August 15, 2009 Johanna No Starch Press Manga Reviews One comment

The Manga Guide to Databases

Followup to my review of The Manga Guide to Physics recommended this installment of the series because it featured a female instructor instead of the usual boy-helping-girl setup. The Manga Guide to Databases, written by Mana Takahashi and drawn by Shoko Azuma, is also more imaginative in its premise, going far beyond the usual “schoolgirl needs help in class”. The Kingdom of Kod sells its fruit, and in her father’s absence, Princess Ruruna is in charge. Various departments of the […]

August 13, 2009 Johanna Manga News 2 comments

Tokyopop Brings Back Some OEL Manga Online; Kat & Mouse Publish Date

After Tokyopop reorganized in June of last year, word leaked out that they would not be printing any more of their OEL (original English language) manga, instead releasing them online. Finally, over a year later, comes the confirmation: Tokyopop is pleased to announce the release of a number of its original series exclusively on Tokyopop.com. Modernizing the magazine serialization made famous by Charles Dickens, today Tokyopop will debut Psy*Comm volume 3, with a new chapter serialized weekly for free until […]

August 11, 2009 Johanna DCU Original Animation Leave a comment

Next DC Animated Film: Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths — Superman/Batman: Public Enemies Extras

World’s Finest has posted the back cover art for Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, coming in September, which reveals that the next direct-to-video DC animated movie, will be Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. Sounds good to me! The title suggests an opportunity to see lots of DC heroes. Unfortunately, the rest of the back cover copy promotes extras on Superman/Batman: Public Enemies as including “Behind the Scenes of Blackest Night” and “Explore 4 Other DC Universe Animated Movies”. That suggests that […]

August 11, 2009 Johanna Viz Manga Reviews 2 comments

Hikaru no Go Volume 16

After the turning point of the last book, in volume 16, Hikaru has given up on go as a way of punishing himself. His former classmates and competition don’t want to let him leave, though, seeking him out to find out what’s going on, since he disappeared without giving anyone a reason. Meanwhile, Isumi is playing demonstration matches in China. Isumi previously left his go club after struggling and failing to pass the test to become a professional. His story […]

August 10, 2009 Johanna Oni Press / Lion Forge One comment

Festering Romance

Janet is a character type many readers can identify with: She’s only got a few close friends. She spends a lot of time by herself or with her best friend and roommate, a ghost named Paul. She’d like to have a relationship, but she’s unsure she’s ready to put in the work involved or whether she’s found the right guy to be worth the effort. When her friend Freya sets her up on a blind date with Derek, the two […]

August 9, 2009 Johanna Tokyopop Manga Reviews, Viz Manga Reviews One comment

Vampire Manga: Vampire Knight, Bloody Kiss

With so much interest in the upcoming Twilight manga and the general trend of vampires in popular culture, I thought I’d look at some manga that feature vampire characters and their forbidden loves. These books were provided by publishers for the purpose of review. Vampire Knight Volume 7 by Matsuri Hino, Viz, $8.99 US This popular series is set at the exclusive Cross Academy, a school with a Night Class full of beautiful vampires and a Day Class that must […]

August 6, 2009 Johanna No Starch Press Manga Reviews 2 comments

The Manga Guide to Physics

I wasn’t all that impressed by an earlier book in this series, The Manga Guide to Statistics, but I found this volume by Hideo Nitta and Keita Takatsu a big improvement. Like all the books in this series, The Manga Guide to Physics is written by an expert; in this case, a physics professor from Tokyo Gakugei University who is also a member of the International Commission on Physics Education. That means the explanations of mechanics are right on, as […]

August 5, 2009 Johanna Vertical Manga Reviews Leave a comment

Black Jack Volume 5

Now that I’m no longer astounded by the sheer medical craziness of this classic series about a rogue doctor, I’m reevaluating why I read these stories by Osamu Tezuka. They do, at times, bear signs of age (especially in the treatment of female characters and women’s roles; I found volume 4 particularly bad in this respect). And the stories have started making winking allusions to being comics — early in this book, characters left at the end of a long […]

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