Forum - View topicNEWS: Digital Manga Adds Makoto Tateno's Yokan - Premonition
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geishageek
 Posts: 571 Location: Pleasant Valley, NY |
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I am so excited for Cold Light. I have been waiting years for this sequel. And it's nice to know that some of Drama Queens titles have been rescued. Here's hoping for the Tyrant Falls In Love to be rescued next. ::crosses Fingers:::
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einhorn303
 Posts: 1180 |
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Now, if I had the mentality of the typical moe-hater, I'd have to come here just to post "HURR WHY ALL THE GAY MANGA, IT'S RUINAN ANIMES!!"
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TsukasaElkKite
 Posts: 3946 |
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I'm excited about the alternate cover for Soul Eater and the volumes of Yotsuba&!
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Cait
 Posts: 503 |
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They're listing Yokan as "volume 1," which means they must also be pursuing the sequel, Noise, for subsequent license/publication as well. Wonderful. Noise was never even scanlated because of the DramaQueen license that never materialized in an actual release.
As for finally getting the sequel(s) to Cold Sleep, it's about time. That was one of the first BL novels (after Only the Ring Finger Knows and the other Konohara novels) that DMP released. It always felt incomplete. I wonder how the time since the last Konohara release in English will affect it's quality/popularity. Konohara had the lion's share of BL novels in English in the early days, but now there is a wide variety of authors and types of books. It'll be interesting to see how she stacks up against them now. |
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poonk
 Posts: 1490 Location: In the Library with Philip |
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I'll also have my eye out for the Little Butterfly omnibus, since I bought the first 2 books but not the third (no particular reason, just got distracted by other titles). Maybe it'll be the same (or comparable) cost to just buy that instead of the 3rd volume alone. |
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sunflower
 Posts: 1080 |
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*Finally* a sequel to Cold Sleep. It's the first BL novel I liked, but it left so much hanging.
So does this Tateno license mean that DQ has finally closed and all their licenses are available? Is anyone over there going to speak to this? ANN crew, is there any way you could possibly get in touch with them and find out what's going on for the rest of us, please? They're just not communicating with their customers. I'd think they'd at least want to explain this series. |
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yblees
 Posts: 165 Location: New Zealand |
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Ooh! Definitely seconded. Wishes for Tyrant, Maiden Rose, Empty Heart & Not Love... @poonk You may be better off finding a secondhand copy of your missing volume on ebay. I find omnibus editions are heavy and never really feel "right" in the hand for manga. |
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emilydastrange
 Posts: 65 |
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Back in June of '08, I was linked to a really interesting forum post at Drama Queen's website by a translator giving a very unofficial explanation of the situation. In short, really really not good: like holding on due to pride for the owner of DQ. Sadly, I tried finding this post and it not longer exists. Luckily for me, I sent the text to someone back last June so here it is: **sorry for the length*** Posted: by [TT] Jun 01, 2008 5:01 pm As always, anything I post is not to be considered official, but it can be considered better than nothing. As some of you already know, the closest thing to an official DramaQueen news announcement since September, 2007, was a Publishers' Weekly article published April 1, 2008. In it, DramaQueen's President and CEO, Tran Nguyen, reportedly either said or hinted that the next round of releases would hit bookshelves by the end of May. This has obviously not happened. She also revealed the cause of the delay -- DramaQueen is waiting on investors. Since my credibility has recently been called into question, please allow me to introduce myself before telling you what I know. My name is TT [Name reduced to initials by request of the poster]. I joined DramaQueen in 2004 as Head of the Japanese Translation Department, receiving payment in the form of commissions. In July, 2007, I was offered the position of Vice President of Production and moved 1,500 miles from my home in California to DramaQueen's headquarters in Texas in order to accept a job that would pay a steady salary. I purchased a small home on the promise that my salary would begin in September, 2007. I was not told that my salary was dependent on investors until after it became clear that a salary was not forthcoming. Apparently, several business arrangements and commitments were made on the assumption that the investors would come through. This is what dug the company the hole it's been sitting in. I was not the only one who was promised money. When those original investors pulled out, leaving DramaQueen to its hole, Tran quickly found new investors. What I was told every month thereafter was that the new investors had promised to come through "next month." At the time, I had no reason to believe otherwise, and it was DramaQueen that I had moved to Texas for, so I didn't try to seek alternative employment. For a while at least, I had enough savings to last me until "next month." Eight months later, in March, 2008, I finally began looking for another job. On April 1, however, Publishers' Weekly stated that DramaQueen was going to print by the end of May. Tran had said nothing of the sort to me. When I spoke to Tran about the article, I asked plainly what the investors had told her to make her believe that this "next month" would be any different from the last "next month." After some prodding, she let it slip that if DramaQueen did not print by the end of May, the company was pretty much dead in the water anyway. When I asked her to repeat what she had just said, she quickly retracted the statement. That was the first and only time I've ever heard her confidence waver. Let me say this about Tran: She is a good person. She is not intentionally misleading anyone. Rather, I believe her trust has been misplaced, and I think she is optimistic and spiritual to a fault. Her good nature makes her charming, and it is what allowed her to start a business from nothing. Unfortunately, it's that same good nature that prevents her from doing what needs to be done in business. She has made many mistakes, and I believe she continues to make mistakes, but all with the best of intentions, which is why I waited for her for so long. Frankly, if she sucked it up and started being more of a bitch, I think she could turn this around. Unfortunately, it's just not in her nature. I spoke to Tran at the end of May, 2008, before writing this, to ask her what news there is of the investors, and I received the same answer I have been hearing for the past year: "next month." I relayed to her Jordanmarks' suggestion of a "'I totally promise to buy books when they come out' pledge list," and she is considering it, but after holding my breath for nearly a year I can't recommend that anyone else do the same. Beyond this, everyone is probably wondering what will happen to DramaQueen's licenses. Having not been a significant part of the contract negotiations, I can't say. Tran is resisting giving up on the company, but I imagine that if or when she does, she will forfeit the company's legal claim to any titles, and they will once again become available for licensing. But, then again, who knows? Perhaps the investors will come through next month. ***** As for the situation a year later, we the consumers apparently aren't privy to that information 
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yblees
Posts: 165 Location: New Zealand |
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Thank you for sharing this.
