A little bit of deja vu for me as news around the mangasphere is that CPM has some new titles for Q3 and Q4... Ummm NO! Actually all of these titles were announced last year. Last February to be exact. And at the time CPM Press even began rolling out a nice PR campaign for a couple books including Nananan Kiriko's Sweet Cream and Strawberries.

So lets get re-re-acquainted to these seinen and josei titles from Wani Books and Sodensha shall we?

Ahem... And once again, will this finally be the year that josei breaks out. With Ohzora launching, Yen and their With the Light... and Viz testing things out with Honey and Clover, CPM's short titles should help create some interest for womens manga. Now if someone can actually market these to women, then we can really get things going.

CPM Press

Ｄｙｓｔｏｐｉａ by: 桂木 すずし Dystopia by: Katsuragi Suzushi Wani Books/Gum Comics 1 vol/Seinen	ハートを打ちのめせ！ by: ジョージ　朝倉 Knock Your Heart Out! by: George Asakura Shodensha/Feel Comics 2 vols/josei	くるりくる! by: 花田十輝/ひよひよ Kururi of the Sea by: Hanada Jukki/Hiyohiyo Wani Books/Gum Comics 4 vols/Seinen	おとぎ奉り by: 井上　淳哉 Otogi Matsuri by: Inoue Junya Wani Books/Gum Comics 9+ vols/Seinen
PRINCE STANDARD by: 別天荒人 Prince Standard by: BettenCourt Wani Books/Gum Comics 7 vols/Seinen	ＳＣＲＩＰＴダウナーズ by: ＲＹＵ‐ＴＭＲ Script Downers by: Ryu-TMR Wani Books/Gum Comics 2 vols/Seinen	Strawberry Shortcakes 魚喃キリコ Sweet Cream & Strawberries by: Nananan Kiriko Shodensha/Feel Comics 1 vol/josei	ウエディング・イブ by: 本田 恵子 Wedding Eve by: Honda Keiko Ohzora/Missy Comics 1 vol/Josei

Throw the Book at'em

Jack and the MangaBlog crew have debated issues like scanlations in the past. So how do they feel about people scanning manga before its even published in a magazine? And where would they rate Shojo Beat amongst the most etchi kids manga magazines (or is SB too mature for kids to read)?

This week Brigid and Jack throw the book at them all. ShoComi showing to much T&A... Best be improving sales or else! Scanners giving the manga industry a hit... The cops are on their way. And what about CPM? Jack says stay away... It's like the People's Court this week on the MBC. The only defendant escaping the gas chamber will be Del Rey! Found out why in the latest manga news/views for your iTunes MBC #35!

Defend your views by sending an email to the MangablogCast(AT)gmail(dot)com.

Download the latest edition of the MangaBlogCast here: . Also available in .mp3

This program was written by Brigid Alverson and read/recorded by Jack Tse for the MangaBlog.
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Manga Curry no Maki Volume #12 - March 31, 2007 Instant Curry Edition

Track (Starts):

**Note: This was recorded in a pair of sessions over the last few weeks. So some of the topics covered might be a little dated. Oh and this is also Part One of this recording. Expect Part Dos this time next week. **

Intro: (0:35) (music from the Live action version of With the Light - Mangekyo no KiraKira by RYTHEM)
Libre-BiBLOS (05:00)
Welcome Again to Aurora Pub (18:00)
Walking with and Talking to the APEs Interview with Doujin artist Jason Thompson (33:30)

Curry recipe (on hiatus til next week)

In the mean time we have a contest. Win your own box of IkkiTousen instant curry!! Name one of the doujinshi Jason Thompson sold at APE 2007. Send response to mangacast(at)gmail(dot)com.


55:04min // 40MB // 64kpbs

Or Send us Email at: MangaCast(at)gmail(dot)com

In this Maki, Ed Chavez is joined by guests Isaac Alexander and Jason Thompson. Created and published by the MangaCast.

