Author/Artist: Nina Matsumoto
Publisher: Del Rey
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: November 2009

Synopsis: “Yokai are Japanese spirits, and young Hamachi is fascinated by them. Now he continues his quest deep into the Yokai realm in the hopes of finding Madkap, the kappa he believes has killed his grandmother. Armed with nothing but a sacred rope and a lucky kappa’s foot, Hamachi has made two friends to help him on his journey: Lumi the talking lantern, and newly awakened, the umbrella that once belonged to his grandfather! Their first stop is the home of the legendary fox spirit the Ninetails, who promises to help in Hamachi’s quest if Hamachi can retrieve three lost items. But can Hamachi really find them, or does the Ninetails just want Hamachi to fail so he can keep the human boy as a pet?”

This book of Yokaiden opens with a handy exposition for those who may be picking up this second volume prior to the first; told via a short comic. Though perhaps a little taxing to those already familiar with the story, it shows the artist’s attention to audiences of both sorts and does so in a manner more entertaining than a simple paragraph recap. Regrettably the new material doesn’t feel nearly as ingenious.

Read more…

Author: George Iida
Manga-ka: You Higuri
Publisher: Del Rey
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: November 2009

Synopsis: “The world is a lonely place for Naoto and Naoya, brothers with amazing psychic powers that set them apart from humanity. Their parents cast them out–and had them imprisoned in an exploitative research center. But after they make a daring escape from the institution, Naoya has a psychic vision of an even greater threat: a deadly plague that threatens the entire world!”

Reading like that paranormal save-the-world movie you’ve probably seen done a dozen times on VHS, Night Head Genesis is a one-dimensional race against time that pits psychics against scientists and two brothers against the world they’re trying to save. Del Rey and You Higuri ensure the visual packaging makes this book a no-brainer on the pick-up-and-flip-through scale but read at all deeper and you’ll find this modern day mystery is as transparent as the cover’s fan service.

Read more…

Manga-ka: CLAMP
Publisher: Del Rey
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: Novmeber 2009

Synopsis: “Syaoran, Fai, Kurogane and Mokona are returning to the Kingdom of Clow – and toward an ultimate showdown with the ruthless Fei-Wang Reed. But entering a world the is cut off from time endangers ther very existence of the once happy villagers, as the final story arc of the Tsubasa epic beings!”

There’s plenty to get excited about in this volume, though perhaps a little more so if it was a little more coherent. It’s not that the events are difficult to follow individually but try to mentally fit them into the woven web of CLAMP’s Tsubasa and you may find some of your enthusiasm dampened. Still, with plenty of gorgeous artwork and moments that strike déjà vu in all the right ways, there’s a still lot of good to be said for Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles as it climbs towards the finale.

Read more…

Omnibus releases are not a new thing to the manga world but with recent changes in the economy and buyer habits, they’re becoming more and common. In fact in the past year alone it’s become evident that more than a few publishers are turning more and more of their attention to the omnibus format.

With tactics changing, buyers shifting and bookstore shelves reorganizing, are the omnibus editions we’re seeing now just the beginning of a new era of manga publication – could they be the future of manga in print?

Read more…

Manga-ka: Minoru Toyoda
Publisher: Del Rey
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: October 2006

Synopsis: “Hoshino’s never been afraid to tell Negishi just how he feels about her. Hoshino loves Negishi heart and soul–after all, she’s his very first love. But suddenly it’s gotten harder to share his feelings, because now he’s feeling something he’s never felt before: jealousy! The new boy at school, Wakaba, has a major crush on Negishi. And when Wakaba and Negishi become friends, Hoshino gets worried. Is Negishi pulling away from him? And will Hoshino’s silence only make things worse?”

Love Roma is basically a one-trick pony, but if you like the trick then it’s still pretty entertaining. Much of the humour in the series comes from the characters being painfully straightforward, especially the male lead Hoshino. Hoshino isn’t mean-spirited in his bluntness, in fact he’s usually just trying to tell his girlfriend Negishi how much he loves her. Sometimes she gets the message, other times she whacks him over the head for being an idiot. Rinse, wash and repeat and you have Love Roma.

