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Archive for the ‘Vertical’ Category

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – January 11, 2012

Otaku USA: On The Shelf - January 11, 2012

Better late then never for me posting about this week’s new manga, right? Otaku USA has my On The Shelf article posted with the list of what new manga made it to bookstore and comic shop shelves this past Wednesday.

The list is short and contains the bittersweet final volume of Kannagi. It’s not the series last volume, just the last we’ll see of it from Bandai Entertainment after last week’s news. That coupled with Media Blasters and now remaining anime companies suing each other, I think the North American anime industry is in desperate need of a hug. Fingers crossed 2012 treats manga companies better. Either way, the best hug you can give either industry is a purchase so get out there and hug, er I mean buy, away!


Diamond Manga Previews: January 2012

Diamond Manga Previews: January 2012

Diamond Comics is North America’s largest comic book distributor. If you have a local comic store in your area, it’s very likely they get their books from them. Every month Diamond releases a giant magazine, Previews, containing all the products they have – from comics, manga, DVDs and merchandise – that will be released starting in about two months’ time, giving retailers and buyers the chance to put their orders in before shipping dates.

Previews - January 2012

I’ve been picking up the Previews magazines for years, oogling all the different books coming out from publishers and wondering how long until the stacks of Preview magazines I’ve yet to get rid of will crush me in my sleep. Starting now I’ll be writing about the different manga content published in Previews each month here on Kuriousity. This includes all the manga titles listed, the top Manga sellers as tracked by Diamond and mention of other things of interest I spot. With the small two month window, Diamond Previews has rarely been the source of new licenses but it’s a great reminder and showcase of all the books coming our way soon, plus the perfect time to get your orders in, whether through Diamond or at your online retailer of choice.

I’ll also be including with these monthly Preview posts a downloadable PDF that you can print off and check off the manga  you’d like to order. Then it’s as easy as bringing it into your local comic or book store – wherever in your area that orders in through Diamond Comics! Currently the list is just the names and does not include the Diamond order codes. I’ve never come across a store that requires them for ordering but if yours does, let me know and I’ll include them on subsequent files:

January 2012 Manga Previews Checklist (PDF)

You may continue reading at your own discretion for my thoughts, elaborations, random pictures and the Top 10 Selling Manga of November 2011!

Read more…


Year In Review: Lissa’s Favourites of 2011

Lissa’s Favourites of 2011

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!

Read more…


Otaku USA: On The Shelf – December 7, 2011

It’s like Christmas come early with release weeks like this – a whole bunch of must-have manga titles! My top pick goes to Princess Knight (Vol. 02) but Blood Alone (Vol. 05) and a slew of Viz Media titles aren’t far behind it.

You can read the full list of titles shipping out this week, along with my usual random synopsis and price-noting, over at my On The Shelf article at Otaku USA.


Otaku USA: On The Shelf – November 30, 2011

Otaku USA: On The Shelf - November 30, 2011

It’s Wednesday! And the fifth Wednesday in the month too, that’s an extra week of new comics. You can see the list of new manga out over at my On The Shelf article for Otaku USA.

The big titles out today are the long-awaited new volume of MPD Psycho from Dark Horse, and the seventeenth and final volume of Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack from Vertical Inc. I may very well cry when I finish that one – it’s never easy when one of your favourites comes to an end!


Otaku USA: On The Shelf – November 9, 2011

Otaku USA: On The Shelf - November 9, 2011

Wednesday! New comics day! You can read the list of new manga volumes out this week over at my On The Shelf article at Otaku USA.

There’s a bunch of new Digital Manga titles shipping this week, and Viz Media has released their new original-orientation, newly translated and highly spiffy looking omnibus edition of X. CLAMP really owns the omnibus market here don’t they? Their works are definitely setting a standard!


PR: Very Vintage Vertical Vednesday Tasting The Drops of God

A Very Vintage Vertical Vednesday Tasting The Drops of God

(November 4, 2011 – New York, New York) – Following a successful launch of Tadashi Agi’s legendary wine comic, The Drops of God, the staff at Vertical, Inc. and New York-based wine purveyors BottleRocket have come together to bring the wines of The Drops of God to life!

On Wednesday, November 9th, BottleRocket will be hosting a wine tasting featuring many of the wines depicted by Shu Okimoto in this massively popular series. While most of the wines will focus on North American labels, wine and comic connoisseurs alike should find plenty to indulge in this evening as manga and Merlot mingle this evening.

After a brief introduction to the comic and the impact it made on both the comics and wine industries, BottleRocket’s knowledgeable crew will be pouring 6 wines featured in the series. Cheese, conversation and comics will follow on what should be a rare night where comics become reality.

