The first volume of Matsuri Hino’s Vampire Knight was released in January, 2007. By the end of 2007 only three volumes were out— but the series made it to ICv2’s top manga properties for 2007. It was #7 on the list, beating out heavy hitters like Fullmetal Alchemist and Loveless. Now the manga has an anime adaptation starting in April in Japan, which is only likely to increase the franchise’s popularity.
The series follows a young girl named Yuki Cross, who attends the Cross Academy. She is one of the school guardians, who ensures that the Day Class and the Night Class don’t have any troublesome interactions. See, Yuki knows the school’s biggest secret: the Night Class consists entirely of vampires. Yuki herself is the victim of a vampire, her parents having been killed by them many years before. Now she fights for peace between the two races…even if she has to fight against the other school guardian, the vampire hunter Zero Kiryu.
Takeshi Obata is an odd member of this list: the only one who has never written a hit manga (in fact, he’s only written one manga, period). And yet, he’s also one of the most well-known and well-loved creators in my 10some. Why? Because he is the artist behind the phenomenal hit Death Note, as well as the popular board game shounen series Hikaru no Go and the upcoming shounen action series Blue Dragon, based on a popular game.
Obata is a rare sort of shounen artist: his style is very heavy on the details, whether on facial expressions, in backgrounds, or on clothing. His drawings are also more fashion-conscious than your average Naruto issue, often featuring recent trends in clothing and accessories.
But whether the art is for a go tournament in Hikaru or a shinigami consulting with a human in Death Note, Obata’s art is always extraordinarily attractive and, to put it simply, just plain cool.
This twosome has long been a hit amongst hardcore anime fans for their cult series Rozen Maiden, about a collection of living dolls that have to fight to become “Alice.” The series has proven to be extremely viral, and its characters are arguably more popular than the actual series itself.
Unfortunately for Rozen Maiden fans, a dispute between Peach-Pit and the editors at Rozen Maiden‘s magazine, Monthly Comic Birz, led to the series getting a sudden an anticlimactic ending. Fans hope that the dynamic duo will continue the series elsewhere, but there is no news.
You may not have heard of Tachibana Higuchi or her manga Gakuen Alice just yet, but TOKYOPOP is guaranteeing that you will. They’re positioning it to be the new shoujo hit, to replace the uber-popular Fruits Basket when it ends in 2009.
The series features Mikan, a young girl whose best friend, the uber-intelligent Hotaru, leaves town to go to an exclusive school. Mikan, desolate without her friend, runs away to attend the same school: Gakuen Alice. At the school, she learns that “Alice” isn’t just a name, it’s a magic power— one that every student at Gakuen Alice has, but its form varies with each student.
Gakuen Alice isn’t Higuchi’s first manga, but it’s her first to be released in English, and is being positioned to be a big hit in the U.S. if TOKYOPOP gets its way. With fun characterizations, an interesting plot surrounding a mysterious school and its student bodies, and Higuchi’s cute art, the odds are certainly in its favor.
Gia Manry is a Portland, OR-based professional writer specializing in pop culture/entertainment writing. Read up on more of her work at giapet.net or hire her at GiaManry.com.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 26, 2008 in Comic Books
Illustrated by Sam Weber, the above cover for House of Mystery #2 looks fantastic — the wonderful sense of surrealism is something that one doesn’t typically associate with a comic book cover. I love Weber’s draftsmanship and muted (yet dramatic) sense of color which reminds me of a cross between a Maurice Sendak book cover and a Peter Paul Rubens painting. House of Mystery #2 will hit the streets on June 4th, and will be published by DC Comics.
Kishimoto has only two manga to his credit to date: his debut, a Shonen Jump contest winner called Karakuri, and a little manga about a ninja named Naruto. What, you’ve heard of it?
Jokes aside, Naruto has become the biggest seller in U.S. anime and manga history. VIZ has been releasing both the manga and anime, and the anime has also been a big hit on Cartoon Network. The series, which follows a young Naruto as he grows up and learns about being a ninja— and faces his greatest fears, foes, and friends.
Like its spiritual sibling Bleach, Naruto features a large cast of popular characters all across the “good”/”bad” spectrum, and the titular Naruto himself— who is also the containment vessel for a fox demon —isn’t always a good guy.
Coharu Sakuraba is not one of the more well-known mangaka in the U.S., for the simple reason that none of his works has been licensed for release here. Two of them have been adapted into anime, though, which has provided Sakuraba with something of a cult following among fans around the world.
