Category: Manga

The Secret Santa and Holiday Giveaway Round Up

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Without a doubt this year’s Secret Santa built on the success we had last year and was even more stressful than we could have possibly imagined. We tripled the number of participants and thankfully we did not have to pick shows for anyone like we did last year. The big winners this year were Dennou Coil and Baccano! that were not only picked more than any other series but both of them got universally positive reviews. We also got a decent amount of reviews of Satoshi Kon movies which is a great acknowledgment of his contributions even though he is sadly no longer with us. Other than that the rest of the mix is very eclectic with everything from mecha and harem to slice-of-life and romance; it is a tribute to the diversity of the medium and the people in the blogosphere.

The Secret Santa Stats:

  • 60 Participants
  • 65 Reviews in total
  • 5 Reviews still have not come in
  • 56 Different shows reviewed

Dennou Coil – 4 reviews
Baccano! – 3 reviews
Ah! My Goddess TV – 2 reviews
Kino’s Journey – 2 reviews
Kurenai – 2 reviews
Tokyo Godfathers – 2 reviews
.hack//Sign, 5 Centimetres Per Second, Aoi Bungaku, Armor Hunter Mellowlink, Asatte no Houkou, Bakemonogatari, Bamboo Blade, Bartender, Birdy the Mighty: Decode, Black Lagoon, Bokurano: Ours, Bungaku Shoujo, Cowboy Bebop, Cromartie High School, Dead Leaves, Fate/Stay Night, Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight, Haibane Renmei, Hatenkou Yugi, I My Me! Strawberry Eggs, Inukami!, Invincible Super Man Zambot 3, Kaiba, Last Exile, Le Chevalier d’Eon, Macross: Do You Remember Love?, Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Now and Then, Here and There, Pale Cocoon, Pani Poni Dash!, Paprika, Patlabor: The Movie, Perfect Blue, REC, Roujin Z, SaiKano, Saki, Seirei no Moribito, Seraphim Call, Seto no Hanayome, Shigofumi: Letters from the Departed, Shigurui: Death Frenzy, Simoun, Sketchbook: ~Full Color’s~, Sora wo Miageru Shoujo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, The Sea Prince and the Fire Child, Tokyo Marble Chocolate, Welcome to the NHK

As a bonus we also gathered together all entries we had for the 2010 Holiday Giveaway. To win our collection of fabulous prizes we asked readers to tell us what anime or manga license they are hoping to see in 2011. Hisui made an easy to read master list to see what titles were most popular and to look at any major trends in our little sampling of the desires of fandom. Notice that NisiOisiN was a bigger winner with overwhelming support for Bakemonogatari and Katanagatari. But the Noitamina block was the biggest winner of them all. While most unlicensed Noitamina shows only got one or two votes almost all the U.S. friendly titles were voted for by someone. 

Holiday Giveaway Stats:

Bakemonogatari 4 votes
Star Driver: Kagayaki no Takuto 3 votes
Time of Eve 3 votes
Dennou Coil 2 votes
Detroit Metal City 2 votes
Flying Trapeze 2 votes
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai 2 votes
Katanagatari 2 votes
Mononoke 2 votes
Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture 2 votes
Natume Yuujinchou 2 votes
Nodame Cantabile 2 votes
Angel Beats!, Cross Game, Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, Kaguyahime, Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, Kaze to Ki no Uta, Kodomo no Jikan, Letter Bee, Mind Game, My Girl, Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, Princess Knight, Sailor Fuku ni Onegai!, Saint Young Men, Sket Dance, Souten Kouro, The Story of Saiunkoku S2, Umineko no Naku Koro ni

