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Posts Tagged Kingdom Hearts

Yen Press Beats the Bad Luck With Four New Manga Licenses

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, June 22, 2014

This past Friday the 13th wasn’t unlucky for Yen Press, who made a post about some on-going title updates, and four new manga licenses:

Akame Ga Kill! – Takahiro & Tetsuya Tashiro
Kagerou Daze – Jin & Shidu
Secret – Yoshiki Tonogai
Sword Art Online: Progressive – Reki Kawahara & abec

Akame Ga Kill! is about a young man who leaves his village in order to earn money in his country’s Capital City. Though robbed halfway there, he finds himself taken in by a generous upperclasswoman. Things aren’t always what they seem however, when a band of assassins attack her mansion, yet don’t seem to be the bad-guys in the situation. The first volume of Akame Ga Kill! is scheduled for January 2015, and is available to pre-order on Amazon CAN | US.

Kagerou Daze is a double-dip license, including both the manga and light novel versions of the story. The series follows a shut-in forced to leave his home after his computer crashes, only to walk right into a dangerous hostage situation. Volume one of both the manga and light novel will be released in early 2015, while the manga can already be pre-ordered via Amazon CAN | US.

Sword Art Online: Progressive is also two licenses, the manga and the light novel versions of the same name. The title is “a retelling and expansion on the events that took place during Sword Art Online: Aincrad“. Volume one of the manga version is scheduled for January 2015, and is currently available to order via Amazon CAN | US.

Secret is a new title from the creator of JUDGE and Doubt, bringing English readers more creepy imagery of people in bloody bunny headgear:

“These are the ominous words given to the six survivors of a tragic bus accident, followed by an ultimatum. Within one week, the three murderers must anguish over their crimes and find some way to answer for them, or the evidence of their sins will be given to the police. But when every person has a secret, who can you trust…?”

The first volume of Secret is scheduled for January 2015 and is also available to order via Amazon CAN | US.

Along with the four new titles, Yen Press also noted that new volumes of both Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and Kingdom Hearts II are on the way. Since announcing their acquisition of the Kingdom Hearts series, Yen Press has released new editions of all previously published material by Tokyopop. This is first time the new content will be released in English, which we’re told will be late 2014.

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: Akame Ga Kill, Kagerou Daze, Kingdom Hearts, Secret, Sword Art Online

On The Shelf: August 28, 2013

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, August 28, 2013

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The student-pocalypse is upon us! It’s the last week of August and students around the world are back to the books after this coming weekend. Enjoy your freedom while you can! Which means read, read, read! … and then continue to do so.

My must-have book for this week is Vertical Inc‘s Helter Skelter. I have a lot of faith in the company’s selection for titles as it is, and this josei story – a title aimed at older woman – about a model’s use of plastic surgery to try and keep up her career, and her spiraling madness because of it, sounds like a worthwhile drama to seek out. Plus as much as I love good on-going series, a solid one shot can often be even more satisfying.

Cage of Eden (Vol. 11) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Crimson Empire: Circumstances to Serve a Noble (Vol. 02) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Helter Skelter: Fashion Unfriendly [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Kingdom Hearts II (Vol. 02) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Pandora Hearts (Vol. 17) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]

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Categories: News, On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: Cage of Eden, Crimson Empire, Helter Skelter, Kingdom Hearts, Kodansha Comics, Manga, Pandora Hearts, Vertical Inc, Yen Press

On The Shelf: July 31, 2013

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, July 31, 2013

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July is one of those special months that ends up having five Wednesdays, so that means five days for new manga to come out. And despite this being the last day of July, it still has a good amount of books coming out too.

My top pick today easily goes to Vertical Inc‘s release of Twin Knight. This one shot book is Osamu Tezuka’s sequel to his popular Princess Knight. Before Vertical announced this title, I didn’t even know there was a sequel. This makes me even more excited to buy it as I’ve intentionally avoided reading anything about Twin Knight so as much is a surprise as possible.

Yen Press also has some gems with a stack of new Kingdom Hearts books. These are all re-translated and repackaged series originally published by Tokyopop. This weeks’ include the second, and final, volume of the first story, Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, a complete one shot release of the second story, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and the first of two volumes for the follow-up story, Kingdom Hearts II.

