One Piece 47, Monster Soul 2 of 2, Mr. Fullswing 14, C.M.B. 1, HanaLaLa 29: Elex Media 20 August 2008 manga

Desideratum for this Elex manga release: One Piece volume 47 (the cover of which is pinkified enough to rival Throbbing Midnight 7) rakes in the most number of Get! votes, garnering at the time of writing 11 votes from an interim 31 replies.

Now, don't scoff at the seemingly skimpy total—that's 35 percent of the turnout and given the untold numbers of lurkers, is probably only a keyhole peek into a ship's cabin. The enthusiasm is, of course, totally understandable, especially since the last volume of One Piece came out seven months ago.

Oda Eiichiro-sensei's shōnen manga is followed by Mashima Hiro-sensei's Monster Soul volume 2 of 2 (eight votes). This two-volume series proved so popular with volume 1 selling out so quickly, I almost thought Elex didn't release it. One Piece and Monster Soul are followed (in descending order) by: Mr. Fullswing volume 14 (seven votes), Jungle Boy volume 3 (six votes), Skip Beat! volume 12 and Rough volume 4 (five votes each).

Will be hauling out of the closet (after pro tem mothballing) my fangirly babble on Katou Motohiro-sensei's C.M.B. (C.M.B. Shinra Hakubutsukan no Jiken Mokuroku - Ｃ．Ｍ．Ｂ．森羅博物館の事件目録)—which got four votes including mine—now that a street date has been advised.

But before that, the Elex manga list of 20 August 2008.

Elex Media manga and (one) manhwa (2008.08.20)

Release links are hide/unhide. Click for more details and cover scans.

1. [Premiere] C.M.B. (C.M.B. Shinra Hakubutsukan no Jiken Mokuroku) 1 of 8+ by Katou Motohiro

C.M.B. Shinra Hakubutsukan no Jiken Mokuroku 「 Ｃ．Ｍ．Ｂ．森羅博物館の事件目録 」 by Katou Motohiro Kodansha Gekkan Shounen Magazine, shōnen This volume first published in Japan 2006.03.17

2. Croket! 13 of 15 by Kashimoto Manavu

Croket! 「 コロッケ！ 」 by Kashimoto Manavu Shogakukan CoroCoro Comic, kodomo This volume first published in Japan 2006.03

3. Dear Boys Act II 25 of 28+ by Yagami Hiroki

Dear Boys Act II 「 ＤＥＡＲ　ＢＯＹＳ　ＡＣＴ２ 」 by Yagami Hiroki Kodansha Gekkan Shounen Magazine, shōnen This volume first published in Japan 2007.06

4. Dragon Drive 6 of 14 by Sakura Kenichi

Dragon Drive 「 ＤＲＡＧＯＮ　ＤＲＩＶＥ 」 by Sakura Kenichi Shueisha Monthly Shonen Jump, shōnen This volume first published in Japan 2003.03

5. Jungle Boy 3 of 8 by Nakamura Rie

Jungle Boy 「 ＪＵＮＧＬＥ　ＢＯＹ 」 by Nakamura Rie
Akita Shoten Mystery Bonita, BL
This volume first published in Japan 1995.04
Indonesian version published in a left-to-right format

6. Kedai Tasogare (Tasogare Dou e Youkoso) 3 of 7 by Yoshikawa Utata

Tasogare Dou e Youkoso 「 黄昏堂へようこそ 」 by Yoshikawa Utata Akita Shoten Horror Comics Special imprint, shōjo This volume first published in Japan 2003.07

7. [Premiere] Little Detective Trickstar Hoshi (Suiri no Hoshi-kun) 1 of 6+ by Seino Nana

Suiri no Hoshi-kun 「 推理の星くん 」 by Seino Nana Shogakukan Tentoumushi imprint, kodomo This volume first published in Japan 2006.05

8. Merupuri (Meru Puri - The Märchen Prince) 2 of 4 by Hino Matsuri

Meru Puri - The Märchen Prince 「 めるぷり　メルヘン☆プリンス 」 by Hino Matsuri Hakusensha LaLa, shōjo This volume first published in Japan 2003.09 Serialized in Indonesian in HanaLaLa

9. Monster Soul 2 of 2 by Mashima Hiro [Finale]

Monster Soul 「 モンスターソウル 」 by Mashima Hiro Kodansha BonBon, shōnen This volume first published in Japan 2007.09

10. Mr. Fullswing 14 of 24 by Suzuki Shinya

Mr. FULLSWING 「 Ｍｒ．ＦＵＬＬＳＷＩＮＧ 」 by Suzuki Shinya Shueisha Weekly Shonen Jump, shōnen This volume first published in Japan 2004.06

11. One Piece 47 of 52+ by Oda Eiichiro

One Piece 「 ＯＮＥ　ＰＩＥＣＥ 」 by Oda Eiichiro Shueisha Weekly Shonen Jump, shōnen This volume first published in Japan 2007.09

12. Our Zoo (Minna no Doubutsuen) 2 of 2 by Kurosawa Akiyo [Finale]

Minna no Doubutsuen 「 みんなの動物園～いづみの飼育係日誌～ 」 by Kurosawa Akiyo Akita Shoten Elegance, josei This volume first published in Japan 2006.02

13. Rough 4 of 12 by Adachi Mitsuru

Rough 「 ラフ 」 by Adachi Mitsuru Shogakukan Shonen Sunday, shōnen This volume first published in Japan 1988.05 This series is also translated into French by Glenat.