.hack//Sign Licensed – N
5 Centimetres Per Second Licensed – P
Aoi Bungaku Unlicensed – N
Armor Hunter Mellowlink Unlicensed – P
Asatte no Houkou Licensed – P
Bakemonogatari Unlicensed – P
Bamboo Blade Licensed – P
Bartender Unlicensed – P
Birdy the Mighty: Decode Licensed – P
Black Lagoon Licensed – P
Bokurano: Ours Licensed – P
Bungaku Shoujo Unlicensed – N
Cowboy Bebop Licensed – N
Cromartie High School Licensed – P
Dead Leaves Licensed – N
Fate/Stay Night Licensed – P
Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight Unlicensed – P
Haibane Renmei Licensed – P
Hatenkou Yugi Unlicensed – P
I My Me! Strawberry Eggs Licensed – N
Inukami! Unlicensed – N
Invincible Super Man Zambot 3 Unlicensed – P
Kaiba Unlicensed – P
Last Exile Licensed – P
Le Chevalier D’Eon Licensed – P
Macross: Do You Remember Love? Unlicensed – P
Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket Licensed – P
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind Licensed – P
Now and Then, Here and There Licensed – P
Pale Cocoon Streaming – N
Pani Poni Dash! Licensed – N
Paprika Licensed – P
Patlabor: The Movie Licensed – P
Perfect Blue Licensed – P
REC Unlicensed – P
Roujin Z Licensed
SaiKano Licensed – N
Saki Streaming – N
Seirei no Moribito Licensed – P
Seraphim Call Licensed – N
Seto no Hanayome Licensed – N
Shigofumi: Letters from the Departed Licensed – P
Shigurui: Death Frenzy Licensed – P
Simoun Licensed – P
Sketchbook: ~Full Color’s~ Unlicensed – N
Sora wo Miageru Shoujo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai – N
The Place Promised in Our Early Days Licensed – N
The Sea Prince and the Fire Child Licensed – P
Tokyo Marble Chocolate Unlicensed – P
Welcome to the NHK Licensed – P

January’s Manga of the Month: Afterschool Charisma

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I will admit I have little understanding of what is actually popular on this site other than Narutaki talking about graphic design and Narutaki talking about sex. This explains the fact that when we retired the Manga of the Month last year we discovered it was apparently extremely popular. It just so happened no one ever mentioned it. Ever. So as Natalie Merchant once said we give em what they want. In 2011 Manga of the Month rises from the ashes like Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix. The Final Denouement is being retired as we try to put out more solo articles on Tuesday through Thursday. Since many of them would have been final denouements in their own right the Final Denouement has become somewhat redundant. Also like a phoenix the tears shed by Manga of the Month have immense healing powers. Hopefully these articles will get everyone to pick up some manga they might have easily overlooked considering how much there is to choose from.

Afterschool Charisma (放課後のカリスマ) by Kumiko Suekane

IKKI has always been VIZ’s attempt to try to broaden the manga market by letting people sample some more offbeat seinen series that would otherwise go over looked. With a few exceptions  what sells in the U.S. is shonen fighting and shojo romance. So while adults might read manga so far most adult manga has not caught on here. Afterschool Charisma is a quirky manga that has some appeal of the popular genres that sell books in the US while still distinctly being off the beaten track to hopefully broaden some reader’s horizons.

St. Kleio is a most unusual experiential school. All the student are the clones of famous historical figures who have been gathered together in hopes that with proper care they can surpass the accomplishments of their originals. Along side these luminary and sometimes infamous copies is Shiro Kamiya, the only student who is not a clone. When the clone of John F. Kennedy is assassinated Shiro learns that everything at the school is not exactly what  it seems. There are crazy cults, Byzantine conspiracies, and deadly experiments lurking in the shadows. Maybe even Shiro himself is part of some greater sinister machinations.

I usually see this manga compared to the old Clone High cartoon on MTV. They are both set at government controlled high schools that have characters who act silly in humorous contrast to their original  historical personas. But at the same time despite all the wacky hi-jinks in Afterschool Charisma we see from the first chapter there is a disturbing  undercurrent to the events at the school. This manga seems like a bizarre and goofy Hetalia at school but quickly turns into a taut thriller. It is definitely worth a look if you want something different that is able to mix humor and intrigue in equal measure.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

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hisuiconSince Narutaki is still on vacation and Secret Santa project is over now is the time for me to lay the seeds of turning this into the proper Type-Moon blog it has always been destined to be. While most people take enjoyment of the December holidays I have taken immense pleasure in the sheer number of Type-Moon related announcements this month. It is a good time to be me with so much wonderful material coming out next year.

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