The Shipping News, 9/16/09

First, a quick note to everyone who’s visited the site over the last three days: thanks for your patience! I’m an inveterate tinkerer, and felt a sudden urge to fiddle with code. Not that I actually know much about CSS or PHP or XHTML, mind you — I just wanted to make the site reflect the fact that I am first and foremost a reviewer, not a newshound. To that end, I’ll be discontinuing my practice of posting press releases in full; I’ve added a sideblog for links and news, and will post honest-to-goodness articles only when warranted (e.g. cancellation of Shojo Beat). I’ve also moved my blogroll to the navigation bar, made some cosmetic tweaks to the site, and added a widget highlighting the week’s best new releases. Please take a minute to test-drive the new features and let me know what you think. Constructive feedback is always welcome.

But enough about me… here’s a quick run-down of this week’s new releases!

If I were going to buy a manga on the strength of its title alone, DMP would be getting all my hard-earned money this week with such marvelous-sounding books as Exotic and Delicious Fate — think Hell’s Kitchen for yaoi fans — Unsophisticated and Rude — a high school romance about estranged childhood friends — and A Strange and Mystifying Story, a manga about therianthropes:

He saved Akio Yamane from his incurable sickness, but the outcast, Setsu, has protected this cursed bloodline for countless generations. What will happen when something akin to love begins to blossom between them, in the face of incompatibility between humans and therianthropes (animal people)? The past of the gentle therianthrope, Setsu, is also explored in the back-up story, Ishi Kenbunroku in this, the second volume of the super popular series!

How can you not love a manga about therianthropes?! (And yes, therianthrope is a real word, not the invention of an exuberant copy editor; it refers to humans who transform into animals, e.g. werewolves.) Also arriving this week: a veggie-centric installment of Oishinbo A la Carte (VIZ), the fifth volume of Pluto: Urazawa x Tezuka (VIZ), the thirty-first volume of Case Closed (VIZ), and the final volume of The Lapis Lazuli Crown (CMX), a title I praised in my most recent Good Manga for Kids column for its appealing leads, Radian (the boy) and Miel (the girl):

Radian …is a fresh and appealing departure from the bad boys and blandly handsome class presidents that usually set manga heroines’ hearts aflutter. Yes, he’s cute, but he’s also smart, funny, and frank about his feelings, making it easy for the reader to understand why Miel falls for him. Miel, too, is a winning character; any girl who’s ever felt singled out for being smart, talented, or athletic will identify with Miel’s desire to be more like her peers, and will root for her to win Radian’s heart.

Still need convincing? The check out David Welsh’s lovely review of volume one, with which I heartily concur.

NEW SERIES/ONE-SHOTS

• Exotic and Delicious Fate (DMP)
• Unsophisticated and Rude (DMP)

CONTINUING SERIES

• Apple, Vol. 3 (UDON Entertainment)
• Case Closed, Vol. 31 (VIZ)
• Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 20 (VIZ)
• Fushigi Yugi VIZBIG Edition, Vol. 3 (VIZ)
• Gacha Gacha The Next Revolution, Vol. 10 (Del Rey)
• King of Debris, Vol. 2 (CMX)
• The Lapis Lazuli Crown, Vol. 2 (CMX)
• Oishinbo A La Carte, Vol. 5: Vegetables (VIZ)
• Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Vol. 5 (VIZ)
• Rurouni Kenshin VIZBIG Edition, Vol. 7 (VIZ)
• Steal Moon, Vol. 2 (DMP)
• Strange and Mystifying Story, Vol. 2 (DMP)
• Switch, Vol. 10 (VIZ)
• Venus in Love, Vol. 7 (CMX)