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PictureBox Inc Releasing Massive Bara Anthology in Spring 2014

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, May 16, 2013

This past weekend’s Toronto Comics Art Festival had comics, comics and more comics, and also managed to slip in some manga industry news from attending publisher, Picture Box Inc. The company announced they’ll be releasing a new anthology of gay erotic manga called Massive: Gay Erotic Manga And The Men Who Make It. The book is planned for Spring 2014.

Currently the anthology is slated to have short stories and biographies on the following creators:

Fumi Miyabi
Gengoroh Tagame
Go Fujimoto
Guy Mizuki

Inu Yoshi
Jiraiya
Kazuhide Ichikawa
Kumada Poohsuke

Noda Gaku
Seizoh Ebisubashi
Takeshi Matsu

Chip Kidd, the art director for PictureBox’s recently released The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame, will be returning to work on this new project. As someone who was really impressed with the production values of that book, I have high hopes we’ll see treatment just as nice for Massive. Plus it means not only more Gengoroh Tagame in English, but other creators I like such as Takeshi Matsu as well. As with Gengoroh Tagame’s book, this will be a book for mature readers only.

“Massive goes beyond simply translating the artists’ work, offering an intimate, in-depth look at an essential (but criminally overlooked) queer culture that challenges and transcends stereotypes of gender and sexuality. In addition to comics and illustrations, Massive features some of the first photos of these artists; background information providing cultural and historical context; and first-person interviews about what it’s like to be a gay erotic artist in Japan.”

Gay erotic artwork created by men, for men is often referred to as bara and most easily distinguished by its depiction of larger, more masculine characters. This is different from boys’ love/yaoi which is predominantly created by women, for women.

Credit for the news details goes to AnimeNewsNetwork and The Comics Reporter.

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: anthology, Bara, Boys' Love/Yaoi, Gengoroh Tagame, Manga, Picture Box Inc.

SuBLime Resurrects a Fan-Favourite with Crimson Spell

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, May 7, 2013

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Some say this was inevitable, but most are just saying ‘yay!’ since last night when SuBLime announced that they’ve licensed Ayano Yamane’s boys’ love fantasy series, Crimson Spell.

Crimson Spell was originally licensed by Media Blasters, which has since ceased manga publication. The company released two volumes of Crimson Spell under their Kitty Media imprint. Currently the series is up to five volumes in Japan.

SuBLime lists that they’ve licensed the first four volumes of the series for print release starting in December 2013, with subsequent volumes out every two months after that.

“The curse of the magical crimson sword has turned Prince Bald into a monster… To break the spell, he sets out on a journey with the sexy and gorgeous magician, Havi. Bald has no idea that when he turns into a beast at night, Havi uses his unique talents to pacify his beastly appetite… The luscious journey of Bald and Havi begins.” – Media Blasters

SuBLime has also noted that they’re currently discussing different translations for the characters’ names, notably Bald (the name Media Blasters used for the lead) becoming Vlad.

As someone who very much enjoyed the first two volumes – ‘classic’ fantasy and Ayano Yamane boys’ love? How could I not?! – I was excited to read this news. The title has been too requested and too front-and-center of the English boys’ love community for it not to be something I expected either SuBLime or Digital Manga to snap up eventually, but it’s great to finally hear the official who and when. My Media Blasters volumes will remain on the shelf for nostalgia, but you can bet I’ll be double-dipping with SuBLime’s new volumes and looking forward to those I haven’t read yet.

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Ayano Yamane, Boys' Love/Yaoi, Crimson Spell, Manga, Media Blasters, SuBLime

Yen Press Sneak Tweets License of New Series, Bloody Cross

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, April 27, 2013

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Even though we’ve already entered the major manga news period known as convention season, Yen Press is showing they won’t be confined by what we traditionally expect for announcements. Tonight – just after midnight here in the Northern East Coast – they suddenly announced a new license via Twitter:

Bloody Cross – Shiwo Komeyama

The story is about a half-vampire, half-angel (messy combination!) who seeks the power of a special book that is rumoured to be able to cure her. On the way she becomes tangled in a war where other special individuals compete to gather items that will allow them to ascend to the position of ‘God’.

