Review: Eden of the East the Movie I – The King of Eden (Dub)
Review: Love Roma, Vol. 1 (Manga)
Ani-Gamers Podcast #037 – Spicy Wolf, Made with Real Wolf!
Review: Fate/Extra (PSP)
Drunken Otaku: The Drops of God – First Sip
Medium: Manga (5 volumes total, 1 volume reviewed) Author: Minoru Toyoda
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Publisher: Del Rey Books (US/UK), Kodansha (JP)
Serialized in: Afternoon (JP)
Release Date: Aug 2005 - Feb 2007 (US/UK), 2003-2005 (JP)
Age Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Sometimes, you just want things to be nice and straightforward. Perhaps you are sick of stories where the main couple dances around each other for chapters on end, afraid to say a word to each other. Other times you may find yourself utterly frustrated by the fact that its been two whole volumes and the hapless lovebirds still haven't kissed yet. Even better, they cant even hold hands without one of the pair erupting into a bright beetroot color from the sheer, unrelenting embarrassment of the act. Give me a break.
First things first, Love Roma is not the prettiest of manga. In sharp contract to the majority of romance manga, the series forgoes the usual painstaking detail and instead opts for a chunky, thickly lined look. The simplistic designs and lines make the characters look youthful as well as downright cartoonish, establishing the series firmly as a romantic comedy rather than a hyper-dramatic weeping fest. As an upside, all of the characters are readily identifiable due to large differences in individual character designs, something I usually have problems with in romantic or more ornately drawn series with extended casts. Expressions are clearly readable on characters faces and body language is obvious, making the emotional aspects of the story much more accessible and, frankly, more enjoyable to read. The art is full of other nice flourishes, such as the white outline that surrounds characters and so pops them out of the background, the effect differing depending on situation or mood, a nice extra touch to the art. The whole presentation has a levity to it that that makes it hugely enjoyable and immediately accessible to me.
I already touched on this, but one of the main reasons I enjoyed Love Roma was the main couple—both are honest, slightly dull normal people. Hoshino, the main male, is flat out blunt with his thoughts and feelings where as Negishi is straightforward while still having a tendency to get embarrassed over romantic things. Its a nice coupling that leads to a lot of amusing situations both between the pair and interacting with the extended cast of their friends. An extra bonus is that they start going out at the end of the first chapter. Holy hell! A series where the main couple don't dance around each other for 2+ volumes, its a bloody miracle. Of course, they are still high-school kids, so its not like they are discussing mortgages or other dull junk in chapter three. In fact, the slapstick comedy is actually quite sharp, making me laugh out loud quite a few times while reading.
The rest of the cast are enjoyable to read as well, and strike a nice balance between developing their own relationships and personalities at their own pace while the main romance storyline is told. An issue that arises with some series that that the secondary characters become more interesting than the supposed main characters, something that is neatly sidestepped in Love Roma while avoiding the pitfall of relegating them to background filler.
One worry I have is that the premise may not last—in the first volume alone the couple go on their first date, have their first kiss, and are introduced to one of the sets of parents. While there is a more than plentiful set of side characters who are introduced and are able to have their own adventures or spice the main plot up, I worry that the series may run out of ideas and fizzle out too soon. I intend to continue buying the series, and will let you know what I find. However, as a first volume on its own it is a refreshing read that I would heartily recommend, particularly if you want to have a laugh while going "Awww...."
Today, Kodansha USA, the American subsidiary of Japanese publisher Kodansha, announced that, as of December 1, 2010, it will be taking over licenses held by Del Rey Manga, the division of Random House that formerly published a large number of Kodansha titles. Random House Publisher Services will now be directly interfacing with Kodansha to bring its manga titles to the American market.
According to Kodansha USA's press release, "Del Rey's ongoing manga titles which were licensed by Kodansha will be gradually taken over by Kodansha USA Publishing on a per-title basis." As such, fans of ongoing series like Moyashimon and Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE will probably be able to get their hands on new Kodansha versions of these series in short order. Unfortunately, the release says nothing about completed Del Rey licenses, which may result in some (though likely not all) of Del Rey's former series going out of print.
