Welcome back to another Pubwatch, VIZ fans! It’s October, and you know what that means— NEW! YORK! COMIC CON! Also Halloween but that’s less relevant here. We’re going to talk about the VIZ panel at this year’s NYCC and review some new series, including the Magic: the Gathering themed manga Destroy All Humans: They Can’t Be Regenerated. Let’s start with the news!
VIZ Industry panel at NYCC, more entertainment than announcements
Honestly I think it’s probably a timing thing, since Anime NYC was just a couple of months ago. The only new manga license announced at NYCC was Kamudo, a manga by the duo behind the Legend of Zelda manga now being simulpublished in English and Japanese on the VIZ app. The anime Yaiba: Samurai Legend, a new anime adaptation of the manga by Gosho Aoyama (known primarily for Case Closed), was also announced, with the print manga following in July. Still, I was surprised that there was only two new manga titles discussed at this panel. So what else happened at the panel?
Well, there were exclusive merch items and giveaways. Every attendee received a free pack of cards for the new trading card game Union Arena, which was pretty much launching at NYCC. Masakazu Morita and Noriyaki Sugiyama, the voice actors of Ichigo Kurasaki and Uryu from Bleach, appeared in person to talk about the promo tour they’ve been doing across the US for Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War and to do some anime shouting for everyone’s amusement. It was pretty cool even though I’ve never seen an episode of Bleach in my life and am more familiar with their work from other shows. Morita was funny and charming even through an interpreter, while Sugiyama was quieter but played off Morita’s leads well.
There was a screening of the trailer for the Rooster Fighter anime, followed by a clip of the voice actors for the main cast talking about the show and a giveaway of Rooster Fighter T-shirts to people who could successfully answer some chicken-related trivia.
The panel concluded with a live drawing demonstration from Graveweaver, creator of the Webtoon-turned-VIZ-Original I’m The Grim Reaper. Her biggest piece of advice: “If you’re an aspiring creator, stop aspiring and just do it.” Her drawing was then also given away to a fan who answered a trivia question.
I enjoyed the VIZ panel at NYCC, but that’s not the only thing I have news about this month!
Junji Ito Shikishi Giveaway
Do you want an original Junji Ito drawing? You can enter this sweepstakes to win one! Last day to enter is October 31st. The giveaway is part of a promotion of his memoir/horror analysis book Uncanny: The Origins of Fear. I’m sure it’s very interesting.
Okay, enough news, it’s time to take a look at…
What I’m Reading
Destroy All Humans. They Can’t Be Regenerated. A Magic: The Gathering Manga, Vol. 1
Story by Katsura Ise, Art by Takuma Yokota
October 8, 2024
The author’s notes at the end were really funny: “We made this comic because we liked playing MTG in middle school in 1998. We hope you enjoyed reading this comic about playing MTG in middle school in 1998.” And, surprisingly enough, I did enjoy it more than I thought I would! The art style has a really appealing kind of… mid-2000s coolkid grind fiction video game look to the linework and character poses that fit well with the late-90s setting. The card games aren’t perfectly legible to someone with only passing knowledge of MTG, but the exact details of each game played aren’t as important as they might be in a more traditional card game manga or a sports manga with cards in it like Chihayafuru. It’s clear the creators are trying to show what they like about this card game and how it fit into their lives when they were young. And part of that appeal is the community Hajime finds with Sawatari and the game shop he frequents to play games. MTG becomes a way for him to connect with others, and that’s always fun to read about. Also, he’s a very funny protagonist and not at all the bland self-insert shonen romance protagonist boy I was expecting. This kid is a dork and it rules. Honestly, my expectations for a licensed card game manga were basically rock-bottom, and the fact that this manga had even a little bit more than the bare minimum of effort put into it made it a very pleasant surprise to read. Both MTG fans and people new to the game can enjoy this school drama story.
Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite, Vol. 1
Julietta Suzuki
October 1, 2024
This comic is a lot of fun. Hina is a vampire obsessed with a minor character from a popular franchise who ends up moving to Japan and then befriending her human neighbor because of his resemblance to that character. Unfortunately, despite her commitment to blood bags only, she can’t help but be drawn to her neighbor’s sweet scent… And neither can the other vampires hanging out in Tokyo. Good thing she’s more powerful than all of them! I love the sincere exploration of Hina’s fandom and why she loves Mao so much and how she slowly comes to see Kyuta as an important friend outside of how he helps her get lucky with merch lotteries. Suzuki’s art is perfectly shojo, cute and luminous. I also appreciated the translation notes at the end! A lovely comic for any kind of otaku.
Red River (3-in-1 edition), Vol. 1
Chie Shinohara
October 15, 2024
Nineties shojo manga has some of the most dynamic and exciting paneling in any comics ever, and Red River exemplifies this. I hadn’t read the single-volume VIZ editions of this comic (which came out, uh, twenty years ago according to the website), but so far, it feels very typical of its era with one major twist: our protagonist, Yuri, gets sucked back in time to 14th century BCE Anatolia, where the queen of the Hittites intends to sacrifice her to secure her son’s place on the throne. The action sequences are better than many shonen series I’ve read, exciting and easy to follow. And Yuri’s very fun! Spunky and kind and committed to making the best of her situation when she can’t get home immediately. I’m not sure how I feel about the male lead yet; he sure does manhandle Yuri a lot, but she seems to be kind of into it, at least. There’s a lot of… messy consent situations that are glossed over a little too lightly for me to be comfortable, but probably par for the course for a darker kind of romance story. The stakes are high, the dresses are swishy, the eyes are sparkly: Red River is a classic historical adventure isekai that would absolutely do numbers with the romantasy girlies if they knew what comics were. If only someone could bridge that gap…
That is enough from me this month. I’ll see y’all next month for more VIZ news and reviews!
