So I last wondered where in the world was the digital release of Cardcaptor Sakura Collector’s Edition Volume 1 since it was slated for a June release…and didn’t come out in June.
But we instead learn early this month that it’s coming out July 9:
Instead of that getting released on July 9th, however, Ghost in the Shell: Global Neural Network did. And there was no sign of Cardcaptor Sakura anywhere. Until the updated schedule (to add the AX announcements) came out:
And it dropped off completely! Like, that can’t be good. So I reached out to Josh Bettinger, who is the Product Director at Kodansha Advanced Media, and he let me know there was some production issues that they had to take care of for it. So they’re aiming to get the digital version of the Cardcaptor Sakura Collector’s Edition out August 20.
Media Do International’s releasing Somari and the Guardian of the Forest; Mizukagekusa
Tomorrow, a classic title by Ruth Jean Dale and Hiroko Miura will be released. Mizukagekusa is a 1982 manga released by Shogakukan that involves talented ninja Ayame taking over Hattori Hanzo’s name in feudal Japan. And Media Do International will be releasing that, and also will release a manga that Crunchyroll’s co-producing the anime of next week: Yako Kureishi’s Somari and the Guardian of the Forest.
This is another North Stars Pictures title, and yeah, there are people who were looking forward to this getting licensed as a physical copy. But with MD-i licensing it, that doesn’t seem possible anymore. The only thing I can say to that is yeah, it doesn’t look likely right now, but never say never is kind of the mantra I adopt for 90% of things in the industry nowadays since things can change in a flash. With MD-i being in only it’s second year of existence, it’s too early to say if them releasing a title prevents most of their catalog from being released in print.
Now back to Kodansha and their digital releases
As expected, with no new digital releases for the past few months, Kodansha was definitely going to announce something for their digital roster at Anime Expo, and they did, adding the following titles:
- Broccoli Lion and Hiiro Akikaze’s The Great Cleric (Based off a web novel in Japan called Invincible Saint); releasing July 23
- Shiba’s The Slime Diaries: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime; releasing July 30
- Kenji Saito and Parabora’s Goodbye! I’m Being Reincarnated!; releasing August 6
- Indo So and Takafumi Sato’s The Knight Cartoonist and her Orc Editor; releasing August 13
Makes you wonder if this is it regarding digital releases, but who knows, they might have something in store for SDCC this weekend. Of course, one of the bigger news for those following the digital cycle is them bringing Farewell, My Dear Cramer, Living-Room Matsunaga-san, Perfect World, and Saint Young Men to print. While it’s understandable that there are certain titles that can be only be released digitally, their digital to print releases are very meager — before the 4 announcements, only Grand Blue Dreaming, Tokyo Tarareba Girls, Drifting Dragons, and I’m Standing on a Million Lives (and maybe Inuyashiki?) went from digital to print. Maybe this is the start of them converting a few more of their digital catalog to print.
And now I’m going to need finish reviewing Perfect World, which is an excellent series.
Cross Infinite World’s releasing that long Justice and Supreme Ruler title in print
On the heels of Cross Infinite World making three of their titles available to purchase in print, here’s their fourth: The Champions of Justice and the Supreme Ruler of Evil. They announced that during Anime Expo week.
Kobo’s gotta be happy with Seven Seas now
Like I seriously thought Seven Seas was adding titles to Kobo at a good pace, and then they decided to go into hyperspeed:
- There’s a Demon Lord on the Floor, 12 Beast, My Monster Secret, Mononoke Sharing, Wonderland, Versailles of the Dead, My Girlfriend is a T-Rex, Dragonar Academy, DNA Doesn’t Tell Us, Deadline Summoner coming out July 25.
- Generation Witch, Slumbering Beauty, Hatsune Miku Presents: Hachune Miku’s Everyday Vocaloid Paradise, Alice & Zoroku, Lord Marksman and Vanadis, Anti-Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon, Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor, Absolute Duo, Magia the Ninth, Crisis Girls, Concrete Revolutio coming out August 1.
So seriously Seven Seas, this is it right? This is your entire catalog on Kobo right???
More digital briefs:
- Yen Press had a very interesting AX to say the least, but let’s not ignore that they’re going to release Im: Great Priest Imhotep and Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun in print, after long being digital only releases.
- If you haven’t heard of Cork, you might want to watch out for them. They’ve already released a couple Moyoco Anno titles on BookWalker, and now they’re starting to surface on Kobo. I’m expecting them to be on other platforms in the next few weeks. It’s important to note that the titles being released are also on Crunchyroll manga.
- VIZ Media will release Abi Umeda’s Children of the Whales digitally starting July 23.
- SOZO Comics is apparently a thing, and they’ll be releasing 4 titles that have been created by creators you actually know (Himekawa Art, Akira Itou, Yoshiki Tanaka, Yoshitaka Amano) tomorrow on ComiXology. I’m pretty sure I’m wondering why just ComiXology, but for now I’ll be content on monitoring them.
- And if you’ve been wanting a dedicated BL subscription service, futekiya just launched over the past few weeks.