Category Archives: features

Manga the Week of 9/7

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It’s the first week of the month, and you know what that means. Far, far too much manga. What’s worse, Diamond is finally catching up with Kodansha. (Midtown, not so much). I mentioned most of the titles coming in last week (Bloody Monday, Cage of Eden, Phoenix Wright), but one I did not is the re-release of Gon, the adorable (and fearsome) baby dinosaur manga that is actually getting its third re-release. Kodansha is apparently trying to pitch it for a movie, and I think it could be a big hit with the right company. Naturally, being about the antics of a baby dino, it ran in Kodansha’s magazine for adult salarymen, Weekly Morning.

There is also Dark Horse, which is now releasing the 39th volume of Oh My Goddess. I should note that Dark Horse is worried about how old fans will think the manga is given the high volume number, and so ongoing volumes will also remain Volume 39, in tribute to Jack Benny.

The rest is aaaaaaaaall Viz. From Weekly Shonen Jump: Bleach 36, Death Note omnibus 5, Naruto 7-8-9 omnibus, regular Naruto 52, One Piece 58, and Toriko 6. There’s also Ultimo from Jump Square. All featuring Friendship, Perseverance, and Victory. There’s also Kekkaishi 7-8-9 omnibus as well, which is from Shonen Sunday, so is legally obligated not to have friendship, perseverance, or victory. Sad, really.

On the shoujo end, we have cute Hakusensha mangas! Library Wars 6, La Corda D’Oro 14 (another in Viz’s ‘see, it’s not cancelled, just on a ‘no one buys this at all’ schedule!’ titles), and Oresama Teacher 4. Slightly less cutely, we get Grand Guignol Orchestra 3. We have cute Shueisha manga! It’s another volume of tug-at-your-heartstrings Kimi ni Todoke. We have sexy Shogakukan manga! There’s ‘Who am I to argue with its sales?’ Black Bird 10, as well as techno-thriller shoujo romance Dengeki Daisy 6. And we have one final volume, as not-really-shoujo smutty comedy Butterflies, Flowers ends with Vol. 8. I’m betting on a wedding.

All this and a Pokemon Black and White! Are you prepared for this much manga?

Manga the week of 8/31

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Regarding Kodansha: I surrender. This week’s Midtown list, my own comic shop’s list, what the REST of the country is getting from Diamond, and what’s already out in stores are so different… that’s it. So here’s most of what should be out from Kodansha…

Oh wait, other companies first. Alphabetical and all. Besides, Dark Horse has a big debut.

Yes, Hellsing may be over, but the author has a new series with a new badass! No vampires here, though, as this takes place in the Sengoku period, and is a samurai manga. Which apparently ends up getting a bit fantastical. It’s running right now in Shonen Gahosha’s Young King OURS. And oh yes, it’s not just that. Dark Horse also has their annual release of a new volume of Eden: It’s an Endless World! Yes, still not cancelled! Go get it, it’s gripping. It ran in Kodansha’s Afternoon.

There’s some new yaoi from Digital Manga Publishing. They’re still mining Taiyo Tosho, and so we get An Even More Beautiful Lie, from the magazine HertZ; Sky Link, from the same company, the same magazine, and honestly almost the same synopsis; Volume 4 of the yaoi thriller Finder, which runs in Libre Shuppan’s Be x Boy Gold; and Warning Whispers of Love runs in Taiyo Tosho’s other yaoi magazine Craft, and at least has a cover that looks different from the yaoi norm, which puts it a big step ahead in my book. And for those who want more old-school shoujo than modern BL, there’s Volume 6 of Itazura Na Kiss. Which hopefully will resolve the cliffhanger from 5.

Now, on to Kodansha. Midtown actually, amazingly, lists two titles. The second volume of Monster Hunter Orage, from the Fairy Tail author. And the second of Capcom’s seinen Phoenix Wright tie-ins, which will no doubt (shudder) feature more spiders, if only to resolve the case. My own shop is getting in Volume 10 of twisted gag comedy Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei, which should feature even more Chiri than usual. Literally. And other volumes that may trickle into comic shops include the 19th volume of roller-blading action series Air Gear and the first volume of the reissue of Until The Full Moon, a BL series which originally ran in Be x Boy back in the Biblos days, but which Kodansha now has the rights to, and 4 new series.

Bloody Monday is a blood-filled thriller, one that I suspect should appeal to fans of Del Rey’s Code:Breaker… or, since that apparently didn’t sell well enough for Kodansha to continue it here, of Death Note. Cage of Eden has a Lord of the Flies vibe to it, along with Battle Royale, and everyone loves a good Survivor series, especially if there’s fanservice. Animal Land, a series about a kid raised by a tanuki, from the author of Zatch Bell. And Mardock Scramble, based off of a novel (which is already out here via Viz) that is, and I quote, a pulse-pounding cyperpunk noir adventure. And possibly a desert topping, haven’t read it yet.

So after a week of virtually nothing, we’re back in business, even if the horrors of Diamond delivery and split shipping (Diamond sometimes ships to different Coasts on different weeks) means we may not all see it on the 31st. What are you getting?

Manga the week of 8/24

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Um… yeah.

That’s it. The third of DMP’s small releases of Yellow 2, its yaoi title featuring two ‘snatchers’ who go up against the mafia.

And… nothing else. No Viz, no Yen. Not even Kodansha, who seem to be absent from my comic shop as well as Midtown. Just… Yellow 2.

With that in mind, why not get some titles from the new JManga initiative?