I wasn’t crazy about the OEL manga/GN series Off*Beat, but I thought it had promise, and I really liked the characters. When I looked at what was going on with Tokyopop’s OEL manga titles at the end of June, no one knew what its future was. Now, the author has spoken: all i can say still at this moment is that i have expressed deep concern to my former editor that i wanted a means to finish the story and […]

Currently, Del Rey Manga is mostly titles licensed from Japanese manga publisher Kodansha. Now, as Brigid reports, Kodansha plans to open their own American office. Many questions result. Del Rey isn’t concerned — their licenses are proceeding as planned. Chris Butcher reports that Tokyopop cancelled Beck, a Kodansha title, but that might also be due to lower sales or Tokyopop’s own problems. The most interesting aspect of this for me so far is the speculation on what this might mean […]

(This article was originally published in PiQ #3, June 2008.) Josei manga, or in Japanese, “ladies’ comics”, are titles aimed at women between 18-30 years of age. They usually deal with the same romantic subjects as girl-targeted shojo, but with more realism and mature content, including sex scenes. In addition to questions about finding Mr. Right (or Mr. Right Now), the female leads may deal with workplace issues, including harassment or finding the right job. Visually, the books tend to […]