Both the last Wednesday and the last day of November has arrived, so it is once again time for a giveaway at Experiments in Manga! Last week was Thanksgiving in the States which happens to be my favorite holiday. (I really enjoy the delicious food and spending time with my family. The extra sleep helps, too.) As is now tradition, I like the giveaways for November to involve a whole feast of manga in order to celebrate. This year you all have the chance to win four first volumes of manga released in English by Kodansha Comics in 2016: Shuzo Oshimi’s Happiness, Hiroyuki Takei’s Nekogahara: Stray Cat Samurai, Hico Yamanaka’s The Prince in His Dark Days, and Tomo Takeuchi’s Welcome to the Ballroom. And, as always, the giveaway is open worldwide!
As the end of 2016 steadily approaches I’m starting to think about the manga published in the last year that I found particularly notable. Inevitably, I’m asked what my favorite manga is and I generally try to get away with mentioning a single publisher rather than a single title. This year, I’ve especially been impressed by the manga that Kodansha Comics has been licensing and releasing. Over the last few years Kodansha has been successfully expanding its catalog and demographic reach, offering titles that were at one point rumored to either be unliscensable or otherwise highly risky. Josei? Kodansha has it. Classic manga? Kodansha has it. Sports manga? Kodansha has it. Food manga? Kodansha has that, too. In fact, some of my most anticipated manga releases for 2016 were published by Kodansha Comics and looking forward to 2017 it seems as though that will likely be the case next year, too.
So, you may be wondering, how can you win a collection of Kodansha Comics?
1) In the comments below, tell me a little about a manga released by Kodansha Comics in 2016 that you particularly enjoyed and what you liked about it. (If you haven’t read or enjoyed any, simply mention that instead.)
2) If you’re on Twitter, you can earn a bonus entry by tweeting, or retweeting, about the contest. Make sure to include a link to this post and @PhoenixTerran (that’s me).
And there you have it! Participants in the giveaway have one week to submit comments and can earn up to two entries. If needed or preferred, comments can also be submitted directly to phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com and I will then post them here in your name. The giveaway winner will be randomly selected and announced on December 7, 2016. Good luck!
VERY IMPORTANT: Include some way that I can contact you. This can be an e-mail address in the comment form, a link to your website, Twitter username, or whatever. If I can’t figure out how to get a hold of you and you win, I’ll just draw another name.
Contest winner announced–Manga Giveaway: Kodansha Comics Collection Winner
Really good year for Kodansha comics, imo, but Princess Jellyfish, man! I had watched the anime (which didn’t have a real ending) so I knew I’d want the manga, but the manga is even more awesome than I would’ve thought! But I just like the characters, dynamic, and energy of the whole thing, I’m the least fashion-oriented person for caring about that sort of thing, but I just find this series so damn much fun!
Some other things I’ve enjoyed from Kodansha this year: Seven Deadly Sins, Noragami (which I only just got into, I am very late to this party), Cells at Work, Yamada-kun, and a rare Animal Land volume just came out too (c’mon, there’s only three volumes to go! Just shove them out already!).
haven.t read any new releases
I’ve read 2 titles that were new to 2016: Sweetness & Lightning and the Attack on Titan Anthology. I completely adore Sweetness & Lightning because I’m a foody and the family love is to die for. I surprisingly enjoyed the AoT Anthology. It was a nice western comics take on the series. Would love to see more anthologies for other series.
Really happy to see Suzuka catching up to where it left off so many years ago. Always loves Kouji Seo’s series.
Also really loving Your Lie In April. It’s a really bittersweet, delightful series. Even more so since it’s about music, and we don’t see those often.
I have not read any Kodansha manga yet, all my experience with the publisher has been older fiction such as the samurai epics of Eiji Yoshikawa, the “Baian” story collections by Shotaro Ikenami and Gavin Frew, the samurai stories of Shuhei Fujisawa and Gavin Frew, and the Samurai Stories of Ryotaro Shiba and Eileen Kato.
Your manga “Nekogahara: Stray Cat Samurai” has made me interested enough to enter your contest and hopefully get a chance to try some of your manga offerings.
I’m going to have to go with a tie: Princess Jellyfish and Forget Me Not.
Princess Jellyfish is a true delight to read, and its enthusiasm is infectious. Laugh-out-loud funny, but also extremely heatfelt. It can leave you giggling, inspired, or moved, sometimes all at once. The characters are charming, and you’ll end up cheering for your favorites. The artwork is lovely, breezy and breathless. I was excited for this release and I haven’t been disappointed yet!
Forget Me Not is another great series, albeit for different reasons. It focuses on the joys and pains of relationships. The protagonist is believable and, more importantly, likable; he’s charming yet genuine, and it’s understandable why the other characters are drawn to him. The other characters are also well-written, all unique and more than just the typical tropes. This is not a harem series, but a real look at romantic relationships and what makes them work (and fail). It’s a refreshing read in a genre that’s often stale or cliche.
I finished In/Spectre volume 1 yesterday. I really like Kotoko, she’s funny, strong and very interesting. I look forward to reading volume 2 of the series. Earlier of this year, I read the last 2 volumes of My Little Monster by Robiko and enjoyed it very much, how driven Shizuku is and the friendship.
