Since in a few weeks I will be retiring Experiments in Manga, this will be the final Bookshelf Overload posted here. However, I am thinking of ways that I might be able to feature some of the interesting media that I find by leveraging my Twitter account more effectively. As for the things that found their way into my home in November, I once again picked up more anime than I generally do. (Granted, two of those, Skip Beat! and Mind Game were the results of Kickstarters that I supported way back when.) November saw the release of several debuts that I was particularly excited about, including ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Department, Volume 1 by Natsume Ono, Arakawa Under the Bridge, Omnibus 1 by Hikaru Nakamura, To Your Eternity, Volume 1 by Yoshitoki Oima (okay, technically it was released on the last day of October), as well as the Parasyte tribute anthology Neo-Parasyte M. I also recently discovered that a small publisher based out of Yokohama, Black Hook Press, is releasing gekiga manga in translation, such as Takashi Fukutani’s Dokudami Tenement. One more acquisition from November that I’d like to highlight is Denise Schroeder’s The Good Prince, Volume 1 which collects the first three chapters of that webcomic. My introduction to Schroeder’s work was through the utterly charming comic Before You Go, so I’m happy to get my hands on more of her work in print.
Manga!
ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Department, Volume 1 by Natsume Ono
Arakawa Under the Bridge, Omnibus 1 by Hikaru Nakamura
Complex Age, Volumes 3-4 by Yui Sakuma
Delicious in Dungeon, Volume 3 by Ryoko Kui
Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju, Volume 3 by Haruko Kumota
Devilman Grimoire, Volume 1 written by Go Nagai, illustrated by Rui Takato
Dokudami Tenement, Volume 1 by Takashi Fukutani
Erased, Omnibus 3 by Kei Sanbe
Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Volume 19 written by Yuto Tsukuda, illustrated by Shun Saeki
The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún, Volume 3 by Nagabe
In This Corner of the World by Fumiyo Kouno
Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler, Volume 1 written by Homura Kawamoto, illustrated by Tōru Naomura
Land of the Lustrous, Volumes 2-3 by Haruko Ichikawa
Murciélago, Volume 4 by Yoshimurakana
Neo-Parasyte M by Various
Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Volume 13 by Fumi Yoshinaga
A Polar Bear in Love, Volume 1 by Koromo
Requiem of the Rose King, Volume 7 by Aya Kanno
Shirley, Volume 1 by Kaoru Mori
Skip Beat!, Omnibus 2-12 by Yoshiki Nakamura
Sweetness and Lightning, Volume 8 by Gido Amagakure
To Your Eternity, Volume 1 by Yoshitoki Oima
Comics!
After Laughter by Jonathan Djob Nkondo
As the Crow Flies by Melanie Gillman
Barbara by Nicole Miles
A Body Beneath by Michael DeForge
Elysium by Caroline Dougherty and Femi Sobowale
Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too by Jomny Sun
The Good Prince, Volume 1 by Denise Schroeder
Goro, Issue 2 by Sarah Horrocks
A Long Distance by Jean Wei
Love Your Rogue by Billie Snippet
Men + Monsters, Volume 1 by Aero Zero
Musings of a Muslim Hipster by Areeba Siddique
The Pit of Tar by Jeremy Sorese
Sukibito Diary by Chu Nap
Super Tokyoland by Benjamin Reiss
What Is Left by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell
Artbooks!
Sari Sari by Corinne Caro and Issel De Leon
Novels!
Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Volume 5: Mobilization by Yoshiki Tanaka
Anthologies!
The Ise Stories: Ise Monogatari translated by Joshua S. Mostow and Royall Tyler
Panic and Deaf by Xiaosheng Liang
Anime!
Genocidal Organ directed by Shukō Murase
In This Corner of the World directed by Sunao Katabuchi
Kaiba directed by Masaaki Yuasa
Mind Game directed by Masaaki Yuasa
Skip Beat! directed by Kiyoko Sayama
Tokyo Godfathers directed by Satoshi Kon
Your Name directed by Makoto Shinkai
Film!
Funeral Parade of Roses directed by Toshio Matsumoto
Damn, that’s a lot of Skip Beat! And if you haven’t seen Tokyo Godfathers before, you are indeed in for a treat!
Also, I must’ve missed that you’re semi-retiring from manga blogging! I’m going to miss reading your weekly manga activity! Hopefully I’ll still get to see reviews when really special things come out (like Claudine!, for example) or maybe just a series you want more people to know about. I do follow you on Twitter already though and shall continue to do so there! Best of luck!
I really wasn’t aiming to come home with so much Skip Beat! last month, I swear! I snagged the manga on ebay after bidding on a lot that was listed at an incredibly low price; I was certain that I’d be outbid. I’ve only ever read the first five volume or so, but I enjoyed them and look forward to reading more of the series. XD
I am indeed entering semi-retirement. I plan on contributing to Manga Bookshelf’s Bookshelf Briefs feature in the future, though. And if I feel particularly inspired by something that I read (or watch), I might still post something long-form here. I’ll miss writing as regularly as I once did, but I’m looking forward to spending that time reading even more than I am now. It was a really difficult (and heartbreaking) decision for me!
uuuunf, Tokyo Godfathers is so good!
well, all of Satoshi Kon’s work is excellent really (but why is non of it on bluray in the US?!?!?!)
Your Name is also amazing. Have you gotten the chance to see it on the big screen? (it was a limited run) Shinkai’s “reality but in HD” backgrounds are really something when you’re watching it on ginormous screens
I haven’t actually seen Tokyo Godfathers yet! But I’ve been meaning to for ages, it seems. I’m looking forward to watching it, because I’ve heard great things. I hope that Kon’s anime get some nice North American releases sooner rather than later, too.
I did get the chance to see Your Name in the theater! I was lucky that one nearby me was showing it. (The theater apparently had a showing of A Silent Voice, too, but I found out about it too late to go.) Your Name is the only Shinkai work that I’ve had the fortune to see on the big screen, but it was worth it. The visuals really were stunning.
A Silent Voice theater run was somehow even more limited than Your Name. It was also only subs version, and lemme tell u… reading subs is nearly impossible when your eyes cannot stop tearing up ( It’s one thing when the scene after the fireworks is static images in the manga, but jfc that punch in the gut when it’s moving, and u can hear Shoya’s voice go from zero to panic to pain so fast…. )
Oh, man! I never even thought about that!!
I really hope that a North American home video release is announced soon, because A Silent Voice is definitely something I want to see.