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Posts Tagged Viz Media

Review: Ikigami – The Ultimate Limit (Vol. 05)

By Victoria K Martin on Thursday, September 8, 2011

Manga-ka: Motoro Mase
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: May 2010

Synopsis: “Beginning today, we will randomly select a different citizen who will be killed within 24 hours of notification. We believe this will help remind all people how precious life is and how important it is to be a productive, active member of society. Thank you for your continued attention and your cooperation and participation… Congratulations! You have been randomly selected by the government… to die in 24 hours! Featuring Episode 9: The Writing on the Wall, Episode 10: Honor and Duty. …where does a death messenger go on a date?”

What would you do if you knew you only had 24 hours to live? This question is one that has been asked over and over again, both in fiction and otherwise. Because of this, it would seem to be an unoriginal concept; however, in Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit, Motoro Mase proves that it’s an idea that can still be taken in diverse and thought-provoking ways.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Viz Media

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – September 7, 2011

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, September 6, 2011

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Students, students, students – they’re everywhere! Here in Halifax we have a large amount of universities and colleges considering the size of our humble city so when September hits, the population seems to spike! I hope they’re lucky enough to find the awesome places we have here to buy comics and manga, just in time for this week’s new stuff.

My On The Shelf article is up over at Otaku USA which includes a whole bunch of Viz Media titles and four new series starting from Kodansha Comics. There’s just so darn much! A gift for the shelves and a curse for the wallet. Perfect moment to be thankful that so many independent Canadian retailers charge based on the strength of the dollar and not those prices on the back of books though… yikes.

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Categories: On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: Dark Horse, Kodansha Comics, Manga, Otaku USA, Vertical Inc, Viz Media

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – August 31, 2011

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, August 31, 2011

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Is it really the last day of August already? Yikes… summer just flew by. I can’t believe people will be returning to school in just a few days. I may’ve graduated years ago, but I still love hitting the books – just a different kind of course (not that I didn’t read a heck of a lot of manga in my school years as well!). Otaku USA has my newest edition of On The Shelf posted for this week’s manga releases.

My top pick is definitely Kohta Hirano’s Drifters. Elves, magic, distorted and exaggerated historical figures and the creator’s snazzy art style = a must read! Fingers crossed we don’t have to wait as long for volume two of Drifters as we did for volume thirteen of Eden… Better than never though, Dark Horse, so my thanks for both this week!

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Categories: On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: Dark Horse, DMP, June, Kodansha Comics, Manga, Otaku USA, Viz Media

PR: Viz Media Dominates Latest NY Times Manga Bestseller List

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, August 30, 2011

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VIZ MEDIA DOMINATES THE LATEST
NEW YORK TIMES MANGA BESTSELLER LIST

Newest YU-GI-OH! GX Volume Takes #1 Spot And Is Complemented By Other Top Manga Properties Including BLUE EXORCIST, BLEACH, BAKUMAN｡, BLACK BIRD, FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST, NARUTO And More!

San Francisco, CA, August 30, 2011 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in North America, has announced that its titles swept the latest Top 10 on the New York Times Manga Bestseller list for the week of August 20th.

The top selling VIZ Media manga (graphic novel) titles included:

1. YU-GI-OH! GX Vol. 7
2. BLUE EXORCIST Vol. 3
3. BAKUMAN｡ Vol. 6
4. BLEACH 3-In-1 Edition Vol. 2
5. FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST 3-In-1 Edition Vol. 2
6. AI ORE! Vol. 2
7. SAKURA HIME: THE LEGEND OF PRINCESS SAKURA Vol. 2
8. BLACK BIRD Vol. 5
9. NARUTO Vol. 48
10. NARUTO 3-In-1 Edition Vol. 1

The New York Times Bestseller lists are an expanded version of those appearing in the September 4, 2011 print edition of the Book Review, reflecting sales for the week ending August 20, 2011. Rankings reflect weekly sales for books sold in both print and electronic formats.

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Categories: Press Releases
Tags: Bakuman, Fullmetal Alchemist, Sakura Hime, Viz Media

Review: Otomen (Vol. 11)

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, August 20, 2011

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Manga-ka: Aya Kanno
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: August 2011

Synopsis: “Asuka engages in a battle with Suzuki Oji to see who will get the most Valentine’s Day chocolates! As Oji seduces girls left and right into giving him chocolates, Asuka wonders one thing – who will Ryo give her chocolates to?”

