Manga-ka: Izumi Tsubaki
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: August 2010
Synopsis: “For a brief moment, Chiaki fears that another girl is giving Yosuke a massage on the sly. As graduation day approaches, she must untangle her feelings for Yosuke and tell him how she really feels. Love, romance and massage…the exciting conclusion to The Magic Touch!”
Having heard both good and bad things about this series, I decided to undertake a review of the final volume for team Kuriousity. Catching up on the series with a previous volume beforehand, reading this last instalment left me pleasantly surprised. Magic Touch takes a fairly odd concept and delivers an entertaining, offbeat shojo series.
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Manga-ka: Eiichiro Oda
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: June 2010
Synopsis: “Camie the mermaid offers to take Luffy and the crew to Fish-Man Island if they’ll help rescue her boss Hachi from the notorious Flying Fish Riders. Ignoring all of the warning signs (hint: her boss sounds suspiciously like an old enemy!), the crew agrees to help their mermaid friend, only to end up losing Camie to the kidnappers too!”
An alternative title for One Piece vol.51 could be “How to Write a 50+ Manga Series.” In this volume Oda reintroduces characters from over a dozen volumes ago and also weaves in new ones who have strange but important ties to the main cast. It’s amazing how easily both the old and new characters are able to slip into the story. The huge cast highlights how big and real the world of One Piece feels. While of course the main cast is always caught up in some adventure, the side characters have lives and goals of their own that continue even after they’ve left the main story.
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Manga-ka: Natsumi Matsumoto
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: June 2010
Synopsis: “Momoka is eager to give Ryuga the antique pocket watch she bought him for his 17th birthday, but when she gets to school, the Ryuga she meets is only 13 years old! A tiny trickster fairy who lives in the watch has taken Momoka back in time, and now Momoka must find her way back to the present day.”
As Matsumoto adds the element of dinosaur-obsession into an already panda-inclined manga, cuteness levels jump into overdrive in this volume of St. Dragon Girl. A personable narrative combines with clever design elements to make a very readable series that touches upon most of the basic elements of shojo manga for a younger audience, while also appealing to general manga readers. Everything is handled in an efficient fashion that endows it with endearing charm, whether it‘s time travel, sinister paintings or overly violent mermaids.
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Reading manga online isn’t for everyone. Looking at any screen for hours can make your head hurt and your eyeballs fell like they’ve been dipped in bleach. Luckily, I was designed in a lab specifically to avoid those symptoms. I love reading manga online. I love that I control the vertical and the horizontal, that I can sharpen a single image to crystal clarity. I love that no trees were killed in order for me to enjoy a particular volume. I love that I can read the many works of Makoto Tateno and not worry about where in my tiny house I’ll fit them.
But while I like reading manga on my computer screen, that doesn’t mean I give every manga company that posts their wares online a pass. In fact, because I enjoy it so much, I want to see it done right. For the most part there’s not a big difference between publishers’ online manga viewers. It’s a pretty basic concept: it’s manga, and it’s online. This article is to point out the tiny details that differentiate them, the little things that either makes reading manga online a pleasure or a pain.
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Manga-ka: Yoshiki Nakamura
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: August 2010
Synopsis: “Kyoko is basking in the glow of working a Christmas miracle and getting some birthday booty of her own. But she’s so unused to this kind of joy that she ends up late to the script reading for her new drama. Now her whole day is a mess and Ren is mad at her! Can Kyoko balance revenge, a career and her own happiness?”
I find I enjoy Skip Beat most when the characters are pretending to be other people. That’s not a dig at the main characters. I really like Kyoko and Ren and find them a nice change from usual shojo leads. But,when they’re acting, or at least working on their craft, that’s when it feels like the manga is firing on all cylinders. This volume brings the focus back to show business world, making it one of the better volumes in the series in a long time.
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Another week, another slew of new releases! I was too late to get a hold of a copy of 20th Century Boys (Vol. 10) but there was still plenty of other good titles to pick up (now with some pictures):
BLU, the boys’ love imprint of Tokyopop, had a couple of new titles out this week. The most exciting of which was the third volume of Voice or Noise. The second volume was released in February 2008 so it’s been quite a wait for this follow-up. None the less I’m as excited to finally purchase a copy now as I was looking forward to it after finishing the last. Great boys’ love series!
The other title I picked up from them is Scarlet, a one-shot by the same creator who did Cute Devil. Honestly, I don’t have much interest in this artist or this premise but I bought the painfully overpriced book all the same because it marks a new (potentially continued?) book style and I wanted to check it out/support it. It sports a larger-than-the-norm trim size and colour inserts at the front. I flipped through it and it was actually a bit disorienting reading a BLU title suddenly notably larger, though snazzy all the same. It’s great to see, especially since it takes a step closer to almost justifying the $18.99 price tag.
