Monday update

Posted on October 20, 2008 by Brigid Alverson

ICv2 seems to be working its way around the industry talking to all the honchos. This week’s get is John Ledford of ADV, but don’t expect any insight into when the next volume of Yotsuba&! is coming out. Manga doesn’t get a single mention in the interview, not even when ICv2 asks about ADV’s product mix going forward. Also, when the interviewer asks whether ADV has been able to find fresh capital after breaking up with Sojitz, Ledford talks for quite a while about other things, “reinvent our business,” “reached out to new partners,” “focused on our core strengths,” etc. Presumably if they had found a new investor, the answer would have boiled down to a simple “yes.” That wasn’t the case here, although they did have some anime announcements to make.

Yamila Abraham of Yaoi Press follows up her previous post about the state of the global manga business with some more optimistic thoughts for creators.

Tiamat’s Disciple follows up a discussion on this blog with his own thoughts on scanlations and how publishers can increase sales. At the Icarus blog (NSFW), Simon Jones points out that Google ads for pirate manga sites turn scanlations (and just plain scans) into a commercial activity.

I’ve seen all the justifications, and the continually moving goal posts… ”we can scanlate because these aren’t licensed”, then “we can scanlate because these aren’t commercially available yet”, then “we can scanlate because the official translations are awful.” I may disagree with some of those arguments, but they are rooted in legitimate grievances, and all within the realm of reason. But a line has to be drawn somewhere, and for the love of Tezuka, if the fandom as a whole cannot come out and roundly denounce the illicit profit-making off of scanlations and scans of commercially-available manga before turning this into another entitlement debate, then there’s no hope for this industry at all.

John Thomas continues his discussion of the perils of translation at Mecha Mecha Media.

Deb Aoki has an insightful interview with Wendy Pini, creator of Elfquest and Masque of the Red Death, about publishing, bringing girls to comics, and more.

Erica Friedman rounds up this week’s yuri news at Okazu.

Matt Blind has crunched the summer online sales numbers and presents them in five different formats: an info dump of all the data, the top 10 series and volumes, the top 150 series, estimated publisher market share (with a colorful pie chart!), and a publishers’ scorecard.

The Viz blog spotlights Eagle, a manga that features an Asian-American candidate for president. (Via Manga Recon.)

Japanator is giving away free manga to two randomly selected readers. Drop them a comment to enter.

News from Japan: Monthly Dragon Age magazine has announced a new manga series will be based on the Chrome Shelled Regios light novels by Shūsuke Amagi. This will be the fourth series based on the novels. And here’s a post from a travel blog on where to buy manga in English when you’re in Japan.

Reviews: Madeline Ashby took my advice and read vol. 1 of Astral Project, and she’s glad she did; her review reflects her own experiences in Japan. Lissa Pattillo has short reviews of ten good Halloween reads as well as a longer look at vol. 8 of Loveless at Kuriousity. Ed Sizemore critiques vol. 2 of Toto! The Wonderful Adventure at Comics Worth Reading. Deb Aoki reviews MW at About.com. At ComicMix, Andrew Wheeler reviews three manga that have little in common: the first volumes of B.Ichi, Wild Animals, and Mao-Chan. At Manga Recon, Kate Dacey and Michelle Smith are On the Shojo Beat with a look at vol. 1 of Blank Slate and vol. 1 of Captive Hearts. Dan Polley isn’t too impressed with vol. 1 of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Official Casebook. EvilOmar posts a flurry of short manga reviews at About Heroes. Michelle Smith checks out vol. 4 of Fairy Tail and vol. 2 of Silver Diamond at Soliloquy in Blue. Hazel has a positive review of Red Colored Elegy at Anime Infatuation. Tiamat’s Disciple reads vol. 1 of Wild Animals and vol. 5 of Cynical Orange. Mangamaniac Julie reviews Lover’s Pledge at the MangaCast and Angel’s Coffin and vol. 13 of Nana at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Erica Friedman looks at a Japanese yuri title, vol. 1 of Hakodate Youjin Buraijou Himegami, at Okazu. Ferdinand checks out vol. 1 of Slam Dunk at Prospero’s Manga. Tangognat reads vol. 5 of High School Debut. Sesho checks out vol. 2 of Vampire Knight at Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews.

Posted in Mangablog | 4 Comments

Mike Richardson speaks, Google ads promote pirates?

