There are lots of books I love included in the recently released list of nominees for the latest round of Tezuka Cultural Awards. I can’t wait for enough of Fumi Yoshinaga’s Ooku to be in print for someone to license it. (I hear it’s a fairly drastic creative departure for her, but it’s Yoshinaga, and I think there’s some international law that requires all of her work be made available in English. I have no problem with such a regulation. I also want her new restaurant manga to be licensed as quickly as possible.)
But North American manga publishers, if you love me, and you often act like you do, one of your number will license Moyashimon (Tales of Agriculture) at your earliest convenience. It sounds kind of like Mushishi (Del Rey) and Honey and Clover (Viz) got drunk one night and conceived an insane child.
The Manga Curmudgeon 
Seconded on both counts. Ooku is supposed to be phenomenal and has won a bunch of awards; a friend of mine picked up a Japanese copy and the art is simply amazing.
And Moyashimon is just plain awesome. Oddly, I picked up a copy of the manga shortly before the anime was announced– I had just stumbled upon volume 4, which had this gorgeous sort of art-deco cover, and I grabbed it without a second thought (my local Japanese bookshop is Kinokuniya, and they shrinkwrap everything, so I couldn’t flip through it). When I opened it I couldn’t make head or tails of it; there was some weird bit at the beginning that seemed to involve characters from Nodame Cantabile? Not to mention it was volume 4 (the store didn’t have #1).
The manga wound up in a pile of stuff I sold to a local used book shop, and then about a week or two after that an anime was announced and I wanted to kick myself. Then I watched a few episodes of the anime and desperately want the manga licensed. I kind of foresee it being either Dark Horse or Del Rey.
yup, you beat me by a day! In tomorrow’s column I beg English publishers to pick up a number of titles including Ooku (dear god, DMP, please don’t keep us in suspense…you have to publish it one of these days, right????)
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I just finished watching the Moyashimon anime, which was awesome! …with an end theme by the Polysics!! I hope Del Rey will pick it up – they license a lot of titles with anime tie-ins, even if the anime isn’t licensed.
The Moyashimon anime is indee quite good. It certainly seems like a series that would fit in with the rest of Del Rey’s line. Now that I think about it, as a manga from Evening ever been released stateside?
But the true “Must Licence” series of this bunch in my eyes is Kaijuu no Kodomo AKA Childred of the Sea. Daisuke Igarashi’s brand of surreal folklore and mysticism just keeps blowing me away; his short stories from Witches were epic enough, but after four chapters I’m convinced that he was born to write long-form narratives. I think this could end up being an epic of the same calibur as Nausicaa; the pages just bleed awesome. Viz, if your looking for a new licence for the Signature Series…
I’m also particuarlly curious about Naoki Yamamoto’s RED. He’s one of my favorite manga-ka but aside from his early stuff his work that I’ve encountered isn’t exactly mainstream-friendly (has a very pessimistic take on modern society and humanity in general, not to mention he seems incapable of drawing 30-pages without a sex-scene). Anyone know anything about it?
And finally, I just noticed that Akimi Yoshida is nominated. Does no one read Banana Fish anymore? It has to have been the first yaoi manga published in this country, and even if you (like me) aren’t interested in that kind of thing its a great crime story. Must be the Otomoesque drawing style that turns people away…
Now that I think about it, as a manga from Evening ever been released stateside? To my knowledge, [regrettably] no, never; it’s a bit puzzling though, since the anime adaptation of Koi Kaze was released in English, prompting the “but why did no on pick up the manga??” question… And I’m told “Red” is standard seinen character intensity focused on the student movement period, if that’s any help.
And, although Moyashimon is up there, I’d also love to see Umimachi Diary get an English version; it looks like a nice bit o’ slice of life narrative (although the chances of a license are slim; it’s published in a magazine that tends to get the shaft, much like the abovementioned Evening.)