Once again, it seems the latest compilation version of the To Love-ru manga, volume 10, has received the upgrades in ecchiness which are largely being denied the DVD edition, strangely enough. A number of mistakes and omissions seem also to have been dealt with.
Plenty of fans have seen fit to compare the magazine published version with the compilation edition, so the differences are readily apparent:
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This manga, published in 1982 as “My Computer God – The Story of Bill Gates” (マイコンの神さま ビル・ゲイツ物語), in KoroKoro Comic, is a fascinating piece of history, and quite amusing to boot. As a piece of history, it harkens back to a time when Bill Gates was the Larry Page or Sergey Brin of his day, a dynamic entrepreneur in charge of an up and coming venture company, a far cry from the monolithic titan of corporate America Microsoft would later become. The entire story is translated below.
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The latest edition of 新生電撃大王 / Shinsei Dengeki Daioh magazine has apparently provoked something of an availability crisis with the prominently displayed thighs of Fuuka – the shelves are as bare as her fine thighs, and a restock is apparently in order.
Of course, we might also be led to think less charitably that it was the enormous thickness of the tome, or it being packed with such notable artists as Naruko Hanaharu, rather than the presence of such a notable Yotsuba&! character which prompted the brisk sales… Via AkibaBlog.
Never has a dutch wife looked so appealing. Nobuto Hagio’s great erotic comedy Yuria Hyaku Shiki gets some interesting figure treatment, in the form of this interesting hadaka apron Yuria figure. It pretty much goes without saying that the apron is cast offable. Looking at the last figure, this one certainly seems to be a vast improvement… The question is, does a figure wearing pantsu count as a “naked” apron figure?
You can see her in cast off mode below.
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In what may be the only recorded incidence of death by manga, if we are to exclude the murderous rampages politicians and the mass media assure us are the result of such things, a man (37) was tragically buried alive by his impressive collection of many hundreds of volumes, apparently toppled onto him in the recent severe earthquake in Tohoku.
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Ever wondered about which manga magazines are popular, and just how popular? I’m afraid I have, and now the Honkawa Data Tribune provides answers in the form of comprehensive circulation figures. The figures are presented below, and of course I have rendered them into English for your perusal (original also provided).
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Two interesting new anime adaptations are pending announcement, according to Moon Phase. First up is 屍姫 / Shikabane Hime, “Corpse Princess”, a manga which focuses on gun toting zombie hunting school girls and so is sure to be popular; though the author is renowned for his reluctance to grant upskirt schoolgirl panchira (he seems to rely on strategically placed guns instead, or possibly nopan as evidenced by the above cover), so it may be interesting to see how it works in motion.
Secondly is the interestingly named とある魔術の禁書目録 / To Aru Majutsu no Indekkusu, “A Certain Magical Index”, which promises to explore the largely uncharted territory of nun moe and nun service through fantastic magical comedy. You may not have heard of either of them, but if the anime adaptations go through that will change soon enough, I’d wager; “A Certain Magical Index” has already run the usual course of manga/novel/drama CD adaptation, so it seems likely the only direction is now to game and anime status, and Shikabane Hime has plenty of volumes already out, so its success seems to have been established.
The long awaited release of the new Slayers anime, Slayers Revolution, after an 11 year hiatus, is heating up with the start of the manga version, being serialised in Dragon Age – see here for some more detail. Whilst it would probably be an exaggeration to say the manga adaptations of Slayers have ever been highly regarded in comparison to the excellent anime and novels, it is heartening to see Lina Inverse and company back in action after such a long gap – who can doubt that Megumi Hayashibara will reprise her role with as much gusto as ever?
This is 田中ユタカ/Yutaka Tanaka. His stories tend to be more sentimental than the norm – or perhaps they are normal and the unsympathetic treatment is not. Anyway, they are full of warmth. He is extremely prolific (in fact there is a suggestion several authors use the same pen name, or at least that plenty of assistants are involved). You may also be familiar with the erotic anime adaptation of Virgin Night (初夜), based on his work. He has a slew of normal (non-H) manga published as well, but I am concentrating on the H part of his portfolio here.
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One of my favourite manga, and in fact the first I ever read in the original Japanese, is よつばと!/Yotsuba&!, by 東清彦/Kiyohiko Azuma. It is an entertaining and easygoing manga, with good art and story, so that alone is enough to recommend it; it is a best seller in Japan so many would agree. However, I think it also happens to be the ideal beginner’s manga for learning Japanese, for several compelling reasons.
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萩尾ノブト/Nobuto Hagio is a mangaka most known for Yuria 100 Shiki, and whose works are easily recommended, both as normal H (seinen) manga and as more adult works – some examples follow.
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