Genkaku Picasso

Welcome to Kuriousity

News, reviews and features with a focus on manga, self-published works and a Canadian perspective. Enjoy fulfilling your Kuriousity!

SITE RETIRED - Thank you for the years of support and readership!

Posts Tagged One Peace Books

One Peace Brings Story of Grief and Demonic Pacts to English with Raqiya

Raqiya

It’s One Peace‘s first new license of 2014! The publisher confirmed with AnimeNewsNetwork that they’d licensed a new manga title:

Raqiya – Masao Yajima & Boichi

“A truck driver loses control in the Nevada desert and leaves one family dead in an explosive crash. But there is a sole survivor, Luna Hazuki, who makes a pact with a mysterious demon to regain the happiness that was robbed from her. Seven years later she is still living with the family that was supposed to be dead. But little does Luna know that the pact she made will lead to the Apocalypse and the end of the human race.” – One Peace Books

The series is five volumes total, with volumes one and two scheduled for English release in October 2014. You can currently pre-order both volumes on Amazon: Raqiya (Vol. 01) Amazon.ca | Amazon.com, Raqiya (Vol. 02) Amazon.ca | Amazon.com

Raqiya certainly sounds interesting to me! I hope it’s a scary one, as good horror/suspense manga has been severely lacking on my bookshelves as of late.

For those curious about the artist’s work, Boichi’s series Sun-Ken Rock is currently available to read on Crunchyroll. He also had a story published in Dark Horse’s Trigun: Multiple Bullets anthology.


One Peace Expands Genres with License of Yuri Series, Whispered Words

One Peace Branches Genres with License of Yuri Series, Whispered Words

One Peace Book is one of those surprise publishers who pops out of the woodwork with some great titles in tow. The last time I wrote about their manga licenses was for Black Bard and Smuggler, two titles I’m really looking forward and that are scheduled for this Winter.

This week ANN confirmed another new title that recently popped up from One Peace on Amazon.com/Amazon.ca:

Whispered Words – Takashi Ikeda

“Whispered Words is the story of two high school girls, Sumika and Ushio. One is in love with the other, but unable to confess. Both of them prefer girls, but Ushio likes cute and petite types while Sumika prefers the athletic outgoing girls. To complicate things, a cross dressing boy, Masaki, is in love with Sumika. What ever will happen to this mixed-up bizarre love triangle mess?”

Whispered Words is complete at nine volumes and had an anime adaptation that aired back in 2009. One Peace will be releasing the first volume in May 2014 for $16.95/US. Based on their previous titles this should equal about $17.95/CAN, but no price has been posted to the Canadian listing yet.

Whispered Words sounds amazing. The very concept of a yuri story where both the leads are attracted to women in advance of falling for each other, plus the addition of the cross dressing love-interest, earn this story two thumbs up from me in advance. The art also looks great – I love how simplistic but solid it is, and it makes for a nice change of pace from the super shiny, fluffy, shoujo style (no offence, Milk Morinaga, I still love you!) of other yuris we’ve gotten in English.

Oh, and the book is 472 pages long. A resounding yay for omnibus books! So, is it May yet?


One Peace Licenses Black Bard and Smuggler for Winter Release

One Peace Licenses Black Bard and Smuggler for Winter Release

One Peace Books isn’t a company that comes to mind right away for most English manga readers. However this little company is continuing to grow and this past week had two fun license announcements that I think are a notable step in catching the attention of the more average manga reader:

Black Bard  – Ichiya Sazanami (Amazon CAN/US)
Smuggler – Shohei Manabe (Amazon CAN/US)

Listings for each title are already on Amazon, though pricing for the releases is still not available. The listings verify that both books will be released as single volumes, with Black Bard scheduled for October 2013 and Smuggler for December 2013.

Both these licenses are really interesting for One Peace Books. Smuggler was previously released by Tokyopop so this will be its second edition in North America. One Peace already has one other license ‘rescue’ under their belt with Crayon Shin-Chan, so at least this acquisition isn’t too much a surprise in that way.

“Ryosuke Kinuta is a struggling young actor with a mounting problem–his unpaid debts to loan sharks have caught up with him, so they cut a deal, offering him a different type of role. Ryosuke will work as their carrier, but unfortunately, this isn’t the big break he has been hoping for. He has to smuggle the bodies of murdered victims, making sure they’re never to be seen again…or he’ll never be seen again!” – Tokyopop

Black Bard on the other hand, which is a first-time in English release, is a lot more mainstream looking than I ever expected from One Peace. They’ve primarily released lesser known independent works such as Tenken and manga adaptations of classic literature. You can see a few preview pages of Black Bard on Amazon.jp. Based on the art style alone, I’m looking forward to this one quite a bit and the fact that it’s going to be a 3-in-1 collected edition of almost 600 pages makes it sound even more worthwhile.

