Manga Monthly: A Winter Wonderland of Manga

by Carrie Wood

Welcome back to Manga Monthly, your monthly dose of the latest and greatest comic books coming to you straight from Japan! We’ve got some wonderful reissues of older series this month in addition to some hot new series, so be sure to preorder your favorites at your local comic shop!
 

Kodansha gets us started this month with the first volume of Toppu GP (DEC161788)! The art style might be very familiar to people who have enjoyed the Tales RPG series– as the mangaka, Kosuke Fujishima, has been responsible for many of the character designs in games such as Tales of Phantasia, Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Xillia and Tales of Berseria.

Toppu Uno never wanted to race motorcycles. He was perfectly content watching his sister ride; with his eagle eyes, he knew her lap times before the the stopwatch did. When he's convinced to take a ride on a minibike for the first time, his hours of observation translate into instant skill on the track. But turning a quick lap and winning a race are two very different things, and Toppu's got a long way to go before he's ready for the big leagues - MotoGP, the highest level of two-wheeled road racing.

Kodansha will also be debuting the first volume of Clockwork Planet (DEC161777)! Naoto's a high school dropout and brilliant amateur tinkerer. He lives in a world that has been so over-exploited that the entire surface has become one vast machine. When a box crashes into his home containing a female automaton, it's a harbinger of change that will rock the entire globe, and give Naoto his chance to be a hero.

Seven Seas Entertainment brings the cute with Hana and Hina After School (DEC161873)! This story is by Milk Morinaga, who is best known for a number of yuri stories such as Girlfriends and Gakuen Police. This latest story is a romantic comedy about two dissimilar girls who find common ground when it comes to all things cute, including each other. Hana and Hina are two high school girls working at the same shop, but they come from completely different worlds. Hana is petite, uncertain and shy, while Hina is tall, trendy and confident. But they both can't keep their eyes off things that are cute, be it the uniforms at Hana's new school or Hana herself! Hana and Hina may have more than their shared part time jobs to keep a secret!

Tokyopop continues to expand their Disney line with the two books of Beauty and the Beast! The first book (DEC161997) tells the story from Belle’s perspective, while book two (DEC161998) tells the story again, but from the perspective of the Beast. Not only is Disney manga a unique addition to any Disney fan’s collection, but this story in particular is worth paying attention to – especially with the live-action adaptation of the beloved story coming out in March!

Viz Media is reissuing one of the most beloved shoujo series of all time in a beautiful hardcover set – Revolutionary Girl Utena (DEC162078). The two volumes included contain the entire manga story, plus the adaptation of the Adolescence of Utena film. It’s been more than a decade since this series has been in print, so now is definitely the time to pick it up for people who haven’t had the chance before! The manga is also quite different from the animated series, so fans of the show should definitely pick this set up for a unique interpretation of the storyline.

The story follows Utena Tenjou, a teenager who, as a child, met a prince. She was so inspired by the prince and his nobility that she decided to become a prince herself – but was that really such a good idea? Utena, after challenging her obnoxious classmate Saionji to a duel, soon starts to learn the secrets of Ohtori Academy and its mysterious Student Council members. Will Utena find her prince? And will she revolutionize the world? Read this classic manga to find out!

Speaking of classic series, the wonderful hardcover editions of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure continue to be published by Viz, with the latest being the second volume of Stardust Crusasders (DEC162079)! Jotaro and his allies continue their dangerous journey as they seek to put a stop to DIO once and for all. But after their plane crashes and their submarine sinks, they try a boat – but of course, Stand users are anywhere and everywhere! The most bizarre trip around the world continues with this latest edition!

Be sure to walk like an Egyptian to your local comic shop for this one!

Yen Press also continues to expand their manga catalog in big ways, one of which happens to be the first volume of Spirits and Cat Ears (DEC162123)! Not everybody loves cat ears, but this young miko takes one big step for cat girls when she also becomes an exorcist. Neneko Iizuna is a shy girl with a secret: cat ears. Embarrassed over her feline appearance, Neneko's retreated from the world. But when she receives a letter asking her to become the miko of an infirmary, she finds herself taking on the unexpected challenge of exorcism! Is this young cat girl up to the task of taking on the spirits, can she get along with her new co-workers? And how exactly does she feel about being chained up by a leash? It's an opportunity for new "bonds" to form!

Smokin Parade (DEC162122) is another new series being published by Yen Press, and is the latest from the creators of Deadman Wonderland. Youkou lives in a future where organ transplants are common and available to all, but life's not as idyllic as it seems; it turns out a nefarious organization is using that technology for their own evil ends! Only the elite squad Jackalope has any chance of stopping them before it's too late.

That wraps it up for this month, but as always, this just scratches the surface of what’s available to order out of the December PREVIEWS catalog! Be sure to take a look at all of the wonderful new manga offerings and definitely make sure to pre-order all your favorites at your local comic shop! Check back with us next month for another edition of Manga Monthly!