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NEWS: Twin Spica Manga "Likely" to Go Out of Print in English


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maaya



Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 976
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 1:37 am Reply with quote
kyokun703 wrote:
xScar wrote:
I have to say, the covers/art really turned me off from it. I'm sad that a title did so badly for Vertical.


That's really strange, because Vertical said that was a major problem that was noted:

Vertical wrote:
It is very strange, but given how much anime and manga are visual media, I have repeatedly been told that the cover design (same as the Japanese) has been a deterrent.


It's not strange at all, on the contrary, to me, it seems obvious that this art style, generally speaking, does not appeal at all to a western audience. You can't change the art inside, but as the publisher I would have tried to change the cover art for sure. Sometimes using the original art is simply not the best choice. But of course, the series is also completely unknown to western fans, despite having an anime (and you can bet that a lot of people never watched that one because of the art as well).

So, I'm not at all surprised this didn't sell well, but it's still sad, because there'll be even less of these kind of series translated now.

And it's impressive that Vertical finished the series despite it losing money, hopefully the fans will realize the effort they made.
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Pelianth
Industry Insider


Joined: 26 Apr 2003
Posts: 52
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 1:42 am Reply with quote
configspace wrote:

Quote:
Vertical, Inc. We will have more wrap around covers... No Longer Human and Flowers of Evil both feature them. And even vendors, which are as important to sales as readers, say they thought the covers didn't reflect the themes of the title well. Made the title seem like a shojo fantasy instead of a seinen coming of age story.


The news has perked my interest though. I wish there were a omnibus, like Seven Seas tends to do now.

Half the English volumes ARE omnibuses. Around vol 7 or 8 Vertical started publishing two Japanese volumes for every English volume, except without the price increase that would have attended such a decision from any other US publisher.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14746
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 3:55 am Reply with quote
Vertical, Inc. wrote:

It is very strange, but given how much anime and manga are visual media, I have repeatedly been told that the cover design (same as the Japanese) has been a deterrent. Even at cons, I am lucky to sell 1 copy over the entire 12 volume series. Which is shocking given how almost everything else, even titles that sell at a lower rate than Twin Spica sell out regularly over con weekends.


Not moe. Razz

Damn original creators and their original intents! Do the edits! Or like the ones for Spice and Wolf! Laughing
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 08 Dec 2003
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Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 4:18 am Reply with quote
Chagen46 wrote:
See people?

This is what happens when all you buy is shitty fanservice harem manga. The good stuff gets shafted in the end.

As an owner of Twin Spica, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, Aqua + Aria, as well as Kodomo no Jikan, Kiss×sis, and countless naughty dōjinshi, I can only say that you know NOTHING about manga and its selling point.
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Sewingrose



Joined: 11 Jan 2011
Posts: 579
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 4:31 am Reply with quote
Okay. *Goes to look up on Amazon how many volumes there are, and reallocates book money for the next two months.*[/list]
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partially



Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 702
Location: Oz
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 4:43 am Reply with quote
A pity, it was a great series. I bought all the volumes as they came out.

That said some of the covers did turn me off. Although the books contain such thing as a man who wears a lion mask, there is no need to put it on the cover Wink
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configspace



Joined: 16 Aug 2008
Posts: 3717
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 5:00 am Reply with quote
Pelianth wrote:
Half the English volumes ARE omnibuses. Around vol 7 or 8 Vertical started publishing two Japanese volumes for every English volume, except without the price increase that would have attended such a decision from any other US publisher.

Thanks for the info.

Seeing how Vertical took the effort to complete it, and how there's just a handful left of each from Amazon, I just took the plunge with a blind buy. Yall better be right on how good this is! I don't expect to hate it, but I hope I'm not bored to tears, lol
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maaya



Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 976
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 5:10 am Reply with quote
enurtsol wrote:
Damn original creators and their original intents! Do the edits! Or like the ones for Spice and Wolf! Laughing


I don't even know about original intents. I often find manga covers to be very "lazily" and in general not very well done. They indeed often tell you nothing about the content, and I have the impression that most manga authors simply are not very good illustrators (which is probably normal since drawing a manga is very different from drawing a (good) cover illustration).

