News

I did not get into Doctor Who. Arriving early, I found myself at the end of a long line in a concrete bunker, and by the time I got to the panels it was very full. Sigh.

So I did end up seeing Yen Press after all, and they had some interesting announcements. Void’s Enigmatic Mansion is a new Korean manwha title that thy’re doing online near simultaneous with the release in Korea. By Ji Eun Ha and Hee Eun Kim (author of A Kiss To The Prince, which Infinity put out back in the day), it runs in Haksan’s Party magazine. It’s about a butler at a magical mansion, and will have color! Print will come later.

They were pleased to announce a new relationship with Kodansha, and three new Kodansha titles to go with it. Ani ga Imouto de Imouto ga Ani de (Ane-Imo) which has body switching, incestual subtext, and other things you’d expect from a skeezy otaku-oriented title… except it runs in shoujo magazine Aria. The author, Haruko Kurumatani, is better known for smutty Shogakukan shoujo. Also from Aria is He’s My Only Vampire paranormal romance with, as noted by Yen several times, pureblood vampires. Aya Shouoto, the author, has done some BL in the past as well. Meanwhile, gothic thriller shoujo writer Kaori Yuki gives us Demon from a Foreign Land. It’s a third Aria title, and is a wacky reverse harem com–no, no, ths is Kaori Yuki. It’s a dark period fantasy.

In non-Kodansha news, they have picked up the artbook/guidebook to Alice in the Country of Diamonds, which is filled with stuff – art, key visuals, interviews, a short manga, and all the game endings. It should be great fun for overanalytic Alice nerds like me. Lastly, High School D&D comes from Fujimi Shobo’s Dragon Age (don’t let the name fool you – it’s Kadokawa in disguise!) Based on a light novel (which was not licensed, disappointing to some), it’s a supernatural demon comedy with a lecherous protagonist. Which is admittedly better than a waffling good guy.

Question time. I asked about Square Enix titles on digital, and if there’s any progress. They said we should expect those soon! They noted the license of the light novel series recently, and said they like to take risks on titles they like, even if they’re “too many volumes”. I also asked about digital sales. He says they’re doing p;retty well, but notes digital is only about 10% of their market – they still do business mostly via print. Also, some companies and creators are reluctant to go the digital route right now. They discussed release schedules, and why releasing a book too fast can damage sales. Lastly, I asked about the Book Girl short story collections after the main series. Thery love Book Girl, but no news yet.

After this, I sort of realized Archie wasn’t going to happen – it was in 1A15, the tiny room of death. So I went to Wikia’s Animanga panel, with Kazuo Koike, Takashi Okazaki, Masao Maruyama, and Shin-Ichi Hiromoto, who not only had rock star hair, but whose photo showed one of the oddest looking persian cats I’d ever seen. The bulk of the panel was about their collaborative project with Western fan writers, who took the illustrations provided by these creators and made worlds from them. I admit I have not seen these works – they were given rules, a world, and characters, so it wasn’t just free form, but this really just sounded like an old-school round robin fanfic to me.

I was more interested in the Japanese creators, to be honest. Koike discussed his love of samurai manga, with heroes who are always prepared to die. Maruyama noted that vast imagination is welcome – he called the storyteller’s art “lying”, which I really liked. Hiromoto was asked about a “rat bomb” that apparently featured in his concept – getting ideas from real life, he had been dealing with a rat in his room. Okazaki talked about the two types of vampires he designed, one a cool, traditional vampire and one based more on street culture. He notes the fans had his idea of the hero and villain switched, which intrigued him.

Regarding collaboration, Koike is not a fan. He notes that for creative and legal reasons, he prefers single creator work, though he was quick to specify manga rather than anime. The big laugh of the panel came when Hiromoto was asked about the girl he drew – cute, not his usual thing – and he said Maruyama assigned it to him. When asked why, Maruyama said “I’m a pedophile.” (Actually, he said lolicon – the translator quickly amended.)

Koike did discuss a collaboration he did have with Yoshitaka Anamo on Deva Sun. Amano did all the art first, then Koike did the story based on that. Maruyama was asked about Dream Machine – things were complicated by the director passing away, but he definitely intends to finish it! And Koike told a wonderful story about taking his katana through customs in California – they all refused to let him through, till he mentioned he wrote Lone Wolf And Cub. He also discussed hormones releasing various chemicals in the body to govern emotions – something the rest of the panelists found very educational!

That did it. A good panel, and interested parties should go to the Animanga wikia site as well.

After this I ate lunch, then went to camp in 1A15, where Archie was ending. This turned out to be a good moe, as what was happening there was a panel by Perfect Square (formerly VizKids) on writing for children. These are titles like Ben 10, Monsuno, and Max Steel, as well as Hello Kitty and Mameshiba – licensed properties PS creates stories for.

The first thing mentioned about writing for kids was not to talk down to them – kids are clever enough to see that. Concentrate on engaging themes, such as (to paraphrase another company) friendship, hard work and victory. Stories for kids are more about black and white – less moral ambiguity and grey areas. Most importantly, as a writer YOU need to be excited by it and want to read your own work. By the way, just because it’s less ambiguous doesn’t make it simple or fluffy – the villains can be terrifying. One panelist mentioned The Secret of Nimh as a movie that scared him as a kid, but he loved it.

It was said straight out – the mainstream superhero titles aren’t for kids anymore. Instead, the panel discussed other things that may draw in kids. Humor – kids find humor in different things. The way kids’ books have evolved over the years and across countries – what’s for k,ids in Europe or Japan may not be for America, and vice versa. The Oz books were noted as being quite “intense.” Mad Magazine was also brought up as being alluring to kids – partly as when we were kids, it tended to be forbidden.

Working with the pre-existing projects that Perfect Square has can be a bit straitjacketing, but if you keep going you’ll been you share a common goal – inclusion and entertainment. Hello Kitty was noted as being particularly universal – the comic is wordless, as she has no mouth (but must scream). All Ages titles can also reinvigorate the imagination, as it does mean ALL ages – these should appeal to adults, to grandmothers, to kids. Kids have a boundless imagination, which needs to be lpayed with. Calvin and Hobbes was mentioned as terrific example.

I asked how they handle moral lessons in works, now that we aren’t in the age of Sailor Moon Says or One to Grow On. The lack of moral ambiguity helps here – they can afford to be more subtle. They agreed that they hated the whole “He-Man helps old women across the street” lessons of the 80s, which were tacked on and fake. Heroes and villains having a broader pallate was also discussed, noting that people can fight, be wrong, be arrogant. You are allowed age-appropriate dark themes. This was a surprise panel for me – I really got a kick out of it.

