I’ll tell you right now that I have the feeling that I’m going to forget something critical in this installment of the Seinen Alphabet, so feel free to amend in the comments. The “F” entry for the the Shôjo-Sunjeong Alphabet was crazy huge, but Seinen? Well, “F” is for…
Fan service… but fan service isn’t unique to seinen, obviously. Every category features ways its creators can cater to their audience.
Tokyopop has published a couple of seinen manga that starts with “F.”
Futari Ecchi, written and illustrated by Katsu Aki, was published in English as Manga Sutra, and golly, did I find the first volume to be boring.
And there’s FLCL, adapted by Hajime Ueda.
Takuya Fujima’s Free Collars Kingdom (Del Rey) doesn’t immediately look like seinen, but it ran in Kodansha’s Magazine Z. Here’s Fujima’s profile on Baka-Updates, with more seinen titles in his portfolio.
Media Blasters has published at least three volumes of Natsumi Konjoh’s Fujoshi Rumi.
On the unlicensed front, I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on Jiro Matsumoto’s Freesia.
There’s apparently a seinen version of Fist of the North Star that has yet to be published in English. It was serialized in Shogakukan’s Big Comic Superior. And there’s another seinen version running in Shinchosa’s Comic Bunch.
But what does “F” stand for in your Seinen Alphabet?
Yup, Fist of the Blue Sky (Souten no Ken) is a seinen manga which serves as a prequel to Fist of the North Star. It’s actually a gangster political thriller taking place in the 1930’s, though there is plenty of kung fu trickery as well. It was licensed in America by Raijin Comics, but they only got about four volumes in before going under.
Over in Japan, the manga appears to have just ended with the last issue of Comic Bunch, which is also ending this week. Sadly, while the manga has sold well in other countries, it never really found an American audience. It will have lasted for either 22 or 23 volumes.
I have 2 to add:
– The first president of Japan by Tsugihara Ryuji and Hidaka Yoshiki publish in English by Gutsoon Entertainment, dropped after only 4 volumes, 16 volumes completed in Japanese. Here a review at Read About Comics
– Les Fils de la Terre by Mori Jinpachi and Hataju Hideaki, 3 volumes complete. It should be in C, but since its title is in French …
Ah, I’d love to read Children of the Earth. And you’ve also reminded me that I should have added Eagle to “E.”
*weep* In a world where Manga Sutra can exist in English, why not more Fujoshi Rumi?
But speaking of F and Raijin, I remember another title I liked in there called…umm…Revenge of Mouflon. Sorry, I thought it was Flight of Mouflon, but then I looked it up. I’d like to see more thrillers like that and Urasawa in English though.
Over in Japan, the manga appears to have just ended with the last issue of Comic Bunch, which is also ending this week. Sadly, while the manga has sold well in other countries, it never really found an American audience. It will have lasted for either 22 or 23 volumes.
Can I throw in a light novel here? Full Metal Panic has had a few manga adaptations. Not sure if they, or the original light novel, would be considered shounen or seinen, though…
And I personally feel that Full Metal Alchemist is *good enough* to be considered seinin. 😉
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