Part one of my endeavor is shojo manga (and some series that are more on the josei side, I believe) coming out in 2010 (next is shonen/other manga). This started out as a list of shojo manga (that have their first volumes coming out next year) I thought would be good finds, and kind of turned into a list of all the shojo manga starting next year (that I know of)…apparently I’m not very picky… It’s still not all of them, but it’s a good majority of them.
And seeing how long this is (and only being part 1) should show you how easy it was for me to basically bankrupt myself on manga. xD
English covers were used if they could be found; if not the Japanese covers were used. They are arranged by release month and then alphabetically. If the Japanese name is commonly used in fandom, I put it in parentheses next to the official English title to help. I also used official summaries if I could find them, if not I used ANN, after that I went to myanimelist.net, and in some cases I had to go to mangaupdates.com.
I will gladly update this list if I’m missing something you think is going to be a good shojo manga find in the next year! :] Manga After the Cut!!
Ok, so part one of my “secret project” is now complete~ Which means that it’s time to tell everyone about it, haha. It’s really nothing too special, but I went through all the recent license announcements and pre-listings on Amazon.com for manga to be on the look-out for in 2010 (aka, just new series, though I will have a post for other things, like series finales, fanbooks, artbooks, novels, etc.) and made a giant list with lots of info and my thoughts on them. I decided to call it -looking forward to the future- simply because that’s what I have on my banner right now, and I said it was connected. I really just kind of came up with it when I was making the banner, haha.
The first part will be shojo manga, and I’ve got it scheduled for Tuesday at noon (EST), so that this explanation post will be up for a while before that posts. The shojo post at least got rather out of hand, and kind of turned into almost all the shojo manga I could find that it coming out in 2010. I’ve got a list of works for the other posts, but haven’t really started working on them yet, so I’m not sure when the next post will be out yet (it will mostly depend on schoolwork).
It’s not much, but I’m pretty excited about it, and hope you all really enjoy it!
oh, and this is random, but beware of the attack of the tags in future posts. ;]
Zodiac P.I. volume 1
by: Natsumi Ando
published by: Tokyopop
summary: Lili is just like any other normal girl – except that she can foretell the future! This “Zodiac P.I.” relies on horoscopes and astrology to help her solve crimes and track down criminals. When Lili’s classmate is murdered, it’s up to the Zodiac P.I. to solve the case. With a little help from her friend Hiromi, she vows to track down the killer. When she suspects one of her own teachers is to blame, Lili must follow her instincts…and the stars…until she finds the truth. Once that case is behind her, Lili receives an anonymous letter alerting her to the presence of a ghost in a nearby piano school. When Lili goes undercover as a piano student to investigate, she soon stumbles upon a bloody crime scene and finds herself investigating yet another murder. Will the Zodiac P.I. be able to unravel this mystery before the killer strikes again? (from the back of the book)
Ramblings: On the second real page of this series (not counting things like chapter covers) you see a young girl being murdered. Yes, this series ran in Nakayoshi. It makes me wonder why things like this are appropriate for kids in Japan. Sure I think it’s an interesting series, but I’m 19 and can at least sort of handle things like murder (though who really wants to completely handle things like that?), but Nakayoshi’s main demographic is girls in the 9-13 range. Though I sure see the difference in Ando’s own stories as opposed to things she draws for other people (ARISA and this versus Kitchen Princess which she didn’t write, just illustrated). But enough on that, for now.
While it may seem like I didn’t like this volume all that much, I really did. Lili’s use of her “Star Ring” to solve crimes in fun and interesting to watch. Now, not many of the cases are going to surprise you in how they turn out (or at least only a few surprised me), but it’s still fun to see how Lili goes about solving them. Plus, Ando’s art is nice and clean. Not all fluffy like Arina’s art, but it look great none-the-less. The pages do tend to be a little on the cluttered side, but it’s not to the point where it makes it diffucult to read.
There were a few misprints in this volume (like a word left out on the first and second chapter cover pages, so that I’m not sure what the entire chapter titles are), but overall Tokyopop actually did a fairly good job on this. The difference between their beginning works (all the flipped ones), middle works (things like this), and their new titles (don’t even get me started) sure is telling. If Tokyopop were to put out more more titles like this one and do as good a job, I would definitely be buying more of their titles (well…once I procure a new job, that is).
If anyone is planning on going to SDCC 2010, and hasn’t bought their tickets yet, you should probably do that. 4-day passes are 70% sold out according to the official site, and preview night has been sold out for weeks. I’m going, and hope to see some of you there! ;]
Fushigi Yugi [VIZBIG Edition] volume 3
by: Yuu Watase
published by: Viz Media [Shojo Beat/VIZBIG imprint]
summary: Tamahome’s love for Miaka has broken Nakago’s hold over him, and his memory has returned. Miaka, thinking she now has all seven Celestial Warriors, starts the ceremony to summon Suzaku, only to discover that one of the warriors is an imposter–he’s really the Seiryu Celestial Warrior Amiboshi! But when the real warrior Chiriko is discovered, the ceremony will no longer work. Now Miaka must travel to Genbu to find another way to summon Suzaku with a sacred treasure called the shentso-pao. Meanwhile, Yui learns that she too must travel to Genbu to summon Seiryu! (from the inside flap)
Ramblings: I know I’ve gushed about the VIZBIG versions the last two times I’ve talked about them (both other Fushigi Yugi volumes), but seriously they’re fantastic! The book itself is of fantastic quality at a wonderful price. I think my only complaint is that more of Viz’s older series aren’t getting the VIZBIG treatment. For people who didn’t get into a long series at the beginning and like me tend to be leary about getting into a long series, VIZBIG versions are the perfect option.
