License Line: Saint Tail Steps In

What is License Line? Put simply, it's a semi-regular feature on Nagareboshi Reviews in which yours truly posts about a certain anime/manga series that truly, desperately needs to be licensed and put on my shelves ASAP - from the obscure but well-deserving manga to the stream worthy but not yet DVD licensed anime.

At Japan Expo 2013, Viz Media did its usual release of licenses, both anime and manga. At their Shojo Beat panel, one of their license announcements was of a series already familiar to English readers: Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, an Arina Tanemura series previously published by the now-defunct CMX. Viz pretty much has become the authority on Tanemura's manga past and present.

But why should Maron and company be the only magical thieves who get a license rescue these days? There's another series, a Tokyopop series from the early days, that is worth getting a second look. This is Mysterious Thief Saint Tail/怪盗セセイント・テールby manga-ka Megumi Tachikawa, also known as Saint Tail to U.S. readers. Tokyopop marketed it as Robin Hood meets Sailor Moon, which isn't a bad comparison, but that might be selling the series short.

License Line: Movie Night

What is License Line? Put simply, it's a semi-regular feature on Nagareboshi Reviews in which yours truly posts about a certain anime/manga series that truly, desperately needs to be licensed and put on my shelves ASAP - from the obscure but well-deserving manga to the stream worthy but not yet DVD licensed anime.

It seems than when it comes to licensing anime, films kind of get lost in the dust of actual TV serfies unless they are part of an established franchise - Bleach, Full Metal Alchemist, Fate/Stay Night, and so on. Recently, there's been a rise in stand-alone films being licensed which is great! But I think we can do better. After all, a lot of anime fans got sucked into anime through film - Macross Plus and Ghost In The Shell and Akira are three of the essential titles that turned me to the otaku side.

Below are some anime films worth bringing over. Get cracking, anime companies! Maiden Japan? Funimation? Anybody?

Houkago Midnighters/After School Midnighters from Studio Koo-Ki.

Mako, Miko, and Mutsuko are three young girls visiting St. Claire Elementary, a school filled with strange legends. They have an abrupt encounter with Kunstrijk, a human body anatomy model, and Goth, a skeleton model. Both haunt the soon-to-be-demolished science room. Seeking revenge for being vandalized by the three girls, Kunstrijk invites them to the school's midnight party in order to scare them. Together, the five go on a quest to collect three mythical medals that can grant a wish and hopefully save the science room. (Source: ANN)

License Line: More More Moyoco

Hataraki Man (働きマン)

What is License Line? Put simply, it's a semi-regular feature on Nagareboshi Reviews in which yours truly posts about a certain anime/manga series that truly, desperately needs to be licensed and put on my shelves ASAP - from the obscure but well-deserving manga to the stream worthy but not yet DVD licensed anime.

Recently, we have the Manga Moveable Feast centered around josei manga-ka Moyoco Anno and it was wonderful and a bunch of great posts were generated because of it but it got me thinking: why is so little of her works available in English? Why is the only one I can easily buy Sakuran? And why is most of that work now out of print? Despite the josei (ladies' comics) genre being historically low-selling in North America, I think the current manga market can make Anno's work - which is mostly josei - viable again. 

Below the read more jump are three titles by Anno that would be great for release (or re-release) in English. And they're all under ten volumes - so they are affordable licenses to boot!

(Psst: Viz Media? She married Hideaki Anno. You know, the guy behind Neon Genesis Evangelion. Instant cross-promotion opportunity!)

License Line: Drunk On Shojo Dreams

What is License Line? Put simply, it's a semi-regular feature on Nagareboshi Reviews in which yours truly posts about a certain anime/manga series that truly, desperately needs to be licensed and put on my shelves ASAP - from the obscure but well-deserving manga to the stream worthy but not yet DVD licensed anime.

