Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! [2010-05-15]
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konkonsn
 Posts: 172 Location: Illinois |
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You're right; it's not the twentieth century. We have technology to share media that would otherwise not be available to us. Books and films that no publisher would take on because they pose too much of a market risk can now be distributed to the public. I do believe artists should be compensated for their work, but when various economic and social factors inhibit our access to that art, then at the very least it's nice that the product can be consumed and the artist's ideas can be shared. For marginalized communities, this is especially important. BL may be popular at conventions, but the number of printed titles are slim pickings...same for GL; and try finding one that isn't fetishistic, plotless drivel. So...yes...a long as going to the bookstore means wading through pile upon pile of gooshy, hetero-romance or overbearing masculine stereotypes (and don't get me wrong; two of my current buying series are gooshy, shoujo romances, and my favourite anime is Yu Yu Hakusho), I'm going to read unlicensed manga online. I also take issue that it's only "young people" that pirate or that feel a sense of entitlement. Really, it pisses me off when my elders make this assumption because my friends and I CARE about our world, and many of the young people I teach CARE about their world, and just because we don't conform to the old practices of community involvement and justice doesn't mean we aren't doing anything. Or that there aren't a bunch of old kurmudgeons sitting around, leeching off of their hobbies.
Um...manga doesn't look pretty on my shelf. It gets read. And then flipped through to go back over the funny parts. And then read again. Maybe even pulled out to fact check something in a discussion. I don't understand this thought process that came up in both your and Morgan's submissions...but then again, even the manga I read as leisure material gets thought about and discussed with my friends and then a quick trip to some fan communities for pictures and such. I've never read a manga just to toss it aside and never look at it again... This may also be why I don't have a cost issue, though. I only buy series if it peaks my interest and subsequent reviews say it's good...and since I can entertain myself with the latest volume (thinking about it, discussing it, going over back issues for clarification) for weeks, I don't feel the need to consume large quantities of various series. |
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doc-watson42
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 1708 |
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I used the Japanese terms that are in common use among fans of hentai—but the next version will be a bit clearer, as the READ ME page will have the full list titles and explanations.
For more "educational" terms, see the Yuribou Hentai Dictionary (which is not my work) and my Getchu.com glossary (use your favorite search engine). :::
While it would be difficult, if not impossible, to best Steve Oliff and Olyoptics (at least in the period of which we are speaking), Akira was colorized so it doesn't count. (Though I, too, love Akira and have the Marvel/Epic Comics editions.  )
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loka
 Posts: 373 Location: Pittsburgh, PA |
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Brian: please do not select any entries for this coming week's Answerfan column that are about popular and well-known series.
To those responses: Yes, yes; we all know your sad little story how Eva, Death Note, Code Geass, or (insert popular shounen) disappointed you.
I'll second the opinion that 'spartydragon' is confused. Otherwise, "And here's a shocker," he/she is just wrong. I have found that the remaining American companies are better about it, though. I'm choosing to believe Shawne Kleckner of RightStuf when he says the Haruhi DVDs are selling well. Bandai put effort into their Haruhi release to get the broadcast order included, but fell short with the subtitles and having no Mikuru folder. |
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14761 |
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Heheh, what's up Doc? 
(We've had our encounters of olde.) Just pointing out that "colour than thou" isn't all that. If it's that significant, then we'd just have manga colorized again like before (because "B&W doesn't sell"). 
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Sceleris
Posts: 43 Location: Sweden |
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I sometimes wonder if companies being more open with the economics of manga would help dissuade at least some of the people who download to save money instead of buying. (I'm reminded of Chavez' mentioning that sales for Black Jack dropped by 20 % when the first seven volumes were scanned.) Other than the ones simply not caring, I think a lot of people justify their pirating with them being just one person, but if the actual market sizes and costs and losses were more out in the open, maybe some would turn around.
