Author: Daisuke Sato
Manga-ka: Shouji Sato
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: January 2012

Synopsis: “Takashi and his fellow students join up with a band of survivors who have barricaded themselves inside a local mall. Though the shopping center seems a well-stocked place to hide from the undead lurking outside, the policewoman in charge is having a hard time maintaining peace within. The group from Fujimi High would rather not get involved in a power struggle and tries to stay under the radar until they are ready to set off again. But with so many attractive, buxom girls among the students, it may be nearly impossible to avoid unwanted attention of the worst kind…”

I had some apprehension going into Highschool of the Dead. From the art and the write-up, I assumed that the manga was going to be little more than a mix of tits, ass, and gore. While those are indeed the three main ingredients in this volume, the manga has enough going for it that I enjoyed it anyway.

The series follows a small group of high school students (as well as the school nurse and an elementary school kid) as they try and survive a zombie apocalypse. When this volume starts the group has found shelter at a shopping mall, but other people are already holed up there and tensions between the survivors are strained. The only thing keeping the peace is Asami, a rookie traffic cop. Unfortunately, Asami isn’t the most intimidating authority figure: she cries a lot and can barely keep everyone from panicking. When one of the survivors tries to rape Marikawa, the school nurse, the kids realize that the mall isn’t as safe as they thought it was. The group is left to decide whether to get involved and help Asami or to get out of there before everything goes to hell.

What I love about the zombie genre is that it is a genre of ideas. Zombies can symbolize anything you want them to: consumerism, race, religion, mortality. HotD doesn’t cover any ground that zombie grandaddy Romero hasn’t covered repeatedly, but it does set up some good moral dilemmas. At one point in the story a character talks about how the characters always refer to the undead as ‘them’ because it’s easier to fight ‘things’ than humans. But at this point in the series the characters are in danger of dehumanizing even other human beings for the sake of survival. They’ve gone beyond ‘us vs. the zombies,’ and are now veering towards ‘us vs. everyone else.’

But it’s one thing to talk about having such a cold-hearted philosophy, it’s another to live it. When an old lady at the mall falls ill, some members of the group leave the building to get medicine for her. This is one of the best parts of the book and also the only section with any zombies (which is a good thing: zombies are best when they’re not overused). The zombie attack is well staged, but it’s robbed of some tension by the fact that there’s an obvious red shirt in the group.

There are five high school kids in the main cast, plus the nurse, the elementary kid, Asami and all the minor characters at the mall. With such a large cast list some of the main characters don’t get to do a lot in this volume: there are two high school girls who could be totally interchangeable (at least in this volume) as all they do is stand around and scowl. Also, the ‘leader’ of the group, Takashi, is so bland I have to keep reminding myself he’s in this series. There are some characters that are different and interesting though. The two seemingly ‘weakest’ members of the group, Marikawa the nurse and Alice the elementary-school kid, prove to have skills that may make them more likely to survive than the ‘strong’ characters.

And then there’s Kouta. Kouta is an overweight high school boy with a gun fetish. He’s not only knowledgeable about weaponry but human nature: he always knows exactly what to say to keep the group functioning. But Kouta has a dark side, a ruthless streak that allows him to do whatever he thinks is necessary to protect his friends. Kouta almost seems to enjoy the zombie apocalypse as it gives him an excuse to act on his darker impulses. Kouta’s a really interesting character and the best thing in this manga.

The art in this book is not a style I enjoy, but it’s more restrained than I was expecting so that’s something. While the artist clearly put a lot of thought into the various size and shapes of the girls’ boobs and how they move, it’s not as gratuitous as it could be. I guess the girls’ character designs are supposed to be sexy, but I just found them pointy and weird and not very attractive. If the idea of a woman with breasts bigger than her head turns you on, then you’ll probably have a more favourable opinion of the art. I actually liked the design of most of the minor characters more, as they weren’t so overly stylized.

The artist does a great job with the zombies, though the gory scenes look very different from the rest of the manga. The gore looks gritty and realistic while everything else is drawn in a sharp, clean style. I would have liked to see a little more integration between the two art styles.

I was a little wary when I saw the price for Highschool of the Dead: $13.99 USD and $15.50 Canadian. I got my copy from Yen Press, but if I was buying it in a store I’d be unsure about spending so much for such a short volume – it’s barely over 160 pages. Compare that to a volume of The Betrayal Knows My Name, also from Yen Press, which costs five dollars more but is almost three times as long. But I was entertained while I was reading Highschool of the Dead and the story moved along at a quick clip, so even with the higher price tag I’d be tempted to pick up the next volume. Highschool of the Dead isn’t a great manga, but it’s a good read if you’re looking for something gruesome and more than a little bit lurid.

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Book provided by Yen Press for review purposes

Manga-ka: Hotaru Odagiri
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: December 2011

Synopsis: “Welcomed into the arms of the Giou clan and the Zweilt, Yuki reaches out to his comrades even as he is drawn into their war with the darkness. But the demonic Duras continue to spread their malevolence around Yuki, and the members of his new family are not impervious either, as one of their own vanishes without a trace and yet another is cornered by a sudden ambush. In the Zweilt, Yuki may well have found the long-sought-after place he belongs, but the enemy seems intent on stealing it out of his grasp forever. And when the shadowy figure of “Reiga,” the nemesis of the Giou, finally steps into the light, will Yuki find himself utterly alone, crushed by the weight of the truth?”

They say there are only so many types of stories, and one of them has to be ‘pretty people with super powers fight bad guys for fate of the world.’ The Betrayal Knows My Name not only follows this basic plot, it also has all the tropes you usually see in battle shojo manga: beautiful boys and girls, lots of destiny talk, plenty of fights and even more angst. While it’s not going to replace CLAMP’s X as the flagship title for the genre, it has its own strengths and charms that make it an enjoyable series.

Yuki Giou was an orphan who had no one in the world until his mysterious older brother, Takashiro, found him. Takashiro revealed that their family has been fighting demons, called the ‘Duras,’ for generations. He brings Yuki to the family mansion to meet the rest of the clan, all of whom have special powers. While most of the clan welcome Yuki with open arms, some of them still hold grudges over what happened in a previous life. This makes things slightly awkward for Yuki who doesn’t remember his past life at all.

Yuki is the typical pure shojo hero, big on heart but short on brains. He likes everyone he meets, is kind even to jerks, and just wants to be everyone’s friend. There are a lot of naive, sweet main characters in manga, but Yuki is less annoying than most. It helps that the manga-ka shows why Yuki is the way he is. Having grown up without a family, Yuki is delighted to have a group of people who not only love him but need him (he’s the healer for their group and his very presence makes them stronger). Yuki really loves his new found family, but part of that love comes out of a desperate need to belong.

As well as having a long title, TBKMN also has a big cast. While Yuki may be the main character, in this volume he only gets marginally more page time than anyone else. A lot of volume two focuses on Shuusei and Hotsuma, two members of the Zweilt who have a very close relationship both on and off the battlefield (they’re also the pretty boys on the cover of this volume). Personality-wise the two are total opposites: Hotsuma is quick-tempered while Shuusei is grounded and reserved. Both of them harbour deep angst over their pasts, but while Hotsuma lashes out, Shuusei bottles it up inside, something that has repercussions in this volume. I really like Shuusei. His character reminds me of folks I know in real life, the kind of people who listen to everyone else’s problems while keeping their own demons secret.

Hotsuma and Shuusei’s bond is tested when a string of strange events come to the attention of the Zweilt: teenage boys across the city are disappearing and high school girls are falling into comas. Could there be a connection? Is a Duras behind it? Just as the cast starts to investigate, Shuusei disappears. Hotsuma and the others must figure out what’s going on before they lose Shuusei forever.

That’s just the main plotline in this volume. Aside from a lot of nice character moments, we also learn the identity of the big bad and meet more of the good guys. All of it is well paced and even the action scenes help move the story along and develop the characters.

