Abe Miyuki’s Hakkenden to be animated

Two big news stories surfaced about Ciel/Tres Tres manga.  First, I saw news of Junjou Mistake being animated, rolled my eyes and shook my fist a bit, then proceeded to ignore.  After that came BIG news, plastered right in the corner of Tres Tres’s cover–Abe Miyuki’s beautiful fantasy series Hakkenden is going to be animated.  Hakkenden isn’t pictured btw, that’s two characters from Love Stage!! and Back Stage!! (Love Stage!! is a fun manga itself–animate that! :3)

Wow!  Just a year ago, I remember lamenting about how it was on hiatus and wondering if we’d ever see it resume.  Not only has it resumed in manga form (and I’ve been getting pretty reprint editions!), but it’s getting an anime adaptation!  While I certainly hope it will be an awesome anime in itself, I’m also happy that this will turn people’s attention to this absolutely stunning manga series.  It’s just gorgeous.  I’m not sure how well her detailed style will translate into an anime budget, but I’ll hope for the best… at least until I see some information about director/animation studio. :3 I’m so happy for Abe Miyuki!  She’s really gotten a lot of deserved recognition under Kadokawa.  Let’s animate all her series instead–it would help the BL anime selection greatly!

Oh, and it’s not yaoi.  The comments I’ve seen so far are just sad–people are such ignorant little freaks.  Dismissing the merit of something on genre alone is bad enough, but when someone can’t be bothered to check it first before being completely wrong… that’s just pathetic.

March/April 2011 Manga Recommendations

Monthly manga recommendation list time!  For supposedly being the answer to my limited time problem, this sure takes a lot of time to make!  Going over and revisiting titles can be time-consuming, but fun.  I guess 10 was an aggressive number to do every month, so for now this will be March/April. At least summer is around the corner and I’ll have less work obligations.  I have another theme post or two that I want to do and would rather focus on that, but I need to wait for my next manga order to really get started on it.

The Return of Hakkenden!

I just wanted to point excited fingers at a certain line in the manga lineup of the current issue of Ciel magazine (released on 3/30).

あべ美幸「八犬伝-東方八犬異聞-」

Abe Miyuki :  Hakkenden – Touhou Hakken Ibun

Even after hearing the previous announcement, it was still hard to believe in such manga miracles.  Yeeees, my second favorite serialization is back in business!  Man, I’m even tempted to buy a copy to mark the occasion.. and I dislike magazines!  All is right in the manga world.  I’m glad she’s enjoying such deserved success with her new publisher.

December 2010 Manga Recommendations

I just can’t keep up with writing an entry for every great thing I want to mention.  My career keeps me very busy and it’s only going to get worse.  It’s frustrating.  Instead of letting everything die, I need a more sustainable approach.  So in addition to the occasional previews, I’m trying a new format:  a monthly (?) recommendation list.

Ten manga of varying vintage and demographics/genres will be picked.  The titles will likely range from obscure to moderately known.  Expect both raw and translated works.  Basically whatever catches my fancy.  At least one pick will be a title I want to write a full entry for, but may never get a chance to do so.  Others will be works that recently left a very positive impression on me.  Others will be older titles that I enjoy and think others should as well.

To keep it workable, I’ll only list a small amount of general info.  Genres/demographic will be specified, along with my own “important to me” manga types, and a few brief points for each title.  As usual, I’m opinionated as it keeps things interesting, so deal or leave~  If a title catches your eye, it’s up to you to seek it out!  Buying it is the most likely answer–radical idea, I know.

December Manga Recommendations:

Abe Miyuki’s Hakkenden to resume serialization under Kadokawa

Abe Miyuki has done well with Kadokawa.  Her newest title Super Lovers has been selling well, with both volumes breaking into the Oricon rankings.  They are also reprinting an older BL work of hers, Kimi wa Boku wo Suki ni Naru.  And the most surprising development is that there is a ton of chatter all over Japanese blogs and 2ch about a certain announcement:  Hakkenden is resuming serialization under the publisher Kadokawa.

….. Whaaaaaaat?

So far, of the numerous blogs mentioning this, not one I’ve seen has shown substantial evidence, such as a scan of the announcement, links to publisher statements, or even significant details.  Multiple sources say some information was given in the recent issue of TresTres.   I don’t buy the magazine, so I haven’t read it directly unfortunately.  A few murmurings point to the upcoming March issue of Ciel. Still, if this is true, I cannot express my joy that my second favorite currently publishing manga will get a second chance. /wipes tear  If it’s not, these bitches need to burn in hell for messing with my fragile manga heart.

Update:  Tousuisha posted a statement on their blog confirming the transfer of Hakkenden.  Considering the long hiatus, this is great news!  Hopefully that means we’ll get to see a proper ending to the story.

HaccaWorks* Goods

After taking its sweet time, my Celga package finally arrived, bringing me much joy.  The purpose of this order was to finally amass what HaccaWorks* materials I could and it was a raging success.  I own all the books!  HaccaWorks* is a self-publishing group best known for their visual novel Hanakisou and (hopefully soon) Akaya Akashiya Ayakashino.  Hanakisou was originally released on PC and later ported to PS2 with full voices.  It will be be re-released on PSP this September.  AkaAka missed the latest Comiket deadline, so here’s to hoping for a release next winter.

Abe Miyuki’s Super Lovers in Oricon’s Top 30

Super Lovers Vol 1 - #27 on Oricon's sales chart

I was first shocked, then happy, to see that Abe Miyuki’s Super Lovers Volume 1 was ranked 27 in Oricon’s top 30 weekly manga sales list with 24k copies sold.  Anything remotely BL to break into these charts is usually the likes of Nakamura Shungiku (Junjou Romantica, Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi). It was a slow release week, so Super Lovers managed to squeeze in!  Super Lovers is more bromantic than BL (in spite of the manga’s title), but that’s for another post.

Super Lovers is currently serialized in CIEL TresTres–the power of the publisher is almost frightening.  Abe Miyuki has been with the smaller (and admittedly my absolute favorite) publisher Tousuisha since the 80’s and hasn’t enjoyed that kind of exposure until now.  Hakkenden is certainly worthy of all praise you could ever give it; it boasts a well-crafted story, likable cast, and beautiful, detailed art.  However, I feebly hope and wonder if Hakkenden will ever resume from hiatus.  I’ve read a few chapters of Super Lovers and I hate to admit–it may have sold well, but Hakkenden is still the better work so far.  Something must be “up” with Tousuisha and their mangaka–Hashiba Maki also left and has two works, 10-4 and Kids Log, publishing in other magazines.  I hope they continue to do well~