New Edition of Iono-sama Fanatics to be Released in Japan

March 23rd, 2015

Ionothumb According to Comic Natalie, Fujieda Miyabi’s Iono-sama Fanatics has been picked up by Ichijinsha for a new edition release, slated for June 2015.

Additionally, a spin-off story will run in  Comic Yuri Hime. A Special Edition of the manga will also include a Drama CD.

Before you get too excited, Seven Seas made it very plain on Twitter that they do not intend to license this. The conversation was interesting, because it was made plain that when they say they “orders” they do not mean sales of individual copies to people like you, they mean bulk pre-orders from chain stores. So, despite the absurdity of relying on the old comics model for sales viability, it’s clear that the industry is still hoist by that particular petard.

But, for those of you who have taken the opportunity to learn a little Japanese, this will be a wonderful reason to restart that practice, to help support one of our favorite creators and encourage Ichijinsha to continue the series. ^_^

10 Responses

  1. I can’t believe that you’ve released NO review on “Yuki Yuna wa Yusha de Aru” as part of someone in the western Yuri community. It’s worth the time yet, I see no hits on your list or on google about you even mentioning it. it’s an anime released in 2014’s 2nd quarter, so go watch it. no excuses

    • I haven’t even heard of it until you mentioned it. That happens. It does not appear from the synopsis to particularly Yuri, can you give us an idea of why you consider it to be of interest to us here at Okazu?

      • Anon says:

        To give you an answer that’s hopefully less aggressive than the person above, it’s a 12-episode magical girl show that aired last Fall. The main character’s best friend is in love with her; it’s not stated outright in the show itself (although supplementary materials do confirm it), but obvious enough that I wouldn’t consider it subtext. Her feelings might or might not be mutual, but the main character is the cheerfully oblivious type.
        I thought it was worth watching, personally, but I’m not sure whether or not you’d agree. Your watchlist is probably long enough without adding yet another not-quite-yuri moe anime to it, but it’s available on CR if you’re curious.

        Back on topic… That’s fantastic news for Iono-sama. I’ll definitely be getting the new edition. I don’t know if this means that Fujieda-sensei wants to return to publishing professionally (I don’t know enough about the industry to speculate on why he’s only been publishing doujinshi for the past couple of years), but I’ll be happy for anything new from him.

        • Thank you Anon. This was very helpful. It doesn’t sound like the kind of thing I have time for (having been fooled once by Sora no wo to, and therefore deeply resistant to moe-but-it-has-girls-so-it-must-be-Yuri series thereafter.) If you’d be interested, I think it would be swell if you consider writing a review of it. If you are willing to consider it, please email me at yuricon at gmail. Thanks again!

          I agree 100% with you on Fujieda. I’m also not willing to speculate, but will remain thrilled to see him back.

        • Jackie S says:

          I agree with Anon’s assessment of Yuki Yuna. For what it’s worth to anyone else on the fence about watching it, I would say it has about as much yuri as if you took just the Homura x Madoka pair from Madoka (maybe slightly less). It in general has a vibe kind of similar to Madoka, in that it’s a bit of a magical girl deconstruction type of show. It’s definitely different enough with it’s own interesting world, plot twists, and charming characters to be worth watching though. Right, there’s my plug.

          A spin-off of Iono-Sama Fanatics? That sounds intriguing… Too bad I have like zero money after moving back… (T.T)

  2. Jye Nicolson says:

    I am getting that special edition! If nothing else drama CDs are pretty good for Japanese study.

    (and yes, I encourage everyone to have a go at Japanese. It’s not trivial, but it is so, so useful not to be at the mercy of translators.)

  3. Amanda B says:

    Hahhhh good ol’ Seven Seas. Looks interesting though! I wish there wasn’t such a heavy reliance on them to license yuri for the western community. Slightly tragic, since it’s clear what their basis is for license criteria.

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