I'm very realistic. This is not a Wish List - this is a full-on fantasy, fueled by ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, and with decidedly low chances of ever happening (with some exceptions.) Nonetheless. Here's my Fantasy Five wishlist, in ascending order of probability, and suggestions as to which company might want to look into it and why they won't. ^_^
Octave - There's pretty much no chance of this ever being licensed because none of the US companies knows it exists. Recommended Company: In past years, I might have suggested Tokyopop, but this series has low likelihood for becoming an explosion-filled movie, so they are probably not looking at it nowadays. It's not wacky fun romance, so Viz Shoujo is out. I'm going to throw a dart randomly and say DMP would actually be a good fit for this series AND they have a potential target audience all wrapped up already - adult women. They could totally make a go of it.
Strengths: Beautiful art, very adult and real storyline.
Problems with it ever being licensed: It stars two bisexual women in a pretty realistic relationship. That's just not Barnes & Noble shelf material. I give this a less than 5% chance of ever being licensed
Poor Poor Lips - I have already suggested to this to Yen Press, but don't get your hopes up. It's got an actual lesbian in it. That's always awkward, when trying to sell Yuri. Incestuous catgirls - no problem. Real lesbian - no way. Recommended Company: Yen Press. It's a 4-koma gag comic. It just happens to have a real story in it, as well.
Strengths: GREAT story. Good solid characters. Only slightly painfully goofy. One gag that actually morphs over time.
Problems with it ever being licensed: That darn lesbian. If only she were a loli, fox-eared, kimono-wearing witch! Then we'd have it already, I have no doubt. But Ren persistently remains an adult, out lesbian. How vexing of her. Chance of being licensed, Less than 20%.
Aoi Hana - They have it in France, but France actually appreciates elegant manga. The reason we don't have this boils down to one thing - we have no companies that DO this. It's not action, it's not romantic comedy, it's not gag strips, it's not BL.Recommended Company: If anyone were going to even look into it, I'd hope it was Vertical, but the chances of this, like Octave, ever selling enough to make it worth investing in is very iffy. Like Octave, I think DMP could make a go of it, if they ever decided to branch out for real into GL.
Strengths: Everything
Problems with it being licensed: Size of market and that's that. If there were 20,000 people who would buy it, I'd mortgage my house and get it myself. But there isn't. Chance of it being licensed ever: 25%
Gunjo - Where to begin with this? There is a lot here that would be problematic, but a lot that would not. The characters are adults, which makes this safer territory than Aoi Hana, oddly. Psycho lesbian murderers? Yeah, the US does that okay.Recommended Company: Viz Signature. They already have IKKI magazine. I'd like to see them add Gunjo to their online lineup. I could sell it for them, no problems.
Strengths: Violence, action, lesbian sex (and deep, awesome emotion, but no one cares about that)
Problems with it being licensed: Some stuff happened with it that made it an awkward sell. But if we all write Viz and ask nicely, maybe they'll do it. Or barring that - send me all your money so I can afford to print it. :-) Chance of being licensed: 30%
Ribon no Kishi - I have no idea what the hold up with this is. Vertical has been putting out Tezuka, this is a Tezuka title and everyone I know has asked them about it. All they keep saying is that it's not on the release schedule yet. I wonder why? Do they think Ayako will sell better than a title that is this well-known? No clue. I won't speculate.Recommended Company: Vertical, obviously
Strengths: This is a well-known title, has Girl Prince glamour and I know a lot of people are waiting for it to be added to the Vertical catalog.
Problems with it being licensed: None that I can see, so no clue what the hold-up is, just priorities, I guess. Chance of it being licensed - 50%
There it is. My fantasy five. I would be delighted if any of these make it to our shores, in any format. (Heck, I'd actually cough up for a digital system/platform/reader if that's what it took to get these over here.) I don't actually expect any of these soon, or at all, but I'd love to be wrong!