NYAF roundup

Well, as predicted, NYAF got along just fine without me. Here are the highlights from the bloggers who were there:

First of all, mad props to Deb Aoki of About.com, who got up early on Sunday to cover the State of the Manga Industry panel. And her extensive writeup is only part I—there’s more to come.

Bandai Entertainment: This company mostly publishes anime, but they noted at NYAF that they had picked up the license for the manga version of Gurren Lagann, which seems to be a big hit with the folks who like their pictures to move. (ANN, Gia, Japanator)

Del Rey: Moyasimon was the big news, and as noted below, you can also look forward to Amefurashi, Maid War Chronicles, a Tsubasa character guide, and some Cartoon Networ tie-ins. Deb Aoki has more info on all these titles. (ANN, Gia, ICv2, Japanator) (Amefurashi cover swiped from Deb’s blog.)

Kitty Media: This 18+ publisher had no new licenses to announce but Gia’s account of their panel includes an interesting discussion of marketing mature manga. It looks like BL is still doing well for Kitty.

Vertical: They had no new announcements, but the Vertical folks made everyone’s mouth water by waving around copies of their deluxe hardback edition of Black Jack. Unfortunately, it sounds like the classic manga they have been publishing, like To Terra, isn’t selling that well; in fact, according to ANN,

Vertical’s Ioannis Mentzis, one of the two presenters, noted that even if a manga like Tezuka’s 1947 New Treasure Island were available in English, sales would be extremely small. Fans who want to read this would be better and faster served by finding scanlations, he noted.

Meanwhile, their previously announced line of more mainstream manga has been held up because they are having trouble getting licenses, having been aced out of Square Enix by Yen Press. But watch for some interesting books on Japanese culture, including more Aranzi Aranzo craft books and a new line of cookbooks, coming soon. (ANN, Gia, Japanator) (Image is the cover of vol. 1 of Black Jack; click on it to go see a preview.)

Yen Press: The headline license is Hero Tales, by Fullmetal Alchemist creator Hiromo Arakawa; it will be serialized in Yen+ magazine before being collected. Other new licenses: Welcome to Wakaba-soh, by sola creator Chako Abeno; two manhwa, 13th Boy and Sugarholic; and the Spice and Wolf (Ōkami to Koshinryo) novels. (ANN, Deb Aoki, Gia)

Deb Aoki has quick impressions of the first two days, noting that many publishers stayed away and that the special “Top Secret” panel scheduled for Saturday was canceled. Kai-Ming Cha has some notes from the floor as well. Erica Friedman filed her con report, even though she was only there for a few hours, and Kethylia tweeted her impressions via Twitter. Active Anime and The Haisho teamed up on a very nice blog with lots of pictures and news. Lissa Pattillo recaps the news with a list of new licenses at Kuriousity.

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Comments

  1. Ioannis Mentzis brings up a nice point about scanlations. I make a huge point to buy the mangas I really love and wait patiently for each volume. I cut myself off from a manga if it’s licensed. That said, there are simply too much manga out there. Some will never be licensed. Maybe at some point when more then shojo or shonen is popular, that might happen (and it’s starting to happen now, with some surprised hits), but until then….