Brigid’s look at the latest chart-topping manga triggers some interesting discussion. MangaCast and Manga Recon’s Erin F. suggests that, while vampires certainly aren’t driving anyone away from Millennium Snow, it’s creator Bisco Hatori’s reputation for Ouran High School Host Club that’s doing more to feed Millennium’s success.
I’m always interested to see a new “name manga-ka” emerge. Clearly, several someones believe that Chika Shiomi will join the ranks of creators who might be able to move a title at least partly on reputation, what with Go! Comi, CMX and Viz adding her work to their rosters. Last year, You Higuri seemed to be the manga-ka everyone wanted to license.
Maybe it’s because series targeted at women tend to be shorter and there are consequently more available to license, but most of the name manga-ka I can think of are women: the CLAMP collective, Ai Yazawa, Yuu Watase, Fumi Yoshinaga, Moyoco Anno, among others.
Who are your no-question manga-ka, the ones whose work you’ll buy no matter the genre or subject matter?
