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Monday, April 2, 2012

The JManga 13: The Publishers & Potential Manga Part 2

[2017 ADDENDUM: As with Part 1, since this list's creation, JManga had died out, making this list effectively pointless. Still, it shall stay here for posterity's sake, as well as for the sake of the manga I mentioned.]

Seven down, another six to go... And this list is where we get to the "heavy-hitters" of the manga industry. So let's not waste time and here's Part 2!


Shinchosha [Naikaku Kenryoku Hanzai Kyousei Torishimarikan Zaizen Jotaro]
Shinchosha isn't exactly a big name in the industry as a whole, but they have their place in the seinen manga industry, as they were the company that teamed with Coamix for the now-defunct Comic Bunch magazine. Titles like Fist of the Blue Sky (the Fist of the North Star prequel), Angel Heart (the alternate-universe City Hunter sequel), and whole slew of titles aimed at older audiences, especially those who loved the 80s era of manly manga. I've reviewed the Zaizen Jotaro anime, which I still feel is a highly-underrated title due to its horrible first episode, and I would love to be able to read the original 17-volume manga the anime adapted from; I've since found out that the story the anime adapts is the second story arc in the manga. Who knows what kind of other cases Zaizen tackles... I really want to know! And since JManga loves doing quirky manga about very nontraditional topics, Zaizen Jotaro would be a perfect fit for them.

Shogakukan [Hoero Pen]
Here's the first of the "heavy-hitters" I mentioned. Shogakukan is the publisher of the "Sunday" series of magazines, and they are also the co-owners of Viz Media, which is the big name in manga here in North America. There's a ton of titles I could choose from Shogakukan, but I decided to go with Hoero Pen, the 13-volume sequel to Kazuhiko Shimamoto's original single-volume Moeyo Pen, which continues the hot-blooded journey of Moeru Honou's life as a mangaka. In fact, I'd love to see the entire saga of Honou's career: Moeyo Pen, Hoero Pen, the 11-volume sequel Shin Hoero Pen, and the currently-running Aoi Honou, which details Honou's life before becoming a mangaka. Yeah, that's more than 25 volumes of content, but JManga should thrive on content!


Shonen Gahosha [Choujin Locke: Kaze no Houyou]
The Locke the Superman series has been going on strong since 1967, and has had many different publishers, though Media Factory & Shonen Gahosha seem to be the main two, so I'm kind of cheating here, but I'll keep it accurate to a publisher and I'll use the Kaze no Houyou/Wind's Embrace manga, which is one of the most-recent entries in the series. Since Locke himself has had so many adventures it's really hard to choose a start point, though I guess the original 38-volume serialization sounds like the best start, but I wouldn't mind seeing Locke on JManga. He's been doing his thing about as long as Duke Togo and Kochikame's Ryo-san, but Locke still isn't quite as known as those two, and that should change to an extent.


Shueisha [Ring ni Kakero]
Yes, Shueisha is a supporter of JManga, which opens the portal to the vast catalog of titles within the "Jump" series of magazines, not to mention Shueisha's many shojo magazines. But I'm going to go with the obvious choice (for me, at least) and choose Ring ni Kakero. I love the anime series, but I would still love to read the original manga and get the full story. I've actually contacted JManga via e-mail about them doing Masami Kurumada titles, and they replied that Kurumada is a mangaka they would love to have on their site, with the only tricky titles to get on the portal being Saint Seiya & B't X, due to their licenses by Viz & TokyoPop, respectively. Thankfully, they did assure me that Kurumada's other works (Ring ni Kakero, Fuma no Kojirou, & his numerous short/canceled titles & one-shots) were all more likely to happen... And luckily most of them are owned by Shueisha now. Make it happen, JManga!


Takeshobo [Akagi ~Yami ni Oritatte Tensai~]
Takeshobo is another smaller-name publisher, with their forte being mahjong manga... And what better choice to use than Akagi. Though the title differs from the anime a little ("Oritatte" is used instead of "Maiorita", though they translate similarly), it's still the same awesome story about the same devilishly-cunning master of psychology who applies his skills to mahjong. The anime was awesome, and I do hope that a second season is one its way still, but the manga is likely even more insanity... Yes, the manga is still on the Washizu match, but I'm fine with that, since the hints I've read seem to indicate that what the anime adapted of that match was nothing compared to what happens afterwards. And with a cover like that above, I won't doubt it. JManga, you could definitely use some mahjong manga.


Tokuma Shoten [Legend of the Galactic Heroes]
Although Shonen Captain magazine, the original home to titles like Guyver & Trigun, isn't around anymore, publisher Tokuma Shoten is still around. The publisher has some very interesting titles under its belt, like Arion and the titles in Comic Bunch-successor Comic Zenon (like Cyber Blue), but if JManga has access to Tokuma Shoten's line-up, then there's one title they should try their hardest to get on the portal: Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Though the anime is the version fans talk about, there is the original manga as well as the manga adaptation, and JManga should somehow get the LOGH manga on their portal. Tokuma Shoten, unfortunately, knows how popular LOGH is and apparently treats it with the utmost respect and costs (i.e. licensing costs are high for the anime), but if we could at least get the manga with an official English translation then I'd be happy.
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And that ends what I call "The JManga 13". Though there are 26 other publishers working with JManga, these are the 13 publishers I'm going to be looking forward to, in terms of manga that can become available on the site. Every one of the manga I listed on these two parts would easily get my subscribed money, and, yes, these two posts do double as a request list for JManga to look at... Hey, if you want to get a companies attention, I say do so in a way that's certainly different.

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