Black Bard follows the journey of a young bard who, while travelling across a fantasy world, entrances those he meets with his unique singing voice and particular set of talents.

Credit for this news goes to AnimeNewsNetwork.


One Peace Books Licenses Crayon Shin-Chan For New Edition

One Peace Licenses Crayon Shin-Chan

Almost missed this piece of news! One Peace books announced earlier this month that they’ll be releasing the comedy manga, Crayon Shin-Chan. CMX originally published the first eleven volumes before the company went kapoot, though the Crayon Shin-Chan manga itself is fifty volumes total.

Amazon.ca has listings for those three volumes which include the covers, page counts and release dates. Interestingly, all three volumes clock in at a hefty 360 pages each, suggesting they’re more than the usual single volume each. All three are scheduled to come out in October 2012.

Crayon Shin-Chan (Vol.01) | Crayon Shin-Chan (Vol.02) | Crayon Shin-Chan (Vol.03)

“Hes rude, hes crude, and adults tremble whenever hes around. His inappropriate comments and obsession with body parts and bodily functions make life stressful for his struggling parents. No one is safe from Shinchans verbal outbursts . . . and now, neither are you!” – Crayon Shin-Chan (Vol. 01) [CMX]

Potty-humour comedy isn’t my thing, so I won’t be giving Crayon Shin-Chan a second go. None the less I know there’s a fanbase out there for it so I’m happy to see those readers given a second chance to enjoy a series otherwise out of print.

Credit for the news goes to AnimeNewsNetwork


Diamond Manga Previews: February 2012

Diamond Previews: February 2012

I was a bit late picking up my Previews magazine this month so my apologies to the two of you who were wondering where the heck my second installment of Previews was (I kid! …don’t I?). So here I am taking advantage of that extra day – Happy Leap Day! This month’s previews didn’t have as much manga content as January’s but still lots of fun stuff to look forward to and order in at our local comic stores.

February 2012 Manga Previews Checklist (PDF)

You may continue reading at your own discretion for my thoughts, elaborations, random pictures and the Top 10 Selling Manga of December 2011 and Diamond Comics top selling manga of all 2011!

Read more…


Diamond Manga Previews: January 2012

Diamond Manga Previews: January 2012

Diamond Comics is North America’s largest comic book distributor. If you have a local comic store in your area, it’s very likely they get their books from them. Every month Diamond releases a giant magazine, Previews, containing all the products they have – from comics, manga, DVDs and merchandise – that will be released starting in about two months’ time, giving retailers and buyers the chance to put their orders in before shipping dates.

Previews - January 2012

I’ve been picking up the Previews magazines for years, oogling all the different books coming out from publishers and wondering how long until the stacks of Preview magazines I’ve yet to get rid of will crush me in my sleep. Starting now I’ll be writing about the different manga content published in Previews each month here on Kuriousity. This includes all the manga titles listed, the top Manga sellers as tracked by Diamond and mention of other things of interest I spot. With the small two month window, Diamond Previews has rarely been the source of new licenses but it’s a great reminder and showcase of all the books coming our way soon, plus the perfect time to get your orders in, whether through Diamond or at your online retailer of choice.

I’ll also be including with these monthly Preview posts a downloadable PDF that you can print off and check off the manga  you’d like to order. Then it’s as easy as bringing it into your local comic or book store – wherever in your area that orders in through Diamond Comics! Currently the list is just the names and does not include the Diamond order codes. I’ve never come across a store that requires them for ordering but if yours does, let me know and I’ll include them on subsequent files:

January 2012 Manga Previews Checklist (PDF)

You may continue reading at your own discretion for my thoughts, elaborations, random pictures and the Top 10 Selling Manga of November 2011!

Read more…


NYAF 2011: Manga Out Loud Podcast & Recap

NYAF 2011: Manga Out Loud Podcast & Recap

It’s been almost a month since New York Anime Fest with recaps and reflections still trickling out from the thousands who attended. 105,000, in fact. Wow!

Ed Sizemore invited Erica (Okazu), Melinda (Manga BookShelf) and I to be guests on his Manga Out Loud podcast. It’s posted online now and is part two of his New York Comic Con podcasts. We had a good conversation about what we did at the convention, how we felt it was handled by staff and organizers and about the discussion of legal issues surrounding comics.

The podcast got my brain turning again on my thoughts on the convention. Overall I found other elements of my trip to New York more fulfilling than the convention itself (dinners with awesome people! Kinokuniya! Book-Off!) but from an organizational point of view, I thought NYCC/NYAF was much better handled this year than it was in 2010.

My thoughts and some accompanying photos can be read below:

Read more…


Take me back to the top!