Archive for August, 2009

The Japanese publisher Kodansha has decided to let its licenses with Tokyopop expire, according to Marketing Manager Kasia Piekarz, which means that series in progress will not be completed by Tokyopop and existing volumes will not be reprinted. Accordingly, a number of series have been put on the Out of Print list. Tokyopop made the following official statement:

The Japanese publisher Kodansha, from whom TOKYOPOP has licensed many terrific series over the years — Chobits, Love Hina, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Rave Master, Initial D, Kindaichi, Life, GetBackers, and Love Attack, to name a few — has decided to let all existing contracts with TOKYOPOP expire on all manga series that they have licensed to us. As a result, Kodansha will not renew any licenses with TOKYOPOP for any new manga volumes. What does this mean? TOKYOPOP will not be allowed to complete the publication of any series that is currently in progress; in addition, TOKYOPOP will not be allowed to reprint titles after the current inventory has been sold out, so once these series are sold out at retail, they will not be available for consumers to purchase. The reasons for Kodansha’s decision were not communicated to TOKYOPOP.

We have received many emails and phone calls about titles related to this announcement, and given the nature of the negotiations, we could not definitely answer any of those questions until now. We love all of these series, and we are disappointed that we will not get to enjoy the outcome of some of our favorite manga. We hope to see these series completed some day…. However, if they are ever published again, they will not be published by TOKYOPOP.

Given that Tokyopop seems to have turned the corner lately, I wonder what Kodansha is up to. Remember they refused to renew their licenses with Tokyopop Germany earlier this year.

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Lori Henderson has a thorough roundup of the week’s manga news at Manga Xanadu, and Erica Friedman checks in with the latest edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu.

The Comics Village clan makes their picks from this week’s new releases.

David Welsh, meanwhile, contemplates the upcoming titles featured in the September Previews.

Gottsu-Iiyan posts some Naoki Urasawa sketches from a Japanese magazine at The Eastern Edge.

The Daily Yomiuri reports that Japanese publishers are putting more of their works online to beat scanlators, since legal means have had limited success.

Things were looking kind of bleak at Deux Press a few months ago, so it’s nice to hear some good news, via Kris at Manic About Manga: Spicy but Sweet and Cigarette Kisses will be out in September, and another special sale is in the works.

Coming this fall: The Rough Guide to Manga, authored by a frequent linkee on this blog, Honolulu Star-Bulletin columnist Jason Yadao. Congratulations, Jason!

This is pretty cool: LJ’er st-aurafina posts an annotated photo of her manga-filled bookshelf.

Jason Thompson is going to be at Kumoricon in Portland, Oregon, on Labor Day weekend, and he has a full schedule of activities planned.

Viz Media’s Japanese parent companies Shogakukan, Shueisha, and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions have acquired two European companies and will fold them into their European arm, Viz Media Europe.

Reviews: Kate Dacey reviews three kid-friendly manga at Good Comics for Kids. Jeet Heer joins the Robot 6 staff, including me, in this week’s What Are You Reading column. My picks include 20th Century Boys, which I’ll write a real review of one of these days. Lori Henderson checks out the SIGIKKI lineup at Manga Xanadu. Ed Sizemore reviews a handful of recent volumes from Del Rey at Comics Worth Reading. And the Manga Recon team has another set of Manga Minis up for your reading pleasure. Other reviews of note:

