8.15.2008

iTunes Hosts ABe's Pochiyama at the Pharmacy

Yoshitoshi ABe's dojinshi manga, "Pochiyama at the Pharmacy," is now available on iTunes App Store in 20 countries, including the U.S. and Canada. ABe is best known for his work on "Serial Experiments Lain," "Haibane Renmei" and his contribution to "Robot" the manga compilation of most esteemed artists including Range Murata.

ABe's 53-page manga, which sells for US$4.99 or 600 yen, uses Ubiquitous Entertainment's multilingual comic viewer software for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch devices. The software allows faithful reproduction of original art and has the ability to toggle the dialogue between multiple languages. ABe's "Pochiyama at the Pharmacy" manga includes both Japanese and English dialogue in one edition; the software will display the manga in the language that the user has configured for his or her iPhone or iPod Touch. [Note: The iTunes manga application will only play on iPhone and iPod Touch].

Kodansha, Sonoran Blue, and Bbmf are adding about two dozen manga titles to Apple's App Store in Japan, but "Pochiyama at the Pharmacy" is the first manga to be released in 20 different countries. It is also the first to ship in one edition with two different languages.

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