So, things got a little out of hand in February, mostly due to the fact that I came across a fair number of out-of-print and somewhat hard-to-find manga that I wasn’t able to pass up. Other than that I largely behaved myself. Most of the non-manga comics that I picked up last month were Kickstarter-related which just means that my wallet cried months (and in one case years) ago rather than in February. As for manga, I finally got my hands on The Girl from the Other Side, Volume 1 by Nagabe. Technically published in January, it’s one of my most anticipated debuts for the year. My copy of Jennifer Doyle’s Knights-Errant, Volume 1 (the most recent paperback from Chromatic Press) arrived after a short delay, too. When it came to actual February debuts, I was particularly curious about Kei Sanbe’s first first Erased omnibus and was thrilled that Two Hoses, a short erotic gay manga by Jiraiya, was simultaneously released in Japanese and in English. My copy of the gorgeous box set of Chiho Saito’s Revolutionary Girl Utena manga was one of the few that escaped the recall–most people will have to wait until April for the corrected version to be released. I also received an early copy of Ichi-F: A Worker’s Graphic Memoir of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant by Kazuto Tatsuta which was released a few days ago; I’m currently working on an in-depth review which should hopefully be posted sometime next week. Ichi-F is an important work, so I’m very glad that it was translated.
Manga!
Anonymous Noise, Volume 1 by Ryoko Fukuyama
Bakune Young, Volumes 1-3 by Toyokazu Matsunaga
Cantarella, Volumes 1-10 by You Higuri
Captive Hearts of Oz, Volume 1 written by Ryo Maruya, illustrated by Mamenosuke Fujimaru
Dawn of the Arcana, Volumes 8, 10-11 by Rei Toma
Erased, Omnibus 1 by Kei Sanbe
FukuFuku: Kitten Tales, Volume 2 by Kanata Konami
The Ghost in the Shell, Volumes 1, 1.5, 2 by Masamune Shirow
The Girl from the Other Side, Volume 1 by Nagabe
Grey, Volumes 1-2 by Yoshihisa Tagami
Haikyu!!, Volume 9 by Haruichi Furudate
Happiness, Volume 3 by Shuzo Oshimi
Ichi-F: A Worker’s Graphic Memoir of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant by Kazuto Tatsuta
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part 3: Stardust Crusaders, Volume 2 by Hirohiko Araki
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Oracle of Ages by Akira Himekawa
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Volume 1 by Akira Himekawa
Magia the Ninth, Volume 2 by Ichiya Sazanami
Maison Ikkoku, Volumes 1-15 by Rumiko Takahashi
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, Volume 6 by Izumi Tsubaki
Musashi #9, Volumes 1-9, 13-15 by Miyuki Takahashi
Persona 3, Volume 2 by Shuji Sogabe
Revolutionary Girl Utena by Chiho Saito
Ten Count, Volume 3 by Rihito Takarai
Two Hoses by Jiraiya
Comics!
Another Castle: Grimoire written by Andrew Wheeler, illustrated by Paulina Ganucheau
Big Kids by Michael DeForge
Chernozem by Aud Koch
Enough Space for Everyone Else edited by J. N. Monk and Lee Black
Knights-Errant, Volume 1 by Jennifer Doyle
A Land Called Tarot by Gael Bertrand
Mae, Volume 1 by Gene Ha
Magical Beatdown, Volumes 1-1.5 by Jenn Woodall
Mahou Shounen Fight!, Volume 1 by JD Saxon and Dusty K. Smith
My Monster Boyfriend edited by C. Spike Trotman
Namesake, Volume 2 by Isabelle Melançon and Megan Lavey-Heaton
Sorcery 101, Volumes 1-2 by Kel McDonald
Yes, Roya written by C. Spike Trotman, illustrated by Emilee Denich
Artbooks!
Sketches & Studies by Aud Koch
The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts by Nintendo
Novels!
Decapitation: Kubikiri Cycle by Nisioisin
The Name of the Game Is a Kidnapping by Keigo Higashino
The Stones Cry Out by Hikaru Okuizumi
Anthologies!
The Accusation: Forbidden Stories from Inside North Korea by Bandi
I got my Sorcery 101 books in too! I hadn’t really read it before I jumped in (apparently, backing Kickstarters is my version of the “drunk Amazon purchase”), just the first two chapters online, but damn, it was so good, I want more! I seriously think it’s the best webcomic I’ve ever read. I’ll just have to check out his other works instead.
And I cannot bring myself to buy any of the Zelda manga. I got that Arts & Artifacts giant art book (bigger than the Hyrule Historia), but even while the Zelda games don’t have huge complex stories, the idea of seeing Link talk and ignoring the dungeons and questing… the idea just doesn’t sit right with me. And I don’t have a Switch yet. And yes, I’m clearly going to be buying it for Zelda, first and foremost (and hopefully, other things later on, I’ll probably get Splatoon 2 as well).
Congrats on picking up Maison Ikkoku too, I think it’s probably the only manga from my early collecting days still on my shelf. Even when the characters do that classic Takahashi “not talking to each other to clear up simple misunderstandings” thing, I can forgive it over her other works because it’s a lot shorter and the romance actually does move forward (and, heaven forbid, they do eventually talk at some point).
I have a very similar issue with backing Kickstarter projects! XD Sorcery 101 was a comic that I had heard about but never actually read before backing the Kickstarter for the second volume. The campaign was in danger of not reaching it’s goal and so I finally got around to reading some of the comic online; like you, I discovered that I really liked it and so ended up as a backer!
Although I am curious about them, I haven’t actually been able to bring myself to buy the Zelda manga either. However, I did manage to get a hold of some review copies. After meeting Akira Himekawa at TCAF a couple years ago I became even more interested in the Zelda manga. I’d really love to see some of the team’s original work licensed, too, but in the meantime Zelda is what’s available. I’ve read the Ocarina of Time manga adaptation which was fun, and the new Legendary Edition of the series does look great if nothing else!
I was very happy to find a complete set of Maison Ikkoku! I wasn’t actively looking for it at the time and only happened across it by chance. But when I realized that I could get the entire series for less than some of the individual volumes are currently going for I snatched it right up. I haven’t read any of it before, but I know a lot of people who really love the series.
Ooh, Cantarella is one of my fave manga! Super sad that it didn’t get fully released in English and that I didn’t buy them all when Borders was going out of business.
I read a few volumes of Cantarella that my library had years and years ago. It’s been so long that I don’t actually remember much about the series other than having a vague recollection that I liked it. I’m looking forward to reading it again, though! CMX released some really great shoujo series and it is sad that not all of them were able to be published in their entirety.
Oh wow, I haven’t thought of Mahou Shounen Fight in forever! I liked it but then the creator’s lives got super bogged down (pretty sure there’s a rant of me on twitter going “when webcomic artists spend so much time at cons to promote their work that they don’t update the comic for roughly a year”) but man, the link to the site on the store isn’t even working anymore, I gotta look into that and see if it ever revived…
If it hadn’t been for the fact that I backed the Kickstarter I probably would have completely forgotten about Mahou Shounen Fight! The book was sent to my old address, but fortunately I’m friends with the person currently living there so she made sure I got the package. I think the creators are working to revive the comic, but I’m not sure what progress has been made recently.