So when I put out Part 2 of this of manga license rescues, it was brought up that I kind of made the latter days of the 00s manga boom era sound like it was a "Fall of Rome" situation, and the fact of the matter is that it kind of was. Easily the biggest blow to that era was the downfall of Borders, which was one of the strongest supporters of the manga industry at that time, essentially the equivalent that Suncoast was for the anime industry. The death of that retailer across 2010 & 2011, combined with the Great Recession that happened in 2008, made it tough for publishers to continue like they had before, though the likes of Viz Media, Yen Press, Seven Seas, & Kodansha USA managed to survive & continue going. However, the bigger indication is in just the sheer amount of publishers that simply didn't even make it to the death of Borders, showing just how bloated the manga market had become by the end of the decade, and this was before the modern days of simulpublishing & a much more prevalent digital footprint. To most people who got into manga within the past ten years, they won't know anything about the likes of CMX (DC's manga label), Go! Comi (co-founded by the late David Wise), ADV Manga, ComicsOne, DrMaster, Broccoli Books, Infinity Studios (which picked up ComicsOne's various Korean manhwa & was also an early proponent of digital releases), Del Ray Manga (the precursor to Kodansha USA, essentially), or even that Media Blasters once had its own manga division, & that TokyoPop went into hibernation for the better part of a decade before coming back.
I guess, if anything, that's where a list like this truly has value, as it shows just how long manga has been coming out in English, and what plenty of readers missed out on & should be given the chance to read today. So, with all of that out of the way, let's go over six more manga that were picked by others over on Twitter, and put an end to this supersized list.
One of the most common comparisons that's usually made in regards to "Manga vs. Comics" is that manga isn't primarily identified by way of costumed superheroes, though it is somewhat ironic that one of the biggest modern-day hits (My Hero Academia) is exactly that. However, Japan certainly has its own fair share of costumed/armored heroes, and Viz Media gave one of the most iconic a go back during the 90s. Debuting back in 1985 in the very first issue of Tokuma Shoten's Monthly Shonen Captain magazine, Bio-Booster Armor Guyver is easily the most iconic work from mangaka Yoshiki Takaya, also known for his adult manga (& mecha series Hades Project Zeorymer) under the pseudonym Moriwo Chimi. It tells the epic battle between Sho Fukamachi, a high school student who accidentally comes across Guyver Unit I, a biomechanical & symbiotic armor developed by the mysterious Cronos Corporation, and the monstrous Zoanoids that secretly wishes to rule the world. Yes, it sounds very similar to Kamen Rider, and that was the intention of Takaya's editor at the time, but it wound up becoming its own thing very quickly.
Takaya has continued to make Guyver ever since its debut, outliving Shonen Captain's death in 1997 before moving on to Kadokawa Shoten's Monthly Ace Next & later Monthly Shonen Ace magazines over the years, and currently totals 32 volumes, though it's been on indefinite hiatus since 2016. It's received three different anime adaptations in 1986 (Out of Control OVA), 1989-1992 (12-episode OVA series), & 2005-2006 (26-episode TV anime), and even two American live-action movies in 1991 & 1994, respectively featuring Mark Hamill & David Hayter (the latter of which actually portraying "The Guyver"!). With that kind of pedigree, it's not surprising that Viz tried getting on board the Guyver train, especially after those two movies, so from 1995 to 1998 the first seven volumes saw release via flipped trade paperbacks, after an initial run via floppies under the "Viz Manga Heroes" label. While one can assume that poor sales are the likely culprit for why Viz never released more Guyver, I think another factor comes down to the simple fact that Shonen Captain was long dead by the time Volume 7 came out, with Kadokawa Shoten then getting the Japanese rights to the series in 1998. Therefore, Viz likely wasn't legally able to continue releasing more Guyver, regardless of sales performance, though I guess if it was a major hit the publisher would have inked a new deal to continue. Beyond the first volume appearing on the short-lived digital-only JManga in 2011, the Guyver manga has yet to be touched by any other English publisher, and considering how long it currently is (combined with its still-unsure future), I doubt it'll ever be given a second chance here.
It'd be really damn cool if it was, though.
