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Posts Tagged Accel World

Good Things Come In Threes With New Yen Press Licenses

Übel Blatt

Yen Press managed to do the nearly-impossible yesterday by announcing three new manga licenses… via their own website! It was a triple Valentine’s Day treat:

Accel World – Reki Kawahara & Hiroyuki Aigamo
Barakamon – Satsuki Yoshino
Übel Blatt – Etorouji Shiono

We’re so used to finding out licenses via social media or retail listings, that reading the news first from a company’s RSS feed felt like a foreign experience. It’s also been a while since we’ve heard licensing news from Yen Press in general. I’ve no complaints of course, and all these licenses look great. It’s also the first time any of these creators have been published in English.

Accel World is a repeat title for Yen Press. They announced that they had licensed the original light novels last summer. The story follows students who can log into their school network to participate, and compete, in a virtual world where winning imbues the players with powers in the real world.

Baramamon – which has some adorable looking cover artwork – is about a young calligrapher who must move to a small island. There his city habits are tested as he befriends the locals and gets accustomed to his new life there. This series looks really charming – I hope the covers don’t steer me wrong!

And then there’s Übel Blatt, a series I’ve already seen compared to Berserk repeatedly. As a fan of that series, I’m certainly not adverse to another violent, fantasy epic full of elves and magic. The story follows a young swordsmen with a dark past out on a quest for revenge! Good stories can come from small plot packages. Yen Press will be releasing Übel Blatt in omnibus editions collecting two in one.

All three titles are scheduled to start in Fall of this year.


Yen Press Makes Their Own Impact With Light Novels, Sword Art Online and New Madoka Magica Manga at Japan Expo

Yen Press Announces Light Novels, New Madoka Magica Manga at Japan Expo

Word is that the new North American convention, Japan Expo: First Impact, is off to a slow start but at least one company – Yen Press – gave it the benefit of the doubt by saving some licenses to announce:

Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Different Story – Magica Quartet/Hanokage
Sword Art Online Aincrad – Tamako Nakamura
Sword Art Online Fairy Dance – Tsubasa Hazuki

If these three titles look familiar, it’s because they’re all connected to recent popular anime franchises. You can currently watch the original Puella Magi Madoka Magica series on Crunchyroll, as well Sword Art Online.

PMMM: The Different Story is a spin-off of Puella Magi Madoka Magica and follows two of the characters, Tomoe Mami & Sakura Kyouko, in their own magical girl story. This three volume series is drawn by the same artist as the PMMM manga (read my review of volume one) and stars two of the original main characters. I’m hoping that equates to me enjoying it more than the recent Puella Magi Kazumi Magica – The Innocent Malice, which you can read my review for.

Sword Art Online Aincrad is the manga adaptation of the series, which was originally adapted from a light novel prior to getting an anime (more on that a few lines down!). The story follows some of 10 000 players trapped in a new virtual reality game where winning is the only way to survive and death there means death in the real world. Sword Art Online Fairy Dance is a sequel and continues the story of its leads trying to best the game’s hundred levels. This is the first time either artist has had a work released in English.

That wasn’t all at Japan Expo though. Yen Press surprised, and hopefully pleased, many readers by announcing two light novel series:

Accel World – Reki Kawahara/HIMA
Sword Art Online – Reki Kawahara/abec

Few publishers have been willing to take risks on light novels – which are niches in niches – but it seems Yen Press’s results with some of their previous light novels, including Haruhi Suzumiya and Spice & Wolf, has kept up the faith. Remember, readers, if you want them, then you have to support them!

Credit for news details goes ANN


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