License request day: Otoyomegatari

In Tuesday’s Publishers Weekly Comics Week, Kai-Ming Cha spoke to CMX’s Jim Chadwick about the imminent conclusion of Kaoru Mori’s lovely Emma. It’s a nice appreciation of the series, and I’m pleased to hear that the title “has been CMX’s most popular seller, having gone back to print numerous times, almost more than any other.”

Equally pleasing is the news that “Mori is currently at work on another series, Otoyomegatari, which takes place along the Silk Road trade routes. Chadwick described the series as ‘absolutely stunning. The artworks looks even more detailed than Emma, which is saying a lot.’”

When one is handed the object of a license request, even an obvious, inevitable one, it’s best not to ask questions and just plow forward, you know? Because, based on Emma, I would read a Mori-penned primer on oral hygiene, especially if she included some omake strips. (Mori does the best omake strips. Or at least she does my favorite omake strips.) And I would especially love to read another lavish Mori period piece like Otoyomegatari.

Otoyomegatari is currently being serialized in Enterbrain’s Fellows! magazine, about which I know next to nothing except that it’s seinen and that Otoyomegatari seems to be the big hit in rotation at the moment, just based on what’s to be seen on the magazine’s web site. There are some amazing videos of Mori drawing and inking pages from the book here. (That will hopefully make up for the fact that I can’t find many page scans to illustrate this request.)

There’s only one volume available to date, but I think fans of Mori’s Emma would probably be willing to tolerate a rather slow release schedule, if it meant getting more Mori. So will CMX manage to nab this one and have a matched Mori set?

“As to whether CMX has plans to acquire the license to Otoyomegatari, Chadwick says that he’d love for the company to continue their association with the artist, but have no comment outside of that. ‘We’ll just have to see what happens,’ He said.”

I hope CMX gets Otoyomegatari, as they were the ones who gave us Emma (and Shirley) in the first place, which is some excellent manga karma that should be rewarded.