As a reviewer, I get a lot of titles that are either in the middle of the series, or sometimes I get just the last volume. This came up over on twitter, and the with a comment that a series couldn’t be judged by reading some random volumes. This got me thinking. It’s an issue that reviewers would frequently have to deal with. You can choose not to read any titles that you don’t start from the beginning, or ta...
It was back in 2004 I think, when I first saw the solicitations from a new manga company in Previews. Seven Seas had 3-4 full size pages advertising it’s titles. I remember thinking how cool it was that an American company was making a go at creating original titles. At the time, only Tokyopop had any OEL. From those original titles, there weren’t a lot that caught my attention. Just one did actually. Captain Nem...
Ninja Baseball Kyuma Volume 1 By Shunshin Maeda Publisher: Udon Entertainment Age Rating: All Ages Genre: Sports Price: $7.99 Rating: Kyuma and his dog Inui live in the mountains, where Kyuma trains every day to become a great ninja. But when Kyuma mistakes a baseball coach for his training master, the local baseball team ends up with its first ninja player! Can a ninja step up to the plate and learn how to play ball? Find out in Ninja ...
I just read the first issue of Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers, and I have to say, I really liked it. I wasn’t sure what I was in store for when I first ordered it, but I can safely say, it was $3 well spent. Throg (Frog Thor) is really the character that really made this issue. He is the first “teammate” that Lockjaw goes to after he finds one of the Infinity Gems. Apparently Lockjaw has decided that animals are be...
I talk a lot about buying manga on this blog. Living on a budget means that I have to make every manga dollar count, and get the best deals I can to keep up on the series’ I enjoy. This is why I subscribe to Shonen Jump and Shojo Beat, watch for sales at Bookcloseouts.com, Deepdiscount.com, very occasionally search eBay, wait for 4-for-3 deals on Amazon.com, and trade. So it’s no surprise, that the bulk of my collectio...
A lot has been going on at Viz Media recently. First, back in April, Viz started running Rumiko Takahashi’s new manga, Rin-Ne, concurrent with it’s Japanese release online for American fans to read. A first for legal simultaneous manga releases. Next, Viz quietly announced that they would be releasing up-to-date One Piece chapters in Shonen Jump. Then they confirmed that they were discontinuing it’s manga magaz...
I know it’s a little late for Mother’s Day, but as long as it’s still May, I figure I can sneak this in. Last year, I wrote a post about the roles moms can play in manga. I picked out manga I had read and broke them down into categories; Mom affecting the characters, Mom as support, Mom’s absence affecting the character, Mom’s absence affecting the story. I’ve read and/or more titles have come o...
Fairy Idol Kanon Volume 1 By Mera Hakamada Publisher: Udon Entertainment Age Rating: All Ages Genre: Magical Girl/Fantasy Price: $7.99 Rating: Can a regular girl become a superstar celebrity? Kanon is an ordinary fourth grader who loves to sing more than anything else. When a magical fairy princess named Alto meets Kanon and decides to help start her singing career, their journey to fame takes off! Friendship and magic combine in this c...
There’s been a lot of talk in the media lately about Twitter, especially with Ashton Kutcher reaching 1 million followers and Oprah joining and getting 220,000 in one day. And, while it might be nice to follow celebrities like them, it might get real boring real fast. I know when a technology has reached a saturation point when my Mother asks me about something. She’s not very techie (she’s just started using a c...
The rumors started yesterday, but David Welsh of Comics Reporter confirmed it today with Viz’s Evelyn Dubocq via Twitter that the rumors were true. Shojo Beat is being cancelled. The manga magazine that started in 2005, about 2 years after it’s older brother Shonen Jump, took over from another Viz publication, Animerica. I know this very well, since I had just subscribed to Animerica after taking a hard look at the ani...
When I last looked at the Amazon Blogs, just after the Kindle 2.0 came out, there were no blogs available. Whispernet is rather pointless if there aren’t any books or blogs to get through it. But that is starting to change finally. A tweet from Erica Friedman about her Yuri blog Okazu being published on the Kindle made me take a look to see if there were any others. I was pleasantly surprised to see there were a few others...
Nikkita asks: I am Nikkita Bechdel and a senior at Bald Eagle Area high School in Central Pennsylvania. For the final in my Advanced Placement English class, I must write a research paper on any topic relating to literature. I chose to prove the literacy value of manga. I am having difficulties finding sources on sections such as why Japan considers it literature. If you could please help me, it would mean a lot to me. Wow, this is a to...