Continuing on the semi-boys’ love trend, I was amazed to see a whole slew of DokiDoki titles on the shelf of Chapters (the B&N/Borders equivalent to you Americans out there). They’ve only ever carried sparse copies of Vampire Hunter D from Digital Manga so seeing them branch out to this varied imprint was exciting, plus very promising to the local boys’ love fanbase who are too timid to special order. Though not boys’ love, I purchased a physical copy of Alice the 101st which I reviewed earlier in the month for ANN.
Moving onto other genres, I picked up a copy of Bakuman (Vol. 01) – the team of Death Note makes a manga about making manga – and the fourth volume of Ooku in which it feels like the faux-Shakespearean speech that I really dislike seems more toned down (or is that just me?). In the mail I got a copy of the newest volume of Butterflies, Flowers which is hilarious – I am completely enamoured with the mature silliness of this series and I hope many others are too.
And lastly, thanks to my local library, I’ve been reading the Manga Guide to Databases. After reading the Manga Guide to Statistics last week and being impressed with how much I actually retained from it, I sought out this one as I’ve been wanting a basic introduction to databases. Yay for learning?
Continuing with my streak of being very behind with convention news this summer, here’s a quick finishing round-up of manga news at this year’s San Diego Comic Con. Links in the article will direct you to AnimeNewsNetwork where their on-site staff shared all the details from the panels.
The company Top Shelf announced one new manga license: Cigarette Girl by Masahiko Matsumoto and also expressed the hope to license the manga artist’s auto-biography series Gegika Freaks to “complement to Tatsumi’s own autobiographical manga A Drifting Life.” And speaking of which, the ginomrous auto-biography manga A Drifting Life won two Eisner awards at the event - Best U.S. Edition of International Material – Asia category and Best Reality-Based Work of the Year. (Note: Though I never wrote a complete review on this book, I did read it and got completely swept away in the story. It’s a very inspiring non-fiction story and makes for a fantastic (plus satisfyingly lengthy) read.)
Viz Media didn’t have any new licenses at SDCC (saving them for NYAF I hope?) but they did announce a re-release of the popular series, Death Note. Titled Death Note: Black Edition, this new edition will be released as omnibus books (multiple volumes in one) with new covers and larger trim sizes than the originals. Viz Media also announced that there will be a new layout for their manga magazine, Shonen Jump, upcoming in their December issue.
Vertical Inc. had a new license, Lychee Light Club by Usamaru Furuya who had another work licensed by Viz Media (Genkaku Picasso). The plot of Lychee Light Club definitely sounds unique (from Robot6): “The students at an all-boys school create a robot to track down beautiful women, a robot that for some reason runs on lychee fruits. Everything gets complicated when the machine develops self-awareness, however, and stops being quite so compliant.” Neat Vertical fact extra: Chi’s Sweet Home, released just a few weeks ago, has already become Vertical Inc’s best selling release. Wow!
And lastly in this SDCC round-up comes from the Canadian company Drawn & Quarterly who had a couple new titles to share at the event: Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths and NonNonBâ both by Shigeru Mizuki. Both are older titles by a manga artist known best for their work GeGeGe no Kitarō (which hasn’t yet been released in English).
New review over at AnimeNewsNetwork for yet another new Viz Media shoujo (is it just me or are there more than usual coming out lately?), Dengeki Daisy. Long story short – buy this book, shoujo-fans!
I’ll admit I didn’t think much of the book on first impressions – meaning I read the synopsis and went ‘eh’. But I purchased it anyway (via Strange Adventures) because I love trying new things and I adored it. It starts off feeling a little stereotypical but really surprised me with how much I came to love the two leads in such a short period time, especially ‘Daisy’. Volume two can’t come soon enough!
VIZ MEDIA ANNOUNCES NEW SUMMER MANGA SERIES TO DELIGHT FANS OF ALL INTERESTS
San Francisco, CA, July 29, 2010 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has provided details regarding the launch of brand new manga series set for release this summer. The series will tantalize the most discriminating manga tastes and features romantic dramas, fantasy driven action, the trials of aspiring manga creators, and a tasty slice of life story set in a romantic bistro in Rome.
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Manga-ka: Natsumi Matsumoto
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: December 2009
Synopsis: “During the Sports Festival, Momoka brings lunch for Ryuga so they can eat together, but Akira isn’t happy that Ryuga rejected her lunch in favour of Momoka’s. Jealous, Akira calls on three impish wind demons to break the couple apart.”
A charming mixture of Chinese pop culture with the traditional styling of Ribon manga, St. Dragon Girl is a sweet, spirited piece of manga fluff. It also slips in just enough fantasy elements and strange cuteness to avoid being overly sweet, relying on an upbeat tone that will overcome many a jaded manga fan.
