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Posts Tagged Manga

Review: Yakuza Moon – The Manga Edition

Yakuza Moon

Manga-ka: Shoko Tendo
Publisher: Kodansha International
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: July 2011

Synopsis: “Born into the family of a wealthy yakuza boss, Shoko Tendo lived her early years in luxury. But labeled “the yakuza kid,” she was the victim both of bullying and discrimination from teachers and classmates at school, and of her father’s drunken rages at home. Then, the family fell into debt, and Tendo fell in with the wrong crowd. After the death of her parents and her own suicide attempt, she began a tortuous, soul-searching reevaluation of the road she had taken.”

Yakuza Moon is the manga adaptation of Shoko Tendo’s autobiography of the same name. In it Tendo wrote about the influence the yakuza had on her life, from growing up with a gang member for a father to how she became a delinquent herself. I haven’t read the original novel, but the manga does feel like an adaptation, moving quickly through events in order to cram everything into its new format.

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Otaku USA: On The Shelf – August 03, 2011

Otaku USA: On the Shelf - Aug 03 2011

Sorry for the silence here on Kuriousity, readers. We’ve had some technical difficulties with updating the past couple of weeks. Things finally seem to be smoothing out with our web provider however (as evident by you reading this post – yay!), so our backlog of content will be posted over the next few days.

Recently I was invited to contribute to Otaku USA’s web publication (helping expand from USA to more NA!). This week marks the first of my new manga column for them – On The Shelf. The weekly article will be a showcase of the manga available that week through comic-distribution (thus meaning predomiantly Diamond Comics). I’ll be listing the available titles from a variety of manga publishers along with taking some time to gush elaborate on a couple different books each week as well. I hope it proves a useful resource for manga fans!

I’ll be linking to my Otaku USA articles from Kuriousity from now on as they’re posted. My Swag Bag posts – where I share what I myself ending up buying that week – will continue to be posted here. I hope readers continue to share what they’ve purchased manga-wise that week (I’m always curious to know!) as well as contribute their own weekly recommendations over at Otaku USA.


August 1st is Yaoi Day with DMP!

August 1st is Yaoi Day!

August 1st – or 8/01 – has been proclaimed Yaoi Day! Not a bad thing to celebrate mid-summer – nice and hot, right? Well, unless you’re living on the East Coast of Canada… but that’s a different matter!

Digital Manga is ready to celebrate Yaoi Day with sales and contests, the deals of which are lasting all week. Curious what they’ve got to offer? It’s all available to readers around the world and you can read all the details below:

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SDCC 2011: It’s All About the Digital

SDCC2011

San Diego Comic Con 2011 is in its final hours today so its round-up time! As the biggest pop-culture convention of its kind, there were many bloggers on site to record all the details, so, while here on Kuriousity I’ll just be giving the brief run down of manga-related news, I’ll also be giving select links of where you can go to learn more.

Digital was the biggest news of the year. For everyone’s benefit, I’ll forgo my usual sad sighs and short rambles at the trend of more digital and less paper and skip right to summing up the news!

Edit (July 25th): More info re: Viz Media’s licenses added

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Swag Bag: Gender, Drama and Baseball

Swag Bag

Another week gone by and another stack of lovely new books to read! Lately I’ve been reading a lot of older titles since my haul at Animaritime but this week’s new titles definitely put up a huge fight for my attention (and who am I kidding, they won!).

First up was  the new volume of Black Butler (Vol. 06) from Yen Press. Knowing that the whole curry fiasco is behind us and another mystery is afoot had me extra eager for this book. I was not disappointed! This series is worth  buying for the art alone – such gorgeous Victorian outfits ranging from the wonderful to just plain weird. Throw in some detective work and sexual tension between pretty people and it’s an easy sell.

Much less in-your-face about its charms is the fourth volume of Cross Game. I’ve completely fallen in love with this series – I love the baseball games, the characters, the romance – it’s all good! It’s so relaxing, the kind of book you just want to curl up in bed with and not put down until you’re done. Plus I think I join the many in-story characters who have a crush on Aoba.

Adding two more volume sixes to go with Black Butler, I also bought Rin-Ne (Vol. 06) and Time & Again (Vol. 06). Both are series I have hesitations buying because the volumes have been hit or miss since the beginning. All the same, this is the final volume of Time & Again so I had to pick it up to see how things fare between the leads. Rin-Ne I buy consistently because when it’s good I really enjoy it, the kind of entertainment only Rumiko Takahashi can offer.

Speaking of hit or miss, two books came in the mail this week from DramaQueen – Missing Road and JUNK!. With three books now under their belt since their ‘comeback’ began, I’m ready to give them another chance and take a look at the new offerings. First impressions say the quality of the publishing itself is great but will the content itself hold up?

Wandering Son (Vol. 01)The big purchase this week was undoubtedly Wandering Son (Vol. 01), however. I’ve been waiting, waiting and waiting (patiently you see) for this book since it was announced. With this description, how could I not?

“The fifth grade. The threshold to puberty, and the beginning of the end of childhood innocence. Shuichi Nitori and his new friend Yoshino Takatsuki have happy homes, loving families, and are well-liked by their classmates, but they share a secret that further complicates a time of life that is awkward for anyone: Shuichi is a boy who wants to be a girl, and Yoshino is a girl who wants to be a boy.”

The book has since been showered with praise and rightfully so for what it is. I absolutely loved reading it and will hopefully have a review done soon to highlight why. As a first impressions note, it’s another hardcover release from Fantagraphics so on publication quality alone you really get your money’s worth.

What was in your swag bag this week?


