Del Rey Manga News

Good afternoon Anime Vice! And for some of you, good night or good evening or good morning. It's Manga Monday and that's exactly what today's Dunce Cap is about. Armed with another 5 volumes, I'll take take you on an exciting journey of imagination. The volumes themselves are: Bakuman Vol. 2-4 by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata ( Viz Media), Claymore Vol. 2 by Norihiro Yagi (Viz Media), and Fairy Tail Vol. 2 by Hiro Mashima ( Del Rey)! Watch, learn, enjoy!

WARNING! This video contains explicit language. Also, this video is not edited in any way.

     

Please feel free to provide suggestions for an anime or manga for me to talk about and I will do my best to oblige. Also, if you are curious about anything discussed in this-or previous-episode(s) don't hesitate to ask me for more information/opinions.

Last episode: Sea Creatures and Zombie Don't Need Liquor!

-Will McQuigg ( sotyfan16) is your everyday anime/manga enthusiast. You can also find him on Twitter ( bildo_88).

Good day Anime Vice! I have lots of manga lying around to cover for this segment and this week will cover just that (and some manhwa)! In this episode of "Dunce Cap" I have Ninja Girls Vol. 1 by Hosana Tanaka ( Del Rey), Ghost Talker's Daydream Vol. 1 by Okuse Saki and Meguro Sankichi (Dark Horse), Fairy Tail Vol. 1 by Hiro Mashima (Del Rey), Jack Frost Vol. 1 by Jinho Ko ( Yen Press), and Laon Vol. 1 by YoungBin Kim and Hyun You (Yen Press). Enjoy!
 
 WARNING! This video contains explicit language. Also, this video is not edited in any way.

     

Please feel free to provide suggestions for an anime or manga for me to talk about and I will do my best to oblige.

Last episode: I Wish I Could Strip Elves

-Will McQuigg ( sotyfan16) is your everyday anime/manga enthusiast. You can also find him on Twitter ( bildo_88).

How are you doing Anime Vice?! Hope those of you stuck in the snow like me were able to enjoy your time. It's Friday so that means we want to end the week on a positive. No better way to do that than to talk about some manga! In this edition of "Dunce Cap" we tackle Negima! vol. 1 by Ken Akamatsu (Del Rey), Rosario + Vampire vol. 1 by Akihisa Ikeda (Viz Media), Cat Paradise vol. 1 by Yuji Iwahara (Yen Press), and then a surprise! 

WARNING!

This video contains explicit language. Also, this video is not edited in any way. 

  

  

    

In addition, check out a blog I did a while back where Felipe Smith provides some advice to those wanted to write/draw manga here.

Please feel free to provide suggestions for an anime or manga for us to talk about and we will do our best to oblige. 

Last edition: Dunce Cap: FUNimation Likes Dangerous Ninja

-Will McQuigg (sotyfan16) is your everyday anime/manga enthusiast. You can also find him on Twitter (bildo_88).

Well, it's been a hectic 12 hours since Anime Vice when all Hellen Keller. No could write much of anything. I was even right in the middle of working on this week's Anime Vice Japanese Lesson. While that's still coming, I wanted to share with you some of the latest purchases I made in the world of manga and anime today.
 
Back when I first reported on Anime Vice that Yen Press would start releasing Highschool of the Dead to the US. I was really excited. I wanted to start covering that and I looked forward to the release for Jan. 25 since I first heard that date last month. I waited all month and held off using any of my holiday gift cards. I drove to my local Borders only to find that Borders will not be carrying Highschool of the Dead in store. You can only purchase it online. Now, that is irony. I held off pre-ordering, because I wanted to get it on it's release date, in place of waiting a week or so for delivery. I really wanted to write a review of Volume 1 and submit it as an article for Anime Vice. Saying I was disappointed would be an understatement.
 
