Author: Anne

Call for Localization: Poe no Ichizoku, Kuro Bara Alice

There can never be enough manga in English, so in honor of this week’s vampire Manga Movable Feast, I’ve picked two vampire titles that I’d love to see released out west some day… And yes, they’re both shojo manga!

Poe no Ichizoku (The Poe Clan)
Poe no Ichizoku is an extremely influential manga series by Moto Hagio that was serialized in Japan from 1972-1976. What makes Poe no Ichizoku particularly interesting is how it deals with themes of guilt and love, as there is a very clear love “triangle between” Edgar, Allen, and Edgar’s sister Marybelle, as well as the isolation they face as immortal vampires. The double-negative of this series being nine volumes long and “old” means that it’s likely to be very low on publishers’ lists, but if Fantagraphics can localize Hagio’s Heart of Thomas, then I say someone should give Poe no Ichizoku a shot! I could definitely see this series being on a college course syllabus someday.

If you don’t mind the fact that it’s an academic essay, I highly suggest reading “Everlasting Life, Everlasting loneliness: The Genealogy of The Poe Clan” by Satoko Kan, which can be found in volume 38 of the US-Japan Women’s Journal. 

Kuro Bara Alice (Black Rose Alice)
I was surprised to find that this series is already licensed in France and Germany, so I wonder why an North American publisher hasn’t picked it up yet. Kuro Bara Alice is an ongoing shojo series by Setona Mizushiro, a prolific manga artist who has previously only had her one-volume work X-Day published in English. The overarching premise sounds something like a reverse harem in that an all-male group of vampires, called a “nest,” require a female to give “birth” to their successors. Alice has been selected to be one such female, but she has a choice between one of four of the vampire men to fall in love with… Okay, it does sound a little, hrm, interesting, but it seems to be doing fairly well in Japan, and it looks like a great, more “mature” alternative to the likes of Vampire Knight.

Are there any vampire manga you wish were localized into English? Share them in the comments!

Japan Envy: TokiMemo Girl’s Side Credit Card and Exclusive Events

I have to say, this is going to be my favorite Japan Envy posts in a while. Why? Because it’s about Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side-themed VISA credit cards!

official website

Of course, there’re credit cards for virtually everything these days, but this is the first time I’ve seen a credit card game tie-in before (feel free to point out others in the comments, if you know of any). And this isn’t just any game tie-in, but an otome game tie-in!

The perks of this card are that once you collect a certain number of points, you’ll be rewarded with various exclusive merchandise. The lowest revealed tier contains stickers featuring characters from the three games, and there’s also a 800-point option that gets you a signed illustration.

But most interestingly, only cardholders will be able to attend a certain upcoming event being held in celebration of the series’ 10th anniversary. On March 9th and 10th, cardholders will have the chance to go on a “live 2.5D” date with one of the series’ 32 different characters:

It’s still early, so there aren’t many details available on the website, but it will take place at Tokyo Disneyland and there’ll be all sorts of exciting things for fans going on, such as appearances from the voice actors and special exclusive goods for sale. 
But who cares about that –– this date thing is what’s got me really interested! Apparently, it will consist of some kind of animation sequence that actually changes depending on the things you say. Along those lines, the website is touting that it’s an event where you’re not merely watching, but actually actively participating in. I’m not sure how they’re going to go about achieving any of that without having everyone just playing copies of the various games, though… 
So, if there was a credit card available for your favorite game franchise or company (Nintendo VISA, perhaps?), would you want one? What kind of perks would you want it to have? I’ll be completely honest and admit that even though I probably wouldn’t actually attend the date event, I’d want a TokiMemo credit card solely because of the fact that it’s so adorable! 
For more information on Tokimeki Memorial: Girl’s Side, head over to my Otome Game Primer post!

Vampire MMF Roundup: Part One

The first couple of days of the vampire Manga Moveable Feast have gotten to a bit of a slow start, but I’m confident things will get busier as we hit the middle of the week! Let’s take a look at some of the contributions so far:

Ash over at Experiments in Manga kicks off the feast with a vampire-themed Week in Manga post. In it, he covers volumes 1-4 of Blood Sucker: Legend of Zipangu, Devil, volumes 13-16 of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Phathos volumes 1-2, Until the Full Moon volumes 1-2, and volumes 2-5 of Vampire Hunter D. With everything from the hardcore shonen title Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure to BL offerings of Phathos and Until the Full Moon, I’d say he’s got quite the selection!

Next, Manga Xandu takes a look at the Blood Alone omnibus, which contains volumes 1-3 of the series. Lori says: “Blood Alone isn’t the typical vampire series with a lot of angst and melodrama. Instead, it is populated with rich, interesting characters and a story that is a mix of slice of life and murder mystery with a sprinkling of vampires.” Sounds like it might be worth checking out!

