Here are the top ten selling manga in the United States for the week of June 2-8, 2013, according to the New York Times.
1. Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal Volume 3
2. Lone Wolf and Cub Omnibus Volume 1
3. One Piece Volume 67
4. Pokémon Black and White Volume 10
5. Skip Beat! Volume 31
6. Alice in the Country of Joker: Circus and Liar’s Game Volume 2
7. Pokémon Adventures: Diamond and Pearl/Platinum Volume 8
8. Naruto Volume 61
9. Soul Eater Volume 14
10. Sailor Moon Volume 11
Article first published as Manga Review: Pokemon Black and White – Volume Nine by Hidenori Kusaka on Blogcritics.
Volume Nine begins with Black and White heading their separate ways and going on their own adventures. The volume opens with Black on his way to Driftveil City, but is unable to get there due to a bridge malfunction. Black learns there’s more going on than a simple bridge malfunction, and finds himself tangled up in a Pokemon battle.
Meanwhile, White is on the Battle Subway, where she’s training in order to try to improve her skills for Pokemon battles. While she’s on the subway, White finds a stowaway who claims to write books about Pokemon. During their ride, legendary Pokemon appear, and it’s revealed the writer is more than simply just a writer.
The volume ends with Black arriving in Driftveil City and running into his friend, Cheren. The two friends find themselves caught up in a battle with Team Plasma, the antagonists of the series who believe in liberating Pokemon.
Story-wise, what I read in Volume Nine is essentially the type of stories I have come to expect from the Pokemon Black and White manga series. It was also nice to see Team Plasma show up again during this volume, because I do like the idea of an antagonist group thinking they’re fighting for a cause like Pokemon liberation. Unfortunately, at this point in the series, I don’t think that Team Plasma is utilized as much as they should be in order for this motivation to be as strong as it should be. I keep hoping that Team Plasma will have a bigger role to play as the series progresses.
Probably my favorite portion of this volume is the story that takes place on the Battle Subway. I thought I had an idea who the writer was really affiliated with, but I was surprised when I discovered that my guess was wrong. While I think the three Legendary Pokemon that appear in this portion of the story are a little on the ridiculous side, I liked the overall execution of that storyline.
And to me, the weakest portion of the volume was the story about the bridge; in the long run, it doesn’t appear to add anything important for the series. Perhaps I will discover later on in the series that there was more significance to that storyline than there currently appears to be on the surface.
If you’re a Pokemon fan who has enjoyed the previous eight volumes of Pokemon Black and White, I think you’ll also enjoy Pokemon Black and White Volume Nine.
I wrote this review after reading a copy of Pokemon Black and White Volume Nine that I checked out through the King County Library System.
Here are the new manga releases for June 4, 2013. If you see any errors or omissions in this list, please feel free to contact me and let me know.
Alice in the Country of Clover: Ace of Hearts GN
Attack on Titan GN 5
Blood-C GN 2
Dawn of the Arcana GN 10
Demon Love Spell GN 3
A Devil and Her Love Song GN 9
Dragon Ball Omnibus GN 1
Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends GN 3
Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossoms Pink: The Complete Collection GN
Knights of Sidonia GN 3
Lone Wolf 2100 Omnibus GN
Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan GN 15
One Piece Omnibus GN 6
One Piece GN 67
Pokémon Adventures: Diamond and Pearl Platinum GN 8
Pokémon Black and White GN 10
Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration GN 1
Sakura Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura GN 10
Skip Beat! GN 31
Slam Dunk GN 28
Toriko GN 16
Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal GN 3
Here are the new anime releases for May 14, 2013. If you see any errors or omissions in this list, please feel free to contact me and let me know.
Colorful
Colorful
Darker Than Black: Season 2 with OVA’s
Digimon Adventure: Volume 3
Fushigi Yugi: Mysterious Play OVA
Gurren Lagann TV Series Box Set [DVD]
Kämpfer für die Liebe OVA
My Bride is a Mermaid: Complete Box Set S.A.V.E. Edition
One Piece: Season Four, Voyage Five
Pokémon Black & White Set 4
Princess and the Pilot [Blu-ray]
Tiger & Bunny Set 2
Tiger & Bunny, Set 2
Here are the new manga releases for April 2, 2013. If you see any errors or omissions in this list, please feel free to contact me and let me know.
