Kuriousity | manga reviews and news

Posts Tagged Hinako Takanaga

Digital Manga Picks Up License to Maiden Rose

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, August 27, 2009

A Digital Manga Twitter-point to their updated 2010 releases revealed a new boys’ love license – Fusanosuke Inariya’s Maiden Rose! (Yay!!) The series was previously licensed by DramaQueen, along with the other recently exposed license Omen by Makoto Tateno, and both are listed for release in early 2010. Maiden Rose will be released under Digital Manga’s June imprint and is the story of two soldiers who share a master/servant relationship amidst the violence of war.

Maiden Rose has been one of the most anticipated license-saves among boys’ love communities and has garnered further fandom as of late due to the recently released Maiden Rose OVA in Japan.

Digital Manga also continues to entice their fans to speculate on a big license announcement they’ll be making at the upcoming Yaoi Con. Amane Yamano’s Finder series, lost along with the death of BeBeautiful, is one of the most guessed title with Hinako Takanaga’s Tyrant Who Falls In Love coming in close second. Digital Manga has already released several books by both artists across their multiple imprints. Both titles are highly anticipated and will undoubtedly be met with much excitement if either are the big news (from myself included for sure!). Anyone else want to offer some guesses?

Edit: Digital Manga has just tonight sent out a press release with more information regarding their Little Butterfly and Yellow omnibus books, including news that they will both be available months early to attendees of Yaoi Con.

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, DMP, Hinako Takanaga, June, Makoto Tateno, Manga

Tokyopop Webinar: Part One

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, August 6, 2009

12 Comments »

Early this afternoon (or early this evening as in my case), Tokyopop held its first webinar: a live webcam-based session where Tokyopop staff took the time to share some information about upcoming titles and answer a whole lot of questions from the attendees.

Thanks to a quick transit home, I was able to attend this first-of-two sessions and you can read about what was said under the post cut.

As for my impressions of the Webinar as a whole: fantastic idea. It allows the opportunity for a convention-type industry panel but that people around the world can join in on from the comfort of their own homes. It’s a great way to communicate with fans and I give Tokyopop major kudos for putting it into place. Most impressively was the number of questions they were able to answer thanks to the in-order, streamlined method of submission. Very organized and a great opportunity to hit a lot of proverbial birds with one stone (I had all my questions answered so that was snazzy). I certainly hope I can attend the next one as well.

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Licensing
Tags: Alice in the Country of..., Hinako Takanaga, Manga, Shoujo Beat, Tokyopop

Del Rey With Kodansha Listings, Digital Manga Picks Up DQ License

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, August 6, 2009

4 Comments »

Some note-worthy new listings popped up on Amazon over the week and this time one of them even comes with a confirmation from the company.

Two new Digital Manga listings of interest: one is for another omnibus edition of a previously released series of theirs, this time Hinako Takanaga’s fantastically charming Little Butterfly (big recommendations from me on this one!). This joins the already confirmed omnibus for Makoto Tateno’s Yellow.

Speaking of whom, Makoto Tateno’s boys’ love series Yokan is now listed on Amazon from Digital Manga under the name Preminition. Some yaoi fans may recall this title as having been previously licensed by the now defunk DramaQueen (under the title Omen). Word is that several of DQ’s licenses have begun to expire after years of no releases, which means there’s a likely possibility for more license rescues in the coming future. Preminition, along with a couple other newer licenses, are now listed on Digital Manga’s website.

Other Amazon finds of interest includes two editions of Yen Press’s upcoming first volume release of Soul Eater, one of which apparently coming with a presumably-snazzy slipcover. Extra attention for a series with a big fan base? Speaking of big fan-base (which should be bigger still!), Yen Press will be releasing not one, not two but six volumes of Yotsuba&! this September!

And lastly, though my Twitter followers heard this from me a couple days ago, listings for Akira by Kodansha Comics (previously reported as one of the most solid pieces of Kodansa-related news the English manga world has gotten so far) are now all being listed as the following: Akira Volume # (Akira (del Rey)).

