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For a lot of reasons, I was only able to speak to most of the people I talked to at NYCC for a short period. Here’s another somewhat brief one that also happened unexpectedly: my interview with Editor-in-Chief of the English, or US version, of Weekly Shonen Jump, Andy Nakatani. Andy didn’t exactly know what ... Read more

World Trigger, the sci-fi shounen manga by Daisuke Ashihara, has survived a year, and seems like it’ll keep going a bit further than other recent Shonen Jump titles, especially ones that land in the US version of WSJ.

So let’s ask the question: why?

“It occupies a sci-fi niche that WSJ is otherwise lacking.”

This is one of the sentiments expressed by Hope Donovan, an editor at Viz. World Trigger is a work that’s different from other current shounen titles because of that. But there still are typical shounen trappings that it can’t escape. So why else is this manga lasting this long?

“I think part of the reason for its success is its reliance on standard shounen tropes, yet still maintaining originality”,  says William, a fan of the series. “World Trigger has all of the normal markings: overpowered villains, a weak lead who shows signs of greatness, etc. It also has twists, where normally the weak lead would meet a peer that is far stronger, to play his rival, in World Trigger’s case they are not rivals but friends and comrades from the start. There is a reason they are called tropes, and that is because they often work, you just need to make them work to your advantage and stay original.”

Another thing that keeps World Trigger interesting is its setting, says Tropical Blitz, another fan. “The level of detail that goes into world building and constructing elaborate large scale battle scenarios really fills a niche I don’t think any other manga in WSJ cover, and thus manages to make it a cut above other new manga which only focus on pure battle or fantasy.”

So it seems to have a lot of good elements to attract readers to it every week. That’s why it already has its own club.

Well, “unofficial” club.

Now, it doesn’t always take long for any series to have fans who care about a character or the work itself. But you’d mostly expect that only from the simple fans. How about the persons working on providing it? Yep, the people I spoke to above are members of The Unofficial Osamu Fan Club, which was actually started by the letterer of World Trigger, Annaliese Christman.

This leads to asking one more question: why?

“Because he’s a loser.”

Literally, this is one of the reasons the club got started. But to be more accurate, Annaliese, as she was working on the series, grew to like Osamu Mikumo as a character. Osamu’s a member of Border, an organization created to protect the Earth from Neighbors. He happens to be pretty weak, especially early on when he has to get bailed out by Yuma, who…happens to be a good Neighbor. But as the series progressed, Annaliese began to like Osamu even more. The problem was she felt like there wasn’t a lot of love shown his way. Then one day in November, she received an image from her editor involving Osamu. She proceeded to blow it up to a point where she could put it on her wall, took a picture of it, and sent that to her editor. That was when she said: “I’m now officially the president, the creepy president, of the Osamu fan club!” Her editor’s response? “She thought that was really funny.”

That was when her editor suggested to make T-shirts and stuff. It started to snowball after that.

Needless to say, the unofficial fan club has a good amount of members. That includes the actual author of the manga and his editor, who also received cards that Annaliese took the time to make and print out. “We may be unofficial but the creator and his editor are also members!” So, that would mean they’re legit right? Well, not yet. She doesn’t want to “step” on anyone’s toes she claimed. Or maybe she’s not sure where this club’s gonna go from here. “There’s nothing concrete, but I’d like to do something to kind of bring the members together and not just be random people all over the world who like Osamu. I’m hoping at conventions I’ll meet some people in person.” Otherwise, it’s continuing to send cards to people who like and are interested in World Trigger.

…So how would one get interested in this manga and then in this character?

“If you enjoy other shounen action series you will enjoy this,” says William. “It has detailed and quality art and a story of action and adventure with fun and exciting turns.  The story is fluid, avoiding any long and drawn out battles full of power ups.”

John Bae, also an editor at Viz, gave two different sides on getting into the series. “I think if someone is into crazy alien battles, then it’s an easy sell. For the complicated otaku that likes complicated stuff, World Trigger is the way to go. So many characters with so many different types of roles and weapons = super otaku fangasm.”

Hope ended up with a detailed reason: the characters. “There are a million characters in World Trigger, but Ashihara imbues each with their own individual personality and quirks. In that way, I’d say World Trigger is a lot like Bleach. There are all kind of different hero types, from someone like Yuma who’s superpowered, to someone like Osamu who has strength of conviction, or Kitora who’s talented and proud. And then, there are all types of antagonists, from someone like Midorikawa who’s jealous, to a real rotten guy like the Neighbor Enedora who would rather kill everyone. Plus, Ashihara has invented a fascinating and believable power-up system with the alien technologies of Triggers and Trion.”