As much as I like all the characters, I think the manga-ka should cap the cast list or else I will start to forget people. She had a chance to thin the herd in this volume when it seemed like she was actually going to kill a main character. This made me happy for several reasons: 1. It would have shown that the bad guys were actually a threat, 2. By killing a sympathetic character the rest of the characters would have had a chance to develop in new and interesting ways, and 3. It would have reduced a large cast by one. The manga-ka even drew what would have been a very effective death scene…if the character had actually died! Instead he survives and gets to keep fighting. I like the character, and for that I’m glad he’s still around, but I think not killing him off was a missed opportunity.
While I’m talking about the characters and their relationships, I want to talk about Luka and Yuki. Luka is a Duras who switched over to the good guys’ side. He is wholly devoted to Yuki, something that leaves the teenager happy but confused. Why does this stranger care for him so much? And what exactly happened between them in Yuki’s previous life? Even after two giant volumes of manga, their relationship is moving as fast as a glacier. I actually like the slow pace here as it suits the characters.

Yuki has strong feelings for Luka but having lived a sheltered life he doesn’t know how to deal with them. Plus, he’s not sure if Luka actually likes him or if he’s just with him because of an oath he swore in a previous lifetime. Yuki may be in doubt, but it’s clear to everyone else that Luka loves him. Luka however tells the rest of the cast that he doesn’t want to rush Yuki into anything; in fact, if Yuki never returned his feelings at all, Luka claims he’d be fine with that too. He says he just wants Yuki to be happy, and it seems like he’s telling the truth. It’s such a relief to see a male love interest that is not dominating and controlling, who doesn’t stalk the person they like or try to keep them from caring about anyone else.

The art for the series is soooo pretty, but it’s not an empty prettiness. The manga-ka has a good eye for layouts, and while she doesn’t do anything really different or inventive, she knows how to effectively lay out a sequence. This is especially useful for the action scenes.

This volume has some weak points: there’s a minor character who gets a lot of build-up but no satisfying resolution, and the big reveal of the main bad guy’s identity was obvious from page one of the series. Also, the manga-ka keeps teasing the reader with tidbits about what happened in Yuki’s previous life but holds back on the details. I hope that in the next volume the manga-ka just tells us what went down.

Yen Press is doing a really nice job with the series and I’m glad it’s being translated into English. I just wish that I didn’t have to wait until April to see what happens next!

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Book provided by Yen Press for review purposes

Manga-ka: kakifly
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: December 2011

Synopsis: “As the second school term begins, so do preparations for the upcoming school festival! The Pop Music Club starts working on some fresh lyrics as they tune up their act for their live show. But the third-year girls find themselves practising for a performance of another kind when Ritsu and Mio are selected to play the lead roles in their class production of Romeo and Juliet! With the rest of the girls tied up in play rehearsal, Azusa spends her afternoons alone in the clubroom … Will the show be ready to go on?!”

The synopsis for this volume is a bit misleading. While the themes it raises are present for the entire book, the plot surrounding the play is actually resolved very quickly. The rest of the volume is concerned mainly with the older girls of K-ON! as they face their imminent graduation and the challenges of getting into university.

While I have seen the first season of the K-ON! anime, this was my first time reading the manga. As a result, I found myself facing confusion early on as I wasn’t quite sure which order to properly read the panels. They are presented on the page as eight panels equally spaced in two columns. At first, I thought I was meant to read them horizontally however after a couple of pages I realized I had to read vertically. This confusion was added to by the opening colour section which is not done in the four-panel style and so is read from left-to-right and from top-to-bottom, as occurs in traditional manga. I’m not sure if the fault lies with Yen Press or with the original Japanese publication, but I personally would have liked the two columns to have had extra space between them, to make it easier to understand just how to read them, as has been done for other similar releases.

There were a few other flaws in this volume. At times, I felt as though material was missing, as events such as concerts would be skipped over and the transition between the end of one storyline and the next was not always the clearest. While this may be due to the strips being put together in a collection, rather than appearing separately in serialization, the effect is still a bit off-putting to a reader.

One main event of the story that did not appear much was, surprisingly, the actual music played by the band. The concert mentioned in the synopsis is over in a page. This may not necessarily be as much of a negative as it first appears though. Manga that deals with musical performance often falls a bit short when it tries to write out songs, especially given that J-Pop songs often have lyrics that quite frankly don’t make much sense.

One of the shining features of this volume is the inclusion of the colour pages, which let the art style really shine. This is especially true of the large panel at the beginning of each section, containing art that stands by itself, apart from the main comics. One panel featuring Mugi in front of a Christmas tree in particular made me stop and stare for a minute, before continuing on reading. Colour pages are always a treat in manga and one that I am glad to be seeing more and more of.

It’s hard to say much else about K-ON!‘s story. It meanders and is filled with moments that make you smile. There are not too many laugh out loud moments in this volume but it is still a very fun ride. When talking about K-ON!, it is difficult not to compare the series to Azumanga Daioh. Both series are four-panel gag manga, and both focus on high school girls. The main characters are also really quite similar, enough that it’s impossible to believe that kakifly was not inspired by Azumanga somehow, either directly or indirectly. And while K-ON! is not Azumanga‘s equal, it is certainly a decent successor and fans of one should enjoy the other (just don’t expect too much actual music involved in this one!). Also, the move to follow the girls into university does set it apart from its predecessor and has me very interested to see where things go, more than I expected to be when I picked up volume four.

That said, it is a bit unclear how exactly the series is going to continue, as there are two on-going continuations currently being published in Japan, one featuring the girls in university and the other featuring the younger cast members trying to keep the high school club alive. But given that there is no indication from Yen Press that this is the final volume, I have no doubt we shall see more in the future.

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Book provided by Yen Press for review purposes

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.

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!

With Free Comic Book Day 2012 coming up on May 5th, a handful of pages were dedicated to showcasing the comics created specifically for that day. For manga publishers, Drawn & Quarterly, Fantagraphics, Viz Media and Yen Press were all present. The only work strictly manga-related (though more specifically, manhwa-related) comes from Yen Press who are publishing a sample of their upcoming adapted book, The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel. Viz Media’s sampler is for their upcoming original comic based on the Voltron franchise – Voltron Force. Both books will be the FCBD standard of 32 pages. You can learn more about Free Comic Book Day (a gloriously annual event!) and the comics they’re offering this year on their website.

Next up is Dark Horse‘s section where the company traditionally has a batch of full-pages promoting their upcoming releases. This month they have a preview page of the second volume of their Avatar The Last Airbender sequel comic, The Promise. Volume one is due out this February and I can’t wait!

It’s been a while since I’ve read Adam Warren’s Empowered series but I was pleased to see it continues with volume seven on the way. The series is hilarious, chock full of pop culture jokes and super hero story spoofs. It follows a try-hard fails-bad super heroine named Empowered and her collection of allies, enemies and weird in-betweens. I was always impressed and extra entertained by the manga in-jokes including a healthy dash of playing around with boys’ love tropes and manga stereotypes to amusing, not offensive, effect. It’s a series I’ve got to get myself caught up on.

Dark Horse’s FLCL omnibus has a preview page and a May 16th release date for $19.99/US. “The complete FLCL manga adaptation – now with bonus color illustrations and remastered story pages!”. Also in their preview section was Bride of the Water God (Vol.11) which they promote as being a “Best-selling series in the United States and Korea!”. I guess that means it’s doing well? The second volume of Blood Blockade Battlefront is promoted a bit more humbly as “Sci-fi insanity from the creator of Trigun and Gungrave!”.

Here’s a fun piece of new Star Wars merchandise – a t-shirt with a coloured interior page from the Star Wars manga. It was released originally back in the late 90s with art by Toshiki Kudo. With the old-school manga take on the characters and the fun giant comic sound effects, I’m tempted to buy it!