I did order Highschool of the Dead online, but through Amazon. Borders.com wanted $13 for this. I got it on Amazon for $8.26, and yet Borders still wonders why they can't compete. Once you have removed the convenience factor of having the product same day. They're pretty well screwed. While I was at it, I also pre-ordered Summer Wars on blu-ray, which if you been following the Oscar buzz was denied a nomination. Good news, I'm getting two things I wanted. Bad News, to get the free shipping. I will have to wait until February to get that Highschool of the Dead volume with my Summer Wars.
 
I did use my roughly $90 worth of gift cards today, anyways. Borders was having a special of Buy 4 Manga and Get 5th Free. I really couldn't pass up on that kind of deal. So, here's what I got.
I know some of you are probably going to be pretty shocked about what you might see here. The selection is a bit random. I tend to buy volumes that have scenes I really enjoy and fill in from there.

FoxxFireArt's Pull List

• Fairy Tail Vol. 5
• Fairy Tail Vol. 12
• Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 10
• Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 17
• Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 21
• The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan Vol. 1
• One Piece Vol. 46
• One Piece Vol. 53
• Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei Vol. 2
• Soul Eater Vol. 4

 
That's right, mixed in with the Del Rey and Yen Press books are VIZ Media mangas. I've been considering for a long time relaxing my boycott of VIZ manga. Just seemed as every time I started to soften. Someone would make an absolutely ignorant comment to make excises for censorship. New Flash, people. There is no excuse for censorship of books. Censorship has never improved anything. The ball started rolling with just how great Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood way. I recently finished the anime and was very impressed.
Just don't get the false impression that means I'm not going to keep commenting against VIZ Media any changes I get. Nor am I going to stopped using scanlations for VIZ series. Here's the funny thing. Since it was a "Buy 4 and Get the 5th Free" deal. I technically paid more money to Del Rey and Yen Press. I didn't pay anything for those two volumes of One Piece.

It was hard to select which Fullmetal Alchemists to get. I kind of went with a theme. One is Riza Hawkeye, Olivier Milla Armstrong, and Lan Fan.

I plan to read and review all of these volume for Anime Vice. I've currently written 64 reviews on Anime Vice and I have a have a 96% recommendation rate on my reviews. No one on Animce Vice as written as many reviews, and I'm not even staff. You can see complete list of all my reviews HERE
 
I kind of wish I could be a staff writer for the site. I could afford to then buy more manga and anime and write even more reviews. I am a little green in the eyes how Tom Pinchuk was sent a big batch of anime DVDs by FUNimation. Still, I'm happy for him, too
 
So, that was my day. How was your's?

-Kristoffer Remmell ( FoxxFireArt) is a freelance graphic artist, writer, and over all mystery geek.- Follow for news updates: @ animevice / @ FoxxFireArt

Why Does VIZ Insist on Removing Japan from Manga?

 
Recently, I've been trying to fill out as much information as I can about the series One Piece on AnimeVice. I've filled in information from episodes 1-132, creating profiles and filling them out. I'm only doing the animes and I wont even touch the manga section. Why? It's because VIZ publishes One Piece in the US. I know some of my blogs have been posted on the front page of this site, but this is my own opinion on VIZ and doesn't reflect the thoughts and opinions of the staff of AnimeVice.

In my search on some information I was browsing one one of the other manga/anime message board sites I frequented before I discovered AnimeVice. I was trying to gather some information about One Piece so I could add to this site. I had commented on how One Piece's release were anemic when compared to series like Naruto, also published by VIZ. A person replied with a link to the official One Piece VIZ website. On the front page it advertises that at the beginning of 2010 VIZ will be releasing five volumes of One Piece per month up to June and Volume 53.
 
This is superb news if you are a One Piece fan. Though I wonder if VIZ is even a good company for manga. This company is notorious for altering popular Japanese series dramatically. Not just the names, but the art work as well. Years back they had to republish the Dragon Ball series, because of fan pressure. VIZ had altered the artwork in the manga and the fans weren't happy. A petition was made and they changed the art back to what it should be.
 
