Jason Thompson treats us to another visit to the dusty attic of manga with a look at Ceres: Celestial Legend at ANN.

Sean Gaffney takes the first look at next week’s new manga.

The Comic-Con reports keep flowing in: Start off with Matt Thorn’s account of escorting Moto Hagio at SDCC, because it is interesting and truly touching. Daniella Orihuela-Gruber files her account of day 2, and Mike has a slideshow at Anime Diet.

The latest course of the Manga Moveable Feast is set with contributions from David Welsh, Kristin, and the Reverse Thieves.

David Welsh posts his weekly license request at The Manga Curmudgeon: He’d like to see Gokinjo Monogatari (The Neighborhood Story), please.

Matt Blind posts the latest set of manga rankings drawn from online sales at Rocket Bomber.

Lots of people like to harp on bad translations, but it’s harder to know when it’s done well; translators Alethea and Athena Nibley find some nice things to say about a couple of translations in their latest column at Manga Life.

News from Japan: ANN has word of a ToLoveRu spinoff manga series and four more new series, each one devoted to a member of the pop idol group AKB48.

Reviews: Connie takes a short look at a number of works by est em at Slightly Biased Manga. Tangognat reads a handful of Harlequin Romance manga from Digital’s eManga site.

Sesho on vol. 4 of Blame! (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Julie Opipari on vol. 6 of B.O.D.Y. (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Dengeki Daisy (ANN)
Connie on Dining Bar Akira (Slightly Biased Manga)
Tangognat on A Drunken Dream and Other Stories (Tangognat)
Sesho on vol. 1 of I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Julie Opipari on vol. 3 of Jack Frost (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Chris Zimmerman on vols. 38-40 of One Piece (cbs4.com)
Connie on vol. 4 of Pig Bride (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of Portrait of M&N (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sesho on vols. 5 and 6 of The Prince of Tennis (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Zack Davisson on vol. 2 of Red Hot Chili Samurai (Japan Reviewed)
Tangognat on vol. 4 of Shinobi Life (Tangognat)
Connie on vol. 3 of Sugarholic (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lori Henderson on vol. 2 of Tamaishin: The Red Spider Exorcist (Comics Village)
Erica Friedman on vol. 3 of Yuri Hime Selection (Okazu)

Deb Aoki has a roundup of Thursday at Comic-Con that is so thorough, your feet will hurt when you’re done reading it. Anime Diet’s Mike liveblogged the Best and Worst Manga, Yen Press, and Tokyopop panels. Lori Henderson sat out Comic-Con this year and she has some thoughts on what she missed (and what she didn’t) at Manga Xanadu.

The Manga Moveable Feast continues with an Off the Shelf discussion of Paradise Kiss between Melinda Beasi and host Michelle Smith at Manga Bookshelf

Helen McCarthy treats us to another thorough account of a manga-ka who is relatively unknown in English: the pioneer manga-ka Fukujiro Yokoi, who influenced the work of Osamu Tezuka, among others.

I’m a bit late with these links, but I wanted to read them first: Matt Blind speaks some harsh truths to the users of Onemanga.com and other scan sites (although he has a rather rosy view of Communism) and demolishes the argument scan fans keep making that publishers are somehow missing the boat by not simply hiring scanlators and putting their books online for free.

At Okazu, Erica Friedman posts some excellent advice on how to read a review.

News from Japan: Tokyo District Court has ordered the publisher Kodansha to pay a 550,000-yen fine to the man on whom Atsushi Kase modeled a character in the manga Zero-sen. Manga-ka Tsukasa Hojo has told his fans that he will continue his manga Angel Heart even though the magazine that carries it, Comic Bunch, is folding. And ANN has the most recent Japanese comics rankings.

Reviews

Sean Gaffney on Book Girl and the Suicidal Mime (novel) (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kris on vols. 2 and 3 of Il Gatto Sul G (Manic About Manga)
Zack Davisson on vol. 1 of .hack//LINK (Japan Reviewed)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Hyde & Closer(The Manga Critic)
Connie on vol. 4 of Manga Sutra (Comics Village)
Andre on vol. 5 of St. Dragon Girl (Kuriousity)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Silent Mobius (Okazu)
Maison on vols. 1 and 2 of Wolf’s Rain (Manga Jouhou)

With the demise of One Manga and the rise of legit digital manga sites, there has been plenty of action in the online manga space over the past week. At Robot 6, I took the online version of Yen Plus for a test drive, while at Anime Sentinel, James Fleenor takes a look at the new Square Enix manga site.

Shaenon Garrity interviewed Moto Hagio at San Diego Comic-Con, and Hagio goes beyond the usual bland manga-ka cha and really talks about her influences and the issues in her life.

Deb Aoki reports on the manga scene at San Diego Comic-Con, which included some interesting new licenses from indie graphic novel publishers as well as traditional manga publishers and a flurry of news about online manga.

ANN reports that Kinokuniya bookstores in the U.S. have stopped carrying five anime pin-up magazines: Megami Magazine, Megami Magazine Deluxe, Nyantype, Dengeki Hime, and Dengeki Moeoh. Sankaku Complex (NSFW) has more, including a scan of a letter to a customer from Kinokuniya, stating

We are writing this letter to inform you that we no longer handle subscriptions to Megami magazine since it has recently come to our attention that the magazine may contain inappropriate contents which may not comply with applicable state, local, and/or federal regulations. It is our policy to take a cautious approach in conducting our business in full compliance with any applicable state, local, and/or federal regulations.

