Hachi Wan Driver
- Creator: Yokusaru Shibata
- Publisher: Shueisha
- Anthology: Weekly Young Jump (Shounen)
- Genre: Tournament/Comedy
- Volumes: 7 (ongoing)
- Expected Licensor: VIZ Media
The title is also sometimes written as "81diver" (hachi = eight, wan = katakana version of "one"). This manga revolves around a guy who wants to become a professional shogi player but fails their test, so he plays the game for a living at amateur shogi clubs. After a 182-win streak, he's defeated by a woman named Ukeshi, from Akihabara. When he investigates her he discovers that she also makes money as a part-time maid-- a full-on cosplay cleaning service.
This popular manga has already been made into a live-action drama, which aired from May to July 2008. It seems like shogi, mah-jongg, and go have been popular with otaku in the last few years (see: Kaiji, Saki, Shion no Ou), so I wouldn't be surprised if it was made into an anime eventually, given the manga's popularity (volume 12 debuted at #13 on the Oricon charts). But will the manga get licensed in the US? Hikaru no Go was popular enough here, but I don't know about the others (in terms of sales).
Berry Berry
- Creator: Banri Hidaka
- Publisher: Hakusensha
- Anthology: Hana to Yume (Shoujo)
- Genre: Supernatural/Comedy
- Volumes: 1 (ongoing)
- Expected Licensor: TOKYOPOP or VIZ Media
A pair of nearly (but not quite!) identical twins, Kurumi and Sasahime, share a psychic connection, a telepathic bond. Their adventures make up the story of this new manga by Banri Hidaka, the creator of the popular romantic drama V.B. Rose.
TOKYOPOP has the license to V.B. Rose, so they seem like the obvious choice to license this popular new manga, whose first volume just debuted at #16-- not bad for a first volume.
ADAMAS
- Creator: Ryouji Minagawa
- Publisher: Kodansha
- Anthology: Evening (Seinen)
- Genre: Supernatural/Drama
- Volumes: 3 (ongoing)
- Expected Licensor: Del Rey Manga or VIZ Media
The daughter of a dead diamond collector, Yoshio Ryuzaki, becomes a jewel specialist herself...but the diamond world is no walk in the park. Reika Ryuuzaki fights with special knuckles known as "krishna" in order to punish baddies who steal or otherwise use gems for their own personal gain. And she can summon spirits from some jewels to support her battles.
This unique seinen manga comes from mangaka Ryouji Minagawa, who you may know from the 1988 manga Spriggan (which VIZ had the license to, but it's now expired) and Project ARMS (which VIZ has released). Minagawa is known for series in a wide variety of settings and genres, overlapping only in being mature dramas. As for licensors, Del Rey picks up most of the Kodansha titles (I've elected not to place Kodansha as a popular licensor, since we still don't know anything about the company's plans to publish in the US), and both of the titles that have been licensed by VIZ Media were originally published by Shogakukan, so if anyone picks it up, I'd bank on Del Rey.
And that's it for this week's Manga Watch. You interested in any of these?
