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Posts Tagged Fumi Yoshinaga

Manga About Manga: Learning Process Via Plot

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Viz Media’s recent press release about the manga series Bakuman got me thinking – there are a bunch of manga series out there about making manga. What a fun concept! I know I always love it, it’s such a neat experience – both the slight irony of it and the educational factor too.

I’ve learned a lot about making comics in general from manga – neat little so-thats-how-they-do-its – and while ideas and inspiration are always a given when reading something, having someone else’s trials, experiences and knowledge laid out for you in the very format they’re in relation to is just a good combination.

So I got to thinking about the different series that are about making manga – so I compiled a list. Have another licensed title to add? By all means let me know in the comments so I can check it out!

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Categories: Misc
Tags: 20th Century Boys, Bakuman, Drawn and Quarterly, Fumi Yoshinaga, Manga, Manhwa, Otomen, Viz Signature, Yoshihiro Tatsumi

Review: Ooku – The Inner Chambers (Vol. 01)

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, March 13, 2010

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Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Manga-ka: Fumi Yoshinaga
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: August 2009

Synopsis: “In Edo period Japan, a strange new disease called the Redface Pox has begun to prey on the country’s men. Within eighty years of the first outbreak, the male population has fallen by seventy-five percent. Women have taken on all the roles traditionally granted to men, even that of the shogun. The men, precious providers of life, are carefully protected. And the most beautiful of the men are sent to serve in the shogun’s Inner Chamber…”

Ooku begins with the first victim of a deadly plague to hit feudal Japan. This disease, spreading quickly over the entire country, affects only young men and swiftly sees the death of over seventy-five percent of the male population. Little time is spent dwelling on this progression period and the story fast forwards almost a century ahead. Here readers are introduced to a world where women have taken over roles originally held by men, including a country under rule by a female Shogun with a house of well-bred men at her service.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Fumi Yoshinaga, Manga, Viz Media

Yen Press Adds Yoshinaga and Haruhi to 2010 Line-Up

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, February 4, 2010

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Yen Press has officially announced a handful of new 2010 titles on their website this week, including a Fumi Yoshinaga title (yay!) and another Haruhi Suzumiya property:

The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-Chan
“The first volume of the highly anticipated yon koma featuring all new adventures from Haruhi and the rest of the S.O.S. Brigade will debut in October 2010 to the cheers of Haruhi fans everywhere!”

K-ON – kakifly
“The four girls who make up their high school music club have set Japan on fire, and their fame is only going to grow when they take the stage for the first time in the states this fall!”

Book Girl and the Suicidal Mime – Mizuki Nomura
“BOOK GIRL AND THE SUICIDAL MIME is the story of Konoha Inoue, a gifted writer who’s lost his passion, who’s inducted into his school’s literature club by it’s only other member, the beautiful Touko Amano – a book goblin who literally devours the printed word! Trust us, you’ll want to eat this one up!”

Not Love But Delicious Food – Fumi Yoshinaga
“Yoshinaga Fumi fans are in for a rare delicacy in November 2010 when Yen publishes NOT LOVE BUT DELICIOUS FOODS, a manga chronicling Y-Naga’s love of food and eateries in Japan. There are some hardcore Yoshinaga Fumi fans on staff at Yen Press, and they are salivating in anticipation of this book’s release!”

Golidlocks and the Seven Squat Bears – Émile Bravo
“Readers young and old alike will delight in the misadventures of these dwarf bruins as they attempt to rid their home of the giant lady who’s fallen asleep in their beds. Expect to see lots of cameo appearances by some of your favorite fairy tale figures from your youth!”

Also, a thank you to all of my readers who e-mailed me regarding these new titles when they popped up on Amazon a couple weeks ago – you’re super eagle-eyed and very considerate! Though I had found the titles when they initially went live on retail sites I chose not to post about them by request from the publisher. Your e-mails were much appreciated and I hope noone feels slighted by the delay in the news posting. It’s more fun to hear from the publisher directly, officially and confirmed I think :)

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: Fumi Yoshinaga, Manga, Yen Press

PR: VIZ Media releasing ALL MY DARLING DAUGHTERS

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, January 6, 2010

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THE LIVES AND COMPLEX RELATIONSHIPS OF WOMEN AND THEIR FRIENDS AND MOTHERS IS EXPLORED IN ALL MY DARLING DAUGHTERS
NEW FROM VIZ MEDIA

San Francisco, CA, January 6, 2010 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced the January 19th release of ALL MY DARLING DAUGHTERS by celebrated creator Fumi Yoshinaga. The single-volume manga edition will be published under the VIZ Signature imprint, is rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens, and will carry an MSRP of $12.99 U.S. / $16.99 CAN.

