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JManga is now offering Kodansha titles


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Vertical_Ed
Company Representative


Joined: 01 May 2009
Posts: 278
Location: New York, NY
PostPosted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 11:18 pm Reply with quote
Genet wrote:

Shinshoban = a reprinted edition of an older manga


Nope.

Trade paperback sized. IE The size used for new shonen and shojo manga in Japan. Also for trade paperback novels/nonfiction.
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Genet



Joined: 05 Jun 2009
Posts: 261
Location: USA
PostPosted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 11:24 pm Reply with quote
Vertical_Ed wrote:
Genet wrote:

Shinshoban = a reprinted edition of an older manga


Nope.

Trade paperback sized. IE The size used for new shonen and shojo manga in Japan. Also for trade paperback novels/nonfiction.


Ah, thanks for clearing that up ^^;
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Vata Raven



Joined: 21 May 2007
Posts: 710
Location: TN
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 3:35 pm Reply with quote
You know, on top of not finish off the Del Rey manga (in print form) they’re also screwing over more of the fans. Kodansha took their titles from TokyoPop, some of their better selling titles, and they have no plans to release those titles they took from them. I emailed them asking:

Does Kodansha USA have any plans in re-printing the rest of Rave Master? I see that you have a large edition of the last 3 volumes, but not the rest and TokyoPop's volumes are long OOP, so the large edition doesn't do much people any good unless the rest of the series is printed. And what about GetBackers? From what I got, this was a better selling title for TokyoPop. And Samurai Deeper Kyo? In fact, you have any plans to re-print any of the Kodansha titles that you pulled from TokyoPop a long while back. Again, printing the last few volumes of a near finished series does no good when the rest of the series is OOP and in some cases, used volumes are going for $30.

And they answered with:

I'm sorry to report that we currently have no further plans for any of these series. There isn't enough demand in the market for them.

Seriously? They take these titles from TokyoPop with no plans to finish them because there isn’t “enough” demand for them. Why take the titles from TokyoPop in the bloody first place? That’s calls poor business skills. From what I got, those Kodansha titles were the better selling manga over in the states. But what do they do? They bring over Sailor Moon and other smaller name titles. Rave Master, the same man behind Fairy Tail…why the hell wouldn’t they want to put that back on the market? GetBackers had to do well if TP put out 20 so volumes and still would’ve kept doing it if the license wasn’t taken. This is what the fans should be pissed about.
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RAmmsoldat



Joined: 19 Oct 2005
Posts: 1261
Location: North wales coast
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 3:50 pm Reply with quote
totally agree, boggles the mind that they let the licenses expire with no intention of continuing the books themselves. I was happily collecting beck and then bam nothing and then to say there is no demand? disgraceful really.
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Alan45
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Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Posts: 9809
Location: Virginia
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 3:58 pm Reply with quote
Actually Samurai Deeper Kyo was completed. Del Ray put out the last two volumes (37 & 38) in an omnibus volume. I don't think Get Backers was doing well even for Tokyo Pop. The had changed the name for the last volumes they published to stir up interest. What I miss is Initial D.
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Vata Raven



Joined: 21 May 2007
Posts: 710
Location: TN
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 4:23 pm Reply with quote
Samurai Deeper Kyo might've gotten finished...but they're NOT doing anything with th rest, they're not printing it again to the market. Some volumes are at higher prices, like $30 for a used volume. But the point is...they take these titles away from other publishing companies, worldwide, and do nothing with them. And the sad part is, they still license out titles to place. So again, what was the point in pulling them away from TokyoPop if they're going to still license out titles?

Kodansha USA is another native Japanese buniess that doesn't know what they're doing. They even admitted they don't have the office placed in the states, so they're like Aniplex US. Native Japanese trying to make money of the Americans.
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hyojodoji



Joined: 08 Jan 2010
Posts: 583
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 7:00 pm Reply with quote
Genet wrote:
Vertical_Ed wrote:
Genet wrote:

Shinshoban = a reprinted edition of an older manga


Nope.

