Denpa Books, which is publishing Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji, Maiden Railways, Pez, and more starting at the end of 2018. Another Otakon came and went, and fans looking forward to big announcements certainly got a surprise: a new manga publisher.

The Path to Denpa

Many of you are already familiar with Ed Chavez. Years ago, he wrote for Otaku USA, Publishers Weekly, and more about the anime/manga industry and Japanese culture. He also worked as a freelancer doing translations and adaptations for publishers like CMX, Kodansha, and Seven Seas before moving to Vertical, Inc. as their marketing director. Chi’s Sweet Home, which he translated, was his first license while at Vertical, believing that if his girlfriend (a non-anime/manga fan) could become addicted to it, then Chi “could be the next Garfield or Snoopy”. In fact, he said if the series wasn’t a hit, then he’d quit.

But the series was very successful, and he stayed at Vertical until Spring 2017. In fact, when the Japanese publishers learned he was leaving Vertical, they panicked, and Vertical licensed five new titles just before his departure.

In May 2017, Jacob, the founder of FAKKU, announced that Chavez had joined the company as vice-president.

Now, the two announced at offsite Otakon event Otabrew that they’ve launched Denpa, LLC.

Denpa LogoDenpa’s Debut Lineup

Denpa’s launch announcements include:

  • An Invitation from a Crab by panpanya
  • Inside Mari by Shuzo Oshimi
  • futurelog by Range Murata (artbook)
  • Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji by Nobuyuki Fukumoto
  • Maiden Railways by Asumiko Nakamura
  • PEZ by Hiroyuki Asada

These series will be released starting in late 2018 and early 2019. The first three are currently confirmed to be available in physical format, but all will be released on Denpa’s own digital platform as well as Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Books.

Inside Mari, which was published on Crunchyroll, will not be a straight transfer from digital to print.

Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji is currently locked in for the first arc, and if successful, they will license more of the series. It has been available in English digitally on BookWalker and CDJapan.

In addition, Shintaro Kago’s Super Dimensional Love Gun and Toshio Maeda’s Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend will switch labels from FAKKU to Denpa.

Denpa’s Place in the Manga Market

So, considering both men’s backgrounds and history, it isn’t surprising they’re taking risks. One of their stated goals is to add variety to the North American manga market.

Their launch announcements already appear to reflect this. They’ve partnered with several different publishers already including Kodansha, Futabasha, and Hakusensha to release titles that has been available in English already, an artbook, a single volume, the first part of an older ongoing series, and josei manga.

That’s quite a mix and shows them not pigeonholing themselves to one genre or type of license. They do seem to be going after more mature titles, which isn’t a surprise considering a) it’s a spin-off of FAKKU, an adult line and b) the current #1 manga franchise in North America is Tokyo Ghoul, a seinen series about vampire-like creatures.

Releasing more completed series is something I’ve been hoping more publishers would do. Going after the current, ongoing series is nice, but English versions often either trail the Japanese by a wide margin or catch up and make the waiting time between volumes feel even longer since they have to wait for months after the Japanese release. It’d be nice to have more series where there’s a set release schedule and finish date. Denpa hasn’t set their release dates in stone yet, but with a 2019 goal of 1-2 volumes a month, it will still be nice to (hopefully) keep the story fresh in readers’ minds for the multi-volume series.

I noticed that Barnes & Noble’s Nook was not included in Denpa’s list of eBook platforms. The Nook is far less popular than Amazon’s Kindle, but some readers prefer the Nook. Maybe Denpa will put their titles on Nook later, but if not, I don’t think this will disappoint too many fans. We’ll also have to see whether Denpa goes the mass market route with Barnes & Noble and other bookstores or limit their distribution to online stores like Right Stuf and Amazon.

So far, Jocelyne Allen, who has worked on titles like My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness and the manga version of Accel World, has been revealed as the translator for Maiden Railways. Ko Ransom, who has worked on titles like Attack on Titan and the Monogatari series, has been revealed as the translator for An Invitation from a Crab. No other translator has been revealed, so it will be interesting to see what Denpa’s in-house style will be, especially considering the different licenses they have.

Also yet to be revealed is their pricing. I would expect Denpa manga to be in the $13-15 range, but how about the 500+ page Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji volumes? Will the pricing limit this series to serious manga collectors?

Still, though, Denpa has only just been revealed, and it is being led by people who have experience in the industry. From what I’ve seen, Inside Mari and, in particular, Kaiji have already generated a lot of excitement, and the fact that Ed Chavez is back also has made fans happy. There’s always the worry that the publishing field will become too crowded and good series will fall through the cracks as fans have to choose which title to support, but hopefully Denpa will license more in-demand series and show there is a market for these more mature titles.

Are you interested in Denpa’s early offerings? What would you like to see them do or license to be successful?