My last panel of the day was 2000AD. This was easily the funniest panel of the entire con – I was in hysterics several times, mostly thanks to the savvy of the PR person, Mike, who knows hnow to work a room. 2000AD is still a weekly in the UK, and IDW is doing a monthly release as well. It’s a popular proving ground for new writers – the cream of the Marvel and DC crop cut their teeth with Judge Dredd and the like. Andy Diggle, Al Ewing and Ian Edgington were the creators present. 2000AD has a very strong voice – it’s weird, it has black humor, it’s very anti-authority. This despite its poster boy being Judge Dredd, the ultimate authority figure. (It was noted many fans like Dredd TOO much, given it’s a satire.)

2000AD is a fun place as you can pitch original concepts and ideas, vs. “Here are the superheroes you will be writing” at the big Two. Their submission guidelines are clear and concise, as indeed are their comics – many fans find it disquieting how small a story in a particular issue can be – most run 4-6 pages. They mentioned several titles new readers might look into. Brass Sun is about a universe that’s actually a clockwork orrery, and what happens once the sun starts winding down. (Please, 200AD, don’t let the sun go down on me.) Stickleback sounded great to me, particularly a description of Adam Adamant walking down the street with Adam Ant. It also has a Pope of crime, with two ribcages.

They were asked about animating some of their properties – there have been projects, but they tend to fall through. They’re very careful with their properties – for the Dredd movie, it was written into the legal contract that he could not remove his helmet. I asked about budgets – they get a yearly budget, which they then have to divide among the various issues, and then among the artists/writers/letterers/cover artists, etc. There are Excel spreadsheets involved. It wqas also noted very firmly that unlike certain superhero companies, 2000AD lets people stay dead.

2000AD has an iPad app, and their wensite has CBR files to buy. Check it out – Dredd is a lot more complex than you think, and there’s far more to the magazine than just Dredd. Also, the creators are hilarious.

Tomorrow I only have one panel, in Main Events. Getting in will be tricky. Till then, as a fun exercise, count the number of times I said ‘noted’ in this post. Not including that one.

New York Comic Con is huge, and offers much to the fan that they really, really want to see. But the reality is that you can’t see everything, and must pick and choose your battles. I realized this year that I had been fortunate in previous years to not have major scheduling conflicts, and not to worry about missing the things I chose to go to.

Not this year. This year, room size and lines combined to make a formidable enemy – one that required better tactics.

But let’s start off with Vertical, celebrating is 10th year of manga, whose panel featured a rather ill Ed Chavez, who nonetheless gave us his all. They’re doing pretty well this year. Gundam is a big seller, and Tropic of the Sea’s initial sales have them looking into more Kon. Flowers of Evil is not only a surpise hit but a personal favorite of Ed’s, and he likes how it matures as it goes along. Most of the start of the panel ran down the previously announced licenses not yet available, such as Pink, Insufficient Direction, and the like. Given that the latter is about Hideki Anno, no surprises – lots of endnotes will be needed to explain the obsessions.

What Did You Eat Yesterday? was another biggie due out late Spring. About a gay couple dealing with coming out, it’s not a foodie manga per se, but does have recipes that means it can be marketed as one. It’s about character, though, specifically the two leads. It’s also gay, not BL – there’s no hot bishie sex here. Compound Cinematics is a non-fiction book about Akira Kurosawa coming out in August 2014, and should interest fans of good film. There’s also Prophecy, which was announced just a couple of weeks ago, a cyberterror horror manga from Jump X. (Oddly, they licensed it through a French agent.)

New licenses were to be had as well! More Moyoco Anno is always welcome, as we see the josei In Clothes Named Fat coming out this Summer. It’s a realistic take on bulimia, with some unpleasant lead characters, but apparently riveting – real old-school josei. It first ran in Weekly Josei, a magazine from Shufu to Seikatsusha, who did Pet Shop Of Horrors. But Shodensha has the reprint rights, so Vertical licensed it from them. (If anyone but me cares about this, let me know in the comments.)

There’s also the Attack on Titan: Before the Fall novel series, based on the best-selling manga. It tells about the survey corps pre-manga days, and is three volumes long. Given Vertical’s known facility with novel translation, the title is a good fit with them.

Q&A ended the panel. Chi is going a little longer (partly due to its success in America) and will be 13 volumes now. Josei is an interesting genre for them – sales may not always be great, but bookstores always seem to like the look of it. He noted Helter Skelter’s sales were only middling, but it had truly rave reviews. And the potential of a subscription service was mentioned as something they’re trying to work out for those who simply want everything Vertical has to offer.

After this, I wanted to go to the Welcome to Night Vale panel. It was in 1A15, though, a very small room. I went to line up 75 minutes early. It still wasn’t enough. Barely 1/8 of the line made it into the panel (many suspected that the Robotech panel before it was full of WTNV fans – the rooms aren’t cleared afterward). Now, I knew Viz was here at 4:15, so needed to decide what to do. My colleague MJhad already lined up for Kodansha, so I decided to skip that and heaad to Viz super-early. It was a good choice – staff were turning people away 45 minujtes before the start.

MJwill have the Kodansha panel in more detail, but several of their new titles intrigued me. UQ Holder was possibly the most obvious license ever, and has only just begun in Japan, so it’s hard to get a handle on it beyond “is 60-70 years post-Negima” and “has Evangeline in it”. Let’s hope it lacks the issues Negima had. Seven Deadly Sins is by Nakaba Suzuki, who started his career with Jump (Rising Impact), then went to Sunday (Kongou Bancho), and now is at Magazine. His latest series seem sto be medieval fantasy and is 5 volumes and still going.

Attack on Titan is the huge runaway hit of the year, so seeing more licenses is about as surprising as seeing UQ Holder. I am very gleased to see the high school gag manga is coming out – readers of this blog know I love Haruhi-chan, though this genre actually goes back as far as SD Gundam in the 80s. The guidebooks always sound great (though don’t sell well – maybe that will change with this one). They also have the Before the Fall manga, which Vertical licensed the novels of earlier. This runs in Shonen Sirius. Lastly, they have the shoujo title No Regrets, from Aria, which covers the past of Levi, the most popular character among fans (particularly BL shippers). Given Levi’s general personality, I expect much tragic backstory.

I *did* get into Viz, which was a relief as I was bone tired and my ankle was killing me. They started off with new print titles, including a new Ghibli artbook, based on The Wind Rises. Then we saw two new Shojo Beat titles, one for each demographic. For the serious, tortured supernatural shoujo fan, there’s Black Rose Alice, which comes from Akita Shoten’s Princess magazine. From the author of After School Nightmare, it has the ever-popular vampires in it (but not in the title, sadly.) A word of warning – arachnophobes may find certain scenes involving the supernatural powers to be a bit too spidery and gross for them. Despite it being for Black Bird typs, I will give it a try.