Yen Press‘s manga-style adaptation of Soulless made the Previews’ featured section, as did Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s Fallen Words being published by Drawn & Quarterly. Both are one-shots and definitely on my to-buy list. Soulless really caught my eye after I read the sampler they had at NYCC 2011. The art is fantastic! Fallen Words also earns the Preview magazines’ “Certified Cool” stamp, meaning books they note as being especially worth checking out.

Just like when Tokyopop shuttered their doors unexpectedly quick, it’s sad seeing ads for upcoming volumes of Bandai Entertainment books. Here they have Kannagi (Vol.04) promoted which would’ve been released in March. We know from Bandai’s PR that this book has been cancelled.

Digital Manga continues to buy full pages to promote select upcoming titles of theirs as well. It’s great to see the worth is there for publishers to advertise their manga to the direct market. In this month’s previews, they have full page ads for Itazura na Kiss (Vol. 08), Replica (Vol. 02), Countdown 7 Days (Vol. 02) and Moon & Blood (Vol. 03). Of the four, I’m most excited for Replica and Countdown 7 Days which are definitely hidden gems I think more would like if they came across copies. These ads may become posters on my wall after I’ve put my orders in.

Onwards Towards Our Noble Death – which was originally released in April 2011 by Drawn & Quarterly – is featured in this Preview edition as a Star of the Month title. It’s another distinction in the magazine for a notable title. Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s A Drifting Life (which is going to a new printing) is also a Star of the Month. I really loved A Drifting Life so I’m glad it needs a second edition.  The creator’s four other one-shots are also featured - The Push Man, Abandon The Old in Tokyo, Black Blizzard and Good-Bye – so they should all still be available for you to order into your local store.

Kodansha Comics‘ has eight new volumes listed – Air Gear (Vol.23), Arisa (Vol.07), Bloody Monday (Vol.05), Cage of Eden (Vol.05), Gon (Vol.05), Deltora Quest (Vol.05), Love Hina Omnibus (Vol.03) and Sayonara Zesubou-Sensei (Vol.14). Adding to my frustration with the company, every synopsis is one generic to the whole series, saying nothing specific for the volume itself. Most are those used for volume one. It’s the same thing the company does on retail sites and even their own KodanshaComics.com. Drives me batty! I’ve contacted the company about it but haven’t heard anything back. Gon earned a special Kid-Friendly stamp while Sailor Moon (Vol.01) is re-listed as another Star of the Month.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a listing for One Peace Book‘s Breathe Deeply. The book caught me off guard when it appeared fully published and ready for the market at NYCC when news of the license hadn’t even been promoted. It’s good to see the dark medical one-shot get some wider market advertising, even if it’s description does start with the often groan-worthy “…begs readers to forget what they know about manga.”

Next up in the alphabetical publisher listings is Seven Seas Entertainment. They’ve got listings for Blood Alone (Vol.06) and Toradora! (Vol.04). Both volumes are listed at $11.99 which is a one dollar increase from the original $10.99 that the first two volumes had – I hadn’t even noticed the increase when I bought the third books. Uneven as the singles look next to the omnibus volumes on my shelf (I can’t help it, must be even!), I’m really eager for the new Blood Alone volume as they come out.

UDON Entertainment has a full page promoting the first volume of their upcoming Captain Commando manga. It looks and sounds pretty hilarious, touted as “The Return of Gaming’s Greatest Hero!”. It stars a “fighting force” consisting of Ginzu the Ninja Commando, Mack the Mummy Commando, Baby Head the Baby Commando and their fearless leader, Captain Commando. UDON hasn’t updated their own website in a while with schedule info so places like Diamond and online retailers have been the only real source for release dates.

Next up comes the Viz Media section which is usually a hefty multi-page addition to Previews. This time is no exception but it’s sad to see that almost all the artwork used is really low quality. It looks all grainy and pixelated. This isn’t a norm from them so I can only assume something went wrong between Viz and Previews this month. They’ve got a full page for Pokemon Black & White (Vol.05) and Voltron Force, then two-per-page splits for Blue Excorcist (Vol.07), Bakuman (Vol.10), Bleach (Vol.39), Rosario+Vampire: Season II (Vol.08), Nura Rise of the Youkai Clan (Vol.08), 20th Century Boys (Vol.20), Tenjo Tenge (Vol.06) and X 3-in-1 (Vol.02). It’s nice seeing the Will Eisner stamp next to 20th Century Boys though I do wish Viz Media would mix quotes up a bit – it’s getting old seeing the same Junot Diaz quote in every book and ad. All their other titles due out in March are listed with cover images, info and mini synopsis’s on a single page at the end of the larger preview sections. So many books! You can see the complete list in this month’s Manga Previews PDF.

Vertical Inc has three books listed - Drops of God (Vol.03), GTO: 14 Days in Shonan (Vol.02) and Twin Spica (Vol.12). This volume of Twin Spica is the last of the series and clocks in at a whopping 400 pages! The eleventh volume out this month also has 400 pages and while I’ll be sad to see the series end, it looks like it’ll be an experience to savour with two extra large books seeing it out.

Yen Press is the last-up with eight new books scheduled for March – Soulless, Bamboo Blade (Vol.12), A Bride’s Story (Vol.03), Bunny Drop (Vol.05), The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya-chan (Vol.05), Pandora Hearts (Vol.09), Spice and Wolf (Vol.06) and the newly begun, Is This A Zombie? (Vol.01). Is This A Zombie is listed as their Spotlight On title. Seeing the cover of Bunny Drop (Vol.05) with Rin now a teenager makes me fearful for that ending everyone is often complaining about. I’ve been assured it still sticks to its quality coming-of-age and family drama right up until the end though so I’ll be with it until the end! The synopsis for A Bride’s Story (Vol.03) also shows that the story will be shifting onto Mr. Smith for a while and his journeys away from the village we’ve be in so far.

Listed in the back of the Diamond Previews are the top selling titles from a variety of categories based on several months of sales tracking. This month they have the results for November 2011.

Top 10 Manga of November 2011:

1. Sailor Moon (Vol.02)
2. Codename Sailor V (Vo.02)
3. Negima! (Vol. 32)
4. Mega Manga Gigamiz (Vol.03)
5. MPD Psycho (Vol.10)
6. Claymore (Vol.19)
7. D. Gray Man (Vol.21)
8. Princess Knight (Vol.01)
9. Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Vol.10)
10. Fairy Tail (Vol.16)

Sailor Moon (Vol.02) also made spot 8/10 on the overall Top 10 Graphic Novels & Trade Paperbacks list. Nostalgic shoujo manga up there with the superheroes and zombies, and in the direct market as well. Great to see!

That’s it for the manga-content of Previews January 2012. If you’re interested in browsing through all the comics, anime, toys and games scheduled for March(-ish), I recommend going to your local comic store and picking up a copy. Until next month! Well… for a new Previews post anyway.

Author: Ryukishio7
Manga-ka: Karin Suzuragi
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: December 2011

Synopsis: “Rena has taken extreme measures to protect her and her father’s happiness, but such drastic actions have terrible consequences. When her friends learn of her crimes, they feel no revulsion toward Rena, but rather a sense of regret that they hadn’t been able to help her and avert this tragedy. But even if they had sensed Rena’s desperation, would her classmates’ pity have transformed itself from sentiment into action?”

Higurashi isn’t a series for everyone. It deals in extremes – when it’s not over-the-top gruesome, it’s cavity inducing cute. The two things might seem at odds, but the manga uses these disparate elements to play up each other. The violent scenes become that much more unsettling when committed by cute, wide-eyed characters and previously innocent scenes become less cute and more creepy as the series goes on.

