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Posts Tagged Air Gear

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – February 27, 2013

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, February 28, 2013

It’s a Yen Press and Kodansha Comics week! My top picks of the books released yesterday are Until Death Do Us Part (Vol. 03), and – to my surprise- The Misfortune of Kyon & Koizumi. Those two were the only thing I really enjoyed about the Haruhi franchise, so reading a collection of shorts about them with some boys’ love jokes proved pretty entertaining.

You can read my thoughts on this week’s releases over at my weekly On The Shelf article for Otaku USA.

Air Gear (Vol.27) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Betrayal Knows My Name (Vol.05) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Battle Angel Alita: Last Order (Vol.17) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Cage of Eden (Vol.09) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Kitchen Princess Omnibus (Vol.03) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
The Misfortune of Kyon & Koizumi [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Nabari no Ou (Vol.13) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Pandora Hearts (Vol.14) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Triage X (Vol.02) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Umineko When They Cry: Legend of the Golden Witch (Vol.02) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Until Death Do Us Part (Vol.03) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]

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Categories: Features, News, On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: Air Gear, Cage of Eden, Kodansha Comics, Manga, Nabari no Ou, Oh!Great, Omnibus, Otaku USA, Pandora Hearts, Umineko, Yen Press

NYCC 2012: Kodansha Comics Licenses No. 6, Sailor Moon Artbook…

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, October 14, 2012

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It was Kodansha Comics‘ turn to impress today at NYCC with a handful of new licenses:

No. 6 – Atsuko Asano & Hinoki Kino
Sankarea: Undying Love – Mitsuru Hattori
Tokyo Mew Mew a la Mode – Mia Ikumi
Vinland Saga – Makoto Yukimura

Kodansha Comics is bound to have made many readers really happy today with these titles. I have no experience with any of them myself but I’ve seen rallying cries for No. 6 and Vinland Saga, in particular, for quite a while. These are the two I’m most excited to read by reputation alone (and all the adorable No. 6 fanart that continues to litter art sites doesn’t hurt either). Sankarea sounds bizarre enough to potentially give a try and Tokyo Mew Mew a la Mode I’ll likely pick up out of affection for its predecessor, Tokyo Mew Mew.

You can read a synopsis for all Kodansha Comics’ newest titles on their website. Huzzah for new license announcements that include titles, creator credits, release dates and synopsis’s! Volume one of No. 6 and Sankarea are scheduled for a June 2013 release, while Tokyo Mew Mew a la Mode and Vinland Saga will be released that following winter.

Along with their new titles, Kodansha Comics also announced they’d be speeding up the print copies of Fairy Tail to one a month in order to catch up with Japan. This will begin in March 2013 with volume twenty-four. The series itself is currently over thirty volumes in Japan.

Air Gear – which Kodansha Comics has released up to volume twenty-six so far – is due to be released in omnibus format from the beginning. The first volume of this new edition will be released in May 2013.

A bonus treat announced today was that Kodansha Comics would be handling the English publication of an upcoming Sailor Moon art book that’s due to be published worldwide in 2013. All editions released globally will have the same paperback trim size, plus dust jacket, and art content including some of the most popular Sailor Moon drawings along with new artwork by the series creator, Naoki Takeuchi. Kodansha Comics also confirmed that after they finish publishing the original manga series, they will be releasing the series of Sailor Moon short stories as well. (Src: A Case Suitable For Treatment)

And last, but not least – though I don’t believe this was announced during their Saturday panel – Kodansha Comics has relaunched their website with a new layout. It doesn’t offer any new content but does load a lot more nicely than their previous site. There is a blog section currently marked as Coming Soon that could offer some interesting new info and insight in the future, much like Vertical Inc’s newly relaunched on-site blog. (Note: Lack of link to Vertical’s blog is due to numerous virus warnings on Vertical’s site in recent weeks; better safe than sorry!)

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Air Gear, Conventions, Kodansha Comics, Manga, No.6, NYCC, NYCC 2012, Omnibus, Sailor Moon, Sankarea

Year In Review: Lissa’s Favourites of 2011

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, January 1, 2012

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There are no shortage of ‘Best Of’ lists this time of year. While I like popping around to different peoples’ sites and seeing what they thought, it’s a bit of a frustration that I can’t seem to write one myself. How people choose a solid list containing five or ten favourites, from across different genres and subject matters, is just something I can’t seem to muster the brain power for. Not enough conviction I suppose? There’s just so much to love!

But I can’t overlook the perfect chance to look back at all the great titles a year had to offer and 2011 had some really fantastic ones. So then where is this going, oh rambling one, you ask? My semi-traditional equivalent to the yearly best of – the random Lissa’s favourites and best-ofs list! Which really just means you get a lot more titles broken into a lot more categories so I can remain a lot more loving to a lot more series. And in some cases not so loving… From the Best Release Quality to the Favourite Fan Service and even to the most Gag Worthy – here are a bunch of my favourite titles from 2011!

