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Seven Seas Adds Vampire Manhwa for October Release

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, April 14, 2011

Seven Seas announced a new license late March (yes, I’m quite late on this among many other neat bits of news!) as the company continues to deliver to the vampire-fandom out there with My Boyfriend Is A Vampire. It’s also their first license of a manhwa title (Korean comic).

“Being beautiful is never easy, especially if you’re an eighteen year old boy like Ryu who is constantly mistaken for a girl because of his delicate good looks. When Ryu stumbles upon strange happenings in the forest, he gets sucked into a world of vampire intrigue and sinister romance that he never knew existed. And he learns that there are worse things than being turned into a vampire: being turned into a girl?!”

The books are being released in 2-in-1 formats which works well considering the series is 14 volumes long according to AnimeNewsNetwork. The first volume is due out this coming October.

So a gender-bender vampire manhwa – it’s got my attention! Out of curiousity it’s on my list of must-reads for Halloween this year.

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Manhwa, Seven Seas

Kodansha Comics Adds Mew Mew Power and More to Fall Lineup

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, April 4, 2011

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Kodansha Comics isn’t slowing down after their huge news in March with a handful of new titles announced for their fall line-up later this year.

Tokyo Mew Mew
Love Hina (Omnibus Collection)
Shugo Chara! Chan
@Full Moon

Tokyo Mew Mew and Love Hina were previously released by Tokyopop but will sport new translations for these editions. Shugo Chara! Chan is a sequel to the series Shugo Chara! which was published by Del Rey. Lastly @Full Moon is a sequel series to Kodansha’s previously announced Full Moon series (which in itself was a license rescue from the long-since defunct Brocolli Books). When so many manga readers are left wondering if they’ll even see the next volume of their favourite series, it’s promising seeing a company already license a series and its follow-up in one go.

While Love Hina seems like a no-brainer as a big otaku favourite that’s been long out of print, I’m a little surprised by Tokyo Mew Mew. It was cute but I didn’t think had enough following to warrant a completely new release. Then again it might be a good warm-up to their upcoming Sailor Moon release to bring in a whole new generation of readers to magical girls (plus the anime version played on television here as well). I like the addition of the Full Moon series though because, though not explicity boys’ love, it still teeters in that territory more than well enough to show Kodansha’s not afraid to test the waters of the genre.

With the slew of titles, including the much-requested Sailor Moon, Kodansha continues to go above and beyond what I think many expected after their lacklustre introduction to the North American market. My concern now though is how they’ll deliver. We’ve many reasons to believe it’ll be good – from their manga-ruler status in Japan, to the talented staff we know to be working for them already – but until we get a pure Kodansha-made book in our hands, it’s hard to jump for complete joy just yet. Some giddy jigs for sure though.

Their first new titles are coming out in May – Arisa (Vol. 02), Rave Master (Omnibus) and Ninja Girls (Vol. 05). All three of which are continuations of Del Rey or Tokyopop series so we may not see much different in the form or design of the books. While the titles themselves don’t excite me too much, I’m most eager for Phoenix Wright and Monster Hunter Orage to see the trim-size and design work.

Hopefully we’ll see the start of their new titles marked with a full website as well, or at least something with more images and information than the press releases posted there now. Kodansha Comics appeared with a lot of anticipation, and while it may’ve lost the luster after Akira and Ghost in the Shell, it’s done a great job gaining it all back in the past few months. Now that we’ve got the promises, it’s all about the delivery – only another month to go!

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Del Rey, Kodansha Comics, Manga, Sailor Moon, Tokyopop

Kodansha Comics Announces Release of Sailor Moon Manga

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, March 19, 2011

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Many fans wished on a star and Kodansha Comics gave us the moon – yesterday it was announced that Kodansha would be re-releasing the Sailor Moon manga in English starting this upcoming September. They’ll also be releasing the never-before-released-in-English short series, Codename: Sailor V which was a precursor in both events and creation to Sailor Moon.

Suffice to say, many fans are excited (myself undoubtedly included) and the news spread quickly to the eyes and ears of lots of happy manga-reading folks. There’s something sort of surreal about getting exactly what you asked for isn’t there?

