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Viz Media Licenses Strobe Edge, Ayakashi Koi Emaki Manga

The Shojo Beat imprint of North American manga publisher Viz Media confirmed on Thursday that it licensed Io Sakisaka's Strobe Edge manga and Mayu Shinjo's Demon Love Spell (Ayakashi Koi Emaki) manga for release this year. Viz's distributor Simon & Schuster had listed the first Strobe Edge volume with a November release date, although it no longer does.

The story of Strobe Edge follows Ninako Kinoshita, a meek and quiet high school girl. One day when Ninako is returning home on the train, she meets Ren Ichinose, the most popular boy at her school. From this chance encounter of just a few words and a smile, Ninako's first love begins. Sakisaka (Watashi no Koibito, Ao Haru Ride) launched the manga in Shueisha's Bessatsu Margaret magazine in 2007, and the manga ended last year after 10 compiled book volumes.

Shinjo, the manga creator of Sensual Phrase (Kaikan Phrase) and Love Celeb, began Demon Love Spell in 2008 as a two-installment manga in Shueisha's Margaret magazine in 2008. The heroine is Miiko, a girl training to be an exorcist at a shrine. The story begins one day when she performs an exorcism on a chō-ikemen (super handsome male). After the success of the two-part story, Shinjo extended the story as a regular series in 2009, and Shueisha published the fourth compiled book volume last July.

Update: More background information added.