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Posts Tagged Toriko

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – October 10, 2012

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, October 12, 2012

So many good books out this week! More Bleach, Devil & Her Love Song, Toriko, Paradise Kiss, Arisa – the list goes on. Weirdly I was already able to buy a lot of these last week, but that’s Diamond Comics for you isn’t it?

You can read more of my specific thoughts and ponderings over at this week’s Otaku USA’s On The Shelf and view the hopefully handy list-only version below:

Arisa (Vol.09) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Bakuman. (Vol.15) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Bleach (Vol.48) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Bleach (Vol.49) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Cage of Eden (Vol.07) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Case Closed (Vol.44) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Dawn of the Arcana (Vol.06) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Devil & Her Love Song (Vol.05) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Drops of God (Vol.05) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Fairy Tail (Vol.21) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Ghost in the Shell (Vol.1.5) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
GTO: 14 Days in Shonan (Vol.05) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Jack the Ripper: Hell Blade (Vol.02) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Jiu Jiu (Vol.02) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Kekkaishi (Vol.34) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Loveless 2-in-1 (Vol.01) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan (Vol.11) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Paradise Kiss (Vol.01) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Pokémon Adventures Platinum (Vol.06) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Skip Beat (Vol.29) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Slam Dunk (Vol.24) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Stepping on Roses (Vol.08) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Story of Saiunkoku (Vol.08) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Toriko (Vol.12) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]

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Categories: Features, News, On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: Bakuman, Cage of Eden, Dawn of the Arcana, Kodansha Comics, Loveless, Manga, Manhwa, Omnibus, Otaku USA, Paradise Kiss, Pokemon, Seven Seas, Skip Beat, Slam Dunk, Toriko, Vertical Inc, Viz Media

Review: Toriko (Vol. 11)

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, August 24, 2012

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

Synopsis: “Toriko’s fight with Gourmet Corp has left him without an arm. While Komatsu continues the quest for Century Soup, Toriko journeys to Life, the country of healing, where getting some R&R turns into a bigger battle than anyone imagined. He’ll have to eat his way to full health!”

The ice-cave chapters of Toriko come to an end in this eleventh volume but not before another cascade of crazy monsters gnashing, drooling and smashing through their way through our heroes (and our new weren’t-hereoes-before-but-now-are-pretty-close too). The massive spire containing the Millennium Soup is collapsing and everyone is pretty messed up, but at least before all is momentarily said and done we get to see one particularly nasty baddy get his just desserts. Then it’s onward to helpings and healing!

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

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – August 8, 2012

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, August 8, 2012

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Yesterday I celebrated my birthday and there are few things I ever want more than the opportunity for more books. The manga publishing world responded (not intentionally of course, but I’ll think it so!) by having this week be an extra large bulk of titles. Hurray! You can see the full list – which includes over 30 individual releases – at my weekly On The Shelf article for Otaku USA.

My top pick of the week has to go to Viz Media‘s Kaze Hikaru (Vol.20). We need to wait a year between volumes and it’s a real shame when this series is so, so charming and well drawn. Kodansha Comics‘ Sailor Moon (Vol.06) is one of those no brainer purchases because it’s wonderful and this particular volume introduces the outer Guardians, Neptune and Uranus, which introduces a whole new layer of intrigue and classiness. For something new, I’ll be looking out for Seven Seas‘ first volume of Lizzie Newton: Victorian Mysteries. I really liked their release of Young Miss Holmes so I hope this one is similar. These and so many others this week to whatever extent my wallet can support!

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Categories: Features, News, On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: Bakuman, Bleach, Kodansha Comics, Lizzie Newton, Manga, Manhwa, Otaku USA, Sailor Moon, Seven Seas, Toriko, Vertical Inc, Viz Media

PR: Viz Manga Digital Schedule Synchronizes Day-and-Date With Print

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, August 7, 2012

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VIZ MANGA DIGITAL SCHEDULE SYNCHRONIZES DAY-AND-DATE WITH CURRENT PRINT RELEASES

All Digital Manga Releases To Debut On Tuesdays;
New Volumes Of Current VIZ Manga Series Will Debut Simultaneously In Print And Digitally

Leading North American publisher VIZ Media continues to refine its VIZ Manga digital platform with a newly announced general release schedule that will synchronize future manga titles to coincide with the domestic debut of their print counterparts, closing the gap between print and digital manga formats.

