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It’s the week of threes! I have three top picks out of the manga this week and all are the third volumes of their respective series – Countdown 7 Days (Vol.03), Replica (Vol.03) and Gate 7 (Vol.03). All three are also some of the best manga eye-candy out there to my tastes right now so I expect lots of oogling will happen tonight. So, so pretty.
For the full list of titles available in stores and retail sites this week, check out my On The Shelf article for Otaku USA.
A few different tidbits of new today, including some continuing omnibus editions from Viz Media, some continuing evolution in the world of digitally released manga and a quick note about some recently announced or debuting animes based on a few English-licensed manga. Enjoy the randomly connected!
Viz Media announced via their Shoujo Beat Twitter account that they’ll be continuing to release Skip Beat! in their 3-in-1 omnibus format, and will also be releasing all of Hana Kimi in this format as well. Both Skip Beat! and Hana Kimi have three volumes of these omnibus out so far, which is where Viz Media has always ended their 3-in-1s of this particular type in the past.
This is great news for those who’ve been buying these series like this, especially when a lot of these series’ individual volumes are difficult to come by. It’s been a huge sore spot for me that they’ve done these 3-in-1 re-releases of several series and have always ended them after only 3 books, then making note in that last book for readers to look for the singles. It’s a big slap in the face for collectors since the omnibus editions are cheaper and of course look very different from the singles. I hope this decision for Hana Kimi and Skip Beat! are because they’ve sold well, and I also hope it could inspire Viz Media to continue re-releasing some other series they’ve cut short this way such as Full Metal Alchemist.
We don’t cover much in the way of digital manga here on Kuriousity, but there are always exceptions and this is one. Viz Media made a great announcement for fans of the medium with their recent press release revealing they’d be releasing future new volumes in digital and print on the same day. This is a fantastic flexibility for readers, one which doesn’t force someone to wait in order to purchase a book in their preferred format.
Each digital Viz Media volume is typically $4.99/US/CAN and can be read via their VizManga website, iPhone/iPad apps, Android app and for Nook. They also have a sale on right now that offers every volume at 20% off via their VizManga site and apps, making most only $3.99.
Also in the digital manga realm and offering more flexibility is news from Digital Manga that they’ve begun releasing their titles in PDF format. This means you purchase and download the titles instead of reading them via internet connection only and have a choice of where and how you read it (ie: your tablet, phone, computer screen, etc.). I’ve really loved that SuBLime Manga has taken this approach from the get-go and it’s availability like this that actually prompts me to purchase some now and again for reading on my tablet.
Lastly in anime-news, something covered now and again when we feel it’s extra-relevant, there’s been a number of new series announced or previewed lately based on manga that have been licensed in English. This is exciting news for those who love enjoying the stories in both mediums.
Courtesy of AnimeNewsNetwork:
Kamisama Kiss (Trailer) – Manga licensed by Viz Media
New Dragonball Film (Teaser) – Manga licensed by Viz Media
BTOOM! (Trailer) – Manga licensed by Yen Press
Lychee Light Club (Announcement) – Manga licensed by Vertical Inc.
The Flowers of Evil – Manga licensed by Vertical Inc.
Of these series, I’m most excited for the new Dragonball movie and the Kamisama Kiss series, not to mention of course the new Sailor Moon anime debuting in 2013!
What manner of unstoppable licensing stream is this?! Yup, Digital Manga is already back on the licensing train with another nine new books for their hentai imprint, Project-H. They them announced via Twitter and e-mail earlier today. These on top of the twenty different books announced just last week. 2013 is going to be a pornful year for sure!
Cosplay Girlfriend – Hiroshi Itaba
Fetish Grab Bag – Joji Manabe
Happy Girls – Zukiki
Hello Work – Hiroshi Itaba
Ladies Full of Love – Takayoshi Sano
Knock Me Up – Michiyoshi Kuon
Moe-Maniax – Aya Hinase
Virgin Games – Kuuki Fujisaka
Wife In Short Shorts – Akinao
All the books are one-shots with release dates currently to be announced, and priced at $17.95/US, $19.99/CAN. Their respective books are the first time Zukiki, Aya Hinase, Kuuki Fujisaka and Akinao have been licensed by Project-H, while the other artists have books coming out later this year or mid-2013.
