Magi | Geekscape

Exciting news! VIZ Media and comiXology have announced a massive addition of over 650 new VIZ Media manga titles that were originally published in Japan and are now available in English on comiXology.com and on the comiXology app for Kindle, iPad, iPhone, Android and Windows 8!

Official press release below with all the details and some series highlights. A couple of my favorites are Magi and Black Bird.

Today, over 650 new manga volumes, spanning more than 65 acclaimed series, and all in English, have been added to the comiXology platform for manga fans to browse, buy and enjoy. Many VIZ Media series are now available in their entirety and span an extremely diverse range of adventure, action, sci-fi, horror, mystery, and romance genres. New volumes of fan-favorite continuing series are added to comiXology each week as part of VIZ Media’s regular weekly digital manga update schedule. Please visit www.comixology.com for more information.

All the new VIZ Media manga titles found in this massive update were originally published in Japan by Shogakukan, Inc., a VIZ Media parent company and one of Japan’s biggest publishing companies. This latest comiXology content update makes more than 1,100 VIZ Media manga volumes across more than 190 different series available. Readers can enjoy all these acclaimed releases using comiXology’s Manga Fixed Format, which enables a dedicated right-to-left full-page reading experience and the highest resolution pages available.

“With this latest update manga fans now have even more to love with these VIZ Media Shogakukan books,” said comiXology CEO and co-founder David Steinberger. “VIZ Media’s huge library of classic and fan-favorite series offer something for every reader and every week we’re bringing even more to the comiXology platform.”

“The latest titles to join comiXology’s catalog substantially expands the VIZ Media roster of series available through the platform, and we are thrilled to deepen our relationship with this innovative platform and offer so much exciting new content to fans,” says Eric Eberhardt, VIZ Media’s Director of Digital Marketing. “Readers are increasingly enjoying their favorite titles digitally, and comiXology has become a great destination for them to access a broad array of content. This latest update provides the latest installments for scores of continuing VIZ Media series and the complete runs of dozens of other acclaimed legacy titles.”

New and notable VIZ Media manga series now available on comiXology include:

MAGI Vols. 1-10 • Rated ‘T’ for Teens • Continuing Series
Deep within the desert lie the mysterious Dungeons, vast stores of riches there for the taking by anyone lucky enough to find them and brave enough to venture into the depths from where few have ever returned. Plucky young adventurer Aladdin means to find the Dungeons and their riches, but Aladdin may be just as mysterious as the treasures he seeks.

CASE CLOSED Vols. 1-53 • Rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens • Continuing Series
Jimmy Kudo, the son of a world-renowned mystery writer, is a high school detective who has cracked the most baffling of cases. One day while on a date with his childhood friend Rachel Moore, Jimmy observes a pair of men in black involved in some shady business. The men capture Jimmy and give him a poisonous substance to rub out their witness. But instead of killing him, it turns him into a little kid! Jimmy takes on the pseudonym Conan Edogawa and continues to solve all the difficult cases that come his way. All the while, he’s looking for the men in black and the mysterious organization they’re with in order to find a cure for his miniature malady.

BLACK BIRD Vols. 1-18 • Rated ‘T’ for Teens • Complete Series
There is a world of myth and magic that intersects ours, and only a special few can see it. Misao Harada is one such person, and she wants nothing to do with magical realms. She just wants to have a normal high school life and maybe get a boyfriend. But she is the bride of demon prophecy, and her blood grants incredible powers, her flesh immortality. Now the demon realm is fighting over the right to her hand…or her life!

THE DRIFTING CLASSROOM Vols. 1-10 • Rated ‘M’ for Mature Readers • Complete Series
Out of nowhere, a Japanese elementary school is transported into a hostile world. Soon, the students and teachers must struggle to survive in impossible conditions, besieged by terrifying creatures and beset by madness. Part horror, part science fiction, THE DRIFTING CLASSROOM is a classic can’t-put-down manga series from horror manga master Kazuo Umezu.

HAPPY MARRIAGE?! Vols. 1-10 • Rated ‘M’ for Mature Readers • Complete Series
In order to help her father, Chiwa Takanashi agrees to an arranged marriage with the company president, Hokuto Mamiya – a man she doesn’t know – at the request of Hokuto’s grandfather. Chiwa believes the arrangement isn’t binding, but her new partner seems to think otherwise. Can two strangers living together find their way to a happy marriage?!

ITSUWARIBITO Vols. 1-13 • Rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens • Continuing Series
Utsuho’s truthfulness as a child resulted in an enormous catastrophe, and he decided to lie from that day forward. Raised in a village of orphans by a monk, Utsuho is an unrepentant troublemaker. The monk eventually inspires him to help people, but there’s no way Utsuho’s going to lead an honest life! Instead, he’s going to use his talents for mischief and deception for good!

MIDNIGHT SECRETARY Vols. 1-7 • Rated ‘M’ for Mature Readers • Complete Series
Kaya Satozuka prides herself on being an excellent secretary and a consummate professional, so she doesn’t even bat an eye when she’s reassigned to the office of her company’s difficult director, Kyohei Touma. He’s as prickly – and hot – as rumors paint him, but Kaya is unfazed…until she discovers that he’s a vampire!!