Beginning today, all VIZ Manga releases will debut on Tuesdays. In addition, digital volumes of current releases will debut on the same day as its print debut. This will also include future VIZ Media titles available from the NOOK Store™ for the Barnes & Noble NOOK Color and NOOK Tablet.

The VIZ Manga App is available for free through the iTunes Store and the Google Play Store, and all manga volumes are generally available for purchase and download in the U.S. and Canada within the application for $4.99 (U.S. / CAN) per volume. More than 80 series and 700 volumes are currently available for download. Plus, don’t miss the VIZ Manga End of Summer Sale going on now until August 20, 2012, saving fans up to 20% Off all series available on VIZManga.com and the VIZ Manga app for the iPad, iPhone, iPod touch and now Android phones!

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Categories: Press Releases
Tags: Bakuman, Dawn of the Arcana, Digital, Toriko, Viz Media

Swag Bag: Farewell Ouran, Hello Shonen and Bye-Bye Kizuna Boys

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, June 16, 2012

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Swag Bag time! Below are some of my thoughts of books I’ve purchased in the past two weeks (and love very, very much). As always these books were purchased at my local comic shop, Strange Adventures.

My favourite buy of recent weeks was the final volume of Ouran High School Host Club (Vol.18). I couldn’t even wait to get home to read it so I was quick to find a place to sit down and enjoy. It was a fantastic ending, probably one of the best I’ve ever actually read in manga series, especially a shoujo. I plan to go into it in more detail in an upcoming review, but in summary – yay! Though I’m really sad there’s no more to read.

Also from Viz Media this week were the first two volumes of their Bleach speed-up. Despite some pleadings from my wallet, I simply couldn’t leave volume 41 on the shelf when I was walking away with volume 40, so both it was! I enjoyed these together more than I have Bleach in a while and having two volumes at once I think played a big role in that. You can read more of my thoughts in my recent duo-review of the volumes.

Hopping back on a different shonen train, I purchased Toriko (Vol.09). It’s still one of my favourite on-going series right now which I never would have expected when I first came across it. It feels so reminiscent of Dragonball, including Komatsu who ups his adorable and toughing-it-out points in this new volume. On the flipside, I bought Dawn of the Arcana (Vol.04) which is a series I thought I would really like but it has yet to click with me. Volume four is it! If I don’t get into it after this, then I’m done with this iffy shoujo series.

With one series over and three others continuing, I sought something brand new by buying Puella Nagi Magica Madoka (Vol.01) from Yen Press. I haven’t seen the anime but heard the story was really good. The manga didn’t live up to my expectations, but I can see it being worth exploring further in some format at least. I wrote and posted a review on my Madoka thoughts last week.

Catching my eye was an older title from UDON Entertainment – Evyione Ocean Fantasy (Vol.01). Even knowing their track record for continuing manhwa past a first volume is horrendous, I couldn’t help but buy it. It’s a retelling of the Little Mermaid story except the mermaid is a gorgeous mysterious merman and the prince is instead, you guessed it, a princess. I really like what I read here but I won’t hold my breath for getting volume two.

And then it was boys’ love time! Two new Digital Manga titles arrived in-store, which is always a surprise since you never know for sure when their books will ship. Both titles were by Kazuma Kadoka – Kizuna (Vol.06) and Bad Teacher’s Equation (Vol.04). I was a little disappointed to see that the Kizuna volume was only a single, where all the others released by DMP were omnibus. Nothing that can be done when that’s all that’s left though. I’ll miss the series now that it’s over – it’s a true BL classic. Bad Teacher’s Equation as a series is so silly – I have fun reading it so I’m glad there are still a few volumes left to go.

And in non-manga buying news, but something that still overlaps a lot with the fandom, I purchased the second Avatar the Last Airbender: The Promise graphic novel from Dark Horse. As a big fan of ATLA, I adore these graphic novels for reading so much like the original series (very amusing dialogue, for one) and for being drawn by the very talented, GuruHiru.

