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Posts Tagged DMP

Swag Bag: Samurai, Incubus, Rabbits and Tyrants

Swag Bag

My bedroom is finally under control! A week of vacation as I transition to a new job plus a very release-heavy month, not to mention a few trips to my local library, have ensured every inch of my desk, floor and shelves were littered with material waiting to be read and watched. Upside to cleaning your room at least is there’s almost always something you’ll discover  you haven’t read yet, or perhaps just want to revisit.  Naturally among the now organized chaos are a bunch of the things I bought this past week:

For my birthday I received a gift card to Chapters. While I avoid buying from there in-store (too expensive!), their online prices are still pretty good, especially for the more niche material and some harder to find titles. Thus, it was just that I filled my digital shopping cart with.

Mister Mistress (Vol. 01)Boys’ love made up the bulk of my online purchase with my most eagerly awaited purchase being the hardcopy edition of Digital Manga‘s Rabbit Man, Tiger Man (Vol. 01). Second to that fun and charming tale of yakuza/doctor love, was Tyrant Who Falls In Love (Vol. 03). Never enough Hinako Takanaga on the bookshelves! Even Yen Press had some boys’ love to offer me with Tale of the Waning Moon (Vol. 02) and I picked up an older title I missed from Deux Press called Mister Mistress (Vol. 01). It’s almost unfortunate I enjoyed it so much since volume two is looking very tricky to find.

Using up the last pennies of my credit, I bought One Pound Gospel (Vol. 04) which is the end of the series. On the other end of series collection, I bought Descendants of Darkness (Vol. 01) which finishes off my collection of that series as well.

Next up it was into my local comic store, Strange Adventures, where I picked up the new releases (which if you’re curious about the complete recent lists for, check out my Otaku USA articles, On The Shelf). Viz Media dominated my purchasing stack, which I suppose by now should stop seeming like an anomaly.

I was really excited to get my hands on Kaze Hikaru (Vol. 19) – it’s one of my favourite series but there’s a long wait between books. It’s a really long series too so I’m always worried Viz Media will drop it. Everyone buy the series so this doesn’t happen! It’s really charming and wonderfully drawn.

Pokemon Adventures (Vol. 14)Also in the pile of awesome swag was 20th Century Boys (Vol. 16), Otomen (Vol. 11), Tenjo Tenge (Vol. 02) and Natsume’s Book of Friends (Vol. 08). A pleasant surprise was the size of Pokemon Adventures (Vol. 14). It’s notably thicker than past volumes and works really well with the content considering it’s the huge climax of all the plot lines coming together since volume one. Pokemon and trainers everywhere!

And lastly, to make my shopping bags all the heavier, a got a few volumes of manga from the library. Looking for something lighthearted and fluff-heavy, I borrowed Fall In Love Like A Comic (Vol. 01). A really fun discovery though was Saint Young Men (Vol. 01-03). I can’t read Japanese but that didn’t stop me from borrowing the books so I can oogle the amusing pictures and hope all the more someone licenses it. Buddha and Jesus living together in an apartment – how could you not be curious?

That was my Swag Bag this week – what about you?


Super Savings: Fumi Yoshinaga Edition

Super Savings: Fumi Yoshinaga

August’s Manga Moveable Feast – an assortment of articles from a variety of bloggers about a single manga topic – is about Fumi Yoshinaga, manga artist extraordinaire. There’re already lots of great posts for the MMF about her books, her art style and her storytelling methods so I highly recommend following the updates.

For my contribution, I’ve compiled sources where you can buy Fumi Yoshinaga’s books online. We’re lucky to have so many to choose from and collect  – just compiling this list was a great reminder. While there’re a variety of places online and in-store to purchase her books, I’ve tried to find the cheapest options to make it that much easier to start, add to or finish your Yoshinaga library.

Read more…


Super Savings: RightStuf with Hot Deals on Hot Manga (18+)

Hot Deals on Hot Manga

RightStuf is back with more manga savings and this week it’s specifically for the adult readers out there! Until midnight tonight (August 18th), they’re offering sale prices on all books from Digital Manga’s 801Media imprint.

While their 801Media line-up is all the raunchier of their boys’ love, the RightStuf sale also includes titles from their recently announced hentai imprint – Project H. This is the perfect (and affordable) chance to try out the first of their titles which are due out later this month: Shocking Pink & Three P.

My top reccomendatin for this sale is Under Grand Hotel – it’s a two volume series and each book has over 300 pages. They’re a really interesting size book too, considerably smaller than the norm, but they’re still easy to read. They earn their 18+ rating and then some with violence, sex and rape so warning!

