It’s been almost a month since New York Anime Fest with recaps and reflections still trickling out from the thousands who attended. 105,000, in fact. Wow!

Ed Sizemore invited Erica (Okazu), Melinda (Manga BookShelf) and I to be guests on his Manga Out Loud podcast. It’s posted online now and is part two of his New York Comic Con podcasts. We had a good conversation about what we did at the convention, how we felt it was handled by staff and organizers and about the discussion of legal issues surrounding comics.

The podcast got my brain turning again on my thoughts on the convention. Overall I found other elements of my trip to New York more fulfilling than the convention itself (dinners with awesome people! Kinokuniya! Book-Off!) but from an organizational point of view, I thought NYCC/NYAF was much better handled this year than it was in 2010.

My thoughts and some accompanying photos can be read below:

One of the biggest complaints with last year’s event – which was the first time NYCC and NYAF were combined – was  the ‘ghetto-izing’ of New York Anime Fest. This year the biggest split remains the Artist Alleys, where anime-styled artists are in a separate section than the rest of the exhibitors.

The segregation still exists for a reason, mind you, mainly that it allows an affordable place for artists to exhibit (Anime AA is far, far cheaper than the other section which is more professional-based), but this year was a huge improvement in placement. Last year the Anime AA was in the basement, far to the side of the convention centre. This year it was on a top floor in a wide, bright space. Lots of sunshine and a lot easier to get to. I found the entire atmosphere so much nicer and I heard the same from the artists I spoke to there as well.

There seemed to be good care taken to the anime/manga related scheduling as well. There was a lot of it on Friday but nothing really overlapped anything else. I was thankful to have no manga events happening at the same time as others which can be an unfortunate issue at multi-genre conventions. Most of the panels were also put in the same area as the rest – areas specially designated for panels. This varied from last there where anime/manga events were in rooms between the Artist Alley and the ‘anime stage’ where events like mini-concerts and karaoke were held. Not great for those who wanted to hear their panels in peace. I was really pleased with the way the panels were structured overall.

NYCC also put in place a door system where what badge you had determined what door you entered by. As someone with a press badge, I saw a huge improvement. Last year was chaos trying to figure out where (or sometimes even how) to get into the event, especially during the busy periods of the morning. This year knowing exactly what door to go to meant there were a lot fewer congested doors leading inside and I was always able to get in easily.

Into the show floor was still a different story though. It’s still a congested mess, even though at an event like this I know it can’t be helped all that much. That the large guaranteed-to-draw-a-crowd set-ups were clumped together at the front is a trend that always bothers me though, similar to SDCC. These places – like DC and Marvel’s booths – are areas where you ‘know’ people are going to go. They’re huge, they’re always crowded and they’re impossible to miss. So why do they need to be two feet from the front door? The whole floor was busy with the 105,000 people walking about and needing to get through the most dense crowds right at the entry points was frustrating both trying to get in and out. I’m sure this is likely a buying promise – they’re given those spaces as ‘prime retail’ – but I feel they hurt the flow of the place which can’t really afford to be anymore congested than that many people automatically make it.

The event also had an extra day this year – Thursday – where the show floor was open for several hours for 4-day badge holders, press and pros. It was great having a considerably less crowded chance to walk the floor and get oriented with where stuff was before trying to traverse the same space on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

What I always note the most at conventions, however, is the way companies choose to set-up and run their booths. I jotted down some thoughts on each anime/manga booth that I visited. Below are my thoughts on a few of them:

Viz Media

It was a pleasant surprise having Viz Media attend the convention. It’s about as far East on the US you can get for a business that’s run out of California. Unfortunately their far travel had an affect on their booth. It was devoid of books except for a small kids’ sampler. They had some cute free items, such as Viz Media anniversary bags, but I’m always disappointed to visit a book publishers’ booth and not be able to buy or look at any books.

Yen Press

Yen Press is a company based in New York so they had a lot more flexibility bringing things to the event. Their booth was eye-catching and well designed, plus sported a bunch of their new books to look at. Unfortunately that was all your could do was look. None of the books were for sale, which seems like such a huge waste. You’ve got our attention, we’ve seen the books, we want the books… then we can’t have them. I want to give you my money, why won’t you let me?

GEN Manga

The GEN Manga booth definitely had the most enthusiastic staff. Every time I stopped by, those working there were cheery and eager to talk to anyone who would stop and listen. I enjoyed the time I got to spend speaking to them about the anthology’s production and how excited they were to be releasing the material (which is always free first on their site). I was able to buy copies of all their printed books and get discounts on their online versions as well. They had a tiny booth in comparison to the behemoths around them but they made very good use of it.

One Peace

One Peace books had a small booth nearby to GEN Manga. I didn’t know until this convention that the two are headed by the same person, their Editor-in-Chief, Robert McGuire. I got to speak to Robert who was manning the One Peace booth. He was very personable and I learned a lot about both the publishers. The booth itself had lots of copies of their two manga books – Tenken, which was released last year, and Breathe Deeply, which they were debuting there at the event. I was surprised at the tactic of debuting a book before announcing it but the logic of having a book available when eagerness for it is logistically highest made sense. I was more than happy to buy a copy in support even knowing next to nothing about it.

Vertical Inc.

Vertical Inc‘s booth was exactly what I’ve come to expect of it after seeing them at a few different events, and I’m pleased every time. It’s a no frills set-up – a sign with their name and a couple tables, manned predominantly by their Marketing Director, Ed Chavez. The tables are covered in stacks of their books though, almost everyone the company has put out, all for browsing and buying. I was able to get a volume of an older series I was missing and leave with a big stack of all the new titles they were releasing for the first time at the event. Early copies, yay! It’s always nice when there’s a perk to visiting a publisher’s booth, not to mention complete buying access to the books they publish.

Dark Horse

Dark Horse‘s booth at last year’s NYCC had some copies of their manga available for viewing and buying but this year their booth was an almost entirely digital affair. They were heavily promoting their comics being available digitally and unfortunately promotion of their manga was worse than not present, it was barely present and hidden. There were no books anywhere to look at and two of the staffers I spoke to couldn’t tell me anything about Dark Horse’s manga titles. When I finally did spot their lone manga material, it was a single giant Gate 7 poster that – along with a poster for their newly announced Avatar the Last Airbender comic series – were placed facing inwards towards a garbage can against a support pillar. They were completely hidden from view unless you ducked your head into the little garbage cubby. Suffice to say, this made me very very sad.

Kodansha Comics

It was exciting knowing Kodansha Comics would have a booth at the event, since the company itself is rather silent with communication compared to other manga publishers. Their booth had some nice posters promoting their titles and you could buy a few of their newer books there too. Notably they had a lot of copies of Sailor Moon and Sailor V, plus a free Sailor Moon poster. I wasn’t able to talk to the staff about their book publishing – I got apologies and “I can’t talk about the books” – from a young woman I asked, but they were very nice all the same. It was great seeing them there promoting, especially with a title as big as Sailor Moon in their hands.

AnimeNewsNetwork

ANN didn’t have a booth, per say, but they did have a spot hidden back near one of the show room floor corners. Once you found them, there was a backdrop with the ANN logo repeated on it and a sign saying that if  you took a picture of yourself in front of it, and posted it online linking to them, you’d be entered in a draw to win a gift certificate. It didn’t tell you anything about ANN, or offer a chance to communicate with their staff, but it sure was some clever social media marketing that they just got to sit back and watch happen. I didn’t like it but I did respect it.

Media Blasters

Media Blasters is another company who’s booth looks almost identical every time I see it but always in a good way. Their booth is large, made up of multiple tables in a large square, that are covered corner to corner in DVDs and books. I was able to find all their new releases and get some older boys’ love titles I didn’t own. My favourite part was getting to chat with the welcoming staff and purchase some signed material they were selling from Yayoi Neko, whose work they publish.

Overall, I thought New York Comic Con / New York Anime Fest had a lot of improvements this year over last. In fact one of my greatest complaints is, I presume, of little fault of the event itself and that was a distinctly lower amount of vendors selling manga. I found four, compared to the nine last year. Big drop. As a whole though, if you like multi-genre conventions and/or want to have the East Coast equivalent experience to SDCC, then NYCC is still the place to be.

It’s Yaoi Con this weekend and that means good stuff for boys’ love fans! The big anticipated news of the con is Viz Media expanding their manga offerings into BL territory. Credit for the titles below goes to @debaoki who attended their panel.

