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This blog is a storage space for various thoughts, observations and musings centering on shōjo manga (少女漫画, Japanese comics for girls), josei-oriented manga (Japanese comics for women) and manga created by women (in the widest sense). Topics from other fields of relevance, such as music, art, literature and film may be discussed here as well.

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For the most part, Japanese names appear in their original order - surname first, followed by the given name.

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Viewing all posts in category: Manga News



[Mangaka Update] The Return of Yamakawa Aiji

Yamakawa Aiji cover artwork for Betsuma furoku (Shueisha)If you’re a dedicated follower of a manga artist, nothing feels more troubling than when their current series goes on hiatus, especially for health reasons. From a completely selfish perspective, it might mean you’ll never be able to read the end of that series. But of course it also makes you worry for the mangaka, the person who’s been working hard to deliver new chapters of their work. Accidents, illnesses, the inability to continue working due to high levels of stress, they aren’t that rare when it comes to interfering with a manga arist’s life and bringing their career to a halt. To the avid shōjo/josei-oriented manga reader, artists like Okazaki Kyōko or Yazawa Ai might come to mind. Another manga artist that disappeared with an unfinished series was Yamakawa Aiji, someone we’re very fond of here at coinlockerbaby.org.

Yamakawa Aiji cover artwork for Betsuma furoku (Shueisha) In our artist profile, we mentioned how her series Stand Up! went through one magazine change, from monthly Bessatsu Margaret, the magazine Yamakawa Aiji had been strongly attached to since her debut, to its bi-monthly sister magazine The Margaret (both Shueisha). And then, with 3 tankōbon published, Stand Up! went on a long hiatus in early 2015. Things got very very quiet until in early 2017, Yamakawa Aiji was finally back in Betsuma, but only as the illustrator of the color artworks for two furoku manga volumes. And no word on a continuation of Stand Up!

Stand Up! by Yamakawa Aiji in The Margaret (Shueisha)It took until late 2017 for good news to be announced: Stand Up! would be back in the April issue of The Margaret which went on sale on February 24th, 2018. Also gracing the magazine’s cover, Yamakawa’s longest-running series so far was back after 3 years with a 100-page installment and the announcement that it would end in the next issue (June 2018) of The Margaret. This means Stand Up! will now end with its 4th comic volume – an end not rushed but planned in advance by the artist – to be published on July 25, 2018.

Unfortunately, parts of the two new and final chapters in The Margaret looked similarly as hurriedly put together as the ones before the hiatus. Characters which seem hardly more than sketches appear in a white sea of nothingness where there should be backgrounds or slightly more defined panels. But it can be expected that the tankōbon version of the 4th and final volume of Stand Up! will include revised or more detailed page layouts so fans can hope for a satisfying end to this series!

Stand Up! by Yamakawa Aiji (Margaret Comics, Shueisha) Stand Up! by Yamakawa Aiji (Margaret Comics, Shueisha) Stand Up! by Yamakawa Aiji (Margaret Comics, Shueisha) Stand Up! by Yamakawa Aiji (Margaret Comics, Shueisha)

Yamakawa Aiji's cover artwork for 2.43 Seiinkōkō Danshi BarÄ“-bu, Cocohana September 2018 (Shueisha)More good news for people following Yamakawa Aiji’s career came at the end of June! Her new series will debut in Shueisha’s monthly josei-oriented manga magazine Cocohana, with its September issue on sale July 27. Even better yet, she’s also getting to contribute the magazine’s cover artwork (see left). The series itself, titled 2.43 Seiin Kōkō Danshi BarÄ“-bu (2.43 – Seiin High School Boys’ Volleyball Club), isn’t all that new, though. It’s the manga adaptation of a young entertainment novel series about the rise of a boys’ volleyball team in a small provincial high school, created by Kabei Yukako and illustrated by none other than Yamakawa Aiji. Its first story arc (appropriately called ‘season’) was first published in 2013, the second followed in 2015 and the third season has been running since August 2017. (See below for the covers of the novels published so far.)

2.43 Seiin Kōkō Danshi BarÄ“-bu by Kabei Yukako (Shueisha) 2.43 Seiin Kōkō Danshi BarÄ“-bu by Kabei Yukako (Shueisha)

2.43 Seiin Kōkō Danshi BarÄ“-bu by Kabei Yukako (Shueisha) 2.43 Seiin Kōkō Danshi BarÄ“-bu by Kabei Yukako (Shueisha) 2.43 Seiin Kōkō Danshi BarÄ“-bu by Kabei Yukako (Shueisha)

