Well, well, it looks like What a Wonderful World is exactly the kind of manga many regular Kotonoha readers have been waiting for. So here we are, working hard to bring you the next chapter. In “Wandervogel,” we learn more about Hotta, the ex-punk-now-office-worker introduced in the first story, and his struggle to cope with his new way of life.

Inio Asano—who’s a member in a band himself—seems to belong to the group of people who believe that artistic expression (in this case music) is one of the most important “weapons” against the dehumanizing effect of modern society on the individual. While that line of thought is hardly revolutionary or even novel, the way Asano describes his characters is unpretentious and engaging. It makes you care about them and their problems, which seem real and tangible. Therein lies much of the power of Asano’s writing.

Incidentally, there’s a striking similarity between the character Hotta and Asano himself. At least if you go on their looks.

Coincidence? Or is Hotta one of Asano’s alter egos?

The one thing about the results of our latest poll that surprised me the most is how many people visited our homepage through links on other scanlators’ sites. I didn’t know we were that “prominent.”

In any case, in order to reciprocate the kindness, I would like to use this post to list all fellow scanlators’ sites who are linking to us. We have worked with some of them in the past. If you enjoy the kind of manga we scanlate chances are you will like their projects, too. Here we go:

• BLAH
• Die Küsse Scanlations
• Dragon Voice Project
• Entropy
• Lililicious
• Manga Translation
• Omanga
• Reimu
• The Waffle House

Doumo arigatou gozaimashita!

Almost three years after Zeb-noid Tsutomu Nihei is back with another wicked one-sho(r)t. Winged Armor Suzumega is a 10-page full-color sci-fi action spectacle that should satisfy any Nihei fan who has been waiting for new material from the maestro. Granted, there’s not much story you could squeeze into 10 pages, but Nihei made up for it with some of his best color illustrations to date. Also, while it’s not explicitly mentioned in the story, it’s believed that Suzumega is at least somewhat related to Abara since it features the Gaunas. Maybe it takes place in an alternative universe of Abara? I guess only Nihei himself could answer that question.

I have tried to put this off for a while, but since there’s no way round it, I’ll just say it as it is. For the first time in the group’s history, I have to make some tough decisions and cut a few lines. Two, to be more precise. As of this posting, the following two series are officially dropped from our project list (not that much work has been done on them recently):

• Coo’s World
  I think most of you understand the reason behind this one. With Mangascreener already doing this series, I see no need for us to waste any more of our limited resources on it. I used to think differently, but I guess that was just my ego speaking. Still, it’s a shame that we don’t get to finish this series since I really like it. Better luck next time.
• Binbou Shimai Monogatari
  I wouldn’t mind continuing this project if we had a Japanese translator for it. Alas, our previous translator fell into a sugar shock after reading the second volume, and the chance to find a replacement for him is next to nil (I guess), so it’s goodbye. However, in case someone is interested in stepping into the breach, there are only three volumes left to go. Contact us if you want to help. Think of the poor sisters!

The other day, I met a bear,
Out in the woods, away out there…

I’m sure most of you are familiar with this song. The third chapter of What a Wonderful World got its title from the Japanese version of this song. In this case, the bear is a yakuza gangster who is on the run from his “ex-colleagues.” Things get complicated when he kidnaps a young girl and then offers her money if she helps him for a week…

Here we see an early demonstration of Asano’s ability to weave drama, humor and cynical social commentary into a compelling narrative. Trust me, he’ll get much better.