Wanna Become Tokypop Intern?
Reported by Charles Webb

Tokyopop is offering an interesting opportunity for candidates interested in a career in the manga industry. From their press release: Complete and promote a real-world, digital production project as part of the TOKYOPOP Tour, a 3-month national tour for the world's most innovative entertainment company! From May 28 through September 6, 2010, TOKYOPOP will tour America, going to anime and manga conventions, bookstores, libraries, parking lots--anywhere...
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Words of Truth and Wisdom: Shinso
Written by Alethea and Athena Nibley

Recently, a fan asked us if we were planning on keeping the term “shinso” in future Negima! translations. We didn't know what the term was referring to (apparently it was used once in past English-language versions of Negima!, but obviously we didn't remember it), and looking it up in a dictionary, it could be so many things that we assumed that we probably wouldn't keep it. Upon further discussion, we learned that this particular use of “shinso”...
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Skull Man: The Complete Collection (DVD)
Reviewed by Zack Davisson

Skull Man is a series with an interesting legacy. Created in 1970 by legendary Ishinomori Shotaro, Skull Man was Japan’s first anti-hero, a dark crusader who didn’t mind if a few innocents got killed during his quest for vengeance. The first one-shot story appeared in Shonen Magazine, and was an instant hit. Ishinomori was asked to re-develop the character in a lighter and less gruesome style for a kid’s television program, and the masked hero Kamen...
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Kaze Hikaru v16
Reviewed by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane

As the sixteenth volume of Kaze Hikaru opens, a mere week has passed since Sanosuke Harada, one of the Shinsengumi's captains, met a girl named Omasa--whom he now wishes to marry. There's just one small problem: Omasa is the daughter of a merchant, and as the book briefly breaks the fourth wall to note, marriages between samurai and members of different castes were forbidden during this period. Sei isn't the only one of Harada's comrades who's distressed...
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Portrait of M & N v1
Reviewed by Zack Davisson

Boy meets Girl. Boy gets Girl. Boy loses Girl. Boy gets Girl again. You really can’t get a more classic storyline, and putting interesting twists on that ages-old scenario has provided fodder for writers for untold generations. Any book with a “romance” tag on the spine is most likely going to spin you some variation on the theme. In Portrait of M & N, Tachibana Higuchi (creator of Gakuen Alice) has apparently decided to create the most messed-up...
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Natsume's Book of Friends v1
Reviewed by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane

Natsume's Book of Friends is just the first of several new titles VIZ has coming out this year that I've been anticipating entirely due to word of mouth. Despite the buzz, I knew very little about it other than the most basic elements of the premise when I sat down to read the first volume. Here's what we've got: Takashi Natsume is a high school student whose ability to see spirits and demons sets him apart from the people around him. He inherited...
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MangaLife Spotlight: Vagabond v25-30
Written by Park Cooper

Well, my appreciation for Takehiko Inoue’s manga Vagabond continues to grow. I really feel that those who like Inoue’s comedic thug-fest Slam Dunk or his realistic wheelchair basketball manga Real but who are resisting Vagabond (perhaps because they feel they already know the story of Miyamoto Musashi? If you don’t, gentle reader, allow me to quote Viz’s website when I say that he was “the legendary sword-saint, Miyamoto Musashi--perhaps the most...
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Words of Truth and Wisdom: Fixins
Written by Alethea and Athena Nibley

Recently we've been reading some translated manga, and it's gotten us thinking about the English adaptation process, as in, “How is it done, exactly?” We do some of our own adaptation work, but what had us wondering was the fact that the translation and adaptation on these particular titles were done by different people, which would make the process different than how we adapt scripts. But when we started thinking about it, we also happened to...
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Magic Touch v5 & v6
Reviewed by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane

Just so we're clear, here's where I'm coming from with The Magic Touch: back when I reviewed volume 1, I noted that it seemed like it would be a pleasant enough series if it was short, and could also work as a longer series if Tsubaki introduced some interesting dramatic material. Volume 2 gave me a fairly similar impression. And I haven't actually read volumes 3 or 4, so I'm operating at a noticeable disadvantage with this review of volumes 5 and...
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MangaLife Spotlight: MW
Written by Park Cooper

MW Osamu Tezuka Vertical Wow. MW is a graphic novel manga created by the master himself, Osamu Tezuka. I just finished reading its 582 pages in one sitting. Golly. This is a story about evil. But this is not a supernatural story. I’ll try to write this for you with as few spoilers as possible as best as I can... but as always, if I’m going to make you curious about it, I’ll have to tell you SOMETHING. MW is an unbelievably deadly nerve...
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The Best of Valentine's Day Edition
Written by Charles Webb

With Valentine’s Day hitting on Sunday, we at Manga Life thought we’d throw out some of our recommendations for manga and anime titles to share with your significant other, or to just enjoy on your own. First up, Park weighs in: The first thing I can think of is the love story in the anime Cowboy Bebop. However, that might not be the most sweetly romantic choice for Valentine's Day, so let's not go there. The next one that comes to mind is Ah My...
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Honey and Clover v8
Reviewed by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane

The newest volume of Honey and Clover does something a bit unusual for the series: except for a few pages here and there, it focuses entirely on one subplot, namely the love quadrangle that's gradually evolved out of Yamada's unrequited love for Mayama. While Mayama's relationship with Rika slowly intensifies, the possibility of a romance between Nomiya and Yamada is growing as well--much as Yamada doesn't want to admit it. From the beginning, I've...
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