Manga of the Month: 7-nin no Shakespeare

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7-nin no Shakespeare (七人的莎士比亚) by Harold Sakuishi

One of the reasons people are usually drawn to manga is the sheer diversity of topics it can touch upon. It often seems no matter how wacky the topic there is at least one manga about it. There is salaryman centaur manga. A manga with a half man half horse creature who works in an office. Erin from the Ninja Consultants does a panel just about unusual manga genres and some of the strangest titles within. So when compared to competitive wine tasting or dissociative identity disorder death metal a comic about Shakespeare would appear to be down right mundane. But as usual there is some unexpected twists to this formula.

It is almost impossible to truly know of Bard of Avon. He is one of the most famous western authors of all time. Although there are countless books about him there is still much of his life we know little of. 7-nin no Shakespeare starts at the Globe Theater with politics swirling around William Shakespeare with everyone including Queen Elizabeth. But it seems that much of these shadowy conspiracies also involve an unusual Chinese woman named Li. Li has the seemingly cursed ability to foresee the future that has haunted her more than it has ever helped her. How does the life of this fantastic woman tie into the fortunes of England’s national poet?

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Happy 5th Birthday Reverse Thieves!

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The fact that the Reverse Thieves is five-years-old is an odd sensation. On one hand it feels like the blog is just coming into its maturity. It can vote, drive, and maybe even go out drinking without a fake ID. On the other hand, given the turn over rate of most blogs it also seems like the Reverse Thieves is a senior citizen as well. It should be getting its geriatric discount on the early bird dinner special. In truth, the answer lies in between. The blog has definitely settled into a pleasant groove where we have a steady readership and a growing listener base to the podcast.

Despite the far more hectic schedule on the blog, we have kept the output fairly regular. We are often able to post at least four times a week. We started doing the S.W.A.T. reviews around this time last year as well as the All Points Bulletins. They have both been big hits! In fact, our S.W.A.T. reviews are generally our most popular podcasts by a wide margin.

We also started the Line-Up at the beginning of 2012 which was Narutaki’s brain child. With a convenient list of all the titles that get licensed for physical and digital distribution as well as new announcements from Japan, the Line-Ups are sure to be insanely popular when December rolls around and people want to do their year in review.

We don’t really have any new columns planned for the future. But that is hardly a horrible thing. The blog has gotten to the point where it is far more important to maintain the current pieces of output rather than constantly add new features. But the blog is always evolving so don’t be surprised to see new additions as the muse dictates.

We are proud to have made it five years. Here is to five more and beyond!

All that said I know what everyone really wants to know is what are we giving away. Since a 5th anniversary is always a significant milestone, the prize package is equally impressive. We are giving away box sets of anime, plenty of manga, figures, a Kyo backpack, and more tchotchkes than you can shake a magical girl wand at. Don’t expect to see a giveaway on this site as nice as this until our 10th anniversary.

To enter all you have to do is wish us a happy birthday in the comments below. And if you want bonus points, tell us your favorite recent article or podcast. Please mention your age. Then you can win everything pictured above and maybe EVEN LESS! (There are one or two 18+ items pictured above. If the winner is under 18 we will remove those items and replace them with similar but more family friendly items.)

This contest is open until July 31st.

*U.S. residents only please. Sorry our abroad buddies we just can’t afford it.

All Points Bulletin: Dinosaur Precure

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If you have any suggestions for what to highlight on an APB drop us a line via email or Twitter.

Hisui’s picks:

Narutaki’s picks:

  • Extend the Hand of Gender Equality to Bronies
    This is a great little article about how many of us praise women for not falling in line with what is socially accepted as “girl stuff” but still can’t do the same for guys. It brings up good points and I don’t even like My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic!
  • Invent Techniques to Make Your Movie Better
    This has been a long standard for Disney and now Pixar is part of that tradition too with their animation. This video is about how Pixar used new sound techniques to really bring Brave to life.
  • Jurassic Park 4 Could be Good?
    Well, maybe if they pay attention to this list from TOR about ways to make sure it doesn’t suck. We all love the first movie, I have amazing fond memories of seeing it in the theater, but the sequels have been terrible and that’s putting it nicely. After reading this list, I’m cautiously looking forward to the newest installment, at least until more news is released about it.
  • Spend the Year with Hark! A Vagrant
    Kate Beaton is releasing 2013 calenders! They will be available at San Diego Comic-Con first but will eventually be released online, too.

Speaking of the cultural reach of Magical Girls outside of its demographic: