Manga News and Information
October, 2007In the latest issue of PWCW, Kai-Ming Cha looks at the U.S. manga publisher DrMaster. Also, Anne Ishii has written an article on Taiyo Matsumoto's manga Tekkon Kinkreet. About.com's new manga section has posted two interviews, one with Yen Press' Kurt Hassler, and the other Dallas Middaugh of Del Rey Manga. Also, Variety has posted two articles on Tokyopop, which takes a comprehensive look at Tokyopop, and talks with its founder and CEO Stuart Levy. Rumic World has relaunched its Ranma ½ Perfect Edition website:
Also, David Welsh interviews Dylan Acres, found of the founders of Rumic World. Perez Announced as New Chairman of the SPJA Board Anaheim, California (October 24, 2007) -- The overseeing body of Anime Expo® (the nation's largest anime/manga convention), the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA), announces five (5) new additions to the Board of Directors. More information can be found on the website www.spja.org. Industry Companies Rally to Bring Manga to Evacuation Shelters to Assist Relief Efforts Anaheim, California (October 25, 2007) -- The overseeing body of Anime Expo® (the nation's largest anime/manga convention), the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA), and manga companies such as Aurora Publishing, Digital Manga, Go! Comi, Tokyopop and VIZ Media are assisting with the Red Cross relief efforts by providing manga books to Southern California wildfire evacuees currently residing at Fire Relief Shelters/Evacuation Centers. More information can be found on the website www.spja.org. A trial issue of the manga magazine Comic Akibana! No.0 is being distributed for free in Akihabara on the 20th and 21th of October. The trial issue contains 8 manga serials, and one novel. Akibaos and Akiba Blog has posted some previews of the magazine. Comic Akibana! is Dijima's second seinen manga magazine that's being distributed for free (the first one being Comic Gumbo). Ichijinsha, publisher of the yuri manga magazine Comic Yurihime, has included a ecchi/yuri manga titled Yurihime Wildrose with the latest issue of Comic Yurihime. A brief preview of the manga from Akiba Blog can be seen here. Source: Heisei Democracy The First Three Titles of Luv Luv's Romantic and Sexy 2008 Line Up Announced! Torrance, California (October 22, 2007) - Aurora Publishing, Inc. brings "passionate manga for women" to America with their new Luv Luv imprint. Extremely popular in Japan, but never before available as a genre in the U.S., Ladies Comics are romantic, hot and sexy manga about modern women and the men they love. Manga from Luv Luv feature more realistic sexual content and more mature storylines and themes than are presently found in the manga currently available to women in America. All of the Luv Luv graphic novels depict romantic and physical relationships with nothing held back. Why let guys have all the fun? More information can be found on the Luv Luv website: www.luvluv-press.com, which is set to go live on December 1, 2007. Incredibly Strange Manga Part 1 Fleshbomb Style: Origin of the Fleshbomb Style
Fukushima Masami: King of Fleshbomb
My face nearly burned up when I first came across a series called 'The Rapist Monk' (Nyohanbō). I was seventeen, and still in high school. It was 1974. I was browsing through a magazine whose title - Manga Erotopia - pretty much said it all. Ryusui, the powerful hero of the manga, was carrying a horse on one shoulder and penetrating a slutty princess from one end to the other at the same time. Even I was shocked. Fukushima Masami was born in Daiseicho in 1948. Daiseicho is a fishing port on the freezing Sea of Okhotsk, and his father was a trawler man. His mother ran off with a lover when he was still a small child, and his father abandoned the family shortly after. The young Fukushima was reared by his brothers, heavy laborers. He gravitated to manga "for the money." He got his break in a monthly called COM after a frantic period of mailing work around. (COM was founded in 1967 by Tezuka Osamu as a forum for emerging experimental artists. This was partly in reaction to the success of the alternative magazine Garo). Tokyopop is currently looking for a new Online Business Development Director:
Via: Icarus Blog theOtaku.com is celebrating its 7th anniversary with a complete relaunch in late November:
USA Today has published an article titled "Manga comics losing longtime hold on Japan," which looks at how manga sales have been on a gradual decline over recent years:
Via: ANN YaoiSuki's Annual Awards Are Under Way, And Voting Is Open for User's Choice Award! PORTLAND, ORE. - October 19th, 2007 - Yaoi news and review site YaoiSuki has announced their second annual Yaoi Awards as the lead-in to the site's extensive coverage of Yaoi Con in late October. This year's lofty awards include the "Read On Mute" award for bad dialogue, the "Most Unpronounceable Title" award, and the "Thank God It's Over" award, among other prizes of varying sincerity. FlexComix Flare, a new online magazine aimed at females readers, was launched on October 18th on Yahoo! Comic. Currently 2 manga titles are being serialized on the magazine's website. Akahon: (literally 'red books'); cheap manga produced by minor publishers in the immediate postwar period. Akahon were sold in magazine stalls rather than regular bookstores. Burakumin: before 1868, groups of people officially known as eta ('full of filth') and hinin ('non-humans') suffered systematic government-sponsored discrimination. They were confined to certain trades such as butchers and tanners, and lived in designated slum areas. When Japan modernized, they become known by the euphemistic term burakumin, and state persecution ceased. However, burakumin face weakening but still significant social discrimination to this day. Burakumin often feature in socially-concerned manga. ICv2 has released its Top Ten Manga Properties for Q3 2007:
According to Yaoi Suki, Blu will be raising the price of their manga by 30% in 2008, going from $9.99 to $12.99. According to this forum thread, the price hike starts in 2008. Via: MangaBlog ANN reports that ealier this week, a man named Makoto Kawai attempted to rob a manga cafe in the Asakusa area of Tokyo around midnight, but was arrested by the police:
From ICv2 comes an interview with Philip Simon, editor of Dark Horse's Blade of the Immortal. From Mision Tokyo comes a list of the manga that will be available at this year's Salón del Manga, an annual manga convention that takes place in Spain. Via: Sheila (San Antonio, Texas) October 18, 2007 – Virgin Comics newest editor and industry veteran Ron Marz was interviewed recently as part of the acclaimed Inside the Comic Writers Studio – now published in its new weekly format - found exclusively at ComicBloc.com. Top 10 manga (10/17) according to Tohan:
Additional Rankings: The following manga appeared on the USA Today Booklist Top 150 (PDF) for the week ending October 14th:
Also, Comicsnob posts the online manga sales rankings: Japan News Review is reporting that Kimimaro Ayanokouji, artist of the manga Tsuma no Kuchi Ichido Haritai Gum Tape, will be getting his own Nintendo DS game. The game will be called Mainichi ga tanoshii! Ayanokouji Kimimaro no Happy Techo. An online trial of the game can be found here. Source: theOtaku |
Manga Zombie
Finale: Panelosophy
An ongoing conversation about the philosophy behind manga both in the U.S. and abroad. Manga Ranking
Monthly charts of comparative manga rankings based on aggregate online sales listings from Matt Blind. |
ComiPress teams up with writer Udagawa Takeo and translator John Gallagher to publish an online version of the English-language translation of Manga Zombie.
