Manga Village

Reira Bandou is an ordinary, average college student, until a group of strangers tell her she is the reincarnation of Ashura, the Buddhist god of war and a member of the Hachi Bushu. Demons are invading the world, so the other members must be found, while Reira must learn to control her powers and regain her past life memories. As her memories return, the truth about the past comes to light, which could tear the Hachi Bushu apart just as the final battle with the demons is about to begin. By Yuriko Matsukawa Publisher: Digital Manga Guild Localization: Translated by Todd Gunn; Edited by Angela Eastman; Lettered by Phileas J Fogg Age Rating: Teen Genre: Supernatural/Romance Price: $6.95 eManga/$7.95 Kindle/Nook/Wowio Having recently read the CLAMP manga RG Veda, Late Advent, which also features Ashura, the Buddhist god of war, interested me. The first volume started out with a lot of potential, but the rushed ending took a lot of wind out of its sails, leading to a less than satisfying story. Late Advent started out fairly strong. Reira is introduced as she is in Art History class, learning about the Hachi Bushu, lower gods who came to earth to protect…

Every week, the Manga Villagers will go through the new releases for the week and pick out the titles they are most looking forward to reading. Whether it’s buying or just window shopping, check out what we’re looking at every week!

Every week, the Manga Villagers will go through the new releases for the week and pick out the titles they are most looking forward to reading. Whether it’s buying or just window shopping, check out what we’re looking at every week!

With 2011 in the rear view mirror, the Villagers look back at some of the titles, publishers and events that made the past year good (or bad). What was your favorite new title(s) of the year? Connie: There are a lot of different titles, so picking, say, Lychee Light Club over Sakura Hime is tough, since I like them both, but one ran in Ribon (for little girls) and the other in Manga Erotics F.  Lychee Light Club was probably my favorite one-shot this year, a great and very shocking book full of violence and objectionable content, but with amazing art and a manic, intense plot.  Sakura Hime was probably my favorite general audience title, if general audience can mean people who read magical girl series.  I’m a fan of Arina Tanemura, and while I’m not an instant convert on all her books, Sakura Hime was quite good, and I’m enjoying the setting and mythological ties so far. But my favorite title this year was probably Wandering Son.  I have a hard time talking about Wandering Son, because I feel anything I say won’t do the story enough justice.  It’s simply a nice, quiet book about pre-teen classmates exploring their…

Look! It’s a real list! With lots of different manga!! Dark Horse continues it’s on-again, off-again relationship with Eden: It’s an Endless World and it’s newest volume finally coming out this week. Kodansha has some old Del Rey titles this week as well as some of their new offering. Viz has a few Signature volumes, and Udon Entertainment releases their first original title, Randomveus.

Manji the bodyguard is known as the Red Dog because of his red hair and fierce temper. When he runs into a boy named Kal fighting the dangerous creatures known as “toys”, Kal tells him to keep away because he’s no match for them — but Manji takes that as a challenge. Soon he’s swept into the battle between the creator of the toys and the mysterious group known as “Cards”.

A perfect inversion of Maria+Holic (i.e. a girl in a boys’ school rather than a boy in a girls’ school), with added conspiracies and shenanigans; extremely silly and very funny indeed.

A decent read, but not the fun ride volume 4 was.

Linear inequalities and masturbation are things that should be learned before the end of junior high!

“I also highly recommend the strawberries-and-white-chocolate mousse. The strawberry compote filling will melt in your mouth as the genoise soaked in lime syrup sings in perfect harmony with the milky flavour of the white chocolate mousse.” By: Fumi Yoshinaga Publisher: Digital Manga Publishing Genre: Slice of life/drama/comedy/food Age Rating: YA/young adult/16+ Price: $12.95 What a joy! What a delight! What a treat! Like the cakes and pastries it depicts, Antique Bakery is so exquisite that it’s tempting to swallow it all in one go, but with enough layers that it’s worth lingering over, to savour the interplay of different elements and the way minor details later prove to be essential. It’s clear that it’s been crafted with care and loving attention, and the skill of an artist at the peak of her career. Set in and around a pâtisserie-café that opens late and features antique silver cutlery as well as an immensely skilled pastry chef, Antique Bakery comes across at first as an episodic, slice-of-life series; as with the bookshop in Kingyo Used Books, the bakery seems to be less the setting for an ongoing tale and more a focal point where a diverse cast of minor characters can have…