Julie on vol. 2 of Animal Academy (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Snow Wildsmith on vol. 1 of Aoi House (omnibus) (Fujoshi Librarian)
Diana Dang on vol. 1 of Ballad of a Shinigami (Stop, Drop, and Read!)
Dan Polley on vol. 1 of The Battle of Genryu (Comics Village)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 3 of Beauty is the Beast (i heart manga)
Danielle Van Gorder on vol. 28 of Berserk (Mania.com)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 6 of Bizenghast (Comics Worth Reading)
Deb Aoki on Black Bird (About.com)
Connie on vol. 1 of Bloody Kiss (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 2 of Choco Mimi (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on CSI: Intern at Your Own Risk (Comics Worth Reading)
Connie on Cut (Slightly Biased Manga)
Michelle Smith on Dining Bar Akira (Manga Recon)
Lissa Pattillo on Dystopia (Kuriousity)
Danielle Van Gorder on vol. 3 of Gantz (Mania.com)
Snow Wildsmith on Golden Prince & Argent King (Manga Jouhou)
Julie on Junior Escort (Manga Maniac Cafe)
D.M. Evans on vol. 1 of Knights (Manga Jouhou)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vols. 5 and 6 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (i heart manga)
Erin Finnegan on vol. 1 of Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu (Manga Recon)
Erica Friedman on vol. 1 of Lucky Star (Okazu)
Johanna Draper Carlson on The Manga Guide to Calculus and The Manga Guide to Electricity (Comics Worth Reading)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 7 of Monkey High (There it is, Plain as Daylight)
Connie on vol. 9 of MPD-Psycho (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 32 of Oh My Goddess (Slightly Biased Manga)
Michelle Smith on vol. 2 of Phantom Dream (Soliloquy in Blue)
Julie on vol. 2 of Rasetsu (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on vol. 6 of Slam Dunk (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 22 of Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle (Kuriousity)
Shevaun Morrison on vol. 1 of Welcome to Wakaba-Soh (Kuriousity)

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Wind-up Bird Chronicles, Kafka on the Shore, After Dark, Dance Dance Dance and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. All five for less than RM 150. Also Six Suspects, Tale of Two Cities and Sherlock Holmes.

Excuse me if I don’t blog as much in the next 2 months or so. Too bad Norwegian Wood sold out. Should’ve bought them all on the first day of the Popular Bookfest. But still, awesome discounts are awesome…..

©2009 Kurogane’s Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

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Summary:

Reiji, Ellen, and Cal end up in a bit of a stalemate, and Cal states that she wants to make Reiji suffer before she kills him.  However, Ellen brushes her off as just a ghost of the past, because Reiji has moved on and lives in the present now.  That’s right Cal, Ellen just called you old news.  Lizzie gets Cal to back up off Reiji and Ellen because polite Japanese yakuza frown on shootings during regular business hours, and Scythe Master marvels at how Cal and Reiji are using Mio as a shield.  Reiji even gets Toru to force Cal to back off, as Toru doesn’t want Reiji as Kaiten’s new son-in-law.

While Ellen goes to secure their escape on a smuggler’s freighter in the north, Reiji takes Mio out on a date.  Cal is still furious at Reiji and feels that he lied to her and only cared about himself.  Even after Lizzie tells Cal that Reiji treated Cal special, lying to protect the young girl, Cal storms off in a huff to go harass Reiji some more.  Like an ex-girlfriend from hell, Cal interrupts Reiji’s date and threatens to kill him.  Naturally, Reiji pisses Cal off further by agreeing to be her victim as long as Cal agrees not to harm Ellen.  This earns Reiji a knuckle sandwich, and Cal spends the rest of the episode beating up some douchebags in a random alley (while her goofy orgasm theme song plays in the background).

Reaction:

Cal can dish it, but she cannot take it at all.  By next episode, I am sure Ellen and Reiji will be taking turns dropping snide remarks every time Cal stops by.  I can see Cal ambushing Ellen, only to have Reiji intercede and casually mention, “There you are Ellen, I’ve been looking for you for hours,” as Cal punches in some poor schmuck’s car mirrors.  I have no problems seeing Ellen coldly remark that she and Reiji take turns washing each others backs, as Cal bites her lip and remembers all the times she had to shower alone.  I can’t wait to see Reiji buy Mio two outfits to wear outdoors, as Cal breaks down remembering her one outfit that got blown up in the apartment.  I bet Reiji can get Lizzie to hint that Reiji no longer likes big breasts, as you know Lizzie thinks Cal is an unhinged crazy bitch.  The last straw will be Reiji picking up some random loli and giving her a digital watch that doubles as an MP3 player.  By episode 24, I know that Reiji and Ellen will have broken Cal down mentally to the point where she is sobbing as Reiji and Ellen high five each other while Mio sits in Reiji’s lap.