Next was a surprise. I was expecting a Kazune Kawahara title, but figured it would be Aozora Yell, her big Betsuma band ‘n baseball manga. It may be a bit too long for them, however, as Viz instead licensed My Love Story (Ore Monogatari), about a guy who looks like Onsen Mark from UY, his bishie best friend, and their ongoing love lives. It sounds hilarious, and I really can’t wait for this one from the creator of High School Debut.

For Battle Royale fans, Angel’s Border is an Akita Shoten title that tells the stories of some of the minor characters who tended to be cannon fodder for the main series, but had great pasts. It ran in Young Champion, and thus is our first seinen title of the day. But not the last. Terrra Formars (spelling is intentional) is a Young Jump series I’d suggested had a good chance of being licensed in my last roundup of bestsellers. Viz clearly agreed, and this Starship Troopers-esque action horror manga is coming out this summer in its Signature line. It’s dark, but really intriguing – Sidonia and Wolfsmund fans may like it.

For Blue Exorcist fans, a collection of Kozue Kato’s short stories is due in Fall 2014. This is going to be pretty deluxe, with color pages. Lastly, they have their new Jump series, Seraph of the End. Like Blue Exorcist, it comes from edgier Jump Square. The author has several light novel series to his credit, including A Dark Rabbit Has Seven Lives and Legend of the Legendary Heroes. This one also has vampires, but not the sexy shoujo kind. It can get dark. It’s out in WSJ now and print this summer.

The digital rep then discussed their ongoing plan to digitize. Perfect Square is their app for kids’ series, mature titles are now on Nook and Kindle. Also, Pepita, Inoue’s Gaudi book, is now out with a few added animated effects. I asked a question later about the really old series that were flipped. They can put them up – the app isn’t always R-to-L – but most of those are so old the licensing rights might be tricky. Sorry, Even A Monkey Can Draw Manga fans!

Much of the rest of thne panel was devoted to anime, with the new Neon Alley fall season adding Utena, Ranma, Madoka Magica, and Magi, which doesn’t end in -a, but is getting its dub world premiered. They also announced then new Tiger & Bunny movie, The Rising, will be out in early 2014 – in some selected theaters! There were a lot of T&B fans in the audience, and this pleased them greatly.

I was able to go from here to the Ranma panel, mostly as the Ranma room was 4 times the size of the Viz one. Despite that, it filled almost to capacity. Ranma was my gateway into manga, so it was very nice to see everyone turn out for a manga that’s over 25 years old in Japan.Hope Donovan, who is editing the re-release, gave us the skinny. The history of Takahashi manga began with Ranma and ended with Inu Yasha and Rin-Ne – this was not about OOP titles like UY or MI. They showed off the old pamphlet comics, big oversize GNs, and VHS tapes.

The omnibus will have a simplified version of the original cover art on the front (the spines and back not so much, though). They showed off the remastering, and it really looked great – early Ranma from the 1990s looked like a muddy 3rd generation xerox, mostly as it was – that’s how they replicated it then. The new digital images given great clarity. The translation is mostly the same one – sorry, honorific fans – though it’s been looked at and re-edited where it was further off the Japanese than might be recommended these days. SFX are still translated, but look nicer – and the birds are now back to being cicadas.

There’s also the Blu-Ray and DVD boxsets, also out this spring. Again, images were shown noting the image clarity. These will be in 4:3 – no cropping or stretching to widescreen. They’re also in the original order – the earlier releases mixed things up for reasons that made sense at the time.

Q&A followed. Someone asked about UY, bless them. No news at this time. It was noted that Ranma, like all Takahashi works, is print only. Whatever happened with Rin-Ne seems to have echoed across all Takahashi series, so no digital just yet. It will be 19 total omnibuses, by the way, each two volumes and about 360 pages long. The new OAV out in 2011 is too new to have news on (indeed, the OAVs and movies in general are still wait and see). I suspect getting the gang back together for a dub might prove problematic. As for Blu-Ray extras, they’re still working on them, though a collection of OP and EDs was mentioned as being a good idea.

After a day with a lot more standing in line than expected, I decided to call it a night, so missed the Jim Henson panel. Go buy the biography, though – it’s a realistic look at the brilliance and fallibility of the Muppet creator.

Tomorrow, Doctor Who. Better get there early to stand in line…

It’s been a bit harder to concentrate than usual, I will admit. It’s not every day nine episodes of Doctor Who thought missing are discovered. The Enemy of the World is now complete, and The Web of Fear only missing one episode. They were in Nigeria! You can get them now on iTunes! I can’t, as I’m at a con with no Apple devices. But that’s OK, as there’s much more to talk about.

My first panel was Women in Comics, in the much smaller than anticipated 1A15. (This does not bode well for Viz.) It was filled with librarians, always an excellent thing. Present were (sorry if I mangle names) Megan Kociolek as the moderator, with Becky Cloonan, Erica Schultz, Amy Chu, Emily Weisenstein, Claudia McGiven and Laura Pope-Rollins as panelists. The panel was wide-ranging and took up the whole hour. They started by mentioning those who had the most impact on then industry – Gail Simone, Larry Hama of GI Joe fame, Jennifer Holm (Baby Mouse) and Chris Claremont.

Things have changed a lot in 10 years – there are a lot more women at cons now, and discussion isn’t just about DC and Marvel. In fact, there was a discussion of the word “mainstream” in regards to those two publishers, and how it’s almost become a gut reaction to use them as the norm. Several of the panelists love manga, and Takahashi (and Ranma in particular) were mentioned as being influential – both here and in Japan. Becky also mentioned Tokyopop, and how despite their faults they were key in getting readers, particularly young girls, into the bookstores.

Demographics were mentioned – publishers aren’t sure how to market to adult women, so avoid titles that might appeal only to their interest. DC and Marvel pitch almost entirely to gujys, with female readers never being their primary target. There’s independent comics, but then distribution is hard – tough to get into the shops. Japan has readers that shift genres as they grow older – something the West might try learning.

Favorite characters came up. Rogue, Storm, Girl-Type Ranma, Utena and Chun-Li from Becky. Amy mentioned Kate Bishop, Buffy and Willow. Emily then mentioned Catwoman and Wonder Woman, which led into a discussion of her character and how her lack of a consistent, iconic backstory like Superman and Batman is an issue. There’s also the marketing tendency to idolize pretty princesses – Disneyfication. Girls should be shown more options.

Before Q&A, they discussed using comics in education, with manga as an example. Nausicaa and Barefoot Gen are both manga that can fairly simply and easily be added to a curriculum examining ecology or the aftermath of WWII.

