The Manga Curmudgeon

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Peeking at IKKI

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IKKIViz sent out more information on its SIGIKKI imprint yesterday, and I thought I’d try and track down some additional information on the titles. I think that Viz’s approach – gauging and building demand before committing to print and physical distribution costs – is interesting, and I hope it works out for them. I also think a lot of the imprint’s possible titles sound really intriguing, so part of that hope is selfish. I just want to read the books.

Here’s the link to Shogakukan’s IKKI site, and here’s the Wikipedia entry on the magazine. Below are covers of the titles listed in Viz’s release. You can click on any of them to see their pages at Shogakukan’s web site; once there, you can click on the button with the magnifying glass and you can browse some sample pages, or click on the hyperlink in the lower table to the right of the cover image to see additional volumes of the series.

Afterschool Charisma By Kumiko Suekane

Afterschool Charisma By Kumiko Suekane


Bokurano: OURS By Mohiro Kitoh

Bokurano: OURS By Mohiro Kitoh


Dorohedoro By Q Hayashida

Dorohedoro By Q Hayashida


House of Five Leaves By Natsume Ono

House of Five Leaves By Natsume Ono


I’ll Give it My All…Tomorrow By Shunju Aono

I’ll Give it My All…Tomorrow By Shunju Aono


Kingyo Used Books By Seimu Yoshizaki

Kingyo Used Books By Seimu Yoshizaki


Saturn Apartments By Hisae Iwaoka

Saturn Apartments By Hisae Iwaoka


Tokyo Flow Chart By Eiji Miruno

Tokyo Flow Chart By Eiji Miruno

Because I’m always curious to see just how envious I should be of the French, here’s the rundown on which titles are already available there, and from whom:

  • Bokurano from Asuka
  • Dorohedoro from Soleil
  • House of Five Leaves published as Goyô by Kana

    • Only three… we’re not as far behind as usual! Last but not least, I’ll post a quick poll:

    Feel free to pick as many as interest you. And this is one of those HTML hell posts for me, so if anything looks funky or goes the wrong place, please mention it in the comments so I can clean it up.

    I want them all

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    I just got back from the BBC-CW production of Harry Potter and the Awkward Silences, and I’m so glad Viz left something in my in-box to cheer me up, because dude…

    Anyway, here’s the joyous press release:

    VIZ MEDIA PARTNERS WITH JAPAN’S IKKI MAGAZINE TO LAUNCH SIGIKKI.COM, AN ONLINE MANGA WEBSITE TO PRESENT A DIVERSE COLLECTION OF TITLES ACCLAIMED FOR CREATIVE QUALITY

    Innovative Online Destination Pushes Boundaries Of Manga With New Content Available Each Month For Free

    childrenSan Francisco, CA, JULY 15, 2009 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced the full launch of its new SIGIKKI website, which represents a bold new partnership between the company’s VIZ SIGNATURE imprint and IKKI, a monthly magazine published in Japan since 2003 that has established itself as the home of some of the most innovative, bold, and compelling titles in the world of contemporary manga.

    Located at www.sigikki.com, this groundbreaking online manga destination will present a broad range of seinen manga to audiences in North America. From action to comedy to drama, slice-of-life stories to surrealist fantasies, the uniting themes these works share are an uncommon emphasis on creative quality and on pushing the boundaries of the manga norm.

    Earlier in May, the SIGIKKI site posted the first chapter of CHILDREN OF THE SEA by Daisuke Igarashi, with Volume 2 currently being serialized on the site. Starting this month, new chapters from half a dozen manga series will be offered for viewing online in their entirety – FOR FREE. After a particular volume completes its online serialization, that edition will be published as a VIZ Signature graphic novel (subject to reader demand). Additional content such as creator interviews, feature articles, news, and free downloads will also be posted on the website each month.

    “We are very excited to formally launch our new SIGIKKI website in partnership with IKKI magazine,” says Shie Lundberg, Sr. Director, Strategy and Business Development, VIZ Media. “The convenience of web accessibility combined with some of the most compelling and diverse content manga will allow fans to sample a range of acclaimed new titles each month, for free. As these series begin to develop their own domestic following, audiences can then look forward to the eventual publication of these titles with the high quality VIZ SIGNATURE presentation befitting manga of this caliber.”