I have seen myself that they have altered the art work in Naruto. Mostly when it came to any scene of nudity. Though the worst alteration VIZ has done with Naruto is rename all senseis with the title of "master"(i.e. Kakashi-sensei is changed to Master Kakashi). Do they think American readers are somehow too idiotic to understand the word "sensei". This alteration wasn't made for the dub of the anime and both and produced by VIZ. That makes the concept even more confusing that there anime and mangas aren't even aligned.
 
The dubs have altered scenes done on the original airing, removing most of the Tsunade breast jokes. Though in their defense they do release Director Cut versions of the animes. I haven't had the chance to see them myself, but I would imagine they would have less editing. Given the name Director Cut. Sadly, there are no options for Directors Cuts when it comes to manga.
 
The worst and most dramatic changes VIZ has ever made is to the series Detective Conan, another in the line of Shonen Jump series. The complete title was altered to Case Closed. In this series every reoccurring character's name is altered, save for Conan Edogawa; thought they change his real name of Shinichi to Jimmy. The villains in the series originally were all named after types of liquors, though I had scene that for the US VIZ altered the names to biblical characters. For some reason the name of Gin was replaced with Melkior. Yes, I'm sure the US audience will be much more familiar with the name of Melkior over Gin. They call the kids group "The Junior Detective League" though the badges the kids wear literally say "Detective Boys". You could argue that they did this alteration out of some act of political correctness, but that seems like a cop out. In the Japanese publication they say "shonentantei". While this does mean Detective Boys or Boy Detectives when translated. It can also mean Detective Kids. Why go through the trouble of creating a name like Junior Detective League when Detective Kids would work and be far closer to the actual intent of the source material? It's as if they went out of there way to use a name that was as far off the mark as possible.

You might not understand if you aren't a regular Detective Conan reader. So allow me to put this in perspective for you. Imagine if when VIZ published Naruto they changed the names of Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke into Nate, Sarah, and Steve, or in Bleach Ichigo and Inoue were altered to Charlie and Irene. How would you feel about that? Detective Conan is a series that takes place in real life Japan. Though you wouldn't know it from reading the VIZ version.

There is also the poor translations of the series. I tried to stomach the altered Japanese names. I bought a few of the US Detective Conan volumes, but repeatedly I saw translations errors. What does that say when people who do tanslations for free on the internet do a far better job then people a company pays. In Volume 15 the art shows Conan finding a rather odd hair on the victim's neck. This was the proof that the victim had been strangled to death by a wig. Yet later the translation says Conan found it on the victim's finger. The translator most likely mistook "kubi" meaning neck for "yubi" meaning finger. The kanjis look nothing alike and a paid translator should know better. Especially when the artwork shows Conan removing the hair from the neck. I find it ironic that in a series where little details are the most important, such as murder mysteries, VIZ makes it's most drastic changes. Some may think this is a silly issue, but in series like murder mysteries. Where the evidence is found is very important. Little details can mean a lot. Part of the fun in reading the series is trying to guess the criminal.

This company has shown dramatic disdain for Japanese culture throughout the years. Often removing as much of the culture as possible in their publications. When they could be used to help educate the reader. It's odd when their publication of Neon Genesis Evangelion has kept the Japanese honorifics, such as Misato referring to Shinji as Shin-chan; and keeping the original Japanese sound effects, explaining them in the back of each volume.  When a company does these alterations they basically cast aside what would be there strongest built in audience for people who probably would never even pick up a manga in the first place. It treats the American audience like idiots who can't understand simple things like honorifics and words like sensei. It's no wonder so many people would rather go to online translation websites rather then buy the mangas in the US. It's the only place we can find translations that stick to the real story.
 
