Manga Village

Comparison is one of the great powers of the human mind. We categorize and store information throughout our lives, and then at every step necessary, recall and compare, oftentimes synthesizing new information and opinions. It is hard to review Usamaru Furuya’s Lychee Light Club for the simple fact that there is very little that I have ever read that would allow me to compare, analyze, and then synthesize an opinion of the work. When the mind cannot find the most immediate comparisons, it digs harder and deeper, looking for the things it has experienced before to connect the dots. It is in the shadows of Lychee Light Club and its distinctive beginning that make it such a strange, visceral experience. By Usamaru Furuya Publisher: Vertical, Inc. Age Rating: 18+ Genre: Seinen/Horror Price: $16.95 Lychee Light Club is, if I describe it in general terms, is a Lord of the Flies with an added bonus of homemade robots programmed to find beautiful girls to worship. The characters of Lychee Light Club are all adolescent, prepubescent boys, who are unsustainably obsessed with beauty and androgyny. Lychee, the robot, is probably the most human of the entire cast. There is internal conflict over…

End of the month means a short list, and this month is no different, unless you’re a fujoshi. DMP means to satisfy women’s desire to for beautiful boys together. But there are still a few titles here and there for us non-BL readers from Bandai, Kodansha and Yen Press.

It’s just the girls this time as the Manga Villagers discuss the latest title for the Manga Movable Feast this month, Fruits Basket. This is a shojo title created by Natsuki Takaya and published by Tokyopop. This 23 volume series was among the first big hits in the US, and was Tokyopop’s biggest seller. It’s the story of Tohru Honda, a high school girl who has recently lost her mother, and through some circumstances, comes to live in a tent in the mountains, which also happens to be near the home of classmate Yuki Sohma, who is living with his cousins Shigure and Kyo. The Sohma family has a secret. They are cursed by the thirteen signs of the zodiac. Tohru accidentally learns their secret, but after promising to keep their secret, she is allowed to live with Yuki, Shigure and Kyo. What were your initial impressions of this title? Connie: (as a disclaimer, I re-read the series a few years ago, and read the ending two years ago, but haven’t picked it up since then. I didn’t have the volumes with me to re-read it for the feast. my impressions aren’t terribly fresh.) I couldn’t wait to read it…

Reviews are subjective things. A reviewer is drawing on many things when they write their review. Besides technical things such as story structure, character development and art, a reviewers personal preferences and experiences can affect their feeling about a book. And sometimes, even their gender can make a difference as to whether a book gets a good score or bad. In the following discussions, reviewers Alex Hoffman and Lori Henderson will look at different books and examine the similarities and differences they have over each of them. Dengeki Daisy Volumes 1-2 By: Kyousuke Motomi Publisher: Viz Media – Shojo Beat Age Rating: Teen Plus Genre: Romance Price: $9.99 ISBN: Vol. 1: 978-1-4215-3727-6; Vol. 2: 978-1-4215-3728-3 Lori Henderson: Well Alex, now that you’ve settled down in wedded bliss, are you ready for another round? Alex Hoffman:Ready when you are, Lori! Do you want to give us the rundown on Dengeki Daisy? LH: Sure! Teru Kurebayashi is a high school student and orphan. Shortly before her only relative, her older brother died, he gave her a cell phone and told her it would connect her to “Daisy”, someone who would look after and be someone she could confide to. After being bullied…

San Diego Comic Con is this week! What news will publishers bring us this year? They bring out some good volumes for those of us not attending the Geek-fest. Kodansha has more former-Del REy titles. Udon Entertainment finishes their final kid’s line title. Viz releases a new Natsume Ono title, La Quinta Camera: The Fifth Room, and Yen rounds things off with the last of the July releases.

While we here at Manga Village love all the new manga coming out each week, there’s over 20 years of manga releases that we love and want to recommend too! So, in each column, we will look at a genre, or creator, or even publisher to come up with the best titles that we want to recommend to you!

In the week before San Diego Comic Con, the list is smaller, but there are still some great books coming out. Viz releases their Shonen Sunday line, as well as the long-awaited Pokemon Black and White. Yen Press releases a few titles including the next High School of the Dead, and Bandai has a one shot with the Code Geass spin-off, Alternate Shogunate.

Iku Kasahara has dreamed of joining the Library Forces ever since one of its members saved her book from a MBC raid when she was in high school. A new recruit in the Library Forces now, Iku is training hard to become a full-fledged member, but is finding that not everyone is like her Prince. Especially not Sgt Dojo, her drill instructor, who seems to have it in for her!

It’s like a flashback to the good old days! Lots of publishers with a wide variety of books! Dark Horse continues their re-release of early CLAMP titles with the first omnibus of Magic Knight Rayearth. Kodansha fills the hole left by Del Rey nicely  as more of the latters titles come out, and Viz has its usual barrage of shonen and shojo titles this week.

Tokyopop makes a surprise return with what is probably their last round of titles. Kodansha completes the former Del Rey Manga title Negima Neo and continues Air Gear, and Yen Press releases their round of manga including new Spice and Wolf manga and the second volume of the now infamous Sasameke.