Coinciding neatly with this month’s Manga Moveable Feast about Fumi Yoshinaga, you can also buy her two-volume boys’ love series, Ichigenme: The First Class is Civil Law.

You can see the full list of titles available for sale on their website.


PR: Digital Manga Guild Launches First Title on eManga.com

Tired of Waiting for Love Now Available Online!

Gardena, CA (August 15, 2011) – Digital Manga Inc. is proud to announce the release of its very first manga title, Tired of Waiting for Love, under the Digital Manga Guild initiative. This first title launch is in conjunction with Japanese publisher, Taiyo Tosho, and localized by the Kawaii Neko group. You can purchase and read this exciting manga now at eManga.com.

The Digital Manga Guild (DMG), first announced at Yaoi Con 2010, is a collaboration between Digital Manga, Inc., Japanese publishers, and a community of localizers to produce hundreds of manga titles for online distribution . This revolutionary alliance breaks down old systems, allowing a flood of untapped manga content from participating Japanese publishers, to reach the hands of hungry manga fans everywhere. Taiyoh Tosho, a premiere Japanese yaoi publisher and long time licensor to DMP’s June imprint, is one of the first publishers to support DMG. Localizing group, Kawaii Neko is one of the first groups activated to work on titles for DMG. You can read more about DMG and Kawaii Neko group in this recent interview at Publisher’s weekly and at The Digital Manga Guild website.

Tired of Waiting for Love, written and illustrated by yaoi fan favorite duo Aida Saki and Yugi Yamada, is about yakuza Kyousuke Sawaragi. Having been sentenced to five years in prison for dealing drugs, he just wants to finish his term and start a normal life. After parole, when he runs into former cellmate Shuuya, he’s in no hurry to renew their acquaintance. Fate seems to have other ideas, the yakuza and Shuuya repeatedly cross his path. Can he really turn his back on all of it, especially if it holds his one chance at finding true love?

Read more…


August 1st is Yaoi Day with DMP!

August 1st is Yaoi Day!

August 1st – or 8/01 – has been proclaimed Yaoi Day! Not a bad thing to celebrate mid-summer – nice and hot, right? Well, unless you’re living on the East Coast of Canada… but that’s a different matter!

Digital Manga is ready to celebrate Yaoi Day with sales and contests, the deals of which are lasting all week. Curious what they’ve got to offer? It’s all available to readers around the world and you can read all the details below:

Read more…


PR: Project-H Launches in August!

Project H

Gardena, CA (July 20, 2011) – Digital Manga inc. is proud to announce the launch of our latest imprint: PROJECT-H!

Project-H is a special publishing imprint, http://www.projecth-books.com/, powered by 801 Media. The titles are explicit Seinen Hentai manga with the age rating M 18+. The first three titles to be released are Riosuke Yasui’s Shocking Pink! (Aug 24th), Hiroshi Itaba’s Three P (Oct 20th), and KUON Michiyoshi’s Embrace and Bloom (Nov23rd)!

Pre-orders for the two books are available now through Akadot Retail, akadot.com, and for wholesale through Digital Manga Direct , http://www.dmd-sales.com/

SHOCKING PINK! written and illustrated by Riosuke Yasui – Rated M (Ages 18+), 5″ x 7.2″, MSRP: $17.95 US, $19.99 CAD, Available: August 24, 2011

*Available for Pre-order Now!

When a girl claiming to be the descendent of Lui Bei, the founding emperor of the Shu Han state of the ancient Three Kingdoms of China, approaches you because your name is almost identical to said emperor’s chancellor and prize strategist, what is a boy to do? Especially when she is very attractive and really, really, really wants you to become her royal strategist as she carves out her destiny? Join in the romp of course, and enjoy the delights offered along the way!

THREE P written and illustrated by Hiroshi Itaba – Rated M (Ages 18+), 5″ x 7.2″, MSRP: $17.95 US, $19.99 CAD, Available: October 20, 2011

*Available for Pre-order TBA

Come and check out the 3 sizzling hot college co-eds: Reika, Sara and Mizume. Reika – she looks conservative, like a girl next door, but watch out! She’s the wild one! She always gets what she wants! Sara – men just don’t know how to say “no” to her pretty cute face! And Mizume – is the beautiful one and she plays hard-to-get with men. These gal pals have no secrets from each other! They talk about their boyfriend problems, sex problems and compare notes! What would you do if you found out that your boyfriend is cheating on you? Would you be mad or would ask them if you can join them for a threesome? They’ll show you how to have fun! This oneshot contains 9 short stories of these 3 co-eds having lots of naughty sex!

