MangaBlog

This edition of MangaBlog is comes to you from 36,000 feet above Wyoming—I’m on my way to San Francisco for a few days, so I took advantage of the in-flight WiFi. Please enjoy a complimentary beverage while you read today’s manga news.

Deb Aoki is blogging up a storm at About.com, where she is discussing the difficulties that face non-Japanese manga creators. In parts 2 and 3 of her series, she considers whether OEL manga is really manga and whether art school prepares would-be creators for the practical aspects of making a living in the biz.

Lissa Pattillo shows off her swag bag from TCAF at Kuriousity.

The Manga Bookshelf bloggers (myself included) discuss our picks of the week.

At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie looks at the theme of thieves in manga.

Lori Henderson celebrates National Pet Month with a look at manga that feature pets.

Monthly Shonen Sirius

Three Steps Over Japan takes a peek between the covers of Monthly Shonen Sirius.

Justin and Kuuki discuss how they got into manga at Organization Anti-Social Geniuses.

At Manga Therapy, Tony Yao puts out the call for anime and manga fans to answer a survey for a fellow fan who is doing her masters’ thesis on online anime and manga fandom.

Naoki Urasawa will be the featured creator at the French anime and manga fest Japan Expo 2012, and he will be doing a concert as well, backed by the J-rock group Hemenway.

You don’t see too many manga Kickstarters, but here’s one: Bento Books wants to bring the Math Girls manga to English-speaking audiences, and the author is working with them, too. (Via Nigorimasen.)

News from Japan: Basilisk manga-ka Masaki Segawa will launch his own remake of Go Nagai’s Cutie Honey, to be titled Honey VS, in Grand Jump. ANN has the latest Japanese Comics Rankings.

Reviews: Ash Brown has another week of manga reading for us at Experiments in Manga. Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss some recent releases in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf.

Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 3 of Cardcaptor Sakura (omnibus edition) (Blogcritics)
Sweetpea616 on Codename Sailor V (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Sean Gaffney on FLCL (omnibus edition) (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Justin on FLCL (omnibus edition) (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of The Flowers of Evil (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Anna on vol. 2 of Hana-Kimi (omnibus edition) (Manga Report)
Kate Dacey on Honey Darling (The Manga Critic)
Erica Friedman on Kurai Mori, Shiroi Michi (Okazu)
Robert A. Howard on Megatokyo (Tangents Reviews)
Kate Dacey on Rohan at the Louvre (The Manga Critic)
Kristin on vols. 6 and 8 of Rosario + Vampire: Season II (Comic Attack)
Philip Anthony on vol. 4 of Sailor Moon (Manga Bookshelf)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 5 of Sailor Moon (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Murasaki Lynna on Someday’s Dreamers (Beneath the Tangles)
TSOTE on vol. 27 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (Three Steps Over Japan)
Kristin on vol. 22 of Slam Dunk (Comic Attack)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 5 of Twin Spica (Blogcritics)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 14 of We Were There (The Comic Book Bin)

Last week saw some interesting new manga releases, with vol. 5 of Sailor Moon and two intriguing new manga, Shigeru Mizuki’s NonNonBa and the first volume of Flowers of Evil. I took a look at the list at MTV Geek, and Lissa Pattillo does likewise in her latest On the Shelf column at Otaku USA.

Deb Aoki talks to Shonen Jump editor-in-chief Andy Nakatani about the reboot of Rurouni Kenshin, which will appear in Shonen Jump Alpha.

Deb is also kicking off a series of posts about the homegrown manga scene in North America and why it is so hard for creators to make a living. She starts off with an overview of the problem.

The Digital Manga blog has a brief interview with manga-ka Rizu Natsumizu, creator of Good Morning.

Jason Thompson discusses Dragon Head in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

At Manga Therapy, Tony Yao puts Dragonball Z‘s Son Gohan on the couch.

Adam Stephanides has just noticed something interesting about Kinecomica.

