This week's new manga releases include some nice volumes to chase away the winter blues: A new series about the zany characters of Ikebukuro, a fresh volume of CLAMP's Cardcaptor Sakura, and some new Cross Game action to remind us that baseball season is just around the corner!

Yen Press is in the spotlight this week, with a nice slate of new releases. On top of the stack is the first volume of DURARARA!!, a series that promises to be as manic as its title: Based on a series of light novels, which were then made into an anime, it is the story of a shy student who moves to the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo and encounters the crazy denizens of the city's quirkiest neighborhood. Sounds like fun! Read more...

Tags Black Butler, CLAMP, Dark Horse, Kodansha Comics, Manga, VIZ, Yen Press

The return of Sailor Moon, the demise of Tokyopop, and a huge move toward digital manga: 2011 was a year of big changes for the manga scene. Let's take a look at some of the main events.

The coming of Kodansha Comics: Kodansha, the largest publisher in Japan, decided to bypass the middleman and publish its manga directly in the U.S. in late 2010, and the line launched this past summer with a mix of old and new titles, including Gon, Until the Full Moon, Mardock Scramble, and Cage of Eden. Previously, Kodansha licensed its manga to Del Rey, which is an imprint of Random House. Del Rey has pretty much closed up shop (they still publish xxxHOLiC and a few OEL manga), but Kodansha has picked up many of their series, including Negima and Fairy Tail, and they are also publishing older series such as Love Hina in omnibus editions.

Sailor Moon returns: Kodansha's first announcement was big news for longtime shoujo manga fans. Sailor Moon was one of the first manga and anime series to catch on outside of Japan, and its success was largely fan-driven. Tokyopop published the original manga series, first in its magazines Mixxzine and Smile and then as small-format paperbacks, with the comic flipped to read from left to right. Tokyopop lost the license for the series sometime in the mid-2000s, and both the manga and the anime were long out of print when Kodansha Comics announced, earlier this year, that it was bringing the series back, in standard manga format and with a new translation. Not only that, but they licensed the two-volume companion series Codename Sailor V as well. Fans responded enthusiastically, and the first volume of Sailor Moon quickly sold through its 50,000 copy first printing—a phenomenal number for any manga not titled "Naruto." Read more...

Tags Japan, Kodansha Comics, Manga, Sailor Moon, TOKYOPOP, Yen Press

This week's list is a mix, with no new series or standout titles but a number of interesting new volumes, including the ending of two Yen Press series.

This week is the big week for Yen Press, and it includes a bittersweet note: Volume 4 of K-ON!, the last volume (at least for now) of the charming gag manga about four high school girls who start their own band, undeterred by their lack of experience. Read more...

Tags CLAMP, Kodansha Comics, Manga, Seven Seas, Tokyo Mew Mew, Vampires, VIZ, Yen Press

Last week was a slow week for manga, but this week we have a rich variety of new manga releases, with a big stack from Viz, two outstanding volumes from Vertical, and a couple of cute manga from Kodansha.

Let's start with Vertical, which has two very different Osamu Tekuza manga, both of which are well worth picking up. Volume 17 of Black Jack (which actually came out last week) is the last volume of the series, which may explain the test pattern on the cover. Besides the usual assortment of crazy-imaginative stories about the rogue surgeon (Black Jack actually operates on himself in this volume) and his childlike sidekick Pinoko, this final volume includes an appendix that lists every Black Jack story Tezuka ever wrote, in order of release, so if you have all Vertical's volumes (which were not arranged in chronological order) and you're crazy obsessive, you could sit down and read the whole series from start to finish (except a few stories that were held back from collected editions both here and in Japan). They also have vol. 2 of Princess Knight, which wraps up this edition of Tezuka's children's adventure tale. If you like cute, Disney-eseque animals, fairy tales, and girls who dress as boys, this charming series is for you, and Vertical makes it easy to read by putting it into two elegant omnibus-sized volumes. Read more...

Tags Kodansha Comics, Manga, new releases, Vertical, VIZ

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, this is a fairly quiet week for new manga. Viz has finished their manga releases for the week, and Kodansha is holding off on a few until next week. That leaves one very interesting new title from Yen Press and a handful of new volumes in series that have been chugging along for a while.

This is the week when Yen Press releases its November books, and they have a new series debuting this month: The Innocent, a supernatural-mystery series about a detective who was wrongly executed for crimes he didn't commit and who now seeks to save other innocents from a similar fate. If he succeeds, he will have a chance to return to his old life, but he must struggle against his need to seek revenge against those who framed him. This looks like an interesting read for the long weekend. Read more...

Tags Kodansha Comics, Manga, Natsume Ono, Sailor Moon, Vertical, VIZ, Yen Press

Hiro Mashima's visit to New York Comic Con brought Fairy Tail fans out in droves, and the room where he gave his panel (and sketched Natsu for one lucky attendee) was filled to overflowing. But we were able to snatch a few quiet moments with him to talk about his inspiration and his work ethic. Our colleague from Anime News Network, Crystal Hodgkins, was there as well, and I let her go first.

Crystal: Our company interviewed you three years ago. Since then, Fairy Tail has been made into an anime. What do you think of the anime adaptation?

Hiro Mashima: I have been having fun, I have just been having a great time just going along with the ride. I wanted to tell you then, but I couldn’t.

