MW was published in Big Comic from 1976 to 1978. This was a few years after Tezuka’s own comics magazine, COM, folded in 1972. Serialisation began right after the end of Vietnam War in 1975. MW—the titular chemical—is a fictional counterpart of dioxin. Dioxin or Agent Orange was used by the US to launch a … [Read more…]
I kept bumping into Solanin in many automated suggestion lists—they seemed to predict what I might like, based on my tastes. A few months ago, I decided to trust these suggestion algorithms and pick the book up. In my opinion, it is a coming of age story of the protagonist, Meiko Inoue. Somebody who has read … [Read more…]
A few days ago, I received my copies of Yowamushi Pedal Volumes 1 and 2 in English. I have already seen the anime and have read scanlations of the manga. It was one of the bicycling mangas that I wanted to see translated in English. I was happy to see Yen Press doing the translations. I … [Read more…]
Recently, I travelled through Vietnam. While I was in Hue, the cultural capital of Vietnam, a weird thought raced through my mind, “Can I get Tintin in Vietnamese?” Before coming to Hue, I was in Ha Noi and stayed in the Old Quarters. I explored the entire place on foot but did not come across … [Read more…]
My history with the manga (and anime) The first mainstream manga that I had ever picked up was Naruto. Back then there were no foreign book distributors in India. I got the first four volumes and I really liked the vibe of the manga. The volumes were expensive (they still are), so I resorted to … [Read more…]
A few week ago, I came across the image of some manga collector’s shelf. I saw one huge volume of Chobits. I was not aware of the series. I hadn’t even seen the TV anime. I wondered if the subsequent volumes were available. A quick search said that after the expiry of Tokyopop’s license, who … [Read more…]
In 2004, Yukichi Yamamatsu, a 56 year old, technically challenged, mangaka arrives in India to translate mature mangas to Hindi and sell them. Needless to say, it was a futile attempt. Without sufficient money, without sufficient knowledge of English or Hindi, without sigmoid colon and without any concrete plan whatsoever, he steps foot in India. … [Read more…]