The obv starter – Princess Jellyfish!! After literal years of fandom begging them.. it is finally here in all its wonderful josei glory of otaku women
Next: Kiss Him, Not Me – a ridiculous fujoshi series that was like.. did they specifically make this for me? It reads like it was specifically made for the young-fujo in me
and slightly cheating: Vinland Saga 8, which is coming out end of December. That still makes it 2016
tweet tweet: https://twitter.com/persoconchii/status/804034336622264320
I love Fairy Tail and Noragami! They are both one of the few series that I collect both the anime and manga for. I collect each and every volume when I can. I didn’t even realize that both manga were published by the same company. That’s pretty cool!
I haven’t read like any of Kodansha’s releases this year, so I guess I’ll go with Princess Jellyfish, which I haven’t actually gotten around to yet. But I love manga that play with gender, and I’ve only heard good things about it, so I definitely look forward to reading it soon.
My favourite this year, so far has been Kiss Him, Not Me. I was introduced to this series when I learned of the upcoming anime (Literally second favourite of this season, behind YOI). Anyways I just love that series.
Twitter: DoolFandoms (I retweeted you)
Definitely been a good year for Kodansha, and it’s nice they’re continuing the risk-taking into 2017. Princess Jellyfish was great news for josei fans, and Queen Emeraldas for classic manga fans.
I haven’t read any new releases this year, but I just looked at the website. I might start the manga Real Account, it seems like my type of psychological fun.
I have to mention at least three manga! “Princess Jellyfish”, an amazing manga; funny, smart, I never though it could be released in english. “Queen Emeraldas”, same here. I think nobody expected this manga to be published, but it is amazing. The first volume has been an incredible reading and I am waiting anxiously for the next one. “The Ghost and the Lady”, by Kazuhiro Fujita, an author, again, that I had heard of (thanks to Urasawa’s Manben) and that I am really glad to be able to read in english.
I am really happy to see that even when Kodansha publishes a great variety of manga, there are things for every type of reader, and that’s great. I am really looking forward to what will come in 2017.
Princess Jellyfish. Princess Jellyfish. Princess Jellyfish. (A vote for each volume released so far!)
Kiss Him Not Me is great guilty fun. I haven’t read Cells At Work yet, but I am intrigued by the premise.
Well, I can’t choose between “Sweetness and Lightning” and “Real Account”.
“Real Account” is a really cool survival game, yet acts as a commentary on “social network”. (+ I just have a soft spot for these survival games)
“Sweetness and Lightning” is a nice read and another soothing addition to my favorite genre, slice of life. (Let’s not forget that Tsumugi is really cute!)
*****
I have to agree on how cool Kodansha Comics line-up is!!!
However, I’m greedy enough to wish for more licences like “Taiyou no Ie”, “Kasane” or ” Giant Killing”.
Retweet: https://twitter.com/PhoenixTerran/status/803971574126804992
It was a strong year for Kodansha, but my personal favorite is probably Sweetness & Lightning. I’ve always been a sucker for food manga, but food manga + cozy family drama just hits a sweet spot I didn’t expect.
The only thing likely to rival it at this point is the upcoming release of the latest Vinland Saga omnibus, saved from the brink of cancellation.
The ones i liked the most are No.6 and Genshiken… And i really wanted to try Happiness, so this is a great chance!
Twitted @MauroPellencin
I have recently read Sayonara Football by Naoshi Arakawa which I enjoyed! Now I am looking forward to reading My Dear Cramer. There isn’t a lot of sports manga in the US until very recently, let alone women’s soccer. I am also looking forward to reading Happiness from Shuzo Oshimi as I loved both Inside Mari and Flowers of Evil.
Retweeted at https://twitter.com/inter4ever_7
I’ve also really loved the way Kodansha licenses things from all sorts of demographics, and often they’re weird titles nobody’s heard of ’til now. Perhaps the money from Attack on Titan has given them a little more flexibility.
In any case, I’m going to go a little off the beaten path and say how grateful I am to read Neo Parasyte F in English. I love Parasyte, and shoujo horror is a rare treat (although I liked how varied the stories’ genres were, too!).
I’ve loved both Kiss Him, Not Me and Princess Jellyfish! Both have been amazing so far! Kiss Him, Not Me is great fun and its hilarious to see the MC’s reaction to all of the BL (or seeming BL) around her. And Princess Jellyfish is just so earnest and cute!
Like several other people, my favorite Kodansha manga is Sweetness & Lightning–I love the combination of heartwarming stories + delicious food!
Another favorite is Say I Love You. I love the friendships as well as the romances, and I also really like that the story doesn’t just end with once the main couple gets together and that we get to see how their relationship evolves.
Parasyte! Love it
I haven’t read many, but Princess Jellyfish would probably win regardless! I love that series because it’s so relatable for me XD Retweeted the contest @apricotsushi!
Haven’t read the English release but I did read a few volumes of Tomo Takeuchi’s Welcome to the Ballroom in Japanese. Very interesting theme and glad to hear that it’s out in English :)
Retweeted on Twitter as @aheadofthenight~