One-Shot: "Saigo no Negai" ("The Last Prayer")

I wanted to release this New Year's Eve as a cautionary tale about drunk driving, but alas, the Computer Gods interfered.  Anyhow...this is a really sweet story despite its shounen qualities.  I like the message about what parents will endure for the sake of their children.   Pay attention to Shun's hand during the story.  It's really neat how this repeated element ties everything together at the end.  On to the links!

Links to "Saigo no Negai": (Zip) (PDF)

Next up will be "Fushigi no Maria-kun" Chp 4!

"The Ghost Apartment Manager" Chapter 3

 

Here is the third installment of "The Ghost Apartment Manager".  In this chapter three new fun characters are introduced and immediately begin to torment poor Sekka.  Haha!  The apartment is getting more rambunctious ;p.  This is also the beginning of the first story arc which revolves around the female character Kiyariko.  

Links to "The Ghost Apartment Manager" chapter 3:  (Zip) (PDF)

Spoiler Alert! Spoilers Ahead!

My thoughts on the chapter:

Turtle Symbolism -- an anonymous reader wrote about turtle symbolism in a comment for "Kemono Kingdom: Zoo".  Considering that a turtle character has been introduced in this series, I think I should share that reader's comment now.

As for your question, the series lacks a reptile, but it also lacks a slightly crazy old person who is wise but uses that to take advantage of everyone.

Considering giant tortoises and tuataras are both reptiles and can both live extremely long times, easily over 100 years, either would be a good choice for such a character. It would certainly provide a lot of comedy opportunities.

Giant tortoises are zoo staples, which is both an advantage and a disadvantage. Tuataras like to sunbathe and have a third "eye" (light-sensitive patch) on top of their heads that could provide for some interesting mechanics in the story.

Old man Kame is very cute, but I wonder what his true condition is.

Dog-man and guitar guy are fun.  I look forward to seeing more of them in future chapters.

I don't trust Leon, yet.  And this chapter deepened my suspicions about him and his intentions.  What is he protecting Sekka from?  Is it in general or is he protecting Sekka from something specific?  Why does Sekka see ghosts?  Is he perhaps close to death himself?  Or has Leon known all along that Sekka is weak against ghosts?

The next chapter is a flashback to Sekka's childhood and his pet bird.  It looks like it will be a poignant chapter, so you may want to prepare some facial tissues.

Next up is "Kemono Kingdom: Zoo" Chapter 4!  I'm excited to see what baby Panda's all about -- Hee!

Tip to all:  the TV show "Being Human" is lots of fun.  I'm currently watching the American version of series on Hulu.

Halloween in February: "The Devil Mansion's Teacher"

(Joint with The Zero Alliance)

This one-shot was supposed to come out last Halloween, but because I underestimated the amount work needed to do the image editing and redraws, we couldn't get it done in time.  Fortunately, things came together now, so we'll have a little bit of Halloween in February.

Again, this is another project that is a little different from want we usually do (one more project like this, then I can't say that anymore...haha).  This story isn't actually all that spooky, it's more of a spooky motif.  The story itself is quite heartwarming and I really like Nayuta. Like Pika Ichi, this one-shot is a collaboration between sisters.  I hope to see more from them.  In the past they've done short shounen series in the Gan Gan Magazines.

Links "The Devil Mansion's Teacher": (Zip) (PDF)

Next up is "Kemono Kingdom: Zoo" Chp 3.

Series Debut: "The Ghost Apartment Manager"

 

"The Ghost Apartment Manager" is a little different project than we usually take on.  This series is about the friendship between two male protagonists and involves a bit of tragedy.  And now for the links:

Links to "The Ghost Apartment Manager" Chapter 1: (Zip) (PDF)

My Thoughts on the Chapter:

What attracted me to the story is the relationship between the two boys.  Sekka is obviously emotionally stoppered and Leo seems to be one of those shallow happy-go-lucky guys with lots of acquaintances.  Why are they friends? And how will they proceed in the situation they currently find themselves in.  This is a story about life and death and learning to live.  There's a lot of truth in this series as well as a lot fun and humor.  I look forward to continuing this series monthly.  Oh, and please feel free to give us some feedback on the series debut.

Next up is "The Devil Mansion's Teacher".  

Other Announcements:

• We are postponing "The Scarecrow of Oz" series until the tankouban are released.  The image quality from "Hana to Yume" magazine is too poor to reasonably work with.  My cleaners' time is precious and I don't think we would be doing the series justice by putting out something that only looks decent.  I expect the first volume to be released sometime this spring.
• I am compiling one-shots for the spring and summer.  I've found a lot of one-shots from some of our favorite artists and hope to bring you as many as we reasonably can without compromising our series.

One-Shot: "Furou Kyoudai" The Long Version

Phew! We managed to get this done before Thanksgiving madness goes full-swing!  Anyhow, here is the long version of Furou Kyoudai!  The story is the same as short version, however, there's more detail and character development.  I really enjoy this sibling pair and I hope Hakusensha allows Shiwasu-sensei to turn this into a series.

Links to the long version of "Furou Kyoudai": (Zip) (PDF)

There is a 40-page follow on "Furou Kyoudai" one-shot.  We will try to release it early in the new year.

Next up is J+K and Magnolia.   December will be nuts because of the holidays and vacation plans, so please don't expect to see J+K and Magnolia within a week after I receive Aria.  Please check the release schedule for the latest release dates.  We'll do our best, but at the same time, it's a special time of year to spend with our families and friends.  So enjoy the holiday season and we'll be back in full-swing January :).

Happy Thanksgiving to folks in the US!  And for heaven's sake, don't bring your manga to the dinner table...put it down and eat...

Halloween Special Feature #1: "Furou Kyoudai"

Here is the first of our Halloween special one-shots -- "Furou Kyoudai" ("The Furou Siblings").  There are actually two versions of this one-shot.  I choose to do the short version for now because I was quite impressed that the mangaka was able to tell a full story in 16 pages.  The longer version is 40 pages and we will release it sometime in November or December.  Anyhow...

Links to "Furou Kyoudai" short version: (Zip) (PDF)

The second of our Halloween special one-shots, "Guardian Joker" will be released very soon.