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Licensing | Press Releases | Release Lists

801Media Confirms Yellow 2, Omnibus Edition

Makoto Tateno's Yellow

Fresh back from this past weekend’s Anime Expo, the 801Media blog has been updated with information regarding Digital Manga’s upcoming omnibus edition of Yellow and the semi-mysterious listing of Yellow 2 that popped up on Amazon sometime ago.

I recieved a few e-mails from people asking if I could clarify my own hypothesis regarding the listing, and though I couldn’t offer anything info-wise before, now 801Media has confirmed my suspicions were correct. Yellow 2 will in fact be a sequel series to Makoto Tateno’s Yellow, a set of short stories that have thus far only been released in Japan on cellphones.

“These are called Yellow 2: Episode 1. It’s a sequel to the Yellow series. These have never been published before, but they have been distributed only in Japan via cell phones and hand-held portable devices. DMP is extremely lucky to be able to license these series! Yes, there are many more to come, of course. Episode 2, 3, 4 … etc etc These will be hitting the US market as a short-comic style, containing approximately 60 pages or so. It’s a classic Makoto Tateno!”

These are “tentatively slated for October 2009” and there will be limited copies available at Yaoi Con 2009.

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m pretty excited to have something released here so fresh and first-to-print. Even more so excited that it looks like we’ll be seeing it long before another semi-similar project that’s been leaving us fans waiting a long time. Fingers crossed for more projects like this from Digital Manga in the future. Don’t let their efforts be for naught, boys’ love fans :)

Edit: To clarify, it was the 801Media website that confirmed the releases but they’ll both be printed under the June imprint, just as the original Yellow series was.


Anime Expo 2009 Round-Up

Anime Expo 2009

Anime Expo 2009 rounds up today down in Los Angeles which means it’s time for a quick news round-up. Industry presence seems considerably less this year, an observation that I make as someone who wasn’t able to attend mind you, and the announcement list is considerably smaller than the whopping 61 manga licenses that Anime Expo 2008 had for us. Goes to show how the industry’s changed over the past year I suppose, right? Anime Expo did continue its reputation as the largest anime convention in North America however with an attendence of over 44,000.

For the manga news, check out my round-up under the cut.

Read more…


Summer Predictions for Tokyopop on Amazon.com

Deadman Wonderland

While many manga fans are enjoying con season for some in-person news, Amazon continues to offer glimpses into the future a little ahead of schedule. Today I came across a few new titles from Tokyopop over on Amazon.com, so enjoy :) But remember, this doesn’t neccessarily guarantee a release until we hear from Tokyopop directly (or see the title in this month’s Diamond previews; yay for Kazusa’s Mad Love Chase!)

Kokaku Detective Story (Vol. 01)
Yoshitsugu Katagiri

Happy Cafe (Vol. 01)
Kou Matsuzuki

Hanako and the Teller of Allegory (Vol. 01)
Sakae Esuno

.hack//CELL (Vol. 01)
Ryo Suzukaze & Akira Mutsuki

Deadman Wonderland (Vol. 01)
by Jinsei Kataoka & Kazuma Kondou

Not much surprise seeing another .hack series but it’s of course good news for the fans out there. The title I’m most interested in however is Deadman Wonderland (pictured above). The artist is the same manga-ka behind Eureka Seven and the plot sounds like a cool combination of gladiatorial battles and supernatural drama.

What about everyone else, looking forward to some of these titles?


Release List: July 2009

Is it just me or did June fly by really fast? Ah well, another month by means another month closer to more manga titles! Come on, we all know that’s how it works, right?

Lots of goodies coming out in July, including the next volume of Osamu Tezuka’s medical marvel, Black Jack, the much anticipated next volume of Naoki Urusawa’s Pluto and the thirteenth volume of Oh!Great’s energetically-paced Air Gear. Throw in the next volume of Tsubasa, a second volume of the hilariously cute Train*Train and the sequel one-shot, Mr. Flower Groom, and I’d say we’re in for a great month! And hopefully one that sees lots of fun licensing announcements at the upcoming Anime Expo and San Diego Comic Con as well. Check out the full list of titles under the cut.

Read more…


Yaoi Press Caption Contest Winners Posted

Yaoi Press has posted the results of its previously announced Caption Contest. You can currently head on over to their contest page to see the winner, along with the runners-up and honorable mentions. Congrats to the winners! For the shiny posters, I would’ve loved to enter but conflicting interest or something like that no doubt.

Speaking of which, the panels used in the contest are from Yaoi Press’s newest anthology, Happy Yaoi Yum Yum which just had a release of volume one. I was allowed the opportunity to letter a couple of the stories (which was fantastically fun, let me tell you) so the book already has a special place awaiting it on my bookshelf along with being a collection of work from some talented creators. If you like your yaoi porny and your story’s funny, I recommend checking it out.


New Titles in June’s Web-A-Thon Future

Digital Manga

In follow-up to their press release outling Digital Manga’s newest endeavour, a preorder set-up that allows early releases for books recieving high orders, their web blog now lists a variety of future yaoi titles that will have the same opportunity for eager fans.

The titles include volume two of Yugi Yamada’s Close The Last Door! and volume three of Yukari Hashida’s Kabuki. You can see the complete list of titles on their website.


Amazon Lists CMX Titles, Stolen Hearts and The World I Create

CMX and a Kitty-Kat

Two new listings popped up on Amazon.ca today, both listed from CMX, the manga imprint of comic-giant, DC. The titles are Stolen Hearts (Vol. 01) by Miku Sakamoto and The World I Create (Vol. 01) by Ayami Kazama.  I wasn’t able to find information on either of the titles past what the Amazon listings provide, but based on the name Ayami Kazama I was at least able to provide an adorable cat-kid for the image.  It may not be entirely relevant but it sure is cute, right? Both Amazon titles are listed for release in early 2010.

