Another week gone by and another stack of lovely new books to read! Lately I’ve been reading a lot of older titles since my haul at Animaritime but this week’s new titles definitely put up a huge fight for my attention (and who am I kidding, they won!).

First up was  the new volume of Black Butler (Vol. 06) from Yen Press. Knowing that the whole curry fiasco is behind us and another mystery is afoot had me extra eager for this book. I was not disappointed! This series is worth  buying for the art alone – such gorgeous Victorian outfits ranging from the wonderful to just plain weird. Throw in some detective work and sexual tension between pretty people and it’s an easy sell.

Much less in-your-face about its charms is the fourth volume of Cross Game. I’ve completely fallen in love with this series – I love the baseball games, the characters, the romance – it’s all good! It’s so relaxing, the kind of book you just want to curl up in bed with and not put down until you’re done. Plus I think I join the many in-story characters who have a crush on Aoba.

Adding two more volume sixes to go with Black Butler, I also bought Rin-Ne (Vol. 06) and Time & Again (Vol. 06). Both are series I have hesitations buying because the volumes have been hit or miss since the beginning. All the same, this is the final volume of Time & Again so I had to pick it up to see how things fare between the leads. Rin-Ne I buy consistently because when it’s good I really enjoy it, the kind of entertainment only Rumiko Takahashi can offer.

Speaking of hit or miss, two books came in the mail this week from DramaQueen - Missing Road and JUNK!. With three books now under their belt since their ‘comeback’ began, I’m ready to give them another chance and take a look at the new offerings. First impressions say the quality of the publishing itself is great but will the content itself hold up?

The big purchase this week was undoubtedly Wandering Son (Vol. 01), however. I’ve been waiting, waiting and waiting (patiently you see) for this book since it was announced. With this description, how could I not?

“The fifth grade. The threshold to puberty, and the beginning of the end of childhood innocence. Shuichi Nitori and his new friend Yoshino Takatsuki have happy homes, loving families, and are well-liked by their classmates, but they share a secret that further complicates a time of life that is awkward for anyone: Shuichi is a boy who wants to be a girl, and Yoshino is a girl who wants to be a boy.”

The book has since been showered with praise and rightfully so for what it is. I absolutely loved reading it and will hopefully have a review done soon to highlight why. As a first impressions note, it’s another hardcover release from Fantagraphics so on publication quality alone you really get your money’s worth.

What was in your swag bag this week?

HOUSTON, TEXAS – May 26, 2011. DramaQueen, LLC is celebrating our six years of independent manga and manhwa publishing with the release of our second title from the beloved cult manga-ka, Shushushu Sakurai, JUNK!

Summary: Free Agent Junk is the sole survivor of a nuclear attack, and it’s a closely-guarded secret how he managed to escape alive. Junk’s current mission is to rendezvous with the mysterious criminal “X,” who has been sending Junk messages lately. X wants Junk’s help to meet the Reverend Nagil, leader of a heretical religious sect; but Junk suspects that X has hidden motives for this meeting. Can Junk expose X’s secrets in time before his “true mission” is jeopardized?

Confirmed street date is June 1, 2011. Customers can now order the book at the DQ Shop: www.onedramaqueen.com/shop.

Please email all inquiries to: info@onedramaqueen.com.

Amazon always has some of the best pricing for purchasing books online and occasionally even manga gets the extra special discount treatment, such as Amazon.ca’s Loonie Deals. I was spelunking through the discounted section today and found some manga titles sitting there at some ‘get ‘em while you can’ prices:

What’s most interesting and worth a look about these titles is the majority are out of print series. Several of from the now-defunct Go!Comi, and there’s a boys’ love title from DramaQueen. Newer titles are the two omnibus collections from Seven Seas and offer a great value for some huge books with hefty page counts!

Some boys’ love news snippets today with submission closures, convention schedules and an undead publisher still looking to make a return:

Yaoi Press has recently updated their info page to inform propestive creators that their submissions are currently closed. This is a uncommon state for Yaoi Press which has spent the majority of its time open to new stories by writers and artists. The page does however offer up an honest and open look at why their submissions are currently closed and assurance that they still have previously submitted works on file.

