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Author Archive for Lissa Pattillo

PR: Viz Media Announces New Shoujo – Dawn of the Arcana

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, December 10, 2011

VIZ MEDIA ANNOUNCES THE LAUNCH OF NEW SHOJO MANGA SERIES DAWN OF THE ARCANA

A Princess Uses Her Power to Make a Difference in New Fantasy Romance Series

San Francisco, CA, December 7, 2011 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in North America, has announced the release of the manga (graphic novel) series, DAWN OF THE ARCANA, by Rei Toma. The brand new title, available now, is published under the company’s Shojo Beat imprint, is rated ‘T’ for Teens, and carries an MSRP of $9.99 U.S. / $12.99 CAN.

In DAWN OF THE ARCANA, 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!

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Categories: Press Releases
Tags: Dawn of the Arcana, Viz Media

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – December 7, 2011

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, December 7, 2011

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It’s like Christmas come early with release weeks like this – a whole bunch of must-have manga titles! My top pick goes to Princess Knight (Vol. 02) but Blood Alone (Vol. 05) and a slew of Viz Media titles aren’t far behind it.

You can read the full list of titles shipping out this week, along with my usual random synopsis and price-noting, over at my On The Shelf article at Otaku USA.

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Categories: News, Release Lists
Tags: Kodansha Comics, Manga, Seven Seas, Vertical Inc, Viz Media

Review: Tokyo Mew Mew (Vol. 01)

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, December 1, 2011

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Author: Reiko Yoshida
Manga-ka: Mia Ikumi
Publisher: Kodansha Comics
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: October 2011

Synopsis: “On her first date with the cutest boy in school, Ichigo is exposed to a mysterious ray that meshes her DNA with that of the endangered Iriomote wildcat. She soon discovers that she has developed super-human abilities and enhanced agility. Her new powers are put to the rest when she leads a team with four other girls, each endowed with special abilities of their own. Together, they must now protect the Earth from an alien menace known as Deep Blue.”

Tokyo Mew Mew comes on the coat tails of Kodansha’s release of Sailor Moon, offering another magical girl story for those eager for another fix. The premises between the series are similar – five girls are all granted special powers that transform them into warriors sporting cute little short-skirt outfits and oddly worded attack names. They’re charged with the duty of protecting the Earth from evil, which in Tokyo Mew Mew‘s case is a group of aliens out to destroy the Earth’s environment by possessing animals.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Kodansha Comics, Manga

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – November 30, 2011

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, November 30, 2011

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It’s Wednesday! And the fifth Wednesday in the month too, that’s an extra week of new comics. You can see the list of new manga out over at my On The Shelf article for Otaku USA.

The big titles out today are the long-awaited new volume of MPD Psycho from Dark Horse, and the seventeenth and final volume of Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack from Vertical Inc. I may very well cry when I finish that one – it’s never easy when one of your favourites comes to an end!

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Categories: On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: Black Jack, Dark Horse, DMP, Kodansha Comics, Manga, Manhwa, Osamu Tezuka, Otaku USA, Vertical Inc, Yen Press

PR: New D.GRAY-MAN ILLUSTRATIONS: NOCHE Coming Soon!

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, November 30, 2011

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VIZ MEDIA ANNOUNCES THE RELEASE OF
D.GRAY-MAN ILLUSTRATIONS: NOCHE

New Full-Color Art Book Features The Memorable Work Of Series Creator Katsura Hoshino And Includes A Double-Sided Poster,
Artist Interviews And More!

San Francisco, CA, November 29, 2011 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in North America, will delight manga (graphic novel) art fans with the release of D.GRAY-MAN ILLUSTRATIONS: NOCHE on December 6th. The new art book arrives just in time for the holidays and will carry an MSRP of $21.99 U.S. / $25.99 CAN.

Enter the lavish fictional 19th century world of D.GRAY-MAN in this new collection featuring nearly 100 pages of full-color character art, magazine covers, and other original compositions by series creator Katsura Hoshino. Also featured are insightful Q&A’s between Hoshino and two manga creators that inspire her: Takeshi Obata, the artist behind HIKARU NO GO, BAKUMAN｡, and the smash hit DEATH NOTE (all published in North America by VIZ Media); and Osamu Akimoto, whose manga series, Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen Mae Hashutsujo, has been serialized in the best-selling boy’s manga magazine in the world, Weekly Shonen Jump, for 35 years and remains the magazine’s longest-running manga series. D.GRAY-MAN ILLUSTRATIONS: NOCHE also includes an exclusive, double-sided full-color poster.

Set in a fictional version of 19th century England, D.GRAY-MAN (published by VIZ Media’s SHONEN JUMP ADVANCED imprint; rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens) is the story of Allen Walker, a 15-year-old boy who roams the earth in search of Innocence. Washed away to unknown parts of the world after The Great Flood, Innocence is the mysterious substance used to create weapons that obliterate demons known as akuma.

