Digital Manga Licenses Flutter Manga

Digital Manga has announced that the company has licensed Momoko Tenzen’s Flutter yaoi manga. Flutter is a single volume manga about a love story between salarymen.

At this time, Digital Manga has not announced any details concerning this upcoming release.

New York Times Manga Best Seller List: January 15-21, 2012

Here are the top ten selling manga in the United States for the week of January 15-21, 2012, according to the New York Times.

1. Sailor Moon Volume 3 by Naoko Takeuchi
2. Sailor Moon Volume 2 by Naoko Takeuchi
3. Naruto Volume 54 by Masashi Kishimoto
4. Twin Spica Volume 11 by Kou Yaginuma
5. One Piece Volume 60 by Eiichiro Oda
6. Black Bird Volume 12 by Kanoko Sakurakoji
7. Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Volume 8 by Naoyuki Kageyama
8. Rosario+ Vampire Season II Volume 7 by Akihisa Ikeda
9. Naruto Volume 53 by Masashi Kishimoto
10. Dengeki Daisy Volume 8 by Kyousuke Motomi

JManga Announces New Titles and Translation Contest

JManga has announced that the site has added two new titles to its digital library: Doll the Hotel Detective by Takao Saito and Tenka Ichii!! by Pink Aomata. Both of these titles are available to purchase and offer a free preview.

In addition, JManga has announced that it is holding a translation contest. Entrants can submit an English translation of an excerpt from Muto Masaya’s Young-kun four panel manga to the site by February 14, 2012. Translator William Flanagan will choose the winners of the contest; the winners will receive the digital version of Young-kun Volume 1 and 1000 points to use on JManga.

U.S. Librarians Rank Great Graphic Novels for Teens in 2012

The American Library Association’s Young Adult Library Services Association has released its top ten list of graphic novels for teens in 2012; this top ten list comes from a longer list called “Great Graphic Novels for Teens.”

Two manga titles made it into the top ten list for 2012: A Bride’s Story Volume 1 by Kaoru Mori and Wandering Son Volume 1 by Takako Shimura.

In addition, five more manga titles were included in the “Great Graphic Novels for Teens” list: Gandhi: A Manga Biography by Kazuki Ebine, Blue Exorcist Volume 1 by Kazue Kato, Animal Land Volume 1 by Makoto Raiku, Kamisama Kiss Volumes 1 and 2 by Julietta Suzuki, and The Story of Saiunkoku Volumes 1 and 2 by Sai Yukino and Kairi Yura.

Each book on this list is recommended for readers ages 12-18; to be included on the list, the book must meet the criteria of being “both good quality literature and appealing reading for teens.”

The 2011 list included 15 Japanese manga titles, with only one of those titles being featured in the top ten. The 2010 list includes 19 Japanese manga, with three manga titles in the top ten. The 2009 list included nine manga titles, with three manga being in the top ten.

It’s interesting to note how much harder it seems to have become for manga to make this list, especially the top ten portion of it. Perhaps I’m reading too much into it, but it does seem like this apparent decline seems to coincide with the trend of manga and anime companies going out of business. I certainly hope that next year will see an increase in manga representation on this list.

Project-H Licenses Velvet Kiss

Digital Manga has announced that it has licensed the first two volumes of Chihiro Harumi’s Velvet Kiss manga.

While the company has not given a release date for this title, it has stated that it will be published under their hetereosexual erotica imprint, Project-H.

New Manga Releases: January 24, 2012

Here are the new manga releases for January 24, 2012. If you see any errors or omissions, please feel free to leave a comment on this post and let me know.

At Full Moon GN 2
Black Butler GN 8
Black God GN 15
Cirque Du Freak GN 12: Sons of Destiny
Code Geass: Queen GN 4
Cross Game GN 6
Durarara!! GN 1
Fairy Tail GN 17
Highschool of the Dead GN 5
Kannagi GN 3
Pandora Hearts GN 8
Zombie-Loan GN 13

Manga Review: “Chobits” Volume Five

Article first published as Manga Review: Chobits Volume Five by CLAMP on Blogcritics.

Chobits Volume Five is a manga written and illustrated by CLAMP. It was published in North America by Tokyopop in 2003. This series is rated “OT” for older teens who are sixteen and up, and I agree with this rating.

This volume opens with Hideki still looking for his missing Persocom, Chi; he is being aided in his search by Ueda, the manager of the bakery where Chi is an employee. During the search, Hideki runs into his co-worker Yumi, and learns that Ueda and Yumi know each other. Meanwhile, Hideki’s computer genius friend Minoru is aiding in the search using electronic means by acquiring information on users that use the custom Persocom boards. It turns out the owners of the boards owe Minoru a favor, so they let him access information that is usually confidential.

Hideki’s friend and neighbor, Shinbo, returns from his vacation to help Hideki with his search. After Minoru receives an image that could be a clue to Chi’s whereabouts, Hideki and Shinbo work together to track her down. When they locate Chi, they are surprised by what they see. After rescuing Chi, Hideki acquires a laptop Persocom named Kotoko, who is to be used as evidence against Chi’s abductor. And at the very end of the volume, Hideki pieces together how Ueda and Yumi know each other.

While a major focus of this volume is the search for Chi, there is still some room in the story for some minor character development. The characters who receive this emphasis are Ueda, Yumi, Chi, and even Hideki’s landlady, Ms. Hibiya.

While the art in this volume may be similar to what was seen in the previous volumes of the series, there is one panel that really stands out to me. On page 77, the entire page is a drawing of Chi as she faces her abductor. Instead of the innocent child-like look that Chi normally has, she looks very defiant and confident in herself. The lines, shadows, Chi’s expression and background all come together to create a very striking image.

Visually, there really isn’t any blatant nudity in this volume. However, there are some panels with Chi’s abductor that could be seen as having a sexual overtone to them.

As the story progresses in this volume, it’s obvious that the series is headed toward some major revelations and progressions in the plot. When I reached the end of this volume, I was eager to read the next volume to find out what happens next. If you’ve read the Chobits manga up to this point, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed by this volume.

I wrote this review after checking out a copy of Chobits Volume Five through the King County Library System.

Viz Media’s VIZ Manga App Promotion for New Users

Viz Media has announced a special promotion for new users of the VIZ Manga App for the Apple iPad, iPhone and iPod touch devices.

From now until January 30, 2012, if you download the free VIZ Manga App to your iOS device and register for a new account, you get a free volume 1 of your choice.

ALC Publishing and JManga to Publish Poor Poor Lips Manga

ALC Publishing and JManga have announced that they will be publishing Hayako Goto’s Poor Poor Lips yuri manga.

The first volume of Poor Poor Lips is currently scheduled to be published on the JManga website at the end of January 2012.

New York Times Manga Best Seller List: January 8-14, 2012

Here are the top ten selling manga in America for the week of January 8-14, 2012, according to the New York Times.

1. Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Shinji Ikari Raising Project Volume 10 by Osamu Takahashi
2. Dance in the Vampire Bund Volume 11 by Nozomu Tamaki
3. Naruto Volume 54 by Masashi Kishimoto
4. Rosario+ Vampire: Season II Volume 7 by Akihisa Ikeda
5. Case Closed Volume 41 by Gosho Aoyama
6. Skip Beat! Volume 26 by Yoshiki Nakamura
7. Dengeki Daisy Volume 8 by Kyousuke Motomi
8. Naruto Volume 53 by Masashi Kishimoto
9. Jormungand Volume 8 by Keitaro Takahashi
10. Maximum Ride Volume 5 by James Patterson and Narae Lee