After all the Cal screen time, I’m glad Ellen finally took a moment to remind me of why she is my favorite Phantom.  Watching Ellen switch modes is pretty amusing, and she and Reiji have really worked on their acting skills.  Cal on the other hand seems to have traded both acting and defense for crazed offense.  I laughed at Lizzie getting stuck (once again) at the bar with another depressed Phantom.  Apparently being Phantom’s supporter involves being a drinking buddy and offering sage advice.  This episode seemed to further enforce the idea that Lizzie killed Claudia, but I want to believe!  At least Cal can take solace in having the best hair of all the Phantoms.

©2009 Sea Slugs! Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

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Related posts:

1. Phantom -Requiem for the Phantom- 17
2. Phantom -Requiem for the Phantom- 16

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Just as I thought Senjougahara won’t be making any more appearances in the arc…

…there she comes in to save the day (and Araragi from getting wounds worse than being disembowelled). Seriously, she’s like the MVP of the series.

And Araragi-kun is pretty cool eh, gets bitten by loli vampire and doesn’t afraid of getting disembowelled by a jealous, murdering lesbian.

©2009 Kurogane’s Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

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I finally took time to watch the live action 20th Century Boys movies. Man, those movies really are damn long, clocking at 2 hours plus each.

So… well. How were they? Pretty good actually considering the amount of source material they had to work with. I’ve already finished reading the whole manga so I’m aware that a lot of stuff was cut out to fit in to the confines of a movie but the production team kept the intensity and the psychological mindfuck of the story well enough. In fact, I would say they did a great job condensing it, it feels more coherent in the movie than the manga.

Also the climax scenes were very well done, such as the explosion in the end of the first movie to destroy the robot and the funeral ceremony in the second movie. They weren’t kidding when wiki said that this was one of the biggest projects of the Japanese movie industry. Looking at all the extras in the crowd scenes of the second movie as well as the international news reports really makes you go “oh wow”.

On the negative side of things, character development was sacrificed, most notably in the second movie, but the important points were kept well enough for me to like it.

Overall, the first two movies are a pretty good adaptation of the manga, despite some drawbacks such as the sheer length and the missing character development. Too bad movies like this won’t be coming to Malaysia. Can’t wait for the final part of the trilogy to come out too.

P.S. Takako Tokiwa looks too ‘cool’ to be Yukiji .

©2009 Kurogane’s Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

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I.see.dead.people.

No related posts.

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Not so fun now is it Zeke? Now the Feddies got GMs you are so FUCKED.

So I was stuck in Virginia until Saturday for another C-School in the same ratty old barracks. At least though I finally got a hold of episode 3 of IGLOO 2 after multiple tries on a slow connection. While IGLOO will never get a grade A story it still matters little as all of them are about the best damn mecha action you will ever see in 30 minutes, the stories are simple and straight forward. This time it was about another crop of lunatics that drive guntanks as part of a penal legion. This time the fucking Zekes are on the run after the humble GM along with they mighty Type 61 with ample Big Tray and air support have been kicking Zeke ass across whole continents.

Ah the RGM-79[G] Ground Type it feels like 8th MS Team again.

No longer does the Zaku hold dominance as Feddie combined arms tactics have been kicking the shit out of the one trick pony Zeke strategy of “Send Zakus There.” While it was about the RTX-440 I was giddy at how much love the GM got, even after all this time I still have a weak spot for the workhorse of the Federation. It was fucking magical to see core fighters downing Zeke transports which hopefully full of Zekes and  badly needed supplies. While Yandell maybe dead the Type 61 soldiered on and helps the new GMs reap a fearsome toll on the hated forces of the corrupt and genocidal forces of the Principality of Zeon.

