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Posts Tagged Manga

Project-H Announces License For First “Uncensored” Title – Love Hair

Project H Licenses Love Hair

Digital Manga announced via their Twitter & Facebook (18+ only!) accounts late last week that they’ve acquired a new license for their Project-H imprint – Maban’s Love Hair.

The company is promoting this book as their first “uncensored” title. Having now read a couple of their already released hentais, I can assure readers who may be concerned hearing this that it doesn’t mean DMP has censored their books in the past (from what I can tell). There are some small elements in the source material that qualifies as censoring – little to no drawn detail in certain areas, for example, and tiny rather useless black bars over genitalia, but those things are there from the get-go.

You can see a few preview pages of Love Hair’s interior on its Amazon.jp page, with a reminder that these images and the book are for 18+ readers only! The ‘uncensored’ detail work that stands out most in the book seems indicative of where the book’s name comes from.

Between their boys’ love and hentai titles, there seems to be a number of Digital Manga licenses as of late. I’ve really been liking how they’ve been making announcements all year ’round instead of staying confined to the late-Spring, early-Summer convention season as others do. That they’ve generally announced only 1-2 titles per time also gives them a lot more press time on sites and blogs spread out over weeks. Clever, clever.

Project HI do hope we see their actual Project H website launch sooner than later though. They’ve got quite a few titles now but only the original three on their website (which  still has no working links past the age verification page). The same can be said for 801Media for which they’ve even printed previews of the ‘finished’ website in their Project H books, yet the original website remains untouched since early 2010. I love all the new licenses but it’d be even nicer to have up and running sites to go to for information on them.


MangaNext 2012: Vertical Announces New Licenses, Artbook

MangaNext 2012 - Vertical Inc

New Jersey is home to North America’s only manga-specific convention this weekend – MangaNext. Along with it’s impressive guest list (if only it didn’t cost me $6500 to fly down last minute!), the convention is also the platform for some manga industry news.

Vertical Inc‘s Ed Chavez is attending the event and had two new manga licenses to announce at the company panel today:

Heroman – Stan Lee & Tamon Ohta
Limit – Keiko Suenobu

Heroman is a five volume series written by Marvel-character famed, Stan Lee. The story is illustrated by Tamon Ohta, who I couldn’t find any works from prior aside from ANN’s credit for art in the Heroman anime. This is Stan Lee’s second direct collaboration with a manga-artist – the first being Ultimo, published in English by Viz Media. Heroman is about a boy named Joey who discovers a discarded toy in the trash only to then find himself fighting alongside it to become a hero.

Limit is a six volume, psychological shoujo series from the creator of the Tokyopop published Life, Keiko Suenobu. It’s a pretty solid indication right there what kind of series this is going to be coupled with it’s suspenseful sounding plot. The story follows a young woman named Kanno who has lived indifferently towards her school and classmates. She’s forced to see things differently when a bus crash leaves her and four other survivors trapped on a cliff.

Along with these two titles, Vertical Inc also licensed a novel titled Grey Men and, to the foreseen surprise of many on Twitter, the Queen’s Blade Complete Visual Collection artbook (fantasy fanservice that’s a hentai without the sex). Ed Chavez has mentioned in the past that he wants consumers to see Vertical as a more diverse publisher and something so different from their most well-known series is definitely getting that point across. ANN has more information available on these two acquisitions.

I didn’t see any news reported on Twitter from the con-goers on when these books are scheduled to be published but I’ll definitely be purchasing both Heroman and Limit when they’re available. A fun, innocent looking shonen and a thought-provoking shoujo both look great to me!


Otaku USA: On The Shelf – February 22, 2012

Otaku USA: On The Shelf - February 22, 2012

One piece of good news this week – a new volume of XXXHolic! The sad news of the week – it’s the final volume. I’ve been buying the series since high school and it’s one of my favourites, if not my actual favourite, amidst CLAMP’s books over the years. I’ve heard people say the ending isn’t very satisfying but I’m going in with an open mind, and the glee of simply having another chance to drool over the beautiful artwork.

Along with the one series ending, Vertical Inc. has a new series (well, newly continued): GTO The Early Years (Vol.11) and Digital Manga is releasing the fifth deluxe re-issue of the boys’ love series, Kizuna. You can see the complete list of releases this week over at my Otaku USA On The Shelf article.


Tuesday Twitter Treats – DMP and SuBLime Announce New Licenses

Twitter Treasures From Digital Manga and SuBLime

Both Digital Manga Publishing and SuBLime had fans glued to social media sources tonight when representatives from both teased they’d be announcing a number of new licenses this evening. I was following them both via their Twitter accounts (DMP/SuBLime) for the news.

