Yeah, I just had a hunch after checking their site again and seeing nothing, then I check the book sites and see the 10/23/07 release, come to post that it'll be out soon, realize that was already days ago in mid-sentence, and hit the phones. I thought the same thing too; they publish the damn volume before they acknowledge they have the rights and plan to. Though we can't complain too much, I rather the book be available and the website never updated than the other way around, after all.
They're too busy working on the product itself to waste time updating their website.
A mini review of my copy:
First, thinnest volume ever, only 19 comes close, and this is probably the first time the art has fared at least as well via scans as it does here, or to put it bluntly, the art doesn't look as detailed as the previous volumes, and that stands out a bit more in this format. I don't think this is a coincidence concerning the size of the volume, the subject matter, and the pace Inoue kept up, plus the style he's going for in the fight. From a printing standpoint, the Ink is deep and heavy, which could certainly be affecting the look of the art (though the style of this volume lends itself to that/demands it), high contrast, black blacks surounded by white, and yet on a couple of pages it's too faint and somewhat washed out (the ones with some the most impressive artwork in my volume, naturally). On a plus side, there's no cropping issues here like in some past volumes (25), everything is squared up on the page. Here's a new one, it smells bad. =) Again, I suspect the ink, I can literally taste it and feel it in my stomach, I can smell it on my fingertips an hour after I've put it back on the shelf. I smell it right now as I type this.
Viz also didn't translate the sutra Takuan reads; I was most curious how they were going to handle that part, and while I wasn't necessarily expecting a typical or literal translation, I was expecting them to do
something to address it. They make no mention of why that entire portion isn't in English, if you didn't know what was happening before reading it, you wouldn't learn by looking at this edition. Though if you look in the glossary you can still find out about Takuan's book or that he shares his name with a radish; this information is readily available. Still, since I know what it is, I don't care (it's kind of cool to see as well).
All in all, compared to the previous volumes, this one kind of stinks... literally. That being said, this material is still still awesome to behold, if that makes sense after all this complaining. I'm just holding it to super picky standards 'cause, well, otherwise I'd just be gushing, and I'm sick to my stomach from the smell and it looks/feels more like half a volume, I want 27 too!
)
It's just the kind of humor that's my style, and I definitely didn't expect it from Inoue. Good show old chap.
