Everything’s kind of late this week, including my posts. Here’s MangaCast’s rundown of the week’s new manga, which went on sale yesterday because of the holiday.
And they have a sweet Shojo Beat scoop: The editors are taking Nana out of the magazine (but will still publish it in graphic novel form) and they are replacing it with Honey and Clover. Meanwhile, on the boys’ side, according this LJ post, big changes are afoot at Shonen Jump as well. (Via ComiPress.) ANN has more.
Spot the error: ICv2 has a bit more on the Tokyopop/Kaplan vocabulary books, along with a cover shot. And they add
Tokyopop and Kaplan Publishing are planning to introduce additional volumes of vocabulary-building manga that will expand the number of exam-favorite words defined and allow teens to build their vocabularies in a much more pleasurable (and easy-to-remember) fashion than pouring over dry vocabulary lists.
Emphasis added. (It should be “poring.”) It’s a common error, but ironic that it would pop up here; the editors’ contempt for vocabulary lists is just a tad too apparent.
Okay, /snark. ICv2 also has a brief article about first-quarter sales that is really more of a promotion for their latest graphic novels guide, but does include some hard info: The best selling GN for the first quarter of 2007 was 300, although Naruto has surpassed it since. And some nice news for the girls:
Eleven of the top 25 manga properties identified by ICv2 are true shojo titles, while other key properties such as Naruto, Full Metal Alchemist and Bleach have substantial numbers of female readers. The distaff side of the market is also responsible for the increasing sale of “boys’ love” and yaoi titles, stores about relationships between male characters created largely by female artists for female readers.
Tech talk: 40% of Japanese consumers have downloaded manga to a computer or cell phone at least once. I’m always suspicous of this sort of survey, and just because they have downloaded some manga in the past doesn’t mean they do it every day. Over 60% say they plan to try it in the future, which is interesting, although obviously there’s a lot of overlap with that initial 40%.
how do you think Shojo Beat will fare minus the bread and butter Nana?
i picked up a copy of sb the other day and i liked it, but found i prefer the TPB style. i’ll keep at it and try to make the transition. one thing i liked was the advertisements (but this may be because i’m an advertising designer) – they really are a great way to keep up with the latest jpop trends.
regarding manga used a a learning aid – i’m not very supportive of this.
by reading your response to the ICv2 editor i am thinking you do not approve of the editor’s contempt for vocabulary lists? so I am wondering — do you approve of using manga as a learning aid? If so, I would be interested in hearing your point of view.
All day i have been thinking about ,a href=”http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/02/1339206″>Ring finger ratios as indicators of vocabulary development
I do approve of using manga as a learning aid. Vocabulary lists are a dreadful way to learn, and there haven’t been too many alternatives. (I tell my students to read a lot and do crossword puzzles.) I just thought it was ironic that they made a vocabulary error (“poured” instead of “pored”) in an article about vocabulary.
As for Shojo Beat, I thnk Nana will be a loss but it sounds like Honey and Clover will appeal to a similar audience. One of my daughters reads it purely for the articles, anyway. The other likes Nana but also enjoys Millennium Snow and some of the other serials. I think most readers are like that—if they were only reading it for Nana, it would be cheaper to just read the books and skip the magazine altogether.
thank you for responding on that. you’re totally right, reading is the best way to improve vocabulary. i had to think really far back to just what exactly what a a vocabulary list was! gosh i feel rather old now hahaa One thing my mother always said to me was “when you use a word three times, it becomes yours.” that has always stayed in my mind.
i understand what you’re saying about the irony of it… i suppose it is too hopeful to think the editor was being clever. ;)