ALL MY DARLING DAUGHTERS explores the often-tempestuous relationship between a single career woman and her mother. Yukiko, a businesswoman in her thirties, still lives with her mother, Mari. But their relationship suffers a wrenching change when Mari announces that she’s getting married–to an aspiring actor who’s even younger than Yukiko. Convinced that he’s out to fleece her mom, Yukiko can’t stand to stay in the house any longer and decides to move in with her boyfriend.

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Categories: Press Releases
Tags: Fumi Yoshinaga, Viz Media

PR: VIZ Media announces upcoming release of OOKU

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, August 7, 2009

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VIZ MEDIA PRESENTS
THE HISTORICAL AND ROYAL INTRIGUE OF
ŌOKU: THE INNER CHAMBERS MANGA SERIES

Award-Winning Historical Science Fiction Drama Set In An Alternate Version Of Edo Japan Where Gender Roles Are Reversed

San Francisco, CA, August 6, 2009 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced the release of ŌOKU: THE INNER CHAMBERS, Fumi Yoshinaga’s historical manga epic set in an alternate version of Edo-era Japan. ŌOKU which will be released under the company’s VIZ Signature imprint on August 8th, is rated ‘M’ for Mature Audiences and will carry an MSRP of $12.95 U.S. / $15.00 CAN.

In Edo period Japan (1603 to 1868), a strange new disease called the Redface Pox has begun to prey on the country’s men. Within eighty years of the first outbreak, the male population has fallen to a quarter of the total female population. Women have taken on all the roles traditionally granted to men, even that of the Shogun. The men, precious providers of life, are carefully protected and the most beautiful of the men are sent to serve in the Shogun’s Inner Chambers.

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Categories: Press Releases
Tags: Fumi Yoshinaga, Viz Media

Review: Flower of Life (Vol. 04)

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, June 5, 2009

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Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Manga-ka: Fumi Yoshinaga
Publisher: DMP
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: June 2009

Synopsis: “As the school year winds down, Harutaro is in good spirits. His illness feels like a thing of the past, he and his best friend Shota are developing aspirations toward becoming professional manga artists, and best of all – his mom has come home for a visit! Just when things seem at their best, life often finds a way of balancing the scales. When a family secret causes Harutaro to question his future, who will he turn to in his lowest moment? Could it be… the one person you’d least expect?!”

By the time the end rolls around, the series takes its decidedly most bittersweet turn. Not to scare any reader into believing horrible things are going to happen, but it’s more about the overall mood. Flower of Life stays true to its slice-of-life genre, which in truest form means the good, and the bad, of everyday life.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: DMP, Fumi Yoshinaga, Manga

PR: New manga in Q3 from VIZ Media

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, June 4, 2009

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VIZ MEDIA OFFERS A SELECTION OF INTRIGUING NEW MANGA SERIES FOR RELEASE THROUGHOUT THE THIRD QUARTER OF 2009

San Francisco, CA, JUNE 4, 2009 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, is previewing nine new manga series covering a variety of genres set to debut throughout the Third Quarter of 2009.

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Categories: Press Releases
Tags: Children of the Sea, Fumi Yoshinaga, Viz Media

Viz Dominates NYCC 2009 Sunday

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, February 8, 2009

3 Comments »

With Tokyopop, Bandai, Del Rey and Yen Press’s panels yesterday, it was Viz who stepped up to take centrestage today at New York Comic Con. Many thanks to @MangaCast again and the ever-vigilant (and wonderfully detailed) Gia over at AnimeVice! You can read her live-postings about the Viz panel here.

