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 – February 13, 2016
Top Ten / February 14, 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 way-off analysis of the activ...

Year of the Monkey
Themed Manga / February 9, 2016

The Western New Year has come and gone with January, but with the coming of February means it’s time for the Eastern, or Lunar New Year. It also means a new zodiac animal rolls over, and this year is the Year of the Monkey. Here are some manga that feature monkeys or monkey-like characters....

PR: Viz Media Loves February with New Digital Manga Update
Press Releases / February 8, 2016

February is the month that’s all about the romance, so their digital bundles this time are almost all from the Shojo Beat imprint. Demon Love Spell, Jiu Jiu, and Kaze Hikaru all have great deals. If your love is for games, then pick up one of the Hikaru no Go bundles. If you prefer your heart spurting blood, check out the new Viz Select title Judas, a former Tokyopop title that is more horror than honey....

Weekly Top Ten – February 06, 2016
Top Ten / February 7, 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 way-off analysis of the activ...

This Week’s Manga: Holy New Releases!
This Week's Manga / February 3, 2016

It’s the first Wednesday of the month, so that means Viz Media rains down with all their shonen and shojo releases. Smartly, other publishers keep their releases to a minimum. It’s hard to go against the Viz Shonen juggernaut....

Game Over for Kodansha’s Devil Survivor
News / February 2, 2016

The March issue of Kodansh’s Shonen Sirius magazine out this month has announced that Devil Survivor, by Satoru Matsuba,will end in the April issue out at the end of February....

PR: Viz Goes “Behind the Scenes” with Bisco Hatori’s New Manga
Press Releases / February 1, 2016

 I must confess, I’ve only read Millennium Snow by Bisco Hatori. I never jumped on the Ouran High School Host Club bandwagon, though I considered it after reading Millennium Snow, and really loving the series. But 18 volumes is a lot to catch up on, so its lucky that she has this new series coming out that’ll be easier to keep up on than trying to play catch-up. Behind the Scenes interests me more since the characters are o...

Weekly Top Ten – January 30, 2016
Top Ten / January 31, 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 way-off analysis of the activ...

Girlgoyle
Reviews / January 30, 2016

Tiffany Noboru doesn’t think she needs the childish talismans her parents left around her room to protect her from the things that go bump in the night. She learns how wrong she is when she is attacked and wakes up in a strange room with wings. She died and is now a gargoyle with the duty to protect the living. With many questions and few answers, she must figure out why she died and how to get home while dealing with a mentor more in...

This Week’s Manga: Devil of a Good Yen
This Week's Manga / January 27, 2016

It’s a Yen Press Week with the bulk of the publisher’s print titles coming out. Trying to stay above this wave is Kodansha Comics and Vertical Comics with a few strong titles, while digital releases keep up their fairly steady pace....