Planning for 2014 -- Thanks for your Input

Thanks to everyone who gave us feedback through the survey and especially to those who took the time to write thoughtful comments.  We understand that the readers of this blog want more josei, while not neglecting shoujo. We understand that you come to this blog to read something different than the typical middle school and high school shoujos.  And we got the message loud and clear that you like oneshots and short series.

First of all, we still have some typical shoujos in the pipeline.  We will complete these projects and then move on. These projects include:

• "Ore to Atashi no Kareshisama" (7 more chapters to complete)
• "Megane no Incubus-kun" (3-chapter short series)
• "Aoi Tsumeato" (oneshot)
• "Funjunbatsu" (oneshot)

After chapter 11 of "Pochamani" we will be putting the series on hiatus. This series started as a oneshot that was expanded to 3 chapters, that was expanded to a volume, and then to a never-ending shoujo. I keep up with series, so I know what happens. After chapter 11, the story starts to jump the shark -- including some biker dude and another heavy girl who wants to become Tsumugi's disciple. I think from our perspective, we don't want to take on never-ending series unless they are interesting and appeared to be planned.  I would like to take a wait-and-see period to see where the series is going and to see whether the series is truly going to be never-ending (This is a danger when taking on series from Hana to Yume). We will make a clear announcement if we decided to drop the series.

We are still working on other series that have ended in Japan.  We are currently doing periodic mass releases of "Rex Fabula".  After we finish that, we will move onto to finishing "Ore to Atashi no Kareshisama" and "Yuurei Apaato Kanrinin". The next batch of "Rex Fabula" will come out next month, and we'll release a chapter of OtoA and YAK each too. Thanks to everyone helping us with Rex. This series has tough redraws so it's been slow.  The same applies to OtoA, so we apologize for our pace.  YAK...>_>  (subconsciously I don't want that series to end... it's not particularly difficult to release.) We will also clear out all the oneshots and short series that are in some state of completion regardless of theme.  Haha! We've got a lot of them!

Okay... onto new stuff. Three new series will be debuting very soon. One is a series I've been waiting for to release in tankoubon form for nearly a year.  It's by an mangaka that's near and dear to my heart (and you readers too), so look out for it soon.  The next series smacked in the face hard with gloriousness.  We're nearly done with the first chapter, so look out for it next week. And the lastly the sequel to "Kanojo ni Naru Hi". We are continuing one with the other new series we've introduced.  The series from Haruca and Itan are on a very slow release schedule in Japan (once every 2 - 6 months).  We have no influence over that...so...oh well. But this give us a lot flexibility in our schedule to take on many projects from these publications.  Also! We are working on a variety of short-series (1 volume) and oneshots.  I, Kuroneko003, am personally now working 50% on series and 50% on short-series and oneshots. Typesetters willing, a flood of oneshots is coming soon as we complete a bunch of already translated works.  Please check the release schedule to see what we're up to! I'm looking forward to launching the new series.  Most of what we've got going on now series-wise will fill out 2014. We will take up new short series as we finish short series.

Current and Upcoming Themes!

• November - mid-December: Supernatural, Horror, and Pyschological
• December - February:  Fairytales

Please feel free to give us some more feedback on what you would like to see in 2014.  Please no specific series though. We aren't taking specific requests, but do give us some theme ideas. Also, Pochamani fans, please be gentle with me.

We need typesetters and redraw artists, so if you want more faster releases, please volunteer to help us. Contact me using the contact link at the top in the right side column if you are interested.

Planning for 2014 -- Your Feedback is Wanted

NOTE:  WE AREN'T DROPPING ANY SERIES. WE ARE DILIGENTLY WORKING ON UNFINISHED SERIES. THEY WILL GET DONE.
 
2013 is winding down, so it's time to start planning for 2014! This year we started making an effort to only take on short series and more oneshots. This summer we started exploring josei. We will continue the transition to short series and more oneshots in 2014.

As a translator, I've found working on long-form oneshots to be very fulfilling. The stories are focused, deep, and have a definite arc, and an end. Not many long-form oneshots are published, so pickings are slim.  Also, they tend to take a long time to scanlate. Nevertheless, I would like to do more of them, so I'm keeping an eye out for them.