Another thing that makes Higurashi hard to get into is the strange format. The series is made up of several independent arcs, each of them stand alone while at the same time contributing to a larger picture. In general each arc covers the same stretch of time (the summer of 1983) and place (Hinamizawa, a small rural town) but each time events play out differently. In one arc a character might be a crazed killer, where’s in another arc they are the detective, while in yet another arc they’re a victim. The ‘Atonement Arc’ is one of my favourites. It takes the two driving forces in the series- friendship and paranoia- and pits them head to head. As to be expected in this series, the results aren’t pretty.

I also like this arc because it puts the spotlight on one of my favourite characters, Rena Ryuga. Rena seems like a happy-go-lucky girl obsessed with cute things, but when a couple of yakuza threaten her father she proves to be a lot tougher than her energetic persona lets on. Rena decides that if she’s going to get her normal life back, she has to take care of things herself and does so in typically gory Higurashi fashion. Then, just when Rena thinks that she has everything under control, her friends stumble upon her in the middle of a crime scene.

Friendship isn’t a unique theme when it comes to anime and manga – it feels like every other series extols the power of friendship and how it can save the world. Higurashi manages to take a well worn topic and put a unique spin on it. Being a friend to someone is not always easy – sometimes the people you love do horrible things, or sometimes you might let down a friend when they need you the most. A lot of series only focus on the positive aspects of friendship and not the responsibilities. Higurashi explores both sides of it. There’s a huge chunk of the book where one character takes the rest of the main cast to task for failing to help a friend. It’s a tough segment to read as it’s hard to see likeable characters get raked over the coals, no matter how justified the accusations. But following that is the most heart warming moment in the whole series, when the cast not only forgives Rena for her crimes but asks her to forgive them for not being there for her (it says something about the series that its sweetest moment is a group of kids agreeing to cover-up a double homicide). While the situations in Higurashi might be extreme (very few people will ever need help chopping up and hiding a body), the sentiments at its heart are still relatable.

The art reflects the extreme nature of the series. It can do the cute easily enough, but when the story takes a crazy turn the art is right there with it, amping up the surreal and gruesome atmosphere. One place where the art is super effective is the scene where Rena explains herself to her friends. It’s a pretty simple scene with a lot of talking. In lesser hands it could have just been a lot of text on the page with little impact, but the artist makes this a tense and dynamic scene. As Rena goes on she gets more and more worked up – her hair flies around, her expressions become more and more manic. There are speed lines in every other panel. It might look gratuitous and over-the-top while flipping through the book, but I think it does a really good job at capturing Rena’s state of mind. The artist also makes effective use of splash pages, using them to capture both despair and hope.

The second-half of the volume delves deeper into the mysterious history of Hinamizawa. One thing I like about the series is that every arc offers its own, far-out there explanations for what’s going on in the town: It’s aliens! No, it’s an ancient god! No, it’s the local crime family! No it’s…well, you get the idea. In this arc Rena starts to investigate the town’s history, but as she does she becomes paranoid that her research has made her a target for murder. While there’s clearly something weird going on, it’s hard to tell how much of it is for real and how much is in Rena’s head. This series is full of twists and turns, as well as its fair shares of unreliable narrators. Often times the characters themselves don’t even know what is real or not, making it that much harder for the people at home to solve the mystery. I personally like this extra layer of intrigue. It also makes for an interesting re-read after you’ve gathered clues and have a firmer idea of what’s going on.

Higurashi is a puzzle manga. Like a puzzle, the individual pieces don’t always give you a clear picture, but the more you piece together the more satisfying it is. I personally really like mysteries (and don’t mind either extreme violence or cuteness) and I really like this series, but if you want to read a more grounded manga with diffident answers and a clear reality, then you might want to read something else.

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Book provided by Yen Press for review purposes

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!

Best Release Quality

While we’re not getting the same amount of individual volumes of manga as years’ past, the quality of releases keeps getting better. This year I was really impressed with Yen Press‘s work on A Bride’s Story which was a hardcover book sporting a beautiful full-colour, matte finish cover slip. It compliments the work perfectly!

Another nice hardcover book was Wandering Son which was released by Fantagraphics. The book was also printed at a larger than normal size making for a book that’s a bit tricky to fit on the shelf but really enjoyable to read.

Viz Media‘s softcover omnibus of CLAMP’s X series was also a treat with lots of full-colour, glossy pages inside. The series is also released in its original visual format for the first time in English.

Best Boys’ Love

My boys’ love buying was a bit smaller than usual this year as much of Digital Manga’s attentions shifted to digital releases and I began running into a lot of supply issues trying to buy physical copies from them (a definite downer of 2011!). Of the titles I did read though, two really stood out. The number one was Only Serious About You (Vol.01) – a really charming story that felt like Future Lovers meets Bunny Drop. The art was nice and the story so sweet and romantic, even with things remaining mostly platonic in this introductory volume.

Another boys’ love title that I loved was Rabbit Man, Tiger Man. I couldn’t resist the visual contrast between the small, cute doctor and the tall, scary yakuza! The story itself was a lot funnier than I expected and I was entertained by every page. The English adaptation stood out to me as being really good too, I loved some of the word choices. I really hope the rest of the series gets licensed.

Favourite Fan Service

While neither are new series to this year, the continuing Black Butler (Yen Press) and XXXHolic (Del Rey) win again for best fan service (the kind that appeals to me)! The suedo-romantic(?) tension between it’s lead male characters and the gorgeous clothing design and dark inking make them immediate must owns, complete with the occasional squeals and swoons. XXXHolic has been a more consistent wow factor volume after volume so it’ll be bittersweet seeing it end early this new year.

Best Second Chances

Re-releases, omnibus and new editions have became a fairly regular occurrence and the chance to revisit something missed is great. This year I was pleasantly surprised by Seven Sea‘s Blood Alone (Vol.01), an omnibus edition of the original first three volumes. It’s a great vampire story that steers clear of most tropes and focuses more on a subtle but poignant relationship between a young girl and her protector.

One of my favourite series of 2011 was Full Metal Alchemist. Though it’s been coming out for a number of years, I’d only just started reading it thanks to borrowing a friends’ copies. Viz Media celebrated the last volume of the series coming out by releasing a box set of the entire thing – all twenty-seven volumes! It’s a fantastic value. I highly recommend it, while also suggesting you avoid the omnibus editions which only cover the first nine volumes then stop.

Digital Manga‘s continuing editions of Kizuna have been great as well. In 2011 we finally got to the point in the omnibus editions where the original English edition by BeBeautiful had stopped. New content! I love that we have a second chance to purchase it, and now the whole thing at that!

Best (Worst?) Good-Byes

While 2011 saw some great series start, it also saw some of my favourites come to an end. The biggest and saddest goodbye goes to Vertical Inc‘s edition of Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack. This is one of my favourite manga series of all time and to finish reading the last volume was a sad experience indeed. It’s such a fun series and Black Jack himself is an amazing character. I’ve no doubt I’ll be re-reading it again and again.

Viz Media’s English edition of Full Metal Alchemist also came to an end. The pain of it ending was dampened by how I’d read the whole thing within a month leading up to it and because the ending was so, so good. I’m also thankful we got to read the entire story. I wish I could say the same for things such as Pet Shop of Horrors: Tokyo and Shinobi Life which we’ve had to say farewell to early because of Tokyopop’s shutdown. That wasn’t an easy goodbye in itself either – so unfortunate!

Top Can’t-Look-Away-Titles

Like watching a train-wreck and being unable to look away (as they say…?), sometimes there are those titles that are just dark, depressing and sort of scary. Bleak as they may be, the emotional rollar-coasting of reading them makes every page turn worth it. Vertical delivered two series that fit the description, both by Usamaru Furuya. Lychee Light Club is a one-shot with plenty of violence, sex and crazy, crazy people. I read it, loved it and honestly may never read it again. It’s just one of those kind of titles, you know? My signed copy sits proudly on the shelf.

