.漫画
I didn’t get to preview interesting manga titles for the Fall 2011 season, and frankly, others do a much better job of listing the latest and greatest.
I do not list volumes from ongoing series, as you’re already familiar with the previous volumes, or you’ll probably not be interested in a series which is on it’s eighth or fifty-eighth volume. Of course, if there’s something interesting you think I’ve overlooked, feel free to comment below.
CAVEAT: As I discovered while doing the publisher posts, some titles have been canceled or postponed. The titles below, the information is subject to change. Some may already be out and on sale, some may be vaporous.
Oh, and the advisory: I am employed as a bookseller. Nothing I say here or anywhere else online has any connection to my employer. I know my employer can take umbrage at any association people may make between my private and professional activities, so I’m careful to let commuting possums be.
This contains yaoi and hentai titles. It might NOT be SAFE FOR WORK. If a cover might offend, I have shrunk it. If you wish to study how offensive the cover might be, click to enlarge.
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GTO: 14 Days in Shonan, Volume 1
Tohru Fujisawa
Trade Paperback, $10.95
9781932234886, 1932234888
Born in 1967, Tohru Fujisawa is a veteran Japanese comic artist and multimillion unit seller. Best known globally for his international sensation Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO), Fujisawa was awarded the 22nd Kodansha Comic Award in 1998 for his work on the hit series. The GTO property would go on to inspire two animated TV series and an internationally distributed live action TV series by the same name. Since GTO, Fujisawa has gone on to thirteen more comic series, with four of those properties (TOKKO, Rose Hip Rose, Rose Hip Zero and Shonan Junai-gumi) landing on American shores. At 44 the Hokkaido native continues to be one of the most beloved manga artists of this generation.
After guiding the infamous Tokyo Kissho Academy through a crash-course of his unique brand of life-lessons, a battered and bruised Eikichi Onizuka takes a well-deserved trip to his hometown of sorts, a typically quiet surfers paradise called Shonan. Unfortunately, with child neglect and abuse becoming a global phenomenon the self-proclaimed GTO (Great Teacher Onizuka) quickly finds himself back in the saddle for what he hopes is a painless two-week long field trip with some teens in need. And while Onizuka’s curriculum may not rely on the reading, writing and arithmetic that is common in most classrooms, he has more than a few good lessons in personal development, fisticuffs and fun to teach a new generation of trouble teens.
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Durarara!!, Volume 1
Ryohgo Narita, Akiyo Satorigi
Paperback, $11.99
9780316204903, 0316204900
Welcome to Ikebukuro, where Tokyo’s wildest characters gather!! Meet an ordinary boy who daydreams about the extraordinary. A naive stalker girl. The strongest man in Ikebukuro. A shut-in doctor with questionable credentials. A hedonistic informant…and the “headless rider” astride a pitch-black motorcycle!? As their paths cross, this eccentric cast weaves a twisted, cracked love story…
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About Love (koi ni tsuite)
Narise Konohara
Trade Paperback, $12.95
ISBN-13: 978-1-56970-243-7
Asaka is a dedicated wedding planner who’ll do anything to guarantee his clients’ happiness. Sadly, his own love life has all but vanished thanks to his ridiculous work schedule! But when Asaka’s first patron resurfaces, the precious spark of true love may finally fly for him. Can he plan the perfect affair…or will it just have to happen by chance?
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Three P (Hentai Manga)
Hiroshi Itaba
Trade Paperback, $17.95
ISBN: 1-934129-51-8
ISBN 13: 978-1-934129-51-7
Come and check out these three sizzling-hot college gals: Reika, Sara and Mizume. Reika – she looks conservative, like a girl next door, but watch out! She’s the wild one! She always gets what she wants! Sara – men just don’t know how to say “no” to her pretty cute face! And Mizume is the beautiful one and she plays hard-to-get with men. These gal pals have no secrets between each other! They talk about their boyfriend problems, sex problems, and compare notes! This one-shot contains nine short stories of these three gals having lots of naughty sex!
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Mr. Convenience (Yaoi)
Nase Yamato
Trade Paper, $12.95
ISBN: 1-56970-241-1
ISBN 13: 978-1-56970-241-3
When a jack-of-all-trades company gets a slightly odd request email, cute worker Takashi thinks it must be from a lonely weirdo! But when the customer turns out to be a gorgeous, shy business director named Aki, Takashi realizes he’s never had someone this hot (and wealthy) ask for a friend…
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The Strange Tale of Panorama Island
Suehiro Maruo
Trade Cloth, $19.99
ISBN: 0-86719-732-3
ISBN 13: 978-0-86719-732-7
The Strange Tale of Panorama Island follows the twisted path of a failed novelist Hitomi Hirosuke, who bears an uncanny resemblance to a former classmate, the son of a rich industrialist family. Learning of the rich man’s sudden passing, Hitomi fakes his own death, digs up and hides the other man’s body, and then washes himself up starving on a beach near the home of the dead man’s family. After successfully impersonating the now-dead son, Hitomi takes over all aspects of the industrialist’s life, including his company, his fortune, and eventually his wife. The failed author soon redirects the family’s fortune to his own perverse aims. On a remote and mysterious island, he builds for himself a playground of hedonistic excess — replete with waterfalls, grand palaces, and gardens — a backdrop for his decadent feasts, orgies, and dark secrets. Stunning artwork by master manga artist Suehiro Maruo deftly illustrates this Japanese pulp classic in fine detail. Maruo adapted this graphic novel from a novella by the Godfather of Japanese detective fiction, Edogawa Rampo.
