Friday, January 11, 2008

Del Rey to Publish Kujibiki Unbalance Manga in English

book_kujian_shousetu.gif

Manga "read" by fictional characters in Genshiken manga.

Del Rey Manga Associate Publisher Dallas Middaugh points out that the Kio Shimoku interview in Publisher Weekly's PW Comics Week section has announced that Del Rey will be publishing Keito Koume's Kujibiki Unbalance manga. Within the fictional world of Kio's original Genshiken manga and anime series, the members of the Modern Visual Culture club read Kujibiki Unbalance, a parody of the school romance and fighting manga genres which is later adapted into a 26-episode anime series. In the real world, this fictional plot device inspired its own franchise, with a three-episode video anime series, two different novel series, a 25-episode radio drama, Koume's two-volume manga, and finally, a real 12-episode television anime series. Genshiken added its own comedic (if somewhat confusing) meta-commentary by having its characters argue over whether the fictional Kujibiki Unbalance anime is faithful to the fictional Kujibiki Unbalance manga — even though in real life, the Kujibiki Unbalance anime predated Koume's manga that Del Rey is publishing. Del Rey just finished publishing the original Genshiken manga last November. Media Blasters' AnimeWorks label released the first Genshiken television anime series and the Kujibiki Unbalance video series, and it licensed the Genshiken video series, the second Genshiken television series, and the Kujibiki Unbalance television series.

Source: Anime News Network

1 comments:

cromartiedropout said...

I have yet to watch this anime, but just from reading about it in Genshiken book 8, there are too many problems. First of all, Chihiro, Komaki, Izumi, and Tokino are all dramtically redesigned. Plus, Tokino and Chihiro's relationship has been totally switched - Tokino secretly loves Chihiro, and Chihiro only sees Tokino as a friend. The whole Koyuki subplot throws me off, too. But I have to say that the thing that pisses me off the most is that Tokino is now, and I quote, "Not particularly fond of mushrooms." THAT REALLY GETS TO ME!!!

*Sigh* Shimoku-sensei should have made the OVA into the full-length anime. This Kuji-an is like a whole new series, not what we know at all...