Cherry Blossoms in December

Before you rush to the comment section to complain, let me explain first: Yes, we are aware that The Town of Evening Calm, The Country of Cherry Blossoms (the manga formerly known as Yûnagi no machi; Sakura no kuni) has been licensed for English release. However, given the amount of work we have already invested in this manga and the fact that we were only one chapter short of completion, I decided to make an exception. This is one of our best projects and it simply does not feel right to drop it 10 m before the finish line.

It did take us a while to finish everything up. One reason was that I stubbornly went back and practically retranslated the first two chapters and changed the lettering style in a few places. I hope our final version does this magnificent story justice (or at least will stand the comparison with Last Gasp’s version ). Needless to say, we won’t be able to host the file for long. As soon as the official English release hits the bookstores (Jan/Feb ‘07), it will be gone. If you like what you read, you should go buy it.

And now onto the other releases:

• Chokotto Sister v5 ch37-38
  *sniff* Chapter 38 is sooo sad. Who would have thought that one could cry reading this series…
  Apropos, the 7th volume of CS was recently released in Japan and there was an announcement at the end stating that the 8th volume (scheduled for release next spring) will be the last one. I think that’s a rather nice length for this series. Here’s hoping that the author and artist will manage to deliver a satisfying conclusion. I’m getting some strong Maison Ikkoku vibes from the latest chapters if you know what I mean.
• Hourou Musuko v2 ch11-12
  Here is a series that gets more and more adorable with each new chapter. It’s incredible! The author treats all her characters with so much love and respect that you never doubt their motivation.
  Speaking of Takako Shimura, the 2nd volume of her Sweet Blue Flowers just came out in Japan last week and I have already ordered my copy, which means it should not be long until you get to see some scanlation of it.
• Pumpkin and Mayonnaise ch4
  Our latest josei project comes from none other than Kiriko Nananan, author of the critically-acclaimed Blue. On the surface, Pumpkin and Mayonnaise may look like an ordinary love story, but Nananan’s artwork and storytelling are anything but ordinary. It’s difficult to fully appreciate this manga until you read all of it, so I shall desist from further commenting. Just read it.

Next: Death-crazy samurai and universe-hopping children.