Broccoli Books Blog

Once again, blogger Shiz here.

Production staffer Yukiko handed me the packet for Honoka Level Up vol 1 for the final look through of the book.

Let’s see how many fixes I find… kekekeke~

Pre-order at dot-anime.us

Hello this is Yukiko!

We are currently editing Honoka Level Up! Volume 1.
2nd edit were just completed!
Now, our graphics assistant Cno can make the fixes.
After making the necessary fixes, we can move on to the final edit.

Cno also made few updates to the BroccoliBooks website too!

Please take a look at Brocomi for this month!
We are featuring Honoka Level Up! Volume 1.

The preview page in Honoka Level Up! page is also updated.

I hope everyone will like this title!

Hello this is Yukiko!
How are you all doing?

The cover for Honoka Level Up! Volume 1 has been approved!
Please check the page of Honoka Level Up! in our BroccoliBooks website.
The cover image is updated!

I will upload the cover image here too.

Hi this is Yukiko!
How are you all doing?

Since the rewrite of Honoka Level Up! volume 1 is done by rewriter Jason, we gave the materials to freelance layout staff Brian to do the layout.

When we talked to Brian few days ago, he said the layout process is going smoothly.

This manga is based on video game industry, we are planning of making detailed translation notes.

I will prepare the text for the layout staff, so I need to research a lot of the terms.

This process is very interesting since I am very interested in the video game industry too.

By reading this manga, you can learn about this industry in a very exciting way.

I really like the main character, Honoka too! She is very cute!

I am looking forward to seeing the English version right now.

Pre-order Honoka Level Up! #1 on dot-anime.us

Blogger Shiz catching with production updates.

Designer Chris is working on the Honoka Level Up vol 1 cover design right now.
He submitted a logo earlier, which is pending approval so I can’t show it here yet.

We decided to keep the word “level” as “Lv” in the logo… because that’s how the Japanese logo was, and writing out “level” made the logo too long. My worry was that consumers would read the title as “Honoka El-Vee Up” or “Honoka Luv Up” or “Honoka Lev Up”… and would they know what “Lv” stands for?

Designer Chris seems to think gamers would be able to read it.
I hope so.

Cuz people sure can’t pronounce “FLCL” even though the characters in the show keep saying “furi kuri” (or “fooly cooly” in the English dub). I still get “Ef-el-see-el”…

Pre-order on dot-anime.us

Blogger Shiz here.
Two posts in a row! Or just playing catch up.

We received the translation of Honoka Level Up vol 1 from translator Azusa earlier last week & sent the script to be edited by re-writer Jason.

Honoka Level Up is a manga about the video game industry in Japan, and sometimes they use made-up English words. Like “graphic-er,” which is a person who creates the graphics within a video game. After checking with my friends at Treyarch (Activision group), I learn that they’re usually called “artists” or “graphic artists.”

Then there are positions called “planner” in Japan, which translates to “designer” in the US. But they’re different from artists, since they design the different elements of the game like level map, enemy strength, where the enemy pops out, etc. I could see why they would be called “planners” in Japan.

And there are the video game character names. Since the games featured in Honoka Level Up are RPGs, I’ve asked my friend at Square Enix to help us in that end.

Thank goodness we’re familiar with doujinshi, game shows, and voice actors.
But with all the help we’re getting, we’ll be adding a “special thanks” section to our credits page.

Whew, it’s been a while since I wrote a blog entry that’s informative of the production process. Maybe I can dig up some more behind-the-scenes stories for our other titles.

Pre-order on dot-anime.us

Hi this is Yukiko!

BroccoliBooks.com has been updated by graphics assistant C-No.

Two pages has been added to the section.
It is Honoka Level Up! page and World of Disgaea 2 page.

The page for Honoka Level Up! is here.

The page for World of Disgaea 2 is here.

I hope everyone will enjoy!

From the press release:

Broccoli Books announces new title, sola and Honoka Level Up!