Read more…

Del Rey was up to proverbial bat yesterday for their panel at New York Anime Fest with some new titles and a well received title rescue from Tokyopop. (Source: AnimeNewsNetwork)

New Licenses:

Here I Am! – Ema Toyami
Arisa – Natsumi Ando
Yokai Navi Runa – Runa Rindo

The announcement of Yokai Navi Runa confirms Del Rey’s license of the series after a listing popped up on Amazon early this month. Nothing was said about the listings for upcoming omnibus of several of their other currently running serie,s but their choice of omnibus releases for their Tokyopop license rescues seems to prove a good indication of their growing preference for the format.

On that note, Del Rey also announced that they’ve picked up the license for the remaining unpublished volumes of Rave Master (previously released by Tokyopop) and they’ll be putting out the final volumes in one omnibus collection.

A piece of news for those who, like me, see everyone of these announcements as another reason to attend NYAF next year, this 2009 event marked the final incarnation of New York Anime Fest as it is now and next year it will return as a dual event with New York Comic Con. (Source: AnimeNewsNetwork)

Author: Fuyumi Ono
Manga-ka: Shiho Inada
Publisher: Del Rey
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: August 2009

Synopsis: “Naru is the brilliant, eccentric and deeply mysterious leader of Shibuya Psychic Researchers – a band of intrepid Ghost Hunters. But none of his colleagues know anything about his past. Now the brave paranormal investigators venture to a haunted school – and deep into their leader’s secret history!”

While I’ve always liked the balance between supernatural education, character exploration and dangerous ghoulish encounters, here I found myself impatient to get past the slow parts and into the literal nitty-gritty of the book’s events. Thankfully readers and I are well rewarded with a dark twist that could, despite what’s happened before, be the most dangerous case the group finds themselves literally trapped within.

Read more…

Eep, where has the time gone?! Oh right, I lost it in the obscurity of an internet-less world for two weeks moving into a new apartment. But now I return! Apologies for that little gap in updates, the first in two years and hopefully (if possibly?) the last. Lots of spiffy stuff has happened in the past week, including Tokyopop’s second webinar, news of Kodansha’s cutting ties with them and a variety of other goodies that always make Brigid of MangaBlog a mangaverse blessing.

I already made a quick post to appease the eager fans of Chi’s Sweet Home, to the later disappointment of Vertical’s denial of license, but that wasn’t all Amazon had to offer my return to the internet. It likely goes without saying that my Amazon posts are consistently the most visited on my site so I suppose it works out that my first posts after a (albeit short) vacation, cater to those fan-wants.

Del Rey was the company with a bunch of new updates on Amazon.ca this week. The first interesting find was a new license listing for Ikeda Miyoko and Kikuto Michiyo’s Yokai Navi Runa, a multi-volume story about a bracelet and a girl and boy who turn into a cat and an owl. That’s the extent of my understanding so fans of the series please feel free to elaborate.

More interesting than this to me however, was a few listings for what looks like upcoming Del Rey omnibi for currently running series. Hell Girl volumes 7-9 are listed as one book of 624 pages, as are volumes 8-10 of Mushishi, volumes 6-7 of Psycho Busters and volumes 3-5 of Orange Planet. All are series Del Rey is currently publishing one volume at a time.

With several manga companies requiring some belt-tightening to keep things financially doable, it’s nice to see a company take an alternative route to series cancellation. 624 pages is pretty hefty but fans of both series will undoubtedly be thrilled to recieve so much in one go. On top of that, both books are listed at $24.99, only ten dollars more than one individual volume. Good deal!

Other new listings of note are Del Rey’s books based on the movie based on the series Avatar: The Last Airbender. The two books, Avatar The Last Airbender and The Last Airbender were announced in detail at this year’s San Diego Comic Con.

Author/Artist: Nina Matsumoto
Publisher: Del Rey
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: November 2008

Synopsis: “Yokai… Japanese spirits. Most people fear them, and a few people even hunt them, thinking they are horrible monsters to be destroyed at all costs. But young Hamachi wants to be friends with them! He sees them as mischievous creatures that could c-exist peacefully with humans if only given a chance. When his grandmother dies under mysterious circumstances, Hamachi journeys into the Yokai realm. Along the way, he encounters an ogre who punishes truant children, an angry water spirit, and a talking lantern. Will Hamachi be able to find his grandmother’s killer, or will he be lost forever in another world?”