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Categories: Features, Swag Bag
Tags: Bleach, Boys' Love/Yaoi, Dark Horse, Dawn of the Arcana, DMP, June, Manga, Manhwa, Omnibus, Shoujo, Toriko, UDON, Viz Media, Yen Press

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – February 9, 2012

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, February 8, 2012

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There was no On The Shelf article last Wednesday because of a week without any new manga releases on my schedule list – how depressing was that? Well I guess we’ll accept those mini lulls now and again, especially with big release days like today following it up.

It’s Viz Media‘s big shipment of the month with nineteen new volumes of manga, including the first volume of A Devil and Her Love Song. You can read the full list of titles out this week over at Otaku USA’s On The Shelf article this week. Along with a slew of new volumes of shonen and soujo series, there’s also new volume of the well-loved Finder series from Digital Manga and two new of their Project-H books. Hopefully something for everyone – enjoy!

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Categories: News, On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: 801Media, A Devil and her Love Song, Bleach, Boys' Love/Yaoi, DMP, Hentai, June, Kodansha Comics, Manga, Manhwa, Otaku USA, Project-H, Toriko, Vertical Inc, Viz Media

Year In Review: Lissa’s Favourites of 2011

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, January 1, 2012

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There are no shortage of ‘Best Of’ lists this time of year. While I like popping around to different peoples’ sites and seeing what they thought, it’s a bit of a frustration that I can’t seem to write one myself. How people choose a solid list containing five or ten favourites, from across different genres and subject matters, is just something I can’t seem to muster the brain power for. Not enough conviction I suppose? There’s just so much to love!

But I can’t overlook the perfect chance to look back at all the great titles a year had to offer and 2011 had some really fantastic ones. So then where is this going, oh rambling one, you ask? My semi-traditional equivalent to the yearly best of – the random Lissa’s favourites and best-ofs list! Which really just means you get a lot more titles broken into a lot more categories so I can remain a lot more loving to a lot more series. And in some cases not so loving… From the Best Release Quality to the Favourite Fan Service and even to the most Gag Worthy – here are a bunch of my favourite titles from 2011!

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: 20th Century Boys, Air Gear, Arata the Legend, Bakuman, Black Butler, Black Jack, Boys' Love/Yaoi, Bunny Drop, CLAMP, Dark Horse, DMP, Fantagraphics, Gate 7, June, Kamisama Kiss, Kodansha Comics, Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, Manga, Natsume Ono, Oh!Great, Omnibus, Osamu Tezuka, Pokemon Adventures, Ponent Mon, Reservoir Chronicles Tsubasa, Rumiko Takahashi, Sailor Moon, Seven Seas, Shoujo, Tokyopop, Toriko, Usamaru Furuya, Vertical Inc, Viz Media, Viz Signature, Yen Press

NYAF 2011: Viz Media

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, October 17, 2011

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Manga programming was light after Friday at NYCC, but Sunday had Viz Media‘s panel with a big announcement to share and some licenses worth getting giddy for. I’ve included the full write up of the panel in my post here, including the anime-related news instead of just the manga. Since the post is so lengthy, however, here’s a quick summary of the event manga-wise:

New licenses:

Jiu Jiu – Toya Tobino
Loveless – Yun Kouga

Announcement:

Shonen Jump print magazine to be discontinued in March 2012; replaced by digital edition that will come out weekly and feature new chapters of titles from Japan within weeks of their release. Graphic novels of these titles will be released digitally to allow readers to get caught up before the new chapters begin. Viz Media is calling this their ‘digital warp’.

You can read the full details and anime news under the cut!

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Bakuman, Bleach, Boys' Love/Yaoi, Conventions, Loveless, Manga, Naoki Urasawa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, NYAF 2011, NYCC, Omnibus, One Piece, Shoujo Beat, Skip Beat, Toriko, Viz Media

PR: Viz Media Launches Digital Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, October 17, 2011

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VIZ MEDIA TO DEBUT WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP ALPHA
NORTH AMERICA’S ONLY NEAR-SIMULTANEOUS
DIGITAL MANGA MAGAZINE

WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP ALPHA Brings Fans The Most Popular Manga In The World Faster Than Ever Before

San Francisco, CA, October 14, 2011 – VIZ Media, the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in the North America, announces the countdown to the launch of WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP ALPHA (WEEKLY SJ ALPHA), a weekly serial anthology of some of the most popular manga series in the world: BAKUMAN｡, BLEACH, NARUTO, NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN, ONE PIECE, and TORIKO. The first issue of WEEKLY SJ ALPHA goes on sale January 30, 2012, and will be available through VIZManga.com and the VIZ Manga apps for iPhone™, iPod™ touch and iPad™.

