New Manga Release List ~ Jan 2, 2009~ + 2009 Wish list

Happy New Year’s manga readers! And from all of our contributors and our editors emeritus (Jarred, Jack, Pea…) we wish you a healthy and bountiful 2009!

While the American manga industry might shrink a little next year, we at the MangaCast are looking forward to continue to share what we can about our ever expanding manga world.

So here is out last New Comics Release List (NCRL) for 2008 (which also happens to be our first of 2009) and our wish lists for 2009… Something tells me at least one of those titles will be available in the near future. Hmmm…

BANDAI ENTERTAINMENT
Code Geass Suzaku Of The Counterattack GN Vol 1, $9.99

DEL REY MANGA
Kujibiki Unbalance GN Vol 2 , $10.95
Me And The Devil Blues GN Vol 2 , $19.95
Minima GN Vol 3 , $10.95
My Heavenly Hockey Club GN Vol 7, $10.95
Psycho Busters GN Vol 4, $10.95
Pumpkin Scissors GN Vol 4, $10.95
Shiki Tsukai GN Vol 4 , $10.95
Shugo Chara GN Vol 5 , $10.95

JUNE
Desire Dangerous Feelings Novel , $8.95
Guilty Novel Vol 2 (Of 4) Original Sin , $8.95
Tricky Prince GN, $12.95

GO! COMICS
Crown GN Vol 1 (of 7), $10.99
Her Majestys Dog GN Vol 11 (of 11), $10.99

TOKYOPOP
Burst Angel Manga GN Vol 2 (of 3), $9.99
Castlevania Curse Of Darkness GN Vol 2 (of 2), $9.99
Chibi Vampire GN Vol 12 (of 13), $9.99
Dot Hack Sign Gu GN Vol 4 (Of 4), $9.99
Fate Stay Night GN Vol 2 (of 5), $9.99
Initial D GN Vol 33 (of 37), $9.99
Kyo Kara Maoh GN Vol 2 (of 4), $9.99
Phantom Dream GN Vol 1 (of 5), $9.99
Samurai Deeper Kyo GN Vol 32 (of 38), $9.99
Silver Diamond GN Vol 3 (of 10), $9.99
Starcraft Frontline GN Vol 2 (of 3), $10.99
Togainu No Chi GN Vol 1 (of 5), $10.99
VB Rose GN Vol 5 (of 6), $9.99

VIZ MEDIA
Rurouni Kenshin GN Vol 4 (of 9)(VIZBIG Edition), $17.99

YEN PRESS
Angel Diary GN Vol 8, $10.99
B Ichi GN Vol 2, $10.99
Croquis Pop GN Vol 3, $10.99
Cynical Orange GN Vol 6, $10.99
Spiral Bonds Of Reasoning TP Vol 6, $10.99
Youre So Cool GN Vol 3, $10.99

Julie apparently has made it through several feet of snow and ice to emerge from her manga den to make her final picks of the year… Looks like a long manga winter:

Lots of good stuff this week - finally! I did need a break on my credit card the last few weeks, though. I’ll go with Pumpkin Scissors, just ’cause it’s cool, and Silver Diamond, ’cause it’s fun, and Chibi Vampire, ’cause it’s awesome. Crown looks pretty interesting, too.

My wish list? Piku-Piku Sentaro and Derby Queen. Can’t have enough bunnies or ponies in the manga verse. I’d also like to see Ouke no Monshou, but I think there’s as much chance of that as the Lions finally winning a football game.

Well maybe if Sand Chronicles (also drawn by Ashihara Hinako) does well we might see Derby Queen. Better hope it does really well.

I never knew Erin was the religious type, but her selections are pretty spiritual. A new outlook for the coming year, perhaps…

My pick is My Heavenly Hockey Club volume 7. Somehow I thought it ended with 6… but I suspect it’s ongoing. D’oh! I hope there’s an anime series in the cards for it, because that would be amusing.

As for my wishlist - I’d also like to see Derby Queen for the same reason as Julie. Saint Oniisan (Saint Young Men) made all those critics’ lists and was an amazon.jp best seller! I picked up the Japanese volumes because it’s too good to pass up (it’s the one where Jesus and Buddha are roommates).

