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Archive for October, 2011

PR: Kodansha Comics Debuts iPad App at NYCC 2011

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, October 14, 2011

APP CREATED AND SERVICED BY RANDOM HOUSE PUBLISHER SERVICES
App to launch with $2.99 Fairy Tail promotion in celebration of manga creator New York Comic-Con guest Hiro Mashima

NEW YORK, October 14, 2011 – Kodansha USA Publishing is proud to announce the debut of the Kodansha Comics app, appearing at midnight tonight in the iTunes store. The app was created by Random House, Inc.’s digital content team on behalf of Kodansha, a Random House Publisher Services division client. It will be free to download, with most volumes priced for sale at $4.99. The Kodansha Comics iPad app will launch with 34 books covering four series: Arisa by Natsumi Ando; Fairy Tail by Hiro Mashima; Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei by Kôji Kumeta; and Until the Full Moon by Sanami Matoh. Additional series will be added to the app in the near future.

In a special launch promotion designed to celebrate the appearance at New York Comic-Con of Fairy Tail creator Hiro Mashima, all fifteen volumes of Fairy Tail will be available at the special price of $2.99 each for a limited time.

Random House, Inc. has been increasing its own focus on the digital world with the acquisition in May of digital media agency Smashing Ideas, as well as with its in-house corporate digital content and services group. With numerous apps and specialized eBooks under their belt, the Random House team was the ideal choice to develop this exciting new app for Kodansha.

Servicing this app is a natural extension of Random House Publisher Services distribution agreement with Kodansha USA Publishing, which covers sales and distribution, and also editorial, production and marketing.

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Categories: Press Releases
Tags: Kodansha Comics, Negima, NYCC

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – October 12, 2011

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, October 12, 2011

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Conventions are generally my time to dig through boxes of vendors’ manga to find those older missed titles but that doesn’t mean I skip a beat on the new titles out! My most recent On The Shelf article is up at Otaku USA with this week’s new releases.

I was really happy to see the new volume of March Story is out from Viz Media. It’s not a series that seems to be on many people’s radar but I really enjoyed the first two. They can get pretty gruesome but my interest in the characters and gorgeous imagery outweighed the sometimes overly-heavy violence elements easily.

Seeing the release dates come up for Digital Manga‘s big pile of boys’ love titles was the real kicker for me though. Rabbit Man, Tiger Man; A Strange & Mystifying Story; and Kizuna are three of my favourite boys’ love series. I hope I can find copies of these new books at NYAF this weekend!

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Categories: On The Shelf
Tags: Bandai, Boys' Love/Yaoi, DMP, June, Manga, Otaku USA, Viz Media

NYAF 2011: Panels and Exhibitors for the Manga Inclined

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, October 11, 2011

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The year’s last big pop-culture event is upon us this week – only two days left until the start of New York Comic Con. Also a combined part of the event is New York Anime Fest, offering up an assortment of anime and manga related content for con-goers. I’ll be flying to New York on Thursday for the weekend event and like many others I’ve been compiling the list of events I’m making sure I don’t miss!

There’s a variety of manga publishers present this year: Vertical Inc, Kodansha Comics, Viz Media, Yen Press, Bandai Entertainment and Dark Horse. That’s a lot of opportunity for exciting news and new titles. I’m already clamouring to try and be one of the lucky few who can get an early copy of Vertical Inc’s release of Princess Knight and hear the big news from Viz Media that’s been hinted at by Shonen Jump Group’s deputy director, Sasaki Hisashi, who will be in attendance.

“Going to NYCC! Wait for the big announcement VIZ &we make there!”

Ed Sizemore of Manga Out Loud and MangaWorthReading has posted about which panels he’s going to and exhibitors he’ll be visiting. He’s one of several manga bloggers attending the event (a fair number of those in Kuriousity’s blog roll will be there!) and gives short but convincing reasons for adding the times and places he lists to your own NYCC planner.

You can see the full list of guests, exhibitors and events on the NYAF website and I’ve included the specifically manga-related panel details under the cut of this post. They include some links to learn more about who’s bringing the manga news to NYAF this year.

I’ll be attending these events and writing about them here on Kuriousity throughout the weekend. If curious, you can see my coverage of last year’s event in the Kuriousity archives.

Two days left now… see you there!