    On July 23rd the SIGIKKI site will debut Bokurano: OURS, by Mohiro Kitoh; Dorohedoro, by Q Hayashida; Saturn Apartments, by Hisae Iwaoka; and I’ll Give It My All…Tomorrow, by Shunju Aono. These titles will be quickly followed on July 30th with the opening chapters of Kingyo Used Books, by Seimu Yoshizaki; House of Five Leaves, by Natsume Ono; Afterschool Charisma, by Kumiko Suekane; and Tokyo Flow Chart, by Eiji Miruno.

    Manga Summaries Follow Below:

    Children of the Sea By Daisuke Igarashi
    (Rated ‘T+’ for older teens)
    The sea has a story to tell, one you’ve never heard before…
    When Ruka was younger, she saw a ghost in the water at the aquarium where her dad works. Now she feels drawn toward the aquarium and the two mysterious boys she meets there, Umi and Sora. They were raised by dugongs and hear the same strange calls from the sea as she does. Ruka’s dad and the other adults who work at the aquarium are only distantly aware of what the children are experiencing as they get caught up in the mystery of the worldwide disappearance of the oceans’ fish. Volume 1 now also available in print!

    Bokurano: OURS By Mohiro Kitoh
    (Rated ‘T+’ for older teens)
    Saving the world is hard. Saving yourself is even harder.

    One summer, fifteen kids innocently wander into a nearby seaside cave. There they meet a strange man who invites them to play an exciting new video game. This game, he explains, pits one lone giant robot against a horde of alien invaders. To play the game, all they have to do is sign a simple contract. The game stops being fun when the kids find out the true purpose of their pact.

    Dorohedoro By Q Hayashida
    (Rated ‘M’ mature)
    A blood-spattered battle between diabolical sorcerers and the monsters they created.

    In a city so dismal it’s known only as “the Hole,” a clan of sorcerers have been plucking people off the streets to use as guinea pigs for atrocious “experiments” in the black arts. In a dark alley, Nikaido found Caiman, a man with a reptile head and a bad case of amnesia. To undo the spell, they’re hunting and killing the sorcerers of the Hole, hoping that eventually they’ll kill the right one. But when En, the head sorcerer, gets word of a lizard-man slaughtering his people, he sends a crew of “cleaners” into the Hole, igniting a war between two worlds.

    Saturn Apartments By Hisae Iwaoka
    (Rated ‘T’ for teens)
    A touching, character-rich vision of an intriguing new world.

    Far in the future, humankind has evacuated the Earth in order to preserve it. Humans now reside in a gigantic structure that forms a ring around the Earth, thirty-five kilometers up in the sky. The society of the ring is highly stratified: the higher the floor, the greater the status. Mitsu, the lowly son of a window washer, has just graduated junior high. When his father disappears and is assumed dead, Mitsu must take on his father’s occupation. As he struggles with the transition to working life, Mitsu’s job treats him to an outsider’s view into the various living-room dioramas of the Saturn Apartments.

    I’ll Give it My All…Tomorrow By Shunju Aono
    (Rated ‘T+’ for older teens)
    Life begins at forty…even for pathetic losers.

    This is the story of a forty-year-old salary man who quits his job to pursue his dream of becoming a manga artist—and the family that has to put up with him. While not terribly unhappy, Shizuo Oguro can’t fight the feeling that something in his life just isn’t right, so he walks away from his stable (yet boring) day job to embark on a journey of self-discovery. Unfortunately for his family, this journey also involves playing video games all day while his teenage daughter and elderly father support him. Will Shizuo succeed in creating a true manga masterpiece or will he be just another drop-out living a life of slack?

    Afterschool Charisma By Kumiko Suekane
    (Rated ‘T+’ for older teens)
    History repeats itself… Or does it?

    St. Kleio Academy is a very exclusive school: all of the students are clones of famous historical figures such as Beethoven, Queen Elizabeth I, Napoleon, Mozart, and Freud. All of them, that is, except for Shiro Kamiya. As Shiro struggles to adapt to this unusual campus, St. Kleio’s first graduate, a clone of John F. Kennedy, is killed. Are the clones doomed to repeat the fate of their genetic progenitors, or can they create their own destinies? And how does a normal boy like Shiro fit in?

    Kingyo Used Books By Seimu Yoshizaki
    (Rated ‘T+’ for older teens)
    This manga bookstore has a thousand stories to tell.

