Manga Xanadu

The first day of panels at NYCC/NYAF was certainly full of surprises. And it started right off first thing in the morning for me, at 6:30 am (PST) when news started on Twitter about Viz Media’s big announcement. Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha will be a digital manga magazine that will run new chapter of the manga Bakuman, Bleach, Naruto, Nura, One Piece, and Toriko two weeks after they run in Japan. The magazine will be available through Vizmanga.com and through the iOS apps. The price is $25.99 for 48 issues, or you can rent single issues for .99 for 4 weeks. I’m a little confused on the .99 rental though. I’ve seen it described as .99 a month, which implies only paying .99 for four issues which is a lot better than 25.99 for a year, unless of course, the year subscription means you can keep the issues permanently. Whether the weekly issues are for keeps or for a limited time as the Nura serialization is now hasn’t been clarified. The digital magazine will start in January 2012, with the print magazine ending with the March issue. I can’t say I’m thrilled with the new line up. One Piece and…

It was a slow news week for manga, as companies and bloggers alike prepared for NYCC/NYAF. But there was still a few items that flew across the internet, including news about Del Rey, Kodansha, license announcements and of course, the first day of NYCC/NYAF.

New York Anime Festival Days 2 & 3 Days 2 & 3 of NYAF brought publishers Del Rey and Viz with more licenses and news.  Del Rey remains conservative with only a few new licenses, but shows it’s still got some cred with Kodansha.  Viz has a little something for everyone in each of their lines, including some interesting suprises.  What isn’t surprising is the number of titles from already known mangaka.  Easier to sell a known than unknown quantity, I would say.

September 19 was International Talk Like A Pirate Day.  Did you remember to say “Arrrr” a lot and read some pirate manga? Manga in the Classroom Patrick Macias, Japanese pop culture aficionado, has posted the audio for a lecture he gave at the California State University at Monterey Bay last week.  Called Theoretical Perspectives on Manga, Anime & Otaku, it includes some older material from a speech earlier this year at the Temple University Japan Campus as well as some new material about American fandom.  I love it when this kind of material is shared, especially the academic talks.  I’ve always been fascinated by the cultural aspects of fandom and I’ll take any opportunity to feed my hunger.

I shouldn’t be surprised, but I was pretty disgusted by what I read about the State of the Manga Industry at NYAF 2008 (how come every convention BUT SDCC has one of these?).  When the topic of digital distribution came up, it’s nice to say the panelists were “skeptical, at best”.  If transcriptions of their statements are accurate, I would consider them closer to downright ignorant!  Just because older men who’s livelihood depends on the print industry don’t like the idea of digital distribution doesn’t mean their target audience, teenagers that do more online in an hour than most of them probably do in a day would agree!  Guess what guys, it’s not about YOU! The sheer ignorance they display is in the assumption they have that digital distribution will replace book.  Even as a firm believer in the digital model, I don’t believe that is going to happen.  Audio books hasn’t done print in, digital isn’t going to either.  And Gambos’ poor attempt at humor about holding “your Kindle up and wave it in the air” was just plain asinine.  The Kindle as a lot of potential, yes, but it isn’t the “ipod of books”.  Yet. Digital books, and…

My thanks to Mangacast for catching this. At the NYAF, Bandai Entertainment quietly announced the licensing of 3 new manga and one light novel: Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion. This was an anime series that premiered in Japan last year, becoming an instant hit. With character designs by CLAMP, and a well written story, this series has spawned not only a second season, but three manga adaptations and light novel. 10 years ago, the Empire of Britannia invaded Japan, using it’s mecha called Knightmares and overwhelmed the Japanese people. The country became known as Area 11, and the Japanese called Elevens. Now, a 17 year old boy named Lelouch, a Britannian, seeks revenge on his father, the Emperor, for the assassination of his mother and crippling of his sister Nunnally. That’s just the basic plot, and doesn’t even begin to cover what going on in this series. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion is a direct adaptation of the series. It follows Lelouch as he gains the power he needs to enact his revenge and possibly bring down an empire. The complexity of the plot and how well it stays true to the series will determine it’s success. The…

Erin F. of the PopCultureShock website has some great coverage of the Industry talks that went on during the New York Anime Festival. At the panel called “Marketing to the Otaku Generation”, it seems quite apparent that the people making the decisions about what to license and how to do it is completely out of touch with their audience. Particularily Funimation and 4Kids though the second is a foregone conclusion. 4Kids is just in it for the money. Mr. Kahn made that very clear from his comments. If a property doesn’t instantly make them lots of money, then it’s obviously a failure to them. And because the Japanese won’t automatically bend to their will and do what they want, then “there’s a real systemic problem in Japan”. Uh, Mr. Kahn? Ever hear the saying about beating a dead horse? Everyone needs to move on. That’s not a problem, it’s nature. Maybe you should try it. Read Erin’s coverage here, which also includes a link to the unedited audio recording she did of the panel. I found this really insightful and interesting. This is a must read if you’ve ever wondered what’s wrong with the companies that license and release anime.