Yen Press has made some announcements this weekend for new manga licenses that will definitely please fans. The most known and accessible for folks is the pickup of the Accel World manga, which was adapted from the light novel by Hiroyuki Aigamo. It has four volumes out now in Japan with a fifth coming and Yen Press is set to release it in the fall, along with the other two new acquisitions. Te second title they’ve picked up is Satsuki Yoshino’s Barakamon, which began in 2009 and has two released volumes so far with a third on the way. The series is getting a bit of the different treatment from Yen Press as it’ll be part of their larger trim size releases. And finally, they’ve picked up Übel Blatt from Etorouji Shiono, which began back in 2004. The series has fifteen volumes to its name in Japan so far and Yen Press will release Übel Blatt omnibus 0—Japan’s Volumes 0 and 1—in Fall 2014.
Accel World: No matter what age it is, the “Bullied Child” will never disappear. The overweight, Middle School student, Haruyuki, was one such kid. The only time he could relax completely, was when he would play a squash game on the local network the school had set up. He loved playing this simple game as he can forget painful times while immersed in it.
It was fall. He was passing his time like this until one day, he had an encounter with the school’s most beautiful, refined girl, “Snow Black”, which changed his life abruptly. Introduced to the software she transmitted, Haruyuki learned about “Accel World.” A program that enhances one’s mind capabilities, with certain side-effects.
It was the moment the guy on the lowest rung at school became “Burst Linker,” protecting the Princess as her knight.
Übel Blatt: When Wischtech threatened to invade the fiefs of Szaalanden, the Emperor dispatched fourteen youths. Of these, the Seven Heroes halted the invasion to herald a time of prosperity while the four Lances of Betrayal were supposedly defeated.
Two decades later, the Lances of Betrayal have reappeared and formed a bandit militia near the frontier fief Gormbark. A man with the black sword and a scar over his left eye slays an entire troop of that militia. He is identified as a boy, Kóinzell, and becomes as much an object of fear as of hope even as his own past, motivations, and purpose are a mystery to those he meets in his travel.
Barakamon: As a punishment for punching a famous Calligrapher, young handsome Calligrapher Handa Seishu is exiled on a small island. As someone who has never lived outside of a city, Handa has to adapt to his new wacky neighbors, like people traveling on a tractor, unwanted visitors who never use the front door, annoying kids using his home as a playground, etc. Can this city guy handle all the crazy hardships? Find out in this wacky island comedy full of innocence and laughter!!!
