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Cosplay Ai, Blade of the Immortal Novel on Amazon.ca

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, April 7, 2009

A couple new finds on Amazon.ca today:

Blade of the Immortal: Legend of the Sword Demon (Del Rey)

“The first novel based on the worldwide sensation! Rendered immortal by an infusion of mystical worms that can repair any wound, the masterless samurai Manji wanders the hillsides of feudal Japan, his quest to slay one hundred evil people to atone for his past sins. By his side is the young woman Rin, an orphan who seeks vengeance for the murders of her parents. Driven in a quest for absolution, the two have faced many deadly challenges, both natural and supernatural. But can they survive their greatest battle against the all-powerful Inugami?”

If this was previously announced, then I missed it which mades me sad because I think it sounds really fun. As a fan and follower of Blade of the Immortal since the manga single-issue ‘floppies’ first hit comic store shelves, I think it’d be great enjoying the series in a different media (anime doesn’t count). I wonder how Manji will translate to prose?

Tokyopop has a listing for something simply titled Saving Life, which may or may not be the manga of the same-name by Girls Bravo creator, Mario Kaneda.

And lastly, GoComi has a listing up for the previously revealed sequel-of-sorts to Aimee Major-Steinberger’s wonderfully charming Japan Ai, titled Cosplay Ai (cover at right). While never having cosplayed myself, I have no doubt that this book will be worth a read and I really look forward it!

Edit: While I appreciate the e-mails from people with a heads-up that I “missed” the Haru Hana manga listing that is also on Amazon.ca, I already posted about that title back in February :)

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: Blade of the Immortal, Dark Horse, GoComi, Manga, Tokyopop

Yen Press Rescues Pandora Hearts, Rereleases Azumanga

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, April 3, 2009

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Two new unannounced Yen Press manga listings popped up on Amazon.ca today. The first is a pleasant-to-see license rescue from the now-deceased Broccoli Books: Pandora Hearts by Jun Mochizuki. The second title is Jun Mochizuki’s other work, Crimson Shell. As usual, please keep in mind that Amazon listings do not count as official license annoucements and nothing is confirmed until released by the publisher themselves.

Also on the Yen Press newsfront comes word via an interiew with YP’s Kurt Hassler, that the company is planning a rerelease of Azumanga Daioh at the end of the year. Though the series was previously released in full by ADV, Yen Press’s edition will have new translations and lettering. Tiamat follows up the original interview with a few Azumanga-specific questions including confirmation that the release will be a rerelease of the original series and not the 10th Anniversary addition currently coming out in Japan.

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: Manga, Yen Press

DMPBooks.com Gets Its Makeover, Vampire Hunter D Contest

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, April 2, 2009

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Digital Manga’s DMPBooks.com is the next new-layout successor to their company’s main company website. DMP is Digital Manga’s signature line-up of books, generally whatever isn’t boys’ love. The new website includes a forum being used between their Digital Manga, DMP, Doki Doki and eManga sites, and features that we’ve been seeing over at DigitalManga, such as the surveys, easy-to-find new release lists, updated search functions for their library and a streamlined blog. They currently have a survey asking visitors what they think of the new look.

A new blog post also confirms andofficially announces two new DMP titles: Yashakiden: The Demon Princess and Taimashin: The Red Spider Exorcist. A listing for Taimashin was first spotted on Amazon in February.

And finally, in celebration of these two new licenses and the upcoming third volume of Vampire Hunter D, DMP is offering a chance to win multiple prizes for those who pre-order Hideyuki Kikuchi’s book. Vampire Hunter D swag includes lots of autographed goodies, from manga volumes to illustration cards.

As for me, I’m happy to see another of Digital Manga’s sites get a long overdue overhaul, though I find this one isn’t as sleek on the loading time as DigitalManga.com. None the less, the change is welcomed, the new licenses look interesting and I hope that its a good indication of shiny, organized things to come for 801Media.com and Junemanga.com.

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: DMP, June, Manga

Digital Goes Live, Viz Takes To The Sky

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, March 14, 2009

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A few things of note today while I attempt to finish one of the way-to-many partially finished reviews sitting on my desktop :)

Amazon.ca has a listing for Kambayashi Chohei’s science fiction light novel, Yukikaze. As there’s no artist listed, I’m making the assumption it’s the light novel and not a manga (not sure if one exists?). New news, old news, either way it’s good news for fans like me! I absolutely loved the anime and have awaited the day I’d get a chance to read the original novel. According to Amazon, that day will be January 19, 2010.