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Categories: Press Releases
Tags: Viz Media

Review: Butterflies, Flowers (Vol. 08)

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, November 27, 2011

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Manga-ka: Yuki Yoshiara
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: November 2011

Synopsis: “Choko Kuze is in a relationship with Masayuki Domoto, her current boss and former servant. Their relationship has withstood interference from the Senior Director as well as Masayuki’s ex-girlfriend. But now Choko is facing an arranged marriage by her father, and Masayuki is doing nothing to stop it…?!”

I can see how this ending is supposed to signify some big turn of the table, a testament to how far the couple has come. That Choko is the one who spends page after page chasing after Masayuki with marriage papers was definitely something, showcasing that their relationship, after seven volumes of ‘growing’, is still decided by one side’s incessant demands. Could it be they haven’t really come very far at all..!?

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Butterflies Flowers, Manga, Shoujo Beat, Viz Media

Where’s the (Boys) Love – Digital Manga Licenses Starry Sky

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, November 25, 2011

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Digital Manga’s newsletter came out yesterday, re-confirming their license of My Cute Crossdresser and listing another title, Starry☆Sky. The first volume of the series is due out in April 2012.

Starry☆Sky is a manga series based on a visual novel game of the same name published in Japan. It’s one of several manga adaptations of the story which follows a girl entering a private school that was until recently an all boys’ school. Over time she makes friends with a group of boys who’re based on the Western zodiac and romance ensues.

Starry☆Sky seems like an odd choice for releasing as a June book, similar to what I thought when I first saw My Cute Crossdresser licensed for Project-H. My confusion wasn’t helped by the genre listing of ‘shonen’ on Digital Manga’s website. This manga series was originally released in a magazine, Comic B’s-Log Kyun, that publishes shoujo series. Some of them look to have some BL-implication – such as a version of Togainu no Chi – but none implicitly boys’ love in nature. With that in mind, plus that it’s based on a shoujo girl-is-surrounded-by-a-harem-of-young-men-who-could-love-her game, is Starry☆Sky being published under their June line for actual BL content or just having a high pretty boy count?

Update (11/12/2011): Digital Manga has switched Starry☆Sky‘s imprint to DMP.

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

Review: Afterschool Charisma (Vol. 04)

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, November 24, 2011

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Manga-ka: Kumiko Suekane
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: October 2011

Synopsis: “St. Kleio Academy is a very exclusive school. To enroll, a student must be the clone of a historical figure. Wolfgang Mozart, Queen Elizabeth, Sigmund Freud, Marie Curie, Adolf Hitler – with such a combustible student body, it’s only a matter of time before the campus explodes! – Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) – British nurse who made tremendous contributions to the modern nursing system.”

The violence and dark drama of volume three really surprised me, and to my surprise yet again, volume four has taken things a step even further. More characters lose their lives in the attack against St. Kleio Academy and more come face to face with other clones. As the previous generation of clones goes up against their newest incarnations, their individual motivations are a mystery. Some feel they’re doing them a favour, others seek their salvation. The big questions remain – who brought all these clones together and what is their true goal? And what does that mean for the survivors?

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Afterschool Charisma, Manga, Viz Media

Project-H Teases with Traps with New License

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, November 23, 2011

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Digital Manga added some new books to their website this week. Among them was a new one-shot book they’ve named My Cute Crossdresser. It’s a hentai title being released under their Project-H imprint. The book is scheduled for release in April 2012 at $17.95/US and 19.99/CAN.

My Cute Crossdresser is a collection of four one-shot stories plus one longer story that lasts three chapters. As the name and cover suggests, the book contains some cute teenage boys dressing in cute little school uniforms, among other things. It’s a trap! Just the kind you’ve been warned about in advance.

I was surprised at first to see this kind of hentai title released under Project-H with the previous three books having the more ‘typical’ hentai look to them. You know, girls and boobs. I’m certainly not denying the diversity in the hentai genre (porn for everybody!) but didn’t expect to see a cross dressing story like this out in English. Then again with Digital Manga’s Doki Doki “the gateway between shojo to yaoi”, this new license seems like it could be an entertaining gateway between their hentai and yaoi imprints. As a buyer of both genres, you can bet I’ll be ordering it!

You can get a bit more info about My Cute Crossdresser and view interior preview pages at its Amazon.jp purchase page. The English edition isn’t yet available to pre-order. My thanks to J.R. Brown for finding the Amazon Japan listing.

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

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – November 23, 2011

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, November 23, 2011

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Halifax is having its first snow of the year today and it’s hitting hard! Stores are closed and transit is slowed or stopped – not very good conditions for getting out to buy new manga. It is a great day to sit at home in a cozy pair of PJs and enjoy a stack of manga you already have though (you know, even more so than usual!).

Sailor Moon (Vol. 02) and Codename: Sailor V (Vol. 02) are the two big titles out this week, the latter of which comes to an end as the storyline merges with Sailor Moon. If you’re reading them both, be sure to read Sailor V first! I’m also really eager to pick up a copy of Saturn Apartments (Vol. 04) and see if I can finally find a copy of Project H’s first title, Shocking Pink! now that it’s on the open market.

You can read the complete list of titles out on the shelf this week at my (aptly named) On The Shelf article over at Otaku USA.

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