CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

I figured since the manga section doesn't have a thread for things happening in the world of manga (or at least I've never seen one), it was high time to make one. Manga isn't quite as prolific in the news as anime, but there's still a lot going on.

Post whatever manga news you think it notable. New series from your favorite author, announcements that a series you like is going to end, even announcements of anime adaptations of manga would be alright.

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I'll start with the announcement that Hiromu Arakawa, who wrote Fullmetal Alchemist and Silver Spoon, is starting a manga adaption of The Heroic Legend of Arslan, a highly acclaimed fantasy novel by Yoshiki Tanaka, who also wrote Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

Yay for more Arakawa manga!

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-05-07/fullmetal-alchemist-arakawa-to-adapt-tanaka-arslan-fantasy
http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2013/05/07/fullmetal-alchemist-author-to-launch-heroic-legend-of-arslan-manga-adaptation


Also, not-so-recent news is that Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun is slated to end with it's 12th volume.

http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2013/04/23-1/my-little-monster-manga-conclusion-scheduled

Wow, it will be a pretty big adjustment going from this



to this



But still, that is incredibly awesome even if the series does lauch the month that I move away from Japan. T.T

I'll share something that isn't extremely new news, being a few months old, but might be new to many CAAers:

So, every year Japan has an event called the Japan Media Arts festival, which is a pretty big deal here, and awards are given in categories including anime and manga to the works that judges find to have superior artistic and creative merit. Here are the 16th Annual Japan Media Arts Festival manga category award winners (results were announced in maybe February or March this year):

Grand Prize

Les Cités Obscures (Cities of the Fantastic)
Benoît PEETERS / François SCHUITEN
Translation: FURUNAGA Shin-ichi / HARA Masato

Excellence Award

Gaku, Minna no Yama (Peaks, Everyone's Mountains)
ISHIZUKA Shinichi
GUNSLINGER GIRL
AIDA Yu
Mashiro no Oto (Sound of Snow White)
RAGAWA Marimo
Muchacho
Emmanuel LEPAGE

New Face Award

Bokura no FUNKA-sai (Our "Eruption" Festival)
SINZO Keigo
Koori no Te, Siberia Yokuryuu-ki
(Frozen Hands: Tales of a Siberian Prison Camp Survivor)
OZAWA Yuki
Sennen Mannen Ringo no Ko (Apple Children of Aeon)
TANAKA Ai

Clicking on the links above will take you to the Japan Media Arts Festival's English-language descriptions of the works, why they won, and author bios, and you can read the complete list of the winners in every category here.

What I find to be extremely interesting about this year's awards is that not just one but two of the manga that won top prizes in Japan's Media Arts Festival are French: the grand prize winner, Cities of the Fantastic, is Belgian-French, and Muchacho is French. Japan is, shall we say, not always very attuned to things released outside of Japan, especially in Japan-dominated media like video games and manga. Looking through the festival's past awards, it seems this is not the first time that a non-Japanese work has been recognized, but it does appear to be the first time a non-Japanese comic has won the grand prize.

My thoughts on these titles: Cities of the Fantastic also sounds pretty fascinating but it looks like the cheapest price is on amazon.fr for 19 euros per volume. T_T Frozen Hands: Tales of a Siberian Prison Camp Survivor also piques my interest personally because it's the story of a Japanese POW in a Siberian prison camp, based on the experiences of the mangaka's father and a bunch of other information which she carefully gathered, and that point of view is probably something none of us here has ever heard before. Then there's Gunslinger Girl, which I would guess is the only title most people here are familiar with, myself included. Nice to see this title getting some recognition.

Soul Eater is going to be ending in two more chapters: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-06-06/soul-eater-manga-to-end-in-2-more-chapters

I wasn't sure if this was Soul Eater's final or penultimate arc, so good to know. It wasn't that dear to my heart, but I'm surprised how disappointed I am that the Kishin didn't set off a madness-focused arc, since the insanity has always been one of the stronger parts of Soul Eater. The moon is an appropriate place for the end, though, since it has been a solid symbol since the very beginning.

Gantz is ending: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... apter-soon

As that article is a little old, there's only one chapter left. The final villain is a random guy and 90% of the series was actually irrelevant.

^

Holy crap, Seven Seas just licensed The Lucifer And Biscuit Hammer (Hoshi no Samidare) manga!!!

I had nearly given up hope of this ever being released in book form here, and it's one of my top favorite manga series (in fact it's one of the few I've given a full 10/10 on MAL), so as you can imagine this has seriously made my day!!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Awesome!
I should really finish that series.

Okay, so as you all may or may not already know, Crunchyroll has started to offer manga as well as anime. They're currently offering a mix of a few big hits (for instance, Attack On Titan / Shingeki no Kyojin) and a few less-well-known titles, with more on the way.