The edition Kodansha will be releasing is the new deluxe collection that was last published in Japan as part of Sailor Moon’s anniversary celebration.

“The original 18 volumes have been condensed into 12 volumes covering the main storyline, and two volumes dedicated to short stories. Each volume has gorgeous new cover art, retouched interior art and dialogue along with extensive bonus material from Takeuchi, and detailed translation notes.”

During my trip to New York last year I had the extreme joy of visiting the Kinokuniya bookstore. Surrounded by thousands of untranslated volumes of manga, Sailor Moon was high on my list of must-finds. They only had one volume but I was quick to pick it up – the re-released edition of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Vol. 06). I hope Kodansha Comics’ release is kept very similar to the Japanese editions because it’s gorgeous! The trim size is a little smaller than the ‘standard’ North American manga release with a smooth-finished cover-slip adorned in brand new artwork for the new editions. Inside are three full-spread, full-colour illustrations before starting into the retouched manga chapters. The page-count is a bit higher than normal also, showing how the new editions are twelve books instead of the original eighteen.

Kodansha will begin releasing the series in September 2011 and the books will come out on a bi-monthly schedule. Kodansha Comics has yet to release anything past their republishing of Dark Horse’s editions of Akira and Ghost in the Shell but it goes without saying there’s a lot of anticipation for the first of their summer line-up to start in May so we can get a better look at the quality we can expect from them. I speculated before that with their books we’ve seen so far, it seems likely they won’t be straying far from the original material in terms of design. Holding onto my Japanese edition of Sailor Moon, I can only go from speculating to hoping that that’s the case.

But as we sit and wait for those first volumes to land in store-shelves, may I say THANK YO U, KODANSHA! You have made many a moon-fan’s day.

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: Kodansha Comics, Manga, Sailor Moon

Viz Media Elaborates On Pokemon Black & White Release Info

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, March 9, 2011

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My recent post about Viz Media’s recent license announcements spurred a number of comments and a slew of off-site commentary about the fact the company would be releasing Pokemon Black & White. With lots of people asking questions, I passed them along to Viz Media and they promptly got back to me with some answers.

The version of Pokemon Black & White being published is the edition currently being published in Japan as Pokemon Special. Though currently being serialized, none of the chapters being published by Viz Media in their Black & White books have been released in Japan as tankobon yet (meaning full collected volumes). Currently Viz Media doesn’t know when (or if) the chapters will be collected into volume-editions in Japan but are working with the license-holders in Japan to compile the content for English readers.

Viz Media’s editions of Pokemon B/W will be a new format from their usual Pokemon releases with each volume being approximately 80-96 pages each to accommodate the content available. Because of this they are being sold at a lower price point of only $4.99/US. They’ll be releasing two volumes at a time – the first two in July, and then volumes 3 and 4 in November.

So I hope that clears up many of the questions folks had! While the material hasn’t yet been released compiled in Japan, Viz Media has been given permission to do so to ensure we get our Pokemon manga fix of the newest series. My thanks to Viz Media’s Jane Lui for answering our questions and elaborating on the license news.

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Manga, Viz Media

Viz Media Adds New Pokemon, Fantasy and Omnibus for 2011

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, March 7, 2011

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A press release sent out by Viz Media late last week revealed some new titles coming out later this year. A little lack-lustre a PR may be but I love to hear this kind of news directly from the publisher, and doubly so during this season which is generally down time for manga licenses.

So what new titles do we have to look forward to?

First up on the list was a new Pokemon series – Pokemon ~~Adventures~~: Black & White (Edit: Currently it is unconfirmed if Pokemon B/W will be released under the Pokemon Adventures series’ title). This particular announcement is really well timed since the new Pokemon games just came out yesterday (of which I’m currently making my way through White!). This series is written by the same author responsible for the previous Pokemon Adventures volumes and has returning artist Yamamoto Satoshi who took over from artist MATO as of volume ten. The first two volumes will be released in July 2011 (Note cover image is a placeholder for final Viz Media cover design). [Editor’s Note: More information about Pokemon B/W in follow-up post]

Offering more volumes of continuously loved franchises, there’s more Yu-Gi-Oh on the horizon with Yu-Gi-Oh 5D. I haven’t really followed the series since Yugi was no longer than main character but based on the synopsis this looks like the manga version of the story currently being aired on television – so battling in an apocalyptic future on motorcycles. The first volume is due out in July 2011.