Viz Media’s new boys’ love imprint is called SuBLime. Viz currently has a placeholder website up at SublimeManga.com, as well as Twitter and Facebook acounts. The line-up is in partnership with Animate (Japan’s largest anime/manga retailer) and Libre (Japan’s largest publisher of BL) but Viz Media noted that the partnership isn’t exclusive. This means they can license from other publishers which means ‘license rescues’ from other groups is not out of the picture for fan-favourite titles.

Speaking of which, their first license announcement was a rescue indeed – Tarako Kotobuki’s  Love Pistols. The title was originally published by Tokyopop’s BL imprint, BLU.

The full list of titles are:

Love Pistols** – Tarako Kotobuki
Husband & Honeymoon** - Minami Haruka (December 2011)
Ousama no Bed** – Sakae Kusama (January 2012)
Sweet Pool** – Nitro_CHiRAL (February 2012)
Shizuku Hanabira Ringo no Kaori** (Vol.01-02) by Toko Kawai (April 2012)
Devil’s Honey** by Isaku Natsume (May 2012)
The Night Before the Wedding** – Kou Fujisaki (May 2012)
Do You Like an Adult Teacher?** – Kiu Aion (June 2012)
Droplets of Desire** – You Higashino (August 2012)
Three Wolves Mountain – Naono Bohra (August 2012)
Honey Darling – Norikazu Akira
Punch Up – Shiuko Kano
Aitsu no Daihonmei – Suzuki Tanaka

Now that is an impressive (and lengthy) launch line-up of titles!

In December 2011, SuBLime will begin putting up their digital-only releases (**), all of which will be available worldwide. This in contrast with their recent Shonen Jump Alpha news which was restricted to those residing in North America only. Interestingly, these digital releases will be sold as downloadable PDFs that readers can then load onto their various eReader systems and not require the internet to read. This is a big step forward for people feeling they ‘own’ digital manga they purchase, though there are no details yet how they plan to prevent piracy of the material. They are aware of the potential issue though and will “re-evaluate the model” should buyers start illegally spreading the downloads. The cost for each release will be $5.99.

In June 2012, SuBLime will begin releasing select titles in both digital and print. The first confirmed is also coincidentally my absolute favourite and most-anticipated in the list, Three Wolves Mountain. Other confirmed print titles will be Honey Darling, Punch Up, and Aitsu no Daihonmei. They’ll be released at $12.99 each.

News of the largest English manga publisher releasing boys’ love comes as exciting news, especially since their widespread distribution should make it easier for fans to get access to the niche material. Digital-only titles still make me sad as a print-lover but SuBLime is starting strong with promising publishing methods and titles for all BL fans. It’s fantastic to hear some titles will still make it to print at all; I was worried this was going to be a digital-only imprint when I first heard of it.

The prices of SuBLime books look really good compared  to what we’ve seen for similar material as well. From a digital perspective, it’s also great seeing Viz Media marketing more adult-targeted material to a platform that’s still most accessible to the 18+ demographic who have the most access to things such as credit cards and eReaders/tablets.

Overall, I’m really impressed by this launch. Titles ranging from softer to hardcore, a bunch of fan-favourite creators and a good balance of digital and print releases. Nice work, Viz Media! I’m eager to see the first releases this December.

Viz Media’s BL line was originally ‘revealed’ back in June when Viz Media put up a lising for a BL/Yaoi Editor. They’ve since hired The Yaoi Review‘s Jennifer LeBlanc for the position. In more recent hints, artist Kano Miyamoto posted on her Twitter account that some of her books would soon be published online by Viz this past Thursday (though she was not one of the artists mentioned in this opening launch). Viz Media’s recent reveal they licensed the remaining volumes of Yun Kouga’s Loveless also served as a good stepping stone to their BL announcement two weeks later.

A downside to larger cons is that panel rooms can’t always hold everyone who wants to attend. This was the case with me and the Kodansha Comics panel at this year’s New York Anime fest. A wait in a long, long line ended with me being told the room could hold no more – alas! I’d forgotten that Kodansha had brought the creator of Fairy Tale, Hiro Mashima, to the convention and his presence at the panel filled it to standing room only (minus any remaining standing room so I’m told!).

Internet and dedicated bloggers still ensured the news got out to the masses though, as well as two press releases. This means the news for you without the 1500+ words from me! You can read about their new license, upcoming omnibus editions and their digital launch under the cut.

Kodansha Comics had two licenses to announce, the first being Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama:

“Humanity has been devastated by the bizarre, giant humanoids known as the Titans. Little is known about where they came from or why they are bent on consuming humanity. Seemingly unintelligent, they have roamed the world killing off humankind for years. For the past century, what’s left of mankind has hidden in a giant, three-walled city. People believe their 100-meter-high walls will protect them from the Titans, which are 10 to 20 meters tall. But the sudden appearance of an immense Titan is about to change everything.”

I’m not familiar with the title but I’m always up for trying a new manga so we’ll see if it catches my eye when it hits store shelves in June 2012. According to Kodansha’s press release, it even won Best Shonen Manga of 2010 in Japan.

The second new license was Miles Edgeworth: Ace Attorney – the sequel to their currently running series, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. As the name suggests, this sequel series follows the character Miles Edgeworth, courtroom rival of Phoenix Wright.

Along with the new titles, Kodansha announced they’ll be releasing omnibus editions of Genshiken and Kitchen Princess. Both these titles were released by Del Rey prior to their licenses shifting over to Kodansha Comics. The omnibus collections will be made up of three single volumes. The first volume of Genshiken will be released in May 2012, with Kitchen Princess following it in June 2012.

Lastly, Kodansha Comics revealed their entrance into the digital manga market with the Kodansha Comics app. To celebrate the launch, they’re releasing all volumes of Fairy Tale for $2.99 a book. Unfortunately Kodansha’s app is only available in the US iTunes store.

In more positive news, Sailor Moon sold so well they’ve had to double their printing numbers. They said 100,000 copies have been printed and it’s been selling strong since day one. Great to hear!

You can read more detailed info from the panel at MTV Geek and AnimeNewsNetwork.

Manga programming was light after Friday at NYCC, but Sunday had Viz Media‘s panel with a big announcement to share and some licenses worth getting giddy for. I’ve included the full write up of the panel in my post here, including the anime-related news instead of just the manga. Since the post is so lengthy, however, here’s a quick summary of the event manga-wise:

New licenses:

Jiu Jiu – Toya Tobino
Loveless – Yun Kouga

Announcement:

Shonen Jump print magazine to be discontinued in March 2012; replaced by digital edition that will come out weekly and feature new chapters of titles from Japan within weeks of their release. Graphic novels of these titles will be released digitally to allow readers to get caught up before the new chapters begin. Viz Media is calling this their ‘digital warp’.

You can read the full details and anime news under the cut!

The panel began with a video showcasing some artwork from a Viz project titled Art for Hope. Multiple artists from around the world created artwork that will be published in an eBook of the same name. The book will be released on VizManga.com and their iPhone/iPad app for $4.99 (price may vary) in December. All money made from the sales will go to Architecture for Humanity, “A volunteer non-profit organization set up to promote architecture and design to seek solutions to global social and humanitarian crisis.”

Eager to get to their new licenses, Viz Media announced their two new titles next:

Jiu Jiu – Toya Tobina
Release Date: Summer 2012

Jiu Jiu is a shojo manga about a girl born into a family of exorcists. To protect her and give comfort after her twin brother passes away, she is given two pet demon wolves. The white wolf and black wolf have the ability to transform into human forms and insist on following their ‘master’ to high school to take care of her.

The manga is currently on-going in Japan and has four volumes currently released. Tokyopop released the first volume of Toya Tobina’s Mr. Clean: Fully Equipped series just prior to their shutdown. At the end of the announcement, Ryan Brown assured us “there will be hi-jinks!”.

Loveless – Yun Kouga
Release Date: June 2012 (Vol. 09), October 2012 (Vol. 10)

A license ‘rescue’ from Tokyopop, Viz Media is releasing the last two volumes of Loveless that Tokyopop never published. It didn’t sound like there were any plans to release the original eight books. The out of print status of them makes this rescue a benefit almost predominantly to those who already own them, which is a bit unfortunate.

The series is about a boy named Ritsuka Aoyagi who is trying to solve the murder of his older brother. He reluctantly teams up with a mysterious man named Soubi and the two battle together in a system of partner-based supernatural duels. The story takes place in a world where everyone is born with cat-ears and a tail which they lose along with their virginity. The series is very popular in the BL fandom because of plenty of pretty boys and heavy-laid innuendo. With Viz Media having plans to release BL titles, I think Loveless seems like a good way to break the ice before announcing more BL-heavy titles in the future.