The first of those series is based on Kyou no Go no Ni (“Today in Class 5-2”), which follows a group of fifth graders and their adventures at school as they sit on the cusp of becoming teenagers. In keeping with their age, the stories often feature some level of sexual interest, combined with naivety as the kids have no actual experience. The slightly pervy tone is probably what prevents the manga from making it over to the U.S., although the series is well-liked for its goofy humor and occasional slapstick.
No name is more revered in the shoujo scene these days than that of Ai Yazawa, creator of the immense crossover hit Nana. The series features two girls, both named Nana, who meet on a train to Tokyo, where they’re both moving. They run into each other again while apartment-hunting and decide to live together. The two are complete opposites in personality; Nana Osaki is a punk rock singer with a less-than-pleasant past, while Nana Komatsu is a cheerful klutz with no particular life plan.
But Nana isn’t Yazawa’s first hit, or her last. Paradise Kiss, the tale of a high schooler Yukari who chugs along at school as her parents tell her, until the day she is “kidnapped” by Paradise Kiss, a group of fashion designers who want her to model for them. She does so, and finds her life turned upside-down as she learns about life, love, and fashion.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 23, 2008 in Comic Books
Searching for some Easter inspiration I discovered the tale (or tail?) of Hoppy the Marvel Bunny:
“Hoppy is a pink bunny rabbit who lives in the town of Funny Animalville, along with an assortment of other funny animal characters. As revealed in the origin story from Fawcett’s Funny Animals #1, Hoppy is a fan of Captain Marvel. One day he decides to emulate his hero and speaks the magic word “Shazam!” Surprisingly, the magic word transforms Hoppy into Captain Marvel Bunny.”
Hoppy debuted in December 1942 and had a limited run until 1953, but has been spotted in various DC Comics over the years since then. Shazam!
You may have heard of a little manga called Bleach, about a high school guy and a few shinigami (death gods) that fight various evil-doers. Sound familiar? It’s only one of the biggest anime and manga hits in recent years.
Creator Tite Kubo is actually the son of a town council member in Hiroshima. His intense art style earned him an editor’s attention when he entered a manga contest, and although he didn’t win, he was able to do a few short stories. He got his big break with Zombie Powder, an action series that was serialized in Weekly Shounen Jump for a year before it was discontinued.
Arina Tanemura is a shoujo manga superstar, with hit series such as Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne and Full Moon wo Sagashite under her belt. Her current ongoing series is Gentleman’s Alliance†, which is being released in English by VIZ.
Tanemura’s debut work was a 1997 series called I-O-N, about a girl named Ion Tsubaragi who develops psychic powers. After that she charged ahead with a collection of shorts called Firecracker is Melancholy, and dove into her first big hit: Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, a magical girl series about a high school girl who transforms to fight demons. Jeanne was followed up by the shorter Time Stranger Kyoko, which is a slightly sci-fi magical girl series set in the 30th century.
And finally comes Full Moon wo Sagashite (published by VIZ as Full Moon), featuring a 12-year-old girl named Mitsuki who wishes to be a pop idol but who has a throat cancer that can only be cured by removing her vocal chords— and a grandmother who is opposed to the idea of her granddaughter auditioning. When Mitsuki overhears two shinigami (death gods) talking about how she has only a year left to live, and she runs away to audition. The shinigami catch up with her and offer her a deal: if she promises to go quietly when her time comes, they will give her the ability to turn into a healthy 16-year-old so that she can audition.
He first made waves in the U.S. with his series Master Keaton, whose anime adaptation was released in English by Pioneer/Geneon in 2003. But Naoki Urasawa’s best-known works these days are the Fugitive-esque drama Monster and the extremely popular and still-running 20th Century Boys.
In Monster, Kenzo Tenma is a Japanese doctor living in Germany when he makes the decision to operate on a young boy who arrived at the hospital first instead of a prominent politician who arrived later, displeasing his superiors. Shortly thereafter, his superiors— and the boy, along with his twin sister —all disappear. Nine years later, he runs into the boy, Johan, again, now a man and a mass murderer. When Tenma becomes the suspect for Johan’s crimes, the doctor takes matters into his own hands. He saved the monster; he will put him away. The series is widely acclaimed for its slow yet intense pacing, thrilling and suspenseful action, and particularly its phenomenal characterizations. No character is thrown away; each has his or her own back story, and there are many of them.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 19, 2008 in Comic Books
“Stop right there. I have here the only working phaser ever built. It was fired only once, to keep William Shatner from making another album!” If you identify with Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons, you’ll love this site!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 15, 2008 in Comic Books
Shown above is Drawing Superheroes which features well known comic book artists in action at their studio. Part one features John Romita and Joe Kubert, while part two (below) has John Buscema and Bill Sienkiewicz:
Posted by Guest Author on Mar 9, 2008 in Comic Books
Most people know about anime and manga, but a new wave of Japanese popular culture is just starting to hit the United States: the light novel. The light novel (literally “raito noberu” or “ranobe” for short) is similar to a young adult novel in the United States, but it also has a little twist: manga-style illustrations are littered throughout the books. So now that you know what light novels are, here’s one of our Ten Light Novels That You Need To Know:
Japan has a long tradition of beings known as Shinigami, literally Death Gods, whose job is to lead the deceased to the world of the dead. In Shinigami no Ballad, one such death god is a young girl with white hair named Momo, who performs her task with her companion, a cat named Daniel.
