Right Stuf, Inc. is pleased to welcome Ioannis Mentzas – the editorial director and executive vice president of Vertical Inc. – to episode 66 of ANIME TODAY.

In this new interview, Mentzas discusses how Vertical’s publishing strategy differs from other North American publishers and the challenges of bringing popular Japanese manga, novels and non-fiction to English-speaking readers. Also, he talks about classic manga by Osamu Tezuka (Buddha, MW, Dororo) and Keiko Takemiya (Andromeda Stories, To Terra) and shares details about Vertical’s upcoming release of Tezuka’s Black Jack.

Also in Episode 66:

• Chad tells listeners “What’s Hot” in the world of anime and manga.
• Shawne gives listeners the rundown on how they can “Sail into Summer with Savings” on graphic novels and other books from TOKYOPOP.
• Chris Wanamaker, the president of DC Anime Club, talks about the club’s upcoming screening of Vexille at the Embassy of Japan’s Japan Information and Culture Center on May 29, 2008.
• Kris and Judy share the scoop about another Tokyo shopping hotspot, Nakano Broadway, in the “Anime and Gamers’ Guide.”
• Rich and Nick announce a quick new contest from Viz Pictures for tickets to screenings of the Death Note Movie and remind listeners about the contest for copies of the graphic novel Dark Wraith of Shannara.
• Marie checks out Kozue Amano’s manga Aqua and Aria.
• Judy-sensei returns with a new mini Japanese 101 lesson and tackles a new Anime Today Q&A question.
• Listen to musical clips from the JapanFiles.com CDs fantastic starline and Limited-trax by maria gadget.
• And finally, ANIME TODAY highlights some of the newest fan reviews from RightStuf.com visitors.

Ready to listen in? Download episode 66 now!

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I have to say that it's nice to see a company that deals mainly with vintage manga, since there are a number of really good titles from that time.

I'll be getting Dororo and Black Jack and I hope that Vertical will hopefully be able to do some older Go Nagai, Shotaro Ishinomori, and Masami Kurumada mangas. I even sent them an e-mail about those authors.

I was saddened that there was no talk about Anime Central.

I tried, but I couldn't get anyone on the phone. (But we did plug them with in the AnimeCons.com segment in the episode prior to this one.)

Aw. That's too bad D=.

Oh, and that reminds me of a comment I wanted to make; I personally think you're plugging the anime cons too late. If anyone listening actually wants to go to any of these cons, they'd probably need at least a month's warning, if not longer ^^;;