Here’s my list:

Unlicensed (serious requests):
Saint Oniisan
March Comes in Like a Lion - Umino Chika’s post Honey and Clover title
Kinou Nani Tabeta? - Fumi Yoshinaga’s latest
Drops of God - the manga that popularized wine in Korea

Limbo:
Yotsuba&, What’s Michael, suppli, No. 5, Satsuma Gishiden

Hmm, looks like everyone, I mean everyone, wants to see Kinou Nani Tabeta? Eva agrees and she adds a few Korean titles just because no one else could…

Since Julie and Erin have already picked some of the books on my list, I’ll go with You’re So Cool, if only in the hopes that it’ll start to live up to its potential.

My wish list looks similar to Erin’s. Now that Ooku has been licensed, I’d love to see Kinou Nani Tabeta? in English. I’m also wildly curious about Saint Oniisan. And seeing as how people generally enjoyed Solanin, how about Oyasumi Punpun? Quirky? You bet. But I like it a lot.

As far as manhwa goes, I’d love to see They, Too, Love and Safe Again Today licensed. I don’t hold out much hope for either one, though…

Another title I’d like very much to see licensed is Gokusen. I’m sure there are very good reasons why this title hasn’t been picked up yet, but I don’t care. I want it in English, now!

Ah, I completely forgot about titles I’d like to see resurected. I may be alone in loving the Full Metal Panic light novels, but I’d love to see those continue to be released. For manga, I’ll be sad if Suppli doesn’t resurface and I’m interested in seeing how Fever ends (it’s only 4 volumes long, for crying out loud). And Yotsuba&!. Sigh. Yotsuba&!.

Have you heard of any specific reasons that Gokusen isn’t here Eva? I have asked MediaBlasters about this since they hold the anime rights, but they haven’t had a chance to take it from Shueisha. I’d kill for Gokusen, but I’d likely have to hide in Okinawa to escape jail time…

It’s already 2009 where Khursten lives. So this message from Special K is techincally from the FUTURE!!!

Happy New Year guys!! >w<) Let’s have another great year of manga! o/

My pick for this new years, Togainu no Chi! It isn’t exactly as great as the BL game, but hey, it does explore a nice what-if if you got your flags right. You know, all this Heavenly Hockey Club oggling is making me ever curious about that manga. I long to read it. If I can find volume 1 here in Manila. Someone always beats me to it!

As for wish list for next year, St. Oniisan takes top priority of the lot. Another interesting manga I read this year is Aqua Planet Chronicle (Mizu Wakusei Nendaiki). It has a nice feeling like Aria and yeah, it’d be great to have more feel-good stories around.

I agree with Brian’s pick this week but I don’t agree with his reasoning (more on that later) and he’s more interested in seeing pubs finish what they started…

Without a doubt I’ll pick up Me and the Devil Blues this weekend. The beginning of the last volume was a little iffy, but once Clyde was introduced I was hooked. It is not only an interesting story about music, but also a nice look into the prejudices of society at that time with some supernatural mystery thrown in. An honest, well drawn look into the origins of the blues that can appeal to non-manga readers as well. The first volume made its rounds around my class and we’ve been pining for volume 2 since!

I might also grab Fate/Stay Night to get my Saber fix.

Most of my wish-list titles actually got picked up this year and I haven’t been reading too much non-translated work, so I don’t have much to add. As other people said, St. Oniisan looks like it would be fun. I would like to see it published just to see what reaction religious groups would have to it. Did Rozen Maiden do well enough to get someone to pick up the new series? It’s not something I’m jumping up and down for but it would be nice.

One thing I would like for 2009 would be for some titles to be resurrected. My one volume of the Kino no Tabi novel is getting pretty lonely and it has been forever since the last volume of Blood Alone and Gunslinger Girls among other things…

Hmm, I didn’t like Clyde at all. Neither did Erin…

I had the exact opposite reaction. I really liked the opening chapters, but as soon as Clyde was introduced I lost interest. I still haven’t finished reading it! It’s like, “Oh, because this is set in that time period we have to include Bonnie and Clyde!”

Happy 2009 peeps! We’ll be back in the new year with more of the same, more of other stuff and maybe less of some other things altogether… PEACE!!