Usamaru Furuya’s No Longer Human has been an experience as well. It’s more grim and dark than violent and shocking but I’m definitely in for the whole messy journey. I look forward to seeing how it finishes in 2012 with volume three what was started in 2011 with volumes one and two.

Getting to meet Usamaru Furuya and hear him interviewed at TCAF 2012 was also a big highlight of the year for me. Hopefully in 2012 I’ll be able to meet an idol with fewer than twenty minutes of self-psyching to work up the nerve to say hello – it could happen, right?

Most Long Awaited

Of all the English manga titles and trends started in 2011, I think it’ll be most known for bringing about two of the most long-awaited manga series of all time – Naoko Takeuchi’s Sailor Moon and Osamu Tezuka’s Princess Knight.

Kodansha Comics released the two volume prequel series, Sailor V, and the first two volumes of Sailor Moon – both are must haves for the magical-girl fans out there! Talk about a trip down nostalgia lane too. While Sailor Moon is one of the most well-known manga titles, Vertical Inc took the honour of releasing one of the very first. The company released both omnibus volumes of Princess Knight in 2011 so you can now buy the whole thing – prepare to enjoy!

As a big CLAMP fan, I was also thrilled to finally get the first volume of their new Gate 7 in my hands. With the title first announced years ago by Dark Horse, it’s been a much longer wait than any anticipated.

Hidden Gems of 2011

Two titles published by Digital Manga that I really enjoyed were Replica and Countdown 7 Days. Both are by Kemuri Karakara and are series it’s tricky to really nail down genre-wise. They’re very shonen in nature but more character-oriented with really nice artwork, less focus on stuff like fighting and ‘The power of friendship!’. Sort of like… D.Grayman, Arata the Legend, and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles – to name a few that come to mind first.

I really enjoyed both the series so far – great art, fun characters and some interesting stories. I heard little mention of either from the manga blogosphere or social media outlets though but I hope a lot of readers still got to check them out. I’m sure a lot of readers out where would enjoy them. Volume one of each were released in 2011 and I’m eager for the follow-ups in 2012.

Must-Own One-Shots

I love a good one-shot! When done well they’re a really satisfying experience, having either a nice collection of short stories or one solid piece planned for a one-go read. They’re also the easiest thing to suggest to new readers – short but sweet, without the commitment of multi-volume series. Of the one-shots published in 2011, my favourites were Natsume Ono’s Tesoro (Viz Media) and Taniguchi Jiro ‘s A Zoo in Winter (Ponent Mon). I’ve read works by both the artist’s before but these easily became my favourites of each. Both are high quality releases and have stories full of sincerity and compelling human drama – I highly recommend both!

Top Tear-Jerkers

I don’t consider myself quick to tears but sometimes a volume of manga manages to get me there. Goes to show you should always be ready with a hanky or two because you never know what tears a story may bring. Ouran High School Host Club (Vol. 17) was such a fun, high-energy and very satisfying read that I found myself tearing up from joy. That was a new one for me. I enjoyed it so much, seeing how far the series and characters have come. You can bet the last volume, due out in June 2012, will be one hard to say good-bye to.

My feelings were similar reading the last volume of Genkaku Picasso, also released by Viz Media. Picasso’s growth and acceptance of his new friends and their support for him was so touching. I never thought it’d be a series that would move me that much but, by the end of volume three, I was definitely wiping at my eyes to be able to see the pages.

Lastly, when it came to just downright heart-breakingly sad, Stargazing Dog from NBM Publishing won hands down. What made me cry wasn’t even always the sad parts, sometimes it was those bittersweet moments that predate them. It was no surprise to me that a book about the love and loyalty of a pet dog would be an emotional trip though. It’s a great read but definitely have your tissues ready for this one.

Yay-For-More-Coming Titles

We saw series start and end in 2011 but many others were just trekking their way through with more to come. My top-wanted series (because goodness knows there’re dozens of ‘em) that began in years past and have continued through 2011 and onward to 2012 are Kamisama Kiss, Bunny Drop, 20th Century Boys, Pokemon Adventures and The Tyrant Falls in Love. Saying good-bye to a year comes with a lot of good-byes in general but at least there are none for these yet!

Alas-Only-One Titles

Some continuing titles however, made their way through 2011 with unfortunately minimal appearances. A number of my favourite series only had one volume released over the entire year. While the books were great, the long wait is always tough. I’ve got my fingers crossed for more of Kaze Hikaru, Yotsuba&!, Berserk and The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service in 2012.

Most Redeemed

Along with the series that I already loved going into 2011, I also went into the year with a few series I was on the fence about. With several volumes of each throughout the year though, I was made a believer! While they each had some rough starts – be it too predictable, too slow or just painfully sexist, 2011 was a redeeming year for Rumiko Takahashi’s Rin-Ne (Viz Media), Kou Yaginuma’s Twin Spica (Vertical) and Tsugumi Ohba/Takeshi Obata’s Bakuman (Viz Media). Now I’ll be spending 2012 eagerly awaiting every new volume of these three.

Top I’m-Not-Sure-Why Reads

Most people have these kinds of reads – the ones where you really like them but you’re not really sure why. I went into 2011 not able to pinpoint why I love Viz Media’s Toriko and Kodansha Comics’ Air Gear so much and a year later I’m still not sure why. Both had several volumes out in 2011 and still the answer eludes me. One thing I do know though is I love Toriko more for the story, less for the art, and with Air Gear it’s the opposite. I guess as long as I still love reading them, it’s okay that 2011 held tight to their secrets!

Could’ve-Done-Withouts

Enjoyable as many reads were this year, there were some that I could have done without. They weren’t bad, per say, but I was left feeling so underwhelmed upon finishing that I felt my time and money could have been much better spent elsewhere. Blood Blockade Battlefront (Dark Horse), Drifters (Dark Horse) and Drops of God (Vertical) were all series newly started in 2011. While I usually give a series two volumes to impress, I think I’ll leave any future copies of these ones on the shelves for other more interested readers. Not necessarily bad, just not for me.

Most Gag Worthy

Alas where there is good and meh, there is also just outright bad. Thankfully I didn’t read too many stinkers this year but yikes, did the bad ever stand out when they did show themselves. While I don’t often regret reading a book, I got to that point with Ai Ore! (Vol. 01). With some of the most hateable characters I’ve ever read in a manga title, and the end of this first volume nearly earned the title a chuck at the wall. Why, Viz Media? Why?! Digital Manga’s The Beautiful Skies of Houou High was pretty bad also, but erred on the side of just being painful to read and falling short of being rage-inducing.

… and that’s it folks! My thanks to all the manga publishers, local retailers, fellow manga supporters and of course manga creators for a great 2011!

So it’s that time of year again. Yes, the “everyone makes lists about the best/worst things of the year.” And you know what? I love it. Yes, love it. And so, I decided to put together my own list of my top five best manga of 2011.

To be eligible for this list, all a series had to do was have one book this year that I have read. Some (most actually) began in earlier years but they were the titles I looked forward to reading the most in these last twelve months. And so, without further ado, here are my top picks of the year.

5. Codename: Sailor V by Naoko Takeuchi (Kodansha Comics)

I will admit, nostalgia goggles are on pretty tight for this one, though from what I’ve read online about this series, I’m not alone. Along with the re-release of Sailor Moon (which likely could have made the list, if the two released volumes weren’t still sitting in my to-be-read pile), 2011 saw the first English release of the series which started it all, Codename Sailor V, featuring Aino Minako, aka Sailor Venus, in her early adventures. This series is just a really fun read and also interesting from a storytelling perspective as you can see the parts of the world that we know and love from Sailor Moon really start to come together. And it doesn’t hurt that the book itself is a lovely release, complete with colour pictures which I think really show how great the series’ art is.

