One Peace Books isn’t a company that comes to mind right away for most English manga readers. However this little company is continuing to grow and this past week had two fun license announcements that I think are a notable step in catching the attention of the more average manga reader:
Black Bard – Ichiya Sazanami (Amazon CAN/US)
Smuggler – Shohei Manabe (Amazon CAN/US)
Listings for each title are already on Amazon, though pricing for the releases is still not available. The listings verify that both books will be released as single volumes, with Black Bard scheduled for October 2013 and Smuggler for December 2013.
Both these licenses are really interesting for One Peace Books. Smuggler was previously released by Tokyopop so this will be its second edition in North America. One Peace already has one other license ‘rescue’ under their belt with Crayon Shin-Chan, so at least this acquisition isn’t too much a surprise in that way.
“Ryosuke Kinuta is a struggling young actor with a mounting problem–his unpaid debts to loan sharks have caught up with him, so they cut a deal, offering him a different type of role. Ryosuke will work as their carrier, but unfortunately, this isn’t the big break he has been hoping for. He has to smuggle the bodies of murdered victims, making sure they’re never to be seen again…or he’ll never be seen again!” – Tokyopop
Black Bard on the other hand, which is a first-time in English release, is a lot more mainstream looking than I ever expected from One Peace. They’ve primarily released lesser known independent works such as Tenken and manga adaptations of classic literature. You can see a few preview pages of Black Bard on Amazon.jp. Based on the art style alone, I’m looking forward to this one quite a bit and the fact that it’s going to be a 3-in-1 collected edition of almost 600 pages makes it sound even more worthwhile.
Black Bard follows the journey of a young bard who, while travelling across a fantasy world, entrances those he meets with his unique singing voice and particular set of talents.
Credit for this news goes to AnimeNewsNetwork.
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[…] is one of those surprise publishers who pops out of the woodwork with some great titles in tow. The last time I wrote about their manga licenses was for Black Bard and Smuggler, two titles I’m really looking […]