Viz has been a great supporter of manga in the US. They were among the first companies to bring translated manga here in the form that would best reach it’s audience; flipped (read left-to-right), and in floppies. They were also smart enough to snag one of the most popular manga artists to translate; Rumiko Takahashi. Viz’s Urusei Yatsura was among the first manga-comics I ever bought. I missed out on the comic versions of Ranma 1/2 and Inuyasha, as I wasn’t reading comics at the time, but when they started to collect them as graphic novels, I gave them a serious look. The biggest problem I had, and still have, is that these titles continued to come out as flipped after they discontinued the floppies. All their other books were coming out unflipped. Dragonball and Dragonball Z, titles that also came out as floppies first, got second edition reprints as unflipped. Why not Ranma and Inuyasha?

Michelle Smith, blogger for soliloquy in blue, in her twitter feed, pointed out an entry at Simon and Schuster website for a VIZBIG edition for Inuyasha, scheduled for November 2009.  All I can say is, ABOUT TIME! I dropped Inuyasha, even though I was enjoying the story, partly because it’s still published flipped.  I haven’t gone beyond Ranma 1/2 volume 5 for the same reason.  I want my Takahashi manga in it’s correct format!  I was calling for VIZBIG editions for Inuyasha right after they announced the format, so I’m really glad they are finally getting to Inuyasha.  Hopefully at SDCC or  in 2010 we’ll get an announcement for Ranma 1/2 in the same format.  What I would really love to see, but we probably won’t in this economy, is Urusei Yatsura as a VIZBIG, complete and uncut.  I’d dedicate a whole bookshelf just to VIZBIG Takahashi volumes.  Wouldn’t that look awesome?

Come on Viz, give us Takahashi fans a complete library!