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NEC Biglobe Sells E-Books, Manga in International Android Apps (Updated)

On Monday, the Japanese online services provider NEC Biglobe announced that it has launched applications for the Android mobile device operating system which allows users to purchase digital manga in English and Japanese. The English version includes over 100 series for four audiences (shōnen, shōjo, josei, and seinen), such as Shirow Masamune's Appleseed, Kazuo Umezu's Cat Eyed Girl, and Yoshikazu Yasuhiko's Joan.

Each manga series offers a free preview, and users can purchase "tickets" in order to acquire additional chapters. These chapters vary in length. Tickets can be purchased in packs of 100, 500, 1,050, and 2,200; prices are listed both in Japanese yen and U.S. dollars. At press time, these prices were US$1.25, US$6.26, US$12.51, and US$25.02 respectively.

The application also features a donation program to raise relief funds for victims of the Higashi Nihon Daishinsai (Great Eastern Japan Earthquake). Users can purchase chapters of Tetsuya Kawaishi's Run, Melos! and Aya Tsujita's The Great Milkyway Railroad, and the proceeds from these sales will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross Society.

NEC Biglobe is launching the same service in Japan under the name "Top Books" on Monday. There are about 300 books such as Rose of Versailles and Kimagure Orange Road in the Japanese version. The company plans to add about 100 new titles a month and eventually have over 5,000 titles by the end of 2012 in Japan.

NEC Biglobe is planning to launch the service in France this summer, followed by Taiwan and other Asian countries this fall. NEC BIGLOBE aims to also have a 5,000-title lineup overseas in two years, as well as 1 billion yen (about US$12 million) in revenue by March of 2013 from both domestic and overseas electronic book sales.

Biglobe has launched digital releases in the past, such as the 2010 bilingual digital manga magazine Manga-Boshi and the 2009 Yutori-chan anime, in which new stories were announced via email.

Other companies offering or planning overseas electronic book services include NTT Docomo, Bitway, and Itochu.

Many of the titles currently available in the English-language application are manga based English-language Harlequin romance novels or on classic western or Japanese literature, although a variety of original works are also available. What follows is a list of the titles available at press time:

