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Triltaison wrote:

^
I always chalked its lack of an official English release up to the trifecta of gore, nudity, and underage or underage-looking characters making licensors uncomfortable with the possibility of angry parental backlash. It always seemed like manga with two of the three could exist in the Anglosphere, but all three cropping up aborted releases at the time if it happened frequently (like Narutaru or Reiko the Zombie Shop). It always felt like anime could squeak by, but they were more reluctant to take a chance on printed forms longer than a few volumes. Maybe because they could slap a recommended MA or 16+ or whatever on a DVD box and parents could understand it being analogous to the MPAA, but not ratings printed on a book? No idea, but that was what I always figured.

I don't know much about Elfen Lied, but given this information plus the fact that it's a Shueisha title seems to indicate that, like Silver Spoon and To Love Ru, it was something that Viz (having right of first refusal) ultimately passed on and allowed another publisher to pick up.

I hope this trend continues. There's still some Shogakukan/Shueisha series that Viz hasn't published here for whatever reason that I'd like to see in English.

R. Kasahara wrote:

I hope this trend continues. There's still some Shogakukan/Shueisha series that Viz hasn't published here for whatever reason that I'd like to see in English.

*cough* Kingdom.... *cough*

I suspect quite a few people who remember liking the anime back in the day are going to buy this and regret it.

Triltaison wrote:

Reiko the Zombie Shop)

RIP... I miss Reiko... My collection is so incomplete....(same as my collection of Princess Resurrection but anyway)

R. Kasahara wrote:

I hope this trend continues. There's still some Shogakukan/Shueisha series that Viz hasn't published here for whatever reason that I'd like to see in English.

Viz appears to be invested in maintaining a narrow stereotypical image of "shounen" manga (nevermind that it's not a genre) and will pass on anything that doesn't fit, especially for risque or sexual material. For the few titles that are more violent/darker, they won't keep it under the Shounen Jump label like Japan, and publish it under their Signature line in the US instead, like Fire Punch.

What great news! I’ve been wondering for a while what had been taking so long for this manga to get released in English and I’m happy to see it finally happening. Now this news has me wondering what would a modern anime remake of the manga would be like? It’s near impossible to ever happen, but it’s still interesting imagining how exactly it would turn out in this day and age.

About damn time. Although I do prefer the more ambiguous ending of the anime, I will definitely buy this when it comes out.

Quote:

Viz appears to be invested in maintaining a narrow stereotypical image of "shounen" manga (nevermind that it's not a genre) and will pass on anything that doesn't fit, especially for risque or sexual material. For the few titles that are more violent/darker, they won't keep it under the Shounen Jump label like Japan, and publish it under their Signature line in the US instead, like Fire Punch.

That's not entirely true. They've released other manga such as Sweet Blue Flowers, which is a slice-of-life LGBTQ title, so while they do focus on more shounen titles, it's not as though they solely focus on them alone.

Dang. I didn't think Elfen Lied would ever see the light of day here, especially considering its content.

If you want this title, you had best hope it sells well. Dark Horse has dropped a lot of titles part way through. They don't tell people either, you find out when you realize that it has been a year or more since they last solicited it.

FireChick wrote:

Quote:

Viz appears to be invested in maintaining a narrow stereotypical image of "shounen" manga (nevermind that it's not a genre) and will pass on anything that doesn't fit, especially for risque or sexual material. For the few titles that are more violent/darker, they won't keep it under the Shounen Jump label like Japan, and publish it under their Signature line in the US instead, like Fire Punch.

That's not entirely true. They've released other manga such as Sweet Blue Flowers, which is a slice-of-life LGBTQ title, so while they do focus on more shounen titles, it's not as though they solely focus on them alone.

Dang. I didn't think Elfen Lied would ever see the light of day here, especially considering its content.

Yes I know they've released shoujo/josei and even BL titles but I was referring to what they release as shounen under their Shonen Jump label. The Jump titles in Japan released by Sheisha do not all make it over to Viz because of the image they want to maintain for "Shonen Jump" in the US.

Took long enough for Elfen Lied to get an English release in manga form.

configspace wrote:

Yes I know they've released shoujo/josei and even BL titles but I was referring to what they release as shounen under their Shonen Jump label. The Jump titles in Japan released by Sheisha do not all make it over to Viz because of the image they want to maintain for "Shonen Jump" in the US.

This has nothing to do with Elfen Lied at all, though, as it's a Young Jump manga, a seinen magazine, not Shonen Jump. Viz has published plenty of Young Jump manga, like Golden Kamuy, so Viz never licensing Elfen Lied had nothing to do with Viz trying to "maintain an image" for Shonen Jump. It's more than likely that Viz simply wasn't interested in publishing it, & focused on other works instead.

Still, Dark Horse picking it up is definitely a surprise, so congrats on that.

I have not bought manga in years, but I will definitely pick this up. I read it on scans over a decade ago and even saved every page to my hard drive. I thought this would never be released in the states. Now I can clear some space on my HD and have a proper re-read of this series. Now if only they would re-do the anime to match the plot and ending of the manga..... I know! They could call it: "Elfen Lied: Brotherhood"

Saito? wrote:

Finally licensed!!!! Thank you Dark Horse, you have my support - please finish this one...

THIS WAS LONG OVERDUE!!

but it said that it was in omnibus version. does this mean that their pretty much going to the same thing that viz manga did with the fate/stay night manga and release it exclusively as a digital release? that would really suck ten times over!