Fanfare/Ponent Mon puts out some great, unusual manga, from an exploration of the Japanese prison system (Doing Time) to the contemplative works of Jiro Taniguchi (The Walking Man, A Distant Neighborhood). It was their publishing the works of Taniguchi that made me realize how skilled something so simple could be. Not that that describes his art style — it’s insanely detailed, as you can see from the preview pages at the publisher’s website. No, that’s a statement about how quiet […]

The Voices of a Distant Star by Makato Shinkai and Mizu Sahara was one of my best comics of 2006, which is when Tokyopop released the translated single volume in the US. Now comes word that Vertical will be bringing the book (based on an anime) back into print. No date announced yet. The touching story of two young friends irreversibly separated when one is sent away to pilot a robot fighter is full of nostalgia, unspoken feelings, and thoughts […]

While flipping through the February 2017 issue of Glamour magazine (the one with the pantsless women of Girls on the cover), I was surprised to note the following one-page article: That’s right, a recommendation page of makeup products for those who love Sailor Moon. (Which apparently means things that sparkle, make eyes look big, or come in cute packages. And cost anywhere from $6-$240.) The intro also name-drops Miyazaki, Peach Girl, and Pokemon. It seems the manga and anime fans […]

To celebrate the fifth anniversary of the digital magazine Weekly Shonen Jump (which collects various manga chapters on the same day as their release in Japan), Viz has announced a special offer and live event. Congrats on the anniversary! * On Monday, January 30 (for 24 hours only), a yearly subscription (48 issues) will be $9.99 instead of the usual $25.99. * On Friday, January 27, a live streaming event will take place beginning at 6 PM Pacific time. I […]

I know a number of manga fans who were really disappointed by Bunny Drop by Yumi Unita. They liked the early part of the series, about a young man raising an orphaned little girl, but they disagreed with the direction the series took near the end. (The dislike means, for some, any series that features an older man/young girl interacting, such as Sweetness & Lightning, now causes fear that it’s going to take a creepy turn. It’s unfortunate that Bunny […]

Earlier this month, Viz released the first volume of a new Rurouni Kenshin 3-in-1 omnibus series. The book contains the first three installments of the series about a wandering ronin by Nobuhiro Watsuki at a suggested retail price of $14.99 a volume. The series will continue quarterly. Rurouni Kenshin was first serialized in English beginning in 2003. The 28 volumes originally were published in Japan from 1994-1999. There have been anime and film adaptations, as well as a previous oversized […]

Planetes is an exceptionally good manga series, recently reprinted by Dark Horse, about garbage collectors in space. Today, I saw this NY Times article, “Space’s Trash Collector? A Japanese Entrepreneur Wants the Job”. Sadly, this plan doesn’t involve sending people to space as interstellar garbage collectors. Instead, he plans to use a satellite to map the debris up there and then launch a glue-covered drone to grab it and burn it up during re-entry. Astroscale’s slogan is “Space Sweepers”. The […]

I’m excited by the latest digital release news from Viz Media — later this month, key titles by my favorite manga-ka, Fumi Yoshinaga, will be available digitally. On November 8, her collection of short stories, All My Darling Daughters, debuts. In my opinion, this is the single best starting point for her work, since it’s a single volume with a range of content (although one of the stories does have a problematic teacher/student interaction). The week after, November 15, brings […]