News from Japan: The winners of the 36th Kodansha Manga Awards have been announced; the only one that is licensed in the U.S. is Ema Toyama’s Watashi ni xx Shinasai! (Missions of Love), which will be published by Kodansha later this year. Kuragehime (Princess Jellyfish) and Omo ni Naitemasu will go on hold while manga-ka Akiko Higashimura recovers from a finger injury. The good news is that she is on the mend and will be back to work soon.

Reviews

Connie on vol. 20 of 20th Century Boys (Slightly Biased Manga)
Justin on vol. 2 of Anesthesiologist Hana (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Connie on vol. 10 of Bakuman (Slightly Biased Manga)
Drew McCabe on the end of Bakuman (Comic Attack)
John Rose on vol. 8 of Black Butler (The Fandom Post)
Serdar Yegulalp on vol. 1 of The Flowers of Evil (Genji Press)
Ash Brown on vol. 1 of Fullmetal Alchemist (omnibus edition) (Experiments in Manga)
Jocelyne Allen on Kaze no Ki to Uta (Song of the Wind and the Trees) (Brain Vs. Book)
Patricia Beard on King’s Moon: The Life of Akechi Mitsuhide (The Fandom Post)
Kimi-chan on Love Is Also for the Imperfect (The Kimi-chan Experience)
Connie on A Lovely Day with Yuri-Sensei (Slightly Biased Manga)
John Rose on vol. 3 of Negima (The Fandom Post)
Connie on vol. 2 of Our Everlasting (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lori Henderson on vols. 6-10 of Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning (Manga Xanadu)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 9 of Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on vol. 14 of We Were There (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vols. 1 and 2 of Young Miss Holmes Casebook (Comics Worth Reading)

Sean Gaffney looks ahead to next week’s new manga releases.

Khursten Santos is putting out the call for the next Manga Moveable Feast, which will feature Oishinbo.

News from Japan: Mardock Scramble is coming to an end.

Reviews: Carlo Santos runs through a big stack of recent releases in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN.

Connie on vol. 19 of 20th Century Boys (Slightly Biased Manga)
Matt Brady on vol. 2 of A Bride’s Story (Warren Peace Sings the Blues)
Ken Haley on vol. 7 of Erementar Gerade (Sequential Ink)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of The Flowers of Evil (The Manga Critic)
Erica Friedman on Girls Jump 2012 (Okazu)
Connie on La Vie en Rose (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 3 of Sailor Moon (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Sgt. Frog (Blogcritics)
Kristin on vol. 5 of Tenjho Tenge (full contact edition) (Comic Attack)
Connie on vol. 1 of Yebisu Celebrities (Slightly Biased Manga)

Viz is staying current with developments in Japan in their Shonen Jump Alpha digital magazine; this week’s issue includes the final chapter of Bakuman, and in two weeks they will start carrying the new Rurouni Kenshin series, Rurouni Kenshin Reboot.

Erin and Noah talk to Felipe Smith, the creator of Peepo Choo, about his life as an American manga-ka in Japan in the latest Ninjaconsultant podcast.

The Manga Bookshelf bloggers discuss their picks of the week.

Lissa Pattillo takes a look at Digital’s latest batch of new licenses.

Richard Bruton posts a preview of vol. 3 of Summit of the Gods, illustrated by Jiro Taniguchi, at the Forbidden Planet blog.

Khursten Santos has a quick look at some of Mitsuru Adachi’s art for his new series, Mix.

Three Steps Over Japan peeks inside the covers of Jump SQ.

Happy blogiversary to Kate Dacey, The Manga Critic, who is celebrating her third anniversary by giving away some omnibuses.

News from Japan: Saturn Apartments manga-ka Hirae Iraoka is working on a new series, Narihirabashi Denki Shoten (Narihirabashi Electric Appliance Store), which will run in Kodansha’s Evening magazine. The relaunch of K-ON! will come to an end in June, and Claymore will reach its last chapter in the June issue of Jump Square.

Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf team starts the week with a new set of Bookshelf Briefs. Ash Brown queues up a week’s worth of brief manga reviews at Experiments in Manga.