I like how artillery was critical in this episode as it is about as gritty as you can get for artillery is King of the Battlefield and can knock anything dead. Things like that are all but absent in AU Gundams. That is why UC for me will remain superior to every thing AU except for G Gundam. It is rather sad to see that while Sunrise has a talented team in IGLOO, the IGLOO team along with the Pailsen Files team labor away in obscurity while Jihad-kun gets undue praise as Yandell goes unsung.

Good to see that the Type-61 is still around killing Zekes, Yandell must be happy that his old warhorse is still rolling.

So the lead this time is a technical officer (I’d just call her a warrant officer) Arleen Nazon whose beloved weapons project was scrapped after her former test pilot and lover went traitor she and her team get thrown in the brig while their funding goes away. She swears revenge and is allowed to form a penal unit to avenge her loss, it seems death likes Nazon a lot more than Yandell but it seems that Death is strong with the yuri and starts hitting on Nazon right away.

Major giggles makes a return and constantly gets shown up, at first he is derisive of the Guntank but soon he realizes the error of his ways as the RTX-440 platoon makes a dramatic breakthrough with the help of some GMs and a Big Tray strike group. No Zaku, Gouf, Dom, or any Zeke are a match for their might and they amply prove their superiority over the despicable Zekes. After taking out one Dabude Major Giggles tries to order Nazon to call off her attack but the fires of revenge were burning bright as her anguish over the untimely demise of her beloved RTX-440 program demanded satisfaction. Despite her erstwhile non-mecha lover begging for his life, Nazon loved the RTX-440 more and blew them all to hell.

Hey look no beam spam!

Death in the mean time constructed a wonderful story a out Nazon’s former non-mecha lover was actually a double agent. Certainly it seems quite possible as Major Giggles did order her to back off, but I think it was just a ploy by Death to get Nazon to give up on men so that she could have a night of her and Nazon that went on forever and ever… I have to say it worked perfectly.

Still it’s hard to put into words how awesome this episode was hopefully the screen caps will convince non- believers of how much WIN IGLOO 2 is and why UC is still better than any of that new CE crap.   I hope they will have more Feddie centric IGLOO stuff somewhere down the line, certainly other things could use the same treatment, GM, Guncannon, Magellan, Salamis, and let’s not forget the big boys, Big Tray and Heavy Fork…

In the end I am going to miss this since this is probably the last dose of Real Robot I am going to get for a while since the Gundam Franchise has largely moved away from gritty killing and burning of Zekes to beam spam. Still there is hope once Gundam Unicorn arrives but that is a bit ways off, even if UC is just a faint memory these days at least there is still a team at Sunrise slaving away while their deeds largely go unsung as IGLOO 2 did not get as much love as the accursed Jesus Yamato and Jihad-kun. I liked this episode the most since it had the most combined arms mecha action of the OVA series and it was a rare treat that I can watch ovber and over again. The roster of models taking to the fight was pretty impressive, and even if IGLOO will not be remembered for being the greatest or deepest story told I did like simply because it was about the poor Feddies who died and lived only to kill Zekes, kill Zerkes, and kill more Zekes surely they would have made Halsey proud. Certainly it does reflect the fact that a person can run largely on hatred alone without having to have a shred of sympathy for the other side. As such it avoided the “Let’s All be Friends” bullshit that is spouted out these days and spoon fed to a whole generation that cannot appreciate the whole horror or war and can only see it as a place for moralistic platitudes and soap box preaching of the obvious.

Also this is clear proof that when you have a girl as the main pilot that great things can happen. While it may not tug on heart strings nor impart the treagedy that Gundam 0080 did, at least with Nazon we got the best damn combined arms slug out knock out fight that every mecha fans dream of. My only complaint was that it was not some hours longer…

Your point defense MGs only work in a box formation…Also I hope that Gaw was full of Zeke wounded and badly needed supplies, preferably medical supplies.

Our Core Fighter proves it’s superiority once again.

Zekes have piss poor aim and can’t sight their guns for shit. and how could you miss three GMs coming at you…?

