taking dance requests, he literally runs into The Beatmen, an up-and-coming boy band. He becomes entangled with the group when the owner of Red Shoes, The Beatmen’s agency, declares that Rin possesses the legendary “Dragon Voice,” possessing the qualities of both a demon and an angel. Boss is determined to prove that Rin that will blend with The Beatmen’s already balanced sound, and adds Rin to the group. Dragon Voice Volumes 1-7 By Yuriko Nishiyama Publisher: Tokyopop Age Rating: Teen Genre: Music Price: $9.99 Rating: So begins Rin and The Beatmen’s rocky journey to become idols in Japan’s cutthroat entertainment industry. Their career gets off to a rocky start after The Beatmen lose a bet to a rival band,…
I really shouldn’t be surprised. This certainly isn’t the first time I’ve been disappointed with Tokyopop. But this really shouldn’t have been *that* hard. What am I talking about? The touted “12 days of Manga Holiday”, they were doing on the website. They just couldn’t finish it, with just two days left to go. Did they not have this planned out? Did all the programmers go and vacation and no one told the interns what to do? Do they just don’t care? More and more I’m feeling it’s the last. Either that or they just keep trying to do *too* much and everything gets dropped. Oh well. Merry Christmas anyway. Edit: Well, Tokyopop did finally manage to update their page, not that they told anyone… The eleventh day was an mp3 of some sort. Couldn’t find out from what. Some imanga no doubt. And the twevlth day was the first volume of Dramacon.
“On the Tenth day of Christmas, Tokyopop gave to me…more avatars!” By popular request it seems, Tokyopop has created two more of their holiday avatars. These two are from Dramacon and Fools Gold. You can grab them know at the Tokyopop website along with the previous avatars. Collect the whole set! Once again, these will be available for the weekend. Check back again Monday, after 5pm PST here or Tokyopop.com to see the next gift. We’re down to the last two days. Let’s hope Tokyopop makes them worth it.
“On the Ninth day of Christmas, Tokyopop gave to me…another iManga mp3!” This is from Riding Shotgun again, Make Ya Self by Far East Movement. You’ve only got 24 hours to get it, so go to Tokyopop.com now and download it! It’ll be gone by 5pm PST tomorrow (12/21/07). Check back here or Tokyopop.com for the next present!
“On the Eighth day of Christmas, Tokyopop gave to me…Pantheon High vol 1!” Yeah! More manga! I read the first chapter of this, and have been wanting to read the whole thing! Now I can! And you can too. But just until 5pm PST. Check it out, and then check out vol 2 which comes out in January. Something to spend your Christmas money on! Check back here or at Tokyopop.com for the next gift.
“On the Fifth day of Christmas, Tokyopop gave to me, Biiiiizenghast Vol 1!” For the whole weekend you can read Bizenghast vol 1. I’d really encourage people to check out this series. It’s very good, involving riddles that must be solved to put spirits to rest. I enjoyed it anyway. And it also goes over the usual 3 volume model of most Tokyopop OEL! Check back here Sunday night/Monday or go to Tokyopop.com for the next gift!
“On the Fourth day of Christmas, Tokyopop gave to me…more mp3s!” Yes, it’s another mp3 from their iManga. This time it’s Home from Riding Shotgun. Looks like we’re going to get a chance to get all the main songs from the iManga. Hey, how about a chapter of a mangapod to preview? Once again, the mp3 is available free until tomorrow (12-14-07) until 5pm PST. Check back here or at Tokyopop.com for the next gift.
“On the third day of Christmas, Tokyopop gave to me….Holiday Avatars?!” Okay, this seems more like a stocking stuffer than a present. You get a choice of 5 “holiday” avatars. Undertow teddy bear with a santa hat, I Luv Halloween skull with mistletoe, Gothic Sports with dreidels, Bizenghast with mistletoe, or Princess Ai with a santa hat. They look pretty cheesy if you ask me, but hey, they’re free and do have a holiday theme to them. Go to Tokyopop.com to get them. You have until 5pm PST.
“On the second day of Christmas Tokyopop gave to me…imanga mp3!” I guess it’s not all just manga. Though this is one of the things I’m liking about Tokyopop. They are trying to expand manga beyond the printed page, and use the available technology. I just wish they would stop with the Princess Ai over-promotion. Anyway, the mp3 from the Princess Ai imanga, Broken Leash is available to download at Tokyopop. (I would have preferred the song from Bizenghast, but I prefer that manga too.) Once again, it is only available until 5pm PST tomorrow (Wed, 12-12-07). Check back here or on Tokyopop.com tomorrow after 5pm to find out what’s next!
“On the first day of Christmas, Tokyopop gave to me…Fools Gold Vol. 1!” For the holidays and in honors of it 10 year anniversary, Tokyopop is making available full volumes of their original manga through their manga reader. Starting today until 5PM PST, you can read the first volume of Fools Gold by Amy Reeder Haley, a previous RSoM winner. Every weekday after, a new volume will be available to read. This is a good time to check out some of the OEL manga that Tokyopop’s been doing without risking your pocketbook. The manga reader is easy to use, and works in both IE and Firefox. And how can you say no to free manga? I know I can’t! And you never know, you might actually find yourself liking a title! So keep checking here or the Tokyopop website for updates!