Viz’s SigIkki website isn’t just an experiment in manga for mature readers. Going to the site does more than let you read some great manga. You, the reader, can make a difference in which manga will get published. Your clicks and reviews can make all the difference in the world for a title seeing print. In Japan, the fate of a manga is decided not just by circulation, but also by what the readers say. Survey cards are checked and titles can live or die by what readers say in these. Viz has taken this idea and applied it to the web. The titles at SigIkki are not guaranteed to see a print edition unless enough people show interest through page views and reviews that readers can leave. While this is a good idea for a small market as these Ikki titles will attract, that also means that your favorite title manga get a print edition unless YOU do something. Just like pre-ordering, this is putting your money were your mouth is, just without so much of the risk. Going to the site and reading chapters is easy, but if you really love a title, so much so that you…
Manga Publishers Go APE! Even though APE, the Alternate Press Expo, is mostly for comics and graphic novels, a couple of manga publishers showed up to pawn some of their less mainstream wares. Vertical, Inc. had a table there, with Ed Chavez hocking their books, and selling out titles left and right. By the end of Sunday, the last report from him was Guin Saga manga and Black Jack v2-7 were all that was left. Not bad! Viz was there too, with titles from their Signature line, and reports from the floor sounded favorable to them. They also had a panel on Sunday for their Ikki line. Deb Aoki was on the floor both days reporting, so check out her twitter page if you don’t follow her already.
I found this link while searching for an item for my This Week in Manga column. I was looking for manga subscription services, when I came upon a link for an extension to Firefox that watches OneManga for new updates of manga. Now, I’m not endorsing either this extension or OneManga. Instead, I want to suggest that manga publishers, such as Viz and Tokyopop, who put up online manga chapters, maybe look at doing something similar. I have a hard time keeping up with the online manga, often forgetting about them until someone on twitter mentions one went up. Having something in the browser that could check and tell me when a new chapter is out, AND what the last chapter I read was would be sooooo awesome! I sometimes spend more time trying to figure out where I left off as I do reading the actual chapters. It would make a great promotional tool if it was made into a Shonen Sunday or Ikki toolbar and could be used in more browsers. And since scanlators are always “borrowing” from publishers, I think some turn around is fair play.
Inside Scanlation ComiPress, one of the first manga new reporting sites is hanging up it’s news hat and has moved over to a more timely topic: Scanlations. There has been a lot of talk about scanlations, especially since the economy took a dive, but do you really understand what scanlations are or how they came to be? Inside Scanlation seeks to answers these questions and more. The site looks at the history of scanlations, interviews scanlators and publishers for their takes and even explains some of the nuances of the community. I think this is an interesting project. And while people don’t agree with what the scanlators do, I think it’s worth the time to find out why they do it. It’s the anthropologist in me.
I was listening to the Doctor Who podcast Podshock, and the hosts were talking with a con organizer about some informal one night get-togethers he organized to build up interest in the con. They featured a guest of some sort and were held in a pub-like setting, allowing the guest and fans close and informal interactions. And I thought, wouldn’t it be cool if manga publishers did something like this? I’m not going to suggest doing this with Japanese guest, but for the creators here in the US. Writers and artists of OEL manga as well as the editors, translators, and more out spoken personalities of manga publishing could be potential guests for these events. Right now, most of these people are just names on a book or a press release, and a few show up at cons, accessible only at panels. How cool would it be to be able to just sit down, have a drink (alcoholic or non) and just talk (or listen) to these people? Ask them questions and hear inside stories about the production of our favorite titles, I think that would be totally cool! By their very nature these gatherings would be small and limited,…
A quick glance through the manga solicitations for this month revealed a title I’ve been waiting quite a while for. I first learned about this series when I heard about the anime. The first series ran in 2008 in Japan, and went 13 episodes. The premise and the picture of a fat, rolly-polly cat on the series’ promotional art got me interested.
