Update: I've revised my initial verdict on Love Class by Ayumi Rin. Look for my longer (and fairer) review shortly Done, reviewed here.
Bleach © Kubo Tite/Shueisha [Serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump]
Published in Indonesia by Gramedia/m&c!
Fifty Bleach 40 volumes were delivered to my neighborhood Elex Comic Center on STO day. What's the big deal with 50 books? Well, the other m&c! titles only totaled 20 each, max. I'm sure Ulquiorra-sama is happy :D
Previously on Bleach...
May contain [SPOILERS!]
Back in Hueco Mundo, Ichigo fights Ulquiorra; although neither of them use all their powers, Ulquiorra continues overpowering Ichigo.
In Bleach 40: The Lust,
Ulquiorra releases his zanpakutō which increases his powers to the point that Ichigo is virtually helpless before him. As Ichigo refuses to give up, Ulquiorra makes a second zanpakutō release and blows a hole in Ichigo's chest.
Both synopses come from Wiki's Bleach summaries as m&c!'s only goes as far as The battle between Ichigo and Ulquiorra continues! To bring Orihime out of Las Noches, Ichigo must fight desperately against Ulquiorra.
Bleach Volume 40: The Lust compiles chapters 341 through 349: The Envy,
The Greed,
The Gluttony,
The Pride,
The Sloth,
The Wrath,
The Lust,
The Lust 2
and The Lust 3.
Cha EunSoo is kidnapped again, and this time, her captors don't pull their punches. An already battered Gang JaeHee shields EunSoo from their blows; his former girlfriend cries her heart out when he falls unmoving on top of her...
So that's the lowdown, heading into Female Wolf's BOY, The End.
With the conclusion of FWB—and Sandwich Girl—that's a wrap for the 2 × Han YuRang series from the original 4 × 132 x 200mm soonjung manhwa m&c! launched under a year ago. Of the quartet, only Hwang MiRee's Idol Shopping and Ugly Duckling Become Swan remain current, although the latter only until next week. (UDBS 13 streets on the 8th.)
I preview the other series finales—Magical x Miracle (volume 6) and Out Code (volume 3)—after the release list.
Hey, today's Father's Day! 父の日、おめでとう。
Miiko was supposed to buy Daddy a gift, but she forgot. And now, all she has left is 32 yen [around IDR 3,400]. Can Miiko make her dad happy with spare change?
Elex's 6.01 STO excludes Hai, Miiko! 23 from the release list, an omission m&c! rectifies. I don't know when the Miiko Chichi no hi story first came out, but the tank streeted March 2010 in Japan. Japan celebrates Father's Day on the third Sunday in June, which means 19th June this year (the 20th last year).
Seiyuu-Ka!
© Minami Maki/
Hakusensha
[Hana to Yume]
Published as
Seiyuu-Ka! Lovely Voice
by m&c!
Of the manga debuts, the one spawning the most Kyaaa~s is the Voice Acting love comedy Seiyuu-Ka! Lovely Voice from the creator of Special A, Minami Maki.
Kino Hime enrolls into the voice acting department of Hiiragi Academy, the prestigious seiyuu high school famous for launching voice actors to stardom. Hime's dream is to become the lead CV (character voice) of the hit anime “Lovely Blazers.”
There's only one problem — a couple, actually: Hime's unlovely voice and her lack of grace, both of which land her in detention with three other delinquents.
If only to find out why this Hana to Yume series is listed under Gender Bender, am taking Seiyuu-Ka! Lovely Voice for a spin. (I lurve the Reverse Trap trope, though I could care less about Tsundere, Tsundere Male Lead
with which this manga is also tagged.
I mentioned S•A at the top, but m&c! has also published Minami Maki-sensei's Kimi wa Girlfriend and Anemone Flower Shop.
As for the other new titles, we get megane moe redux in Glasses Boys' Fans Club by Kawamaru Shin (Glasses Boys' Lovers' sib); Love Triangle, anyone? Heroine Complex by Naoda Tsuboko; Whoa! this Teacher is Scary! Love Class by Ayumi Rin (I pan this below Prematurely, as it turns out.); “I will punish you in the name of Love!” Love Samurai by Aoi Michiru and Kleenex alert! My Tiger Boy by Sakisaka Mea (two-volume launch). All Shogakukan shoujo manga, all Sho-Comi alumni, except Ciao grad Love Samurai and ex-Betsucomi Glasses Boys' Fans Club. (I preview these manga below the release list.)
☂ [RE-STO]: If you missed some (or all) volumes of Fujieda Tohru's Dragon Girl, or Sakamoto Miku's Nekomachi Shop Guide, or Shigematsu Takako's Not An Angel, now's your chance to complete your collection.
