Anime Expo opens, CPM says goodbye

From glancing at Twitter and my news feeds, it looks like the first day of Anime Expo included some good music and some anime license announcements, but not much of note for manga fans. ANN summarizes the keynote address Austin Osueke, publisher of eigoManga. This was sort of interesting:

according to Osueke, there’s a shared notion among all manga publishers that the big-picture goal is to push past the niche market for manga and introduce the material to the market as a format rather than a genre, which is what manga is currently perceived as among the general buying public.

He then notes that manga sales dropped 17 percent from 2007 to 2008 and that Diamond’s new minimums are hurting independent publishers like eigoManga. The alternatives he cites include webcomics, social media such as Facebook, etc. Apparently eigoManga is working on an iPhone app that would allow users to read a sample and then order the manga straight from their phone.

In a somber (but classy!) reminder of the alternative to such innovation, Central Park Media said goodbye to their fans via an ad in the program.

Other AX events: Ai Kano of Animanga Nation gets a brief interview with Loveless creator Yun Kouga. Gia liveblogged the Anime, Manga, and Hollywood panel at Anime Vice.

Lissa Pattillo lists the new manga we can expect in July.

Attention publishers: David Welsh would like someone to please license Otherworld Barbara.

Lori Henderson goes in search of the elusive Basara Devil Kings manga and gets an answer—but not the one she wanted.

Christopher Butcher posts some more photos from Japan, including the Tezuka World installation at Kyoto Station.

Reviews

Casey Brienza on Clover (omnibus edition) (ANN)
Sadie Mattox on The Color of Earth (Extremely Graphic)
Shannon Fay on Don’t Rush Love (Kuriousity)
Sesho on vol. 2 of Future Diary (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Diana Dang on Gaba Kawa (Stop, Drop, and Read)
Lori Henderson on vol. 4 of The Gentlemen’s Alliance+ (Comics Village)
Connie on vol. 10 of Golgo 13 (Slightly Biased Manga)
Julie on Hard Rock (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 13 of Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs (Comics Worth Reading)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 13 of Love*Com (Comics Worth Reading)
Connie on vol. 3 of Otomen (Slightly Biased Manga)
Carlo Santos on vol. 3 of Pluto (ANN)
Lorena on chapter 10 of Rin-ne (i heart manga)
Erin Jones on vol. 1 of Shinobi Life (Mania.com)
Connie on vol. 1 of Sugarholic (Slightly Biased Manga)

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Comments

  1. thats kind of a strange way to say good bye by buying an ad in the con guide

  2. brittany says

    It’s always sad to see a company die, especially in a niche industry such as this. I wonder if Tokyopop will be the next one to fall…

    Speaking of, does anyone know what’s going on with their release schedule? Rave Master 33 was supposed to be out in March and there’s still so no sign of it (even on their, I’ll admit, disorderly website).

  3. Isn’t it strange that it was Austin Osueke giving a talk on the status of the manga industry? Seems like an odd choice to have a publisher without any penetration into bookstores discussing what’s good for the industry. Not that I don’t agree with some of his points, but still… very odd choice for a speaker. Guess they couldn’t get one of the big publishers to come talk.

  4. Tommy Raiko says

    “thats kind of a strange way to say good bye by buying an ad in the con guide”

    On the other hand, if memory serves, CPM has always been a good partner of Anime Expo, so maybe the show gave them that ad as an opportunity to bid their farewells. Or maybe CPM booked the ad a long time ago, and not having anything else to use it for, they used it for a farewell. I would like to think the former, though; as cynical as I’ve become, I still like to think there’s room for a little grace in the business world…