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Posts Tagged Viz Media

Super Savings: RightStuf Bags Viz Media Bargains

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, July 22, 2010

RightStuf’s weekly sale has gone live and this week it’s on all Viz Media books -that my friends is a large library of savings indeed. Just going through the first couple of listings pages shows you these are sales well worth taking advantage of too – almost 50% off or more on some titles! The sale ends on August 2nd.

Because they fall a little higher on the price scale, and because they’re generally fantastic, I recommend spelunking through the Viz Sig imprint. Along with the wonders that is 20th Century Boys and Pluto by Naoki Urasawa, the Viz Signature line also includes Fumi Yoshinaga’s Ooku and the fan-tabulous line-up of titles currently up to read chapters for free of over at SigIkki.com. Definitely doesn’t hurt to get caught up on your favourite running shonen series either, be it Bleach, Eyeshield 21, One Piece or Naruto (to name some). Not to mention the shoujo… and artbooks… and back issues… and omnibus…and DVDs… Oh boy, this could take a while.

As a bonus, RightStuf is also offering free Viz Media convention tote bags to those who purchase three or more Viz Media items.

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Categories: Features, Super Savings
Tags: 20th Century Boys, Fumi Yoshinaga, One Piece, Viz Media, Viz Signature

Swag Bag for July 22nd 2010 – Evil Exes and Vengeful Counts

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, July 22, 2010

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My usual Wednesday shopping had to be postponed until Thursday as I did an emergency replacement of my computer (warning to the masses: backing up your computer files is the best thing you can do for your technological-sanity) but a fan can never be kept from the bookstore for long!

Today specifically I first picked up Viz Media’s newest shoujo series, Dengeki Daisy. The plot doesn’t exactly wow me, and I haven’t read the artist’s previous work, Beast Master, but I’ve already hard lots of good things about this new story so I’m giving it a go! Thanks to a snazzy buy-one-get-one deal at Strange Adventures I was also able to snap up a copy of the third volume of Gankutsuou. While I haven’t read it through yet, just flipping through shows me this is going to be an entirely different, and considerably more disturbing, angle than the anime – yikes! And of course, I had to pick up a copy of the final volume of Scott Pilgrim.

While I never got a chance to visit the vendors for shopping purposes at last week’s Animinitime, I did stop by at the local Chapters to spend a convenient gift card I’d acquired. While there I also checked out the selection of French language manga. Such pretty design work! All with slipcovers and nice mini trim sizes. Also the selection was snazzy – over fifty volumes of Case Closed?! Very cool.

Chapters purchases included Calling, a boys’ love one-shot from BLU which sports an uke with very fluttering eyelashes; Cirque du Freak (Vol. 05) because my roommate adores the manga version (hasn’t read the books though) and I must admit it’s pretty darn fun to read; Flower in a Storm (Vol. 02) because despite thinking the first was sort of lame was interested when learning volume two was the end; Mad Love Chase (Vol. 04) because it’s Kazusa Takashima; and lastly, the fourth volume of my super guilty pleasure Zone-00 because it’s ‘awesome’. Ahhhhh the eye-candy in Zone 00!

As before, I encourage sharing of shiny manga purchases! What books made your swag bag this week?

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Categories: Features, Swag Bag
Tags: Del Rey, Manga, Viz Media

ANN Review: Maoh Juvenile Remix (Vol. 01)

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, July 21, 2010

1 Comment »

New review posted at AnimeNewsNetwork over this past convention-busy weekend for the first volume of Maoh: Juvenile Remix. You can read this series online over at ShonenSunday.com

I’m really interested to read the second volume of Maoh because I’m pretty stumped on where I think the plot is going to go. The apparent antagonist is interesting too. He reminded me a lot of Griffith from Berserk, as I mentioned in my review. I’ll admit I did chuckle a bit at how dramatically the story emphasized the lead’s ability to make others say his own thoughts out loud though. Yes it’s a pretty crazy power to have but compared to so many other shonen-leads before him, it seemed a little initially silly. Could mean lots for future events though, I’m eager to see how he continues to use them.

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

Review: Yakitate!! Japan (Vol. 23)

By Andre Paploo on Monday, July 19, 2010

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Reviewer: Andre

Manga-ka: Takashi Hashiguchi
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: July 2010

Synopsis: “Young Yamatoya, a spoiled brat with a thing for bread, is back – and this time he’s trying to buy a job as a bread judge. But when master taster Kuro-san decides to teach him a lesson about hard work, Yamatoya realizes he may have bitten off more than he can chew. Later, Azuma’s team Pantasia is in a bind when their next opponent in the “Yakitate!! Japan” baking competition turns out to be an old rival who’s caught in the grip of a powerful mind-controlling substance: miso bread!”

Yakitate Japan offers some signature Shonen Sunday-brand humour, adding a dash of whimsical absurdity to the realm of cooking manga, with its strange yet involving tale of youths struggling to be the best bread-makers in all of Japan. This volume is well into the series, yet is quite accessible to new readers, piquing my curiosity to check out more of this offbeat bakery comic.

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

ANN Review: Flower In A Storm (Vol. 01)

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, July 10, 2010

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A new review of mine’s been posted over on AnimeNewsNetwork – this time for one of Viz Media’s new shoujo series, Flower In A Storm.