I've heard bits and rumors, but it's the first time I've read this from what is essentially an inside source. 
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sunflower
Posts: 1080 |
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Thanks Emilydastrange. I read and post on the DQ forum, and there were updates after that. The owner came on last October and said that she had finally found a backer, and that Tyrant would be shipping. Then because of problems, the shipping was pushed back to November. Then December. Then we stopped hearing from her. I would like a definitive announcement. I realize I'll probably never get my RUSH subscription money back, but it would be nice if we could find out about all the licenses to all the titles that we love, so that other publishers could be convinced to go after them. DQ had an awful lot of them tied up. |
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Cait
Posts: 503 |
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How long do you think before DQ asks ANN to remove that post? Nothing in it is particularly new news or anything that wasn't expected, but it puts a sort of "nail of finality" on the issue that DQ, who may be trying to get some money in before they can no longer hide the reality of their demise. All their books are pretty much out of print and no longer available (except at insanely high prices), though, so they can't be going for print sale profits.
It seems to me that DQ is very quietly handing off each of their unpublished licenses, perhaps starting with ones that either were translated (and selling the translations to make some investment back), or never got translated (and getting rid of them to lessen their load). It's interesting that DMP already has an "early next year" release date for this particular book, as usually when they license titles it is over a year before publication date, but that could also be due to the fact that Tateno is a big seller for them and they want to cash in on a new property of hers as soon as possible. But unless any potential translator who worked on the title for DQ makes a statement to that effect (or someone from DMP wants to reveal if they bought a translation from DQ), we may never know. It could be that the license on this title simply expired because DQ sat on it too long and DMP snatched it up as quickly as possible. Either way, we should be fairly confident that DMP will actually put this book out (they're the most consistent and reliable in that respect of all the BL publishers), and sometime next year. |
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emilydastrange
Posts: 65 |
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Ah, I read the DQ forum very very infrequently so I never saw her post. I can only assume that a similar situation continued as was happening before but we will never get to know. Now I think that DQ titles are either going to be let go voluntarily by DQ or contractual agreements are expiring. The only way we'll get to know is by seeing their catalogue slowly go to other publishers like DMP. I think it would be very very strange if this was a one-time thing so it's time for those titles to go to companies that have the means and the funds to put them out (and to actually update us). |
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gynocrat_rex
 Posts: 57 Location: Texas |
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They aren't going to do anything because they're absolutely not talking to anyone. Not the Japanese creators they paid to license the work, not the editors and art people they hired to work on the titles, and not the creators that are owed money for RUSH. When you're uncommunicative and aren't printing titles you said you would--that puts your contract on shaky ground to begin with. There likely is a time limit, and it's likely that time limit has reached its end date, and DMP just picked up the license because it's by a mangaka they're currently releasing other works from. DQ isn't handing off or selling anything that I know of, and if they are - I'd hope they'd have the decency to pay off their employees to whom they owe money. I would love it if the 'CEO' would do the right thing and step up and explain what's going on - but I don't see this happening. I can only say for certain that RUSH isn't coming back - so if you have a sub, then try your damnedest to get your money back. I can't say anything officially but - if you are fans of RUSH, keep an eye on eManga.com No, they're not putting out issues of RUSH, but some of their new planned titles for rent my surprise you. 
What I'm curious about is... since DMP co-brands with the publisher of Maiden Rose 2, will they acquire Maiden Rose 1 from DQ and release an omnibus? This would be nice. 
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