Why is Ed Chavez smiling? Probably because Vertical books were selling like gangbusters at this past weekend’s MoCCA Fest. Ed is the marketing director at Vertical, Inc., home of Chi’s Sweet Home, Twin Spica, and all those Tezuka manga, and he looked like he was having a big day. He wasn’t the only manga peddler there; Stephen Robson of Fanfare/Ponent Mon, the company that publishes those beautiful Jiro Taniguchi manga, hopped over as well, and Drawn & Quarterly had a nice selection of paperback Yoshihiro Tatsumi books as well as their newest Shigeru Mizuki title, NonNonBa.

TCAF is coming up this weekend, and Deb Aoki has rounds up everything you won’t want to miss.

The new books just keep on coming: Digital Manga announced that it has licensed three new BL manga, Kairi Shimotsuki’s A Century of Temptation (Izanai Hyakunen no Koi), Ayan Sakuragi’s Deflowering the Boss (Uchi no Shachō wa Cherry Desu), and Naomi Guren’s The Incredible Kintaro (Masaka no Kintarō), for print release. Lissa Pattillo spots Amazon listings for 21st Century Boys, Naoki Urasawa’s sequel to 20th Century Boys, as well as for a boxed set of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

The Manga Bookshelf team debates their Pick of the Week.

Kate Dacey wraps up this month’s Manga Moveable Feast with a final wrap-up of posts about the Viz Signature imprint.

Erica Freidman has all the yuri news from Japan and North America in her latest Yuri Network News roundup.

Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith change their column to GL Bookrack and check out some yuri titles at Manga Bookshelf.

Khursten puts the spotlight on CLAMP and their work at Otaku Champloo.

Tony Yao asks: What are your favorite epic plot twists in manga?

Blogging about Prevention of Cruelty to Animals month, Lori Henderson rounds up some manga where cats meet unfortunate ends.

Job Board: Looking for a job in manga? Viz has some openings.

News from Japan: Three Steps Over Japan takes a look at a newish cousin of Shonen Jump, Jump X. Seiki Tsuchida, the creator of Under the Same Moon, has died at the age of 43. The outspoken manga-ka Shuho Sato has abruptly ended his contract with Kodansha for Say Hello to Black Jack and is insisting the publisher destroy any unsold copies of the manga; his new series, New Say Hello to Black Jack, is being published by Shogakukan.

Reviews: Ash Brown sums up a week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 2 of Cardcaptor Sakura (omnibus edition) (Blogcritics)
Adam Stephanides on vol. 1 of Doll (Completely Futile)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 12 of GTO: The Early Years (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Erica Friedman on Hana to Hoshi/Flower and Star (Okazu)
Leroy Douresseaux on Naruto: The Official Character Book (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 34 of Negima (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 9 of Ranma 1/2 (Blogcritics)
Kristi on vols. 4 and 5 of Rosario + Vampire, Season 2 (Comic Attack)
Anna on Tesoro (Manga Report)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 4 of Twin Spica (Blogcritics)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1-10 of The Wallflower (Manga Xanadu)

The manga scene has been busy lately, and over at MTV Geek I posted about Viz’s new shoujo licenses and Kodansha’s announcements as well as this week’s new manga releases. What’s more, Animate USA has added three new titles to its lineup for the Kindle, including NightS, a one-shot by Kou Yoneda; vol. 9 of Kiss Ariki, by Youka Nitta; and a special Finder episode, “Viewfinder: Hard-Working Cameraman Akihito Takaba’s Romantic Life as an Indentured Servant.”

Lissa Pattillo gives her take on the latest batch of manga in her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA, and at Kuriousity she has some notes on another new license, One Peace Books’ edition of Crayon Shin-chan.

Sean Gaffney looks ahead to the manga that will be coming out next week.

Kate Dacey continues the Manga Moveable Feast at The Manga Critic, with roundups of links from days three, four, and five, all discussing Viz’s Signature manga, and she rounds it out with her own post on seven essential Signature manga. And at Slightly Biased Manga, Connie’s latest license request is a yuri romance that runs in Ikki, Gunjo.

