This series is more cute and dramatic if anything and not really a humor series which the back of the book claims. Thankfully the my lack of normal humor is delaying its “die laughing” side effect long enough to post this. Momo Tama is about a short boy named Kokonose Mutsu who’s out to reclaim his very special island, which has been turned into a base for training students to become ogre killing senkishi. Only problem is Kokonose is short, arrogant, and too cute to be taken very seriously. He has powers and is nearly fearless, so with that he sets out on his mission to retake the island. Won’t be easy since many of the instructors are powerful and Kokonose even comes across the descendant Momotaro himself, the one who banished his family. He’s a strong yaoi man with a military uniform and it should be noted that Momotaro was born from a peach and has three animals in the form of humans who fight with him.

Momo Tama is easy to get into, styled, and cute. Nobody really mentions Kokonose’s odd clothing or hair cut as he lands on the island and it’s amusing to watch his expressions change as his life is in danger. The art of this manga is sharp and smooth, but isn’t perfect on occasion like previous Chrono works. One or two panels are difficult to fully grasp and many of the non-main characters aren’t easy to remember or tell apart. An example would be not really knowing what Chairman Nagato Tougen (the 39th Momotaro) hit Kokonose with in chapter two – Allow Me to Speak. It may stem from the author’s older work which was very gritty and ruff, but in a good way (see ADV’s Peacemaker manga).

Tokyopop is the current license holder and volume two is due out in May 12th, 2009. There are two volumes mentioned on their site, but five volumes out in Japan with serialization in Mag Garden’s Comic Blade (that also brought Beyond the Beyond, Erementar Gerad, Gamerz Heaven, Tactics, Otogi Zoshi, and others). With that said I would actually recommend this if you like Erementar Gerad or the previously mentioned manga. They are all supernatural, styled, and dramatic fantasies. Of course you can look into Peacemaker and Vassalord which are also by Nanae Chrono and licensed. Have good expectations for this well spoken nine year old exorcist because he’ll be worth a lot money once he owns the island. I love the main character because he’s very reminiscent of Peacemaker’s Tetsunosuke, but with a wide mischievous smile like The Cheshire cat of Alice in Wonderland. Get this.

Number of times Kokonose showed a hint of fear: 3
Number of times Safari 4 crashed while writing this: 1
Number of pink manga covers for Momo Tama: …every volume is pink.

From volume six on forward Yen Press will be releasing Yotsuba&! They just picked up (bought) the licensing and the sixth volume will come out September 2009. This is a pretty interesting turn of events, but this just leaves one question, though. Without Yotsuba&!, is ADV Manga completely dead? They don’t really have much of anything unless they still have Gunslinger Girl, which isn’t really a popular read.

Even though I no longer watch television…except at the gas station or grocery mart where they force me to, I know people who watch such media and it seems one thing holds true. The anime and manga industry doesn’t advertise often or well. Sure their’s pay per click ads on sites (along with manga viewers and streaming sites) and magazine adverts, but there really isn’t that much. Most of it is likely because the companies who publish anime and manga are small, so they don’t have the resources. That’s where arguments that those companies have enough money or are just in existance for money fall, but it’s possible. Video game companies were able to back when they were much smaller.

If ADV and others did advertise to larger audiences, what shows would they put their commercials with? You could have them with anime, but then how would you get people new into it? There isn’t exactly many kinds of media that would fit well. Clearly the Super Bowl would be out of their budget for Eyeshield 21. Perhaps they can get smart with smarter adverts with wide appeal, which would get people linking to it and uploading it to social media sites like Youtube. Nintendo, Apple, and others are prime examples of companies that can drive buzz without deep pockets or when pushed in a corner. That’s how many websites advertise. They don’t. The say, offer, do, or show something that creates buzz. Buzz on the Internet means people will link to you and show you to others. Easier said than done.

In Japan anime is shown on television so illegal downloading and sharing is less needed. Of course that’s not saying that it’s not done. Here in the US and the rest of the world we have to pay for it more often than not. One can say there should be more anime on television, but then that wouldn’t help the unlicensed and new. Not many newer series I’m into are licensed, minus Oh! Edo Rocket by FUNimation.

