Found on the Viz blog:
Though I think you are the better of the Manga Publishing companies out there, I have to say that the quality of your products has gone done hill. I am talking mostly about Shonen Jump, which having after reading since its american release, have decided to stop. The main reason would be the amount of space that Naruto and Bleach take up. I took some time out of my saturday afternoon to read the newest jump in my local Borders, only to find that Naruto takes up about half the magazine!
[Emphasis mine, spelling and capitalization errors in the original.] I like the fact that this person admits to reading the magazine without paying for it and even sounds a bit put out—Shonen Jump impinged on his busy Saturday! Check the post for Viz’s cute April Fool’s gag as well.
Kate Dacey mines the best of this week’s new comics for her Weekly Recon at PopCultureShock’s Manga Recon blog.
Newsarama’s Pulp Secret video, which consists of three guys standing around talking about comics, takes on manga this week, with discussions of Fairy Tail, Hikaru no Go and Iron Wok Jan, and the difference between manga and “mainstream” comics readers. (H/t: Charles Tan.)
Super shopper John Jakala finds yet another site for discounted manga.
News from Japan: Banri Hidaka, creator of VB Rose and Tears of a Lamb, will start a new manga series in the April 19 issue of Hana to Yume.
Otaku Champloo takes a look at the Japanese TV show Manga Genba.
This is really only tangentially related to manga, but I like the thoughtful article the Anchorage Daily News wrote about the kid who got in trouble for copying pictures of nude women from a Manga Mania book and bringing them to school. The writer goes beyond the usual theater of outrage (“Porn!” “Censorship!”) and talks not only to school officials and the family of the “artist” but also to an adult who was in a similar situation several years previously, as well as her teacher. The final quote from the kid in question is chilling:
“I was proud of the drawings until I got into trouble,” he said. “I didn’t really care about them after I got in trouble, and I haven’t really wanted to draw anything like that since.”
Wacom is holding its second anime/manga contest for residents of Western Pacific countries.
Anime on DVD, a site that I really enjoy and link to a lot, has just been sold to Mania.com.
Reviews: Lianne Sentar has an interesting review of The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese, an unlicensed title by After School Nightmare creator Setona Mizushiro, at Sleep Is For the Weak. Lissa Pattillo takes a good look at vol. 7 of Air Gear at Kuri-ousity. At Mecha Mecha Media, John T says vol. 4 of MPD-Psycho is where the series starts to make sense. James Fleenor reviews vol. 1 of Doors of Chaos at Anime Sentinel. At Active Anime, Holly Ellingwood checks out vol. 4 of The Gentlemen’s Alliance + and Scott Campbell reviews vol. 13 of Megaman NT Warrior. Dave Ferraro is disappointed by vol. 2 of Gyo at Comics-and-More. Tiamat’s Disciple reviews Rizelmine and vols. 1-6 of Crescent Moon. J. Caleb Mozzocco reviews a stack of manga at Every Day Is Like Wednesday. At the Manga Maniac Cafe, Julie reads vol. 10 of Moon Child and vol. 7 of Baby & Me. Danielle van Gorder reveiws vol. 1 of Aria and Ron Quezon takes a look at vol. 3 of Chinese Hero at Anime on DVD. Ferdinand doesn’t much care for vol. 1 of switch at Prospero’s Manga.
I’m not surpeised Bleach and Naruto take up most of Shonen Jump, they are after all the flagship products of Viz. So it’s only natural they dominate. Then again, Viz’s shonen line is terrible in general anyway hehe Only their shojo line is any good these days.
But Bleach doesn’t take up a lot of space. It only gets three or two chapters an issue. The lowest Naruto will ever get is three and it just got 5 chapters recently so if anything is taking up a lot of space it’s that series.
Because thats what sells, and its what the fans want (though why they want naruto is beyond me lol)
naruto is the biggest seller for viz, closely followed by bleach. They’re probably the two leading anime and manga sales in the west. So it’s only natural that they’re given dominance over other titles. And lets face it, viz NEED them to boost their crap shonen range. All their good shonen titles are all all but complete so they need to do something to keep people buying them :)