Its about the Moe not the Moé

I have to say, I don't know where to go with that header but I just found that hilarious. But when you are talking about moé you can easily be talking about manga. There is tonnes of it in manga. And the best kinds in my opinion are the ones that are not as pervasive. Take "Country of Cherry Blossoms" and the Hiroshima Carp fanservice... That goes over the heads of most readers but to a baseball fan or a fan of the Carp... MOE!!!

Nagai Go's manga has never been about subtle! But many of his titles defintiely have that moé factor going. Honey Flash!! And I have never met an otaku that doesn't feel male sukeban are moé. Getter Robo... Why mecha are so sexy!?! Who needs brains when the art is so mmm mmm good!

Takeshi Miyazawa understands moe and moé. Working on Spiderman Loves Mary Jane does that to a man, but going to the office that churned out titles like - Mahoromatic, Ikki Tousen, Amaenaideyo! and Front Sight of Alice - means he is serious about the moe.

There is plenty of moé in BL. Not sure what kind of moé Aurora will be going for with their Deux line but you know the fujoshi will be looking for it when they get their hands on those books later this year.

The MangaBlog will be sharing their moe and moé news this week.

Download the latest edition of the MangaBlogCast here: .

This program was written by Brigid Alverson and read/recorded by Jack Tse for the MangaBlog.
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I was just sent an email by MangaCast field correspondent K about some potentially huge news from Japanese BL publisher Libre. No, the company has not gone out of business! No worries there fujoshi. Insteasd, the publisher is warning North American readers about some books that they allege are illegally on the market. And they specifically name one North American licensee in a press release on their website (also found on their homepage, in ENGLISH no less!!).

(translated notice below)

Notice on Unauthorized Translations by Central Park Media

Thank you very much for your continued interest in our publications.

Please note that we also offer copyright licensing service for translations of our own publications to foreign publishers. These are commissioned by each of the cartoonists and authors.

Recently, it has come to our attention that some translations of our publications have been published and some are to be published by Central Park Media (Label: Be Beautiful) in the United States. We wish to make it known that these publications are considered illegal because they have not been authorized by us. It should also be known that the cartoonists and authors are being victimized by this illegal act, and they are very annoyed by it.

We strongly protest this illegal infringement of our property and issuing a strong order for CPM to cease their illegal acts. We also wish our faithful readers to refrain from purchasing, loaning, or sharing any and all of these illegal publications.

Thank you.
Libre Publishing Co.,Ltd.

Anyway you look at this, this is huge!! Since CPM started making noise about resuming publication back before YaoiCon 2006, the company's foundation was firmly on their BL titles. They confirmed that a number of those properties would continue in 2007 and they even signed a distribution deal with Consortium to get those books out on shelves (resolving a problem the pub is infamous for). Books once again were available on their website and shipments have been made to online retailers since.

At NYCC, the publisher repeated their claims of :new licenses" for this year and 2008. At their panel their representatives even revealed which titles would see re/prints in the up-coming months.

Looking at distributors Diamond Previews has the publisher listed for a number of books this spring and online stores like the Right Stuf and Amazon have books listed through early summer. If a cease and desist order is sent out the majority of those books will not likely ship at all. And what will happen to existing releases like Cage in the Finder or Kizuna #1-5 currently in stock in a few stores? These books are now in limbo, but they are exactly what Libre is pointing out in their message.

Furthermore, Libre makes it very clear that they are not alone protesting this. They make a point to inform the public that the original creators are not in support of CPM's actions. That and the way they ask the public to avoid purchasing or even sharing illegal CPM publications gives me the impression that Libre wants to really make it clear to a very active and knowledgeable fanbase that they are very serious about this matter. They would not mention that if they were not aware that Western fans support this company passionately.

I have never seen anything like this before. Some licenses are pulled by Japanese pubs and no one outside of the licensee knows why. And to have this posted on a publishers homepage in English and Japanese is clearly a first for me. I am almost left speechless... But we have not heard from CPM yet.

What is their take on the story? The pub has had enough issues over the last two years. Will they continue to move forward while resolving their problems over the Tokyo Animation Festival break later this week? And with books on sale now and some books scheduled for release as soon a April 3rd, the bigger question will be: what are readers to do?