14. Skip Beat! 12 of 19+ by Nakamura Yoshiki

Skip Beat! 「 スキップ・ビート！ 」 by Nakamura Yoshiki Hakusensha Hana to Yume, shōjo This volume first published in Japan 2006.02

15. Throbbing Midnight (Tokimeki Midnight) 7 of 8+ by Ikeno Koi

Tokimeki Midnight 「 ときめきミッドナイト 」 by Ikeno Koi Shueisha Cookie Box, shōjo This volume first published in Japan 2007.10

16. Yureka 11 of 27+ by Son HeeJoon, Kim YounKyung

Yureka 「 유레카 」 by Son HeeJoon, Kim YounKyung Haksan, sonyun AKA iD_eNTITY (English version by TOKYOPOP) This volume first published in Korea 2003.07

17. [Premiere] Zig Zag (ZIG☆ZAG) 1 of 8+ by Nakaji Yuki

ZIG☆ZAG 「 ＺＩＧ★ＺＡＧ 」 by Nakaji Yuki Hakusensha LaLa, shōjo This volume first published in Japan 2005.04 Licensed in English by ChuangYi and TOKYOPOP

Source: Elex Media STO 20 Agustus 2008

mangazines (2008.08.19)

• HanaLaLa 29/2008 (Hakusensha shōjo anthology)

This issue of HanaLaLa which streets the day before the tankō do finally fills in one of the gaps left by the conclusion of Michibata no Tenshi, Tennen Pearl Pink, and Bijo ga Yaju, with the premiere of Matsumoto Tomo-sensei's holy megane and mackerel! English School Wars (Eikaiwa School Wars).

I will have more on the highlights of Issue 29 in the overdue HanaLaLa 28/2008 toshokan post.

huamulan03 no definite Get! list

• Hanalala 29/2008
• Jungle Boy 3
• Kedai Tasogare 3
• Merupuri 2
• Zig Zag 1

and this first volume I've trained the spotlight on.

C.M.B. Shinra Hakubutsukan no Jiken Mokuroku

C.M.B. Shinra Hakubutsukan no Jiken Mokuroku (Ｃ．Ｍ．Ｂ．森羅博物館の事件目録) is an ongoing shōnen tantei series illustrated by Kodansha manga-ka Katou Motohiro-sensei, who also created Q.E.D. Shomei Shuryo and Rocket Man. C.M.B. is serialized in Gekkan Shounen Magazine (the same mangazine that serializes Dear Boys Act II) and collected in eight tankōbon so far. It is published in Traditional Chinese by Tong Li Hongkong as C.M.B. Sen Luo Bo Wu Guan Zhi Shi Jian Mu Lu.

(I know I've sed this before but repeating myself is one of the things I do best: What follows is my reconstruction of C.M.B., founded on mechanistic translations and the little provided by the Elex. It stands to reason I would get some things wrong, so please bear with me. I will revise once I have my copy of C.M.B.)

C.M.B. denotes the Latin phrase Christus mansionem benedicat (May Christ bless this house)

We all know that a lot of the booty of the golden age of explorations made it into museums. The British Museum in the C.M.B. story, which had custody of the recondite scientific curiosities and artefacts collected by explorer/adventurers and stored in a Wunderkammer, decided to study the dusty arcana in the 19th century. Three investigators dubbed the Magi were appointed to do the research, each given a ring embossed with the letters C.M.B.

Fast-forward to present-day Japan where Sakaki Shinra is the curator of a museum of oddities. He now has possession of the C.M.B. rings, indicating that he has been granted the status of guardian of knowledge like the Magi that preceded him.

Similar to another Katou Motohiro-sensei hero—Q.E.D.'s Touma Sou—Shinra has a mysterious past, is multi-lingual (English, Latin, and five others), possesses college-level knowledge of chemistry, physics, biology, and history, and is deficient in social skills. How the blond 14-year-old (who also happens to be Touma's cousin) came to hold the rings, as well as why Shinra is the curator of a bizarre museum in Tokyo (the contents of which he loves to show off) are backstory mysteries I look forward to being solved.

While C.M.B. denotes the Latin phrase Christus mansionem benedicat (May Christ bless this house), traditionally written in chalk above church and house doors on the Feast of the Epiphany (the phrase also appears on the manga covers), the same initials stand for Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, the biblical Magi.

For everything else (like Shinra's first "documented" case, you will have to wait for my review of this manga.

Other New series
In addition to C.M.B., there are two more premieres this release: Little Detective Trickstar Hoshi (originally Suiri no Hoshi-kun) by Seino Nana-sensei and Zig Zag by Nakaji Yuki-sensei.

Finales
A couple of two-volumers conclude this 20 August: the already mentioned favorite Monster Soul and Our Zoo or Minna no Doubutsuen.

By original publisher
Everyone (Kodansha, Shogakukan, Akita Shoten, Hakusensha) placed three manga titles each in this release list, save for Shueisha which has one extra and Haksan which is minus two.

By genre
Business as usual. The collective shōnen/sonyun camp exceeds the shōjo/BL/josei aggregate by one title. There are two kodomo manga.

UP NEXT
Level Comics 19 August 2008 manga release

~niki DBA huamulan03 (花木蘭03) who can't wait for next Wednesday

Technorati tags
manga, manhwa, Elex Media, HanaLaLa, shounen, shoujo, sonyun, josei, boys' love, CMB, Dear Boys Act II, Dragon Drive, Jungle Boy, Merupuri, Minna no Doubutsuen, Monster Soul, Mr. FULLSWING, One Piece, Rough, Skip Beat, Suiri no Hoshi-kun, Tasogare Dou e Youkoso, Tokimeki Midnight, Yureka, Zig Zag, Hino Matsuri, Katou Motohiro

Other invaluable resources (click to unhide)

7&Y | Amazon Japan | Baka-Updates Manga | Ubook | manaworld.com

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