Manga...
Anyone know what happened to the manga series? I'm asking here because I can't find any info using my awesome google-fu skills!
shareAccording to a member of the VHD facebook group I'm in, it's been released in French so far, I saw their pics. I don't know about any other places outside the US. As far as being released in English, I have no idea but I am hopeful that it'll come out sometime later this year, hopefully soon- my grubby little paws need it.
I keep hearing word of Dark Horse only releasing future English versions on ebooks only due to low sales but I have no concrete proof of that- will need to do more research. But Dark Horse only does the novels as far as I know. I've checked DMP's website recently and so far, I've yet to see any updates but some are saying that DMP no longer wants to continue with the manga as they got the exposure they wanted from it...no idea if that's actually true...doesn't make sense to get rid of something that's bringing in money unless sales are low but I don't see proof of that. I will have to check again but I have yet to hear any news about either one dropping the manga or the manga being, god forbid, canceled.
I need to double check things as I really hope the manga continues. If sales really are low then they should due something about that, boost interest or something. The movies are being released on blu-ray in August, use that! My heart would break if the manga stopped.
From what I can understand from Saiko Takaki's website, the manga series is ending after volume 8 or is continuing only on Amazon Kindle Japan. And additionally, from what I can understand, volume 8 is supposedly not under contract in the US so we only have up to volume 7. I don't know if that means volume 8's release in English is up in the air or if it won't be released in English at all.
This is very troubling...
I'm going to have to buy it in French just so I can have the art.
Thanks!
Such a shame that it's ending, wonder if it has something to do with the fact another VHD movie didn't materialise either...
Who knows. A new movie and an animated series have been in the planning stages for years now. The director and staff that did Bloodlust expressed interest in doing a movie version of Mysterious Journey to the North Sea but the president of the company they work for doesn't care for the project and that's according to the author himself in a postscript at the end of part two of the book. That was some years ago and so far there hasn't been any new development. A new movie or something of the like would stir up new interest I'm sure, hopefully the first movie and Bloodlust being remastered and coming out on Blu-ray in August will help.
As for the manga, tbh, I don't know for sure if this 'end' is permanent. The English translation for book 8 is up in the air since Digital Manga Publish doesn't want to do it anymore so I think it's just a matter of another company picking it up. And, as far as I'm aware nobody has said anything but the series being cancelled. I've been talking back and forth about it with other fans and even going back to recheck stuff that I read on Saiko Takaki's website and it seems that the news she provided is subject to change the moment she gets new info, and that was almost six and a half months ago and a lot can change between now and the end of this year, so who knows. For all we know this could just be an indefinite hiatus. At least that's how I'm choosing see it until I hear otherwise.
(((The same kinda thing happened to the Nana manga, the story isn't over but there hasn't been a new volume for a few years but it wasn't because it was cancelled,the artist who did it got really sick and wasn't/isn't sure of when of if she'll go back to it.)))
Well I guess then all we can do is keep our fingers crossed! I do wonder, though, that if they decided to end the series then it would be more likely to be picked up by someone else who would devote sufficient time and energy into keeping it going. The idea of a hiatus seems a bit disheartening, especially if DMP just decide to sit on it and not invest any more money into the series. VHD has always been more of a 'cult' series anyway. Plenty of people know about it and like it, it just seems like whoever holds the rights to the franchise isn't happy with this status. Maybe they were hoping for another Ghost in the Shell?
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