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Tokyopop to Release Digital Hetalia Chapters Weekly
posted on by Gia Manry
North American manga publisher Tokyopop has announced that it will be placing digital chapters of Hidekaz Himaruya's manga Hetalia - Axis Powers on the Comixology iOS application each week, starting with the first two chapters of the series' second volume. Additional chapters will be added every Wednesday until the volume is complete in the first week of December. The print version of the volume will be released on December 28.
When Tokyopop released the first volume of the manga, it was made available digitally on the Zinio e-publication reader and at libraries using the Overdrive service more than a month prior to its print release, and was then made available on Comixology shortly after its print release.
The manga was originally launched in Japan as an online webcomic and features personifications of various countries around the world as they existed during World War II. The title "Hetalia" is a pun on the main character, Italy (Italia), and the word "hetare" (incompetent). The series has been released in collected form in three volumes to date and is currently ongoing. A TV anime of the series was announced in 2008, but relegated to streaming on the Internet rather than being shown on television due to complaints from South Koreans about the depiction of their nation. Three sequel seasons and an animated film have also been made.
Funimation acquired the North American rights to the anime series and its second season in January and July of 2010; Tokyopop confirmed its license of the manga in May of the same year.
