Acquisitions Speculation - General
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I don't really want to begrudge other people their opinions, especially since I don't really have much skin in the game when it comes to what's available in English, but to me Urasekai Picnic, Altina, and Kicked out of the Party for Being a Girl are all a really huge deal.
I usually sit by and ho-hum and roll my eyes whenever I see new license announcements because, by and large, my tastes don't seem to align with what English-speaking audiences want. To see three titles I think are top-notch get licensed all at once is really surprising. I'm happy to see JNC making somewhat adventurous choices alongside more conventional ones.
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Speculating about future batches of licenses, I would say they are likely to be similar in terms of popularity profile as this batch. The English light novel market has been growing to the point that many of the popular/obvious picks are already taken; or if they aren't there is likely some reason why which we're not necessarily privy to.
I also think some of the older "big" titles haven't really been selling well for the English publishers.
So what's left is more out of the way and newer titles, which accordingly won't generate as much immediate hype as some of the batches of pickups earlier in the market growth. We might still get a few "bigger" older titles in future batches as the English side improves relations with the JP publishers, but I'd say the low hanging fruit has already been taken.
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@stardf29 said in Acquisitions Speculation - General [AX is over]:
the sub-license for The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress from Bookwalker is interesting, too.
What is this supposed to mean by the way? Wasn't Combat Baker translated by Bookwalker ages ago? I think I've already seen like 8 translated volumes at least? Did they transfer the license to JNC? Or will it just be now "streamed" through JNC in addition to the usual bookwalker e-books?
And what's up with Altina? Is it a TOM collaboration too like Beatless or have some people just gone crazy?
Sam or his right hand really should finally make an official post explaining everything that went down at AX because currently ANN seems to be the only source of information but their article on JNC at AX is so atrocious that it only makes everyone more confused.
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@novurdim said in Acquisitions Speculation - General [AX is over]:
@stardf29 said in Acquisitions Speculation - General [AX is over]:
the sub-license for The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress from Bookwalker is interesting, too.
What is this supposed to mean by the way? Wasn't Combat Baker translated by Bookwalker ages ago? I think I've already seen like 8 translated volumes at least? Did they transfer the license to JNC? Or will it just be now "streamed" through JNC in addition to the usual bookwalker e-books?
JNC will be allowed to stream the Combat Baker LNs on their site for subscribers to read.
It will follow the same format of weekly uploads and then they will release the ebook for purchase on additional platforms outside of BW, such as Kindle & Nook, etc. (there was no mention of premium editions)
Once JNC catches up to the latest volume in Japan, BW holds exclusive rights to the book sales for 6 months (the time period is subject to change) and then JNC can start streaming the newest volume.
And what's up with Altina? Is it a TOM collaboration too like Beatless or have some people just gone crazy?
It does not involve Altina, only Beatless.
Sam or his right hand really should finally make an official post explaining everything that went down at AX because currently ANN seems to be the only source of information but their article on JNC at AX is so atrocious that it only makes everyone more confused.
Since this is the final day of AX (and it is just as crazy as all the others) I am sure more official communication will follow later.
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@novurdim Combat Baker was translated by BW and released exclusively through them. This partnership means that JNC will now stream Combat Baker (I think) as well as release ebooks outside of Bookwalker. I'm not 100% clear on whether we'll have premium ebooks, but at the very least you'll be able to buy it from a retailer other than Bookwalker.
Altina is not a TOM collaboration, it was just the last license announced so I think the ANN person got mixed up.
Here's someone's tweet thread regarding the announcements: https://twitter.com/kunaldes/status/1147666821778010113
You can also watch the archived stream from yesterday: https://www.pscp.tv/w/1DXxyNaYqeNKM
Note that this stream is missing the first couple minutes, so maybe watch the stream while following along with the above twitter recap.
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The only thing missing from that stream is the introductions at the start of then panel and the mention that JNC is now working with Futabasha, everything else is mentioned/shown.
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The ANN article is also missing that both the LN and manga of Demon Lord, Retry were licensed.
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I’ve been really disappointed in the titles that got announced at AX for the most part myself, particularly Seven Seas (no Ghost Ship announcements, etc). I personally don’t care for Yuri novels or manga, but I know others out there like them so I’m happy for them. YP and JNC at least had one license announcement each I was interested in. There are a number of books that have been highly requested that don’t get licensed - that may be because the Japanese publisher doesn’t want to or because the U.S. licensing companies haven’t asked for them, or whatever reason, however I hope that now that the majority of the “major” titles have been licensed that something like Chivalry of a Failed Knight can get licensed eventually (as it’s been a popular request here on the forums and in other communities). I’m sure there are others who have books they’d like to see licensed too, so until the next batch of announcements I’ll just sit and wait while I keep submitting my Seven Seas monthly survey and everything else. Try not to get too disheartened. As the LN industry here in the US continues to grow maybe we’ll get more licenses, and then the things you, I, and everyone else wants will get brought over eventually.