To help me refine the direction of next year, I'm want to gather suggestions from the readers of this blog. And I don't mean to suggest specific works, because I don't want to narrow things down that much. What would you like to see more of? What would you like to see less of? What have you really liked from 2013? What didn't you like?  What aren't other scanlation groups doing? What are other scanlation groups doing too much of?  Would you like more non-scanlation content -- reviews, general discussions, news... ? Or you comment about whatever you like manga-wise.  Anyhow, I want to keep things fresh and I don't want us to be like any other shoujo or josei scanlation group.  So please suggest any themes, subgenres, mangaka, or whatever you're interested in. Also, there's a handy dandy poll at the top of the right column.

"Magnolia" Chapter 36

Here's "Magnolia" Chapter 36.  I thought this was going to be an arc about the King and Ayato, but I guess it isn't.  Rather, it's just follows Ayato and his buddies through the aftermath of the masquerade party. To my surprise, Hollier is a hardcore shipper.  I was laughing heartily at the panels where she appears.  Hollier is a good girl. I wish the best for her. Alexandra owns my heart. I really like him. Go with your heart, you beautiful man!  Ah Hugo... Hee! Finally, the drawing of him I've been waiting for and it's cute! Hee! There's hope that the story won't go down the expected path, so I 'm very happy and looking forward to the next chapter.  Hee!

On to the release!

What I Just Finished Reading: "Tropic of the Sea" by Satoshi Kon

Title: Tropic of the Sea
Artist/Author: Satoshi Kon
Publisher: Vertical
ISBN:  9781939130068

Purchase:  Amazon / Barnes & Noble

First Impressions:  Oh, the cover is pretty!  The story is pretty meh. There's nothing particularly good or bad about the story or the artwork. This manga is thoroughly mediocre.

Artwork -- B:  It's functional. Many pages are intricately detailed, but nothing ever caught my eye, so I didn't pause very long to see what was going on the panels.  It's very draftmen-like -- it's not pretty, nor is it ugly;  it's just there. The only illustration that stands out to me is the cover.

Presentation -- A-: The cover is gorgeous and promises a lot more than what's inside. The translation reads smoothly and the wording seems true to the lackluster characters. Not having access to the Japanese now, I don't know whether the blandness was intended or whether there's more color to the characters in the original Japanese.  The afterword being in English reading order was a little jarring. I was very confused at first (you have to flip the book backward).  There are some nice extra illustrations at the end.

The Story -- C:  The story is like "Goonies" without the fun and wonder.  It's a coming of age adventure and the last hurrah for some young adults before their small town gets mowed down and turned into a tourist resort destination.  The townspeople are good and believe in their local mythology. The developers are bad and only after money. And, of course, the main character's father is the one who sold the town out. YAWN.  Sooo as a fun exercise, if I write the words "Teenagers" "Mermaid Egg Legend" and "Land Developers", what complete story flashes across your mind? That half-second mental construction is the story.  That's it. There's nothing to anticipate. Boo...

Overall -- C: This manga is thoroughly average. Nothing out of the ordinary happens in the story. The artwork is draftmen-like. It's very mechanical in construction and so consequently there is no "heart" or passion in this story or the artwork. It just lies there like unflavored gelatin. For me, this is worse than being bad, because at least it's interesting to see how bad something bad can get. I recommend buying this if you wanna buy it for the "Satoshi Kon" name.  Otherwise skip it, because what you imagined in half of a second was probably a lot more interesting than this manga.

NYCC Manga License Announcements

Lots of good manga license announcements were made at Comic-Con in New York over the past two days.  For a full listing of the announcements please go of Anime News Network:

Vertical: Announcement 1/ Announcement 2
Kodansha USA: Announcement 1/ Announcement 2/ Announcement 3
Viz
Yen Press

This blog posting will only cover licensing announcements that matter to Crimson Flower Readers.

Vertical:

• "Attack on Titan: Before the Fall" Light Novels
• "Clothes Named Fat" by Moyoco Anno

Kodansha USA:

• "Attack on Titan: Before the Fall" Manga
• "Attack on Titan: No Regrets" (the Levi Spinoff)
• "Attack on Titan: Junior High

 Viz:

• "Black Rose Alice" by Mizushiro Setona

Yen Press:

• "He is my Only Vampire" (Junketsu + Kareshi) by Aya Shouoto
• "Demon from a Foreign Land" (Iki no Ki) by Yuki Kaori

We got a lot of great licenses, 3 of which were former Omari's Sister projects! Please buy the English releases and support manga licensing in the US.  I have a feeling that new batch of licenses will boost the industry and we'll see a lot more manga in 2015. A bright manga-filled future is ahead!

Note: All licensed materials have been removed from the blog and the servers. The blog posts are still there to read the comments, but the links are not active.