Manga Olympics for Bloggers (Shonen/Seinen Round 1): Shonen Manga Up and Comers – Part 1

This post represents the third of three entries our blog is submitting this week to the Manga Olympics for Bloggers. Voting begins on June 16th, so just enjoy the article for now. Or check out our illustrious competition.

Manga in Japan can be hard to break into, and most manga take time to become big sellers. That is why it is always amazing when the first volumes of series do so well so quickly. In the past year, there have been many big starts with the biggest being:

Assassination Classroom – Over one million copies of the first volume in print in less than one year

One little thing that I love is smart cover design, and I absolutely love Assassination Classroom's volume covers

Assassination Classroom by Yusei Matsui, the creator of Majin Tantei Nōgami Neuro, is the story of what happens when aliens invade – or, in this case, THE alien. Koro is an alien that can move at speeds of mach 20, is incredibly powerful, and destroys most of the moon during first contact. He says that he will destroy the earth in one year, but during that year he wants to teach a middle school class, so the kids of Kunugigaoka Middle School’s class 3-E become his pupils, and Koro-sensei teaches them the 4 Rs- Reading, Writing, ‘Rithmetic, and ‘Radication, for he is also teaching them how to kill him. But how easy is it to kill a genocidal alien when he is also the best teacher you have ever had? Continue reading

Manga Olympics for Bloggers (Shojo/Josei Round 1): The Best at [More Than] Romance

This post represents the second of three entries our blog is submitting to the Manga Olympics for Bloggers. Voting begins on June 16th, so just enjoy the article for now. Or check out our illustrious competition.

Maybe it’s because I have fewer female anime/manga fan friends than male ones, but there’s no demographic of manga I see misconstrued more often than shojo. The idea that it’s synonymous with sparkly, tween-appeal school-life romance seems to show up at least once a week in conversations I have. Fortunately, there’s one very easy way to dispel this misconception; look at some of the shojo manga that actually exist.

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First Reactions: Muromi-san Episode 11

This show really does love to depend on new character introductions to provide a weekly hook. At first I was doubtful as to whether or not it was really feasible for a small-world type of show with only a few characters shown in the opening/on the boxart to maintain this approach for a full 13 episodes. This week was going to be critical, since every character from the opening had finally been introduced. So the makers this show faced a choice; if they didn’t want to lose their momentum, skim the bottom of the barrel or start building deeper relationships around the current cast.

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Or do both at the same time, what do I know?

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First Reactions: Space Brothers Episode 62

So Hibito got right back to Earth, greeted the crowd, then collapsed onto a hospital bed due to gravity fatigue. Not much to say about the scenes where Hibito was readjusting to Earth’s gravity. It’s a real part of what astronauts go through, so of course Space Brothers handles it realistically. The writer was fun enough to approach it from a few different angles, the best of which was of course ultra-heavy Apo.

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That bit does make one feel sorry for those with German Sheperds

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First Reactions: Devil Survivor 2 Episode 11

I typically haven’t been interested in the battles this show has had. And this episode wasn’t really an exception. Still, it was more enjoyable than previous ones because it toyed with my expectations a bit more.

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The Hung-over Results of Animetics’ Drunken Spring 2013 Preview

A few months ago, just before the spring 2013 season started, we did a rather odd preview of the shows coming out that season, one involving fake money and real bragging rights. To find out who won (and thus who makes the odds for our upcoming summer 2013 preview) read on!

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Manga Chapter of the Week: Wandering Son Chapter 121 (Love)

Takako Shimura’s Wandering Son is a fantastically tasteful and insightful work whose main character is a boy who wants to become a girl (Shuuichi Nitori). Wandering Son and Takako Shimura’s other works (most notably Aoi Hana) stand out in a landscape of anime and manga featuring LGBT characters for making said characters something more than a running gags or sexual fantasies. And also for being great manga that explore personal growth on a long-term basis.* For example, Wandering Son started out with the main characters in fourth grade, followed the characters through middle school and high school, and, as of this chapter, moved on to the beginning of the Nitori’s career. Typical of Takako Shimura, this stitch was accomplished with both the finesse of a tailor and the speed of a sewing machine.

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Manga Olympics for Bloggers (Shonen/Seinen Round 1): Shonen Manga and Redefining Manliness

This post represents the first of three entries our blog is submitting to the Manga Olympics for Bloggers. Voting begins in a few days on June 16th, so just enjoy the article for now. Or check out our illustrious competition.

Shonen manga, as literally defined, are manga marketed towards young boys. There are several implications of this definition, but I’m going to zero in on one in particular for the moment. Because shonen manga is popular with and being marketed towards younger boys, it must to some degree adhere to their notions of manliness, but still holds a unique opportunity to redefine what they see as cool, manly traits to aspire to. Let’s dive right in and take a look at some of the many shonen manga that subtly teach kids life lessons.

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First Reactions: Arata Kangatari Episode 9

Last week set up for a massive, large-scale confrontation between Arata and Kadowaki as an ostensible climax of the show. However, Arata had just entered an entirely separate hostile territory (the water god’s) at the time, so this confrontation was undoubtedly still several episo-

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That was quick

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First Reactions: Muromi-san Episode 10

That the show opened with a bizarro dream sequence was interesting, a nice little noirish contrast with the rest of the show. It says something about the rich flavor of Muromi-san’s oddball comedy when a dream sequence about deep-frying and eating a mermaid is less bizarre than the rest of the show.

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And they say fish can’t fry…

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