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Posts Tagged Manga

Project-H Teases with Traps with New License

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Digital Manga added some new books to their website this week. Among them was a new one-shot book they’ve named My Cute Crossdresser. It’s a hentai title being released under their Project-H imprint. The book is scheduled for release in April 2012 at $17.95/US and 19.99/CAN.

My Cute Crossdresser is a collection of four one-shot stories plus one longer story that lasts three chapters. As the name and cover suggests, the book contains some cute teenage boys dressing in cute little school uniforms, among other things. It’s a trap! Just the kind you’ve been warned about in advance.

I was surprised at first to see this kind of hentai title released under Project-H with the previous three books having the more ‘typical’ hentai look to them. You know, girls and boobs. I’m certainly not denying the diversity in the hentai genre (porn for everybody!) but didn’t expect to see a cross dressing story like this out in English. Then again with Digital Manga’s Doki Doki “the gateway between shojo to yaoi”, this new license seems like it could be an entertaining gateway between their hentai and yaoi imprints. As a buyer of both genres, you can bet I’ll be ordering it!

You can get a bit more info about My Cute Crossdresser and view interior preview pages at its Amazon.jp purchase page. The English edition isn’t yet available to pre-order. My thanks to J.R. Brown for finding the Amazon Japan listing.

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, DMP, Manga, Project-H

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – November 23, 2011

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, November 23, 2011

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Halifax is having its first snow of the year today and it’s hitting hard! Stores are closed and transit is slowed or stopped – not very good conditions for getting out to buy new manga. It is a great day to sit at home in a cozy pair of PJs and enjoy a stack of manga you already have though (you know, even more so than usual!).

Sailor Moon (Vol. 02) and Codename: Sailor V (Vol. 02) are the two big titles out this week, the latter of which comes to an end as the storyline merges with Sailor Moon. If you’re reading them both, be sure to read Sailor V first! I’m also really eager to pick up a copy of Saturn Apartments (Vol. 04) and see if I can finally find a copy of Project H’s first title, Shocking Pink! now that it’s on the open market.

You can read the complete list of titles out on the shelf this week at my (aptly named) On The Shelf article over at Otaku USA.

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Categories: On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: DMP, Kodansha Comics, Manga, Otaku USA, Project-H, Sailor Moon, Yen Press

Seven Seas Goes Omnibus With Some Genre Favourites

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, November 22, 2011

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Seven Seas has announced two new manga licenses today, both of which should please many a manga reader.

Girl Friends – Milk Morinaga
I Don’t Like You At All, Big Brother!! – Kusano Kouichi

Girl Friends is a five-volume yuri series by one of the genre’s most well known creators, Milk Morinaga. This is Morinaga’s first title to be released in English.

“When it comes to grades, bookish high school student Mariko Kumakura is at the top of her class. Socially, however, she is shy and lonely, typically eating lunch by herself. Enter the charismatic and beautiful Akko Oohashi, whose mission is to befriend Mariko and burst her out of her introverted shell. In the process of transforming Plain Jane Mariko into one of the cutest, most popular girls in school, deep feelings begin to emerge that suggest something deeper than friendship.”

Seven Seas has previously put out several yuri titles – which are stories with a focus on romantic relationships between women – including The Last Uniform and Strawberry Panic. Girl Friends will be released as two omnibus volumes, each $17.99/US for 496 pages. The first will be on sale October 2012 with the second out in January 2013.

I Don’t Like You At All, Big Brother!! is a multi-volume manga series about a girl with a severe brother complex:

“Junior High School student Takanashi Nao has a problem: she has a crush on her dreamy older brother, Shuusuke. Fortunately, when Nao discovers that she was adopted as a child and they’re not related by blood, it seems like the coast is clear–but Shuusuke just doesn’t see it that way.”

To be honest, this is the kind of series I’d actively avoid (incest, no thank you) but I know it has a decent-sized fan following so many will be very glad for this news! The series will be released as 2-in-1 omnibus books at )$16.99/US)/($19.50/CAN) with the first scheduled for release in August 2012 with a 320 page count.