Bloody Cross is currently eight volumes in Japan, and on-going. There are no further details from Yen Press at this time to indicate whether the series will be released as single volumes or multi-book omnibus. Six volumes have already been released in French by Ki-oon.

When asked about announcing this license via Twitter, the Yen Press representative replied with “That’s how we know if you’re paying attention.”. Always, Yen Press, always!

In other Yen Press news, the company is currently seeking to hire a new Editorial Assistant, while RightStuf is having a sale on their books until April 29th.

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Bloody Cross, Manga, Yen Press

New Publisher Kansai Club Kicks Off With Tezuka Shorts

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, April 13, 2013

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This past Thursday, we received an e-mail with information on what looks to be a new manga publisher on the block. Word on the web seems sparse on this sudden newcomer, but for now with hopeful hearts we welcome, Kansai Club.

“Kansai Club Publishing L.L.C. is an American publishing company that specializes in importing and translating Japanese literature and Manga from the 1940′s to the 1970′s. Our organization is small, intimate and comprised of a close-knit group of individuals who genuinely love good Manga. Our singular goal is to expose the American public to classic, obscure, rare, visually pleasing, emotionally taxing and often archaic Japanese Manga that have never before been published in English.”

It’s great to see a new company working to bring more manga for us in English. It’s not a cheap or easy endeavour, and I don’t even know where an individual would start negotiating with Japanese publishers to acquire content. With that in mind, some reservations about a new company are always understandable, especially when, like Kansai Club, they are described as being two people working out of a living room. Everyone needs to start somewhere, but I hope this fledgling publisher has some more confidence-building proof for its potential consumers in the near future.

Kansai Club currently has a website set-up with some more information about their company. As of now, their social media links lead to nothing but I did see they’ve created a Twitter account that has yet to be updated.

That all being said, however, the company is definitely starting off with material that’s proven it can garner some strong pre-production support. Kansai Club’s first acquisition is a collection of short stories by Osamu Tezuka, titled The Crater.

Collecting eighteen short stories, The Crater will be released as a limited edition, 2000 copy run with a hardcover finish, colour inserts and a current price of $34.95/US. Important to note is that Kansai Club does not have plans to publish this book through retailers. The only way they currently have listed to order the book is to support their yet-to-be-launched Kickstarter for the project, or attend the pop-culture con, Florida Supercon, in July, which Kansai Club is helping to sponsor.

Cynical as it may be, I’m reserving my enthusiasm on this one until I see some more substance, but the prospects are interesting as I’d love more Tezuka on my shelf and another publisher to look to for unique licenses. For now my opinion is Kansai Club has some big goals, but I think publicly launched itself prematurely without taking advantage of social media outlets, having an only partially put together website, a Kickstarter slated to begin two weeks later, and a press release e-mail that was a bit too casual to be easily taken seriously. Still, they’re someone to keep an eye on and we’ll see what Kansai Club has to offer soon enough.

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Kansai Club, Kickstarter, Manga, Osamu Tezuka, The Crater

Seven Seas Skirts the Manga Shadows with Senran Kagura License

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, April 6, 2013

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Ah, Spring – the snow is melting, the sun is shining and publishers start ramping up their license announces. It’s all a win! Now if only I could keep up, right?

This past week Seven Seas confirmed a new license with AnimeNewsNetwork:

Senran Kagura: Skirting Shadows – Kenichirou Takaki & Amami Takatsume

“Hanzo Academy: a secret high school established by the Japanese government to educate the newest generation of ninja girls. The spunky second year student, Asuka, along with her friends, the perverted Katsuragi, the childish Hibari, the mature Ikaruga and the deadly Yagyu, must each undergo rigorous training in their daily school life. But do they have what it takes to become full-fledged ninja? Only their bodacious skills and prodigious talents can keep them alive while they struggle against ninja rivals who seek to destroy them at every turn.” – Seven Seas

Listings for the title appeared on Amazon.ca and Amazon.com late March with prices listed at $13.99/CAN, $12.99/US. Seven Seas currently has a placeholder page for the series, while you can see some preview pages on Amazon.jp. Volume one is listed for a November release.

