Manga Monthly: Legendary Directors Take Over!
Mar 29, 2015
By Carrie Wood
We here at Manga Monthly have been waiting for this all year – it’s Manga Month in the April PREVIEWS! We’re celebrating anime and manga all month, so of course we’ll delve into some of the highlights of April’s manga selection. Don’t forget to head to your local comic shop to pre-order your favorites today!
Dark Horse Comics gets us started with The Art of Satoshi Kon (APR150073). Before passing way before his time in 2010, director Satoshi Kon created an incredible portfolio of work, including the films Perfect Blue, Paprika, and Millennium Actress. This book showcases his uniquely expressive art style throughout these films and more and is a must-read for anime fans.
Drawn and Quarterly also gets into the manga game with the fourth and final volume of Showa: A History of Japan (APR151419). This illustrated history of Japan is written and illustrated by Shigeru Mizuki, who was awarded the Kodansha Manga Award in Japan for this work and has been nominated for Eisner awards in the past.
The final volume picks up in the wake of Japan's utter defeat in World War II, as a country reduced to rubble struggles to rise again. A former enemy becomes their greatest ally as the USA funnels money, jobs, and opportunity into Japan, hoping to establish the country as a bulwark against Soviet communist expansion. Japan reinvents itself, emerging as an economic powerhouse. Events like the Tokyo Olympiad and the World's Fair introduce a new, friendly Japan to the world, but this period of peace and plenty conceals a populace still struggling to come to terms with the devastation of WWII.
The hit anime Your Lie in April just wrapped up, and now the manga is coming to North America for the first time thanks to Kodansha! The first two volumes (APR151563, APR151562) of the 11-volume series will be heading to the shelves this summer.
The series features piano prodigy Kousei Arima, who dominated piano competitions among other child musicians. But when his mother – who was also his instructor – suddenly passed away, he had a breakdown while in the middle of a performance.
Because of this, he is no longer able to hear the sound of his piano, even though his hearing is perfectly fine. Having resigned himself to a bland life, things begin to change when he meets Kaori Miyazono, a free-spirited violinist. Can she bring Kosei back to music – and back to a colorful, vibrant life?
Akira (APR151564) is one of the most influential, thought-provoking anime films ever, and thanks to Kodansha, you still have the opportunity to read the manga that started it all. While the manga differs from the film in a number of ways, that doesn’t make the work by Katsuhiro Otomo any less legendary. Whether you’re an old-school fan or part of the new generation of manga readers, Akira is a must-have for any collection.
Netcomics is getting into the shoujo genre with the first volume of Chiro (APR151608)! Eunyu lives the life of a modern-day princess. She grew up famous as a child model. All the boys love her. All the girls hate her. Day after day, money and opportunity knocks on her door begging to be allowed inside.
Then, one day, she falls in love with an ordinary honor student, Chankyung. At the same, Eunyu's alluring face draws the obsessive attention of popular teen icon Inan. Inan desires Eunyu no matter the cost. One boy has the world on a string. The other boy has Eunyu. Only one will win.
Seven Seas Entertainment continues to publish the hit series, Alice in the Country of Clover, with the first volume of Black Lizard and Bitter Taste (APR151682)! This all-new adventure focuses on the “Lizard Aide.” Former assassin Gray Ringmarc serves his master Nighmare in the Tower of Clover. Known for his mature personality and kindness to animals, Gray also has a dark side. Can Alice tame his reptilian heart?
Also debuting thanks to Seven Seas Entertainment is Magika Swordsman and Summoner (APR151687)! When humanity discovered an alternate dimension filled with magical and mythical beings, the world as we knew it would never be the same. Humanity soon learned to harness these extra-dimensional forces and summon mystical beings into their midst through the power of "summoners." Years later, fifteen-year-old Kazuki Hayashizaki is chosen to be the first male summoner.
His attendance at an all-female summoner school is met with much opposition, especially from his sister, a magical swordsman whose task is to guard summoners. Now she finds herself in an inferior position to her brother Kazuki, and will stop at nothing to thwart him. As Kazuki struggles against his sister's machinations and the other female students in school who try to demean him at every turn, can he overcome adversity and learn to become a first rate summoner?
Seven Seas also has the debut of Pandora of the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn (APR151688)! From the creators of Ghost in the Shell and Excel Saga comes a thrilling new series about cybernetic girls. Pandora of the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn is a fascinating new cyberpunk manga series created by two manga legends: Masamune Shirow and Koshi Rikdo.
The planet is in a constant state of tumult. As rival countries vie for power and resources, while racing to create the latest technological breakthroughs, robots and cyborgs have become commonplace. What hope is left for a jaded humanity in an age of advances in cybernetics and artificial intelligence?
Enter two cyborg girls outfitted with insurmountable combat capabilities. This is their story!
