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Otaku USA: On The Shelf – September 19, 2012

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, September 19, 2012

It’s manga finale week! Not the end of manga of course (apocalypse!) but the end of a few different series that will all be greatly missed – 20th Century Boys (Viz), Cardcaptor Sakura (DH) and House of Five Leaves (Viz). Filling the gap in our manga buying lives just a bit is the start of Dark Horse’s release of Angelic Layer. This is one of my favourite CLAMP series, so it could definitely warrant a re-buy for me.

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

And new to my brief postings here on Kuriousity, and for your shopping convenience, a handy list of this week’s releases complete with links* to buy!

20th Century Boys (Vol. 22) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Angelic Layer Omnibus (Vol. 01) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Attack on Titan (Vol. 02) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Berserk (Vol. 36) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Cardcaptor Sakura Omnibus (Vol. 04) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
House of Five Leaves (Vol. 08) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Sailor Moon (Vol. 07) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]

*As a disclaimer, links on the site are affiliation links for Kuriousity with any and all proceeds from them going towards our hosting fees.

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Categories: Features, News, On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: 20th Century Boys, Attack on Titan, CLAMP, Dark Horse, Kodansha Comics, Manga, Natsume Ono, Omnibus, Otaku USA, Sailor Moon, Shoujo, Viz Media, Viz Signature

Review: A Devil and Her Love Song (Vol. 04)

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, September 17, 2012

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Manga-ka: Miyoshi Tomori
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: August 2012

Synopsis: “Maria encourages antagonistic Ayu to be true to her feelings, but that simple action snowballs into a huge rift within their class! As secret crushes and hidden motives are revealed, the backlash of honesty just might destroy Mario’s efforts in uniting everyone for the choral competition!”

I was really surprised to see the avalanche of confession and reveal in this volume of A Devil and Her Love Song. The tension just kept rising between Maria and her classmates, and just when I thought things were going to plummet to an all-time low (which would be pretty darn low indeed), suddenly what we’ve wanted to have happen has actually happened! Maria’s classmates are finally privy to one of ‘those’ conversations, the kind no one ever seems to be around to hear but the ones you know that if they were, everything would change. And change it did!

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: A Devil and her Love Song, Manga, Shoujo, Shoujo Beat, Viz Media

Review: Otomen (Vol. 13)

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, September 16, 2012

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Manga-ka: Aya Kanno
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: September 2012

Synopsis: “Ryo ends up coaching a high school judo team, but women aren’t allowed at that school! She finds a way around this obstacle, but the real challenge comes when she finds herself facing off against… Asuka?!”

Otomen is a series I’ve enjoyed since the beginning, but recent volumes have been a little lacklustre. The story’s been moving away from characters I like most and even Asuka was feeling a bit overshadowed by other secondary characters pushing their own agendas onto him. When I read the synopsis for volume thirteen however, I felt excited. Ryo and Asuka facing off against each other in judo? Cool! What I got was both what I expected and not at the same time. This volume has the longest focus on Ryo I recall since the series began. It provides a better look at her as a character and springs forward her relationship with Asuka more than I ever honestly thought would be possible.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Otomen, Shoujo, Shoujo Beat, Viz Media

Review: Bleach (Vols. 46-47)

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, September 14, 2012

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Manga-ka: Tite Kubo
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: September 2012

Synopsis: “With Captain General Yamamoto giving him an opening, Ichigo goes in for the finishing strike against Aizen! But Ichigo will need the help of some new reinforcements if he hopes to defeat both Aizen and Ichimaru Gin! Aizen’s new powers are too much for even the combined efforts of Ichigo, Isshin, Urahara, and Yoruichi. But as Aizen and Gin head for the real Karakura Town, Ichigo decides to undergo intense training under his father’s tutelage.”

It’s another exciting two volumes! And I mean that sarcasm free too. I was getting a little bored of Bleach for a while but since the big-bad fights of the Hollow’s world have ended, it’s becoming a series I’ve really started looking forward to again. The fight against Aizen has gone on too long, and frankly I’m getting tired of just seeing his name all the time, but this newest double-dose of Bleach offers up some especially memorable scenes that go as far as almost justifying the length of this confrontation.

Warning: Review contains some minor spoilers

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Bleach, Manga, Shonen Jump, Viz Media

Review: Sailor Moon (Vol. 06)

By Victoria K Martin on Wednesday, September 12, 2012

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Manga-ka: Naoko Takeuchi
Publisher: Kodansha Comics
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: July 2012

Synopsis: “Just when all seems well again in the world, another enemy appears! Two new figures from the private school, Mugen Academe, appear and take a special interest in Sailor Moon and company. Who are they, and do they have anything to do with the strange occurrences that are suddenly taking place? Meanwhile, the appearance of two new Guardians takes everyone by surprise as our favorite Sailor heroes must once again face off against new enemies to save the world!”

Back in my Year in Review posting, I mentioned that I hadn’t started reading the re-release of Sailor Moon. Since then, I have rectified this most terrible of errors and have actually managed to catch up with the series, at least until the imminent release of volume seven. But better late than never, right?

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Kodansha Comics, Manga, Sailor Moon

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – September 12, 2012

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, September 12, 2012

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Otaku USA: On The Shelf - September 12, 2012

Loveless returns! The top-note title for this week’s new releases is the ninth volume of Yun Kouga’s Loveless series, which Tokyopop cancelled after releasing the eighth back in 2009. I think it’s really neat that Viz Media made the decision to release the next volume of the series before starting back at the beginning. I’ll be rereading volumes one to eight this week so I can remember everything that’s happened. It’s been so long!

