Based on the incredibly popular animated film by Hosoda Mamoru, Vertical has licensed the manga adaptation of Summer Wars from mangaka Sugimoto Iqura. The Amazon solicitation went up earlier yesterday. Vertical has since confirmed the license, and will be releasing it as 2 omnibus volumes with original color pages, and even some words from the artists!
The manga was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten’s Young Ace magazine in July 2009, shortly before the film premiered in Japan. Sadamoto Yoshiyuki (of Neon Genesis Evangelion fame) lead his talents for the character designs and supplemental material in each published volume. The manga ran until May 2010 and was collected into 3 volumes. Vertical is scheduled to release volume 1 on October 22, 2013.
This is a pretty big grab for Vertical, even though its been a few years since the film was released, and then licensed by FUNimation (later released on home video in February 2011). Nevertheless, this property still has considerable clout and value, as the film itself was critically received by fans and film critics alike. Hopefully the manga adaptation will see a warm welcome, as I’m almost positive it will.
