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Is Del Rey Manga in Trouble?


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catstigereye



Joined: 25 Oct 2009
Posts: 385
Location: NC
PostPosted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 7:49 pm Reply with quote
I wonder after a quick look at Del Rey Manga's site. Are they in some sort of trouble? has anyone noticed the lack of releases from Del Rey or the fact that most information on there web site is way out dated!

I collect Princess Resurrection and a few other Manga from Del Rey but am seeing a lack of information on there titles.

Dose anyone know whats going on?
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Mushi-Man



Joined: 17 Nov 2008
Posts: 1537
Location: KCMO
PostPosted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 9:15 pm Reply with quote
I wouldn't say that Del Rey is in trouble, they have quite a few popular manga that can get them some steady income and a wide rang of niche titles that are quite popular in their own right. I think there are quite a few other companies that are in a bit of worse position than Del Rey is now. I would be surprised if they were in crisis mode or anything.
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OLady



Joined: 16 Dec 2009
Posts: 163
Location: Texas
PostPosted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:44 pm Reply with quote
Mushi-Man wrote:
I wouldn't say that Del Rey is in trouble, they have quite a few popular manga that can get them some steady income and a wide rang of niche titles that are quite popular in their own right. I think there are quite a few other companies that are in a bit of worse position than Del Rey is now. I would be surprised if they were in crisis mode or anything.


That's reassuring. They published Fuyumi Soryo's Eternal Sabbath and I look forward to seeing more of her work.
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FeralKat



Joined: 06 Jan 2005
Posts: 402
PostPosted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 6:04 pm Reply with quote
I think they're just really bad with keeping up with their website, lol.
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PaniPoni61



Joined: 08 Jan 2010
Posts: 128
PostPosted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 7:52 pm Reply with quote
i haven't heard if Del Ray is in trouble. If this is about Princess Resurrection though, i can understand the anxiousness. The first 5 volumes seemed to show up at one time around here, but the last few....waiting is the hardest part. sorry Tom Petty.
As long as they don't do a Broccoli, and pretty much disappear overnight. Seems like i've found more stuff i like on the Yen Press label the past year or so.
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 16417
PostPosted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 7:54 pm Reply with quote
They're part of a huge book chain, so they'll be fine.
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marie-antoinette



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
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Location: Ottawa, Canada
PostPosted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 11:35 pm Reply with quote
Del Rey manga is just part of a larger company, which in turn is an imprint of an even larger company (Random House) so I think the chances of them just disappearing are pretty slim. Especially when they have some of the cash cow series that they publish, such as xxxHolic and Tsubasa (and probably others but those are the two that I buy from them, along with Nodame Cantabile).

They've always been a bit slower when it comes to releases, I've found. Which is okay for me, because it means I spend money on their series at a slower rate than I might otherwise (though I only have 9 volumes of the previously mentioned Tsubasa and the last one published was 23!).
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Patachu
Past ANN Contributor


Joined: 08 Jul 2004
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Location: San Diego
PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 1:30 am Reply with quote
No, they just have lousy webmonkeys. (There's even a Del Rey Manga blog that hasn't been updated in what ... three years .... Anime hyper )

But they're definitely still putting stuff out, it's just that the good stuff comes slow and the crappy stuff comes out fast (c'mon, 2 xxxHolics a year while drowning under a pile of Negima neo?!?!?! It's killing me people!)
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vashna



Joined: 19 Feb 2010
Posts: 1313
PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 2:26 am Reply with quote
I have to agree about their web page, though I haven't heard any problems either. Speaking of Yen Press, they're in the same boat as Del Rey - a portion of a much larger international publishing house; I believe its Hachette Books.

I actually found out that the old Animerica website was up today, and actually was updated to some degree. I can't imagine the kind of 'webmonkeys' that Viz has to keep up with all of their sites. Sad that Del Rey really has only the one.

Hey, maybe I should apply for a job writing Del Rey's blog Shocked
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holangjai



Joined: 02 Aug 2008
Posts: 60
PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 12:19 pm Reply with quote
Well I completely understand why they would have to space things out the way they do. For instance, 2 xxxHolics a year. Did you know that they've literally caught up to the Japanese releases? At one point there was only one volume between releases here and in Japan, so spacing it out so that there wouldn't be too long of a wait is ideal in spreading good sales year round.

As far as Del Rey being in trouble, I don't think that's it. They do have a lot of niche titles and the stuff that doesn't sell have gone up in prices, but at least they've been faithful enough to release them, even if it involves slowing down releases or coming out with omnibuses. Popular titles like Negima!, Tsubasa, xxxHolic, have slowed down because they're catching up to the Japanese releases fast.

Also i'd like to point out that for most of the first two quarters of this year there seem to be an absence of releases from current titles. I'm assuming this has something to do with the amount of money that's going into Del Rey's CLAMP project, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I hope they pick up the pace in the later half of the year for current titles..
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vashna



Joined: 19 Feb 2010
Posts: 1313
PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 1:43 pm Reply with quote
I hadn't realized how close the titles really were to the Japanese releases over at Del Rey.

If I may ask, what companies are others alluding to that are actually in trouble? With the Bleach, One Piece, Naruto and Death Note cash cows that Viz has, I can't imagine its Viz media. However, I could see the highly diversified Dark Horse was having some trouble with other parts of the company.

I was recently reading, actually, that graphic novels (Both Western and Manga tankoban) were the only aspects of the publishing industry that is growing.
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LKK



Joined: 31 Oct 2007
Posts: 426
Location: Virginia, USA
PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 3:43 pm Reply with quote
vashna wrote:
If I may ask, what companies are others alluding to that are actually in trouble?

I think most would agree with me that the biggest manga publisher who's in trouble would be Tokyopop. Their restructuring and placing loads of titles on hiatus (a.k.a. cancellation) may have saved them from going under. I personally think it's still too early to be sure. They've ticked off a lot of manga buyers who in return no longer buy their new series out of fear of the stories not reaching completion.

Go!Comi has alluded to (or outright admitted) to having trouble, mainly with getting its books in the stores.

DramaQueen and Infinity Studios seem to have vanished. There are probably some other small manga publishers who have disappeared as well.

In my area, CMX seems to have trouble getting its books on the shelves of the major chain stores. But I don't know if they're in trouble as a result. On the other hand, Dark Horse seems to be doing okay in my area.
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Mushi-Man



Joined: 17 Nov 2008
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Location: KCMO
PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 5:03 pm Reply with quote
Like LKK said, Tokyopop is in trouble. Sure they have a few popular manga right now, but that's about it. They've been putting all their eggs in one basket and now it's starting to run out. And they're been showing signs of struggling with budget for a while now. And I can't think of anything new that DramaQueen or Infinity Studios have put out.

And sadly I think Vertical might be sinking. They only have very niche titles that not to many mainstream shoppers would even look at. And plus I hardly ever see them get shelf space. I basically have to go online to find any of their products. And there's countless small publishers that I'm sure haven't been fairing well lately do to the economic situations.
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LKK



Joined: 31 Oct 2007
Posts: 426
Location: Virginia, USA
PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 9:29 pm Reply with quote
I picked up Del Rey's new xxxHolic 15 tonight, confirming that the company is still meeting its release schedule.
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vashna



Joined: 19 Feb 2010
Posts: 1313
PostPosted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 1:35 am Reply with quote
Sadly enough, I haven't heard of some of those publishers like Vertical. Perhaps that is an indicator of their low distribution.
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