Award-winning director Makoto Shinkai’s 5 Centimeters Per Second (APR151796) is finally arriving in the west in manga form thanks to Vertical Comics! The original film came out in 2007 and takes place over three acts, called “Cherry Blossom,” “Cosmonaut,” and “5 Centimeters Per Second.”
Though Makoto Shinkai’s work includes incredible films such as The Garden of Words and Voices of a Distant Star, this one in particular stands out as particularly moving. Keep a box of tissues handy for, you know, all the dust that’s going to get into your eyes.
And speaking of Makoto Shinkai, Vertical is also releasing A Sky Longing for Memories: The Art of Makoto Shinkai (APR151797). Shinkai is unique as an animator as he cut his teeth by producing almost all elements many of his works, from animation to music composition to voice acting. Shinkai, while known for his heartfelt stories, is possibly more admired for his rich and detailed art which often overwhelm viewers forcing them into fantastic worlds of wonder. This book collects more than a 100 of Shikai's art cells from his most popular works and then closes off with interviews from the internationally renowned director and his staff.
Viz will be debuting the first volume of the popular Tokyo Ghoul (APR151799) later this year! Shy Ken Kaneki is thrilled to go on a date with the beautiful Rize. But it turns out that she's only interested in his body-eating it, that is. When a morally questionable rescue transforms him into the first half-human half-Ghoul hybrid, Ken is drawn into the dark and violent world of Ghouls, which exists alongside our own.
The third volume of Master Keaton (APR151803) will also be arriving in the west later this year thanks to Viz! Taichi Hiraga-Keaton, the son of a Japanese zoologist and an English noblewoman, is an insurance investigator known for his successful and unorthodox methods of investigation. Educated in archaeology and a former member of the SAS, Master Keaton uses his knowledge and combat training to uncover buried secrets, thwart would-be villains, and pursue the truth.
The next volume of Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma (APR151807) is heating up, thanks to Viz! With an anime series about to start airing in Japan, there’s no better time to start reading this series. In this volume, the contestants for the Totsuki Institute's annual Fall Classic have been chosen! A decades-old event, the Fall Classic has been the grand stage for fierce cooking battles for years. The chosen participants, each aiming to be crowned winner, begin their training! But as they do, someone special visits Polaris Dorm.
Assassination Classroom has been one of the most popular anime series so far this year, and thanks to Viz you can continue with the fourth volume of the manga (APR151808)!
The show, which currently airs on Funimation, follows the story of the manga: Earth is being threatened by a powerful alien creature who showed off his abilities by carving the moon into a crescent shape permanently! He claims that within a year, he’ll do the same to Earth itself, but offers humanity a chance to kill him.
Of course, there’s a catch. He starts teaching at a junior high school, calls himself Koro-Sensei, and says that one of his students must be the one to kill him! The problem is… he’s a really great teacher – the best these kids have ever had? Will they be able to defeat Koro-Sensei? (Will they even want to?)
Viz will be debuting the first volume of So Cute It Hurts! (APR150809)! This comedy starts when the cross-dressing begins! The Kobayashi twins, Mego and Mitsuru, were named after historical figures, but only Mego has grown up with a taste for history. So when Mitsuru is in danger of losing his weekends to extra history classes, he convinces his sister to swap clothes with him and ace his tests! After all, how hard can it be for them to play each other?
Yen Press continues their manga releases with the first volume of Chaika: The Coffin Princess (APR151835)! Five years of inconceivable peace after two hundred years of war has left erstwhile soldier Tooru Acura without a job or meaning in life - until he saves a mysterious sorceress with a coffin on her back. But when the coffin-wielding, silver-haired Chaika Trabant hires Tooru and his sister, Akari, to accompany her on a death-defying journey, Tooru's life of mind-numbing, meaningless peace is about to end!
Puella Magi Madoka Magika has been one of the most popular series of the last several years, and thanks to Yen Press the adaptation of the film, The Rebellion Story (APR151839), is making its way west! With Madoka Kaname's sacrifice, the hopeless cycle that once bound every magical girl to a terrible fate was broken at last. Still, the magical girls fight on against the dark magics that threaten the human world, which remains ignorant of the brave girl who saved them.
Only Homura remembers her dear friend Madoka, a burden she has borne in all her battles since-right? Then how is Homura still going to school with Madoka, fighting alongside her, laughing as if nothing has happened? As her tragic memories return to her, Homura realizes she must not be in the real world, wonderful as it is to see her friend again. But if she is indeed trapped in a magical space, who among her magical friends could be the cause?
That wraps it up for Manga Monthly – in Manga Month, no less! But this is just scratching the surface of the great manga books available in this month’s PREVIEWS, so pick up a copy today to get a look at more awesome series like Sword Art Online, Dragon Ball, Barakamon, Arpeggio of Blue Steel and many more! Head to your local comic shop today to pre-order yours now! See you next month!
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