Obscure Manga You Want Licensed

[muichimotsu]

2 immediately come to mind for me, though 1 has a spinoff/prequel that would also be nice

Arachnid and Caterpillar, written by Murata Shinya and illustrated by Ifuji Shinsen and Isuka Hokazaki/Tokisada Hayami (the latter involved after the former artist in the pair passed away) respectively, tells the story of a world where assassins in an organization that trains them to fight based on various insects, particularly as it relates to our leads, Alice the Spider and Caterpillar (debuted first in Arachnid) seeking to survive and unravel mysteries related to their pasts. It's that mix of psychological and action that makes it a joy to read in trying to figure out the twists, but still being surprised even when you call certain things (like I did in Arachnid with the main villain). Unfortunately, the ending of Arachnid is not exactly hopeful and I think Caterpillar is similar (fan translations are slowly coming out, we still have 20-30 chapters until we're complete)


Kongou Banchou by Nakaba Suzuki, best known for Seven Deadly Sins, is oddly similar in premise to an extent, with a battle royale between various people representing the prefectures of Tokyo and then Japan at large in a bid to reform the country. It gets fairly bizarre in the fighting tactics and methods of the various Banchou and the endgame involves some odd historical fiction and positing stuff even beyond the science fiction the series already uses.

 

[Ironhold]

The manga for Lost Universe wasn't around for very long, and I was a bit surprised that it didn't even get a digital release when Sentai did a new boxed set for the anime.

The manga for Slayers has rather disappeared as well to be honest.

 

[muichimotsu]

Lost Universe is more obscure and Nozomi Entertainment getting the license back after ADV collapsed might've been enough of a risk itself, manga licensing gets more complex in terms of marketability in my limited understanding of it and constitutes a second contract versus anime licensing for localization, etc.

Slayers manga was licensed by Tokyopop, but doesn't seem like anyone else has picked it up. Viz could pick it up, they've done digital only releases for former Tokyopop stuff, though some of it was licensed by Kodansha USA instead, like Rave Master, iirc.

If Lum coming back last year after practically 15 years in limbo is any indication, we can reasonably hold out hope for stuff that merely went into limbo, but the more obscure the series, the less likely it has a chance of being licensed, though not impossible.

Arachnid and Caterpillar are more difficult only because a translator would likely need to consult entomologists on the information given in the series regarding various things about bugs that are referenced, to say nothing of the rating easily having to be 16+, if not 18+ to some extent, even if there's no nudity that I recall even in the volume scans, it's the occasional sexual content and graphic violence

 

[Bramblewild]

Bitter Virgin.

The story is a bit like this...

A high school boy is eager to go to college and leave behind what he think is a restrictive home life. He's popular at school, several girls pay attention to him, except one particular girl, a newcomer who acts strange whenever she's around a boy. One day, to escape the overly intense attentions of a couple of girls, he ducks into a nearby church. He's actually praying in a kind of informal way, when he hear the church's doors open. Thinking it may be the other girls, he ducks into a confessional booth. But it's the strange girl from his school, and she's there to confess. He thinks any confess she makes would be trivial stuff, so he pretends to be a priests, hoping she'll soon go away. Then she gives her confession, and there's nothing trivial about what she says, or about the things that have happened to her.

 

[muichimotsu]

Bitter Virgin.

The story is a bit like this...

A high school boy is eager to go to college and leave behind what he think is a restrictive home life. He's popular at school, several girls pay attention to him, except one particular girl, a newcomer who acts strange whenever she's around a boy. One day, to escape the overly intense attentions of a couple of girls, he ducks into a nearby church. He's actually praying in a kind of informal way, when he hear the church's doors open. Thinking it may be the other girls, he ducks into a confessional booth. But it's the strange girl from his school, and she's there to confess. He thinks any confess she makes would be trivial stuff, so he pretends to be a priests, hoping she'll soon go away. Then she gives her confession, and there's nothing trivial about what she says, or about the things that have happened to her.

I remember that, it's fairly short. Even covered it in a brief panel I presented at some conventions of 5 volumes or under manga. That one point is so depressing, because the author sets it up for happy stuff to happen and then it goes sideways.

And yeah, even the initial part is messed up to the point that I feel like any publisher would be hard pressed to market it in any way that doesn't sound like a Lifetime movie

 

[Bramblewild]

March Comes In Like A Lion.

I'm a bit surprised this one hasn't been released in English yet. The anime series came out a few years ago, so I'd have thought the manga would be not far behind. The anime, btw, is in my top tier of series, up there with FMA Brotherhood.

I know there's more to the story following the point where the anime ended, and if the anime isn't going to be continued, I'd like to read what comes next.

 

[muichimotsu]

March Comes In Like A Lion.

I'm a bit surprised this one hasn't been released in English yet. The anime series came out a few years ago, so I'd have thought the manga would be not far behind. The anime, btw, is in my top tier of series, up there with FMA Brotherhood.

I know there's more to the story following the point where the anime ended, and if the anime isn't going to be continued, I'd like to read what comes next.

Looks like Denpa, kind of a newer small publisher, has licensed it to come out summer 2022, they announced it in March last year, but I'm guilty of missing the boat on releases like Cage of Eden, because I never thought it would get licensed, but it did.

Chica Umino's March Comes in Like a Lion Manga Gets English Release in 2022 – OTAQUEST

 

[Bramblewild]

Thanks! I'll keep an eye out for it.

 

[muichimotsu]

Thanks! I'll keep an eye out for it.

It's getting to a point where access is becoming easier, though not without hoops in general, because each individual country or region will have to arrange things, so America might have it easy and swathes of Europe to an extent, but...Africa and South America for instance...not so much, afaik.