Youka Nitta Works

[anime_earth]

Please please June, please license HwD. I am one of the unlucky ones who didnt get to buy them in the first place, by the time I place an order, it's out of stock. Only lately I learned to use paypal services for my mangas since it's hard to get them locally.

I too owned BB Kizuna but rebuying them again since someone here said June's Kizuna edition would include some extras.

I really loved HwD story. It's one of the better BL series around.

Honestly, 14 is not that long compared to Silver Diamond, Kyo Kara Maou, The Betrayal knows no Name and other shounen ai mangas.

[lore]

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.

Volume 6 may have been printed, but it didn't get out to stores. In the three years I've had it on an Amazon "buy it used" list and an Ebay search, plus all the other poking around I do, I've not seen it. So you can really only count up to Volume 5 as being printed. Also, as others noted, this argument of HwD being previously in-print doesn't hold much water when Kizuna was published to Volume 8 of 11. There's far more new material to be printed in the HwD series.

Also...dudes. The translations, both ill-gotten and the BB editions? BAD. Baaaaaaad. Horrible. Almost nonsensical in some places. I would pay full price and a pinkie for a good translation of Volume 4 alone.

In looking at Ebay and at used prices on Amazon, most of the 5 available BB editions do not go for less than $20, and often command more, depending on factors like seller rating and time of day the auction ends. On Amazon, the used price of Volume 1 starts around $40 and continues up through the volumes to about $150 for Volume 5. Volume 4, I will admit, can still be found for reasonable prices. It was the last one to sell out and I can only assume that BB's print run for 4 was huge. Volume 4 also has the worst translation, so maybe the title received some bad reviews at that time.

These prices and availability may not be Viewfinder-level, but they are certainly significant and show a level of interest in this country that would justify picking up the series. Libre/Animate USA and Nitta herself would not have opened an English-language site if they didn't sense an interest in her works here in the US.

Also, I don't think there's anything in HwD that would keep it off the June imprint in light of Maiden Rose and Viewfinder being published through June. The sex scenes are drawn in detail, there are occasional drops of fluid, and there are a few bondage/kink moments throughout the books, but there is certainly nothing that comes close to the first 20 pages of Viewfinder. I know the others are advocating for 801 Media because they don't want to see the sex edited, but I know the series would sell better on the June imprint, and I think the steps forward that you've taken with the June imprint would make HwD fit right in, unedited, with June of today.

Finally, I happen to enjoy longer stories more and I don't think I'm alone in this. I think there's a reason that people come back to here and keep asking about the next volume in a series, rather than announced one-shots. We all want to get involved in a good story and the more pages given to tell the story, the better it's going to be. If you could work with Libre to put together double-sized issues of HwD, you could get the old material out in 2.5 books and be done in 7 books. Please remember that your customers take a leap of faith, buying a Volume 1 from you, just as much as you take a leap of faith in printing it. HwD has a definite end. Like Kizuna, at least you know how many volumes you'd be committing to.

Anyway, all this is something for DMP think about. It would be thrilling to hold good translations of HwD in my hands.

love, lore

[Ruby_Alexandrine]

Like Viewfinder and Kizuna, Haru wo Daiteita deserves to be re-licensed again. Haru wo Daiteita in English is not easy to find or purchase. I owned the BB version of Haru and simply wished that it would be re-licensed again because the quality was poor as others stated. I found the grainy print quality on several pages too bothersome. I sold my English copies of BB's version of Haru without regret. I'm still hoping that it would be relicensed with better quality.

None of the Haru English volumes are available at Barnes and Noble, Akadot Retail, Robert's Anime Corner, Right Stuf, Borders, or Amazon.com. Those online stores are several of the most popular places where yaoi fans purchase their yaoi manga.

As for Haru wo Daiteita being too long, I prefer long BL series compared to the deluge of oneshots which for me, I'm already tired of. Its 14 volumes, its not like One Piece which has 50+ volumes, Bleach with 40+ volumes, or my beloved Golgo 13 which has over 150+ volumes. BL readers do deserve another 10+ volume series. I don't mind if the series is published in omnibus format as long as the quality is better than the previous version.

[TNT]

I really do hope DMP licenses Embracing Love. (PLEASE DO ) I understand that they were already released but what about the people who didn't get a chance to buy them or people new to yaoi? By the time I got interested in yaoi, they were already hard to get. Please consider it. Hopefully good things will come to those who wait. Kizuna, Finder, The Tyrant Falls in Love. I waited and finally they came...

