Personal Update

Sorry everyone for the lack of posting. It’s finals week here, so I’m slightly bogged down.

More to come later this week or next week about indie manga, plus a few reviews.

Manga for the iPhone?

While everyone seems pretty happy about Yotsuba&’s new home, I’m looking elsewhere (and praying that Yen can get the rights to the first books!) On a more digital front, and a bit away from NYCC ‘09, it appears that UClick, a iPhone App developer has rolled out a comics viewer from the Apple App Store. UClick has teamed up with TokyoPop (which is a much better business proposal than the whole Domo-kun manga, which is still a waste of time) to provide manga like DramaCon to the iPhone. Chapters are provided in $0.99 segments, much like a song on iTunes, and in exchange for your micro-transaction, you can download chapters of manga and read them from the comfort of your iPhone. It’s not just manga though; comics like Bone, and popular web comics are also available (which is good for those of us with good taste in graphic novels from this side of the Pacific too).

Is this the future of digital manga? We know that everyone has been looking at digital technology, and it’s also true that iTunes has made music at least a bit profitable, showing us that users are willing to pay $0.99 for music they could otherwise steal. iTunes has showed us the ability of microtransactions to work; manga is a better deal, because it allows you to preview the rest of the material. If you don’t like the first chapter of whichever manga you buy, you don’t have to spring for the second chapter.

What could be interesting is if UClick allowed more independent writers to put their comic into their iPhone app. Until I can get an iPhone, I’ll be sadly outside of this little window, but I think it’s a good step in the right direction. I’m also really surprised that TokyoPop is the one who took the first step. Will Viz or Yen show up to the table? Or will they have a digital format of their own coming down the pipes?

Eye of the Vortex, Vol 1, Issue 2 Is Out!

Hey everyone! A quick post for all the people who like to see a Tuesday-blogging; The second issue of the eMag Eye of the Vortex is out today, and it’s free! If you missed my announcement last time, I’m a contributing writer for all things manga and anime, and the magazine is turning out to be something spectacular.  You can check out the latest edition at this link, and can leave feedback at the website. I’ve done a review of Pretty Face, and there’s a lot more to it, with talk of Stephen King and his writing, the best Stephen King adaptations, a review of the Kingdom Hearts trading card game (also by me), and that’s not even the half of it.
Constructive criticism is always good, so I’d be delighted if you had any comments for me personally, or any one else that’s on the staff. Check it out!

UPDATE: It’s been put back up again. Here’s the link!

Domo Manga?? Who gives a crap?

Of all the amazing things announced at this year’s New York Comic Con, one of these announcements floored me.

It was, of course, that Yotsuba is now being published by Yen Press. (Go Yen Go!!!) Hopefully, ADV Manga will realize it’s done, kaput, finished, deceased, kicked the can, bought the farm, you know, all those things, and hand over the other licenses, so I can start fresh at vol. 1 instead of having to hunt the first volumes of the series on eBay and bargain outlets.

And just when I thought that only amazing things could come from the NYCC, one of the announcements made me choke on my bowl of cereal.  TokyoPop has announced that it will be releasing a manga about Domo-kun, a property that is uniquely Japanese, and, well… My apologies to anyone who has an overarching desire to see a brown fuzz-ball with large, pointy teeth and a big kitten-eating mouth get its own comic book. The idea that this would appeal to anything but the most hard-core Japanophile is barely palatable. What I really see from this announcement is the bloodied, worn hands of TokyoPop trying in futility to grab onto something, anything, to get back out of the gigantic crater-sized hole they’ve dug for themselves. Sadly, their rope of choice for said hole is a gimmicky property where the main character is actually a mascot for a Japanese TV station. Way to go T-Pop, I’ll be sure to pick that one up. *yawn*

I hope everyone that was able to attend the con had a good time (I unfortunately, have that whole university thing to think about, and had to study all weekend). I can’t wait to see some of the amazing titles coming out this year.

Jumpland and Bokke-san

A while ago, Brigid at MangaBlog mentioned that Jumpland, the website for Japanese Shonen Jump, was releasing Bakuman for free to readers who could download their reader platform. Unfortunately for Mac users, it’s a Windows platform, so anyone using an Apple is kind of out of luck.

