At this year's New York Comic Con, Yen Press announced a second Highschool of the Dead Color Omnibus. I'm not sure if they gave a release date, but Amazon has it coming out on July 30 of 2013. This second omnibus will include Volumes 5-7 (I assume in full color) as well as the art book.
This is a surprising move, and I'm not too enthusiastic about it. As far as I know, there has been no announcement about Japanese color editions of these volumes. I suppose it's possible the announcement will be in the next issue of Dragon Age, but NYCC was almost two months ago. It doesn't seem like Fujimi Shobo would approve of Yen Press making the announcement that long before them. They could have said something at the various Japanese anime conventions, but then I think there would've been something on their site or in the magazine if they had. While I think more Japanese color volumes are very likely in the future, I can only guess that Yen Press is jumping the shark and publishing more color volumes without waiting for the Japanese versions.
What worries me is that it seems Yen Press will be coloring the manga themselves this time. In the first omnibus, they really only reprinted the Japanese versions. I never bought the English version and thus can't say much about the quality, but I've heard good things, including a positive review by Shouji Sato himself in a rare site update. I have very little faith, however, that they can produce the same quality if they don't have a Japanese version to work with. I sincerely hope they are at least in communication with Shouji Sato or getting some sort of instructions. If they work independently, I fear we will get the same poor quality they gave us in the regular volumes. The fans of the series don't deserve that again.
Perhaps there will be an announcement in the next Dragon Age, and this will just be a case of Yen Press being too eager to announce their English version. We'll just have to see in a couple of weeks.
Sentai Filmworks will be releaseing an English Dub of the OVA. I'm sure you can find news about that after a little searching.
ReplyDelete...Death to dubs. Dubs are horrible and make my ears bleed. Half the time they find actors whose voices who are so high pitched its like i'm watching a bloody opera. Not to mention they tend to get the script wrong. How in god's green earth can someone's girlfriend end up being their mother. Like seriously. Even the subtitles for the english dub don't match.
DeleteI can't say I disagree. I'm not a big fan of dubs, even though that is how I entered into the anime world. I can't stand a lot of the voices, especially Monica Rial, who plays Shizuka. She seems to be in everything.
DeleteIt's good they have the dub, though, so people who can't read well or don't want to read can enjoy anime like everyone else.
http://www.mangaupdates.com/authors.html?id=2497
ReplyDeleteI've not really heard much about full colour volumes before this post, however the idea really interests me.
ReplyDeleteIf they work with the Japanese version, and maintain the quality by communication with the author / artist, I think I'm willing to pay a premium on them.
The manga always tends to be more interesting and fun for me so a full colour one with works like Shoujo Sato and possibly Hiromitsu Takeda? Yes please.
I'm hooked on their amazing art, and full colour is like the icing on the cake.
You do know their are full color volumes for Maken-Ki!, right? Maybe you can do something with them over at Oppai Scans.
DeleteThe issue with this second HOTD omnibus is, unlike the first, which was based on the four Japanese Full Color Edition volumes, they can't just reprint the Japanese version. They may not use the right techniques and materials, and they may not stay true to the artist's vision. I feel like they just needed something to pad the art book with so they could charge more for it, and now we might get an inferior product because of it.
I err, did not know they did actual full colour, I only thought it was a chapter here and there...
DeleteAre they exactly the same? As in volume 1 but just in colour?
If so any chance you could link me to somewhere I can buy them? I think I'd be interested in them.
There were two volumes. I haven't seen them, but I think Takeda chose certain chapters rather than releasing a color version of a single volume.
DeleteHere's the first one:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%83%9E%E3%82%B1%E3%83%B3%E5%A7%AB%E3%81%A3%EF%BC%81-%E3%83%95%E3%83%AB%E3%82%AB%E3%83%A9%E3%83%BC%E2%98%86%E3%81%9B%E3%82%8C%E3%81%8F%E3%81%97%E3%82%87%E3%82%93-%E3%83%89%E3%83%A9%E3%82%B4%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B3%E3%83%9F%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9%E3%82%A8%E3%82%A4%E3%82%B8-%E6%AD%A6%E7%94%B0-%E5%BC%98%E5%85%89/dp/4047127418/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y
You can find a link to the second on that page.
Bookmarked for future reference.
DeleteThanks for the help.
(From what I can see people are saying they do ship books, just need to figure out how to go about getting the address line for AU.)
Maybe Yen Press is doing it to make a quick buck out of the series....I dunno. We'll see what the future holds in store.
ReplyDeleteHey, i'm just happy the franchise is still alive in some way or another. WOOHOO!
ReplyDeleteI completely understand your worries. I know a guy who bought the first omnibus he said it was nice. This guy is a stickler for these kinds of things so if he said its good it should be good. I read a few reviews and someone people said the binding was pretty crappy and the pictures and a lot of gloss. Some instances you could even see a drop in the coloring so in the end its up the luck of the draw? But if their seriously doing this independently i'd save my money and buy the VC3 artbook thats getting released in english with the art done by Udon. Udon is a freaking awesome artist.
ReplyDeleteI have the first omnibus in English. Quality is great!
ReplyDelete