    A businessman discovers how his childhood memories can brighten his day. An art student finds inspiration. An archer hits a surprising bull’s eye. A housewife rediscovers romance. A teenager discovers his true self in the pages of a manga magazine. Welcome to Kingyo Used Books, a place where people find their dreams in manga…

    House of Five Leaves By Natsume Ono
    (Rated ‘T+’ for older teens)
    A many-sided tale of faith and betrayal, drama and intrigue, set in the world of old Edo.

    Masterless samurai Akitsu Masanosuke is a skilled and loyal swordsman, but his naïve, diffident nature has time and again caused him to be let go by the lord whom he has worked for. Hungry and desperate, he becomes a bodyguard for Yaichi, the charismatic leader of a gang called “Five Leaves.” Although disturbed by the gang’s sinister activities, Masa begins to suspect that Yaichi’s motivations are not what they seem. And despite his misgivings, the deeper he’s drawn into the world of the Five Leaves, the more he finds himself fascinated by these devious, mysterious outlaws.

    Tokyo Flow Chart By Eiji Miruno
    (Rated ‘T+’ for older teens)
    This manga will f(low) with your brain!

    Have you ever wished that somebody else would just DO SOMETHING about the chaos in your life? Then this is the perfect manga for a slacker like you! Tokyo Flow Chart is (probably) the world’s first four-frame comic strip in flow chart format. It breaks down the complexities of life and aids in the mastery of brain skills such as flow-chart-manga comprehension or mental bullet-dodging. As Confusious say: “let your brain flow with the chart!”

    Sunday on the web with Viz

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    shosuncoverI’m guessing that the recent flurry of press releases from Viz is some kind of pre-San Diego warm-up routine to prevent cramping during panels. The one that’s really caught my eye is the announcement of another imprint, Shonen Sunday. The full release is below, but here’s the nut paragraph:

    “[Viz] has announced the launch of a brand new imprint, SHONEN SUNDAY. Featuring the works of some of the top shonen manga creators in the world today, the Shonen Sunday magazine in Japan provides the content for this imprint. The magazine recently celebrated its 50th anniversary since its first issue arrived on newsstands in March of 1959.”

    Here’s the Wikipedia entry on the parent magazine from Shogakukan, and here’s the magazine’s Japanese web site. It joins Viz’s Shonen Jump imprint, which features manga from Shueisha, which co-owns Viz with Shogakukan and probably wanted its own brand. It also allows Viz to brand some of its homeless shônen titles.

    With the demise of Viz’s Shojo Beat magazine, speculation and wishful thinking have turned once again towards the possibility of Viz creating an online presence or anthology featuring manga for girls. I think that would be great, and while Viz still as the Shojo Beat imprint, the prospect motivated me to throw together a quick poll.

    Edited: Posted too early, as I meant to add links to the listed magazines: Ribon (official), Margaret (official), Cookie (official), Betsucomi (official), Ciao (official). If you have another choice, please note it in the comments, and I’ll add related links.

    Edited again to add other anthologies of choice, without regard to whether or not they’re published by either of Viz’s co-owners: Hana to Yume from Hakusensha (official), LaLa from Hakusensha (official), Princess from Akita Shoten (official), flowers from Shogakukan…

    And, as promised, here’s the release:

    VIZ MEDIA’S NEWEST IMPRINT, SHONEN SUNDAY, WILL RELEASE THE FIRST MANGA TO EVER BE PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY IN JAPAN AND NORTH AMERICA

    A New Imprint and Web Site Launch Rumiko Takahashi’s Newest Series RIN-NE Gets Its First Volume

    San Francisco, CA, July 8, 2009– VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced the launch of a brand new imprint, SHONEN SUNDAY. Featuring the works of some of the top shonen manga creators in the world today, the Shonen Sunday magazine in Japan provides the content for this imprint. The magazine recently celebrated its 50th anniversary since its first issue arrived on newsstands in March of 1959.

    The first series to launch from the first volume under this new imprint will be RIN-NE by Rumiko Takahashi, the first manga novel ever to be published simultaneously in Japan and North America, which will arrive on store shelves on October 20, 2009. Chapters of RIN-NE have been serialized online for free at www.TheRumicWorld.com on the same weekly schedule as it appeared in Japan’s Shonen Sunday magazine since May of this year. The Rumic World web site is the official North American destination for all Rumiko Takahashi-related news.

    VIZ Media will be announcing new Shonen Sunday series for 2010 at its Manga and Anime panel at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International on Friday, July 24th from 3:00-4:30 in Room 32AB. Other VIZ Media series that will move under the Shonen Sunday banner include INUYASHA, KEKKAISHI, CASE CLOSED, HAYATE THE COMBAT BUTLER, and YAKITATE!! JAPAN. Going forward, DVD products from the select series will also feature the Shonen Sunday imprint.

