History
In April 2005, Seven Seas became the first manga publisher to release downloadable manga content for the PlayStation Portable and, as a result, gained over 12,000 downloads in the first five days.[3] Seven Seas followed the PlayStation Portable announcement with enlisting the platinum-selling Filipino group the J Brothers to create a theme song for its web OEL manga series Aoi House entitled "Itsumo Futaride". During Comic-Con 2005, Seven Seas Entertainment premiered the pilot of its No Man's Land flash anime series and later followed it with a flash animation music video based on Aoi House.
In October 2005, it announced plans for its first Japanese license for novels and manga from the Boogiepop series by Kouhei Kadono and Kouji Ogata.
In September 2006, Seven Seas announced a project to translate and publish Japanese light novels, including popular titles such as Strawberry Panic!.[4]
In March 2008, Seven Seas Entertainment began publishing new editions of Rachel Robert's popular children's fantasy novel series Avalon: Web of Magic in conjunction with Red Sky Entertainment. A three-volume manga spin-off titled Avalon: The Warlock Diaries followed which started in June 2009.[5] Seven Seas and Red Sky Entertainment also launched a dedicated website for the Avalon novel series in September 2008 at AvalonMagic.com.[6]
On August 1, 2012, Seven Seas Entertainment launched the ad-supported free webcomic portal Zoom Comics in partnership with Pixie Trix Comix. The initial launch titles included Amazing Agent Jennifer, Dracula Everlasting, Paranormal Mystery Squad, and Vampire Cheerleaders.[7]
On January 20, 2017, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that it had partnered up with online light novel publisher J-Novel Club to release their licensed properties in print.[8]
On October 11, 2017, Seven Seas Entertainment announced a new manga imprint called Ghost Ship for its mature titles. Manga series licensed under this imprint are distributed through Diamond Book Distributors.[9]
On October 5, 2018, Seven Seas Entertainment won the Harvey Award for Best Manga for its English version of My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness.
On November 13, 2020, Seven Seas Entertainment announced a new imprint called "Airship" for its light novel and Japanese prose novel licenses.[10]
On November 20, 2020, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that it would be switching distributors worldwide, with all imprints moving to Penguin Random House Publisher Services from July 1, 2021.[11]
On December 21, 2020, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they would publish Hiveworks webcomics in print.[12]
In early 2021, it was found that Seven Seas Entertainment had been making alteration to their English translations of certain light novels.[13]
On August 4, 2021, Seven Seas Entertainment began licensing Danmei novels from China, beginning with The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, and Heaven Official's Blessing, all written by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu.[14]
On January 5, 2022, Seven Seas Entertainment began releasing Korean webtoons in print, beginning with PULSE, Love is an Illusion!, and Killing Stalking all published on the Lezhin Comics web platform.[15]
On January 26, 2022, Seven Seas Entertainment announced a new imprint called "Steamship" for its shōjo, josei and teens' love romance manga titles, beginning with GAME: Between the Suits, I'll Never be Your Crown Princess!, Ladies on Top, and Outbride: Beauty and the Beasts.[16]
On May 23, 2022, employees of Seven Seas announced the formation of "United Workers of the Seven Seas", a union working with Communications Workers of America.[17][18] On May 29, 2022, Seven Seas management announced that it would not voluntarily recognize the union and has requested an election with the NLRB.[19]
On May 25, 2022, Seven Seas Entertainment began licensing manhuas from China, beginning with the manhua adaptation of Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation.[20]
On May 31, 2022, it was revealed that Seven Seas had hired the law firm of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart to represent them[21] in their NLRB case with their employees. In response the United Workers of the Seven Seas tweeted out that Seven Seas had hired "the union-busting firm Ogletree Deakins" to counter their union efforts.[22]
On June 24, 2022, the United Workers of the Seven Seas announced that Seven Seas had agreed to voluntarily recognize the union after a majority card check.[23]
On May 30, 2023, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they would begin publishing audiobooks under the new "Siren" imprint in the following month.[24]
Controversies
In early 2021, it was found that Seven Seas Entertainment had been making alterations to their English translations of certain light novels. This resulted in multiple lines or paragraphs being altered for the English release. Some of the titles affected were Classroom of the Elite, I'm in Love with the Villainess, and Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation.[25] Altered sections were made without consulting the original authors and involved controversial issues including sexual assault and homophobia. In the case of Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation this involved plot points being rewritten, while in I'm in Love with the Villainess it involved omitting text.[26]
After receiving criticism, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they would be revising these changes, republishing the affected volumes, and making changes to their editing process to "make sure important lines are not lost".[27]
In May 2022, Seven Seas Entertainment released the first volume of I Think I Turned My Childhood Friend into a Girl. Their localization of this was criticized for portraying Hiura – a feminine male character in the original – as a trans woman and removing the intent of it being a boys love story;[28][29] Seven Seas Entertainment responded by revising this for future volumes and for reprints of volume 1.[30]