Caveat: I have never read these magazines, so I’m taking the reporters’ word for it, but according to Sankaku Complex, “None of these titles carry explicit nudity or sexual content – only doe-eyed anime maidens in great profusion.” The magazines are not classified as “harmful publications” in Japan (although that classification can be somewhat erratic, IIRC), and as far as anyone can tell, U.S. Customs allowed the magazines to be imported with no problems. Sankaku Complex spoke to someone at Kinokuniya who mentioned “customer complaints,” while ANN spoke to someone who said the magazines “could carry some pictures that could be understood as child porn.”

Sean Gaffney, David Welsh, and Kate Dacey look over this week’s new releases.

The Manga Moveable Feast continues with reviews and views on Paradise Kiss from Sean Gaffney, Ed Sizemore, and Lori Henderson.

In the latest Manhwa Monday, Melinda Beasi welcomes a new contributor, Hana Lee, and rounds up the week’s manhwa news. Hana jumps right in with an introduction to Korean webcomics.

Caddy comments on the character Ren in Skip Beat! at A Feminist Otaku.

News from Japan: Canned Dogs reports that Urotan is taking a break from the Strike Witches manga after getting off to a rocky start and suffering from “psychological exhaustion.” Kagami Yoshimuzu (Lucky Star) and Kanao Araki (Futakoi Alternative) have launched a new series in Monthly Comp Ace magazine. A manga based on the Gundam W: Endless Waltz anime is also in the works. And ANN has the latest Japanese comics rankings.

Reviews

David Welsh on Alice the 101st (The Manga Curmudgeon)
Erica Friedman on Book Girl and the Suicidal Mime (novel) (The Manga Curmudgeon)
Kristin on vol. 3 of Children of the Sea (Comic Attack)
Amy Grockl on The Clique (Comics Village)
Dave Ferraro on vol. 1 of ES (Comics-and-More)
Snow Wildsmith on vol. 1 of Library Wars: Love and War (Fujoshi Librarian)
Kate Dacey on vol. 2 of Flower in a Storm and vol. 2 of Moyasimon (The Manga Critic)
Justin Colussy-Estes on vol. 1 of My Girlfriend’s A Geek (Comics Village)
Clive Owen on vol. 2 of Ninja Girls (Animanga Nation)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Ugly Duckling Love Revolution (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Carl Kimlinger on vol. 8 of Yotsuba&! (ANN)

San Diego Comic-Con was busy but didn’t feature as many manga announcements as in previous years. I rounded up the weekend’s news at Robot 6; The big news was that Drawn & Quarterly licensed two manga by Shigeru Mizuki, Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths and NonNonBā. The latter won the Best Album prize at Angouleme a few years ago, and I believe it was the first manga to earn that honor. Emma fans will be pleased to hear that Yen Press has licensed another Kaoru Mori series, Otoyome-Gatari (The Bride’s Stories). Their other titles include Highschool of the Dead, Betrayal Knows My Name (Uragiri wa Boku no Namae o Shitteiru/Uraboku), and another Higurashi When They Cry arc, as well as Aron’s Absurd Armada, which will be published online. The future of Yen Plus magazine was also revealed: It will be published online, and the first month will be free; after that, the subscription is $2.99 per month. Tokyopop also had some new titles to announce: Koge-Donbo’s Naki Shōjo no Tame no Pavane (Pavane for a Dead Girl); Sakura no Ichiban, by the creator of Chibi Vampire; Mr. Clean: Fully Equipped (Keppeki Shōnen Kanzen Sōbi); and Ghost Face, by Min-Woo Hyung, the creator of Priest.

Some con reports of special interest to manga readers: Eva Volin of Good Comics for Kids made it to the VizKIDS, Yen Press, and Moto Hagio panels; Heidi MacDonald reports on the piracy panel; Deb Aoki gives a firshand account of Preview Night, with stops at the Vertical and Fantagraphics booths; and Daniella Orihuela-Gruber recounts her first-day experiences, including seeing a book she worked on end up on the “worst” list in the Best and Worst Manga panel.

Lori Henderson sums up the week’s manga news at Manga Xanadu and Erica Friedman posts the latest edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu. Meanwhile, the Comics Village team looks over the past week’s new releases.

Meanwhile, the scanlation debate inspires Ed Sizemore to pen a little parody at his blog.

Michelle Smith is hosting this month’s Manga Moveable Feast, and the topic for July is Paradise Kiss. Michelle gets things with an intro to the series and a review at Soliloquy in Blue.

Melinda Beasi wraps up Fumi Yoshinaga Week at Manga Bookshelf with a review of vols. 1-4 of Antique Bakery and a final post.

Reviews: At Heart of Manga, Laura pits Panic x Panic against Fairy Navigator Runa.

Johanna Draper Carlson on Angus’s Lost Lady (Comics Worth Reading)
Connie on vol. 11 of Black Jack (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sesho on vol. 3 of Blame! (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Susan S. on The Dawn of Love (Manga Jouhou)
Julie on vol. 17 of D.Gray-Man (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Dan Polley on A Drifting Life (Comics Village)
Diana Dang on vol. 1 of Fairy Navigator Runa (Stop, Drop, and Read!)
Connie on vols. 6 and 7 of Fake (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on HER (Okazu)
Sean Gaffney on Himeyuka and Rozione’s Story (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vols. 9 and 10 of Honey and Clover (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 3 of InuYasha (VizBIG edition) (Slightly Biased Manga)
Shannon Fay on vol. 1 of Kingyo Used Books (Kuriousity)
Greg McElhatton on vols. 1 and 2 of Kobato (Read About Comics)
Lissa Pattillo on The Last Airbender: Zuko’s Story (Kuriousity)
James Fleenor on vol. 1 of Mad Love Chase (Anime Sentinel)
Ken Haley on vol. 3 of Ninja Girls (Sequential Ink)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 7 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (Comics Worth Reading)
Tangognat on vol. 4 of Shinobi Life (Tangognat)
Connie on vol. 1 of Seduction More Beautiful Than Love (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 13 of Strawberry 100% (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on vol. 2 of Sugarholic (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 2 of Twin Spica (Comics Worth Reading)
Anna (Tangognat) on Twin Spica and Saturn Apartments (The Bureau Chiefs)

