The World of Narue

[touma]

I just saw a news article at ANN saying that The World of Narue manga was ending. That surprised me mostly because I thought that it had ended a long time ago.
It started about 12 or 13 years ago and CPM Manga dropped it six or seven years ago after volume four. Apparently it had a very slow release schedule, averaging about one volume per year in Japan.

I am now wondering if there is a chance that another North American publisher might pick it up.
It was published in Kadokawa Shoten and I think that every North American publisher has licensed something from them. All of the various Haruhi titles that Yen is publishing are from Kadokawa Shoten.
The World of Narue started so long ago that is seems old, but it is just now finishing, which makes it seem new. So I don't know how that would influence a decision.
It will probably end with 13 original volumes, which will make it a bit long for some publishers. I think that Adam Arnold has said that Seven Seas is not interested in anything over 10 volumes.
And I do not know if either the anime or manga was popular enough here.

I love the anime and enjoyed the four volumes of the manga that I have read, so I really do hope that somebody will take a chance on it.

[kijakusai]

Recently I happened to riffle through Volume 11 of The World of Narue.

Originally Posted by touma

That surprised me mostly because I thought that it had ended a long time ago.

Since The World of Narue was sometimes on hiatus, probably it took more years to conclude than continuous serialisation.

Originally Posted by touma

I am now wondering if there is a chance that another North American publisher might pick it up. ...And I do not know if either the anime or manga was popular enough here.

If the 'anime version as a booster rocket' theory is applied, the 'peak', if any, may have been the time when the DVDs were released in a sense.
As you said, since there are North American publishers that have relations with Kadokawa, the possibility would be not zero percent, however.

By the way, have you noticed that The World of Narue is wordplay on A. E. van Vogt's The World of Null-A? Marukawa Tomohiro is a fan of science fiction.
　

[touma]

Originally Posted by kijakusai

If the 'anime version as a booster rocket' theory is applied, the 'peak', if any, may have been the time when the DVDs were released in a sense.

True, and unfortunately we are well past that peak time. Even the relatively new Sentai release was over three years ago.

As you said, since there are North American publishers that have relations with Kadokawa, the possibility would be not zero percent, however.

Unfortunately I doubt that it is much higher than zero, for reasons which have been given.
I am going to consider importing a few volumes and reading scanlations for the translation.

By the way, have you noticed that The World of Narue is wordplay on A. E. van Vogt's The World of Null-A? Marukawa Tomohiro is a fan of science fiction.
　

No, I had not noticed. That is rather embarrassing because I have read The World of Null-A. My only excuse is that I never thought about how "Null-A" might be pronounced in Japan.
Now that you have mentioned it it does seem obvious.

[kijakusai]

Originally Posted by touma

I am going to consider importing a few volumes and reading scanlations for the translation.

Dr Keene Donald took the first step toward Japanology when he happened to buy Arthur Waley's translation of The Tale of Genji at age 18. (He wrote that there had been a Japanese girl at his elementary school and he had got interested in the principal's politely calling her name in the 'family name + given name' order, though.)
It may be not a bad idea for you to start to learn Japanese in order to read The World of Narue (and some 4-koma manga). ^_^

Originally Posted by touma

That is rather embarrassing....

Since I have seen a 2channeller say that he didn't notice the wordplay in a thread where people was talking about The World of Narue, you need not feel embarrassed. ^_^

Originally Posted by touma

...how "Null-A" might be pronounced in Japan.

If an average Japanese person sees the term equivalent to 'Null-A' printed on the jacket of a Japanese edition of the novel and pronounces it as a loanword, the pronunciation of it would be /naru eː/.

Amazon Japan also sells the Kindle version of The World of Narue.
　

[Damius]

First thing I did after reading the thread was to go on wiki to know more about The World of Null-A. Looks really interesting.

[kijakusai]

Originally Posted by Damius

First thing I did after reading the thread was to go on wiki to know more about The World of Null-A. Looks really interesting.

Yeah, van Vogt's The Voyage of the Space Beagle, too, is pretty good.
A Japanese archaeologist appeared in it.
Takachiho Haruka borrowed Coeurl from The Voyage of the Space Beagle when he wrote the Dirty Pair series.
Ishinomori Shōtarō named a character in his Cyborg 009 after van Vogt.
　

[Rusty]

I read a number of van Vogt books earlier this year. Slan was easily my favorite and I also liked the sequel that Kevin Anderson finished after van Vogt died. The Weapon Shops of Isher was also very good as was The Voyage of the Space Beagle. I wasn't as fond of the World of Null-A, but thought it was okay.


I read the first three volumes of World of Narue when they came out long ago. I never saw the fourth and fifth volumes, but would probably pick up the rest of the series were it to see the light of day in the US again.