Fan Fury Unleashed As Scan Site Pulls 7 Shonen Jump Manga
It's been almost three weeks since the the first issue of Shonen Jump Alpha, the VIZ Media's digital-only manga weekly version of Shonen Jump Magazine made its debut. Many North American readers greeted this new arrival warmly, while some were skeptical, and others were downright hostile. This was pretty much how any new product is greeted in anime / manga fandom. I've yet to see a single launch of a new title or publishing initiative that was met with 100% approval from fans.
But emotions ramped up considerably over the weekend, when scanlation website Mangastream posted an announcement on their site, telling readers that they would be pulling down and discontinuing their translation/posting of seven popular Shonen Jump manga titles, including several featured in Shonen Jump Alpha.
Needless to say, several fans who were used to getting their free 'fix' of the latest chapters of Naruto, Bleach and One Piece from Mangastream were surprised and disappointed. Other fans became downright angry, and unleashed their fury upon the Shonen Jump Alpha comments section, VIZ Media's Facebook page, and Twitter feeds with comments expressing their confusion and frustration.
As I tend to do, I jumped into the fray with a flurry of comments and conversation on Twitter over the past day. But if you're on Twitter, you know that there's a limit to what you can say in 140 characters. So in case you missed all the fun, here's my 'editorial' about the whole Mangastream vs. Shonen Jump Alpha kerfuffle.
NY Times Manga Bestsellers: Fairy Tail, Negima Claim Top Spots
Kodansha Comics enjoys a fourth week dominating the top of the New York Times Graphic Books Manga Bestseller List, with the arrival of the latest volumes of Fairy Tail and Negima! claiming the top spots, and nudging last week's number 1 title, Sailor Moon Volume 3 to the #3 slot.
The other force dominating this week's top 10 is Yen Press, as several of their titles have stuck around since their debut last week, including Durarara!, Pandora Hearts, Black Butler and High School of the Dead.
And what would a NYT Top 10 be with at least one volume of Naruto in it? This week includes two that have been hanging on to their spots in the top of the sales charts as tenaciously as Konoha's favorite boy ninja.
SuBLime Manga Releases First Digital-Only Yaoi Titles
After a few delays and a few technical hiccups, SuBLime Manga released their first four digital-only titles to readers via their website last week. Now boys love manga fans from all over the world (not just North America) can purchase and download the first volumes of Love Pistols by Tarako Kotobuki and Husband, Honeymoon by Haruka Minami, and two one-shots: The Bed of My Dear King by Sakae Kusama and Oku-San's Daily Fantasies by Noboru Takatsuki.
Each volume costs $5.99. Once purchased, SuBLime manga titles be read online at SublimeManga.com, or can be downloaded as a PDF file that can be uploaded and read on tablet computers or e-reader devices, such as the iPad, Kindle or Nook. At this point, these titles will only be available in digital format; the first print/digital SuBLime titles are scheduled for June 2012 release.
NY Times Manga Bestsellers: Sailor Moon, Black Butler Rule Top 10
After debuting at #1 last week, the third volume of Sailor Moon hangs on for a second week at the top of the New York Times Graphic Books Manga Bestseller List. But coming in strong in the #2 slot is perennial NYT Top 10 fave, Black Butler by Yana Toboso.
In fact, this week's chart is dominated by several notable debuts from Yen Press' roster, including the latest volumes of High School of the Dead, Pandora Hearts, Black God and the first volume of Durarara!!, the manga adaptation of the popular anime series about strange events (and even stranger people, including a mysterious biker) living in Tokyo's Ikebukuro ward.
Also new to this week's chart: Arisa Volume 6, Natsumi Ando's shojo suspense series from Kodansha Comics.
Digital-Only Manga Magazine Shonen Jump Alpha Debuts
The day that North American shonen manga fans have been waiting for has arrived: on Monday, January 30, 2012, the first full issue of Shonen Jump Alpha made its debut on VIZManga.com for viewing on the web, or via iOS devices like the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.
At launch time on Monday, it looked like there were a few glitches, but by midday, most of that was cleared up and subscribers and single-issue readers were able to check out Issue 1 for themselves.
As promised, this first issue includes the latest chapters of popular series like Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, Bakuman, Toriko, and Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan only two weeks after they were published in Japan in the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. But there's more than manga in this new digital-only incarnation of Shonen Jump. There's also part 1 of a multi-part exclusive interview with Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, as he discusses his creative process and how he keeps fans coming back for more with every new chapter of his long-running series. Read More...
Dark Horse Digital Adds Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service + 6 More Manga/Manhwa
Now that Dark Horse has added right-to-left reading capabilities to their Dark Horse Digital website and apps for tablets and smart phones running Apple's iOS (iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch) and Google's Android operating system, they're adding more and more titles from their extensive back catalog of manga from Japan and manhwa from Korea to their online offerings.
The latest additions to the Dark Horse Digital line-up? Supernatural horror series (and critic's fave) Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service by Eiji Otsuka and Housui Yamazaki, Mail by Housui Yamazaki and Blood+ by Asuka Katsura. The first volumes of each of these manga series are scheduled to debut on digital.darkhorse.com on Wednesday, January 25, 2012.