As big a change as this is, it's admittedly not very surprising, since Kodansha USA began releasing republications of Akira (Katsuhiro Otomo) and Ghost in the Shell (Masamune Shirow) — both former Dark Horse titles — last fall, while Del Rey Manga has been facing a number of problems since then. Notably, their number of licenses have dropped, they've significantly reduced their number of convention showings, and Marketing Manager/"Awesome Bow-tie Dude" Ali Kokmen was laid off this past July.
On the bright side, Associate Publisher Dallas Middaugh will remain with Random House as he coordinates the new partnership between the publisher and Kodansha, though it would seem that he will be the only person left over from Del Rey Manga.
[via Anime News Network]
Medium: OEL Manga
Number of Volumes: 1 (ongoing)
Genre: Comedy
Authors: Jason Thompson (writer) and Victor Hao (illustrator)
Publisher: Del Rey Manga
Release Date: January 19, 2010 (NA)
Rated: Older Teen (16+)
OEL (Original English Language) manga come with low expectations in the minds of many readers — and who can blame them? Almost every OEL manga I have ever read has been completely awful, either due to bad writing by first-time creators or failed attempts to imitate the style of Japanese comics. Thankfully, Jason Thompson and Victor Hao's King of RPGs, while not exactly perfect, is a refreshing break from the sea of mediocrity that covers the OEL market.
The series, written by manga expert and longtime translator Jason Thompson (Manga: The Complete Guide), drawn by newcomer Victor Hao, and published by Del Rey Manga, follows two college freshman and high school buddies: Shesh, a hot-headed former "World of Warfare" player, and Mike, a stereotypical anime fan with a penchant for dating sims and Japanese RPGs (role-playing games). They end up running into aspiring novelist Jen and "Mages and Monsters" Game Master Theodore, and before the pair knows it, they have been sucked into the worlds of tabletop role-playing, collectible card games (CCGs), and nearly every other odd hobby known to geek existence. Of course, it doesn't help that Shesh has an alternate personality that turns him into a psychopath whenever he role-plays.
The clearest forefather of King of RPGs is, without a doubt, Fred Gallagher and Rodney Caston's hit webcomic series, Megatokyo. Its main characters were also a hot-headed gamer type and a wimpy otaku, though that series focused far more exclusively on its anime roots as it went along. On the other hand, what makes King of RPGs a joy to read for any geek is the wealth of hobbies that it covers (and the intentionally silly grandeur with which it covers them). Anime and video games are rather common hobbies, so Shesh and Mike are good anchors for newcomers to RPGs and CCGs, who will find tons of explanatory information in the dialogue.
Unfortunately, when the explanation turns toward character motivations, Thompson's typically crisp and engaging writing can feel stiff and forced. There is even a series of panels that simply show thought bubbles from all four of the characters in the scene, establishing why each of them is playing Mages and Monsters. Thompson uses this sort of over-explanation throughout, and it frequently pulled me out of the story.
Nevertheless, Thompson is hardly shy with his use of references, despite the necessity for covering up names like Dungeons and Dragons and Pokémon with similar constructions like "Mages and Monsters" and "Gothemon." Aided by some of Hao's great visual nods to anime, manga, and video games, Thompson makes allusions to everything from Death Note to Final Fantasy to Taxi Driver to Monopoly, and even throws in what I believe is a very subtle reference to former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
Victor Hao reaches his best moments when his art stays within his own wacky-looking cartoon style. Many of the characters, most notably Shesh and Theo, are frequently portrayed with little dot eyes and gaping mouths, an American comic strip look that really seems to fit the story and allow for a number of surprisingly funny visual gags. However, the characters that are drawn in manga-style (typically women) end up looking like grotesque, poorly proportioned aliens. Such is the trap that most OEL manga artists fall into when attempting imitate a broadly defined cultural style rather than focus on their own unique aesthetic. To make matters worse, the comic seems to be a victim of a tragic screen tone explosion, leaving some of the pages cluttered and hard to understand on a first reading.