Other must-have-will-buy titles for me this week include Arata (Vol.11) and His Favourite (Vol.01). You can read the full list of titles out this week over at my On The Shelf article for Otaku USA.

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Categories: Features, News, On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: Kodansha Comics, Loveless, Manga, Otaku USA, Project-H, Seven Seas, SuBLime, Viz Media

Stocking the Mature Shelves – Project-H Announces 20 New Hentai Titles

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, September 7, 2012

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Manga news has been a bit slow lately as con season wraps up, schools re-open and everyone who was away for shiny summer vacations returns to their work desks. Itching for signs of new title life from the manga publishers? Never fear, Project-H is here! …again!

With the imprint having only just passed it’s first year in existence, they’ve just passed a whopping 82 licenses. Say what you will of the individual titles, but 82 books licensed for print in a year is a pretty nice number indeed. This random interesting tidbit of hentai manga news was prompted to you by Project-H’s newest Twitter spree of licenses this past Wednesday:

Boing Boing – Yamatogawa
Dinner At The Shimoedas – Ayumu Miyahara
Fetishisms: Gone Wild – Takumi Adachi
Fetishisms: Gone Wilder – Takumi Adachi
Fetishisms: Virgins – Takumi Adachi
Her and Her Uniform – Hiroshi Itaba
How Good Was I? – Yamatogawa
How to Get Dumped in Style – KUBUKURIN
Makunouchi Deluxe (Vol.01-03) – Joji Manabe
(The) Moon And The Sun – Syatikamaboko
Naughty Boobs – Yumeiro Gurasan
Nurse’s Paradise (Vol.01-02) – Rei Arou
Nurse’s Secrets – Takuma Harazaki
Power Play! – Yamatogawa
Puppy Lust – Toshi
Splash to Love (Vol.01-02) – KUBUKURIN
Teach Me A Lesson – Hiroshi Itaba

Each of the books will be released in print at a cost of $17.95/US, $19.99/CAN. None have release dates announced yet. A rarity in Project-H’s steadily growing library is Puppy Lust, which is also due for a digital release. Suffice to say, as hentai titles, all the aforementioned books will be rated 18+.

For information about when Digital Manga titles will be released, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on their website which lists title information as it becomes available. It’s recently been updated with a number of their summer announced Project-H titles as well. Via their Twitter account, Project-H has also posted current production schedules for 2012 and 2013.

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: DMP, Hentai, Manga, Project-H

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – September 5, 2012

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, September 7, 2012

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It’s been a weird couple weeks, and part of that has lead to there being several weeks between my trips to my local comic store (Strange Adventures) to buy new manga. So bizarre! This week will be the tipping point though. A new Tezuka title, Message to Adolf, from Vertical Inc., new Viz Media volumes of Bleach, Bakuman and… a new volume of Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden after three years?!

Sold. You can check out the full list of titles that shipped this week over at my On The Shelf article for Otaku USA.

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Categories: Features, News, On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: Bakuman, Bleach, Dark Horse, Fushigi Yugi, Kodansha Comics, Manga, Omnibus, Osamu Tezuka, Otaku USA, Seven Seas, Vertical Inc, Viz Media, Yuu Watase

Review: Durarara!! (Vol. 03)

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, September 1, 2012

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Author: Ryohgo Narita/Suzuhito Yasuda
Manga-ka: Akiyo Satorigi
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: August 2012

Synopsis: “Twisted passion accelerates disaster!! After twenty years of searching, Celty, the headless Black Rider, has at last found her missing head—bobbing through the streets of Ikebukuro on someone else’s neck! Though Celty pursues, the girl escapes on the arm of Mikado Ryuugamine, taking refuge in his apartment. But with both the legendary Rider and Yagiri Pharmaceuticals bearing down on Ryuugamine in their pursuit of the scarred girl, how can he hope to save his own neck?!”

Durarara!! returns for another fun and frantic volume. I always need to re-read the previous volume before I dive into a new one due to the multiple characters and web-like story. A refresher is greatly recommended for a story like this when it’s those little details and run-ins that make the big scenes mean that much more. And boy are there ever some character crescendos here in volume three.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Durarara, Manga, Yen Press

Review: Gate 7 (Vol. 03)

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, August 28, 2012

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Manga-ka: CLAMP
Publisher: Dark Horse
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: August 2012

Synopsis: “A battle for supernatural supremacy rages in Kyoto! When a strange dimension overlaps with our reality, Hana and the members of her Inou Squad use their mystical dominion over the elements to protect humanity against a torrent of invading creatures. Thrust in the middle of this war, Chikahito is a seemingly ordinary boy who’s been accepted into Hana’s group–but it’s possible that he has latent powers of his own!”

Gate 7 is such a conflicting series for me. I’m forced to admit, against all my love for CLAMP, that this is a bit of a mess. At the very least it’s one of their weaker stories. CLAMP has taken many of the ingredients people love from their work – detailed characters, winding mysteries, subtle relationships and stunning artwork – and yet mixes them together in a way that makes for an overall unpleasant dish. But, in true CLAMP fashion, the good is always just good enough to keep you wanting to come back for more and this third volume is no exception to the trend.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: CLAMP, Dark Horse, Gate 7, Manga