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Author Archive for Lissa Pattillo

Swag Bag – Avatar and Attorneys

Swag Bag

It’s swag bag time! Purchases have been light these past couple weeks after an enjoyably hefty purchase stack last time but there’s still some highly recommendable goodies!

First up are two of my top favourite running series – 20th Century Boys (Vol. 15) and Black Jack (Vol. 14). I can always count on both to be consistantly entertaining and these new volumes were no exceptions. 20th Century Boys in particular always make me want a manga book-group or something of the sort here in Halifax – this is a series that demands discussion! And darn that Urasawa, the man can make a cliffhanger.

From Viz Media I picked up the newest volume of Bakuman (Vol. 05) which continues to be excessively wordy and flounders on decent main character interaction BUT manages to be fun and educational all the same. I find myself actually excited for the new volumes, especially since they’ve been getting better with each book (granted volume one definitely wasn’t hard to top).

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Vol. 01)Looking to start something new, I bought the first volume of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney by Kodansha Comics. I’ve never played the games and my knowledge of the story ends at people yelling ‘Objection!’, so it’ll be interesting to see how I find the manga edition.

Next, though not manga it definitely has it’s share of crossover interest: Dark Horse has released a huge collection of short Avatar: The Last Airbender comics in a full-colour book called Avatar: The Lost Adventures. I’ve been waiting a long time for something like this to come out so I literally ran to Strange Adventures to buy my copy – worth every penny and then some! Both the art and the writing is fantastic, very true to the original story with lots of humour – highly recommended!

And last but certainly not least, something else not manga related but still awesome – a Tardis Cookie Jar! Oh yes. I’ve recently gotten hooked to the new seasons of Doctor Who and after marathoning all six new seasons in two weeks, I couldn’t resist buying this when I saw it. It’s big, it’s blue and it lights up and makes that Tardis sound, you know the one. It’s so cute, I love it :)

So what was in your swag bag this week?


Cover Watch: Wild Adapter

Cover Watch - Wild Adapter

Welcome to the first edition of Cover Watch – a new feature I’m starting here on Kuriousity. These posts will be write-ups about one of my favourite aspects of the manga industry: the graphic design! And most specifically, the covers. Sometimes I’ll be sharing older titles with designs I really like and remember; other times I’ll just be showing off some of the new covers posted online. One cover, two cover, eight covers – who knows!

As they say, you can’t judge a book by its cover, but you can definitely be turned on or away by it. Personally I love oogling the artwork and layouts of manga covers as they’re posted online. Even more so when I get the physical copies in hand to see how it all looks on the front, back and spine together.

This first post will be about Wild Adapter as it coincides with the currently running Manga Moveable Feast theme. The MMF is a collaboration between bloggers who want to get involved where all the participants share discussion and reviews about the month’s chosen series. I highly recommend checking these out for some really interesting and in-depth looks at different manga, often times for series that haven’t gotten as much attention as they deserve.

That said – onto the covers!

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Viz Media with BL, Birthdays and a Baked-Good Puppy

Viz Media - BL, Birthdays and a Baked-Good Puppy

Some Viz Media news of note today including, well, just as the title suggests – some BL, birthdays and a baked-good puppy!

Viz Media is celebrating its 25th birthday this year (proving that awesome people and things were indeed born in 1986 – completely irrelevant it’s my birth year also). They have a mini-hub set up that’s updated with news relevant to the milestone – Viz Media: 25 Years! News so far on the site includes, among other things, their 2011 summer convention schedule:

April 22-24 Sakura-Con Seattle, WA
May 27-30 Fanimecon San Jose, CA
June 10–12 A-kon Dallas, TXA
July 1-4 Anime Expo Los Angeles, CA
July 21-24 San Diego Comic Con San Diego, CA
July 29-31 Otakon Baltimore, MD

Congrats on the birthday, Viz Media! May you have many more – and any chance we’ll see you on the East Coast at NYAF for well-wishes in person?

Noted by Viz Media staffer, Alexis Kirsch, on their Twitter page (and caught by eagle-eyed, Andre!) – Viz Media has licensed the manga series Cinnamoroll starring the character of the same name. Cinnamoroll is a Sanrio (company responsible for iconic characters such as Hello Kitty) character: a white puppy with long ears (that he uses to fly) and a little cinnamon bun shaped tail. No doubt the manga will be adorable and as sugary sweet as the baked goods that apparently drew Cinnamoroll from… wherever he came from.

