Kuriousity | manga reviews and news

Author Archive for Lissa Pattillo

Review: Kobato (Vol. 05)

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, December 29, 2011

1 Comment »

Manga-ka: CLAMP
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: December 2011

Synopsis: “As the seeds of love begin to bloom in her heart, Kobato’s attentions are diverted from giving solace to strangers and filling up her magic bottle in order to finally earn her mysterious wish! Now it seems all Kobato has eyes for the dour Fujimoto-kun and putting a smile on his face. With this turn of events, Kobato is fighting to save Yomogi Kindergarten more than ever before, all at the expense of her magic bottle. But as time runs out for her quest, is Kobato unwittingly endangering her wish, her life, and the lives of Ioryogi and his erstwhile allies (read: cronies) by choosing to follow her heart?”

It continues to be a flaw of these shorter length volumes of Kobato that we don’t feel we’re getting a lot of substance per book. Fortunately this particular volume hits that quality over quantity sweet spot, delivering on some much anticipated history behind the main characters. We’ve been following Kobato and Ioryogi on their path for five books and finally we’re seeing where it all began.

NBM Confirms Publication of Araki’s Rohan at the Louvre

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, December 28, 2011

No Comments »

NBM Publishing has confirmed on their website that they’ll be releasing a one-shot from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures’ creator, Hirohiko Araki – Rohan at the Louvre. The title originally popped up on Amazon early this past Autumn.

The book will be hardcover and full-colour, clocking in at 128 pages. It’s due for release in April 2012 and will cost $19.99 (both US and CAN). It’s great to see newer titles are coming out with equal pricing across North America!

“Rohan, a young mangaka, meets a beautiful mysterious young woman with a dramatic story. Seeing him draw, she tells him of a cursed 200 year old painting using the blackest ink ever known from a 1000 year old tree the painter had brought down without approval from the Emperor who had him executed for doing so. The painting meanwhile had been saved from destruction by a curator of the Louvre. Rohan forgets this story as he becomes famous but ten years later, visiting Paris, he takes the occasion to try and locate the painting. Little does he know how violently powerful the curse of it is until he has the museum unearth it from deep within its archival bowels…”

Rohan at the Louvre is also available to purchase online at Amazon.ca. It was listed in this month’s Diamond Previews for ordering into your local comic store. The title is also available to purchase in French and you can see interior preview pages on the Amazon product webpage.

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Manga

Digital Manga Gifts With New License – Secretary’s Job

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, December 26, 2011

1 Comment »

Digital Manga announced a new title license for their print line earlier this week, just in time to head off for holiday vacation – Miki Araya’s Secretary’s Job. It’s a one-shot title by the creator of Digital Manga’s previously released I’ll Be Your Slave. There are no further details on the imprint or release date, but it’ll likely be under the June line based on Miki Araya’s previous title.

Secretary’s Job is about a “legendary secretary” who is assigned to the son of a company’s president. An office romance springs from a sudden kiss. Also included in the book is another short story titled ‘Fried Rice’. The book was originally published in Japan this past September.

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Licensing
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, June

Kuriousity Reviewers In and On The Coast

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, December 23, 2011

2 Comments »

The Coast is a local free paper published weekly here in my home-city of Halifax, Nova Scotia. It’s “independent and locally owned”, publishing every thing from local news, editorials, reviews and entertainment schedules, not to mention a bevy of ads that I love for always letting me know about fun local businesses I wouldn’t otherwise discover.

Recently I began writing reviews for the paper and my first was published in this week’s edition. The Coast is available to read digitally with its full print layout online and in blog-like format, where you can directly read my review of Osamu Tezuka’s Princess Knight. Writing in the shorter format has been a great exercise and I’m eager to share more of my favourite titles with fellow Haligonians.