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Manga, Senran Kagura, Seven Seas

Dark Horse Delivers Lone Wolves, Vocaloids and a Terada Artbook at Sakura Con

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, April 1, 2013

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Dark Horse had some news at the recently passed Sakura-Con, appealing to fans of the old, the new and the just outright shiny. Of the news, however, they had just the one new title announcement:

Hatsune Miku: Unofficial Hatsune Mix – KEI

This manga is by the original designer for Hatsune Miku, so you’re getting your vocaloid fix straight from the source. For those unfamiliar with Hatsune Miku, I recommend Wikipedia for a quick overview of the phenomena and character. Currently this series is three volumes in Japan and Dark Horse will include several full colour illustrations. My experience of Hatsune Miku stops at knowing who she is and the technology that birthed her, so I’m actually a little curious to see how a story starring her goes in manga format.

Dark Horse also re-announced their plans for the sequel series to Lone Wolf and Club, by Hideki Mori & Kazuo Koike. They had already stated they had the license for this title back in 2006, but apparently it’s had some significant delays since then. The company announced in October that they’ll be re-releasing the original Lone Wolf and Club as omnibus editions so the timing of this sequel update fits well.

And last up for new stuff, Dark Horse also revealed they’ll be releasing a new art book – The Art of Katsuya Terada. As the name suggests, this collection of art is by Katsuya Terada, whose works include being character design for Blood: The Last Vampire and his comic series, The Monkey King, which Dark Horse is currently publishing.

Credit for the news and details goes to Anime News Network.

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Conventions, Dark Horse, Hatsune Miku, Lone Wolf and Cub, Manga

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

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, March 31, 2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Manga Minis: Bye-Bye-Bye, SuBLime’s Boys’ Love Sync and Vertical goes Digital

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, March 21, 2013

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We’re saying some sad good-byes to a couple things first in today’s mini news round-up, then cap things off with some interesting pieces of digital news to lighten things up at least a little:

Seven Sea‘s Adam Arnold has responded to a fan’s inquiry to the status of their series, Blood Alone. Because of a publisher switch-up, the title is currently not available for Seven Seas to license past where it’s already released. With Blood Alone now owned by Kodansha, Seven Seas doesn’t see the license availability changing because of Kodansha’s own English branch. The last volume of Blood Alone published in English was volume six in April 2012. (News credit to Conner)

I really liked this series, so it’s sad we’ll likely never see volume seven published in English. I’ll keep my fingers crossed though! Series look so lonely sitting unfinished on the shelf…

Erica Friedman of ALC Publishing has published a post announcing her decision to cease future publications. ALC Publishing has published several yuri books and, up until JManga’s recent shutdown, was collaborating with the website to release several yuri series digitally. Erica cites reasons including a poor buying market, fans lack of interest in digital titles and a lack of support from North America’s largest publisher of yuri, Seven Seas.

It’s a real shame when any publisher is forced to pull the plug for reasons beyond their control, and Erica’s worked very hard to cater to a niche market over the years. As a reader and collector of yuri, I’ve enjoyed ALC’s previous titles and I’m grateful that Erica will still be promoting the genre and sharing her thoughts via her website, Okazu (which has recently gotten an address change, so update those links folks!).

SuBLime announced a new project in late February – a joint manga and light novel release that will be simultaneously released in Japan and in English. The title is Into Illusion, written by Reiko Yoshihara, the author best known for Ai no Kusabi. The artist for the manga is Ryo Tateishi, whose work on the cover provided by SuBLime is enough to make any boys’ love fan interested! You can check out their post for the eye-candy and more information. This series is scheduled to start at the end of April.