• 100 Credits of Sima Guang Hit the Tank by Sogyou
• Alexandros by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
• Always By Your Side by Sloaruru
• The Amalfi Bride by Ann Major
• Amber by Night by Sharon Sala
• Angus's Lost Lady by Marie Rydzynski-Ferrarella
• The Apartment by Debbie Macomber
• Appleseed by Shirow Masamune
• Avoiding Mr. Right by Sophie Weston
• Bachelor Cousins by Carole Mortimer
• Backwards Honeymoon by Leigh Michaels
• A Bed of Sand by Laura Wright
• The Billionaire's Secret Baby by Carol Devine Rusley
• Billionaire Bachelors: Stone by Anne Marie Rodgers
• Blue Moon Bride by Renee Rosel Wilson
• The Bride of Montefalco by Rebecca Winters
• The Brothers Karamazov by Variety Art Works
• Brothers of Bha'Khar by Teresa Ann Southwick
• Captain by Akio Chiba
• Cartoon Shih Chi - Gather Large Numbers of Talented People by Youyouto
• Cartoon Shih Chi - The Conqueror of the Spring and Autumn Period Wen-kung by Youyouto
• Cartoon Shih Chi - The Prime Minister of Zhou Jiang Ziya by Youyouto
• Cat-Eyed Girl by Kazuo Umezu
• Catching the Crown by Helen Conrad
• The Celebrity Doctor by Sarah Morgan
• The Cinderella Solution by Cathy Yardley
• The Colour of Desire by Emma Darcy
• Combination by Sei Leeza
• Comic Adventure by Solaruru
• Crash Junky X Spirit by Nekokichi Ranma
• Crime and Punishment by Variety Art Works
• Cucumber Sandwich by Higasa Akai
• Daniel and Daughter by Lucy Gordon
• Die Verwandlung by Variety Art Works
• Di Zi Gui by Youyouto
• Dominion C by Masamune Shirow
• DominionF by Masamune Shirow
• Eleven by Taro Nami & Hiroshi Takahashi
• Encouragement of Learning by Variety Art Works
• The Fantasy of Childhood Dreams by Manmei
• Father and Son Detective by Yasuichi Oshima, Norio Hayashi
• A Fierce and Powerful Person by Uyou
• The Generation of Marriage after Graduation by Moutokubiga
• Ghost Rabbits by Sogyou
• Go Pirates!! by Hisashi Eguchi
• A Group of Hip-Pop Animals by Saishikun
• The Haw-Haw Wong Fei-Hung by Saishikun
• Heartbreaker by Diana Palmer
• Heroes of the Three Kingdoms by Kengeitou
• Heroes of Water Margin by Kangeitou
• Hiba -Wild Seven Another- by Mikiya Mochizuki
• Hold Me Always by Solaruru
• Honor's Promise by Sharon Sala
• I Am Little Pudding by Songen'i
• Ichigeki-Den by Yasuichi Oshima
• An Insatiable Passion by Lynne Graham
• In the Arms of the Sheikh by Sophie Weston
• It is Done by Three Members of the Family by Sogyou
• Jesus by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
• Joan by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
• Journey to the West by Kamui Fujiwara
• Keeping Luke's Secret by Carole Mortimer
• Kentuck Fried Chicken by Sogyou
• Kid by Kenichi Kotani
• Killed by a Kiss by Hiromi Kobayashi
• Kimodameshi -Dare Game- by Solaruru
• King Lear by Variety Art Works
• Le Rouge et le Noir by Variety Art Works
• Les Miserables by Variety Art Works
• Long-Distance Marriage by Sharon Kendrick
• Lord Calthorpe's Promise by Sylvia Andrew
• Love Me, Little Red Riding Hood by Solaruru
• Magic Academy - Miire & Rajie by Solaruru
• Maid Angel by Show Hagoromo
• Married Under the Italian Sun by Lucy Gordon
• Master Sun's Art of War by Youyouto
• Methods of Drinking of the Crow by Sogyou
• Milky Way Railroad by Variety Art Works
• The Million-Dollar Man by Leanne Banks
• Mistress Bought and Paid For by Lynne Graham
• Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Variety Art Works
• A Most Suitable Wife by Jessica Steel
• One Summer in Italy by Lucy Gordon
• Only by Chance by Betty Neels and Chieko Hara
• Orchard Valley Trilogy by Debbie Macomber
• The Poor Man's Dining Table by Maki Otsubo
• The Possessed by Variety Art Works
• The Prince's Heir by Sally B. Steward
• Princess of Convenience by Marion Lennox
• Prisoner of the Tower by Mona Gay Thomas
• Psychic in the Super-Shell Orion by Masamune Shirow
• Psychic File Ogata Katsumi by Mayuri Yamamoto
• Public Wife, Private Mistress by Sarah Morgan
• The Quiet Don by Tatsuo Nitta
• A Royal Proposition by Marion Lennox
• Run, Melos! by Tetsuya Kawaishi & Osamu Dazai
• Sale or Return Bride by Sarah Morgan
• Save the Cafe by Solaruru
• ScanDoll by Kotani Kenichi
• The School Ys by Show Hagoromo
• The Seduction Bid by Amanda Browning
• Shocking Fair Tales - The Frog Prince by Saishikun
• Shoes Reflected in a Puddle by Solaruru
• Something Old, Something New by Donna Fejes
• Sorcerian - The Sorcerer of Darkness by Show Hagoromo
• Stars of Samure by Show Hagoromo
• Stephen's Angel by Rin Sasaki
• Stop!! Hibarikun! by Hisashi Eguchi
• Suzunari High School Detective Club by Takumi Kusakabe
• The Tale of the Stone God -Guarding You at Your Service- by Solaruru
• Thirty-Six Strategems by Youyouto
• This is Osaka City Editor's Desk by Akihiro Otani & Yasuichi Oshima
• To Marry a Stranger by Renne Roszel Wilson
• To Woo a Wife by Carole Mortimer
• Traded to the Sheikh by Emma Darcy
• War and Peace by Variety Art Works
• Way of Cutting by Uyou
• What One has Learned from Chuang-Tzu by Youyouto
• What One has Learned from the Analects of Confucious by Youyouto
• Wife by Agreement by Kim Lawrence
• A Wife in Time by Cathie L. Baumgarden
• Word of a Gentleman by Lynda Stone
• Yangtze River No. 8 by Saishikun
• Ys by Show Hagoromo
• Ys Side Story -A Tomb of Immortality by Show Hagoromo

Source: animeanime.biz

Update: Added list of titles, relief fundraising information.