Word has been circulating for a while about Digital Manga’s big yaoi title announcement, promising many happy fans, and that they’ll be making said-announcement at the upcoming Yaoi Con. Today Digital Manga has posted their Yaoi Con schedule including their industry panel and signing times for special guest, Makoto Tateno (see art above).

Digital Manga has also sent out a press release about signed and framed Makoto Tateno artwork which will be available for sale both at Yaoi Con and on their online shop, Akadot.

And lastly, in an odder turn of events, DramaQueen has updated its online shop to showcase what they’re calling a “Rebirth Sale”, offering up several of their back issue books for cheaper prices along with a message that suggests they’re still working on the comeback that they’ve promised for so long. Hmm… sounds sort of familiar.

I won’t beat the proverbial horse on this one but suffice to say DramaQueen hasn’t done anything to win readers’ sympathy or support in the past two years but I suppose it’ll still be interesting to see if they ever do release another book. Still, as much as I’m all for supporting the industry, it’s my honest opinion that shoppers should stay away from ordering through DramaQueen’s online website. The risk is simply too high that prospective buyers will only join the line of people still waiting for DQ to pay their dues.

Amazon.ca brings us a handful of new boys’ love titles this Tuesday from yaoi-behemoth, Digital Manga. All these titles are from artists that readers will likely recognize from previous releases.

Drunken Love – Haruka Minami
(801Media, artist of My Paranoid Next Door Neighbour)

Mamiya Doll House – Kazuhiko Mishima
(June, artist of You Make My Head Spin)

Intense Rain – Shinri Fuwa
(June, artist of A Gentleman’s Kiss)

Alice the 101st – Chigusa Kawai
(June, artist of La Esperanca)

How To Control A Sidebar – Makoto Tateno
(June, spin-off of How To Capture A Martini, artist of Yellow and Steal Moon)

As with all Amazon listings, no series or releases are official until confirmed by the publishers themselves. While Digital Manga cannot confirm the licensing of these series, they did let me know that their big Yaoi Con license announcement is still under wraps and awaiting the eager ears of convention attendees. In the meantime there’s been lots of speculation on forums and blogs on what the title(s) will be, including potential license rescues from the yet-to-be-officially-bankrupt DramaQueen to the recently confirmed shutdown BeBeautiful.

For now fingers crossed we have these titles to look forward to, a great array of returning artists for some new works. I know I for one am really excited for another Chigusa Kawai title after a great finale to her previously June-released series, La Esperanca.

And remember boys’ love fans still have plenty to look forward to during Yaoi Con at the end of the month! Any titles you’ve got your hopes on?

Some note-worthy new listings popped up on Amazon over the week and this time one of them even comes with a confirmation from the company.

Two new Digital Manga listings of interest: one is for another omnibus edition of a previously released series of theirs, this time Hinako Takanaga’s fantastically charming Little Butterfly (big recommendations from me on this one!). This joins the already confirmed omnibus for Makoto Tateno’s Yellow.

Speaking of whom, Makoto Tateno’s boys’ love series Yokan is now listed on Amazon from Digital Manga under the name Preminition. Some yaoi fans may recall this title as having been previously licensed by the now defunk DramaQueen (under the title Omen). Word is that several of DQ’s licenses have begun to expire after years of no releases, which means there’s a likely possibility for more license rescues in the coming future. Preminition, along with a couple other newer licenses, are now listed on Digital Manga’s website.

Other Amazon finds of interest includes two editions of Yen Press’s upcoming first volume release of Soul Eater, one of which apparently coming with a presumably-snazzy slipcover. Extra attention for a series with a big fan base? Speaking of big fan-base (which should be bigger still!), Yen Press will be releasing not one, not two but six volumes of Yotsuba&! this September!

And lastly, though my Twitter followers heard this from me a couple days ago, listings for Akira by Kodansha Comics (previously reported as one of the most solid pieces of Kodansa-related news the English manga world has gotten so far) are now all being listed as the following: Akira Volume # (Akira (del Rey)).

