I’ve been an anime and manga fan for long time, and there have been some titles that were thought to be more far off dreams than actual candidates for licensing. One of those dreams was getting anything from Leiji Matsumoto, co-creator of Space Battleship Yamato, and creator of Space Pirate Captain Harlock, Galaxy Express 999, and Queen Emeraldas among many others. At best, all we had were 5 volumes of the second Galaxy Express 999 manga ...

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A couple of tweets came across my Twitter timeline making some unfavorable comments about a panel at SDCC 2016; “Comics vs Manga: Which is Better.”  The panel was supposed to have a “panel of experts” in both comics and manga, and looked to compare things such as getting started, diversity, plot, sales, and fandom. I didn’t attend the panel, but I respect the commentor’s opinion. And the description of the pan...

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I wasn’t sold on Bleach when it was first announced, but fortunately, I had a subscription to Shonen Jump back in the day, and read the first few chapters, and was hooked. I really liked the characters and the world that Kubo had created for them.  I was a huge Bleach fan, buying the books as they came out, watching the anime, and even collecting the toys from Toynami, several sets of gashapon, and the trading cards. I loved the first arc ...

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Recently, Seven Seas Entertainment released a press release announcing their renewal with Comixology and expanding to Amazon. While I think this is great and all, what I really have to ask is, what took them so long?...

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Viz Media’s digital strategy and I have not gotten along very well. For the longest time after Viz released their Vizmanga app, I couldn’t install it because Google Play kept saying it wasn’t compatible with my Android tablet. I finally had to go through Amazon’s App Store and install it through there. I had something to say about that....

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Wondercon, for those who may not know, is a younger sibling to Comic-Con International’s San Diego Comic Con. For many years it was held up north in San Francisco, but starting in 2012 is moved down to Southern California in the LA area. It’s first four years were spent taking over the Anaheim Convention Center, but this year, the con moved up to the Los Angeles Convention Center. Since its move down to SoCal, its major manga publish...

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A few weeks ago my Twitter TL is was filled with comments about a post that went up on Vice about Tokyopop. It is a very long puff piece that espouses the virtues of the old Tokyopop, blames its fall on the economy, and then puffs it back up with all the great things they will be doing. ...

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I’ve never denied it. I’m a crazy cat lady. I’ve grown up with cats and can barely remember a time when I didn’t have a little furball as a pet. So when tweets about the Japanese game Neko Atsume, or Cat Collecting, started appearing in my time line, I had to check it out. Calling it a game might give the wrong impression. It starts out with just a typical looking back yard, and using fish as currency, you can buy toys and...

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  Recently I was tagged by Ash Brown of the Experiments in Manga blog to join in the game of Manga Tag that been making the rounds of manga blogs and vlogs. I thought it would be fun to join in and share some pictures of the manga I have stacked all over the house....

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Tokyopop, the former manga publisher that ceased publication and closed its doors in 2011 has been slowly coming back to life. In the last few years it has begun showing signs it might want to return to the stage, starting with a newsletter soon after shutting down, publishing more Hetalia in conjunction with Rightstuf, and the bringing back their website and making the OEL titles they still held rights to available as eBooks. In June, the websit...

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I have really grown to like digital manga. Considering the lack of space I currently have, and the difficulty I have in letting things go, being able to stack digital files is a lot easier than physical books. And they’re a lot easier to carry. I can carry several different titles to suit what ever my mood is in just my tablet, and it’s a lot easier to eat and read on a tablet that can stand on its own and doesn’t need one of my...

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No matter what the culture, knowledge has been equated with power. For centuries, this knowledge has been stored as words in books. Whether it’s a list of names or a wizard’s tome, books have been regarded as being magical. It’s no different in manga. There are several titles that feature books and the power of words with the ability to create, transport its readers to other worlds, and even kill. Fushigi Yugi and it’s prequel...

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Weekly Top Ten – June 04, 2016
Top Ten / June 5, 2016

Every week, the New York Times and Amazon posts the top ten bestselling books. The New York Times gets their numbers from print sales from retailers, while Amazon calculates their own numbers. Once a month the Nielsen Bookscan posts their top twenty graphic novels of which manga is included. Offered here is a listing of these books with their status this week compared with the previous week, along with some commentary on the activity....

