Forum - View topicNEWS: ALC Publishing Founder: No Plans to Publish Anything New
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誤称
Posts: 549 |
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It didn't help her much that she didn't get great titles. Seriously, Girl Friends was on the NYT bestseller list. Erica got crappy titles and printed them in lousy formats and very short runs at that. Her titles were hard to find at best. It wasn't that yuri let her down, it was that she let yuri down. Honestly the self-publishes works of the author of Red String are better than what she licensed.
And honestly, inclusion of all aspects of yuri fandom should be key. "Loser fanboy" as a rating NEEDS to be purged. With fire. It was nice she tried, but I can't say I'm sad to see her go. |
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Tenchi
 Posts: 4469 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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^ Eh, I'm a loser fanboy and I've never been offended by the term "loser fanboy". Ditto for "weeaboo".
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corinthian
Posts: 264 |
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They probably couldn't afford "great titles." ALC is (was?) a very small, exclusively niche publishing house. There's no Japanese parent company feeding them titles, no big shonen/shojo hits to give them some spending money to take a risk on niche series. Yeah, other companies grew from those circumstances, but that was 20 years ago when manga was new and cool and rare. ALC was aimed at the small group of fans who both know what they want and (most importantly) were willing to pay for it. You can't say somebody "let yuri down" when they've spent over a decade and a lot of money out of their own pocket and seen so little come from it. The LFB rating is a representation of instances that appeal more to somebody who wants to see fanservice rather than a realistic depiction of a same-sex relationship. It doesn't make it a bad series by itself. Both volumes of Girl Friends got a 5 on the LFB score, but got pretty positive reviews overall. I agree it's not the most inclusive name, but Okazu is an opinion site by a person who has a specific idea of what yuri is, what it should be, and should not be. |
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Chrno2
 Posts: 6171 Location: USA |
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It's really a shame. I had just attended NYCC 2012 and had stopped by JManga's table and talked with them about their services. I even signed up some months later. Then it was like the next day they were closing house despite them being around for awhile now.
It's really a shame to see them go. I'm also sorry to hear about the matter with Erica Friedman, who I've had the chance of reading her blogs and commenting but have not actually sat with her personally. She's played a major role in the "yuri" media scene. Though she wasn't the only person who stated such down trodden news about the problems with selling a "yuri" based market. I heard the same from another who is close friends with Erica, was a graduate from our institution (whom I also know personally and still do, as she does press work for cons and festivals). We had a discussion about how hard it was to create a "yuri" market. I just couldn't understand why that was the case. I even posted my inquiry about this matter with Erica on Okazu and I could tell from what she was telling me that publishing yuri was long time problem with huge risks which is sad. There was so much stuff out there I wanted to recommend to our library but unfortunately it's useless if there isn't anything in print or anyone wants to publish it. It's risky. If there is no market then there is nothing for libraries or bookstores to carry. 
I was so looking forward to buying a printed translated version of Hanjuku Joshi by Akiko Morishima, to go with my imported ones. But I will continue reading her blogs and hopefully one day some miracle will happen and we will see stuff of the yuri kind in print. |
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Alexander55
 Posts: 104 Location: Ontario, CA |
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With that statement, Erica Friedman essentially threw the flag. In other words, she gave up. Although I'm not sure if there is any loss here.
ALC Publishing was never a serious publisher. Aside from publishing one Japanese comic title, it was mostly used as an engine to promote her own work. Other than that, ALC has been inactive for the past years, so again, no serious lost. Also, her blog, Okazu, wasn't really a great source for Yuri manga. Nowadays, you could look for great titles off Dynasty Scans. And, if you wanted to support/buy the title, you could either import it via Amazon.jp or get it off JManga(which is now closed). Besides, if I wanted "reviews" and "opinions" about "great" Yuri Manga, I rather read the comments straight off 4chan's /u/ than read it off her blog. Her reviews are too biased and catered to mostly her taste. She mostly gives the "Loser Fanboy" tag to Mangas that are devoid of Angst and/or are in the moe style. Also, for a Yuri Manga to receive the lowest "Loser Fanboy", it needs to have lots of Angst with indecisive bisexuals(or "lesbians") sleeping with men because they are in denial of their sexual orientation(I'm looking at you Gunjou). I mean, I understand there are closeted homosexuals who still want to hurt themselves(and their partner) for being in denial, weak, and/or pressured by their family, but really, I prefer for Manga to remain a medium of fiction rather than reality. When you start to blur the lines between the two, you have nothing left. My final words: Erica Friedman should quit with her charade and just give whatever Yuri Manga she comes across a chance. Also, she shouldn't limit herself on what Yuri title she thinks she can only enjoy because of the styling and/or "genre" it was published as. But its her life, so yeah, to each to his/her own. 