The opening chapter in this volume of Otomen finishes off the plot started in the previous, allowing us a fun second look at the cast dressed up as geisha and samurai. Seeing Asuka given a chance to really show off his decorative and cooking skills in front of his peers is refreshing, though it does feel a little sudden despite the fact he’s been revealing this side of himself more and more for eleven volumes. Changes are happening though and there’s only one more volume left to wrap it all up.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Otomen, Shoujo, Shoujo Beat, Viz Media

Super Savings: Fumi Yoshinaga Edition

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, August 19, 2011

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August’s Manga Moveable Feast – an assortment of articles from a variety of bloggers about a single manga topic – is about Fumi Yoshinaga, manga artist extraordinaire. There’re already lots of great posts for the MMF about her books, her art style and her storytelling methods so I highly recommend following the updates.

For my contribution, I’ve compiled sources where you can buy Fumi Yoshinaga’s books online. We’re lucky to have so many to choose from and collect – just compiling this list was a great reminder. While there’re a variety of places online and in-store to purchase her books, I’ve tried to find the cheapest options to make it that much easier to start, add to or finish your Yoshinaga library.

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Categories: Features, Super Savings
Tags: BLU, Boys' Love/Yaoi, DMP, Fumi Yoshinaga, June, Manga, MMF, Viz Media

PR: Viz Calls Out To Artists To Submit Work For Art For Hope

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, August 18, 2011

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VIZ MEDIA CALLS OUT TO DIGITAL ARTISTS TO SUBMIT WORK FOR ART FOR HOPE TO BENEFIT ONGOING JAPAN DISASTER RELIEF

Unique Art Book Project In Partnership With Autodesk Will Curate Digital Artwork Created With Autodesk SketchBook® Software

VIZ Media reaches out to visual, graphic and manga/comic-inspired artists to submit original work and participate in ART FOR HOPE, a special limited edition digital art book anthology, to be sold through VIZManga.com and the VIZ Manga App for iOS devices, with 100% of net proceeds supporting ongoing disaster relief efforts in Japan. Artists interested in submitting work to be considered for the collection can get the full details at www.viz.com/artforhope.

The unique project was launched in partnership with Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK), a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software, and was initially announced at the 2011 Comic-Con International. All of the artwork for the ART FOR HOPE collection will be rendered using Autodesk SketchBook® digital paint and drawing software applications.

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Categories: Press Releases
Tags: Viz Media

PR: Viz Media Debuts The Art of Vampire Knight

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, August 17, 2011

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VIZ MEDIA DEBUTS
THE ART OF VAMPIRE KNIGHT

New Hardcover Edition Features Captivating Artwork From The Bestselling Manga Series By Matsuri Hino

VIZ Media invites fans to savor the lavish, gothic-inspired illustrations of manga (graphic novel) creator Matsuri Hino in THE ART OF VAMPIRE KNIGHT, scheduled for release on September 6th. The new hardcover edition will carry an MSRP of $24.99 U.S./$28.99 CAN.

THE ART OF VAMPIRE KNIGHT is an ideal companion to the bestselling manga series, and contains your favorite images in color plus never-before-seen artwork in the United States. The new book features an extensive character gallery with author comments, a how-to tutorial, and an exclusive full-color VAMPIRE KNIGHT poster.

Cross over into this mysterious and dangerous world of vampires with the lush artwork of Matsuri Hino. VAMPIRE KNIGHT takes readers to Cross Academy, which is attended by two groups of students: the Day Class and the Night Class. At twilight, when the students of the Day Class return to their dorms, they cross paths with the Night Class on their way to school. Yuki Cross and Zero Kiryu are the Guardians of the school, protecting the Day Class from the Academy’s dark secret: the Night Class is full of vampires!

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Categories: Press Releases
Tags: Shoujo Beat, Vampire Knight, Viz Media

Review: La Quinta Camera

By Shannon Fay on Wednesday, August 17, 2011

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Manga-ka: Natsume Ono
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: July 2011

Synopsis: “An apartment in Italy. In four of the rooms live four single men with singular personalities. Into this peculiar ménage steps an exchange student, the new tenant of the fifth room. Brought together by chance, friends by choice, they pursue their dreams together as the days drift gently by.”

Over the past year I have become a big fan of Natsume Ono. House of Fives Leaves is currently one of my favourite manga and I’m happy to see more and more of Ono’s work being licensed. La Quina Camera is a solid little stand alone graphic novel which should appeal to fans and newcomers alike. It has a nice, uncomplicated atmosphere which makes it an easy read.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Natsume Ono, Viz Media

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – August 17, 2011

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, August 16, 2011

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Wednesday is upon us again! New comics time, it’s a beautiful thing. This week new manga releases are represented in full by Viz Media and Yen Press. You can check out the full list over in my On The Shelf article at Otaku USA.

My top pick for this week is Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys (Vol. 16) from Viz Media:

“Hands down the book I’m most eager for is 20^th Century Boys (Vol. 16)—after the short epilogue-esque chapter at the end of volume 15, I’ll be diving atop that book as soon as it’s unpacked. A certain main character has some explaining to do amidst all the world-altering biological warfare.”

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