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Vertical Adds Satoshi Kon's Kaikisen Manga, Sickness Unto Death

North American publisher Vertical announced at its Katsucon panel on Friday that it has licensed Satoshi Kon's Tropic of the Sea (Kaikisen) manga (pictured right) and Takahiro Seguchi and Hikaru Asada's Sickness Unto Death (Shi ni Itaru Yamai) manga (pictured far right).

As Kon's first manga series, Kaikisen ran for 11 installments in Kodansha's Weekly Young Magazine from March to June of 1990. Kodansha had previously published the series in one compiled book volume in 1990 and again in a new edition in 1999. Kodansha then reprinted the manga in 2011. The "ocean fantasy" manga centers around a beach town where legend tells of "sea people" still who exist in the area. For generations the people of the town have kept a promise with these legendary people, but now resort developers threaten to force the townspeople to break that promise.

Kon had worked as a manga creator on Kaikisen and other works before deciding to delve into the anime industry with the art design of Hiroyuki Kitakubo and Katsuhiro Ōtomo's Roujin Z video in 1991. Kon went on to direct a string of critically acclaimed anime projects: Millennium Actress (2001), Tokyo Godfathers (2003), Paranoia Agent (2004), and Paprika (2006) before he passed away in 2010.

Hakusensha published Seguchi and Asada's two-volume Sickness Unto Death manga in 2010 after the series ran in the publisher's Young Animal magazine. The "literary love story" revolves around a woman named Emiru who suffers from a deep despair, and a man named Kazuma who tries to figure out the reason behind Emiru's sadness.

ADV Manga previously published the first volume in Seguchi's 6-volume Enmusu manga in North America.

Update: Vertical will publish Tropic of the Sea in September and the first volume of Sickness Unto Death in October. Vertical will be publishing both volumes of Sickness Unto Death separately instead of in an omnibus format.