Even when you’re pretty sure something is going to happen, that doesn’t make it any less sweet when it occurs. At the recent-ish Sakura Con, Dark Horse announced five new manga licenses, including a new CLAMP license rescue:
Drug & Drop – CLAMP
Legal Drug – CLAMP
OPUS – Satoshi Kon
Oreimo: Kuroneko – Sakura Ikeda
Seraphim: 266613336 Wings – Satoshi Kon & Mamoru Oshii
Legal Drug is a three volume series by CLAMP that was originally released by Tokyopop. The series went on hiatus in Japan, leaving fans of its boys’ love heavy subtext and mysterious unresolved plot left wanting. Rejoice however as CLAMP did eventually continue the series, titling the continuation Drug & Drop, which until now has never been released in English.
Dark Horse will be releasing an omnibus book collecting the three volumes of Legal Drug, the same treatment they’ve given to several other re-released CLAMP series including Cardcaptor Sakura, Tokyo Bablyon, and Angelic Layer. The omnibus will have a new translation and shiny new print, and likely with some bonus colour illustrations as well if Dark Horse’s past omnibus are any indication. Legal Drug is scheduled for September 2014 at $19.99/US, $21.99/CAN. It can be pre-ordered on Amazon.ca | Amazon.com.
The first volume of the sequel Drug & Drop will be released in January 2015 for $11.99/CAN, $10.99/CAN. It can be pre-ordered on Amazon.ca | Amazon.com as well. Currently there are two volumes in Japan for the series with new chapters on-going. Both series follow two young men who work as errand boys for a strange shop that sends on supernatural jobs. More mysterious than even their work is the pair’s back story, and the true purpose behind their employer’s store.
I will sum up the CLAMP news by saying THANK YOU, DARK HORSE! Signed, a huge fan of everything CLAMP.
Dark Horses pleases another fervent fan base with their license of Oreimo: Kuroneko. The series is a spin-off to Oreimo which Dark Horse has released four volumes of to date. This three volume spin-off stars the original’s secondary female lead, Kuroneko, as the main heroine. Volume one will be released in April 2015.
OPUS is a manga title by acclaimed film director, Satoshi Kon. Perfect Blue, Tokyo Godfathers, or Paprika anyone? This two volume series is being released by Dark Horse as one omnibus book. OPUS predates Satoshi Kon’s film career, and follows a manga artist who is pulled into his own creation.
Dark Horse’s second license drawn by Satoshi Kon is Seraphim: 266613336 Wings, which is one heck of a name to remember. The one volume title is written by Mamoru Oshii, famous for quite a few titles in his own right. Seraphim is about a group of individuals on a journey to discover the truth behind a deadly ailment called “the angel disease”. Dark Horse’s edition will ship February 2015.
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Gou-Dere Sora Nagihara – which I’m going to have one heck of a time trying to pronounce to my local comic store if I choose to order it – is an amusingly perverse sounding story that reminds us to be careful what we wish for. A young man wishes that his beautiful beloved manga heroine was real, only to suddenly find himself face to face with her. However to his surprise she’s not the docile woman he’d always read about and now he has to learn how to deal with her very forward and overprotective nature.
The Angel of Elhamburg is about a knight and his king when their friendship is strained by jealously, all as an angel overlooks their lives. This one-shot book is scheduled for Spring 2015. In the meantime you can see sample pages for The Angel of Elhamburg on 