There’s plenty of manga action going on at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend; most of the big publishers are there, although they don’t seem to be announcing huge numbers of licenses as in years past. Top Shelf announced it would be publishing the alt-manga Cigarette Girl, by Masahiko Matsumoto, and Vertical’s new license is Usamaru Furuya’s Lychee Light Club. And while their panel focused mainly on anime, Bandai did announce one new manga license: Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens, the inspiration for the anime of the same name.

Mike liveblogs the Best and Worst Manga of 2010 panel for Anime Diet, and ANN has writeups of the Lost in Translation, Best and Worst Manga of 2010, and Manga for Grown-ups panels.

The Eisner Awards will be handed out tomorrow night, and David Welsh tries handicapping the manga and manhwa nominees.

Jason Thompson gets nostalgic about the horror/action manga BAOH in his latest House of 1,000 Manga column at ANN.

The folks behind OpenManga explain what they are thinking about for their new platform, which is touted as a legal alternative to the soon-to-be-defunct OneManga.com.

Toyopop is looking for interns for the fall.

News from Japan: Weekly Comic Bunch will end with the August 27 issue, but at least one series will outlive it: Tsukasa Hojo says he will continue his crime drama Angel Heart, although he didn’t specify in what format.

Reviews: Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss several Fumi Yoshinaga manga in the first installment of their dialogue column BL Bookrack, and Melinda also hosts a roundtable on Gerard & Jacques and reviews vols. 1-3 of Ooku at Manga Bookshelf. Other reviews of note:

Erica Friedman on Azumanga Daioh (omnibus edition) (Okazu)
Kenton Smith on Black Blizzard (SEE Magazine)
Kate Dacey on A Drunken Dream and Other Stories (The Manga Critic)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 32 of Eyeshield 21 (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 23 of Fullmetal Alchemist (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 6 of Gatcha Gacha (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lori Henderson on vol. 6 of Gestalt (Manga Xanadu)
Amy Grockl on vol. 2 of Happy Cafe (Comics Village)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 2 of Kobato (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Zack Davisson on vol. 5 of Maid Sama! (Japan Reviewed)
Leroy Douresseaux on Maniac Shorts Shot (The Comic Book Bin)
Maison on vol. 1 of Nodame Cantabile (Manga Jouhou)
Connie on Red Snow (Comics Village)
Julie Opipari on vol. 3 of Sarasah (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Leroy Douresseaux on World of Warcraft: Mage (The Comic Book Bin)

One Manga, the largest illicit manga scan site and one of the top 1,000 websites on the whole internet, is shutting down. This message, from site administrator “Zabi,” appears on the front page:

“There is an end to everything, to good things as well.”

It pains me to announce that this is the last week of manga reading on One Manga (!!). Manga publishers have recently changed their stance on manga scanlations and made it clear that they no longer approve of it. We have decided to abide by their wishes, and remove all manga content (regardless of licensing status) from the site. The removal of content will happen gradually (so you can at least finish some of the outstanding reading you have), but we expect all content to be gone by early next week (RIP OM July ‘10).

So what next? We’re not really sure at this point, but we have some ideas we would like to try out. Until then, the One Manga forums will remain active and we encourage all of you to continue using them. OMF has developed into a great community and it would be a shame to see that disappear.

You can also show us some love in this moment of sadness by ‘liking’ our brand new Facebook page. It would be nice to see just how many of you came to enjoy our ‘better than peanut butter and jelly’ invention.

Regardless of whether you stay with us or not, on behalf of the One Manga team, I would like to thank you all for your unwavering support over the years. Through the ups and downs you have stuck with us, and that is what kept us going.

As a certain Porky was fond of saying… That’s all folks!

Time for me to go lay down and let this all sink in.

- Zabi

Their Facebook is here. Meawhile, the Japanese publisher Square Enix announced yesterday that it is setting up its own online manga site, but the manga won’t be free:

Given the increasing popularity of electronic reading formats, Square Enix has decided to take advantage of the online distribution infrastructure originally developed for its games business, along with the company’s existing payment system and online fan communities in order to establish a paid digital distribution channel to better serve the varied needs of its global customers. Square Enix will continue to work with its existing regional publishing licensees to promote both electronic and print versions of titles, while aiming to deter piracy by establishing an official web-based distribution source.

They are doing demos at Comic-Con this weekend, and the site goes live in the fall, serving North America and France. Right now, you can read the first chapters of Fullmetal Alchemist, Black Butler, Soul Eater, and O-Parts Hunter online for free, with a promise of more to follow. My first impulse was to wonder what Viz and Yen Press, the publishers of these two series, thought about it, but a quick e-mail exchange with Yen Press editorial director Kurt Hassler indicates that this is a partnership, with the American publishers supplying the material.

Kate Dacey has some summer reading suggestions in her latest Good Manga for Kids column.

Here’s the full press release on the three new series that Seven Seas announced yesterday: As predicted by ANN, they are ToraDora, Amnesia Labyrinth, and A Certain Scientific Railgun.

San Diego Comic-Con starts today, technically, with Preview Day. It can be a bit overwhelming, but fortunately, Deb Aoki is here to get your priorities straight with her list of the Top 20 manga must-sees at SDCC. ANN has a more comprehensive anime and manga fan’s guide to the weekend’s events. Meanwhile, Erica Friedman and David Welsh fantasize about manga licenses they would like to see (but probably won’t) at SDCC.

