So that last article’s mention of Fumi Yoshinaga reminded me to do this…here’s the final list of the underrated manga articles I did for Fanboy.com. In no particular order:

• The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (I said MANGA)
• Yubisaki Milk Tea
• Lunar Legend Tsukihime
• Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (I beat Shaenon to it!)
• Kodomo no Jikan (yes, really)
• Ouran High School Host Club (yes, really)
• Bokurano
• Antique Bakery
• Hajime no Ippo
• Gintama

Here are the most recent few entries in my Underappreciated Manga series on :

Kodomo no Jikan (I have my reasons.)

Ouran High School Host Club (…I have my reasons.)

Bokurano

Six down, four to go!

I’ve got another series going up on Fanboy.com; this one’s Ten Underrated Manga. So far I’ve got Gintama (which finally started getting released in tankoubon format in July ‘07; its US debut was in Shonen Jump in January ‘07), the unlicensed, 81-volume Hajime no Ippo, and the much-lauded-by-BL-fans-but-no-one-else NON-BL Fumi Yoshinaga title Antique Bakery.

What else will make the list? Keep watching Fanboy.com to find out ♥

Sorry about the weekend quietness, but I was at a RennFaire. I’m back now!

The American Library Association has nominated another round of books for its Young Adult Library Services Association Award, and as usual, some manga made it to the list of “great graphic novels.” A lot of them are OEL, but here goes:

Let’s see, going down the list from top to bottom:

TOKYOPOP’s Avalon High manga, based on Meg Cabot’s novel series.

Dramacon, by the much-celebrated Svetlana Chmakova.

The Avril Lavigne manga Make 5 Wishes.

Anike Hage’s original German-language manga Gothic Sports.

Vampire Knight by Matsuri Hino is the first actual Japanese manga mentioned.

Yuji Iwahara’s King of Thorn.

Hideyuki Kurata’s Train + Train.

Mizuho Kusanagi’s Spiral.

Yasunori Mitsunaga’s Princess Resurrection.

Setona Mizushiro’s After School Nightmare (all four volumes!).

Kaoru Mori’s Emma (all four volumes).

Sho Murase’s Me2.

Aya Nakahara’s Love*Com/Lovely Complex.

Noriko Ogiwara / Haruhiko Momokawa’s The Good Witch of the West volume 1.

Manga Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet by Richard Appignanesi and Sonia Leong.

Yellow Tanabe’s Kekkaishi, volumes 7-9.

Yuki Urushibara’s Mushishi.

Fumi Yoshinaga’s The Moon and the Sandals.

The end! And now, some commentary. Read the rest of this entry »

Current Mood:  Thoughtful

DMP just sent out a press release saying that they’re going to announce the first title of their new DMP Platinum manga line at Anime Expo. They offered three hints as to the title:

1. Characters have hawked insurance and been parodied on Family Guy.
2. There is, has been, or will be a major motion picture based on it.
3. If you haven’t heard of it you’ve been living under a rock for 30 years. (Or more like 40…)

Gee! I wonder!

Current Mood:  Upset

According to ComiPress, a 17-year-old boy in Japan who killed his mother and took her severed head to the police station (where he confessed to killing her) was possibly influenced by the manga MPD Psycho. Actually, their headline is “MPD Psycho Causes Teenager to Murder His Own Mother?”Sorry to break it to you, ComiPress, but I’m willing to bet that that kid had Issues even before he read the manga. Manga, video games, movies - they don’t cause the violent acts. They may inspire specifics for such an act, but people who are going to snap will snap - if it wasn’t a manga that set him off, it would have been something else.

That said, I don’t know whether I should feel bad for Dark Horse or congratulate them. They’re releasing the first volume of MPD Psycho tomorrow. On the one hand? Boom! Instant press. On the other hand? Well…it’s not the most positive press. Hmm.