Like many folks, I was so busy swooning over news of Thermae Romae and Paradise Kiss that I didn't realize Dark Horse also unveiled new licenses last week. Of the five titles DH announced, two seemed promising. The first, Blood-C, is the latest installment of Blood: The Last Vampire, and features character designs by CLAMP's Nanase Ohkawa. The second, Emerald and Other Stories, is a collection of seven shorts by Hiroaki Samura, creator of Blade of the Immortal. The stories sound wonderfully eclectic:
'as you might expect, Samura serves up flavors in Emerald and Other Stories that are sharp and spicy'everything from how not to to confess your love via cassette tape to gothic horror set amidst the rich and poor of post-WW I Europe. In the lead story, Emerald, Samura does his first adventure set in the Wild West, as femme fatale Black Rose hires one-armed rifleman Jimmy Weed to execute a nasty little caper in a town full of secrets!
Also joining the 2012-2013 DH line-up are Oreimo, a comedy about otaku culture; Evangelion: Comic Tribute, a collection of NGE parodies; and Deva Zan, a novel written and illustrated by Yoshitaki Amano. Let's just hope that Deva Zan is better than HERO, which was godawful.
Anime | Serdar Yegulalp compiles a list of the best anime heroines; fans engage him in a spirited debate about who he did ' and didn't ' include on that list. [About Anime]
Anime | Schoolgirl Milky Crisis author Jonathan Clements reviews Anime's Media Mix: Franchising Toys and Characters in Japan. 'Unlike those critics who discuss what happens in Japanese cartoons,' Clements explains, '[author Mark] Steinberg is more interested in what happens around them ' the playground badge-swapping; the birthday wishlist; the moment in the 1960s that transformed audiences from viewers of a show into participants in an entire 'media ecology' of spin-offs, sequels, games and playdates.' [Manga UK]
Anime | Sarah Hayes shares her first impressions of a brand-new Crunchyroll title, Folktales from Japan. [nagareboshi * reviews]
Books | If you're looking for a reason to part with $100, then check out Ash Brown's glowing assessment of Welcome to the NHK. First published by TOKYOPOP in 2007, this OOP novel now commands exorbitant prices on the second-hand market. Alas, I didn't have the foresight to keep my copy' [Experiments in Manga]
Comics | John Jakala visits the Dark Horse digital storefront, only to discover the title he planned to purchase cost more online than if he bought it in a brick-and-mortar shop. After receiving a vague answer from DH about the price discrepancy, Jakala began searching for an underlying pattern in their digital pricing strategy. [Overdue Panels]
Comics | If stories about teenage monster hunters are your thing, David Brothers has the comic for you: Alabaster: Wolves. [Comics Alliance]
Manga | Ash Brown posts an early review of Hirohiko Araki's Rohan at the Louvre. [Experiments in Manga]
Manga | If you subscribe to the JManga newsletter, you may have noticed that est em's Hatarake Kentauros! is slated for release on Thursday, April 19th. Kathryn Hemmann has the scoop on this odd but intriguing manga about centaurs living in present-day Japan. [Contemporary Japanese Literature]
Manga | Leah discusses Haruna Lemon's Zucca x Zuca, a collection of comic strips celebrating 'Zuka Ota,' or Takarazuka otaku, culture. 'Haruna doesn't try to explain the appeal of the stars, the fans' behavior, or to convert readers to the fandom,' Leah notes. 'Instead, the manga is about community through shared experiences.' [The Lobster Dance]
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