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Posts Tagged Kodansha Comics

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – August 1, 2012

Otaku USA: On The Shelf - August 1, 2012

Holy mangaful shelves it’s August already… On that stunning note in regards to the passing of time, this week’s On The Shelf article marks it’s first year anniversary! I’ve really enjoyed writing it every week and hope to keep doing so as long as I keep creating my own shopping lists for new printed manga. Which of course we hope will be a long, long time :)

This week there are new books from Dark Horse, Kodansha Comics and Yen Press. My top pick goes to the newest volume of 13th Boy, because magical pretty boy cactus love interest! Yup.


Otaku USA: On The Shelf – July 18-25, 2012

Otaku USA: On The Shelf - July 18-25, 2012

The recent lull of Kuriousity updates extended over to my On The Shelf article as well, but worry not curious list-seekers and manga-buyers (because I’m quite sure you were beside yourselves) – this week’s On The Shelf is a double-dose edition collecting what’s new and recent from last week and today!

My does-want-must-haves of this shipping stack include the first volume of Project-H‘s Velvet Kiss, Vertical Inc‘s classy looking one-shot, Sakuran, Viz Media’s new 20th Century Boys and the tenth volume of Black Butler from Yen Press.


SDCC 2012: Manga News Round-Up

SDCC 2012: Manga News Round-Up

First up my apologies for the Kuriousity update hiccup this past week. A family emergency had me away for a while. Thanks to the huge relief of improvements and progress, I’m back at my desk and buried in my books again. …so, what’d I miss?

Ah yes, San Diego Comic Con – the biggest geek con in North America. Comics aren’t especially relevant there anymore as a medium, more as basis for movies and games, but it’s always had at least some manga news slipped in to take advantage of its sheer size and coverage.

Kodansha Comics’s panel seems like it was mostly just a brief Q&A session and an overview of their previously announced titles. To little surprise, they were proud to note that Sailor Moon is the number one selling manga in North America. As well it should be because it’s great (and I don’t ‘think’ that’s just nostalgia speaking)! Their website continues to be pretty far behind as updates go, excluding their front page slider, so you can’t find any info there on the titles they discussed there such as Natsume Ono’s Danza or Miles Edgeworth Investigations. So, if you’re curious about plots, release dates and covers, I recommend Amazon (CAN/US) for Kodansha Comics’ info still.

Edit: Kodansha Comics did in fact have one new manga license to announce that I missed – Negiho: Magical Little Girls. Negiho is a spin-off of the Negima series where the lead character is an adult teaching a class of kindergartners, as opposed to being a child prodigy teaching a class of teenage girls. This book is due out April 2013,  coinciding with the last volume of Negima.

Viz Media’s panel looks to have been much the same – predominantly talk of existing licenses and upcoming books instead of announcing much new. Some notable announcements were their upcoming launch of Toshin, which is their line-up of anime brand merchandise (which I hope utilizes some manga artwork for a change – I can hope, right?) and their answer to a question regarding the Tiger & Bunny manga as it being something they’re “looking into”. I haven’t seen that anime yet, as it’s never been made legally available to watch in Canada, but I hope to check it out when they finally slap it on some DVDs. Viz Media also released their manga-reading app for Android devices.

Yen Press wins for most actual news with a couple new titles. They’ve rounded up all the info on their own website, something I always love they do in such detail.

BTOOOM! – Junya Inoue
“A teenage gamer is trapped on a deserted island and forced to play a real-life version of his favorite video game! But even though he’s an expert strategist as a player, will he be able to survive this life-and-death game!”

Welcome to the Erotic Bookstore – Watanabe Pon
“In this essay manga, a young woman who works at a bookstore describes her experiences after her manager decides to open an adult toy section at the back of the shop. While the subject matter seems…erotic…the art is very cute and the tone of the story is very slice-of-life as the young woman records her observations, promotion efforts, etc.”

Another (Novels & Manga) – Yukito Ayatsuji/Hiro Kiyohara
“A teenage boy moves to a new school and learns that his classroom has been plagued by a string of gruesome deaths following the murder of a student over 25 years before.”

