ICv2’s ten most powerful list inspired David Welsh to come up with a list of the Ten Most Creatively Influential Manga Publishers. Notably absent from this list are the Big Two, Viz and Tokyopop, although ADV makes the cut. I seldom disagree with David—our tastes are remarkably similar—but I’d like to put in a good word for the creaking dinosaurs. Viz has demonstrated, with titles like Monster, Death Note, and The Drifting Classroom, that you can have adult manga that deliver good stories, not just swords and panty shots. Tokyopop is bringing over a lot of good manga that’s being ignored (Mitsukazu Mihara, anyone?) as well as growing their own. Without that initiative we wouldn’t have Off*Beat, Fool’s Gold, or The Dreaming, to mention only a few titles.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the boutique publishers. Nothing makes me happier than hearing that Go!Comi or Seven Seas or Del Rey is picking up another book. But the big guys have done their share as well. They just aren’t very good at marketing what they do, and both produce (let’s face it) a lot of unsophisticated manga to pay the rent.
So I’d toss out ADV (who seem to have thrown in the towel) and Drawn & Quarterly, who aren’t so much a manga publisher as a publisher who occasinally handles manga, and I’d throw Viz and Tokyopop a little love.
Always quick on the mark, Simon Jones at Icarus does a happy dance (Icarus is on the list) and adds
PreCur’s picks underscore something I feel will be of ever greater importance for new independent manga publishers in the future… specialization and clear editorial vision.
Now that, I agree with.
Meanwhile, The Beat picks up on the Top Ten list, and Number One himself drops in with a comment.
A few more quick notes: Yuri Monogatari 4 is available for pre-order.
DRMaster has signed video game designer Yasushi Suzuki to design a new manga.
Michelle Ramonetti of Anime on DVD reviews Petite Cossette and likes it better than I did.
“Meanwhile, The Beat picks up on the Top Ten list, and Number One himself drops in with a comment.”
Lest you feel slighted, I have dropped in for a comment or two here before. Now if I can just avoid ever, ever being referred to as “Number One” again…
That you have, Kurt, and it made my day!
Whoops, I only meant “Number One” in the nicest possible way. But from now on you’ll just be Da Man.
lol
Just bad STNG vibes from it. No worries.
Ah. Sorry. I don’t think I’ve ever even seen STNG, so I didn’t realize…
That’s an excellent point about the Big Two, Brigid. I think I tended to discount them because of the sheer volume of their output tends to diminish individual quality. If I went back and did it over again, I would almost certainly give a nod to Viz Signature and, at the very least, Tokyopop’s Blu line.
To David:
I am curious, why do you consider TOKYOPOP’s Blu line more Creatively Influential than their OGM line?
Svetlana, I think I’m probably being overly partial to things that seem like a line or that fill a particular niche. And while there’s lots of good stuff in the global manga line, it’s easier for me to look at Blu as a whole and see it as filling a particular niche, i.e. a wider range of yaoi and BL.
I still don’t understand why it should go under the “Creatively Innovative” title you chose :D;;; Are you saying a niche line is more creatively innovative than a line that explores different areas and new things? I’m just trying to understand your reasoning for choosing TPOP’s Blu line as their Creatively Innovative flag—DMP and Be Beautiful were waving that one very forcefully before TPOP (and still do—along with a bunch of other companies, from what I’ve seen).
*still confused* ;__;
That’s a fair point. “Creatively Innovative” was probably a misnomer, as I was really thinking more in terms of innovation drivers — publishers who were exploring different niches and expanding what’s available in terms of genre and audience. And really, excellent arguments could be made for just about any initiative, including Tokyopop’s global manga line or Viz Signature or even Shojo Beat or Tokyopop’s lower-priced books for younger readers, and on and on and on. Basically, it’s just a case of a blogger doing off-the-cuff bloviation, and I’m glad you’re making me think more critically about how I framed things and what I overlooked.
Oh, okay, so it wasn’t just me being dense, phew! Thanks a bunch for clarifying.
Oh, you weren’t being dense at all. You were just giving a perspective I hadn’t considered and should have, so thanks!