Both Digital Manga Publishing and SuBLime had fans glued to social media sources tonight when representatives from both teased they’d be announcing a number of new licenses this evening. I was following them both via their Twitter accounts (DMP/SuBLime) for the news.

Digital Manga (blog post):

The Man I Picked Up – CJ Michalski (June)

With a Dictionary and No Skirt – Tomoyuki Enoki (Project-H)

Colorful Harvest – Ponkotsu Works (Project-H)

An Ideal Day to Fall in Love – Ponkotsu Works (Project-H)

CJ Michalski’s The Man I Picked Up is about a club-owner who finds an injured young man outside his establishment. It’s a one-shot, love-at-first-sight boys’ love story by the same creator as That Was Good, which DMP published last year.

With a Dictionary and No Skirt, Colorful Harvest and An Ideal Day to Fall in Love are all one-shot volumes as well, all three published under DMP’s hentai imprint, Project-H. Colorful Harvest is the story of a young man returning home to help with his family’s vineyards where he meets an old childhood friend.

SuBLime (blog post):

Kiss Ariki – Youka Nitta

Awkward Silence – Hinako Takanaga

Both these new boys’ love titles are scheduled for digital and print releases (yay!) with their first volumes due out this summer.

Kiss Ariki is currently being published in English by Animate USA on the Kindle. Since August 2010 they’ve published seven chapters. Presumably SuBLime will be doing their own translations and typesetting. Several other Youka Nitta titles have been released by Animate USA and other publishers over the years, including DMP’s White Brand and Otodama. Her series, Kiss Ariki, is about a yakuza’s son sent to a deserted island for his protection. Along with him is the son of his father’s second-in-command. Two young men + deserted island? You guess the rest!

Hinako Takanaga’s Awkward Silence is my favourite announcement of the night. As a huge fan of the creator’s work, I’ll always be happy to have more of her books to purchase. This title in particular I’ve been buying in French and I’m super excited to get a copy in English (my French reading skills are more than a bit rusty these days!). It’s an adorable story about a young man whose shyness leads to trouble speaking and expressing his feelings. When asked out by the classmate he has a crush on, he begins to open up to both him and his friends. Very cute and often funny! I’d recommend this series to those who enjoyed Hinako Takanaga’s Little Butterfly.