Finally, I wrote a shojo-centric introduction to vampire manga here at Chic Pixel, which will hopefully provide a few good titles to start from for shojo fans looking to have some vampires with a side (or perhaps a heaping plate) of romance.

Keep those submissions coming! The vampire MMF will continue through to the 27th. You can email submissions to me directly, or leave a link here in the comments.

A Shojo-Centric Introduction to Vampire Manga

In honor of this week’s vampire-themed Manga Movable Feast, I thought I’d kick things off with a brief overview of some notable shojo titles that feature vampires. Of course, vampire in manga are definitely not limited to shojo –– in fact, the most iconic manga vampire stories are generally shonen, such as Hellsing, Vampire Hunter D, and Blood+, but the embarrassing truth is I know next to nothing about those titles and everything (not really) about shojo vampire manga. So, if romance, character development, and a large serving of sexy vampires is up your alley, read on for some titles that might interest you!

Vampire Knight
Vampire Knight is, without a doubt, the most popular modern shojo vampire title. The series began in January 2005 in Japan and is still ongoing, with 14 volumes currently available in English (the 15th is coming early November, just missing the MMF!). It ticks all the right boxes for a shojo manga hit: hot male characters, melodramatic plot, love triangle, and, as an added bonus, lots of vampire bites. The heroine, Yuki Cross, is the adopted daughter of the headmaster of a school for both humans and vampires. Her dream is for humans and vampires to coexist peacefully, but with a childhood friend who hates bloodsuckers and her long-time crush being none other than a vampire himself, navigating her relationships is far from easy.

Millennium Snow
If the art in Millennium Snow looks familiar, that’s because it’s drawn by the same woman behind the popular Ouran High School Host Club series. The story centers on Chiyuki, young girl with a heart condition that not only leaves her extremely weak, but she’s been told that she won’t live long past 15 years of age. She meets a vampire who has the power to extend her lifespan to 1000 years if he drinks her blood… but unfortunately for Chiyuki, he doesn’t want anything to do with her blood! At only 2 volumes, it’s a great taste of shojo vampire goodness without a massive time or monetary commitment, but be warned: it’s on hiatus up until January of next year, so you might not want to start it if you can’t stand to be left waiting.

Honorable Out-of-Print Mentions
For the purposes of this post, I wanted to keep my list to titles that are only currently available in English, but surprisingly, a lot of the good ones have gone out of print after Tokyopop shut its doors. That doesn’t mean they aren’t easily available on sites like Amazon or eBay, but you’ll most likely have to go through individual sellers.

Bloody Kiss, in particular, is a great entry into the world of vampire shojo, as it is short (only two volumes), and unlike Millennium Snow, it actually concludes in two volumes. Unlike many of the other titles mentioned, however, it reads like a series meant for slightly younger readers, as it has an emphasis on humor and slapstick comedy.

Vampire Game is another great out-of-print title that might be worth tracking down for fans who like their shojo with heavy fantasy elements and a bit more action than the other titles on this list. Unfortunately, this one’s 15 volumes, so it might take a little more effort to get hold of the whole series.

And last but not least, I need to give a special mention to Model, a drop-dead gorgeous manhwa about a struggling artist who allows a vampire to take her to his mansion and repeatedly drink her blood in exchange for letting her paint him. Romantic, eh?

For those whole like boy-on-boy action
This wouldn’t be a Chic Pixel post without some boys’ love titles, so here’s a few I’ve round out that fit this month’s MMF theme perfectly:

Until the Full Moon
Now how’s this for a premise: Marlo is half-vampire, half-werewolf boy who has the misfortune of turning into a girl every month on the night of a full moon. His family has also betrothed him to his childhood friend and vampire David! Of course, chaos ensues. It’s also by the creator of FAKE, which anyone with a penchant for BL likely holds in high regard… And at only two volumes, you really can’t go wrong with this one. The story continues in At Full Moon.

While Until the Full Moon might be a little too far on the gender-bending side for some hardcore BL fans, there are plenty of other vampire-centric BL titles worth mentioning, such as How to Seduce a Vampire, Bloody Kiss Tonight, and the manhwa My Boyfriend is a Vampire.

Of course, I’m sure there are plenty of titles I’ve missed or couldn’t cover for the sake of time and space, so feel free to let us know your favorite shojo vampire titles in the comments!