This isn’t the first time I’ve noted overlap in publishing credits between Kodansha Comics and Del Rey, who already has a close connection with the company and releases their titles predominantly. Of course this could just be a slip-up on Amazon’s part, though some other retail sites have the publisher for Kodansha Comic’s rereleases of Akira and Ghost in the Shell listed as Random House (of which Del Rey is an imprint of). Is Del Rey merely helping Kodansha find footing in North America? Or could Kodansha Comics show up as another Random House imprint as a more all-inclusive joint agreement for manga releases? Time will (we hope) tell for sure!

A few recent boys’ love events of note:

 The drama over at Drama Queen’s forums continues with fans up in arms over their continued disorganization, misinformation and the latest in a string of broken promises. Some intelligent comments are made about DQ’s consistent failure as a business and I’m certainly enclined to agree. It’s been a long, sad road and DQ’s possible return no longer looks optimistic as much as it just shows how easily a so-called company can mess with its dedicated fans, not to mention contributers. For shame, DramaQueen.

And after failing to deliver on promised release dates for Tyrant Who Falls in Love twice, LadyQ on the forums pulls out a very familiar excuse:

“OK – DON’T PANIC! Tyrant is on it’s way – there’s a minor problem on our printing (nothing major!) so we’re working on it to get it printed asap.

Please know that Tyrant will be out – we will not be able to make it for Christmas delivery – but we’re shooting for January. I know how you all must feel, but please know that this time, it was not within our control when the problem arose ><! “

Maybe you should just, I don’t know… wait until you actually have something before you promise it to people?

On a much more positive note, Yamila has posted her end of the year report for Yaoi Press. They’re obviously feeling the current economic crunch but remain optimistic about things to come. One of their upcoming changes is the format of their books which will have higher page counts and larger trim sizes. It’s a good read for both fans of their releases and as a view of how one of the few consistant publishers in these rocky times is getting by.

Over at her blog, Tina Anderson makes some suggestions for some global BL reading for the holiday vacation. There’re some great titles on the list so check it out if you’re looking for some good reads that are refreshingly different from your usual yaoi fare.

And finally, in referrence to the appearance of In God’s Arms on Amazon (slated for a July 2009 release), a fan has been circulating an e-mail they recieved from Seven Seas telling them that the license for the boys’ love book by Nekota Yonezou had indeed been lost. While this doesn’t come as a surprise, and it’s more likely Amazon just regurgitated the listing, wouldn’t it be a much nicer thought that a license lost could infact now be a license found?

Doesn’t it always seem like lots of stuff goes on and e-mail boxes get flooded on the few days you’re out of town? Darn irony! So upon my arrival home from an entertaining anime & manga presentation I helped run for Teen Read Week in Halifax, I came across several different things so it’s short round-up time!

Biggest manga news in recent days is undoubtably the announced shutdown of Brocolli Books USA International. While not a big fan of the publisher myself, it can’t be denied that they had some popular titles and a good reputation of quality. I first heard of Brocoll’s shutdown thanks to Gia who was quick to learn of the news. Since then ICv2 has recieved confirmation of the shutdown and more information was shared with the public through Brocolli Books’ production blog.

Yaoi Press’s Twitter reminds those waiting for some of DMP’s December releases that they’ve been pushed back until sometime in 2009, including Vampire Hunter D (Vol. 03) and Kabuki (Vol. 02). The full list can read from ANN’s post this past October.

 On a potentially more positive note, another post over on the DramaQueen forums had this to say:

“Tyrant QC is done so next phase is printing!!! OK – we will be updating the website with pre-order for weekend after Thanks Giving – that would be Nov. 29th that Saturday.

We are timing the pre-order as close to the time we get the books in-house from our beloved printers. So there might be a 2 week lag from pre-orders to shipping date. Just wanted to let everyone know in advance!”

As usual, we shall see…

Also, at BLU would like to remind readers to stop asking about Love Pistols (Vol. 06). It hasn’t yet been released in Japan so harassing them about it won’t make it available in English any faster. Even I’ve recieved e-mails asking about it so I can only imagine what their e-mail boxes must look like. Please be courteous and do your research before you make an inquiry :)

And finally on a great note if it turns out to be true, Danielle over at Comics Should Be Good! is spreading the word that it looks like Viz may have picked up the license to Fumi Yoshinaga’s Ooku. Edit: And ANN continues this news with a bunch of other titles as well!

