This happened a while ago, but CMX, a DC Comics imprint, announced at it has secured the distribution rights for an english translation of Tenjo Tenge. This prompted Fugu Tabetai — the erstwhile scanslator that brought us the entire first ten volumes of it through mangatranslation.com — to put a stop to his fan translation/editing/distribution effort. This past week we got the last scanslation from him for this title, an “extra features” piece that servers to summarize and clarify the plotline and character relationships. Go buy it from DC when they put it out. Fugu did a great job, but there really is no substitute to having a proper paper-and-ink copy for a good title like this.

Strap yourselves in, boys & girls: the second chapter of NHY ni Youkoso. In contrast to a couple people making free scanslations available in a timely manner, Privateer Press still doesn’t have the IKCG out yet. I suppose I finally have to start referring to it as “vaporware,” though I was reluctant to do so for rather a long while. Did you know that the United States has successfully prosecuted two foreign wars since this book was supposed to be out? Anyhow, in the meantime let’s enjoy some free Japanese comics. Go buy a copy if you happen to be near a Kinokuniya.

Look out, world, the airwaves across the big pond are being flooded with a variety of new series, many of which are bishoujo-intensive. Now, it must be said that those with an aversion to cutesy cartoon-girls will never be able to get into anime, but sometimes things go too far.

This summer we’re seeing the return of Galaxy Angels for a fourth season, yet another remake of Cutey Honey (the original “magical girl”), Girls Bravo, and some more swill by M.O.E. Galaxy Angels will almost certainly be fansubbed shortly, I’ve already seen Girls Bravo available through mirkx.com, and what can I say about the new elf-ear-girl series from M.O.E.? The less, the better, I’d wager.

The kind folks that brought us School Rumble, Manga Inc., are at it again, bringing the oddball nobody-else-would-translate-it wonderfulness. This time, it comes in the form of NHK ni Youkoso, a story based upon the premise that young japanese shut-ins are the unwitting pawns of a great conspiracy. Check it out, in all its might and glory. Don’t let my description of the premise scare you off: it is quite good.

I’m starting to get the feeling that deady- assassin- hot- chick- with- pre- pube- female- sidekick is starting to become a legitimate genre unto itself. I just hope we can find as handy of a monicker for it as harem-manga. Madlax is a story about a woman named Madlax. Much like Noir (a story about a woman codenamed Noir), and Najica Blitz Tactics (a story about a woman named Najica, though I don’t think Blitz Tactics was her last name and I wouldn’t put it past those folks), the main character is a death- on- wheels secret operative whose name strikes terror into the hearts of big manly men that are invariably killed off handily sometime during the show.

Deadly- assassin- hot- chick- with- pre- pube- female- sidekick anime shows must, as mandated by Japanese law, feature faceless code- named possibly- governmental- but- certainly- not- officially- recognized overlords for whom the deadly- assassin- hot- chick works. Madlax doesn’t let us down here. Deadly- assassin- hot- chick- with- pre- pube- female- sidekick shows must also feature mysterious discs with secret data, gunfights in which the heroine is wearing a skirt, and some indication that the protagonist is somehow deeply dissatisfied with her personal life.

Now to come up with a shorthand descriptive term for these shows that has less than 14 syllables… Perhaps an acronym is called for… MECHAS? It would never catch on. People would think I’m talking about Gundam or La Raza.

Anyhow, check it out it you’re into that particular kind of pain. Oh, and don’t let the superficial comparison to Najica fool you, there will be no surplus of panty shots for you in this one. I will diligently search for a translated copy of Samurai Champloo ep5 or Interlude ep2.

I was recently steered in the direction of several anime series that I hadn’t previously been exposed to, and two of them have turned out to be really quite good. Smash Hit is about as bad a series (judging from the first two episodes) as you could expect from the people who brought us CosPrayers. Do they even qualify as people anymore? I don’t understand why people keep translating that M.O.E. stuff. My only guess can be summed up by the following two words: “panties,” and “lolicon.” Sad, sad, sad, and sad.