Posted on October 17, 2008 by Brigid Alverson

ICv2 has a four-part interview up with Dark Horse CEO Mike Richardson in which they talk about about all sorts of things, including the state of the manga market, the question of where shoujo readers will go next, and the impact of scanlation on retail sales. Start here with part one and click your way through, although if you’re only interested in manga, you can skip part four. And thanks to Journalista, here’s another interview with Mike, this one centering around Dark Horse’s recent donation of comics to Portland State University. (Art is the cover to vol. 10 of Oh! My Goddess, the series that first brought Dark Horse into my house.)

ICv2 has brought up the question of scanlations in several interviews recently, as there seems to be an increased perception among retailers that illegal online manga sites (some of which carry scanned American manga in addition to scanlations) are cutting into their business. In that context, I found David Doub’s article about Goodle ads for pirate sites to be an interesting read. While the Google exec that David contacted him assured him that they are “working diligently” to prevent ads from linking to sites that infringe copyright, I have to say that I myself have been noticing more ads for pirate sites.

In their latest podcast, the Ninja Consultants chat with Yani from Vertical and Serger from Advanced Media Networks about The Guin Saga.

The MangaCasters choose the best of this week’s new releases. And at Precocious Curmudgeon, David Welsh takes a second look at the newest releases.

Same Hat links to another chapter of Dance! Kremlin Palace! and highlights some new Japanese art-comics from PictureBox.

At Rocket Bomber, Matt Blind summarizes last week’s online manga sales and calculates the top 500.

This article about concern among adults in Viet Nam that manga is corrupting their children has a very familiar feel to it; I’m sure I linked to it or something like it before. Anyway, it’s worth a look, if only so you can enjoy John Jakala’s commentary on it.

Thanks to Manga Recon for reminding me that Tokyopop is taking a survey of visitors to its recently redesigned website.

News from Japan: Honey and Clover artist Chika Umino is one busy lady; her latest project is the cover art and a manga booklet for the new Dreams Come True CD. ANN also has the Japanese comics rankings for the past week.

Reviews: Animanga Nation’s Ai Kano is my kind of reviewer:

I love to cook and so a Shojo Beat Manga like Mixed Vegetables comes along and I’m all over it like Elvis and a banana and peanut butter sandwich.

Too bad she finds vol. 1 of Mixed Vegetables to be a dud! Snow Wildsmith checks out vol. 5 of Chocolat at Manga Jouhou. Ken Haley reads the Goth manga and contrasts it with the novel at Manga Recon. John Thomas looks at an interesting hybrid, The Akiba: A Manga Guide to Akihabara at Comics Village. Connie reads Hino Horror 9: Ghost School and Solanin at Slightly Biased Manga. Julie reads vol. 11 of Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Lissa Pattillo gets in the mood for Halloween with a new theme and reviews of vol. 3 of Psychic Power Nanaki and vol. 2 of Metro Survive at Kuriousity. Tiamat’s Disciple checks out vol. 4 of Black God and vol. 7 of Angel Diary. Sandra Scholes reviews vol. 1 of .hack//XXXX and Scott Campbell looks at vol. 10 of D.Gray-Man at Active Anime. Michelle Smith checks out vol. 3 of Akira and vol. 1 of Touch at Soliloquy in Blue. Erica Friedman judges a book by its cover and then finds out she’s totally wrong when she actually reads vol. 1 of Poor Poor Lips at Okazu. At Read About Comics, Greg McElhatton reviews vol. 19 of Blade of the Immortal after reading the entire series in a massive Blade-a-thon, which gives him some interesting perspective on this most recent volume. Ferdinand is not impressed by Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney at Prospero’s Manga. Emily checks out Royal Green at Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page. Tangognat can’t get enough of Black Jack. Kris reviews Candy and vols. 1 and 2 of Oh my god! at Manic About Manga.

Posted in Mangablog | 19 Comments

Review: Astral Project, vol. 1

Posted on October 16, 2008 by Brigid Alverson

Astral Project, vol. 1
Written by marginal (Garon Tsuchiya)
Art by Syuji Takeya
Rated M, Mature
CMX, $12.99

Astral Project is a smartly drawn supernatural tale set in the grittier parts of modern-day Japan. If this first volume is any indication, it’s more of a mystery than a horror story; it just happens that the ability to leave one’s body and float off into the night sky is an important plot element.

Masahiko is your typical alienated young man of fiction, estranged from his parents, living alone in a small apartment, working nights as a chauffeur for a high-end call girl service. As the story opens, he gets a call from a total stranger telling him that his sister, Asami, has died. He goes home for her funeral, dodging his father, and takes back with him only one thing to remember her by, the CD she was listening to when she died. But when Masahiko listens to the music, something startling happens: His soul departs his body and goes floating over the streets of Tokyo.