Manga-ka: Akira Honma
Publisher: DramaQueen
Rating: Mature (18+)
Released: July 2006

Synopsis: “A leak to a legal office makes a case for government corruption. It is now the job of public prosecutor Kyou Sugiura to investigate Tatsuki Toudou, an arrogant politician riding on the coattails of his daddy’s success. But Toudou may be more clever than his sexually abusive, adoptive father was. He uses manipulation after manipulation to exact revenge against Kyou for that time, long ago, when the two boys shared an intimate bond… which Kyou betrayed.”

For those who follow the reviews on my site, it’s safe to say that I tend to give books positive reviews over negative ones. A simple reason for this is that I buy what I really want thus more often than not tend to like what I buy. In the instance of The Judged, I purchased it based on the manga-ka, Akira Honma, whose work I enjoyed in their other book published by DramaQueen: Last Portrait. Well, despite my purchase under inspired pretences, the series fell very short of expectation.

This is the kind of boys’ love story I really dislike. The kind that seems to toss all sanity out the window, plows over character’s souls and all in the name of having a relationship (if you could call it that here) being the do-all-end-all of the story.

The book begins with the introduction of Kyou Sugiua, a public prosecutor investigating corruption in the government. His main focus is a man named Tatsuki Toudou, a man in the parliament, and upon confrontation the men recognize each other from their youth. What follows then is a downward spiral of messed up to, well, more messed up.

Tatsuki Toudou blames Kyou for abandoning him in their youth, and he seeks vengeance. Though the some-what twist, is it’s not against Kyou. Instead, he blames Kyou abandoning him on his family, who Kyou left their orphanage to be with. In retribution, Tatsuki orders a couple sleazebags to sexually assault Kyou’s sister and then rapes Kyou himself. From then on readers will watch Kyou start to fall in love with Tatsuki. Oh yes. Not only that, but Kyou’s sister wants “nothing more than her brother to be happy” so she condones, and promotes, his ‘relationship’ with Tatsuki, fully knowing what Tatsuki’s done to her.

Ew, what?

While a little twisted drama can add some spice to a story, this book was nothing but sour. I felt no real connection between the characters, and the only real passion that seemed suitable was outrage. Sure there was a little anger, but one bout of angry sex quickly turned the tables to some sort of loving. And the sister scene was too much for me. Even Tatsuki’s dark back story of abuse doesn’t condone what he did, nor did it leave me feeling any better about anything.

The story’s only real upside, in my opinion, was Tatsuki Toudou’s right-hand man and previous lover; a high-strung, dedicated and jealous man who wants Tatsuki for himself. After taking the fall for Tatsuki and landing in prison, he develops a surprisingly sweet, though not entirely romantic, relationship with another investigator. It kept me reading the book until the end and if I were ever to somehow feel the need to read this again, I would definitely flip right to his story and enjoy, then proceed to imagine that the rest of it doesn’t exist.

While Akira Honma’s art did continue to appeal to me with its overall darker look and strongly featured, though pleasantly rounded with a sort of realistic edge, characters, it was no saving grace for the story that starred two very unlikeable characters having a completely unthinkable relationship. Though finding a copy of this book wasn’t too hard for me thanks to a well stocked boys’ love section at a recent convention, I don’t consider it much of a loss that other readers may have a harder time finding a copy of The Judged.

All said and done, The Judged has been judged, and earns from me a definite thumbs down. May any others who come across a copy have tastes  more suiting to it than mine.

Review written October 20, 2008 by Lissa Pattillo.
Book purchased from vendor at FanExpo 2008

“Tyrant is coming out this NOVEMBER – sheesh I’m losing track of time – so my apologies for getting the month wrong!

We’re shotting for BEFORE THANKS GIVING shipping – and I know that many fans have doubts about our release schedule after last year – I just humbly ask that you all forgive us for not being able to fulfill the schedule that we wanted to do.

Trust me, there is nothing that would have stopped us from doing so if circumstances allowed it – but we’re still here and we never gave up that we’ll be back to printing. This is our labor of love, and we’ve learned from our errors and now we’re moving one.