Somewhat related, I like what Shuuhou Satou, creator of medical drama manga Say Hello to Black Jack, did. He took a long look at his economical situation, the decline of magazine and tankoubon sales in Japan and rights issues, and arrived at the conclusion that first selling chapters online and then selling published tankoubon would be feasible. He's selling new chapters for 30 yen (0.3 USD) and old chapters for 10 yen to compete with an increasing used manga market and with manga cafes. He estimated that he could lose 80 % of his magazine readership and still break even or make a profit, and he seems to be doing okay. ([1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]) Not all authors can go solo like that, of course, but I'd at least be all for "a Crunchyroll for manga", further separating my (legit) consuming from my collecting. (Relating to alternate business models, but deviating further from the topic of American manga publishers, perhaps Japanese anime producers would do good in trying something new. The producers of the True Tears Blu-ray box set needed (and got) 2000 pre-orders to get it made, baiting with a new epilogue as a bonus. Perhaps fans "investing" in shows pre-production could be part of the budget. It could help producers understand what's in demand, in addition to decreasing the risk of going into the red. I would gladly pay in the order of 100 USD to help get a new Shinichiro Watanabe show made, for example. They'd still have to make a compelling case for it, of course.) Anyhow, my biggest disappointment of recent years must've been Tytania. Noboru Ishiguro directing a story by Yoshiki Tanaka with original character design by Haruhiko Mikimoto... Even when not comparing it with the ohmygodsogood Legend of the Galactic Heroes OVA series, Tytania just came up short of being anything more than missed potential. For me, it failed miserably. |
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agila61
 Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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That may not be as far from the case of American manga publishers as all that. Suppose that an American manga publisher starts one of these sites trying to commercialize some of their publications online. Big problem in competing with the bootleg sites is variety. So how to generate more variety of content, when the economics of publishing suck so badly at the moment? The peer to peer financing model described by ChrisCook at the European Tribune could be tried out here. Develop the anime player so that it can play lettering-free artwork and overlay lettering image files (two color black and clear image files). Work out an agreement with publishers of manga that are likely to never see regular licensing to provide online rights ex-Japan in return for a share of the net revenues ... making clear that its going to be a crowd-financed float and there is no guarantee of any particular one getting the go ahead. OK, now, set up each manga as an LLC, and set up the budget for translation, editing, lettering, layout and file mastering. Sell units in the net revenues of the LLC to members on the site, say, $20 per unit. The budget determines how many units have to sell to go ahead. The license agreement then determines how many additional units the original publisher in Japan receives. For those who bought units on the site, the revenues trickle back into their account and can be used to download manga volumes. Sales determine whether or not the member gets under or over $20 back in their account over time - and it is made clear going in that this is not a saving account, it is like an "Angel" investor in Broadway, where they are supporting the show, and if they get a return on the investment, that's a bonus. The same thing could be done with Anime, but once a license is arrived at that is a pure share of net revenues, a purely digital manga would represent a lower up-front cost, and lower operating costs per volume downloaded, so the hurdle to get the ball rolling in manga would be lower. |
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FlamingPinecone
 Posts: 131 |
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i like the reader mail's idea of buying out the scanlators who are doing the best job. one of the biggest problems of scanlations as a product is that many suffer from bad unprofessional editing.
the ones that do an excellent job are largely few. So? Buy them out! also, manga should adopt Funimations ideas. I hate waiting knowing product is over there. why should i wait if i can find it for free? i would happily buy FMA: Brotherhood streaming (if they didn't offer it for free). same with the manga. they could get me twice because good shows are worth having a solid copy about. thats my idea anyway. outside shutting down the sites which is a temporary fix, sometimes lasting just hours. eitherway. the idea of keeping your enemies closer is a good one. valve software has made millions buying successful mods and community. |
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Prede
 Posts: 388 |
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I don't care what people say, I saw some of the Animax dub of K-on and I thought it was pretty good. Now is it as good as what a studio in North America could pull off? No...clearly not up to that standard. But I liked it. It wasn't horrible anyway. It could have been better, sure. But it was more then listenable. I would so watch that verson if they released it here with that dub and just subtitles. I liked the casting at least, better then some generic other dubs I've been listening to
 . Animax has some truly horrible stuff, so the hate is not uncalled for. But I liked this one at least. Haters ganna hate though.