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Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Bandai, Conventions, Dark Horse, Kodansha Comics, Manga, NYAF 2011, NYCC, Vertical Inc, Viz Media, Yen Press

PR: Good-bye Geist – GEN Manga Announces Release of GEN 6

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, October 11, 2011

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Good-bye Geist: A new story for America’s #1 Source for Original Doujin Manga

GEN Manga Entertainment, Inc. Announces the Release of GEN 6
GEN 6 will be available on Oct 11th, 2011

NEW YORK, NY – GEN Manga Entertainment, Inc. announces the upcoming release ofGEN 6. GEN 6 (ISBN: 978-0-9836134-4-2, Trade Paper, 160 pages, black and white) will be available on Oct 11th, 2011 (www.genmanga.com).

Good-bye Geist, the newest story for the leading edge magazine GEN, presents a newmystery that is engulfing the face of Yuki’s high school. And Yuki is caught in the middle. As she battles the exhausting crowds of her daily commute she, like many other young girls in Japan, is sexually violated. All the while, another young boy is secretly filming herand someone is brutally slaughtering cats. What does it all mean? Enigma spins into ever darkening chasms in the newest edition to GEN.

With the newest edition to the underground anthology, GEN Manga Entertainment also meets fan demand with the release of dual single and spread version PDFs available for download. Not only can readers still download and keep original manga on their computer desktops but they can also choose how they want to read it! Single page viewing will now make it easier for fans to read their favorite manga on their favorite reading devices.

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Categories: Press Releases
Tags: Manga

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – October 5, 2011

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, October 10, 2011

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Better late than never? My On The Shelf article went up last week on Otaku USA so check it out to see what new books you can expect to see on bookstore shelves right now. It’s the beginning of the month so that means lots and lots of Viz Media!

My top picks for the week are My Boyfriend is A Vampire from Seven Seas and Bakuman (Vol. 07) from Viz Media. The first sounds a lot like Until the Full Moon from Kodansha Comics, only with a manhwa and street-gang twist. It’s an omnibus too so ‘yay!’ for more manga for my money.

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Categories: On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: 20th Century Boys, Bakuman, Kodansha Comics, Manga, March Story, Naoki Urasawa, Omnibus, Otaku USA, Seven Seas, Viz Media

PR: VIZ Media Highlights for New York Comic Con!

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, October 6, 2011

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VIZ MEDIA ANNOUNCES EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES FOR 2011 NEW YORK COMIC CON

VIZ Media Welcomes NARUTO Japanese Voice Actress And Announces NARUTO SHIPPUDEN THE MOVIE: BONDS U.S. Film Premiere, Along With A Special Panel Discussions, Booth Activities And Giveaways

San Francisco, CA, October 5, 2011 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in North America, has announced a packed schedule of events, panel discussions, promotional giveaways, theatrical film premieres, and rare guest appearances for the 2011 New York Comic Con, taking place at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City, October 13th – 16th. VIZ Media will be located in Booth 932.

The annual New York Comic Con is the largest gathering on the East Coast dedicated to comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, toys, movies, and television. Complete details on New York Comic Con is available at: www.newyorkcomiccon.com.

Digital technology and distribution has forever changed the way fans read and purchase manga, and VIZ Media will showcase its industry-leading VIZ Manga App for the Apple iPad™, iPhone™ and iPod™ touch in a fun interactive demo as well as its online manga web portal at VIZManga.com. VIZ Manga currently features more than 40 popular manga series and over 400 volumes.

This year, VIZ Media is proud to welcome Junko Takeuchi, the Japanese voice of Naruto, who will participate in a special NARUTO SHIPPUDEN panel discussion on Friday, October 14th from 1:15pm to 2:15pm in Room 1A22. Come welcome the actress for her first-ever U.S. appearance, and hear her experiences performing the voice for the world’s most popular ninja!

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Categories: Press Releases
Tags: Conventions, Viz Media

Review: My Girlfriend’s a Geek (Vol. 04)

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, October 1, 2011

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Author: Pentabu
Manga-ka: Rize Shinba
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: September 2011

Synopsis: “…lately, with Taiga putting some distance between himself and his girlfriend as he tries to buckle down and study hard to get into the academic department of his choice, Yuiko starts getting suspicious that Taiga might have found a little piece of his own on the side! To make matters worse, his attempts at keeping the part-time schoolboy-tutoring gig a secret form Yuiko have only served to stoke the fires of her doubt!! After all is said and done, will Taiga even have a girlfriend to spend his hard-earned money on?!”

Immediate quip about this volume – are Taiga and Kouji long-lost brothers or something? I kid, of course, but the cover artwork makes me very grateful the two have ‘black’ and ‘white’ hair during the actual story. Seeing them both with light brown hair and coloured eyes makes them almost indistinguishable from one another at first glance. Enjoyable as I find the two interacting in the series, Kouji’s appearances in this fourth volume are minimal however as Taiga and Yuiko have some much needed honesty time. … and it’s about time too!

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Manga, Yen Press