Manga Xanadu

I’ve been an anime and manga fan for long time, and there have been some titles that were thought to be more far off dreams than actual candidates for licensing. One of those dreams was getting anything from Leiji Matsumoto, co-creator of Space Battleship Yamato, and creator of Space Pirate Captain Harlock, Galaxy Express 999, and Queen Emeraldas among many others. At best, all we had were 5 volumes of the second Galaxy Express 999 manga series published by Viz back in the late 90s-2000s. But now, it seems the flood gates have opened as new licenses are being announced left and right.

Recently, Seven Seas Entertainment released a press release announcing their renewal with Comixology and expanding to Amazon. While I think this is great and all, what I really have to ask is, what took them so long?

Seven Seas Entertainment has truly embrace social media, as it seems to have become its primary place to announce new licenses, as opposed to the tradition of making announcements at conventions. They did it again, this time on Leap Day, with the announcement of Re:Monster.

Over Valentine’s Day weekend, publishers showed fans some love with new license announcements. Vertical Comics, in a panel at Katsucon announced three manga and one novel, while Seven Seas Entertainment made their announcement as a treat on Valentine’s Day.

As 2015 comes to a close, so too did several manga titles, some that were only with us a little while, some that spanned some years.

Continuing their licensing bonanza, Seven Seas Entertainment announces another 7 titles to add to their eclectic library. Like the week before, one license a day was released, with the exception of Monday and Friday that got bonus announcements.

To celebrate the holiday season, publisher Seven Seas Entertainment decided to give a gift to manga fans. Well, 10 days of gifts, as over the last two weeks, they made at least one announcement per week day.

On their Twitter feed this last Friday, Seven Seas teased they had more licenses to announce before the end of the year, and threw a bone to fans with their announcement of Monster Musume:  I ♥ Monster Girls Anthology.

 There’s a whole of manga out this week. Digital Manga Publishing makes a surprise return with two BL titles in print. Netcomics also releases some new volumes from their recent titles, such as Chiro Vol 3, Core Scramble Vol 2, and Give to the Heart Vol 5. Kodansha debuts a new shojo, LDK, that is getting mixed reviews, just judging from my twitter feed. Either way, it is making an impression.

With Diamond releasing the shonen titles early last week, this week is a little lighter, but in retrospect, that a good things as some debuts by other publishers would be completely washed over by the final Naruto Vol 72. Seven Seas goes for some representation as they release the first volume of their new series, Merman in My Tub. Instead of monster girls, it’s monster boys, who are just as hot with fish tails and tentacles. I was interested in it when Seven Seas announced it, and while I’m not a fan of fanservice, neither am I opposite to some equal opportunity for the ladies.

After a heavy shonen and shojo release week last week, this week is a little on the lighter side. Seven Seas releases an omnibus of Dictatorial Grimoire, collecting all three volumes of the series into one book for a lower price. I’ve truly come to appreciate omnibuses for price and shelf space. I’ve considered Dictatorial Grimoire before, but this omnibus make it much more attractive.

Using the social media platforms of Twitter and Tumblr, Seven Seas Entertainment has announced 3 new titles to their continually growing stable of titles.