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Posts Tagged 20th Century Boys

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – October 5, 2011

On The Shelf - October 5, 2011

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.


Swag Bag: Samurai, Incubus, Rabbits and Tyrants

Swag Bag

My bedroom is finally under control! A week of vacation as I transition to a new job plus a very release-heavy month, not to mention a few trips to my local library, have ensured every inch of my desk, floor and shelves were littered with material waiting to be read and watched. Upside to cleaning your room at least is there’s almost always something you’ll discover  you haven’t read yet, or perhaps just want to revisit.  Naturally among the now organized chaos are a bunch of the things I bought this past week:

For my birthday I received a gift card to Chapters. While I avoid buying from there in-store (too expensive!), their online prices are still pretty good, especially for the more niche material and some harder to find titles. Thus, it was just that I filled my digital shopping cart with.

Mister Mistress (Vol. 01)Boys’ love made up the bulk of my online purchase with my most eagerly awaited purchase being the hardcopy edition of Digital Manga‘s Rabbit Man, Tiger Man (Vol. 01). Second to that fun and charming tale of yakuza/doctor love, was Tyrant Who Falls In Love (Vol. 03). Never enough Hinako Takanaga on the bookshelves! Even Yen Press had some boys’ love to offer me with Tale of the Waning Moon (Vol. 02) and I picked up an older title I missed from Deux Press called Mister Mistress (Vol. 01). It’s almost unfortunate I enjoyed it so much since volume two is looking very tricky to find.

Using up the last pennies of my credit, I bought One Pound Gospel (Vol. 04) which is the end of the series. On the other end of series collection, I bought Descendants of Darkness (Vol. 01) which finishes off my collection of that series as well.

Next up it was into my local comic store, Strange Adventures, where I picked up the new releases (which if you’re curious about the complete recent lists for, check out my Otaku USA articles, On The Shelf). Viz Media dominated my purchasing stack, which I suppose by now should stop seeming like an anomaly.

I was really excited to get my hands on Kaze Hikaru (Vol. 19) – it’s one of my favourite series but there’s a long wait between books. It’s a really long series too so I’m always worried Viz Media will drop it. Everyone buy the series so this doesn’t happen! It’s really charming and wonderfully drawn.

Pokemon Adventures (Vol. 14)Also in the pile of awesome swag was 20th Century Boys (Vol. 16), Otomen (Vol. 11), Tenjo Tenge (Vol. 02) and Natsume’s Book of Friends (Vol. 08). A pleasant surprise was the size of Pokemon Adventures (Vol. 14). It’s notably thicker than past volumes and works really well with the content considering it’s the huge climax of all the plot lines coming together since volume one. Pokemon and trainers everywhere!

And lastly, to make my shopping bags all the heavier, a got a few volumes of manga from the library. Looking for something lighthearted and fluff-heavy, I borrowed Fall In Love Like A Comic (Vol. 01). A really fun discovery though was Saint Young Men (Vol. 01-03). I can’t read Japanese but that didn’t stop me from borrowing the books so I can oogle the amusing pictures and hope all the more someone licenses it. Buddha and Jesus living together in an apartment – how could you not be curious?

That was my Swag Bag this week – what about you?


Otaku USA: On The Shelf – August 17, 2011

Otaku USA: On The Shelf - August 17

Wednesday is upon us again! New comics time, it’s a beautiful thing. This week new manga releases are represented in full by Viz Media and Yen Press. You can check out the full list over in my On The Shelf article at Otaku USA.

My top pick for this week is Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys (Vol. 16) from Viz Media:

“Hands down the book I’m most eager for is 20th Century Boys (Vol. 16)—after the short epilogue-esque chapter at the end of volume 15, I’ll be diving atop that book as soon as it’s unpacked. A certain main character has some explaining to do amidst all the world-altering biological warfare.”


PR: Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys Wins a 2011 Eisner Award

VIZ MEDIA’S NAOKI URASAWA’S 20th CENTURY BOYS
WINS A 2011 EISNER AWARD

Manga Masterpiece Recognized With The Comic Book Industry’s Most Prestigious Award

San Francisco, CA, July 28, 2011 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in North America, is proud to announce that NAOKI URASAWA’S 20th CENTURY BOYS was recognized with an Eisner Award in the Best U.S. Edition of International Material – Asia category during award ceremonies held at the recent Comic-Con International event in San Diego, CA. NAOKI URASAWA’S 20th CENTURY BOYS is published in North America by VIZ Media’s Signature imprint. Volume 17 of the series will be released in August.

20th CENTURY BOYS is the story of a group of boys who try to save the world. Humanity, having faced extinction at the end of the 20th century, would not have entered the new millennium if it weren’t for them. In 1969, during their youth, they created a symbol. In 1997, as the coming disaster slowly starts to unfold, that symbol returns.

For Kenji, a simple convenience store manager who once dreamed of becoming a rock ‘n’ roll musician, a host of memories from his past come rushing back when one of his childhood friends mysteriously commits suicide. Could this new death be related to the rise of a bizarre new cult that’s been implicated in several other murders and disappearances? Determined to dig deeper, Kenji reunites with some of his old buddies in the hope of learning the truth behind it all.

Read more…


SDCC 2011: It’s All About the Digital

SDCC2011

San Diego Comic Con 2011 is in its final hours today so its round-up time! As the biggest pop-culture convention of its kind, there were many bloggers on site to record all the details, so, while here on Kuriousity I’ll just be giving the brief run down of manga-related news, I’ll also be giving select links of where you can go to learn more.

