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Viz Media to Release Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection Manga, NieR: Automata Novels (Updated)

Viz Media announced at the C2E2 event on Sunday that it will release the Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection and Juni Taisen: Zodiac War manga in print. The company additionally announced it will release the NieR:Automata: Long Story Short and NieR:Automata: Short Story Long novels.

Viz Media describes Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection:

The master of horror manga bends all his skill into bringing the anguished and solitary monster, and the more loathsome beast who created him, to life with the brilliantly detailed chiaroscuro he is known for. Also included is the Oshikiri story cycle – a high school student who lives in a decaying mansion connected to a haunted parallel world. Uncanny doppelgangers, unfortunately murdered friends, and a whole lot more are in store for him.

The company will release the book this October.

Viz Media is releasing Akira Akatsuki's Juni Taisen: Zodiac War manga online for free, and also released writer NisiOisin (Monogatari Series, Medaka Box) and illustrator Hikaru Nakamura's (Saint Young Men, Arakawa Under the Bridge) original Jūni Taisen: Zodiac Warriors light novel. Viz Media will begin releasing the manga in print this October.

The manga will end in its fourth volume in Japan on July 4. The manga launched on Shueisha's Shonen Jump+ app and website last September.

The light novel also inspired a television anime adaptation that premiered last October. Crunchyroll streamed the series, and Funimation streamed an English dub.

Viz Media will release NieR:Automata: Long Story Short this October, and will release NieR:Automata: Short Story Long in spring 2019. The company describes the novels:

When alien forces invade with an army of Machines, the remnants of humanity must depend on Androids of their own design – the placid 2B and the excitable 9S – to survive.

Jun Eishima (Drakengard, Emblem of Roto: To the Children who inherit the Emblem manga story writer) wrote both novels, which are based on Yokō Tarō and Platinum Games' PlayStation 4 game. Square Enix released Shōsetsu NieR:Automata Nagai Hanashi (Novel NieR:Automata Long Story, pictured left) in Japan on August 5, and released Shōsetsu NieR:Automata Mijikai Hanashi (Novel NieR:Automata Short Story, pictured right) on October 24.

The original game shipped for the PlayStation 4 in Japan in February 2017, followed by North America and Europe in March 2017. Square Enix also released the game on PC via Steam in March 2017.

Viz Media also announced it will release YOSHiNOBU's Make Animals: Felt Arts how-to felting book this November.

The company additionally announced it will release a Pokémon Pocket Comics Classics manga starting in November, and the Pokémon: I Choose You! manga starting this winter. Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! is based on the Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! film, which opened in Japan in July 2017. The film's plot tells the story of how Ash (Satoshi) and Pikachu came to know each other.

Update: Viz Media clariied with ANN that Pokémon Pocket Comics Classics is a new set of the company's "Pocket Comics" with four-panel comics, stats, and jokes. The company describes the manga:

Your favorite classic Pokémon from the first two generations appear in this fourth volume in the series: Pikachu, Ninetails, Charmander, Psyduck and Clefairy—to name just a few!

Pokémon stories, puns, jokes and vital statistics!