A few years back, I was recommended a little anime series called Boogiepop Phantom by a friend here in Australia. After spying the first volume on the cheap in HMV, I decided I’d give it a look, and I was very glad I did. Delightfully creepy and masterfully written, each episode switched to a different character and highlighted another facet of the overall plot. I really enjoyed it, and recommend it to anyone looking for something a bit more cerebral in their anime.
But this isn’t a rant about how good the anime is. Instead, I want to whine about the novels. Nagi (who is also a big fan of the series) and I were both very excited to hear that small-time manga publisher Seven Seas had picked up the novels and were translating them. I waited, and then waited, then waited some more. Then a stunning chain of events occurred, leaving me quite bitter towards Seven Seas, along with partners in crime Borders.
Angry rant ahead. You have been warned.
Continue reading ‘NegativeZero Doesn’t Laugh’
As early rumors had correctly predicted, this Halloween saw the official announcement of the North American license for the Boogiepop novels and manga series by author Kouhei Kadono. It was publisher Seven Seas Entertainment that announced the rights, which quells fears on this end of a horrible TokyoPop translation for the product.
Continue reading ‘Boogiepop Novel and Manga License Announcement.’
Do click here.
So…I’m at work right now, and the school’s computers don’t recognise Japanese text (rendering Babelfish useless), but unless I’m mistaken, this link is saying that there was a new Boogiepop novel released back in April of this year. Apparently (from another link which led me to this one), the title of the supposed new book is Boogiepop Lost in Moebius, though judging from past Boogiepop novels, I’m sure there’s more to it, given that the majority of the series’ installments carry such ridiculously long titles as Boogiepop in the Mirror Pandora: Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? and Boogiepop Paradox: Heartless Red - The Unusual Contact of Vermillion Hurt and Fire Witch. This makes book #13, and there’s also apparently a third volume of the Beat’s Disciple short story anthology out, entitled Providence.
Okay, so Boogiepop lives on in book form, and why exactly am I so excited about this? Well, aside from it being Boogiepop and me being a complete Boogiepop fanatic, there’s also the fact that this book in particular (again, if this really is a new book release) will have been the first new installment in just over two years. Given how the Boogiepop series has typically had a release schedule of at minimum one book every year or so (the only exception until now being the eighteen month stretch between books 11 & 12, Boogiepop Unbalance: Holy and Ghost are Steeped in Plastic Crimes & Boogiepop Staccato: Welcome to Jinx Shop), to see this one pop up after such a length of time really is rather exciting.
Even if it won’t be in English anytime soon. If ever. 