Ironcat

Present Titles:

Vampire Yui [Kyuuketsuki Yui] (Narumi Kakinouchi) - Volume 1 began running monthly in July 2001, now serializing volume 5, one collected volume available
Vampire Princess Miyu [Kyuuketsuki Miyu] (Toshihiro Hirano & Narumi Kakinouchi) - this is the rest of the "original" Miyu manga - 9, possibly 10 volumes - apparently including the volume Antarctic published.  Starts coming out as graphic novels in December 2001.  Three volumes available

Past Titles:

New Vampire Miyu [Shin Kyuuketsuki Miyu] (Toshihiro Hirano & Narumi Kakinouchi) - Ran monthly till June 2000, all five collected volumes available
Dhalia the Vampire (Narumi Kakinouchi) - began running in June 2001, concluded at six issues October 2001, collection forthcoming in 2002/3.

Future Titles:

My Codename is Charmer [Codename wa Charmer] (Narumi Kakinouchi) - October 2003
The Wanderer (Narumi Kakinouchi) - 2003
Ren Ai (Yun Kouga) - August 2003

History

Many people don't even realize Studio Ironcat has been publishing a shoujo title pretty much since day one, in the form of New Vampire Miyu.  Conversely, they do not advertise it as such, focusing instead on the creative team behind it and its horror roots.  Since completing Miyu, they have started its sister series Yui, and now will be publishing the more adult Dhalia.  Speaking to them recently they indicated they fully intend to publish more Kakinouchi works in the future, which is a great sign, and will hopefully lead to more works of shoujo horror being published.

In its early days Ironcat was criticized for less-than-stellar touch-up work, reproduction and translations.  However, they have taken great pains to rectify this, and the graphic novel collections of earlier works (like the early Miyu) feature corrected transfers and translations.  Ironcat comics are notoriously hard to find, so check out their web page, www.ironcat.com, if you are having problems.

© 2000-2002 Mariela Ortiz (sapphire@wuv.org)
Revised: Tuesday, 28 January 2003