4. Gunslinger Girl by Yu Aida (Yen Press)

This one I’ve talked about here before (in my last review, actually) so I’ll be brief. I love this series and could not be happier to see it finally getting released again. The world here is just so beautiful and unnerving and thought-provoking, which are three things I love in a story, manga or otherwise.

3. Vampire Knight by Matsuri Hino (Viz Media)

I often describe Vampire Knight as my guilty pleasure manga (and anime, for the record). While it definitely is a guilty pleasure, I also think it’s a very well put together series as well, which is what puts it above more “quality” series like Gunslinger Girl. It is full of melodrama but this is melodrama done to perfection, that always has at least a ring of truth. It makes you laugh and cry with the characters – in particular my beloved Zero, who is just an incredibly interesting and well-developed character. I also really love the world that the manga has created for its vampires to exist in and the volumes released this year have really begin to delve into it more. Of course, there is the epic love triangle that also contains one of the most intense (and sometimes homoerotic) rivalries I’ve ever seen. While I was initially worried that the series might be dragging as it started an entirely new arc, I have thankfully been proven wrong and am eagerly anticipating the story continuing in 2012.

2. Ooku: The Inner Chambers by Fumi Yoshinaga (Viz Media)

I first encountered Ooku last year when I wrote a review for it for the now defunct Manga Life (you can read the review for vol 3 on my blog, here) and the series was my pick for best series of 2010. The political intrigue of this story is just incredible and, like Gunslinger Girl, also very thought-provoking as it plays with gender issues. The art also is beautiful (though admittedly it can be difficult at times to tell some characters apart) and the story is wonderfully epic, giving an alternate history to the entire Tokugawa shogunate period. I personally love the archaic language which I became used to after reading a volume or two, though I do see why some would have issues with it. Still, the story is good enough to overcome the few flaws it has and makes it a solid runner-up for 2011.

And my pick for best manga of 2011 is …

1. Bunny Drop by Yumi Unita (Yen Press)

I was introduced to this series first through the anime, which aired in Japan over the summer. I was immediately in love. The series is just so different from anything else I’ve read, as it shows the challenges of a single man suddenly being thrown into a “father” role for the illegitimate daughter of his late grandfather. Yes, the blood relationship is as complicated as it sounds but what comes out is one of the most feelgood stories I have ever watched or read. Every moment that I am experiencing Bunny Drop I am smiling and just having a great time, and that’s really something that’s a bit too rare in today’s entertainment. This series also features fantastic art and writing, which includes some of the best portrayals of children in fiction that I have ever seen. This is a book that I would recommend to anyone who likes kids, whether or not they are a manga fan. It’s just that good.

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So that’s my top five. All great series that I love reading and highly recommend. I also would like to take a moment to name two runners-up who are only not on the list because they did not have new volumes come out this year. The first is NANA, which is sadly on indefinite hiatus due to Ai Yazawa’s health issues. This is definitely one of my favourite series period and I am heartbroken at the idea there’s a chance it will never be finished. I wish Ai Yazawa all the best in her recovery because losing her as a mangaka would be a truly terrible thing.

My second sadly missed series is Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden, by my favourite mangaka, Yuu Watase. I am a big fan of hers, particular of the original Fushigi Yuugi series, and I constantly look to see if there is a new volume of this being released … and sadly am often disappointed. However, it looks as though volume ten has been released in Japan, so hopefully it will soon get released in English and this series can be a contender for a proper place on next year’s list. (Editor’s note: Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden (Vol. 10) is due out from Viz Media in September 2012!)

Finally, just in case anyone is interested, the worst manga I read this year was March Story. I also reviewed it for Manga Life and you can read that review (for vol 1) here but needless to say, while it did have wonderful art, the story was just really unoriginal and not at all compelling. But I definitely read much more good than bad this year and have high hopes for 2012.

Manga-ka: CLAMP
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: December 2011

Synopsis: “As the seeds of love begin to bloom in her heart, Kobato’s attentions are diverted from giving solace to strangers and filling up her magic bottle in order to finally earn her mysterious wish! Now it seems all Kobato has eyes for the dour Fujimoto-kun and putting a smile on his face. With this turn of events, Kobato is fighting to save Yomogi Kindergarten more than ever before, all at the expense of her magic bottle. But as time runs out for her quest, is Kobato unwittingly endangering her wish, her life, and the lives of Ioryogi and his erstwhile allies (read: cronies) by choosing to follow her heart?”

It continues to be a flaw of these shorter length volumes of Kobato that we don’t feel we’re getting a lot of substance per book. Fortunately this particular volume hits that quality over quantity sweet spot, delivering on some much anticipated history behind the main characters. We’ve been following Kobato and Ioryogi on their path for five books and finally we’re seeing where it all began.

Continuing their trend of weaving some really complicated story lines, CLAMP’s reveal of who/what Kobato is makes for a somewhat confusing read but still proves a lot more linear and simplistic than some other existences (TRC clones anyone?). I really loved getting more substance behind the leads, especially Ioryogi for whom we’re teased with only partial views of his full humanoid form throughout the whole book. I’ve long since learned to suspect nothing is coincidence with CLAMP though, so the brief looks of Ioryogi cool mullet-sporting true self has me looking at another grumpy-faced mullet-owner with suspicion in a universe where a ‘version’ of someone exists in every world.

Even though this other particular development isn’t new, I’m still surprised at just how much this series connects to Wish. CLAMP loves their crossovers but with the addition of angels, continued appearances from Kohaku and now overlapping character job descriptions, Kobato definitely works like a tighter partner to Wish than just casual cameos, more similar to the ties between Angelic Layer and Chobits.

Kohaku’s presence did have one flaw though, nailing home how little I care for Kobato’s cast. I found myself charmed by the short scenes Kohaku inhabits and, though still entertained, found myself still feeling pretty ambivalent to the others. The back story has helped yet the overhanging feeling that this story was originally intended to be a more shallow, episodic series remains. It feels like CLAMP is trying to build up repoire with these characters but unfortunately it’s just not clicking. This is especially true for the growing romance between Kobato and Fujimoto for which I feel little more than ‘meh’ about.

Sweet, fluffy and occasionally funny as Kobato can be, it definitely feels like it’s wandering on an aimless track. The magic bottle is brought up a lot but is it really that relevant? The fact it’s only got a couple star bits in it is disturbing if you believe CLAMP is going to keep the story going long enough to fill it up – it’s already dragging way too much as is. I never thought the kindergarten story would last this long either. It’s still made next to no real steps forward either. It’s no wonder this volume is strong with its focus on back story when the present day events are going at a snail’s pace. Some things have begun to develop though so with history in hand and Kobato on the move, I’m hopeful that volume six has even more to offer.

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Book provided by Yen Press for review purposes

It’s the last comic shipping day before Christmas! The next couple of weeks are typically a little wonky in regards to shipping. While the manga load is light this week it sports some especially ‘NEED NOW!’ titles to make the trip to your local comic or book store just as worthwhile. You can see the list over at my On The Shelf article at OtakuUSA.

Fullmetal Alchemist (Vol. 27) is the big one – the final volume of the series! I’ve had the book for about a month now thanks to Viz Media’s FMA boxset released in November. I’m so eager for manga fans to get a hold of this book and to hear their thoughts of the end. It’s one of my favourite manga titles and I think it ended near-perfectly. Faith Erin Hicks – awesome artist, friend and the woman responsible for introducing me to the glories of Fullmetal Alchemist – wrote a great post about the importance of stories ending after she read volume twenty-seven.

I’m also really eager to buy the newest volume of XXXHolic – still one of my favourite CLAMP titles. The last couple of volumes in particular have been chockful of so much extra eye-candy that it’ll be hard to not just stand there at Strange Adventures and oogle every page.