When I was reading A Drunken Dream And Other Stories, a collection of shojo shorts by manga-ka Moto Hagio, two thinks really struck me. The first was how powerful and emotionally compelling Hagio's storytelling is, how lush and detailed her artwork is. It was, to put it bluntly, a masterpiece.

The second, which came after reading the book and trying to look up more of Hagio's works, is that Moto Hagio books are extremely out of print and expensive to boot. With the exception of Drunken Dream and the up-coming release of Heart of Thomas, her works seem unreachable by anyone with a modest budget. 

Moto Hagio isn't some dime store hack churning out cookie-cutter melodramatic shojo stories. She is a manga idol, a member of the revered Year 24 group of women manga-ka, and her works have been critically acclaimed since she premiered. Readers love her and want more of her in English. So why doesn't the current manga market reflect this?

License Line: Save Our Saber

What is License Line? Put simply, it's a semi-regular feature on Nagareboshi Reviews in which yours truly posts about a certain anime/manga series that truly, desperately needs to be licensed and put on my shelves ASAP - from the obscure but well-deserving manga to the stream worthy but not yet DVD licensed anime.

I’m gonna keep this short. We’re all busy folks this time of year and I’ve got a god awful stack of homework to get to. So this is yet another request for a Tokyopop license rescue, this one a bit timelier considering what I’ve been blogging about lately.

If you have been reading this blog or following me on Twitter, you know I’ve been reading the manga adaptation of Type-Moon’s visual novel Fate/Stay Night – and totally loving it. I love the characters, the magic, the action, the world-building; even the fan service is good.

Problem is, it was released in English by the now defunct Tokyopop (I’m not counting their ‘comeback’ only a while ago as a proper return to business) and only came out with around ten books before closing. This means I’ll be soon running out of F/SN graphic novels to read and will either have to – gulp – turn to scanlations or wait for someone to rescue it for English release.

Really, I can’t see why any manga publisher would not want to bring out Fate/Stay Night. The F/SN film is set to come out on DVD and Blu-Ray later this year, and the prequel series Fate/Zero is a huge hit with fans. Someone could easily re-release the first ten volumes in omnibus format then continue from there with standard-sized graphic novels. And since the manga is still going in Japan, there won’t be an absence of material to release for Type-Moon fans.

And while I’m at it, Geneon and Funimation both hold the rights to the anime. Are y’all actually gonna do anything with that? Just saying. It would be nice to be able to buy the anime without shelling out over a hundred bucks for an out of print box set.

Feel free to agree or disagree with me in the comments! Or post links to sexy fanart of Rin and Saber, I can dig that too. Wink wink.

Bringing Up Baby: Papa to Mama Hajimemashita

Papa to Mama Hajimemashita

Also written as: パパとママはじめました。

Author: Ichikawa Shou

Originally serialized in: Shoujo Comic; tankoubon published by Shogakukan.

Class rep Mochida thinks life is pretty easy, even if she has to put up with the lazy good-for-nothing Yuushi at school. But suddenly, it turns out Yuushi is her next door neighbor - and he has a surprise waiting on his doorstep. When Mochida finds herself taking care of baby with the most least likely person she knows, will it just be a babysitting affair or might it turn into something more? When the baby's mother returns, their new relationship will certainly be tested.

I have to thank my sister for this one, because she pretty much pushed me at it and ordered me to read, perhaps knowing I'm a sucker for one-volume shoujo manga like these. And let me tell you, this one is totally cute. Mochida is the kind of shoujo protagonist I love to read about, and her sudden romance with her quirky next-door neighbor Yuushi is absolutely wonderful. Add into the mix a baby left on Yuushi's doorstep with no one to look after the poor thing, and you have an instant shojo favorite, all wrapped up in one volume but still mighty tasty by itself.

Read the rest of my review beyond the jump!

License Line: A Sixth Sense

What is License Line? Put simply, it's a semi-regular feature on Nagareboshi Reviews in which yours truly posts about a certain anime/manga series that truly, desperately needs to be licensed and put on my shelves ASAP - from the obscure but well-deserving manga to the stream worthy but not yet DVD licensed anime.

