Various shops are listing an October 7th release date for a curiously titled book, “The Legend of Zelda: Volume 1″. This appears to be the long-awaited English release of the Zelda manga series by Akira Himekawa (which is actually the pen-name for a creative duo). Himekawa has (have) created manga adaptations of many Zelda video games, including Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask and Link to the Past, creating nine volumes (or ”Tankobon” for you Japan-jargon-lovers) to date. While faithful adaptations, some changes are made to the plot, there are some bonus side-stories not featured in the games, and most notably, Link speaks!
Viz Media, one of the US’s biggest manga publishers which have popular titles such as Naruto, Bleach and Fullmetal Alchemist under their belt, appears to be the publisher. It is unknown where exactly they are starting with the releases, though it would be logical to assume they will start with the Ocarina of Time adaptation - the first created, and undoubtedly the most popular. Also, due to the ambiguous title on the listings, we don’t know if Viz are planning to release each separate game adaptation as separate series or as the one, nine-volume series.
Regardless of the trivialities, the Zelda manga series has always been a grey area for Western fans - many resorting to reading online translations (or even importing and pretending they understand Japanese!), so this news will undoubtedly please, especially Zelda fans who dabble in anime.
(Note: While Viz Media are an American company, their titles are quite easy to get ahold of in UK bookstores, and especially on shopping sites such as Amazon. So don’t worry about that costly importing, fellow Brits.)
Source (Anime News Network)
