User:KrebMarkt/Ki-oon

Ki-oon is a French licensor and publisher of manga and manwha founded in 2003 and based in Paris, France. Ki-oon is the only French publisher to have signed with mangakas without intermediary.

History
Ki-oon was founded in October 2003 by Cécile Pournin and Ahmed Agne. Its first release Element line was made six months later and five books were released its first year. In 2005 it reached a cruise speed of four releases per month. Ki-oon is the transcription of an Onomatopoeia meaning heart full of emotion. Initially based on Trappes in the Yvelines, France, it is now based in Paris. At its creation the staff was constituted off its two founders who in order to learn the whole publishing process and not to rely on outsourcing, handled all aspects including translation, adaption and graphic design of their releases. As of October 2009 Ki-oon's staff is made of four members with the translations and graphic design aspect outsourced.

Publishing policy
In a 2004 interview they explained that they were not here to "revolution" the market and their ambitions is limited to publish what they like. In an interview given during Japan Expo 2009 they explained the editing policies: We publish a title only because we read it and we like it not because it belongs to a defined editorial category. Their catalog is not structured by genre.

Ki-oon particularity is to sign mangaka without intermediary and acting as their literacy agent outside Japan including Tetsuya Tsutsui's Duds Hunt, Kotobuki Keisuke Kamisama and Mamiya Takizaki's Element Line which they licensed to Tokyopop for North America.

Comment: UBER UGLY DRAFT meeehhhhh. A lot of stuff missing. :(