The Important Stuff
- VIZ will simulcast the new InuYasha series on ShonenSunday.com starting October 3rd (subtitled).
New Licenses:
- Slum Online (Haikasoru novel)
- The Next Continent (Haikasoru novel)
- What's the Answer (SigIkki manga)
- Bob and His Funky Crew (SigIkki manga)
- Gente (VIZ Signature manga)
- Grand Guignol Orchestra (Shojo Beat manga)
- Nice to Meet You Kamisama (Shojo Beat manga)
The Write-Up
Online marketing manager Lex and Candace, director of marketing, are running the VIZ panel this morning, and they're opening up by giving away the new release of the Battle Royale novel.
Slum Online is a novel about a frosh in college who escapes the real world in MMOs-- sound familiar? The tagline is "CTRL+ALT+DEL YOUR LIFE." It's available March 2010.
The Next Continent, by Issui Ogawa, author of Lords off the Sands of TIme, is a sci-fi with a bit of romance, mystery, and adventure for May 2010.
Moving on to VIZ Kids, this is interesting: a new Pokemon book full of posters and whatnot is only available on newsstands, not online at all. I guess for kids (who tend to do less buying on Amazon and whatnot themselves), that makes a certain amount of sense. Some girl just squeed over Ash when they brought up Pokemon: Giratina &....oops, missed the title, we're on to a Kirby book due out September 2010.
A few people are flipping about Naruto Shippuden on Disney XD, although overall the reaction seems neutral/positive. A Naruto box set is due out January 2010, and the first Naruto Shippuden movie is due out November 10th, if you weren't already aware.
And we've finally moved on to One Piece, whose manga release speed-up starts in January with four volumes a month until June, when they reach #53. Bakuman, by Death Note creators Takeshi Obata and Tsugumi Ohba will premiere in the May issue of Shonen Jump and the first volume is due in August 2010. The manga is essentially about making manga at Shueisha, which is pretty cool.
Toriko, "Iron Chef meets Land of the Lost," is premiering in the February Shonen Jump issue, with volume one coming out in June 2010.
Ultimo, by "Stan freakin' Lee" and "Hiroyuki awesome Takei," will be going on sale in February 2010, and it's already running in Shonen Jump, as you readers already know.
Okay, my favorite section, Sig Ikki-- the site will be refreshed in October with new features, and two new manga will be published soon:
- What's the Answer, a "demented game show manga," on October 22nd
- Bob and his Funky Crew, a "demented baseball manga" on November 19th ("so good, so good!" says Lex).
As for graphic novels, they'll be releasing Natsume Ono's Gente, a follow-up to Ristorante Paradiso, starting July 2010. Monster is airing on SyFy, of course...
Shojo Beat! They've licensed the shoujo manga of Library Wars (Toshokan Sensou)-- there are both a shoujo and shounen manga for the series --and it follows the story of the newly-recruited Library Defense Force member Iku Kasahara! I'm REALLY excited for this one, guys. Due out June 2010.
A Vampire Knight official fan book is coming out in September 2010. There are a lot of cosplay notes, and character interviews with the characters talking about each other (among other things).
Other new licenses:
- Kaori Yuki's Grand Guignol Orchestra
- Nice to Meet You, Kamisama, by Julietta Suzuki (who TOKYOPOP is also publishing works by).
Shonen Sunday!
- Rin-ne's street date is October 20th, for you Rumiko Takahashi fans who've been reading it online at TheRumicWorld.com.
BIG NEWS! New InuYasha WILL be simulcast on ShonenSunday.com/anime starting October 3rd. I'm a little sad because it may mean ADR director for the past InuYasha anime, Toshi Yoshida, may not be involved this time around...but good news for msot InuYasha fans. This is a sub simulcast.