This isn’t the first time I’ve noted overlap in publishing credits between Kodansha Comics and Del Rey, who already has a close connection with the company and releases their titles predominantly. Of course this could just be a slip-up on Amazon’s part, though some other retail sites have the publisher for Kodansha Comic’s rereleases of Akira and Ghost in the Shell listed as Random House (of which Del Rey is an imprint of). Is Del Rey merely helping Kodansha find footing in North America? Or could Kodansha Comics show up as another Random House imprint as a more all-inclusive joint agreement for manga releases? Time will (we hope) tell for sure!

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Licensing
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Del Rey, DramaQueen, Hinako Takanaga, June, Makoto Tateno, Manga, Yen Press

Review: You Will Fall in Love

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, April 27, 2009

2 Comments »

Manga-ka: Hinako Takanaga
Publisher: BLU
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: December 2008

Synopsis: “Painful, heartbreaking memories suddenly surface for Haru when he agrees to fill in as teacher for the high school archery club. In his youth, Haru was a brilliant archer who competed for the national championship. But uncontrollable urges for a male rival forced him to give up on his archery dream and run away from his true feelings. Now that he’s back in the bow-and-arrow game, Haru becomes drawn to the brother of his long-lost love – and he must find out if his desire has taken on a new, seductive aim…”

In his high school days, Haru Mochizuki was a national competition class archer with a bright future in the sport. Suddenly he drops the sport he once loved so much, graduating and leaving his school without explanation. Unbeknownst to others, Haru had fallen in love with his best friend and rival, and those feelings made archery impossible to concentrate on, and in his fear of failure, he quit. A few years later he returns to the school as a substitute teacher, only to again become drawn to the beauty of the sport and swept up in the passion of one archer in particular, the younger brother of his first love.

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Reviews
Tags: BLU, Boys' Love/Yaoi, Hinako Takanaga, Manga

Review: The Devil’s Secret

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, February 18, 2009

1 Comment »

Manga-ka: Hinako Takanaga
Publisher: 801Media
Rating: Mature (18+)
Released: May 2008

Synopsis:
“Father Mauro lived a peaceful life in a small town ministering to his community. That is, until he found a wounded demon (?) in the bushes of the church garden. While Raoul looks like a demon, complete with horns and a tail, he doesn’t act like the typical demon. Playful? Yes! Mischievous? Yes! Outright evil? Well… that depends on the definition. Does seducing men of the cloth count as evil – especially if they like it?”

Father Mauro is a kind-hearted priest living in a quaint little town. One day he finds an injured man named Raoul in the garden of his church, and despite the suspicious horns and tail the stranger has, Father Mauro takes him in to nurse back to health. Back on his feet in no time, Raoul is a very friendly individual who has no idea about whether or not he’s a demon. But, what he does know, and makes no secret of, is how much he likes the priest who saved him.

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Reviews
Tags: 801Media, Boys' Love/Yaoi, Hinako Takanaga

New from BLU, Not Just For Us Canadians

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, February 12, 2009

2 Comments »

A couple more new listings have popped up on Amazon.ca today, suggesting a few more licenses to go along with those I pointed out from Digital Manga the other day.

First off though, I wanted to remind my readers that while Amazon listings are a good indication of a company’s intent to release something, it is not a sure thing. Also, as brought to mind by Snow over at Fujoshi Librarian, it hadn’t occured to me that there’d be confusion for people over why Amazon.ca has these listings while Amazon.com does not.

Simply put, listings on different countries’ Amazon merely reflects who updated first. Each site is, as far as I know, managed differently and updated seperately. In my experience, Amazon.ca tends to have its new listings up much faster and more frequently than its American counterpart, Amazon.com. So, along with where I go to order some of my books, it’s also the first place I look for new listings. It does not mean that “only Canada is going to get it!”. It’s just a matter of what site posted the new information first.

