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CLAMP Appreciation Fanbook

CLAMP Appreciation Fanbook Project

CLAMP fans out there will likely be interested in a new, though very steadily growing, project by CLAMPNow, one of the web’s largest CLAMP fan-communities. As the four women manga team celebrates their 20th Anniversary, the fans would like to give them something to show our appreciation and so came about the ‘Happy 20th Anniversary •CLAMP• Appreciation Fanbook Project‘. If you’d like more information on the project or would like to contribute, then definately check out the link above. It’s a fun project with a lot of talent and enthusiasm behind it, so here’s to a great success!

Image above provided by project coodinators


Starting 2009 with Fancy Fella

Fella Uryuu-Style!Not only does tonight mark the beginning of 2009, it also marks another year of my friends’ traditional holiday gift exchanges. As usual my friends all treated me with some fantastic and creative gifts, one of which I can’t help but share with you! The image to the left is a Fella plushie (Deviantart‘s mascot), who has been purchased for me and creatively dressed up to look like my crush favorite character from Kubo Tite’s Bleach, Uryuu Ishida. This fun present was compliments of my good friend and fellower Kuriousity reviewer, Marsha Reid! Ain’t he cute?! I also recieved the Marvel released Spiderman manga, SpiderMan J which looks so ridiculously adorable and, well, ridiculous, that I can’t wait to read it! It was a blizzardly but fun New Years Eve with good drink, good food and great friends. I hope all can say the same and are enjoying the first few hours of the next 365 days! Welcome 2009 :) Expect some news recaps and reviews to continue tomorrow as Kuriousity kicks off the new year!


A Farewell and Reflection of 2008

Goodbye 2008!

With only a day until 2008 is officially behind us, it’s no wonder people are taking the time to look back at the year with reflection. It’s been an incrediable journey for me and my website this year and even more so for the manga industry and its loyal fans. I couldn’t help but sit down and write some of my thoughts of the year. Truely they only scratch the surface of a long but satisfying year and I hope that others have reason to remember the year as fondly as I have :)

Read more…


Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays!


DramaQueen’s Drama, Yaoi Press Year End

A few recent boys’ love events of note:

 The drama over at Drama Queen’s forums continues with fans up in arms over their continued disorganization, misinformation and the latest in a string of broken promises. Some intelligent comments are made about DQ’s consistent failure as a business and I’m certainly enclined to agree. It’s been a long, sad road and DQ’s possible return no longer looks optimistic as much as it just shows how easily a so-called company can mess with its dedicated fans, not to mention contributers. For shame, DramaQueen.

And after failing to deliver on promised release dates for Tyrant Who Falls in Love twice, LadyQ on the forums pulls out a very familiar excuse:

“OK – DON’T PANIC! Tyrant is on it’s way – there’s a minor problem on our printing (nothing major!) so we’re working on it to get it printed asap.

Please know that Tyrant will be out – we will not be able to make it for Christmas delivery – but we’re shooting for January. I know how you all must feel, but please know that this time, it was not within our control when the problem arose ><! “

Maybe you should just, I don’t know… wait until you actually have something before you promise it to people?

On a much more positive note, Yamila has posted her end of the year report for Yaoi Press. They’re obviously feeling the current economic crunch but remain optimistic about things to come. One of their upcoming changes is the format of their books which will have higher page counts and larger trim sizes. It’s a good read for both fans of their releases and as a view of how one of the few consistant publishers in these rocky times is getting by.

Over at her blog, Tina Anderson makes some suggestions for some global BL reading for the holiday vacation. There’re some great titles on the list so check it out if you’re looking for some good reads that are refreshingly different from your usual yaoi fare.

And finally, in referrence to the appearance of In God’s Arms on Amazon (slated for a July 2009 release), a fan has been circulating an e-mail they recieved from Seven Seas telling them that the license for the boys’ love book by Nekota Yonezou had indeed been lost. While this doesn’t come as a surprise, and it’s more likely Amazon just regurgitated the listing, wouldn’t it be a much nicer thought that a license lost could infact now be a license found?


Mangettes: Gate 7

So soon to have my holiday shopping bumped from the top! Guess this means I should upgrade my WP for that handy sticky feature… In the meantime, this is CLAMP news so I’ll let the bumping pass!