UPDATE: The three new manga titles (all licensed from Kadokawa Shoten) have region restrictions. They are only available to read online via digital.darkhorse.com or via Dark Horse's iOS or Android apps to readers in the U.S. (and some U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and Northern Mariana Islands) and Canada. Each volume is available for $5.99 each.
But that's not all. Dark Horse Digital also recently added four action-packed manhwa series from Korea for your online reading enjoyment. They include:
JManga Launches Japanese/English Translation Contest on Facebook
So you say you can speak and read Japanese. Heck, you maybe even do a little manga translating on the side. Now here's your chance to put your nihongo -> eigo skillz to the test with JManga's First Translation Contest on Facebook.
Just download and translate the yon-koma (4-panel) comic strip from Young-kun, a gag manga by Muto Masaya featured on JManga.com. Send in your entry to contest@jmanga.com before February 14, and your entry will be reviewed by pro manga translator William Flanagan (translator for many CLAMP titles, including Tsubasa and Gate 7, A Bride's Story by Kaoru Mori, and much, much more).
The best entry will win bragging rights, and a digital version of Young-kun Volume 1 + 1000 Points to spend on JManga.com. Needless to say you'll need to be a JManga subscriber to enter (because, well, the prize won't do you much good if you live outside North America and can't access JManga.com anyway).
Saturday in L.A.: VIZ Media Hosts Shonen Jump Alpha Launch Party
The countdown has started: It's only a week until the first full issue of Shonen Jump Alpha, the new digital-only weekly edition of Shonen Jump Magazine makes its debut. But if you live in Southern California, you can get a sneak peek of this new manga magazine at the Shonen Jump Alpha Launch Party on Saturday, January 28, 2012 from 2:00 - 5:00 pm at the West Hollywood Library in Los Angeles.
Attendees will get a chance to check out the very first issue, and read the latest chapters of Bleach, Naruto, Bakuman, Toriko, Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan and One Piece only two weeks after they've been published in Japan, and days before the rest of the world gets to check it out. Shonen Jump fans will get to preview SJA on iPads that the Shonen Jump crew will have available at the party. You'll also get a chance to meet Shonen Jump editors and VIZ Media staff, hang out with Naruto and Kon from Bleach, munch on Japanese snacks from Ezaki Glico, get a chance to win lots of cool prizes, and go home with a gift bag too (while supplies last).
Think you have to get tickets or write an essay to get into this party? Guess again! It's free and open to the public! All you gotta do is show up at the West Hollywood Public Library at 625 San Vicente Boulevard in West Hollywood this Saturday and head to the Community Room. Need directions? The County of Los Angeles Public Libraries website has maps and more to help you get there to be a part of this shonen manga bash.
This Week's Online Manga Deals from Dark Horse, VIZ and JManga
If 2011 was the year that North American publishers got on board with online/digital manga in a big way, 2012 is looking to be the year that publishers want you to get on board with the program too. To nudge you in that direction, VIZ Media wants to give you some free manga to read just for downloading their apps for iPad / iPhone / iPod Touch. Meanwhile, Dark Horse Digital wants to make you a killer deal on a bundle of Lone Wolf and Cub manga for your iPad/iPhone/Android device or computer. To celebrate the Year of the Dragon, JManga is giving new subscribers a gift of bonus points to get even more manga to read online.
DOWNLOAD THE VIZ APP, GET A FREE MANGA VOLUME
First up, VIZ Media wants to tempt North American readers to give their iOS manga reader apps a try on your iPads, iPhones or iPod Touch devices. Just go to http://www.viz.com/apps before January 30, 2012, download the app of your choice and sign up for VIZManga.com. You'll get a confirmation code in your welcome email that you can use to redeem for any volume 1 of any of the popular shojo, shonen and seinen manga titles available on VIZManga.com.
So you say you've got an iPad, an iPhone and a computer too? You'll be able to read your manga on any of these devices with a single log-in. Sorry, VIZ doesn't have a standalone Android app yet, but they will be offering titles for the Barnes & Noble Nook very soon. Read More...
Manga Chatter on This Week's The Live Show on Crunchyroll.com
Over the past year, I've been invited to chat on a few podcasts and convention panels -- but this weekend was the first time I was invited to be a guest on a live TV show (ok, broadcast on the Internetz) to talk about manga. This was all thanks to the nice folks at The Live Show, a regular feature on anime website Crunchyroll.com.
Most of the time, fans visit Crunchyroll.com to check out the latest episodes of anime from Japan, and drama shows from Korea. The Live Show is a weekly news show about anime, manga, cosplay and J-Pop culture that films live on Fridays at 5:30 pm PT from the Crunchyroll studios in San Francisco with show host Keith Kawamura, Patrick Macias (editor in chief of Otaku USA Magazine) and cosplayer deluxe and reporter-on-the-go Victoria Holden. The live format of the show means that fans can tune in an ask questions to get 'em answered live by the hosts and guests of the show. Read More...