Confirming and scheduling a previously revealed series, Viz Media lists Psyren – a story about a boy fighting for his life in an alternate dimension – for release in October 2011. Just in time for Halloween! Following that in November is a one-shot collection of stories by Natsume Ono title Tesoro – twelve short works and bonus material from the creator of not simple! and House of Five Leaves.

Lastly for ‘new’ series is Dawn of the Arcana with its first volume coming out in December. It sounds like a pretty classic fantasy series about a Princess being betrothed to a Prince and learning the backstabbing ways of the royal court and the magic that overlaps it. While I love a classic English-fantasy story, what really makes me curious about this story is the artwork since, upon looking them up, this artist has lovely covers!

And to top things off, we have coming to us omnibus collections of CLAMP’s X/1999! As a huge CLAMP lover and collector everything with their name on it I can find, this really excites me. I already own Viz Media’s last run of the series, and though I’m not one too bothered by flipped artwork, I’m looking forward to re-experiencing the story in it’s original format. Each volume will have 3 books in 1 plus extra full-colour illustrations. Combined with Dark Horse’s omnibus editions, CLAMP is getting an impressive second-wave shot at English readers for nearly all its series – that’s really something and speaks a lot to their popularity (and the faith in their works bringing in new fans as well).

Lots of neat stuff here and there’s more I’m eager for than indifferent towards so yay! How about you? Something here an especially exciting new title to look forward to?

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: CLAMP, Dawn of the Arcana, Manga, Viz Media

Vertical Inc. Licenses Princess Knight and Drops of God

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, January 27, 2011

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Osamu Tezuka fans rejoice and cheer for Vertical Inc. yet again – the long anticipated Princess Knight has been licensed! The acquisition was officially announced on today’s episode of ANNCast.

“Taking place in a medieval fairy-tale setting, Princess Knight is the story of young Princess Sapphire who must pretend to be a male prince so she can inherit the throne (as women are not eligible to do so). This deception begins as soon as she is born, as her father the King announces his baby is a boy instead of a girl. The reason for this is that the next-in-line to the throne, Duke Duralumon, is an evil man who would repress the people if he were to become king, and because of this the King will go to any length to prevent him from taking over.” – Excerpt from Wikipedia: Princess Knight

Osamu Tezuka plus “medieval fairy-tale setting” and a snappily dressed cross-dressing Princess out to save her kingdom from an evil duke – yes, please! I had the fortune of reading a neat learn-Japanese-esque bilingual edition put out by Kodansha International some years ago (alas my college library would’ve give it up for sale…) and I really liked it. I think many readers will find Princess Knight more easily approached than some of Tezuka’s darker works too.

In many ways this license was a given – Vertical Inc. has long since become the go-to publisher for Osamu Tezuka titles and they were open with fans that they were looking at the license. No less exciting to finally hear it’s happened though and if there’s one thing I’ve never questioned with Vertical, it’s the quality of their English releases. The company does top-notch work and I’m eager to see what they have planned for such a beloved title.

A purchase page for part one of Princess Knight appeared on Amazon.ca where the book is listed at 382 pages and with a release date of October 4, 2011. Pre-order, fellow Canadians! Part two of the series will be released shortly after in December. Both books will be printed at the same trim size as Vertical’s releases of Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack.

But wait – there’s more! Vertical announced the license of Drops of God by artistic team Tadashi Agi. The series is about a man who must find 13 wines outlined in his deceased Father’s will in order to earn his inheritance. Thus he begins his quest to drink for the first time and use his genetically gifted talents for taste and smell to discover the wines he needs in rivalry against his Father’s adopted son.