Question time. They were asked to define ‘comic literacy’, a term used earlier, and Becky noted that her mother, a non-comics reader, had trouble moving from panel to panel without confusion. It’s something kids learn at a young age. E-culture was mentioned to the derision of one or two panelists, who notes the new “nerds” are the same people who used to bully them – it’s just nerd is cool now. Amy Chu got the line of the night: “You’re forcing me to pull out my Harvard MBA.” Learning marketing was noted to be incredibly important, particularly as DC and Marvel still tend to underestimate things. The panel was asked if they felt pressure writing for women, and noted they have some projects they feel more passionate about. Amy, in fact, noted she writes a lot of men in order to stretch herself. She’d also like to do children’s stories. Lastly, the words “Strong Female Character” were discussed. No one just thinks “Oh, I want a strong female..” They should be allowed to be emotional, and screw up, and have men LISTEN to her if she’s in charge.

I then walked around the dealer’s room and artist’s alley before going to the LGBT&A panel. This began with a 5-minute video showing LGBT fans naming their favorite “queeros”, which made me realize that I might have been lacking the superhero background this panel writeup needed. Indeed, there was a lot more Marvel and DC chat than the prior panel. Jude Biersdorfer from the NYT Book Review moderated, and the panel had Dan Parent, Marjorie Liu, Rich Bernatovech, Greg Pak, and Dan Ketchum.

Dan does Kevin Keller for Archie, and talked about a recent storyline with Kevin and his boyfriend kissing, and an irate mom at their school taking offense. He noted it’s Archie, so they can’t get too political – though the recent decision to avoid Russia in The Archies world tour made a few headlines. He tends to like normal, Archie-esque plots and wacky hijinks. He noes Kevin has gotten a lot of positive feedback from parents – he lets them open a dialogue with their kids without it sounding forced.

Marjorie writes Northstar and Karma, and here’s where my research fails me, as she also writes Docken? I presume this isn’t the 80s metal band Dokken . Northstar’s wedding, of course, was a major talking point, and we got the first of several mentions that NY legalizing gay marriage has led to a more open side to it at Marvel. Docken, whoever he is, is bi, which means a lot of fans get upset with him – as indeed many in real life do with bisexuals, who can get shot by both sides. She ended by talking about how she tries to subvert expectations.

Rich writes the Neverminds and Sentinels, and is the indie publisher of the group. He has a married, stable gay couple, something he’s quite happy to show. Writing and synergy were mentioned here – he had a character whose origin was around an African lake, and recent discoveries of fossilization are eerily close to the character’s powers.

Greg notes his half-Asian background, and discussed the similarities between this and LGBT content – as a kid, they’d all come running when a real Asian character was on TV. He writes Extreme X-Men, a title that already has a long tradition of minorities and queer representation. Her notes he had his most recent couple get together as “they just felt right”, and that it was best for their roles in the cast he’s writing. He also discussed a gay relationship between two stone-based gay aliens in Planet Hulk. Volcanic mating!

Dan Ketchum also writes X-Men, and Prodigy was mentioned. As noted beforehand, he now doesn’t always have to clear every single gay moment up the line to the editor-in-chief, which has only recently been the case. Young Avengers, whose gay couple are teenagers, is treated a bit more carefully – he was told at one point they couldn’t kiss. It’s also fun writing gays with superpowers – one character is the son of Scarlet Witch, and so we hve some “am I in love with you or are you warping reality to make it that way?” Even better, the addition of another gay character allows us to move beyond the “the two gay guys always have to pair up” cliche.

Trans hadn’t been mentioned much. DC recently crowed about Batgirl’s roommate being the first trans character in comics. Jude challenged the panel to think of a Marvel character who’d been there first. It was noted that Danger, though she appears as a woman now, technically has no gender. Sasquatch and Loki were also brought up. It was noted it can sometimes be hard to make the metaphor match the sexuality.

Jude then brought up the elephant in the room – the recent Batwoman decision, and Dan Didio’s followup that heroes shouldn’t be happy. They all disagreed strenuously, noting they felt DC was alienating readers and that it smacked of lazy storytelling – the complexity was removed. Greg felt he did understand the point, however, and noted the cyclical nature of superheroes – they’re soap operas, and a new creative team can always undo any happy ending the prior one did. He also talked about stereotyping, and how you don’t always have to jerk away from it if the stereotype fits your character.

Audience Q&A had one woman note asexuals are always left out of or diminished in comics – and also weren’t mentioned at this panel. The “A” in LGBTA was for “Allies”. The panel grew quite thoughtful, and admitted they didn’t have a really good response beyond thinking about it (though Dan Parent did jokingly name Jughead.) For the most part, though, it’s a heteronormative world in comics, and all the gay folks mentioned here are merely a drop inn the bucket among all the “white, straight males”. Things are looking up, however. Gay Marriage’s legalization has led Marvel to relax its standards a bit.

To end, the panel all agreed the best thing the audience could do was to keep discussing the issues, and vote for what they like and want more of with their money by buying the comics.

That’s it for today. Man, I took a lot of notes for just two panels. Tomorrow will be much busier. Now I go to bed and dream of Pat Troughton…

There’s only 2 titles here, but I though I’d get them out of the way rather than include them with all the NYCC stuff. Plus they’re both excellent.

Vertical has added a seinen manga called Prophecy (Yokokuhan), which just finished its run in Shueisha’s Jump X. (For those wondering what Vertical’s doing with a Shueisha title, apparently this came via France and was somewhat convoluted… not sure of all the details, but don’t expect Vertical to license Medaka Box anytime soon.) The author seems to specialize in tense psychological thrillers, and this promises to be in that vein.

Meanwhile, One Peace Books has been a quiet player in the manga market so far, with a reissue of Crayon Shin-chan, and the forthcoming Black Bard in November of this year. But they really got the internet buzzing when their new license showed up on Amazon: Whispered Words, better known to yuri fans as Sasameki Koto. Running from 2007-2012 in Media Factory’s Comic Alive, Sasameki Koto tells the story of Sumika, a young woman in love with her best friend Ushio, but unable to confess her feelings as Ushio loves small, cute girls and Sumika is tall and a martial-arts prodigy in karate. It was adapted into an anime, and also featured Kiyori and her eating curry bread, something I dearly would read an entire manga of. The Amazon listing notes it’s 472 pages, so I suspect this 9-volume series may come out in 3 omnibuses.

And that’s just a taste! Wait till later this week for even more license madness!

Another weekend, another con with tons of new licenses. I’ll actually be at the next major con (NYCC in October), and hope they saved something for those panels, or else I’ll feel very foolish and East Coast-ey.

