In April 2005, Seven Seas became the first manga publisher to release downloadable manga content for the PlayStation Portable and, as a result, gained over 12,000 downloads in the first five days.[3] Seven Seas followed the PlayStation Portable announcement with enlisting the platinum-selling Filipino group the J Brothers to create a theme song for its web OEL manga series Aoi House entitled "Itsumo Futaride". During Comic-Con 2005, Seven Seas Entertainment premiered the pilot of its No Man's Land flash anime series and later followed it with a flash animation music video based on Aoi House.
In September 2006, Seven Seas announced a project to translate and publish Japanese light novels, including popular titles such as Strawberry Panic!.[4]
In March 2008, Seven Seas Entertainment began publishing new editions of Rachel Robert's popular children's fantasy novel series Avalon: Web of Magic in conjunction with Red Sky Entertainment. A three-volume manga spin-off titled Avalon: The Warlock Diaries followed which started in June 2009.[5] Seven Seas and Red Sky Entertainment also launched a dedicated website for the Avalon novel series in September 2008 at AvalonMagic.com.[6]
On August 1, 2012, Seven Seas Entertainment launched the ad-supported free webcomic portal Zoom Comics in partnership with Pixie Trix Comix. The initial launch titles included Amazing Agent Jennifer, Dracula Everlasting, Paranormal Mystery Squad, and Vampire Cheerleaders.[7]
On January 20, 2017, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that it had partnered up with online light novel publisher J-Novel Club to release their licensed properties in print.[8]
On October 11, 2017, Seven Seas Entertainment announced a new manga imprint called Ghost Ship for its mature titles. Manga series licensed under this imprint are distributed through Diamond Book Distributors.[9]
On November 13, 2020, Seven Seas Entertainment announced a new imprint called "Airship" for its light novel and Japanese prose novel licenses.[10]
On November 20, 2020, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that it would be switching distributors worldwide, with all imprints moving to Penguin Random House Publisher Services from July 1, 2021.[11]
On December 21, 2020, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they would publish Hiveworks webcomics in print.[12]
In early 2021, it was found that Seven Seas Entertainment had been making alteration to their English translations of certain light novels.[13]
On January 26, 2022, Seven Seas Entertainment announced a new imprint called "Steamship" for its shōjo, josei and teens' love romance manga titles, beginning with GAME: Between the Suits, I'll Never be Your Crown Princess!, Ladies on Top, and Outbride: Beauty and the Beasts.[16]
On May 23, 2022, employees of Seven Seas announced the formation of "United Workers of the Seven Seas", a union working with Communications Workers of America.[17][18] On May 29, 2022, Seven Seas management announced that it would not voluntarily recognize the union and has requested an election with the NLRB.[19]
On May 31, 2022, it was revealed that Seven Seas had hired the law firm of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart to represent them[21] in their NLRB case with their employees. In response the United Workers of the Seven Seas tweeted out that Seven Seas had hired "the union-busting firm Ogletree Deakins" to counter their union efforts.[22]
On June 24, 2022, the United Workers of the Seven Seas announced that Seven Seas had agreed to voluntarily recognize the union after a majority card check.[23]
On May 30, 2023, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they would begin publishing audiobooks under the new "Siren" imprint in the following month.[24]
Controversies
In early 2021, it was found that Seven Seas Entertainment had been making alterations to their English translations of certain light novels. This resulted in multiple lines or paragraphs being altered for the English release. Some of the titles affected were Classroom of the Elite, I'm in Love with the Villainess, and Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation.[25] Altered sections were made without consulting the original authors and involved controversial issues including sexual assault and homophobia. In the case of Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation this involved plot points being rewritten, while in I'm in Love with the Villainess it involved omitting text.[26]
After receiving criticism, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they would be revising these changes, republishing the affected volumes, and making changes to their editing process to "make sure important lines are not lost".[27]
In May 2022, Seven Seas Entertainment released the first volume of I Think I Turned My Childhood Friend into a Girl. Their localization of this was criticized for portraying Hiura – a feminine male character in the original – as a trans woman and removing the intent of it being a boys love story;[28][29] Seven Seas Entertainment responded by revising this for future volumes and for reprints of volume 1.[30]
Age Ratings
Seven Seas currently has six different age ratings for their titles (they previously had a single unified "Older Teens" rating for ages 16 and older, but that was changed to have separate "Older Teen (15+)" and "Older Teen (17+)" ratings to better indicate the intensity and frequency of the different types of content):
Appropriate for readers of any age. No swearing or suggestive themes/sexual content. May include mild fantasy action/violence.
Ages 10+
Intended for readers aged 10 years and older. No swearing. May include mild action/comedic violence, mildly crude humor, or mild tobacco/alcohol use.
Teen (13+)
Intended for readers aged 13 years and older. May include mild swearing, mild suggestive themes, moderate violence, and/or tobacco, alcohol, or other substance use.
Older Teen (15+)
Intended for readers aged 15 years and older. May include moderate swearing, mild suggestive themes/sexual content, partial nudity, violence, and/or tobacco, alcohol, or other substance use.
Older Teen (17+)
Intended for readers aged 17 years and older. May include frequent swearing, intense violence, nudity, sexual content, and/or tobacco, alcohol, or other substance use.
