Mary Dec 10, 2015
Honest, intelligent news and reviews for manga romantics
This past week we got some major shoujo licensing news from Yen Press. The publisher has acquired the rights to three of Natsuki Takaya’s manga series, including the new Fruits Basket Collector’s edition as well as Hoshi no Utau (Twinkle Stars) and Liselotte to Majo no Mori (Liselotte and the Witch’s Forest).
Fruits Basket was previously published here in North America by Tokyopop, but has been out of print since 2009. Just recently in Japan, Shueisha began reprinting the series into a collector’s edition. And to go along with that Takaya is currently publishing an online series on HanaLala.com called Fruits Basket Another – a sequel of sorts with new characters. Yen Press’s announcement is right on time with these new developments in Japan.
Here’s a brief synopsis of each series:
Fruits Basket: Tohru Honda was an orphan when one day fate kicked her out of the house and on to land belonging to the mysterious Sohma family. After stumbling upon the teenage squatter, the Sohmas invite Tohru to stay in their house in exchange for cooking and cleaning. Everything goes well until she discovers the Sohma family’s secret, when hugged by members of the opposite sex, they turn into their Chinese Zodiac animal!
Twinkle Stars: In a small town in the countryside, close to the sea, a young high-school girl lived alone with her cousin. When life seemed to her too painful and too sad, she contemplated the sky and refreshed herself by looking at the stars. But one spring night, she met a boy who sealed her destiny…
Twinkle Stars is a total of 11 volumes. It was published in Japan from 2007-2011.
Liselotte and the Witch’s Forest: They say that in a place far, far away; in the east, of the east, of the east… there is a forest where witches dwell. They are said to bestow blessings or inflict curses, brew potions in steaming cauldrons, practice their magic… and fly their brooms into the night sky. This is where Liselotte has decided to live, in the small chance that she may one day revisit a certain person from her past – but only if the witches don’t get to her first…
Liselotte and the Witch’s Forest is a total of 5 volumes. It went on hiatus in 2011 and is yet to be continued.
I never thought the day would come!!! I never had the chance to buy the series, so I won’t have to worry over ebay collections anymore! XD I am also super excited for her other series. I am glad that shojo is FINALLY getting the recognition it deserves. It feels like nearly every month, a ton of new series and some rescues are being licensed. Yona, Takaya’s works, Everybody’s Getting Married, LDK, Maid Sama, Otherworld Barbara, The Secret Sakura Shares to name a few.
Do you think you can make a post about how shojo is faring these days? I’d love to se what the results are and if we’re doing better than before.