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Posts Tagged Viz Media

Swag Bag – Freckles, Food and Manga Mysteries

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, December 4, 2010

It was a fairly big week for titles I really wanted to come out so I was happy to arrive at my local comic shop and find nearly all the books I wanted were on the shelf waiting for me – and then some!

The first book I picked up was Ayako, a new one-volume omnibus from Osamu Tezuka. It’s published by Vertical and the packaging is definitely different from your average manga – a thick, hardcover book, and it’s a hefty one! Also from Vertical I bought the second volume of 7 Billion Needles. I really loved the first one though to this day still find it hard to figure out exactly why, it’s just a really compelling story.

Viz Media books came next and I continued on with several on-going series: Bleach (Vol. 33), Toriko (Vol. 02) and Cactus Secret (Vol. 04). I also bought the second volume of Bakuman (Vol. 02), even though the flat-out dumb character interactions in volume one left me feeling cold towards it. Fingers crossed for more manga industry and less… whatever that attempt at romance was.

Next I picked up some DelRey titles, which did feel a little odd all things considering. But these were two very welcome purchases, volume 28 of Reservoir Chronicles Tsubasa and volume 11 of Ghost Hunt. Both are the final volumes of the series which means they’re both two series I won’t need to fear never seeing the end of. The Tsubasa book also surprised me with how thick it is, looks like a lengthy finish. Hopefully one that makes sense too.

Alas that while it was good to see two series finish up just in time, it wasn’t so lucky for the first volume of Arisa. I picked up this series after reading Carlos Santos’ review of the title and I’m really glad I did (as I never would’ve if not for his review). I’ve already read it and really enjoyed it – definitely a case of not judging a book by its cover. Please, Kodansha Comics, should you ever truly exist, choose this book as one of those you keep going with from DelRey’s library.

And lastly, I picked up the boys’ love one-shot Cafe Latte Rhapsody from June Manga, and Black God (Vol. 11) published by Yen Press. Cafe Latte is by Toko Kawai, whose works I’ve generally enjoyed in the past. The art’s a little bleh but she writes good character stories. Flipping through, this one stars a character with freckles which I thought was cute.

So how about you? What marks your first purchases of December?

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Categories: Features, Swag Bag
Tags: 7 Billion Needles, Bakuman, Del Rey, June, Toriko, Vertical Inc, Viz Media, Yen Press

PR: Find Out What It Takes to be a Local Deity, in KAMISAMA KISS

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, December 2, 2010

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VIZ MEDIA RELEASES DIVINE ROMANTIC COMEDY KAMISAMA KISS

A Kiss On The Forehead Is A Girl’s Ticket To A New Home And An Unexpected Life As A Deity

San Francisco, CA, December 2, 2010 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, will release the shojo manga (graphic novels for female readers) romantic comedy, KAMISAMA KISS, on December 7th. The new series, created by Julietta Suzuki, will be published under the company’s Shojo Beat imprint, is rated ‘T’ for Teens, and will carry an MSRP of $9.99 U.S. / $12.99 CAN.

Nanami Momozono is alone and homeless after her dad skips town to evade his gambling debts and the debt collectors kick her out of her apartment. So when a mysterious man she’s just saved from a dog attack offers her his home, she jumps at the opportunity. But it turns out that his place is a shrine, and Nanami has unwittingly taken over his job as a local deity!

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Categories: Press Releases
Tags: Kamisama Kiss, Viz Media

Review: Bleach (Vol. 33)

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, December 2, 2010

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Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Manga-ka: Kubo Tite
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: December 2010

Synopsis: “Ichigo’s mission to rescue his friend Orihime from the Hollow world has turned into a struggle for survival against a succession of enemies, each one more powerful than the next. Now another vicious challenger has entered the fray, one that happens to know the startling truth about Ichigo’s new friend Nel!”

Just when you thought the multi-volume long fight between Ichigo and Grimmjow was over… you’d discover you were right this time. But that’s only to make room for the next opponent, the toothy Nnoitora, who wastes no time jumping in to tear apart what’s left of our main character. Though it still feels painfully drawn at out at times, an assortment of just-abouts or why-don’t-theys, this thirty-third volume still manages to impress more than those recently before it by delivering a few surprises and some blows too brutal to be ignored. Warning: Review contains spoilers for the volume.

