Most Anticipated Manga 2010

I might be a bit late, but I still want to tell you what manga I’m most looking forward to in 2010.  There’s a lot of manga being translated in English these days and these are my top picks.

#5  51 Ways to Save Her by Usamaru Furuya (CMX Manga- September 2010)

Two former classmates, a gothic lolita and a college student, are reunited.  And then an 8.1 earthquake hits Japan!  I do love my post-apocalyptic stories.  And Tokyopop finished Dragon Head a couple years ago so this is long past due. ———————————————————————

#4 Bakuman by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata (Shonen Jump- August 2010)

From the creators of Death Note, Bakuman is the story of two junior high students who team up to become the most successful manga-ka duo in Japan.  The from the creators of Death Note tagline didn’t impress me, but after reading a few chapters online, I can see this going to great places.  Bakuman was supposed to run in Shonen Jump USA this year, but it hasn’t been announced if it will only be a preview or full blown serialization.

#3 I’ll Give It My All…Tomorrow by Shunju Aono (Viz Signature- May 2010)

40-year-old Shizuo Oguro is tired of his corporate career.  So he decides to quit to pursue his lifelong interest: becoming a manga artist.  I’ll Give It My All… is Shizuo’s story of the ups and downs of his quest at manga success.  This was one of the first series I sampled over at Sig Ikki and I instantly fell in love with it. ————————————————————

#2 AX Volume 1: A Collection of Alternative Manga (Top Shelf- July 2010)

Just as the title implies, AX is a collection of short alternative manga stories.  Originally slated for a December 2009 release, AX was pushed back to summer 2010.  Volume 1 will contain shorts from Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Akino Kondoh, Kazuichi Hanawa, and Shinichi Abe. —————————————————————————————————————————————————

#1 Peepo Choo by Felipe Smith (Vertical- July 2010)

It’s not often that an American comics artist is flown out to Japan to work on a monthly manga in Morning 2 for Kodansha.  Peepo Choo is the story of two individuals.  Milton is a hardcore otaku from Chicago, obsessed with the anime Peepo Choo.  Reiko is a teenage model in Japan who wants a career overseas.  Tokyopop published Smith’s first series MBQ from 2005-2007.  I’m a huge fan of that series and cannot wait to read this one.

More manga I’m looking forward to

Buy and Brag #2

The day after I posted Buy and Brag #1, I received shipping confirmation from Rightstuf for the rest of my CMX order (sans December pre-orders).  Looks like I have a lot of reading to do!

Astral Project volumes 1-3: I’ve read a lot of good things about this series.  I was surprised to read on the back cover that the author, marginal, is the alias of Old Boy’s creator Garon Tsuchiya.  The series follows a young man who inherits an unlabeled CD from his deceased sister and has an out of body experience.

Go West! volumes 1-3:  Don’t know much about this one.  I just saw the name Yu Yugami, creator of Those Who Hunt Elves and Hikkatsu!, and clicked order.  It looks to be an entertaining parody of the Wild West.

And that’s my second buy and brag for the week.  There will probably be another next week.  Half Price Books has their 20% off everything sale for Labor Day so I’ll probably pick up a couple things this weekend.

Buy and Brag #1

Why hello there, Andrew.  Long time no see.  I thought I’d break my year long hiatus with an easy post, the old buy and brag.  This is the package I got in the mail from rightstuf today.  A mixture of my CMX, Del Rey, and Weekly Specials orders.  I might make posts like this in the future to show off my collection or for just another easy post.

Hunter x Hunter vol. 3–  I didn’t expect to enjoy this after dismissing the manga as shonen drek, but I guess it’s true what they say, all Yoshihiro Togashi manga work better as anime.  This will shoot to the top of my “to watch” list as soon as I delete some stuff from my DVR.

Astral Project vol. 4–  The fourth and final volume.  I just ordered this during the CMX manga sale and haven’t received the first three yet so this will be kept in the shrink wrap for now.

Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei vol. 3– I didn’t find the second volume to be as hilarious as the first but I’ll give it another go.

X-Men: Misfits vol. 1– The second to be released in Del Rey’s “Marvel Manga” series (the first was Wolverine: Prodigal Son).  I was excited to read this, but the shojo artwork is turning me off.

CMX Summer 2009 Preview– Yay, something for free!  Rightstuf had a deal that if you purchased $50 worth of CMX manga, you’d get a free sampler.  So I did.  Everything is still on backorder, with a couple pre-orders.

So, that’s it for now.  If you’re interested in a review of any of the above titles, leave a request in the comments!