PR: Viz Media Gives Legend of Zelda A 2-In-1 Manga
Press Releases / May 30, 2016

In conjunction with the return of the Legend of Zelda comics in Japan, Viz Media is re-releasing the first ten volumes of the series as omnibus editions in time for the holidays this year. This seems like a good idea as it drops the series down to 5 volumes and gives it a bigger trim size, but with an MSRP of $17.99, this makes the series more expensive than the box set now available, even at full price. Most omnibus editions re-release...

Weekly Top Ten – May 28, 2016
Top Ten / May 29, 2016

Every week, the New York Times and Amazon posts the top ten bestselling books. The New York Times gets their numbers from print sales from retailers, while Amazon calculates their own numbers. Once a month the Nielsen Bookscan posts their top twenty graphic novels of which manga is included. Offered here is a listing of these books with their status this week compared with the previous week, along with some commentary on the activity....

This Week’s Manga: Yen Goes Vertical
This Week's Manga / May 25, 2016

Yen Press has the big release list this week. It’s going to be a real money suck with so many titles coming out that I read. Vertical debuts another series, and the ghost from the past publisher rears it head with their first print release in 7 years. Only time will tell if it will be ugly or not....

It’s About Time
Articles / May 24, 2016

Viz Media’s digital strategy and I have not gotten along very well. For the longest time after Viz released their Vizmanga app, I couldn’t install it because Google Play kept saying it wasn’t compatible with my Android tablet. I finally had to go through Amazon’s App Store and install it through there. I had something to say about that....

PR: Diamonds and Pearls for Viz Media
Press Releases / May 23, 2016

Here, let me date myself right now. I remember when Viz first started releasing manga as Viz Communications. I picked up their releases of Urusei Yatsura and Fire Tripper at my local comic book shop when they first came out. Their releases were nice too, with card stock covers that made them stand out from the floppies. Who would have thought then, that they would be one of the biggest manga publishers in the US today? Even though it is...

Weekly Top Ten – May 21, 2016
Top Ten / May 22, 2016

Every week, the New York Times and Amazon posts the top ten bestselling books. The New York Times gets their numbers from print sales from retailers, while Amazon calculates their own numbers. Once a month the Nielsen Bookscan posts their top twenty graphic novels of which manga is included. Offered here is a listing of these books with their status this week compared with the previous week, along with some commentary on the activity....

The Secret Sakura Shares
Reviews / May 20, 2016

When Aoi Narinomiya, the last daughter of a prestigious family, discovers that her grandfather has gone missing, leaving her to carry an astronomical debt, both she and her dog, Sakura, are inches away from finding themselves on the street. When her enigmatic classmate Kei Katsuragi shows up on her doorstep to repossess everything her family owned, Aoi makes a desperate plea for Kei to take in her beloved Sakura–maybe she could at...

This Week’s Manga: Moonlight, Monsters, and Beasts
This Week's Manga / May 18, 2016

Kodansha has the most releases this week, but several other publishers make an appearance, including three debut titles. We also see a new title from Digital Manga Publishing, a rare sight on the regular releases list, as it seems they are doing more publishing through kickstarter than traditionally. But they get funded more often than not, so something must be working for them. Digital only releases, which have also been really sparse ...

PR: Viz Media Digital Update for May 2016
Press Releases / May 16, 2016

The updates are sparse this month. Most have been covered in separate press releases, except for the debut of Boruto, the Naruto spin-off series that features Naruto’s son Boruto and the kids of his generation. I haven’t checked out the previous one shot featuring those characters, so I don’t know if it’s something to get excited about yet. Not sure what’s up with the Anniversary Sale, since the PR doesn...

Weekly Top Ten – May 14, 2016
Top Ten / May 15, 2016

Every week, the New York Times and Amazon posts the top ten bestselling books. The New York Times gets their numbers from print sales from retailers, while Amazon calculates their own numbers. Once a month the Nielsen Bookscan posts their top twenty graphic novels of which manga is included. Offered here is a listing of these books with their status this week compared with the previous week, along with some commentary on the activity....

This Week’s Manga: Guardians of Yesterday’s Eating
This Week's Manga / May 11, 2016

With Diamond shipping Viz Media titles early, last week was just a bust for new releases. Even digital titles were next to non-existent. This week is a slight improvement with Seven Seas Entertainment and Vertical Comics having the most releases. Kodansha and Viz make an appearance, along with occasional manga publisher NBM....