Despite some of its artistic shortcomings, King of RPGs really is a fantastic read. To be honest, I read this during a car ride with my family, and they were all very annoyed that I was laughing out loud literally every minute or so of the ride. That's about as good of a recommendation as any comedy can get.
This review is based on a pre-release copy kindly provided by Scott VonSchilling after he reviewed it.
great.
My first industry panel of the weekend was Del Rey manga, who always manage to bring a barrel of laughs with them wherever they go. (Not a literal barrel, though I wouldn't put that past them.) The wonderful Ali Kokmen (no bowtie?!), Trisha Narwani, and Mutsumi Miyazaki were up on "the dias" (Ali's words, not mine!) to announce their newest licenses, though their faulty Powerpoint was replaced for the first half of the panel with a guaranteed-not-photoshopped picture of Star Trek star Chris Pine posing next to Del Rey staffer April. I'll cut straight to the chase with a nice bullet point list for all you people who hate paragraphs:
- Here I Am by Emma Toyama (creator of Pixie Pop): Fall 2010
- Yokai Navi Runa by Miyoko Ikeda (creator of Mamotte Lollipop): May 2010
- Rave Master by Hiro Mashima (creator of Fairy Tail): September 2010 (picked up from Tokyopop, last three volumes in an omnibus edition)
- Arisa by Natsumi Ando (creator of Kitchen Princess): November 2010
After the new licenses, Ali launched into a discussion of Del Rey's current catalog, which includes X-Men Misfits (they're "very pleased" that it broke into the NYT Bestselling Graphic Novels list), Jason Thompson's King of RPGs (set for a January 2010 release), the final volumes of Samurai Deeper Kyo, which was previously dropped by Tokyopop, and Codebreakers, also by Samurai Deeper Kyo creator Akimine Kamijyo. After that, the folks at Del Rey launched into a Question & Answer session, though it didn't yield very much in the way of news other than Ali's roundabout admission that Del Rey currently has no plans to rerelease the older volumes of Samurai Deeper Kyo, though they will be "monitoring the situation" as time goes on.
And it's not a Del Rey panel without tons of fashion conversations and non-sequitur industry remarks, so Ali managed to slip in his reason for wearing a necktie instead of a bowtie (you've gotta stay unpredictable!), as well as his insinuation that a manga publisher that doesn't give you a free Moyashimon face mask (i.e. everybody but Del Rey) actually might WANT you to get swine flu. Oh yeah, and Dallas Middaugh of Del Rey would totally beat Kurt Hassler of Yen Press in an arm wrestling match.
Do I smell a challenge, good sirs?
Del Rey
At the Del Rey Manga Happy FunTime Hullaballoo (yep, that's what they called it), some of the most prominent folks from Del Rey (including Ali T. Kokmen, Trisha Narwani, and the all-powerful Dallas Middaugh) sat down to list off their new releases, which I've organized in bullet-point form below:
- Nighthead Genesis (story be George Iiida, art by You Higiri) - "Two brothers with supernatural powers who can't escape their dark destiny"
- Four-Eyed Prince (Wataru Mizukami) - "Sachiko has found her dream guy, but she soon finds out that he is a cute boy in glasses by day, but a nightclub host entertaining older women by night."
- Only One Wish (by Mia Ikumi) It's about "A mysterious witch who only grants one wish to five strangers." Includes a bonus short manga from Tokyo Mew Mew (also by Ikumi).
- Genshiken: Return of the Otaku (novelization by Iida Kazutoshi) "A brand new, hilarious story with the most insane anime club ever."
