Manliness (or at least the word "man/men") is the common theme for the three volumes debuting in this week's New York Times Graphic Books Bestseller List, as the latest volumes of Bakuman, D.Gray-Man and Otomen enter the top 10.
The second volume of Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata's shonen manga tale of two boys striving for a career in manga has been criticized for being sexist, or at least portraying manga-making as a manly pursuit. Meanwhile, Otomen by Aya Kanno is a shojo manga farce that tweaks its nose at male/female gender roles with a sensitive, hunky hero who has a secret love for sewing, cooking and cutesy things. This kind of diversity is what makes manga fun. (See my mini-reviews of both books.)
Meanwhile, on the other side of the graphic books chart, mostly manly fare dominates as Superman, zombies, sci-fi and vampire tales fill the hardcover and softcover top 10, while all six of Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim books continue to camp out in the softcover list. P.S. The DVD edition of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is out this week, a geektastically funny movie that's well worth adding to your collection.
Here's the rest of the New York Times Graphic Books Manga Top 10 for the week ending November 6, 2010.
| This Week | Last Week | Weeks on List | Title | Author/Artist | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 ↑ | 5 wks | Naruto Volume 49 | Masashi Kishimoto | Shonen Jump / VIZ Media |
| 2 | 3 ↑ | 2 wks | Black Butler Vol. 3 | Yana Toboso | Yen Press |
| 3 | 1 ↓ | 2 wks | Negima! Vol. 28 | Ken Akamatsu | Del Rey Manga |
| 4 | NEW | 1 wk | Bakuman Vol. 2 | Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata | Shonen Jump / VIZ Media |
| 5 | NEW | 1 wk | D.Gray-Man Vol. 19 | Katsura Hoshino | Shonen Jump Advanced / VIZ Media |
| 6 | 4 ↓ | 2 wks | Soul Eater Vol. 4 | Atsushi Ohkubo | Yen Press |
| 7 | 9 ↑ | 5 wk | Black Bird Vol. 6 | Kanoko Sakurakoji | Shojo Beat / VIZ Media |
| 8 | 5 ↓ | 2 wk | xxxHolic Vol. 16 | CLAMP | Del Rey Manga |
| 9 | 7 ↓ | 7 wk | Hetalia: Axis Powers Vol. 1 | Hidekaz Himaruya | TOKYOPOP |
| 10 | NEW | 1 wk | Otomen Vol. 8 | Aya Kanno | Shojo Beat / VIZ Media |
NOTE: "RET" means that a title has returned to the Top 10 after an absence of a week or more. Weeks on the chart are counted as weeks on the Top 10.
Image credits: © 2008 by Tsugumi Ohba, Takeshi Obata/SHUEISHA Inc.
Comments
Kishimoto is ballin’
Although Naruto destroyed itself very early on in the series. Oh well.