While BTOOOM! looks to be getting the usual Yen Press print treatment, I was sad to see Welcome to the Erotic Bookstore is going to be digital only. I’m all up for digital options, as I can definitely understand the appeal, but as a choice not the only-choice. The novel form of Another will be digital only as well, while the manga, which was originally four volumes long, will be released as a printed omnibus.

Yen Press did note though that depending on the success of these two digital editions, they may look to printing them. This is great to see, but does of course run into that issue of people not buying it because it’s not in print, which hinders its ability to ever see print, but those who do buy it digitally likely won’t buy it in print because its a double-dip. Tricky stuff to predict.

JManga also had a panel where they announced a variety of new licenses for their digital-only service. You can check out ANN’s coverage for the details. I’m a no-go on reading manga via my computer but if JManga launches their iPad app as planned this Autumn, they may make a subscriber out of me yet!

So not a whole said at SDCC but something is generally always better than nothing. With other more manga-friendly conventions such as Otakon and New York Comic Con coming up, we could very well see some more titles announced this convention season yet. Not that some publishers haven’t still made it a very lucrative summer for new titles, convention platform or not.


Otaku USA: On The Shelf – July 11, 2012

Otaku USA: On The Shelf - July 11, 2012

There is lots of diversity this week as seven publishers all step up to the shipping plate to deliver their goods tomorrow (be here now, Wednesday-goodness!). While there are more volumes I’d put on must-buy lists than books I wouldn’t, exceptionally notables for me include Fantagraphic‘s Wandering Son (Vol.03), SuBLime‘s Awkward Silence and Seven SeasJack the Ripper: Hell Blade (Vol.01).

You can read the complete list of books shipping this week over at the usual place, Otaku USA’s On The Shelf article by yours truly.


New Sailor Moon Anime to Premiere Worldwide in 2013

New Sailor Moon Anime to Premiere Worldwide in 2013

Though Kuriousity is predominantly a manga-centric blog, exceptions can always be made for that big news that just needs to be shared. This past Wednesday I posted a press release from Kodansha Comics announcing a live Sailor Moon event with guests including some of the anime’s original voice actors and the manga’s editor from Kodansha. The event itself took place early this morning (my time) but it didn’t take long for the big announcement promised to spiral around the internet:

Sailor Moon will be getting a brand new anime in 2013!

There isn’t much information past that released yet, though it was said during the event that the anime would be premiered worldwide. The event itself was broadcast online via the streaming service NicoNico, which already streams a few series worldwide minutes after their Japanese broadcast (such as the recently completed – and much adored by this writer – Fate/Zero). I can only guess, but it seems likely NicoNico will be how & where any simultaneous releases are streamed from. A huge thumbs up for worldwide availability of this title though – goodness knows the world will be waiting and watching.

Of information we do have, it has been confirmed the new anime will be a series, not a movie project, and is being based on Naoko Takeuchi’s original manga series. This seems a given obviously, as the manga is the source material, but it does seem more indicative that we’ll be getting an anime closer to the manga’s story-line. It’ll target it at an older audience compared to the original series animated by Toei (and subsequently dubbed and edited for English audiences by DIC), which doubly-suits the fact that those most enamoured with Sailor Moon are now older fans who originally grew up with it. I’m so excited to see what storyline this new anime takes, and even more so how the art looks!

Having now learned that there’s a new anime of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon coming out next year, it seems to make a little more sense why the original animated series has yet to be re-licensed for English release. This may or may not have anything to do with it but it certainly shows that Sailor Moon anime cravings will be satisfied in a different way come 2013. It still leaves me sort of stunned this news came at all.

In anycase, SO EXCITING. Count me among the very hyped and very eager :)

More information is available at AnimeNewsNetwork


Otaku USA: On The Shelf – July 4, 2012

Otaku USA: On The Shelf - July 4, 2012

First let me take a moment to say that Animaritime 2012 went amazingly. Huzzah for local cons! I really had a lot of fun and my panels were a blast as always (I think this year might’ve been the best yet!). A quick hello to readers new and returning who I spoke with at Animaritime – you guys all rock :)

One of few downsides to being buried up to your nose in convention work though is missing the opportunity to go out shopping for the very material you seek to promote. In my case, of course, that’s manga, and this week’s shipping list is a painful reminder how behind I am. Strange Adventures I am coming for you!

