Forum - View topicNEWS: Seven Seas Licenses Virtual Gender-Bender Manga Not Lives
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CallumKeyblade
Posts: 536 |
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I'd never heard of this before but I'm actually quite intrigued. I'll need to know more as the premise is pretty vague but it is definitely on my radar now.
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trilaan
 Posts: 1054 Location: Texas |
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I had not heard of this before. I hope I will like it as well because I've been waiting for a gender bender game world title for a while now.
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invalidname
 Contributor Posts: 2442 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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This was on the cover of the last issue of Daioh (March '15) I picked up at Kinokuniya, but I haven't really been able to get into it. Kind of burned out on all these gamer culture / trapped-in-an-MMORPG anime and manga.
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aereus
Posts: 574 |
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Calling this a gender-bender is a misnomer. It really has almost nothing to do with it. The tenuous claim is based on: spoiler[When Mikami first links with Kyouka it appears to be a body swap, as he physically seems to be Kyouka. But after a few minutes the link "stabilizes" and he's thrown into a control room similar to how Renton pilots the Nirvash in the last episode of Eureka7. They're rather vague on how "controlling" the Avatar works, but in general, the Player doesn't do "direct possession" of the Avatar. ] It's primarily a battle manga where the MC outsmarts opponents, and of course a loosely budding attraction between Mikami and Kyouka on the periphery. (I just picked up Volume 7 of this a few days ago) The first 10 chapters or so are "around" if you want to get a feel for the series. I also recommend Boku Girl if you want a funny romcom GB series (features a 'loli' Loki heh...), or BlazBlue: Remix Heart for Action/Cheesecake/Cute girls doing cute things. PS: An entire YEAR before they're going to release volume one? Gimme a break. I'll continue supporting the original Japanese publisher instead. |
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Ali07
 Posts: 3333 Location: Victoria, Australia |
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Thanks for the insight aereus. Wasn't really thinking about checking this one out, purely based off of the synopsis given in the article.
I may check this one out after all. But, that'd be after checking out some reviews once the first volume is released...next year... |
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chronos02
Posts: 267 |
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The premise of this title is basically a "Death Game" such as SAO's SAO arc, Btoom, Battle Royal, etc.
As some others said before, saying this title is a gender bender type is a stretch, it's basically a lighter version of all those death game titles, mixing it with shounen-like action scenes, plot, and, obviously, the fanservice scenes. It's not a bad title, and it's quite an original take on the death game genre It's a bit surprising that someone picked it up for the western market, though I believe it'd be quite attractive in the french market, I don't see it making it very far in the US market. |
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Dark Absol
 Posts: 813 |
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Only 10 chapters were up in english scanlation and it's been out since 2011.
At least, I'll be going after this manga next year when SSE releases it. |
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Conner Crooks
 Posts: 83 Location: Seven Seas |
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Unfortunately, that's how our scheduling works. At the current time, we're licensing for Summer 2016 and beyond. This is in part due to how distribution works in North America, and that we are required to release our book schedule to our distributor (Macmillan) at least a year in advance of its street date. Meaning that when we license a series, the earliest we can get it out is a year from the current time (April 2015 -> April 2016), or if we're lucky we can get it down to 10 months ahead. Just wanted to clarify this point, as we're not purposely delaying our releases. Trust me, we want to get these books out as soon as possible too. 
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Exrias
Posts: 1 |
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glad to see this getting licensed i'll plan on buying it when its out in english
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aereus
Posts: 574 |
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Nice to hear from you Conner. I wasn't implying you were somehow delaying the releases, merely that release schedules that take that long are viewed... negatively... in the community, and I'm sure you realize how that is/could be detrimental to sales. I assume that Viz is a special case, being owned by Shueisha, and that is why they can have a shorter turnaround? Are you aiming for a quarterly release schedule then? Also—is it not possible to negotiate with Macmillan for a shorter release window? Or are they not negotiable on that, even when explained that in your market, a year turnaround is too long? (Or Macmillan owns Seven Seas like Yen Press is with Hachette?) Or maybe find a more amicable publisher to your market? Borderless World was dumped by its publisher in Japan, for example, yet was picked up by another publisher within weeks and they released the first volume less than a month later—is the Japanese publishing market that different/superior that they can take up/print/release a title in such a short period of time? 
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kevinx59
 Posts: 959 Location: In sunny California |
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I don't read (or for that matter watch) many gender bender works, but I like the premise and the cover art is nice. I may check this out.
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aereus
Posts: 574 |
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Following him on Twitter can really clutter up your feed though, as he lives live-tweeting comments about episodes as they air (50+ tweets) =\
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Conner Crooks
Posts: 83 Location: Seven Seas |
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Just trying to make the rounds.
Absolutely, and I definitely understand that. We're all fans, so do get how frustrating it is to wait such a long time for a series you're excited for. Rather than sit on the license and not announce until it's a few months out could have its advantages, but it'll have been old news at that point (since regardless of whether we announce them or not, retailers are still going to post the solicitations/pre-orders). So in that sense, it's a matter of being diligent in our advertisement, promotion, and continual discussion of all our upcoming series. It can be tough, sure, but I personally believe that it doesn't hurt to get the word out sooner rather than later. As for VIZ, I honestly don't know what kind of arrangement they have with their distributor (Simon & Schuster) though I've heard our situation isn't rare. I could be wrong, but I can't speak for anyone else other than Seven Seas. It can be a drag at times, but Macmillan has also treated us very well and they've done great to grow our brand name and market our books. The year turnaround thing is pretty much not going anywhere, as this gives ample time for the distributor to solicit our wares to retailers and booksellers, allow them time to decide on order allotment, and time for us to create a product that satisfies our high standards in quality (and of course, get the materials over to the printers and then distributed). And yes, Japan has an entirely different publishing and distribution system that we can't even compare to. Their infrastructure is vastly different from ours. That's a whole 'nother ball game. In any case, I hope this has answered a few of your lingering questions. We know the wait is tough, but we do hope our fans understand it's nothing intentional. We want to deliver the best product and quality possible. 
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Ali07
Posts: 3333 Location: Victoria, Australia |
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It also allows me to make sure I put the money aside needed to buy this stuff! 
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aereus
Posts: 574 |
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I suppose try to make the best of the situation since it can't change. But let's be honest here—the original author plans, storyboards, draws, prepares the volume, and publishes it in 3-6 months—one can't seriously claim with a straight face that it takes anywhere near a year to prepare an English volume release unless you are royally getting screwed by the publisher for image assets, or the workflow process is highly inefficient. (FYI: This is mostly me ranting, don't take it personally, I'm not intending it to be attacking you, realize you are just a rep, etc. Carry on )
(Rhetorical) They give you what? inDesign/Quark/PSD files layered with the base art, overlayed Japanese SFX, etc. Unless you plan to wholly alter the dialogue box locations, redraws will be limited. Or you can have your own copy of Comic Studio EX and match the original screentones used even. Touchups are a snap on a Cintiq. Even fine-tuning typesetting via kerning changes et al shouldn't be that time-consuming for someone doing that full-time. I'm guessing the sticking point is that US consumers probably only go out to buy manga 1-2x a month, and you have to guarantee high initial sales due to the way the US bookseller/distributor network operates. Japan usually gives about a 6 week notice on volume releases, and more importantly—they're very punctual to sticking to the release schedule. So if a series has been releasing a volume every Dec, March, June, and Sept... you know what to expect even without them making a notice. Are US consumers really that inept at keeping tabs on release schedules? =\ |
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