And lastly, keeping on the digital train, Vertical Inc. will be releasing a number of their series for digital purchase starting this Spring. The current planned titles are Twin Spica, The Drops of God, and 7 Billion Needles with availability to be made on Amazon’s Kindle, Apple’s iBookstore and the NOOK. This is good news for those who prefer their collections condensed digitally, plus Vertical has previously said that their Twin Spica series is already going out of print so this offers it a second lease at readership life. (Credit for the news goes to AnimeNewsNetwork)

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Categories: Licensing, Manga Minis, News
Tags: 7 Billion Needles, ALC Publishing, Blood Alone, Boys' Love/Yaoi, Digital, Into Illusion, Manga, Seven Seas, SuBLime, The Drops of God, Twin Spica, Vertical Inc, Yuri

One Peace Licenses Black Bard and Smuggler for Winter Release

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, March 11, 2013

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One Peace Books isn’t a company that comes to mind right away for most English manga readers. However this little company is continuing to grow and this past week had two fun license announcements that I think are a notable step in catching the attention of the more average manga reader:

Black Bard – Ichiya Sazanami (Amazon CAN/US)
Smuggler – Shohei Manabe (Amazon CAN/US)

Listings for each title are already on Amazon, though pricing for the releases is still not available. The listings verify that both books will be released as single volumes, with Black Bard scheduled for October 2013 and Smuggler for December 2013.

Both these licenses are really interesting for One Peace Books. Smuggler was previously released by Tokyopop so this will be its second edition in North America. One Peace already has one other license ‘rescue’ under their belt with Crayon Shin-Chan, so at least this acquisition isn’t too much a surprise in that way.

“Ryosuke Kinuta is a struggling young actor with a mounting problem–his unpaid debts to loan sharks have caught up with him, so they cut a deal, offering him a different type of role. Ryosuke will work as their carrier, but unfortunately, this isn’t the big break he has been hoping for. He has to smuggle the bodies of murdered victims, making sure they’re never to be seen again…or he’ll never be seen again!” – Tokyopop

Black Bard on the other hand, which is a first-time in English release, is a lot more mainstream looking than I ever expected from One Peace. They’ve primarily released lesser known independent works such as Tenken and manga adaptations of classic literature. You can see a few preview pages of Black Bard on Amazon.jp. Based on the art style alone, I’m looking forward to this one quite a bit and the fact that it’s going to be a 3-in-1 collected edition of almost 600 pages makes it sound even more worthwhile.

Black Bard follows the journey of a young bard who, while travelling across a fantasy world, entrances those he meets with his unique singing voice and particular set of talents.

Credit for this news goes to AnimeNewsNetwork.

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Black Bard, Manga, Omnibus, One Peace Books, Smuggler

From A New World and Pink: Vertical Inc Licenses Two New Titles at Genericon for Autumn 2013

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, March 2, 2013

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Right on the heels of their previous two, Vertical Inc has announced two new licenses for their 2013 release year at this past week’s Genericon:

From the New World – Yūsuke Kishi & Tōru Oikawa
Pink – Kyoko Okazaki

From the New World is based off the novel of the same name by Yūsuke Kishi, and it’s anime adaptation is currently available to watch on Crunchyroll. The story takes place in the Japan of the future where five children, born in a utopia town run by telekinetics learn the truth of their society and put their lives on the line to survive its collapses. The current release date is early Autumn this year.

Pink is by the same creator as Vertical’s previously announced, Helter Skelter: Fashion Unfriendly. This new title is also a one-shot and is about a young woman balancing her job, love life and pet crocodile while supporting them via her night life as a prostitute. Pink is due out late Autumn.

Vertical Inc has stated these books would be their last new titles to debut in 2013, while they’ll begin announcing 2014 plans at the upcoming ACen. Details of these license comes courtesy of AnimeNewsNetwork.

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: From the New World, Helter Skelter, Manga, Pink, Vertical Inc