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@blueshift My opinion of ANN has been going down recently so this screw up doesn't surprise me.
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There were 16 total new light novel licenses from this Anime Expo. I think I came out pretty positive in what I'll be picking up.
- Yen Press - (3/5) - Not really interested in the Behemoth Tensei series or Interspecies Reviewers. I am really excited for Majo no Tabitabi and Seishun Buta Yarou Series. The Penetrated Battlefield just seems interesting and I'll give it a try.
- Seven Seas - (1/2) - Maybe a 0/2 as I don't know when I'll ever get around to Bloom into You. I was waiting for the series to finish before binge reading it.
- J-Novel Club - (7/8) -
Combat Baker and Beatless I'll love to read assuming we do get the DRM-free ebooks. Combat Baker in particular I've really been wanted to read because it hits my love of AI Girls. And what a coincidence that BEATLESS is also about AI Girls. :3
Altina I'm incredibly excited about because I've been wanted to re-read the series but have refused to touch the fan-translations again. It's just such a fantastic series.
There are two new Overlap titles which have me a bit hesitent because I'm tired of Overlap burning us with dropping series. Isekai Mahou which was supposed to get volume 9 last July and Gear Drive which I thought was a fantastic volume 1 have no continuation in site. I mean hell, the Isekai Mahou author started a web novel, and is getting it published with another company in the time span that is volume 9 not coming out. Overlap does have a lot of really cool sounding series, but I really just need them to support them more so every month isn't just a bunch of new series that will be forgotten 4 months down the line due to never having another volume.
Otherside Picnic is an interesting series based a bit around folk-horror and portal fantasy where the main duo are traveling back and forth from this weird post-apocalyptic like world. Don't have many straight up portal fantasy series. Fun fact is that this and Demon Lord, Retry! are the only Isekai LNs licensed this year from Anime Expo.
Holy Knight's Dark Road seems interesting enough. A new series from Hobby Japan.
- Sol Press (1/1) - I was waiting for some publisher to decide to hit that untapped market. It was odd that it took this long. Seems like a natural progression since Sol Press already published Visual Novels.
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Whew, I needed a couple days to calm down after the announcement from JNC. Seeing the series that I wanted licensed the most really made me too excited (not good for my body).
Otherside Picnic aside, the other series that caught my interest is "Onna dakara, to Party wo Tsuihou Sareta node Densetsu no Majo to Saikyou Tag wo Kumimashita! / Exiled Woman, Form the Strongest Tag Team with Legendary Witch" (long title haha). I like its premise and possible yuri interctions but I think most are saying it is yuri. Now I'll have quite a variety to read when these are put up on the site.
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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT We’re thrilled to announce we’ve licensed a #LIGHTNOVEL adaptation of a popular #GAME! Can you guess what it is? First two successful guesses before the official announcement on Thursday will #WIN a copy when it's out! Guesses won't be confirmed until then!
Via Cross Infinite World's Twitter: https://twitter.com/CrossInfWorld/status/1150782642595360770
Hints added:
#1: the original game artist did the art for the novel
#2: a school life adventure turned a survival thriller
#3: the light novels are published by Kodansha in Japan
#4: the 50+ hour visual novel is covered over four lengthy light novel volumes -
Interview about Square Enix getting into English manga publishing. I copied some of the answers more salient to consumers here:
Will they all be available as digital releases too, or just in print, or a mix?
It's going to be a mix. Our first priority is print releases for now, but we're also planning digital editions to give people more options to access our content.
Will Square Enix continue to license manga to other N. American publishers, or will your focus be more on publishing your top manga, novel and art book titles under your own imprint?
Yes, we will continue to license manga to other North American publishers. We hope to grow the total number of Square Enix titles published in English by licensing to our existing partners, and through our new imprints.
You've announced 4 titles for starters, and added six more manga titles to your roster at Anime Expo 2019 – how many books do you project you'll be publishing in 2019, and in 2020?
8 books in 2019, 50 books in 2020. It may vary depending on our schedule. -
Cross Infinite World has licensed Root Double -Before Crime * After Days: http://www.crossinfworld.com/news-articles/Special-Announcement-License.html
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So were 3 day away from Otakon do you all think will be getting any announcement there ?
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@jagd-mirage Seems like the next J-NC presence might be at Otakuthon. I saw some mention of it in the discord. Sam is a special guest or something. XD
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Lets not get too ahead of ourselves, many of the licenses announced at AX are still not up on the site so lets at least wait till those are up before we start predicting new ones.
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To be fair, I'm fine with some downtime. Too much to read.