Overall though, the best answer came from Zach, another member of the Osamu fan club. And it only makes sense that this would be the reason you should all consider reading World Trigger:

“Osamu.”

It could only end this way, really.

ah

Believe it or not, I had actually planned on doing a post like this someday. I had seen searches for legal manga apps in the site stats search engine (because I did this post most likely), but I struggled on how to explain them. That and general laziness. Well, lazy no more. I recently learned that the New York Times did a video promoting comics on the usual mobile platforms (iPhone, iPad, etc), and…they linked to a not so legal site. Since the barest of research was done to find out if the site they linked to was legal or not, I decided I might as well also do the barest of research and list all the legal manga apps I happen to know about. I bet that there are also publishers in other countries who also have legal apps. You can always let me know what they are either by replying in the comments or sending me detailed info by email (organizationasg at gmail dot com).

So, let’s get started!

MangaBox

Name: MangaBox

How can I read it: Can read the first chapters on the website; download it for your iPhone, iPad, Android

Price: Free!

What you need to know: MangaBox titles do have a limit as to how long they’re up, but aside from that, I covered just about everything MangaBox related on Manga Bookshelf — from things I liked and disliked, to my favorite titles. You can also get opinions from Sean and Jason on the app.

Viz Manga

Name: Viz Manga

How can I read it: Can read it on your PC; can download it to your iPhone, iPad, Android

Price: Has free previews; varies from $6.99-10, may be even more.

What you need to know: With me getting an iPhone, I have seen the light…I like reading manga on my phone. I used it to read Deadman Wonderland. It was pretty interesting to say the least. Single page reading is glorious on it. Anyways, I still question the prices of some of these manga, even though I start to wonder if there are reasons for that price tag.

…Nah, I’ll go with it’s still too expensive.

Kodansha Comics

Name: Kodansha Comics

How can I read it: Download to your iPhone, iPad

Price: Has free previews; varies from $4.99 to more.

What you need to know: To be honest, it felt like it hasn’t been updated in a while, but then I see Fairy Tail volumes and I go, “Ok, never mind.” It seems to read well enough, but whether or not you’ll be paying for a title on the app is up to you.

Comixology

“But Justin some of these titles listed aren’t man–”
“Shutup!”

Name: Comixology

How can I read it: Download to your iPhone, iPad, Android, Kindle Fire

Price: For manga, expect it to be in the $4.99-$6.99 range. Or more. Or less.

What you need to know: I actually have not used Comixology. Yes, maybe I should finally get to that. After all, publishers like Seven Seas and Digital Manga Publishing are on it, so…

Weekly Shonen Jump

Name: Weekly Shonen Jump

How can I read it: Download it to your iPhone, iPad, Android

Price: You have to get a subscription to WSJ. You can pay .99c a week or subscribe for a whole year for $25.99.

What you need to know: At first, considering I could access my WSJ manga on the Viz Manga app, I wasn’t sure how useful it would be to have a WSJ app. Then I realized it’s slightly easier to get to just my WSJ issues and nothing else, whereas Viz Manga has all of your manga.

At least that’s how I’m selling it until further notice.

Crunchyroll Manga

Name: Crunchyroll Manga

How can I read it: download it to your iPhone, iPad, Android

Price: Free!…for the latest chapter. You have to get a manga membership ($4.99) to access the entire catalog, with no ads.

What you need to know: Finally, the hottest manga reading site on the block, Crunchyroll. They’ve certainly made their presence felt, both in good ways and bad ways. So far the jury is still out on how they are affecting the various manga publishing markets, but there’s no denying they have the structure and titles to keep people reading.

Now I don’t know if this is a comprehensive list, but if nothing else, this is a good way to get started. If you have any issues with any of these apps, feel free to reply below.

Update: 

@Kami_nomi @Izandra nice! There's also the Kindle/Nook/Kobo formatted ebooks @VIZMedia @Vertical_Ed @gomanga @KodanshaUSA do

— André ^_^ (@andrepaploo) March 27, 2014

So right, you can also purchase manga on your Kindle, Nook, and Kobo from Vertical, Kodansha, and Seven Seas from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. You can also acquire titles on eManga’s platform for various devices as well. You will have to do your due diligence and find out what titles you can read on your platform.

Also, you can find manga titles on Amimaru, which is an iPad service.

I know this means something, I swear!

