October marks the English-language series finale of Naruto
Naruto may have ended in Japan last year, but VIZ Media released the final volume of the long-running ninja manga earlier this week. To celebrate the occasion, VIZ Media is offering exclusive bundles collecting all 72 volumes of the series on VIZManga.com and ComiXology. In addition, the Naruto sequel oneshot, The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring, was also released this week. Sad to see Naruto go? If you’re at NYCC this weekend, be sure to check out the Naruto-related events! Last night, there was a panel with series creator, Masashi Kishimoto, so you know it’s going to be good. If you can’t make it to NYCC, the Boruto movie about Naruto’s son starts screening in the U.S. this weekend. (I’ll be watching it on Monday.)
Manga Excitement at New York Comic-con
Speaking of NYCC, while it’s still early in the weekend, great manga-related news has already come out. After some major news teasing, Kodansha announced that it would be releasing an original Attack on Titan anthology featuring work by U.S. comic creators! Will this be a way for the manga to crossover to non-manga readers? Yesterday, VIZ Media made quite a few licensing announcements–including a couple beloved sports manga titles! As a huge fan of Kuroko’s Basketball, I am thrilled to see it get an official English-language edition. Maybe if Kuroko’s Basketball and Haikyu!! (the other sports manga VIZ licensed) do well, other North American manga publishers will follow suit and bring over other series like fan favorite Ace of Diamond, which is a Kodansha title. Between VIZ’s panels and the Attack on Titan news, a lot has already happened at NYCC. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the weekend will bring!
Long-awaited volume of comedy manga slated for publication in November
ASCII Media Works announced that volume 13 of the comedy series, Yotsuba&!, is slated to be published in Japan next month. The last volume was published in 2013, so this ends a two-year wait. Yotsuba&! is licensed in North America by Yen Press. No doubt this will make English-language fans rejoice as well.
Taiwanese creator takes top prize for manga award
Last month, Taiwanese mangaka Antenna Gyugyo won the inaugural manga award at the Kyoto International Manga Anime Festival for their work, BlueRoseAge. Aspiring manga creators living in Taiwan were eligible for the award, and 40 works were submitted for consideration during the month of August.
A Peek into the Schedule of a Popular Mangaka
It’s no secret that mangaka follow a grueling schedule to get their works ready for serial publication. Weekly Shonen Jump is infamous for this. Naruto creator, Masashi Kishimoto, got married during the ninja manga’s run but wasn’t able to go on a honeymoon until the series ended–several years later! It was even mentioned at the Thursday VIZ panel, and some members of the audience asked if the NYCC trip was his honeymoon. Yikes! If you want a more detailed breakdown, here’s Eiichiro Oda’s schedule. Three hours of sleep? That can’t be healthy. It does explain why Oda takes a break every six weeks, though.