Viz Media also announced a new sci-fi novel license, MM9 by Hiroshi Yamamoto. It will be sold as both a printed novel and an eBook for $14.99 in January 2012. The eBook will be available in Apple’s iBook service and through Kindle.

Next the Viz reps went through their original licensed properties, such as a new entry into their Mr/Miss line-up of children’s books and their releases of Voltron Force graphic novels based on a new cartoon running in the United States. These books will be full-colour and all original, sporting a different artist for each release.

Viz’s Mameshiba license was next to be talked about. It’s a strange little property about colourful creatures who are “…not quite a dog, not quite a bean…”. They played a cute little trailer promoting the different characters. Viz Media has been releasing graphic novels and sticker books based on this franchise with new childrens’ books coming Summer 2012 and new sticker books being released that following Autumn/Winter.

The anime side of their business came up next with release dates for a number of already licensed titles:

Pokemon DP Sinnoh League Victors – January 10, 2012 (DVD)
Blue Dragon: Trials of the 7 Shadows – December 16, 2011 (Streaming)
Naruto Shippuden: Boxset 9 – January 2012 ($49.95/US, DVD)
Inu-Yasha: The Final Act – Mid-2012 (Dubbed/Subbed, Blu-Ray & DVD)

They also announced that all Naruto episodes prior to the Shippuden series are now available to stream on Netflix in the United States.

The biggest news of the event (which was originally revealed on Saturday) is Shonen Jump Alpha – the new incarnation of Viz Media’s Shonen Jump magazine. The new magazine – which will be entirely digital – will have the titles Bakuman, Bleach, Naruto, Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, One Piece and Toriko available to read only a couple weeks after the newest chapters are published in Japan.

Shonen Jump Alpha will be launched January 30th, 2011 with 48 issues a year as the magazine goes weekly. An annual fee of $25.95 will get you a year’s worth of issues available to read for 52 weeks. Readers will also be able to rent a single issue to read for four weeks for only $0.99. Once purchased, these rentals will be available on VizManga.com and an the account holder’s VizManga app.

Because the Japanese releases are so far ahead of where they currently sit in English publication, Viz Media will be doing a speed-up of the titles that will be released in the new magazine. Currently these speed-ups are digital only, with plans for speeding up hard-copy graphic novels to come later. Naruto (Vol. 53) was just released digitally for readers to purchase, with Bleach (Vol. 49) coming very soon. The most recent volumes of Naruto and Bleach to be released in English print are volume 52 and volume 36.

The schedule of digital speed-ups is available to view on their website.

Viz Media reps emphasized the importance of this move, including the necessity that it’s done digitally. They said there is no way to have fully translated printed editions that can keep up with the Japanese magazine and that continued publication of the graphic novels still allows readers to own the hard copy books. Because of this, the downside of this big announcement is that the print edition of Shonen Jump will be coming to an end with the April 2012 issue. This will be released in March.

Current subscribers of the print magazine will have their subscriptions shifted to the digital edition and can contact customer service if they have issues. They’ll be informed of the changes via information on Viz Media’s website, Twitter, Facebook and in the remaining print editions of the magazine. Current subscribers to the magazine will receive:

“6 of your Favorite SHONEN JUMP Series Every Week
FREE Alpha Membership for up to 1 year
3 FREE Digital SHONEN JUMP Graphic Novels
EXCLUSIVE BENEFITS for Alpha Members”

With the Shonen Jump Alpha news completed, the panel moved onto the Q&A session. No surprise that a lot of the questions pertained to the magazine news which was certainly a lot to take in. I didn’t include questions and answers below that were answered in my write-up of the Shonen Jump Alpha announcement above or questions that were incorrectly directed to Viz (questions re: titles owned by someone else).

Q: Will Inu-Yasha: Final Act be dubbed?
A: Yes.

Q: Will Tiger & Bunny be dubbed?
A: They don’t know for sure. (Note: It was announced during NYCC’s Tiger & Bunny was already in the process of being dubbed.)

Q: Will the rest of Monster be released in DVD boxsets?
A: No answer to this right now but they noted one of the biggest issues was trying to put together a box set that would be affordable to buyers.

Q: Will about bonus content that used to come with the print edition of Shonen Jump?
A: Viz Media is currently in negotiations to continue offering bonuses. Yu-Gi-Oh cards in particular were referenced.

Q: Can you buy-to-own Shonen Jump Alpha or just rent?
A: The new magazine will be rent-only but subscribers have access to issues for an entire year.

Q: Any plans to release Naoki Urasawa’s Billy Bat?
A: Viz Media reps implied that the title had already been licensed by another North American company. (Note: As a Kodansha title, it’s likely Kodansha Comics or Vertical Inc but these are guesses only!)

Q: Will there be VizBig editions of Eyeshield 21?
A: No plans currently, but maybe in the future.

Q: Will there be reprints of Maisson Ikoku?
A: No plans at this time.

Q: Will Skip Beat be made available digitally?
A: No plans at this time but it’s possible.

Q: Are there plans to release the 13th OVA of Ranma ½?
A: No plans at this time but they’ll take it into consideration.

Q: Will the entire Full Moon anime be released on DVD?
A: No, not at this time.

Q: Will Viz Media be including new shonen jump titles in the new magazine?
A: No plans at this time – “We’ve got such good stuff already!”

Q: Will be Shonen Jump Alpha be available on Kindle?
A: Viz is working on making SJA available on as many platforms as possible, including Kindle.

Q: Is there a possibility for a Shoujo Beat magazine to return digitally like SJA?
A: Viz Media reps said they’d like to but there are no concrete plans. They encourage those who are interested to contact them and let them know what titles they’d want.

Q: What is Viz doing about reprints such as Evangelion and Monster?
A: There are no plans for reprints of Neon Genesis Evangelion and Monster is currently having distribution issues.

Q: Has Viz Media considered print on demand?
A: It’s been in consideration for three years and is still on the table. It has its share of issues though so nothing has been determined yet.

Q: Will Shonen Jump Alpha be available globally?
A: No, SJA will only be available to the US and Canada.

The second big manga panel of NYCC/NYAF was Vertical Inc‘s which happened Friday night. It was one of the most anticipated manga related events as the company’s marketing director, Ed Chavez, paved the way to it with teasing hints about new titles they’d be revealing. The panel was run by Ed and the company’s editorial director, Yani Mentzas. Their signature Chi plushie was also present, always offering the audience a well worn smile.

A powerpoint presentation was used for the panel to showcase Vertical’s current and upcoming volumes. Ed noted he’d made the same presentation multiple times this convention season so he’d be going through them pretty quick. While that may have been the case, he still had something interesting to add about almost every one. There’s a lot of info here so I’m going to stick with a more list-style format for this panel write-up.

Oct 15 Note: A few cover images will be added to this post after the con ends so check back if curious!

Book of Human Insects – Osamu Tezuka
Release Date: October 2011

- was a New York Times’ bestseller, despite some distribution issues. Ed noted he considers it “Tezuka at his best.”

Black Jack (Vol. 16) – Osamu Tezuka
Release Date: October 2011

- the penultimate book in the series, only one left! The last chapter in this volume is around 70 pages long, over triple the usual chapter page count.

Drops of God (Vol. 01)
Release Date: October 2011

- this first volume has been a big hit at the NY show so far and Ed Chavez gave a shout out to Deb Aoki for her strong promotion of the title. Currently the series is only licensed for a certain number of volumes but that could change depending on sales. The series will also be getting its own website in the near future.

Chi’s Sweet Home (Vol. 07)
Release Date: October 2011

- the series is “still going strong” and sold around 8000 copies this week alone! Ed reminded the audience about the Chi’s Sweet Home website which has volume info, anime clips and extras for fans.

No Longer Human (Vol. 01)
Release Date: October 2011

- noted as Vertical’s most important title this season – “these are not topics that you usually see in manga.”

Princess Knight (Vol. 01) – Osamu Tezuka
Release Date: November 2011

- Ed says he believes Princess Knight‘s Sapphire is one of Tezuka’s strongest female characters and the series has been very successful selling at NYCC. The series has the same translator as Buddha and 7 Billion Needles and utilizes the Nakayoshi editions. Some page previews will be made available online to coincide with the release date.

Black Jack (Vol. 17) – Osamu Tezuka
Release Date: November 2011

- The last volume of the series (nooooo!). The cover is a vibrant rainbow and will have a die-cut center where you can see Black Jack’s face through a hole. Inside the book will be a chronological list of all the Black Jack stories published in Vertical’s editions so readers can re-read the chapters in order of creation, should they wish.