Kate Dacey and Brad Rice offer their suggestions for the best of this week’s new manga.

Matt Blind posts the past week’s comics rankings, based on online sales, at Rocket Bomber.

Here’s an interesting, longish post on the struggles of the Dutch-language manga industry in Belgium, where comics still are mainly for kids, and fans think of English as the natural language for anime and manga.

News from Japan: ANN brings news of some new manga from veteran manga-ka, with the creators of Hellsing and Venus Versus Virus, among others, launching new series in the near future.

Reviews: Melinda Beasi reviews Garden Dreams as part of Fumi Yoshinaga Week at Manga Bookshelf.

Emily on 1LDK ♥ Shitsuji (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Shannon Fay on Age Called Blue (Kuriousity)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Black Butler (Manga Xanadu)
Sesho on vol. 2 of Blame! (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Zoey on Cute Devil (Manga Jouhou)
Charles Webb on Darker than Black (Manga Life)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 23 of Fullmetal Alchemist (The Comic Book Bin)
Zack Davisson on vol. 3 of Happy Cafe (Japan Reviewed)
Carlo Santos on vol. 26 of Negima! (ANN)
Sesho on vols. 3 and 4 of The Prince of Tennis (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Katherine Farmar on vol. 1 of Reversible (Comics Village)

Toaru Kagaku no Railgun

The sleuths at ANN think they have figured out the third Seven Seas license: Toaru Kagaku no Railgun (A Certain Scientific Railgun), by Motoi Fuyukawa.

The Manga Village team looks over the past week’s new releases and makes their picks.

The last print issue of Yen Plus is on the stands. Nobody is sure what happens next…

Fumi Yoshinaga Week continues at Manga Bookshelf with Melinda Beasi’s review of All My Darling Daughters, and readers are invited to vote for their favorite continuing manhwa series in her latest Manhwa Monday post.

A Swedish manga translator has been fined for the offense of having child pornography, apparently manga samples he downloaded from the internet, on his hard drive. The usual issues get hashed over in this fairly complete news article, but it’s kind of interesting that the judge said the man didn’t need all of the 50 or so images he had, suggesting that just a few might be OK.

Reviews: Carlo Santos rips through a whole batch of new manga in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Other reviews of note:

Julie Opipari on vol. 4 of 13th Boy (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Kristin on vol. 9 of 20th Century Boys (Comic Attack)
Grant Goodman on vol. 33 of Berserk (Comics Village)
Connie on Black-Winged Love (Slightly Biased Manga)
Alexander Hoffman on vol. 1 of Bokurano: Ours (Comics Village)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of Fairy Navigator Runa (Prospero’s Manga)
Connie on vol. 2 of Flower in a Storm (Slightly Biased Manga)
Dave Ferraro on vol. 1 of Hyde & Closer (Comics-and-More)
Julie Opipari on vol. 12 of Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Sophie Stevens on vol. 4 of Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You (Animanga Nation)
Michelle Smith on vols. 22-24 of One Piece (Soliloquy in Blue)
Laura on vol. 5 of Pig Bride (Heart of Manga)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 4 of Rasetsu (Manga Life)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 16 of S.A. (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Andre on vol. 23 of Yakitate!! Japan (Kuriousity)

Amnesia Labyrinth

New title guessing game: Seven Seas has three new titles to announce, and they are doing it in an unorthodox way: As puzzles via Twitter. Yesterday’s clues were “Anagram: ‘Toad Roar’” and “Tiger, tiger, burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” ANN is taking this to mean that the title is Toradora. Their guess for today’s clues is Amnesia Labyrinth. Stay tuned for the third set of clues tomorrow.

At 4thletter!, David Brothers has posted insightful illustrated essays on manga creators Eiichiro Oda and Inio Asano, focusing on their work as writers.

Erica Friedman posts the Yuri Network News at Okazu, and Lori Henderson rounds up this week’s manga news at Manga Xanadu.

Melinda Beasi is featuring the work of Fumi Yoshinaga all week long at Manga Bookshelf, and she kicks things off with a review of vols. 1-4 of Flower of Life.

Dale North finds manga at Wal-Mart and asks his readers: Are they doing it right? The comments reveal a wide range of responses.

This piece on the Wall Street Journal’s Japan Real Time blog doesn’t break any news about the anti-scanlator coalition, but it has some rather pointed quotes from Vertical editorial director Ioannis Mentzas, and it’s notable that the Wall Street Journal is following the story at all.

The JoongAng Daily News has a brief article about South Korean cartoonist Kim Sung-hwan, who started his career as a teenager, drawing quick sketches of the events of the Korean War.

Matt Blind is back at it again with his manga rankings based on online sales; here are his figures for last week, and you can trace back to earlier weeks if you’re interested.

Deb Aoki shows off a new Junko Mizuno print that the artist will be offering at San Diego Comic-Con next weekend—look for her at the Last Gasp booth. Deb also has the details on two SDCC events, Udon’s 10th anniversary and Vertical’s signing schedule (at SDCC and beyond, actually) for Peepo Choo creator Felipe Smith.

With summer intern season in full swing, Daniella Orihuela-Gruber has some advice for would-be manga interns.

News from Japan: Both Tenjho Tenge and Shugurui are coming to an end in Japan, and manga-ka Kimihiko Tsukuda, creator of the long-running newspaper strip Honobono-kun, has died at the age of 80. Erica Friedman reports on two shoujo series with yuri storylines, Blue Friends (which starts out yuri but may not end up that way) and Nobari no Mori no Otome-tachi.