So, Tyrant is THIS NOVEMBER! Haahaa – printer’s been paid, so it’s gonna happen. Right now, we’re double checking the QC and then sending to printers. Once again, thank you thank you for all your support and encouragement (in all forms ^ ^) and it’s just good to be back doing what we love…. “

Thanks to Nadaj for the heads up on my previous post, and Simon for the initial insight.

Seems that those who’ve held out hope for DramaQueen are finally being rewarded as a post on the forums has made official proclamation that they’re making a comeback. The plan is to have the first volume of The Tyrant Who Falls in Love out in September 2009. They also have plans to continue the RUSH anthology. This after it was previously stated that the RUSH crew were looking for another publisher after DramaQueen’s long silence.

Looks like my foolish hold out of hope was not in vain! All for the love of Hinako Takanaga and Naono Bohra. Now it’s just a matter of September coming around to make sure it’s not another empty promise. When we hold that book in our hand, then we shall truely celebrate!

You can read the whole post under the cut. Thanks to the folks at Boys Next Door for the quick pick up of the news!

Greetings to all our beloved fans,

It has been a very rocky year for DQ, but I’m very happy to let you know first on the forum, that we’re getting back to printing.

The schedule is that we will print 1 book every 6-8 weeks until we pick up again with multiple titles. The first book to arrive in September is Tyrant Falls in Love v01 – FINALLY!!!!

The first several months of getting back to work will be yaoi titles…and boy do we have lots to do…Please accept all our deep gratitude for all the warm emails and well wishes on the forum, and just for hanging on with us as we get back on our feet.

The DramaQueen staffers have not forgotten our fans and friends during these trying times. I hope that everyone will continue to extend your patience and goodwill as the team gets back to doing what we do best: publish the best manga books on the market.

As for RUSH – we are working to get RUSH back on schedule – I think by December we can get Issue 2 out. And the manwhas will follow. For now, I wanted to let you all know first that we’re still here. And THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for your support these past 3 and half years.

All my best,

LadyQ

A recent post in the DramaQueen forums by one of the remaining editors:

“well, i’m holding my breath here, but i was also told we would be publishing TYRANT, as the first book for our “comeback”. all my files have been submitted so i’m starting work on the 2nd book now.”

Not the first time we’ve heard this: a supposed triumphant comeback and one started with the far-too-long awaited release of The Tyrant Who Falls In Love by Hinako Takanaga. While this tiny post acts as little more than perhaps another itty-bitty sliver of possible hope, I have to wonder, as much as I’d be happy to finally have some of their licenses in my hands (if they do make a comeback), will a miraculous return act as boo-boo bandaid for all of DQ’s disappointing past treatment of its fans? Is keeping everyone, including their own staff, completely in the dark, and allowing the negative feelings to fester, just to make a return all the more sudden, a worthy trade-off?

Time for a quick little manga round-up on this August Wednesday, this last Wednesday before back to school. Horrifying thought.

DramaQueen spokesperson, Taisa (though she reminds readers she’s not really an official staff worker anymore), continues to tell fans there’s a sliver of hope for a company revival, but now isn’t against suggesting fans check out some scanlations in the meantime. This is light of the continuing fact that DQ doesn’t look keen to delivery anything, books or news, anytime soon. If anything, scanlations might be all that’ll hold fans’ interest until a time when either DramaQueen gets their act together, or drops the license so a more reliable company can pick them up. Readers may remember that it wasn’t too long ago that DQ issued cease and desists to scanlation groups offering translated version of their license, Tyrant Who Falls in Love.

 ”In the mean time… I personally take no issue with responsible scanslation use, and I think that at this point DQ would take no issue with it, either.” – Taisa

The DQ forums have been a little busier than usual as of late but certainly not without anything less negative or new to say as tempers continue to run hot and patience running thin.

