News and reviews for the discerning manga fan
Around the age of ten, I had a brief but intense love affair with historical fiction. It began with Little House in the Big Woods — required reading for all American girls of a certain age — and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. I then discovered Johnny Tremain, made an unsuccessful attempt to read [...]
Though hard-core manga fans may wrinkle their noses at Daniel X and Gossip Girl, these YA novels-turned-graphic novels are big business for Yen Press. The first volume of Yen’s Twilight manga was one of 2010′s best-selling graphic novels, moving over 125,000 units, while Maximum Ride: The Manga continues to outperform many licensed titles. I’m of [...]
For nearly 3,000 years, the Silk Road connected Asia with Africa and the Middle East, providing a conduit for the ancient world’s most precious commodities: silk, spices, glassware, medicine, perfume, livestock. By the nineteenth century, when A Bride’s Story takes place, the overland trade routes had been eclipsed in importance by maritime ones that linked [...]
“Spunky” is one of the most overused words in shojo manga reviewing, but Shurei, the heroine of The Story of Saiunkoku, is spunky in the best sense of the word: she’s smart, resourceful, and boundlessly optimistic, despite the fact that she’s unlikely to ever achieve dream of becoming a civil servant. (I should note that [...]
Though I can’t claim to love every title in VIZ’s Signature imprint, I love the fact that VIZ is putting so much energy into publishing high-quality manga for grown-ups. (I’d say “adults,” but “adult manga” has an unsavory connotation.) The line encompasses a variety of genres, from dystopian science fiction to slacker comedy, making it [...]
It’s time for another round of Second Takes, in which I revisit series that had promising debut volumes. First up is Genkaku Picasso (VIZ), a surreal farce about a teen who can see the darkness in other people’s hearts; next is House of Five Leaves (VIZ), a costume drama about a ronin who falls in [...]
Is it true that you never get a second chance to make a first impression? After plowing through the second volumes of Afterschool Charisma, Grand Guignol Orchestra, and The Story of Saiunkoku, I’m beginning to think so; my impression of all three series remained essentially unchanged, even with the introduction of new characters and new [...]
Ayako is an odd beast. Structurally, it resembles a Russian realist novel, using a once-powerful family of landowners to embody the political and economic upheaval caused by America’s seven-year occupation of Japan (1945-52). Temperamentally, however, Ayako feels more like a John Frankenheimer movie, with subplots involving a Communist organizer, an assassin who stashes orders in [...]
To say that Hetalia: Axis Powers has a devoted fanbase is like saying that Cookie Monster is partial to Oreos; it’s the kind of series that inspires fans to write their own Hetalia stories by the truckload (there are over 14,000 posted at FanFiction.net), dress up as their favorite countries, and debate the virtues of [...]
A unseasonably cold, rainy weekend proved just what I needed to catch up on my reading; not only did I tackle a big part of my review pile, I also had a chance to flip through several recent purchases: bilingual editions of Doraemon and The Tale of Genji, Helen McCarthy’s The Art of Osamu Tezuka, [...]
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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