Blog Status and Kodansha News

Hey guys. I know it’s been like a month since the last update, but college has been insane. Junior year has been kicking my butt and I just had to put my priorities on school. I’ve still been on twitter (I kind of keep it open at all times, haha) so if you’re curious, feel free to follow me! I’m going to try and get some reviews up sometime soon (hopefully starting on the 18th, when I’ll be home from finals).

In other news, Kondansha Comics announced their Summer 2011 titles today! Shugo Chara!, Arisa, I Am Here!, and a few others are going to be continued, as well as a few newly licensed series. Here’s a full run-down, with some comments from me:

CONTINUING SERIES
Air Gear 18 (June), Air Gear 19 (August) – I’ve never gotten into Air Gear, but I’m glad to see it’s being continued
Arisa 2 (May), Arisa 3 (July) – I’ll definitely have to get the first volume now! I was holding out to see if it would be continued.
Fairy Tail 13 (May), Fairy Tail 14 (July) – I’m not too surprised that this one is being continued, since it seemed to do well for Del Rey. Also, yay! cuz I do follow this series.
I am Here! 2 (July) – Going to have to pick up volume 1 now! I’m guessing volume 2 will finish the series, since volume 1 was an omnibus.
Negima! 29 (May), Negima! 30 (July) – Not a series I follow, but I’m glad for people who follow it.
Negima?! Neo (June) – Not a series I follow, but I’m glad for people who follow it.
Ninja Girls 5 (May), Ninja Girls 6 (July) – Not a series I follow, but I’m glad for people who follow it.
Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei 9 (June), Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei 10 (August) – Not a series I follow, but I’m glad for people who follow it.
Shugo Chara! 10 (May), Shugo Chara! 11 (July) – Yes~ I’m extremely glad this one is being continued. I’m hoping that since none of the announced titles go past August, that volume 12/Encore may just be released later next year (as it’s not listed here).
The Wallflower 25 (June) – Not a series I follow, but I’m glad for people who follow it.

NEW SERIES
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 1 (June), Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 2 (August) – Apparently another adaptation of the games. Not the sort of thing I’m interested in.
Monster Hunter Orage 1 (June), Monster Hunter Orage 2 (August) – Short (4 vol) series from Hiro Mashima, it’s a fun, quick read. Nothing particularly new about it, but it’s better than a lot of stuff I’ve read.
Rave Master omnibus collecting the final three volumes (May) – Nice to finally see the last 2 volumes state-side!
Deltora Quest, adapted by Makoto Niwano from Emily Rodda’s novels (July) – Apparently the anime runs on The Hub in the States, so it seems to be more of a children’s title. Hopefully it will do well for Kodansha.
The Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – Adaptation of the anime. I love GITS:SAC, so depending on the adaptation, this could be nice.
Until the Full Moon (July) – A shonen-ai license rescue! Color me surprised!
Mardock Scramble adapted Tow Ubukata’s novel 1 (August) – The novel is being released by Viz/Haikasoru in January, so nice timing Kodansha! (This had been announced as licensed by Ubukata himself earlier this year, but I had assumed it would be from Viz, since I didn’t realize the manga was through Kodansha.)
Animal Land (August) – from creator of Zatch Bell, which I’m pretty sure was a flop in North America, so we’ll see how well it does.
Gon (August) – Not too sure what this entails, since there’s a zillion volumes of Gon and it doesn’t seem Kodansha specified.
Bloody Monday (August) – Kodansha’s summary of the series, “exciting thriller about a computer hacker’s attempt to foil a terrorist plot!” shows some promise.
Cage of Eden (August) – Quick Google search shows that this is an ecchi series about a class landing on an island and people being eaten by crazy animals. Not my normal cup of tea, but I liked Battle Royale, so maybe?
Negima! omnibus with the first three volumes [new translation] (June) – Kind of a strange choice, considering that they’re continuing the series in regular volumes already. Maybe it’s just to get new readers? Or maybe people had issues with the translations? I don’t follow Negima! so I don’t remember any sort of outrage over the translation.

GENERAL THOUGHTS
It’s a little sad to see no new shojo licenses, but it’s nice to see that others will be continued. It’s especially nice to see that most of the Del Rey saves are going on a bi-monthly schedule when they return!

According to Kuriosity, “Kodansha also noted that Sailor Moon was a title they couldn’t talk about at this time, that any titles from DelRey not mentioned aren’t necessarily cancelled (simply not scheduled yet) and that CLAMP’s XXXHolic will resume under the DelRey brand.” It’s great to hear that xxxHoLiC is being continued and that any other Del Rey series seem to still be possibilities. Also interesting to note that they can’t talk about Sailor Moon “at this time” which I think generally means that the publisher is in talks and isn’t supposed to say anything (though it could of course mean that they’re not working on it at all too).

Any thoughts from you all? :D