Yamakawa will provide only the art for the manga, neither the story nor the dialogue/script will be hers. This sounds like a little less freedom than Yamaguchi Izumi is enjoying with her manga version of the novel series Omoide no toki shÅ«ri shimasu by Tani Mizue, also running in Cocohana. (Yamaguchi debuted in Betsuma around the same time as Yamakawa and they belonged to a small group of super popular young mangaka with stylish artworks. See the first paragraphs of our profile on Yamakawa Aiji.) Nevertheless, as fans we’re super happy Yamakawa Aiji is back and we hope this is just one step toward a new original series by her! With great titles like the wonderful YajirobÄ“ she’s already proved she’s absolutely capable of creating a memorable stand-alone manga. (Are we allowed to dream of just one new original one-shot by her at this point?) We’ll see what the future brings and for now, we’ll be cheering on her volleyball boys team :)

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Categories: Manga, Manga News.
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Posted on Jul 22, 2018 (Sun, 5:42 pm). .

[Magazine Info] Mdn August 2017 featuring cross-dressing girls and women in shōjo manga

Mdn August 2017Japanese design & graphic magazine MdN is running a special feature on girls and women disguising themselves as or dressing as boys/men in their upcoming August 2017 issue out July 6th. Under the headline of “The longing for women in mens’ clothes – the design of characters leaping over the boarder” they try to view the phenomenon from a variety of angles to try and answer the question why so many women feel attracted to the mysteriousness and cool outfits of cross-dressing women. The cover features Avu-chan, the singer from the Kobe-based rock band Ziyoou-vachi (Joōbachi), with an accompanying photo spread taking up the first part of the magazine.

The producer of KIRAKIRA ☆ PRECURE A LA MODE talks about creating the character Kenjō Akira (Cure Chocolat) that’s closely linked to both a protective motherliness and boyishness. And a history of girls and women disguising themselves or simply dressing as boys or men spans the decades from Tezuka Osamu’s Princess Knight’s Princess Sapphire to Ikeda Riyoko’s Lady Oscar into the new millenium and follows in the footsteps of manga scholar Oshiyama Michiko’s research.

MdN August 2017: The characters leaping over boundaries

A large part of the special is dedicated to 15 important cross-dressing girls and women in manga and anime. Here’s the eclectic cast the editors selected for these profiles:

1. Sapphire (Ribon no Kishi/Princess Knight, Tezuka Osamu)
2. Tenjō Utena (Shōjo Kakumei Utena/Revolutionary Girl Utena, Saitō Chiho)
3. Akiko (Palace Meiji, Kuze Banko)
4. Ashiya Mizuki (Hanazakari no Kimitachi e/Hana-Kimi, Nakajō Hisaya)
5. Fujioka Haruhi (Ōran Kōkō Hosuto-kurabu/Ouran High School Host Club, Hatori Bisco)
6. Sarasa (BASARA, Tamura Yumi)
7. Tominaga Sei (Kaze Hikaru, Watanabe Taeko)
8. Aramis (Anime Sanjūshi/The Three Musketeers Anime, Alexandre Dumas/Studio Gallop)
9. Nagao Kagetora (Yukibana no Tora, Higashimura Akiko)
10. Fujinami Ryūnosuke (Urusei Yatsura, Takahashi Rumiko)
11. Hatshepsut (Aoi Horus no Hitomi, Inudō Chie)
12. Oscar François de Jarjayes (Versailles no Bara/The Rose of Versailles, Ikeda Riyoko)
13. Julius Leonhard von Ahrensmeyer (Orpheus no Mado, Ikeda Riyoko)
14. Asaka Rei (Oniisama e…, Ikeda Riyoko)
15. Orihara Kaoru (Oniisama e…, Ikeda Riyoko)

Also included are features on cross-dressing female characters in drama, theatre and musical, both Shakespearean/Western drama, as well as a look at Japanese performing arts including Noh and the Takarazuka Revue, finishing with an interview focusing on the Sailor Moon musical “-Le Mouvement Final-“ and its Sailor Guardians who are “more [attractive] than ikemen (attactive men).”

With such a comprehensive line-up this looks like another interesting issue of MdN which lately has been providing good insights into issues related to manga and anime, though often from a design perspective. (We previously talked about their issue dedicated to the design revolution in shōjo manga in our Yamakawa Aiji profile.) More information on the August issue and preview images can be accessed via the magazine’s Amazon page.

For further information on the topic of cross-dressing girls in shōjo manga, I also highly recommend a look at Oshiyama Michiko’s book Shōjo manga jendā hyōshō-ron: ‘dansō no shōjo’ no zōkei to aidentiti [On the Representation of Gender in Shōjo Manga: The Shaping and Identity of ‘Cross-Dressing Girls’] which can be found on Amazon Japan among other places. Both this and the August issue of MdN are surely not to be missed for anyone interested in the gender politics of shōjo manga and closely related media!

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Categories: Manga News.
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Posted on Jul 3, 2017 (Mon, 10:54 pm). .