Doors open at 6:00pm this evening, with the pouring starting at around 6:15pm.

Admission will be free and open to the public, however some of the featured wines will be limited so we suggest arriving early to try them all.

Books will also be available for purchase through BottleRocket. (Please make sure to pick up a copy to thank them for hosting this special event.)

Wednesday, November 9, 2011
from 6:00pm to 8:00pm
at Bottlerocket Wine & Spirit
5 West 19th Street
New York, New York

Attendees must be 21 and up.

RSVP on the Vertical, Inc. facebook page.
More info at the Vertical website, www.Vertical-Inc.com


NYAF 2011: Manga Out Loud Podcast & Recap

NYAF 2011: Manga Out Loud Podcast & Recap

It’s been almost a month since New York Anime Fest with recaps and reflections still trickling out from the thousands who attended. 105,000, in fact. Wow!

Ed Sizemore invited Erica (Okazu), Melinda (Manga BookShelf) and I to be guests on his Manga Out Loud podcast. It’s posted online now and is part two of his New York Comic Con podcasts. We had a good conversation about what we did at the convention, how we felt it was handled by staff and organizers and about the discussion of legal issues surrounding comics.

The podcast got my brain turning again on my thoughts on the convention. Overall I found other elements of my trip to New York more fulfilling than the convention itself (dinners with awesome people! Kinokuniya! Book-Off!) but from an organizational point of view, I thought NYCC/NYAF was much better handled this year than it was in 2010.

My thoughts and some accompanying photos can be read below:

Read more…


Otaku USA: On The Shelf – November 2, 2011

On The Shelf - November 2, 2011

Happy Halloween! Albeit a day belated. I hope everyone’s enjoying some tasty candy, be it from the day itself or via the wonders of discount candy shelves here in November. Hard to argue the joy of sitting down with a stack of new books and a box of little chocolate bars to rummage through.

There are some exciting books out this week and I found myself almost as eager to let others know about them as I was to get them myself. Vertical’s the hard-hitter with No Longer Human (Vol.01) and Princess Knight (Vol. 01). I reviewed No Longer Human earlier this week.

You can read my thoughts, summaries and the full list of books out this week over at my On The Shelf article at Otaku USA.


Review: No Longer Human (Vol. 01)

No Longer Human (Vol.01)

Author: Osamu Dazai
Manga-ka: Usamaru Furuya
Publisher: Vertical Inc.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: October 2011

Synopsis: “In honor of the 100th birthday of Osamu Dazai, Usamaru Furuya retells Dazai’s most important work, No Longer Human, in modern-day Tokyo, where modern vices can bring ruin to the self-loathing. Yozo Oba is a young man originally from a well-off family from Japan’s far north and a troubled soul incapable of revealing his true self to others. A weak constitution and the lingering trauma from some abuse administered by a relative has forced him to uphold a facade of hollow jocularity since high school.”

No Longer Human was a breath of fresh air after my recent completion of Drops of God (Vol.01). While the latter wasn’t bad, it definitely lacked the oomph that I’ve come to expect and anticipate of Vertical titles. There was no shortage of that here. As far as Usamaru Furuya’s work goes, No Longer Human nestles nicely between Genkaku Picasso and Lychee Light Club. It’s a compelling look into the most private and hidden elements of a person’s psyche, all told through symbolism, cynicism and unapologetic depictions of sex and despair.

Read more…


Otaku USA: On The Shelf – October 26, 2011

On The Shelf - October 26, 2011

It’s a week of especially amazing works coming out! Don’t waste a manga-buying moment and stop by this week’s On The Shelf article to see the titles being released tomorrow.

A Bride’s Story (Vol.02), Yotsuba&! (Vol.10), Drops of God (Vol.01)… and then you have the fangirl button pressing Black Butler (Vol. 07) and a guilty pleasure like Air Gear (Vol.20) sprinkled on top. But those are just my absolute must-haves – still lots more on the list where those came from.

Writing On The Shelf for Otaku USA, I continue to be impressed week after week about just how much manga is released in North America. Stacks of new books every week. And by stand nearly every book at 150+ pages and all this ‘after’ the manga bubble ‘burst’. Sure we can always want more and more but you know what? We’re so darn lucky and I love it! Thank you, publishers :)


Otaku USA: On The Shelf – October 19, 2011

On The Shelf - October 19th - Gate7

Back from New York with a suitcase full of swag and I was still excited to get home and see what new goodies are out this week! If you’re curious about what new manga titles are out, you can pop over to Otaku USA to read my On The Shelf article for the week.