Crystal: What is your favorite part about having your manga turned into an anime?

Hiro Mashima: Just watching Natsu and Happy move around. There’s a limit to the effects that I can draw, the depiction of magic in manga so in anime it’s so much fun. I realize how much fun my characters are when I see them move around. Read more...

Tags 2011 New York Comic Con, Hiro Mashima, Kodansha Comics, Manga, NYCC 2011

Tokyo Mew Mew Omnibus Vol. 1

This is the big week for Viz manga, and my pick of the week is at the top of the alphabet: vol. 3 of Ai Ore, a gender-bender story about hard rock and romance, featuring a girl who is the "prince" of her all-girl school and a boy who is the "princess" of his school—and wants to join her band. Vol. 5 of the tough-girl comedy Oresama Teacher is another good pick, and if you go for the classics, this is the week to wrap up Death Note with vol. 6 of Death Note Black Edition, their two-in-one omnibus edition. For shonen fans, there's vol. 19 of Claymore, vol. 21 of D.Gray-Man, and the December issue of Shonen Jump—one of the last to appear in print before they shift to digital format.

Ai Ore Vol. 3

eaders who buy their manga in comics shops will see some new Kodansha titles on the shelves—these went out to bookstores last week, including vol. 1 of the Tokyo Mew Mew omnibus. This new edition of an older series (first published by Tokyopop) is a great magical-girl manga along the lines of Sailor Moon, but with animals instead of minerals: Through some sort of manga-style mixup, the DNA of normal girls is combined with the DNA of extinct animals, and the girls take on some of the animals' characteristics when they transform to battle aliens. It's a good, fun read, kind of silly but with lots of action. Also new to comics stores is vol. 1 of the Love Hina omnibus, collecting Ken Akamatsu's classic harem comedy. Read more...

Tags Bandai, Kodansha Comics, Manga, new releases, VIZ

CLAMP's Gate 7, from Dark Horse, is in bookstores now!

This week brings the first volume of the long-awaited new manga from CLAMP, Gate 7. It's the story of a modern-day college student, Chikahito Takamoto, who visits an ancient shrine in Kyoto and quickly becomes entangled with a trio of magical beings. There are battles, naturally, and also scenes of everyday life as his new friends introduce Chikahito to the other denizens of this alternate Kyoto. The story is a bit confusing at first, both because of the storytelling and because it weaves in a great deal of Japanese history, but Dark Horse has added extensive translator's notes that should prove helpful to American readers. And as always with CLAMP, the art is beautiful.

This is Yen Press's new release week, and they have something for everyone. Volume 7 of Black Butler brings more shenanigans from Sebastian and the rest of the Phantomhive household; check out the free preview to see what this volume has in store. If you yearn for something a bit more artistic, check out vol. 2 of A Bride's Story, the beautifully drawn slice-of-life manga about a newlywed couple in Central Asia in the 19th century, by Emma creator Kaoru Mori. Vol. 10 of Yotsuba&! brings the laughs, as the little green-haired five-year-old continues to confuse and amuse the grownups around her. And we also get vol. 5 of Hero Tales, by Fullmetal Alchemist creator Hiromu Arakawa. It's a nice, cleanly drawn story of a young man learning to control his supernatural powers; there's a preview up of this one as well, and it's worth checking out. Take a look at Yen's October page to see all their new releases. Read more...

Tags CLAMP, Dark Horse, JManga, Kodansha Comics, Manga, VIZ, Yen Press

Hiro Mashima draws Fairy Tail's Natsu at New York Comic Con

Over 300 fans of Hiro Mashima's Fairy Tail packed the panel room at New York Comic Con evening to hear an interview with the manga creator—and watch him draw.

The crowd was testimony to Mashima's popularity in the U.S.: The line to get into the panel stretched along an entire hallway of the Javits, doubled over, and continued down another concourse. Mashima, who is also the creator of Rave Master and Monster Hunter Orage, greeted the crowd with a brief message in English, saying, "As you know, Japan was hit by one of the worst natural disasters in history. I would like this opportunity to say a heartfelt thank you to Americans for all the support and generosity during that difficult time we had. I still believe that the world is connected."

After that, he settled down with pens to draw Natsu, the main character in Fairy Tail, beginning with Natsu's hair and working his way downward as the crowd shouted encouragement. Read more...

Tags 2011 New York Comic Con, Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima, Kodansha Comics, Manga, NYCC 2011

Kodansha Comics joined the digital age yesterday with its own iPad app, and it kicked it off with a special deal, offering all 16 volumes of Fairy Tail at a discounted price of $2.99 per volume.

Dallas Middaugh, director of publishing services for Kodansha Comics, announced the app to a standing-room-only crowd that had come to see Fairy Tail creator Hiro Mashima at the Kodansha panel at New York Comic Con on Friday evening. The app launched at midnight on Friday with four series: Fairy Tail, Arisa, Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei, and Until the Full Moon, and Middaugh promised that more are on the way. The standard price for a volume of manga will be $4.99, and the special discount on Fairy Tail will last for two weeks, until October 28. Read more...

Tags 2011 New York Comic Con, Dallas Middaugh, Digital Comics, Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima, IPad, Kodansha Comics, Manga, NYCC 2011, Sailor Moon