Manga Village

It’s a new month with a whole new slew of manga to check out! Kodansha makes another strong showing with several volume 1s including the all ages title Animal Land, and the sci-fi title Mardock Scramble. Vertical releases their requisite zombie title Velveteen and Mandala, and Viz releases their monthly wave of shonen and shojo titles including Black Bird, One Piece, Naruto, and the next Pokemon: Black and White.

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.

So… since this week is a little light on content (although I’m sure we would all love Yellow II vol. 3) the team at Manga Village thought we would talk about our favorite new series from the first half of 2011.

It’s just three publishers this week, but the list of titles is at least decent. Viz releases titles from their Signature line, as well as a new novel, based on the popular video game ICO: Castle In The Mist. Yen Press has their monthly release which also includes a light novel, Book Girl And The Captive Fool. And if you have a tween-teen named Jennifer, then Seven Seas’ lastest release may be just the book for you! The List: SEVEN SEAS ENTERTAINMENT Amazing Agent Jennifer Volume 1 GN, $10.99 VIZ MEDIA Bokurano Ours Volume 4 GN, $12.99 Dorohedoro Volume 4 GN, $12.99  **Weekly Pick** ICO Castle In The Mist SC, $15.99 Itsuwaribito Volume 3 GN, $9.99 Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys Volume 16 GN, $12.99  **Weekly Pick** Tenjo Tenge Volume 2 TP (Full Contact Edition 2-In-1), $17.99 YEN PRESS Book Girl And The Captive Fool SC, $11.99 Higurashi When They Cry Volume 14 GN (Eye Opening Arc Part 4), $11.99 K-ON Volume 3 GN, $11.99  **Weekly Pick** Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya Volume 9 GN, $11.99 Melancholy Of Suzumiya Haruhi-Chan Volume 3 GN, $11.99 Omamori Himari Volume 4 GN, $11.99 Sumomomo Momomo Volume 9 TP, $11.99 Ugly Duckling’s Love Revolution Volume…

It’s a small list this week, but a good for video game tie-ins. Bandai Entertainment releases the first volume based on the franchise Tales of the Abyss, while Udon Entertainment releases the next volume of Gigamix from the Mega Man franchise. Viz brings out their monthly batch of Shonen Sunday titles along with the US version of rival magazine Shonen Jump.

Viz dominates the list this week with their Shone Jump and Shojo Beat titles. Don’t miss out on the yearly release of Kaze Hikaru, a slow seller that Viz hasn’t given up on yet (thankfully). Dark Horse has the next Cardcaptor Sakura, and Vertical releases the next volume of Black Jack, and begins countdown to the final volume.

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.

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.

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.

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.