There are some scenes of gory violence as well as nudity in Tetragrammaton Labyrinth and I would very much like to know if the English language version will be toned down (i.e. censored) in order to avoid controversy and/or appeal to a broader audience...

Given that Seven Seas got its start by creating original titles and we are manga fans ourselves, Seven Seas is very much against censorship. We do not tone down manga or censor artwork.

Also, Tetragrammaton Labyrinth is a part of our new STRAWBERRY line of Yuri manga titles which focus on girl/girl relationships and this particular book will be rated Older Teen. As for the content, it's in league with gothic horror titles like Hellsing, so expect that type of action and violence. But again, it won't be censored.

Thanks for the quick answer! Made my day! I already have the four available volumes in Japanese and now I'm definitely going to buy the English versions as well.

That is good to know.

Out of curiousity, was there any hesitation to license this particular title given that the artist-creator Ei Itou has also done some hentai? Also, am I the only one here who encountered the Ei Itou's hentai before hearing about this less hardcore title?

Personally, I was kind of impressed with the hentai which is part of why I'm looking forward to this title's release.

This book just has some nice blood and gore (and yuri subtext). It's kind of like a darker version of Chrono Crusade, actually.

OK, now you are really getting my interest up. Please keep giving us these little notes. Thank you.

I know, I wasn't trying to imply it was anything extreme. I just wanted to know if the creator's hentai works had any impact on the licensing for Tetragrammaton Labyrinth.

I just thought it would be interesting to know if there was any awareness of Ei Itou having also done some hentai. Seven Seas has displayed boldness with recent licenses so I just wanted to know just how bold ya'll really are. A lot of people tend to view all of a person's works in totality rather than evaluating each individual title based on it's own merits.

Since my first exposure to the artist was through a Yuri hentai two-parter, I'm very curious to see what, if any, simularities there will be in the story-telling structure and art styles.

The fact that he did some other work never factored into it. We were only looking at how Tetragrammaton Labyrinth would fit into our publishing line, really.

really I didn't know that. Its good to see that there are companies that are not afraid to get there hands dirty over cencorship.

This is not a case of a publisher getting there hands dirty or not. Seven Seas is just printing the book as it was intended and nothing else.

Given what I've found on this series it also has a bit of humor in it, but it is very dark humor which should make it interesting humor.

Also the whole idea of a company getting their hands dirty with censorship is interesting. Personally I think companies get their hands dirty by censoring something not by releasing a title in the original form. So I also stand and cheer Seven Seas for printing this and all their other novels as they were originally written.

Oh and back to the manga itself, I think this series is going to be interesting if it is "a darker version of Chrono Crusade".

Thank you Ryokosha, you really understand things, This is going to be fun when it comes out.

That's a good way to look at things. I'm sure some companies would have had someone in marketing giving them some hypothetical "what if someone finds out and gets upset" line.

If there's one thing I am really liking about Seven Seas, aside from your high production values, it is the corporate mindset you seem to have. You don't seem to think censorship will help your sales and you don't seem to care about mythical manga protestors the way some companies do.

It's refreshing to see a company that looks at each title and judges it for it's own merits and doesn't get worked up over a little fanservice.

Ryokosha: You are quite correct in your view on censorship.

I agree and think if you don't like it don't buy it.

That is a view few seem to agree with, but the view more should hold. As we are finding from these and other wonderful series, people miss a lot when they only read a censored version.

Other companies publish manga by former hentai artists (heck pokemon was done by a former hentai artist) But most of the time they are sensored like in Tenjo Tenge (done by the Hentai artist Oh Great!) The origanal has a lot of exposed boobs and in the translation bras are drawn on them.

Just Wondering, am I going to be able to find volume 1 of this at Anime Expo 2007 this weekend? The Manga's says june 07. Amazon says July 4. And is seven seas going to have a booth at AX this year?

We will have copies at our booth this weekend. ^_^

Is there any chance of a preview??