The Manga Critic’s Post-Christmas Giveaway, Week One
If Santa didn’t bring you all the manga on your wish list this year, fear not — I’ll be giving away a different title every week in January. To kick things off, I’m offering one lucky reader both volumes of Asano Inio’s critically acclaimed short story collection What a Wonderful World. To enter, simply tell me the name of your favorite manga anthology. (If you’re viewing this entry from my homepage, click on the # symbol to be taken to the full entry, where you will be able to record your comment.) The winner will be chosen by random drawing from all the valid entries. This week’s contest closes at 11:59 PM EST on Thursday, January 7th. Contestants must be at least 18 and live in the United States to enter. Good luck!
N.B. Manga fans use the word “anthology” to refer to magazines such as Yen+, but the term also refers to collections of short stories, poems, and novellas. So if there’s a one volume collection of stories that rates highly on your list (e.g. Seduce Me After the Show, Japan As Viewed by 17 Creators, Four Shojo Stories), that answer would count, too.
A few years ago, I would have said that Shonen Jump was my favorite anthology being printed in English, but now that distinction goes to Yen Plus. The varied types of series keeps the anthology interesting, and Pig Bride, Night School, Nabari no Ou, and Black Butler are all fantastic reads. The bonus content is always a breath of fresh air, and I loved the Spice and Wolf preview.
My favorite manga right now is Hayate X Blade. It has a great story line and it’s funny
I really like yuri however I’m pretty sick of stories about school girls and their uniforms, so Hayate is a breath of fresh air.
Thanks for running this contest and I hope you have a great new year!
Does it have to be an English anthology? Currently the only two I’m aware of are Monthly Shonen Jump and Yen+, but I don’t really like either of them. I like titles from their respective companys, but not really the ones they put in their magazines. So if it’s allowed I would like to pick Weekly Shonen Jump because even though it’s not in English it has the most series that I actually read when they get translated.
@Matthew: English or Japanese is fine. “Anthology” can also refer to short story collections, too, BTW, so if there’s a manga like Rumic World or The Push Man that you like, that would count, too.
@Heather: Glad you’re enjoying Hayate X Blade. After reading Erica Friedman’s reviews at Okazu, I’m thinking I should add it to my “to read” list this year. The contest asks you to name your favorite short story collection (magazine or book), however, so to make sure your entry gets considered, please let us know what that is. Thanks!
OPERA. Hands Down.
Hands down, for me it’s got to be Hana to Yume
Here in the States though – it’s Yen Plus.
However, I need my shoujo fix – so I turn to Hana to Yume a lot more than I do to Yen Plus.
It’s too bad Newtype didn’t quite make it over here though – I was rather partial to that one as well.
I do enjoy The Push Man, but I find Abandon the Old in Tokyo to be better developed and realized.
One of my favorite short-story collections is “The Day I Become A Butterfly” by Sumomo Yumeka.
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I really like the Korean side of Yen+ but the Japanese side doesn’t do much for me. Still, it’s the best thing going right now!
I’m also a little attached to Single Cell Organism (which, yeah, I totally read as “orgasm”). It was my first introduction to BL and it’s just so so sweet.
My favorite is “Japan As Viewed by 17 Creators” which I bought from YOU, Deb, at the 2008 SPX. Really opened my eyes to all the exciting work being done and made me buy more and more manga!
If Astro Boy counts — and each volume does collect several Astro stories, come to think of it — then that’d definitely be my favorite anthology. Failing that, I do love Yen+.
My all time favorite so far has got to be Short Program. One of the first books I read and one of the ones I’ll treasure for a long time to come.
Keep up the good work!
~Sam
Actually, I’m rather fond of the first few volumes of TOKYOPOP’s Rising Stars of Manga just because I think it’s a great insight into what had resulted from just a few short years of “mainstream” manga influence on artists of all ages. Subsequent volumes helped illustrate the progression of this influence and the resulting contracts and series the competition produced was a great research tool into the OEL market, though it was a failed experiment as well. Were the stories in the anthologies good? Some, some not. It isn’t really a favorite in terms of quality, but just as a point of interest? Definitely.
[...] The Manga Critic — Name your favorite manga anthology for a chance to win the two volumes of What a Wonderful World!. The site also promises a giveaway a week during the month of January. [...]
@Sam: I hope Viz re-issues Short Program some day–my copies are falling apart!
@Kiri: Interesting choice! I agree with your assessment of the RSoM anthologies: they were a mixed bag, but every volume contained at least one or two great stories by artists with genuine promise. I was sad to see Tokyopop do away with the program.
Well, if Shojo Beat were still around, I’d say that’s my favorite anthology. But, since it’s defunct, I’d have to say that I highly recommend Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s Good-bye, a collection of one-shots.
As always, thanks for doing these giveaways, Kate!
i think Rikki OH is my favorite manga, yep
I’ll have to bow out of the giveaway since I have What a Wonderful World and it’s excellent. I picked up the second volume as soon as I finished reading the first.
Just for fun, I’d have to say I liked Raijin; it had a nice mix of stories that I thought covered a good chunk of the manga spectrum. Would the Ikki site count?
@Jade: I think the SigIKKI site would qualify as an anthology. I agree about Raijin, BTW; like Super Manga Blast, it offered readers a great selection of titles. Didn’t Slam Dunk originally appear in Raijiin?
I’m not entering (I already have both!), but I want to second any love for Super Manga Blast. I only had a few issues back when it first started, but I loved it. I think What’s Michael might have been my favorite out of the strips in it. I should poke around and see if those ever made it to a collection.
[...] Dacey is giving away free manga at The Manga Critic; she kicks things off by offering vols. 1 and 2 of What a Wonderful World; to enter, tell her your favorite manga [...]
@David: Most, if not all, of the What’s Michael strips were released in book form, though many of the series’ eleven volumes are out of print and very hard to come by. Some are still available through Amazon, however, so that’s a good place to start. I’ve also found copies of some early volumes on eBay as well.
There are a lot of anthologies that I would love to check out (just found out about a bunch of older Tezuka anthologies through Helen McCarthy’s “The Art of Osamu Tezuka”), but for now I would say that my favorite English one is Shonen Jump. A bit of a cop-out answer, I know, but the Viz-published Shonen Jump anthology was actually the first manga I ever purchased, so it holds a special place in my heart.
Afternoon. So far that I’ve noticed, it seems it can be decently depended on to have interesting series with good quality. Plus it had Genshiken and has Ookiku Furikabutte. <3
If Shojo Beat was still around I would have picked it as favorite anthology, but now my vote goes to Yen Plus. I enjoy the mix of Korean, Japanese, and Original English titles it showcases each month.
I enjoyed “The Day I Became a Butterfly.” Pretty art and sweet love stories just can’t be beat!
Favorite English anthology is Yuri Monogatari (I have signatures from all the major contributors xD)
Favorite Japanese anthology is Yuri Hime
My favorite: Faust
[...] Post-Christmas Giveaway, and a big thank-you to everyone who entered; I really enjoyed reading your comments. I’ll be announcing a new giveaway on Monday, so stay [...]
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