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Licensing | Press Releases | Release Lists

King of Fighters Contest: Win Money, Games and Consoles

King of Fighters Fanart Contest

With Yaoi Press’s contest out there for the writers, here’s a contest for the artists out there. In celebration of the upcoming release of King of Fighters XII, a fanart contest is being held with some pretty sweet prizes.

Bad news is that it’s only open to residents of the United States. You’re losing out on a lot of fantastic potential entries, KoF!

For US residents, the contest runs from April 21 to July 31st and entrants are invited to submit their fanart using the handy upload system set up on on the contest page for a chance to win $1000, consoles, and/or copies of the game! Sharpen your pencils and dust of the tablets, those’re some fine prizes for a shiny game.


Yaoi Press Caption Contest, Win A Book and Shiny Posters

Yaoi Press Caption Contest

From now until the deadline of June 22nd, Yaoi Press is holding a Captain Contest in connection with their weekly gag panels, Yaoi Not Actually. Entrants of the contest must take the images provided for the contest and give them some amusing dialouge that will likely be entertaingly out of context.

The prize for the funniest phrases? A copy of Yaoi Press’s upcoming first volume of Happy Yaoi Yum Yum and sixteen gorgeous 11×17 posters of various Yaoi Press artists’ work. You can check out the contest page for all the details. And don’t forget, if you win the contest and are wondering what to do with all those pretty posters, remember who told you about the contest, alright? ;)


Shojo Beat’s End Confirmed for July 2009

Shojo BeatIn follow-up to my post yesterday regarding the speculated end of Viz Media’s Shojo Beat anthology, today Viz representatives confirmed the news:

“The final issue of Shojo Beat magazine will be the July 2009 issue which is on newstands June 16th.

We are very proud of the past issues of Shojo Beat magazine and the efforts of the entire team. The magazine developed quite a fan base but unfortunately in today’s difficult economic climate we felt the need to place our resources elsewhere at this time.

Of course all of our great shojo manga titles previously serialized in Shojo Beat magazine will still be published and available as graphic novels under the Shojo Beat imprint from Viz Media. 

Each Shojo Beat Subscriber will be receiving a free copy of the August issue of Shonen Jump magazine with the pertinent information on what their subscription/refund options will be.

Subscribers and fans of shojo manga can get the latest information on all new Shojo Beat titles and news by visiting www.shojobeat.com

This information has also been posted on the Shojo Beat website.

So there you have it. A shame but I suppose with all else happening due to the economy it’s not a surprise. Current subscribers will hear the available options regarding their subscriptions (likely the option to recieve Shonen Jump instead) or possible refunds in August.


Farewell to Viz’s Shojo Beat?

Farewell to Shojo Beat?

An e-mail today from a concerned subscriber to Viz Media’s Shojo Beat magazine alerted me that there may be a looming cancellation in the future for Viz’s shojo compilation magazine. (Thanks again for the heads up, Mary.)

Currently Viz is no longer taking subscriptions for Shojo Beat through their website and their telephone subscription service is letting consumers know that this is in fact true, and that readers should keep their eye on the website for updates in the near future.

Over on the AnimeNewsNetwork forum, word has already hit some worried readers, prompting the post of this periodical website, Alini Magazine Services, which states that “Shojo Beat is ceasing publication with the July 2009 issue–subscribers will receive Shonen Jump.”

As in fairly common in magazine shutdowns, it looks like Viz is opting to offer Shojo Beat subscribers copies of Shonen Jump in its place. As nothing has been officially announced yet, it remains to be seen if this will a definite solution or an option between that and refunds should Shojo Beat be infact coming to its final days. With such a varying difference in subject matter between the two magazines, I find the idea of giving Shojo Beat readers Shonen Jump to be a bit of a stretch.

Looking into it a little further, I also saw that several online retail sites list Shojo Beat’s August release as the last one while Shonen Jump continues on for several more issues in pre-order status.

No official word from Viz Media on this yet, but now with word spreading and company representatives no longer accepting new or renewed subscriptions, expect to hear something concrete in the near future.