EMBRACE & BLOOM written and illustrated by Kuon Michiyoshi – Rated M (Ages 18+), 5″ x 7.2″, MSRP: $17.95 US, $19.99 CAD, Available: November 23, 2011

*Available for Pre-order TBA
This anthology features works about hot & steamy sexcapade of nine delicious young ladies who aim to please and be pleased. Lots of erotic scenes to get your senses tickled! Come and check out which one of the nine you like the best!

*Pre-orders available through Digital Manga Direct, DMI’s Publisher’s Direct program. Please visit our website at www.dmd-sales.com to make an account and an order.

Follow us on twitter @projectHbooks
Find us on Facebook: PROJECT-H BOOKS

Read more…


Review: Itazura na Kiss (Vol. 04)

Itazura na Kiss (Vol. 04)

Manga-ka: Kaoru Tada
Publisher: Digital Manga
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: November 2010

Synopsis: “Naoki keeps fleeing further and further from his meddling family! He thinks working a part-time summer job at a posh resort is the perfect way to find some much-needed peace and quiet… but his pushy parents, bratty little brother, school friends and (of course) Kotoko are all hot on his trail. Will this vacation turn into a total nightmare… or will someone get the sweet surprise they’ve always dreamed of?”

Like many a shoujo-heroine before and after her, Kotoko was endearing at first. Her one-sided love for Naoki garnered my sympathy and her penchant for failing at just about everything gave the series plenty of humour. Naoki being shown as little more than a jerk early on also made it a lot easier to cheer for her. Four double-sized volumes in, however, and not only am I flabbergasted that almost nothing has changed in the relationship that frames the series, but I’m spending almost all my time hoping that Naoki can finally break free of this suffocating romance.

Read more…


Review: Men of Tattoos

Men of Tattoos
Buy From Amazon.ca!Buy From Amazon.com!

Manga-ka: Yuiji Aniya
Publisher: Digital Manga
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: June 2011

Synopsis: “Sweet, delicate flowers and killer animals…they spring to life on the tattooed backs of the underworld’s most infamous men. But does love have a chance to bloom in a world of sin that’s steeped in perpetual inky night? And in the midst of the crime-filled chaos, is there a passion so powerful that it can lift a soul right out if its body?”

Men of Tattoos is frustrating because of how close it comes to being great but just ends up as a mess. There are a lot of good elements: the art is pretty with a different style than your usual yaoi and the story is willing to go to some pretty dark places, fitting for a manga with a cast full of criminals. But the narrative never really comes together ultimately making this an unsatisfying read.

Read more…


Swag Bag: Animaritime 2011 Edition!

Swag Bag: Animaritime 2011 Edition

We survived! Another year of Animaritime is behind us, bringing with it some much needed relaxation and a heavy sadness. I miss all the staff and chatting with the attendees and even that constant hectic mental state you get in when you’re running back and forth from 8am-12am everyday. Amazing times! If you’re curious to see some pictures or read some comments, our Facebook page is very lively this year.

Special thanks to Vertical Inc‘s Ed Chavez who attended as a guest and held several great manga panels. I loved being on a panel with him and Andre for our Manga Industry panel (my first time participating in a roundtable panel) and I learned a lot from Ed’s Manga Licensing panel (for the love of manga support our publishers!).

Though most of my attention stays as a staffer, I always make time to visit the vendors. I was really happy to see there was even more manga than usual this year and came back home with a satisfying stack of goodies.

Descendants of Darkness (Vol. 02)From the vendor Gamezilla (whose recently revamped store location I visited after the con ended) I got some great discounts on hard to find titles. My largest purchase was volumes 2-11 of Descendants of Darkness which I’ve been itching to reread – a supernatural story that teeters on the edge of being a boys’ love story. The switches between humour and really dark content is as strange as I remember it.

Having enjoyed the complete random of the last volume I read, I also bought Gatcha Gacha (Vol.06-07) and on some recommendations, Suppli (Vol. 02-03). Going for something newer, I bought the third volume of Afterschool Charisma.

Strange Adventures (always the Halifax store of choice!) returned as a vendor and had a bunch of manga to sift through. From there I found three volumes of Rumiko Takahashi’s One Pound Gospel, volumes 4 and 5 of Itazura na Kiss and A Drifting Life (so I can finally leave the library copy for someone else!). Lastly, despite a lacklustre feeling from the first volume, I gave Saturn Apartments another chance by buying volumes 2 and 3.

