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Udon Entertainment Licenses Kill La Kill Manga, More

Udon Entertainment announced at its San Diego Comic Convention panel on Saturday that it has licensed Ryou Akizuki's Kill la Kill manga adaptation, the complete Katamari webcomic by Alex Culang and Raynato Castro, three new Manga Classics titles, and nine art books. The company also announced an original artbook project for Robotech.

Akizuki (Asura Cryin', Uchuu no Stellvia) began the ongoing Kill la Kill manga in Kadokawa Shoten's Young Ace magazine last October shortly after the anime premiered. The North American release is slated for 2015. Kadokawa published the second compiled volume in March.

The first volume of Katamari is slated for December 2014. Culang and Castro (Buttersafe) publish the comic based on the video game series of the same on Bandai Namco Games' ShiftyLook.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter, Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, and Jane Austen's Emma will join Udon's Manga Classics lineup. Udon Entertainment and Morpheus Publishing collaborate on the manga line, which also includes Victor Hugo's Les Misérables and Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

Udon's newly-announced artbooks include two collections of drawings from Osamu Tezuka: Osamu Tezuka Character Illustrations (iTezuka Osamu Anime Character Settei Gashū) is a collection of illustrations and character model sheets and Osamu Tezuka Anime Character Sketchbook (Tezuka Osamu Dessan-shū) includes sketchbook drawings and designs. Shogakukan published the former in February and the latter last May.

Other new artbooks include The Art of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Art, The World of Professor Layton, Border Break Artworks, Record of Agarest War: Heroines Visual Book, Record of Agarest War 2: Heroines Visual Book, and Shining Blade & Ark.

The Art of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies (Gyakuten Saiban 5 Official Visual Book), first announced during Friday's "World of CAPCOM" panel, is slated for North American release in 2015. Enterbrain published the 240-page artbook in Japan last September.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Art compiles art of Yu-Gi-Oh! manga artist Kazuki Takahashi, and will include a special art card, manga illustrations, and Takahashi's personal illustrations. Sheisha published the 127-page volume as a V Jump Special Book in 2011.

The World of Professor Layton (Layton no Kyōja no Sekai Official Fan Book) is slated for an English release in 2015. Level 5 and QBIST published the 191-page book in Japan last April.

Border Break Artworks 2006-2012 will be Udon Entertainment's first work exclusively about mecha. The volume will include schematics, sketches, pilot designs, and background material, including artwork by Dai - Shogun - Great Revolution and Kotobukiya Bishōjo Statue designer Shunya Yamashita. SB Creative published the 176-page book in 2012.

Record of Agarest War: Heroines Visual Book and Record of Agarest War 2: Heroines Visual Book will feature art from the the Record of Agarest War games. Idea Factory, Red Entertainment, and Compile Heart collaborated on both games, and Aksys Games released both in North America. The first of game was released for PlayStation 3, XBox 360, and PC, while the second was released for PS3 and PC only. SB Creative published the two books in 2009 and 2011, respectively.

Shining Blade & Ark will be Udon's third artbook featuring the work of Tony Taka and its fourth artbook from the Shining series. The book will include artwork from PlayStation Portable games Shining Blade and Shining Ark, which shipped March 2012 and February 2013, respectively. Kadokawa's Enterbrain published the 223-page artbook in Japan last August.

In addition to the artbook licenses, the company is also planning a project featuring production stills and other artwork for the Robotech source anime: Macross, Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber Mospeada. The project is not a straight reprint of anything that was previously published in Japan, but instead will draw from various sources.