Forum - View topicNEWS: Kodansha to Publish, Sell Manga in U.S. in September
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Akukaze
Posts: 185 Location: Stony Brook, NY |
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Having read a few of Kodansha America's novels (Crossfire and Shadow Family, both by Miyabe Miyuki) I must say I was very impressed. The translation was excellent, the production values on the paperback Shadow Family were amazing. The paper was the perfect weight and color and it came with a dust jacket. Kodansha USA will probably be a whole different game, but if they take a page out of Kodansha America's book (no pun intended) they should do fine. |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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I know, and Ah! My Goddess has been and still is one of the most recognized and favorite Afternoon title on both coasts of the Pacific. However, with about three dozens of titles in each issue, those indeed belong to a small minority. And those who appreciate Genshiken are still among the minority of fans. Last but not least, Ikki is even more experimental than Afternoon; as far as I know Sexy Voice and Robo is the only Ikki title that has been licensed in North America. |
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samuelp
Industry Insider
Posts: 2232 Location: San Antonio, USA |
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Has an Ikki title ever been licensed? I don't think so, and the only one with any chance is Bokurano. Afternoon has a long history... Don't forget Mushishi and Narutaru as other Afternoon titles with licenses. Eden and Seraphic Feather as well, I think. |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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Hmm, so they've decided to enter the American manga market. This is bound be interesting, and they do it right before AX as well. Perhaps we'll be seeing some titles announced as well?
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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See my addendum before you clicked the submit button. To be more specific, however, SV&R was serialized in Spirits Zōkan Ikki (スピリッツ増刊IKKI), an extra of Big Comic Spirits and forerunner/predecessor of later Ikki.
Mushishi has the typical response: highly acclaimed but bores the majority to death. Narutaru: when was the last volume? Jan 2006?! I say forget it; won't be finished in English. Eden and Seraphic Feather: Sci-Fi titles are much easier to find their places in the West. On the other hand, you are welcome to pick random fans at AX2008 or Otakon and see if they've read or even heard of those. |
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samuelp
Industry Insider
Posts: 2232 Location: San Antonio, USA |
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Oh, I wasn't trying to imply that Afternoon titles had been SUCCESSFUL before. Outside of Ah my goddess, they've basically sold like dirt it seems. But it's not like they've never been licensed before. Probably has to do with the fact that almost all of those are Kodansha Award winners, and Kodansha actively pushes those titles to NA licensors. I know Narutaru will never be finished, but actually I have to thank Dark Horse for that: It's one of my main motivations for beginning to study Japanese many years ago. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15324 |
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Crawly: Actually, Toei's transfers are pretty fugly.
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Moomintroll
Posts: 1600 Location: Nottingham (UK) |
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I think that's pretty much true though I suppose it depends on what level of profits they'd require to consider it worth publishing Ikki titles and how aware they are of the nuances in the market. Drawn & Quarterly, Vertical, Fanfare / Ponent Mon and Last Gasp all deal with the underground end of manga but they seem to aim those titles primarily at people who mostly read underground American and European comics rather than people who are specifically manga fans. Indeed, my local comic shop doesn't display the Japanese releases of any of those publishers in the manga section and nor does my local major chain book shop - instead, they're in amongst the general non-Japanese literary and underground graphic novels. The same goes for the more esoteric releases from Viz (e.g. the aforementioned Sexy Voice & Robo and the works of Taiyo Matsumoto). Nausicaa, Phoenix and Akira all seem to be targeted primiarily at people who aren't specifically manga fans too (or at least they are here in the UK). There is a dependable market for the more experimental and/or literary works and they seem to be coming out in greater numbers recently but it's a market mostly served by small publishers becuase no matter how well recieved those titles are, they're highly unlikely to make significant profits by Kodansha's standards. My hope is that they'll want to release at least a couple of their Ikki titles for the marketing value of the critical acclaim, positive press and awards that might follow but I won't hold my breath. |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Em, Ikki is by Shogakukan, not Kodansha. Basically Kodansha doesn't have a direct equivalent of Ikki but I'd say Afternoon is the most similar one. I should have mentioned it in my previous post. |
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 7580 Location: Wales |
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The one with both English and Japanese is the bilingual one, I'll let you work the others out for yourself. The paper used by Kodansha was whiter, the print was darker and "cleaner". You can get a closer look by clicking the download photo link. I should have just done them one at a time which would have been much easier, but I wanted to try a direct side-by-side comparison in the same photo. |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Was to be expected. I can't say for North American ones, but Taiwanese licensees don't get original output files from Japanese publishers. Instead all they could do is unbind the book, scan it, touch up translations and sound effects, then print it out -- pretty much the same way scanlators do, just with professional scanners and translators. The bilingual version by Kodansha could have been printed out from the original file, thus naturally sharper and cleaner. |
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Moomintroll
Posts: 1600 Location: Nottingham (UK) |
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Ah, my mistake. I don't really follow the ins and outs of the Japanese magazines - is Ikki broadly similar in content and readership to what Garo was? |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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I haven't read Garo myself (Seirindo's manga, especially vintage ones, are very rare in Taiwan), but Wikipedia Japan does put Ikki together with Afternoon and Garo.
Judging by Garo's description I'd say Ikki is more experimental than Afternoon but less so than Garo. You can check it out here. |
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 7580 Location: Wales |
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That is certainly the impression you get, which is unfortunate. With any luck Kodansha US will have access to the same material... |
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kirbyboy102
Posts: 157 |
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They probably will make it a bit cheaper to make money in our bad(read:dead) economy, but I wouldn't expect it much more than par with Viz's Shonen jump. ($7.99) I mean, in japan books are easier to sell, so they're cheaper. In america, people don't like reading, so the price of books goes up because of this lack of general purchases. Especially with limited readership books, such as manga and manhwa. |
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