Author: Masashiro Totsuka
Manga-ka: Aguri Igarashi
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: December 2011

Synopsis: “Up-and-coming TV personality Ryouko Toda is an ambitious young woman who’s willing to use any means necessary to claw her way to the top. For Ryouko, image is key, but it’s tough for this cutthroat celebrity to maintain her cool on-screen persona when she’s forced to appear alongside ditzy costar Erina Sawamiya on Burnish Academy, where silly, simple Erina manges to best Ryouko in every single sport! To defeat Erina in sports and in the ratings game, Ryouko must call upon her skills not as an actress, but as a master of the kendo ring!”

It’s been awhile since I checked into the cast of Bamboo Blade. This later volume in the series continues its fun mix of slapstick comedy, realistic sports and deadpan characters. As the primary cast and Kojiro do their best to continue improving at Kendo, the story shifts onto some new characters, with much of the volume satirizing the idol system that Japanese pop-culture centers on.

Using the plot line of having a TV studio film Kojiro’s kendo team as an excuse, Totsuka shifts the storyline onto cutesy idols, Erina and Ryouko, stars of a childrens’ TV show focused on competitions between the cast members. While Erina is genuinely a sweet, innocent girl, Ryouko’s glamorous appearance is merely a façade, leading to some of the best scenes of the book. You’ll delight in how awful she manages to be, taking her rivalries a little too far, as the duo does a wonderful send up of the shallow world of celebrities and the particular oddities surrounding it in Japan. This makes for a fun point to jump into, with the scenes involving Kojiro’s group continuing the antics you’d expect from them, but introducing new characters and situations that allow newer readers to latch onto the franchise. While Totsuka does hint the series is winding down from his point of view, this volume still felt very fresh, and I appreciated getting to know some new nut balls who, like most of the cast, probably shouldn‘t be allowed to wield heavy wooden blades at each other.

Totsuka and Igarashi have solidly placed Bamboo Blade in the real world, yet are very flexible with the sitcom elements in both writing and art. The SD cuteness is expected and well done, but you’ll stay for the oddball characters. Particularly funny was a scene where Kojiro and his fellow coach friend realize how odd it is for two adult men to constantly be meeting each other for dinner. Priceless interactions such as these make for a rewarding book, elevating it above the usual “colour coded cute girls” fare shonen and seinen manga publishers have been dumping on the globe for the past decade. Nowhere else will you find a heroine as creepy as MiyaMiya, with her two-faced personality as lovey-dovey girlfriend with Dan, and hard as nails gangster girl with everyone else. Tough girls are a stereotype in manga nowadays, but in her past she was an outright Bancho, and would of fit in quite well with the cast of Cromartie High School.

Igarashi’s art continues to be stellar, with this later volume showing a shift to even tighter layouts during fight scenes and hilarious caricatures. The scenes where the idol Ryouko Toda takes out her frustrations against her manager are extremely competent as she beats him down, yet it’s simultaneously comical given the circumstances and their respective dialogue. Where Igarashi really excels, however, is the diversity of her character designs. She nails the mandatory cute girls, but also manages to explore a variety of older men and women alongside some more surreal elements. When a character from the spinoff Bamboo Blade B meets the guys her college friends have set them up with, you’ll experience the same horrific revulsion as she did thanks to Igarashi’s art depicting the horrors of trendy Japanese men.

Yen Press’s presentation is what one generally expects from them. They’ve opted to include colour pages, a good indicator of the series popularity this late in the game, and use thicker paper that manga fans have come to expect as the norm in North America. The screen tone heavy artwork is very sharp, reproduced well with lots of notes where needed. They have maintained their odd standard of both romanizing and translating sound effect under the original Japanese sound effects, yet it remains a minor element and doesn’t intrude upon the readers experiences. Translation notes are included at the end of the volume, alongside a short bonus comic and lengthy notes from the series writer. A notable change to Yen’s packaging is the inclusion of a small blurb promoting their apps for digital manga, a nice way of letting fans know about their growing online presence.

One hopes Yen Press will option to license the Bamboo Blade B spinoff referenced in this volume. The older characters, around or at college age, who appeared on the Kendo themed TV series together were a welcome addition. It’d be great to get to know them better. I’ve happily purchased the SAVE edition of the anime series from Funimation, and plan to watch it soon to take in more of these fun characters and see how it transitions to that format. Yen Press picked an excellent franchise with Bamboo Blade, one that I expect should have a fun ending given the tone thus far.

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Book provided by Yen Press for review purposes

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!

Halifax is having its first snow of the year today and it’s hitting hard! Stores are closed and transit is slowed or stopped – not very good conditions for getting out to buy new manga. It is a great day to sit at home in a cozy pair of PJs and enjoy a stack of manga you already have though (you know, even more so than usual!).

Sailor Moon (Vol. 02) and Codename: Sailor V (Vol. 02) are the two big titles out this week, the latter of which comes to an end as the storyline merges with Sailor Moon. If you’re reading them both, be sure to read Sailor V first! I’m also really eager to pick up a copy of Saturn Apartments (Vol. 04) and see if I can finally find a copy of Project H’s first title, Shocking Pink! now that it’s on the open market.

You can read the complete list of titles out on the shelf this week at my (aptly named) On The Shelf article over at Otaku USA.

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:

One of the biggest complaints with last year’s event – which was the first time NYCC and NYAF were combined – was  the ‘ghetto-izing’ of New York Anime Fest. This year the biggest split remains the Artist Alleys, where anime-styled artists are in a separate section than the rest of the exhibitors.

The segregation still exists for a reason, mind you, mainly that it allows an affordable place for artists to exhibit (Anime AA is far, far cheaper than the other section which is more professional-based), but this year was a huge improvement in placement. Last year the Anime AA was in the basement, far to the side of the convention centre. This year it was on a top floor in a wide, bright space. Lots of sunshine and a lot easier to get to. I found the entire atmosphere so much nicer and I heard the same from the artists I spoke to there as well.

There seemed to be good care taken to the anime/manga related scheduling as well. There was a lot of it on Friday but nothing really overlapped anything else. I was thankful to have no manga events happening at the same time as others which can be an unfortunate issue at multi-genre conventions. Most of the panels were also put in the same area as the rest – areas specially designated for panels. This varied from last there where anime/manga events were in rooms between the Artist Alley and the ‘anime stage’ where events like mini-concerts and karaoke were held. Not great for those who wanted to hear their panels in peace. I was really pleased with the way the panels were structured overall.

NYCC also put in place a door system where what badge you had determined what door you entered by. As someone with a press badge, I saw a huge improvement. Last year was chaos trying to figure out where (or sometimes even how) to get into the event, especially during the busy periods of the morning. This year knowing exactly what door to go to meant there were a lot fewer congested doors leading inside and I was always able to get in easily.

Into the show floor was still a different story though. It’s still a congested mess, even though at an event like this I know it can’t be helped all that much. That the large guaranteed-to-draw-a-crowd set-ups were clumped together at the front is a trend that always bothers me though, similar to SDCC. These places – like DC and Marvel’s booths – are areas where you ‘know’ people are going to go. They’re huge, they’re always crowded and they’re impossible to miss. So why do they need to be two feet from the front door? The whole floor was busy with the 105,000 people walking about and needing to get through the most dense crowds right at the entry points was frustrating both trying to get in and out. I’m sure this is likely a buying promise – they’re given those spaces as ‘prime retail’ – but I feel they hurt the flow of the place which can’t really afford to be anymore congested than that many people automatically make it.