Hunter x Hunter gets the Jason Thompson treatment in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

Daniella Orihuela-Gruber thinks Viz should pep up its Signature line by marketing more aggressively to comics shops, which seems about right—Dark Horse has had a lot of success with this tactic.

News from Japan: Deb Aoki notes that Moto Hagio has been awarded the Japan Medal of Honor; she is the first female manga-ka to be so recognized. Tomo Kimura shows off some of Koge-Donbo’s omake about how she met her husband. GTO creator Tohru Fujisawa has a food manga in the works. Paging Ed Chavez! Ghost Talker’s Daydream creator Saki Okuse is launching a new series in the next issue of Comic Gum, and Xenon manga-ka Masaomi Kanazaki also has a new series, this one in Akita Shoten’s Play Comic.

Reviews

Kristin on vol. 20 of 20th Century Boys (Comic Attack)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Bokurano: Ours and vol. 5 of Biomega (Manga Xanadu)
Connie on Boyfriend Next Door (Slightly Biased Manga)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 3 of A Bride’s Story (ANN)
Ash Brown on vol. 1 of Dorohedoro (Experiments in Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 23 of Excel Saga (The Comic Book Bin)
Kristin on vol. 6 of House of Five Leaves (Comic Attack)
Kate Dacey on I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow (The Manga Critic)
Connie on vol. 9 of InuYasha (VizBig edition) (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 5 of Itsuwaribito (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 12 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of Our Everlasting (Slightly Biased Manga)
TSOTE on vol. 25 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (Three Steps Over Japan)
Connie on vol. 27 of Skip Beat! (Slightly Biased Manga)

Kodansha made news this week with their announcement of three new licenses: Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, Ema Toyama’s Missions of Love (Watashi ni xx Shinasai!), and Natsume Ono’s Danza. Natsume Ono!

Meanwhile, in her Yuri Network News column, Erica Friedman lets slip that ALC Publishing is finishing work on Kimi no Tame nara Shineru, a yuri 4-koma comic that breaks new ground—it’s actually funny.

The Manga Bookshelf bloggers debate their Pick of the Week. Also at Manga Bookshelf: Melinda Beasi, Sean Gaffney, and Michelle Smith look over some paper-free manga in their latest Going Digital column and Erica Friedman takes a look at the manga magazine IKKI.

In the same vein, Three Steps Over Japan takes a look at Comic Beam.

Kate Dacey is hosting this month’s Manga Moveable Feast, which features Viz Signature manga, at The Manga Critic, and she already has an introduction link roundups for day one and day two.

Issue 10 of the online manga magazine GEN is up!

Melinda Beasi brings back her Manhwa Monday feature, because suddenly there’s news!

Matt Blind lists the manga best-sellers from early March as well as a new Manga Radar post.

Khursten Santos takes a look at the Filipino-language manga scene at Otaku Champloo.

Lissa Pattillo opens up the Swag Bag after a bit of a hiatus and chats about her recent purchases.

News from Japan: Shonen Jump will publish a “chapter 0″ of Rurouni Kenshin, and there’s going to be a Kenshin smartphone app as well. Manga-ka Leiji Matsumoto and Tetsuya Chiba have joined a study group formed by the Democratic Party of Japan to promote the popularity of manga overseas. Girls High has moved from Comic Sumomo to Comic High! One-shots are in the works from Bokurano creator Mohiro Kitoh and Samurai Gun manga-ka Kazuhiro Kumagai.

Reviews: Carlo Santos rounds up his take on some recent releases in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Ash Brown has the weekly report at Manga Worth Reading. The Manga Bookshelf team starts the week with a new round of Bookshelf Briefs.

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 20 of 20th Century Boys (The Comic Book Bin)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vols. 1 and 2 of A Devil and Her Love Song (Comics Worth Reading)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Dorohedoro (Manga Xanadu)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 6 of Dorohedoro (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Durarara!! (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Ken Haley on vols. 5 and 6 of Erementar Gerad (Sequential Ink)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 18 of Higurashi: When They Cry (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kate Dacey on Love Song (The Manga Critic)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 2 of One Piece (Blogcritics)
Erica Friedman on Pie wo Agemassho, Anata ni Pie wo ne (Okazu)
Jason Wilkins on Rohan at the Louvre (Broken Frontier)
Philip Anthony on vol. 3 of Sailor Moon (Manga Bookshelf)
L.C. Moran on vols. 1-3.5 of I Married an Anti-Fan (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Connie on vol. 8 of Toriko (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 3 of Twin Spica (Blogcritics)
Connie on Working Kentauros (Slightly Biased Manga)

Kate Dacey has some good news: JManga has rescued some former Tokyopop titles, including Your and My Secret and Tactics (both originally licensed by ADV), Animal Academy: Hakabune Hakusho, The Good Witch of the West, and Monochrome Factor.