At first, he thinks that this is what killed his sister—she left her body and couldn’t get back in time. This story is far more complex than that, however, and the creators unspool a number of plot threads in this first volume. Masahiko takes the CD to a jazz expert who identifies the musician performing the music, but this session is like none other ever recorded. There are hints of plots and conspiracies. Yukari, Asami’s friend who broke the news to Masahiko, pursues him, but he’s not interested; all he wants to do is figure out what happened to his sister. Tantalizing clues are dropped along the way.

As that plot develops, Masahiko is also testing out his newfound power to leave his body behind and travel around Japan. He starts to meet others who have similarly shed their skin: Zanpano, an old man who is a wino on earth but more of a wise elder in the astral plane, and a mysterious, gruff young woman.

Although Astral Project tries to be dark, there is an element of innocence to the story. Masahiko works with call girls, but his one friendship with a co-worker is strictly platonic. What’s more, he is drawn not to the alluring Yukari but to the younger, more innocent girl he meets on the astral plane. This, plus his resentment towards his parents and his boyish love of his big sister, make him seem very young. Aside from the scantily clad call girls, there isn’t much in volume 1 to merit an M rating; perhaps, as often happens, the sex and violence will be ramped up in later volumes.

Takeya’s art is intriguing but rather odd; the faces and figures may seem stiff and out of proportion, and the backgrounds seem to have been designed by M.C. Escher, but the overall effect is slick and expressive. Takeya likes to pull in tight on characters’ faces, particularly at moments of revelation or emotion, and he composes the page in interesting ways, often just showing slices of faces and objects to unfurl the story. In most of the book he uses just two or three tones, which gives his figures an almost metallic smoothness. This would be monotonous in lesser hands, but Takeya is not afraid to experiment with hatching and stippling to add interest. The only place this doesn’t work is in Chapter 3, when he starts rendering Masahiko in a rougher, scratchier style. It doesn’t work very well, and he soon reverts to his smoother, more linear technique.

The characters are one of the best parts of this book. Tsuchiya’s writing and Takeya’s character designs produce a cast of unique characters, each one different and interesting in his or her own way: Masahiko’s plump call-girl friend, the ponytailed jazz expert, the crafty Zanpano. Admittedly, the main characters are manga stereotypes—the blank-faced, slightly bitter young man, the seductress, and the innocent young girl, but the rest of the cast is a rich and varied crew.

There are no extras, but the slightly larger trim size of this volume shows off the art to good effect, and at least partly justifies the higher price tag. Takeya’s art has a monumental quality—he often fills a panel with a single image of a head or a hand—and his nightscapes are breathtaking. It would be a shame to squeeze those down to standard tankoubon size.

This first volume sets up a supernatural mystery with an interesting puzzle, some intriguing characters, and a polished, occasionally edgy art style. I’m looking forward to seeing where the creators bring it from here.

(This review is based on a complimentary copy supplied by the publisher.)

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Selling manga the YP way

Posted on October 15, 2008 by Brigid Alverson

At the Yaoi Press blog, YP publisher Yamila Abraham writes about the realities of global manga publishing and the marketing mix that works for Yaoi Press. This is fascinating reading for anyone who is interested in the nitty-gritty of manga publishing. She begins by pointing out that it’s actually more expensive to produce OEL (original English language) manga than licensed titles, and that publishers are more interested in tie-ins to existing properties (Dean Koontz and CSI are the examples she gives) than original global manga. Then she discusses how Yaoi Press makes its money, and the importance of convention sales to the mix. (Image is of vol. 4 of Winter Demon, written by Abraham and illustrated by Rhea Silvan.)

David Welsh looks over this week’s new comics and thinks Solanin looks like a good risk. Park Cooper spotlights it in the latest Manga Life.

Dave White discusses character design in My Heavenly Hockey Club at 741.5 Comics.

Lissa Pattillo finds some more new Tokyopop titles on Amazon.

Apparently vampire manga cross cultural boundaries, as Vampire Kisses tops Tokyopop’s German manga chart this week, according to Manly Manga and More.

News from Japan: MegaMan NT Warrior artist Ryo Takamisaki will be the artist for a manga based on the game Shooting Star Rockman 3 in CoroCoro Comic.