I’ll also be revisiting an old favourite with Viz Media‘s newest omnibus volume of Hana Kimi. Romantic drama and cross-dressing fun~

Bloody Monday (Vol.11) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Fairy Tail (Vol.28) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Hana-Kimi Omnibus (Vol.05) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Heroman (Vol.05) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Gantz (Vol.28) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Kingdom Hearts Final Mix (Vol.02) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Kingdom Hearts II (Vol.01) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Twin Knight [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]

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Categories: News, On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: Bloody Monday, Fairy Tail, Gantz, Hana Kimi, Heroman, Highschool of the Dead, Kingdom Hearts, Twin Knight

On The Shelf: June 26, 2013

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, June 26, 2013

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It’s a busy week for Kuriousity as half our writers, myself included, gear up for the upcoming Animaritime. It’s the final prep-day countdown! But that doesn’t stop us from oogling this week’s new assortment of manga, which includes a whole bunch of new Yen Press books.

I really enjoyed Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories which Yen Press is releasing as a single omnibus. Unfortunately my feelings weren’t as generous for Puella Magi Kazumi Magica. To each their own of course, and this week offers plenty to choose from. Buy and enjoy!

Aron’s Absurd Armada (Vol.02) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Fairy Tail (Vol.27) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class (Vol.05) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Heroman (Vol.05) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Higurashi: When They Cry – Festival Accompanying Arc (Vol.01) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Nabari No Ou (Vol.14) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Negima! Magister Negi Magi Omnibus (Vol.07) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Pandora Hearts (Vol.16) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Puella Magi Kazumi Magica: The Innocent Malice (Vol.01) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Spice & Wolf (Vol.08) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Triage X (Vol.03) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Oreimo (Vol.03) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]

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Categories: On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: Aron's Absurd Armada, Dark Horse, Fairy Tail, Geijutsuka, Heroman, Higurashi When They Cry, Kingdom Hearts, Kodansha Comics, Nabari no Ou, Negima, Oreimo, Pandora Hearts, Puella Magica Madoka, Spice & Wolf, Triage X, Vertical Inc, Yen Press

Swag Bag: Girls, Guys and Thermae Romae

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, June 25, 2013

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It’s a new Swag Bag post! And as the last was a month ago, we have some catching up to do.

Seven Seas’ omnibus edition of Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink was one of my favourite purchases as of late. Yuri is uncommon enough, but after this release and Girlfriends, I won’t ever pass up an opportunity for more of Milk Morniaga’s work. I found this book tricky to get through. I related to these characters more than most in manga, so the book took considerable more emotional toll on me than I’m accustomed. It only speaks to their quality when in the right hands, however, and while it means I’ll likely never be able to write a full review for them, I have all the hopes in the world they continue to do well so we can get more.

Yen Press continues to make clever power plays for room on my bookshelves with a new set of shiny re-editions. This time it’s Kingdom Hearts Final Mix (Vol. 01-02) and Chain of Memories. Both are adaptations of the video games of the same name, products near and dear to my fangirl heart, and titles that Tokyopop originally published. While I already own the Tokyopop books, Yen Press’s new collected editions look and read great, plus have that new book smell. How could anyone resist? For more thoughts, you can read my review of Kingdom Hearts Final Mix.

A Devil and Her Love Song (Vol. 09) began my Viz Media purchases and was an enjoyable romp of beach time fun and character development. I reviewed another recent shoujo purchase, Dawn of the Arcana (Vol. 10), last weekend. Always the Queen of the crop, Sailor Moon (Vol. 11) was quick to enter the swag bag and carries us into the final, and possibly most emotionally intense, arc of the series.

Completing it’s final arc is Saturn Apartments (Vol. 07), which really surprised me with how dark it got for a while. I honestly didn’t know how it was going to turn out, which is always the best way to read something. All surprises! Much less of a surprise were Attack on Titan (Vol.01) and No. 6 (Vol. 01) from Kodansha Comics, since I’ve already seen the anime versions. But I love them both, Attack on Titan in particular, so I had to buy the manga of each.

It was super shonen time with the newest volume of Toriko (Vol. 16). It’s continuing to be a little disorienting following the series both in the collected form and as new chapters come out via Shonen Jump. The two haven’t overlapped yet, but it is neat seeing what comes, what’s been and wondering what could possibly fill the gap. Less suspenseful is Pokemon Black & White (Vol. 10) but it’s always cute and fun.

Speaking of cute and fun, though in entirely different ways, I was thrilled to finally pick up a copy of Thermae Romae (Vol. 02). This series is amazing, both in the surprise of something with this plot simply existing, but also in how well it’s executed. This series continues to be hilarious and educational, not to mention brilliantly packaged by Yen Press. If you haven’t already, make sure you buy these gems while you can!

