News and reviews for the discerning manga fan
Built in 1607, the Ooku, or “great interior,” housed the women of the Tokugawa clan, from the shogun’s mother to his wife and concubines. Strict rules prevented residents from fraternizing with outsiders, or leaving the grounds of Edo Castle without permission. Within the Ooku, an elaborate hierarchy governed day-to-day life; at the very top were [...]
Back in 2006, I stumbled across this entry at Otaku Champloo, reflecting on the need for a manga “canon.” The author noted that books in the Western literary canon (e.g. Aeschylus, Dante, Shakespeare) were not the “most popular” titles, but titles that “reflect[ed] the progress of humanity” from classical antiquity to the machine age. She [...]
If you’re the kind of person who fancies a good car chase, who likes her dialogue punchy and profane, or who just enjoys watching stuff blow up, this week’s Short Takes column is for you. All three titles — Black Lagoon (VIZ), Dogs: Bullets & Carnage (VIZ), and Zone-00 (Tokyopop) — are veritable festivals of [...]
Highbrow, lowbrow… and everything in between. That’s the slogan of Comicopia, a Mecca (mecha?) for Beantown manga lovers. For twenty years, this modest Kenmore Square storefront has been catering to discerning comic fans of all persuasions, stocking everything from Introducing Derrida to Mr. Arashi’s Amazing Freak Show, as well as crowd-pleasers like Peanuts, Bone, Y: [...]
Given Kodansha’s rumored entrance into the American manga market, and its recent decision to terminate its agreement with Tokyopop’s German affiliate, the news that Kodansha formally dissolved their relationship with Tokyopop is not terribly surprising. Tokyopop released the following statement today explaining the situation: The Japanese publisher Kodansha, from whom TOKYOPOP has licensed many terrific [...]
I love Fumi Yoshinaga for many reasons: her chatty scripts. Her fondness for men in eye patches. Her gratuitous references to Rousseau. Her tendency to recycle character designs. (I like to call them “The Fumi Yoshinaga Players.”) Her stubborn insistence on creating characters with real emotional lives and realistically handsome faces in a genre known [...]
At first glance, this week’s column seems like an unimaginative stunt; about all these two books have in common is their titles, as one is a “geek’s diet memoir” and the other a tribute to “the power of negative thinking.” But probe a little deeper, and you’ll see that Toshio Okada’s relentless optimism is the [...]
Now that I’ve had a chance to stockpile provisions, stretch my legs, and rest my eyeballs, I’m ready to finish what I started yesterday: a series-by-series exploration of the new IKKI website. If I seemed a little grouchy in my last post, it’s only because I’d gotten a super-sized dose of gore, grunge, gratuitous panty [...]
If VIZ’s new Shonen Sunday imprint is a fun-loving teenager with a penchant for mischief, then SIGIKKI is its chain-smoking, beer-swilling cousin, offering a mixture of urban fantasy, science fiction, action, and historical drama that’s better suited for mature audiences. VIZ has styled the SIGIKKI website as an online manga magazine, posting artist profiles and [...]
In the year 2346 A.D., humans have colonized the Vulcan solar system, a region so inhospitable that the average life span is a mere thirty years. Rai and Thor, whose parents belong to Vulcan’s ruling elite, enjoy a life of rare privilege — that is, until a political rival executes their parents and exiles the [...]
I’m not a big fan of squirm-inducing comedies like The Office; it’s hard to root for a loser who … [Read More...]
Are you an adult reader new to manga? Or a librarian who's looking to add more graphic novels to … [Read More...]
Back in the 1990s, Matt Thorn labored hard to make Keiko Nishi a household name among American manga … [Read More...]
Between the Manga Movable Feast and end-of-the-semester duties, I've fallen hopelessly behind in my … [Read More...]
Below is a list of helpful English-language web resources about manga and manhwa. I update this page on a regular basis, so … [Read More...]
Since joining the Good Comics for Kids team in 2008, I've reviewed a variety of comics, graphic novels, and manga for younger … [Read More...]
Though Vertical has published two series by Keiko Takemiya, the Magnificent 49ers' work remains largely unavailable in … [Read More...]
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