- Kitchen Princess: Search for the Angel Cake (story by Miyuki Kobayashi, art by Natsumi Ando) "An old woman asks Najika to recreate an old recipe that's been lost for over 50 years."
- King of RPGs (story by manga expert Jason Thompson, art by Victor Haa) It's about "a young kid who is obsessed with "World of Warfare," and gets sucked into an insane tabletop roleplaying game
Check out the news from Yen Press and CMX after the break!
Yen Press
Yen Press President Kurt Hassler and the other folks from the manga publisher showed up at their panel room today to provide us with some sweet, sweet new licensing announcements and (as most of the packed room was hoping for) some sweet, sweet giveaways. The new licenses are listed below.
- Time and Again (by Jiun Yun) - Yen will be giving a graphic novel release to this title, already running in Yen+
- Spice and Wolf manga (story by Isuna Hasekura, art by Keito Koume) - A release date is "soon to be disclosed"
- Raiders (by JinJun Park) - Described by the folks from Yen as "early Obata, sort of," referring of course to the distinctive art style of Death Note manga artist.
- Laon (story by Hyum You, art by YoungBin Kim)
- The Crescent Moon Story (by Hyouta Fujiyama) - Releasing in September 2009
- Yotsuba&! Volume 6 (by Kiyohiko Azuma)!!!
Naturally, the talk of the room was the licensing of Yotsuba&!, which was originally owned by ADV Manga until their company went under, effectively ceasing the publication of the manga. In an epic Powerpoint mistake, the folks from Yen accidentally revealed the license of Yotsuba&! a few slides early, resulting is such a deafening roar from the crowd that Kurt's microphone shorted out. (At least I like to think that that's the reason.)
When asked about the translator selected to work on the new release of the manga, Yen told us that they selected a translator who had done some work on the ADV release, so they had some familiarity with the title. Additionally, the manga will not be published in Yen+, but Yen Press is currently looking at republishing ADV's first five volumes of the title
Finally, Kurt pulled out boxes upon boxes of Higurashi and Soul Eater manga and merchandise, which he was giving away... for free. Described by many as a "feeding frenzy" or quite simply "Animal House," the panel room was filled to bursting with gleeful fangirls (and fanboys) entering, exiting, and re-entering the line to pick up more and more manga, while the manga press corps watched in awe.
CMX Manga
DC Comics were firing on all cylinders at the new York Comic Con, with not only representation for their Western comics and DC Universe Online video game, but also a panel run by their manga division, CMX.
The panel was unfortunately nothing more than a simple list of the latest titles coming out from CMX, all of which I've listed below:
- The Name of the Flower (by Ken Saito • Jan 09
- Fire Investigator Nanase (story by Izo Hashimoto, art by Tomoshige Ichikawa • Jan 09
- Jihai (by Toshimi Ningoshi • Feb 09)
- March on Earth (by Mikase Hayashi • Mar 09
- Venus Capriccio (by Mai Nishikata • Apr 09)
- Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea (art by Nakaba Higurashi, original story by Seiichi Morimura • Apr 09) - FLEX
- The King of Debris (by Yusuke Aso • May 09)
- The Lapis Lazuli Crown (by Natsuna Kawase, who worked on Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne • May 09)
- Ballad of a Shinigami (story by S-she Hasegawa, art by Asuka Izumi • June 09)
- Broken Blade (by Yunosuke Yoshinaga • Jul 09)
Regarding the CMX Mobile service's possible expansion to American cell phones, the division is "discussing a variety of options for a variety of devices." Of particular note is that they are looking at devices other than cell phones as well. (DS makes sense, since there are a lot of Japanese companies trying to pull that off.) And that's a wrap for the manga panels of NYCC09 day two!
Surprisingly, Saturday at the New York Anime Festival was not as hectic as Friday was. With more panel time during the day and hence more time between panels, it was much easier for my bloggers-in-crime (Brad, Gia, Scott) and I to get from panel to panel and still have time for, you know, food and actually enjoying ourselves.