Reviews: Carlo Santos critiques the latest new releases in his Right Turn Only!! column and Casey Brienza reviews vol. 6 of MPD-Psycho at ANN. Chris Mautner rounds up a trio of manga for adults at Panels and Pixels. Over at Manga Recon, Sam Kusek reads vol. 1 of Suzunari, Isaac Hale turns two thumbs up for vol. 2 of Dororo, and Sam and Kate Dacey team up for some manga minis. Kate also reviews the kid-friendly SUIHELIBE! at Good Comics for Kids. Alex Hoffman reads vol. 1 of I, Otaku: Struggle in Akihabara at Manga Widget. Deb Aoki checks out vols. 1 and 2 of Astro Boy at About. com. At the Manga Maniac Cafe, Julie thinks vol. 1 of Papillon is too much like Peach Girl, which isn’t suprising as it’s by the same creator. Lissa Pattillo reads Sugar Milk and vol. 4 of Moon Boy at Kuriousity. Tiamat’s Disciple checks out vol. 2 of Kieli. At Manga Life, Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane reviews vol. 9 of La Corda d’Oro and Joy Kim looks at vols. 16-18 of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. Michelle Smith gives vol. 2 of Akira an A at Soliloquy in Blue. Leroy Douresseaux looks at Ghostbusters: Ghost Busted at The Comic Book Bin.

Posted in Mangablog | 3 Comments

PR: Viz goes to the fair!

Posted on October 15, 2008 by Brigid Alverson

The Frankfurt Book Fair, that is. Below the cut is a list of the properties they will be highlighting there, many of which will be familiar to readers of this blog. OK, Kilari is new to me. Read on for more about the properties that Viz will be offering for international licensing.

VIZ MEDIA BRINGS POPULAR MANGA PROPERTIES
TO 2008 FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR

Unique Titles To Be Highlighted In Hall 3.0 Booth H801
Including- DEATH NOTE, NARUTO, MÄR, KEKKAISHI, KILARI And BLEACH

San Francisco, CA, October 15, 2008– VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, will bring some of the hottest manga titles gaining international attention to the 2008 Frankfurt Book Fair, taking place in Frankfurt, Germany October 15-19. VIZ Media will be located in Hall 3.0, Booth H801.

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the world’s largest trade show for the publishing industry and is the preeminent venue for publishers, agents, booksellers, librarians, translators, authors and suppliers dealing with publishing rights, licenses and international property rights. VIZ Media will showcase a variety of manga titles that are available for international license which have received critical acclaim and have captivated millions of fans in North America and beyond. Last year’s Book Fair saw more than 283,000 attendees over the five-day period of the show.

Some of the titles VIZ Media will be highlighting at this years show will include:

DEATH NOTE:
The series depicts the adventures of Light Yagami, an ace student with great prospects but who is bored out of his mind. All of that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But when criminals mysteriously begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to investigate, and he is soon hot on the trail of Light, who must now reevaluate his one noble goal.

NARUTO:
NARUTO has become one of VIZ Media’s most successful manga properties in terms of sales and has emerged as one of the best selling and most popular manga series throughout North America, regularly placing in both Graphic Novel and Overall General Fiction categories on noted literary sales rosters including BookScan and the USA Today Top 150. It was also the first manga to ever win a noted Quill Award. Created by Masashi Kishimoto, the series depicts the adventures of a young boy named Uzumaki Naruto who trains to become a ninja. But the boy is cursed with the spirit of a nine-tailed fox demon and is forced to live a bullied life discriminated against by his fellow villagers. But Naruto is resilient and undaunted in his quest to become a master ninja and his determination often inspires those around him. Through amazing adventures, the young ninja learns the importance of friendship, teamwork, loyalty, hard work, creativity, ingenuity, and right vs. wrong.

BLEACH:
Ichigo Kurosaki is an ordinary 15-year-old boy who happens to be able to see ghosts. His fate takes an extraordinary turn when he meets Rukia Kuchiki, a Soul Reaper who shows up at Ichigo’s house on the trail of a Hollow, a malevolent lost soul. Drawn to Ichigo’s high level of spiritual energy, the Hollow attacks Ichigo and his family, and Rukia steps in to help but is injured and unable to fight. As a last resort, Rukia decides to transfer part of her Soul Reaper powers to Ichigo. Ichigo, now a full-fledged Soul Reaper, and Rukia, minus her powers, join together to face the challenges that lie ahead. Find out why Tite Kubo’s BLEACH has become an international manga smash-hit!