Last edited by Alexander55 on Tue Mar 19, 2013 1:28 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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agila61
 Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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Or, in other words, you don't share her tastes.
You are contradicting yourself. "She opened up a door to fringe yuri work that we would never have scene, but it was just as fringe overseas, and ..." ... that would be a compatible lead in to "inclusion of all aspects of yuri fandom should be key". But, no, you have just offered an argument against including things like Tokyo Love or Shoujoai ni Boken or many of the lesbian scene manga in Yuri Monogatari, basically "the stuff she liked was crap and that was why she failed" ... which directly contradicts the statement "inclusion of all aspects of yuri fandom should be key".
But then would a fanboy who is unable to laugh at himself have a claim to being a winner? |
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Alexander55
Posts: 104 Location: Ontario, CA |
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GF was on the NY Times but it doesn't necessarily mean it sold well. Hell, Sailor Moon, one of the oldest and best shoujo mangas around, only sold 2,000. And its Sailor Moon we're talking about so imagine how much GF sold if it was 8th-9th place? The US Manga industry is in a pretty bad shape right now. But its not the only industry on the decline, books are going down as well. With the exception of a few franchises and big authors(such as the "Hunger Games" and anything by Bill O' Reily, James Patterson), novels have been disappearing off the shelves as of late. Just like Manga, you can find most novels mostly on B&N, and online bookstores. Nowadays, its rare to see anyone reading a book. Everyone mostly cares about being on those smartphones and social networking. With all those smart phones around constantly excited the masses with their posts and tweets, there's hardly time for deep reading anymore. If people don't bother with books anymore, even less will they bother with Manga. And if there's anyone that actually reads Manga in the era of Smart-phones, they're probably reading it online and almost never buying, supporting, or importing their beloved titles from the land of the rising sun. For all those who have actually supported your favorite series and authors, more respect to you!
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agila61
Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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Note that "ALC has been inactive for the past years" is factually incorrect. Just this past year, ALC and re-issued Tokyo Love as an epub and worked on several volumes for JManga (Ameiro Kouchakan Kandan, Yuru Yuri, Sorairo Girl Friend, Haru Aki Natsu Fuyu, among others). The former was not a successful release, and the latter work obviously halts with the shutdown of JManga. As the JManga work was the only work which was covering its cost to ALC, JManga announcing that it was shutting down operations explains putting ALC Publishing on indefinite hiatus. |
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Chagen46
 Posts: 4377 |
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Now, Friedman may not be a saint, but are you seriously saying that you'd rather read the opinions of misogynistic neckbeards than hers? She's far more professional. On the topic of this news: I have almost no interest in yuri, so I'm not mourning the loss of this. But I'm not rejoicing either. |
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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They said /u/, not /a/, Chagen. Yes, there is a difference, and unless the female population posting there are also misogynists, you can't generalize them like that.
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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Sailor Moon sold 2k copies from comic book stores. If you think comic book stores represent the bulk percentage of where people buy manga then you need to exit the early 1990s. |
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Chagen46
Posts: 4377 |
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Why would girls be on a yuri board? I'd expect to see girls on /y/ more often.
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agila61
Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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Because they like yuri? Its not as if its a male-only demographic. |
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walw6pK4Alo
Posts: 9322 |
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It's amazing how you missed the name and supposed sex/gender of the person talking in the article. Yuri and shoujo-ai isn't a boy's-only club. I knew a ton of women into the stuff, and girls who also enjoy Queen's Blade, Ikki Tousen, and Mai-Hime. Main demographics doesn't mean exclusion of others. |
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Chagen46
Posts: 4377 |
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I almost never visit /u/ anyway, the only boards I visit are /a/ (only for threads of shows I'm watching), /y/, /cm/, and /tg/.
Last I was there it just seemed like a gender-swapped /y/. Except with more creepiness
I didn't. |
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