Barrage GN 2
Bleach GN 56
Blue Exorcist GN 9
A Certain Scientific Railgun GN 7
Crimson Empire: Circumstances to Serve a Noble GN 1
Dawn of the Arcana GN 9
A Devil and Her Love Song GN 8
Hana-Kimi Omnibus GN 4
Jiu Jiu GN 4
Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You GN 16
Library Wars: Love & War GN 9
My Boyfriend is a Vampire GN 7-8
Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan GN 14
Pokémon Black and White GN 9
Slam Dunk GN 27
The Story of Saiunkoku GN 9
Toriko GN 15
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s GN 4
Here are the new anime releases for March 19, 2013. If you see any errors or omissions in this list, please feel free to contact me and let me know.
Fate / Stay Night TV Complete Collection
Fate / Stay Night TV Collection 2
Mobile Suit Gundam UC 6 [Blu-ray]
New Hurricane Polymar
One Piece: Season 4, Voyage Four
Pokemon Black & White Set 3
Shin Getter Robo VS. Neo Getter Robo
Toriko: Part 3
Article first published as Manga Review: Pokemon Black and White Volume Eight by Hidenori Kusaka on Blogcritics.
Pokemon Black and White Volume Eight is a manga based on the Pokemon Black and Pokemon White video games. The manga was written by Hidenori Kusaka, and the art was done by Satoshi Yamamoto. Viz Media released this manga in North America through its VizKids imprint in 2012. Pokemon Black and White is rated “A,” which means it is suitable for readers of all ages.
Volume Eight begins with White having an encounter with N from Team Plasma. N wants to talk with her about why she makes Pokemon perform for people. During the conversation, N tells White that her Tepig Gigi wants to fight, but that she doesn’t pay attention to that. N has his Servine attack Gigi, and Gigi fights back. Gigi decides to stay with N, which devastates White.
After White and Black are reunited, they are taken to the Battle Subway, which was another initiative being worked on for Nimbasa City in addition to the Pokemon musical. Here, they meet Marshal of the Elite Four and Alder (the Pokemon League Champion of the Unova Region). By the end of the volume, White makes a very unexpected decision. This decision ultimately causes Black and White to go their separate ways.
It should be noted that at the bottom of the last page, it reads, “To be continued in the Pokemon Adventures Black and White graphic novel series-coming soon!” Seeing this, it means that there will be no further volumes of these Pokemon Black and White volumes. However, I don’t know when VizKids starts releasing Pokemon Adventures Black and White if they will collect these eight volumes into bigger volumes first, or if they will simply continue the story from where it left off at the end of Pokemon Black and White Volume Eight.
VizKids’ decision to release these eight volumes relatively quickly after the chapters were released in Japan was a little on the baffling side to me. On the one hand, they could get the material out here a little faster, but on the other, it meant that the volumes were relatively small and skimpy in nature. And now seeing that the story won’t continue until VizKids starts releasing Pokemon Adventures Black and White, it makes this decision even more puzzling. As a reader, this is a little frustrating, because this volume ends at a critical plot point, and there’s no telling when VizKids will release more of the story in North America.
At this point, about the only way I could recommend anyone to pick these up is if it turns out that when VizKids releases Pokemon Adventures Black and White, that it jumps right back into the story where Volume Eight left off.
I wrote this review after reading a copy of Pokemon Black and White Volume Eight that I checked out through the King County Library System.
Article first published as Manga Review: Pokemon Black and White Volume Seven by Hidenori Kusaka on Blogcritics.
Pokemon Black and White Volume Seven is a manga based on the Pokemon Black and Pokemon White video games. The manga was written by Hidenori Kusaka, and the art was done by Satoshi Yamamoto. Viz Media released this manga in North America through its VizKids imprint in 2012. Pokemon Black and White is rated “A,” which means it is suitable for readers of all ages.
Volume Seven begins with Black and White trying to travel on Route 4, but they’re having trouble due to a sandstorm. Black encounters a man who is a casino dealer that also has a talent for Pokemon battles; after spending some time with him, Black realizes who he is. When the man asks to battle with him and make a wager, Black ends up becoming so stressed that he passes out. Unfortunately, the mystery man gets away before Black awakens.
After this, Black and White are in Nimbasa City, where White is finally working on the upcoming Pokemon musical. During rehearsals, Black meets Elesa, the Nimbasa City Gym Leader; she’s helping out with the show. The major story elements at this point in the story focus on White as she’s getting everything ready for the musical, and Black having a Gym Battle with Elesa.