Reviews

Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of Afterschool Charisma (Comics Should Be Good)
Greg McElhatton on vol. 1 of Bakuman (Read About Comics)
Sesho on vol. 1 of Blame! (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Kristin on vol. 2 of Butterflies, Flowers (Comic Attack)
Carlo Santos on vol. 5 of Detroit Metal City (ANN)
Julie Opipari on vol. 1 of Fairy Navigator Runa (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on vol. 5 of Fake (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of Flower in a Storm (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 2 of Itazura Na Kiss (Comics Worth Reading)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 1 of Kobato (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Connie on vol. 1 of Lone Wolf and Cub (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Maoh: Juvenile Remix (ANN)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 6 of Megatokyo (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Clive Owen on vol. 1 of Ninja Girls (Animanga Nation)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on Oishinbo (Comic Attack)
Connie on vol. 50 of One Piece (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Peepo Choo (The Manga Critic)
Ken Haley on vol. 1 of Peepo Choo (Sequential Ink)
Charles Webb on vol. 1 of Peepo Choo (Manga Life)
Carlo Santos on vol. 6 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (ANN)
Todd Douglass on vol. 2 of Spice and Wolf (Anime Maki)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 7 of Teru Teru x Shonen (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of Ultimo (The Comic Book Bin)

Sean Gaffney takes an advance look at next week’s new manga.

Melinda Beasi, Danielle Leigh, and Michelle Smith continue their roundtable, The Nana Project, with a look at vols. 11 and 12 at Manga Bookshelf.

Jason Thompson’s latest House of 1000 Manga column is not to be missed—it’s a look at the classic Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga.

Christopher Butcher likes Twin Spica but fears the cover will put off potential readers. David Welsh, looks at two more manga, Library Wars and Code:Breaker, that are not well represented by their cover blurbs.

If you’re planning on going to San Diego Comic-Con next weekend, Kate Dacey makes it easy for you with a roundup of all the manga-oriented programming.

Reviews: EvilOmar pens some brief manga reviews at About Heroes.

Emily on 1-nen 5-kumi Ikimono Gakari (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 9 of Black Lagoon (The Comic Book Bin)
Snow Wildsmith on vol. 1 of Chi’s Sweet Home (ICv2)
Connie on vol. 3 of Crown of Love (Slightly Biased Manga)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of Dengeki Daisy (Soliloquy in Blue)
Sesho on vol. 9 of Fullmetal Alchemist (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Julie Opipari on vol. 4 of Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Todd Douglass on vol. 4 of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Anime Maki)
Justin Colussy-Estes on vol. 1 of Peepo Choo (Comics Village)
Liz Reed on vol. 1 of Raiders (Manga Life)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Stolen Hearts (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Tangognat on vols. 4 and 5 of Suppli (omnibus edition)
James Fleenor on vol. 1 of This Ugly Yet Beautiful World (Anime Sentinel)
Sandy Bilus on vol. 1 of Twin Spica (I Love Rob Liefeld)
Erica Friedman on vol. 13 of Yuri Hime S (Okazu)

Daniella Orihuela-Gruber picks the manga she’d like to read from this month’s new releases.

Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss lots of new manga in this week’s Off the Shelf feature at Manga Bookshelf.

Translators Alethea and Athena Nibley take the whole translation notes thing to the extreme in their latest Words of Truth and Wisdom column at Manga Life, leaving all the nouns in a passage in Japanese and then providing notes afterwards. It’s an interesting exercise.

A new reader checks out some shoujo manga in the latest Manga Out Loud podcast.

A reporter from the Mainichi Daily News visits the hometown of Gegege no Kitaro creator Shigeru Mizuki.

Reviews

Tangognat on vol. 1 of Afterschool Charisma (Tangognat)
Kristin on vol. 1 of Alice the 101st (Comic Attack)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1-4 of Antique Bakery (Manga Xanadu)
Ken Haley on vols. 1 and 2 of Biomega (Sequential Ink)
Alex Hoffman on vol. 1 of Bokurano (Manga Widget)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Dengeki Daisy (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lori Henderson on vol. 8 of Goong (Comics Village)
Chris Zimmerman on vols. 34-36 of One Piece (cbs4.com)
Chris Zimmerman on vol. 3 of Soul Eater (The Comic Book Bin)
Bill Sherman on vol. 2 of Vampire Hunter D (Blogcritics)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Yuri Hime Selection (Okazu)

At The Eastern Edge, Gottsu-Iiyan presents part 2 of his translation of a joint interview with Takehiko Inoue and Eiichiro Oda, accompanied by illustrations from the latest chapter of Vagabond, which makes for a very sweet package.

Kate Dacey wouldn’t go hungry for any of this week’s new manga, but she does find a few that would suit her tastes. Interestingly, David Welsh and Brad Rice take a swing at this week’s list as well.

David Brothers has an interesting piece examining the theme of hate in Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto.

A Feminist Otaku looks at rivalry between the female characters in Skip Beat!

Blogging about blogging: Osmosis Online turns the tables and interviews Melinda Beasi about her life as a manga blogger.

Reviews: Kate Dacy posts short takes on recent volumes of Children of the Sea, Raiders, and Twin Spica at The Manga Critic.

