I'm a little late to the game on this one. Even though I'm a huge fan of ABe's work--Serial Experiments Lain and Haibane Renmei to name a few—I ignored this news piece because I don't have a Kindle. In fact, I don't know anybody with an e-reader of any brand. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this is pretty cool in terms of digital distribution.
The manga, which is available in both English and Japanese, is called I am an Alien, I have a Question. It’s 41 pages long and costs $1 in the Kindle e-book store. This isn’t the first time ABe has published his work digitally. In 2008, Pochiyama at the Pharmacy was made available in the iPhone app store for $4.99.
I was initially excited about the Pochiyama announcement, but later found out that I could only read it if I had an iPhone. The reviews I read stated that the English translation was poorly done, but it was still a step in the right direction because publishing your own manga on the iPhone was unheard of.
Two years later, he’s at it again. I can’t say for certain that it’s the first manga title to appear on the Kindle, but it’s the first time I’ve seen it in the news. Luckily, you can read Kindle books on your computer with the proper software. I haven’t heard anything definitive on the quality of the translation, but even if it’s not perfect, $1 is tough to beat.
[SOURCE: Anime News Network]
March 13, 2010 at 4:22 am ·
Pochiyama is nothing special, I have it on my iPhone and the translation is clunky as hell. Like, really really bad. And the typesetting is awful. Words going out of bubbles, etc.
Also, Alien is not $1. This is a lie, at least for honest, godfearing englishmen like myself, as it cost £3.53. Whatever, I bought it, read it on the kindle app on my iphone. I liked it, better than Pochiyama- but nothing much happened in the 41 pages. It needed another 41 in order to develop.
Translation is quite good- still reads clunky, but oh well.
March 13, 2010 at 4:30 am ·
Hmmmmm. I guess I should have said that it was $1 is you aren't an English jerk.
Frankly, I've never read any of his manga before. I have seen most of the anime he's worked on, however.
March 13, 2010 at 4:02 pm ·
Serial Experiments Lain is amazing, and I would highly recommend picking it up.
Watch it while drunk or very very tired for MAXIMUM effect