• Last Week’s Stealth Symphony: Jig heads to the town of Jinbocho to find an exorcist to cure his curse. Too bad that he’s been told by assassin Jakking Kawaharada that he has no curse (it’s a heirloom) and the director was lying to him. Jig goes into a rage before he’s saved by Troma in his dragon form.

Summary of Stealth Symphony Chapter 2

• After being unable to kill Jig, Jakking attempts to use poison gas to get his point across. He gets stabbed by the vice president of the Assassin’s Guild, Souya Yuunagi. After a conversation involving Troma’s true origin, Souya attempts to threaten Jig into joining the guild, but is stopped by the members of the V&V agency. With his dream of finding a way to cure his “curse” over (and his wallet stolen), Jig decides to work at the agency.

See, even assassin guilds have standards!

My Take

• First things first: you want to know how balanced this world is? When even pickpockets are able to steal from guys who have killing or superior battle skills, then you know you’ve got a world where anything goes. Probably.

Like I said, so broken

• Anyways, as I guess I should have expected, Jig’s gonna stay with the V&V Agency, preferably to mess around with Troma, Alice, and the rest of the V&V Agency until he can figure out what he really wants to do next: kill the director or get rid of his curse. Ok, so he wants to get rid of his so called curse, but hey, he’s gotta want to speak to the director at some point right? Maybe not kill though…

• So, if my understanding is correct, Troma was the dragon that got defeated by Mimerond? Man, that’s kind of pathetic right? I wasn’t exactly expecting to learn how Troma came to be invisible and a dragon so fast, but I don’t know if I should feel disappointed or if I should just roll with it. Maybe the default is disappointment since I wasn’t expecting history between Troma and the Assassin’s Guild.

• That said, how close are the Assassin’s Guild and the V&V Agency? I doubt it’ll get explored in the next few chapters, since now the onus is on coming up with creative missions for Jig and Troma. And maybe a third character, one with a random personality to liven things up. But yeah, it feels like they’ve done some business before. Whether it actually matters we’ll have to see.

• Now we’ll have to see what’s next for this series. I worry quite a bit about what Jig has to do since this type of stuff has been done before, but will it be executed in a decent manner? That’s the real mystery and the general trouble of most shounen series. But I have to find out!

Seriously, what are we about to get into?

Summary of Stealth Symphony Chapter 1

• Jig, the main protagonist of Stealth Symphony, arrives at the city of Jinbocho to find the exorcist that can remove the curse placed on him years ago. Unable to go in a certain area because the police can’t (or won’t) help, Jig heads to the V&V Total Security Protection Agency. There he meets Alice, who’ll do administrative work and search for info, and Troma, the chief who fancies himself as an invisible man, and tasked to protect him.

• The two head towards a building to find the exorcist, only to meet Jakking Kawaharada, a hit man at an assassin’s guild. He informs them said exorcist doesn’t exist, and that everything Jig had believed at that point — his curse, the one who saved him, etc — was a lie. This causes Jig to melt down and lose control of his power. Troma manages to save him from his despair.

Don’t worry, I’ll be sorry I’m blogging you too

My Take

• Just a small note: I admit I was supposed to check out and start blogging All You Need is Kill, the work that’s currently drawn by Takeshi Obata. You can clearly tell I forgot. So to make up for it, I’ll be blogging Ryohgo Narita and Youichi Amano’s Stealth Symphony for as long as it remains good. And so far, it’s good.

Whoa buddy, that’s not how a shounen hero’s supposed to work, you’re going about this all wrong

• The first thing that stuck out to me was Jig’s curse. Jig’s the stereotypical shounen protagonist who has iron wings (conveniently called a curse) that save him from taking any damage. What came to mind when I saw a rock get thrown back at that kid (poor kid by the way, that’s gonna leave 10 marks) was Naruto’s Gaara and his sand ability that prevents him from taking damage. Ever wanted to see more of it in action? Jig’s got you covered! But because of that ability, he’s been shunned from his town and unable to be with his family. The fact that a weapon that doesn’t harm people yet can still get someone shunned anyways speaks to the belief that you only see the outside, and not the inside.

• This leads to the second thing: how much is Narita going to hammer the “It doesn’t matter how you look on the outside, it’s the inside that counts” theme? I know you’ve heard of the phrase a lot in life, and we should expect to hear it a lot in this manga. BUT: there are times where self-restraint is necessary. With Troma being an invisible man (dragon), there will be plenty of opportunities to showcase that theme. For what purpose, we can only speculate for now. That doesn’t mean it should overpower the story.