Yen Press had a panel on Friday, and had several intriguing announcements. Including two that took me very much by surprise. Not the titles themselves, no, I am aware that both Sword Art Online and Accel World were very popular animes, and can see why the two Sword Art Online manga stories were announced. (That’s Sword Art Online: Aincrad and Sword Art Online: Fairy Dance for those following along at home). No, what surprised me was the announcement of the Sword Art Online and Accel World novels. Yen says they will release all the SAO novels (13+ volumes to date), and at least the first four Accel World novels. This is quite a light novel investment. Admittedly, Yen has had success here before, what with Haruhi Suzumiya and Book Girl.

Sword Art Online and Accel World are both by the same author, Reki Kawahara, and both are published by Dengeki Bunko (which also put out the SAO manga titles), and both have similar plotlines, as our heroes get caught up in online roleplaying world that turns out to be far more serious than they may have imagined.

Also from Yen, we have Bloody Brat, a cute comedic spinoff of the Blood Lad manga. And another Puella Magi Madoka Magica spinoff, The Different Story, which focuses on Kyouko and Mami, but promises to be just as depressing as Madoka Magica fans want and crave. (Kidding, kidding…)

Dark Horse’s panel was mostly a retrospective on the manga they used to publish, but they did announce a new Masamune Shirow artbook, Battalion. Given we’re unlikely to get any new manga drawn by Shirow, this is probably the next best thing.

Lastly, Viz Media had their Shojo Beat panel today, which had a few new announcements! First of all, expect more old-school shoujo titles returning digitally from the world of out-of-print, including the much-desired Basara! Skip Beat! is coming soon as well. And High School Debut will get a 3-in-1 release, which is cool enough on its own, but may have the extra chapters that came out after the manga was finished but weren’t collected in the first edition. Which is awesome.

We also had two brand new announcements today, one a license rescue. Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne was initially published over here by CMX back in the day. Viz has rescued it and will be republishing it with new translation and everything – I think they’re even using the thicker “bunko” editions. Jeanne is a fascinating title that combines both the ‘phantom thief’ and ‘demon hunter’ genres, and is also the breakout hit of Arina Tanemura, who has had much success over here with every other titles she’s released (Gentlemen’s Alliance Cross, etc.). It’s an absolute get when it comes out this March.

Viz has had success recently with licensing Petit Comic titles and marketing them as mature Shojo Beat titles over here. Indeed, Midnight Secretary, out next week, has gotten really amazing buzz. So much buss, in fact, that Viz has now licensed Tomu Ohmi’s current work for Petit Comic, Majo no Biyaku (released here as Spell of Desire). As you’d expect given Midnight Secretary, this too is a combination of the supernatural and highly erotically charged romance. There’s apparently a LOT of supernatural to it as well – magic, witches, unicorns, etc. (No vampires, as far as I can tell, but that’s why we have Midnight Secretary, right?) It should debut a year from now, August 2014. I approve of Viz reaching out to older female readers with these works.

What title excites you the most from this list?

Another week, another con, and another passel of new manga titles coming your way. I’m also throwing in Seven Seas’ new titles, as they generally don’t do con panels, but simply announce their titles on social media.

So starting with them, we have a new yuri title from Morinaga Milk, author of Girl Friends and the Kisses, Sighs and Cherry Blossom Pink anthology. The premise sounds at first like it may have a bit of a Sukeban Deka series, but it looks quite light-hearted in tone, as a newly undercover police officer at a high school (a new recruit filled with justice) finds that her school already HAS an undercover police officer there, who insists this is her turf. It looks like a great cute title for those who loved Morinaga’s other cute titles.

A few weeks earlier, they also announced another four Alice in the Country Of titles, as it’s a series that has sold quite well for them, and there are still many titles available out there. (In fact, I suspect one of the main reasons for their license of the Crimson Empire series is that half the Alice volumes have CE side-stories in the back.) We get one volume for familiar harem protagonists Eliot March (the March Hare), Julius Monrey (whose first focus manga, The Clockmaker’s Story, is out this month), and Ace (whose series will hopefully focus a little more on the psychosis that makes him interesting.) We also get a volume devoted to Nightmare, the somewhat puckish ruler of dreams who sort of fills the caterpillar role in these books. This is honestly a whole lot of Alice, but I’ve found little gems interspersed among the more obvious cash-ins, so they’re worth checking out.)

As is standard lately, the big announcement of the day came from our friends at Vertical, who have licensed the Fumi Yoshinaga manga Kinou Nani Tabeta?, aka What Did You Eat Yesterday?. This seinen slice-of-life manga runs in Kodansha’s Morning magazine, and tells the story of a longtime gay couple (one dour and the straight man, one carefree and outgoing). What makes it compelling is that the story is told around the edges, as each chapter is mostly about the two men eating and cooking food, and recipe tips are interspersed throughout. Yoshinaga is mostly known over here for two things: BL and food. This 7+ volume series combines the two of them, and has been a much coveted license for quite some time. It’s also a rare seinen license from Kodansha, which makes me very happy. I can’t wait to read this one.

Lastly, Viz mentioned that they will be re-releasing the Monster manga in omnibus format next year. This Naoki Urasawa title is quite dark indeed, involving a doctor who saves the life of a young child only to find he grows up to become an insane madman. It ran in Big Comic Original, one of the few licenses from that seinen Shogakukan magazine. It was intensely popular online with manga and comics bloggers, but didn’t really catch on as much in terms of sales – perhaps this new omnibus, which will be in a larger trim and 2-volumes-in-1, can give it the audience it deserves – I think fans of Death Note who have grown to want more mature stories would really get a kick out of it, as well as Urasawa fans who discovered him via Pluto or 20th Century Boys. Hey, if it sells really well, maybe we can finally see Yawara: A Fashionable Judo Girl! Or even Happy!, one of the most depressing sports manga ever written.

What appeals to you most here? My guess is the foodie title.

Well, more of an ‘SDCC and Seven Seas’ roundup, as they announced several things right before the con. It wasn’t as big a weekend as I expected, as Yen had to cancel their panel at the last minute, but there were still a lot of great things to talk about. Let’s delve in.

The biggest title licensed this week was no doubt Doraemon. The production studio announced that they were doing a digital release of the classic kids’ manga starting this fall, on Kindle and hopefully other platforms. AltJapan, who are handling Dorohedoro for Viz, are scheduled to be doing the translation; this fills me with happiness, as I love the job they’ve done there. In case you live in a cave, Dorawmon is one of the most popular icons of Japanese manga, sort of the equivalent of Mickey Mouse (well, given his screwups, perhaps Donald Duck). He is a robot cat from the future, there to help our hero, Nobita, through the use of futuristic technology. Of course, something always goes wrong. One of the most beloved classics of all time, you’d better believe I’ll be reviewing it here.