Welcome to the Vampire MMF

Or perhaps I should say “Velcome!” Today marks the start of this month’s Manga Movable Feast, and we’ve got a special Halloween-inspired theme: vampires! I dare say the popularity of vampires in mainstream culture these days does not need much of an introduction, but just because Twilight is the go-to vampire literature for adolescents around the world doesn’t mean that vampires in manga are all sparkles and brooding hunks! Though there’s plenty of that, too…

I hope this week’s feast will see a wide range of titles covered, since are so many different vampire manga out there! If you have a post you’d like to submit, you can comment here with the link, email me, or tweet to me at @apricotsushi (be sure to include the tag #vampiremmf). Submissions of older posts are always welcome for the archive, so don’t be shy! Oh that note, the archive already has a great selection of reviews from Cowa to Vampire Knight, so be sure to check it out for some inspiration. You’ll see the archive has a permanent place on the right sidebar under “Vampire MMF Archive” for easy access.

I’ll be posting roundups of the day’s submissions every evening, along with a couple submissions of my own, so keep checking back! Also, be sure to follow the #vampiremmf tag if you’re on Twitter. Please head to my original call for participation post for a list of some vampire manga available in English and more information on submission guidelines.

Last but not least, I hope you have fun, whether you’re submitting posts or just reading everyone else’s work, and use this as a chance to get in the holiday spirit!

Final Push for Extra Life

With just one sleep left before the 24-hour Extra Life gaming marathon to raise money for children’s hospitals, I’ve managed to raise nearly 80% of my initial goal! But my work’s not over yet –– I’ve still got 24 hours of gaming ahead of me and $65 left to raise! Every dollar counts, so please consider clicking the image above and donating some change, if you have any to spare.
Update: I’ve reached my goal! I’d like to give a huge thanks to everyone who donated! However, Team VGW still has a ways to go before we reach our ultimate goal of $2000, so please keep on donating! 

Also, did you know that if you live in the United States and donate over $12, you can enter Video Game Writer’s drawing to win a Roxio Game Capture HD Pro unit for streaming and recording game footage, valued at $150 a pop? Yeah! Definitely go check out the details of that giveaway here, as I have it on good authority that there have been very few entries to date, so your chances of winning are high. Since I’m a member of Team VGW, donations directly to me count towards the contest, too!

Now I know I had a lot of lofty incentives in my previous post that never came to fruition for a variety of reasons, so I’m going to scrap all that and give everyone who reads this post to vote for which titles you most want to see me play!

You can even submit ideas for other games I haven’t included, but of course there’s always the possibility that I don’t own it or have already played it, so please keep that option for general suggestions only. The highest voted picks will have the highest priority in my play list, but of course I reserve the right to change my mind whenever I feel like! Let me tell you, 24 hours is a long time, so if playing one game over another means the difference between staying awake and phoning it in early, I’m going to do whatever it takes to stay awake!

Tune in from 3 am PDT (awful time, I know, but that’s actually 8 pm here in Australia) to my Twitch account to watch me play games in real time! I’ll also be tweeting my antics if you’re not interesting in watching/listening to me ramble. Video Game Writers will be giving away game codes and swag the whole day, so be sure to follow them, too!

I hope to see you on Saturday!

Japan Envy: POKÉMON with YOU Train

Anyone who’s a fan of Pokémon probably knows that Japan has plastered the lovable critters faces in virtually every inanimate object available – including trains, school buses, and even airplanes. The upcoming POKÉMON with YOU train (yes, that capitalization is intentional), however, takes the trend a little bit further by featuring a full Pokémon-inspired interior and special play carriage with the theme of a “Pokémon forest” for rambunctious children!

Of course, these images are an artist’s interpretation and do not reflect what the final train will look like exactly, but it will probably be fairly similar to what’s pictured above and below.

Now, I can safely say that I would definitely ride the POKÉMON with YOU train if given half a chance, but I’m not really impressed with the color scheme, especially those horrid bright-colored seats in the first illustration. Yuck! 
If I were the president of The Pokémon Company (and I clearly should be), I would’ve utilized the gorgeous designs used in the Pokémon Time merchandise series exclusive to Pokémon Centers in Japan. Well, at least the outside looks pretty adorable: 

The POKÉMON with YOU train is part of the POKÉMON with YOU program, which was established as a way to spread happiness to the children of Japan after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. It will run in the Tohoku region of Japan (the Northern section of Honshu, Japan’s main island, which was most affected by the disaster last year), consist of two cars, and have 100 different Pokémon featured throughout. The first week of service, December 22nd to the 28th, will be exclusive to victims of the disaster, following that it will be open to the public for 160 days. That means it’ll still be running when I visit Japan in June! Now, if only I could find a reason to go to Tohoku and a child to bring along so I don’t come off as a total weirdo…

I wonder if the stewards will wear Pokémon-themed uniforms like the attendants on the Pokémon planes?

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