 Shonen-Ai-Samurai, a BLU spokesperson on their forums, has let their readers know that the light novels Flesh & Blood, by Natsuki Matsuoka, will not be seeing publication due to costs and a bad light-novel reputation with other companies. With DMP being the big distributer, and seemingly having a pretty good run with them, I wonder whose experiences they’re going by? Presumably Tokyopop’s line of light novels, several of which have been cancelled or infinitely suspended. Never underestimate the economic power of boys’ love fans though, BLU! (news via Gia) 

 Leave it to Viz to show publishers how it’s done when it atleast comes to effeciency and information. Amazon.com has nearly all their releases up to mid-May 2009 listed, and though that’s nothing new, the fact they all come with finished cover art and synopsises sure is. Wish I could say the same for some other companies’ books, especially when company websites aren’t always the best tended to… Guess I’m saying thanks, Viz? Even if now the nine month wait seems all the longer when I can stare at those shiny covers in anticipation.

The listing for Viz’s series Oishinbo is also up with some definitive clarifaction about their treatment of the 130+ volume series. As has been mentioned time and time again since the license announcement, there’s no way could be releasing the entire run, right? This may be old news but those who, like me, may’ve missed it, the series looks like it’s getting a thick one-shot treatment made up of “the best stories from the hundred-plus volume series … compiled into A la Carte editions, arranged by subject.” Looks like an interesting read to me! And much less daunting for my shelves than 130 books.

 In light of the death of Iris Print, Tina Anderson has recieved a portion of the remaining copies of her book, Only Words. She’s now selling copies of the book, signed, on Amazon for less than the original cover price. If you’re looking for a copy of her boys’ love story, definately stop over there and pick one up while you can (while I lament Amazon.com’s pricey and self-preventive shipping costs to Canada).

 Via Yaoi Press’s Twitter, the Tokyopop manga viewer now has a 22-page preview of the upcoming fourth, and final volume, of Winter Demon. That is some gorgeous looking artwork, if I do say so myself! I’m definately looking forward to it. Fans should pop over there for the sneak-peek! 

 And finally, after an initial wait period and two newstand-released issues, Yen Plus is now offically open for subscriptions. While there was momentary pause caused by an insecure website, the Yen Press staff assure their readers the site is now secure and ready to take their orders.

Taking this moment to send some pluggage to Tina Anderson’s recent site post, where she states that the Rush team have finally come to the end of their patience with DramaQueen and are now actively seeking a new publisher.

As a quick recap, DramaQueen hasn’t put out any of their scheduled books in over a year nor have they given fans any answers on the future of the books or remaining licenses. This also includes subscriptions for the Rush series, which have now left many people $30 poorer and with no books to show for it (and just as few answers). Essentially it’s a publisher death that many are just waiting to hear the final call for. Sad, but I think it’s fair to say us readers are more than done waiting for DQ as well! Even if we do really want to get a hold of some of their series…

Back to the subject at hand: As someone who awaited the preview issue of Rush eagerly, and enjoyed the pretty artwork and diverse nature of it when it came out, I hope that the artists and writers of Rush are able to find a publisher who will continue on with the anthology. Good luck to you, Rush team! Make sure you tell us fans the moment we can throw pre-orders at you for the next issue.

Time for part four, the last chunk of my look at English manga publishers. Aren’t you glad it’s the last time you’ll have to see my lazy reuse of the same header image? Today it’s my take on DramaQueen, Aurora Publishing, Go!Comi, Kitty Media and Del Rey.

DramaQueen… well, suffice to say they’ve been a pretty big disappointment for the last couple of years. While they started out strong, with lots of titles, they’ve since spiralled down to hovering on the line of death. Worse of all was how difficult, to often downright impossible, it’s been to get answers from any staff members over their current position. It left a lot of uncertainty from readers who awaited new books that would never come and licensed titles that would never even see DQ’s sparsely updated website. Even now, with some more clarification from a staff member over on their forums, it still seems more like a sinking ship and I’m unfortunately expecting a full close-out over a triumphant come back.

As for the books themselves, I did like the small size of them and the dust jackets but past that I wasn’t overly impressed with their work on some. Font inconsistencies in the books that didn’t seem to have any purpose were often rampant in several titles, plus a few gutter issues and occasional spelling errors. I’m not expecting perfection but after the same problems time and again, I found myself a bit disappointed. Either way, if DQ does make a comeback, I’ll remain a customer out of loyalty to their titles but a customer sadly on the fence about them otherwise.

