Youka Nitta
New Youka Nitta site (and e-books)! 
29th-Jun-2010 08:02 pm
Someone on the Youka Nitta LJ comm posted a link to a new official English language website for Nitta-sensei! Right now, there's a brief message from Sensei, a discussion forum, a lovely Iwaki/Katou wallpaper to download for your computer, and links to merchandise. The E-books section will link you to Amazon.com's Kindle store, where you can buy "LOL Theater" (the recent one-off story from the B-Boy Honey magazine) and Boku no Koe (the first chapter only, not an entire volume) in English. Book 14 of Haru is also available, but only in Japanese. I already own the print copy of Haru, but since the downloads are reasonably priced ($2.50 for LOL and Boku, and $6.95 for Haru) and I want to support Nitta-sensei, I went ahead and downloaded all three titles.

Even if you don't own a Kindle (like me), you can download the Kindle software for free from Amazon so that you can view the books on your computer. It works well enough, but I am a little disappointed that I can't zoom in to make the images larger--or rather, you can make the font size bigger or smaller, but it's still not quite large enough for my tastes at the maximum setting. The books are certainly viewable and legible in English, but it's a little too small for easy reading in Japanese--some of the more complex kanji are difficult to make out, and the furigana is impossible to read. (Not that it's a big deal in this instance, since I own a hard copy of book 14, but I'd hesitate to buy another Japanese download if that was going to be my only copy.) Maybe an actual device would have better zoom features, but I'm not sure. (I am thinking of getting an iPad eventually...)

But overall, I'm happy with my e-books, and hopeful that more titles will be forthcoming (including the rest of the Boku chapters).
Comments 
1st-Jul-2010 06:31 am
*closes update window* Thank you for posting, Geri! There's a forum there. I hope everyone will join and get talky!

I had downloaded "LOL Theater" a few days before the site debut. I think it was done by former Aurora/Deux employeers -- it had the same look. Plus, Animate USA has been releasing a lot of former Deux books on Kindle.

I also had to use the PC Kindle application for viewing the story (a one-shot, don't you think?) and found it difficult to adjust to the tiny type size. Once I became used to it, it was easier. The story was totally charming, and it contains what I would call an elaborate kiss. Be sure to read the background text of all the chat conversations. They're hilarious!

I very much love Nitta-sensei, but I don't think I'll be buying the other downloads until they're available in other formats or as entire books. New material, though....

It's really quite thrilling to see her back in action. I hope she'll pick up at least a few of her older series. I, for one, would die for a third book of Boku no Koe.

love, lore
1st-Jul-2010 08:37 am
You're welcome! I went ahead and registered for the forum--I even posted a short reply to your LOL post. ^_^

I'd prefer print copies, but if they come out with more stuff only available as e-books, I'll go ahead and buy them. I just wish the Kindle reader had a bit more flexibility--I really like Viz's online manga viewer, for example. The default is a nice size with a double page spread, and you can zoom in and out. Of course, it was specifically designed for reading manga, while the Kindle was designed mainly for reading text, so that makes a big difference.

Anyway, I do hope more discussion gets started on the forums. Not that I don't love discussing meta with you and Ribbons and Snapelike here, but it would be nice to get more people involved! ~_^ Curiously, some fans at LJ seem to be doubting whether the site is official or just a fansite--but there's a personal message from Nitta-sensei, and the return address for the forum e-mail to activate my account is from libre-pub.co.jp, so it certainly looks official unless some fan is pulling an elaborate hoax. I'm not sure why the doubt, unless they think it's too good to be true. But I'm not about to disagree and get my head bitten off again.
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