Mature
Intended for readers aged 18 years and older. May include intense language, nudity, sexual content, extreme violence, and/or other mature themes.
Yen Press is an American manga, graphic novel and light novel publisher co-owned by Kadokawa Corporation and Hachette Book Group. It published Yen Plus, a monthly comic anthology, between 2008 and 2013. In addition to translated material, Yen Press has published original series, most notably Svetlana Chmakova's Nightschool and a manga adaptation of James Patterson's Maximum Ride.
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation is a Japanese light novel series by Rifujin na Magonote and illustrated by Shirotaka. The series is about a jobless overweight man who dies after having a withdrawn life and reincarnates in a fantasy world while keeping his memories of his previous life, determined to enjoy his new life without regrets under the name Rudeus Greyrat.
Shōsetsuka ni Narō is a Japanese novel self-publishing website created by Yusuke Umezaki. It was launched on April 2, 2004. Users can upload their novels free of charge and the novels are also free to read. As of December 2022, the site hosts close to 1,000,000 novels, has over 2,300,000 registered users and it receives over 1 billion page views per month.
Cross Infinite World is a California-based language localization company specializing in Japanese to English translation and publication of Japanese media such as light novels and manga.
J-Novel Club is a publishing company specializing in the translation of Japanese light novels into English. It streams light novels and manga in regular installments before publishing finalized e-books. As of August 2021, J-Novel Club has licensed over 150 light novel and manga series and have published more than 800 e-books. It has licensed titles from many Japanese publishers, including Hobby Japan, Overlap, Kodansha, Drecom, Earth Star Entertainment, Kadokawa Corporation, Micro Magazine, Shufunotomo, and Softbank Creative. It was acquired by Kadokawa Corporation on April 28, 2021.
Isekai is a subgenre of portal fantasy. It includes novels, light novels, films, manga, anime, and video games that revolve around a displaced person or people who are transported to and have to survive in another world, such as a fantasy world, game world, or parallel universe without the possibility of returning to their original world. Isekai is one of the most popular genres of anime, and isekai stories share many common tropes – for example, a powerful protagonist who is able to beat most people in the other world by fighting. This plot device typically allows the audience to learn about the new world at the same pace as the protagonist over the course of their quest or lifetime. If the main characters are transported to a game-like world, the genre can overlap with LitRPG.
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, also known as HameFura (はめふら) for short, is a Japanese light novel series written by Satoru Yamaguchi and illustrated by Nami Hidaka. It began serialization online in July 2014 on the user-generated novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō. It was acquired by Ichijinsha, who published the first light novel volume in August 2015 under their Ichijinsha Bunko Iris imprint. Thirteen volumes have been released as of September 2023. The light novel has been licensed in North America by J-Novel Club.
Studio Bind, Inc., is a Japanese animation studio founded in November 2018 as a joint venture by Egg Firm and White Fox.
Egg Firm Inc. is a Japanese company with its business focused on production, planning and management for anime.
I'm in Love with the Villainess is a Japanese light novel series written by Inori and illustrated by Hanagata. It was serialized online between January 2018 and February 2021 on the Japanese novel self-publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō. It was acquired by Aichu Publishing, who published the first light novel volume digitally in February 2019 under their GL Bunko imprint.
Rudeus Greyrat is the main protagonist of Rifujin na Magonote's novel series Mushoku Tensei. An unnamed 34-year-old Japanese hikikomori is kicked out by his siblings following his parents' death and his absence in their parent's funeral, as well as his behavior towards his kid niece. Upon some self-introspection, he had concluded that his life was ultimately pointless, but still intercepts a speeding truck heading towards a group of teenagers in an attempt to do something meaningful for once in his life and manages to pull one of them out of harm's way before dying. Awakening as a newborn baby, he realizes that he's been reincarnated in a world of sword and sorcery and resolves to live his second life to the fullest as Rudeus Greyrat. Due to inherited affinity and early training, in addition to his mother's influence, Rudeus becomes highly skilled at magic, and sets out to enjoy life and overcome his past.
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation is a Japanese anime television series based on Rifujin na Magonote's light novel series of the same title. The series follows a jobless and hopeless man who dies after having a sad and reclusive life and reincarnates in a fantasy world while keeping his memories, determined to enjoy his second chance at life without regrets as Rudeus Greyrat. The first season of the anime series adapts the first six volumes of the light novels.
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation is a Japanese anime television series based on Rifujin na Magonote's light novel series of the same title. The series follows a jobless and hopeless man who dies after having a sad and reclusive life and reincarnates in a fantasy world while keeping his memories, determined to enjoy his second chance at life without regrets as Rudeus Greyrat. The second season of the anime series adapts volumes seven onwards of the light novels. Now a grown teenager, Rudeus travels the world alone in search of his missing mother. "Episode 0" focuses on the whereabouts of his childhood friend Sylphie after the magic crisis from the middle of the previous season, which resulted in her being transported.
Rifujin na Magonote is the pen name of a Japanese novelist who is best known for novel series Mushoku Tensei.
References
↑ "I, OTAKU "ARE YOU AN OTAKU?" CONTEST." Seven Seas Entertainment. Retrieved on October 25, 2011. "This contest is sponsored by Seven Seas Entertainment LLC, 626 Midvale Ave. #1, Los Angeles, California, 90024"
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