The Seven Seas Entertainment panel at Anime Expo 2019 showcased some of the titles currently offered by the #1 independently owned publisher of licensed, English-language novels and mangas. They then went on to list some upcoming vehicles they had previously announced, including the very sugoi dekai manga Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out, coming in September this year, the How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Can Lift manga, which just this week aired its anime adaptation, coming in November, and the SCP Foundation: Iris Through the Looking-Glass light novel based on the collaborative sci-fi horror internet project.
Seven Seas has done well for itself in recent years, growing from 65 published volumes in 2013 to 281 in 2018. They have added a Ghost Ship imprint for adult-oriented titles, as well as an S7 Games subsidiary that publishes tabletop games like Sonic Battle Racers, and the My Hero Academia and Tokyo Ghoul trading card games.
They have a specific goal to bring more LGBT content to the west, with very popular yuri titles forming the core of that movement. So it’s no surprise Seven Seas’s licensing announcements included the Bloom Into You light novel series, coming February 2020, which tells a side story focusing on Saeki Sayaka, as well as Citrus+, a continuation of Yuzu and Mei’s story from the previous manga. Citrus+ will be a digital simulpub with the Japanese release in Fall 2019 before a paperback release in February 2020.
My Androgynous Boyfriend coming February 2020 also has something to say about gender roles, identity, and expression where an office lady finds love with a gorgeous young man who cares quite a bit about his nails and hair.
Metamorphose no Engawa, to be released April 2020, is less directly an LGBT story, as an elderly woman accidentally buys a boys love manga and bonds with a high school girl over her newfound yaoi hobby.
And the last announcement I’m particularly excited about is Primitive Boyfriend, slated for a Spring/Summer 2020 release, is a shoujo manga about a girl who goes back in time and finds herself dating an early hominid. And as an early hominid myself, I am glad to finally see some representation in the shoujo genre.
Other announcements were:
The King of Fighers: A New Beginning coming January 2020, featuring all the characters from the SNK fighting game.
The Conditions of Paradise coming February 2020, a very popular yuri manga featuring adult women, which marks Seven Seas’s first yuri title not about teenagers.
At Night, I Become a Monster novel coming Spring/Summer 2020, by Yoru Sumino of I Want to Eat Your Pancreas fame. It’s a supernatural drama.
My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s is an isekai manga adaptation of an existing novel series coming March 2020. It’s about a stealthy high school student who becomes an assassin.
Gigant is a science fiction manga about an adult film actress who becomes a giant. Coming March 2020.
And I hope I have time to read half the things I clapped for at this panel.
