Dan Coyle reviews Blue Spring over at Pop Image.

Matsumoto’s artwork, like Monkey Punch, eschews the stereotypical “manga” look and instead tries a more realistic, yet still exaggerated, style for the characters that populate the world of Blue Spring. The touch of the absurd the teens and their world have about them emphasize[s] the emotions teenagers can feel, that sort of larger than life reactions that make mundane, banal events seem like The End of the World. He’s abetted nicely by Kelly Sue DeConnick’s expert adaptation- she takes care to keep the dialogue naturalistic.

Emphasis mine...obviously.

Fruits Basket Continues to Dominate: "The good folks at ICv2.com provide a nice summary of all the news one can glean from a look at the recent bookstore numbers for manga, concentrating on which properties and which companies are fighting it out in the top 10 and a creep up the charts for V For Vendetta no doubt tied into the movie. I find more encouraging that a volume of the sports manga Girl Got Game has creeped into the top 15, although like the success of most American sports in their 1950s heyday, the cross-dressing element of the manga has probably played a vital role in its chart presence. All kidding aside, the last time a good cross-dressing sports story hit America (no, Juwanna Mann and Ladybugs don't count), Gabe Kaplan had his name above the title."

(Via CR Briefings.)

Right on. I'm gonna break my arm patting myself on the back here. (That reminds me, I need to write to the new managing editor at Tokyopop and get the rest of my GGG comps...)

Sexy Voice and Robo review at AnimeonDVD.com here.

Associated forum thread here.

MangaCast discussion here. (I haven't listened yet.)

The AOD reviewer has a LJ post about it here.

EDITED TO ADD: I listened to the MangaCast podcast and I was impressed enough to subscribe. Right on.

Was up until 4am last night finishing the first draft of an original series pitch. Okay, not actually finishing as I have two more paragraphs to write but it's, um, THIRTY PAGES. If I've done it correctly, they should be able to decide after reading the first two. Fingers crossed.

I promised it today.

...As with the story telling the illustration invokes plenty of contradictions. With heavy ink and brush work, despite the very modern attitudes, fashion and devices of the story, the look sometimes invokes pre-modern work with paint or wood block. Reading of English language comics might find some parallels in the design to the work of Paul Pope. [Emphasis mine.]

Sexy Voice on Amazon.com