Momo is a rather unusual Shinigami: unlike her compatriots, she feels sorrow for humans and will actively intervene when possible to ease the suffering she sees around her. Each chapter of Shinigami no Ballad is a self-contained story in which Momo and Daniel attempt to help a human with a problem.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 9, 2008 in Comic Books
Shown above is a fan music video based on the 1978 Toei Spiderman TV series from Japan — unlike the dull American Spiderman the Japanese web slinging hero got to tangle with nasty space aliens. And you can also tell that he was a better dancer too…
Posted by Guest Author on Mar 8, 2008 in Comic Books
Most people know about anime and manga, but a new wave of Japanese popular culture is just starting to hit the United States: the light novel. The light novel (literally “raito noberu” or “ranobe” for short) is similar to a young adult novel in the United States, but it also has a little twist: manga-style illustrations are littered throughout the books. So now that you know what light novels are, here’s one of our Ten Light Novels That You Need To Know:
Kino is a young, ambiguously female traveler accompanied by a talking motorcycle named Hermes. They travel to different countries and learn about the cultures, never staying in any location for more than 2 nights and 3 days before moving on somewhere else.
This is a tradition that the protagonist has stolen from another person named Kino: a man who sacrificed his life to save her. Kino continues the man’s tradition, then, and wanders. The series is a slice-of-life, lacking an overarching plot in favor of vignettes that express the commonly repeated phrase that “the world is not beautiful, therefore it is.”
Posted by Guest Author on Mar 7, 2008 in Comic Books
Most people know about anime and manga, but a new wave of Japanese popular culture is just starting to hit the United States: the light novel. The light novel (literally “raito noberu” or “ranobe” for short) is similar to a young adult novel in the United States, but it also has a little twist: manga-style illustrations are littered throughout the books. So now that you know what light novels are, here’s one of our Ten Light Novels That You Need To Know:
Forget the FBI, CIA, Interpol, or any other organization you can think of: the real power in R.O.D. is the British Library. Set in an alternate world where England is still the world’s primary superpower and its external intelligence agency works out of its library, and each agent is a superhuman with a unique ability.
Posted by Guest Author on Mar 6, 2008 in Comic Books
Most people know about anime and manga, but a new wave of Japanese popular culture is just starting to hit the United States: the light novel. The light novel (literally “raito noberu” or “ranobe” for short) is similar to a young adult novel in the United States, but it also has a little twist: manga-style illustrations are littered throughout the books. So now that you know what light novels are, here’s one of our Ten Light Novels That You Need To Know:
If there’s any series that can hold a candle to Haruhi in popularity, the lengthy popularity of the Slayers franchise might be it. The series is a parody of Dungeons and Dragons-style fantasy, featuring a diminutive and incredibly powerful sorceress named Lina Inverse.
Lina is an adventurer and treasure hunter who travels with the very strong but rather stupid swordsman Gourry. Other occasional partners-in-crime are the quixotic Amelia, a Princess of Seyruun who will do anything in the name of justice, even if it isn’t very just, and Zelgadis, a chimera— part rock golem, drow demon, and human —who is traveling to find a way to restore his normal human self. He also likes to think of himself as a mysterious stoic, but his flairs for drama are usually destroyed by his companions’ wry observations. Finally, a trickster demon-priest named Xellos occasionally helps or hinders Lina and her team.
Posted by Guest Author on Mar 5, 2008 in Comic Books
Most people know about anime and manga, but a new wave of Japanese popular culture is just starting to hit the United States: the light novel. The light novel (literally “raito noberu” or “ranobe” for short) is similar to a young adult novel in the United States, but it also has a little twist: manga-style illustrations are littered throughout the books. So now that you know what light novels are, here’s one of our Ten Light Novels That You Need To Know:
Many light novels are geared towards guys, featuring an average guy surrounded by cute, fun girls. But Kyou Kara Maou! is a title for the ladies, with a host of attractive men in a fantasy setting. On top of that, the series is largely a comedy and pokes fun at any number of boys love clichés, leading the series to widespread popularity.
