Manga Xanadu

New York Comic Con saw its largest number of manga publishers not only attending the show, but in having panels and making announcements! And manga publishers really made this last major con of the season count.

At the last big convention of the season, New York Comic Con, manga publishers appeared to make their last big announcements for the next year.

This last week was New  York Comic Con, the last big con of the season. All of the major publishers were here, as well as some online newcomers. Everyone had something to announce, from new licenses to something a little more home-grown.

Viz Media had quite a few titles to announce at New York Comic Con. I’ll be looking at these titles in a separate post due out later this week. Until then, here are the official summaries. There are definitely some interesting titles in here as well as a little something for everyone. I have to admit, I’m finding the sport titles the most exciting.

To close out the con season, Viz is going all out with the show special and con exclusives. Naruto fans can get pre-street books, a variant cover of the final vol 72, exclusive figures and a special Ukiyo-e print that will set you back a pretty penny. Sailor Moon fans can stock up on DVD season sets, and manga fans can get pre-street copies of One-Punch Man, Tokyo Ghoul and Yokai Watch. If you can’t go, make a friend who is and get them to pick you up something!

Con season is winding down with NYCC being the last hurrah of the year, and Viz is making sure to make it a memorable one. Their superstar guest is Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto who will not only have his own panel and signing events, but will also give the opening remarks at the screening of the Boruto: The Naruto Movie. It’s a rare opportunity fans of Naruto will not want to miss.

Kadokawa has been trying to penetrate the US manga market on its own for a while now. Back in 2014, they released their Comic Walker app that was supposed to update with chapters of manga to read for free, but never went anywhere after a while. Now, it seems they are set to try again, with their new commerce site, Book Walker. They seem to be making interesting promises. The one that sticks out most to me is epub downloads. Most of the titles in English are already available, mostly from Viz Select. We’ll have to wait and see if they branch out into any new titles.

At New York Comic Con earlier this month, publisher Kodansha Comics held a panel where they announced four new titles to join their already extensive catalog of titles. Two of the titles are related to existing titles they are currently publishing and two are brand new. The first new title is a shojo. L DK follow high school students Shusei and Aoi. Shusei is his school’s “Prince” with a reputation for coldly turning down girls who want to go out with him. Aoi’s best friend becomes one of these girls, earn Shusei her disdain. When disaster strikes Shusei, and his apartment burns to the ground, he ends up being Aoi’s roommate. I’m not sure how I feel about this title. I really don’t care for stories that throw the characters into improbably situations like this. The series is currently 14 volumes and has had a live action movie. There was no word on when Kodansha would release the first volume, but I would guess late 2015. Inuyashiki is a sci-fi series by Hiroya Oku, the creator of the violent and gory Gantz. It is about Inyushiki, a salaryman with a wife and two children who don’t care about him. He learns…

West Coast publisher Viz Media was the only publisher from this coast to attend NYCC and hold a panel. While their panels this late in the year usually consist of reiterating want was licensed at the beginning, this year they had two new licenses to announce. Tokyo Ghoul will be a Viz Signature title and So Cute It Hurts will be a Shojo Beat title. Tokyo Ghoul comes from Shueisha’s Weekly Young Jump magazine. There are currently 14 volumes out in Japan. The series follows Ken Kaneki, an ordinary college student. Tokyo is being haunted by “ghouls,” who devour humans and whose identities are shrouded in mystery, leaving people in the grip of panic. While at a coffee shop he likes to frequent, Kaneki meets Rize, an avid reader just like him. But his life is changed forever when he becomes the first half-human, half-ghoul hybrid. Straddling both worlds, he must survive Ghoul turf wars, learn about Ghoul society and master his new powers. Tokyo Ghoul recently had an anime that was streamed by Funimation, and has been on fans radars for a while. For me to enjoy a good action/horror title, it really has to be something really good….

Viz Media performs a balancing act with the two new licenses they announced at NYCC; one for the Signature line and one for the Shojo Beat line. Shojo Beat has been getting a lot of new titles lately. It’s good to see the Signature line get more. We need more of those titles. VIZ MEDIA ANNOUNCES THE ACQUISITION OF MANGA LICENSES FOR TOKYO GHOUL AND SO CUTE IT HURTS!!  North America’s Leading Manga Publisher Thrills Fans At New York Comic Con 2014 With The Announcement Of A Harrowing New Action Horror Series And A Hilarious New Shojo Manga Title  San Francisco, CA, October 9, 2014 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of manga and anime in North America, announced the acquisition of a pair of exciting new manga (graphic novel) titles during panels held during the recent New York Comic Con 2014. Fans attending the East Coast’s biggest pop culture and comics event enthusiastically welcomed the announcement of the Summer 2015 launch of creator Sui Ishida’s horror action series, TOKYO GHOUL, which will be published under the VIZ Signature imprint, as well as Go Ikeyamada’s cross-dressing comedy, SO CUTE IT HURTS!!, set to be published…

At New York Comic Con which occurred recently, Vertical, Inc. announced some new licenses, as well as a new imprint. Continuing with the roots of the company they announced two light novels, based on the wildly popular Attack on Titan property; Attack on Titan Before the Fall: Kyklo Arc and Attack on Titan: Harsh Mistress of the City. Attack on Titan Before the Fall: Kyklo Arc makes up the last two light novels of the Before the Fall series. Vertical has already published the first novel, which follows talented smith Angel Aaltonen as he develops the maneuvering gear for the Survey Corps. The new license is for story that follows Kyklo, the “son of a Titan.” This second part takes place at around the same time as the first volume and follows Kyklo, a boy who was in the womb when his mother eaten by a Titan and survived, and became dubbed “Son of a Titan.” Kodansha Comics is releasing the manga based on the novel. Vertical will release the Kyklo Arc as one 2-in-1 omnibus. It will be available next summer. I’m currently reading the first volume and have liked it so far. Even with Kodansha releasing the manga, I…

Yen Press has been pushing out the licenses hard and fast this year. Their last big license announcement a month ago featured mostly light novels for their Yen On line. This last weekend at New York Comic Con it was time to spotlight the manga. Nine titles were announced, most of them being new, with one surprise/not so surprising license rescue. As Yen has been want to do, two of the manga titles are adaptations of light novels they have already announced. A Certain Magical Index light novel series got a lot of cheers from fans for Yen with its license, and now its manga adaptation is joining the party. This adaptation started a while ago, back in 2007, and there are 13 volumes so far. It follows Touma Kamjou, a boy made remarkable by his complete lack of ability in a city filled with super powered students. Touma just wants to keep a low profile, but when a nun named Index stumbles into his life, things get more complicated and dangerous than ever! I’d give this first volume a shot. Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? is another light novel series adaptation. It’s…