The original volumes (7-9) in this omnibus are classic Watase shojo. With Watase’s shojo you know someone is going to be hurt or die, there’s going to be romance (but it’s going to be heartwrenching at times), and of course the humor; all of which is in this volume. This volume was the half-way point in the series and while I’m loving it so far, I’m not sure how Watase is going to be able to string it along for another 9 (of the original) volumes…I suppose I’ll just save my doubting though and see how things turn out.
In this volume, we also get a lot of the backstory of the Priestess of Genbu, which is of course the main story of Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden. Based on what is given in this story, I’m incredibly interesting in reading Genbu Kaiden (despite it being on hiatus right now in Japan and despite the fact that the series will inevitably be a sad one).
Again, definitely get these VIZBIG versions of Fushigi Yugi if you hadn’t gotten into the series before, or are just curious about the series (since it’s such a long series, 3 volumes is a better indication than just one would be). Volume 4 of the VIZBIG version comes out December 8th, volume 5 on March 16, 2010, and volume 6 [final] is TBA. Watase’s Arata: The Legend (Arata Kangatari) will also be available from Viz on March 9, 2010, and from what I’ve seen it’s kind of a shonen Fushigi Yugi and definitely something to check out.
Otomen volume 3
by: Aya Kanno
published by: Viz Media [Shojo Beat imprint]
summary: Asuka takes Ryo to an amusement park where he plans to confess his feelings to her. Too bad all the rides Ryo wants to go on frighten Asuka! Can he overcome his fear for the sake of love? (from the back cover)
ramblings: All the fantastic design elements (like the contents page and cover design) are still here (I don’t really expect them to suddenly dissapear, but I like continuity in my manga). I especially love the cover of this volume, I’m not quite sure why, but it looks fantastic and Viz did a great job with the English cover from the Japanese one.
Thank goodness for adorable series like Otomen! Asuka and Ryo may both be silly and oblivious, but they’re just so adorable, no one cares! Re-reading the first story in this volume just made me happy. I was only going to flip through to remember what exactly happened, but then I got so caught up in it that I ended up reading it again, haha. Otomen is definitely a series that most people would find entertaining, I think even guys would like it for the most part (though I guess I could see how they could be rather adverse to reading it too).
Once I have the funds again, I’m definitely going to check out some more of Aya Kanno’s works, since I absolutely love her clean art and her story lines so far, plus I remember thinking the Blank Slate preview in Shojo Beat was really interesting.
So…if you follow me on twitter, chances are you already know, but I just lost my job today. Now, I’m a college student and my parents pay for most things for me (so I’m not totally up a creek without a paddle right now), but books are not one of those things. So basically that means that I’m not going to be buying many books in the near future, which utterly sucks…seriously, you should see my list of books I want to buy a month, it’s out of control and now I’m going to be even more depressed every time I look at it.
Now, for my blog, that means that since I’m not going to be buying many books, I’m not going to be very active for the next who knows how long (except maybe around Christmas time and my birthday, which are luckily almost exactly 6 months apart), especially since I’m going to SDCC 2010 and now have to try and save my remaining money for that. Hopefully I’ll be able to get a job when I go home for summer break at the end of the school year, but if not I don’t know what I’m going to do…
Sorry for the somewhat rant-y-ness of this post, but I figured I owe people an explanation. I am still working on some of those posts that I have mentioned in my “Blog Status” sidebar thing, so I’ll try and space them out so that it’s not like my blog is dead. Heck, maybe when I go home this weekend my mom will be nice and buy me books (I really want The Sighs of Haruhi Suzumiya, Zoo, Usurper of the Sun, and Shugo Chara 7!! D: )…not likely, but when I talked to her she seemed super upset for me, so you never know.
The beach I go to every summer has this really cool store with mostly legit Japanese stuff (or like the dolls I got, Asian inspired stuff), and this year I found these awesome little figures. : D They’re from a company called Momiji (website), and they’re called “message dolls” ( I’ll explain later in the post ;] ). and I finally ( xD ) got around to taking pics of the ones I got (there’s tons of them, I just bought 3), so I could share them with you all!! : D Ignore the crappy quality of the pics, I had my camera on the wrong setting and didn’t realize it. xD read more…
Added a new banner for Halloween/October featuring Sawako and Kazehaya in Halloween costumes. : D When I realized it had been about 2 and a half months since I last changed banners, I figured it was time to make a new one. xD It only took me like 40 minutes to make this one after finding the image and downloading some new fonts, and I think it’s one of my favorite banners that I’ve made. It actually turned out pretty darn well and it works really well with my theme (which I changed the colors on to match). I pretty much knew I was going to use this image for a banner once I saw it in the Shojo Beat 2009 calendar. Plus, with the anime just starting, it’s even more relevant. : D
About the blog. I’m pretty much broke right now, since I’m getting ready to buy my ticket to SDCC for next year…but when I go home next weekend, I’ll be able to transfer some money from my savings into my checking and I’ll be able to use it without overdrafting. ;] And of course, money equals books (really, that’s all I spend my money on), which equals more entries here! : D I did just buy all (1-4) of Zodiac P.I. though on Ebay, so we’ll see when that comes in. Hope it’s ok, but if not, I only spent like $11 on the whole series. xD
I’ve switched the blog status thing to the sidebar. I’ll keep it updated with info, so you’ll know that I’m not dead. Still working on a few more manga posts that I’ve got backlogged and a post for FAUST volume 2 (though I still need to finish reading that first…).
