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Just in time for Free Comic Book Day on May 3rd, my Oh!Canada section has been updated with a list of comic shops across Canada. Organized by province, I looked into all that are listed for confirmation they were still running and sold anime/manga relevant merchandise (a daunting task but one that’s left me with lots of shiny new sites bookmarked). Of course if I’m missing any, please inform me and I’ll update it ASAP!
Also, several anime series were recently cut from YTV‘s schedule so TV viewers can check out my Anime in Canada page for the current schedule and offerings.
Back to FCBD, always lots of good stuff, from the chance to try out a bunch of new series as well as the sales on regular merchandise most stores put on. Manga-wise this year, keep an eye peeled for the usual free samplers: new to this year includes a Shonen Jump sampler and a Maximum Ride preview from Yen Press.
As for me, I plan to continue my 5-year, 8am tradition of being first in line with my buddies at Strange Adventures in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Nothing like good company, good food, sweet deals and an entire church auditorium full of free goodies. Hoping to see some new and familiar faces again this year!
Taking a little break from manga reviews today with something a little different. This is not about which medium is better and it’s certainly not all deciding factors. This is an opinion based write up and comments and thoughts are welcome in the section below.
If you circle the anime and manga related sites, you’ve no doubt come across the manga vs. anime statements, ranging from personal taste to which medium flourishes best in today’s market. While anime has been facing slow decline in recent years, manga continues to keep a strong hold in the market: numerous publishing companies, a sea of endless titles and booming sales work to represent this success.
When the question of why there’s such a discrepancy between the two arises, some of the most defining factors seems evident and I’m calling it the three Ps: production, price and preview.
The official Blade of the Immortal anime website is now streaming a preview of their upcoming adaptation of Hiroaki Samura’s manga. You can check that out here. (via ANN)
The character designs look good thus far, I’m impressed with how well they took Samura’s distinct style and simplified it, while still keeping the character’s defining shapes. The music seemed a little odd to me, not bad, just different. Blade of the Immortal was one of my first favourite mangas, back when Dark Horse still released it exclusively in floppie form. Too bad buying them in graphic novel form today still isn’t much cheaper. Definately an anime I look forward to.
As read on Zannen.ca, it seems that Space Channel has removed Robotech from their airing schedules. Their reason is stated as poor ratings.
Well no surprise there. For its short run on Space, Robotech was given a mid morning, weekday timeslot. Ouch. I don’t know who they were aiming it at but apparently whoever it was, they’re hoping will be more appeased with Robotech‘s replacement: more Relic Hunter reruns.
Because I can never seem to plug Gia‘s great blog enough, head over there to see her round-up of the NYCC licenses. Pictured above (in order): Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (manga), Ze (yaoi), Dragonball Z VIZBig, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (anime), Kyo Kara Maoh! (light novels)
Mildly unrelated, I was Amazon splunking again today and there’s lots of new and updated cover images uploaded for future manga releases for any who’re interested in getting an idea of what store shelves’ll look like in January 2009 (or a better idea of how empty wallets could be).
With the New York Comic Con on-going this weekend, there’s been lots of exciting announcements, reassurances and new projects to ponder. I’m not going to try to list them all here myself because there’s lots of great sources already doing so! Highlights include new manga licenses, Bandai’s license swipe of Gurren Lagann and Tokyopop’s new line-up of full colour graphic novels.
My first stop spot: Giapet.net. Gia’s been doing live blogs from the manga industry panels so definately swing by her blog to read up on the con going ons.
ComiPress has also been putting together a news round-up list of NYCC links to check out as well.
A trailer for the upcoming straight-to-DVD release, Batman: Gotham Knight, has finally been released! A feature about the movie was out a few months back but this is the first official trailer, complete with lots of sneak-peeks, hyped music and the first sound of Kevin Conroy returning to his classic role as the Dark Knight. (via ANN)
Sending out some more pimpage to Gia over at her blog. She’s currently at Sakura Con 2008, live-updating her site with the going-ons in the industry panels including Tokyopop (CLAMP’s working on Gohou Drug 4? News to me and made of win!), Funimation and Brocolli.
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Some pluggage for GiaPet‘s awaited guide to Spring 2008’s upcoming animes premiering in Japan. There’s lots of new faces and some old ones back for another go (including XXXHolic at last!). It’s a very pleasing list; lots of variety and interesting art styles that I hope is more satisfying than what past-Fall had to offer. |
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