According to Manga Jouhou, Makoto Raiku, mangaka for the popular serial Konjiki no Gash has returned to work with this week’s issue of Shounen Sunday. You might recall our post about Raiku-san’s injury in this December news post - looks like he’s recovered now and is back on track!
The following new Tokyopop English manga titles have been confirmed by Anime News Network for July release:
Elemental Gelade (Erementar Gerad)
Kuro no Kishi
Redrum 327
Yorozuya Tokaido Honpo
Zapt!
Le Potrait de Petit Cossette
Strawberry Marshmallow (Ichigo Mashimaro)
Trash
Peppermint
Otogi Zoshi
Violinist of Hameln (ハーメルンのバイオリン弾き) - not, as it is sometimes mistranslated, “Hameln the Violinist” - is an manga created by Watanabe Michiaki. It was published in the magazine “GanGan Comics” and went up to 37 volumes, after running for about 10 years. An anime was also made; 25 episodes long and differing in a few major ways from the manga. There was also a Super Famicom game created by Enix, and a short movie based on the manga.
Violinist of Hameln, or VoH, is an adventure fantasy story with a few twists. The basic story goes as follows: a group of adventurers are traveling North to ‘The Northern Capital’ (a.k.a Hameln) to prevent a catastrophe. The catastrophe being, more or less, the domination of the world by demons. The catch - they’re trying to do this by using music. Magical music.
The manga and the anime are radically different. The manga blends comedy and the serious story deftly, and the characters are at turns pathetic and heroic. The humour is a bit odd, and takes awhile to get used to, but as the series goes on, it tends to grow on one. The story is surprisingly original and refreshing, combining all the favoured motifs and cliches of fantasy with original twists.
Though the manga has never been translated into English, and is rather hard to find, there are a few scanlating groups on the Internet, most famously ‘Arr! Here There Be Manga” , and the active Scythe GP.
Souce: Wikipedia
Digital Manga is currently running a contest that some of you may be interested in: you can win a Cafe Kichijouji de manga and shitajiki (pencil board) simply by entering a ballot at this page. Hey, who’d turn down free manga? I haven’t read the series, but if I win one of these, I’ll be sure to review it!
The manga news seems to be running a bit dry at the moment, but I’ll be at Ohayocon in Columbus, OH, USA this weekend and hopefully I’ll find some new material to write on!
In the meantime, I’ll note that Tokyopop’s 6th “Rising Stars of Manga” contest will be closing on January 13th, a little more than a week from today. Check out the prizes and the rules on their website - some of the fabulous entries in previous years were showcased in a tankubon, and as I reported a few weeks back, two Rising Stars will begin running in U.S. newspapers as of this month. So if you’ve got some drawing talent and a little extra time, have a look at this before the contest closes!
A public forum discussing the planned Kyoto International Manga Museum was held on December 17th in Kyoto City, Nakagyo Ward. There, city official and citizens exchanged opinions on the project. When opened next autumn, this will be Japan’s first museum solely dedicated to manga. Animation will also be featured among the 200,000 items on display.
Source: Anime News Service
Digital Manga has updated their website with information about the new titles announced in November, and they’ve also added some previously unmentioned titles, Almost Crying by Mako Takahashi and J-Boy by Biblos, an anthology of 1-shot stories from Biblos’s Japanese magazine Junk Boy.
Source: Anime News Network
On December 19th, Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party has taken the first steps toward the enactment of a bill that would regulate violent manga published in the country. The legislation move was made public as part of the emergency task force’s “Hanzai kara kodomo wo mamoru” (Children Are Defended From Crime) initiative. According language used by the LDP, the goal is the promotion and maintenance of a healthy environment for young people. This comes against a recent backdrop of increased crime against women and children. They claim a link in many of these criminal acts exists between kiddie porn, violent comics and even games. The LDP feels it necessary to reform the current state. Some prefectures and cities have already been restricting such kiddie porn etc. by creating and enforcing ordinances. An attempt will be made to draft and pass the “Seishounen Kenzen Ikusei Suishin Kihonhou” (Fundamental Law Of Youth Health). Some anti-violence manga related items are expected to end up in a final bill that will then go before the diet. Currently, the LDP is trying to rouse public opinion on the matter.
Source: Anime News Service
Del Rey will be launching a mature line for a couple of their upcoming manga releases, including Basilisk and Suzuka.
While the manga will not be labelled with a different imprint, they will be presented with different packaging than Del Rey’s other manga. They will be shrink wrapped, rated M for mature and will have a larger, 5.5″ x 8.25″ trim (compared to the 5″ x 7.5″ standard). They will also have a higher $13.95 price point.Del Rey informed us that they will not be censoring the mature manga and that publishing it in this manner is a way for them to responsibly publish it in its entirety.
Basilisk volume 1 is due in May 2006 while Suzuka volume 1 will be released in September 2006.
Source: Anime News Network
According to this announcement, Makoto Raiku, the manga-ka for Zatch Bell has hurt his hand and will be taking some time off from the manga to heal and plan future chapters of the manga. The article states that, due to the injury, he can not play games, sign documents, eat properly, etc…
Goodness. An injured hand or wrist is big trouble for a full time mangaka…let’s hope that for the sake of the Gash Bell fans that he recovers soon!
Source: Anime News Network
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