Viz Media takes home the manga-cake this week with their long shipping lists. Along with a whole bunch of continuing titles (including another Bakuman and two more of Bleach already!), they’re also debuting a new shoujo – Jiu Jiu. You can read the full list of titles out this week and my thoughts on some of them over at my weekly On The Shelf article for Otaku USA.


PR: Happy 20th Anniversary to Sailor Moon! …

Happy 20th Anniversary to Sailor Moon! Special Live Event at Nico Nico on July 6th!

TOKYO – June 29, 2012 – Twenty years ago, the legendary smash hit Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon debuted in Japan. In celebration of its 20th anniversary, the original Japanese voice actors will once again reunite for an appearance which will be streamed live from Nico Nico. They will recount nostalgic memories, divulge behind-the-scenes secrets, unveil 20th anniversary merchandise, and surprise the fans with an exciting new announcement. In addition, Momoiro Clover Z will join this event at Japan Expo 2012 in Paris, which will be streamed live by satellite.

SAILOR MOON 20TH ANNIVERSARY TALK FEATURING MOMOIRO CLOVER Z

Time: 7:30PM – 8:30PM on Friday, July 6th 2012 (Japan time)(6:30AM-7:30AM on July 6th in EST) Streaming live on Nico Nico (requires registration https://secure.nicovideo.jp/secure/register) http://live.nicovideo.jp/gate/lv97379631

Attendees:

Kotono Mitsuishi (voice actor of Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon)
Toru Furuya (voice actor of Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask)
Momoiro Clover Z (live from Paris)
Fumio Osano (editor for Naoko Takeuchi, Kodansha)
Naoki Yoshida (Moderator, Nippon housou)

Contents: Conversation with Kotono Mitsuishi and Toru Furuya about “The Hidden Happenings of Sailor Moon”
*Event subject to change. Invitation only.

WHAT IS PRETTY GUARDIAN SAILOR MOON?

A ditzy – and often times klutzy – 14-year-old crybaby, Usagi Tsukino transforms to Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon when danger strikes, and she and her friends fight as guardians of love and justice. First created as a manga by Naoko Takeuchi, it was then serialized in the girl’s manga magazine, Nakayosi, beginning in February issue of 1992. An anime based on the manga aired on TV Asahi, a nationwide network in Japan, for five years starting in March 1992, and the realm of magical girls has never been the same since. Sailor Moon’s success was due not only to the thousands of young girls who are dedicated fans but also to a broad range of adults who took genuine interest in the story. That’s why Sailor Moon’s famous line, “In the name of the moon, I shall punish you!” has become a phenomenon itself.

Read more…


Otaku USA: On The Shelf – June 27th, 2012

Otaku USA: On The Shelf - June 27th, 2012

This week has some very, very, very pretty manga coming out. Yen Press is the big winner this week in that regard for their complete series, omnibus release editions of Alice in the Country of Hearts and the gorgeous one-shot, Olympos.

Other notables of the week include the first volume of Kodansha ComicsAttack on Titan and the final volume of Digital Manga‘s Kizuna. You can see the full list of titles shipping out this week at my On The Shelf article for Otaku USA.


Otaku USA: On The Shelf – June 20, 2012

Otaku USA: On The Shelf - June 20, 2012

Good ‘ol Wednesday, a day of new comics and once it’s over you’ve survived the hub of the work week (if you work the Mon-Fri beat anyway). My manga highlights of the week seemed to err on the dark side but rest assured there are some happy gems in the batch. Of course dark manga doesn’t mean it isn’t still highly entertaining. But enough of my ramblings -you can read the list of manga volumes shipping this week over at Otaku USA’s On The Shelf article.


Otaku USA: On The Shelf – June 13, 2012

Otaku USA: On The Shelf - June 13, 2012

New manga day! Okay, well, Wednesday was new manga day as far as shipping goes but today was my pay day so it’s like the same thing…?

The notables out this week are the first two printed books released by SuBLime. I still have no idea what trim size or print quality these books will be (I’m looking forward to finding out!) but as SuBLime is a part of Viz Media, I’m confident they’ll look good. The chance to put more Naono Bohra on my bookshelf is a happy day in any case though.

You can read about the titles that shipped this week over at my On The Shelf article for Otaku USA.


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