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read the latest Kodomo no Jikan (ch. 70).

Despite it's age, I've noticed a surge in it's popularity starting after it's most recent OVA aired in late January.

Yumekui Merry manga (chapter 33). Much better than the anime. You don't get Familiar Legion in the anime.

Nichijou, got impatient since the animu only has 2 episodes (one of them was an OVA to promote the upcoming series, it only started airing a few days ago) and started reading the manga, rather liking it.

You can blame Borders for that one. TokyoPop had been in trouble for a while, but Border's put the nail in the coffin.

Also the quoted article is flagrantly wrong; TokyoPop's debut "Manga the RIGHT way" (aka unflipped) titles included Chobits, Samurai Deeper Kyo, and Love Hina. Sailor Moon was released under the MiXX and SMILE imprints and only later rolled into the TokyoPop umbrella, but never released in an unflipped format. In fact, MiXX's Sailor Moon featured Westernized name-changing (Usagi became Bunny, but Amy, Ray, Lita and Mina all retained their DiC bastardized names. Since MiXX released S, SuperS and Stars, before they aired on Cartoon Network, they mostly released those without major edits -- mostly notably leaving in tack the strange issue of Uranus's gender and sexuality.)

In fact, Sailor Moon has long been out of print in the US due to Takeuchi's displeasure with some of the licensing and editing issues of the original print run.

Oh, and furthermore, Sailor Moon's MiXX incarnation was also released in individual monthly comics (34-40 pages, standard US comic size) up until the end of the R storyarc, if I remember correctly. They were later compiled into the book format, and S was released exclusively in book format.

I read the full article and TokyoPop's founder does mention MiXX, so apparently its just the individual who wrote the blog article who doesn't know his or her manga history.

What concerns me is the future of BLU -- I assume it, too, will be collapsing. What does this mean for titles already licensed, like Black Knight? Will I ever see volume 5?

edit: Oh, man, does this mean when I call HarperCollins bookseller customer service I won't hear TokyoPop as a listed imprint anymore? "If you're calling for HarperCollins, TokyoPop, Hyperion, or the Disney Book Group, Press 1. *beep* Thank you for calling HarperCollins, TokyoPop, Hyperion, and the Disney Book Group! If you're calling to check the status of an order..."

so what did Borders do

defaulted on their December (books shipped in November) and January (shipped in December) invoices -- a huge amount, since stores always order a ton of books for Christmas and ship them back around February. (Bookstores typically order from the publishers and then have about 30-45 days to pay the invoice, so they have a chance to sell many of the books before actually reimbursing the publisher for the shipped copies. If the books don't sell, bookstores ship them back to the publisher and get credit on their account for the unsold copies.)

So Borders defaults on their invoices, which is a HUGE blow to the publishers, especially smaller divisions like TokyoPop which just do not have the capital to suddenly by out several million dollars. I think TokyoPop lost somewhere around 18-30 million from Borders.

This forced TokyoPop to layoff most of its staff, and ultimately destroyed it.

I don't have the publisher's weekly articles in front of me, but I've been following the Borders fiasco. It's pretty shitty, especially since executives are planned to receive something like 8.3 million in bonuses.

Kodomo no Jikan: chapter 71

:3 getting the Beautiful Skies of Houou High volume 1 tomorrow, can't wait!

It's about a girl who likes girls, and she's thrilled to be admitted to an all-girl's school, but her scheming mother sends her instead to an all boy's school -- where she has to pretend to be a boy.

Picked up Nurarihyon no Mago manga. It's good. And it's full of character's who look just so adorable.

So I was uploading the new RandomHouse catalog data to our inventory, and my eye caught on something pretty exciting.

They're re-releasing Sailor Moon! It's been out of print for over 6 years now. Kodansha Comics USA is releasing the full 18 volume story in 12 deluxe editions with new cover-art, new mangka comments, and refined interior art. It's based on the 2003 Japanese re-release. 10 volumes for the full story arc, and 2 volumes of side stories (like Casablanca Nights and what became the S movie story). I'm ridiculously looking forward to it, especially since I sold my original volumes a long time ago and always kind of regretted it, if for nothing else than a collector's sake. To add to the news, they're also releasing Codename: Sailor V, which I don't believe has ever been published in its entirety in the US.

Not quite as exciting, but a little intriguing that Kodansha is also re-releasing Until the Full Moon by Manami Satou, the artist of FAKE. I believe there's also a sequel, At the Full Moon, to be released this fall.