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NTT, 3 Publishers to Expand E-Manga in North America

The mobile manga provider NTT Solmare announced on Thursday that the publishers Shonen Gahosha Co, Takeshobo, and Mag Garden are launching three manga magazines for mobile phones in Japan, and they intend to expand their electronic book initiatives overseas, including in North America.

While there have been many manga titles that debuted in paper magazines before appearing on Japanese mobile phones, these new weekly mobile magazines will have manga that will debut on mobile phones first. Shonen Gahosha's Young King Alpha, Takeshobo's Shin Kindan Grimm Dōwa (Grimm's True Forbidden Fairy Tales), and Mag Garden's Blade Alpha will launch on NTT Solmare's Comic-i and Comic C'moA sites on March 1, March 4, and March 3, respectively. The titles of the new mobile magazines are derived from the publisher's existing print magazine and imprint names: Young King, Kindan Grimm Dōwa and Comic Blade.

According to NTT, the companies intend to "actively" expand overseas into China, India, Europe, and North America through the Apple iPhone and other smartphones, as well as through the Amazon Kindle and other electronic book devices. NTT Solmare has already released several manga — such as Appleseed, Captain, Cyborg 009, Dominion, Itazura na Kiss, Salaryman Kintaro, Sensual Phrase, and The Quiet Don — in English in the American App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch devices.

Mag Garden's Blade Alpha mobile magazine will feature Peace Maker Kurogane (pictured above right) by Nanae Chrono and Akuma no Tsukurikata by Sakura Kinoshita (Tactics, Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok). Peace Maker Kurogane was published by the defunct ADV Manga imprint in North America, but is now published by Tokyopop. In Japan, the manga ran in Comic Blade before moving online last fall. Tokyopop publishes Kinoshita's Tactics, and ADV Manga once published Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok.

Shonen Gahosha's Young King Alpha will feature Shion Kōzu and Ryōsuke Kimura's Shōgai Gokudō-den Fukurō: Ikebukuro Violence Graffiti (pictured above left and formerly published in Young King). Takeshobo's Shin Kindan Grimm Dōwa will feature Akemi Matsuzaki's Ningyohime ~Ai e no Hatenu Omoi~ (pictured at right) and Yūki Fukai's Kuro no Cinderella ~Ai ni Ue Fukushū no Honō o Moyashite~.

Source: CNET Japan