Shiro Lala One-shot: "The Wizard and the Love Potion"

This is a really sweet one-shot.  As of now this is tied with "Dinner in my Coffin" as my favorite Shiro Lala one-shot.  This one-shot had tough redraws on nearly every page, so I would like to thank Ichigo Stars and Kumiko for all the work they put in to make the release of this one-shot possible.  It's beautiful, you guys!  I really appreciate it.

This one-shot plays with fairytale troupes.  It feels very familiar, but I think this one-shot was well done, so I enjoyed the "remix".  If you haven't read Toyota Yuu's other one-shot "The Honeybee Earl and the Flower Dress", you may want to.  It's a nice companion to this one-shot.

Torn About AnS from the Magazine

Update: Thanks to everyone who thoughtfully responded right away.  Your love of AnS is clear and I hear it.  I think the majority of you understand the difficulty of working with a bad raw and that we as a group don't want to do mediocre releases if there's an alternative.  So...here's what we're going to do:

• Chapter 28 will be released as scheduled in December
• In place of releasing a mediocre Chapter 29 in January, we will release the extras from Volume 6.
• Chapter 29 will be done from the tankoubon as soon as we get it.  My hope is that it will be released sometime in February.
• Chapter 30 and beyond we will consider month to month.  Hopefully, at least chapters 30 and 31 will be printed in the nice section of Lala so there won't be much of a gap.  I will do the translation along with the Lala releases and post summaries for those who want to be spoiled. 

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"Seirei Produce" Chapter 7

Huzzah!  "Seirei Produce" is back!  Oh how I missed the Amane/Fuuta comedy pair.  A note on chapters 5 and 6, I had a rare type of brainfart and I only saw the kanjis and discarded the furiganas for the middle brother's name.  Instead of "Ookami the Black/Blue", he is "Sou the Wolf".  Personally, I like "Ookami the Black"...but that's not the name the mangaka intended.  So it's "Sou" from now on and I've gone back and updated chapters 5 and 6 (hopefully, I've caught all instances of it).

Shiro Lala One-Shot: "Dinner in My Coffin" by Nari Kusakawa

How could I resist a one-shot with a title page like this!?  It's soooo pretty!  This is actually a scan of the one of the post cards that comes with Shiro Lala.  The other post cards are a clean version of the Shiro Lala cover (Akiduki Sorata's drawing from her one-shot) and "Wild Wing".  But I digress...the idea of an all white vampire is cool.  I like the white bats too.  The concept is very nice and different.

I really liked this one-shot.  It felt very mature for what's usually in Lala, without being "adult".  I wish there were more one-shot like this. Ashleigh is definitely my new favorite vampire.

And now onto the links!

Shiro Lala is Here!

The Cover is sooooo cute!  It's from Akiduki Sorata's one-shot.  Anyhow...Shiro Lala is here!  We will be doing this in conjunction with the Kuro Lala one-shots.  This isn't all of the one-shots.  These are the ones that caught my eye and this list is in no particular order.  Here's what we have on deck.

Yukarism Chapter 9

"Yukarism" resumes with a beautiful color page.  The title says the chapter is 45 pages, but it's only 37 pages.  I guess the chapter is shorter than what was expected or negotiated.  It's kinda surprising considering that the series was on hiatus for three months.  Oh, well...

This chapter has a sad flashback to Yuumurasaki's and Kazuma's childhood and ends with a launch pad into what takes place in the past in Edo between Yuumurasaki, Kazuma, and Takamura.  There's an interesting little historical nugget added to the story (be sure to read the translator notes).  I wonder if this was put in to foreshadow the path of the story or whether it's another attempt to misdirect the reader.  There's a lot of worrying about Yuumurasaki getting ill.  In the present time, there's more of the Mahoro x Satomi hate comedy.  Somehow, I feel that their hatred is good natured -- like rivals who respect one another.  I guess we are still waiting to see the true nature of the characters' opposition in the past.

October 2011 Purchases

Here's the list of manga purchases I made during the month of October.

English Language:

• "Karakuri Odette" Volumes 1 - 6 -- A light and cute series about a robot who enters high school in order to learn to be human.  If you need to come up from a depressing series or just need to improve your mood in general, I highly recommend this series.  The romance is slow, but it's cute and ultimately ends satisfyingly.  This is a Tokyo Pop series, so copies, both new and used are selling out.  I was able to get the complete series through a combination of orders from Amazon and Right Stuf.  4/5

November at Omari's Sister

We need fall banners!  Send in your fall banners! The width is 1200-pixels and the height has to be less than 350-pixels.

October was a wild ride.  We had a big snag which caused us to have to re-clean 4 releases...ugh...Fortunately, the team was up to the challenge and we've almost made up the lost time.  October brought us some exciting news.  "Seirei Produce" is back from a year long hiatus and a treat of a series, "Ore to Atashi no Kareshi" popped up in Asuka magazine.  Hooray!