• The last thing that I got out of it is Troma suggesting that any goal is worthwhile. That…to me seems misguided. For someone who doesn’t have any goal to say that even if Jig had a dream to destroy the world, it would be noble? I guess this would be more in line with ethics, but that doesn’t seem like the smartest thing to say. It also implies that Troma doesn’t have an emotional bone in his body, so maybe he’s more robot than man-dragon. If this series lasts long enough, expect Jig to change Troma’s attitude on that.

• Aside from those three things, I’m curious about where this will go, or more like, how would I want this to go? This is Part 1 of the arc so the intentions of Stealth Symphony should be clear in Chapter 2. Would I want this story to go into a route where Jig begins to chase after the director and ask him why he lied to him? Would I want Jig and Troma to take on missions, meet monsters of all shapes and sizes, and find more rare heirlooms? Would I want Alice to do more than write reports or criticize Troma for some reason? Well, it’s still too early to say, but there are options here.

I think the word I’m looking for is “Doki-Doki”

• It is worth keeping in mind though, SJ explained the title of the series. Does that mean there’s going to be two worlds that appear in this series? Or is it implying the world that Jig–a human–sees, and Troma–an invisible character–sees? Whatever the case, it required information on, so it’ll be worth keeping in mind.

• One more side thought to keep in mind: how will the dynamic between Narita and Amano work? Narita, who we of course know is famous for Durarara!! and Baccano!, will be writing his first manga series that isn’t based off a light novel. Amano has mostly worked solo, with the two volume series Examurai the only time he has worked with other people. With none of his works coming over to the states, maybe it’s not something to worry about too much. The fact that he’s worked on short series (Akaboshi is his longest work, at a mere three volumes) may be of some concern though. Maybe.

This issue clocks in at 171 pages.

First up is Toriko Chapter 219- I guess there is nothing as intimidating as group of pissed off chefs.  As the Gourmet Corp launches a fearsome attack during the cooking competition, Toriko and his buddies counter with some powerful, yet ultimately useless attacks.  Oh, my!  Komatsu is in trouble!  I don’t think all the cooking skills in the world are going to help him save himself from the freaks attacking him.  It’s a good thing the other chefs seem more competent at defending themselves.  Plus they will probably get pissed if their carefully prepared dishes are ruined.  This series is still not one of my favorites, but at least there were lots of speed lines and attacks to keep me somewhat entertained.

One Piece – chapter 696 – Lots of eating and celebrating their escape from the island.  The rescued kids are going to go with the Navy, and Luffy has big plans! He’s going to crush all four emperors! Hopefully this wraps up all involvement of Caesar, because I thought he was obnoxious and I’m not going to miss him much.

Naruto – Chapter 617 – Naruto hands out chakra like it’s candy.  The ninjas get ready for an all out attack.  Naruto’s shoulder is dislocated!  But wait! Now it’s not!  Can Naruto’s buddies keep Neji’s death from being a tragic waste?  Maybe we’ll find out next issue!  Nah, probably not, but maybe the fighting will start again?

Nisekoi - Chapter 59 – Christmas chapter! Chitoge’s mom is coming home for the holiday!  She’s a terror, too.  Everyone is terrified of her, despite her less than imposing appearance.  When her secretary collapses, she quickly lassoes Raku in to handle the job until Christmas Eve.  Poor guy!  She wants to see what he’s made of, and I think his work experience with her won’t be pleasant.  I am curious to see just how bad Chitoge’s mom can be!  If he can stick it out, she’ll reward him with a stay for two in a penthouse suite at a deluxe hotel.  Can he make it that long?

One-Punch Man – Chapter 2 – Another short chapter, giving more background on Saitama.  He became One-Punch Man after taking on a crab dude, and then trained like a fiend, losing his hair (as well as his good looks) in the process.  I am a bit disappointed with the length of the chapters so far, and the lack of a story.  Maybe we’ll get a story next issue?

Bleach – Chapter 524 – Oh MY!  The battle between Unohana and Zaraki rocks!  That is all.

Cross Manage – Chapter 18 – Soccer team manager Chiumi drops by to watch the lacrosse teams’ second game, and she has a crush on Sakurai!  She’s studied up on lacrosse, and she’s all ready to wow him with her knowledge of the game and  the team.  She knows Sakurai has some problems communicating with girls, and she’s going to help him with that, and earn some brownie points at the same time.  This chapter was bogged down with lacrosse rules, and it didn’t hold my attention like previous chapters. 

Kintoki One-shot – Cute color splash page!  Though I enjoyed this one-shot, it’s more a throw away chapter than anything else.  Great art but not much substance.  It did get a few chuckles from me, and that’s saying a lot since I am sick as a dog today.