Up next we have a title from the youngest manga publisher to be featured in this entire list, Yen Press! Founded in 2006 by Kurt Hassler (formerly of Borders) & Rich Johnson (formerly of DC), & now co-owned by Kadokawa Corporation & Hachette Book Group, Yen Press formed just a couple of years prior to the manga industry's "Fall of Rome" moment, but managed to survive it through a mixture of a strong licensing relationship with Square-Enix (which eventually lead to S-E simply starting its own English publishing companies in 2019), absorbing manhwa publisher ICEkunion, & starting (the now defunct) Yen Plus, a monthly magazine featuring a mix of manga, manhwa, & even OEL manga to compete with Viz's Shonen Jump. However, despite being "only" 15 years old, that still doesn't mean that there isn't anything from Yen Press that has since gone cold & out-of-print, at least physically. I will admit that I tried to make sure to exclude anything that was still available digitally, but this one has slipped through the cracks, since it was an outsourced pick, though even then its digital availability is kind of odd.
Debuting back in 2006 in Akita Shoten's Young Champion magazine, Sundome by Kazuto Okada (Very Private Lesson) would run semimonthly until 2009 for a total of six volumes. It follows the budding relationship between high school students Hideo Aiba & Kurumi Sahana, namely how the two follow a sort of "quid pro quo" relationship where Hideo treats Kurumi as his "master", doing anything she asks for the "reward" of sexual favors, which Kurumi does do, but in a way that prevents Hideo from fully climaxing; this eventually expands towards the school club they both are a part of, as well. In essence, the manga looks to be a sex comedy that veers more on the sexual side of things, since it ran in a seinen magazine. Again, I have absolutely no familiarity with Sundome, so I can only go off a general synopsis here. Anyway, Yen Press would license & release this series across 2008, 2009, & 2010, though it looks as though it had a bit of a erratic schedule, as gaps between volumes ranged anywhere from three to eight months. It's possible that this wasn't all that good of a seller for Yen Press, as today those physical volumes are now out-of-print, though getting them secondhand hasn't looked to reach absurdly overpriced quite yet; still higher than MSRP, though. However, Yen Press still offers Sundome digitally ever since 2016, though it doesn't look to be consistent. If you go to Barnes & Noble, for example, the entire manga is available for Nook, but if you go to Comixology it looks like Volume 1 is missing, which kind of ruins the entire point of buying the manga there, since you can't start from the beginning.
As you can see, even if a series is available digitally it might have its own oddities to it. As it is, maybe Yen Press should just reprint Sundome physically again, just to be safe.
Back to 90s-era Viz one last time, and it's for a franchise that truly is best defined as a "cult classic". Debuting back in 1988, Mobile Police Patlabor is a multimedia franchise created by "Headgear", a collective comprised of mangaka Masami Yuki, director Mamoru Oshii, screenwriter Kazunori Ito, mech designer Yutaka Izubuchi, & character designer Akemi Takada, covering everything from anime (OVAs, movies, & TV series), video games, novels, & the subject of this entry, manga. In fact, Masami Yuki's manga take on Patlabor is actually the very first one, debuting about a month or so prior to the first episode of the original OVA. Also, just like how the OVAs/movies & TV anime are separate timelines, the manga is yet another alternate timeline, though all three focus around the (then future) Tokyo Metropolitan Police Special Vehicle Section 2, Division 2 & its giant robot-piloting police officers, specifically Noa Izumi.
Yuki's manga is actually the longest-running take on Patlabor, serializing in Weekly Shonen Sunday from 1988 to 1994 for a total of 22 volumes. Interestingly enough, North America got its start with Patlabor in the same exact way as Japan, as Viz would be the first company to give the franchise a go via the manga, first releasing it via floppies in 1997 & 1998, before compiling everything across two trade paperbacks later in 1998. These manga releases actually predate Manga Entertainment & Central Park Media's initial releases of the movies & TV series in 2000 & 2001, respectively! Unfortunately, Viz never released more than those first two volumes worth of manga, likely due to low sales, and the future of Patlabor in North America has always been one where it'd find a rabid & beloved cult following, but seemingly never really managing to parlay that into strong sales, no matter who releases it. At least current anime licensee Maiden Japan continues to keep it in print to this day, & all of the anime is streaming on Hidive. As for the manga, however, things look much less likely to change, especially considering how long it wound up running for.
