Dark Horse announced a new title today: Translucent, a shojo title by Kazuhiro Okamoto. Carl Horn himself showed me the Japanese edition of this at MangaNEXT, and it looked really cool. The heroine slowly becomes invisible, a perfect metaphor for how many of us felt in high school.
To see or not to see—shojo girls risk losing their image in Translucent
Shizuka has problems. Not only is she an introverted girl, dealing with schoolwork and boys, but she feels invisible. In reality, she is victim to a disease that is making her literally translucent!
Shizuka finds support with Mamoru, a boy who is falling for her despite her appearance, or lack thereof. Another friend, Keiko, suffers from the same illness and has turned completely invisible.
The strange disease becomes a metaphor in the ordinary lives of the students in their classes, as they work their way through romance and friendships.
Teen-centric, quirky, and romantic, Translucent will appeal to shojo fans who like a little twist with their gakuen mono. Translucent’s shifting variables—between what people see and wish to see—create an emotionally sensitive manga, peppered with moments of surprising humor, heartbreak, and drama.
Translucent features story and art by Kazuhiro Okamoto and arrives on sale July 18.
Just pre-ordered it from Amazon, thanks! :)
Wow, that was quick!
Hrm, Amazon’s got the release date for this title pegged at Aug 25, not July 14th. But then again, Dark Horse through Amazon has always been a little finicky; Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service took two weeks to arrive….on two day shipping.
Ah, the arcane and eldritch mystery that is the DH shipping schedule; sometimes I wonder if the internet or a ouija board is the appropriate reference for Dark Horse titles.
Now, I *think* I know enough fan-Japanese to interpret gakuen mono (short for monogatari?) as “school story”. And it certainly fits the context. But I shouldn’t need to know that much at all, should I? or is this a fairly common term now?
Of course, if you wrote the paragraphs following the break, Brigid, then I guess I need to brush up on a few more terms to be hep to the shoujo. From the tone, though, it seems like a DH press release, in which case it may be a bit much. —Shouldn’t there be an outreach to readers who aren’t already big Japanophile geeks?
Matt: Everything after the cut is the press release—that’s how I always do it. And gakuen mono threw me too. I just realized that every Japanese word I know comes from a book title (aside from the greetings), so I got gakuen but not mono.
if it’s not an abbreviation for something “mono” means “thing” or “object” and is sort of a pronoun that can be used in place of any number of words of phrases for brevity… meaning is drawn from context… in this case it could mean something like “genre”
where’s Matt Thorn? he could clear this up!
Chloe: Try Midtown Comics’ website around the official scheduled release date. They stock Dark Horse stuff before amazon and Barnes & Noble, plus they offer a 25% discount on all manga. I’ve never ordered anything through their website (since they’re a 15 minute subway ride from my apartment), so I don’t know about shipping costs. I think they offer free shipping on big orders—$75 or more. Here’s the link:
http://www.midtowncomics.com/eshop/manga.asp
It’s also a great place to look if you want to see what titles have been (or will be) released. (Much easier to read than the Diamond list.) The April 4th list is now posted.
One quick clarification: the normal Midtown discount is 15-20%; they’re running a 25% discount promotion through the end of the month.
Not that it matters, but Translucent is anything but shoujo. It’s a seinen title through and through. The manga was serialized in Comic Flapper*, a seinen magazine (no furigana!). Kazuhiro Okamoto is a seinen author—he debuted in Kodansha’s Afternoon. Just because a manga features a girl as main character and puts emphasis on emotions instead of action doesn’t make it a shoujo.
I know it’s all marketing, blah blah blah, but if Dark Horse wanted to publish a shoujo title, why didn’t they just go ahead and licensed a “real” one? ;)
* See http://www.comic-flapper.com/
Completely agree with Blah here. Actually when Carl Horn first announced this at NYCC 2006 it was mentioned in a different light. The main character is a shoujo but the title itself would have crossover appeal but it isn’t a shoujo title itself cause as the Horn said back then… DH doesn’t do shoujo!! ^_^v