I will always have a huge soft spot in my heart for the shoujo genre, despite the fact that 80% is pretty much the same story with different faces attached to it. So when a shoujo manga decides to step out of the usual tropes and is amazing, how can I not take notice? This is how I felt when I read Sakura Tsukaba's Land of the Blindfolded (Mekakushi no Kuni/目隠しの国), a supernatural shoujo manga of heartbreaking proportions concerning the lives of young people with the heavy responsibilities of supernatural gifts weighing on their shoulders during one of the most precarious and dangerous years of their lives: high school.

In the story of Land of the Blindfolded, when Outsuka Kanade touches someone - whether it is their hand or face, accidentally or on purpose, she can sometimes see into that person's future. Naturally, this gift isn't so wonderful when you see disaster looming on the horizon and, being someone like Kanade, tries to stop it despite all odds being against you. Transfer student Naitou Arou has a similar gift, except that when his touch activates, it gives him a glimpse into that person's past. Joining them is Naitou Arou, who has far more control over his own powers to the point that he can turn it off and on at will. 

Together, they try to navigate living with these abilities and the responsibilities they carry while also dealing with their own feelings for each other. Hey, I told you it was a shoujo manga.

License Line: The Once And Future King

What is License Line? Put simply, it's a bi-weekly feature on Nagareboshi Reviews in which yours truly posts about a certain anime/manga series that truly, desperately needs to be licensed and put on my shelves ASAP - from the obscure but well-deserving manga to the stream worthy but not yet DVD licensed anime.

I love children's manga. I really, really do. Some of my favorite series are technically targeted at an age demographic way beneath my own - Magical Pokémon Journey, Bakegyamon, and so on. It really does seem to be an underrepresented genre in the English language manga market these days; if it's not Pokémon or video game-related, it probably isn't selling that well, which means non-Nintendo kids' manga licenses don't have very good chances at being brought over since their chance of selling are much much lower.

But one company that was willing to sell quite a few kids' manga titles in its heyday was ADV Manga, and one of those titles was The First King Adventure/賢者の長き不在 by Moyamu Fujino, originally published in Mag Garden in Japan and published in English by ADV until - well, you know. Actually, even before the company closed, it seemed that First King Adventure was one of those titles whose releases came out sporadically at best until it stopped completely.

ADV only came out with two out of eight volumes before running out of steam, and to be completely honest the quality of it releases were less than optimal; there’s random untranslated Japanese in the second volume, for goodness’ sake! But you know what? It was so good. And it deserves a second chance to finish its run in English.

License Line: In Soviet Russia --- You Know

What is License Line? Put simply, it's a bi-weekly feature on Nagareboshi Reviews in which yours truly posts about a certain anime/manga series that truly, desperately needs to be licensed and put on my shelves ASAP - from the obscure but well-deserving manga to the stream worthy but not yet DVD licensed anime.

Have you ever spent an evening searching in despair for a manga about communist Russia and its various leaders and found nothing? Are you also a fan of the absurd, the surreal, and the downright guro? Do you like your gore and guts to be completely ridiculous and make absolutely no sense at all? You've come to the right place, my friend. 

And by 'right' I mean so very, very wrong. I'm sure more than a few obscure manga veterans are already giving me looks of horror, knowing full well what my latest license begging spree is about, and they are probably right on the money for being horrified.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Shintaro Kago, one of the most well known guro artists around. The manga in question is, of course, Dance! Kremlin Palace (Танцевать! Кремль Дворёц/踊る!クレムリン宮殿) and if the idea of guro itself turns your stomach . . . you might want to walk away as quickly as possible, for it only goes downhill from here.