[2old4yaoi]

[quote="lore]
Also...dudes. The translations, both ill-gotten and the BB editions? BAD. Baaaaaaad. Horrible. Almost nonsensical in some places. I would pay full price and a pinkie for a good translation of Volume 4 alone.
[/quote]

It just dawned on me based on what Chibikami said, what if AnimateUSA try to put out BB's English version of vol 1 - 5 on Kindle as is? Uughh! What horrible idea! DMP - please talk some sense into Libre about letting you relicense the whole series in better editions. I definitely would go out on a limb & forecast this will be a profitable undertaking for DMP. Please remember, it is said that the fans of Nitta's work are not just women but men as well. And I don't care if it is in June imprint (if it has wider reach) or 801 Media - as long as it is done faithfully & well.

[Shroud]

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.

I am going to throw in my 2p here. Yes, it is a long series, but DMP publish many long series in various genres (Beserk, InK just to name two). Secondly, the print runs for the 5 volumes that were out were very small. Third, HwD is one of those series that new fans of the genre scramble to find as it is elgendary..so much so that often go on places like yahoo to ask the world where they can find it to read it, illegal or otherwise. Fourth..the demand is so high, second hand copies go for seriously stupid money. Money 99% can afford..I've seen prices of over $600. Fifth, as mentioned, the translations were stilted and very iffy, the picture quality was BAD. Just as with VF, I know people who have paid thee extortionate 2nd hand price for HwD, but would pre-order an improved English edition, as the fan base for this series is gigantic.

Now for the elephant in the room. The er..traced/copied images. There were a handful of those. Surely on a case by case basis, those could be redrawn or citations given for their inspiration, ie illustartion on page 142 is inspired by the (year) advertisement for (name of item) by (name of advertising company).

I also think this a series that NEEDS to be in print, and licensed under June, given the great care they have done with maiden Rose and VF. Omnibus sounds good to me, and I'd pay up to $25 a volume if it meant it had the colour inserts intact. This is one title that as soon as it came up as a pre-order, hubby's card would be screaming AMAZONNNNNNNNNNN HERE I COME! I think I speak for a lot of BL fans when I say there are just some titles that are so legendary and beloved, we don't want live without them in our collections. Kizuna, Bad Teacher's Equation, Viewfinder, Ai no Kusabi, Embracing Love all tend to top lists when us fujoshi make such lists.

[Shroud]

I've just put a blog post up regarding whether or not people would buy Haru wo. Please come add your voice. I'll tally the results after 2 weeks.Get yr fellow fujoshi to pop by to add their voice there too. http://reddeerforum.co.uk/?p=823

[2old4yaoi]

I've just put a blog post up regarding whether or not people would buy Haru wo. Please come add your voice. I'll tally the results after 2 weeks.Get yr fellow fujoshi to pop by to add their voice there too. http://reddeerforum.co.uk/?p=823

Please post it at Youka Nitta's LiveJournal community site too. You might get a lot of response from there.

[fairygirl]

Cross-posted to Shroud's online poll:

I also got into yaoi late, so I missed the original BB editions of HwD when they were intially released. However, because of my great love for this series — it remains in my top three favourites of all time — I paid quite high prices to get the first five vols. in English on the secondary market. Despite having shelled out this significant amount of cash, I would certainly rebuy the volumes I already have if they were put out in better quality, better translated editions by DMP. Either single volumes or omnibus would be fine with me. In the meantime, I am considering buying the whole series in Japanese, so I can have the complete set.

As others have echoed here and on the June forums, this series has such great characters, compelling romance and beautiful art that it inspires great loyalty among its fans. Many of us are fortunate to have some disposable income and are willing to put our money where our mouths are and buy the books. Despite the (slim) availability of the BB editions of vols. 1-5, I cannot see this causing a loss to DMP were they to license it. I really hope they do!

[Gooey]

I followed this link from the LJ comm. Shroud's argument should be sufficiently convincing, but I just signed up to add: I have already bought the BB versions of HwD through volume 5 (pre-ordered them, even). I would buy every single new print edition of this entire series.

I cannot say that for Finder or Kizuna, even though I bought both those series from BB, too. For them, I do think: I've purchased this already, supported the mangaka, even if the quality is not what one could wish—I don't know if I need new editions, better wait for the reviews. Though I love all three stories, this series is the only one that I have on my shelves that I will say for 100% sure I'll re-buy in its entirety (if no censoring of content occurs). Because Kindle editions will not have high image quality, and the BB editions—well, I still read the BB editions I own, even if my hands smell like low quality print and I develop a headache from the fumes. BUT!! I'd gladly replace them with a quality edition.

There are no adequate alternate translations out there on the dark-net, either. The fact that it would need to be retranslated is only a plus as far as buyers are concerned. I really want this set on my shelves! If Juné licenses HwD, they've already made 14 single volume sales right over here.