After Team Plasma got a lot of focus on Volume Six, the group almost entirely vanishes in Volume Seven. Their main appearance is during the first story in this volume, when Black and White are traveling on Route 4. Compared to Team Rocket in the first Pokemon Adventures manga series, Team Plasma doesn’t seem to be quite as important since they show up in Pokemon Black and White so inconsistently.
When I read this volume, I was glad to finally see an emphasis put on the Pokemon musical, since it had been referenced for at least two volumes prior to this one. While I was glad to reach that point, I noticed that there were a couple of significant time skips in this volume in order to reach that point. While there may have been time skips in some of the previous volumes, there were at least two in this one; in some respects, this made Volume Seven feel a little rushed.
The first story in this volume felt a little forced. It seemed to me that it was there more to introduce a particular character than it was to truly progress the plot. This is the story where Team Plasma makes an appearance, but it was never made clear what Team Plasma was truly trying to accomplish during their appearance in this volume.
After the quality of this series had gone back up with Volume Six, I was a little disappointed with how Volume Seven turned out. However, with the ending of Volume Seven being what it is, there’s potential for Volume Eight to be better. Here’s hoping that Volume Eight lives up to that potential.
I wrote this review after reading a copy of Pokemon Black and White Volume Seven that I checked out through the King County Library System.
Article first published as Manga Review: Pokemon Black and White Volume Six by Hidenori Kusaka on Blogcritics.
Pokemon Black and White Volume Six is a manga based on the Pokemon Black and Pokemon White video games. The manga was written by Hidenori Kusaka, and the art was done by Satoshi Yamamoto. Viz Media released this manga in North America through its VizKids imprint in 2012. Pokemon Black and White is rated “A,” which means it is suitable for readers of all ages.
Volume Six sees Black and White in Castelia City; Black is there for a gym battle against Burgh, while White is trying to get some business for her Pokemon talent agency. Before Burgh’s battle with Black, Iris is visiting Castelia City. Meanwhile, Black’s friend Bianca is in Castelia City, looking for him; she is ambushed by Team Plasma and her Pokemon is stolen. After the gym battle, Iris arrives with an unconscious Bianca. Everyone works together to locate Team Plasma and rescue Bianca’s Pokemon.
There is one other story in this volume, which sees Professor Juniper giving Black the job of visiting Liberty Garden Island to research a Pokemon named Victini. White accompanies Black, and they have a run-in with both Victini and Team Plasma.
One thing I was pleased to see in this volume is the concept of Team Plasma trying to liberate Pokemon. This concept was used rather heavily in the first volume of the series, and it showed a little bit in the second and third volumes of the series, and then that whole concept disappeared in the fourth and fifth volumes. I had honestly started to think that Kusaka had either forgotten about this concept or had quietly abandoned it. It’s one of the more interesting motivations for the bad guys that I have seen in the Pokemon franchise, so I’m glad to see it showing up again.
Another thing I appreciated was the fact that while Munna’s dream eating ability was still being used as a kind of “deus ex machina” in this volume, this wasn’t happening nearly as much as it did in Volume Four. My biggest disappointment was the fact that White’s upcoming musical in Nimbasa City wasn’t referenced anywhere in this volume; according to the “Coming Soon” section at the end of this volume, it appears the Pokemon musical will be a major focus in Volume Seven.
This particular volume of the Pokemon Black and White manga series is probably one of the better volumes that I’ve read in a while. Unfortunately, the series as a whole is the weakest of the Pokemon manga series that I have had the ability to read.
I wrote this review after reading a copy of Pokemon Black and White Volume Six that I checked out through the King County Library System.
Here are the new anime releases for November 20, 2012. If you see any errors or omissions in this list, please feel free to contact me and let me know.
Bakemonogatari Complete [Blu-ray]
Bobobo-Bo Bo-Bobo: The Complete Series 2
Cluster Edge: Collection 2
Galaxy Express 999: The Complete Series 1
Grave of the Fireflies
Inuyasha the Final Act Set 1
InuYasha: The Final Act Set 1
Pokemon Black & White Set 1
Soul Eater – Complete Series
Soul Eater – Complete Series
Tenchu Muyo: Tenchi in Tokyo Complete Series