[Manga & Anime News] The April Agenda

We’ve already entered a new month and April ’17 looks like it has some very exciting things waiting for us – some new beginnings that might bring a sparkle to our eyes in best old-school shoujo manga fashion and some endings that will hopefully not be too tear-inducing…

Fukumenkei Noise/Anonymous Noise TV anime by Tokyo MX based on the manga by Fukuyama Ryouko→ The second week of April marks the start of an anime TV series based on Fukuyama Ryōko’s Fukumenkei Noise (Anonymous Noise). The series has been destined for the whole multi-platform treatment it will be getting (there’s also a movie coming out in November this year) from the start. Yes, it’s literally screaming for a form that goes beyond the printed medium and brings sound into the whole affair because it is about just that – sound, music! From April 11 on, which is the day the first episode airs in Japan, we can expect some pop punk noise accompanying the story of the love triangle between the girl Nino who turns into Alice, the lead singer of the massively hyped newcomer band in No hurry to shout (called Inohari by fans and the media), whose members wear bandages and eye-patches to hide their identities. Their guitarist and main songwriter Yuzu brings Nino into the band after Nino had inspired him to write songs for her back when they were kids and Nino had to overcome the fact that her first love Momo had suddenly moved away. Yuzu himself is still in love with Nino while Nino tries to find Momo through her voice but when she finally does, he rejects her. Momo is now a famous composer of pop songs, feeling guilty about making money with the songs he originally wrote for Nino for whom he still has feelings. He’s just in senior high, the same one Nino and Yuzu attend. And what makes the situtation even more complicated, he’s the bassist in band called SILENT BLACK KITTY who’s being criticized for being nothing but a copy band of Inohari.
Fukumenkei Noise follows Nino and the two very different boys, Yuzu and Momo, and their bands all the way to the top of the pop music world. With the added element of ‘real’ music, the anime will hopefully express even more powerfully the youthful energy and passion of the manga, currently running in Hana to Yume. I can’t wait. And please note: a post for the manga is coming to this very space next week!

Palace Meiji by Kuze Banko (Hakusensha)→ The end of the month will bring readers the final chapter of Kuze Banko’s series Palace Meiji in Hakusensha’s Betsuhana (Bessatsu Hana to Yume), with its June issue in stores April 26. To commemorate the conclusion of the magazine’s number one title, Palace Meji will be getting the magazine’s cover, a color spread and a furoku fan book called “Palace no omoide” (literally “Memories of the Palace”) along with the last chapter. And I’m getting my tissues ready because I really enjoyed young hero Kimiyori’s years of training and working at Meiji Palace, serving the young, tough and beautiful (fictional) empress Akiko. 6 comic volumes filled with episodes of court life in alternative modern-meets-traditional Japan, subversions of gender roles and lots of action, human drama, warm humour and suspense have been published so far, already destined to become classic shōjo manga material.
In related news, another long-running series, the romantic comedy Pochama ni by Hirama Kaname will come to an end in that same issue of Betsuhana.

The final volume of Izumi Kaneyoshi's Joou no Hana→ Following up from this post and the publication of the final volume of Izumi Kaneyoshi’s Joō no hana, it’s only fair to say the fantasy romance series stuck out like a rainbow-colored swallowtail butterfly among the brownish grey moths usually running in Shogakukan’s Betsucomi. The publisher itself must have come to the same realization and transferred the artist to the place she rightfully belongs on its roster of shōjo magazines, that being Monthly flowers. Izumi’s new series of one-shots will start with its first story titled Suisō Yakyoku (let me see, Nocturne of the Water Tank?), a whopping 60 pages including color pages plus the cover of the magazine, published in Gekkan flowers 6/2017 out on April 28. Looks like we’re back in the present day with a ‘it’s slightly complicated’ type of romantic comedy, judging from the short bit of description and the illustration of the two main characters on the flowers preview page.
The current flowers issue (5/2017) celebrates the 20th anniversary of Watanabe Taeko’s Kaze hikaru along with a sticker calender furoku, the beginning of the final story arc of Tamura Yumi’s long-running post-apocalyptic action manga 7SEEDS (which I must admit has the ability to give me nightmares, that series is just not for the faint of heart), and the very last chapter of Kodama Yuki’s Tsukikage Baby, the follow-up to her hit series Sakamichi no Apollon (Kids on the Slope).
My order with the limited edition of the final volume of Joō no hana with the memorial fan book isn’t here yet but I noticed it’s already sold out at most places and going for slightly crazy prices at amazon… See the cover for it, which wasn’t out when I wrote my post last month, on the top right!

So this looks like a fun-packed month that is guaranteed to bring lots of material to shorten rainy spring days and long commutes to and from school/work!

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Categories: Anime, Manga, Manga News.
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Posted on Apr 2, 2017 (Sun, 2:34 am). .




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