Viz had most of its Japanese manga licenses already announced at Anime Expo. They did note they’re doing a (Western) comic based on their Japanese novel title All You Need Is Kill. They’re also re-releasing the Battle Royale novel, and have a collection of essays coming out with it, as various writers talk about Battle Royale’s themes and meaning.

Kodansha had several new announcements they’d saved for SDCC, including two shoujo manga I’ve wanted to see over here for some time. My Little Monster (Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun) features a grumpy, somewhat grades-obsessed lead girl whose life is disrupted by the presence of a well-meaning but completely socially inept monster of a guy (yeah, sorry, no supernatural content here). The manga is 11 volumes long, and just ended in Japan. (By the way, get used to this. Due to the economy making long series difficult to license, expect Western folks to wait on licensing things till they have a guarantee it’s wrapping up with a reasonable number of volumes.)

The other shoujo title is Say “I Love You” (Suki tte Ii na yo), which runs in the same shoujo magazine as My Little Monster, Dessert. Dessert is an older-skewing shoujo magazine that is sort of the equivalent of Cheese! or Cookie, only a bit less racy. Kodansha noted they’d never licensed anything from it before, and are waiting to see how these series do. For those of you that complain Kodansha only licenses stuff from Shonen Magazine and Nakayoshi, now is your chance to show your appreciation. The premise to this may sound similar to several shoujo series, as the heroine is a quiet girl who is slow to trust people, and the hero is a popular guy who all the girls love. Of course, if you look at the bestselling shoujo manga over here, that premise sounds like the ringing of cash registers. It’s well-handled, though, and deserves its license. It’s also wrapping up in Japan soon, and is around 11-12 volumes.

Every series by Hiro Mashima has been licensed in the West bar one, so it’s no surprise to see that Kodansha has snatched up that one. Monster Soul ran in Kodansha’s Comic Bonbon, which is for kids around 7-10 years old; it’s basically what you give little kids when they want to read Shonen Magazine (which skews much older than Jump or Sunday do). A fantasy tale of humans vs. monsters, it’s classic Mashima, and only two volumes long.

Lastly, Kodansha announced they were picking up xxxHOLIC Rei, CLAMP’s new sequel/interqual/no one is quite sure what it is continuation of the original series. They’re also ‘rescuing’ Tsubasa and xxxHOLIC from Del Rey, and re-releasing it in omnibus format. (No word on digital yet; I imagine getting CLAMP digitally will be as hard as getting Sailor Moon is proving to be.) These titles are classic modern CLAMP, being entertaining, filled with great art, and highly frustrating on a very personal level. Recommended, even if you will bang your head against a wall at Tsubasa’s plot.

Seven Seas did not have a panel at SDCC, but they had a booth, and these days they tend to announce their titles as press releases rather than at cons anyway. The biggest news there was probably the agreement with Comixology to put out their titles digitally. And yes, this includes some Japanese titles, though the majority so far are their OEL titles such as Aoi House and Vampire Cheerleaders. Haganai, Dance in the Vampire Bund, and the Korean manwha Jack the Ripper: Hell Blade are now digital. I hope to see more Seven Seas licenses there in the future (in particular, I’d love to see Young Miss Holmes digitally).

As for new Seven Seas licenses, it’s a trio of titles that appeal to fans who like to see cute girls in battle. Strike Witches: Tenkou no Otometachi (Maidens of the Sky) is… well, it’s World War II if all the ace pilots were magical girl witches. I suppose if I can accept Hetalia, I can accept that. It first became famous in fandom for its constant panty shots, but I understand the manga also has a real plot and character development and stuff like that. It first ran in Kadokawa’s Comp Ace.

I don’t know much about Arpeggio of Blue Steel (Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio) except that it runs in Young King OURS, home of Excel Saga, meaning I will absolutely give it a shot. The premise seems to involve an alternate future, submarines, and a mysterious alien fleet that is there to ensure humanity cannot use the seas. Naturally our heroes are there to stop them. This crew actually does feature some males, I believe.

Lastly, we have Girls Und Panzer, which I can sum up pretty well as: girls in tanks. The name might have given that away, to be fair. Like Strike Witches, it’s part of a large anime/manga/light novel multimedia blitz. The manga we get here ran in Media Factory’s Comic Flapper. Media Factory is getting to be a favorite of Seven Seas, and I like seeing more titles from Flapper and fewer from the slightly more pandering Comic Alive (not that Flapper doesn’t have its share of pander as well – see this series). The series actually sounds like a typical high school girls’ sports manga, only instead of kendo or softball, it’s operating tanks. Intriguing.

And I believe that wraps it up, at least until Otakon, where I’m sure some companies will have a tidbit or two. What excites you the most on this list?

I’m not at AX, but through the magic ability of being able to follow the tweets of those who are, I can give you my thought on what’s happening over there! There’s actually quite a bit of stuff brewing.

We started off with our friends at Vertical, Inc. They only had one license, but it looks like a lot of fun! Moyoco Anno is not only an award-winning mangaka, but she’s also married to otaku legend Hideki Anno. The one-volume Kantoku Fuyuki Todoki ran in Shodensha’s Feel Young magazine, and is a comedic yet heartwarming autobiographical look at what it’s like to be married to such a legendary otaku. Vertical will put it out under the title Insufficient Direction.

Digital Manga Publishing had some of the biggest news of the con, as they announced an agreement with Tezuka Pro for digital release in North America of the unlicensed Tezuka titles – all of them, supposedly. I admit, I’m not expecting some of the weirder, more adult or ‘problematic (antisemitism, etc.) titles anytime soon, but for the Tezuka fan this has to be an incredibly happy day. Much of his work had been released lately through Vertical, but DMP has been doing a few as well, including the Kickstarter projects of Barbara, Unico, and Atomcat. Given that it’s DMP, I’m also hoping these will be downloadable rather than cloud. Looking forward to more about this.

Most of Right Stuf’s announcements were, understandably, in the anime arena. But they surprised us at the very end by announcing, in partnership with Tokyopop (still around, in case you were wondering) the release of Axis Powers Hetalia Books 4 & 5 before the new year! I’ve made no secret that I really enjoy this goofy gag manga about anthropomorphic nations, which has moved beyond its sketchy WWII origins and embraced exaggerated stereotypes of every era! If you pre-order, you’ll get color pages as well, which are only available in the first printing.

Kodansha Comics didn’t have any new titles to announce (they indicated that SDCC in two weeks might be a different story), but this did not stop them from having a few big things to say anyway. It’s no secret that Attack on Titan has EXPLODED in fandom, particularly with the release of the anime. Kodansha, therefore, has decided to speed up the releases, similar to what they’re doing with Fairy Tail, till they catch up with Japan by the start of 2014. One a month, that’s a lot of titans.