More as news comes in

Power Surge!!

As the year starts to wind down lists and numbers are on the lips of many a manga pundit. You can already find some top ten lists floating around the nets. Some pubs are reminding their readers about the number of new licenses they have "announced" and there are others who tease by stating they are sitting on up to hundreds more. This is when the fancy encyclopedias of manga and manga makers come out. And you know those big super omnibuses, yeah they seem to always come out this time of year too. It's a time for people to share the manga love and why not when shopping season is upon us.

But who does have the power?

I think Jack and Brigid have a good hold on some part of that ring. The MangaBloggers are giving you the manga news you need to know every two weeks. Along with that they have an incoming list to give you ideas on what to look for at your local comic shop. And as usual, they give you commentary on the manga scene; occasionally even telling manga pubs, manga makers, and manga readers off! They are not afraid of the manga revolution, because they are giving it to you straight to your PC every other Thursday (or this week Friday).

If you are not listening to the MangaBlogCast you have not heard what the manga powers are saying and doing. Listen, respond and OBEY!!... Oh and come back for more.

Download the latest edition of the MangaBlogCast here: .

This program was read by Jack Tse and Brigid Alverson; written by Brigid Alverson for the MangaBlog.
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Nothing makes me happier than seeing new distribution deals. No seriously, I feel that publishers are stepping up trying to get their product out to you readers as best they can when they sign these deals. So when I ran into the information today about two pubs I did a little dance. Sorry I don't have video of that. Jarred's working on that

Word from online book trade website Shelf Awareness is that our friends at DramaQueen and CPM Manga will be working with Consortium Book Sales and Distribution as of Spring 2007.

Consortium Adds Eight Publishers

Consortium Book Sales & Distribution is adding eight new publishers, effective with the spring 2007 season:

* Central Park Media, New York, N.Y., a 16-year-old video and book publisher focused on Japanese and Korean animation and graphic novels and a leading North American publisher of Japanese manga and Korean manhwa.
* DramaQueen, Houston, Tex., a relatively new publisher of graphic novels, manhwa and yaoi from Korea and Taiwan.

As I have said here (mainly the Maki) and at other places I am a fan of DramaQueen. Honestly, I am someone who will tip my hat to and actively search out manga that is different. DQ does that. Its almost as if they were thinking of me when they set out on their magical manga journey. Their bread and butter is BL, I like to read my share in the morning with my cup of tea. We have looked at Empty Heart here before and I praised its contents (random doods speaking Hiroshima-ben or was it Osaka-ben always get a thumbs up especially if they are leches!) and their production values are MangaCast approved PRIME Rate. I was also very happy with their Taiwanese shojo title Vision of the Other Side (posted at AoD) mainly because I get this old skool shojo romance feel to it. Toss in some crazy BL manhwa and I think I have found myself a favorite publisher I cannot find in bookstores. And any publisher that dares attempt to release an anthology immediately gets my money. So as this small publisher begins to ramp up for the end of this year with a nice stack of releases - Last Portrait, the Summit, Naked Jewels Corp (I am feeling this), White Guardian, RUSH Magazine.... getting a distribution partner will help them get all that printed goodness to me and Jarred and Erin even faster. I wanna buy these/see these in stores.

CPM has had a deal with Consortium before. Actually days before their "implosion" they announced something with this group and there were rumors around that the deal had fallen through. Well, looks like CPM might be coming back. I will take my typical stance with CPM - believe it til I see it. Nothing wrong with their manga, outside of meh production values, I feel they have a decent enough line-up. Jarred has written here about his love of Nananan Kiriko before and I still rave about Lee HyunSe titles. Announcements made at the start of this year that included seinen titles from Wani Books and a couple Shodensha josei titles were making me want to like them. However, outside of a couple reprints in January and the random BeBeautiful book, nothing has been seen from them in almost 20 months. I almost feel I have a better chance with Gustoon! than with CPM. So what's a deal like this do for CPM? I kinda wish they would say something, cause until they announce something or begin to release any books I almost don't care. Give me more Mythology of the Heavens darnit!!