Edit: Stolen Hearts, original name Toraware Gokko, is currently running in Japan’s Hana to Yume magazine with three compiled volumes so far. Japanese Amazon pages for these books in their original release can be seen here and here. Information updates compliments of Toukochan (Twi), Kilthan (Twi) and Michelle Smith.

On a more informative note, the new edition of Battle Royale that Viz Media is putting out in November 2009 (according to Amazon), now has a slick cover design uploaded. On the cover are some of the books’ facts including “Foreward by Max Allan Collins, Newly Revised Text, Interview With Director Kinji Fukasaku and 22 Extra Pages by Author Koushun Takami”.


Release List: June 2009

After recieving a few e-mails from readers about my releases lists, still some of the bigger draws of my site it seems, I’ve made some changes to the format :) Now for your convenience each book is seperated by publisher instead of being listed alphabetically (with shiny banners just ’cause!). I’ll also be updating this list with links to reviews for the books posted here on Kuriousity as they’re posted.

Also, as you may have noticed, this book list is for June 2009’s manga releases. Where as I was going to post these monthly release lists a month in advance (example: this should be July by that system), a reader brought up the concern that this was too far in advance and knowing what’s coming out right now is more useful, which makes sense of course. So, what do people think? Post these lists at the beginning of the month or return to the month-in-advance formula?

Either way, enjoy this month’s releases! Tons of goodies coming your way with Viz leading the pack yet again. And is that another volume of Nightmare Inspector I see? Didn’t I just buy that? Viz is great for giving me that feeling quite often it seems.

Read more…


Tokyopop Title Tips, New News About Old News

Portrait of M and NA couple new Amazon finds today (feels like it’s been a while, doesn’t it?) and a few updates on some old news. Hold onto your seats, this could prove mildly of interest to you!

First off, Tokyopop has two new series listed over on Amazon.ca, both listed for February 2010:

Portrait of M and N (Vol. 01) – Tachibana Higuchi
Alice in the Country of Hearts – Unknown

Likely related to recent Domo-promotion news, Tokyopop also has a listing for Domo 7/11 Exclusive. No real idea what that is, but it’s atleast being sold to us considerably cheaper than whatever the heck these are: Pop Display — 2009 Volume 3: Chibi Vampire and Pop Display — 2009 Volume 4: Domo 7-11 Box. $431.68 Canadian? Alrighty then.

In updates on older news, Amazon now lists Yen Press’s upcoming omnibus re-release of Azumanga Daioh. The book is dated for December 2009 and with a 672 page-count. You can see the listing on Amazon.ca and Amazon.com.

For those who can’t wait to get a hold of Viz’s VizBig omnibus  release of Inu-Yasha (sporting unflipped pages), Amazon also has that listed now as well. A 576 page-count with the first volume due out November 2009 can be seen at both Amazon.ca and Amazon.com.

For the Battle Royale fans out there, Viz looks to be re-releasing the novel. Viz originally released a copy of Koushun Takami’s brutal survival drama novel in early 2003. This new listing has the same description and page-count as the 2003 release so it’s likely a reprint over a formal rerelease if the information on Amazon is indeed correct.

Yellow by Makoto TatenoAnd finally, I checked back on a weird listing for something called Yellow 2:  Episode 1 that originally popped up on Amazon.ca earlier this month. The listing has been tweaked slightly, including to my memory, the additional information that the book is only 60 pages long. That’s pretty tiny for a graphic novel, and even more curious is that to my knowledge Makoto Tateno (still) hasn’t done a sequel to her popular boys’ love series, Yellow. Until now…? 

While this is purely speculation on my end (for a listing that may or may not even be accurate), it reminds me a lot of Dark Horse’s upcoming release of CLAMP’s mangettes, with the smaller page counts released over numerous ‘episodes’. I can’t help but ponder the possibilities: could Digital Manga could be hopping on the simulataneous release bandwagon and could we see some exciting news in the future regarding more potential titles like this from them? Time will tell!


IKKI Magazine Goes Live, Children of the Sea First Installment

Viz Signature's IKKI - Children of the Sea

Slow on the posting of this piece of news I am. Darn life getting in the way sometimes, but as I’m now the proud owner of a 9-5pm job again, this should hopefully mean more consistant time for my loyal Kuriousity readers!

After news of Shojo Beat’s end saddened manga readers around the web, Viz Media was quick to announce the BETA version of their new online manga magazine, IKKI. Since the folks over at the Viz Blog worded it so nicely, I’ll let them do the honours here as well:

“IKKI is a monthly magazine published in Japan that has established itself as the home of some of the most innovative, bold, and compelling series in the world of contemporary manga. Since its launch in 2003 IKKI has built a catalog of titles notable for its diversity. From action to comedy to drama, from slice-of-life stories to surrealist fantasies, the one common thing these works share is an uncommon emphasis on creative quality and on pushing the boundaries of the norm.

In partnership with our imprint “VIZ Signature” line of graphic novels, IKKI is bringing the works of some of its top creators to the English-language audience via a groundbreaking online monthly manga magazine.”

The first, and thus far only, free chapter up for viewing is an endearing story called Children of the Sea by Daisuke Igarashi. The first volume of Children of the Sea in graphic novel form is due out in July of this year. I highly recommend checking out the first chapter which has successfully left me looking forward to the collected version later this summer.

Future series that will be serialized (for free!) on Viz’s IKKI website include Bokurano: Ours by Mohiro Kitoh,  House of Five Leaves by Natsume Ono, Dorohedoro by Q Hayashida and I’ll Give It My All…Tomorrow by Shunju Aono.

Hard to argue with free manga isn’t it? And by that I mean the legal kind, people.


Take me back to the top!