The event also had an extra day this year – Thursday – where the show floor was open for several hours for 4-day badge holders, press and pros. It was great having a considerably less crowded chance to walk the floor and get oriented with where stuff was before trying to traverse the same space on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

What I always note the most at conventions, however, is the way companies choose to set-up and run their booths. I jotted down some thoughts on each anime/manga booth that I visited. Below are my thoughts on a few of them:

Viz Media

It was a pleasant surprise having Viz Media attend the convention. It’s about as far East on the US you can get for a business that’s run out of California. Unfortunately their far travel had an affect on their booth. It was devoid of books except for a small kids’ sampler. They had some cute free items, such as Viz Media anniversary bags, but I’m always disappointed to visit a book publishers’ booth and not be able to buy or look at any books.

Yen Press

Yen Press is a company based in New York so they had a lot more flexibility bringing things to the event. Their booth was eye-catching and well designed, plus sported a bunch of their new books to look at. Unfortunately that was all your could do was look. None of the books were for sale, which seems like such a huge waste. You’ve got our attention, we’ve seen the books, we want the books… then we can’t have them. I want to give you my money, why won’t you let me?

GEN Manga

The GEN Manga booth definitely had the most enthusiastic staff. Every time I stopped by, those working there were cheery and eager to talk to anyone who would stop and listen. I enjoyed the time I got to spend speaking to them about the anthology’s production and how excited they were to be releasing the material (which is always free first on their site). I was able to buy copies of all their printed books and get discounts on their online versions as well. They had a tiny booth in comparison to the behemoths around them but they made very good use of it.

One Peace

One Peace books had a small booth nearby to GEN Manga. I didn’t know until this convention that the two are headed by the same person, their Editor-in-Chief, Robert McGuire. I got to speak to Robert who was manning the One Peace booth. He was very personable and I learned a lot about both the publishers. The booth itself had lots of copies of their two manga books – Tenken, which was released last year, and Breathe Deeply, which they were debuting there at the event. I was surprised at the tactic of debuting a book before announcing it but the logic of having a book available when eagerness for it is logistically highest made sense. I was more than happy to buy a copy in support even knowing next to nothing about it.

Vertical Inc.

Vertical Inc‘s booth was exactly what I’ve come to expect of it after seeing them at a few different events, and I’m pleased every time. It’s a no frills set-up – a sign with their name and a couple tables, manned predominantly by their Marketing Director, Ed Chavez. The tables are covered in stacks of their books though, almost everyone the company has put out, all for browsing and buying. I was able to get a volume of an older series I was missing and leave with a big stack of all the new titles they were releasing for the first time at the event. Early copies, yay! It’s always nice when there’s a perk to visiting a publisher’s booth, not to mention complete buying access to the books they publish.

Dark Horse

Dark Horse‘s booth at last year’s NYCC had some copies of their manga available for viewing and buying but this year their booth was an almost entirely digital affair. They were heavily promoting their comics being available digitally and unfortunately promotion of their manga was worse than not present, it was barely present and hidden. There were no books anywhere to look at and two of the staffers I spoke to couldn’t tell me anything about Dark Horse’s manga titles. When I finally did spot their lone manga material, it was a single giant Gate 7 poster that – along with a poster for their newly announced Avatar the Last Airbender comic series – were placed facing inwards towards a garbage can against a support pillar. They were completely hidden from view unless you ducked your head into the little garbage cubby. Suffice to say, this made me very very sad.

Kodansha Comics

It was exciting knowing Kodansha Comics would have a booth at the event, since the company itself is rather silent with communication compared to other manga publishers. Their booth had some nice posters promoting their titles and you could buy a few of their newer books there too. Notably they had a lot of copies of Sailor Moon and Sailor V, plus a free Sailor Moon poster. I wasn’t able to talk to the staff about their book publishing – I got apologies and “I can’t talk about the books” – from a young woman I asked, but they were very nice all the same. It was great seeing them there promoting, especially with a title as big as Sailor Moon in their hands.

AnimeNewsNetwork

ANN didn’t have a booth, per say, but they did have a spot hidden back near one of the show room floor corners. Once you found them, there was a backdrop with the ANN logo repeated on it and a sign saying that if  you took a picture of yourself in front of it, and posted it online linking to them, you’d be entered in a draw to win a gift certificate. It didn’t tell you anything about ANN, or offer a chance to communicate with their staff, but it sure was some clever social media marketing that they just got to sit back and watch happen. I didn’t like it but I did respect it.

Media Blasters

Media Blasters is another company who’s booth looks almost identical every time I see it but always in a good way. Their booth is large, made up of multiple tables in a large square, that are covered corner to corner in DVDs and books. I was able to find all their new releases and get some older boys’ love titles I didn’t own. My favourite part was getting to chat with the welcoming staff and purchase some signed material they were selling from Yayoi Neko, whose work they publish.

Overall, I thought New York Comic Con / New York Anime Fest had a lot of improvements this year over last. In fact one of my greatest complaints is, I presume, of little fault of the event itself and that was a distinctly lower amount of vendors selling manga. I found four, compared to the nine last year. Big drop. As a whole though, if you like multi-genre conventions and/or want to have the East Coast equivalent experience to SDCC, then NYCC is still the place to be.

New York Comic Con may’ve been almost a month ago but I’m still digging myself out of the stacks of stuff I bought there. What I brought back from the ‘big apple’ remains a post for another day but October proved itself manga-behemonth enough in release count to ensure every release-day was another manga buying opportunity.

Eager to see what happens next in one of the series lost to Tokyopop’s shut-down, I bought Shinobi Life (Vol. 08-10) in French from Amazon.ca. The volumes are a different size and colour than the English books (though are lovely!), and my ability to read is stiff, but I’ve really been enjoying going through them and seeing what drama befalls everyone next.

Also in French, I purchased Hinako Takanaga’s Silent Love (Vol. 02) and Be-Boy Magazine (Vol. 11). I really hope we see Silent Love in English someday and Be-Boy Magazine continues to impress me with how high-quality it is. This one even came with a mousepad for A Strange & Mystifying Story! I rounded out the order with Jeu du Chat et de la Souris (Game of Cat & Mouse), a boys’ love story by Setona Mizushiro that I’ve heard mentioned a lot by readers so I had to check it out.

Back to English, and my Halifax-local manga supplier, I bought the new volumes to a bunch of different Viz Media titles. Bakuman (Vol. 07) topped the stack with Kamisama Kiss (Vol. 04) and Natsume’s Book of Friends (Vol. 09) close behind. I also bought Psyren (Vol. 01) to give a new shonen series a go.

The last new Viz Media book I purchased was Tenjo Tenge (Vol. 03), though I’m still in debate on if it’ll be the final Tenjo Tenge book I buy. I honestly can’t tell if I like it or not. I read the volumes I buy eventually but… I guess we’ll see what my gut says when volume four hits store shelves in December.

Yen Press made me a happy buyer indeed with two series I’d never consider stopping out of lacking interest - Yotsuba&! (Vol. 10) and Black Butler (Vol. 07). I subscribe to their digital YenPlus magazine just to read Yotsuba&! chapters each month but having the collected book is the perfect reason and chance to sit down and read them all over again.

Other recent books came from different publishers. From NBM Publishing, I bought Stargazing Dog which is a sweet and simultaneously heart-breaking read. Seven Seas released Blood Alone (Vol. 04) which I was eager to get after loving their first omnibus release. It’s a vampire story I keep forgetting is a vampire story.

I started two new shoujo series with Gate 7 (Vol. 01) from CLAMP and Dark Horse and Tokyo Mew Mew (Vol. 01) from Kodansha Comics. I posted a review on Gate 7  back in October. The latter is an omnibus edition re-release of the series, complete with new translation and an adorable cover/spine design. I’ve read most of Tokyo Mew Mew years ago yet it’s been long enough now that this should feel like a fresh experience.

Because of a job situation my manga buying will need to be cut back for the next little while but I’m glad to have so many books to enjoy in the meantime! It’s also a good moment to remind people about the importance and awesomeness of local libraries. Free books! Borrowing costs you nothing but still supports your favourite publishers and creators so browse, borrow and enjoy :)

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 :)