Chika Shiomi Appreciation Week

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Chika Shiomi may not enjoy the same name recognition as Matsuri Hino, but like her better-known colleague, Shiomi specializes in a particular kind of supernatural drama that pits a plucky, pretty — but not too pretty — girl against demonic forces. More often than not, the heroine has a helpful gift — the ability to [...]

R.I.P. Shojo Beat

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Over at The Beat, Heidi MacDonald is reporting that Shojo Beat magazine will cease production with the July 2009 issue. She quotes from the VIZ website: Yes, the final issue of Shojo Beat magazine will be the July 2009 issue which is on newsstands June 16th. We are very proud of the past issues of [...]

Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing, Baby?

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Fellow Good Comics for Kids blogger Lori Henderson has populated Manga Village with a crack team of writers, and this week, they tackle one of the more contentious questions facing American manga fans: what, exactly, deserves the label “manga”? All of the participants raise excellent points, pro- and contra- the “global manga” (or “OEL”) label, [...]

What to Read Now: A Roundtable Discussion

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What books are you reading now? And which ones would you recommend to friends? Those were the questions I put to my favorite manga critics, folks whose good judgment and good writing strongly influences my own reading habits. Their answers ran the gamut from costume dramas to fan-service comedies, with one brave soul venturing “off [...]

Welcome to The Manga Critic!

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I have a confession to make: I’m a recent convert to comics. Though I was a voracious reader as a kid, I seldom looked at comics; my primary exposure came from watching Saturday morning cartoons (hello, Superfriends) and prime-time adaptations of Wonder Woman and The Incredible Hulk. I didn’t discover the joys of CLAMP and [...]