Dang where are the GM Snipers?

Dabudes have broadsides made of weaksauce.

RTX-440s are here at this OK Corral, their names are Virgil, Morgan, and Wyatt…

Tank platoons usually come in fours these days but I’ll take what I can get and I guess Nazon here counts as two…

I see Major Giggles is back…

The GM found it so funny that he had to ROFLMAO on Giggles’ ride.

FUCK YEAH Yuri in my IGLOO!

She is Chikane and you are Himeko in this rolepay…hell you already have the corresponding hair colors.

Well a moon shines because of the sun…

A Night of Nazon and Death that went on forever and ever…

Man this is a beautiful sight the only thing missing is the air support…

Land Battleship Squardron FUCK YEAH! Big Tray in the lead and two Heavy Forks bringing up the rear.

But seriously how did they miss that huge defensive ditch?

That one’s for ranging…

This one is for you…

Not that is MOBILE

RTX-440 literally blows the Zaku II away…

Hey look a Norris Packard wannabe…

Shot in the ass by a GM…

Shot in the balls by RTX-440…No Zaku amirte?

The GM is only here to help…

Fixed defenses are a monument to the stupidity of Zeon, what a Zeke can build a Feddie can blow up…

So many Type-61s…if only Yandell were still here to help.

For a moment like this… some people wait a lifetime…for a moment like this…

Because he is a Man of Destiny…and guess what he’s not in love with a Nina Purpleton…

Organic artillery support included!

Stupid Zeke MLRS would have sufficed…we Feddies call it Gird Square Removal System

Now you see them…

Now you don’t…it’s so…magical.

Magella Attack Tanks eh?

Feel the Fires of Retribution Zeke scum! These are the fires that cleanse your souls of your impudence and stupidity. ZEUS AKBAR!

I love the smell of burnt Zeke in the morning…

The Magella Attack Tank is not match for the RTX-440’s might.

Much more effective than a burning bag of dog shit…

How did you like them Valentine’s chocolate motherfucker?

Steven Hawking helped make the the RTX-440 possible, he even voiced the computer…

That is some GLOMP…

And then the Zaku I pilot shat himself…

He’s a Black one eyed Scoittish Cyclops…

Order now and you get this free Itano Circus!

Ima anata no koe ga kikoeru
“Koko ni oide” to
Samishisa ni makesouna watashi ni
Ima anata no sugata ga mieru
Aruite kuru
Me wo tojite matte iru watashi ni
Kinou made namida de kumotteta
Kokora wa ima…

Oboete imasu ka  me to me ga atta toki wo
Oboete imasu ka  te to te ga fureatta toki
Sore wa hajimete no ai no tabidachi deshita
I LOVE YOU SO

The shaft is ray sheilded so you will have to use proton torpedoes…

Nazon trust me…

Oh they brought three Magella Attack Tanks…

This one is for Yandell.

Hey it’s Robosaurus…

Best Monster Tank Rally EVAR!

No Shadow Kick!

Always two there are…

Too Fast, Too Furious, Too Weeabo…

Dom Jedi…?

More lIke Dom the Star Wars Kid…

Here have a can…

…of WHUPASS.

Damn Zekes only coming out when the RTX-440 is wrecked…

Woah there was a big RED BUTTON on this thing?

Arleen will not let him kill her softly with that song.

Zekes have trouble finding the proper words to beg for their lives…

ZEUS AKBAR!

For getting her beloved Nazon to leave her mortal coil I guess that makes Death the Winner of IGLOO 2.

The best thing about episode was the SCALE.

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Most of this information comes from the chart at Denizen’s blog, as well as MAL and ANN.  I’m excited because we’ll have three people blogging again, which means more series covered by SS!AB.  I might cut my load to 3 new series (depending on episode counts), to leave room for Winter series since I will be picking up all new shows in the Fall.  Putting this together was soul-sucking, but less soul-sucking than in the past because I got to read what Epi and Jesus159159159 had to say about the various series.