New manga licenses from Viz are:

All My Darling Daughters
Fumi Yoshinaga

Beast Master
Kyousuke Motomi

Boys Over Flowers: Jewelery Box
Yoko Kamio

Butterfly, Flowers
Yuki Yoshihara

Gogo Monster
Taiyo Matsumoto

Jormungand
Keitaro Takahashi

Natsume’s Book of Friends
Yuki Midorikawa

Not Simple
Natsume Ono

The Gentlemen’s Alliance Cross Artbook
Arina Tanemura

What a Wonderful World
Inio Asano

Yu-Gi-Oh! R
Akira Ito

ANN has thumbnails and release dates to go with these titles as well.

Also exciting from Viz is that they’ll be revealing “very soon” information about their release plans for the Monster anime series and L: Change the World live-action film. As someone who has just finished the Monster manga series (in a word, wow), I’m excited to hear that the English anime release is moving forward. An anime I may actually sit down and watch! I hope its a nice boxset release initially over individual DVDs.

Other tidbits (which you can read about in more detail over at Gia’s live blog of the panel) include Stan Lee’s Ultimo running in Shonen Jump, Naruto taking a break in Shonen Jump to make way for a lot of manga volumes spread over a few months and some date reminders of upcoming releases.

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: Conventions, Fumi Yoshinaga, Natsume's Book of Friends, NYCC, Viz Media

Viz Down the 2009 Road, More Dogs

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, January 20, 2009

1 Comment »

Good ‘ol Viz, always there to remind people in these questionable economic and publisher times that there remains exciting manga down the road. Of course I’m talking about Amazon where you can now see shiny covers and release dates for Viz’s titles up to October 2009. Some of these titles include the first volumes of their new series, the stylish Ooku by Fumi Yoshinaga and the colourful WaqWaq by Ryu Fujisaki.

One listing that was new to me was volume one of Dogs: Bullets and Carnage. While Viz made official annoucement of their acquistion of the original oneshot book, Dogs: Prelude, and I do recall mention of this sequel, it’s nice having this listing as a concrete ‘yes we are releasing it’. Shirow Miwa’s high contrast art and gritty storylines are something I’ve been waiting for in English a long while and I’m glad to see we’re definitely not just getting the tip of the iceberg.

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: Fumi Yoshinaga

Shut Downs, Slow Downs and Possible Start Up

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, November 21, 2008

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Doesn’t it always seem like lots of stuff goes on and e-mail boxes get flooded on the few days you’re out of town? Darn irony! So upon my arrival home from an entertaining anime & manga presentation I helped run for Teen Read Week in Halifax, I came across several different things so it’s short round-up time!

Biggest manga news in recent days is undoubtably the announced shutdown of Brocolli Books USA International. While not a big fan of the publisher myself, it can’t be denied that they had some popular titles and a good reputation of quality. I first heard of Brocoll’s shutdown thanks to Gia who was quick to learn of the news. Since then ICv2 has recieved confirmation of the shutdown and more information was shared with the public through Brocolli Books’ production blog.

Yaoi Press’s Twitter reminds those waiting for some of DMP’s December releases that they’ve been pushed back until sometime in 2009, including Vampire Hunter D (Vol. 03) and Kabuki (Vol. 02). The full list can read from ANN’s post this past October.

On a potentially more positive note, another post over on the DramaQueen forums had this to say:

“Tyrant QC is done so next phase is printing!!! OK – we will be updating the website with pre-order for weekend after Thanks Giving – that would be Nov. 29th that Saturday.

We are timing the pre-order as close to the time we get the books in-house from our beloved printers. So there might be a 2 week lag from pre-orders to shipping date. Just wanted to let everyone know in advance!”

As usual, we shall see…

Also, at BLU would like to remind readers to stop asking about Love Pistols (Vol. 06). It hasn’t yet been released in Japan so harassing them about it won’t make it available in English any faster. Even I’ve recieved e-mails asking about it so I can only imagine what their e-mail boxes must look like. Please be courteous and do your research before you make an inquiry :)

And finally on a great note if it turns out to be true, Danielle over at Comics Should Be Good! is spreading the word that it looks like Viz may have picked up the license to Fumi Yoshinaga’s Ooku. Edit: And ANN continues this news with a bunch of other titles as well!

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Categories: Licensing, Misc
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, DramaQueen, Fumi Yoshinaga