Bigger news, though, particularly for me as I’ve been begging for it, is that they will be releasing their titles digitally on Nook, Kindle, and Google Play (and, in fact, shuttering their iTunes app, though you get to keep the books you have on it.) They’ve been Apple only for years, so this is fantastic news, as they were the last holdout (bar Seven Seas, who don’t have digital for their Japanese titles yet). Now Android users (such as myself can enjoy the following titles digitally:

Arisa
@ Full Moon
Attack on Titan
Bloody Monday
Cage of Eden
Danza
Fairy Tail
Genshiken (omnibus)
Genshiken: 2nd Season
I Am Here!
Kitchen Princess (omnibus)
Mardock Scramble
Missions of Love
Ninja Girls
No. 6
Sankarea
Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei
Until the Full Moon

In other words, most of their current lineup, with the major exception of Sailor Moon, which I suspect would require a lot more negotiating with Naoko Takeuchi. In particular, it’s great to see Zetsubou-sensei there. By the way, Kodansha still insists it’s not cancelled, but it’s still on hold due to low sales and being a pain in the ass to translate. Having tried my hand at the endnotes for Vol. 10, I can sympathize.

And that leaves Viz Media. They did not disappoint. There is a new seinen title (I am assuming it will be in the Signature line) called Gangsta, that runs in Shinchosha’s Comic @ Bunch magazine. It’s apparently very similar to Dogs: Bullets & Carnage. Nisekoi, which has its first three volumes out digital only, will start to run in print in January. They are re-releasing Dragon Ball in larger trim, around the size of US comics.

Deadman Wonderland is not only a Tokyopop license rescue, but also more than 10 volumes and still running, making it a surprising pickup in my mind. It’s a Shonen Ace series from Kadokawa that is another in the ever popular survival game genre… this one set in a very strange prison. And, big news for us old fogies… Ranma 1/2, back in print, unflipped! 2-in-1 omnibus volumes, starting in March! Given the digital app doesn’t do flipped, I wonder if this is a way to get it out digitally. In any case, great news for old-school fans!

Lastly, some hope for fans of cancelled Jump series Gintama and Reborn – SJ is looking into bringing them back digitally, though no promises just yet. I imagine if they do well they may look into continuing them digitally as well.

What in this list excites you the most?

Another week, another con. Two cons, in fact. Sakuracon was the place to be for manga folks, though, as both Dark Horse and Yen had panels with brand new announcements! (Viz had a panel as well, but they already did their big announcements last month, so did not have anything new on the print manga front.)

New print titles to start. Fans of Lone Wolf and Cub will be pleased to see that Dark Horse has licensed the sequel, New Lone Wolf and Cub. Old-school manga followers may note that they announced this back in 2006, but it got put on the back burner for reasons that have to do with the Japanese licensor, I’m guessing. It has the same writer but a different artist, and ran in the magazine Jin till that folded, whereupon it moved to the online magazine Katana. Expect much samurai action.

Vocaloid is a fandom that has taken off both here and in Japan to an unprecedented degree, so it’s no surprise that someone was going to pick up a cute comic manga featuring the leads, though Dark Horse being the one may be a bit of a surprise. They’ve tried to shed their grim ‘n’ gritty manga image quite a few times recently, so my guess is this is another opportunity. Maker Hikoushiki Hatsune Mix ran in Comic Rush magazine a few years back, and sounds like it’s cute slice-of-idol life stuff.

The big news from Dark Horse may be on the digital front, though. They’ve already added quite a few of their Kadokawa titles to their online store, including Evangelion spinoffs, Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, and Ghost Talker’s Daydream. Trigun and Hellsing are also now on there, as is Appleseed, the classic Shirow title. That said, two of their biggest series were still missing. Well, that’s going to change. Starting next month we’ll be seeing Oh My Goddess! and Blade of the Immortal digitally. Given the length of both series, digital may definitely be the way to go in order to gain new readers.

Yen, meanwhile, had three new announcements, a couple of which will be quite exciting to fans who’ve seen the anime adaptations of these. Inu x Boku SS is a Gangan Joker series, still ongoing at 8+ volumes (I smell an omnibus release from Yen), and it’s got everything. Yokai schoolgirls, Fox-tailed secret service butler bodyguards, reincarnation, star-crossed love, and boarding houses. It also has quite a plot twist halfway through, which I won’t spoil here.

Do you love long drawn out manga titles that end in an exclamation point? Japan certainly does, and lately North America has started to as well. So on the heels of Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki ja Nain Dakara ne!! and Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai comes Gangan Online’s Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaete mo Omaera ga Warui!, aka WataMote, aka It’s Not My Fault I’m Not Popular!. This one stars a high schooler who is a master of otome game life, but fails at real life, possibly as she looks like a giant Gloomy Gus. The humor comes when she resolves to try and turn her life around and become sociable. This was a long-awaited title, and does not seem, at first glance, to be filled with incest, so I’m hoping Yen is on to a winner here.

And for those who enjoyed the Wolf Children movie, Yen has licensed the 3-volume manga adaptation of it, Oukami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki, which ran in Kadokawa’s Young Ace. It’ll come out in a convenient one-volume omnibus, and is the touching story of a young mother trying to bring up her children… who are part-wolf. Judging by the cover art, I think ‘heartwarming’ is the word of the day for this series.

Lastly, they’ve rescued the Kingdom Hearts manga titles, and plan to start releasing those, with both stuff that already came out via Tokyopop and new material.

2013 solicits are almost over, as we’re seeing November release date news now! What’s your top license of the year?

Yes, they just won’t stop announcing things! Well, they may stop for a couple of months at least, as they’ve now filled their 2013 calendar. (Except they say ACen will have 2014 licenses. Can anyone stop Vertical, those mad licensing fools?) So, what do we have this time?

Shin Sekai Yori, aka From the New World, is an adaptation of a 2003 novel that’s been running in Bessatsu Shonen Magazine, which these days is getting far more licenses over here than its parent weekly magazine. Seems to be a future utopia that may not be as utopian as the lead characters would like to think, and also has BL and yuri elements. It’s 2+ volumes, though I imagine that Vertical got an assurance from Kodansha that it wouldn’t go over 10 volumes before they picked it up.

Meanwhile, for those who saw Vertical’s license of Helter Skelter and wondered if that meant they might get more Kyoko Okazaki josei titles, wonder no more! Pink is a late 80s title from the publisher Magazine House, and is a heartwarming, touching story about a girl and her pet. Sort of. Anyone who says there’s not enough josei out there should love this complete-in-one title.

OK, lesson learned. I will never go on vacation again. Sheesh.

Seven Seas snuck out a 4th license right after I made my post the other day. Aoi Sekai no Chūshin de is being released over here as World War Blue, and is nine volumes long. It runs in Micro Magazine, which is owned by… well, Micro Magazine, and is about a war between Sega and Nintendo with the serial numbers filed off, featuring various anthropomorphic consoles. Honestly, compared with the other three titles Seven Seas talked about the other day, I find this the most intriguing.

