Manga Xanadu

Viz is the top dog this week, as it has been for the last month on the New York Times and Amazon Bestseller lists. All of their shonen and shojo titles come out this week, including the final volume of Yukarism by Chika Shiomi, and new volumes of superhero titles One-Punch Man and My Hero Academia.

At the last big convention of the season, New York Comic Con, manga publishers appeared to make their last big announcements for the next year.

With Diamond releasing the shonen titles early last week, this week is a little lighter, but in retrospect, that a good things as some debuts by other publishers would be completely washed over by the final Naruto Vol 72. Seven Seas goes for some representation as they release the first volume of their new series, Merman in My Tub. Instead of monster girls, it’s monster boys, who are just as hot with fish tails and tentacles. I was interested in it when Seven Seas announced it, and while I’m not a fan of fanservice, neither am I opposite to some equal opportunity for the ladies.

Kenji and Shiro continue on their journey of discovery and acceptance as Shiro leans  why Kenji fell for him, Kenji finally meets Shiro’s parents, they take a vacation to Kyoto together, and the pains of parents and themselves growing old sneak up on them. And through it all, Shiro continues to cook inventive yet simple-to-make dishes as well as adding new ones to his repertoire.

There’s a lot of manga coming out this week. Kodansha releases the first volume of Devil Survivor, the adaptation of Shin Megami Tensei, the game that the Persona is a spin-off of.  I’ve been interested in Shin Megami Tensei, as well as Persona, thanks to my older daughter’s obsession, so I’ll be checking this title out. Vertical Comics does the seemingly impossible as it releases the final volume of Mobile Suit Gundam Origin, the series that not even the publisher believed would sell. But Vertical and Western fans proved them wrong, and now the series comes to an end with Vol 11.

Things are slowly down as we hit the middle of the month. Dark Horse releases their first omnibus of Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka, a title they seemed to have kept from DMP. It collects the first three volumes into one massive 700 page book and includes the original story “Greatest Robot on Earth,” which was the basis for Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto. Fans of either series should definitely pick this up. Seven Seas has the 12th volume of Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends, where it’s school festival time. Hit Seven Seas’ Tumblr to find out more.

It wasn’t a major con weekend, but we still got two license announcements from Kodansha Comics and Vertical Comics. It’s almost poetic when you realize that Kodansha and Vertical are related.

It has been announced that the manga, Knights of Sidonia,  will be coming to an end in the November issues of Kodansha’s Monthly Afternoon magazine due out in September.

It’s a fairly quiet release list for this week, but there are some strong titles to liven it up. If you haven’t read A Silent Voice Vol 1 from Kodansha Comics, go read it, right now. I’ll wait. If you haven’t heard of A Silent Voice, have you been living under a rock? The first volume has had tremendous word of mouth that’s pushed it’s sales up to Fairy Tail levels. The story sneaks up on you and then crushes your with so much emotion. But it’s a story that needs to be told, and read. I put off reading it for a while, for fear of all those emotions, but once I did, I was glad. I can’t wait now to see what happens in vol 2. Seven Seas Entertainment made a score when they picked up Haven’t You Heard I’m Sakamoto. The series was nominated for several awards, including the Manga Taisho. It’s one of the several Seven Seas’ titles I’ve been looking forward to reading. Chi’s Sweet Home is a title I have been reading and loving, even though as the series has gone on, it’s gotten a little darker. But going back to the “good old…

Netcomics has a strong showing this week, with five volumes, two of which are debuts. It think it’s great to see manhwa (Korean comics) being brought back to the US. Yen Press was the last publisher to make any kind of push when they took over Ice Kunion, but haven’t done anything new since. I’m less likely to check out the new volumes Behind Story and Core Scramble as they are BL, but Chiro, which is a rescue from Udon, and Give To The Heart are both titles I would definitely try out. One volume I will have to get is My Neighbor Seki Vol 3. I adore this series so much, that every volume is a must have. Bravo to Vertical Comics for licensing such a fun manga. Viz Media releases their Shonen Sunday titles this week. I still love Case Closed and get sucked in everything time I pick up a volume no matter how many I’ve missed in between. I do kind of hate seeing a volume where the first chapter ends a case, but  no matter how ludicrous the setups or solutions may seem to others, I still adore them!  Tiger and Bunny is a series…

The week of San Diego Comic Con is usually a slow and sparse one, but this week is ripe with new releases, including several debut titles. Seven Seas Entertainment releases two new titles this week. Magika Swordsman and Summoner is an ecchi, harem story that sets up the male protagonist as the only male student at an essentially all-girl school to no doubt get into lots of trouble and have girls fight over him as he becomes the only hope to stop some evil. Can you tell I’m not impressed with this premise? It does however fit into Seven Seas’ line quite well. Pandora of the Crimson Shell Ghost Urn is another ecchi title that goes the sci-fi route rather than fantasy. It features two young cybernetic girls with amazing combat skills who must work together against a world in turmoil It is by the creators of Excel Saga, Koshi Rikdo, and Ghost in the Shell, Masamune Shirow. This series sounds a little less slapstick, and may have more drama, but with these two creators, there will definitely be male gaze. Viz Media lets loose its torrent of shonen and shojo titles this week, including two debuts as well. Demon…

As Paperboy starts to issue video warnings of crimes they plan to commit against ever-larger targets of internet outrage, Lieutenant Yoshino and the Anti Cyber Crimes Division attempts to get on step ahead of the newspaper-masked terror group. But even as they contend with the authorities, the greatest threat to Paperboy’s master plan may come from a totally unexpected place–within… Prophecy Volume 2 By Tetsuya Tsutsui Publisher: Vertical Comics Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Thriller Price: $12.95 Rating: I really enjoyed the first volume of Prophecy and found it hard not to want to cheer on Paperboy over the ACCD who were trying to catch them. It seems they are always one step ahead of the police as they play a long game where the goal is still unknown, and they continue their mast manipulation of social media to reach it. Once again, I am finding myself sympathizing with the antagonists of this series, Paperboy. They take on an environmentalist group called “The Sea Guardians”, who target Japanese fishing boats in the name of the environment, but are made up of some really slimy people. Like the “justice” they administered in volume 1, Paperboy’s vigilantism feels wholly appropriate and well…