Now, how come the Elfen Lied manga hasn't been released in the US despite the anime being popular enough here? I mean similarly violent, disturbing and racy works such as Berserk, Gantz, and Hellsing have been released but why not Elfen Lied. It's been slightly over a decade since it came out in Japan yet it hasn't been released in the US whilst it has been released elsewhere?! (Even the series has been released in neighboring Mexico). Given that it's published by Shueisha, the most likely candidates to release the manga in the US are either Viz Media (since Shueisha owns it alongside with Shogakukan) or Dark Horse Comics (even better since they released the ultra-violent fare mentioned above such as Berserk, Gantz, and Hellsing).
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If I recall correctly, Shueisha only licenses titles to Viz, since, as you mentioned, they are partial owners of the American company. While Viz has released more mature manga titles in recent years, they likely felt there was not enough of a market for the title, or that it was not a good fit for their catalog.
EyeOfPain wrote:
Not always, Shueisha has sometimes licensed titles to Dark Horse, such as Gantz and recently Gate. 7. I also would like to see Lynn's other works such as Nononono, Flip Flap (a collection of other shorts by Lynn such as Digitopolis, Memoria, Lime Yellow, Carrera, Rejisutora, and Arumaju), Kimi wa Midara na Boku no Joō and recently Kiwaguro no Brynhildr released in the US.
That's why I said that Elfen Lied would best fit in Dark Horse's library since they publish ultra-violent fare like Berserk, Gantz, and Hellsing.
Locomotion
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