Pink Kryptonite rolls out this week’s new releases. David Welsh is looking forward to Quest for the Missing Girl.
The L.A. Times scores an interview with Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto.
Here’s some industry news that’s not grim for a change: Yamila Abraham reports on the state of Yaoi Press. Sales were solid this year, but they’re anticipating the same lean times as everyone else in the future. One result might be a boon for readers:
We’ll be putting out fewer titles with higher page counts going forward. For instance, rather than publishing a series like Dark Prince in three volumes, we will release entire series in single 450+ page one-shots. The length and height of the books will increase also. From 5″ wide, 7.5″ long, and .5″ thick, to 6″ wide, 8″ long, and 1.5″ thick. This will result in less printing costs, more value for consumers, and fewer titles for stores to try to find shelf space for.
A few days ago, Tom Spurgeon posted ten questions about the state of the comics industry at The Comics Reporter. Number 10 was “What is the Big Picture Future of Translated Manga?” Some reactions: David Welsh thinks the question can’t be answered just yet, so he responds with eight more questions that delve into specific aspects of the market and the audience. Matt Blind has a very long answer at Rocket Bomber in which he takes on all ten of Tom’s questions. Simon Jones at Icarus, which looks SFW for now, has a short and mostly sensible response in which he predicts (somewhat wistfully) the return of porn as the dominant genre.
Matt also continues his analysis of online manga sales with an emerging trends report and rankings summary for last week.
At Manga Life, translators Alethea and Athena Nibley urge readers to boost the chances of seeing their favorite titles reach print by supporting the industry.
ANN’s women’s roundtable has an interesting discusson of porn for women this week. (Memo to ANN: Perhaps you should look at the number of people who regularly link to this feature without using the unfortunate title you chose for it and, you know, get a clue.)
Not for those who are easily offended or particular about historical accuracy, but fun for everyone else: Same Hat links to another helping of Dance! Kremlin Palace! (NSFW, needless to say.)
At Manic About Manga, Kris is pleased with Digital’s new website. It does look mighty pretty, but then, purple is my favorite color. And you can help shape the future of manga by telling them which books they should reprint! Over at Fujoshi Librarian, Snow Wildsmith has their spring release list.
News from Japan: The Eastern Edge posts a sample of Naoki Urasawa’s Dylan comic, which isn’t so much a comic as some drawings accompanying handwritten text. In other news, a recent poll shows that otaku rank only behind compulsive gamblers in their repulsiveness to women.
Reviews: Dan Polley checks out vol. 6 of Le Chevalier d’Eon at Comics Village. Connie reviews vol. 4 of Embalmer, vol. 16 of Iron Wok Jan, and vol. 7 of Let Dai at Slightly Biased Manga. James Fleenor shares his impression of vols. 21 and 22 of Hunter x Hunter at Anime Sentinel. Emily checks out Rifle Shoujo at Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page. Kris reviews vol. 1 of Sugar Princess at Manic About Manga. Snow Wildsmith takes a look at vol. 1 of Kiss Blue at Fujoshi Librarian. Ferdinand reviews vol. 1 of J-Pop Idol at Prospero’s Manga. Erica Friedman puts on her yuri goggles to read vol. 1 of Hitohira, but no such device is required for vol. 14 of Yuri Hime. Julie checks out vol. 10 of Love*Com at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane gives her take on Heaven’s Will and vol. 2 of We Were There at Manga Life. Lissa Pattillo reviews Black Sun and vol. 2 of Very! Very! Sweet at Kuriousity. New at Active Anime: Scott Campbell on vol. 9 of Suzuka, Holly Ellingwood on vol. 2 of Blank Slate and Sea View, and Davey C. Jones on the Genshiken Official Book. Matthew J. Brady flips through the January issue of Shojo Beat at Warren Peace Sings the Blues.
“Memo to ANN: Perhaps you should look at the number of people who regularly link to this feature without using the unfortunate title you chose for it and, you know, get a clue.”
Is that number higher than…umm…two? Because depending upon how much traffic said links are driving to the column, there may be a case to be made.
Am I the only one who finds it ironic to see that the Manga Life website has Google ads for several profit-based scanlation sites right next to their article about “supporting the industry?”
I was only joking. Well, half-joking.
The success or failure of movies like DBE and Astroboy will proportionally affect the level of interest Japanese pubs have to start operations in the US.. One can’t deny how much Hollywood money has done for the mainstream US comic pubs…
Casey, I have seen it in several places, but maybe I should start keeping track. Let me ask the opposite question: Does anyone link to it by name? I haven’t seen it, but I don’t read too many anime blogs so I may be way off base here.
David, I do know people who sample a series on scanlation sites as and then go buy the entire run, so it may not be as ironic as you think.
Simon, interesting point. I keep thinking that maybe the Death Note or Mushishi movie will be a sleeper hit and I’ll (for once) be the kid who was into it before it was cool.
“Does anyone link to it by name?”
Yes. I’ve Googled us by name and found occasional links. The moe and yaoi topics seemed to have been the most popular ones. But I don’t have the site analytics, so I don’t know who’s referring. I do think a case could be made if most of the referrals turn out to be regular linkblogging that does not use the column name.
Incidentally, of the four of us, I was the only one against the title we ended up with, and I’m also the only self-described “manga person.” All of the manga-oriented fans I know didn’t like the title; the anime-oriented fans thought it was just great. There seems to be a cultural divide that we don’t fully understand or appreciate. I’m afraid, though, that unless there is some really persuasive evidence, that the matter was closed long ago.
I Googled it too and only found three pages of results, one of which had crossed out the word “Chicks” and substituted “Women.” I actually think the word “anime” in the title doesn’t serve you well either, as the discussions are much broader than that.
It bugs me a little less knowing that the other parties were OK with the name, but I still don’t like it.
Agreed Kate! There is no room for sexism in the manga blogosphere! There’s sexism enough in manga, let’s keep vigilant about stereotypes among ourselves as well. Amazing catches as always!
Thanks, Ken! ^_^
“It bugs me a little less knowing that the other parties were OK with the name, but I still don’t like it.”
Well, except for me, all parties associated with ANN were all for it. I have heard a lot of complaints from manga fans expressed to me personally about both the “chicks” and “on anime” aspects of the title (and a ton in the past week—must be that time of year!), but the overwhelmingly negative reaction among friends and acquaintances seems, again, to have been unique to me. Manga and anime are not the same, and apparently neither are their fans.
Okay, who told the Genshiken reviewer that it’s drawn by Ken Akamatsu? It isn’t.