Princess Knight (Vol. 02) – Osamu Tezuka
Release Date: December 2011

- part two of the series, ending it at two volumes. Each book is only $14.99 meaning you can get the entire series for only $30 (perfect Christmas present!)

No Longer Human (Vol. 03)
Release Date: December 2011

- Ed notes that the series was specifically drawn to be released in the left-to-right format so it was not flipped by Vertical. This was originally done for its publication in French.

Twin Spica (Vol. 11)
Release Date: December 2011

- this volume will be larger than the previous, now up to 400+ pages a volume to end the series sooner. The book’s price will raise because of this to $12.95/US

GTO: 14 Days in Shonan (Vol. 01)
Release Date: January 2012

- this first volume of the series will be released at $10.95 with 200 pages including some in full colour. There will be a new book every other month totalling nine altogether.

Drops of God (Vol. 02)
Release Date: January 2012

No Longer Human (Vol. 03)
Release Date: February 2012

- this is the last volume of the series. Ed says that the final chapter is “amazing” and will really blow people away.

GTO: The Early Years (Vol. 11)
Release Date: February 2012

- continuing where the Tokyopop edition left off, hence the first volume being eleven. These volumes will be $12.95 and 360 pages. Ed assures it’s “levels better than Tokyopop’s version” and will have consistency with names and translation choices with GTO: 14 Days in Shonan.

Chi’s Sweet Home (Vol. 08)
Release Date: February 2012

- at this point Vertical’s release will have matched up with Japan’s so future volumes will have longer waits between them.

Twin Spica (Vol. 12)
Release Date: March 2012

- the last volume in the series (so sad to see yet another amazing Vertical title come to an end!)

Dororo – Osamu Tezuka
Release Date: March 2012

- an omnibus all-in-one re-release of Tezuka’s three volume series. 900 pages for only $24.95!

GTO: 14 Days in Shonan (Vol. 02)
Release Date: March 2012

Drops of God (Vol. 03)
Release Date: April 2012

GTO: The Early Years (Vol. 12)
Release Date: April 2012

Flowers of Evil (Vol. 01)
Release Date: May 2012

- this first volume will be 200 pages for $10.95. It’s rated 13+. Ed says they licensed it because everyone in the Vertical Inc. office “immediately fell in love with the cast.”

GTO: 14 Days in Shonan (Vol. 03)
Release Date: May 2012

GTO: The Early Years (Vol. 13)
Release Date: June 2012

Flowers of Evil (Vol. 02)
Release Date: July 2012

Drops of God (Vol. 04)
Release Date: July 2012

- could potentially be the end of the series in English, depending on sales up to this point

GTO: 14 Days of Shonan (Vol. 04)
Release Date: August 2012

GTO: The Early Years (Vol. 14)
Release Date: August 2012

Chi’s Sweet Home (Vol. 09)
Release Date: August 2012

- this volume has not yet been released in Japan. Depending on how timing works out, Vertical would like to get it out as early as June 2012, if possible. The series has now moved to being published single chapters bi-weekly in Japan instead of weekly.

So there you have the titles out from Vertical Inc. up until August of next year. When seeing them in a list like this, it becomes clear just how many manga books Vertical puts out – more than I would’ve thought, even though I buy them all! That wasn’t all though and next Ed moved onto the new licenses:

5 Centimetres Per Second
Release Date: June 2012

- this new series will be released in one volume. The 460 page book will cost $18.95/US and include colour pages (13+). The anime film was released in English by Bandai Entertainment and the movie’s director, Makoto Shinkai, was a guest at this year’s NYCC.

” Witness the story of Takaki, a young man on a journey from Tokyo to reunite with his childhood best friend, Akari. Feel his emotions… …as he travels by train to see her. Join Takaki on a voyage into three interconnected tales of love and lost innocence that span the minutes and months of their lives. 5 Centimeters Per Second, the speed at which cherry blossoms fall from the trees, reminiscent of the pace of life as our lives intermingle.” – Bandai Entertainment

Sakuran – Moyocco Anno
Release Date: July 2012

- this josei title will be released in one volume with 306 pages. It’s rated 16+. Currently the book is priced at $14.95 but this may change with the possibility of a hardcopy release and because the book itself contains so many colour pages. It was asked if the book would have the foil cover that the original had and both Ed and Yani said no, citing that it’d be a choice financially between a foil cover and colour pages – of which colour pages inside easily win! Fun fact: Ed Chavez scheduled this book specifically to come out on his birthday.

“A young kamuro (maid in a brothel) is sold into the red-light district Yoshiwara, and is put under the care of the current oiran, who names her Tomeki. The girl is very rebellious and does not cry when punished, is bad-mouthed and bad-mannered, and talks back and even hits the other kamuros. It is because of this that the more experienced people in the household begin to think that she will be one day a great oiran, since to be an oiran one needs not only beauty and talent, but she should also have the tenacity to maintain the position.” – AnimeNewsNetwork

A Message to Adolf (Vol. 01) – Osamu Tezuka
Release Date: August 2012

- a re-release of the series originally published by Viz Media. This edition will be released as two books with an entirely new translation. Each volume will be approximately 600 pages and cost $26.95. They’ll also be hardcover books. It apparently took a lot of negotiations with Tezuka Productions to get permissions for the new English release.

“This is a story about three Adolfs. Sohei Toge, a Japanese reporter for 1936 Berlin Olympics was surprised that his younger brother, an international student in Germany, was mysteriously murdered right after informing him about an important document. To add more confusion to his sadness, all information regarding his younger brother as a student in Germany have been erased systematically, as if he never existed. Meanwhile in Japan, a half-German, half-Japanese boy named Adolf Kauffmann and his best friend, a Jewish-German boy named Adolf Kamil, were accidentally involved in this incident. Their lives and fates are now inevitably interwoven around the biggest secret of the third Adolf — Adolf Hitler.” – AnimeNewsNetwork

A Message to Adolf (Vol. 02) – Osamu Tezuka
Release Date: November 2012

Some great new titles here! New (old?) Tezuka, some josei which sounds really neat and the manga version of a popular (and I hear very beautiful) anime feature film. From here the panel moved into Q&A territory.

When asked about the extra long chapter in the new volume of Black Jack, Ed confirmed that the story was written originally after the series was completed. He notes that Vertical’s edition is one of the most complete ever published of the stories. Five stories are ‘missing’ from their publication run but because they’re not allowed to be printed. They also have hopes to release a special edition Black Jack book to celebrate it’s completion. This book could have some other missing Black Jack chapters along with title page illustrations that weren’t in the volume versions. There could be some room for articles pertaining to Black Jack. Ed suggested those interested contact him about it (whether entirely serious or not I’m not sure, but if you can write a book-perfect essay on the doctor, then doesn’t hurt to drop Ed a line!).

Chi’s Sweet Home seems like it’s getting ready to come to an end in Japan. It was said though that the popularity of it here could potentially keep it going a bit longer. When asked if they had financial concerns after Chi ends, Ed says Vertical has high hopes for GTO and thinks Adolf will be a big seller. 5 Centimetres A Second also has a pre-existing fanbase he believes will support the title.

As it fairly customary at convention panels, an audience member asked if Vertical was looking into any Tokyopop license rescues. Ed Chavz said yes, and that every publisher has. He admits he was surprised at the speed in which Yen Press was able to get Alice in the Country of Hearts. He added that they are looking at titles by previously Tokyopop published creators.

Is Vertical planning to go digital? Ed Chavez says very likely but it’s in its ‘infancy phase’. “If we’re still here next year, we’ll have an answer for you!”.

With the panel coming to an end, Ed also stated that Vertical’s future manga licenses will be very different than what’s likely expected from them but that some will really change perspectives on the manga market. Makes me curious!

And that was the Vertical panel this year – lots of great titles all around!

New York Comic Con/New York Anime Fest is in full swing this weekend and the majority of their manga-related panels were on Friday. Publishers haven’t disappointed with a bunch of new licenses for the last big con of the year. Yen Press’s panel was up first with some new adaptations and new manga licenses, along with some really exciting news for fans of digital manga to top it all off and a good Q&A sesssion.

It was a lengthy panel with lots to share so you can see the complete post under the cut (or below depending on how you’re reading this).

The panel began with the announcement of two new novel adaptations, joining other titles such as Witch & Wizard and Soulless. First was The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare, a story about an American girl who gets involved with sordid supernatural activity in Victorian London. This title already has an artist assigned – HyeKyung Baek – who also did the manhwa-adaptation of Gossip Girl. Their own works, Bring It On! and Chiro Star Project, have been released in English as well by Yen Press and UDON Entertainment.

