Seeking help with Licensing Manga

Hello R.A.A.M., my name is Marko Elezovic, from Croatia.

Croatia has never published a single manga title, except when you take into account 'Akira' which was published not directly in Croatia, but in ex-Yugoslavia. Over ten years ago.

My family owns a publishing firm called Element (www.element.hr) and has published hundreds of books/journals from various authors up to date.. but never of a manga (or comic) type.

Since I am a big anime/manga fan I have brought the manga publishing idea to the firm, and I was given a chance.. open hands and resources to make it possible. Our anime fan-club here in Croatia is capable of making a good translation, machinery is also prepared to do the task properly, so all we really need is to obtain a licence for a manga title.

After some contemplation, we have agreed that Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto would be a great introduction of manga to Croatia since it's has attained only positive feedback from all over the world. Other then that, we also thought about one of the manga classics, Ranma by Rumiko Takahashi.

This project has been branded a non-profitable one, taking into account the current state Croatia is in. Manga and anime are something very distant here and only a few dozen people know the actual meaning of the words. As usual, most of Croatia is ignorant to japanese animation in any form other then 'Pokemon' and 'DragonBall Z' some of the populace saw on Cartoon Network.. But we must start somewhere. And I am honored by a chance to be a part of that introduction.

My question is regarding proper manga licensing and copyrights. Where can one obtain licencing rights for a country / region? Who must one contact to gain further information?

Thank you in advance. Marko Elezovic aka Limo Driver ^_^

I don't work in the industry, but... Much of Dark Horse/Studio Proteus's manga has been sublicensed for publication elsewhere, so it's possible to go to a rights holder of a translated version, depending upon their license. If not, one approaches the original Japanese publisher, in this case Shueisha. This is not a task lightly undertaken

First things first; thank you for your precious time and effort to help Croatia in it's time of need ^_^ The links and info will be assimilated into my Croatia-domination notebook.

Seriously, now; you have shed much light on this matter, and for that I give my thanks.

I hope we won't need too much of it!

Croatian Otaku Society is honored with becoming an underset of W.O.P., and hopes to become a worth addition to the cause! Now, if you will excuse me, I have to write some letters /_/ Until hearing.