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Gempak Starz Licenses Yotsuba&!, Chi's Sweet Home Manga
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Malaysian publisher Gempak Starz announced on Sunday and Monday that it has licensed Kiyohiko Azuma's Yotsuba&! and Kanata Konami's Rumah Impian Chi (Chi's Sweet Home) manga.
Yotsuba&! follows the everyday lives of a strange little girl named Yotsuba and her father after they move to a new town. As of March 2013, the manga had more than 10 million copies in print in Japan.
Azuma launched the manga in Kadokawa's Dengeki Daioh magazine in 2003. The 13th volume, which was first new volume in more than two years, shipped in Japan in November 2015.
The "Danbo" character from the manga inspired its own television anime titled Nyanbo!, centered on a cat version of the character. The anime premiered in September 2016.
Chi's Sweet Home centers around a kitten who gets lost after walking out into the real world for the first time. A boy named Yōhei Yamada discovers her, but the Yamada family's apartment building prohibits pets. After failing to find a new home, the Yamadas decide to defy the rules and raise Chi themselves. Most of Chi's coming-of-age stories revolve around the Yamadas or the cats, dogs, and the occasional rabbit that live in the neighborhood.
Konami launched the series in Morning in 2004, and she ended the manga in the magazine in June 2015. Kodansha shipped the 12th and final volume in Japan in the same month.
The manga inspired two television anime series in 2008 and 2009. The manga also inspired a 3D CG anime titled Koneko no Chi Ponponra Daibōken, which premiered in October 2016.