I’m not againts downloading anime, but just the only download movement that seems to be the norm when watching something the legal way should be. One is not supporting something they enjoy by downloading and companies don’t need to sit around watching torrent numbers all day to see what should be licensed. A good watch or read of the product is good enough. Then there’s also ratings and sales numbers in Japan. Advertising and buzz will help change that. There’s still people wandering around about how dubs are so awful, yet they haven’t bought a DVD in years. Dubs have improved, the DVDs do have subtitles, and that there is more anime out now that is released sooner and without dubbing at all. Maybe showing them otherwise would help.
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On a semi-related note, a manga trading link directory has been added.

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has started something new to help drive up donations. American comic artist Peter Kuper (of Spy vs. Spy fame) will be make a special piece of art that donators can have upon donating. If you haven’t heard, there a man in the US being charged with having obscene manga. You know, stuff with characters that look young but may not be. Either way the poor guy had people following him home after he picked up his package. Apparently manga is series stuff and requires people with guns and uniforms. If this is something you support, go check them out. It might be you next them they find someone to defend and you don’t want to face 20 years in prison like this guy.

As you may of read here or else where the mind behind Kannagi, Eri Takenashi, had stopped writing/drawing the manga due to health reasons. There was a lot of speculation as to if this was the real reason or not due to the last chapters almost explosive ending for otaku. However a day or 2 ago there was a report of Eri being so sick that she was unable to even move her arms or hands. This serious illness, which is still as of yet undisclosed, no doubt scared people into thinking that she could very well die and Kannagi would remain an unfinshed series. 

Thankfully after the great doctors work over in japan, she is recovering now after a successful surgery and while she is indeed recouperating, she has shown interest in resuming her work so if you’re following the manga series fear not! there shall be a few months break but then it will return as usual. Glad to hear she is getting better after this mystery illness. Wonder what it could of been? 

On an unrelated note in order to stop this from being an extremely short post, for those who are interested, the Limited Edition Dj Max Black Square kit as shown in my last post is accepting pre-orders over at play-asia.com so if you’re a fan and have $85 US spare laying around you should pick it up as this wont last long

There’s this current on going manga called Tamashii no Futago (The Twin Souls). This series is pretty amazing with two messed up kids (Rita and Alex) and magical turn of events. The two died at the same time separately. They travel closer together and screw with the poor humans who are able to see them. Some pretty wacky stuff with Rika being kicked under a sink cupboard. There’s two volumes out and a scanlation group who have a couple chapters translated. The mangaka has had some licensed works like Beutiful People and Haunted House by Tokyopop. You can find Mitsukazu Mihara’s (author and artist) strong gothic lolita style artwork on her site.

Tamashii no Futago would have been a good Halloween recommendation. A good read regardless, but there are some mature parts.

Being serious here. The things Rika does with her feet.

Anime and manga reviews are quite common. The more popular series get the most and smaller series sometimes get really passionate reviewers. A good example of this would be solanin which was linked on Manga Blog to this review. This review and ones like it stick with someone. Good (in this case manga) reviews give information about the volume they read, style, and descriptive points about the story. A good review also is honest and don’t give pointless scores or grades. Oh hey, this manga is scored .3 points more than this. Buy it! Not having such an silly system tacked on to the end is what made Newtype USA reviews great. They tapped in to the hearts of people who would be interested in that franchise. If someone wouldn’t like something then chances are they wouldn’t get more than half way into the review. Other then that a reviewer should work on descriptions. Just saying an anime or manga looks great won’t make a lot of people buy something. If only becoming skilled at such was easier said then done.

The one thing to remember about reviews before moving on: They’re almost always of a series the reviewer really hated or loved. Why write when you have no connection or care of something?

Crediting of sources (graphic, information, or other) is another issue. Many times on sites like LiveJournal or forums you have people crediting the wrong person or a large site without crediting. Saying you have image stock from Photobucket, 4chan, or some awful manga reader site. The online reader site is obviously wrong to credit when they did nothing with the scanning or translation. Thanking an image hosting site isn’t giving any thanks to the person who created whatever fanart, artbook scan, or screenshot. As for large sites like Anime News Network or others…people thought out and typed those descriptions. >:3

These should be the basics, but maybe once and a while something like this should be mentioned or discussed. Never hurts.