And I finished this month’s purchases off with some boys’ love – Bonds of Dreams, Bonds of Love (Vol. 04) and Blue Morning (Vol. 01). Bonds of Dreams, Bonds of Love is now over and went out the same way in came in – funny and full of enjoyably horny hijinks. Blue Morning starts a brand new series and one that’s pretty much the polar opposite in tone. I found Blue Morning a bit dull as it’s dark mood almost suffocated it, but now with the characters set-up, I’m looking forward to seeing more plot progress in volume two.

That does it for this week’s Swag Bag. As always, feel more than free to share what purchases you’ve made recently and if you’d recommend them!

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Categories: Swag Bag
Tags: A Devil and her Love Song, Attack on Titan, Blue Morning, Bonds of Dreams Bonds of Love, Boys' Love/Yaoi, Dawn of the Arcana, Kingdom Hearts, Kodansha Comics, Manga, Milk Morinaga, No.6, Pokemon, Sailor Moon, Saturn Apartments, Seven Seas, Shonen Jump, SIG Ikki, SuBLime, Thermae Romae, Viz Media, Yen Press, Yuri

Review: Kingdom Hearts Final Mix (Vol. 01-02)

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, June 20, 2013

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Manga-ka: Shiro Amano
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: All Ages
Release Date: May 2013

Synopsis: “After a terrible storm shatters the peace of his tropical island home, a young boy named Sora is set adrift from his world and his friends, Riku and Kairi. Meanwhile, Disney Castle is in an uproar when it is discovered that King Mickey has gone missing, leaving it up to Court Wizard Donald and Captain Goofy to find him! When Sora, in search of his friends, and Donald and Goofy, in search of their king, cross paths, their fateful encounter will change the destiny of the universe forever!!”

The recent announcement of Kingdom Hearts 3 set a rejuvenating ripple through the fandom at the recent E3 convention. Yen Press’s new release of the Kingdom Hearts manga almost couldn’t possibly be better timed.

Otaku USA: On The Shelf – June 5th, 2013

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, June 5, 2013

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I have a feeling June is going to be one of those months where my manga budget gets stretched… …by a lot. Enjoy the first wave of manga out this month, and check out my thoughts at Otaku USA’s On The Shelf article for books out this week.

Are You Alice? (Vol.01) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Black God (Vol.10) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Blood Lad (Vol.03) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Blood-C (Vol.02) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
BTOOOM! (Vol.02) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Dragonball 3-in-1 (Vol.01) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Durarara!! Saika Arc (Vol.02) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
GTO: 14 Days in Shonan (Vol.09) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Kingdom Hearts Final Mix (Vol.01) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Kingdom Hearts Final Mix (Vol.02) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Missions of Love (Vol.03) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Omamori Himari (Vol.10) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Pokemon Black & White (Vol.10) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Sacred Blacksmith (Vol.01) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Soul Eater (Vol.14) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan (Vol.04) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Thermae Romae (Vol.02) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]
Umineko: Turn of the Golden Witch (Vol.01) [Amazon CAN, Amazon US, RightStuf]

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Categories: News, On The Shelf, Release Lists
Tags: Are You Alice?, Black God, Blood C, Blood Lad, Btooom!, Dark Horse, Dragonball, Durarara, GTO, Haruhi Suzumiya, Kingdom Hearts, Kodansha Comics, Manga, Missions of Love, Omahori Himari, Pokemon, Sacred Blacksmith, Shonen Jump, Soul Eater, Thermae Romae, Umineko, Vertical Inc, Viz Media, Yen Press

Kingdom Hearts Galore, Wolf Children and More With Yen Press at Sakura Con

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, March 31, 2013

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Convention season is preparing to go into full swing, and Yen Press hit the ground running at this weekend’s Sakura Con. Credit for all the juicy details goes to the fine news folks at Anime News Network.

First up were a few new manga licenses, including one with a very, very long name:

Inu × Boku Secret Service – Cocoa Fujiwara
No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular! – Nico Tanigawa
Wolf Children: Ame and Yuki – Mamoru Hosoda & Yū

Inu x Boku Secret Service is a series I’ve heard about via its anime, but I’m not familiar with it beyond that. The story is a romantic comedy about a young girl who is partnered with a special bodyguard after she goes to a building shrouded in mystery with the hopes of getting better at interacting with other people. Yen Press will begin releasing the manga in October 2013.

