AI localization company Orange Inc. added Kantetsu and Chiho Minase’s Prison Lab (Kangoku Jikken: Prison Lab) manga to its “emaqi” e-bookstore service during the week of December 20.
The company describes the manga:
On the last day of summer break, Aito Eyama, a high school student crushed by relentless bullying, receives a mysterious letter. It’s an invitation to the “Confinement Game” – a twisted challenge allowing participants to imprison anyone of their choosing for a month. During this time, anything except murder is permitted against the confined person, and if the captor’s identity remains hidden, a substantial reward awaits.
Eyama selects Aya Kirishima, the mastermind behind his torment, as his target. Thus begins the young man’s dark quest for vengeance.
Futabasha published the manga’s first compiled book volume in February 2016. The series ended in its 10th volume in September 2019.
The manga inspired a net anime that debuted on Production I.G‘s Anime Beans app in December 2018.
Orange launched the emaqi service in the United States and Canada on September 3. The “emaqi” platform featured approximately 6,000 volumes of manga from 13 publishers in its launch, with plans to add at least one new title previously unpublished in English every week. Orange Inc. announced that it has secured translation, publishing, and distribution rights from publishers including Shonengahosha, Futabasha, and Akita Publishing. The company also acquired distribution rights from Kodansha USA Publishing.
The company’s partnership with Shueisha to localize one-shot manga from Shonen Jump+ allows readers to read newly translated stories in English several times a week, for free. Both the emaqi and Shueisha‘s MANGA Plus services are simultaneously publishing the one-shot manga. MANGA Plus had also announced its new program to release all one-shots from the Shonen Jump+ service in English simultaneously.
Readers can create a free account on emaqi and access the platform’s wide range of content. Each manga has a detailed synopsis, and sample chapters or previews that are available for readers to try out. Readers can buy individual volumes of a manga title, or subscribe to an ongoing series directly through the platform.
emaqi is web-based, and Orange is considering launching the service as a mobile app next year.
Source: E-mail correspondence
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