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New books! My commentary here on Kuriousity is limited to “buy them!” but it might have something to do with the giant stack of books I bought from the last couple weeks that begs to be read right now. The full list is available as per yay-manga-comes-out-weekly usual over at my On The Shelf article for Otaku USA.
Welcome to what is definitely the longest Swag Bag to date! Mostly because I completely failed to compile my Swag Bag from last year’s Anime North… None the less! – my recent trip to Toronto was chock full of fun finds, and painful but no doubt hilarious attempts at cramming it all into my suitcases. This post here consists of the manga I bought while traversing the packed streets of Toronto while my TCAF purchases will come in a later post once I’ve finished oogling them enough to write something coherent.
The books listed here were all purchased from either my local Strange Adventures (pre-con buying is important, like eating before going to the grocery store – it helps… I think). The rest with exception of I think 1 or 2 came from what I’m dubbing the manga treasure trove of Toronto – The Beguiling. My thanks to their very accomodating staff! If curious about my other comic shop adventures in Toronto, you can check out the Ontario section of Kuriousity’s Canadian Comic Shop listings.
Now onto the swag!
Time for some winnings! A few interesting contests going on right now that are worth a gander and an enter.
Firstly, AnimeNewsNetwork has teamed with Aniplex (from whom they’ve licensed their two simulcasting series) and Pop Travel Japan (the tour-company of Digital Manga) to offer a contest where the winner gets a fully-paid trip to Japan!
There are two trip packages to be won – Tokyo Anime Fair Tour: an Otaku-centric tour of Japan including a trip to the Tokyo Anime Fair and Akihabara; and Fangirl Paradise Tour: a more boys’ love fan-central tour that includes the infamous Otome Road and a visit to an “authentic butler cafe”.
Entrants for the Fangirl Paradise Tour are required to take pictures of themselves in togainu no chi cosplay, with one of the two images having a sign proclaiming ‘ANN Please Send Me To Japan!’. For the Tokyo Anime Fair Tour contest, participants are to draw some Oreimo fanart and submit for the judges to see (with the ANN logo included somewhere in the picture all not-sneaky-like).
The winning packages include airfare, hotel accommodations, transportation while there, tour guides and customized guidebooks. Us Canadians (alas excluding myself) are able to enter the contest as well, though in place of airfare, there will be $500 given towards booking your own flight to Japan. Full guidelines and rules of course available over on the website.
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On their Twitter account, NetComics announced a fun little contest with the winner receiving $100 in e-Cash to go towards reading manga and manhwa on their website. With chapters for $.025, that’s a lot of reading!
1) Choose your favorite series.
2) Identify a scene/panel to recreate.
3) Do yer thang: bubbles, illustrations, etc.–the whole nine yards.
4) Q yourself whether or not your work is compelling/original.
5) Tweet it like there’s no tomorrow.
The deadline for NetComics’ contest is November 30th.
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RightStuf also runs numerous small contests, a current one being a draw for a random bag of swag. And though not really a contest but still for the artistically-inclined, a reminder that Yen Press’s current talent search is still on-going with a deadline of January 3, 2011.
I still haven’t completely finished unpacking what I bought at the recent New York Anime Fest (or finished my write-up about it for that matter – eep!) but that certainly hasn’t stopped me from my weekly trips to Strange Adventures for all that’s new, shiny and on sale.
First off, I couldn’t help but pick up Dark Horse’s omnibus edition of Cardcaptor Sakura. I already own the floppies, Mixx tradebacks and Tokyopop editions of the series but this one was too shiny and high quality to ignore. If you’ve been looking to replace some old copies or haven’t had the pleasure of owning one of the most adorable and magical manga series ever made, then you owe it to yourself to pick this edition up. It’s printed on high-quality paper, has nice lettering work and a thus-smooth translation plus it’s stuffed with full colour illustration inserts. This is a beautiful book indeed!
Next I spelunked through the stack of new Yen Press books out this week and decided on the third volume of Black Butler. This series has so much fan-service that is absolutely, perfectly and deliberately tailored to me. Or at least that’s how it feels sometimes and judging by it’s time on the New York Time’s Best Sellers list, I’m guessing I’m not the only one.
Next to enter my awaiting arms was the omnibus edition of Strawberry Panic which looks super pretty. I’ve heard good things so hopefully I am rewarded! I’m really falling in love with these omnibus editions, they’re fantastic.
Viz Media had a whole bunch of new books to choose from and there seemed no solution other than picking up most of them. For a new series, I picked up March Story (Vol. 01) and continuing a personal-favourite, Pokemon Adventures (Vol. 09). Naturally I had to make sure I nabbed a copy of 20th Century Boys (Vol. 11) while there was still one remaining and I was happy to see the second volume of Kingyo Used Books.
And rounding off my purchase of new releases and a new edition of a series I already own, I bought volume of boys’ love classic, Kizuna. It’s another beautiful omnibus edition of a great series. I will be enjoying some nostalgic reading this week for sure!
Then there was the discount shelf, full of snazzy and affordable little surprises to round out my purchases of the day. I picked up the first two volumes of Aegis from NetComics. I don’t own many of their books but have bought a number lately and liked the majority (though I have my share of complaints about their lettering – pet peeve of mine!). That said though, the lettering in Aegis actually looks quite a bit tidier than the others of theirs I’ve read so good start! Apparently it’s “a heart-thobbing sci-fi epic that echoes Lord of the Flies!“.
Lastly I got La Corda d’Oro (Vol. 08) and Togainu no Chi (Vol. 02), both of which I felt sort of lukewarm about prior volumes but I’m always up for giving series another book to impress me! I had opposite thoughts on them both – La Corda d’Oro has fantastic art but a meh story, where as I really disliked the art of this Togainu no Chi manga but like the original story. We’ll see where these volumes lead!
And to top it all off, though not manga, I had to buy a copy of UDON’s Vent anthology. It’s a collection of artwork from their company’s collection of contributing artists and it’s gorgeous.
Those were my purchases this week – what about yours?
Manga-ka: Est Em
Publisher: Netcomics
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: October 2009
Synopsis: “Forbidden love has a way of intertwining itself with destiny. Nick and Billy share a dream to become rock stars, but the dream comes crashing down the night Nick steals Billy’s guitar and life savings to pay off a debt. The crime breaks down the barrier of friendship between the two boys, revealing a far deeper level of connection than either was willing to admit. However, other members of the band grow tired of Nick’s free-thinking and careless ways. They want the “hippie” out of the band, leaving Billy faced with a heart-wrenching decision. He can either sacrifice his music, a career into which he’s invested countless hours of sweat and blood. Or he can sacrifice the boy who stole his heart long ago…”
Age Called Blue doesn’t feel like a yaoi manga. Instead it feels like a comic that happens to have gay leads. While the focus is on the main characters’ relationship, it’s more complicated than them just being boyfriends. For Nick, Billy is all he has in the world, while for Billy, Nick is the only thing holding him back. The way the characters act is sadly realistic, making this a believable and interesting drama.
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