MÄR:
MÄR is the latest manga title to hit North American shores from Nobuyuki Anzai, who also created the popular FLAME OF RECCA series. MÄR tells the story of Ginta Toramizu, an impish 14-year-old kid in junior high school who doesn’t have a lot going for him. He is near-sighted, doesn’t do well in school, fails at sports, and to top it off, he’s short! But Ginta is a dreamer and he has had the same dream 102 times – a vivid fantasy world where he is a hero. One day a supernatural figure appears at his school and transports him to the fabulous fantasy world of his dreams. In this strange universe filled with magic and wonder, Ginta is now strong, tough, agile, and he can finally see without his glasses! The boy begins a quest in search for the magical items known as ÄRMs, one of which may have the power to send him home. Joining him on this epic journey are his companion Jack and a valuable living, talking, mustachioed iron-ball weapon known as “Babbo,” which everybody wants but, it seems, only Ginta can possess!

KEKKAISHI:
By night, junior high student Yoshimori Sumimura is a “kekkaishi” – a demon-hunter who specializes in creating magical barriers around his prey. By day, Yoshimori’s has some other demons to battle including an addiction to sweets and a seriously crotchety grandfather! Yoshimori’s pretty 16-year-old neighbor and childhood friend, Tokine Yukimura, is also a kekkaishi, but their families are feuding over who is the true practitioner of the art. Yoshimori couldn’t care less about catching demons…until he realizes that his apathetic attitude is taking a toll on his friendship with Tokine. Just as he decides to take matters into his own hands, a couple of amphibious demons and the pesky ghost of a pastry-chef show up to complicate matters!

KILARI:
Kilari is the story of a cute, 14-year-old girl named Kilari Tsukishima whose main obsession is food. That is, until one day when she falls in love with Seiji, the singer of a pop idol duo, Ships. From then on, to get close to the idol she likes, Kilari announces that she too will become a singer. Swept away in the exciting world of music entertainment and film, Kilari’s adventures take her through the challenge and excitement of becoming a teen idol to win Seiji’s heart!

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New comics and Digital procrastination

Posted on October 14, 2008 by Brigid Alverson

Japanator posts this week’s new manga and anime releases. Hazel looks at October manga releases as well at Anime Infatuation.

Diamond listed some Digital comics as cancelled this week, but don’t panic: they are just postponed. ANN has the list.

Lori Henderson checks out the manga previewed in the October issues of Shojo Beat and Shonen Jump at Manga Xanadu.

ComiPress translates an article on manga that have broken the 100 million sold mark.

Every Friday, Tom Spurgeon asks his readers at The Comics Reporter some question, and then he publishes the answers. This week the question was “Name five manga series you are in the midst of reading,” and the answers are an interesting survey of what folks like, especially as The Comics Reporter is more of a general comics site than a manga site. Over at his own blog, Nick Mullins supplements that with a list of his favorite scanlations.

Erica Friedman keeps us up to date on this week’s yuri news at Okazu.

John Jakala takes the plunge and endorses a presidential candidate.

Alex Woolfson shares character designs for his yaoi comic at Yaoi 911.

Good news for Svetlana Chmakova fans: There’s now an LJ community devoted to News of Svet!

Job board: Tokyopop is looking for a graphic design intern.

Reviews: Deb Aoki takes a look at vol. 1 of Black Jack at About. com, and over at Japanator, Dick McVengeance weighs in as well. Clive Owen reviews vol. 3 of Rosario + Vampire at Animanga Nation. Charles Tan reads vol. 1 of Witchcraft: Dragon Hunt at Comics Village. James Fleenor checks out vol. 1 of Nora: The Last Chronicle of Devildom at Anime Sentinel. Tangognat reviews vol. 1 of Sugar Princess: Skating to Win. Emily looks at GiriKoi at Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page. Ferdinand enjoys vol. 1 of Papillon at Prospero’s Manga. Erica Friedman reviews vol. 3 of Sasamekikoto at Okazu. Lissa Pattillo reviews vol. 2 of Your and My Secret, vol. 3 of Can’t Win With You! vol. 2 of The Moon and Sandals, and vol. 5 of One Thousand and One Nights at Kuriousity. Julie reads vol. 10 of Chibi Vampire at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Tiamat’s Disciple enjoys vol. 1 of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya despite not caring much for the anime, and he also weighs in on vol. 1 of B.Ichi and vol. 5 of Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning. Michelle Smith reviews vol. 14 of Skip Beat!, vol. 3 of Sand Chronicles, and vols. 1 and 2 of High School Debut at Soliloquy in Blue. Dave Ferraro enjoys vol. 1 of Case Closed! at Comics-and-More.

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