Not quite ready to resume our weekly releases yet, but we’re getting there. Tonight we have new chapters of All-Rounder Meguru and the always gorgeous The Music of Marie.

Next up: More Garden, Soil, SWWEEET, Ressentiment (not necessarily in that order) and our first big new project of 2010. Be excited!

Just when I thought 2010 got off to a good start, real life struck, leaving me buried with work. As a result most of our plans for February had to be shelved. Luckily, the worst seems to be over and we managed to get three chapters of All-Rounder Meguru done for now. Expect more frequent releases as I’m working through a bunch of finished scripts that have been piled up over the past month. Meanwhile, here’s an eye candy to keep you distracted:

Well, it looks like Kotonoha has survived another year. Looking back, I still can’t believe we managed to pull ourselves out of hiatus and actually got a few things done. Once again, I would like to thank everyone who lent us a helping hand during those trying days. Kotonoha would not be where it is today without your help and support. While I can’t promise that we will maintain a weekly release schedule throughout 2010, I will do my best to keep us from slipping into another long hiatus again. After all, there’s still a lot of work to be done. Our short-term goal remains unchanged: to finish our shorter projects (Hanashippanashi, Happiness, Happy-Go-Lucky Days, Ressentiment, SWWEEET, The Hour of the Mice, The Music of Marie) in a reasonable time frame and to keep making steady progress on a few of our longer ones (All-Rounder Meguru, Owari to Hajimari no Miles, Soil). Regrettably, some of our older projects will have to remain on hiatus, at least until there are more free slots in my work queue. But note this: unless a project is officially dropped we will resume work on it eventually.

As for long-term strategy, the biggest challenge for me in the upcoming months will be transforming Kotonoha’s line-up to make it even more diverse, while placing more emphasis on the “less ordinary” part. Expect a surge in titles by talented but little known artists whose works have never been translated into English before (legally or otherwise). Hirosuke Kizaki was the first of the pack and we have some more amazing artists lined up that will give Kaneko, Asano, Furuya, Kitoh and Tōme a good run for their money.

With that out of the way, let’s get down to business, by which I mean, releases. In addition to the familiar faces, we have a newcomer today: Garden by Usamaru Furuya. It’s a collection of his “indie” shorts that were published in Comic Cue, Manga Erotics and GARO respectively. The title is obviously a reference to Hieronymus Bosch’s famous triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights, with the first story being a homage to said painting. The other stories range from absurd comedies to fantasy to horror. It’s a very eclectic mixture, but make no mistake: artistically, Garden might just be Furuya’s most accomplished work after The Music of Marie. There are simply no words to describe stories like “The Book of the Moon” and “Emi,” the former having been hailed as “one of the best comics of any kind I’ve ever read” by Adam Stephanides. Sadly, it’s also a reminder that Furuya will never be able to draw something like this again. Those of you who think Furuya has become tame in his recent projects and who yearn for the days when the guy still had some genuine “indie cred” will find Garden a treasure trove of comic gems.

Finally, since there’s no easy way to announce this, I’m going to give it to you straight: we are dropping Chokotto Sister and Hourou Musuko, for the same reason we dropped Historie. Both projects were picked up by other groups while we were on hiatus and they have been continued to the point where it no longer makes sense for us to bother with either of them again.

P.S. Yes, I know the website still needs some fixing.

Ta-da! Our surprise is yet another new project, but it’s not just any manga. I consider Memories of Emanon one of the best books of 2008 and I can’t think of a better manga to end the year, hell, the whole dreadful decade, with. Based on the award-winning novel by Shinji Kajio, Memories of Emanon tells the story of a mysterious girl who holds a 3-billion-year old memory, dating back to the moment life first appeared on Earth. Kenji Tsuruta, having already served as the novel’s illustrator, returned to deliver what is certainly one of his finest works as an artist. Some of the pages in the manga are simply breathtakingly beautiful.

We are releasing the first half of this manga today and the other half next week before Kotonoha goes on vacation. I’d like to thank Meriken for his terrific translation. This project wouldn’t have been possible without him.

I was hoping to finish the first volume of All-Rounder Meguru before Christmas and with the help of the ever reliable Megchan we did. Today’s double releases conclude the first volume. I admit that one of the reasons why I decided to pick up this manga was to see if we could handle a more mainstream project with a broader appeal than the “usual” Kotonoha fare. However, it has grown on me a lot and judging from the 2nd volume it’s only going to get better.

Unfortunately, our decision to fast-track Meguru came with a price, namely the completion of The Music of Marie. But not to worry, the latter is still on track for being finished in the foreseeable future. To make up for the delay, we will pick up another manga by Usamaru Furuya when we return in mid-January.

Until then, an early Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you and yours!

Can you believe X-mas is only one and a half weeks away? Yup, me neither. It seems like yesterday when we started digging ourselves out of the deep deep hole called hiatus. It’s crazy! But what’s crazier is the fact that we have actually been able to maintain our weekly release schedule till now. Well, not anymore. Even us scummy pirates have to take some time off every once in a while, and what’s a better time to do that than at the end of the year? Don’t worry, we still have one more surprise for you so make sure to check back next week as well. Until then, enjoy these early Christmas presents we have prepared for you:

• All-Rounder Meguru V1 Ch6
  After giving us a peek into Meguru’s personal life and his motivation (or lack thereof) for taking up shooto, Endo is getting back to the meat of the story this time, laying the foundation for the upcoming two-parter focusing on Takashi and his motivation. As to be expected, it’s a quite a contrast to Meguru’s.
• Soil V5 Ch36
  Kaneko continues to weave his web of mystery. In this chapter we get a few more glimpses into the character of Kosaka, the school counselor. From all the characters in Soil she seems to have the strongest link to the mystery. Could she be the only person who knows what’s going on in this town gone mad?
• The Music of Marie V2 Ch10
  Another exceptional chapter of an amazing story that poses some thought-provoking questions about religion, determinism and the human desire for knowledge.
• The Hour of the Mice V3 Ch28-29
  Final volume, here we come.