Yen Press’s next title is very likely to go unrivaled for the longest title licensed in English this year – No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular!. This one is a comedy series following a girl whose video game-spawned illusions of high school are dashed when she actually attends it. She has my sympathies – high school was nothing like Breaker High or the Power Rangers prepared me for either! The first volume of this title is currently scheduled for October 2013 as well.

And last up for the new titles is my most anticipated of the batch – Wolf Children: Ame and Yuki. This is a manga adaptation of Mamoru Hosoda’s new movie of the same name. I haven’t seen it yet but my love for Summer Wars, and the very cute trailers, has me excited to watch it someday. Naturally I then must read the manga as well. Yen Press will begin releasing this series in omnibus format starting in 2014, but hopefully I won’t need to wait that long to see the movie.

And continuing the licenses, Yen Press also announced that they’ve acquired the rights to the manga adaptations of the popular Kingdom Hearts games:

Kingdom Hearts Final Mix – Shiro Amano
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories – Shiro Amano
Kingdom Hearts II – Shiro Amano
Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days – Shiro Amano

The original Kingdom Hearts manga series was released in its entirety by Tokyopop. Yen Press will be releasing a newer version, titled Final Mix, as two omnibus volumes, the first of which is due out in May 2013. Chain of Memories was also released by Tokyopop as single editions, while Yen Press will publish the title as a single omnibus in June 2014. Kingdom Hearts II was only partially released by Tokyopop before the company shutdown, and while Yen Press confirmed they have this license, they haven’t announced plans for it’s release yet. Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, however, has never been released in English before and the series will start with volume one in November 2013.

That is a lot of Kingdom Hearts! For those unfamiliar with the franchise, it begins with a boy named Sora who travels between different worlds to retrieve the stolen and transmuted hearts of their inhabitants, with his new friends, Donald and Goofy to help him. As a collaboration between Disney and Square Enix, the games (and manga) are full of characters from both their companies as well as a steadily growing cast of characters exclusive to the Kingdom Hearts story.

I really enjoyed the manga adaptation of these games – and the games considerably before that – so I’m really excited to see Yen Press has picked them up. I’m confident they’ll do well. I’ll also keep my fingers crossed that they extend their licensing hands to the absolutely adorable Kilala Princess, which is like a little sister to Kingdom Hearts. Tokyopop released the first four volumes. A girl can dream, right?

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Conventions, Inu × Boku Secret Service, Kingdom Hearts, Manga, No Matter How I Look at It..., Sakura Con, Tokyopop, Video Games, Wolf Children, Yen Press

License Fortune Telling… But Not Really

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, October 20, 2008

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Back in March of this year, Tokyopop sent out a lengthy remove list to scanlators and download sites through it’s German branch, Tokyopop Germany, (or atleast that’s where I picked up on it first). On that list were 230 manga titles, many of which had been licensed at the time, both by TP and other publishers, while a number of them had not. Well, I kept my hands on that list (due mostly to me being a computer packrat) and I periodically went and checked off titles that were licensed over the past year since then, just for kicks I guess. In these last seven months I’ve crossed off quite a few new titles, the majority of which were picked up by Tokyopop.

I went back this morning to add the newest slew of Tokyopop pick-ups as posted on Amazon over the month, and noticed that my remove list had dwindled down to a mere 23 yet-to-be-licensed titles. While the list in no way guarantees that these titles will be licensed, it’s sure been a good little fortuneteller in its own right thus far, showing a good array of titles Tokyopop, in particular, has had (or still has) on the bargaining table.

I know I’m keeping my fingers crossed for Amatsuki, Harlem Beat and Rose of Versailles (alongside my wishes for a big Sailor Moon manga revival thanks to the yet-to-make-any-announcements English branch of Kodansha. … please, Kodansha?).

Under the cut, I’ve provided the list for any other curious, with titles crossed off indicating they’ve been licensed (feel free to correct me on any mistakes!). What purpose does it serve? Maybe very little, but for those keeping their fingers crossed for some of the remaining titles, may it offer some light at the end of the hopeful tunnel :)

More TP on Amazon

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, October 14, 2008

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A few new titles that’ve popped up since last Saturday, listed as being published in summer 2009 by Tokyopop:

Zone-OO (Vol. 01)
Kyujyo Kiyo

Bloody Kiss (Vol. 01)
Furumiya Kazuko

Summoner Girl (Vol. 01)
???????

There’s also a listing up for the fourth volume of the series, Kingdom Hearts II, due out in August 2009. Tokyopop still has an artbook for Kingdom Hearts listed but the October 2008 date has been pushed back to January 2009.

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: Kingdom Hearts