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J-Comi Hosts Mafia to Lure Manga by Hen Zemi's Tagro
posted on by Egan Loo
The manga creator TAGRO (Abnormal Physiology Seminar/Hentai Seiri Seminar) announced on Wednesday that he is posting "three episodes from Mafia to Lure," a 2002 collection of his short story manga, on the ad-supported J-Comi website run by fellow manga creator Ken Akamatsu (Negima, Love Hina). Seikaisha is republishing the collection this fall, so the online release of "Monorail," "Toriko no Musume," and "Traveling Mood" is a promotion for the upcoming reprint.
Akamatsu later revealed that he and TAGRO were in the Chuo University manga club at the same time. Together, they went on to become assistant artists for "a certain" creator. Akamatsu compared TAGRO's manga style (at the time) to the then popular art style of Takehiko Itō (Lord of Lords Ryu Knight, Outlaw Star) and the stories of Masamune Shirow (Appleseed, Ghost in the Shell).
J-Comi now supports the ability for readers to add commentary or even translations to its titles. Akamatsu has been promoting his "Illegal (Out-of-Print) Manga File Purification Project" — an effort to make scans of out-of-print manga legal, with ad revenue going to the original creators.
TAGRO's Hen Zemi manga inspired the ongoing anime of the same name.