Oh, they will start running a colorized DBZ starting next issue!  And there will be new series announcements next week, too!

Last week I was dealing with a house full of sick people (including me!) so I didn’t get a chance to read the January 14 issue of WSJA until today, so I’m just going to skip a recap of it and jump right into the January 21 issue.  This is the first issue of the simulations release with the Japanese magazine, and the magazine has been renamed Weekly Shonen Jump.  Good-bye Alpha and good-bye waiting for an English translation! 

This week’s issue is 185 pages, and introduced One-Punch Man to the line-up.  I have also discovered, much to my chagrin, that my by beloved Kenshin will only appear monthly as it is actually published in Jump Square.  Boo hoo!  But let’s put that disappointment behind us, and dive into this week’s issue of WSJ!

Naruto Chapter 616 – Nice color spread this issue and a congratulatory message from creator Masashi Kishimoto for going simultaneous!  After getting a pep talk about not letting Neji’s death be in vain, Naruto gets a second wind (or probably 4th or 5th with as long as this battle has been going on).  His chakra recharges and he quickly shares his renewed energy with the other ninja.  Yay!  We also get brave, determined declarations that he will never give up trying to save his comrades, and that despite loss and heartbreak, ninja will endure!  Very motivating!  These last two chapters have been my favorite since I have been reading the magazine, and the plot is starting to make more sense.  All of these quick battle chapters can get confusing when you just get dumped into them, and they last for, what, over 2 months now?

One-Punch Man Chapter One – New series!  Uhhhh.  Short chapter.  Saitama is a hero for fun, and he’s looking for an opponent who he can’t beat in one punch.  Uhhh…  Not sure about this one.  I like the art, but I don’t like Saitama’s character design.  He looks like a dork with an egg for a head.  This chapter was so short that I don’t think it was a good intro to the series.  Maybe next week’s chapter will knock my socks off?

One Piece Chapter 695 – Finally!  Luffy and the gang has escaped from the lab!  They are out in the fresh air and they won’t be victims of the poison gas!  Buffalo and Baby 5 scoop up Caesar and try to make a break for it, but no-uh-uh!  Usopp isn’t having any of that!  This is a quick, fun chapter with lots of great art and great poses.  I was getting bored of the lab drama, so I am looking forward to their next adventure!

Nisekoi Chapter 58 – Miyamoto has lost her glasses!  Ichijo and Onodera help her look for them, and Ruri, frustrated that they like each other, but won’t confess their feelings, tries to get them together.  Since Ichijo is so dense, her efforts don’t pay off.  Not a very original chapter, but the expressive art and the clueless Ichijo made it a fun read.

Bleach Chapter 523 -  Very cool color page get things kicked off.  Ichigo and Renji get to play with Oh-Etsu Nimaiya, the creator of Zanpaku-to!  More accurately, he gets to play with them.  He throws them in the middle of a horde of angry Asauchi, which are the ultimate Zanpaku-tos that can become anything.  They are pissed at how Ichigo and Renji have been using their Zanpaku-tos.  Quick shift to  Yachiru and Zaraki, who are facing off in the Soul Society’s underground prison.  These guys are so serious!  Someone is going to get hurt!  And then – the chapter ends!  This is a great setup for next week, and has  me re-engaged in the story.  I love Ichigo, but I am intrigued by Yachiru and want to see her and Zaraki cross swords.  I am sure it will be an epic confrontation!

Cross Manage Chapter 17 – I love this one.  The team is playing their first match, and after a motivating (more accurately, embarrassing) pep talk from Sakurai, the girls have been given the confidence to play all out!  This is a feel good series, and I have enjoyed it every week.  I keep gushing about it, but I love sports manga and wish there were more series available for me to read.  When are we going to get more Crimson Hero? 

Toriko Chapter 218 – Gourmet Corp is invading!  Their giraffe birds and other weird creatures are out for blood!  Starjun tries to make a grab for Komatsu, but Toriko is there to save him!  While this hasn’t been my favorite manga, this week’s was pretty good, probably because I wasn’t inundated with a billion new chef’s and their specialties.  The constant character intros has been driving me nuts!  Wow, I might not cringe next week when I come to the next chapter.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal Chapter 26 – I just don’t get this one.  It is boring and I can’t force myself to get interested in the plot.  I like the art and the character designs, but the story itself – yawn.  I don’t get the rules of the game, and so I find myself just skimming this one every week. 

And that’s it for this week!  Next week there’s a one-shot by Akira Toriyama!