I’ve written before about how much I enjoy manga trading. It’s a great way to try out a series or find volumes of older titles. I’ve been fairly active on Mangatude and usually check for new trades every week or so. While doing my usual check this week, there was a trade offer titled “Manga series on cd many rare ones.” Yeah, scanlations. This didn’t really feel right. When I go looking to trade, I’m looking for same to same. It might seem like a great deal, to get a bunch of different manga for one print volume, but it seems to violate the spirit of the site. Anyone can go out and find scanlations, download them, and burn them to a CD. It’s not the same as going out, finding and buying a manga volume. Getting a CD full of titles doesn’t seem to have same value. It becomes a bunch of files that can get tossed to the wayside. Because no work went into getting them, there’s no real value in reading them. With trading, there’s the offer and counter trade, sometimes working out, sometimes taking more work, so even a trade that ends just costing the amount…
One Piece in BIG Bites? Found via Twitter. @swanjun found these entries for One Piece at Simon and Schuster. At 600 pgs each, and combining three volumes a piece, they sure do sound like VizBIG editions, even if the solicitations don’t actually say so. With the speed up of One Piece coming in January, this is the perfect time for Viz to put out BIG editions of the series. Catching up is a lot easier with the BIG editions than trying to hunt down individual volumes, especially for a series that has been going since 2003. One Piece premiered with Shonen Jump. However, a look at the Previews solicitations makes these appear to be bundles rather than BIG editions. Previews calls them “GN sets” and advertise “get three volumes for the price of two.” Either way, it’s a good deal. The first two scheduled for Dec and Jan releases, with 7-9 scheduled for March 2010, and 10-12 for May 2010.
I have mixed feelings about this. Dragon Ball is being reviewed for it’s content in a Maryland school district because a 9-year-old checked it out of a elementary and middle school library. I think people are oversensitive in general and especially towards manga. I’ll agree that Dragon Ball doesn’t really belong in the hands of a fourth grader, but I think it’s fine for a middle school student. The first Dragon Ball series is a comedy that does contain some sexual innuendo. The first volume does have a few questionable scenes, but I wouldn’t go so far and the Councilman from Wicomico did to describe them. I might be able to see the “sexual innuendo between an adult and child”, with Master Roshi wanting to seen Bulma’s panties, but there is in no way anything sexual between Goku and Bulma. Bulma is more like a big sister to Goku. And Goku is too dense to get any kind of innuendo. So I can see a parent getting upset at their 9-year-old bringing it home to read. So that doesn’t bother me so much. What does is the way it was presented. The mother of the offending 9-year-old didn’t go to…
The History of the West Wing Written by: Sun Jiayu; Illustrated by Guo Guo Age Rating: Teen Genre: Romance Price: $12.99 Rating: Lavishly illustrated in full color and based on the classic Chinese play Xixiang Ji by Wang Shifu, The History of the West Wings tells of the illicit romance between the daughter of a Chinese Government Official and the roaming scholar who seeks to win her hand. But before he can turn his attentions to his ladylove, the young man must win the heart of her mother! When it seems even heroic deeds in the face of murderous bandits will not please the strict matriarch, the young man goes off to become a civil servant. Will he return in time to marry his true love? With a description like that, you’d expect a story filled with drama and romance. Too bad this book provides doesn’t live up to it. It opens with an introduction that explains the history of XiXiang Ji and its significance to Chinese culture and literature. It is a play written in the 1200’s and is based on an earlier fable that tells of the romantic setbacks of a girl that gives herself to a roaming…
Mamoru: The Shadow Protector Volume 1 – 2 By Sai Madara Publisher: DR Master Publications Age Rating: 13+ Genre: Comedy Price: $9.95 Rating: Volume 1 Summary: Mamoru Kagemori is a dull high school boy who’s not handsome, athletic or intelligent. but things aren’t always what they appear. He’s actually the eldest son of a 400-year-old Ninja clan that specializes in protecting their neighbors, the Konnyakus. And the object of Mamoru’s protection is none other than their only daughter, Yuna Konnyaku, a natural-born troublemaker. Mamoru must continue to protect her to carry out his duty, no matter what adversaries strong, bizarre or stupid. And will Yuna ever learn who her protector is? Volume 2 Summary: When Yuna enters an idol contest and makes it to the finals, despite her hilariously bizarre performance. Mamoru has to go all out with his ninja skills in order to fend off perverted judges and crazed fans! But if Yuna becomes an idol will Mamoru still be able to protect her? Mamoru: The Shadow Protector is a lot like it’s main character. It starts out showing you a fun-filled romantic comedy, heavy on the comedy, but then like a ninja, tries to switch out into a…
Back in 2008, I wrote a post about subtitles helping my younger daughter to read. While the subtitles did help her reading improve, it didn’t do anything for her desire to read. She still preferred playing video games and watching DVDs (granted she did much of this with subtitles/closed captions on, just because I guess), but getting her to read was still a chore. We got her titles she showed interest in, but they never lasted. Then, something happened over the summer.