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CSI: Intern at Your Own Risk
Story by Sekou Hamilton
Art by Steven Cummings
Rated T, for Teen, 13+
Tokyopop, $12.99

I’m going to confess up front that I have only watched the CSI TV show a few times, and I didn’t really care for it; the close-up shots of innards always struck me as a bit cheesy. My tastes lean more toward Law and Order, Bones and NCIS, which go a bit lighter on the bodily fluids.

Fortunately, Tokyopop’s CSI manga doesn’t lean much on the TV show. Instead, it’s geared for teen readers with a group of high-school students who get the awesome experience of being interns at the Las Vegas CSI labs, with the characters from the show playing the part of their kindly but distant instructors.

If you haven’t already suspended disbelief, please do so now.

Having had the experience of watching real detectives work on cases (not murders, but robberies and a rape), I know that CSI isn’t very realistic, and this manga is an even worse offender. Standard procedures get violated all over the place, and the timeline is off. The plot here relies on the old “The murderer is one of us!!” routine, but it assumes a person can commit a crime of passion and then revert to everyday life as if nothing ever happened. Even for fiction, that’s a stretch.

As entertainment with a bit of science thrown in, the book doesn’t do too badly. It starts out with the murder itself, of course, and then we shift to the interns’ point of view. The lead character, Kiyomi, is the poor-but-happy daughter of a cab driver. She’s smart, too. The other four interns are the usual types: The geek, the jock, the creepy guy, and the cute guy. The creators do a nice job of introducing them by showing the entrance interviews, including their varying reactions to the question “Are you bothered by the smell of decomposing flesh?”

After passing a rigorous test (in which the instructors let Kiyomi through because she’s a girl, even though she scored lower than the guys) everyone gets to work. In my office, interns get coffee, shred paper, and take the blame when the copier breaks down, but the CSI interns get to attend a real autopsy and walk around the crime scene of an open case. Naturally, they start formulating their own theories of the crime. There are a few logical leaps (i.e., the fact that the criminal cleaned up the crime scene leads indisputably to the fact that he is one of the CSI interns), and the astute reader will have no trouble figuring out who the culprit is before the big reveal. But that’s part of the fun—it’s always nice to outsmart the detective.

Unfortunately, the story reads like a first draft. The characters and their dynamics are all in place, but their interactions are a bit too obvious. A worse flaw is the big chunks of expository dialogue that fill in pieces of the plot or information about crime scene techniques. It’s interesting material, but it could have been presented more gracefully.

As a parent, I question the 13+ rating, given that the opening scenes include shots (including one looking right up the crotch) of a bloody, staring corpse. On the one hand, a lot of 13-year-olds see worse on TV every day, on shows like CSI and Bones and NCIS. On the other hand, the natural audience for a 13+ book is 10- to 12-year-olds, and the content of this story backs that up—the dialogue and art are fairly simple. I would have toned down the corpse scene a bit, knowing that kids tend to read a little ahead of the age ratings.

The art is competent, if not outstanding, and it looks like a lot of Tokyopop’s other global manga titles. Cummings has a nice, clean line and doesn’t overuse toning. The biggest flaw is that the elements of the panel don’t always fit together properly: Sometimes two characters will seem to be out of scale with each other, and the backgrounds always look cavernous. The cover art is pretty nice, though.

The book seems a bit slim for $12.99, but the creators have plenty of room to tell their story—it doesn’t feel rushed. The format is bigger than standard manga, which I feel makes the book a bit easier to read. A few character sketches and a chapter from an upcoming CSI novel are the only extras.

Anyone over 16 will probably find CSI: Intern at Your Own Risk to be too elementary, but this is a decent read for younger teens, with the sort of crime-scene science that some people (myself included) find fascinating. While it could use a bit more polish, it also skips the cheesy camera work and graphic violence of the original, leaving a palatable, if rather earnest, little story.

(This review is based on a complimentary copy provided by the publisher.)

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