Viz Media’s Job page has updated with four new job listings, but one in particular immediately caught the eyes of many – Editor (Yaoi/BL).

“The Editor (Yaoi/BL) is responsible for property acquisitions, executing print and digital publication production, and managing relationships with licensors and business partners in order to establish and grow VIZ Media’s line of mature content titles. …Knowledge of yaoi/BL genre and market, and ability to work on adult-oriented materials A MUST”

With Viz Media seeking an editor for the genre, it seems fairly safe to assume  the manga-mecha company will be delving into some BL publishing. It’s exciting news and bears a lot of promise for boys’ love fans. It could do well filling the little gap that BLU’s demise has left by adding back some more BL titles on the shelves. Plus Viz Media’s wide distribution, which TP was always very similar to,  means they may be easier to find than similar  niche titles often are.

What boys’love titles would you like to see Viz Media license? The first that came to my mind was Sakuragari – a dark, boys’ love story by Yuu Watase (since they’re released almost everything else of hers). Ideas anyone? And don’t hesitate to let Viz Media know through Twitter – they’re always listening!


Review: Rasetsu (Vol. 09)

Rasetsu (Vol. 09)
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Manga-ka: Chika Shiomi
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: June 2011

Synopsis: “When the evil spirit shows up on Rasetsu’s birthday as promised, Rasetsu and her friends engage in a final showdown against it. Will Rasetsu be able to defeat her demon and live? Or will this birthday be her last?”

Speaking honestly, this ninth and final volume of Rasetsu was my first experience with the series. I never have a problem with jumping into a series mid-way – I think it can be a lot of fun prodding around the plot and characters when the story’s already in full-swing. The end of a series though is something that’s less easily justified to start and usually far more difficult to digest. One look in this book was enough to intrigue me however – a series drawn with strong lines and heavy blacks that immediately makes it stand out from most shoujo series. Toss in the fact the story is about psychics battling demonic spirits and I had to give Rasetsu a go, finale or not.

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PR: Viz Media Releases Face Crushing Action of Tenjo Tenge

VIZ MEDIA RELEASES THE FACE-CRUSHING ACTION OF TENJO TENGE MANGA SERIES IN JUNE

Welcome to Todo High – Home of the Toughest Student Brawlers and Sexiest Badass Babes in High School History

San Francisco, CA, June 15, 2011 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in North America, brings gnarly, knuckle-busting action to readers with the release of the manga (graphic novel) series, TENJO TENGE, on June 21st, created by Oh!great. The debut volume features 16 full-color pages and a selection of alternate color cover images. TENJO TENGE will be published by the VIZ Signature imprint, is rated ‘M’ for Mature Audiences, and will carry an MSRP of $17.99 U.S. / $21.00 CAN.

Welcome to Todo High, where the only rule is: get strong or get schooled.

Soichiro Nagi and Bob Makihara have always been the meanest street brawlers around. When they enter Todo High they plan on carving out a reputation as the strongest fighters in their new school – easier said than done in a place that’s dedicated to training its students in the art of combat! After realizing they’re the new fish swimming in a tank full of sharks, Soichiro and Bob enter the Juken fight club as rookie members. However, the Executive Council – the archrival of the Juken Club – soon launches a surprise attack. Soichiro and Bob have a chance to show their stuff, as long as they don’t get curb-kicked in the process!

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Mangatime at Animaritime 2011

Animaritime 2011

The pre-con Kuriousity blank periods are upon us – sorry for the blip of blog-silence there! At least it’s the best reason for missing writing time – East Coast Canada’s anime/manga/gaming convention Animaritime 2011 is only two weeks away! As a staff member, I join the rest of the small but dedicated crew as we put the final touches on the 3-day event before it hits on Canada Day this July. The event takes place in Moncton, New Brunswick.

This year’s event has a great manga line-up including the appearance of one of our special guests – Vertical Inc‘s marketing director, Ed Chavez! I hope he has fun at our humble but lively convention; we’re very happy to have him :)

For the manga-fans, here’s a sneak-peek at our manga-related line-up this year:

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PR: Viz Manga App Adds Six New Digital Manga Titles for June

VIZ MANGA APP ADDS SIX NEW DIGITAL MANGA TITLES FOR THE iPAD, iPHONE AND iPOD TOUCH FOR JUNE

Latest Additions Complement Growing Library Of Titles Available Digitally; SMILE: PRAY FOR JAPAN Vols. 3-4 Also Debut