Overall I was really underwhelmed by this manga, falls on the dull side of things. It definitely lacks the hook-factor that many other shoujos have, though I suppose it helps to have one less addictive series growing on my shelf, right? It’s too bad though, a girl with superheroes versus a crazy guy with a gun sounded like it had a lot of promise. Upside though, the flower/gun design on the back of the book is beautiful – very nice work there.

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

Review: One Piece (Vol. 50)

By Shannon Fay on Thursday, July 8, 2010

3 Comments »

Reviewer: Shannon Fay

Manga-ka: Eiichiro Oda
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: June 2010

Synopsis: “The Straw Hats are in a desperate battle against time and Gecko Moria to get their shadows back before dawn. Gecko Moria unleashes his devasting power of a thousand shadows, but Luffy counters back with his “Gear” powers. To save his crew, will Luffy have to make the ultimate sacrifice?”

Part of One Piece’s charm is its madcap, anything-goes mix of adventure and comedy. The plot sounds like something an eight-year-old might come up with between swigs of Red Bull: our cast of heroic pirates run into one of the seven warlords of the sea, Gecko Moria, a bad guy who steals the crews’ shadows in order to become more powerful. If they don’t get their shadows back before the sun comes up, they’ll die. With the sun starting to peek over the horizon, Luffy engages Moria in a no-holds brawl in order to save his friends – and that’s just the first couple of chapters! The rest of the book packs in a fight between swordsman Zolo and warlord Kuma, the tragic back-story of a musical skeleton named Brook, and the introduction of a new storyline involving a mermaid and an undersea island. All that and the crazy comedy and action One Piece is known for.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, One Piece, Shonen Jump, Viz Media

Swag Bag for July 7th 2010 – Cats, Space and Pokemon

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, July 7, 2010

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Here we are kicking off day one of Kuriousity’s fourth year! How about starting a new tradition with some new weekly content?

Buying manga isn’t something that seems to be as shared and celebrated as I’d like it to be, despite knowing that thousands of people are out there enjoying their purchases on a daily basis. Though my reviewers and I have managed to accumulate almost 700 reviews these past few years, they’re barely even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the books we buy and enjoy (not enough hours in the day!).

So! I’m going to start sharing what I buy with a few first impressions before I sit down to read them. Whether they serve as a reminder that ‘oh such-and-such a title is out now!’ or a simple ‘neat, she’s reading it too!’, I hope people find some fun in what’s in my shopping bag this week and are encouraged to share what you’ve bought recently as well! And if you’re interested in hearing more about a particular title, please feel free to let me know and I’ll do my best to have that title reviewed in full here on Kuriousity once I’ve finished reading it.

So what was in the bag this week thanks to new-comics-Wednesday at my favourite stop-and-shop location, Strange Adventures? Let’s take a look-see! (anyone but me have a bad habit of forgetting what they bought on the way home? At least there’s that fun rediscovery later!)

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Categories: Features, Swag Bag
Tags: Manga, Stan Lee, Tokyopop, Vertical Inc, Viz Media

ANN Review: Afterschool Charisma (Vol. 01)

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, July 4, 2010

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I’ve got a review for the first volume of Afterschool Charisma (Vol. 01) up over at AnimeNewsNetwork so check it out if you’re interested in what I thought of this high school of clones.

Overall, I really enjoyed it. It’s sad knowing the next volume won’t be released until January 2011 but at least if I’m suddenly overcome with the need to read, chapters are still posted on a regular basis over at Viz Media’s Sig IKKI website. I still much more prefer my manga in print but the ability to jump into future chapters with their free-to-read website is pretty snazzy – plus makes previewing titles before I buy them a great bonus. On the note of print, I love the design work on this book, looks really great!

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

Anime Expo 2010 – Viz Media

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, July 3, 2010

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This afternoon Viz Media had their panel down at Anime Expo. During the panel they confirmed a number of Viz Media titles that’ve popped up on Amazon and retail sites in recent months (such as Genkaku Picasso and Itsuwaribito) and had some new titles for eager ears as well!

You can check out the complete list of titles under the cut:

Read more…

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: Conventions, Kamisama Kiss, Legend of Zelda, Manga, Sakura Hime, Shoujo Beat, Vampire Knight, Viz Media

Review: Saturn Apartments (Vol. 01)

By Shannon Fay on Friday, June 25, 2010

4 Comments »

Reviewer: Shannon Fay

Manga-ka: Hisae Iwaoka
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: May 2010

Synopsis: “Far in the future, humankind has evacuated the Earth in order to preserve it. Humans now reside in a gigantic structure that forms a ring around the Earth, thirty–five kilometers up in the sky. The society of the Ring is highly stratified: the higher the floor, the greater the status. Mitsu, the lowly son of a window washer, has just graduated junior high. When his father disappears and is assumed dead, Mitsu must take on his father’s occupation. As he struggles with the transition to working life, Mitsu’s job treats him to an outsider’s view into the various living–room dioramas of the Saturn Apartments.”

There are a lot of interesting elements in Saturn Apartments. The science is solid and thought-out, and the hierarchy of Saturn Apartments makes for interesting social commentary. But, while these elements are always present, the real focus is on the human stories of the individuals window-washing Mitsu meets on the job. Still, though the characters are cute and their stories tug at the heartstrings, personally I was more interested in the world than the people who populated it.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Viz Media