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World War II: What Almost Was Pocket Manga
Ted Nomura
Trade Paper, $14.99
ISBN: 0-9843375-3-9
ISBN 13: 978-0-9843375-3-8
Antarctic Press’s ace of altered history, Ted Nomura, returns to weave more tantalizing tales of wars waged in worlds that almost were! The battlefields of World War II are rich enough in actual history, but on the edges of their reality are at least as many tales of what might have been if this person who lived had died (or vice-versa), or if that key invention had seen actual combat instead of dying on the drafting board.
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Tales of the Abyss: Jade’s Secret Memories, Volume 1
Ayumi Kanou
Trade Paper, $10.99
ISBN: 1-60496-300-X
ISBN 13: 978-1-60496-300-7
Tales of the Abyss: Jade’s Secret Memories is a manga side-story of the Tales of the Abyss video game license. The property, a video game RPG much like the Final Fantasy franchise, has spun off dozens of successful sub-properties in Japan and the US over the past two decades. This manga adaptation from the POV of one of the series most popular characters, Jade the Necromancer, is timed for release alongside the US release of the series” anime adaptation.
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Secrecy of the Shivering Night (Yaoi) (furueru yoru no himitsu goto)
Muku Ogura
Trade Paper, $12.95
ISBN: 1-56970-245-4
ISBN 13: 978-1-56970-245-1
When Himi was a small boy, he became terrified of the dark thanks to a trauma suffered during a earthquake. His dorm mate Furuya is afraid of bright lights, so what can they do? Featuring a gentle tale of school romance that is born when two souls reach out to comfort one another.
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Edo Cats: Tails of Old Tokyo
Ryuto Kanzaki, Glenn Kardy
Trade Cloth, $9.99
ISBN: 4-921205-26-4
ISBN 13: 978-4-921205-26-3
Acclaimed manga artist and historian Ryuto Kanzaki takes readers on a whimsical tour of Edo (Old Tokyo) as seen through the eyes of the local cats. Discover the costumes, customs, and color of bygone Japan. Teeming with history and nostalgia, Edo Cats: Tails of Old Tokyo will delight manga fans and feline-lovers alike!
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Storm Flower (Yaoi GN) (hana no arashi wa)
Runa Konjiki (Artist)
Trade Paper, $12.95
ISBN: 1-56970-244-6
ISBN 13: 978-1-56970-244-4
Sagano and Hazime Itirou face off at school and in their private lives, where traditions such as flower arranging and tea ceremony carry heavy responsibilities. With the weight of these things and the accompanying dark emotions, love can only come in a storm..but is it a love that can survive?
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Embrace & Bloom (Hentai GN)
Kuon Michiyoshi
Trade Paper, $17.95
ISBN: 1-934129-52-6
ISBN 13: 978-1-934129-52-4
Shige feels like the luckiest guy in the world. His girl Mayu is short, cute and…uh, “well-endowed.” Shige is obsessed with her “assets,” but it turns out, Mayu wants more than just a quick fondle. Meanwhile, Souta is down in the dumps after his date stands him up at the beach. Good thing he meets Yui who works at the beach Cafe. She’ll do anything to cheer him up! This collection of naughty vignettes from creator Kuon Michiyoshi features just about every fetishist’s far-our fantasy. Waitresses, office girls, college sweethearts, childhood sweethearts, one-night stands, extra-marital affairs, girls with dual personalities, girls with glasses… you name it, it’s in there!!
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Gold Digger Sourcebook Pocket Manga, Volume 1
Fred Perry,Doug Dlin
Trade Paper, $14.95
ISBN: 0-9801255-8-8
ISBN 13: 978-0-9801255-8-0
This is it! The book Gold Digger fans have been clamoring for! Get ready for the ultimate Gold Digger information guide! This indispensable handbook series will tell you exactly who’s who and what’s what in the GD-verse! Get glorious character stats (perfect for role-play gaming!), histories, aliases, allegiances, and more! Volume one gets you started right at the top, bursting with info on everything from Abyssalisks to Dragons, from pilot supreme “Ace” Koss to draconic villain supreme Dreadwing! It’s GD A-to-Z!
For over fifteen years, Fred Perry has brought the world the always-entertaining adventures of super-scientist/archaeologist/adventurer Gina Diggers and her family and friends. In all that time, Gold Digger’s ever-expanding universe has developed an astounding breadth and depth, so as is only appropiate for a book about wild exploration, A.P. set out to provide readers a guidebook to the GD-verse.
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Manga University Presents…My First PC: The Comic, Book That Teaches You about the Internet
Manga University Staff, Yu Shinozaki (Artist)
Trade Paper, $9.99
ISBN: 4-921205-28-0
ISBN 13: 978-4-921205-28-7
Manga University, whose award-winning manga have taught young people how to read and write kanji, cook Japanese food, and understand the history of the samurai, goes high-tech in its latest offering. My First PC, geared toward readers ages 7-13, follows the adventures of three classmates who are assigned to plan a school party. To make things easy, the scientist mother of one of the students suggests they use the family’s home computer to create invitations and promote the party. Their first challenge: discovering what exactly a computer is, what it can do, and how it works. With a wisecracking robot mascot at their side, the three friends soon discover that computers can be a whole lot of fun.
Accompanying the full-page manga panels are standalone pictures and text descriptions of computer parts, what they do, and how they work.
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