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

Review: Cross Game Omnibus (Vol. 01)

By Shannon Fay on Sunday, November 28, 2010

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Reviewer: Shannon Fay

Manga-ka: Mitsuru Adachi
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: October 2010

Synopsis: “Cross Game is a moving drama that is heartfelt and true, yet in the brilliant hands of manga artist Mitsuru Adachi, delightfully flows with a light and amusing touch. The series centers around a boy named Ko, the family of four sisters who live down the street and the game of baseball. This poignant coming-of-age story will change your perception of what shonen manga can be.”

I have always been a huge fan of Mitsuru Adachi. When I was just a budding manga fan I happened to pick up a copy of Short Program, a collection of short stories by him published by Viz. That book not only got me into manga, but comics at large as well. While I got more into his stuff as I got older, I never really thought his work would ever catch on in North America. Adachi specializes in a mix of sports manga and slice-of-live stories, neither of which are exactly heavy hitters in the English comics world. So I was both surprised and ecstatic when I saw that Viz had picked up Cross Game, a baseball series from Adachi.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Viz Media

ANN Review: Pokemon Adventures (Vol. 08)

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, November 27, 2010

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Eager to spread my love of this under-appreciated series with the masses, I recently reviewed Pokemon Adventures (Vol. 08) over at AnimeNewsNetwork.

What else can I say? I’ve been reviewing the majority of the series here on Kuriousity and it’s still one of my favourites. It’s always difficult to recommend the series to people when there’s so much assumption based on the mass-media phenomenon that Pokemon is. But, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Pokemon Adventures is a fun, surprisingly-serious (and violent) at times yet adorably drawn series that captures the feeling of the original games far better than I felt any other adaptations have. It was fun reading from other fans in ANN’s forums.

But I digress and should be summarizing my thoughts of this volume!Volume eight starts the beginning of a new story arc with the cast of characters we’ve known before predominantly behind us as they do their own thing elsewhere for the duration of this book. I liked the new character Gold who is an entertaining sort (and he throws Pokeballs with a pool cue!) though I did miss the other characters. Only a few more books until the series changes artists so I’m enjoying Mato’s work while I can.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: ANN Reviews, Manga, Pokemon Adventures, Viz Media

Review: Short-Tempered Melancholic and Other Stories

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, November 26, 2010

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Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Manga-ka: Arina Tanemura
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: August 2008

Synopsis: “Kajiko Yamano is a female ninja whose job is to protect her family’s legendary weapon. But when a boy she has a crush on tells her she should be more ladylike, she vows to give up all ninja deeds. Yuri sends her pen pal Ryo a picture of herself – but it’s really of her best friend Karin, who is prettier than she is. Now Ryo wants to meet her, so she has no coice but to send Karin instead! Minori falls in love with Takato, a boy who shared his umbrella with her one rainy afternoon. Now she ‘forgets’ her umbrella every time it rains in hopes of becoming closer to him. Mana secretly likes her friend’s boyfriend, but Nakamura, a younger boy, is determined to win Mana’s heart.”

Arina Tanemura’s series are a hit and miss bunch. Full Moon o Sagashite is one of my favourite magical shoujo stories, while Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne bored me to no end. Unfortunately Short-Tempered Melancholic, a collection of short stories, falls towards the second end, an easily forgettable batch of tales with characters as shallow and underdeveloped as the stories are short. To the artist’s defense, this is an assortment of her earliest work but regardless it stands to reason after finishing this that some past works are best left in the shadows of their predecessors.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Arina Tanemura, Manga, Shoujo, Shoujo Beat, Viz Media

Swag Bag – One Shots, Complete Sets and Shoujo Galore

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, November 25, 2010

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Despite the healthy dose of new titles coming out, there wasn’t much in the way of new titles I was looking for when I hit up my local comic shop this week. But Strange Adventures never fails to offer and lo and behold they had stacks and stacks of manga sets for cheap!

Though I may’ve wanted more, saving for holiday shopping took precedant this week so I opted for only three semi-complete series. I purchased volumes 1-14 of Ouran Host Club, volumes 1-10 of Beauty Pop and volumes 1-8 of Monkey High!. I fell in love with Ouran Host Club upon watching the anime (which has a fantastic dub thanks to Funimation). As for both Monkey High! and Beauty Pop, I’ve read a few volumes of each from my local library and am looking forward to reading the rest. Time for some marathoning – but which to start on first?

