Forum - View topicNEWS: Tokyopop's BLU Boys-Love Imprint Raises Prices
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poonk
 Posts: 1490 Location: In the Library with Philip |
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While I'm generally not one to throw my money around (and don't consider $2 to be chump change), considering the inclusion of color pages, the return to decent-quality (a.k.a. non-transparent) paper, and the fact that practically everything is going up in price lately, I'm not too outraged. I still plan to keep up with the series I'm currently following (such as Tea for Two, You Will Drown..., Junjou, and Madness-- v01 is on its way!-- and probably Voice or Noise eventually), not to mention whatever single-volume titles catch my eye along the way. As others have already pointed out, if you shop around these titles are not going to cost $14.99. There's a reason I buy all my BL via Amazon, although of course these titles will probably now be more like $12-13 instead of $10-11 or so, accordingly. But you know what? I'm willing to pay it. I'll bet a lot of other BL fans are, too. It might cut down somewhat on blind-buying but honestly, a lot of BL fans either: A.) are pretty familiar with the scanalation scene and have already read the story (but still want the book); B.) import Japanese books & magazines and discover new titles there first; and/or C.) are very aware of the mangaka they like and are willing to buy anything of theirs that is released. So I don't think $2 is going to keep too many fans from their BL fix.
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kayue
Posts: 17 |
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I can live with the paper. Not as bad as the newsprint and unusual ink color in June's single J-Boy edition.
I'm more worried about the quality of Tokyopop's translations. I just read the latest Kyou Kara Maou (after going into an earlier rant over KKM#3's translation and editorial errors), and found some of the same problems. At least they got the character intro's right this time, but some the of translations were "HUH"? Because I had followed the anime, and had read a scanlation previously, the errors were dismaying. OK, granted some of the problems were cultural (Kappa/cucumber jokes), but Viz had the same problem with Yakitate Japan which has a lot of "in" jokes, but why not use footnotes? Some of the charm is lost when Wolfram just has "gritty" several times, instead of lapsing into baby-talk. Even "gritting his teeth" makes more sense than "gritty" Surprisingly, a lot of the BL notes were left intact. Even if they didn't make much sense. |
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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Actually it does (most of the US industry wouldn't be moving to box sets if it didn't; Japan scared of reverse importation, etc) but the difference has to be large enough. The Geneon interview indicated a few bucks diff on $30+ volumes not making a difference which is expected. Likewise, a $2 diff here won't affect sales, especially for such niche material -- it's not like there's a lot of competition among publishers for yaoi. On the other hand, if it increased by 50% I'm sure it would. Although you could say that gradually creeping the price up could also be on their minds. |
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KrisEllieOphi
 Posts: 111 Location: Texas |
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This is what I'll say about Dark Horse. Regarding Trigun - the price you're listing is for the oversized volumes. The regular (Maximum) volumes, which made up the bulk of the series, were all $9.95, even the ones that were slightly larger. And for Berserk going up only a single dollar in 6 years is pretty damn good. I'd like to note here that their new Chobits omnibus, vol. 2, is 720 pages, with over 30 of those in color, and it's only $24.99. Bride of the Water God, which is a gorgeously made book, about 190 pages, and comes with color inserts: $9.95. And I suspect this reflects the cheaper cost of licensing Korean manhwa than the more expensive Japanese titles. The rest I can't comment on, though I agree the prices for 3x3 Eyes are pretty outrageous. But I also know that Dark Horse actually cares about the quality of the books they put out, which you can tell just by looking at their books. I can't say the same for Tokyopop. |
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CCSYueh
 Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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It's the volumes I was buying back when I was buying Trigun so it was what I was paying.
And TP held the $10 price for longer than that. Plus the point is a lot of DK titles are higher than $10 to start.
But I have the original set purchased for $6 per volume. I'm sure the art is in the numerous Clamp artbooks I've purchased. I have to get the Chobits one, but I'll bet a lot is in there
Uh-huh, which makes the price more profit for the company, However, Korean doesn't sell as well by all accounts. It does feel as though it's coming out at a snail's pace, though, doesn't it? I almost wish it would just finish because it's taking so long to get each volume. Same for Antique Gift Shop & 1001 Nights. I've been following so patiently, a book arrives, but we get maybe an inch closer to the conclusion & then another wait.