Yokai – friends or foes? Young Hamachi believes potential friends so he disagrees with what the people of his village think of them; they can’t all be bad after all! But when vengeance is taken on his demon-loathing Grandmother by the very beings Hamachi has been supporting all this time, what’s a child to do?

Read more…

Manga-ka: CLAMP
Publisher: Del Rey
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: August 2009

Synopsis: “In the Country of Oto, Syaoran fought his former mentor, Seishiro, and lost badly. Now Seishiro is back, and this time Syaoran is determined not to allow him to escape with Sakura’s feather. Many things have change since their first battle, but is Syaoran now strong enough to withstand Seishiro’s vampire-killing skills?”

Old faces return to stir up some new trouble, including the vampire hunter Seishiro, mentor to Syaoran and possessor of one of Sakura’s powerful memory shards. The end of the previous book saw another climatic fight for survival that this book offers only momentary respite from for the series’ band of weary travellers but its time well needed to fill in small gaps in the plot and prepare for the danger that’s followed them there, to Kurogane’s home country of Japan.

Read more…

Author: Raina Telgemeier & Dave Roman
Artist: Anzu
Publisher: Del Rey
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: August 2009

Synopsis: “High school student Kitty Pryde has always been the odd girl out. A mutant, she was born with strange powers, magical talents that make her the class freak. But Kitty’s world is changed when she’s invited to study at Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, a special home for mutant teens. There’s just one catch: Kitty’s the only girl at the all-boy school, and she ends up just feeling like a freak all over again.”

Kitty Pryde is a young teenager with a secret: she has the ability to phase through solid objects. Confused and apprehensive, she is invited to be the first female student in Xavier’s Institute, a private school for ‘the gifted’. There she meets an assortment of characters, and though they may have their strange abilities in common, not all have the same agenda for being there. But, when surrounded by pretty boys and being the only girl, Kitty has more than her own problems in mind in this intentionally shoujo-styled re-imagining of Marvel’s X-Men.

Read more…

Manga-ka: Mahiro Maeda, Yuri Ariwara
Publisher: Del Rey
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: November 2008

Synopsis: “To those who betrayed me, who stole everything from me, I will give death and despair unto death. Your wives and children, your loyal followers, one by one they will fall to my charms.”

While vacationing on the moon, Albert, a young Parisian nobleman, meets The Count of Monte Cristo, a fabulously rich aristocrat from the far reaches of the galaxy. Fascinated by the count’s sophistication and intelligence, Albert is unaware of the older man’s dark purpose: to enact revenge for a terrible act of betrayal committed against him twenty-five years ago. Soon, all of Paris, including Albert’s own mother and father, will feel the terror of the count’s vengeance. Read more…

Manga-ka: Oh! Great
Publisher: Del Rey
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: July 2009

Synopsis: “Ikki is close to realizing his dream of becoming the Wind Keeper, and his achievements have won him a mysterious admirer: the beautiful Kururu, who claims that fate decrees she must serve the Wind Keeper. Who is this gorgeous girl–and could she be Ikki’s destiny?”

The first portion of the book slogs along like the volumes before it, too bogged down in its own ego to really establish half as much drama as it intends. While initially I lamented the loss of the series’ most slickly executed style, by the end I was finally granted a glimpse at the Air Gear I originally fell in love with.

Read more…

Today it’s part two of my look at the manga samplers handed out at this year’s San Diego Comic Con. Last week I went through some of Viz Media’s offerings and today I take a look at another of their sampler books, plus a really pleasantly plump CMX sampler and a look at some recent Del Rey books properties. One thing’s for sure, my to-buy list keeps getting progressively longer with each one.

Read more…

Del Rey Manga Announces Acquisition of Code: Breaker, Panic X Panic, Pink Innocent

SAN DIEGO, CA – July 25, 2009 – Del Rey Manga, an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group, announced today at Comic-Con International two brand new shôjo manga acquisitions, and a brand new series from the creator of Samurai Deeper Kyo.

Read more…