David Gromer on vol. 2 of Cage of Eden (Graphic Novel Resources)
Khursten Santos on vol. 1 of Flowers of Evil (Otaku Champloo)
Kristin on vol. 13 of Black Bird and vol. 14 of Kimi ni Todoke (Comic Attack)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Skip Beat! (omnibus edition) (ANN)
Anna on vol. 7 of The Story of Saiunkoku (Manga Report)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 7 of The Story of Saiunkoku (The Comic Book Bin)
Lori Henderson on vols. 11-15 of The Wallflower (Manga Xanadu)

I took a look at this past week’s new manga releases at MTV Geek.

Jason Thompson pens an appreciation of Shigeru Mizuki, the creator of NonNonBa, for his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

RightStuf’s rescue of the first three volumes of Hetalia has Kate Dacey asking her readers: How much would you pay for out-of-print manga? The readers respond with plenty of opinions.

Erica Friedman has all the latest from the world of yuri in this week’s edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu.

Vol. 8 of Rosario + Vampire: Season II was the top-selling manga in U.S. bookstores in April, taking the fifth slot overall (after four volumes of The Walking Dead).

Manga-ka Kia Asamiya will be a guest at this year’s Fanime.

Reviews: Ash Brown posts some brief reviews of manga from the library at Experiments in Manga.

Justin on vol. 2 of GTO: 14 Days in Shonan (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Sweetpea616 on High School Debut (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
David Gromer on vol. 2 of No Longer Human (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Connie on Nostalgia (artbook) (Slightly Biased Manga)
David Gromer on vol. 6 of Omamori Himari (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 4 of Psyren (The Comic Book Bin)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 10 of Ranma 1/2 (Blogcritics)
David Gromer on vol. 11 of Sumomomo Momomo (Graphic Novel Reporter)

The latest Tokyopop license rescue is by… Tokyopop. Well, sort of: The online retailer RightStuf announced yesterday that it will be co-publishing the first three volumes of Hetalia: Axis Powers with Tokyopop, mostly as print-on-demand. The first two volumes, which were released in English but are now hard to find, are available now for $15.99 each; RightStuf is currently taking orders for volume 3, and the pre-ordered volumes will include all color pages. The next run will be all black and white. I have the details at MTV Geek, and I talked to Alison Roberts of RightStuf about the thinking that went into this deal—and where things might go from here. And RightStuf has put up a video as well!

Lissa Pattillo checks this week’s new-release list in her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA. Sean Gaffney looks farther ahead with his list of the best of next week’s manga. And Kristin checks out the manga highlights in this month’s Previews at Comic Attack.

Lissa also has a handy list of manga events at this weekend’s Toronto Comic Arts Festival, which will feature Chi’s Sweet Home creator Konami Kanata.

Why are manga titles so long? Kotaku talks to the author of That’s Why I Can’t Have Ecchi to find out.

I mentioned MTV Geek’s Battle Arena Otaku Fight! Fight! a little while ago; well, now they are down to the final four: Luffy D. Monkey vs. Rick Hunter and Ultraman vs. Voltron. Go check it out, join the fun, and cast your votes!

The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs is now accepting entries for the Sixth International Manga Awards.

Reviews

John Rose on vol. 10 of 13th Boy (The Fandom Post)
Connie on vol. 9 of Arata the Legend (Slightly Biased Manga)
John Rose on vol. 6 of Black Butler (The Fandom Post)
Kate Dacey on vols. 1 and 2 of Durarara!! and vol. 1 of Kamen (The Manga Critic)
Sean Gaffney on Fallen Words (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on Golgo 13: Into the Wolves’ Lair (Slightly Biased Manga)
Matt Brady on vol. 2 of King of RPGs (Warren Peace Sings the Blues)
Connie on vol. 13 of Kimi ni Todoke (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 9 of Pandora Hearts (The Fandom Post)
Matt Brady on Rohan at the Louvre (Warren Peace Sings the Blues)
TSOTE on vol. 26 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (Three Steps Over Japan)
Kristin on vol. 9 of Toriko (Comic Attack)
Michael Buntag on Velveteen and Mandala (NonSensical Words)
Connie on Yuri Sensei Is in a Good Mood Today As Well (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 6 of Ze (Slightly Biased Manga)