That said, here’re a few new-to-my-knowledge titles:

Madness (BLU)
Shimotsuki Kairi

Liberty Liberty! (BLU)
Hinako Takanaga

Taimashin Demon Hunters (DMP)
Hideyuki Kikuchi/Shin Yong-Gwan

There’s also listings for two OEL books. First from DelRey is Ben 10 the Manga, based on the television show and illustrated by the artist of Tokyopop’s Gyakushu, Dan Hipp. It was originally announced back in Sepetember 2008. (Second OEL book has been removed by publisher request).

BLU’s apparent new titles definitely excite me the most, but that might have something to do with the fact I’m a huge Hinako Takanaga fan and someone who’s waited a long time to read Shimotsuki Kairi’s Madness. It’s also nice to see that DelRey is going through with an original Ben 10 manga as they originally planned instead of just sticking with the screenshot-cut-and-paste version that’s due out a few months before it.

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Licensing
Tags: BLU, Boys' Love/Yaoi, Del Rey, Global Manga, Hinako Takanaga, June, Yen Press

Review: A Capable Man

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, January 4, 2009

No Comments »

Manga-ka: Hinako Takanaga
Publisher: BLU
Rating: Mature (18+)
Released: November 2008

Synopsis: “Shingo has always liked guys who are exceptional. His best friend, Koji, is the smartest, fastest and hottest gy in the school. But what Shingo doesn’t know is that Koji has worked hard to be so exceptional – and he’s it to impress Shingo! Why? He’s in love with Shingo of course! But all is about to be revealed, because when Shingo’s just-as-impressive cousin comes into town, Koji realizes he’ll have to confess everything or risk losing his one true love forever…”

A Capable Man is a collection of short stories by Hinako Takanaga, each with its own set of characters and their own little worries, issues and fetishes. Ranging from bad hair days to masochists, there’s plenty to surprise and entertain readers in this assortment of boys’ love.

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Reviews
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Hinako Takanaga

It’s Alive! Aliiiiiive~!

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, October 28, 2008

7 Comments »

Hopefully there’ll be a cool accompanying picture (Edit: check! Well, semi-cool anyway) to that overenthuastic title but in the meantime:

Seems that those who’ve held out hope for DramaQueen are finally being rewarded as a post on the forums has made official proclamation that they’re making a comeback. The plan is to have the first volume of The Tyrant Who Falls in Love out in September 2009. They also have plans to continue the RUSH anthology. This after it was previously stated that the RUSH crew were looking for another publisher after DramaQueen’s long silence.

Looks like my foolish hold out of hope was not in vain! All for the love of Hinako Takanaga and Naono Bohra. Now it’s just a matter of September coming around to make sure it’s not another empty promise. When we hold that book in our hand, then we shall truely celebrate!

You can read the whole post under the cut. Thanks to the folks at Boys Next Door for the quick pick up of the news!

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Misc
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, DramaQueen, Global Manga, Hinako Takanaga

Overview of Yaoi Con 2008

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, October 1, 2008

5 Comments »

While there still hasn’t been much in the way of news from Yaoi Con 2008, many still await it with semi-patience. So, in the absence of any yet revealed internet press at the event (though some birdies have said a certain Brian from MangaCast was there?), here’s some little tidbits in the meantime!

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Misc
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Conventions, Hinako Takanaga

BLU Adds New Hinako Takanaga Series To Site

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, September 27, 2008

4 Comments »

While the licenses themselves aren’t new (still haven’t heard much from this weekend’s Yaoi Con, though BLU has no panel scheduled), BLU’s website has updated with pages for two of their previously announced series, A Capable Man (pictured above) and You Will Fall In Love, both series by Hinako Takanaga.

Now, while I’m thrilled these two titles are still on track, with Hinako Takanaga being one of my favourite manga-kas, I can’t help but wonder about the November and December 2008 release dates. While they were already listed with these dates by Diamond Distributers a little while back, I’m still no less skeptical. With no definitive answers yet given on the fate of some of their currently running series, and some instability from the restructuring still remaining, can we fans have faith in these release dates? I’m hopeful we can, but I guess right now only time will tell when November comes around.

Share on Tumblr

Categories: Misc
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Hinako Takanaga