Online comics reviewing can sometimes be a lonely business, which is why it’s always welcome when something comes along that encourages actual communication between those of us who love to spend our spare moments talking comics. That’s where the Manga Moveable Feast comes in, a (mostly) monthly event spearheaded by the Manga Curmudgeon’s David Welsh wherein reviewers, bloggers, and other diehard manga fans come together to all discuss a title from the wonderful world of Japanese comics.

 

Your pals at PLAYBACK:stl have gotten in on the MMF act before, including Erin “Lovefool” Jameson “cooking up a conversation” on the works of Fumi Yoshinaga,  Sarah Boslaugh’s look at Kim Dong Hwa’s The Color Trilogy, and my own meager musings on To Terra…, One Piece, and Aria, plus, in my mind, one of our undisputed finest moments, a rousing panel discussion/dissection of Ai Yazawa’s Paradise Kiss by Erin, Sarah, and myself.

 

But this time, we’re not just participating: we’re running the show! PLAYBACK:stl is proud to announce that we will be hosting a special extended MMF running from Wednesday, October 5th through Wednesday, October 12th. [Update 10.09.11: The final date of the MMF has been extended to Sunday, October 16th.] The star of the show this time will be Love Hina, the classic 14-volume romantic comedy from Ken Akamatsu (A.I. Love You, Negima! Magister Negi Magi). Originally serialized in Japan from 1998 to 2001, the book is historically notable for being one of the last manga published by Tokyopop in single issue comic book format, as well as one of that company’s first giant successes in the trade paperback market. Love Hina is also distinguished as quite possibly the finest example of the “harem comedy,” a genre that would go on to define (and some might say “ruin”) much of Japan’s anime and manga output of the early 21st Century, a claim to infamy that may lead to some rather harsh assessments from the MMF crew. The series languished after the fall of Tokyopop, but will soon return to print through a new omnibus edition from Kodansha Comics, the first volume of which is scheduled to ship on October 25th. Consider this MMF your preview.

 

Interested in participating? Please send links my way at jason [at] playbackstl [dot] com, or via twitter at @PLAYBACKjason, and if you have no blog of your own or think your article would fit in better here, I’m happy to post guest articles here at PLAYBACK:stl as well. Submissions can cover the Love Hina manga and anime series, and can be straightforward reviews as well as in-depth essays, character studies, comparisons to other Akamatsu works or harem manga in general, or whatever else may strike you as long as it centers around the series in question.

 

So join us here next Wednesday for a more in-depth overview of the series, and check back throughout that next week for special features, daily collections of links from the other MMF participants, and yes, even a special edition of Lovefool. See you back here next week. | Jason Green