But on to the stuff that’s worth watching!

Interlude was recommended to me by Killy in #mangainc before I went to New York. I had it waiting for me on my hard drive by the time I got back, thanks to the kind folks at the Triad. Only one episode is available in English at this time, to the best of my knowledge, so it is entirely possible that the apparent depth of the story is pretense to lure suckers like myself in. But deep it appears. The artwork is solid, the animation is high-quality, and lo! I actually sympathize with the protagonists. The basic premise is a school kid that starts seeing things around him. Creepy things, but not Boogypop-creepy. Some of these things nobody else sees, some others see but don’t remember. This might lead you to believe that he’s imagining things, but there are other odd occurances that everybody else sees, and everybody remembers the next day. We’ll see where this one goes.

Samurai Champloo, on the other hand, I’m definately sold on after two episodes. It follows Jin, a ronin, Mugen, a wandering swordsman from Okinawa or thereabouts, and Fuu, a waitress. It has what sounds like a Japanese man trying to rap in English for the opening song. This doesn’t sound very promising, and is why I waited as long as I did to take a look at it, but then I found out there there was some special sauce poured into the recipe: the director from Cowboy Bebop, Shinichiro Watanabe. As my film-geek friends have assured me time and again, don’t follow actors, follow directors. He makes the quest of a dango-peddling waitress to find a samurai that smells like sunflowers into something that is highly entertaining. The production values (aside from the Japanese rapper) is outstanding, the character designs are excellent, and I strongly suspect that the next several episodes will be every bit as good.

cha cha cha

In a continuing effort to make more and more manga available to the English-reading public, Random House’s Del Rey branch has released the latest Ken Akamatsu series. You may remember Del Rey as the company that kept your local library stocked full of science fiction and swords & sorcery works when you were a geeky little kid with no allowance. or maybe that was just me.

I’m pretty sure that I haven’t had a five-year span during my life in which a Del Rey publication didn’t somehow work its way into my hands. It is good to see them nudging into this niche of the industry.

Mahou Sensei Negii is being published under the title “Negima,” for reasons that escape me. It follows a child prodigy from his graduation from Wizard’s school through his pre-ordained first job as an English professor at a Japanese high school. Because this title is by Ken Akamatsu, creator of Itsudatte My Santa and Love Hina, this is an all-girl’s school.

Unlike previous works by this author, there is no strong romantic entanglement between the male protagonist and the veritable harem of female protagonists, which is refreshing in a way. Don’t let the “mature reader’s only” sticker fool you. The target audience of this story is young men with no real-world females in their lives. The ecchi content here may be scandalous in the eyes of a Missionary Baptist preacher (and I’m pretty sure Jack Chick wouldn’t appreciate the pantyshots), but it is all totally harmless and non-explicit.

Manga Inc. is at is again. Six chapters of School Rumble, Volume 4 have been released as of this weekend, all of which are available on the Manga Inc. webpage and my temporary http mirror. The continued problems between Harima Kenji, Tsukamoto Tenma, Karasuma Ooji and crew rage on, and a new character is introduced, a classmate of theirs named Ichijou. She occupies the role of the physically strong, not terribly smart nice girl lacking in self-confidence. Already she has had a small role in further frustrating Harima’s life. Poor, poor Harima…

Also, my temporary http mirror has been updated to include the ISBN for each of the tankobans from Volume 1 to 4. If you like this kind of thing, put your money where your geek is and buy a comic or two instead of just leeching. Thanks.

After much waiting, anticipation, and rambling about the anime version, it looks like Tenjo Tenge 11 is out and being translated. It is available via Bit Torrent, which is a lovely mechanism with which to distribute such fare. Fugu Tabetai (the nom de plume of the english-language translator) released the first chapter of Volume 11 earlier today, and it is up to his great standards. Of special interest to japanese language enthusiasts, Fugu puts translation notes right at the bottom of the page so you don’t have to juggle some awkward text file around in another window while you read. The quality of the translation is such that you don’t really need such notes, but it is nice to see them there.