Vertical, meanwhile, has two new releases that are quite interesting. Satoshi Kon is better known for his anime productions, but in 1990 he did a short manga for Kodansha’s Young Magazine called Kaikisen, about a young man and the legend of a mermaid. It’s been re-released every few years or so in Japan, and Vertical will now be bringing it out over here, in one complete volume, as Tropic of the Sea.

The other announcement is, surprisingly (to me, at least), from Hakusensha, who seem to finally be getting back into licensing titles to North America after a long Tokyopop hangover. Shi ni Itaru Yamai is a two-volume series from Hikari Asada and Takahiro Seguchi. The author only has one other title (a short ecchi school series), but the artist is well known for his saucy series, including maid series Enmusu, which ADV briefly published before dying, and a very popular series in scanlation, Oretama, which I refuse to discuss. (And no, don’t discuss it in comments, either.) This series, Sickness Unto Death (as Vertical will release it), is about a clinical psychologist who lives at a boarding house while he gets his degree, and a girl who also lives there who has the worst case of despair this side of Zetsubou-sensei. It looks to be a psychological drama, and is probably the title of the three of these that I’m looking forward to the most, despite the reputation of the artist and the fact that it ran in Young Animal.

Well, I’m off on a few days vacation, so naturally everyone decides to pile on licenses the moment I leave. Taunting me with their interestingness. But this will not stop me from breaking everything down, and keeping you, the reader, informed.

I’ve spent quite a few posts discussing Shonen Sunday, and Viz’s lack of enthusiasm about the titles as opposed to Shonen Jump. Of course, this is a vicious circle, as SS series tend not to be among the best-sellers or ‘fan-obsessive’ series. That may change with this new license, however. If ever there was a series running in Sunday that cried out to be licensed, Magi was it. The author has been seen on these shores before with Yen Press’s Sumomomo Momomo, but Magi is a better, more mature work with a manga take on Aladdin and the Arabian Nights. This has the potential to be the first really big Sunday title over here since Inu Yasha, and comes highly recommended.

Viz’s Shojo Beat line also announced four new titles, two of which are actually Josei Beat. Yoroshiku Master is a Hakusensha series from the author of Penguin Revolution, one of the old CMX shoujo favorites. This ran in LaLa’s sister magazine DX, and at 3 volumes is a decent investment (and the third volume apparently has a Penguin Revolution short chapter to boot.) As for the plot, if you like bishie demons, bishie vampires, and bishie catboys, you’ll love bishie reindeer boys! Viz is releasing the series as Sweet Rein.

I was always a big fan of S.A. and its dense as lead heroine, so I’m quite happy to hear that they’ve licensed Maki Minami’s next series that ran in Hana to Yume, Seiyuu Kaa!, which will come out here as Voice Over! – Seiyuu Academy. The title describes the series – our heroine is enrolled in a voice actor’s high school, and not only has to deal with her less than stellar voice qualities, but also the usual high school shenanigans. This being a Hakusensha shoujo series, I’m certain that there will be a few pretty guys to help her out. The series should be 11 or 12 volumes.

Then there’s the two josei series. Viz must have been at least somewhat pleased with the performance of Butterflies, Flowers, as we have not one but two new titles from the pages of Petit Comic, Shogakukan’s josei romance manga for women who have outgrown the already saucy Shoujo Comic. Maki Enjouji’s Happy Marriage?! is 10 volumes, and has ‘Shogakukan’ written all over it: an office lady, trying desperately to pay off her parent’s debt, finds herself engaged to her company president – who she’s never met before! I have a feeling that this title will be just as compelling *and* frustrating as Butterflies, Flowers proved to be, but at least can be assured that it will be quite spicy.

The last, and possibly biggest license from Shojo Beat is Midnight Secretary, Tomu Ohmi’s 7-volume story of a secretary who becomes the personal assistant – and so much more – of her company’s president. Unlike Happy Marriage?!, however, this president is a vampire as well! Despite not having the word Vampire actually in the title, I predict this is going to sell like hotcakes, if hotcakes that have to be shrinkwrapped due to content – this, like Happy Marriage?!, will definitely be an M for Mature title. That said, there’s more here than just put-upon heroine and abusive-yet-oh-so-hot boss, and I am very pleased we’ll get to see this.

Of course, Viz was not the only one to drop new licenses on us, as we have three new titles from Seven Seas. Centaur no Nayami (out over here as A Centaur’s Life), is sort of like Seiyuu Kaa!, only instead of voice actresses it’s monsters and other mythological creatures. The juxtaposition of ordinary high-school comedy with girls with centaur bodies and angel wings is what drives this title.

Jigokuren – Love in Hell is from Futabasha’s Web Comic High, and features a guy who dies one day and finds himself in hell. But he has the chance to repent. Judging by the art and descriptions I’ve seen, however, this title seems to aim at the reader who enjoys seeing young-looking girls torturing guys in various ways. I’d put it in the I Don’t Like You At All Big Brother/Mayo Chiki category.

Lastly, we have another title from Tokuma Shoten’s Comic Ryu (where A Centaur’s Life also appears). Monster Musume is another harem title, regarding the integrations of mythological monsters (in the form of cute girls) into society. They all glom onto our hero, who I suspect is a nice yet unlucky guy, as these types usually are. Of course, the law prevents interspecies nookie, so the entire reason for this title’s existence would appear to be teasing but not delivering. Luckily, there’s a nice harem audience that this would appeal to. I also note that between Love in Hell‘s heroine and this series, we’re covering ‘breast fetishes’ at both ends – small and large.

As we get further into the year, more of the Fall 2013 licenses will become apparent, but this is already a great number of titles for all sorts of fans. Which of these excites you most?

One of the most word-of-mouth popular manga of 2012 is now getting an official release in Viz’s online Shonen Jump Alpha. Technically, One Punch-Man is seinen – it runs in Young Jump’s online magazine. But I suspect that’s only for convenience’s sake, and there’s nothing in this title that isn’t hilariously shonen.

That’s our hero on the cover, who is pretty much what the title says he is. But this doesn’t make him happy. Victory Is Boring. Of course, what One Punch-Man really is is a fun doofy parody/satire of superhero, kaijuu and monster comics in the Dragon Ball mode, while also having lots of genuinely cool action scenes. The writer, ONE, originally started it as an online webcomic. When Shueisha picked it up, they had the art redone by Eyeshield 21 artist Yuusuke Murata. The hero’s face when not posing manfully on the cover… simply makes me happy. I can’t wait to see this coming out over here. Luckily, I only have to wait a week!