- Bleach 40 of 50+ by Kubo Tite
- [Premiere] Glasses Boys' Fans Club (Moe Megane Danshi Kurabu) by Kawamaru Shin
- Hai, Miiko! (Kocchi Muite! Miiko) 23 of 23+ by Ono Eriko
- [Premiere] Heroine Complex by Naoda Tsuboko
- [Premiere] Love Class (Renai Kyoushuujo) by Ayumi Rin
- [Premiere] Love Samurai (Love Samurai Yuika) by Aoi Michiru
- Magical x Miracle 6 of 6 by Mizutani Yuzu [Finale]
- [Series Premiere] My Tiger Boy (Tora wa Amaku Kiba de Kamu) 1 of 2 by Sakisaka Mea
- [Premiere] My Tiger Boy (Tora wa Amaku Kiba de Kamu) 2 of 2 by Sakisaka Mea [Finale]
- Out Code 3 of 3 by Suzuragi Karin & Himenogi Haruhiko [Finale]
- [Series Premiere] Seiyuu-Ka! Lovely Voice (Seiyuu-ka!) 1 of 6+ by Minami Maki
- Sky Blue Beach (Sorairo Kaigan) 5 of 6 by Yamada Nanpei
- Female Wolf's BOY 17 of 17 by Han YuRang [Finale]
- My Own Princess (Personalized Princess) 3 of 10 by Hwang MiRee
- Say Say Say 2 of 7 by Hwang MiRee
[Release links are hide/unhide. Click for more details.]
- Monika dan Kawan-Kawan (Turma da Mônica) 141 by Mauricio De Sousa
Read more »
Bleach 「ＢＬＥＡＣＨ－ブリーチ－」
by Kubo Tite
Shueisha Weekly Shonen Jump, shounen
Volume 44 (chapters 378-386) first published in Japan 2010.04
Awards
Winner, 50th Shogakukan Manga Awards in the Shounen category
Other languages
English Bleach (VIZ Media: 36 volumes per 2011.09 • volume 37 street date: 2011.12.06), French (Glénat; Tome 44 shipped 2011.09 • Tome 45 street date: 2011.12.01), Spanish (Glénat in Spain, Grupo Editorial Vid in Mexico), German (TOKYOPOP Germany: Band 48 per 2011.09 • Band 49 street date: 2011.12.15), Dutch (Kana), Russian (Эксмо), Polish (JPF), Portuguese (Planet Manga) and simplified Chinese (Chuang Yi Singapore: Bleach #51: Love me Bitterly, Loth me Sweetly released 2011.10.04)
Related
Kubo Tite and Makoto Matsubara co-authored two Bleach novels: BLEACH-letters from the other side: The Death and The Strawberry (Japan release: 2004.12) and BLEACH: The Honey Dish Rhapsody (2006.10).
The Bleach All Colour But The Black artbook, compiling color spreads from manga volumes 1 through 19 with original art and author annotations, released in Japan (2006.12), USA (The Art of Bleach, 2008.10) and France (All colour but the black: Recueil des illustrations de Bleach, 2008.11).
Companion guidebooks have also been published: Bleach SOULs and Bleach VIBEs released 2006.02 in Japan (The English Bleach SOULs. Official Character Book shipped 2008.11 in North America, while the French version streeted 2009.11). A third Bleach Official Bootleg: KaraBuri+ guidebook released 2007.08 in Japan. (English Color Bleach+: The Bleach Official Bootleg released 2010.08.10.) The fourth and fifth Bleach: Official Character Book 2: MASKED and Official Character Book 3: UNMASKED streeted in Japan on 2010.08.04 (same day as Volume 46: Back From Blind) and 2011.06.03 (along with Volume 50: The Six Fullbringers).
Adaptations
Studio Pierrot's anime adaptation first broadcast in October 2004 and continues to this day. Season 16: Lost Substitute Shinigami opened with episode 343 on 11 October 2011; latest episode 349 aired 2011.11.22). Seiyuu Morita Masakazu and Orikasa Fumiko star as Kurosaki Ichigo and Kuchiki Rukia, with Park Romi playing 10th Division captain Hitsugaya Toshiro. Two OAVs and four theatrical movies—Memories of Nobody; The DiamondDust Rebellion, Another Hyōrinmaru; Fade to Black, I Call Your Name; and Bleach: The Hell Verse—have been released. (Novelizations of these movies have also been published by JUMP J Books: Fade to Black, I Call Your Name in December 2008 and Bleach: The Hell Verse in December 2010.) Additionally, Warner Bros. has confirmed it will be producing a Bleach live-action film.
At least eight drama CDs have been produced. Featuring the original anime cast, the drama CDs were bundled with the DVDs.