Kuriousity | manga reviews and news

Posts Tagged Manga

August Acquisitions Continue With Nine New Project-H Licenses

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, August 7, 2012

What manner of unstoppable licensing stream is this?! Yup, Digital Manga is already back on the licensing train with another nine new books for their hentai imprint, Project-H. They them announced via Twitter and e-mail earlier today. These on top of the twenty different books announced just last week. 2013 is going to be a pornful year for sure!

Cosplay Girlfriend – Hiroshi Itaba
Fetish Grab Bag – Joji Manabe
Happy Girls – Zukiki
Hello Work – Hiroshi Itaba
Ladies Full of Love – Takayoshi Sano
Knock Me Up – Michiyoshi Kuon
Moe-Maniax – Aya Hinase
Virgin Games – Kuuki Fujisaka
Wife In Short Shorts – Akinao

All the books are one-shots with release dates currently to be announced, and priced at $17.95/US, $19.99/CAN. Their respective books are the first time Zukiki, Aya Hinase, Kuuki Fujisaka and Akinao have been licensed by Project-H, while the other artists have books coming out later this year or mid-2013.

Digital Manga didn’t release any synopsis to go with these books but there’s some entertainment value in those names alone. Not much left to question, is there? Good times! I really like how that all these hentai licenses are one-shots, which is a common and understandable trend for their Project-H books in general. Hentai titles aren’t really known for their plots so a one-shot collection of either short stories, or one single-volume length story, makes for an easy buy with little commitment. Sometimes it’s just nice to have a one-night read, you know? So punny.

But, yes, books! I still cheer for the fact they’ve got books consistently going to print. Now we just some more BL – don’t forget your foundation, DMP!

Share on Tumblr

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

Review: My Cute Crossdresser

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, August 6, 2012

No Comments »

Manga-ka: Mitohi Matsumoto
Publisher: Project-H
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: July 2012

Synopsis: “A bunch of nerdy guys (without girlfriends) get together to try to catch a perverted predator on a crowded train and decide to run a sting operation. But… how will they do that? Who or what would they use for a decoy to catch this predator? Oh, we know! Let’s dress up one as a girl! He looks so cute! He’s just perfect and anyone would fall for him… including his classmates!”

When I first read the synopsis for My Cute Crossdresser, I knew I had to read this book. As a story about boys loving crossdressing boys, it seemed an odd addition to Digital Manga’s hentai imprint, Project-H. My Cute Crossdresser sounded more appropriate for one of their several boys’ love imprints. Now that I’ve read it, it really is a tricky title to categorize. It’s tone doesn’t feel BL appropriate, but simultaneously this title falls short of earning the blood-spurting logo of Project-H.

Read more…

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Reviews
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, DMP, Hentai, Manga, Project-H

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – August 1, 2012

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, August 4, 2012

No Comments »

Holy mangaful shelves it’s August already… On that stunning note in regards to the passing of time, this week’s On The Shelf article marks it’s first year anniversary! I’ve really enjoyed writing it every week and hope to keep doing so as long as I keep creating my own shopping lists for new printed manga. Which of course we hope will be a long, long time :)

This week there are new books from Dark Horse, Kodansha Comics and Yen Press. My top pick goes to the newest volume of 13th Boy, because magical pretty boy cactus love interest! Yup.

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Features, News, On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: Dark Horse, Kodansha Comics, Manga, Otaku USA, Yen Press

Vertical Inc Announces Gundam the Origin and Wolfsmund at Otakon

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, August 1, 2012

No Comments »

There wasn’t much in the way of news from Otakon this past weekend, but Vertical Inc‘s Ed Chavez was present to sell some of their shiny new books and announce a couple new titles.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin – Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
Wolfsmund – Mitsuhisa Kuji

Most anime & manga fans are at least likely familiar with the Gundam series, easily one of the most popular series in the medium’s history with a variety of different versions, incarnations and generations behind it. According to AnimeNewsNetwork, this version is 23 volumes long and is a “re-imagining” of the original Gundam anime series. The franchise generally follows a weaving story of politics and war waged between governments and giant mech-wielding individuals.

Vertical Inc will be releasing the series in hardcover, 2-in-1 editions which will be about $30/US each. They’ll also include colour pages, essays and be approximately 440+ pages thick. Ed also warned that because of the price of producing these editions, they’ll be limited to the first production run only so get them while they can because they won’t last! New volume should come out every three months once the first book comes out in March 2013.

Wolfsmund is a fantasy story about a powerful and feared gatekeeper who guards an entrance into Italy along the border of Switzerland. The series follows the travels of individuals who come up against him in attempts to pass. They then find themselves under ruthless interrogation. From what I’ve read about Wolfsmund, this isn’t light reading, with nary a happy end in sight and a lot to say for grim realities of the medieval era (with some additional dramatic and scary flair I’m sure!).

The first volume of Wolfsmund should be out in July 2013. They will also likely be longer wait times between each subsequent volumes than we’re accustomed to from Vertical simply because the release schedule in Japan is so slow. Currently there are three volumes of the series.

For some refreshed details of previously announced Vertical titles, you can check out this live-blog account of the panel.

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Conventions, Manga, Vertical Inc

Building Their Hentai Heaven – Project-H Licenses 20 New Books for Print

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, July 29, 2012

1 Comment »

Digital Manga wasn’t at this weekend’s anime convention, Otakon, but they delivered a wallop of new licenses for their Project-H imprint all the same. Announced first via their Twitter account, this batch of new licenses includes twenty individual volumes.