    The imprint’s web site (www.ShonenSunday.com) will be updated regularly with exclusive content such as previews, trailers, news, and interviews and will go live on July 22, 2009.

    RIN-NE by Rumiko Takahashi · VOL. 1 · October 20, 2009 · Rated T+ (For Older Teens) · $9.99 US/$12.99 CAN

    As a child Sakura Mamiya mysteriously disappeared in the woods behind her grandma’s home. She returned whole and healthy, but since then she has had the power to see ghosts. Now a teenager, she just wishes the ghosts would leave her alone! At school, the desk next to Sakura’s has been empty since the start of the school year, then one day her always-absent classmate shows up, and he’s far more than what he seems!

    RIN-NE is the first new manga from Takahashi since her epic INUYASHA (published domestically by VIZ Media) ended in 2008 in Japan. Shogakukan’s popular WEEKLY SHONEN SUNDAY manga magazine has featured Takahashi’s work since the early 1980’s. With over 170 million copies sold in Japan alone, Takahashi’s substantial catalog of work continues to be loved by legions of devoted readers.

    The spotlight on Rumiko Takahashi’s career began in 1978 when she won an honorable mention in Shogakukan’s annual New Comic Artist Contest for Those Selfish Aliens. Later that same year, her boy-meets-alien comedy series, Urusei Yatsura, was serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday. This phenomenally successful manga series was adapted into anime format and spawned a TV series and half a dozen theatrical-release movies, all incredibly popular in their own right. Takahashi followed up the success of her debut series with one blockbuster hit after another—Maison Ikkoku ran from 1980 to 1987, Ranma ½ from 1987 to 1996, and Inuyasha from 1996 to 2008. Other notable works include Mermaid Saga, Rumic Theater, and One-Pound Gospel. Takahashi won the prestigious Shogakukan Manga Award twice in her career, once for Urusei Yatsura in 1981 and the second time for Inuyasha in 2002. A majority of the Takahashi canon has been adapted into other media such as anime, live-action TV series, and film. Takahashi’s manga, as well as the other formats her work has been adapted into, have continued to delight generations of fans around the world. Distinguished by her wonderfully endearing characters, Takahashi’s work adeptly incorporates a wide variety of elements such as comedy, romance, fantasy, and martial arts. While her series are difficult to pin down into one simple genre, the signature style she has created has come to be known as the “Rumic World.” Rumiko Takahashi is an artist who truly represents the very best from the world of manga.

    Multimedia linkblogging

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    Did I miss this? Apparently, both live-action Death Note movies will be debuting at this year’s Newport Beach International Film Festival, according to a piece at Associated Content. A quick look at the festival’s schedule confirms it. I wonder who’s handling the U.S. distribution?

    Dirk Deppey is an early adopter of Chika Umino’s Honey and Clover, so he’s understandably excited that Viz will preview the anime version at an event in Cannes:

    “So what does this have to do with comics news? Well, there’s the little matter of anime/manga synergy; if Viz has acquired the animated version of this series, it may well be an indication that they have designs on the manga, as well. Could we be set to start reading one of the most entertaining soap-opera comics this side of Ai Yazawa’s Nana before the year’s out? If so, I can’t wait.”

    The full release on Viz’s plans for Cannes can be found at ComiPress.

    Speaking of josei, Publishers Weekly Comics Week’s Kai-Ming Cha interviews Mikako Ogata about new manga pub Aurora and its yaoi imprint, Deux. (How did they resist calling it Boyrealis?) The interview leads Simon Jones (whose blog is probably not safe for work) to ponder something that’s crossed my mind as well:

    “Wouldn’t it be crazy if it turned out that yaoi is the anchor, the perennial tentpole product supporting the entire manga market?”

    It certainly seems to be the most consistent performer of any of the various categories of manga, faring extremely well in the monthly Diamond figures and making its presence known in places like the Amazon bestsellers list.

    What about shôjo? Well, MangaBlog’s Brigid Alverson makes her PWCW debut with an article on the second anniversary of Viz’s Shojo Beat anthology, and it’s packed with plenty of interesting tidbits. The one that really catches my eye is news that the magazine will climb on the Osamu Tezuka Love Train, if only briefly:

    “Shojo Beat, Viz Media’s monthly shojo anthology magazine, will celebrate its second birthday in July with a special present for its readers: an excerpt from legendary manga-ka Osamu Tezuka’s 1954 manga Princess Knight, which has never been available in the U.S. before.”

