Manga Village

The cast gears up for the mother of all Golden Week vacations. Hayate sunning in the Mediterranean? Our hero’s story truly is a classic tale of rags to… well, substantially less shoddy rags. But what about the students who don’t work as manservants to the super-wealthy? Well, they’ll just have to win vacation tickets in a game show or hit the jackpot in Vega. That could happen, right? By Kenjiro Hata Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating: Teen+ Genre: Romantic Comedy/Harem Price: $9.99 I’ve heard a lot about Hayate the Combat Butler, and seen how beloved it was by other manga bloggers, but I never felt the need to read it. The premise didn’t interest me, and I don’t care for harem-comedies, but I decided to give it a shot. It actually wasn’t too bad. The volume starts off at the end of a flashback from the previous volume. It’s very serious and rather intense. I was pulled in immediately by it and was hoping for more once the story returned to the present. Sadly that didn’t happen, as instead the remaining chapters were about where everyone was going on vacation for Golden Week, and specifically, all the girls that want…

It’s a short but varied week filled with good last-minute gifts. One of Del Rey’s last titles, xxxHOLIC, releases its penultimate volume this week. Vertical releases the second volume of its vintner saga, Drops of God, while Viz shows it’s eclectic side a little something from its Signature and Media lines. Good reading all around. The List: DEL REY MANGA xxxHOLiC Volume 18 GN, $10.99 KODANSHA COMICS Mardock Scramble Volume 3 GN, $10.99 VERTICAL Drops Of God Volume 2 GN, $14.95  **Weekly Pick** VIZ MEDIA Dorohedoro Volume 5 GN, $12.99 Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 27 TP (Of 27), $9.99  **Weekly Pick** Tenjo Tenge Volume 4 GN (Full Contact Edition 2-In-1), $17.99 YEN PRESS Betrayal Knows My Name Volume 2 GN, $18.99 Kobato Volume 5 GN, $11.99 My Girlfriend’s A Geek Volume 5 GN, $11.99 Spice And Wolf Volume 5 GN, $11.99 The Picks: Justin’s Pick: Mardock Scramble has proved interesting, if not necessarily anything new, and Dorohedoro is still a powerhouse of a manga with terrific art-presence, but this week I’m picking up Drops of God, if only because I still can’t tell if it’s tongue in cheek or deadly serious when it comes to the world of wine (or both!);…

Two weeks worth of manga can make for a lot of hard choices, especially with such strong titles as Veritcal’s releases. How can you choose between the final Black Jack and Princess Knight and the second volume of No Longer Human? Viz has quite the long list with releases from all their lines with new volumes of Bleach, One Piece, Ouran High School Host Club, Maoh: Juvenile Remix and I’ll Give It My All…Tomorrow, as well as the debut of a new Shojo Beat series, Dawn of the Arcana. The List: KODANSHA COMICS At Full Moon Volume 1 GN, $10.99 Deltora Quest Volume 3 GN, $10.99 Ghost In The Shell Stand Alone Complex Volume 2 GN, $10.99 Shugo Chara Chan Volume 1 GN, $10.99 SEVEN SEAS ENTERTAINMENT Blood Alone Volume 5 GN, $11.99  **Weekly Pick** Vampire Cheerleaders Volume 2 GN, $10.99 VERTICAL Black Jack Volume 17 TP (by Osamu Tezuka)(resolicited), $16.95  **Weekly Pick** No Longer Human Volume 2 GN, $10.95 Princess Knight Volume 2 GN (by Osamu Tezuka), $13.95  **Weekly Pick** VIZ MEDIA Bakuman Volume 8 TP,$9.99  **Weekly Pick** Bleach Volume 37 TP, $9.99 Blue Exorcist Volume 5 GN, $9.99  **Weekly Pick** D.Gray-man Illustrations SC, $21.99 Dawn Of The Arcana…

The supreme beings that created the ogres have a problem. They are responsible for maintaining the delicate balance of nature, but they may have to eliminate the human race to do so. If mankind disappears, will a new order of sentient beings claim their sovereignty over the planet? Either way, Zakuro holds the key to the future of the world! By Yoshinori Natsume Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating: Teen+ Genre: Supernatural/Action Price: $9.99 It really shouldn’t come as any real surprise that I enjoyed this volume. I liked Togari, Natsume’s previous series released by Viz, and I discovered it the same way, by reading a volume in the middle of the series. Even though most of this volume is fighting, Natsume still manages to get enough story through to keep me interested throughout the volume. The volume starts in the middle of a fight with Lacey, and ends with a fight against Akebi and the discovery of the supreme beings’ plan. One of the things I liked about Togari was the way Natsume blurred the line between good and evil. Good characters are shown to have dark sides, and the characters thought to be evil might not be so bad….