Digital Manga didn’t release any synopsis to go with these books but there’s some entertainment value in those names alone. Not much left to question, is there? Good times! I really like how that all these hentai licenses are one-shots, which is a common and understandable trend for their Project-H books in general. Hentai titles aren’t really known for their plots so a one-shot collection of either short stories, or one single-volume length story, makes for an easy buy with little commitment. Sometimes it’s just nice to have a one-night read, you know? So punny.
But, yes, books! I still cheer for the fact they’ve got books consistently going to print. Now we just some more BL – don’t forget your foundation, DMP!
Manga-ka: Mitohi Matsumoto
Publisher: Project-H
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: July 2012
Synopsis: “A bunch of nerdy guys (without girlfriends) get together to try to catch a perverted predator on a crowded train and decide to run a sting operation. But… how will they do that? Who or what would they use for a decoy to catch this predator? Oh, we know! Let’s dress up one as a girl! He looks so cute! He’s just perfect and anyone would fall for him… including his classmates!”
When I first read the synopsis for My Cute Crossdresser, I knew I had to read this book. As a story about boys loving crossdressing boys, it seemed an odd addition to Digital Manga’s hentai imprint, Project-H. My Cute Crossdresser sounded more appropriate for one of their several boys’ love imprints. Now that I’ve read it, it really is a tricky title to categorize. It’s tone doesn’t feel BL appropriate, but simultaneously this title falls short of earning the blood-spurting logo of Project-H.
Creative titles and I, we don’t tend to get along. But anyway – Digital Manga revealed via e-mail today that they’ve licensed a new hentai title for their Project-H imprint.
Range of Love – Shou Akira
Digital Manga didn’t have a synopsis for the title but lists it as both romantic and a comedy. According to Range of Love‘s Amazon.jp page, it looks like a collection of short stories starring – wait for it – a cute wife and university junior students! The book is scheduled to be released in print in the Fall of 2013. It will be $17.95/US, which is notably a couple dollars cheaper than previous Project-H books which are normally listed at $19.99/US. Yay for money saving!
The recent lull of Kuriousity updates extended over to my On The Shelf article as well, but worry not curious list-seekers and manga-buyers (because I’m quite sure you were beside yourselves) – this week’s On The Shelf is a double-dose edition collecting what’s new and recent from last week and today!
My does-want-must-haves of this shipping stack include the first volume of Project-H‘s Velvet Kiss, Vertical Inc‘s classy looking one-shot, Sakuran, Viz Media’s new 20th Century Boys and the tenth volume of Black Butler from Yen Press.
There is lots of diversity this week as seven publishers all step up to the shipping plate to deliver their goods tomorrow (be here now, Wednesday-goodness!). While there are more volumes I’d put on must-buy lists than books I wouldn’t, exceptionally notables for me include Fantagraphic‘s Wandering Son (Vol.03), SuBLime‘s Awkward Silence and Seven Seas‘ Jack the Ripper: Hell Blade (Vol.01).
You can read the complete list of books shipping this week over at the usual place, Otaku USA’s On The Shelf article by yours truly.
While I was away at Animaritime, one of North American’s biggest anime conventions was taking place the same weekend – Anime Expo. I was a little surprise to see so little news come out of the convention but there were still some new manga licenses courtesy of Digital Manga. These titles, an assortment of boys’ love, hentai and josei/shojo were announced at Anime Expo and then soon after via their Twitter account.
Absolute Monarch Syndrome (Vol.01-02)- Shigeyuki Iwashita (Project-H)
Caramel – Puku Okuyama (June)
Juicy Cider – Rize Shinba (June)
Idolhouse (Vol.01) – Takayoshi Sano (Project-H)
Lies Are A Gentleman’s Manners – Matsuo Marta (June)
Takasugi-san’s Obento (Vol.01) – Nozomi Yanahara (Digital Manga)
DMP also announced they had licensed subsequent volumes of existing properties – Itazura na Kiss (Vol.11), Velvet Kiss (Vol.03) and Lovephobia (Vol.03).
Two of these titles are by repeat-DMP creators. Caramel is Puku Okuyama whose Warning! Whispers of Love was published by DMP last year. I thought Warning! was really cute and funny so I’ve got high hopes for Caramel also. You can read a detailed review of the book over at 腐女子です！♡
Juicy Cider is by Rize Shinba whose previous books include My Bad! and Intriguing Secrets. My thoughts on My Bad! were pretty bad so we’ll see if Juicy Cider can change my opinion of the manga artist.