Digital Manga (blog post):

The Man I Picked Up – CJ Michalski (June)
With a Dictionary and No Skirt – Tomoyuki Enoki (Project-H)
Colorful Harvest – Ponkotsu Works (Project-H)
An Ideal Day to Fall in Love – Ponkotsu Works (Project-H)

CJ Michalski’s The Man I Picked Up is about a club-owner who finds an injured young man outside his establishment. It’s a one-shot, love-at-first-sight boys’ love story by the same creator as That Was Good, which DMP published last year.

With a Dictionary and No Skirt, Colorful Harvest and An Ideal Day to Fall in Love are all one-shot volumes as well, all three published under DMP’s hentai imprint, Project-H. Colorful Harvest is the story of a young man returning home to help with his family’s vineyards where he meets an old childhood friend.

SuBLime (blog post):

Kiss Ariki – Youka Nitta
Awkward Silence – Hinako Takanaga

Both these new boys’ love titles are scheduled for digital and print releases (yay!) with their first volumes due out this summer.

Kiss Ariki is currently being published in English by Animate USA on the Kindle. Since August 2010 they’ve published seven chapters. Presumably SuBLime will be doing their own translations and typesetting. Several other Youka Nitta titles have been released by Animate USA and other publishers over the years, including DMP’s White Brand and Otodama. Her series, Kiss Ariki, is about a yakuza’s son sent to a deserted island for his protection. Along with him is the son of his father’s second-in-command. Two young men + deserted island? You guess the rest!

Hinako Takanaga’s Awkward Silence is my favourite announcement of the night. As a huge fan of the creator’s work, I’ll always be happy to have more of her books to purchase. This title in particular I’ve been buying in French and I’m super excited to get a copy in English (my French reading skills are more than a bit rusty these days!). It’s an adorable story about a young man whose shyness leads to trouble speaking and expressing his feelings. When asked out by the classmate he has a crush on, he begins to open up to both him and his friends. Very cute and often funny! I’d recommend this series to those who enjoyed Hinako Takanaga’s Little Butterfly.


Sleepless Nights, In These Words – New BL Titles Scheduled For Print

New BL Titles Scheduled for Print

A few different tidbits of boys’ love news rounded up from the week today. Always makes me happy when I can write up about more books heading to print!

Continuing a recent trend of license announcements, Digital Manga has posted news of their license for Sachi Murakami’s one-shot story collection, Sleepless Nights. The title is scheduled for both a digital and print release, with dates yet to be revealed. The book’s title story follows two men who, after sharing a sexual relationship when younger, meet years later and become roommates.

Over on Amazon, I also came across a listing for a print edition of Guilt Pleasure’s In These Words. The Guilt|Pleasure website confirms this book will have a summer release. As a big fan of Jo Chen’s artwork (Guilt Pleasure is her group name for her boys’ love work), I’m thrilled to see In These Words coming to print in English with some wider distribution. It’s listed as being published by Digital Manga’s 801Media imprint, also an exciting note for the branching out it symbolizes for the company. Digital Manga already offers several originally English-language titles on their digital eManga website such as a Teahouse preview and Yaoi Press books but this is the first time they’ve published one in print.

A text version of the story can be read over on the creator’s website and you can drool over her gorgeous artwork on the site’s blog. A short synopsis from their site for In These Words is as follows:

“Asano Katsuya is an US trained psychiatrist who had been recruited by the Tokyo Police Department to provide a profile through the victims’ data.  Based on Asano’s profile and recommendation, an elaborate plan was put in place to lure the serial killer out.  It was within months the plan bore a successful result. After three years and twelve victims, Shinohara Keiji was finally in the police custody.  Shinohara had promised a thorough confession, however, on the absolute term that Asano has to be the one to receive it. Besides the curious request by the killer whom Asano was only familiar with on paper, disturbing nightmares began to plague him as soon as he was given the case…”

Yaoi Press – a publisher of boys’ love content from artists around the world – is returning to print publishing with a new title due out in the summer as well. The company has focused almost exclusively on digital BL novels via their Yaoi Prose (18+) imprint since 2009. Punishment is a one-shot graphic novel written by the company’s owner, Yamila Abraham, and illustrated by Yifeng Jiang. A synopsis and larger cover image for the book can be seen over on the Yaoi Press website. I’m really happy to see them returning to print publishing for a couple titles, and even more so that it’s a simultaneous return to fully illustrated releases.

And lastly, in digital BL news, SuBLime has released another title for purchase and download this past Valentine’s Day- Isaku Natsume’s Devil’s Honey. Originally scheduled for the same day, volumes two of Love Pistols and Husband, Honeymoon have both been pushed back to February 29.


Otaku USA: On The Shelf – February 15, 2012

Otaku USA: On The Shelf - February 15, 2012

Post-Valentine’s Day, aka discount chocolate day! New manga and bags full of chocolate is a winning combination to me. There aren’t a whole lot of new titles this week but still plenty of quality, including a couple omnibus for added value.

The new volume of Viz Media‘s 20th Century Boys and Digital Manga’s Black Sun are my must-haves this week. It’s hard to believe I reviewed Black Sun (Vol. 01) back in December 2008! You can see the full list of this week’s releases over at Otaku USA in my On The Shelf article.