Consistency is what I see for both of these publishers. Look obviously the content is going to sell books. So for both publishers I see good things (I want the Judged and Wedding Eve NOW!!) as far as books go. And DQ's production quality is great so I don't see any reason not to buy their books as they are competitively priced also. At the same time, they need to be seen more. They need to hit shelves on time. They need to make sure their product gets out to their target readers. Relying on Amazon or their sites is never enough. Relying on a decent sized distritbutor is not enough (I mean even Viz and TP have changed them over the last year). Heck, the only reason I am doing this is to help get the word out (but I don't put books on shelves). So Consortium could be that step needed to get the word and the pulp out there. Good thing for these pubs and I hope a good thing for readers. And definitely a good thing for the MangaCast cause we should be confident we will be seeing more manga from these guys to review.

Not much more than a week after they signed a distribution deal with Consortium, manga publisher and anime house Central Park Media has laid off most of its staff and is reported to be having issues with creditors. Anime News Network has noted that the company is cutting ties as it prepares for bankruptcy.

According to AnimeonDVD, the publisher was scheduled to be at AnimeBoston this weekend to host three panels but their events were left without any representation. No word was given as to why they were not able to attend, but the general belief is that the no-shows were related to the layoffs.

Well, looks like we will not be seeing the end of World of Narue, Finder Series and Couple. After so much promise at New York ComicCon and the announcement of almost a dozen new titles tentative for 2006 (including Strawberry Shortcakes, Otogi Matsuri, and Casino Lily. Very little details are known right now about the CPM Press troubles but it looks like CPM was not able to come back from their hiatus after all.

In a move that I feel should be considered too little too late, the Book Standard has revealed that New York publisher CPM Press has reached an agreement with Consortium Book Sales & Distribution to distribute their graphic novels in North America starting June 2006.

Manga and Anime Publisher to Work with Consortium for Distribution
May 18, 2006
By Kimberly Maul

Independent graphic novel publisher Central Park Media will hand over its book distribution to Consortium Book Sales & Distribution as of June 1. Founded in 1990, Central Park Media is a leading supplier of anime and manga in the United States.

Consortium “has a well-established tradition of brining a broad range of literature to the book market,” said Ali T. Kokmen, director of book sales for Central Park Media, in a statement today. “Our graphic novels are a perfect complement to that literature, and we are delighted at the platform for growth CBSD will provide to our publishing program.”

Consortium’s CEO Don Linn expressed excitement over recent titles and series from CPM, including the “Dark Angel” series, by Kia Asamiya, and the “Nambul” series, by Lee Hyun Se: “Their record of creativity and growth along with the incredible market reception of some of their newer titles and series makes this a very exciting addition to our catalogue.”

Okay so it is not very fair of me to say its too late for CPM. I mean they have only been on hiatus for 18 months their fanbase must be as strong as ever, especially for all of those manhwa and the censored flopped manga they were releasing. But seriously, these guys teased readers in November with the special release of Angel Shop and then started the year with a manga catalogue that promised manga by this summer. Well, Summer 2006 is a month away and the September Previews came out yesterday and there is no sight of CPM Press. Actually even searching their own website shows no new leads as there are no new manga releases through Sept there either.

CPM can get publicity for Sweet Cream and Strawberries and act like the book is coming soon, but in the end like much of their manga history there usually is nothing to show in the end. They have had issues finishing titles. They have had issues with censorship (even with their shrinkwrapped BL). And now with this deal how long will it take for Consortium to get these books into their databases and then how much longer will it take for these to get distributed?

This might end up being what CPM Press needed to get back on track. And maybe some proper support will give them some consistency. Hearing that Consortium is interested in their library is positive, even though I don't think CPM's library is going to be exciting to most readers (unless you are a MangaCast commentator who always feels josei and the mature Wani Books titles are exciting, that is). But until books start hitting shelves again very little will give me confidence that CPM will ever reach the levels of success it had during the Frank Pannone era (when it was releasing Alien 9, Samurai Legend among others).

