Let the retrospectives begin!

With just 11 days left in 2006, people all over the web are starting with the retrospectives and best-of lists. At Anime on DVD, Ed Chavez begins his publisher-by-publisher year-end summary with a look at ADV, which, unsurprisingly, gets low marks. This is a shame, because they should do better. They have some strong titles, and at one point their production values weren’t bad, but they seem to have sunk so low they aren’t even trying to do damage control any more—what, they couldn’t hire a college student to update the website? To me, that shows contempt for the readers. Given the number of people they have disappointed, it’s not surprising that the forum turns into a group hate.

I’m saving the PW top manga lists for another post, but also at PW, a panel of critics votes on the best comics of 2006. Manga makes a poor showing on this list, with none getting more than two votes (out of six).

Meanwhile, the best-selling novel in Japan this year was based on the Gintana manga. The article notes that novels based on manga have been selling well in the U.S. as well.

In other Japanese news, MangaCast has the winners of the 10th Annual Japanese Media Arts Festival. Check it out so you can look longingly at that Yotsuba&! cover, as that may be the closest you ever get to it. Darn you, ADV!