Digital was the biggest news of the year. For everyone’s benefit, I’ll forgo my usual sad sighs and short rambles at the trend of more digital and less paper and skip right to summing up the news!

Edit (July 25th): More info re: Viz Media’s licenses added

Read more…


Review: 20th Century Boys (Vol. 15)

20th Century Boys (Vol. 15)
Buy From Amazon.ca!Buy From Amazon.com!

Manga-ka: Naoki Urasawa
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: June 2011

Synopsis: “Around the globe, the mysterious and deadly virus continues to spread as the death toll mounts. However, Kanna, Otcho and Yoshitsune have another concern: despite what is being reported in the media, several people have claimed to see the Friend alive and walking the streets of Tokyo. But what does this bode for the pope’s visit to Japan and the 2015 World Exposition in Tokyo? “

One of my favourite parts of 20th Century Boys is how it comes at the plot from numerous different angles. The opening chapter of this fifteenth volume follows a priest in mourning over the death of his mentor. What begins as the task of going through the deceased Priest’s research, turns into Brother Luciano uncovering the new book of a prophecy and a plot to assassinate the Pope. How this brings the story full-circle back to Kanna and the others in Japan is another example of what makes this series such an addicting read.

Read more…


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?


Swag Bag: Bittersweet, Baseball and Butlers

Another week, another round of shiny new manga purchases! Hard to believe it’s already nearing the end of April, especially with chilly days like today. The rain at least I was expecting. My thanks as always to my phenomenal local comic shop, Strange Adventures, for always having the newest books rain or shine.

My two bittersweet purchases of the week were Shinobi Life (Vol. 07) and Silver Diamond (Vol. 09) – two series that still have a number of volumes until their completion and now we’re unlikely to ever see them in English. It comforts me a little that I’ve found Silver Diamond severely lacking for the last few volumes but I’m still really curious how it manages to go for another 15+ volumes. This volume of Shinobi Life left me a bit disappointed too but it’s still one of the most enjoyable shoujos I’ve read in a long while – time-travelling ninjas in love!

Viz Media dominated my purchase bag this week with four new books. First and quickest to my bag was Cross Game (Vol. 03). Having already read it, I can attest to the fact it’s fantastic. I was a little let down by volume two, but volume three completely renewed the faith I had in the series after finishing the first book. Amazing stuff. 20th Century Boys (Vol. 14) was also a given. The series is dragging on a bit long for my tastes but each volume is still a real page-turner.

To add another relaxing read to the pile (which goes comfortably next to Cross Game in that regard), I picked up House of Five Leaves (Vol. 05). I also bought Itsuwaribito (Vol. 02) after finding the first volume enjoyable, though not overly exciting. I always try to give those not-sure titles at least two volumes however so we’ll see how that goes!

Last, but certainly not least, there’s Black Butler (Vol. 05)! Flipping through makes a little annoyed to see more of those gosh-awful background characters who ‘tend’ to Ceil’s estate but I’ll do my best to ignore them for more of Sebastien’s fantastically swoon-worthy butler-ness.

What made up your swag bag this week?


PR: VIZ Media Receives 4 Eisner Nominations!

VIZ MEDIA NOMINATED IN MULTIPLE CATEGORIES FOR THE 2011 WILL EISNER COMIC INDUSTRY AWARDS

Naoki Urasawa, NAOKI URASAWA’S 20TH CENTURY BOYS and HOUSE OF FIVE LEAVES Nominated

San Francisco, CA, April 8, 2011 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, announced today that two of its manga titles and one creator have been nominated in several categories for the 2011 Will Eisner Comics Industry Awards for a total of 4 nominations, as announced by Comic-Con International on April 7, 2011.

Named for pioneering writer and comic artist Will Eisner, the awards recognize exemplary comics, graphic novels and other pop writings, and are given each year as part of the annual Comic-Con International convention. Winners will be announced at a gala ceremony on the evening of Friday, July 22nd during Comic-Con, at which VIZ Media will be a major exhibitor and participant in the programs offered. VIZ Media titles are consistently nominated for the Eisner Awards, and in 2008, took home the Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material – Japan for TEKKONKINKREET: BLACK & WHITE, by acclaimed creator Taiyo Matsumoto.

The nominated titles from VIZ Media are:

HOUSE OF FIVE LEAVES, by Natsume Ono
Best U.S. Edition of International Material–Asia

NAOKI URASAWA’S 20TH CENTURY BOYS, by Naoki Urasawa
Best Continuing Series
Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia

In addition, Naoki Urasawa is nominated for Best Writer/Artist, for his work on NAOKI URASAWA’S 20TH CENTURY BOYS.

Read more…


Review: 20th Century Boys (Vol. 13)

Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo
Review: 20th Century Boys (Vol. 13)

Manga-ka: Naoki Urasawa
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: February 2011

Synopsis: “(Warning: Synopsis and review contains large spoilers.) The Friend is dead. As the news spreads around the world, the members of the Friends’ executive committee are faced with a dilemma: Is it all over, or will the events predicted in the New Book of Prophecy still be carried out? Otcho insists that things are not over at all, and that is exactly what his old nemesis tells the fractious Friends’ committee, where quite a few members are prepared to call it quits. Soon thereafter, certain members begin disappearing, one after another.”

Read more…


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