	I"s #5 by: Katsura Masakazu アイズ (5) by: 桂 正和 $7.99us Rated 16+ I"s is being released in North America by Viz Media through their SJ Advanced line. This shonen romance title was originally released in Japan by Shueisha and was printed under their Jump Comics imprint. Recently Shueisha also released a Perfect Collection of this series which is 9 volumes long.
	World of Narue #4 by: Marukawa Tomohiro 成恵の世界 by: 丸川 トモヒロ Price: $9.99 Rated 13+ Narue no Sekai is once again being released by CPM Press. After a year's hiatus this sci-fi romance will be hitting shelves with its usual frequency later this year. Originally released in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten's Kadokawa A Comics line this is one of CPM's more wanted titles.

Listen to Enhanced Recording Here:
As always, be aware that the review might contain spoilers. Also be aware of the new Ninja Consultant promo!

This review was writen and read by Ed Chavez for the MangaCast.
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Next review: FMP!, Dokebi Bride, Whistle!

This is the audio from the...

New York ComicCon -
CPM

Speakers:

- John O'Donnell: Publisher, Founder

- Peter Tatara: Marketing Supervisor

Guest of Honor:

- Soon Kim, Mangaka

Listen to CPM here:

The Nacho Party... Lots of chips, shooting stars and hurt fans came out of this one. Sorry no new announcements here.

This audio was recorded by Ed Chavez on Saturday Feb 25 at 1600 Eastern for the MangaCast.

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email at mangacast@gmail.com

This is the audio from the...

New York ComicCon -
Brokeback Manga Panel (BL/Yaoi in Manga)

Moderator:
- Kai-Ming Cha: Publishers Weekly

Speakers:

- Lillian M. Diaz-Przybyl: Editor, BLU Manga

- Emi Chiusano: Translator

- Masumi O'Donnell: Publisher, BeBeautiful

Guest of Honor:

- Nitta Youka, Mangaka

Listen to the BL here:

One of the more entertaining panels was the BL panel better known as Brokeback Manga. This was a hoot since the panelists spent an hour discussing titles that made the moderator a little embarrassed!

This audio was recorded by Ed Chavez on Saturday Feb 24 at 1800 Eastern for the MangaCast.

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NEW TITLES

BLU Manga (TOKYOPOP)

黒の騎士　 Kuro no Senshi Black Knight by: 剣 解 (Tsurugi Kai) BIBLOS/BeBoy Comics 3+ vols
純情ロマンチカ Junjou Romantica by: 中村春菊 (Nakamura Shungiku) Kadokawa Shoten/Asuka CL-DX Comics 6+ vols
ジェラールとジャック Gerard et Jacque by: よしながふみ (Yoshinga Fumi) Hakusensha/Hakusensha Ladies 1 vol

This is the audio from the...

New York ComicCon -
Be Beautiful Panel

Speakers:

- Masumi O'Donnell: Publisher, Be Beautiful

- Peter Tatara: Marketing Supervisor, CPM Press

Guest of Honor:

- Youka Nitta: BL Mangaka

Listen to the Beautiful Party here:

To be completely honest with CMX and ADV doing announcements the stealth way, up to this point TOKYOPOP had the Manga Pub of the show Award. That was until BeBeautiful on Saturday night. Quality over Quantity and these titles just edged out TP and their titles (led by Yoshinaga Fumi's title but more about that later). BL manga and anime had the crowd going wild.

This audio was recorded by Ed Chavez on Saturday Feb 24 at 19:00 Eastern for the MangaCast.

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NEW TITLES

カジノ・リリィ Casino Lily by: 新田 祐克 (Nitta Youka) Biblos/SuperBeBoy Comics 1 vol
花色バージンソイル Hana-iro Virgin Soil by： みなみ　遥　 (Minami Haruka) Biblos/BeBoy Comics 1 vol
ガートルードのレシピ Renai a la Carte by： みなみ　遥　 (Minami Haruka) Bilbos/BeBoy Comics 1 vols