On a personal level, I would never recommend VIZ mangas to anyone. After the complete butchering of my favorite series I boycott all VIZ mangas. It's irritating, because I really enjoy many of the series they publish and I would love to support them. In these times I am not going to waste my money on an inferior product. Not when there are companies out there that treat manga with respect. Such as DEL REY, TokyoPop, and ADV Manga. DEL REY is one of the best I have seen. Their publications of Negima! and Fair Tail are great. At the beginning of each volume it has an explanation of the Japanese honorifics and in the back they explain issues from the volume that might not be clear. ADV Manga's publication of Azumanga Daioh also included these notes in the back of the volumes.

For One Piece VIZ doesn't do many alterations. Their most dramatic would be renaming Zoro to Zolo, and calling the Marines the Navy or Naval Marines, despite the hats, shirts, and sails on their ships saying simply "MARINE" in the US versions. I really enjoy many of the series and would love to support them in the US and add them to my personal library, but not when they show such little respect for the Japanese source material, and there are companies in the US that will treat the series with the respect they deserve. What I plan to do is import the Japanese version of these mangas, such as One Piece and Detective Conan. It was partially because of my irritation with VIZ that I've been educating myself to learn to read Japanese. This is something I plan to keep up until they change the names back for Detective Conan. I don't mind the Case Closed title change, but altering the names of the lead characters is inexcusable and ignorant. It would be a simple simple change since it's just the text. For Dragon Ball they had to replace the artwork back to the original. They may say that they are too far into the series to change them to the proper names now. Isn't that a bit like saying, "We have already dug ourselves into a hole. We might as well keep on digging."?
 
Let's say for the sake of argument that they do put the names back eventually. There is a certain Volume that I know of that using the English names they have been given will make a translations impossible and have it make any sense. The company decides to republish the past issues with the corrected names and translations. Why should I pay for a manga volume twice for something they should be doing in the first place? Importing will most likely cost me more, but at least I'll be getting my money's worth.

I encourage manga lovers to support companies who treat the series with respect and avoid anything VIZ altogether. The evidence is there that they don't respect the books. Giving them your money will only encourage them to continue these practices. Support books and publishers that show the stories and culture the respect they deserve. I'm currently waiting to see what Yen Press does with Soul Eater, which is due out this month.

 EISNER-NOMINATED MANGA: THE COMPLETE GUIDE  TO RELAUNCH WITH 1,825 GRAPHIC NOVEL GIVEAWAY ON SUVUDU.COM

Random House’s Suvudu.com and Jason Thompson to give away 5 manga a day for an entire year from Thompson's personal collection

NEW YORK, NY – September 9, 2009 – Suvudu (www.suvudu.com),  Random House’s science fiction and fantasy portal , will present a new exclusive feature on Suvudu: the long-awaited continuation of Jason Thompson's Manga: The Complete Guide, the critically acclaimed encyclopedia of manga originally published in trade paperback format by Del Rey Manga in 2007. The Suvudu Manga: The Complete Guide will feature completely new manga reviews every day that act as supplements to the original book. To celebrate, Jason Thompson and Suvudu will give away five or more free graphic novels a day, for an entire year, to randomly selected Suvudu site visitors.

 The new Manga: The Complete Guide is scheduled to run for a year on Suvudu, starting September 16, 2009. In addition, every day, readers can fill out a form on the site to be eligible for five free graphic novels from Thompson's collection, given away daily. Readers who post a photo of themselves with their graphic novels on their personal website and link to Suvudu will automatically receive an additional five graphic novels. By the end of the year, Suvudu and Jason Thompson will have given away between 1,825 and 3,650 graphic novels.

“There is so much manga out there, it's hard to sample them all and wade through it all to find the gems, and that's why I wrote Manga: The Complete Guide,” said Thompson, who is writing an original English-language manga, King of RPGs, to be published by Del Rey Manga in December. “I hope that people have the same experience I did when I wrote the book, and discover a lot of new things they didn't know they'd like."