The second adapation was Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Chronicles of Nick which is a prequel to a strong-selling Hachette title called Dark-Hunters. The book will be released under the name Dark-Hunters: Infinity. This story is about a young man named Nick who gets introduced to the world of the supernatural in New Orleans. No artist has been announced for this title yet.

Yen Press’s first manga license was Soumei Hoshino and Quinrose’s Alice in the Country of Hearts. This is a series that was previously released by Tokyopop before the company’s “shut down” in May of this year. Only the first four volumes were released. Yen Press will be releasing the complete six volume series as three 2-in-1 omnibus volumes, all of which will be released in June 2012. They did a similar release tactic with Yotsuba&! when they released every volume of their redone version simultaneously to catch up with where the previous publisher left off. Just as it was then, this is a great benefit to those who already own the last editions. In Alice‘s case, it means the fans who already bought the first four books will be able to just buy the final two volumes in one. Great plan!

It’s fair to say that a Tokyopop ‘license rescue’ this soon after the company dropped all their titles came as a surprise. With Tokyopop now trying for some kind of zombie-like resurrection, and saying they’ll be aiming to continue the series they previously released, it’s comforting to see one of the company’s most popular titles is in the hands of a very dependable publisher. The future of TP’s other titles remains entirely in the air but despite the TP ‘news’ as of late, it seemed clear during the panel that Yen Press is still looking at some potential titles from their library and fans are more than happy to keep recommending which titles to save.

Yen Press’s next license is a spin-off of the popular Haruhi series, The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan. It’s by the same author and artist as The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Nagaru Tanigawa and PUYO:

“This spin-off takes place in the world of the “Disappearance” arc of the Haruhi Suzumiya novels, focusing on the high school life (and romance!) of a tentative and bashful Yuki Nagato quite unlike the one you’ve come to know and love through the usual exploits of the SOS Brigade…but no less charming!”

Next up was Until Death Do Us Part, a manga series by Hiroshi Takashige and Double-S. It was described by Yen Press as “manly, manly manga”. It will be released as 2-in-1 omnibus editions starting in May 2012:

“Haruka is a young girl with precognitive abilities that allow her to predict the future with incredible accuracy. Unfortunately, these powers have made her a target for greedy corporations. Haruka uses her power to seek the one who can offer her protection, singling out Mamoru Hijikata, a blind man whose inability to see belies his skill with a sword!”

Following UDDUP on the licensing train was Puella Magi Madoka Magica, written by the Magica Quartet and art by Hanokage. The audience was pretty excited for the title as it was announced, I’m assuming because of the popularity of the anime which was streamed in the US earlier this year. This version of the manga (the series has three variations, plus a light novel) is three volumes completed.

“Madoka had always thought magic was the stuff of her dreams…until she encounters an unreal cat-being at her totally normal school! The cat offers her a choice — Will Madoka become a Puella Magi in exchange for her dearest desire?”

Lastly for licenses is another spin-off, this time for the popular Soul Eater by Atsushi Ohkubo. The spin-off is called Soul Eater Not and follows a couple new female characters with a distinct focus on their schoollife in the Death Weapon Meister Academy. The big news about this particular title is that it will be added to their Yen Plus magazine and, after a bulk upload in November to catch up with the Japanese release, will be posted online to Yen Plus subscribers within hours of the serialized version in Japan. This will start in January 2012. The first chapter is already available online to read in the October edition.

Kurt Hassler (publishing director) emphasized how this is a first time occurance of its kind in the North American manga market and that fans’ support on this endeavour could really help push forward simulantaneous releases of manga. “Help us, help you!” Joyously, as with the rest of the magazine, Soul Eater Not will be available to readers all around the world, not just the US. They have hopes for all the titles in Yen Plus to one day released in the same way. With the licenses making the titles available for everyone in the world with internet access, Kurt was confident to note it effectively eliminates all scanlators excuses.

At $2.99 a month for the entire magazine, you get a great deal (I’ve been subscribed since the beginning just for Yotsuba&!) and now even more so with a fresh new manga title available in English so fast. Kurt Hassler noted in the Q&A that they’re able to offer these really low prices for the amount of content because the magazine is available on a rental system (you can read it for a certain period of time but not keep it) and that ‘owning’ the digital versions would need to have increased costs they’d like to avoid.

Speaking of Q&A time, it was now Q&A time! Things started with someone asking Yen Press about any plans for other platform availability for their Yen Press app (currently available on the iPhone and iPad). Kurt Hassler said that yes, they were, but with things in development and lots on the go they couldn’t say anything concrete at this time.

The next question was in regards to Tokyopop’s recent… whatever they’re doing. What does Yen Press think of it? The subtle chatter in the room after this question was asked said a lot for everyone’s eagerness to hear Kurt’s response on the matter. Simply put, he responded that they don’t really think anything of it at all. “If they can do it, all the power to them,” He made a good follow-up joke that Yen Press would be shutting down at 5pm that night, only to re-open Monday morning. An audience member’s shout out of ‘so just a publicity stunt right?’ seemed to hit the nail on the head for many in the crowd who nodded and laughed in agreement.

Later someone asked about them considering new Tokyopop license-rescues, to which they answered they were interested and trying but running into the usual manga licensing issues. “Nothing happens overnight.”

When asked about any new titles released with the hardcover quality of A Bride’s Story, they said that it is a possibility if a series feels like it suits the format. They referrenced their new full-colour, large trim size release of High School of the Dead which clocks in at just under 4lbs in weight. That’s a very hefty book! Kurt also responded later to a question of if Yen Press was considering artbooks or calendars, to which he said they are and are asking about one potential title but can’t say which.

“Will Yen Press be doing another talent search?” – the answer is yes, though they emphasized that these talent searches aren’t a contest. The company are looking for new “on the cusp to professional”  individuals whose skills they can help foster. They also answered that their longest current adaptation work, Cirque du Freak, will be ending at twelve volumes which matches the original novels’ length.

JManga came up next with curious consumers wondering about Yen Press’s thoughts towards it, if there was any relationships between them and if titles being on JManga meant they couldn’t be licensed for hardcopy release. Kurt Hassler said they have no relationship with JManga and feel the site is “disingenious” by not clarifying what on their site is meant to be available content someday and what is just informational. He noted that JManga is, by their nature, positioning themselves as a competitor to English publishers. He added Yen Press’s stance is very much that digital and print need to work together and having one without the other doesn’t make sense. He also said they have no current plans to work with JManga in the future.

When asked about two series by the same author – Satoko Kiyuduki-they noted that both Shoulder-A-Coffin Kuro and GA have caught up with the Japanese releases and that the former is currently on hiatus there.

Someone then asked Yen Press about the anti-piracy collition that had been announced a while back. While intitially we saw takedowns of material, recently it’s been quiet on that front with illegal distributors of content back to their usual distribution. Kurt was upfront that a lot of work is being done in the background with contracts being signed and legal issues being put in order. He acknowledged that scanlators may feel they’ve been given “a grace” period, but that the collition will be getting very aggressive in the near future. All the power to them and best of luck!

At this point in the panel, two artists working on Yen Press titles – Svetlana Chmakova (Witch & Wizard) and REM (Soulless) – came to the stage to take questions.

Svetlana started by answering what it was like adapting James Patterson’s work. She said it was fun and “a big relief having the story written for you!”. Later someone asked if the artists worked closely with the original creator when it comes to character designs. Svetlana said they do, and in the case of Witch & Wizard, she did several versions of one of the leads until he was just right. She also noted that they don’t generally care so much about the secondary characters but the main characters appearances matching the author’s intent is very important to everyone.

In relation to the adaptation of Soulless, REM said that while she’s new to steampunk, she really likes it. She also enjoys working on Soulless because of all the action sequences she gets to draw. Yen Press noted that the title had been on their radar to adapt for a long time, which included publishing a snippet of their novel in the Yen Plus magazine.

When asked how the transition was between working for Tokyopop to Yen Press (both Svetlana and REM worked for TP), there were some awkward laughs on being put on the spot in regards to publisher vs publisher. However both emphasized how awesome working with Yen Press is for them. They noted Tokyopop’s staff were “very nice”.

And that wrapped up the panel! Shortly after Yen Press posted the news on their own website so feel free to pop over there and leave your comments, thank yous and questions to them directly.