License Line: I Want To Believe In Baka

What is License Line? Put simply, it's a bi-weekly feature on Nagareboshi Reviews in which yours truly posts about a certain anime/manga series that truly, desperately needs to be licensed and put on my shelves ASAP - from the obscure but well-deserving manga to the stream worthy but not yet DVD licensed anime.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Prince Baka. Also known as the trolliest troll to ever troll humankind. He has come to Earth in the name of the greatest cause of all – to avoid responsibility! Despite being the greatest genius in the universe, this Prince has decided to spend his precious time on our planet in the name of some hardcore pranking of our native populace. So if you see a skinny blonde ponytailed guy with a baseball cup and big eyes lurking off in the distance, looking like he’s up to no good, you have just spotted the Dogurian race’s – and ours – biggest headache.

This Prince of pranks is the star of License Line’s latest license request as well as this blog’s newest favorite anime of recent seasons, Level E/レベルE. And quite frankly, the fact that you can’t buy Baka’s most excellent adventures in DVD or graphic novel format is an outright shame. Considering that both Yu Yu Hakusho and Hunter X Hunter – in both anime and manga form – have been licensed, isn’t it time that another of Togashi Yoshihiro’s works be brought to North American shores? I think so.

What is Level E? Only one of the most creatively humorous sci-fi shows that I’ve seen in the last couple of years, a shining example that such a serious genre that often go the comedy route with great success. You know, I could rehash my feelings on this wonderfully chaotic anime but I won’t bore you with a recap of my review of the Level E series tonight. But I will mention that it is based on a manga of the same name by manga-ka Togashi Yoshihiro, and at only three volumes it is a tight well-crafted read – not to mention any sort of major investment for those manga publishers squeamish about picking up an off-kilter science-fiction manga from 1995.

So what is it about Level E that begs for a license? I dunno – how about everything? It is bizarre yet charming, has a cast of characters as zany as the premise itself, and the music for it is just plain awesome. Seriously, try walking down the street when the opening theme pops up on your iPod without turning what was a normal walk into a Prince Baka-esque strut through town. This series fits in quite perfectly with Funimation’s line of similar series, and the manga would be right at home among its fellow manga-ka’s works over at Viz Media’s Shonen Jump imprint. You really can’t go wrong with more Prince Baka in your life.

If you want to find out for yourself, be sure to watch Level E currently streaming on Crunchyroll!

License Line: To The Rescue

What is License Line? Put simply, it's a bi-weekly feature on Nagareboshi Reviews in which yours truly posts about a certain anime/manga series that truly, desperately needs to be licensed and put on my shelves ASAP - from the obscure but well-deserving manga to the stream worthy but not yet DVD licensed anime. (It is also desperately late this week, and for this I apologize. Yes, aren't these usually published every other Tuesday? Bear with me, for this week is a little bit more interactive!)

Unless you habituate underneath a large boulder, you are keenly aware of the absence of a certain manga publishing giant this fall: Tokyopop, which closed its doors and ceased publication of all of its licenses as of May of this year. I'm not looking to make a bitter rant about Tokyopop's business practices and how it feels like Stu Levy failed manga readers, especially since they've now dangled the possible carrot of Axis Powers Hetalia's third volume availability in front of fans' noses; that can be another post all together (and what a post it will be, I'm sure). No, today I'd like to talk about something that has been running through the manga blogosphere since Tokyopop's closure of its publishing center was first introduced: what about the manga?

License Line: I Need A Doctor

What is License Line? Put simply, it's a bi-weekly feature on Nagareboshi Reviews in which yours truly posts about a certain anime/manga series that truly, desperately needs to be licensed and put on my shelves ASAP - from the obscure but well-deserving manga to the stream worthy but not yet DVD licensed anime.

If the current American television market is anything to go by, everyone loves a good medical drama. And why not? So much action, all the tense scenes of surgeries and human conflict, not to mention those terribly attractive doctors, especially that Hugh Laurie – err, moving on. Surprising enough, Japanese animation doesn’t really reflect this trend in dramatic entertainment; not a lot of anime series in the past ten to twenty years show any influence from the hospital serial, even though there are many J-dramas that do. And – cue blushing of your blog host – a lot of them are of the hentai variety in which naughty nurses and doctors get busy in the hospital using surgery equipment in ways that would turn the officials at the department of health green in the face.