Review: Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney (Vol. 01)

Ace Attorney Phoenix Wright (Vol. 01)

Author: Kenji Kuroda
Manga-ka: Kazuo Maekawa
Publisher: Kodansha Comics
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: May 2011

Synopsis: “Mystery and intrigue, crime and punishment, uncovering the truth—all in a day’s work for the ace defense attorney Phoenix Wright and his beautiful assistant Maya Fey. Based on the hit game series, Ace Attorney brings new adventures to the games’ colorful cast. Can Nick successfully swing the gavel of justice or will he be crushed by the weight of incriminating evidence?”

Finding manga based on a pre-established work that can cater well to newcomers and existing fans alike is not an easy feat. It’s no surprise really – (in this case) the games already exist to cultivate fans after all; other mediums are more a way to feed said-fans more of what they want and make some money while doing it. All the same, this Phoenix Wright manga does a great job easing in new readers. It helps a lot that it doesn’t throw in every big-name character in the first go. The fact that the majority of the characters here in the first volume are entirely forgettable, despite being mainstay personalities, actually works a lot in its favour too.

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Review: One Pound Gospel (Vol. 02)

One Pound Gospel (Vol. 02)

Manga-ka: Rumiko Takahashi
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: June 2008

Synopsis: “Four years ago, Kosaku pulled off an astounding upset in his pro test by KO’ing a big-time boxer. More than simply sending his opponent down for the count, Kosaku also managed to mangle this pretty-boy fighter’s teeth in the process. Now this toothless tyrant is ready for a rematch, but can Kosaku drop down an entire weight class to qualify for the bout?”

Much as I enjoy the occasional volume of Ranma ½ or Inu-Yasha – Rumiko Takahashi’s (arguably?) most well-known titles – there’s nothing quite like going back and re-experiencing one of her older series. One Pound Gospel was a title I missed during its initial run from Viz Media but am more than happy to experience now. Volume one was your standard introductory fare while here volume two takes the ‘professions’ of Kosaku and Sister Angela and plays them for all their worth.

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Review: Itazura na Kiss (Vol. 04)

Itazura na Kiss (Vol. 04)

Manga-ka: Kaoru Tada
Publisher: Digital Manga
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: November 2010

Synopsis: “Naoki keeps fleeing further and further from his meddling family! He thinks working a part-time summer job at a posh resort is the perfect way to find some much-needed peace and quiet… but his pushy parents, bratty little brother, school friends and (of course) Kotoko are all hot on his trail. Will this vacation turn into a total nightmare… or will someone get the sweet surprise they’ve always dreamed of?”

Like many a shoujo-heroine before and after her, Kotoko was endearing at first. Her one-sided love for Naoki garnered my sympathy and her penchant for failing at just about everything gave the series plenty of humour. Naoki being shown as little more than a jerk early on also made it a lot easier to cheer for her. Four double-sized volumes in, however, and not only am I flabbergasted that almost nothing has changed in the relationship that frames the series, but I’m spending almost all my time hoping that Naoki can finally break free of this suffocating romance.

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Manga to Motion: Interview with Bunny Drop Screenwriter

Bunny Drop

This past week AnimeNewsNetwork posted an interview with Taku Kishimoto, screenwriter for the recently debut anime series, Usagi Drop.  I provided the questions for ANN’s interview and was glad to see they garnered some interesting answers. Inadvertently my first Japanese-industry interview so my thanks to ANN for the opportunity.

Of the answers, I think the following was my favourite:

“…considering the current situation, there is a high possibility that this anime adaptation will expand the demographic of the Usagi Drop fanbase. I couldn’t be happier if the men who watched this anime realize that they don’t have to let women monopolize the enjoyment of raising kids.”

The manga (from which the anime was based) is currently being released in English by Yen Press under the translated name, Bunny Drop. It’s one of my favourite series being released right now and even the spoilers of the series’ end have done little to damper my enthusiasm for each new volume. It’s a really sweet story about a single, middle-aged man who takes in the illegitimate daughter of his recently deceased Grandfather. Unlike Yen Press’s other series starring a single, middle-aged man raising a girl he adopts (aka, the amazingly hilarious Yotsuba&!), Bunny Drop has a great balance of drama and humour that’s more focused on the emotional and logistical role of actually raising a child.

When it was announced they were making an anime I was really excited. One of my favourites being animated, huzzah! Seeing trailers and images come out only furthered my excitement – finally a new anime series I actually want to watch as it comes out! And yet… I haven’t watched it yet. Sure there’s only one episode so far but I just can’t get behind the watching-one-episode-at-time trend. It’s why I wait for boxsets of series then marathon them, similar to how much more I loved manga when they went from releasing single-chapter editions to full volumes. Anyone else find they have the same issue?

That being said, I hope someone licenses it! Series are getting picked up for English release earlier and earlier these days so I hope Bunny Drop falls in that category. In the meantime, I hope newcomers read the manga, the anime-curious check out the interview and those who don’t mind one-episode-at-time enjoy the anime as it comes out because it looks adorable!


Review: Men of Tattoos

Men of Tattoos
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Manga-ka: Yuiji Aniya
Publisher: Digital Manga
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: June 2011

Synopsis: “Sweet, delicate flowers and killer animals…they spring to life on the tattooed backs of the underworld’s most infamous men. But does love have a chance to bloom in a world of sin that’s steeped in perpetual inky night? And in the midst of the crime-filled chaos, is there a passion so powerful that it can lift a soul right out if its body?”

Men of Tattoos is frustrating because of how close it comes to being great but just ends up as a mess. There are a lot of good elements: the art is pretty with a different style than your usual yaoi and the story is willing to go to some pretty dark places, fitting for a manga with a cast full of criminals. But the narrative never really comes together ultimately making this an unsatisfying read.

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