Today in particular, however, there was much rejoicing on my part-- because they have just announced simulpubs of Ichigo Takano's downright magnificent Orange, *and* new, also-great-so-far Re Collection!

They have Orange!!!!! I've been looking everywhere for an English adaption! Hooray!

more Ningen manga from NisioIsin, aka writer of Monogatari series. Please just give Zaregoto anime...I can dream, right?

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... nga/.74757

Guesssss whaaatttt? Looks like Tsubasa is getting a new manga...All I can say is YES!

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-06-16/clamp-to-launch-new-tsubasa-manga-series-in-august/.75606

So not only did Seven Seas license The Lucifer And Biscuit Hammer (Hoshi no Samidare) manga for print release, now Crunchy just added it for (legal) digital reading, as well!

MangaRocks! wrote:So not only did Seven Seas license The Lucifer And Biscuit Hammer (Hoshi no Samidare) manga for print release, now Crunchy just added it for (legal) digital reading, as well!

I am bouncing off the walls excited about Crunchyroll getting this! Time for a re-read! And I'm thinking I'm gonna have to make all my friends get Crunchyroll accounts and then I'll gift them guest passes so that they can all read it too.

OH MY GOSH, THEY DID IT!! YEN PRESS LICENSED THE DURARARA!! NOVELS!!!

FAVORITE PUBLISHER STATUS: CONFIRMED

Vertical is licensing the manga that Tonari no Seki-kun was based off of under the name My Neighbor Seki.

Announcement:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... medy-manga

Actual release:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... -17/.83232

Yen Press continues to be the ultimate boss, licensing Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun ( ), Yowamushi Pedal, and Handa-kun (a spinoff of Barakamon, which Yen Press also has), among other things!

JUST ANNOUNCED: Not only does Ichigo Takano's Orange have a digital simulpub release on Crunchy, now Seven Seas also finally just licensed it for print!

So, Yen Press officially owns my wallet now, because on top of all their other awesome licenses (including the DRRR!! novels! ), they've also finally just licensed the Baccano! novels!!!

(...Along with a bunch of other stuff, too, some of which I'm also interested in. BUT HOLY CRAP, BACCANO! IS LICENSED, I AM ONE SERIOUSLY HAPPY NARITA FANGIRL RIGHT NOW! <3 )

Geez, I could feel my wallet shrinking as I read that article.

My all-time #1 favorite manga, Fruits Basket, is getting a sequel after nearly 10 years! (...Although apparently it's only going to be a couple of vol.'s, and will feature some new characters, etc. Even still, I'm looking forward to it! )

Haha I was coming here to post that exact same thing, but I got beaten I'm excited about this though! Nostalgia~

Just found out that Vertical has licensed the 1-volume mini-series The Gods Lie (a.k.a. Kamisama ga Uso wo Tsuku.), an excellent work by Kaori Ozaki (the mangaka of the also-excellent Immortal Rain)! Will definitely be picking this up when it's released! <3

MangaRocks! wrote:Just found out that Vertical has licensed the 1-volume mini-series The Gods Lie (a.k.a. Kamisama ga Uso wo Tsuku.), an excellent work by Kaori Ozaki (the mangaka of the also-excellent Immortal Rain)! Will definitely be picking this up when it's released! <3

I'd say Kamisama ga Uso wo Tsuku is significantly better than Immortal Rain. Immortal Rain is competent; Kamisama ga Uso wo Tsuku is great. Either way, though, that's great news--thanks for sharing!

This unfortunately doesn't fall under the category of official releases, but the manga Galaxy Express 999 is at least now being fan-translated. It is by Matsumoto Leiji, a classic manga author (not as famous or influential as Osamu Tezuka), probably more known for Space Pirate Captain Harlock and Space Battleship Yamato. Galaxy Express 999 is a bildungsroman about a boy's journey through space and how in his quest for a mechanical body he learns about life and about what things are truly important. Also flying trains. It's a bit very pulpy at times, so I certainly can't say that every chapter is good, but there are interspersed throughout the story quite a few places where there are some interesting reflections on human life.

In short, everyone should go read Galaxy Express 999 and Kamisama ga Uso wo Tsuku.

Viz has licensed the Haikyuu!! manga!!! (...As well as Yona Of The Dawn, Kuroko's Basketball, and other things.) Oh my gosh, though, Haikyuu!! <3

As mentioned before, Yen Press already owns my wallet (and gladly), but this just brings it to yet another level: They license-rescued my all-time #1 favorite manga Fruits Basket (in its shiny new never-before-published-in-the-U.S. Collector's Edition version, no less!!), as well as the mangaka's next two series (also never-before-licensed here), Twinkle Stars and Liselotte & Witch's Forest!!!

I cannot contain my fangirling right now~

Yet another epic entry in the Yen-Press-Owns-My-Wallet saga: They just licensed the (*AMAZING*) Rokka: Braves Of The Six Flowers novels!!!