Go!Comi is another of the smaller manga publishers out there and holds numerous hidden gems that I hope all manga readers have a chance to read sometime. I love the psychological After School Nightmare and the chilling Cantarella, among others. Their published book, Japan Ai, is also one of the cutest books you can find out there! Their title library isn’t very large but it seems safe to say Go!Comi chooses quality over quantity. This is also true in relation to their books, which don’t have a lot of frills, but make up for it with simple high-quality translation and design.

On the company-front, Go!Comi has a really nice website with easy to find information and the occasional preview for their manga releases. Staff members also don’t take long to respond to people’s questions, concerns or conversation on their forum which is always a nice touch. With their full-coloured web comic (soon to be released in print) and upcoming Oplay project, they’re also a company who is trying several different ways of using the internet as a powerful tool.

My only problem with Go!Comi is that their titles aren’t as easily accessible as other books outside the internet. While you can ask places to order them in for you, generally they aren’t titles you’ll find automatically ordered in by independent shops or the larger chain store, Chapters. Overall though, Go!Comi has been doing a nice job so I hope they keep it up!

DelRey is one of those publishers I know I can go to confidently. Of their series that I collect, I find them to be of high quality. The size of their books, the interior work, cover designs and the translation notes are generally always top notch (I bumped into a few little problems in recent books but I’m hopeful they’re temporary!).

I love their work with XXXHolic with the care taken to choosing a paper for the cover that’s different from their other books, and their translation notes that include both cultural and CLAMP references for XXXHolic and it’s parallel series Tsubasa. Their series Air Gear is a great example of quality writing with care taken to maintaining the mood and speech-styles of the characters. I won’t go about listing all their series I’m collecting but I find Del Rey really seems to take care to treat each series individually, making sure it’s handled in a way that best suits it instead of carbon-copy release methods for all of them.

Overall their choice of works from partnering Kodansha have been great choices and of varying genres, making sure there’s a little for everyone. I can find their books in almost all the places I go shopping for manga, including stores and online, so it’s never difficult to get my fix of their catalogue. A good website makes sure I can find the information I want about their books and their blog keeps readers up to date on some of the company’s events including con appearances.

I’m happy to hear the recent news of Kodansha’s US branch shouldn’t affect Del Rey too much, because it’s a company I look forward to receiving lots more great material from in the future.

I’ve purchased several of Kitty Media’s yaoi mangas over the years. Although while some spelling errors, and unattractive fonts have bothered me in the past (not to mention the cat girl on the spine, it’s rather visually intrusive for a logo), overall the books have been of fair quality. Not a lot of frills but everything you need is there. I also like the size of the books, the strong binding and the affordable prices. Recently their release of Crimson Spell’s volume one has been, I’d say, their highest quality release to date and I look forward to more like that in the future. In terms of story quality, it’s another quality over quantity situation and I find you can always count on KM books to be entertaining and with lots of gratuitous sex scenes, something they pride themselves on as a company specializing it in for the most part.

My biggest nitpick? The website. They’ve mentioned redoing it now and again but I’ve yet to visit it and find it manageable. Its Flash interface often glitches and makes finding what information is there difficult to locate. It’d be nice to something simpler that at least has all the book information potential readers are looking for.

I haven’t had a lot of experience with Aurora Publishing books compared to others so far but I have purchased a variety of titles from them so far, both under their main shoujo imprint and their boys’ love imprint. While I think their translation and design work with their titles is really good, I’ve had some qualms with their paper choice and binding. While some books are better than others, for the most part the books feel far too stiff and I often need to crack the spine just to read parts of the interior. It seems to be getting a bit better with each new book of theirs I own so I’m hoping things will continue improving like this.

Generally nice quality books and pleasant, coordinating websites work well in Aurora Publishing’s favour as a whole I’d say. I think their books could use a little more in the way of advertising (newly licensed titles or released ones always seem to sneak up on people without notice somehow), but overall it’s a general thumbs up from me.

So there you have it for now, some of my thoughts on the English market’s manga publishers. I realize some aren’t here but I only wrote about those whose books I own. This means there could be a part five in the future with some new publishers popping up and many books left to read, so who knows? In the meantime though, I’m thankful for such a diverse collection of companies and happily return to my overstuffed bookcases and store shelves with lots more entertainment from them to come.

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