Fellow Kuriousity writer, Shannon Fay, has been writing and reviewing for The Coast for a couple years now. Her reviews have recommended plenty of great manga titles to our local comic-loving populous. You can read her reviews online at The Coast’s website as well:

GoGo Monster
Solanin
Saturn Apartments (Vol. 01)
Black Blizzard
Peepo Choo (Vol.01)
Not Love But Delicious Food Makes Me So Happy!
A Drunken Dream
No Touching At All
La Quinta Camera: The Fifth Room
A Bride’s Story(Vol. 01)

Bakuman and Wandering Son also made her picks for Top 11 Books of 2011.

From now on I’ll be doing occasional round up of reviews by Shannon and I as they’re published in The Coast. If you’re in the Halifax area, I hope you pick up copies of the print edition and enjoy all the local literary flavour!

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Misc, Reviews
Tags: Bakuman, Canada, Manga, Natsume Ono, Omnibus, Osamu Tezuka, The Coast

SuBLimeManga.com Launches Website and Adds a New Title

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, December 22, 2011

No Comments »

Just as promised when news of their existence was announced, SuBLime has launched their website this week. No titles are yet available to purchase but they have release dates listed for their first four titles due out January 31, 2011.

I really like the website’s design – simple, fast-loading and quite visually cute while simultaneously rather classy. There’s a newsletter you can sign up for, as well as registration for the site itself which will allow you to comment and purchase and download the digital editions when they’re available. The forum is currently marked as ‘Coming Soon’.

Tonight SuBLime also announced a new title – Iwamoto Kaoru and Fuwa Shinri’s Yebisu Celebrities. The first volume was originally released by BeBeautiful back in 2007. SuBLime will be releasing this five volume series digital-only, starting in March 2012. The story takes places at a design firm, one where only the talented and attractive are allowed, as the new part-timer catches his boss’s eye. As part of the new license, SuBLime will be doing some related giveaways in January when the staff returns from holiday vacation.

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Licensing, Misc, News
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Manga, SuBLime

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – December 21, 2011

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, December 22, 2011

No Comments »

It’s the last comic shipping day before Christmas! The next couple of weeks are typically a little wonky in regards to shipping. While the manga load is light this week it sports some especially ‘NEED NOW!’ titles to make the trip to your local comic or book store just as worthwhile. You can see the list over at my On The Shelf article at OtakuUSA.

Fullmetal Alchemist (Vol. 27) is the big one – the final volume of the series! I’ve had the book for about a month now thanks to Viz Media’s FMA boxset released in November. I’m so eager for manga fans to get a hold of this book and to hear their thoughts of the end. It’s one of my favourite manga titles and I think it ended near-perfectly. Faith Erin Hicks – awesome artist, friend and the woman responsible for introducing me to the glories of Fullmetal Alchemist – wrote a great post about the importance of stories ending after she read volume twenty-seven.

I’m also really eager to buy the newest volume of XXXHolic – still one of my favourite CLAMP titles. The last couple of volumes in particular have been chockful of so much extra eye-candy that it’ll be hard to not just stand there at Strange Adventures and oogle every page.

Share on Tumblr

Categories: News, On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: CLAMP, Del Rey, Fullmetal Alchemist, Kodansha Comics, Manga, Otaku USA, Viz Media, Yen Press

Review: Dawn of the Arcana (Vol. 01)

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, December 19, 2011

1 Comment »

Manga-ka: Rei Toma
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: December 2011

Synopsis: “Princess Nakaba of Senan is forced to marry Prince Caesar of the enemy country Belquat, tantamount to becoming a hostage. While Caesar is pleasing to the eye, he is also selfish and possessive, telling Nakaba outright: “You are my property.” With only her attendant Loki at her side, Nakaba must find a way to cope with her hostile surroundings, her fake marriage… and a mysterious power!”

When a ‘red-hair’ Princess is forced to marry the Prince from a neighbouring country in a bout of political play, Nakaba finds herself in unwelcoming territory of her country’s opposing nation. With her dependable friend and servant, Loki, at her side, Nakaba must maintain her native-country pride and survive. Determined as she may be, however, her efforts to stand firm are marred by a story that pits her against genre-trope odds to disappointing result.