The year’s last big pop-culture event is upon us this week – only two days left until the start of New York Comic Con. Also a combined part of the event is New York Anime Fest, offering up an assortment of anime and manga related content for con-goers. I’ll be flying to New York on Thursday for the weekend event and like many others I’ve been compiling the list of events I’m making sure I don’t miss!

There’s a variety of manga publishers present this year: Vertical Inc, Kodansha Comics, Viz Media, Yen Press, Bandai Entertainment and Dark Horse. That’s a lot of opportunity for exciting news and new titles. I’m already clamouring to try and be one of the lucky few who can get an early copy of Vertical Inc’s release of Princess Knight and hear the big news from Viz Media that’s been hinted at by Shonen Jump Group’s deputy director, Sasaki Hisashi, who will be in attendance.

“Going to NYCC! Wait for the big announcement VIZ &we make there!”

Ed Sizemore of Manga Out Loud and MangaWorthReading has posted about which panels he’s going to and exhibitors he’ll be visiting. He’s one of several manga bloggers attending the event (a fair number of those in Kuriousity’s blog roll will be there!) and gives short but convincing reasons for adding the times and places he lists to your own NYCC planner.

You can see  the full list of guests, exhibitors and events on the NYAF website and I’ve included the specifically manga-related panel details under the cut of this post. They include some links to learn more about who’s bringing the manga news to NYAF this year.

I’ll be attending these events and writing about them here on Kuriousity throughout the weekend. If curious, you can see my coverage of last year’s event in the Kuriousity archives.

Two days left now… see you there!

Panels

Unusual Manga Genres
Friday, October 14 2011
11:00 am – 12:00 pm

This panel is a testament to the diversity and specialization of the manga market in Japan. Thanks to the popularity of manga in the United States, many of the titles I cover are now available in English. As someone who dislikes superhero comics, I’m amazed at the scope and the breadth of manga titles available. My PowerPoint presentation is broken down into broad categories – “Regular Sports” (manga about track and field) “Unusual Sports” (Hikaru No Go, golf titles), “Quasi-Sports”(fishing manga, yo-yo manga), “Manga for Girls” (ballet manga, pet manga), “Manly Manga” (Pachinko Manga, Mah-Jong Manga), “Food Manga” (Yakitate Japan, Bambino) and the “Uncategorizeable” (manga about tasting junk food, manga about Jesus and Buddha living as roommates).

Speakers: Erin Finnegan, Noah Fulmor

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Yen Press (Publisher website)
Friday, October 14 2011
12:15 pm – 1:15 pm

The Yen Press crew — publishing director Kurt Hassler, senior editor JuYoun Lee, and assistant editors Tania Biswas and Abby Blackman — unveil exciting new projects and take questions from the audience. Also immediately following the panel, creators Svetlana Chmakova and Rem will be hosting a special autographing session to sign copies of their latest works at Autographing Table 1 . Svetlana will be signing copies of her new adaptation of renown author James Patterson’s WITCH & WIZARD while Rem will be signing limited edition comics featuring the first chapter of her adaptation of New York Times bestselling author Gail Carriger’s SOULLESS!

Speakers: Abby Blackman (Editorial Assistant), JuYoun Lee (Senior Editor), Kate Locke (Author), Kurt Hassler (Publisher Director), Svetlana Chmakova (Comic Creator), Tania Biswas (Editorial Assistant)

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Hiro Mashima and Kodansha Comics (publisher website)
Friday, October 14 2011
6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Join Kodansha Comics as we welcome Hiro Mashima to New York for the very first time! Mashima, the super-popular creator of Rave Master and Fairy Tail, and the artist of Monster Hunter Orage, will talk about what it’s like to be a manga creator, answer questions from fans, and even give a drawing demonstration. Plus, Kodansha Comics will have some very exciting announcements for next year. Don’t miss it!

Speaker: Hiro Mashima, Kodansha Comics Staff

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Vertical, Inc. Industry Panel (publisher website)
Friday, October 14 2011
8:45 pm – 9:45 pm

Vertical, Inc., one of North America’s premiere publishers of Japanese printed pop-culture returns to New York Comic Con to reveal a handful of new additions to what is already a critically acclaimed comic catalog. Currating one of the more eclectic and challenging manga lists Vertical will continue to ask its readers to read differently with titles such as Chi’s Sweet Home, GTO and Osamu Tezuka’s Princess Knight. What will join those ranks? Join us and find out!

Speaker: Ed Chavez

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CBLDF: Defending Manga (CBLDF website)
Saturday, October 15 2011
7:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Right now a manga fan is facing a mandatory minimum sentence of one year in prison and registering a sex offender because Canada Customs agent alleged that horror and fantasy manga on his laptop were child pornography. The threat to manga has been growing in recent years, as North American authorities misunderstanding of the material leaves innocent readers in the crossfire. Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is fighting these cases, with a need to raise $150,000 to defend the Canada Customs case. Come listen to a discussion on the issues facing manga and what you can do to help.

Speaker: -

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VIZ Media (publisher website)
Sunday, October 16 2011
10:45 am – 11:45 am

VIZ Media’s 25th Anniversary celebrations continue with a special panel packed with exciting news on upcoming releases and prizes for our fans! VIZ Media staff will provide the latest updates on new acquisitions and upcoming releases, as well as give the scoop on groundbreaking new projects!

Speaker: Sasaki Hisashi, Viz Media Staff

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Anime News Network (website)
Sunday, October 16 2011
2:30 pm – 3:30 pm

Meet the editors behind Anime News Network. The ANN staff will discuss the challenges and rewards of running the world’s most read anime and manga information website. The staff will also discuss upcoming projects and the site’s future direction. This is an opportunity for readers to meet the ANN staff in person.

Speaker: ANN Staff, Christopher MacDonald

VIZ Media Welcomes NARUTO Japanese Voice Actress And Announces NARUTO SHIPPUDEN THE MOVIE: BONDS U.S. Film Premiere, Along With A Special Panel Discussions, Booth Activities And Giveaways

San Francisco, CA, October 5, 2011 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in North America, has announced a packed schedule of events, panel discussions, promotional giveaways, theatrical film premieres, and rare guest appearances for the 2011 New York Comic Con, taking place at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City, October 13th – 16th. VIZ Media will be located in Booth 932.

The annual New York Comic Con is the largest gathering on the East Coast dedicated to comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, toys, movies, and television. Complete details on New York Comic Con is available at: www.newyorkcomiccon.com.

Digital technology and distribution has forever changed the way fans read and purchase manga, and VIZ Media will showcase its industry-leading VIZ Manga App for the Apple iPad™, iPhone™ and iPod™ touch in a fun interactive demo as well as its online manga web portal at VIZManga.com. VIZ Manga currently features more than 40 popular manga series and over 400 volumes.

This year, VIZ Media is proud to welcome Junko Takeuchi, the Japanese voice of Naruto, who will participate in a special NARUTO SHIPPUDEN panel discussion on Friday, October 14th from 1:15pm to 2:15pm in Room 1A22. Come welcome the actress for her first-ever U.S. appearance, and hear her experiences performing the voice for the world’s most popular ninja!

VIZ Media will excite NARUTO SHIPPUDEN fans even more with a special U.S. theatrical premiere of the latest action-packed feature film. The NARUTO SHIPPUDEN THE MOVIE: BONDS event will be on Saturday, October 15th at 6:00pm at the School of Visual Arts Theatre (SVA), located near the Javits Convention Center at 333 West 23rd Street. Join Junko Takeuchi to celebrate the U.S. premiere of this exciting new film. Check a posted schedule at the VIZ Media booth for designated times for free ticket giveaways! All fans that attend the premiere will receive a special Heroes of Anime gift bag that includes the new NARUTO SHIPPUDEN™: Ultimate Ninja Impact™ PSP video game from Namco Bandai Games of America (released on October 18th), in addition to other fun NARUTO collectibles.

VIZ Media is pleased to welcome Masayuki Ozaki of Sunrise, the co-creator and Executive Producer of the hit anime TIGER & BUNNY, currently streaming on VIZAnime.com. He will participate in a can’t-miss TIGER & BUNNY panel discussion, taking place on Sunday, October 16th from 1:15pm to 2:15pm in Room 1A03.

VIZ Media also welcomes VOLTRON FORCE head writer Brian Smith, and two of the lead artists, Jacob Chabot (Vol. 1) and Dario Brizuela (Vol. 3) from the upcoming graphic novel series for an in-person booth appearance and signing session at on Saturday October 15th & Sunday October 16th at 3PM.

Fans can hear exciting updates about the company’s upcoming releases, as well as get the scoop on groundbreaking new projects at the VIZ Media Panel, set for Sunday, October 16th from 10:45am to 11:45am in Room 1A23.

