Manga-ka: Aki
Publisher: Digital Manga
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Released: March 2009

Synopsis: “For centuries, a far-off kingdom has been protected by the nightly singing of the Utahime. This powerful voice is passed down from one female songstress to another within the Utahime’s bloodline. Then the impossible happens…a male songstress has been born.”

In a country where songstresses protect the citizens through the power of their song, a pair of twins are born to an ailing songstress trapped within a tower. Utahime is a condensed chronicle of their lives in a society where trandition of the duty-bound has never before broken and the life of a boy born to a songstress is thus burdened by the resulting prejudice, loss and decision.

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Original Concept: Osamu Tezuka
Manga-ka: Naoki Urusawa
Publisher: Viz
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Released: February 2009

Synopsis: “In an ideal world where man and robots coexist, someone or something has destroyed the powerful swiss robot, Mont Blanc. Elsewhere a key figure in a robots right group is murdered. The two incidents appear to be unrelated… except for the one very conspicuous clue – the bodies of both victims have been fashioned into some sort of bizarre collage complete with makeshift horns placed by the victims’ heads.”

This first volume of Pluto was truly a memorable piece of both art and literature. Admittedly, despite all the glowing things I’d read about it being Naoki Urusawa’s best work, I remained skeptical about Pluto purely based on how much I enjoyed Monster (and more recently 20th Century Boys), but here his ability to give robots and humans alike an undeniably empathetic breath of life was nothing short of moving.

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Author: Lee YunHee
Manhwa-ga: Kara
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Released: January 2009

Synopsis: “The search for the demon Se-In and Bi-Wal’s brother Ryung brings about some unlikely alliances between heaven and hell. Confused, Dong-Young seeks out Bi-Wal but once again finds herself with Se-In’s life in her hands instead!”

Things are getting messy after Queen Hong’s little trip to the human world when divisions were created between the four guardians after she pulled rank and changed the rules. The Chaos continues into the depths of hell as both their princes being constantly absent are agitating the elders more and more. With so many people pulling on the threads of their destiny, the future of Dong-Young and Bi-Wal is more then a little foggy.

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Manga-ka: Ume Aoki
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Released: November 2008

Synopsis: “Daily life at the Hidamari Apartments goes on as the girls continue their art studies. Trips to the zoo, onsen excursions, and school projects fill their days as yuno, Miya, Sae, and Hiro’s friendships deepen. Take another peek into the lives of these memorable art students in the second installment of Sunshine Sketch!”

Prepare yourself for another round of cute, cute, cute! These girls keep making their way through art school one day at a time, going on field trips and having everyday adventures in the simple life of living away from home. Mom and dad aren’t here to take care of them, but with friends around, there will always be someone to lend a helping hand.

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Manga-ka: Shin Midorikawa
Publisher: Del Rey
Rating: Teen (13+)
Released: February 2009

Synopsis: “Life at the Gaius School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is never dull – and often it’s dangerous. Chris Cottenburg, a High Elf, was a student of magic until calamity struck. Now his life-giving crystal has gone missing and Professor Arshes must undertake a perilous journey to save his student – a journey deep into the shadows of Chris’s soul!”

Aventura continues the lives of several young students during their days learning magic and swordsmanship in the Gaius School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Though some bumpy storytelling continues to plague this otherwise charming fantasy series, a little ways into this book the pacing smoothes itself out and just in time to take the plot on an easier-to-follow linear path with some abrupt turn of events.

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Thanks to the sharp-eyed CLAMP fan nokiirat at the fan community, CLAMP_Now, we now have our first glimpse of CLAMP’s mangette artwork. The image was originally posted along with the Mangettes: Gate 7 listing on Amazon.jp.

Personally I’m happy to see that the art style still has a look distinctly similar to that of XXXHolic, one of CLAMP’s currently running series, which means CLAMP fans can likely assume that it’s Mokona, one of the four-woman team, who’ll be head artist. Though it’s always fun seeing if CLAMP will take a different artistic  style with their new series’, I don’t think I’m ready to give up the sleek visuals of XXXHolic and Tsubasa just yet.

Back in December, Amazon.ca gave fans their first real glimpse of the new mini-series, being simultaneously published in North America, Japan and Korea in 2009, with a description for this first installment, Gate 7.