I’m not a wine-fan myself but I’ve seen this manga requested by a number of fans so it’s great to see something seemingly so ‘unlicensable’ get a chance at the North American market. Not to mention it offers something else to the growing market of adult-targeted series. What really shocked me though was that the series is 27 volumes in Japan and still running! Wow! Vertical will be releasing omnibus volumes as 2-in-1.

Two exciting licenses with books I’m eager to get my hands on!

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: Manga, Vertical Inc

Digital Manga Adds Stack of New BL Titles for New Year

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, January 22, 2011

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A bit of an unexpected short hiatus for Kuriousity this past week but leave it to Digital Manga to surprise us with a bunch of new license announcements to start off the new year with a pleasant jump-start.

Originally these titles were announced through their Facebook page, a bit of an inconvenience as it requires you to be a Facebook user to see the news. Folks were quick to point manga fans in the direction though and soon enough Digital Manga’s Sales Manager, Yoko Tanigaki, was linking to the titles via her Twitter account. Impressively, and always a huge brownie point winner with me, was that within hours all the new titles were posted to Digital Manga’s website with covers, info and release dates. This all before the titles were posted to retail sites for an assortment of unconfirmed speculation as well. Thumbs up for being so on the ball!

That said, the new titles, predominantly boys’ love one-shots, announced were:

An Even More Beautiful Lie – Kei Kanai (July 2011)
Warning! Whispers of Love – Puku Okuyama (July 2011)
Sky Link – Shiro Yamada (July 2011)
A Liar in Love – Ueda Kiyo (June 2011)
A Fallen Saint’s Kiss – You Higashino
Tonight’s Take Out Night! – Akira Minazuki (June 2011)
I Give To You – Maki Ebishi (June 2011)
This Night’s Everything – Akira Minazuki (June 2011)
Entangled Circumstances – Kikuko Kikuya (June 2011)

… and some future volumes of continuing series:

Seven Days: Friday to Saturday – Rihito Takarai (August 2011)
Yashakiden: The Demon Princess Omnibus (Vol. 04) – Hideyuki Kikuchi (June 2011)
Angelic Runes (Vol. 02) – Makoto Tateno (June 2011)
Dog x Cat (Vol. 02) – Yoshimi Amasaki (June 2011)

It was an eye-opener to me when I learned (a while back now) that many manga series are licensed book to book and not as a whole series upfront. I really like seeing that Digital Manga has started announcing their x-number volume acquisitions as they happen, even if they don’t seem as exciting to most as a brand new title. It’s always good to see the series we’re already attached to getting continued attention from the company even with their newer titles coming in.

As for the new titles, based on the pretty covers, I’m most eager for Warning! Whispers of Love thanks to the unique looking design layout. It looks like it’d have more of a story than your standard love-you-love-you-more romance. But it looks to be another assortment of short stories, which tend to be more miss than hit for me, but I can remain optimistic! Going by just pretty-levels of artwork though, I’m intrigued by Tonight’s Take-Out Night!. So nice looking!

Going by those release dates, there’s going to be a big surplus of new boys’ love in the summer. There isn’t a lot of information listed just yet but with what we have, are there any here you’re most looking forward to checking out?

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, DMP, June, Makoto Tateno, Manga

Kodansha Comics Announces Titles At Launch Event

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, December 12, 2010

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Kodansha Comics had it’s official launch event today, officially marking their entry into the North American manga publishing market. The event was held in New York at the Kinokuniya’s bookstore, and while I then couldn’t be there myself, my thanks to Anime Almanac’s Scott for tweeting the news as it was announced.

Since news of this event was announced a few days ago, social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and forums have been a buzz with a mixture speculation and ultimatums. Will they actually have any new licenses to announce? Will they finally reveal their plans for the library of mid-series licenses from DelRey that they hold? Will they actually put live an actual website? Patience has already run very thin for many manga readers as a company directly backed by one of the biggest names in the industry has sat silent for so long, with it the potential promise of many beloved titles held just beyond reach.

So what was said today? Quite a bit actually! From word on the majority of DelRey’s titles and a few new titles as well, Kodansha Comics plans the first big bulk of its manga out in Summer 2011.