Each new digital issue of WEEKLY SJ ALPHA brings manga fans in North America the latest chapters of their favorite series only two weeks after it debuts in Japan’s massively popular WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP Magazine. Currently, Japanese releases are often several months to years ahead of North American print titles; WEEKLY SJ ALPHA eliminates the delay in unprecedented fashion.

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Categories: Press Releases
Tags: Bakuman, One Piece, Toriko, Viz Media

Swag Bag: Until The Full Moon in the Belly of the Beast

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, September 12, 2011

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Books, books and more books! Digital manga may be picking up speed but I’m so thankful we still have bookshelves, upon bookshelves of manga to buy. This past week I got a bunch of new titles along with scattered older titles that I missed.

I also secured remaining plans for my trip to New York next month for NYAF/NYCC. Going to the con again is going to fun, meeting new and old acquaintances amazing and then there’s the opportunity to step foot into Kinokuniya again. A place of manga beauty… Anyway! Any other Kuriousity readers going this year?

In terms of goodies bought here at home recently, I was pleasantly surprised to find an early copy of Osamu Tezuka’s The Book of Human Insects. It’s published by Vertical Inc. and is a nice hardcover edition. I wasn’t expecting it to be flipped, since I’m so accustomed to reading their Black Jack books, but at least it doesn’t take long getting used to reading it the other way around.

Adding some new boys’ love to my shelves, I bought the one-shot Midnight Bloom from Digital Manga and two volumes of the Takumi-kun series: Tales Out of Season and Barefoot Waltz. I also bought The Betrayal Knows My Name (Vol. 01) which though not undeniably boys’ love yet, is definitely leaning the way. This one’s an omnibus release which is a format I’m becoming more and more fond of – so much manga in one affordable go!

To my sadness, I bought the last volume of Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit (Vol. 07). It’s not actually the last volume of the series itself but looks like (based on retailer listings) that it’ll be the last one Viz Media is going to release. It’s unfortunate, but I suppose not very surprising as it doesn’t look to have sold very well. Starting something new to try and off-set the abrupt end, I bought my much anticipated Drifters (Vol. 01) from Dark Horse.

Another new series I bought (this one on a total whim because it was there) was Mardock Scramble (Vol. 01) from Kodansha Comics. From them I also bought Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Vol. 02) and Until the Full Moon (Vol. 01). There was a huge quality contrast between these two titles – Until the Full Moon looked beautiful with a really nice paper stock for the cover. Phoenix Wright however had really low resolution artwork on the cover that was pixelated and fuzzy – it looked like a bootleg product. Not good, Kodansha!

From Viz Media I continued a handful of on-going series with Pokemon: Black & White (Vol. 03), Bleach (Vol. 36) and Toriko (Vol. 06). I’ve already read Bleach and it was really good – a great flashback volume into the pasts of all the Shinigami. Toriko was just really, really, really weird still (they’re fighting a battle inside a giant mammoth’s intestines!) and I can’t help but love it because of that. I then purchased Fall in Love Like a Comic (Vol. 01 – 02), having just recently read and enjoyed the first volume from the library.

Lastly I bought a whole stack of old Tokyopop titles thanks to Strange Adventures‘ great discounted manga section. First I bought Soul Rescue (Vol. 01 – 02) since it’s by the same creator as Otomen, which Viz Media currently publishes. Because the cover looked really pretty, I then bought Million Tears (Vol. 01 – 02). Forget About Love (Vol. 01) was the last of my TP titles and unfortunately never had anything further than that published (so here’s hoping I don’t like it too much?).

Alas it looks like no Sailor Moon for me this week (why, Diamond Comics, why?!) but I’ve still lots and lots to read. Time to get started! So what’s in your Swag Bag this week?

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