PR: Viz Media Releases One Piece Color Walk Vol. 2 Art Book

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, December 16, 2011

No Comments »

JOIN THE STRAW HAT PIRATES AND DIVE INTO THE ARTWORK OF EIICHIRO ODA IN THE NEW ONE PIECE COLOR WALK VOL. 2 FROM VIZ MEDIA

New Full Color Art Book Features Illustrations From The Bestselling Manga Series Of All Time And Includes Works Never Seen Before Outside Japan

San Francisco, CA, December 15, 2011 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in North America, has announced the release of a new collection of manga (graphic novel) creator Eiichiro Oda’s artwork from the bestselling pirate adventure, ONE PIECE, with the publication of the ONE PIECE COLOR WALK Vol. 2 on January 3, 2011. The new art book is rated ‘T’ for Teens and will carry an MSRP of $19.99 U.S. / $22.99 CAN.

Color images and special illustrations from one of the world’s most popular manga are offered in this vivid new art collection. The book features behind-the-scenes info on how certain characters were designed and also includes an interview with Eiichiro Oda where he discusses his history and evolution as a manga artist. The book also includes a bonus postcard and in-bound full-color poster!

In the ONE PIECE manga series (rated ‘T’ for Teens), Monkey D. Luffy is inspired as a child to become a pirate by listening to the tales of the buccaneer “Red-Haired” Shanks. But Luffy’s life changes forever when he accidentally eats the cursed Gum-Gum fruit, and gains the power to stretch like rubber – but at the cost of never being able to swim again! Years later, still vowing to become the king of the pirates, Luffy sets out on an epic adventure… One guy alone in a rowboat, in search of the legendary “One Piece,” said to be the greatest treasure in the world.

Fallen Words Picked Up By Drawn & Quarterly

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, December 13, 2011

No Comments »

AnimeNewsNetwork has confirmed with Drawn & Quarterly that the company will be releasing a new Yoshihiro Tatsumi collection of short stories titled Fallen Words. A listing for the book originally popped up on Amazon.ca, followed shortly there-after by Amazon.com.

“In Fallen Words, Yoshihiro Tatsumi takes up the oral tradition of rakugo and breathes new life into it by shifting the format from spoken word to manga. Each of the eight stories in the collection is lifted from the Edo-era Japanese storytelling form. As Tatsumi notes in the afterword, the world of rakugo, filled with mystery, emotion, revenge, hope, and, of course, love, overlaps perfectly with the world of Gekiga that he has spent the better part of his life developing.”

News of a fresh Yoshihiro Tatsumi license comes with perfect timing for me – I just finished his one-shot Black Blizzard and revisited his sprawling and wonderful, A Drifting Life. Both are different kinds of stories but each left me wanting more of the creator’s work. You can expect I’ll be picking up this new book when it’s released this Spring.

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Drawn and Quarterly, Yoshihiro Tatsumi

Digital Manga Imprint Shifts with Starry☆Sky to DMP

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, December 11, 2011

2 Comments »

Following up on recent news of Digital Manga licensing Starry☆Sky, the company’s website has now been updated to show the series is being released under their Digital Manga Publishing line. Originally the site’s listing had the title being published in their boys’ love imprint, June.

Starry☆Sky now joins Digital Manga’s other series such as Itazura na Kiss and The Beautiful Skies of Houou High, which seem much more suiting company to this series about a girl pined after by a group of attractive young men in private school. The book’s cover image has also been replaced with a new look sporting the recent DMPBooks cover design instead of the ‘Yaoi Manga’ sidebar it was posted with previously.

Fans of the series were confused over what seemed like Digital Manga’s original decision to release the title as a boys’ love series. Whether a mistake or a change of heart, this switch-up looks like a much better fit and should appease Starry☆Sky‘s fans and those who like having faith they’ll get boys’ love in their BL.

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, DMP, Manga