VIZ Media, the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in North America, will launch six new manga (graphic novel) series during June that will be offered for digital download within the VIZ MANGA APP for the Apple iPad™, iPhone™ and iPod™ Touch. Also debuting are Vols. 3 and 4 of Takehiko Inoue’s SMILE: PRAY FOR JAPAN illustrations, with all VIZ Media proceeds donated to the Japanese Red Cross to aid vicitims affected by the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

Scheduled to make their North American digital debuts today are the shojo dramas of BACKSTAGE PRINCE and THE STORY OF SAIUNKOKU. More shojo fun follows on June 20th with the launch of DENGEKI DAISY and AI ORE!, along with the critically acclaimed CROSS GAME. Finally, June 27th sees the debut of the lush and contemplative CHILDREN OF THE SEA. Updates to 22 other popular VIZ Media digital manga series are also scheduled.

The VIZ MANGA APP is now available for free for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch devices through the iTunes® Store, and all manga volumes are generally available for purchase and download in the U.S. and Canada from within the application for only $4.99 (U.S. / CAN) per volume.

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Review: Butterflies, Flowers (Vol. 07)

Butterflies, Flowers (Vol. 07)

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

Synopsis: “Choko Kuze is in a relationship with Masayuki Domoto her current boss and former servant. Now that Masayuki’s ex-girlfriend Kaori has returned, Choko worries that the villianess has too many “hit points” and “magic points” for her to defeat. Choko follows Masayuki and Kaori to a hotel room and barges in unannounced, yet finds herself unprepared for the shocking scene in front of her.”

Butterflies, Flowers volumes have consistently been one of my most-anticipated since the series began. Despite some iffy aspects of an initially one-sided relationship, I fell in love with the adult humour. Anime-related puns, sexual gags and an over-the-top male lead who never failed to react in a way that had you reeling. Now we’re seven volumes in and… I’m not really laughing anymore.

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Review: Black Bird (Vol. 08)

Black Bird (Vol. 08)
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Manga-ka: Kanoko Sakurakoji
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: May 2011

Synopsis: “Raiko, the demon hunter who has been staying at Misao’s house, is determined to save her–even if that’s the last thing she wants! Kyo won’t allow a threat to Misao to go unchecked and plans to take care of the problem in his own special way. Misao, however, hopes that she can broker a peace between Raiko and Kyo before things get out of hand. But when Raiko’s attempts to “free” Misao fail, he hatches a devious new plan that will use Misao’s bond with Kyo to destroy him!”

Raiko has become one of the biggest obstacles in Black Bird as the demons remain rightfully wary of him. Meanwhile Misao struggles to live calmly under the same roof as someone who wants to kill her boyfriend. At this point in the story we’re just waiting for the obvious and this volume feels like one of the most cliched and predictable of the batch. It still manages to wring out some drama but you need to suspend a lot of belief and try to enjoy the show despite easily guessing much of what’s going to happen next.

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Digital Manga Launches Hentai Imprint – Project H

Digital Manga Launches Project H

A few months back listings for some hentai titles popped up on Amazon under Digital Manga‘s 18+ boys’ love imprint: 801Media. With the website‘s promised overhaul delayed, it didn’t seem too far-fetched to assume the entire imprint was undergoing a little transformation. Not a far stretch going from BL porn to hetero porn, right?

Digital Manga couldn’t comment on the listings then but today the books’ appearance on RightStuf comes with a new publisher name, revealing Digital Manga’s newest imprint (warning adult content!): Project H!

A company representative has since confirmed the imprint which will have an official launch later this month. If it doesn’t already speak well enough for itself, the imprint will be a collection of adult hentai manga. My thanks to Digital Manga for answering my request for comment aboutProject H – best of luck with the launch and new titles!

The three launch titles, all one-shots, are:

Shocking Pink! – Riosuke Yasui
Three P – Hiroshi Itaba
Embrace & Bloom – Kuon Michiyoshi

Shocking Pink and Three P are currently listed with release dates late-August. The imprint currently has a placeholder on its website at projecth-books.com. They also already have a Twitter account set-up: @projectHBooks. The imprint, according to Digital Manga, will be “powered by 801Media and distributed by 801Media”. The original hints tie-in!

So what do you think? Is this a smart move by Digital Manga? Hard to argue that porn isn’t a strong seller! I’ll definitely be picking up at least one of these three launch titles when they come out – one, to sate my curiousity, and two, because my humble hentai collection could use some companions on their tiny shelf :)


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