Review: The Tyrant Falls In Love (Vol. 04)

The Tyrant Falls In Love (Vol. 04)

Manga-ka: Hinako Takanaga
Publisher: June Manga
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: August 2011

Synopsis: “It’s been a long and winding road to victory, but Souichi has just moved in with Morinaga! Sure, it’s only meant to be temporary…and he’s got to do all of the cooking…and the cleaning…but these are small sacrifices for the sake of love, right? Too bad Morinaga is still struggling to keep Souichi out of his pants! Will he surrender control and let his stubborn heart lead the way?”

The Tyrant Falls In Love returns with another 200 pages of will-he-won’t-he as Morinaga continues to romantically persist after Souichi. A lot of the same material may be rehashed here (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing) but this book really steps things up with some drama you won’t expect. Finally more than their sex lives is now at risk. This fourth volume proves one of the most enjoyable yet as Souichi wages a one-sided war against a stalker and Morinaga fights to survive helping him with it.

Read more…


Review: Dawn of the Arcana (Vol. 02)

Dawn of the Arcana (Vol. 02)

Manga-ka: Rei Toma
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: February 2012

Synopsis: “Princess Nakaba of Senan and Prince Caesar of Belquat only married each other for the sake of peace between their two warring countries, but things take a surprising turn when Caesar finds himself falling for his strange wife! Caesar tries to get Nakaba to return his feelings, but she maintains that he is her enemy and that she hates him. So when Nakaba has a vision of Caesar getting killed, will she say anything to save him?”

Princess Nakaba remains a captive as the wife to Prince Caeser, heir to the throne of the kingdom warring against her own. With Nakaba’s loyal attendant Loki at her side, her time in the castle has shifted its attentions from survival to instead coming to terms with her growing romantic feelings. It’s not the direction I was hoping the story would go but I can’t say I’m surprised. At least with someone still worth rooting for and artwork to oogle, Dawn of the Arcana could be a winner yet.

Read more…


Erementar Gerade Re-Licensed By DMP For Digital Release

Erementar Gerade Re-Licensed By Digital Manga Publishing

Digital Manga Publishing announced via their Twitter Thursday night that they’ve re-licensed the manga series, Erementar Gerade (followed up with a post about it as well).

The series was originally released in English by Tokyopop under the name Elemental Gelade, but they stopped production of the series with volume twelve in August 2010. The series is eighteen volumes total and complete in Japan, but has a currently on-going sequel.

“After a routine raid, rookie air pirate Coud Van Giruet discovers a most unusual bounty: Ren, an “Edyll Raid,” is a living weapon that reacts with a human to become a fighting machine. As he realizes that Ren is even more prized than he thought, she is captured by an evil man who sells Edyll Raids on the black market. Can Coud and the agents of the Elemental Gelade Protection Agency team join forces and rescue her without killing themselves… or each other?” – Elemental Gelade (Vol. 01)

Having never read the series, and being unfamiliar with its selling history, I wasn’t sure what and where the demand was which prompted Digital Manga  to pick it up. Is there a demand big enough to warrant a re-release? It became easier to understand why the company would take a risk on a title that never seemed to be a big hit when they announced via Twitter tonight that it would be digital only, starting from volume one.

Erementar Gerade is now scheduled to be a part of their Digital Manga Guild offerings where translation, editing and lettering will be done by the guild’s members instead of Digital Manga’s full-time or freelance staff. The title will then, if released the same as their other titles, be available through their eManga website and Amazon’s Kindle.

Any manga license announced as digital-only still leaves a big pit in my stomach as I make no secret of my heavy preference for print. Optimistically in this instance, at least, I’ve met and read of quite a few Kindle owners frustrated by the overwhelming amounts of boys’ love content compared to anything else available to purchase. It’s good to see these individuals will have some more different material to choose from in the future as Digital Manga branches out genres with their guild offerings. With questions coming up regarding the quality of the guild’s work varying wildly group to group (Twitter folks, always food for thought there!), it’ll be interesting to see if any further editorial oversight is given to a series that will likely face a much broader audience.


Kodansha Comics To Release Sequel Series to Genshiken

Kodansha Comics To Release Genshiken Sequel

AnimeNewsNetwork reported that Kodansha Comics will be releasing the sequel to GenshikenGenshiken: Second Season. A listing for volume one of the series appeared on both Amazon.com and Amazon.ca earlier this week.

Kodansha Comics will be releasing the prequel series in omnibus format with the first volume coming out this May. There’s no indication in the retail listings that Genshiken: Second Season will be released in a similar fashion, though the shipping weight does match the Genshiken omnibus (observation only!). Genshiken: Second Season is currently two volumes in Japan and on-going.

The series is a direct continuation of the original story (unlike it’s several spin-off series), which resumes the story of the Genshiken school club and the activities of it’s ‘otaku’ members.


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