Manga-ka: Akira Himekawa
Publisher: VizKids
Rating: All Ages
Released: October 2008

Synopsis: “In the mystical land of Hyrule, three spiritual stones hold the key to the Triforce, and whoever holds them will control the world. A boy named Link sets out on a quest to deliver the Emerald, the spiritual stone of the forest, to Zelda, Princess of the land of Hyrule. The journey will be long and perilous, and Link will need all his skill and courage to defeat evil. The battle for Hyrule and the Sacred Realm has begun! The Legend of Zelda is a high-fantasy adventure based on the wildly successful and long-running video game series by game designer Shigeru Miyamoto.”

The story begins with Link, a young elven boy in who lives in the forest and wonders why he doesn’t have a fairy like the rest of his people. When a fairy named Navi appears before him one night, he begins a journey that leads him to a great castle, a threatened princess and a world in need of a hero.

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Author:Kyo Shirodaira
Manga-ka: Eita Mizuno
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Released: October 2008

Synopsis: “The Blade Children are on the alert as the first “hunter”—Kanon Hilbert, a fellow Blade Child and Eyes Rutherford’s childhood friend—is sent to eradicate them. To shore up their defenses, Eyes seeks the cooperation of track star Ryouko Takamachi, a Blade Child who despises both him and Kiyotaka Narumi. Well aware that Eyes won’t take “no” for an answer, Ryouko decides to let her physical prowess speak for her and challenges him to a simple game of dodgeball… or is it?”

Ayamu Narumi may just be the luckiest kid on earth… or maybe he’s just a genius. Either way, he needs everything he’s got to pass the life or death tests being brought to him by the Blade Children. We still don’t know what greater purpose he’s being tested for, but one thing is certain, his brother is definitely involved. What’s confusing about that is I’m pretty sure his brother is supposed to be dead.

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Manga-ka: Koji Kumeta
Publisher: Del Rey
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Released: February 2009

Synopsis: “Nozomu Itoshiki is depressed. Very depressed. He’s certifiably suicidal, but he’s also the beloved schoolteacher of a class of unique students, each charming in her own way: The stalker. The shut-in. The obsessive-compulsive. The girl who comes to class every day with strange bruises. And Kafuka, the most optimistic girl in the world, who knows that every cloud has a silver lining. For all of them, it’s a special time, when the right teacher can have a lasting positive effect on their lives. But is that teacher Itoshiki, a.k.a. Zetbubou-sensei, who just wants to find the perfect place to die?”

Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei: another in the long line of popular recent animes that I kept hearing a million things about. Not being not being much of an anime watcher these days, I was fairly content to sit back and let another apparently epic fad past me by. But, when Del Rey licensed the manga, I was presented with the opportunity to finally see what the – admittedly amusing-sounding – story of a suicidal teacher and his class of weird students, was really all about.

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Manga-ka: Yuki Shimizu
Publisher: 801Media
Rating: Mature (18+)
Released: February 2009

Synopsis: “Left destitute and alone after the death of his beloved grandmother, Raizou Shichikawa accepts an offer to live at the palatial Mitou home in return for his services as housekeeper – but there’s something very strange about the Mitou family. Odd pairings exist within these walls, and the occupants’ behaviour seems beyond Raizou’s understanding. Raizou does take a liking to his ill-mannered roommate, Kon, however, and his interest leads him to discover the truth: the people he works for aren’t exactly human!”

As a fan of Yuki Shimizu’s Love Mode (recently released by BLU), I was excited to hear news that 801Media had licensed another of her series. Eager for more of the character-driven drama that I’d enjoyed in her work previously, Ze naturally become a book high on my list of to-reads. Not only does Ze showcase Yuki Shimizu taking another go at a story hefty with characters, but she also takes a slightly different turn with the addition of supernatural elements.

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Animaritime is fan-run anime and gaming convention that has taken place in New Brunswick, Canada for six years. Each year it grows with more events and more attendees and this year was certainly no exception. With over 1000 attendees, Animaritime enjoyed its highest attendance numbers yet and brought with it a whole lot more of the fun, activity and lack of sleep that staff and attendees alike have come to expect. I myself am a three-year attendee and two-year staff member, with no plans on stopping being either anytime soon.

You can check out Animaritime’s forums if you’d like to learn more about the convention, including people’s thoughts, photos and videos of the recent event. For the curious, Animaritime’s official photographer also has lots of photos for online viewing. Under the cut I share some of my own experiences at Animaritime 2009 which happened earlier this month, including a short peek at some new purchases and a mish-mashed overview of my panels.