Trade paperback sized. IE The size used for new shonen and shojo manga in Japan. Also for trade paperback novels/nonfiction.


Ah, thanks for clearing that up ^^;

As Vertical_Ed said, Shinshoban is a size of books, rather than a reprinted edition of an older manga.
It is B40 (not included in JIS, though), and approx. 173×105mm, which is the size of Iwanami Shinsho.
 
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Vertical_Ed
Company Representative


Joined: 01 May 2009
Posts: 278
Location: New York, NY
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 7:36 pm Reply with quote
Vata Raven wrote:
They even admitted they don't have the office placed in the states, so they're like Aniplex US.


LOL!! They totally do. We are in the same office building. Cool
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Vata Raven



Joined: 21 May 2007
Posts: 710
Location: TN
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 8:00 pm Reply with quote
Vertical_Ed wrote:
Vata Raven wrote:
They even admitted they don't have the office placed in the states, so they're like Aniplex US.

LOL!! They totally do. We are in the same office building. Cool

And when did that happen? Because I read the 2012 panel they were at and they said they didn't have an office. Unless you're talking about Del Rey's old office, because Del Rey and Kodansha USA was pretty much the same company.
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Vertical_Ed
Company Representative


Joined: 01 May 2009
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Location: New York, NY
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 9:27 pm Reply with quote
Vata Raven wrote:
Vertical_Ed wrote:
Vata Raven wrote:
They even admitted they don't have the office placed in the states, so they're like Aniplex US.

LOL!! They totally do. We are in the same office building. Cool

And when did that happen? Because I read the 2012 panel they were at and they said they didn't have an office. Unless you're talking about Del Rey's old office, because Del Rey and Kodansha USA was pretty much the same company.


Since 2010. Heck I was just in their offices a few hours ago. We're sister companies.

The Del Rey manga offices, are across town. But yeah, they still have a close relationship. Cool
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ZepysGirl



Joined: 14 Jun 2010
Posts: 470
Location: NY, NY
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 11:18 pm Reply with quote
I always assumed that Kodansha letting their titles lapse with Tokyopop (in 2009) was just Kodansha's first step towards entering the industry later (2011, really). I've always considered it a smart business move, saving Sailor Moon for when they wanted to enter the big time themselves. What better way to jump in than with a title you know will sell like hotcakes?

(Also, it very well could have been that the relationship between Tokyopop and Kodansha soured to the point where Kodansha no longer wanted to do business with Tokyopop.)

I don't really get why you're complaining about this here? It's not at all related to JManga. If anything, you should maybe ask JManga if they have plans to release other Kodansha manga, like the OOP Tokyopop stuff. JManga has experience working with both Tokoypop and Kodansha now, so there could be a chance. For a series with random books OOP, having a much cheaper digital option would be nice. Not as ideal as a reprint, but when the demand just isn't there...
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Vata Raven



Joined: 21 May 2007
Posts: 710
Location: TN
PostPosted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 1:39 am Reply with quote
I call BS on them saying there isn't enough demand for Rave Master. It's the same man behind Fairy Tail, one of their better selling titles, and they have another titles of his. Why print the last 3 volumes of 2 series that they took away from TokyoPop and not even bother with the other volumes? And they why wonder why there isn't a demand, they're only offering the LAST 3 volumes to a 30-36 volume series, so no duh the series won't sell. The only people that would've bought it are the ones that picked up the series before hand. New comers to the series wouldn't have been able to buy it, their OOP and going up in price. And how do they know there isn't a "demand," has Kodansha ever gone out of their way to ask what the fans wanted?