Because that’s a lot of books, you can read the full list of titles and some info on them under the cut:

Review: The One I Love

By Danielle Hoar on Saturday, July 28, 2012

1 Comment »

Manga-ka: CLAMP
Publisher: Tokyopop
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: July 1995

Synopsis: “Combining CLAMP’s legendary storytelling, color artwork, and elegant prose, The One I Love provides insight into the creators’ intimate lives and passions. This unique and romantic 12 story anthology dives into the heart of the matter of insecurity and honesty, marriage and independence, and, of course, the single subject CLAMP seems to know best: love.”

The One I Love, consists of twelve collected works by CLAMP. The series of stories was in progress late 1993 and was published about a year and half later. Their work was mostly targeted towards younger girls before this book was created and at the time was CLAMPS first original, non-series anthology. The main female protagonists are each in their own walk of life, the ages varied and their relationships different.

Finding The ‘Range of Love’ within Digital Manga’s Project-H

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, July 26, 2012

No Comments »

Creative titles and I, we don’t tend to get along. But anyway – Digital Manga revealed via e-mail today that they’ve licensed a new hentai title for their Project-H imprint.

Range of Love – Shou Akira

Digital Manga didn’t have a synopsis for the title but lists it as both romantic and a comedy. According to Range of Love‘s Amazon.jp page, it looks like a collection of short stories starring – wait for it – a cute wife and university junior students! The book is scheduled to be released in print in the Fall of 2013. It will be $17.95/US, which is notably a couple dollars cheaper than previous Project-H books which are normally listed at $19.99/US. Yay for money saving!

Share on Tumblr

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

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – July 18-25, 2012

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, July 25, 2012

No Comments »

The recent lull of Kuriousity updates extended over to my On The Shelf article as well, but worry not curious list-seekers and manga-buyers (because I’m quite sure you were beside yourselves) – this week’s On The Shelf is a double-dose edition collecting what’s new and recent from last week and today!

My does-want-must-haves of this shipping stack include the first volume of Project-H‘s Velvet Kiss, Vertical Inc‘s classy looking one-shot, Sakuran, Viz Media’s new 20th Century Boys and the tenth volume of Black Butler from Yen Press.

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Features, News, On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: 20th Century Boys, Black Butler, DMP, June, Kodansha Comics, Manga, Otaku USA, Project-H, Vertical Inc, Viz Media, Viz Signature, Yen Press

Review: Alice in the Country of Hearts (Vol. 01-03)

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, July 22, 2012

3 Comments »

Alice in the Country of Hearts (Vol. 01)

Author: Quinrose
Manga-ka: Soumei Hoshino
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: June 2012

Synopsis: “Alice is having a nap in her garden when suddenly before her there appears a young man with rabbit ears! He whisks her away to a fantastic (but dangerous) world that seems straight out of a fairy tale, but one where every resident brandishes a weapon…Will Alice ever find her way back home? “

The plot of this story feels like a no-brainer based on the source material – a young girl transported to a magical world who meets an assortment of strange men and women. Harem set-up perfection, right? You guessed it, they all fall in love with her. Not nearly as pervy as CLAMP’s Miyuki-chan in Wonderland, and impressively more twisted in some ways than the original, Alice in the Country of Hearts takes a harem twist on an old classic and yet makes it so much more than you’d expect. Packaged pretty by Yen Press and released all at once for your curious convenience, Alice in the Country of Hearts is a trio of books worth seeking out.

Bara in English! Picture Box Inc. To Release Collection of Gengoroh Tagame

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, July 21, 2012

2 Comments »

This was some news that completely boggled my brain when I read it earlier this week – PictureBox Inc. will be releasing a collection of bara stories by Gengoroh Tagame in English next Spring (2013). The book is titled The Passions of Gengoroh Tagame: The Master of Bara Manga, and is being designed by Chipp Kidd, better known to manga readers as the designer behind several Vertical titles. May I just say, wow.

For those who aren’t familiar with the term, bara is a word used to encompass works about homosexual men. What differentiates bara from yaoi/BL is that bara is intended for actual gay men, and typically drawn by them, where as BL is targeted at women, and typically created by them also. Because of the different demographic, bara manga looks a lot different in that their characters are often more large – be it in muscle and/or weight – and have more defined features, body hair and are usually actually fully anatomically present (you have few places to flourish here, invisi-talia and sparkles). That said, yes, The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame will a mature audiences’ book.

To my knowledge this collection will be the first time bara has been licensed and made available in English as its own book collection, so I’m really curious, and hopeful, it finds its market here. My friend and I have purchased a number of bara volumes and anthologies in Japanese over the years (thank you, Beguiling!) and both of us were pretty much resigned to the notion that no publisher would actually license it. It’s sometimes nice to be proven wrong! I love to dabble in just about every genre and art style and bara manga is another one of those areas that really offers something different and unique, both in the styles of art and the tone of the stories themselves.

The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame will be printed with a large-trim size and contain ten short stories spanning the artists’ career over fifteen years. There will also be an original story created just for this book. Gengoroh Tagame’s work, as I’ve seen, can often be rather violent and include some pretty out-there bondage so it’ll be especially interesting to see which of his stories get chosen for English. We shall see in the Spring (if you’re over 18 of course).

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Bara, Boys' Love/Yaoi, Manga, Picture Box Inc.