Yuuri Shibuya is an average high school guy who, when trying to help an old friend deal with some bullies, gets flushed down a toilet. The weird thing here, though, is that he actually DOES get flushed down the toilet— and into another world. In this new world he is declared king, to his surprise, and is immediately taken to a castle.
It turns out that the world he’s appeared in is called Shin Makoku, and its residents are beings called Mazoku— demons, but humanoid ones, and they have some PR problems with the humans that reside outside of the kingdom. Yuuri himself is half-human, half-mazoku, so as king he has to figure out how to get everyone to get along.
Posted by Guest Author on Mar 4, 2008 in Comic Books
Most people know about anime and manga, but a new wave of Japanese popular culture is just starting to hit the United States: the light novel. The light novel (literally “raito noberu” or “ranobe” for short) is similar to a young adult novel in the United States, but it also has a little twist: manga-style illustrations are littered throughout the books. So now that you know what light novels are, here’s one of our Ten Light Novels That You Need To Know:
Mai Taniyama is a normal high school student who likes telling ghost stories with her friends. One day she stays late with friends at school to do just that, only to have a stranger appear: he introduces himself as Kazuya Shibuya, and claims to be an upperclassman transfer to their school.
He is, in fact, no such thing. It turns out that in spite of being so young, he is actually the president of the Shibuya Psychic Research company— a paranormal investigator. Mai finds this out the hard way, though. Apparently he and his assistant Lin have been hired to investigate some odd occurrences at an old school building on her campus, and she manages to stumble upon them…and stumble onto (and break) their camera.
Posted by Guest Author on Mar 3, 2008 in Comic Books
Most people know about anime and manga, but a new wave of Japanese popular culture is just starting to hit the United States: the light novel. The light novel (literally “raito noberu” or “ranobe” for short) is similar to a young adult novel in the United States, but it also has a little twist: manga-style illustrations are littered throughout the books. So now that you know what light novels are, here’s one of our Ten Light Novels That You Need To Know:
Craft Lawrence is a traveling merchant in a world that vaguely resembles a pre-Renaissance-era Europe. He hopes one day to earn enough money to create his own shop and settle down somewhere, but hits a snag in a town called Pasroe. On his way out of the town he finds a young girl sleeping in his cart— odd enough in and of itself, but then he notices that she has wolf-like ears and a tail.
She introduces herself as a wolf god, Horo the Wise. She has been acting as a local deity for the town, blessing it with good harvests as often as the land will allow. Unfortunately the townspeople have ceased to show much respect to her, and are increasingly under pressure to join the church (an unspecified but overpowering organization).
Posted by Guest Author on Mar 2, 2008 in Comic Books
Most people know about anime and manga, but a new wave of Japanese popular culture is just starting to hit the United States: the light novel. The light novel (literally “raito noberu” or “ranobe” for short) is similar to a young adult novel in the United States, but it also has a little twist: manga-style illustrations are littered throughout the books. So now that you know what light novels are, here’s one of our Ten Light Novels That You Need To Know:
Imagine that one day, you’re walking home from school, when suddenly the world around you stops. As you watch in horror, the people around you don’t move while they are burned with a strange blue flame. Then a strange monster comes and starts to eat the flames, only to be slaughtered mercilessly by a young girl with flaming red hair and a sword.
Posted by Guest Author on Mar 1, 2008 in Comic Books
Most people know about anime and manga, but a new wave of Japanese popular culture is just starting to hit the United States: the light novel. The light novel (literally “raito noberu” or “ranobe” for short) is similar to a young adult novel in the United States, but it also has a little twist: manga-style illustrations are littered throughout the books. So now that you know what light novels are, here’s one of our Ten Light Novels That You Need To Know:
Everyone loves a good fantasy story, especially when it adds in a lot of comedy and romance. Such is Zero no Tsukaima, which takes place in an alternate universe at the Tristain Academy of Magic.
Don’t write the series off as a Harry Potter rip-off just yet! Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière is a second-year student with the nickname “Zero”— because that’s her approximate success rate in casting spells. Second-year students are made to cast a spell that summons their familiars, but while everyone else summons cats, dragons, and other creatures, she somehow summons a boy from our very own Japan— Saito Hiraga.