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Manga, Seven Seas, Yuri

Review: Pokemon Black & White (Vol. 04)

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, November 21, 2011

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Author: Hidenori Kusaka
Manga-ka: Satoshi Yamamoto
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: All Ages
Release Date: November 2011

Synopsis: “Pokemon trainer Black is exploring the mysterious Unova Regision with his brand-new Pokedex. Pokemon Trainer White runs a thriving talent agency for performing Pokemon. Traveling together, their paths cross with Team Plasma, a group that advocates releasing your Pokemon into the wild! Black’s Munna disappears! Was it Pokemon-napped? Then. Black is attacked by… a Pokemon?!”

Black’s insanely goal-oriented nature is a fun quirk, one that’s all the more interesting since he’s fully aware of it. He’s so focused on winning the Pokemon League that he doesn’t have the brain capacity to think of anything else. To work around it, his Munna leaps upon his head and literally gobbles up his dream, just long enough for him to focus on other things. It’s effective but also sort of creepy. It screams permanent brain damage, at the very least.

Review: Rin-Ne (Vol. 07)

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, November 19, 2011

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Manga-ka: Rumiko Takahashi
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: November 2011

Synopsis: “When ghosts appear in Sakura’s house she commissions Rinne to find out what’s going on. Rinne’s on cloud nine at the thought of going to Sakura’s house, but when Jumonji and Ageha barge in on them, will the investigation grind to a halt? Ghostly cats, curses and haunted festivals… with all this trouble, Rinne’s definitely got his hands full!”

Rin-Ne has had me on the fence since the beginning. Do I like it or not? At seven volumes, I can finally say that I do. That’s quite a few books into a series to finally be able to say you’re enjoying it. Fortunately having numerous series under her belt offering years of entertainment, means I was willing to give Rumiko Takahashi the benefit of the doubt. Rin-Ne has been a lot like watching someone get a game set-up. First they have to put all the pieces out, make sure everyone knows the rules, let the audience get seated and now they’re finally ready to play the game. And since then, our patience rewarded, it’s been quite a bit of fun.

Shaenon Garrity Talks Chobits For House of 1000 Manga

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, November 18, 2011

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AnimeNewsNetwork has some great writers who contribute to the site and their manga editorial are always daily reads for me. Jason Thompson’s House of 1000 Manga is always an extra treat – a weekly exploration and showcase of a specific manga title. This week the column had Shaenon Garrity as a guest writer and she contributes an article on CLAMP’s Chobits. It’s a fantastic read so I recommend checking it out!

Shaenon breaks down the series’ themes of sexuality, romance and relationship dynamics in a really concise and well-thought out manner. I don’t necessarily agree with all of the conclusions she makes but she backs up every observation and opinion in a way that really gets you thinking about the story.

Even the forum responses, often a minefield of painful commentary, are worth going through for the article. Shaenon herself also elaborates on some points she couldn’t go into via the article for spoiler reasons.

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Categories: Editorials
Tags: CLAMP, Manga, Tokyopop

Review: Arisa (Vol. 05)

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, November 17, 2011

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Manga-ka: Natsumi Ando
Publisher: Kodansha Comics
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: November 2011

Synopsis: “Twin sisters, Arisa and Tsubasa, are separated by their parent’s divorce. But, after her sister’s suicide attempt, Tsubasa is determined to go undercover and unravel the conspiracy behind the elusive King. But, right now, the King’s wish granting abilities may have fallen into the wrong hands…. and the results may prove to be deadly to Tsubasa and Class 2B!”

I’d never found DelRey’s cover synopsis writing useful for determining what to expect in a particular volume. It’s one of the more frustrating attributes carried over to Kodansha Comics. Take this volume’s description, for example, which could be stuck on the back of almost any of the series’ books. Sure it keeps things vague for those who may not have read volumes one to four, but I think each subsequent book should really be for the readers reading them – don’t you? Class trips, stolen phones, a paralysed student, and Manabe’s past all await us in volume five of Arisa.

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – November 16, 2011

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, November 16, 2011

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A rather small list of titles out this week but the book count remains about the same (if not more) if you account for two more big box sets out from Viz Media. This week’s releases are posted in my On The Shelf article over at Otaku USA.

After doing this article for a few months, it’s been interesting seeing the patterns that emerge when it comes to how and when books come out. The two biggest descrepencies in information, meaning those that vary the most between what the sites says and my bookshelf indicates, are from Digital Manga and Kodansha, while Viz Media is often the most reliable (if you don’t include back orders anyway!).