I kind of ghosted ADV Manga with my own picks in Part 2, outside of a quick shout-out to Ray, but someone on Twitter managed to squeeze in another pick, and this time it's one of ADV's more notable releases. In fact, this was a title that ADV had so much hope for that it actually tried a simultaneous anime & manga release strategy! Running in Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Magazine from 2000 to 2006 for 17 volumes, Cromartie High School is by far the biggest hit in mangaka Eiji Nonaka's career. It's a gag series following the "everyday lives" of the students of the eponymous high school for wild delinquents. If that sounds similar to 80s Shonen Jump classic Sakigake!! Otokojuku, that's because Cromartie is a direct parody of that series, right down to the Japanese title actually featuring the word "Sakigake!!" in it. The main difference, though, is that the students that attend Cromartie include the likes of main character Takashi Kamiyama (who's absolute average, but everyone assumes is the toughest guy of them all), Shinichi Mechzawa the robot (though few actually realize he's a robot, including Mechazawa himself), a buff & mute Freddie Mercury homage (named Freddie, of course), & a literal gorilla. To call Cromartie High School "weird" would actually be putting it lightly.
The manga would then receive a 26-episode TV anime adaptation that ran from late 2003 to early 2004, with each episode being half-length, and just mere months after the anime ended ADV Films would announce that it had licensed the show. However, ADV believed so much in Cromartie High School that it didn't just license the anime, but it also licensed the manga from Kodansha! ADV Manga would be the first to strike, releasing Volume 1 of the manga on March 7, 2005, but just a week later Volume 1 of the anime would see release, with the then-customary "Volume 1+Artbox" offering also including Volume 1 of the manga. ADV Films would fully release the anime throughout 2005, followed by boxset releases in both 2006 & 2008, while ADV Manga would release the manga at a steady-but-inconsistent pace, with a new volume coming out anywhere from one to four months after the previous one, but by the end of 2007 had released the first 12 volumes, making it one of the longest sustained releases from ADV Manga. Unfortunately, while Volume 13 was solicited for release in early 2008, and even got cover art shown, no further volumes of Cromartie High School would ever come out. Since then, Discotek Media would license rescue the anime, & even released the live-action film adaptation prior to that, but nothing has come about from the manga. Honestly. I think Kodansha USA should at least give Cromartie High School a digital-only release & translate those last five volumes, ala Initial D.
While absurd & oddball high school comedies have come & gone, Cromartie High School remains one of the most unique, and should be readily available to all.
We return to TokyoPop one last time in this supersized manga list, but this time it's neither one of the publisher's bigger name titles, nor one that really looked to be in doubt of ever being finished. Anyway, Comic Party first came out in Japan in 1999 as a dating sim for Windows PCs developed by Aquaplus subsidiary Leaf (Utwarerumono, Tears to Tiara), in which the player must manage the daily life of Kazuki Sendo, who after attending the doujin event Comic Party (a fictional version of Comiket) decides to start making doujinshi of his own; naturally, there's also the potential for Kazuki to find love, as well. The game did well enough in Japan to warrant becoming a multimedia franchise, so in 2001 it received both a TV anime adaptation by OLM, as well as two different manga adaptations. For the purposes of this piece, we'll be focusing on the 5-volume direct adaptation of the game, done by Sekihiko Inui, a doujin creator who actually made his professional debut with this adaptation, appropriately enough; there was also a 3-volume series of short stories that CPM released in 2008.
In what was likely a bit of pure coincidence, both the Comic Party anime & manga saw release in North America at the same time in 2004, with Right Stuf handling the anime & TokyoPop handling the manga. TokyoPop would release the first four volumes on a bimonthly basis during the second half of 2004, which actually caught the publisher up to the series in Japan, as Inui wouldn't actually finish it until early 2005; because of that, the final volume didn't come out in English until the start of 2006. Following that, ADV would then license the TV anime sequel, 2005's Comic Party Revolution, while Sekihiko Inui would continue to see his manga get licensed for English release, namely Murder Princess (by Broccoli Books) & Ratman (by TokyoPop), though the latter would only see its first four volumes released over here. As for re-releases, the first Comic Party anime would get license rescued by Discotek in 2015, while Viz would also re-release Ratman digitally under the Viz Select label (though only what TokyoPop put out), while FUNimation re-released Comic Party Revolution back in 2009 & 2010. Compared to the likes of Genshiken, Otaku no Video, Shirobako, or maybe even Animation Runner Kuromi, Comic Party has mostly been forgotten with time (outside of that Discotek rescue), so I think the chances of Inui's manga adaptation being given a second chance are slim; still, there is some appeal in the general concept to make it work.
