Del Rey
At the Del Rey Manga Happy FunTime Hullaballoo (yep, that’s what they called it), some of the most prominent folks from Del Rey (including Ali T. Kokmen, Trisha Narwani, and the all-powerful Dallas Middaugh) sat down to list off their new releases, which I’ve organized in bullet-point form below:
- Nighthead Genesis (story be George Iiida, art by You Higiri) – “Two brothers with supernatural powers who can’t escape their dark destiny”
- Four-Eyed Prince (Wataru Mizukami) – “Sachiko has found her dream guy, but she soon finds out that he is a cute boy in glasses by day, but a nightclub host entertaining older women by night.”
- Only One Wish (by Mia Ikumi) It’s about “A mysterious witch who only grants one wish to five strangers.” Includes a bonus short manga from Tokyo Mew Mew (also by Ikumi).
- Genshiken: Return of the Otaku (novelization by Iida Kazutoshi) “A brand new, hilarious story with the most insane anime club ever.”
- Kitchen Princess: Search for the Angel Cake (story by Miyuki Kobayashi, art by Natsumi Ando) “An old woman asks Najika to recreate an old recipe that’s been lost for over 50 years.”
- King of RPGs (story by manga expert Jason Thompson, art by Victor Haa) It’s about “a young kid who is obsessed with “World of Warfare,” and gets sucked into an insane tabletop roleplaying game
Check out the news from Yen Press and CMX after the break!
Yen Press
Yen Press President Kurt Hassler and the other folks from the manga publisher showed up at their panel room today to provide us with some sweet, sweet new licensing announcements and (as most of the packed room was hoping for) some sweet, sweet giveaways. The new licenses are listed below.
- Time and Again (by Jiun Yun) – Yen will be giving a graphic novel release to this title, already running in Yen+
- Spice and Wolf manga (story by Isuna Hasekura, art by Keito Koume) – A release date is “soon to be disclosed”
- Raiders (by JinJun Park) – Described by the folks from Yen as “early Obata, sort of,” referring of course to the distinctive art style of Death Note manga artist.
- Laon (story by Hyum You, art by YoungBin Kim)
- The Crescent Moon Story (by Hyouta Fujiyama) – Releasing in September 2009
- Yotsuba&! Volume 6 (by Kiyohiko Azuma)!!!
Naturally, the talk of the room was the licensing of Yotsuba&!, which was originally owned by ADV Manga until their company went under, effectively ceasing the publication of the manga. In an epic Powerpoint mistake, the folks from Yen accidentally revealed the license of Yotsuba&! a few slides early, resulting is such a deafening roar from the crowd that Kurt’s microphone shorted out. (At least I like to think that that’s the reason.)
When asked about the translator selected to work on the new release of the manga, Yen told us that they selected a translator who had done some work on the ADV release, so they had some familiarity with the title. Additionally, the manga will not be published in Yen+, but Yen Press is currently looking at republishing ADV’s first five volumes of the title
Finally, Kurt pulled out boxes upon boxes of Higurashi and Soul Eater manga and merchandise, which he was giving away… for free. Described by many as a “feeding frenzy” or quite simply “Animal House,” the panel room was filled to bursting with gleeful fangirls (and fanboys) entering, exiting, and re-entering the line to pick up more and more manga, while the manga press corps watched in awe.
CMX Manga
DC Comics were firing on all cylinders at the new York Comic Con, with not only representation for their Western comics and DC Universe Online video game, but also a panel run by their manga division, CMX.
The panel was unfortunately nothing more than a simple list of the latest titles coming out from CMX, all of which I’ve listed below:
- The Name of the Flower (by Ken Saito • Jan 09
- Fire Investigator Nanase (story by Izo Hashimoto, art by Tomoshige Ichikawa • Jan 09
- Jihai (by Toshimi Ningoshi • Feb 09)
- March on Earth (by Mikase Hayashi • Mar 09
- Venus Capriccio (by Mai Nishikata • Apr 09)
- Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea (art by Nakaba Higurashi, original story by Seiichi Morimura • Apr 09) – FLEX
- The King of Debris (by Yusuke Aso • May 09)
- The Lapis Lazuli Crown (by Natsuna Kawase, who worked on Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne • May 09)
- Ballad of a Shinigami (story by S-she Hasegawa, art by Asuka Izumi • June 09)
- Broken Blade (by Yunosuke Yoshinaga • Jul 09)
Regarding the CMX Mobile service’s possible expansion to American cell phones, the division is “discussing a variety of options for a variety of devices.” Of particular note is that they are looking at devices other than cell phones as well. (DS makes sense, since there are a lot of Japanese companies trying to pull that off.) And that’s a wrap for the manga panels of NYCC09 day two!
