Manga News: Naruto Tops The Best-Seller List, Tokyopop Ships New Titles

by Brigid Alverson
Reposted from MTV Geek [link]

It was a fairly quiet week in the world of manga, with a handful of new releases from Digital, Seven Seas, and Viz to keep us from getting bored. Viz also announced the addition of six new series to its iPad app, including the relatively new Cross Game, the critically acclaimed Children of the Sea, and the classic shoujo manga Backstage Prince.

Here's a bit of a surprise: Although Tokyopop closed its doors on May 31, it looks like comics retailers will receive a shipment of Tokyopop manga next week. This batch includes the final volume of Hanako and the Terror of Allegory, new volumes of Deadman Wonderland, Fate/Stay Night, and Happy Cafe, and first volumes of two new (but sadly doomed) series, Ghostface and Maid Shokun.

This week's New York Times manga best-seller list is up, and it's a Viz-fest, with nine titles from Viz and just one from Yen Press. Topping the list is vol. 51 of Naruto, followed by vol. 12 of Vampire Knight and vol. 35 of Bleach, showing that the older series still have staying power.

At Anime Next, Vertical marketing director Ed Chavez confirmed that Vertical will publish an omnibus edition of Osamu Tezuka's Dororo, which they had previously published as three separate volumes.

Vampire Hunter D is now available in every imaginable digital form—for the Kindle and Nook, as an iPad app, via comiXology's Comics app, and on Digital's own eManga website. Lori Henderson took a look at the variation in price between the different channels and drew some interesting conclusions.

News from Japan: CLAMP announced that they will bring their manga Kobato to an end next month. The series is published in the U.S. by Yen Press. Arina Tanemura (The Gentlemen's Alliance +, Full Moon O Sagashite) is starting a new series featuring the idol group Fudanjuku. And Japanese pop culture expert Roland Kelts contrasts American enthusiasm with Japanese ennui in a gloomy column for the Daily Yomiuri.

Blast from the past: Every week, Jason Thompson looks at an old or classic manga in his House of 1000 Manga column at Anime News Network. This week he turns his steely gaze on the ultimate Manga of Feminist Shame, Hot Gimmick.

Join the Conversation: There's a lively discussion about manga genres going on over at Kate Dacey's blog, The Manga Critic. Kate is launching a Manga for Newcomers project that will recommend manga from different genres—ten sci-fi manga, say—so that sci-fi fans can go straight to what they like. Her first task, of course, is to narrow down the list of genres, and her readers are helping her do just that in the comments section.

Who's reading what? Check out Tim Maughan on 7 Billion Needles, Sean Gaffney on vol. 57 of One Piece, and Michelle Smith on vols. 1 and 2 of Twinkle Stars, by Fruits Basket creator Natsuki Takaya.