While some new boys’ love and mature-rated titles from Digital Manga are expected (and appreciated), one stand-out title from this batch is Takasugi-san’s Obento. It’s a manga about a man who takes in a now orphaned young girl and the relationship that forms between them through the bento boxes she makes. You can read a bit more about the series at Just Bento. Foodie manga fans, rejoice!
There’s no information yet regarding when these books will be published or if each individual title will be digital or print-only. DMP has made a good habit lately of releasing this info (and sometimes even a story synopsis) on their website blog shortly after announcing licenses so keep an eye out there for more info as they make it available. (Edit: Digital Manga’s website has since updated with release dates for these titles) In short though, yay new titles!
With over 450 backers, Digital Manga’s Unico Kickstarter surpassed it’s original funding goal last week. True to their word, the company announced a secondary license for their backers to shoot for – Osamu Tezuka’s Atom Cat:
“This is a family reboot of Astro Boy drawn by Tezuka in 1986-87, about a little boy who has a cat with Astro Boy’s powers. It’s adorable, fun, and has some great art and action!”
Even with additional thousands of dollars required for this title, the number was reached in a matter of days. Another Tezuka was added, this time a two volume series, Triton:
“It’s the story of Triton, a boy living in modern Japan who discovers he is the last survivor of the destruction of Atlantis by the god Poseidon. With his dolphin comrades by his side once again, he goes on a quest to avenge his family and, more importantly, begin to understand where he came from.”
Currently the Kickstarter is just over $30,000 with the current goal for the publication of Triton set at $47,000. Digital Manga continues to set some hefty goals indeed. I’m not sure how they’re working out their ‘pricing’ – going from approximately $20,000 to $6000 then shooting back to $20,000 – but backers seem keen on following the path regardless. Whether or not they reach the nearly fifty-grand total by July 21st remains, of course, to be seen.
 Paperback (B/W) Page Counts: 200 Release Date: Unknown Price: $12.95/US |
 Paperback (B/W) Page Counts: (Vol.01) 488 | (Vol.02) 440 Release Dates: June 2013/August 2013 Price: $19.95/US |
I’m always glad to have the potential for Tezuka (or manga in generally,really), especially in this instance as Atom Cat sounds like a fun spin-off of Astro Boy – this coming from someone who doesn’t like cats too. I still really wish, however, that Digital Manga would have enough faith in the material to publish it without relying on this method of repsonsbility shift. I don’t think it’ll ever sit right with me watching a for-profit company requesting these kinds of upfront funds from its audience. Kickstarter as an extras potential – such as allowing a digital-only release to go to print or bring an old book back as a reprint, such as they did with Swallowing the Earth – seemed considerably more appropriate use of the service for them. If a financially backed, for profit organization with almost a decade of publishing experience is going to use a Kickstarter, I would hope they could show the confidence to use it as that kind of bonus offer system and not a do-all-end-all crutch. Maybe then asking your readers to shell out $45,000+ towards mostly unknown costs might go down a little easier… but who’s to say?
But I digress (surprise surprise!). Despite my previous post and podcast on the topic, I still feel I could go on rambles in regards to these Kickstarter projects for pages more so I’ll withhold myself here. I really do adore Digital Manga as a company for their taste and consistency over the years, but these Kickstarters and DM Guild activities have me really on the fence about their current direction. There’s a lot good about the intiatives, but a lot of negatives too.
Ultimately I am glad to see more Tezuka potentially hitting the market and both Atom Cat and Triton will be on my bookshelves when they’re available to actually purchase. Time will tell if it’s one or both, as Triton‘s fate in English seems to now lay squarely on an audience who could already be understandably maxed out.
This week has some very, very, very pretty manga coming out. Yen Press is the big winner this week in that regard for their complete series, omnibus release editions of Alice in the Country of Hearts and the gorgeous one-shot, Olympos.
Other notables of the week include the first volume of Kodansha Comics‘ Attack on Titan and the final volume of Digital Manga‘s Kizuna. You can see the full list of titles shipping out this week at my On The Shelf article for Otaku USA.
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