Bookshelf Overload: January 2011

I did pretty well for myself in January and stuck to my resolution (see last month’s bookshelf overload to understand what I’m talking about). So, which acquisitions particularly excited me this month? I was thrilled to find some more out of print volumes of Hiroshi Aro’s Futaba-kun Change for an excellent price. I still have a few more volumes to track down to complete my set, but it’s a good start. I was also very excited to pick up all five of the volumes currently offered in English of Kaoru Kurimoto’s The Guin Saga. Back in December, Rightstuf had a huge sale on books from Aurora Publishing (which includes the Deux and Luv Luv imprints). I ordered a boxful, which happily arrived this month. I also gave Tokyopop‘s new print-on-demand manga a try with a couple of Tarako Kotobuki’s Love Pistols volumes which are difficult and expensive to find. The quality is actually pretty good. The coloring on the covers is a little off and doesn’t match the original volumes exactly, but it’s pretty close. The paper used is also different and more tightly bound, but it’s of nice quality and the printing is great. Depending on how picky you are about your individual volumes matching one another, I think the print-on-demand option is a viable way to go for hard to find manga. Finally, Jake Shimabukuro’s newest album, Peace Love Ukulele, was released in January, hooray! I think it’s probably my favorite album of his so far.

Manga!
Apothecarius Argentum, Volume 7 by Tomomi Yamashita
Barefoot Gen, Volumes 1, 3-10 by Keiji Nakazawa
Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, Volumes 2-3 by Harorudo Sakuishi
Dog Style, Volumes 2-3 by Modoru Motoni
Dojin Work, Volumes 1-4 by Hiroyuki
Futaba-kun Change, Volume 5, 7-8 by Hiroshi Aro
Gin Tama, Volumes 1-5 by Hideaki Sorachi
Hetalia: Axis Powers, Volume 2 by Hidekaz Himaruya
Immortal Rain, Volume 2 by Kaori Ozaki
King of Wolves written by Buronson, illustrated by Kentaro Miura
Love Machine by Amayo Tsuge
Love Pistols, Volumes 1-3, 5 by Tarako Kotobuki
Love Round!! by Hinako Takanaga
Lovers and Souls by Kano Miyamoto
Marmalade Boy, Volume 5 by Wataru Yoshizumi
Mermaid Saga, Volume 2 by Rumiko Takahashi
Mister Mistress, Volume 1 by Rize Shinba
Natsume’s Book of Friends, Volume 2 by Yuki Midorikawa
Nephilim, Volumes 1-2 by Anna Hanamaki
Pretty Face, Volumes 2-6 by Yasuhiro Kano
Sand Chronicles, Volume 10 by Hinako Ashihara
Saturn Apartments, Volumes 1-2 by Hisae Iwaoka
Say Please by Kano Miyamoto
Short Cuts, Volumes 1-2 by Usamaru Furuya
Tokyo Tribes, Volumes 1-2 by Santa Inoue
Trigun Maximum, Volumes 4-7 by Yasuhiro Nightow
Two of Hearts by Kano Miyamoto

Comics!
Megatokyo, Volumes 2-3 by Fred Gallagher

Light Novels!
The Guin Saga, Volumes 1-5 written by Kaoru Kurimoto, illustrated by Naoyuki Kato

Novels!
Dragon Sword and Wind Child by Noriko Ogiwara
Harmony by Project Itoh
Naoko by Keigo Higashino

Nonfiction!
Hiroshima: The Autobiography of Barefoot Gen by Keiji Nakazawa

Music!
Peace Love Ukulele by Jake Shimabukuro
Prism by Yoshida Brothers