Digital Manga lists release dates that only their own in-house supplier, Akadot, gets books for so they’re usually off by a month or two for anyone else (including Amazon and bookstores). Kodansha Comics predomiantly gets its books out to bookstores and online retailers on the days they indicate but Diamond Comics notoriously ships them from 2-3 weeks late from the release date. This differs a lot from Viz Media and Dark Horse titles, which always seem to be consistent between sources (excluding publisher push-backs).

Yen Press and Vertical Inc sit on the fence – usually on time but random titles arrive 1-2 weeks late from Diamond Comics. Oddly there rarely seems to be rhyme or reason to which titles arrive (or don’t) to individual stores despite ordering manifests and regardless of what titles are on the main Diamond Comics shipping list that week. Their titles do however have a tendency above others to arrive early sometimes.

Seven Seas hasn’t had enough physical releases in the past few months for me to notice a trend but that could change in 2012 based on the increase in titles we’re seeing.

Alas that at the end of the day noticing these trends doesn’t make coming up with a list that’s right for everyone any less difficult. Take this week for example, where online and chain store retailers have Sailor Moon (Vol.02) but Diamond Comics doesn’t yet have it listed as available. Frustrating both as a reader and an article writer. Patience, patience, patience…

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Categories: On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: Bandai, Kodansha Comics, Manga, Otaku USA, Sailor Moon, Viz Media

Digital Manga Acquires, Hires and Seeks More Fans’ Help

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, November 12, 2011

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Digital Manga‘s newsletter came out yesterday and had an assortment of interesting news to share – some great, some neat and some that just left me scratching my head in confusion.

The company has licensed a new boys’ love title – Docchi mo Docchi by Nozomu Hiiragi. It’s a one-shot title about two men employed at the same company. Both are well known with the ladies and rivals at their jobs. When the two somehow end up in bed together, the big question becomes who’s meant to be on top?

Digital Manga also noted that they’ve acquired the license to the third volume of Dog x Cat. Neither title has a release date yet.

The newsletter also reminded readers of job listings posted on Digital Manga’s website. Those currently listed as new and ‘permanent’ there are: Manga-Comic Editor/ Production Associate, PHP Developer, Accountant, Production Associate, Graphic Designer/Marketing Assistant and E-commerce Sales Associates.

The weird news of the week from Digital Manga though is that they’ve launched a Kickstarter program to fund a second-printing of Osamu Tezuka’s Swallowing the Earth. Kickstarter is a site where individuals or groups can start up a funding project where they look to the community to pledge money to support it. I’ve seen this work successfully for independent creators who don’t have the initial means to afford print runs but a company size of Digital Manga doing it?

Read more…

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Categories: Editorials, Licensing
Tags: DM Guild, DMP, Kickstarter, Manga

Velvet Fantasies: Project H & Sublime Add New Mature Titles

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, November 10, 2011

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Two new manga licenses today, both coming our way via the power of social media. SuBLime and Project-H each announced one new title via their Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Velvet Kiss (2 volumes) – Chihiro Harumi
Publisher: Project-H Books (Rated 18+)

“Nitta Shin finds himself saddled with a sudden, crushing debt. His loan agent tells him he can escape repayment if he keeps a particular woman company. He gradually learns that this arrangement might not be as easy as he once thought.” – DigitalManga

Oku-san’s Daily Fantasies – Takatsuki Noboru
Publisher: SuBLime (Rated 18+) – Digital Only

“Oku-san often buys useless stuff online, but not because it’s his hobby, but because this way he can see Sudou Riki, the good-looking delivery man. Not being able to do anything about his crush, he can’t help but fantasize…” – BakaUpdates

Velvet Kiss currently has no release date but will be in print. Oku-san’s Daily Fantasies is currently a digital only release scheduled for December. SuBLime reps remind us that strong digital sales could potentially mean print for their currently digital-only title someday.

I’d never heard of Oku-san’s Daily Fantasies until now but it seems to have quite a bit of fan excitement behind it and sounds pretty silly (in a good way!). Drama and sex is great and all but I love a fun comedy sometimes.

And has anyone looked closely at the Project-H logo before? It’s pretty clever – a cascading circular nosebleed over top an open book. I only just gave it a good look today and I was pretty entertained by it. Pervy and still visually classy.

My thanks to Sean for the heads up regarding the Velvet Kiss license.

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Manga, Project-H, SuBLime