New York Comic Con visitors are also invited to sample VIZ Media’s ART FOR HOPE, a special limited edition digital art book anthology to be sold through the VIZ Manga App and VIZManga.com, with 100% of net proceeds supporting ongoing disaster relief efforts in Japan. Attendees can receive a limited edition ART FOR HOPE preview poster, available for a suggested minimum donation of $5, with all proceeds benefitting Architecture for Humanity.

Finally, don’t miss special product giveaways at the VIZ Media booth, including a special collectable 25th Anniversary tote bag, NARUTO SHIPPUDEN temporary tattoos, SHONEN JUMP screen wipes, and on Sunday, VIZ Kids Day, MAMESHIBA headbands, VIZ Kids manga samplers and full color posters featuring VOLTRON FORCE and MAMESHIBA.

About VIZ Media, LLC
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, VIZ Media distributes, markets and licenses the best anime and manga titles direct from Japan. Owned by three of Japan’s largest manga and animation companies, Shueisha Inc., Shogakukan Inc., and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, Co., Ltd., VIZ Media has the most extensive library of anime and manga for English speaking audiences in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa. With its popular monthly manga anthology SHONEN JUMP magazine and blockbuster properties like NARUTO, BLEACH and INUYASHA, VIZ Media offers cutting-edge action, romance and family friendly properties for anime, manga, science fiction and fantasy fans of all ages. VIZ Media properties are available as graphic novels, DVDs, animated television series, feature films, downloadable and streaming video and a variety of consumer products. Learn more about VIZ Media, anime and manga at www.VIZ.com.

2011 has some convention news in her yet! The convention Anime Weekend Atlanta is taking place this weekend and this evening Vertical Inc. held a panel discussing their current and upcoming titles. This included one new manga license:

Flowers of Evil – Shuzo Oshimi

The series is about a boy who finds himself being blackmailed by a fellow student who saw him steal the gym clothes of another girl in their class. The first volume of Vertical’s edition is due to be released in May 2012. The series is currently four volumes long total and was published in Japan by Kodansha. You can look at a preview of the manga on their site (click the middle white button for the preview window). Flowers of Evils‘ creator, Shuzo Oshimi, also has a series titled Drifting Net Cafe available to read online at the digital manga site, JManga.

Along with this manga announcement, Vertical Inc’s marketing director Ed Chavez said that there would be three new titles announced at the upcoming NYAF/NYCC. These titles will include one josei title (genre targeted at older woman), a new Tezuka title and one other. I’ll be attendance at NYAF so you can bet I’ll be there at Vertical’s panel for all the news!

Other notable mentions included confirmation of the Dororo omnibus (now scheduled for May 2012), Twin Spica‘s final volume count coming in at twelve and that the seventeenth volume of Tezuka’s Black Jack will have a “special die-cut cover” and extras, marking the final volume in the series. Vertical also announced they’d be publishing an edition of Fumi Nakamura’s light novel, Enma the Immortal. A preview and plot synopsis of that book can be read via a pre-existing English Kindle edition.

Credit for all the news above goes to Karen who posted the info live via her Twitter account.

Digital Manga’s weekly Newsletter was released tonight and in it were a couple fun tidbits of info for boys’ love fans.

Even though the upcoming YaoiCon is only a month away, Digital Manga is still revealing new licenses utilizing their newsletter. Exciting as the con atmosphere is for new licenses, I love that they’re sprinkling license news online like this. It definitely beats finding it randomly on Amazon. The new two books are:

Depression of the Anti-Romanticist
by Yasuna Saginuma (Author)/Riyu Yamakami (Manga-ka)

Beast & Feast (pictured above)
by Norikazu Akira

Along with the licensing announcements, some Digital Manga Guild reminders and job postings, they also made a few quick notes on the contents of their YaoiCon events:

YaoiCon takes place October 21st-23rd down in Burlingame, California. Digital Manga’s sponsored guest this year is Fusanosuke Inariya, creator of (to name an especially popular one), Maiden Rose. Digital Manga doesn’t make too many convention appearances but as a company that primarily publishes boys’ love, they always save up their resources and news for this yearly event.

While I’m always most eager to hear about new licenses, I’m curious about their ‘Top-Secret Announcement’. More publication exclusives such as Yellow 2? Related to DMG or the requests for novel translators this past month? More accessibility to their eManga library (access to it on a smartphone would be a ‘huge’ step in me dipping my toe into digital manga with all their DMG one-shots)? Maybe some yuri licenses?! …I can dream right? I keep telling myself their library of Eiki Eiki and Taishi Zaou means they have a great gateway in place already for fans so it could happen…

News-wise, I’m also curious if they’ll talk at all about their newly, and rather quietly, launched hentai imprint Project-H. Sure it’s not BL but I’m definitely not the only BL reader out there who likes a little senseless, heterosexual porn sometimes.

Convention season is coming to a close for another year (well… a handful of months anyway) but I’m sure we’ll have plenty to ponder, discuss and cheer for after YaoiCon and the upcoming NYAF/NYCC. Any big manga news you’ve got your fingers crossed for?

The event broke single-day records from past events with over 800 attendees processed within a couple hours of the convention opening early Friday afternoon. By the time doors closed on Sunday the organizers greeted 1268 anime and gaming fans.

“We couldn’t be happier with this year’s turnout and the money raised for the IWK. All the staff, volunteers, guests and attendees were amazing – we’re lucky to always work with such a fantastic group here in the Maritimes!”

As a non-profit organization, Animaritime’s parent group The Society for Atlantic Fan Culture, is dedicated to not only holding events in the Maritime provinces but also giving back to the community. With all proceeds of this year’s Animaritime auction and raffle going to charity, the staff raised $3256. This year’s charity funds were donated directly to the IWK Health Care Foundation.

Along with the convention’s events and panels, 2011 attendees had Canada Day fireworks and an outdoor concert to enjoy. Both were put on by the city of Moncton as part of their annual Canada Day festivities. Bonus local events, good weather and positive attendee feedback sealed the date for next year’s convention which will return to the Delta Beausjour on June 29th – July 1st, 2012.

About Animaritime

Animaritime is an annual convention held by the Society for Atlantic Fan Culture. The entirely volunteer-run event is held each year in New Brunswick, Canada. 2011′s event marked the convention’s seventh year and was held July 1st-3rd. Animaritime’s activities encompass a variety of anime and video game related events such as discussion panels, workshops, showings and tournaments. Special events such as a Garage Sale, Plushie Making, an evening dance and a specialized café are fan-favourites as well. Throughout the duration of Animaritime, local vendors offer a variety of merchandise to attendees while Animaritime’s Artist Alley allows artists and creators from across the Maritimes to promote their work and sell their creations, a fantastic assortment of talent and skill along with the colourful costumes that many of the attendees wear during their stay.

More information about Animaritime can be read at animaritime.org

For additional information please contact:
chair@animaritime.org

San Diego Comic Con 2011 is in its final hours today so its round-up time! As the biggest pop-culture convention of its kind, there were many bloggers on site to record all the details, so, while here on Kuriousity I’ll just be giving the brief run down of manga-related news, I’ll also be giving select links of where you can go to learn more.

Digital was the biggest news of the year. For everyone’s benefit, I’ll forgo my usual sad sighs and short rambles at the trend of more digital and less paper and skip right to summing up the news!

Edit (July 25th): More info re: Viz Media’s licenses added

Viz Media launched their new manga-portal website, VizManga.com, over the weekend. It shares accounts with their iPad/iPhone manga buying systems so that anything you buy through your Apple product, you can now read online -and vice versa. It’s like the Viz Media Kindle, minus currently any portable accessbility for those without an iPhone or iPad.

Currently the website has forty different series you can purchase volumes from spanning all across their imprints. The website is offering 40% off all the digital volumes until July 31st and has lots of free previews. At full price the volumes are $4.99-$5.99/US each.

Over at the Manga Bookshelf, Melinda takes both Viz Media’s manga site and Square Enix’s (which I didn’t have much good to say about when it launched) sites for a test drive with detailed reasons why you should, or shouldn’t, check them out.

JManga.com – the “first official Japanese comic site” – is set to launch on August 17. The website will have translated manga posted for readers to purchase from a number of Japanese publishers. How much the manga will cost will vary publisher to publisher and the quality of said manga (adaptation, lettering, etc.) will remain a mystery until the manga goes live as well. Unfortunately for the curious, this launch looks like it’ll be for those in the US only, at least for the first while. (More info available at AnimeNewsNetwork)

Also on the digital front, Dark Horse  said they’re looking to launch a method of reading their manga digitally in the near future and Square Enix is currently offering the first volume of their series free (though again only for those in the US).