 Wired magazine praised Manga: The Complete Guide, saying it “provides everything the obsessive fan needs to become a walking manga encyclopedia,” while Ain’t It Cool News called the guide a “staggeringly impressive resource.” While writing the book, Thompson read manga nonstop for an entire year, reading 10-30 graphic novels a day and amassing a manga collection featured on Comic Book Resources' "Shelf Porn" column . Manga: The Complete Guide also features reviews by other writers, including Patrick Macias (Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno, Editor in Chief, Otaku USA Magazine) and Shaenon Garrity (author of the upcoming CLAMP in America).

  

About Jason Thompson

Author Jason Thompson has been a manga editor for VIZ Media, Del Rey Manga and SHONEN JUMP magazine, working on the English editions of titles such as Naruto, Fullmetal Alchemist, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dragon Ball Z, Hana-Kimi, One Piece, Shaman King, Uzumaki, The Drifting Classroom and Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei. His writings on manga have appeared in WIRED and The Comics Journal. He is the author/artist of several fantasy comics including H.P. Lovecraft's The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, Bold Riley and the Serpent in the Belly, The Stiff and The Strange High House in the Mist (mockman.com). King of RPGs, a new original English-language manga written by Thompson, will be released by Del Rey Manga in January.

About Suvudu.com

Suvudu launched July 18, 2008 , providing information and content to fans of science fiction and fantasy across all media—books, comics and manga, audiobooks, movies, games, and more. The site brings together the talents of some of the industry’s top science fiction, fantasy, graphic novel and gaming guide publishers and encourages the feedback of knowledgeable fans through its online forum community.

   

DEL REY MANGA ANNOUNCES THE ACQUISITION OF

SAMURAI DEEPER KYO, WILD @ HEART

NEW YORK, NY – June 12, 2009 – Del Rey Manga, an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group, today announced an acquisition continuing a fan-favorite manga series, and the launch of a brand new series from one of Del Rey Manga’s most popular authors.

SAMURAI DEEPER KYO, the supernatural action series by Akimine Kamijyo, will continue to be published in the US by Del Rey Manga, beginning with a special omnibus edition that collects Volumes 35 and 36 of the Japanese editions into a single package. The story, set in feudal Japan, follows two legendary warriors and rivals, Demon Eyes Kyo and Kyoshiro. One day they meet in battle during a lightning storm, and both fighters mysteriously disappear. Kyoshiro re-emerges several months later, harboring a secret: the soul of Demon Eyes Kyo is locked inside him—and he’s determined to reclaim his body. Volume 35/36 of SAMURAI DEEPER KYO will be published in December 2009.

From the creative mind of Kitchen Princess manga-ka Natsumi Ando comes a new series promising a winning combination of drama, comedy and romance. WILD @ HEART takes the popular Western idea of Tarzan and gives it a fun shôjo manga spin. Chino is like any typical teen looking for love—but instead she finds herself stuck with Hyou, a child her father brings home from the jungle. Now she has to take care of Hyou, the wild child, and help him adapt to life outside of the jungle and in the city. The award-winning and popular Ando is also the creator of the top-selling Zodiac P.I. WILD @ HEART will debut in January 2010.  

ABOUT KODANSHA LTD.:

Kodansha is the largest trade book and magazine publisher in Japan. Founded in 1909, the company by virtue of its long history, the quality of its publishing, and its established network of sales and marketing is regarded as the trade book market leader in the publishing business in Japan. Moreover, Kodansha has been recognized as the leading publisher with a mission to introduce Japan through its publishing business.

ABOUT DEL REY MANGA:

Del Rey Books (http://www.delreybooks.com) was founded in 1977 as an imprint of Ballantine Books, a division of the Random House Publishing Group, under the guidance of the renowned Judy-Lynn del Rey and her husband, Lester del Rey. Del Rey publishes the best of modern fantasy, science fiction, and alternate history. Ballantine Books is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group, which is a publishing group of Random House, Inc, the U.S. publishing company of Random House, the trade book publishing division of Bertelsmann AG, one of the world's leading international media companies. In 2004 it expanded by launching Del Rey Manga (www.delreymanga.com), which has grown to be a major force in the U.S. graphic-novel field. Bestselling titles include Tsubasa, Negima, xxxHolic, and The Wallflower.