And Deb Aoki has some background on Viz’s new shoujo titles, Strobe Edge and Demon Love Spell.

At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie continues her look at the Eroicaverse with a discussion of the character known as Z.

Justin reports on the industry panels at Anime Boston at Organization Anti-Social Geniuses.

Tom Good files his con report on Sakura-Con at the Journal of the Lincoln Heights Literary Society.

News from Japan: The winners of the Osamu Tezuka Awards have been announced; the grand prize went to Hitoshi Iwaaki’s Historie, and the judges awarded a special prize to a single copy of Shonen Jump that was shared by over 100 children after the March 11 earthquake. After Silver Spoon, by Fullmetal Alchemist creator Hiromu Arakawa, won the Manga Taisho award, the publisher went back to press and printed an additional 1 million copies.

Reviews:

Ash Brown on vol. 8 of Blade of the Immortal (Experiments in Manga)
Connie on vol. 37 of Bleach (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of Blood Blockade Battlefront (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 3 of Claymore (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kristin on vol. 7 of Cross Game (Comic Attack)
Kristin on vol. 3 of Dawn of the Arcana (Comic Attack)
Lesley Aeschliman on FLCL Omnibus (Blogcritics)
Connie on Golgo 13: Hopper the Border (Slightly Biased Manga)
Shannon Fay on vol. 3 of Higurashi When They Cry: Atonement Arc (Kuriousity)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 17 of Higurashi When They Cry (ANN)
Jocelyne Allen on Hyouge Mono (Brain Vs. Book)
Michelle Smith on vols. 5 and 6 of Kamisama Kiss, vols. 5 and 6 of Oresama Teacher, and vols. 25 and 26 of Skip Beat! (Soliloquy in Blue)
Justin on vol. 3 of No Longer Human (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
J. Caleb Mozzocco on vol. 1 of Princess Knight (Every Day Is Like Wednesday)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 7 of Ranma 1/2 (Blogcritics)
Sweetpea616 on vols. 1-3 of Sailor Moon (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
TSOTE on vol. 24 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (Three Steps Over Japan)
Connie on vol. 17 of Slam Dunk (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kristin on vol. 9 of Tegami Bachi (Comic Attack)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 6 of Tenjho Tenge (omnibus edition) (The Comic Book Bin)
Lesley Aeschilman on vol. 2 of Twin Spica (Blogcritics)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Voltron Force: Shelter from the Storm (The Comic Book Bin)
Anna on Working Kentauros (Manga Report)
Connie on vol. 5 of Ze (Slightly Biased Manga)

Johanna Draper Carlson takes a look at the Yen Press manga that are due out this week. Lissa Pattillo checks out all this week’s new releases in her latest On the Shelf column for Otaku USA. The Manga Bookshelf bloggers make their picks from this week’s shipment to Midtown Comics, and Sean Gaffney skips right ahead to next week and looks at the new manga releases for April 25.

At The Manga Critic, Kate Dacey highlights some new additions to Viz’s digital lineup.

Daniella Orihuela-Gruber writes about the perfect manga editing scenario and the extremely imperfect scenarios that are becoming more and more the norm.

April is Prevention of Cruelty to Animals month, and Lori Henderson takes the opportunity to highlight manga that deal with the mistreatment of animals.

News from Japan: Bakuman will come to an end in next week’s issue of Shonen Jump, and the 20th volume will be out in July. Creators Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata told their readers to look forward to their next work, which suggests that there will be a next work to look forward to. Natsume Ono has drawn a short promotional manga for an online site. Stepping on Roses manga-ka Rinko Ueda is drawing a two-part story for the manga anthology You. Kazume Kawahara (High School Debut) is the writer for the new series Ore Monogatari!! for Bessatsu Margaret. The last volume of the D.C. II ~Da Capo II~ spinoff manga A.C.D.C. II will be published this week.

Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf team files the latest set of Bookshelf Briefs. Kristin posts some short takes on recent Digital Manga Guild releases at Comic Attack. Ash Brown looks back at another week of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Connie on vol. 18 of 20th Century Boys (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 4 of Ai Ore! (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1-10 of Antique Gift Shop (Manga Xanadu)
Connie on The Apartments of Calle Feliz (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kate Dacey on The Apartments of Calle Feliz (The Manga Critic)
Anna on vols. 11 and 12 of Basara (Manga Report)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 5 of Bunny Drop (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 5 of Bunny Drop (ANN)
Connie on vol. 4 of Cross Game (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 6 of Cross Game (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 7 of Cross Game (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 6 of Dorohedoro (The Comic Book Bin)
Ken Haley on vols. 3 and 4 of Erementar Gerade (Sequential Ink)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 23 of Excel Saga (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 5 of House of Five Leaves (Slightly Biased Manga)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Is This a Zombie? (ANN)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 5 of Itsuwaribito (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on vol. 6 of Maoh: Juvenile Remix (Slightly Biased Manga)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 4 of Negima (omnibus edition) (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Connie on Open the Door to Your Heart (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on vol. 9 of Sasamekikoto (Okazu)

It’s been busy around here lately: PWCW just published my interview with Makoto Tateno as well as my article about being an Eisner judge—in case you haven’t figured it out, that’s what I was doing when I disappeared a few weeks ago. This week I’m out in Chicago for C2E2, which is why posting has been spotty of late. Next week we’ll be back to normal.

After a weekend of new license announcements, we have another one this week: The small publisher One Peace books has picked up Crayon Shin-Chan, which makes the third time this series has been licensed (first by Comics One, then by CMX). One Peace will also release some manga adaptations of classic works of literature (Don Quixote, Ulysses, Moby-Dick) that were originally published by Variety Art Works.

ANN rounds up the latest additions to JManga’s digital lineup, including new manga by set em and Takao Saito.

Sean Gaffney takes a look ahead to next week’s new manga releases.

AstroNerdBoy looks at the drop in manga sales and blames it more on the economy, high prices, and a dearth of legitimate digital alternatives than on piracy.

Kodansha has announced the winners of its Morning International Manga Competition. The grand prize winner is Demi-Human Symbiosis, by Taiwan’s Ya Shen, and the second prize went to Over the Rainbow, by Brazilian artist Maguinha.

Vol. 4 of Sailor Moon and vol. 55 of Naruto placed second and third on BookScan’s list of the top 20 graphic novels sold in bookstores.

Sara K. presents another look at the Condor Trilogy manhua at Manga Bookshelf.

News from Japan: Black Jack Sōsakuhiwa, manga biography of Osamu Tezuka, focusing on the creation of Black Jack, will debut in the June 12 issue of Bessatsu Shonen Champion.

Reviews: Carlo Santos delivers the verdict on a handful of recent titles in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Ash Brown recount’s a week’s worth of reading at Experiments in Manga. Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith find plenty to squee about in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf.

Connie on 100 Blossoms to Love (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 20 of 20th Century Boys (Comics Worth Reading)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 3 of A Bride’s Story (Comics Worth Reading)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of A Devil and Her Love Song (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 23 of Excel Saga (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 23 of Excel Saga (The Fandom Post)
Rob McMonigal on issue 2 of Gen (Panel Patter)
Lori Henderson on vols. 9 and 10 of Honey and Clover (Manga Xanadu)
Zack Davisson on Ichiro (Japan Reviewed)
Kristin on vol. 8 of Kamisama Kiss and vol. 7 of Oresama Teacher (Comic Attack)
Annaon vols. 12 and 13 of Kimi ni Todoke (Manga Report)
Erica Friedman on vol. 7 of Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari (Okazu)
Ash Brown on Rohan at the Louvre (Experiments in Manga)
Connie on vol. 3 of Saturn Apartments (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 7 of Tegami Bachi (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kristin on vol. 8 of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (Comic Attack)