Freelance manga adapter, Ysabet, has a LiveJournal post with a credits correction pertaining to the upcoming volume two of Shinobi Life. Contrary to the book, adaptation credit goes to her while the translation was done by Lori Riser. Also, Ysabet lives in the same city as me so how cool is that? Pretty darn cool because Halifax is awesome like that.

Speaking of LiveJournal, Digital Manga has taken to the community site with two accounts for its imprints: one for June Manga and another for 801Media. They also have another account, june_manga_chat, where they invite questions and discussion pertaining to their titles, while the other two accounts seem primarily for newsletter and preview-type posts. (Source: The Yaoi Review)

And speaking of Digital Manga, their imprint 801Media has recently announced the winners of their 801-chan Contest. Entrants were invited to script short 4-panel strips as seen in the back of their books starring the imprints mascot characters. Six winners were chosen (including myself, yay!) and they’ll all have their scripts drawn into the full-colour strips by the original artist and the strips will then be published in future releases. Congrats to all the winners!

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Categories: Contests, Licensing
Tags: 801Media, Boys' Love/Yaoi, June, Light Novels, Manga, Viz Media

The Yaoi Doctor Is In, Another from CMX

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, March 11, 2009

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RightStuf has a listing for a new yaoi manga being published, tentatively, May 27, 2009 by Kitty Media: You Higashino’s Shihaisuru Yubisaki (and/or possibly its sequel one-shot, Kogareru Yubisaki).

“Dreamy neurosurgeon Tsuda is in a passionate relationship with fellow doctor Shiraishi. But when a steamy new patient shows up and wants to play doctor with Shiraishi, their love is put to the test!”

The translated name? Gay’s Anatomy. Oh Kitty Media, you’ve been having fun with your translated names recently haven’t you?

On a semi-unrelated note, Mangachat left a comment on my recent post regarding some CMX possible licenses, to point me at The Lizard Prince by Asuka Izumi, another CMX listed title that’s recently surfaced on the online retail website.

Not that I can complain about more manga but does anyone miss the days when manga acquistions were more exciting? Or should I say announced before discovered atleast.

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, CMX, Manga

New Manga Titles and YouTube Advertising

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, March 9, 2009

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As I work on a round-up post of Animaritime 2009, I’ve been making the manga blogosphere rounds to see what goodies I missed over the weekend.

On the manga licensing front, there were a few new titles I came home to read about:

Brigid has information about five new yaoi titles from NetComics and Ed over at MangaCast posts about new listings in Diamond previews: Peach! by U-Jin, put out Aurora Publishing, and Fujita Maki’s Trill on Eden being put out by GoComi. Trill of Eden is a title first spotted on Amazon in December.

Lys-chan found some new CMX titles on Amazon which she posts about on her LiveJournal: A Tale of an Unknown Country by Natsuna Kawase and Oh! My Brother by Ken Saito. I also came across a listing for Deka Kyoushi by Tamio Baba (pictured at left).

And though I didn’t have time to post about it before heading out for convention-y goodness, Digital Manga has a post about YouTube manga previews they’ve put together as promotion and preview for several of their recent and upcoming boys’ love releases. These titles include the previously released Black Sun and the long-awaited sixth volume of Our Kingdom.

Taking a brief moment to catch up on the anime-world in Canada, those who watched the premiere of Pretty Cure on YTV over the weekend have good things to say about it, including a pleasant dub job and, from what they can tell, no edits or censoring. I can’t wait to catch an episode but the 7:30am and 4:30pm on Fridays showtimes are likely going to make this a difficult thing to manage. Darn you work and school!

On the less positive anime front in Canada, Bandai Entertainment’s free YouTube streaming of Gundam 00’s first couple of episodes isn’t available in Canada. Phooey. Then again, Code Geass did become available to us eventually…

And to finish this round-up post with something else anime-related (crazy, no?), I have to post a link to ANN’s news that Takako Shimura’s Aoi Hana is getting an anime. I love the manga so I’ll definitely be adding it to my short of list of animes I look forward to previewing when they become available.

Keep your eyes peeled in the near future for a post about this past weekend’s Animaritime including a quick peek at my newly acquired swag, which will be a very good indication of the reviews you can expect to see here at Kuriousity over the next month or so :)

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: Anime, Boys' Love/Yaoi, Canada, GoComi, Manga

Yaoi Generation Adds Shinri Fuwa Titles

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, February 26, 2009

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Recently launched boys’ love publisher, Yaoi Generation has announced two new licenses today: Shinri Fuwa’s Tendar Affairs (Yasashii Kankei), and its sequel series, Perfect World. Combined the two connected series are five volumes long.