Finally, we end this entire three-part list with one more publisher we haven't covered so far, Dark Horse. Founded in 1986, Dark Horse Comics got as big as being the third-largest comics publisher by 2006 (with a whopping 5.6% of market share!), but when it comes to manga it's simultaneously one of the biggest names & (ironically enough) one of the true dark horses of the industry. On the one hand, Dark Horse Manga is the English publisher of some of the most iconic manga ever made, including the likes of Oh! My Goddess, Blade of the Immortal, Gantz, Hellsing, Lone Wolf & Cub, Trigun, & Berserk; Dark Horse even put out the original Astro Boy manga. On the other hand, though, Dark Horse is arguably even more notorious than Viz was at one point when it comes to dropping manga that underperformed, and would only dig the knife deeper by often stating "We would love to continue releasing [insert manga here]", instead of simply giving a definitive answer. This includes series like 3x3 Eyes, Cannon God Exaxxion, Eden: It's an Endless World!, Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, MPD Psycho, and the subject of our final outsourced pick for this list, Shadow Star Narutaru.
Running in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon magazine from 1998 to 2003 for 12 volumes, Narutaru (short for "Mukuronaru Hoshi Tamataru Ko/A Skeletal Star, A Pearlish Child") is the first major work from mangaka Mohiro Kitoh, who has become known for his stories that take child-friendly concepts & twist them into dark & violent forms. In Narutaru's case, it takes the "pet monster" concept made popular by Pokémon, Digimon, & Monster Rancher & asks "What if the people who had access to these monstrous creatures were teenagers who all had some sort of trauma & darkness to them?", with the manga focusing mainly on Shiina Tamai, a seemingly innocent 12-year old who finds a bond with the star-shaped "shadow dragon" Hoshimaru. Dark Horse licensed the manga rather quickly & originally started releasing it as part of the publisher's Super Manga Blast! magazine in early 2000, an early example of North America giving the whole "read a chapter of various manga via one publication" concept a try, even predating Viz's Shonen Jump by two years; to no surprise, this was a flipped magazine (for the most part, at least). It's here where the "Shadow Star" name would originate, which would then be combined with the original Japanese shorthand when CPM licensed & released the 2003 TV anime adaptation in 2005. Super Manga Blast! would run for 59 monthly issues before ending in early 2006, and throughout it all Dark Horse would compile the serialized chapters of Narutaru across seven volumes. However, Dark Horse's release of the manga had two problems...
First, the English release didn't exactly correspond to the Japanese release, so the seven volumes we got actually only covered up through Volume 6 of the original Japanese version; a few more chapters only ever saw release via Super Manga Blast!, as well. Second, Dark Horse's release was highly censored, as while Narutaru gives off the initial image of being like a children's series, it doesn't take long for things like violent murder, bloody evisceration, & even themes of suicide to start become recurring elements. Without a doubt, Dark Horse had no idea what it had licensed, and because of that Narutaru's English release via manga is a controversial one; unfortunately, the anime adapted to the same point as where Dark Horse stopped, more or less. Since then Viz has released all of Kitoh's later series Bokurano, which twists around the concept of 90s mech anime Matchless Raijin-Oh, but most fans of Kitoh generally agree that Narutaru might just be too dark, especially in the second half, for most publishers to ever try in English again.
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And there you have it! Eighteen different manga from across a fair variety of publishers that had once been given an official English release of some sort, and how they all deserve another chance, even if said chances are quite honestly effectively nil. I always find it fun & cool whenever an anime I included in a license rescue list actually comes to pass, as I always (eventually) update the corresponding piece to acknowledge that it had happened, but I honestly don't really find myself ever being able to do the same for this three-part manga list.
English manga publishers are always more than welcome to make the impossible happen, however.
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