Amazon Canada is now listing the upcoming new CLAMP manga, Mangettes: Gate 7, and along with it, we have the first official details from the story!

Between our conscious, waking world and the subconscious state of slumber, there is a thinly veiled plane of lucid dreaming. While the conscious state belongs to individuals, the hidden plane of dreams is one shared by all human minds, past, present, and future. Yet only a few have ever possessed the power to enter this secret realm at will – where a war is being waged to control the waking world. For our earthly wishes and desires are not our own, but under the manipulation of these unseen masters of dreams. The heroine of Gate 7 is Hana, a high-school girl hailing from Kyoto, the daughter of a temple caretaker. Her peaceful ways give her the self-control to act in the hidden realm. But Hana can only reach it through the strange beast that acts as her totem in the world of dreams – and her companion on a journey to confront the puppeteers of our reality!

Amazon Canada gives a release date too, Mangettes: Gate 7 is slated for August 15, 2009.

Source: Kuriousity. And thanks a lot to everyone who let me know about it! Love you guys ♥

As for the plot, it sounds so interesting and promising! CLAMP handles really well dream sequences (see X), I’m eagerly looking forward to see their surrealism again. The plot reminded me a lot of their one-chapter-long Yumegari novel: high-school girl who can enter inside dreams. Pieces of it also reminded me of Matrix (the part where the dream world control the waking world). Very very interesting.

As for the title, Gate 7, mysterious at the very least. Is it a gate that leads access to the dream world? Or a gate the heroine will have to pass through at some point? And of course the number 7 had to be there, out of all numbers xD It’s too soon for speculations, I better stop xD

More information as they come!

skyless has sources that tell her that the english translator of the north american version of Tsubasa and XXXHOLiC, William Flanagan, is in negotiations to repeat the translator role for the english version of Mangettes, CLAMP’s next manga to be published by Dark Horse.

I haven’t checked the Del Rey version of Tsubasa or XXXHOLiC so I can’t really judge their translation, but if you have read it, feel free to let me know whether you like it or not =)

Thank you Georgia for the inside scoop!

Mangettes is slated for the first week of August, 2009.

EDITED on September 21, 2008: Confirmed by Dark Horse in this year’s Anime Weekend Atlanta, via gia, that William Flanagan will indeed translate the english version of Mangettes (although in her post she calls him Bill Flanagan).

Dark Horse representatives came to Powell’s Bookstore in Seattle recently to talk about their future projects, among them CLAMP’s Mangettes.

Still untitled, they revealed that publication is scheduled for Spring 2009. This date will coincide with CLAMP’s 20th Anniversary as well as Dark Horse’s 20th Anniversary of manga publishing.

Read more.

The article also claims that apart from the already announced Japan, USA and Korea, Dark Horse revealed that the manga will be simultaneously published in the UK and Taiwan as well (and possibly other countries).

They know but can’t say what anthology it will be serialized in Japan

I was REALLY wondering that… because Dark Horse doesn’t run any manga magazines in the japanese market, or does it? And I was wondering if the Mangettes would be published individually or sharing its pages with other manga titles. The latter seems to be the case. So, which will be, which will be? Is it from Kodansha or Kadokawa? Or maybe neither?

Source:

Dark Horse’s founder, Mike Richardson, was recently interviewed by website ICv2. In the interview, he makes an overview on Dark Horse’s manga publishing history and future plans for 2008.

He briefly mentions CLAMP and the deal they signed last year to produce a shoujo under Dark Horse due to 2009:

What are Dark Horse’s big initiatives or major events for 2008?

We’re very excited about seeing Clamp’s first work for Dark Horse late in the year. That’s a huge step for us internationally.  It is a significant partnership for us, if you know the mark Clamp’s made on manga and anime.

Even though he says “late in the year”, the press release informs that the manga is due 2009. Dark Horse managers will most likely check its content earlier than us for obvious reasons. So unless they change the release date, I think we can expect an early 2009 release.

Still not huge news, but it’s the first time we hear something about it since the press release ^^

EDIT: By the way, completely unrelated, but 2 months later Newtype has their article up on Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations premiere. Not exactly what I would call “right on time” but, this is for CLAMP’s pictures admirers (like me xD).

The American comics publisher Dark Horse announced today in a Press Release that, after 2 years of negotiations, they have signed a deal with CLAMP to produce a shoujo manga series beginning on 2009.

The manga will be serialized in small magazines of about 80 pages each, known as Mangettes. The name is a new term created by Dark Horse and CLAMP (more information on the press release).

The magazine will run monthly and will be simultaneously published on the United States, Japan and Korea. Just like a normal japanese manga, the Mangettes will be compiled into tankoubon format once it reaches a certain number of pages.

More information such as the story are yet to be announced.

Thank you for this information!

Excellent news! One more CLAMP shoujo on the way! This is definitely going to be their next project after they’re done with Tsubasa and XXXHOLiC. I just hope it’s a dark shoujo to contrast with Kobato.

2009 looks far, but it’ll coincide with CLAMP’s 20th Anniversary.

And well-done for CLAMP for experiencing new formats and tasting from different waters. Good luck with this new exciting project! ^__^