Media Blasters
Joe Chagan and Merideth Mulroney from Media Blasters began their panel with two points; points which would become the center of their entire message:
- We're still in business!
- We have an announcement, but our boss won't let us tell you.
Other than that, the two friendly representatives opened themselves up for questions, giving surprisingly candid and telling answers that you can only get from Media Blasters and their unique marketing style. First off, on Media Blasters' solvency in the dangerous climate of today's anime market, Merideth reminded us that the company is "holding our own because we're feisty." The "big announcement" was hinted at being something involving a new title (i.e. NOT retro) that will make you go "holy crap, THAT ONE?"
When asked about a Blu-ray release for MB's remaster of Berserk, Merideth reminded us that regardless of high-def quality, "16mm is 16mm." She also clarified that the main reason for Seirei no Moribito's DVD release delay is that she still doesn't have all of the original artwork for the show after six months of waiting. Finally, the reps also plugged MB's new online card game Alteil (preview coming soon), and let us know that the company is/was interested in picking up Cream Lemon, Turn A Gundam, and Black Lagoon.
Media Blasters denies any plans for a unified anime channel with other companies due to the immense costs of running a television channel. They also say that a burn-on-demand plan will not work for a small company like Media Blasters until someone else makes a system that they can adapt for their own needs.
Del Rey
Unlike AnimeNEXT, at this Del Rey panel the company was up a proverbial creek without a not-so-proverbial Dallas Middaugh. Del Rey's charismatic Associate Publisher was unable to come to the convention due to previous engagements (i.e. his honeymoon), so standing in for him was the equally (if not more) charismatic Ali T. Kokmen. Del Rey, friend of the press, gave us the new announcements rapid-fire at the beginning of the panel, without all of that annoying suspense of other industry panels.
- Del Rey is teaming up with Cartoon Network, bringing Ben10 and Bakugan film comics and light novels to stores. Cue Bakugan trailer with terrrrrible theme music. "Fight for what's right before it's gone! This is Bakugan!"
- The first Bakugan film comic is in December 2008, and the second is in March 2009. An original manga is coming in Summer 2009.
- Ben10 is getting the first film comic release in April 2009, with the original manga in November of 2009.
- Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture in Fall 2009 - It's about cute bacteria. And it's apparently educational. AWO complained that it wasn't licensed. TAKE THAT!
- Tsubasa Character Guide 2 in Summer 2009 - Yeah, it's another one. It covers volumes 8-14.
- Amefurashi in July 2009 - From the creator of Haridama: Magic Cram School and Venus vs. Virus, it looks alright.
- Maid War Chronicles in May 2009 - The illustrator is from Mao-chan. It's about fighting maids. You know you want it.
Most of the rest of the panel was spent answering questions and throwing squishy gavels at the audience to promote Del Rey's new Phoenix Wright manga license. Trust me, you had to be there for some of Ali's lines. Why is Del Rey so gosh darn awesome asks Japanator reader KuronoK? "Diet and exercise." We love you Del Rey.
Anime News Network
[EDIT: Gia let me know during Podtoid-san today that this was previously announced. Oops!] Quite ironically, there was also some news out of the center of anime news themselves, Anime News Network, during their (self-)celebratory 10th Anniversary panel. Namely, the web site, which has already pursued some mode of video presence on the web, will now be working to license new series from Japan and provide them online. There will be free, low-quality videos streaming on the web site, and $3 high-quality (presumably DRM-free) episodes, in a pricing scheme suspiciously similar to that of asian media site CrunchyRoll.
The only shows that will be on the service as of right now are three Media Blasters titles: Girls High, Kite Liberator, and Ramen Fighter Miki. While I'll admit my personal skepticism on their ability to pull this off, New Media Director and Founder Justin Sevakis says, regarding release dates, "simultaneous is our goal." Subbing before the show comes out? I think that requires a bit more leverage than ANN has over Japanese companies. Maybe I'm wrong.