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Though it’s already been covered at a variety of sites already, never hurts to spread the word, right? Aurora Publishing has sent out e-mails outlining some financial difficulties that have them cutting prices on their books to sell off some old stock. By contacting them directly at e-tung@aurora-publishing.com, you can purchase any of their titles prior to January 2009 for $4/US a book and anything more recent than that for $8/US a book. Snow has some recommendations as well as shipping cost information (for American customers at least), and Kris shares her thoughts on the tone of the e-mail itself.

 Also on the note of good bargains, the online store BookCloseOuts is currently selling all their Tokyopop backstock for a mere .99 cents a piece. A great way to cheaply grab some of their older series and even a few of their newer releases (such as Tactics volumes 1-5).

Yaoi Press is excited to announce that one of their artists, Rhea Silvan will be attending as a guest at 2009’s Anime Central convention. They’re also now offering their KOSEN’s Yaoi playing cards as rewards for purchasing through their all-yaoi online store, EverythingYaoi, which has lots of boys’ love stuff currently on sale. They’ve also begun posting amusing weekly strips that parody scenes from their books, a feature they’re calling Yaoi Not Actually.

Manga-ka: Naoki Urusawa
Publisher: Viz
Rating: Mature (18+)
Released: February 2009

Synopsis: “Failed rock musician Kenji’s memories of his past come rushing back when one of his childhood friends mysteriously commits suicide. Could this new death be related to the rise of a bizarre new cult that’s been implicated in several other murders and disappearances? Determined to dig deeper, Kenji reunites with some of his old buddies in the hope of learning the truth behind it all. Humanity, having faced extinction at the end of the 20th century, would not have entered the new millennium if it weren’t for them. In 1969, during their youth, they created a symbol. In 1997, as the coming disaster slowly starts to unfold, that symbol returns. This is the story of a gang of boys who try to save the world.”

Coming soon on the heels of Monster’s completion in English, comes one of two new Naoki Urusawa titles to grace North American shores: volume one of 20th Century Boys. Part a tale of childhood, part suspenseful mystery, 20th Century Boys maintains focus on a group of friends whose childhood adventures seem connected to current day events of disappearing families and murdered comrades.

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Very! Very! Sweet (Vol. 03) – Ji-Sang Shin/Geo
Published by Yen Press

Very! Very! Sweet continues to be a charming shoujo story that takes cookie-cutter plots and manages to make them feel like something resembling unique. In this volume, Erica, Tsuyoshi’s friend from Japan, has firmly staked herself in Korea alongside him, focused as ever to get his attention. She’s passionate, determined and obnoxious, but isn’t that the classic role of the country-hopping old girlfriend?

And yet as the other characters have their charms, so to does she. Maybe not as much as the undeniably likeable lead character, Be-Rei, but even Erica has her amusing quirks; from hiding her fluent Korean, to being so infectiously energetic. But there’s more than a triangle created when Erica shows up. While she sees Be-Rei as a possible threat to her chances with Tsuyoshi, Be-Rei is preoccupied dealing with her childhood friend, Mi-Hyuk, who takes a moment of cuteness and turns it into Be-Rei’s first kiss. Alas that her feelings remain for an older man…

Who speaking of which, has his own troubles brewing silently in the background. In fact, this third volume had some great layering to it as the younger lead characters deal with their own fairly average teenage drama, while unbeknownst to them, the adults and siblings in their lives are facing some tough decisions regarding their own futures. On top of that there seems to be some secrets from Tsuyoshi’s grandfather that haven’t fully been revealed, meaning Very! Very! Sweet seems to have more up its sleeve than the entertaining dramatics of Be-Rei and co.

Overall I had fun reading this volume just as I have previous ones. Be-Rei’s spunky independence still feels fresh with her overzealous hobbies and straight-forward attitude, and Tsuyoshi’s disjointed Korean remains pretty cute. Even the art style maintains its same odd charm, even if the insane jaw lines still bug me to nearly no end. All in all though, it remains an entertaining read and that’s enough for me, so I’m more than happy to follow this vibrant cast of characters a while longer yet.

Review written March 19, 2009 by Lissa Pattillo
Book provided by Yen Press for review purposes