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: 20th Century Boys, Air Gear, Arata the Legend, Bakuman, Black Butler, Black Jack, Boys' Love/Yaoi, Bunny Drop, CLAMP, Dark Horse, DMP, Fantagraphics, Gate 7, June, Kamisama Kiss, Kodansha Comics, Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, Manga, Natsume Ono, Oh!Great, Omnibus, Osamu Tezuka, Pokemon Adventures, Ponent Mon, Reservoir Chronicles Tsubasa, Rumiko Takahashi, Sailor Moon, Seven Seas, Shoujo, Tokyopop, Toriko, Usamaru Furuya, Vertical Inc, Viz Media, Viz Signature, Yen Press

Review: Air Gear (Vol. 13)

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, August 14, 2009

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Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Manga-ka: Oh! Great
Publisher: Del Rey
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: July 2009

Synopsis: “Ikki is close to realizing his dream of becoming the Wind Keeper, and his achievements have won him a mysterious admirer: the beautiful Kururu, who claims that fate decrees she must serve the Wind Keeper. Who is this gorgeous girl–and could she be Ikki’s destiny?”

The first portion of the book slogs along like the volumes before it, too bogged down in its own ego to really establish half as much drama as it intends. While initially I lamented the loss of the series’ most slickly executed style, by the end I was finally granted a glimpse at the Air Gear I originally fell in love with.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Air Gear, Del Rey, Manga

Review: Air Gear (Vol. 12)

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, May 8, 2009

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Manga-ka: Oh!Great
Publisher: DelRey
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: May 2009

Synopsis: “Ikki is now one of the most famous Air treck stars in the world, but not everyone believes in his talents: The Internet is buzzing with haters and critics, and Team Trident, Kansai’s leading Air treck team, is burning to challenge him. Can Ikki prove he has what it takes to make it to the top?”

Oh, Air Gear, I want to keep on loving you with the same eagerness I always have, but sometimes I just can’t seem to muster up the energy to care at certain points. Sure, you have the same high-octave action sequences and gorgeous artwork, but the nitty-gritty sciences of how the rocket-powered roller blades work gets a little tedious at times.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Air Gear, Del Rey, Manga

Mini Review: Air Gear (Vol. 11)

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, February 10, 2009

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Air Gear (Vol. 11) – Oh!Great
Published by DelRey

While I continue to love Air Gear to pieces, some parts just feel like they’re dragged on too long and this book suffers from several of those moments. Ikki’s teammates are believably concerned (and enraged) as his sudden shift in attitude after a recent triumphant victory has placed him in a very powerful potential position.

This volume works to build up the tension between the teammates while ultimately setting up their new direction on the path to the top of the Air Trekking world. As usual, newly introduced characters are nothing short of entertaining, in both story and design, but its the return of some old faces that really give this volume its spark. The split-personality bearing youth Agito/Akito remains my favorite character, not only because he so entertainingly switches between sadistic hard-ass to adorably ambiguous sweetheart, but because I feel he’s really one of the most rounded characters in the series, further emphasized here by another confrontation with his brother.

While not one of the stronger volumes, volume 11 of Air Gear still manages to leave enough zing intact to leave me looking forward to more of its high-flying action and exceptional artwork in releases to come.

Review written February 10, 2009 by Lissa Pattillo
Book purchased in-store from Chapters

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Air Gear, Del Rey

Review: Air Gear (Vol. 09)

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, September 5, 2008

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Manga-ka: Oh!Great
Publisher: Del Rey
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Released: July 2008Synopsis: “The last phase of the ultimate battle between the underdog Kogarasumaru and the fearsome Behemoth has begun – and it’s up to Ikki and Agito to seal the deal and achieve Air Treck glory. All Ikki wants is to be the greatest Air Treck rider ever – but for Agito, the battle is personal. Could it be that the key to victory lies in Agito’s past?”

The fight between teams Kogarasumaru and Behmoth continues here in volume nine of Air Gear, with everything coming down to Ikki and Agito facing the Regalia-wielding, Akira. Blades are flashing and adrenaline pumping in this do-or-die fight previous volumes have led up to.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Air Gear, Del Rey

Review: Air Gear (Vol. 08)

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, May 4, 2008

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Manga-ka: Oh!Great
Publisher: DelRey
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Released: April 2008

Synopsis: “Behemoth has already taken out part of Ikki’s Air Trek team. Now Ikkie and Onigiri are faced with their toughest opponents yet: a deadly femme fatale known as the Gorgon and the unstoppable punching machine, Bandou. Ikki’s team has come a long way in their battle for Air Trek supremacy. Can they defeat Behemoth and get back in the game?”

The battle begun in the previous volume continues here in volume eight of Air Gear. Ikki’s Air Trek team, Kogarasumaru is going up against the deadly team Behemoth and his teammates are going to need a lot of creative, and just flat-out weird, methods to take them down!

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Air Gear, Del Rey

Review: Air Gear (Vol. 07)

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, April 7, 2008

1 Comment »

Manga-ka: Oh!Great
Publisher: DelRey
Rating: Teens (13+)
Released: April 2008

Synopsis: “Ikki’s the captain of a pretty good extreme skating team… pretty good, that is, for a bunch of newbies! The players have more heart than talent, but so far, that’s landed them close to the top. Now they’re facing a matchup that’s going to take more than guts to win: a battle to the death with Behemoth, the most reckless, cruel, and murderous team in the league!”

Air Gear volume continues the adventures of Air Trekking newcomer, Ikki, and his misfit team of friends and foes as they try to fight their way to the top! As a quick recap for those new to the series, Air Treks are essentially rocket-power roller blades and those who wear them for competition, most often forming teams, are called Stormriders. Now don’t let this quick synopsis turn you off the series; what seems like your average shonen series could very well surprise you, page after page.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Air Gear, Del Rey