With over 50,000 comics, manga, and graphic novels from more than 75 publishers, comiXology offers one of the biggest selection of digital comics in the world. ComiXology’s immense catalog and cinematic Guided View reading experience makes it the best digital platform for comic, manga and graphic novel fans worldwide. Fans can discover favorite comics, manga and graphic novels at comixology.com and also try the comiXology app available on all major mobile platforms.

For more information on manga titles available from VIZ Media, please visit www.VIZ.com.

About comiXology
ComiXology, an Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiary (NASDAQ:AMZN), has revolutionized the comic book and graphic novel industry by delivering a cloud-based digital comics platform that makes discovering, buying, and reading comics more fun than ever before. ComiXology’s Guided View reading technology transforms the comic book medium into an immersive and cinematic experience, helping comiXology become a top ten grossing iPad app in 2011 and 2012 and the top grossing non-game iPad app in 2012 and 2013. Offering the broadest library of comic book content from over 75 publishers – and independent creators as well – comiXology will not stop until everyone on the face of the planet has become a comic book fan. ComiXology is based in New York City, with operations in Los Angeles and Paris. For more information visit www.comixology.com.

About VIZ Media, LLC
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, VIZ Media distributes, markets and licenses the best anime and manga titles direct from Japan. Owned by three of Japan’s largest manga and animation companies, Shueisha Inc., Shogakukan Inc., and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, Co., Ltd., VIZ Media has the most extensive library of anime and manga for English speaking audiences in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa. With its popular digital manga anthology WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP and blockbuster properties like NARUTO, BLEACH and ONE PIECE, VIZ Media offers cutting-edge action, romance and family friendly properties for anime, manga, science fiction and fantasy fans of all ages. VIZ Media properties are available as graphic novels, DVDs, animated television series, feature films, downloadable and streaming video and a variety of consumer products. Learn more about VIZ Media, anime and manga at www.VIZ.com.

Hi! My name is Kari Lane, and I’ve been an anime lover since I was a little girl. Those good old days when classics like Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z, Card Captor Sakura, Digimon and Monster Rancher were on the most basic of cable.

Over the years, I have expanded my anime repertoire and have attended numerous anime conventions. I’m currently a host on Neo-Cinema, a web-based anime and Japanese live-action movie review show. Recently, I’ve been watching the first few episodes of various anime series’, and thought it an excellent idea to write reviews based on my “first impressions”. Of course, you’ll have many unanswered questions after viewing just 4, 5, or 6 episodes, but you can get a feel for the show and decide if you want to continue watching! I hope my reviews will help introduce you to some awesome anime, or help you avoid the more mediocre junk that’s out there!

Another anime show that dominated the cosplay scene at Anime Expo this past year was Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic. It is a fun Japanese take on the Arabian Nights/Aladdin tales. The show opens up with a mysterious boy in a strange room and a rather dark tone. Who is this boy? Then it goes to a desert town in an ancient land where we meet Alibaba who seems to be a nice young man working much too hard for a cruel master. The mystery boy reappears in one of the carts Alibaba is loading and after several mishaps the two become friends. The boy’s name is Aladdin but not much else is known about him as he does not really know who he is either. Alibaba explains he wants to conquer a dungeon, strange towers that appeared ten years ago, because those who conquer them will have riches and possibly gain possession of a powerful magic being called a Djinn (pretty much a giant blue genie minus the wishes). Thus, Alibaba and Aladdin set out on the adventure of becoming Dungeon Capturers!

The style of animation is similar to the anime of the late 90s and early 2000s, like Tenchi Muyo and Trigun. The color palette is dominated by lighter colors and few shadows. However, they do utilize bright crazy hair colors. The one thing that weirds me out about this show is they draw their teeth rather large. Most anime characters have a thin white line to show the upper teeth but on this show, it takes up almost half the mouth. It almost looks like they have buck teeth. That is just a personal gripe but otherwise I really enjoy the style of the show. Also, I love how they incorporate extremely expressive moments and change the style of the character to convey that emotion (similar to Blue Exorcist). It often makes the moment comedic and makes it easier to understand how the character actually feels.

The main characters are likable and the bad guys are really evil. You care where these characters are going and you worry about them as the bad guys plot their malice. Aladdin can be super goofy one moment (apparently he LOVES boobs) and a serious philosopher the next (like Vash from Trigun). He raises questions like a child would ask, such as why remain a slave when your chains have been broken and why work for someone who is cruel to you? These questions seem simple but the older characters struggle to answer. Clues have been laid out indicating that many of the main characters have mysterious pasts. Where do they come from? How did they get to where they are?

Overall, this is an entertaining show with adventure, some cool action scenes, and a focus on friendship/family, loyalty and standing up for what you believe in. I will definitely keep watching to see where Aladdin and Alibaba’s adventures take them! So, take the magic carpet ride and let this anime take you to a faraway land!

You can watch the show in subtitles on VIZ Anime and Crunchyroll.

(The entire season is available)

You can watch the show in English on Neon Alley.

(Episode 1 is currently out. The show is being simulcast.)

Tag: Magi

VIZ Media And comiXology Bring You Over 650 New Manga Volumes!

Kari’s Anime Corner: First Impressions of “Magi: Labyrinth of Magic”