Manga Village

It’s a short list this week with Viz having most of the releases with their Shonen Sunday line being released. Battle Angel Alita fans can also pick up their yearly volume. Harper Collins is continuing alone with the adaptations they started with Tokyopop with the next series of Vampire Kisses, also with a new artist.

It’s the first week of the month, and that means Viz shonen and shojo titles! Psyren, which has been running in Shonen Jump finally has it’s first volume released. Or you can get your sports fill with the latest Slam Dunk and the final volume of Eyeshield 21. Kodansha releases a bunch of former Del Reys, as well as the new omnibus of Negima. Or get your learn on with Gandhi: A Manga Biography from Penguin Books. But don’t forget Seven Seas with two new titles debuting this week, and both fit for the season! The List: BANDAI ENTERTAINMENT Code Geass Queen Volume 3 GN (resolicited), $10.99 KODANSHA COMICS Fairy Tail Volume 15 GN, $10.99 Negima Omnibus Volume 2 GN, $19.99  **Weekly Pick** Ninja Girls Volume 7 GN, $10.99 Wallflower Volume 26 GN, $10.99 PENGUIN BOOKS Gandhi A Manga Biography GN, $15.00 SEVEN SEAS ENTERTAINMENT Certain Scientific Railgun Volume 2 GN, $10.99 Dracula Everlasting Volume 1 GN, $10.99  **Weekly Pick** My Boyfriend Is A Vampire Collection Volume 1 GN (Of 2), $15.99  **Weekly Pick** VIZ MEDIA Bakuman Volume 7 TP, $9.99 Bleach 3-In-1 Edition Volume 3 TP, $14.99 Blue Exorcist Volume 4 GN, $9.99  **Weekly Pick** Eyeshield 21 Volume 37…

Hikaru’s evolution continues, now as the host to both Horizon and Maelstrom. A new cosmic entity has come to Earth, sensing a disturbance in its evolution. The Moderator sees a macro-evolution for the Earth, but with Horizon and Maelstrom not doing their jobs, it’s up to him to see it through, or else wipe all life from Earth, and let it start over. It’s up to Hikaru, Horizon and Maelstrom to find the solution, and the next step in the Earth’s evolution. By: Nobuaki Tadano Publisher: Vertical, Inc. Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Sci-fi Price: $10.95 Volume 3 starts by showing how much Hikaru has changed from the first 2 volumes. She is no longer a loner, nor does she try to shut out the world. She spends time with her friends Saya and Nao, and acts more like a normal girl. She also starts to notice their classmate Chika, a girl who seems to have the same problem Hikaru had, but reacts in the opposite direction. She doesn’t want to be alone. She is desperate for friends, and to have a place to belong. That no one really wants to be alone is a theme that runs throughout the…

Natsume Ono is one of my favorite creators in comics today. Her distinct style and charismatic writing have filled many of my evenings with beautiful imagery of Italy and feudal Japan, and her characters have sparked my imagination and wanderlust. When Ono’s first works were brought to the USA, we started somewhere in the middle – Ristorante Paradiso and not simple were a progression of sorts from La Quinta Camera, which is some of Ono’s earliest work. The series started as a webcomic, and was brought to print in one volume through Viz Media’s IKKI COMIX imprint. Of all the creators popularized by the IKKI format from Viz, Natsume Ono is the most complex, and most wonderful. La Quinta Camera is certainly an expression of that – but Ono has learned much between her initial comics debut in 2003 and her currently running series House of Five Leaves. By Natsume Ono Publisher: VIZ Media LLC; Sig IKKI Age Rated: T for Teen Genre: Slice of Life Price: $12.99 La Quinta Camera is a series of vignettes focusing on four men who live in a five-bed apartment in Rome, and how they use that fifth room; or rather, who they rent…

It’s a short list for the end of September, but it’s got some big names on it. But we’ll get to those later. First, Bandai finally releases the 2nd volume of Kannagi about magical girl shrine deities. Del Rey Manga makes a rare appearance with the next xxxHOLIC, while Kodansha has a few other former Del Rey titles with Arisa and Negima. And just for the kids, there’s a new adaptation of the latest Pokemon movie from Viz.

One of the things that surprised me (and continues to surprise me) about TokyoPop was their ability to survive off of B-list titles. The subject matter of this review is a prime example. Butterfly is the definition of B-list. The series is a five-volume supernatural/horror/gender bender from Gentosha, which looks to have a really smart collection of josei and seinen manga. Why this series was picked from all of the other content Gentosha could provide is really not the subject of this review, but it is worth considering. Perhaps Tokyopop was getting smarter with their releases, and knew that Butterfly would appeal to their fan base. By: Yu Aikawa Publisher: TokyoPop (March 1, 2011) Age Rating: T for Teen (13+) Genre: Supernatural Price: $10.99 If that is the case, this series proves that I was not a part of the TokyoPop fan base. The story centers on Ginji, a high-school guy with a severe hatred for the occult, but who is haunted by the image of his dead brother. This dead brother appears to have hung himself, for reasons unknown. Ginji meets up with a girl who his friend has introduced him to and ends up in a rough spot…

It’s a smaller week this time as we get closer to the end of the month. Viz has an eclectic collection of titles from their Shonen Sunday, Signature and Viz Media lines, as well as a new novel from their sci-fi line. Seven Seas has caught up with the Blood Alone re-release and is releasing a new volume in the US with this week’s volume 4.

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! This Month: School Manga! September is traditionally the time kids go back to school, so this month we’re looking at titles that take place mainly at school. School is a big part of life and is often used promptly in teen manga titles. So here’s our some of our favorite manga that takes place at school! Alex Hoffman: There are a veritable ton of manga series that are set around a school – more shojo series than shonen, I would think, but there are quite a few of my favorite shojo series set in a school – Monkey High!, Kimi ni Todoke, and Otomen, just to name a few. If you are looking for specialized schools, well, there are plenty of those too! Mixed Vegetables is set in a cooking school, and Twin Spica is set at a school for astronauts….

It’s Yen Press’ week as they release the majority of their titles this week, including the first volume of their 3rd James Patterson series Witch and Wizard, and the very different take on zombies series, Raiders. Viz Media sees the end of one of their Signature titles with the final volume of Detroit Metal City, as does Kodansha which realease the final volume of Shugo Chara.

When you get out of here, you’re going to forget about me, huh? It’s like I have never existed in your eyes.