Youka Nitta Works

[mo2468]

Nitta I believe came into manga specifically for BL, whereas Tateno started in shojo in the mid/late 80s and only got into BL in the last ten years or so.

[lore]

Hey, DMP, Youka Nitta is working on a new series, "Kiss Ariki". I know only the first chapter is out, but it's never too early to start licensing negotiations, right?

I believe this has been mentioned before, but Nitta-sensei has a new English web site up here:
http://nittayouka.com/

It's very exciting to see her reaching out to her English-speaking fans!

love, lore

[ChibiKami]

Actually-that's too early. We prefer to license works that are finished-or that we have a better idea of how long they're going to be. Otherwise, we end up with series that are unfinished...

[2old4yaoi]

So what about her "Haru wo Daiteita" work? Please, please, please do license that. It is even now available for kindle! If only I read Japanese! Please DMP - work with her to translate & license that for the English speaking audience in both paper & e-book format! I see that she has a couple in English available in kindle already - LOL Theater & Sound Of My Voice - Golden Goose Part 1. Is this company called "Animate USA" the electronic licensor for her works in US going forward? I definitely would prefer DMP's 801 Media imprint.

[mo2468]

Oh, I bet you anything DMP is standing, first in line, for the opportunity to license HwD. It's just a matter of convincing Libre to release it for international distribution, and since they seem to be moving towards releasing their stuff digitally themselves, and having Nitta releasing her own stuff digitally in English and Japanese, they may very well be planning to put HwD on Kindle themselves with the old BB translations. What they'd do from that point is anyone's guess.

[2old4yaoi]

A lot of Libre's stuff had been licensed & published in US. I wonder if besides releasing old BB's stuff on kindle, Animate USA would make similar move to those Libre titles that were licensed by Boysenberry & Deux Press now that the latter was defunct. Perhaps it was why the e-mangas of the latter were pulled out of Net Comics sometimes ago. I wonder if future licensing contracts will be written in such a way that US publishers can only publish & distribute the paper copies while the Japanese parent retain the right to the e-format content since distribution over the WWW is easier. I think US publishers should start building this kind of scenario analysis in their P&L.

Back to Nitta's works - it is strange that her HWD work is hardly licensed in European countries either, not just US.

[ChibiKami]

Animate USA is the company that owns Libre. The English editions that they are putting out on the Kindle are the editions that were originally put out by CPM/Be Beautiful. When a company shuts down, usually the licenses it owns return to the company that licensed them out. So you could say Animate and Libre are one and the same.

In terms of rescuing Embracing Love-the one big factor is that it's a 14 volume series-which is unusually long for a BL series. This wouldn't be so bad except that 5 or 6 volumes were already translated, printed, and distributed in English. That makes this license particularly difficult-because many people can still buy, or already own 5 volumes of a 14 volume series-and we'd have to relicense it and start from volume 1. You know, it's always a possibility, like Finder, but Finder is a little different because only two volumes were ever printed in English and at very low quantities-making existing copies of the BB versions very difficult to find or purchase. So, we'll see.

[Prettykitty20034]

Speaking for myself (although probably many others agree with me), I would love a chance to rebuy better quality versions of Embracing Love. BeBeautiful's books were really poor quality in many ways. Despite that, have you ever seen the prices for used copies? Through the roof. Seriously. The series has a large fan base and the demand is obviously still there.

[niastyle]

I can understand what your saying, but what about Kizuna? The first 8 volumes of that 11 volumes series were licensed and published by BB, but you still licensed that one. And 8 out of 11 is much worse odds than 5 out of 14. And there are alot more yaoi fans out there that don't have the first 5 volumes, and are eager to read this series. I myself have the first 5 vols. of HwD, and the first 8 vols. of Kizuna, but I still plan on buying June's version of Kizuna when it comes out. And I would do the same for HwD. I want very much to own the complete series. Would you consider it a little more if HwD came in a bunko edition?

[2old4yaoi]

Yes - I for one would love to collect "Embracing Love" series if it is relicensed & reprinted. It is most likely an 801Media title though? And I would prefer Omnibus (if it can't be single) as opposed to bunko edition which will show off Nitta's works better. I remember how long some of those conversations are in the work - just can't imagine having to squint through them in a bunko size. But this is why the work is considered having much more substance than most other yaoi works.

Yes - I fervently hope this series will go the way of being rescued like Finder