With the manga market getting tighter, we as readers will start to see some of our favorite titles get longer times between volume releases, if at all. Slow seller are always the first to go. Despite the cries of protest from it’s small but loyal fan base, companies need to stay in the black, or else we’ll have no manga to buy at all. But, we’re not helpless in this situation. Fans can show companies what titles ...
When times get tough, and bank accounts become lean, that’s when you have to start slashing the non-essentials from the budget. As much as I hate to say it, manga is one of those non-essentials. With not much hope for recovery in the next six months, or if the state will be solvent (I live in California), that’s meant I’ve had to cut down on the manga I pre-order. In happier, healthier times, my average order is ...
Zombie Powder Volume 4 By: Tite Kubo Publisher: Viz Media/Shonen Jump Manga Genre: Action Ratng: T+ (Older Teen) Price: $7.99 ISBN: 1-4215-1122-3 Rating: Wolfina fights a solo battle for her brother’s life as Emilio, his body fused to a locomotive racing across the desert, faces a fate worse than death. Luckily, Gamma and C.T. Smith manage to stop the train just before it plows into Alcantara and we get a happy ending and an obv...
Dragonball: Evolution Junior Novel Adapted by Stacia Deutsch & Rhody Cohon Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating: All Ages (9-12) Genre: Action Price: $5.99 Rating: Goku thought he was a normal high school student until he found out he’s actually a martial-arts whiz with all kinds of powers. Now he and his fellow teen warriors are on a quest to find all the Dragon Balls before they fall into the wrong hands. But they may already...
For Mother’s Day, I wrote a post (and updated it) about Moms in manga and how they can affect the main characters or the story. Now, with Father’s Day fast approaching, it’s Dad’s turn. I’ll look at Manga Dad in the same context, whether they appearance/absence affect the characters and/or the story. But Dad is going to get an added level, as they seem to break down into 3 categories: Driven, Overzeal...
The sudden loss of Shojo Beat has left a real void in my manga reading. Even if I didn’t get to read it as soon as it arrived, I knew it was there, and had it to look forward to. Why Shojo Beat was canceled is still a bit of a mystery, since, for me at least, it did exactly what it was meant to do. Get me to read more Viz titles. While I didn’t love all the titles in Shojo Beat, I enjoyed most of them, and through pr...
There’s been a lot of talk lately about the new paper Tokyopop is using for their manga. Most of it has been bad. I had a few recent printings of some of their manga and decided to check it out for myself. I pulled out Pet Shop of Horrors: Tokyo volume 4, NG Life volume 1 and Animal Academy volume 1. I then pulled out Pet Shop of Horrors: Tokyo volume 3, which was printed on the old paper for comparison. After getting su...
This title has not been solicited in Previews! I’ve been watching! Waiting!! It’s the last volume!!! Aw, come on Tokyopop! You got my hopes up by putting up this late last year, and now…what? Will it come out, or won’t it? Why do you enjoy torturing me like this?! I don’t care what kind of paper it’s printed on. I don’t care if it’s only available to read online. Just tel...
What would it take to get you to buy a Kindle? Amazon’s ebook reader seems to be selling okay (not that we’ve seen any numbers), but there are a lot of people who haven’t taken to it, or any other e-book reader device. And why should they? Books work just fine, and buying them is cheaper than the electronic gadget. Amazon boasts to have thousands of ebooks, but very, very few that would interest readers of this...
Zombie Powder Volume 3 By: Tite Kubo Publisher: Viz Media/Shonen Jump Manga Genre: Action Rating: T+ (Older Teen) Price: $7.99 ISBN: 1-4215-1121-5 Rating: We open with Gamma Akutabi, Elwood, C.T. Smith and Wolfina Lalla Getto hot on the heels of circus-master Balmunk who has kidnapped Wolfina’s comatose brother Emilio, hoping to recover the mysterious Ring of the Dead which has been fused inside of his body. As they face off again...
Manga based on video games has practically become a genre, with both import and OEL titles, and Tokyopop has been at the head of the pack with releasing and creating new titles. All of the manga included in this post are titles that were video games initially, and were then adapted into manga. Let’s start out with the .hack series. These had been publishing fairly regularly, matching pace with the anime releases. These title...
Project X Challengers: Seven Eleven Writer: Tadashi ikuta Artist: Naomi Kimura Publisher: DMP Age Rating: All Ages Genre: Business Price: $12.95 Rating: In a time when giant department stores and supermarkets dominated the Japanese retail industry, two businessmen, Toshifumi Suzuki and Hideo Shimizu, discovered a new type of small retail store flourishing in America – the Seven Eleven. Called a “convenience store,” i...