Viz Media Adds New Artbook, Natume Ono and Omnibus

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, November 16, 2010

1 Comment »

Though news of Viz Media’s license-rescue of Tenjo Tenge stole the spotlight from yesterday’s press release, there was some other new titles slotted in there as well.

Blue Excorist and Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan confirmed licenses previously revealed with more solid release dates while Natsume Ono’s La Quinta Camera is a fresh license from the creator of previous Viz Signature series, not simple and House of Five Leaves:

“A charming suite of linked stories from the acclaimed author of not simple and House of Five Leaves, set in an apartment in Italy. In four of the rooms live four single men with singular personalities. Into this peculiar ménage steps an exchange student, the new tenant of the fifth room. Brought together by chance, friends by choice, they pursue their dreams together as the days drift gently by.”

Icing on the cake of these licenses comes the reveal that Viz Media will be releasing the Vampire Knight artbook in English, similar to its previous art book releases for series such as Angel Sanctuary and Neon Genesis Evangelion. The book will be hardcover and presumably have the same large cut size as Viz Media’s previous art book releases.

There’s also some new releases to see on retail sites this week. Under Viz Media’s sci-fi novel imprint, Haikasoru, are two new books – Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights (src: AAAAnime) and Cage of Zeus (src: AAAAnime). They’re also listing the novel edition of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot (src: AAAAnime)

Also listing on said-retail sites are several more Shonen Jump series getting the omnibus treatment: Bleach, Naruto and Kekkaishi. Viz Media has already re-released several of its popular series in omnibus format, typically being 3-in-1, including One Piece, Dragonball and Fushigi Yugi. Each book will cost $14.99 putting the content at a fraction of buying them individually. I can speak from personal experience to say these are perfect for those looking to start these series from the beginning but are intimidated by the high book counts. (src: AAAAnime 1/2/3)

On the omnibus note, I continue to find it exciting just how many publishers are embracing omnibus editions – Viz Media, Tokyopop, Yen Press, Dark Horse, Vertical, DelRey (RIP), Seven Seas, Digital Manga – nearly the entire crew! It was near-exactly a year ago today we were contemplating their role in the future of manga and here we are now with such a strong mix of the two printed formats. While sometimes carrying a 600+ page book around isn’t the most feasible thing in the world, saving half-off the cost of buying them separately and getting triple the content still garners no complaints from me.

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: Fushigi Yugi, Light Novels, Manga, One Piece, Shoujo Beat, Vampire Knight, Viz Media

Viz Media Picks Up Tenjo Tenge For 2-in-1 Release

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, November 15, 2010

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Good news for fans of Oh!Great’s martial arts, fan-service epic Tenjo Tenge – after much theorizing and cross-fingers, its new licensor has finally been revealed – Viz Media!

Viz has announced that they’ll be releasing the series from the beginning in a two-in-one format, meaning faster time getting through the series and some money saving as well. The omnibus trend continues! Each book will be $17.99/US and $21.00/CAN. It’s nice seeing them opt to do two-in-one, over three-in-one as DelRey recently did with Oh!Great’s Air Gear – his work is a bit too much to take in that quantity all in one book. Plus of course’s it’s a nice even number for an even-numbered series.

Tenjo Tenge was previously licensed by CMX Manga, the release of which was met with scrutiny due to strict censorship. The last volume released by CMX was volume 18 while the series itself goes until 22 volumes total. Viz Media has stated that Tenjo Tenge will be released uncensored with a mature rating.

I’m honestly not sure if this is expected or not. Viz Media isn’t the company I’d first think of when considering where the content itself would best fit, though at the same time they seem the most financially sound and with the most consistent scheduling to be able to pick up a ‘rescued’ title of such popularity. Not to mention the fact that Tenjho Tenge is originally a Shuiesha title which is the parent company to Viz Media. Either way, sounds good for the fans! Can’t say I fall into that category (though I love Air Gear) but it’s always promising see a fan-favourite get a second chance.

News Source: Viz Media Press Release

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Viz Media