However, out of the anime that does take place in a medical setting, one manages to rise above the ranks due to its unorthodox lead who travels from country to country, only performing surgery on the most extraordinary cases for the most outrageous amounts of money, accompanies by an adorable little girl who acts as his nurse while in the operating theater. Yes, you can probably imagine who I’m talking about – the epic Tezuka character, Black Jack, rogue surgeon and international man of mystery.

License Line: Ground Control To Major Tom

For this week's License Line, I'm looking at one of the many licenses that were lost during the closure of Tokyopop; funny enough, this series already finished publishing under Tokyopop's care but as of now, the license is up in the air. Will anyone pick up a series completed by another publisher? Will these books just simply go out of print and disappear into thin air? I surely hope not - especially if that includes quality titles like this one, about the beauty of space and the junk we find in it. Yes, this week I'm arguing for the case of Makoto Yukimura's acclaimed manga series Planetes (プラネテス) that spans four volumes and won the Seiun Award for best science-fiction series in 2002.

Planetes takes place in a far-off future where the space program has proved successful and living beyond the Earth is not just a dream but a reality. Naturally, as more of the human race takes to the sky, they leave behind in the stars more and more of their trash – space debris that can harm space stations and satellites if not dealt with as soon as possible. Enter the trash collectors of the final frontier, whose job is to either salvage or burn what debris they find on their travels to make space safer and cleaner for everyone else. The series follows the lives aboard the debris collecting space ship known as the Toy Box:  loudmouth engineer Hachi; sweet and driven Tanabe; the brash chain smoker Fee; the quiet Russian, Yuri.

Hands down, Planetes is one of the best manga I’ve ever read, inside and outside of the science-fiction genre. It is a manga with heart and humor that examines the human condition while also providing a refreshingly realistic take on how mankind will evolve after civilization begins truly dominating the stars. All of the social and political problems that have plagued the Earth have leaked out into space, and so has the one problem that has plagued people for millennia: where do I belong? This conflict especially affects our main protagonist, Hachi, whose relationship with outer space is at best complicated. Not only it is a deep, involving manga but it is a gorgeously drawn one too; the spacecrafts and various technologies seen throughout the series were clearly researched extensively beforehand.

As a Kodansha title, Planetes will likely find no home at any American-based manga publisher like Yen or Vertical.  Considering the success such space titles like Twin Spica are having with North American readers, I’m sure Kodansha Comics’ US-based enterprise could see the merits of bringing back this gorgeous acclaimed series – and at four volumes total, it wouldn’t be an expensive series to revive either. Several Tokyopop titles have already been saved by Kodansha and like-minded publishers; why shouldn’t Planetes be next?

License Line: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Crisis

What is License Line? Put simply, it's a bi-weekly feature on Nagareboshi Reviews in which yours truly posts about a certain anime/manga series that truly, desperately needs to be licensed and put on my shelves ASAP - from the obscure but well-deserving manga to the stream worthy but not yet DVD licensed anime.

For the third edition of License Line, I’d like to focus on a possible license rescue that maybe a handful of people might be aware of. It’s a charming supernatural manga about a young boy who discovered a strange new world in his new neighborhood, and it’s publishing life was cut short by the infamous ADV Manga, who so far has made no exterior plans on bringing it back. 

Its name is Tengai Retrogical (天外レトロジカル) and from the first chapter, it stole my heart away with its charm and cast of characters. I'm sure that it will do the same to you - well, if you can find a copy if it, that is. Its current out-of-print status makes it awfully hard to find in bookstores; I was only lucky enough to get my own used copy thanks to a bookseller in the dealer's room at the first Bishiecon.

