Finally some of the stuff that I’ve lettered a few months ago has been released. Luckily, the first title provided layered files for chapter 1, which I’m eternally grateful for! The other ones were mostly subtitled SFX which I’m also grateful for… hopefully the rest of the titles that I’ve worked on gets released soon.

I’m actually going to be taking a break from lettering for a short while but I’ll be back!

Yuri Wall by Setaseta

Yuri Wall by SetasetaOriginal name: Yuri Kabe (ゆりかべ) by Setaseta

A cute series where someone is reincarnated as a wall in an apartment where they can observe yuri relationships up close! It’s actually super hilarious and yes, I originally was hooked with the kabedon cover.

“As an outsider, I want to silently protect and watch over the love between women…,” said a Yuri fanatic that got hit by a car and reincarnated as a wall in a certain apartment! And for some reason, the residents of the apartment room are always two girls in yuri relationship… Let’s support these cute and heartwarming couples together with the passionate wall in “Yuri Wall”!

Read it on Manga.club / more info @ MangaUpdates

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Hello everyone! It’s been a while since I last posted. I am pretty busy with freelance work and summer classes start next week for me. If everything goes well, I should graduate in December 2018! *sobs* I’ve been in college on & off for a longass time and switched my degree and university AND kinda failed math classes on the way… I have weak motivation which delayed my graduation for a while…

I’ve also done freelance work for Manga.club which is the English branch of TORICO. There haven’t been many A-list series on it yet, but they’re planning on adding more BL/yaoi titles and they’re currently serializing a great biography manga about Jose Rizal, a Filipino hero!

I Don’t Even Have Time to Live by Nakano

Another project that I worked on: I Don’t Even Have Time to Live (生きてる暇もない。) by Nakano [Mangaupdates] [original]. It’s an essay manga about daily depression and struggling to stay alive in this bleak world.

Well, that’s because I spend most of my time leaning against the wall, thinking of wasteful thoughts. But I’m barely still alive, despite everything. “I Don’t Even Have Time to Live” is an essay comic about the life of Nakano, who struggles every day just to simply… alive. The comic tackles depression theme in an uncomplicated and relatable manner, making us realize that such experience is actually not so distanced with our everyday’s life.

Read it HERE!

Analyzing the US Manga Industry with BookScan 2017

I would like to focus on the manga portion of The Beat’s thorough analysis of BookScan 2017. NPD BookScan tracks between 80% and 85% of print sales according to Publisher’s Weekly. FYI Brian Hibbs did an amazing job on this report and went crazy into the numbers portion in a way that more casual readers could understand. He kept mentioning “long tail,” which is “used to refer to the large number of products that sell in small quantities, as contrasted with the small number of best-selling products.” Apparently, manga has a long tail? I only skimmed the article since it’s about 15K+ words (90 min read) and focused my attention on the manga portion. If you want to check out last month’s BookScan chart, see Feb 2018 Top 20 Manga Chart.

With over 10,248 items listed, 5.9 million sold for a total of $85.6M, manga seems to be selling well! However, compared to 2008 when 7842 items listed, 10.2 million sold for a total of $100.8M during the manga boom, it pales in comparison. Remember that Borders closed in 2011, which led to many US manga companies to shut down.

Let’s see the top 6 manga publishers of 2017 and analyze the numbers after the break!

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As a manga lover, this past year has been amazing for digital releases with Kodansha USA picking up the speed on volume releases.. We can strongly say that seinen, sports, and josei manga have a chance of getting licensed again! Seven Seas Entertainment now includes a monthly manga request survey! You can also give feedback to Weekly Shonen Jump with their weekly feedback survey (even if you’re not subscribed).

I’m starting a monthly request series for manga licenses! It will be a quick way to keep this blog updated while I type up reviews on the side (I actually want to do at least 1 manga review each month…)

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Finding new legal manga releases online in English is sometimes complex, since the big name publishers offer their series on various online services. Most people will pay to support their favorite artist and series though! Here’s a list of simulpub manga and where to find them~

I’m including only websites/services that offer simulpub (released on same day as Japanese or up to a week later). They are: Weekly Shonen Jump, Yen Press Digital, Kodansha Comics, Crunchyroll Manga, Manga Box, ComicWalker, and Comic Zenon International. The series that they host are listed below the cut!

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Ballroom e Youkoso

「ボールルームへようこそ」

by TAKEUCHI Tomo

Published in Monthly Shonen Magazine by Shodansha.
Licensed in English by Kodansha USA
BUY / READ: Amazon JP, eBookJapanKodansha Comics Plus
(English) Kodansha USA (ch1 free), Amazon, RightStuf

My first review on this blog has to be dedicated to Ballroom e Youkoso by Takeuchi Tomo, also known as Welcome to the Ballroom. I found this series during a search for new sports manga, as I wasn’t up to catching up to popular series like YowaPeda, Daiya no Ace, or Haikyuu!! at the moment. I think I fell in love with dance manga after reading Swan by Ariyoshi Kyouko when it was released by CMX in 2005 and I read it at the downtown library. However, this particular manga was nominated in the prestigious 6th and 8th Taisho Awards in 2013 and 2015, which lists the best manga series in Japan for that year.

The mangaka introduces the main character of Ballroom, Fujita Tatara, as an average student who stumbles into the world of sports dance and becomes enraptured after watching a performance by his mentor.

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