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M&C! Licenses Heartbeat!!, Pen and Chocolate Manga

Indonesian publisher M&C! announced last week that it has licensed Rin Mamiya's Heartbeat!! and Yōko Nemu's Pen and Chōcolate (Pen to Chōcolate) manga. The company will release the one volume of Heartbeat!! and both volumes of Pen and Chōcolate on August 23.

Heartbeat!! collects four one-shot manga that Mamiya published in Shueisha's Margaret magazine in 2010. The title story centers on a girl named Arima, who has never been confident in herself. She meets a boy named Tsujidō one day at a roadside shrine and falls in love with him. As their relationship develops, Tsujidō continues to help Arima have more confidence in herself.

The book also contains three other one-shot manga titled "Natsuiro Hanabi," "Yōkoso Renai Sōdan-bu e," and "Bitter and Lover." Shueisha published the book in August 2011.

M&C! previously published Mamiya's Make Sweet manga in 2013.

M&C! describes the story of the Pen and Chōcolate manga:

Manga artist Towako Futaba's manga series was cancelled in the middle of the story due to lack of popularity, and her editor has decided to ignore her protestations. Futaba insists that she has to continue the story. Another editor named Akimoto, admiring Futaba's spirit, decides to be her new editor. At first, their relationship is just as co-workers. But Akimoto's kind attitude wins over Futaba. The problem is that Akimoto already has a girlfriend.

Nemu launched the manga in Hobunsha's Manga Time Lovely magazine in 2008, and ended it in 2010. Hobunsha published two compiled book volumes for the series.

Nemu's Gozen 3-ji no Muhōchitai (3 a.m. Dangerous Zone) manga previously inspired a live-action series in March 2013. She also drew the original character designs for Masaaki Yuasa's Lu over the wall anime film, which opened in Japan on May 19.