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]
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