Los Angeles, CA (January 25, 2008) – Broccoli Books is extremely proud to announce that they have acquired the publishing rights and license for the extremely popular manga series sola by Chako Abeno and the video game-centric manga series Honoka Level Up! written by Akiyoshi Ohta and illustrated by MATSUDA98.

About sola
sola is a continuing series serialized through the monthly Japanese seinen manga Dengeki Daioh, which is published by MediaWorks.

Yorito is a high school student who likes to take photographs of the sky. A chance meeting introduces him to Matsuri, but she is no ordinary girl—it turns out that she’s actually a 350 year-old Yaka, an immortal being that cannot go out into the light! As such, Matsuri has been forced to live a life of solitude, and Yorito is the first friend she’s ever had. But there is much more to the Yaka than first meets the eye, and a sword-wielding man named Takeshi seems intent on harming Matsuri, but for what reason? Thrust into a supernatural battle, will Yorito have the courage to protect their friendship for Matsuri’s sake?

About Chako Abeno
Chako Abeno is a prolific illustrator and manga artist whose works include the manga in white Pure Story and My-Otome zwei.

About sola project
The manga sola is part of a huge mixed media venture known as sola project, which encompass manga, anime, drama CDs, music CDs, and internet radio shows. All of them are based off of the original story by Naoki Hisaya and character designs by Naru Nanao. Naoki Hisaya is most widely known for being the main writer for the highly successful visual novel Kanon while working under Key/Visual Art’s. Naru Nanao is a famous character designer whose works include the original character designs for the D.C. ~Da Capo~ visual novel by Circus and the female character design for the game series Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two by Minori.

The animated sola was well received in Japan, earning the best anime that aired in 2007 in a poll from the company Spider Networks. Over 2 million votes in Japan were tallied for sola to result in first place.

About Honoka Level Up!
Honoka Level Up! is serialized in the monthly magazine, Monthly Dengeki Comic Gao!

As a lonely girl who draws for fun, Honoka was just a regular student until the day her uncle, Ryuichi, hired her to work as a character designer at his newly created game company. Now thrust into a complex, corporate world, newcomer Honoka begins to learn the ins and outs of the video game industry: the politics involved, each person’s responsibilities, and how a game is put together. It’s a lot to take in, but one thing’s for sure—she’s going to step up her game if she wants to succeed, as putting together a video game is no easy task!

A realistic story about what it’s like to work for a video game company. Learn about the gaming industry through Honoka’s eyes.

About Akiyoshi Ohta
Akiyoshi Ohta is a superb writer for manga and video games. His experience working in the video game industry provides realistic situations in Honoka Level Up!. He has also worked on titles such as CLANNAD Anthology Novel 2 and We Are – Cruel Angels-.

About MATSUDA98
MATSUDA98 (Read as Matsuda Kyuu Hachi) is a manga artist, illustrator, and doujinshi creator. Her unique and cute art style has been used for the trading card game, Aquarian Age Saga II, and the Ragnarok online anthology comic. She also has multiple color magazine illustrations, novel covers, and other arts throughout the anime, manga, and game industry.

About Broccoli Books
Broccoli Books specializes in publishing Japanese comics, illustration books, and graphic novels. Broccoli Books is a division of Broccoli International USA. More information is available at http://www.broccolibooks.com.

Information About Other Broccoli International USA Divisions Can Be Found At:
Broccoli International USA, Inc. http://www.bro-usa.com (Corporate)
Synch-Point http://www.synch-point.com (Anime Production)
Broccoli Books http://www.broccolibooks.com (Manga Production)

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This is blogger Shiz.

I heard from our staff that AnimeNewsNetwork and MangaCast’s Ed is already talking about Honoka Level Up.

Geez, they can’t wait for a press release, can they?

I forgot to push marketing coordinator Jonathan to write up a press release, so he’ll get one ready by the end of this week. We didn’t make one for sola either, so maybe they’ll both be mentioned.

For those who aren’t familiar with Honoka Level Up, it’s about a high school girl who accidentally ends up working for a video game company as a character designer. She learns all the different elements of a game company & all the different parts that make a video game.

Fine, fine, fine.
We’ll work on the press release.