CARTOON NETWORK ENTERPRISES AND DEL REY MANGA ANNOUNCE GRAPHIC NOVELS BASED ON THE ANIMATED SERIES THE SECRET SATURDAYS

NEW YORK, NY – April 28, 2009 – Del Rey Manga, an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group, in collaboration with Cartoon Network Enterprises, today announced two brand new graphic novels based on the hit Cartoon Network action-adventure series, The Secret Saturdays. This deal follows on the heels of the successful debut of the Ben 10 Alien Force and Bakugan Battle Brawlers film-comics in Fall 2008.

Christina Miller, vice president, Cartoon Network Enterprises says, ”The Secret Saturdays features great animation and action, two qualities that lend themselves to a rich publishing program. As a key part of the brand’s consumer products launch this fall, we look forward to building on the success we have had to date with Del Rey Manga to create a strong The Secret Saturdays publishing program.”

The first Secret Saturdays film-comics will release in September 2009 with a second volume to follow. In the same format as both the Ben 10 Alien Force and Bakugan Battle Brawlers film-comics, the book will feature detailed, full-color stills straight from the animated series and will be rated for all ages.

The Secret Saturdays series, which debuted in October 2008, found its home on Cartoon Network’s “Action Fridays” animation block, and its combination of family life, fantastical creatures and action-packed adventures appealed to a large audience. The Saturdays, a family of cryptozoologists, dedicate themselves to protecting secret artifacts and mysterious, hidden monsters, cryptids, across the world. Their adventures—which take them from ancient ruins to bottomless caves—have lead to encounters with some of the weirdest and wildest creatures on the planet. 

“With its rich characters and intriguing stories, The Secret Saturdays is the latest Cartoon Network series to achieve widespread international popularity,” says Mutsumi Miyazaki, director of licensing and acquisitions for Del Rey Manga. “We believe that this new film-comic will bring new fans to The Secret Saturdays, and we look forward to building further success for the franchise while expanding our strong partnership with Cartoon Network.”

ABOUT CARTOON NETWORK ENTERPRISES:

Cartoon Network Enterprises (CNE), the global branding and merchandising arm of Cartoon Network, is charged with building consumer product franchises for Cartoon Network, its brands and characters from the channel's growing library of award-winning original programming. CNE also works to secure and support long-term licensee partnerships across all key merchandising categories. The division currently offers consumer product programs for an array animation franchises including Ben 10, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Chowder, The Secret Saturdays, The Powerpuff Girls, [adult swim] and more, as well as serves as licensing agent for Nelvana Enterprises and Spin Master’s Bakugan brand.

Cartoon Network (CartoonNetwork.com), currently seen in more than 97 million U.S. homes and 166 countries around the world, is Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.’s ad-supported cable service offering the best in original, acquired and classic animated entertainment for kids and families. Overnight from 11 p.m.-6 a.m. (ET, PT), Cartoon Network shares its channel space with Adult Swim, a late-night destination showcasing original and acquired animation for young adults 18-34.

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news, entertainment, animation and young adult media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.

ABOUT DEL REY MANGA:
Del Rey Books (http://www.delreybooks.com) was founded in 1977 as an imprint of Ballantine Books, a division of the Random House Publishing Group, under the guidance of the renowned Judy-Lynn del Rey and her husband, Lester del Rey. Del Rey publishes the best of modern fantasy, science fiction, and alternate history. Ballantine Books is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group, which is a publishing group of Random House, Inc, the U.S. publishing company of Random House, the trade book publishing division of Bertelsmann AG, one of the world's leading international media companies. In 2004 it expanded by launching Del Rey Manga (www.delreymanga.com), which has grown to be a major force in the U.S. graphic-novel field. Bestselling titles include Tsubasa, Negima, xxxHolic, and The Wallflower.