It seems Viz Media won’t be depriving the Zelda fans of manga for too much longer. While they earlier listed their Phantom Hourglass manga as not coming out for a very long time, they have a surpise under their sleeves. They recently listed the next volume in the series, an adaptation of A Link to the Past, which was written to promote the release of GBA port, as coming out on February 2. Which is in a week’s time!

Older Zelda fans should keep in mind that this isn’t the colour, made-for-the-US manga by Shotaro Ishinomori that was serialized in Nintendo Power way back when. So if you’re hoping from a nostalgic read, you’ll be disappointed. However, this version should be a fresh adaptation of the game, so I would give it a chance. This is the oldest game that Akira Himekawa have adapted (despite being one of their more recent works), so fans of the older games may want to check it out.

UPDATE: It appears I got confused and claimed the Minish Cap manga was not coming out for months, when it’s been out since December. I should have said Phantom Hourglass. Many apologies. It’s been a long week. And also, thanks to The Ocarina for alerting me to this.

The English translation of the manga adaptation of The Minish Cap is now released! This is the second last in the series by Akira Himekawa to date, with a Phantom Hourglass not due for an English release until September 2010, if Amazon is to be believed. No doubt there will be a Spirit Tracks adaptation at some point, but that remains to be confirmed, and when it does come about, don’t expect an English translation for a while. So, if you were enjoying Himekawa’s spin on the Zelda franchise, savour this volume, as it will be the last for a while!

P.S. Why is Amazon UK selling Spirit Tracks for a whopping £38?

In true “Espy isn’t really keeping on top of his manga releases” form, today I noticed that volume 2 of the Four Swords manga was sitting on the bookshelf of my comic book shop. So all you Zelda manga lovers can get your bi-montly fix. As for me… I still haven’t bought Oracle of Ages! I’m really falling behind with my manga-reading. University does that to you. Tell us what you think of the latest instalment! Four Swords didn’t exactly have a real plot, so how well do you feel it’s been pulled off?

Do we have a post for you.

This is a fan-made, life-sized Adult Link papercraft model. Made entirely of paper, it’s a surprisingly impressive representation of Twilight Princess Link. And the best thing! You can make your own! You can download plans for you to print here (you’ll need something to decompress RAR files), so you too can own your very own burnable Link. I made mine – it only took about fifteen minutes!

Joking aside, if anyone does actually take on this challenge, let us know how you get on. Click here for more images of the feat, and progress video logs, detailing exactly how this thing was made.

(P.S. I realised today that due to being away at the time, I did not update to let you all know that the sixth volume of Zelda manga, the first of a two-part adaptation of For Swords, has been released. It has been out for well over a month. Sorry about that. Please do not boycott our site.)

In typical “Espy can’t keep track of his manga releases” fashion, today I was in town, and spotted that the fifth volume of Zelda manga, Oracle of Ages, is now availible. It’s nice to have such a regular release schedule, though I haven’t even read Oracle of Seasons yet!

There’s little else to say, really. Surely I don’t need to come up with an unique, witty way of saying “There’s a new manga volume out” every two months, do I? Buy! Enjoy!

When I was in town today, I spotted that the fourth volume of Zelda-inspired manga, based on Oracle of Seasons, is now out. By now you’ve probably decided you’re a fan, or you’ve grown tired of the adaptations.

Anyway, there’s not much more to say. A new volume will be out every two-to-three months. Though there was never an adaptation of Wind Waker or Twilight Princess, so from now on, aside from a Link to the Past adaptation which was created to commemorate the game’s GBA re-release, all further volumes will be based on the “filler” games.

As the craze for video-game-themed cakes seems to be (almost) well and truly over, the internet seems to need another way of making their love of a certain video game or series into a photographable, internet-postable manifestation – one current forerunner for this position is weddings!

You’ve all probably heard of the Halo wedding by now, but all the time there was another video-game-themed wedding going on under the surface – one of Zelda. It was almost missed by the community, until our fellow staff member and friend Nate brought it to light (buy his CD! It’s good!)

 

  

The second volume of Viz Media’s English version of the long-running Zelda manga is now out. This volume continues the plot of Ocarina of Time, to completion. Volume three will be a self-contained adaptation of Majora’s Mask.

I enjoyed the first volume – obviously, a lot of changes have been made from the original game, but I thought it was a fun read. Did you buy the first volume? What did you think? Leave us a comment after the puzzle-solved jingle!

As a lot of you seem to be excited about the newly-translated Zelda manga, I thought I should mention that various online and high street stores are now selling volume 1 of the Ocarina of Time adaptation. I managed to find a copy of it in my local comic book store today, and considering I live in Scotland, I’d assume the majority of you shouldn’t have trouble finding it!

While browsing Amazon UK today, I came across something very interesting: volumes 3 and 4 of the upcoming Zelda manga! Yes, it looks like Viz Media are planning on releasing Volume 3, which covers the events of Majora’s Mask, set directly after Ocarina of Time, and Volume 4, which will jump through time and introduce us to a completely different Link as it covers Oracle of Seasons. This seems like pretty good confirmation to me – unless someone at Amazon HQ was bored and decided to photoshop the books’ covers perfectly, I’d say they look quite legitimate. They will be released, according to Amazon, on February 3 and April 7, 2009 respectively. In the meantime, the first two volumes, an adaptation of Ocarina of Time, will be released in early October and December. I’ll be sure to let you know when the first volume becomes availible (as manga is often sold earlier online than the street date)!