Snow Wildsmith on vol. 1 of Afterschool Charisma (ICv2)
Julie on vols. 1 and 2 of Chi’s Sweet Home (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Zack Davisson on Disappearance Diary (Japan Reviewed)
Todd Douglass on vol. 3 of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Anime Maki)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of Neko Ramen (Prospero’s Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 54 of One Piece (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Otodama: Voices from the Dead (The Comic Book Bin)
Clive Owen on Robotech: Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles (Animanga Nation)

ANN has more info on Manga Factory, the new manga publisher that has apparently arisen from the ashes of Aurora. Manga Factory rep Miki Ogata clarifies that although the new company is staffed by former Aurora employees, it is a completely separate entity. One thing muddying the water is the fact that Manga Factory is selling books published by Aurora, but Ogata says they were purchased from third parties, and the new company does not own Aurora’s inventory or hold the rights to any Aurora licenses. Manga Factory has no plans to announce new licenses this summer, which is understandable as these things can take time.

Melinda Beasi rounds up some recent manhwa reviews in her latest Manhwa Monday post and also asks her readers to vote on the best manhwa of 2010 (so far).

David Welsh looks at this year’s comics awards, including the Harveys (only four manga were nominated, all in the best edition of foreign works category) and the Eisners, which will be announced at SDCC.

Alex Hoffman has a very interesting article on deconstruction in Bokurano Ours up at Manga Widget.

Lori Henderson explains how to find untranslated manga at Manga Xanadu.

Reviews

Kristin on vol. 35 of Case Closed (Comic Attack)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Chi’s Sweet Home (ANN)
Sesho on vol. 2 of Culdcept (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Connie on vol. 4 of Fake (Slightly Biased Manga)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 15 of Hayate the Combat Butler (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Susan S. on Loving Gaze (Manga Jouhou)
Erica Friedman on vol. 3 of Manga no Tsukurikata (Okazu)
Michelle Smith on vol. 12 of Nana (Soliloquy in Blue)
Penny Kenny on vol. 3 of Rin-ne (Manga Life)
Connie on vol. 1 of Seiho Boys’ High School (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Stepping on Roses (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Tangognat on vol. 2 of Stolen Hearts (Tangognat)
Grant Goodman on vol. 1 of World of Warcraft: Shadow Wing (Comics Village)

Deb Aoki has more info on the new titles announced by Viz at Anime Expo.

Lori Henderson posts a handy digest of the week’s manga news at Manga Xanadu, and Erica Friedman rounds up all things yuri in her Yuri Network News feature at Okazu.

The Manga Village team picks the best of the past week’s new releases.

Kate Dacey closes out Shoujo Manga Week at The Manga Critic with a look at five underrated shoujo manga series.

Johanna Draper Carlson is skeptical about the move to shut down scanlators.

The latest installment of Breaking Down Banana Fish, a roundtable hosted by Melinda Beasi and featuring Michelle Smith, Khursten Santos, Connie C., Eva Volin, and Robin Brenner, is up at Manga Bookshelf.

The Sequential Tart writers, for their part, have a roundtable on Ooku: The Inner Chambers.

Minari no Seishun, a 4-koma manga about a high school girl who is married, is now available, in English for Android phones.

Reviews: EvilOmar pens some brief reviews of recent manga at About Heroes.

Bill Sherman on vol. 1 of Angelic Runes (Seattle PI)
Kristin on vols. 3 and 4 of Antique Bakery (Comic Attack)
Michelle Smith on vols. 15-17 of Black Cat (Soliloquy in Blue)
Erica Friedman on Carbonard Crown (Okazu)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Chi’s Sweet Home (Comics Worth Reading)
Julie Opipari on vol. 2 of Deadman Wonderland (Blog@Newsarama)
Connie on vol. 3 of Fake (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Flower in a Storm (ANN)
Leroy Douresseaux on Fruits Basket Banquet (I Reads You)
Sesho on vol. 8 of Fullmetal Alchemist (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Chris Zimmerman on vol. 23 of Fullmetal Alchemist and vol. 3 of Rin-ne (cbs4.com)
Noah Berlatsky on Gantz (The Hooded Utilitarian)
Connie on vol. 8 of Gestalt (Slightly Biased Manga)
Tangognat on vols. 1-4 of Goong (Tangognat)
Zack Davisson on vol. 1 of I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow (Japan Reviewed)
Connie on vol. 27 of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (Slightly Biased Manga)
Bill Sherman on vol. 1 of Millennium Prime Minister (Seattle PI)
Connie on Mugen Spiral (omnibus edition) (Comics Village)
Snow Wildsmith on My Girlfriend’s a Geek (Fujoshi Librarian)
Kate Dacey on vols. 1-4 of The Name of the Flower (The Manga Critic)
Connie on vol. 21 of Nana (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 54 of One Piece (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 14 of Ouran High School Host Club (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of Saturn Apartments (Comics Should Be Good)
Caddy C. on solanin (A Feminist Otaku)
Dave Ferraro on Yellow (Comics-and-More)

Deb Aoki has lots more info on Digital Manga’s newly announced books.

It’s only Friday, but Sean Gaffney is already looking forward to next week’s new manga.

Jason Thompson’s latest House of 1000 Manga column is an ode to the awesomeness of Moyoco Anno’s Happy Mania.

At The Manga Curmudgeon, David Welsh pleads for some kindly publisher to adopt two shoujo manga orphaned by CMX, and he has more thoughts and some runners-up for Kate Dacey’s best new manga poll.

At PWCW, Jonathan Bethune looks at two interesting but as-yet-untranslated manga, Sexy Commando Gaiden and Lock On!

Jason Thompson is looking for diagrams of manga studios, which are often included in as extras in manga, for a mysterious project by a friend.

Blogging about blogging: Manga Recon alumnus Ken Haley has started his own blog, Sequential Ink. Tune in early and often!

News from Japan: Nabari no Ou is winding up its run with volume 14. Also, ANN has the latest Japanese comics rankings.