Yaoi Generation gave out clues pertaining to these licenses on their forums not too long away:

“…they’re older multi-volume works from a mangaka whose work has been published in the US before. She’s known for drawing wonderful expressions. It’s a light yaoi.”

Shinri Fuwa’s work has previously been published by Digital Manga and BeBeautiful and one of their current projects is the Libre/Deux english-teaching project, Repeat After Me?. Shinri Fuwa’s two titles bring Yaoi Generation’s series list up to three, but they assure fans of their initial release, breath, that it remains their top priority.

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Yaoi Generation

More on Amazon, Remove List Continues to Predict

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, February 17, 2009

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More from Amazon.ca today, this time with the majority coming from Tokyopop. Usual disclaimer: Until officially announced by companies, all listed here remain speculation only.

Mikansei No. 1 (Vol. 01) – Majiko!

Maria Holic (Vol. 01) – Endo Minari
By the artist of Tokyopop’s currently released series, Dazzle.

Mad Love Chase (Vol. 01) – Kazusa Takashima
With the original title Harlem Beat wa Yoake Made, Made Love Chase is a five-volume shoujo series by the boys’ love famed artist known for her popular series Wild Rock and Man’s Best Friend (both published under Tokyopop’s BLU imprint). Undoubtedly my favourite find of the day :)

And anyone remember my post back in October 2008, License Fortune Telling… But Not Really? Well as of today that list of crossed out licenses has gotten six titles shorter. Only a few left on there now that have yet to be announced or spotted as listings (which remember are not 100% definitive). Titles now crossed off:

.hack//Alcor – Kanami Amou
Ashita no Yoichi – Minamoto Yuu
Harlem Beat wa Toaki Made – Kazusa Takashima
Haru Hana – Kazumi Yuana
Karakuri Odette – Suzuki Julietta
Metal Heart – Yoon Jae Ho

Other listings of interest that popped up today were one for Tokyopop’s recently announced Domo manga project, which looks to have Clint Bickham, one of Tokyopop’s previous winners of the Rising Stars of Manga competition, as atleast one of its artists. Del Rey’s upcoming OEL adaptation of Bakugan Brawlers has Kriss Sison listed as illustator.

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: Del Rey, Global Manga, Manhwa, Tokyopop

New from BLU, Not Just For Us Canadians

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, February 12, 2009

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

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

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

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

Madness (BLU)
Shimotsuki Kairi

Liberty Liberty! (BLU)
Hinako Takanaga

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

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

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

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

More Boys’ Love Winter to Winter

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, February 9, 2009

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Amazon.ca has a handful of new boys’ love listings today, most previously announced titles and a few new ones.

Some older Digital Manga licenses listed now are How to Capture a Martini and 9th Sleep by Makoto Tateno. 9th Sleep was originally slated for release in December 2007 but returns now with a listing for December 2009. Other titles include the 801Media title Kiss Your Hair by Duo Brand, Great Place High School – Student Council (second volume of the Great Place High School series) by Naduki Koujima, Love Skit by Rie Honjou and The Devil Inside (originally licensed under the name The Devil Within) by Rico Fukiyama. Awaken Forest by Yuna Aoi also has a listing, and I’m pretty sure it’s a previously announced release (though where it was announced escapes me currently).

The titles below, to my knowledge, are new:

Wagamama Go-Man (Light Novel)
Naduki Koujima (Artist), Kyoko Waktatsuki (Author)

Our Kingdom – Arabian Nights
Naduki Koujima
(Connected to the currently DMP-released, Our Kingdom series)

I’ve Moved Next Door To You
Fuuri Misasagi

Reversible (Vol. 01)
Various Artists

Reversible (Vol. 01) is the first release in a series of short stories by a variety of boys’ love artists new to English publication.

Other boys’ love collections to look forward to for the next holiday season come from Yaoi Press with several new bundles of their previously released series, such as a collection of Dany+Dany’s works, the Gothic Yaoi Bundle; the Yaoi Gems Bundle, which includes Stallion, Saihoshi and the first two volumes of the Yaoi Anthology series, and, my personal recommendation of the bunch, a Winter Demon Bundle containing all four volumes of the series.

Most of the books and bundles linked to here are slated for release in winter of next year (gross thinking of next winter while we still suffer this year’s nasty winter bite though isn’t it?).

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: 801Media, Boys' Love/Yaoi, June, Makoto Tateno