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Manga-ka: Seimu Yoshizaki
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: April 2010
Synopsis: “If a manga volume exists, you can find it at Kingyo Used Books. But Kingyo is more than just a typical used bookstore—it’s a place where human relationships are treated as the most valuable stories of all. Natsuki, the store’s interim manager, and Shiba, the manga maniac who loves her, help both their regular patrons and random customers in a series of linked tales built around actual manga series ranging from the popular to the esoteric.”
Kingyo Used Books is a manga about people who love manga, written by someone who loves manga, aimed at manga lovers. So, if you don’t like manga, get out of town. This book won’t convert anyone to the medium, but for people already in the choir it’s a treat.
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RightStuf’s weekly sale has gone live and this week it’s on all Viz Media books -that my friends is a large library of savings indeed. Just going through the first couple of listings pages shows you these are sales well worth taking advantage of too – almost 50% off or more on some titles! The sale ends on August 2nd.
Because they fall a little higher on the price scale, and because they’re generally fantastic, I recommend spelunking through the Viz Sig imprint. Along with the wonders that is 20th Century Boys and Pluto by Naoki Urasawa, the Viz Signature line also includes Fumi Yoshinaga’s Ooku and the fan-tabulous line-up of titles currently up to read chapters for free of over at SigIkki.com. Definitely doesn’t hurt to get caught up on your favourite running shonen series either, be it Bleach, Eyeshield 21, One Piece or Naruto (to name some). Not to mention the shoujo… and artbooks… and back issues… and omnibus…and DVDs… Oh boy, this could take a while.
As a bonus, RightStuf is also offering free Viz Media convention tote bags to those who purchase three or more Viz Media items.
My usual Wednesday shopping had to be postponed until Thursday as I did an emergency replacement of my computer (warning to the masses: backing up your computer files is the best thing you can do for your technological-sanity) but a fan can never be kept from the bookstore for long!
Today specifically I first picked up Viz Media’s newest shoujo series, Dengeki Daisy. The plot doesn’t exactly wow me, and I haven’t read the artist’s previous work, Beast Master, but I’ve already hard lots of good things about this new story so I’m giving it a go! Thanks to a snazzy buy-one-get-one deal at Strange Adventures I was also able to snap up a copy of the third volume of Gankutsuou. While I haven’t read it through yet, just flipping through shows me this is going to be an entirely different, and considerably more disturbing, angle than the anime – yikes! And of course, I had to pick up a copy of the final volume of Scott Pilgrim.
While I never got a chance to visit the vendors for shopping purposes at last week’s Animinitime, I did stop by at the local Chapters to spend a convenient gift card I’d acquired. While there I also checked out the selection of French language manga. Such pretty design work! All with slipcovers and nice mini trim sizes. Also the selection was snazzy – over fifty volumes of Case Closed?! Very cool.
Chapters purchases included Calling, a boys’ love one-shot from BLU which sports an uke with very fluttering eyelashes; Cirque du Freak (Vol. 05) because my roommate adores the manga version (hasn’t read the books though) and I must admit it’s pretty darn fun to read; Flower in a Storm (Vol. 02) because despite thinking the first was sort of lame was interested when learning volume two was the end; Mad Love Chase (Vol. 04) because it’s Kazusa Takashima; and lastly, the fourth volume of my super guilty pleasure Zone-00 because it’s ‘awesome’. Ahhhhh the eye-candy in Zone 00!
As before, I encourage sharing of shiny manga purchases! What books made your swag bag this week?
New review posted at AnimeNewsNetwork over this past convention-busy weekend for the first volume of Maoh: Juvenile Remix. You can read this series online over at ShonenSunday.com
I’m really interested to read the second volume of Maoh because I’m pretty stumped on where I think the plot is going to go. The apparent antagonist is interesting too. He reminded me a lot of Griffith from Berserk, as I mentioned in my review. I’ll admit I did chuckle a bit at how dramatically the story emphasized the lead’s ability to make others say his own thoughts out loud though. Yes it’s a pretty crazy power to have but compared to so many other shonen-leads before him, it seemed a little initially silly. Could mean lots for future events though, I’m eager to see how he continues to use them.
Manga-ka: Takashi Hashiguchi
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: July 2010
Synopsis: “Young Yamatoya, a spoiled brat with a thing for bread, is back – and this time he’s trying to buy a job as a bread judge. But when master taster Kuro-san decides to teach him a lesson about hard work, Yamatoya realizes he may have bitten off more than he can chew. Later, Azuma’s team Pantasia is in a bind when their next opponent in the “Yakitate!! Japan” baking competition turns out to be an old rival who’s caught in the grip of a powerful mind-controlling substance: miso bread!”
Yakitate Japan offers some signature Shonen Sunday-brand humour, adding a dash of whimsical absurdity to the realm of cooking manga, with its strange yet involving tale of youths struggling to be the best bread-makers in all of Japan. This volume is well into the series, yet is quite accessible to new readers, piquing my curiosity to check out more of this offbeat bakery comic.
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