Reviews: At Sequential Tart, Margaret O’Connell finds vol. 1 of Stepping on Roses to be more of a comedy and less of a retrograde soap opera than she had feared. J. Caleb Mozzocco checks out the first volume of two Oz-inspired manga, Dorothy of Oz and Toto, at Every Day Is Like Wednesday. The latest reviews at Publishers Weekly include a look at vol. 1 of Afterschool Charisma along with a handful of non-manga graphic novels.

Ed Sizemore on several Avatar: The Last Airbender manga (Comics Worth Reading)
Lori Henderson on vol. 7 of Black Jack (Comics Village)
Danica Davidson on Darker Than Black (iF Magazine)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 4 of Fruits Basket: Ultimate Edition (I Reads You)
Lori Henderson on vol. 2 of Hero Tales (Comics Village)
Kate Dacey on Himeyuka & Rozione’s Story (The Manga Critic)
Danica Davidson on vol. 1 of In the Walnut (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Zack Davisson on vol. 2 of Karakuri Odette (Manga Life)
Danica Davidson on vol. 1 of Kingdom of the Winds (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Casey Brienza on vol. 1 of Kobato (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Erica Friedman on vol. 4 of Lucky Star (Okazu)
Eduardo Zacarias on vol. 48 of Naruto (Animanga Nation)
Katherine Farmar on The Object of My Affection (Comics Village)
Shannon Fay on vol. 50 of One Piece (Kuriousity)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 16 of Reborn! (The Comic Book Bin)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vols. 14-16 of School Rumble (omnibus edition)
Lori Henderson on the August issue of Shonen Jump (Manga Xanadu)
Amy Grockl on vol. 2 of Tena on S-String (Comics Village)

The latest Diamond Previews features an interview with Vampire Hunter D creator Hideyuki Kikuchi, and since the interview is print-only, the fine folks at Digital Manga have reproduced it in full at their blog.

David Welsh checks out this week’s new offerings at the comics store.

Shoujo manga week continues at The Manga Critic with Kate Dacey’s discussion of her favorite shoujo manga, Kaze Hikaru.

Lissa Pattillo shares some first impressions of the contents of her shopping bag at Kuriousity.

Ray Hu has a video interview with ANN critic Carlo Santos at Anime Diet.

Christopher Butcher will be at San Diego Comic-Con, and he’s taking part in a panel on manga, among other things.

Reviews: Larry Cruz has a long but very entertaining dissertation on the flaws and high points of Wendy Pini’s The Masque of the Red Death at The Webcomic Overlook. Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss several recent releases in their latest Off the Shelf feature, and you can eavesdrop at Manga Bookshelf. Carlo Santos gives short, sometimes brutal takes on more new manga in his Right Turn Only!! column at ANN.

Kate Dacey on vols. 1 and 2 of Arata: The Legend (Good Comics for Kids)
Michelle Smith on vols. 5 and 6 of Banana Fish (Soliloquy in Blue)
Connie on vol. 3 of Butterflies, Flowers (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kristin on vol. 50 of InuYasha (Comic Attack)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of Kobato (Tangognat)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of One Fine Day (Good Comics for Kids)
Todd Douglass on Romeo x Juliet (Anime Maki)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Twin Spica (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 15 of xxxHolic (Slightly Biased Manga)

Embracing Love

Youka Nitta is back: The yaoi creator, who stepped away from public view in 2008 after accusations that some of her drawings were actually tracings of photographs, has set up a website, All About Youka Nitta, and she recently wound up her 14-volume series Embracing Love. Animate USA, which publishes yaoi manga for the Kindle,announced this week that it would publish two Nitta titles in English, Sound of My Voice – Golden Goose Part 1 and LOL Theater (W Gekijō), and the final volume of Embracing Love in Japanese.

We’re halfway through the year, and Kate Dacey takes the opportunity to take a half-time poll asking what are the best manga of the year so far. Go, vote for your favorite! David Welsh reveals his choices at The Manga Curmudgeon. Also, Kate is giving away some shoujo manga; just tell her your favorite out-of-print or untranslated shoujo manga to enter.

At Rocket Bomber, Matt Blind presents a comprehensive database of manga in English, for you to do with what you will.

Sunday Comics Debt has an interesting essay on the use of speech balloons and other text in manga, with some comparisons to Western comics.

Kate Dacey checks out this week’s new manga.

At Same Hat!, Ryan looks forward to two new books due out in the fall, Genkaku Picasso and A Single Match.

Happy blogiversary to Lissa Pattillo, who celebrated three years of Kuriousity yesterday.

News from Japan: The Wall Street Journal blog, not a source I link to often, has a thorough article on the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly’s proposed law to ban depictions of “nonexistent juveniles” in sexual situations, and why it failed to pass. Hideyuki Igarashi, the editor of Kodansha’s Monthly Shonen Sirius, was arrested Tuesday on charges of assault and battery after he allegedly attacked a woman in a restaurant.

Reviews

Emily on 16 Life (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Kate Dacey on vols. 1 and 2 of Arata the Legend (Good Comics for Kids)
Charles Webb on vol. 9 of Black God (Manga Life)
Connie on vol. 11 of The Gentlemen’s Alliance+ (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Itazura Na Kiss (Manga Xanadu)
Connie on vol. 49 of One Piece (Slightly Biased Manga)
David Welsh on vol. 2 of Twin Spica (The Manga Curmudgeon)

Anime Expo has wrapped up for this year, and I take a look at how the manga presence has evolved over the past five years at Robot 6.

Melinda Beasi looks at July manhwa releases and recent reviews in her latest Manhwa Monday feature at Manga Bookshelf.

Julie Opipari picks the best from the July Previews at Manga Maniac Cafe.

