Ouran High School Host Club Volume 15 is Out! Buy it Now!

A great many of you should be good consumers and buy Ouran volume 15 since so many of you read it and claim to LOVE it and Bisco Hatori.  Put your money where your mouth is and give Ouran and Hatori-sensei some love!  In fact!  I have set up a special area in the store just for Ouran goods! (Include all available volumes from Viz, clothes, plushies, and various other items I thought were cute)

Link to Ouran Goods at Omari's Sister's Amazon Store

Buy stuff for yourself!  Buy stuff to give to an Ouran fan for Christmas!Source URL: http://aminefairy.blogspot.com/search/label/Viz
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English Licensed Manga Removed from Aggregator Sites

Well, it's begun...So far I've noticed that series licensed by Viz have been removed from MangaFox.  Good for Viz!  I know some of you who read scanlations are quite upset and I feel bad for those of you who cannot access these series without scanlation.  Viz, though, has to protect its market in the US.

Hopefully, once the manga aggregators purge their sites of licensed series, the pressure will be relieved and we can continue to enjoy series that are new outside-of-Japan or too niche-y to license outside of Japan.
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Update:  It's interesting to see what manga/manhwa rose to the top after of the popularity stack after MangaFox removed the Viz licensed titles.  Most of the top series are Shoujo.  Honestly, this seems quite healthy to me because many of these titles I've never explored and now that they are exposed, maybe I'll give them a read.Source URL: http://aminefairy.blogspot.com/search/label/Viz
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Manga Review: Otomen vol 1 - 3

Volumes 1 - 3 of "Otomen" are out in English from Viz. I read through these volumes and I still think this manga is very sweet. After the first three volumes, though, I don't know if the sweetness hold up. Looking at Bessatsu Hana to Yume I know the series takes a long detour in which it appears that Asuka and his fellow Otomen become roadies for a rock band. The whole rock band detour turned me off so much that I haven't bothered to even look at the Japanese text. The other thing I noticed, even after reading the first 3 volumes, there is no tension in the story that is driving me find the next chapter. I think the series has a great premise, but ultimately Asuka is so wonderful, there is no dramatic tension despite his Otomen ways. In conclusion, I recommend this manga if you are looking for something really cute and laid-back. If you are looking for drama, humor, romance, and gay or straight tension then skip this and read "VB Rose" instead.

Here's a link to some more of what I've written about Otomen

Link

Rating 3/5Source URL: http://aminefairy.blogspot.com/search/label/Viz
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Black Bird Volume 1, Viz Translation (1-1/2 stars)

I have written about "Black Bird" in the past (2007 and 2008) and my opinion of it hasn't changed. The appeal of "Black Bird" is seeing how low it can go from chapter to chapter and as such, can be, at best, categorized as "guilty pleasure."

As a reminder:


New Manga: BlackBird
From the mangaka who brought us "Backstage Prince" comes another tale of a good hearted but weak female, Misao, and a bad tempered Tengu, Kyou, who disguises himself as a handsome guy. Misao has the misfortune of being able to see supernatural beings and now at the age of 16 has become the target of those supernatural beings who wish to eat her to gain eternal life or marry her to strengthen their clan. Kyou wants to marry Misao, but Misao doubts his sincerity and believes he only seeks to strengthen his clan. Kyou shows up in Misao's everyday life as her Math teacher at her high school (but of course). Anyhow, most of the stories revolve around various beasties attacking Misao and Kyou coming to her rescue followed by Misao asking herself why this guy bothers. Meanwhile Kyo seems to find some excuse to lick her, whether it's licking Misao's wounds to heal her, or licking her as a prelude to a kiss, or licking her in her dreams and so on ... Half of me continues to read this just to see how creative the licking can get ... (I'm sad, sad, sad person ...). Somewhere in here, there is a story, but I'm just so distracted by the licking that I haven't quite grasped it.
I do not recommend this manga for teens, unless they are mature enough to understand that is an over-the-top smutty drama. The main character, Misao, is intentionally written as a weak female character, and I would hate for young women to think this is model female behavior. Actually, I'm a little torqued that this is aimed at a teen audience.

As for the Viz translation, it's flat. It seems they've decided to take this manga series more seriously than it is. My understanding is that Viz is trying to appeal to the "Twilight" audience. Personally, I find it APPALLING to target the manga to 11-13-year olds, due to the sexual content (I wonder if the Viz folks have read the latest chapter in Betsucomi. It is clearly 18+) and the level of violence and gore (If this were a movie, it would be R-rated). Anyhow, this series is over-the-top in a "so bad it's good" way and the translation should reflect that.

I can't honestly recommend this series eventhough I regard it as a guilty pleasure (it's like an "Ebert 1-1/2 star" rating). The first volume is very mediocre in the original Japanese and made even more lackluster in the Viz English translation. It does get better as the story progresses, but it never rises above the level of smut and the main female character, Misao, never rises above being a victim. If you can take this manga for the stupid, but entertaining smut that it is, go for it -- especially if you can read Japanese. The demon world intrigue is fun. If you hate to see objectified weak female characters and objectified bare-chested macho male characters, then steer of this series.

If you are considering whether to allow your teenager to read this series, I recommend reading the first couple of chapters yourself and then consider whether your teen is mature enough to recognize that the characters are caricatures in a Japanese style "bodice ripper" and that this in no way reflects healthy human relationships or human behavior. Also consider there are better manga options for your teen. For older teens, Hino Matsuri's "Vampire Knight" is a good manga series with plenty of story, well developed characters, a strong lead female character, pretty drawings, and smoldering, but tempered, sexuality. For the under 13 crowd, I recommend "Crescent Moon" and "Recipe for Gertrude."

Rating 1-1/2 or of 5Source URL: http://aminefairy.blogspot.com/search/label/Viz
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