A big chunk of my excitement for this week’s releases is because the first volume of Gate 7 is finally out. CLAMP are some of my favourite creators and to have a new title from them to read for the first time is really exciting. How many years has it been since that happened? Plus the book looks gorgeous! Dark Horse has a preview of the manga’s first chapter over on their website that you can read to get an early glimpse.


NYAF 2011: Vertical Inc

Vertical Inc and a logo edit of mine that completely defeats the point of the original!

The second big manga panel of NYCC/NYAF was Vertical Inc‘s which happened Friday night. It was one of the most anticipated manga related events as the company’s marketing director, Ed Chavez, paved the way to it with teasing hints about new titles they’d be revealing. The panel was run by Ed and the company’s editorial director, Yani Mentzas. Their signature Chi plushie was also present, always offering the audience a well worn smile.

A powerpoint presentation was used for the panel to showcase Vertical’s current and upcoming volumes. Ed noted he’d made the same presentation multiple times this convention season so he’d be going through them pretty quick. While that may have been the case, he still had something interesting to add about almost every one. There’s a lot of info here so I’m going to stick with a more list-style format for this panel write-up.

Oct 15 Note: A few cover images will be added to this post after the con ends so check back if curious!

Read more…


NYAF 2011: Panels and Exhibitors for the Manga Inclined

NYCC/NYAF 2011

The year’s last big pop-culture event is upon us this week – only two days left until the start of New York Comic Con. Also a combined part of the event is New York Anime Fest, offering up an assortment of anime and manga related content for con-goers. I’ll be flying to New York on Thursday for the weekend event and like many others I’ve been compiling the list of events I’m making sure I don’t miss!

There’s a variety of manga publishers present this year: Vertical Inc, Kodansha Comics, Viz Media, Yen Press, Bandai Entertainment and Dark Horse. That’s a lot of opportunity for exciting news and new titles. I’m already clamouring to try and be one of the lucky few who can get an early copy of Vertical Inc’s release of Princess Knight and hear the big news from Viz Media that’s been hinted at by Shonen Jump Group’s deputy director, Sasaki Hisashi, who will be in attendance.

“Going to NYCC! Wait for the big announcement VIZ &we make there!”

Ed Sizemore of Manga Out Loud and MangaWorthReading has posted about which panels he’s going to and exhibitors he’ll be visiting. He’s one of several manga bloggers attending the event (a fair number of those in Kuriousity’s blog roll will be there!) and gives short but convincing reasons for adding the times and places he lists to your own NYCC planner.

You can see  the full list of guests, exhibitors and events on the NYAF website and I’ve included the specifically manga-related panel details under the cut of this post. They include some links to learn more about who’s bringing the manga news to NYAF this year.

I’ll be attending these events and writing about them here on Kuriousity throughout the weekend. If curious, you can see my coverage of last year’s event in the Kuriousity archives.

Two days left now… see you there!

Read more…


AWA: Vertical Inc Announces Flowers of Evil Manga

AWA: Vertical Inc Announces Flowers of Evil Manga

2011 has some convention news in her yet! The convention Anime Weekend Atlanta is taking place this weekend and this evening Vertical Inc. held a panel discussing their current and upcoming titles. This included one new manga license:

Flowers of Evil – Shuzo Oshimi

The series is about a boy who finds himself being blackmailed by a fellow student who saw him steal the gym clothes of another girl in their class. The first volume of Vertical’s edition is due to be released in May 2012. The series is currently four volumes long total and was published in Japan by Kodansha. You can look at a preview of the manga on their site (click the middle white button for the preview window). Flowers of Evils‘ creator, Shuzo Oshimi, also has a series titled Drifting Net Cafe available to read online at the digital manga site, JManga.

Along with this manga announcement, Vertical Inc’s marketing director Ed Chavez said that there would be three new titles announced at the upcoming NYAF/NYCC. These titles will include one josei title (genre targeted at older woman), a new Tezuka title and one other. I’ll be attendance at NYAF so you can bet I’ll be there at Vertical’s panel for all the news!

Other notable mentions included confirmation of the Dororo omnibus (now scheduled for May 2012), Twin Spica‘s final volume count coming in at twelve and that the seventeenth volume of Tezuka’s Black Jack will have a “special die-cut cover” and extras, marking the final volume in the series. Vertical also announced they’d be publishing an edition of Fumi Nakamura’s light novel, Enma the Immortal. A preview and plot synopsis of that book can be read via a pre-existing English Kindle edition.

Credit for all the news above goes to Karen who posted the info live via her Twitter account.


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