After months of speculation about how and when it would enter the US market, Kodansha makes its American debut with new editions of Akira and Ghost in the Shell. Though I would have liked to see Kodansha dig deeper into its vaults for something new or neglected, it’s hard to argue with the wisdom of either choice: both are undisputed masterpieces that have been increasingly difficult to obtain thanks, in part, to Kodansha’s decision to allow their licenses to lapse. I haven’t seen any advance reviews of the new editions, so it’s impossible to say how they compare with Dark Horse’s. Stay tuned for the inevitable flurry of blog posts cataloging the subtle (or not-so-subtle) differences between them.

Perhaps in anticipation of Kodansha’s debut, not much else is arriving in stores this week, aside from a handful of VIZ titles — volume eight of the balls-to-the-wall action series Black Lagoon, volume forty-one of InuYasha, the Boys Over Flowers “Jewelry Box” — and an omnibus edition of Madeline Rosca’s award-winning series Hollow Fields (Seven Seas). If you missed Hollow Fields the first time around, be sure to check it out in its new, more wallet-friendly format. The story focuses on a cheerful, chatty girl who inadvertently enrolls at an academy for evil geniuses, only to discover that the school’s headmistress is performing terrible experiments on under-performing students. As I noted in my review of volume one, Rosca’s art is the star attraction in this entertaining global manga; she creates a vivid, memorable cast of villains as well as a school building that’s a character in its own right, the perfect setting for a gothic-steampunk-boarding school horror story. Forgetting your homework was never this entertaining!

The full shipping list is below.

ARRIVING THIS WEEK

• Akira, Vol. 1 (Kodansha)
• Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, Vol. 12 (VIZ)
• Black Lagoon, Vol. 8 (VIZ)
• Boys Over Flowers: Jewelry Box (VIZ; click here for Laura’s guest review)
• Gantz, Vol. 7 (Dark Horse)
• Ghost in the Shell, Vol. 1 (Kodansha)
• Gimmick!, Vol. 9 (VIZ)
• Hollow Fields: Complete Collection (Seven Seas)
• InuYasha, Vol. 41 (VIZ)
• Inukami, Vol. 4 (Seven Seas)
• O-Parts Hunter, Vol. 18 (VIZ)
• Red River, Vol. 27 (VIZ)