Reviews: Kate Dacey takes a quick look at some new shoujo releases at The Manga Critic. Other reviews of note:

Bill Sherman on vol. 1 of Angelic Runes (Blogcritics)
Dave Ferraro on vol. 1 of Chi’s Sweet Home (Comics-and-More)
Connie on vol. 5 of Detroit Metal City (Slightly Biased Manga)
Snow Wildsmith on vol. 1 of In the Walnut (Fujoshi Librarian)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 53 of One Piece (The Comic Book Bin)
Liz Reed on vol. 2 of Pandora Hearts (Manga Life)
Connie on vol. 5 of Rasetsu (Slightly Biased Manga)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 3 of Rin-ne (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Eric Friedman on Sleeping Beauty Mita Yume (Okazu)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 2 of Stolen Hearts (Kuriousity)

Anime Expo was this past weekend, and a number of my favorite bloggers were there. Animanga Nation’s Faith McAdams covers the the Tokyopop panel and notes that Tokyopop made a big splash, bringing their tour bus right up to the convention center, while Eduardo Zacarias takes the Viz manga panel. ANN has thorough coverage of all the panels, both anime and manga oriented, as well as new title announcements from Tokyopop and Viz. Kelkagandy is pleased about the Viz news, and Lissa Pattillo has cover images of the new Viz and Digital titles.

Meanwhile, Matt Thorn is looking ahead to SDCC, where he will be interviewing Moto Hagio, and he invites readers to send in their questions.

Kate Dacey posts her list of The Best Manga You’re Not Reading from last week’s ALA panel of the same name.

David Welsh takes a look at the manga in the latest Previews.

Lori Henderson rounds up the week’s manga news at Manga Xanadu. Erica Friedman has the latest Yuri Network News, plus a late-breaking addendum, at Okazu.

Kai-Ming Cha wishes a happy 13th birthday to Fanfare/Ponent Mon.

Reviews: Tangognat takes a quick look at some recent Viz releases at her eponymous blog.

Greg McElhatton on vol. 1 of Afterschool Charisma (Read About Comics)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Afterschool Charisma (ANN)
Julie Opipari on vol. 1 of Cactus’s Secret (Mania.com)
Susan S. on vol. 8 of Comic (Manga Jouhou)
Julie Opipari on vol. 7 of Dance in the Vampire Bund (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Greg Burgas on Eden: It’s an Endless World (Comics Should Be Good)
Lissa Pattillo on The Last Airbender (Kuriousity)
Nicola on vol. 1 of Library Wars (Back to Books)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 5 of Maid-Sama (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 1 of Magical JxR (Manga Bookshelf)
Ed Sizemore on The Manga Biography of Kenji Miyazawa (Comics Worth Reading)
Kristin on vols. 1 and 2 of Maoh: Juvenile Remix (Comic Attack)
Todd Douglass on vol. 2 of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Anime Maki)
Michelle Smith on vols. 1 and 2 of Portrait of M & N (Soliloquy in Blue)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 13 of Reborn (I Reads You)
Michelle Smith on vols. 1-3 of Time and Again (Soliloquy in Blue)
Julie Opipari on vol. 3 of Time and Again (Manga Maniac Cafe)

Dystopia
by Judith Park
Rated OT, for Older Teens
Yen Press, $10.99

This book is a disappointment, with one-dimensional characters, an artificial setup, and weak art. The conversations seem weirdly stilted—do you hear teenagers say “That’s very commendable” to one another? Ever?

The story seems like it was thought up in a day, without much reflection; it lacks emotional resonance. Dionne’s older brother, Lyon, has a heart defect, so her parents favor him and pick on her. Lyon tries to compensate by being extra-nice to Dionne. Dionne’s best friend, Shikku, has a crush on Lyon, and we get to watch them go through the paces of their very ordinary romance for a while—there’s a bit of uncertainty and pulling back, and lots of dreamy introspection, but it’s not really very interesting.

And then, just when you’re ready to drop off to sleep, the story takes a bizarre and very manga-ish turn: Lyon is hit by a car and dies. While Dionne is still mourning him, her parents spring a new surprise on her: Because they feared that Lyon would die young because of his heart defect, they had him cloned, and now the clone, Gabriel, is coming to live with them. Where has Gabriel been for the past 16 years? That’s a plot hole you could drive a truck through, but everyone is too busy chewing the scenery to ask. Dionne hates Gabriel because her parents are using him as a replacement for Lyon, and because she feels they never loved her; Dionne’s parents are frustrated because in her anger, she shuts them out; Shikku sort of hopes things will work out with Gabriel; Gabriel resents his new place in their lives and wants to be his own person. More panels of introspection, and then the book winds up with an emotional denouement that doesn’t really solve the problems proposed by the plot but does leave everyone a little wiser.

The story revolves around Dionne and her emotions, and if it has a saving grace, it’s that the teenage girls who are likely to read it will identify with Dionne, as she is completely misunderstood by everyone. It’s hard for an older reader not to conclude that she’s being a brat; her resentment seems to be out of proportion to the way her parents treat her.

Park’s art seems amateurish—it’s a good example of why a lot of people don’t like global manga. She puts emphasis on style at the expense of structure. The characters don’t quite hang together, and the anatomy and foreshortening are way off. She makes a lot of newbie mistakes, focusing on faces but getting the shape of the head wrong. On the other hand, some pages hang together really well. This is the first of her books that I have seen, but I gather from reviews that her other work is stronger.

I am not the audience for this book, that’s for sure. I think it has serious structural defects, but I can see a teenage reader enjoying it nonetheless, simply because the main character is someone they can relate to.

This review is based on a review copy provided by the publisher.