Love Syndrome One of More DM Disappearances?, More Yellow

Where Have We Gone?

Internet-splunkage today stumbled me upon a post from user saaria on the AarinFantasy forums, that states Digital Manga has confirmed the cancellation of Yura Miyazawa’s Love Syndrome. Amazon has the book marked for a May 2009 release but the title is not present on Digital Manga’s website.

I shot out an e-mail to Digital Manga for confirmation on this, but in the meantime took to looking if there may be other unknown casualities.

Read more…


Kodansha Comics Appearance, Rereleases Listed on Amazon

Kodansha Cometh...?

There’s been lots of speculation about Kodansha’s silence on their plans to publish in North America since it was first announced back in July 2008. Rumours of a cease in their plans due to America’s economic issues seemed to make sense, but still, it was only a matter of time before something new turned up. Could that time be now?

Amazon.ca has listings for Akira (Vol. 01), Akira (Vol. 02) and Ghost in the Shell (Vol. 01), all listed under ‘Kodansha Comics’ as the publisher. Both these titles have been previously released by Dark Horse. Second editions of both Ghost In The Shell and Akira were released by Dark Horse in 2004, both sporting slightly higher page numbers than these Kodansha Comics listings.

Credit where credit is due to Andre and AnimeVice who were quicker on the draw posting this than I. Though in doing so Andre’s new blog: Geekery with Andre, has been discovered. Happy to see it, Andre! Loved your posts over at LiveJournal.

So what do these listings foretell? Who knows at this point exactly, but may it be the start of rereleases to come. Why? Because I’m now on 24/7 Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon watch. Kodansha, you’ve been warned.

Edit: Quick-to-action Gia of AnimeVice has already made contact with Dark Horse’s Marketing Coordinator:

“Marketing Coordinator Aaron Colter informed that while he couldn’t comment on any license expiration, he could confirm that Dark Horse wouldn’t be publishing either of those titles in the future, so if Kodansha says they’re reprinting them, then they probably are.”


Release List: May 2009

Five months after I say these release lists will be monthly occurences and suddenly ‘poof’, nothing. Sorry to those who’ve been coming back and looking for them. Your e-mails have not fallen on blind eyes and Kuriousity’s monthly release lists are back! Collecting the release titles in a month can be time-consuming but it’s still something I hope to keep up with that I’ve got myself a much easier system, aka, no author names which saves an amazing amount of time on typing and formatting.

So that said, mark May 2009 as an awesome start to a manga-filled summer and check out of the titles you can look forward to seeing on your bookstore shelves in the next month :)

Read more…


L Is For Limerick, Win Tickets to See L on the Big Screen

L Is For Limerick

The folks over at Manga Recon are holding a contest where the winners can recieve free tickets to see Viz’s upcoming theatre release of Death Note: L, Change the World. (Note: Contest showings are for the US cities NY Metro Area, Denver, San Francisco/San Jose/Oakland, Peoria/Bloomington). The  entry method? Writing a Death Note inspired limerick or haiku of course!

The contest is open until 11:59pm April 26, 2009 so if you’re in the area of the ticket offers, head on over and enter your limerick. Sounds like fun and while the contest prizes aren’t applicable to me, I’m still more than a little curious about the entries :) Fun idea for a contest!


Yen Press Confirms Pandora Hearts, Will Run in Yen Plus

Pandora Hearts

Over at the Yen Press blog, Kurt Hassler confirms that Yen Press has acquired the license for Jun Mochizuki’s Pandora Hearts and Crimson Shell series. While the first graphic novel of Pandora Hearts is slated for release in December 2009, it’ll first be joining the other serialized series in Yen Press’s Yen Plus magazine as of their June edition. Good news for eager fans! Pandora Hearts will be replacing the currently running Bamboo Blade series.

Listings for both Pandora Hearts and Crimson Shell first popped up on Amazon.ca earlier this month.


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

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?”

Cosplay AiIf 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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