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fuuma_monou
 Posts: 1817 Location: Quezon City, Philippines |
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Much as I like Candice Moore, it's a little too obvious she's playing three regular characters (Tsumugi, Sawako, Azusa). Too bad there wasn't an excuse for her to sound British, like she could in a few other shows. |
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SerryHeart
 Posts: 13 |
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Love the Flame of the Week. I followed the link out of curiosity and that was my reaction too (minus the kareoke). rofl
The problem with buying manga is that eventually you get tired of it and then its just clogging up shelf space before becoming another paperback selling for 25 cents at your yard sale. Sure you could just buy the ones major ones but then that leaves the industry unwilling to take a chance on the smaller 'diamond in the rough' stories out there. Then there is the problem that waiting for a book to be released take months and meanwhile you know the next chapter is a google search away. If only there was a Netflix of manga available. Pay a monthly subscription and read all of the manga that you want. The money goes to pay the labels who pay freelancers to translate stories. People are already doing it for free so its not like you'd have to pay them much. Okay, naive idea but with e-readers and the iPad out there there must be a faster way then waiting months for a book that will soon be doomed to gather dust on my shelf. Now...Anime that was the biggest let down? I could say Dragonball Z because anything after and including the Saiyaman arc was dung. Gohan=Ginyu Force? Only thing worse was the live action movie. However, I'd have to give first place to Naruto. Such a great universe with so many possibilities but I can't stand a character that stays so damn annoying for so long. You'd think there would be more character growth for the time that's been spent on him. I was fair and I gave him until Shippūden but I only liked it for Gaara and that was the manga. I couldn't stand the anime. |
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zgripţuroicǎ
 Posts: 140 Location: Newburgh, NY |
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For whoever it was that didn't understand the costs analysis thing, I spend maybe $10 on a popular release from Viz or Tokyopop. Something from Darkhorse like Hellsing or Gantz runs about $13 last time I checked. It takes me maybe an hour and a half to read them. I can just as easily goes spend it on a novel that will take me over a day to read, like Gravity's Rainbow. I really don't see how that's so difficult to understand. I have to reread a manga 16 times over for it to give me the same length for the cost versus a book I can knock back in 24 hours. I like having them, and I buy the ones I think are really good, but it's not likely that I'm going to reread them any more than two or three times. Plus, with so much absolute rot out there, it's hard justifying paying for a new unknown series. I like them, but buying hard copies is an expensive habit, and I've already got plenty of those, like music (old LPs can cost insane amounts of money), anime and normal books. I think by having the price set so high, even if it is necessary to make a profit, severely limits the potential market.
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LibraryJoy
 Posts: 27 |
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La Corda d'Oro is another Crunchyroll series that is coming soon (next month, I think!) to DVD.
I'm still holding out hope that Natsume Yuujincho (Natsume's Book of Friends) will be released on DVD. The manga is just being released, so maybe that will increase the demand... I've seen it several times on Crunchyroll, but it's one I could watch over and over. It's so relaxing! |
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ZenErik
 Posts: 392 Location: Boston |
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You really think the price is to high? Yes, the average novel takes much longer to read for a similar amount of money, but I consider graphic novels/manga a whole different medium. It really depends on what you enjoy. If you like it, buy it. Also, in my personal opinion, it actually makes more sense to have hard copies of manga as opposed to regular books. Looking at it on a computer screen or eReader (I used to have one) just doesn't look nearly as good. While I wouldn't read a book on a computer screen either, due to eye strain, reading one on an eReader is actually quite nice. The current resolutions and contrast of eReaders just can't even begin to compare to real paper and ink when it comes to graphics. |
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