Watch out, long news post below! Lots of info, so make sure to read it all.

To start off, let’s talk about what’s happening in July. There are 4 big things. The first one is that SK scanlations will starting up by then. The second one is that Takei is returning to France on July 13th-15th. As you’ll learn in the 32nd Volume of SK, the last time Takei went to France was just after Shaman King ended in Japan. But France was only up to Volume 25, so Takei wasn’t allowed to answer any questions about the ending of Shaman King. Also, his trip to France the first time was also a huge influence on him, since the main location in Jyuki Ningen Jumbor takes place in what would be France. So, Takei returning to France now is very big. And when there is big news stories, I make sure to cover them. BadS and I, along with BadS’ contact, will be posting all about Takei’s trip to France and the convention he will attending. Some video coverage will be provided (not sure what it will be yet, just wait and see!). BadS will also translate the questions and answers too, so depending on how long the video is, I may sub the video (into English). So that’s big and fun.

The third big thing, is that Butsu Zone volumes 1 and 2 will be coming out in Japan. These will be reprints of Takei’s orginal hit series. For the first printing, it was in 3 volumes. For the reprint, it’s now two volumes. The “cut” material will probably be the Butsu Zone oneshot (60 pages, so 3 chapters), Death Zero oneshot (another 60 pages), and Itako No Anna (60 pages). By removing those 3, an entire volume is gone, which I believe to be the plan. Also, all reprints always get a new cover art. The art style will probably be in Takei’s new style (like Jumbor). Hopefully it won’t be colored in CG like the Jumbor Volume, but we can’t be for sure. Also, Takei should have 2 new comments (located in the under cover flap). There may even be another comment located at the end of Volume 2, but I’m not sure. Both of these volumes will be released at the same time in July, so make sure to buy them. Strong sales of these two volumes could lead to multiple outcomes.
– Shaman King restarting
– Shaman King Volume reprints
– Butsu Zone restarting
– Takei making new Drama CDs (of Butsu Zone, or Jumbor, or SK)
– Takei starting up a new manga
– Takei makes lots of money.
So, let’s buy it, and make something happen!

The fourth big thing is that Shaman King will be leaving Shonen Jump. Ok, maybe this isn’t happening exactly in July. SJ issues come out a month before hand, so the August issue is the real ending of SJ, but that comes out in July, so I’ll count it for July. It will end with probably only one chapter, and just before the real start of the Shaman Fight. This so happens to be in the middle of Volume 13. Awesome. If you want to read what happens after that, you have to wait until September for the full volume. Once you buy that volume, you’ll get about 3 new chapters, then you need to wait until January before you get another new chapter. Awesome. But, the good side, is if you can wait that long, it’s bi-monthly after that! The Shaman King manga will finally be completed in 2011 (32-14 = 18 /6 = 3years)! Awesome. I never knew that bi-monthly releases can still make this series take forever to finish! A long road ahead, really bumpy at first, but if you can wait 6 months from now, it’s becomes much better.

Now onto some other news!

My goal for this summer is to finish Shaman King scanlations. What I define as “summer” is completely up to me, and it’s only a goal.

Next up on the list, is RAWs. You know, Mankin-Trad can host RAWs, not just scanlations. In fact, we used to (before I came along and tripled the number of releases). I want to do that again. But I don’t want to host SK volume RAWs. SK volume raws are easy to get, let’s aim for something better. To do this, I’ll need some help.

My goal is to host the following RAWs, the Jyuki Ningen Jumbor Volume, the Man.ji.en (SK character book), and the Official Shaman King fanbook. The big issue is that there are no RAW scans of these books on the internet yet. (There are also two Shaman King light novels too, which aren’t written by Takei, but there are some manga images in it. Another thing that would cool to have scans of, but it’s all text, so not so important) This is where you come in. I need somebody to purchase one or more of these books, and provide us with HQ RAW scans. So, you need the following:
– The book
– a scanner
– an internet connection
Yeah, it’s pretty simple. But, one of the requirements is that I want, and I believe most of the fans too, don’t want any “binding blur.” This means, you would need to de-bind the book and scan each of the pages. With this, the scans can be in HQ and much easier to read. Plus cleaning the scans (which the Mankin-Trad staff can do, heck, we can even do the cropping and file formating, and almost everything else) is much easier. There is alot of great info in those books, but before scanlations could begin, we would need HQ scans. So, if you think you can help out, contact me (andysislands), by going to our staff page, or contact page, or checking out my profile in the Mankin-Trad forums. If we get somebody for Jyuki Ningen Jumbor, we can get chapter 4 released (since that’s what it’s waiting on).

Also this summer, I’m working with some new translators to the Mankin-Trad network of people on another big project. An annoucement on that will come once we get more of that done. Trust me, it’s good.

Another project I’ve been working on, but have taken a break from, is dealing with the Shaman King: Funbari Spirits videogame. You may have noticed I made some videos before about the game. More are coming. This time, with a FAQ. There will be two FAQs. A complete text version, which will be on GameFaqs. A second version of the FAQ will be hosted on The Great Spirit network, with images and embeded videos to go along with the text. Also, there will be some media downloads at that time too (ending theme song, some OSTs, and character grunts). Text version will come out before the web version, but the web version will be a bit more detailed (since images and videos make it easier to understand). The reason why this project has been a little delayed is because I have a Xbox360 now. The time flies when you are “CRACK-ing DOWN” on the “GEARS OF WAR” that go through my head, just below my “HALO,” on which of the “3” options I should take.

Ok, that covers alot of news, but there is still more!

The side bar has been updated will all the recent releases! Awesome. That normally get’s updated in chunks, and today was the day.

Coming in July, probably, Mankin-Trad will be reducing the number of chapters we are hosting. Individual chapters will be removed and “Volume releases” will be put up. This is to make room for new volumes and series, and make that side bar a bit smaller. The Volumes that will be in these new “re-releases” are going to be Volumes 24, 25, and 26. I’m not sure what’s going to happen to Online Reading. It might stay on, but it would be online reading for the entire Volume (not chapters). The Volume releases won’t be broken up into chapters. Instead, it will be one chapter right after another, with new file names, and will also contain all the in-between extras (character profiles, .etc). The chapters will remain the same, so there is really no reason to re-download it, if you already have the individual chapters. Unless, you like Volume releases better, or you want to re-read it all again, right from the begining. If there is a huge demand, I can release a small mini-release of the “extra” content (so you can assemble it yourself for the Volume release, but it’s nothing important, and there is no new translations, so I don’t think I really need to.

Finally, it’s not a news post unless some manga chapter is released or delayed, right? Yeah, pretty much. But instead of delayed, I’m proud to release “Funbari No Uta Chapter 3!” My orginal plan was to wait until the end of Volume 28. But, again, I was hopeing to have all of Volume 28 released before we had to go on break. That didn’t happen. So, I’m releasing it now. We are over half done now. Only a few more pages left to go, but those won’t come out for a few volumes from now (to keep with about the same way they were released in Japan. With this system, you’ll get a similar feeling to how people in Japan felt, long breaks between chapters, and each leaving on a cliff-hanger comment, but not so much with this chapter.). So, download it now, you’ve read this crazy long news post, you’ve earned it. See you next time, maybe it won’t be a news update with a chapter release. Maybe it will be a news update with TWO chapters! (But I bet it won’t be)