In contrast to the sets, I picked up a handful of one-shots as well. For some more shoujo-goodness, I purchased Short-Tempered Melancholic, Heaven’s Will and Gaba Kawa. I also purchased the horror (?) manga Goth which I reviewed on Tuesday. Heaven’s Will seems the most interesting of the batch simply because of the premise – girl who can see spirits teams up with a vampire and cross-dressing exorcist. We shall see how this plays out.

And lastly, and more recent, I bought the Seven Seas omnibus edition of Hayate x Blade. I liked the first volume so hopefully that continues for this edition which covers the first three.

Those were my purchases for the week – how about you? With this week marking Black Friday/Thanksgiving time for Americans, I imagine there are many manga-fans out for good bargains as well. Any especially fabulous finds? Feel free to share!

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Categories: Features, Swag Bag
Tags: Manga, Seven Seas, Tokyopop, Viz Media

Review: Natsume’s Book of Friends (Vol. 04)

By Andre Paploo on Monday, November 22, 2010

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Reviewer: Andre

Manga-ka: Yuki Midorikawa
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: October 2010

Synopsis: “Takashi’s quiet afternoon in the forest is disrupted when an angry spirit tries to possess him. He manages to dodge the spiritual attack, but he can’t as easily avoid the yokai’s pleas for help. Now he’s tracking down an escaped evil spirit that threatens the life of the forest. But he’s still learning that yokai never tell the whole truth, and the secrets spirits keep spell trouble for him!”

Yuki Midorikawa returns with yet another volume of Natsume’s Book of Friends, taking us back to the enchanting bittersweet realm of a boy haunted by Yokai due to his grandmother’s strange childhood hobby. Takashi’s grandmother Reiko Natsume made many enemies by enslaving yokai with her magical book of the work’s title, and this volume continues his encounters with the supernatural, and search for the comforts of a happy family life and friendships. With excellent art and characterization, Midorikawa creates a wonderful manga supported by VIZ’s strong production values.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Natsume's Book of Friends, Shoujo Beat, Viz Media

Review: Seiho Boys’ High School (Vol. 03)

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, November 21, 2010

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Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Manga-ka: Kaneyoshi Izumi
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: November 2010

Synopsis: “Remote, lonely and surrounded by the ocean. This isn’t Alcatraz we’re talking about, it’s Seiho Boys’ High School, where the student body is rife sexuality frustrated hunks! How can these young men get girlfriends when they’re stuck in the middle of nowhere? These are the stories of the students of Seiho High and the trouble they get into as they awkwardly pursue all girls who cross their paths. When the boys need to put on all-male performance of Snow White, they come up with the brilliant idea of finding a girl to sneak into the title role. And what’s this? Has Maki found a new love interest…?”

Another volume of Seiho Boys’ High School and more opportunities for the boys to woo some women. Or try to anyway. While one new girl is brought in, the bulk of the volume reintroduces two characters we’ve seen before – the school’s recently-revamped nurse and Fuyuka Miyaji who comes back to the school to return a favour.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Viz Media

ANN Review: Cross Game Omnibus (Vol. 01)

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, November 20, 2010

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There might be a lot of forward momentum in the future of digital manga but I’m still rooting for the print-team and omnibus editions really seem like the way things’re going. No complaints from me however, more manga for less money and a hefty read time makes me a happy consumer and fan. One of the most recent series to start from the gate in omnibus form is Cross Game from Viz Media. I reviewed the first volume (making up the first original three) over at AnimeNewsNetwork.

I bought Cross Game while I was down at New York Anime Fest and the book lasted me almost the entire time I was waiting to board my flight back home. It clocks in at just over 600 pages, and while in hindsight I wouldn’t recommend reading the whole thing in one sitting, it is really hard to put down once you’ve been drawn in. The hook moment hit me at about the 1/3 point after a big plot event occurred that really caught me by surprise.

Predomiantly it’s Mitsuru Adachi’s notorious muted character writing that makes this title so interesting. Being so accustomed to over-the-top reactions, screaming, flailing and wailing in manga, reading something as subtle and calm as Cross Game is like settling down into a cold bed – it’s a bit awkward at first but once you settled in and warm up, it’s absolute bliss. My strange analogies aside, it’s a very different experience and I highly recommend it.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: ANN Reviews, Manga, Viz Media