Other random purchases included two pretty art books by names I can’t read the Kanji for (thus sadly can’t tell you who they are), and a stack of old Mixx magazines because I got them for pennies and enjoy the nostalgia factor.

So yay for convention weekend! Animaritime is always a blast and somehow manages to out-do itself every year. More memories, more manga – it’s all a win-win! So what was in your swag bag this week?


PR: DMP and IDW bring twenty new titles to eManga.com!

Digital Manga Publishing and IDW bring twenty new titles to eManga.com

Partnership brings first American Comics to eManga.com

Gardena, CA (June 29, 2011) – Digital Manga, one of the manga industry’s most unique and creative publishers, is proud to announce another online collaboration with IDW Publishing, a leading and award-winning publisher of American comics, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. This evolving partnership will launch with twenty new titles from IDW’s backlist catalog to eManga’s online library.

This is the first time a mainstream American comics publisher will be showcasing their titles to what was previously a manga only online reading storefront. Digital Manga’s eManga.com will be expanding their library to reach out to manga fans who are also fans of American comics and to those who would like to try something new.

The IDW titles will be available for purchase through eManga’s online manga service, emanga.com, which streams content through an Adobe Flash player, allowing readers to access their library wherever they have an internet connection. Originally sold as comics and as a full graphic novels with an average price ranging from $3.99 to $19.99 in print, IDW’s titles will be available on eManga.com varying from $1.99 to $14.99.

The first batch of IDW titles will launch with the following titles: Army of Two, Astro Boy: The Official Movie Adaptation, Astro Boy: Underground – the Official Movie Prequel, Danger Girl, Deep Space: Salvage, Doctor Who: Agent Provocateur, Doctor Who: The Forgotten, Dragon Age, The Last Unicorn, Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft, Locke & Key: Head Games, Locke & Key: Crown of Shadows, Silent Hill: Sinner’s Reward, Silent Hill: Past Life, Star Trek: Movie Adaptation, Tribes: The Dog Years, True Blood, Witch and Wizard, Zombies vs. Robots, and Zombies vs. Robots Aventure.

For more information about our eManga system and to begin reading right away, visit www.emanga.com .

Digital Manga invites partnerships with other manga and American publishers to showcase their titles to eManga’s online storefront. If interested please contact fred@emanga.com for inquires.

Digital Manga and IDW’s first partnership began back in April 2010 where both companies teamed up to bring the first manga into Sony’s PSP Digital Comics storefront—Hideyuki Kikuchi’s Vampire Hunter D.

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About Digital Manga Publishing

Located in Gardena, CA, Digital Manga Publishing is one of the industry’s most unconventional and innovative companies, specializing in building corporate and cultural bridges from Japan to the Western Hemisphere – specifically through the licensing, importation and preparation of anime (Japanese animation), manga (Japanese comic books) and related merchandise for the North American mainstream and subculture markets. In this capacity, DMI serves as a catalyst for the expansion of Japanese pop culture institutions into global arenas. The company’s imprint line includes DMP: its mainstream imprint, DMP PLATINUM: its classic manga imprint, JUNE´: its boys love imprint, 801 MEDIA: its adult boys love imprint, and DokiDoki: its exclusive co-publishing imprint with Shinshokan Publishing.

For more information about Digital Manga Publishing, visit www.digitalmanga.com as well as:

www.emanga.com

http://twitter.com/digitalmanga

http://www.youtube.com/user/junemanga

http://www.youtube.com/user/801media

http://www.youtube.com/user/digitalmanga

http://www.facebook.com/DigitalMangaInc

Fred Lui

fred@emanga.com

Vice President

Production

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Digital Manga, Inc.- www.digitalmanga.com

1487 West 178th St. #300

Gardena, CA 90248

Tel: 310.817.8010 x105

Fax: 310.817.8018

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About IDW Publishing

IDW, Idea Design Works, LLC., is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. Renowned for its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including: Hasbro’s The Transformers and G.I. JOE, Paramount’s Star Trek; HBO’s True Blood; the BBC’s Doctor Who; Toho’s Godzilla; and comics and trade collections based on novels by worldwide bestselling author, James Patterson. IDW is also home to the Library of American Comics imprint, which publishes classic comic reprints; Yoe! Books, a partnership with Yoe! Studios; and is the print publisher for EA Comics.

IDW’s original horror series, 30 Days of Night, was launched as a major motion picture in October 2007 by Sony Pictures and was the #1 film in its first week of release. More information about the company can be found at IDWPublishing.com.


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