Earlier this year, I reviewed the two available chapters of Mizuki by Nao Yazawa. My only complaints about the series was; 1) two chapters was not enough and 2) the emanga.com pricing was too high for something you could only read online. Well, it looks like DMP has fixed the second issue. They have released both chapters of Mizuki on the Kindle and Nook. So, now you can purchase and actually own these chapters to read anywhere! I think this is great news! This opens the market for this title to more than just folks with an emanga.com account and a credit card. Now, anyone with a Kindle, Nook or their respective apps can buy and read this great title! And at $1.99 each, the price is much more reasonable, especially since it is to own and not just rent. If you were interested in this title, but didn’t want to go through emanga, now is the time to get and read it! You won’t regret it!

Gen is a new monthly manga magazine that is an experiment in many ways. It doesn’t go through any of the big publishers, or have any big mangaka as a draw. The manga serialized in Gen comes direct from the artists and would fit more in the category of doujinshi, or fan created manga. But this isn’t doujinshi as it is usually thought of in the US, parodies, or porn. These are serious, original stories and characters written for older readers, or seinen. Gen debuted with 4 titles in a variety of genres. “Wolf” is a sports manga featuring boxing. “VS Aliens” is a high school mystery. “Kamen” is a fantasy-drama and “Souls” is supernatural mystery. Of the four stories, I have to say I enjoyed most of them. “Wolf” didn’t interest me too much at first. The main character Naoto is just a bundle of anger, trying to beat his father with one kind of punch, while his father, a former pro boxer doesn’t really seem to care about the wife and son he left to pursue his boxing career. There was too much anger, not enough plot. The last chapter in issue 3 showed some improvement. I was…

End of the month means a small list, and this month is no exception. There are multiple publishers, but with only a few books each. Kodansha continues more former Del Rey titles, and Viz has the new Pokemon movie adaptation. But the big news is the return of disturbing thriller from Dark Horse MPD-Psycho. Just in time for Christmas!

Black Jack is back with a wide array of new challenges. An animator with cancer want to see his work move as he envisioned it just once. A fading actress wants to take the stage one last time. A modern-day Cyrano goes to Black Jack for help with his Roxanne, and Black Jack helps some young people determined to commit suicide that there is something in life worth living for. These are just a few of the cases Black Jack takes on in this volume. By Osamu Tezuka Publisher: Vertical Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Medical Drama Price: $16.95 Each time I read a new volume of Black Jack, I keep an eye out for several stories that I can relate as a theme. This volume comes out swinging with a strong sports theme. The first two chapters are about athletes, the first is a swimmer who loses the use of his legs, and the other is a boy that does well in gymnastics but loses his arm. Both suffer from losing their abilities to play their selected sport, but both are also redeemed by girls, though their paths to it couldn’t be more different. A third chapter is about…

Yen Press is the publisher to check out this week while you chow down on that Turkey, and left over turkey sandwiches, turkey casserole and what ever other concoction the cook in your home will try to do to make the leftover palatable. If gossiping girls, zombies, ninja or teenagers with god-like powers can’t help, then consider calling on the power of the moon, with the help of Kodansha’s release volume 2 of both Codename Sailor V and Sailor Moon. The List: KODANSHA COMICS Codename Sailor V Volume 2 TP, $10.99 Ninja Girls Volume 8 GN, $10.99 Sailor Moon Volume 2 TP (Kodansha Edition), $10.99 YEN PRESS Gossip Girl The Manga Volume 3 For Your Eyes Only GN, $12.99 High School Of The Dead Color Omnibus HC, $49.99  **Weekly Pick** Innocent GN, $11.99  **Weekly Pick** Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya Volume 10 GN, $11.99 Melancholy Of Suzumiya Haruhi-Chan Volume 4 GN, $11.99 Nabari No Ou Volume 8 TP, $11.99 Omamori Himari Volume 5 GN, $11.99 Sumomomo Momomo Volume 10 TP, $11.99 The Picks: Justin’s Pick: Over the objections of my daughter (who would prefer that I pick Sailor Moon every day of the week and twice on Sundays), I’m going with…

As Hikaru hits his teens and puberty strikes, Sachiko and Masato have to deal with his growing sexual awareness and rebellious attitude. But it’s Kanon that really needs the help as her entry into elementary school leads to teasing over her brother. There’s no rest for the weary though, as on top of these problems, Masato is transferred and the decision is made to move into the Mother-in-Law’s house, which comes with its own set of problems. By Keiko Tobe Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Teen Genre: True to Life Drama Price: $14.99 Normally, problems that involve Hikaru’s disability affect him directly and in turn those around him. In these two volumes though, Hikaru isn’t affected as much as those around him. Kanon feels the effect the most at the beginning. Hikaru’s growing sexual awareness causes her unease when her friend comes over, and then she has to deal with teasing that borders on bullying from classmates who see Hikaru, but don’t understand. It’s nice to see that Kanon isn’t going to take the bullying, though she does try to hide it from Sachiko and Masato by pretending nothing is wrong. Sachiko isn’t so lucky in dealing with her bully…