    I’ve been dying for someone to translate even a little of this series. I don’t know if a full licensing effort would be commercially viable, but most available sources cite it as an inspiration for the creators who would go on to revolutionize shôjo manga.

    Oh, and speaking of girls and magazines, scholar Matt Thorn stopped by Anime News Network to comment on that Oricon survey of girls who read manga and their apparent love for shônen.

    Not dead yet

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    The invaluable ComiPress has more details on the suspension of Monthly Shonen Jump (MSJ), via a translated letter from the publisher that was included in the latest issue of that anthology. People worried about the fate of some of the series featured in MSJ (particularly Claymore, currently being released in English by Viz) should be able to rest easier:

    “As of this writing, several works currently serialized in Monthly Jump are already going to be carried over to the new magazine.

    “As for Claymore, the anime adaptation of which just began airing, the manga will temporarily be serialized monthly on Weekly Shonen Jump, and later be taken over the new magazine.”

    So the series with an anime tie-in isn’t going to miss a beat, and the more popular stuff from MSJ will likely be repackaged in the new magazine. Maybe the venerable MSJ was triggering unpleasant parental nostalgia? Moms and dads looking over the shoulders of the current generation of readers and wistfully noting how much they loved MSJ when they were kids?

    Whatever the reason, it looks like the story isn’t quite as big as it initially seemed. It’s interesting, though, and I’ll be curious to hear details about the new anthology.

    Tezuka on demand

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    There are so many intriguing things about this item at ComiPress that it’s hard to pick where to start.

  • I think on-line, user-compiled anthologies are a great idea. As Chloe noted at Shuchaku East, “Let’s be honest, when was the last time you picked up a copy of Bleach and thought that hey, Bleach was good , so I’ll probably like and subsequently buy the 23 other series in this label too!” Imagine if readers could build their own anthology out of Shonen Jump or Shojo Beat or Shonen Jump Advanced?
  • It’s interesting to see rival publishers collaborating on this kind of initiative, but maybe it’s just the power of Osamu Tezuka. (And by the way, I’d never seen Kodansha’s English site before. It seems to have been designed almost specifically for potential licensing entitites.)
  • It’s nice to see that, even almost 20 years after his death, Tezuka is still driving innovation in the manga industry. (It could be argued that the Netcomics site already essentially offers an on-demand, online anthology.)
  • I’d love to know more about how the serials are packaged and delivered — if there are any bells and whistles or supplementary content that come with the selected serials.
  • I hope this is just the first in a wave and that it becomes popular enough that a U.S. publisher picks up the idea. Somebody pick up the Magnificent ’49ers next! I swear I’ll try and learn Japanese if you do!

    • Beat beat

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    I was wandering through the magazine racks the other day, saw the latest issue of Shojo Beat, and said to myself, “Who the hell is that on the cover?”

    An answer has arrived in the form of a press release from Viz: it’s Beat Girl, the magazine’s new “illustrated spokesperson.” (The text and cover image can be found at MangaCast.) A quick follow-up e-mail from Viz informed me that the image was drawn by Aiji Yamakawa, the first of several artists who will offer their take on the mascot. (Does the selection of Yamakawa hint at a future license in the Shojo Beat line?)

    Beat Girl is the harbinger of some editorial changes to the magazine, including a new ongoing series of features on “real women doing a variety of selfless and charitable works for other people and help inspire readers” and expanded fashion and pop culture coverage. There’s also going to be a new color palette and page design.

    As names go, “Beat Girl” doesn’t exactly set the heart aflutter, though I guess it could be viewed as a witty inversion of the magazine’s title. It avoids the redundancy of “Shojo Girl,” and they couldn’t exactly call her “SB,” since the initial approach is already taken. I’m wondering how much of a branding force she’ll be, what with a bunch of different artists rendering her. Maybe that’s intended to keep her open to reader identification: if you don’t like Yamakawa’s interpretation, just wait a month and you might get a look that’s more to your taste.

    Though my preferred delivery system is digests, I’m all in favor of targeted anthologies, and it never hurts to try keep things fresh. (Just look at what’s happening in Riverdale.) And given how invested Viz is in getting reader response through polls and the like, these changes couldn’t have come out of thin air.