Of course, in the case of Twin Spica the art style itself is also a problem. If it looks like a shojo fantasy, if anything, it should have sold better. But it's not the art style that shojo readers in the west like. Once you're inside the story, most readers probably don't care about the style anymore, but getting past the cover is a big effort for many, not only in the case of Twin Spica.

configspace wrote:
but I hope I'm not bored to tears, lol


You might be moved to tears Wink Just post your opinion here once you've read a bit ^^
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invalidname
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Joined: 11 Aug 2004
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Location: Grand Rapids, MI
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 5:46 am Reply with quote
Just started volume 1. Looks like I'd better get cracking if I want to get the whole thing. Hopefully there will still be some copies around next time Right Stuf does a Vertical sale.
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invalidname
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Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 2434
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 5:55 am Reply with quote
Chagen46 wrote:
See people?
This is what happens when all you buy is shitty fanservice harem manga. The good stuff gets shafted in the end.

Enlighten me: which "shitty fanservice harem manga" is it that people are buying instead of Twin Spica?

AFAICT, the top selling manga are the usual Shonen Jump titles, and the relaunched Sailor Moon. Harems may be big in anime, but I don't think they're a major factor in Western manga at all. We're years removed from having 15 volumes of Love Hina or Ai Yori Aoshi on the shelves at Borders.
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FireChick
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Joined: 26 Mar 2006
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 5:59 am Reply with quote
Man! Now I wish I could go to Books-A-Million and nab all the books before it goes out of print!
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14746
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 6:02 am Reply with quote
maaya wrote:
enurtsol wrote:
Damn original creators and their original intents! Do the edits! Or like the ones for Spice and Wolf! Laughing


I don't even know about original intents. I often find manga covers to be very "lazily" and in general not very well done. They indeed often tell you nothing about the content, and I have the impression that most manga authors simply are not very good illustrators (which is probably normal since drawing a manga is very different from drawing a (good) cover illustration).


Some don't like any edits.


FireChick wrote:
Man! Now I wish I could go to Books-A-Million and nab all the books before it goes out of print!


Everybody calm down; it won't be for months.
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maaya



Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 976
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 6:10 am Reply with quote
enurtsol wrote:
Some don't like any edits.


Sure, but if there aren't enough of these "some"s to buy the series, a cover change can help a lot to reach a larger audience. Japanese publishers almost always put some manga-style cover on fantasy-ish YA novels (like Hunger Games), because they appeal to the audience they aim for.
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7357
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 6:32 am Reply with quote
To anyone even remotely considering buying thing: do it. If you're not sure, just get the first few volumes right now if you're still not 100% sure so that you'll have time to go buy the rest. Also, a lot of libraries have the series, go check out the first 3 or 4 volumes, read them, then go buy it all online.

Anyway, I was really sad to hear this. Yeah, I didn't quite buy them as they came out (except for volume 1) because my thing now is to bulk buy since I have to buy most of my manga online since Borders closed, so I got 9-12 from TRSI during the Vertical January sale. I do plan to bulk buy Vertical stuff at Otakon, but this was one I couldn't wait to get the rest of. Still, I did buy them within about 6 months of them coming out, that's kinda my policy these days.

I actually knew about Twin Spica because I had seen the anime years before, so when the license came out, my reaction was an immediate "just shut up and take my money!" and I paid full price for volume 1, something I haven't done for a manga in ages (I always use sales or coupons or get it cheaper online), I just wanted volume 1 that badly! And if you liked the anime, get the manga, the anime only goes up to volume 6 or so and the manga is somehow infinitely better than an already good anime.

So yeah, it was an incredibly manga, it's a shame that so few people bought it (good thing half the people posting here seem to have, and the other half probably will). It really is one of the best coming of age manga ever created (right now it's at a tie with Hikaru no Go for my personal favorite coming of age manga, coincidentally they both involve an awesome ghost mentor, so fans of one should definitely check out the other as Hikago also didn't sell as well as it should've) and it's certainly one of the best manga to come out in America in the past two years. I kinda feel like I've lost a bit of faith in the manga buying segment of humanity for this not doing well (if you bought it, I still have faith in you)
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TG72



Joined: 28 Jan 2011
Posts: 334
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 7:11 am Reply with quote
Thank you so much, Vertical, for bringing us this series. It's been an absolute joy to follow. I'm slowly reading through the final volume now and don't want it to end Anime cry
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