I call BS on them tell me there isn't a demand because as far as the public was told, most of the Kodansha titles were better selling titles. And I brought this up because people are complaining about how they hate digital manga, at least JManga decided to continue those titles.
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ZepysGirl



Joined: 14 Jun 2010
Posts: 470
Location: NY, NY
PostPosted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 2:37 am Reply with quote
Vata Raven wrote:
I call BS on them saying there isn't enough demand for Rave Master. It's the same man behind Fairy Tail, one of their better selling titles, and they have another titles of his. Why print the last 3 volumes of 2 series that they took away from TokyoPop and not even bother with the other volumes? And they why wonder why there isn't a demand, they're only offering the LAST 3 volumes to a 30-36 volume series, so no duh the series won't sell. The only people that would've bought it are the ones that picked up the series before hand. New comers to the series wouldn't have been able to buy it, their OOP and going up in price. And how do they know there isn't a "demand," has Kodansha ever gone out of their way to ask what the fans wanted?

I call BS on them tell me there isn't a demand because as far as the public was told, most of the Kodansha titles were better selling titles. And I brought this up because people are complaining about how they hate digital manga, at least JManga decided to continue those titles.


I'm pretty sure they finished off Rave Master more as a courtesy to fans of the series than anything else. If I remember correctly, wasn't that a title that Del Rey had promised to finish publishing, before Kodansha took over? The whole 3-in-1 thing should be a tip off to how well the series was doing. Publishers typically only do that when they believe it is necessary (demand is not high enough for 3 separate volumes, but an omnibus might have a chance).

Just because it's by a popular artist doesn't mean that an older series is in demand. See YuYu Hakusho, Dr. Slump, or Ranma 1/2. Monster Hunter Orage is a completely different situation because it is:
1) MUCH shorter
2) A video game tie-in (though I'm honestly not sure how much that helps)
3) Completely new to the US

So basically, someone at Kodansha had to decide: Is reprinting Rave Master worth it? And the obvious answer is--- nope.

"New comers" to this series practically don't exist, anyways. Where is the main place people find new manga? Bookstores. How long has it been since Rave Master was stocked consistently at B&N? Sure, a reprint could fix that, but then you've got to have your new (pricier!) volumes out there competing with the dirt cheap copies from Tokyopop. Other than the rare OOP volume, most of that series is ridiculously cheap on the used books market. Even if they were to try a Kitchen Princess-style reprint, used copies have you beat by a long shot. (This is all assuming, of course, that Kodansha is allowed to use Tokyopop's adaption, which I'm honestly not sure about?) It just doesn't make any sense.

Kodansha knows about "demand" because, like any good company, it listens to what people are saying. I sincerely doubt they're in their own little hidey-hole churning out manga with nary a care in the world. Just because they're not doing everything you would like them to do does not mean they aren't listening in the first place. You got a reply when you emailed them, right? A straight up answer, even. That's pretty good. Not every company can be on Vertical-levels of fan communication. Wink


tl:dr I would trust the people in the industry to know what sells and what doesn't since, you know, they're kinda really successful and actually know all the factors in play.


Last edited by ZepysGirl on Wed Oct 10, 2012 5:18 am; edited 1 time in total
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RAmmsoldat



Joined: 19 Oct 2005
Posts: 1261
Location: North wales coast
PostPosted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 4:03 am Reply with quote
I've liked what kodansha usa has been doing for the most part its just that they did alot of damage in opening up their own brand over there. They have gone and fixed it to a degree what with stuff like reprinting parasyte volumes and fairy tail and reprinting some other stuff like genshiken and negima, im just waiting on them to fix more of the stuff.

and Id heard that getbackers was one of tokyopops better selling titles too and id like for kodansha to put that out again in the future maybe.

I can wait, I've got alot on the go as it is.
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Buster Blader 126



Joined: 14 May 2005
Posts: 1206
Location: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
PostPosted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 9:19 pm Reply with quote
RAmmsoldat wrote:
I've liked what kodansha usa has been doing for the most part its just that they did alot of damage in opening up their own brand over there. They have gone and fixed it to a degree what with stuff like reprinting parasyte volumes and fairy tail and reprinting some other stuff like genshiken and negima, im just waiting on them to fix more of the stuff.


The person who decided to reprint Parasyte deserves recognition, because one would think that that title wouldn't have been reprinted, of all titles. And that's despite its acclaim.
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