Back in July 2007, Dark Horse announced their plans for a joint project with the popular manga-group, CLAMP, to create a series of releases called mangettes. Little else has been told about the stories CLAMP would be doing for these small 80-page digests, or when we’ll be seeing these simultaneous releases… until now! Dun dun dun… All dramatics aside (as a big geeky CLAMP fan, yes I consider this semi-dramatic), Amazon has yet again provided manga fans with a glimpse into the future:

Mangettes: Gate 7
CLAMP

“Between our conscious, waking world and the subconscious state of slumber, there is a thinly veiled plane of lucid dreaming. While the conscious state belongs to individuals, the hidden plane of dreams is one shared by all human minds, past, present, and future. Yet only a few have ever possessed the power to enter this secret realm at will – where a war is being waged to control the waking world. For our earthly wishes and desires are not our own, but under the manipulation of these unseen masters of dreams. The heroine of Gate 7 is Hana, a high-school girl hailing from Kyoto, the daughter of a temple caretaker. Her peaceful ways give her the self-control to act in the hidden realm. But Hana can only reach it through the strange beast that acts as her totem in the world of dreams – and her companion on a journey to confront the puppeteers of our reality!”

Doesn’t sound like CLAMP is going far from their current bubble but I’ve no complaints and of course look forward to the first release of these mangettes (with Gate 7 scheduled for August 2009 according to Amazon). I also look forward to seeing which of the group will be lead artist this time around; Mokona? Nekoi? Looking forward to the shiny either way.


Kuriousity’s Holiday Shopping Helper!

It’s that time of year! The time where most are scrambling to find that perfect gift for their friends and family, that gift that’s sure to give you that satisfied, fluffy feeling inside for giving someone you care about something they really love! But there’s so much out there to choose from (and not always affordable options either!), and buying for an anime and manga fan isn’t any easier with all the goodies out there.

So while I was sitting and pondering some of my own gift-buying dilemmas for my friends, I thought I’d put together a list for people that may offer some helpful inspiration. You can read it all under the cut.

Read more…


Deux and Libre English Teaching Team-Up

More from the Deux front today. Posted on their website is a colourful little page about a project between Deux Press and the Japanese company, LIBRE. It’s titled Repeat After Me? .The project’s lead artist is Shinri Fiwa (whose work has been published in English by BeBeautiful and DMP) and it looks to me like an online manga project that utilizes the plot of a young man forced to learn English in three months, to actually teach English. Pretty neat concept I’d say. Learn English with some boys’ love!

Deux Press will be working with LIBRE on this project as their English helping-hand. Who knows, maybe they could turn the tables and have it work the other way around for us English readers someday?


Review: Secret Comics Japan

Secret Comics JapanUnderground Comics Now: Secret Comics Japan
Published By: Viz Media (2002)
Rating: Mature (18+)

“Selected by a former editor of the acclaimed manga magazine Garo and a former editor from Japan’s third-largest manga publisher, Shogakukan, this collection of underground comics from the last decade ranges from the beautifully surreal to the graphically gruesome.”

You can always have faith in a library to surprise you with some great finds that you may not have otherwise sought out. I’ve recently made numerous such discoveries in my college’s library, one of the more recent being a copy of the 2000 release of Secret Comics Japan.

Read more…


YG Prepares For First Breath as BL Publisher

Yaoi Generation

Another lame title joke brought to you by Kuriousity aside, a quick note tonight to spread the news of a recent Yaoi Generation press release. The release date for the first volume of their licensed series, breath, is December 16th, with pre-orders available at their online store on November 28th. Both the store and the site’s forums are set to open that day at the stroke of midnight! Well… one minute after anyway.

“Yaoi Generation STORE TO OPEN SOON!

Fremont, CA – (November 25, 2008) YAOI GENERATION is pleased to announce that breath, vol.1 by Chifumi Ochi will be released on Dec. 16. The company will be accepting preorders for softcover copies starting Black Friday, Nov. 28 at www.yaoigen.com. The online store, along with their forum, opens at 12.01 a.m. Nov. 28, Pacific Standard Time.

To promote its first title and in the spirit of Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year in the U.S., Yaoi Generation will offer a special discount on preorders placed on opening day.

Presently, preorders will only be available on Yaoi Gen’s Web site. However, the books will soon be made available on Amazon.com.”

YG on Friday and DQ on Saturday. Going to be a weekend of boys’ love expectations it seems. Could we possibly have a weekend of both birth and resurrection on our BL buying hands?


Take me back to the top!