Kizuna Omnibus

[Ruby_Alexandrine]

Thank you June Manga for re-licensing this yaoi classic. My main concern is the censoring of Kizuna. When Be Beautiful published the series, they have censored one particular panel in Kizuna vol. 1 or 2 where little Kai "kissed" Masanori. They edited it so poorly that it was painfully obvious that something was going on under the text bubble. Now, the kiss was innocent not even close to a slobber-knocking, tongue-twisting fest. I am not sure if Be Beautiful did more censoring to the series but that one stood out very much. Since Kizuna is an 18+ title, it should not be censored. What is the point of acquiring mature titles if the books are going to be censored and edited? I purchased BB's version of Embracing Love/Haru wo Daiteita and I immediately noticed the quality of the series which was not good. The only thing that was decent was the translations of the text. Such poor editing and censoring made me very apprehensive of purchasing any more Be Beautiful titles. Now that they are defunct, I hope June Manga will not make the same mistakes that Be Beautiful has done.

I truly enjoy reading the Kizuna side stories, Gun and Heaven & Gun and Rose. JB and Tashiro make an interesting assassin couple which I rarely see in yaoi. They both deserve to have their own series. Kizuna is one of the yaoi mangas I cherish the most besides Kimi ha Boku Ni Ai wo Tsukisasu and Nikita: Omae wo Ai de Koroshitai by Toreno Akai and Zetsuai and Bronze (woefully un-licensed!!) by Minami Ozaki. The characters and their passion and struggles is what makes this manga a gem for me. I do miss Enjouji's long hair!

[ChibiKami]

It's very exciting to hear that fans are excited about acquiring books that have been available before-so that makes us feel good about our licensing choices.

In terms of censoring-we're so far away from that title, that we haven't glanced over it yet. We'll definitely take everything into account (fan feedback/the general look of the book) when we work on it. However, we prefer to maintain the original integrity of all books in general.

[sun22]

There is nothing in Kizuna that calls for any kind of censorship. In fact, it was published in Germany as 16+ title (not 18+, which is reserved for truly mature titles) in its entirety, true to the original, with nothing taken out. Someone seriously paranoid or just not very smart worked for BeBeautiful editing (="censoring" department), no wonder that company got broke eventually. I will be buying Kizuna from DMP ONLY if it is NOT censored in any way and true to the original, as it should be.

One of the reasons I like and support (by buying ) DMP a lot is that you guys indeed respect the original authors of the books you translate, and so far kept all the manga you published true to the original (or at least as far as I know). Thank you!

[ChibiKami]

It's interesting that you bring up the age ratings of the foreign editions vs. the US editions. We do try to keep in line with what the content feels in terms of ratings. But to give you an example: Little Butterfly was rated 16+ in Germany. However, to prevent editing to bring the book to a 16+ rating here in the US, we went with 18+ here in the US to keep it in line with age ratings and to prevent having to edit the book at all. However, I wouldn't base what other countries rate books as a barometer for a books age rating here in the US. And each book is taken on a case by case basis-in terms of ratings and explicitness.

[sun22]

I personally do not care how you rate Kizuna - 16+ or 18+ - as I'm well past that age anyway. I brought up an example of Germans rating Kizuna 16+ to show there is certainly nothing to censor there, as if it is rated as 16+ in Germany (without censorship), it should be OK to publish it in the US as at least 18+ and also without censorship. Germany has fairly identical laws to the US regarding all related issues (and actually stricter in certain regards). The choice is yours, of course (DMP"s). But I think it's useful for you to know that if you start censoring I will probably stop buying your other releases as well (and so far I bought pretty much everything from you). I'm sure I'm not alone.

[niastyle]

I just recently found out that BB censored Kizuna. I had to go online and download the original japanese version to see what it was that was changed. I hope that June doesn't make the same decision to censor Kizuna, but I will buy it regardless. I always support my Yaoi community.

[Ruby_Alexandrine]

Thank you all for responding to this thread! Its good to know that Kizuna will be taken care of. I am not fond of censorship and I refuse to purchase any manga, yaoi or non-yaoi, that has been censored. Purchasing censored mangas is like supporting censorship itself.

I'm glad that I will be able to purchase the new version of Kizuna by June. Its doesn't matter that its omnibus/deluxe edition because that's how Libre published Kizuna rather than publish the individual volumes again.

[ChibiKami]

We're happy that there is obviously a lot of love for a title that has been available before! So we're going to do our very best to present it in the best way we can! Yes, because we licensed the Libre Deluxe editions, they are to be put out the very same way (vs. the individual editions that had been available previously.) So we're excited to do it, and we hope next winter isn't too far away for all of you!

[mo2468]

One of the reasons I like and support (by buying ) DMP a lot is that you guys indeed respect the original authors of the books you translate, and so far kept all the manga you published true to the original (or at least as far as I know). Thank you!

Well, there were certain... bodily fluids... that got edited out of Blue Sheep Reverie volume 2, recently. But in general I tend not to notice any editing done by DMP, and I'm sure you're talking about content and not, er, "minor details," anyway...

[sun22]

Well, there were certain... bodily fluids... that got edited out of Blue Sheep Reverie volume 2, recently.

Really?! It's weird, but I also did feel as if something was missing. Do you recall page number, Mo? Thanks!

Chibi-kami, if that's indeed what happened (edit / censorship), what's the explanation? Was it on purpose (e.g., to comply with whatever ""June"=softcore yaoi" strategy you guys might have), or some sort of "accidental" / "technical" thing? Thanks!