A few months ago, I decided to check out Bakuman, and I have really enjoyed it thus far. It’s a very interesting series and it seems much more down to Earth compared to Obata and Ohba’s last published work, Deathnote. On the other hand, it certainly isn’t the best of the manga available on Jumpland. That distinct honor belongs to the fantasy suspense drama, Bokke-san. Without much hubub, Bokke-san has continued to impress me since the first chapter was released. A story about ancient gods called the Bokke that have come to wreck havoc on the unsuspecting human city of Matsuroba, Bokke-san pits grotesque and amazingly original gods and demi-gods against the main-character Hinomiya, a chaotic cat-god Bokke who is trying to defend the human side of Matsuroba.

My hope is that Bokke-san makes it across the Pacific, as well as Bakuman. Heck, I even liked Meister and Kuroko no Basuke, the two sports manga that also debuted (They’ve been removed from Jumpland proper, but you can still find them if you look hard enough). Getting to read Bokke-san has had me checking the Jumpland site every week or so. It’s definitely a comic I could sink my teeth (and my wallet) into.

While this squential release has gotten me interested in the series, it’s almost like a red herring; yes, its cool that you’re showing us these manga, but what does that mean for them in the future? Will a company like Viz care to publish a manga that’s already been sequentially released on a website? What does this kind of pre-liscenture activity do to the viability of Bokke-san? There are books that have gotten a lot of press because of scanlation; books like Gantz are a perfect example.  However, just because the book did well as a scanlation doesn’t necessarily translate into sales for the compiled book.

So, what does the manga online mean for these series down the road? I can’t say for sure. My hope is that it means more exposure, and liscensure. It could also be an un-witting death sentence.

Appreciating the Real Rosario

To me, Rosario + Vampire initially looked like just another shonen harem comedy with a monstrous twist. What happens when you throw an unwitting human into a school of nothing but monsters? How do you handle the stress of trying to not get killed by trolls, lizardmen, and soul-eating mermaids, and still explore that “social life” facet of high-school? The author Ikeda started us off with two books of action packed, fan-servicey comedy that I’ve come to expect from other series. In short, it was just another run through the same park. Although in my first two manga reviews for Viz’s startup series Rosario + Vampire, I spoke out about how the pattern of “Tsukune runs into a big bad monster, gets in trouble, Moka comes and saves the day” gets old rather fast, I still liked the first two books. They are funny, and the monsters are interesting and pretty cool looking. The monster geek in me gets a thrill from seeing reinventions of old classic monsters, and new monsters I’m not familiar with.

After now finally having the time to read books 3 and 4, I must say that I’m completely hooked. I’ve given my opinions another run through, and I’ve decided that Rosario + Vampire is probably one of the new, upcoming series for Viz, despite their publishing of some amazing work this year. The main reason for my newfound fandom isn’t what you would normally think. It’s not about Moka and all the girls, it’s not about the comedy (although that certainly helps). A little of this fandom comes from the fact that Rosario is well illustrated, has a lot of spunk, and has some great charaters. Mostly though, it’s about the main character Tsukune, and his attitude, his strength, and his honor.

You start to get a sense of Tsukune’s true personality in Volume #3. In his fight against Kuyo, the leader of a gang of school bullies and self-made “protectors of the law”, Tsukune offers his death up to protect his friends. Further down the road, in volume #4, he begins to understand how wide the rifts between humankind and the students of Yokai Academy truly are, and tries to reconcile the differences between witches and humans, offering to pay any price to help resolve the conflict at Witches’ Knoll in the human world. Ikeda, underneath our very noses, has developed a character with an honor unparalleled in any comic I have ever read. He’s an ordinary person, a guy who wants to do right to others and create peace and understanding, at any personal cost.

It’s not forced either. Ikeda has carefully crafted a community inside of these little battles, a counterculture that embraces differences and understanding, with Tsukune, the most outside of all, standing in the center, holding the group together. His traits as a character are admirable, and the connection he has to the girls and Gin feels real and natural. Ikeda seems to be preaching understanding, but in a way that isn’t full of diatribes and snide comments, but rather, through character development and expression.

So yes, Rosario + Vampire is a shonen series about a cute vampire and an unwitting human fighting the bad guys and being bad ass. It’s also a powerful example of the kind of messages that can be conveyed through mere character interaction. For any shonen fan, any comics fan, this series is worth the read. It has always been this way; I just had to pull off the Rosario so I could see the true soul underneath.

I’m Back!

My computer has returned from the dead! I’ll be back on the blogging track this week. Hope you all didn’t get to lonely with me gone.