For The Love Of Art: 24 Colors ~Hatsukoi no Palette~

24 Colors ~Hatsukoi no Palette~ volume 1

Also written as: 24Colors~初恋のパレット

Author: Kozue Chiba

Originally serialized in Shoujo Comic; tankoubon published by the Flower Comics imprint

Nanaka loves to paint. So when she enters high school, she gets excited at the prospect of jointing the arts club. However, there are only two members-- the mysterious Chihaya and the energetic Kento. They're both good-looking guys, and Chihaya shares Nanaka's love for painting!

I suppose this review could count as a License Line post as well, since none of the manga publishers in North America that print shoujo manga had decided to even give 24 Colors a second thought - even though it would be right up Shoujo Beat's alley, cough cough. There’s no risk in licensing it! It’s only one volume, it’s a self-contained story, and if it sold well enough, one could license some of Kozue Chiba’s other works – like the often lauded 7^th Period Is A Secret, which was immensely popular when it first came out and for good reason. But this isn’t about 7^th Period, this is about 24 Colors, a story about first love and art among young people.

License Line: All the Strange, Strange Creatures

What is License Line? Put simply, it's a bi-weekly feature on Nagareboshi Reviews in which yours truly posts about a certain anime/manga series that truly, desperately needs to be licensed and put on my shelves ASAP - from the obscure but well-deserving manga to the stream worthy but not yet DVD licensed anime.

For the first edition of License Line, I find it only apt to feature an anime series whose third season has just debuted on the fourth - the always charming supernatural slice of life known as Natsume Yuujinchou (夏目友人帳), also known as Natsume's Book Of Friends (as Viz has translated it for the manga's English release). That's right - an anime that is both supernatural and slice of life. How does Natsume Yuujinchou manage this precarious balance of seemingly opposite genres? With the greatest of ease and knowing when to keep one element from overwhelming the other.

What is Natsume Yuujinchou? Natsume Takashi has never had an easy life. Being born with the ability to see ayakashi - otherwordly spirits - Natsume has felt disconnected from the world of the living due to his abilities and from the world of the spirits due to being a mortal boy. Keeping this ability a secret has made his life extremely difficult and the idea of friends seem like a distant memory to him. When he inherits a mysterious book from his grandmother, Reiko, who also had the sight, Natsume's life is soon turned upside-down. His 'book of friends' contains the names of all the ayakashi Reiko met in her lifetime who she tricked into giving her their name, thus binding them to Reiko for life - but now that Reiko's death is leaking out into the world of spirits, everyone is itching to free their name from the book or capture the book themselves, gaining control over hundreds of ayakashi in Japan. With the snarky sidekick Nyanko-sensei at his side (an ayakashi trapped in the shape of a lucky cat), Natsume is on a quest to return the names of the ayakashi to their rightful owners as well as manage to balance his new entrance into the spirit world with his continuing life as a mortal teenage boy in the human world.

Why should it be licensed? Because this anime is quality with a capital Q. Watching an episode is akin to drinking a calming cup of tea during a lazy summer afternoon that fills you up slowly and, as you reach the bottom, leaves you melancholy in the best way possible. It can be compared to the equally balanced supernatural slice of life Mushishi, although Natsume Yuujinchou comes with a regular cast and a permanent setting along with a main character who isn't a wanderer and therefore is slightly easier to connect to. It is a beautifully rendered series in both art and story with an involving cast of characters (especially the wisecracking morally ambiguous Nyanko-Sensei) that will endear to any fan of XXXHOLiC or Amatsuki – although without the noodle limbs and the confusing storylines, respectfully.

Viz Media, make an honest franchise out of Natsume Yuujinchou? You already have the manga – it’s only perfect that they should bring out the anime as well. The fact that neither Natsume Yuujinchou or Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou are sitting on my shelves with my other anime DVDs is a sad fact indeed. Someone should correct it. And maybe, just maybe, release some Nyanko-sensei plushies as well? ♥

You can watch Natsume Yuujinchou streaming online at Crunchyroll!