Actually, I've sat in on Comic-con panels for both & back in the day TP had far more interest in the stories. Dark Horse actually asked the audience for suggestions for titles to license with an eye to dropped titles because those were usually cheaper. Of course, times have changed & fortunes have been reversed. TP is probably more where DK was 6 or 8 yrs ago. |
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KrisEllieOphi
Posts: 111 Location: Texas |
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While I have not talked with anyone from TP before, I have spoken with DH's current director of Asian licensing (a position he has held for four years now), and he was totally pumped about their titles. He reads several of them, translates a couple, and really seems to enjoy his job. I will agree that Bride of the Water God is coming out soooo slowly. And it's got a ways to go yet. We're only on vol. 4 (5 is out soon, I think), and that's only halfway through what's out in Korea (which is up to 10 vols.).  I'm not sure why that one is groaning along.
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dragonrider_cody
Posts: 2541 |
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Well, by that thinking, anime sales would be rising right now, when at best they have stabilized, and may continue to fall further. The move to boxsets had a lot of contributing factors besides an attempt to increase sales. The biggest anime retailer, Best Buy and other retailers, just didn't want them anymore. They require too much space, for such a small return on investment, especially now that sales have fallen so dramatically. Plus, there is a 50% fall off of sales between the first volume of a series, and the subsequent closing volumes. There is still a fall off in the sales of both season and half season sets, but not as drastic. Less fall off and fewer prints also mean less returns from retailers. Those have been pretty brutal the last few years, especially from Best Buy. I know Bandai got hit HARD last year when BB returned all the old singles of Haruhi and most of the Lucky Star DVD's. Selling 25K to retailers doesn't do any good, when you have 10K returned a few months later. Plus, boxsets are ultimately cheaper to produce. Printing four DVD's and putting them in two cases costs much less than putting six DVDs in six separate cases, not to mention the possible art box. Don't forget cheaper shipping and packaging costs as well. Also, it would have been disastrous if Funi and others tried to switch back to singles, after experimenting with box sets. So, just like releasing cheap box sets a few months later, R1 has been forced into a business model that may not be the best for it. |
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dragonrider_cody
Posts: 2541 |
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You know, I've only ever purchased one series from Blu, and that was Earthian. Those volumes were already $15, so if I was willing to pay them then, I don't see why I wouldn't now. Ultimately, I think I'd rather pay slightly higher prices, than risk a series I was collecting be dropped.
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CCSYueh
Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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Earthian was pretty deluxe. The covers with the flaps were pretty.
TP could always pursue DK's pricing-various prices for different titles, but I know it always put me off just trying out DK titles. The titles I read of theirs are ones I'm sure about since I dropped Trigun. Mail was incredible which is why I moved on to Kurosagi. Hellsing's great (if we ever get the finish). I tried MPD Psycho, but it doesn't do a lot for me so I'm hobbling along, not really sure if I'll finish. THey also seem to have a more male orientation & more seinen, isn't it? I like the mythology of shonen. Yeah, they got some Clamp, but TP already released them so buying them will be an iffy deal for me. On the other hand, TP has too much focus on shojo on the weak/fluffy side. However, I don't see DK licensing a title like Demon Diary or Dragon Knights. At the time DK didn't seem interested in Clamp. Do you honestly think DK would have touched Gravitation or Fake? They sure didn't have the guts to launch the manga revolution-that was TP. TP's biggest issues seem similar to CPM-old-style company not able to evolve. Look at all the '90's companies that have fallen. Viz is still around, though basically as a subsidiary of a Japanese company. MB's keeping a pretty low profile so it's hard to say how they're doing, but the porn is probably keeping them alive. Pioneer became Geneon & vanished. CPM's gone. ADV's gone. Funi morphed & thus survived, though I was very worried about them around 2005 because their cash cow-DBZ-was finishing release & they seemed to struggle with direction. Comics ONe, Studio Ironcat, Ice Kunion, Broccoli... I really don't want to see more go down. |
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