Now onto my most anticipated news of any convention – the licenses! Alas publishers didn’t have many to offer at SDCC (the tsunami in Japan being cited as the number one reason), but there were still a few to look forward to thanks to Yen Press and Viz Media:

YEN PRESS:

Durarara - Akiyo Satorigi/Ryohgo Narita
Kore wa Zombie desu ka? - Shinichi Kimura/ Sacchi
Olimpos – Aki

VIZ MEDIA:

A Devil and Her Love Song – Miyoshi Tomori
The Earl and the Fairy – Mizue Tani/Ayuko

Admittedly of the three Yen Press titles I’m only excited about Aki’s Olimpos after enjoying her one-shot work, Utahime, as published by Digital Manga, but something is better than nothing! Both of Viz Media’s books look lovely though – I’ll definitely be picking those up! Overall not much for one of the biggest cons of the year but with NYAF coming up in October, fingers crossed we get some more titles announced then.

And as a brief but great-to-hear finish to the manga news, Naoki Usawara’s 20th Century Boys won an Eisner award for best Foreign Language (Asian) release this year. Congrats to him and Viz Media for their excellent work!

… anod some bonus awesome SDCC news:

- More information, character sheets and a trailer for the upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender spin-off series – The Legend of Korra! I was one of many hanging onto every image, clip and word on Twitter as attendees at the panel posted them live. You can check out the trailer here to view the awesome  animation we’ve come to expect and crave after ATLA.

- Speaking of nice animation, a bunch of new clips for the upcoming Thundercats animated series have been posted. They look awesome! I’ve been watching a lot of the original Thundercats series for the first time lately thanks to Teletoon Retro so I’m really interested in seeing the new super shiny version.

We survived! Another year of Animaritime is behind us, bringing with it some much needed relaxation and a heavy sadness. I miss all the staff and chatting with the attendees and even that constant hectic mental state you get in when you’re running back and forth from 8am-12am everyday. Amazing times! If you’re curious to see some pictures or read some comments, our Facebook page is very lively this year.

Special thanks to Vertical Inc‘s Ed Chavez who attended as a guest and held several great manga panels. I loved being on a panel with him and Andre for our Manga Industry panel (my first time participating in a roundtable panel) and I learned a lot from Ed’s Manga Licensing panel (for the love of manga support our publishers!).

Though most of my attention stays as a staffer, I always make time to visit the vendors. I was really happy to see there was even more manga than usual this year and came back home with a satisfying stack of goodies.

From the vendor Gamezilla (whose recently revamped store location I visited after the con ended) I got some great discounts on hard to find titles. My largest purchase was volumes 2-11 of Descendants of Darkness which I’ve been itching to reread – a supernatural story that teeters on the edge of being a boys’ love story. The switches between humour and really dark content is as strange as I remember it.

Having enjoyed the complete random of the last volume I read, I also bought Gatcha Gacha (Vol.06-07) and on some recommendations, Suppli (Vol. 02-03). Going for something newer, I bought the third volume of Afterschool Charisma.

Strange Adventures (always the Halifax store of choice!) returned as a vendor and had a bunch of manga to sift through. From there I found three volumes of Rumiko Takahashi’s One Pound Gospel, volumes 4 and 5 of Itazura na Kiss and A Drifting Life (so I can finally leave the library copy for someone else!). Lastly, despite a lacklustre feeling from the first volume, I gave Saturn Apartments another chance by buying volumes 2 and 3.

Other random purchases included two pretty art books by names I can’t read the Kanji for (thus sadly can’t tell you who they are), and a stack of old Mixx magazines because I got them for pennies and enjoy the nostalgia factor.

So yay for convention weekend! Animaritime is always a blast and somehow manages to out-do itself every year. More memories, more manga – it’s all a win-win! So what was in your swag bag this week?

The pre-con Kuriousity blank periods are upon us – sorry for the blip of blog-silence there! At least it’s the best reason for missing writing time – East Coast Canada’s anime/manga/gaming convention Animaritime 2011 is only two weeks away! As a staff member, I join the rest of the small but dedicated crew as we put the final touches on the 3-day event before it hits on Canada Day this July. The event takes place in Moncton, New Brunswick.

This year’s event has a great manga line-up including the appearance of one of our special guests – Vertical Inc‘s marketing director, Ed Chavez! I hope he has fun at our humble but lively convention; we’re very happy to have him :)

For the manga-fans, here’s a sneak-peek at our manga-related line-up this year:

Manga! Manga! Manga! – The manga panel I run each year where attendees and I talk about what manga we love to read and where in Atlantic Canada we find to read, buy and share it. It’s always fun hearing what genres and titles people are really into – it changes a lot every year!

Vertical Inc. 2012 – Ed Chavez’s panel about manga publisher Vertical Inc. and their plans for the upcoming 2012 publishing year, as well as their remaining (amazing) books due out this remaining 2011.

The Manga Industry – A panel about the manga industry today with Ed Chavez, Andre and myself hosting. It’ll be a lot of fun discussing the big changes in the industry as of late and hearing the attendees’ thoughts and questions.

Manga Licensing – Ed Chavez hosts this panel about the ins-and-outs of manga licensing for the North American market. It’s going to be a really educational look at the process that many manga readers aren’t aware of. Trust me, Ed knows his stuff!

Other events/panels I’ll be running include Shonen-Ai (all ages), Yaoi/BL (18+), Yuri and Day in the Life of an Animaritime Staffer. I’ll also be running the Garage Sale which includes my participation and a lot of manga being sold for cheap!

Fellow Kuriousity writers will be holding panels of their own too: Andre will be running Classic Anime, Anime Jeopardy and Creating/Designing Original Characters. Marsha will hosting Plushie Making, Costuming 101 and Anime Improv.

Our full event schedule and information on our main events can currently be seen on the website. I can’t wait to see all the new and familiar faces there this year!

And a semi-related reminder: I hope all Canadian anime fans have bought their tickets to Trigun this Wednesday!

Vertical Inc. Marketing Director To Attend Eastern Canada’s Animaritime 2011 Convention

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Moncton, NB, May 26, 2011 – Animaritime is pleased to announce that marketing director of VerticalInc., Ed Chavez, will be attending the 2011 event as a special guest.

As both a manga editor and translator, Ed Chavez has worked in the industry for years including forcompanies such as Seven Seas, CMX and the Japanese publisher, Kodansha. Since 2009 he hasbeen the marketing director of Vertical Inc., promoting the company’s varied assortment of titles. Alongwith attending conventions as a Vertical representative, Ed Chavez has also hosted panels across thecontinent for different facets of manga’s history and industry, along with holding a strong onlinepresence among manga fans.

“As a convention with an audience passionate for manga, we’re thrilled to be able to have Ed Chavezattend our event. He brings with him a wealth of knowledge about manga and the industry itself thatwe feel our attendees will really enjoy and learn a lot from.”

Ed Chavez joins graphic novel artist, Faith Erin Hicks, and anime voice actor, Spike Spencer, asguests to this year’s Animaritime convention which returns “bringing the best of Anime and Gaming toAtlantic Canada” after a one year hiatus in 2010.

About Vertical Inc.

Vertical Inc. is a publishing company specializing in Japanese novels and manga. Based in New Yorkcity, Vertical was launched in 2001 and has since licensed over twenty manga series. The company is known for its strong support of classic manga titles including a vast library of titles by the ‘God of Manga’, Osamu Tezuka. The company’s most recent licenses include the long anticipated Princess Knight and the series, Drops of God, which had a worldwide effect on the wine industry during it soriginal publication run.

More information about Vertical Inc. can be read at vertical-inc.com

About Animaritime

Animaritime is a volunteer-run convention held annually in New Brunswick. This year’s event marksthe convention’s seventh year and will be held July 1st-3rd. The conventions encompasses a variety ofanime and video game related events such as discussion panels, workshops, showings andtournaments. Special events such as a Garage Sale, Plushie Making, an evening dance and aspecialized café are fan-favourites as well. Throughout the duration of Animaritime, local vendors offera variety of merchandise to attendees while Animaritime’s Artist Alley allows artists and creators fromacross the Maritimes to promote their work and sell their creations, a fantastic assortment of talent andskill along with the colourful costumes that many of the attendees wear during their stay.

More information about Animaritime can be read at animaritime.org

For additional information please contact:chair@animaritime.org