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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Manga on eBay Round 7
Articles / February 15, 2010

The following titles are available for bid on eBay right now: Metro Survive v1-2 Complete Divine Melody v 1-3 Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Complete v1-7 Please check them out and bid if you’re interested....

Year of the Tiger
Themed Manga / February 15, 2010

This week begins the Chinese New Year.  This traditional Chinese holiday is based on a lunar calendar and is associated with an animal in the Chinese Zodiac.  This year’s animal is the Tiger.  So, I went looking for manga with tigers in them.  Surprisingly, I couldn’t find a lot.  I extended it to any of the big cats, and that make the list grow some, but it’s really surprising how few manga have tigers in them....

This Week in Manga 2/6-2/12/10
News / February 14, 2010

Moveable Manga Feast Moves Out In a massive collaboration, several blogs have gotten together to review the same book on the same week, as suggested by David Welsh of the Manga Curmudgeon blog.  It kicked off this week, with Sexy Voice and Robo, with new reviews going up every day.  You can find an introduction to the book and all the reviews posted here.  From the long list of reviews, this turned out to be a big success with such a...

Tech Friday: Like Falling Dominoes
Digital Manga / February 12, 2010

Just days after Amazon conceded to MacMillian’s demands for an agency model for e-book pricing (ie, variable pricing), Robert Murdoch’s Harper Collins started rattling it’s saber that it wanted the same deal.  By the end of the week Hachette had joined Harper Collins.  So like dominoes, the major publishers are falling in line to continue their old publishing strategy of initial high price (hardback), price drop 1 (t...

Black Jack Volume 6
Reviews / February 10, 2010

Revenge and redemption seems to be the theme of this sixth volume of Black Jack. Whether it’s a Mob Boss taking revenge on a prideful and corrupt doctor, or a father and son reconciling during a volcanic eruption, Tezuka explores these issues through Black Jack’s dealings with his patients. By Osamu Tezuka Publisher: Vertical Inc. Age Rating: Teen+ Genre: Medical Drama Price: $16.95 Rating: Buy This Book Revenge can come in ...

Manga on eBay: Reruns
Articles / February 8, 2010

I’ve put back up some manga that didn’t sell the first time.  Next time I’ll have new titles to go up.  But if you missed them the first time and were interested, here they are again. Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President v1-5 Princess Resurrection v1-3 Case Closed v1-5 Please check them out and happy bidding!...

Manga to Anime: 07-Ghost
Manga to Anime / February 8, 2010

Most of the time, when comparing a manga to an anime, the anime takes liberties that can make it less like its source, and often not as good.  07-Ghost is one of those rare exceptions.  The manga started in Japan in 2005 in the magazine Monthly Comic Zero Sum, the same magazine that publishes Saiyuki.  Eight volumes are available  The manga was licensed by Go Comi! here in the states, and there are 4 volumes published.  The anime r...

This Week in Manga 1/30-2/5/10
News / February 6, 2010

One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall Last Friday night, news started coming in over twitter that Amazon had pulled the buy buttons from all of publisher MacMillian’s books from their website.  The books could only be purchased there from 3rd party sellers, and this was for both print and digital books.  This included all of their imprints such as First Second books, Tor, and Seven Seas Entertainment.  The New York Times then broke t...

Tech Friday: Doing More
Digital Manga , Ebook Readers / February 5, 2010

Here in the US, we’re all excited about getting more devices to carry around to read books on.  In Japan, they’re taking existing devices that people are already carrying and adapting them to not just read books but to also enhance that reading experience.  They are letting the content take advantage of the platform instead of making devices to conform to the content....

Review: The Lizard Prince Volume 1
Reviews / February 3, 2010

The Lizard Prince Volume 1 By Asuka Izumi Publisher: CMX Age Rating: Everyone Genre: Romance/Fantasy/Comedy Price: $9.99 Rating: Canary is the princess of the kingdom of Linaria.  Her father, the king has promised her hand in marriage to Heath, the handsome prince of the kingdom of Gazania.  Canary isn’t crazy about this, because Heath has a bad reputation.  The Prince has his own reservations, and gets his brother Sienna to po...

20th Century Boys Volume 7
Reviews / February 1, 2010

Out in the middle of Tokyo Bay, a man called Shogun is trying to break out of Umihotaru Prison, a maximum-security island fortress, so he can save the world. Accompanied by a frightened young manga artist, these two men are prepared to risk everything as their daring escape plan grows deadlier by the minute. However, the prison authorities will do whatever it takes to return Shogun and his reluctant companion to custody. Shogun’s ...

This Week in Manga 1/23-1/29/10
News / January 31, 2010

But Is It Contagious? Love to love it, or love to hate it, the release of the Twilight manga is eminent. Manga fans have been expressing (mostly) their disdain for the series and a NIBY attitude about it.  Shaenon Garrity, a respected writer about manga points out that the themes in Twilight are nothing new.  In fact, the themes in Twilight are not only prevalent in shojo, a lot of it has been done before!  So quit whining about it.�...