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Hey, Answerman! [2006-04-21]

I really don't see how the violence and sex is an issue. Battle Royale and Berserk have both been released in the U.S. and seem to be doing fine. And Tokyopop seems to have found an audience as they have released a number of explicit adult titles (like Arm of Kannon and Warriors of Tao) in addition to less explicit seinan titles. Viz has the new Signature line that seemst to be aimed specifically at adults (seeing as how their current titles are Monster and Golgo 13, the latter of which is shrinkwrapped much like GANTZ would have to be) that would be perfect for GANTZ. At the moment, I think Golgo 13 and Monster are the only titles in the under the Signature label, so perhaps Viz will release Gantz under it in the near future.

I don't think he's saying that just watching anime in itself is anti-social, but that the actions of certain individuals, or groups, because of their watching before and afterwards can be anti-social. The "Beavis & Butthead" affect.

It hits once every three months and isn't exactly burning up the charts; calling Berserk a 'popular' title is kind of a misnomer. It has its fans and it sells just well enough to keep coming out but that's basically it.

However I do disgree that it cannot be stopped.

Except its main audience doesn't shop at bookstores. It's true that it isn't a Fruits Basket or a Naruto, but in the current market hardly anything is. Over 100 thousand copies (last time I checked) of any manga is nothing to scoff at, especially if it's a so-called specialty title. More and more it seems companies are turning to specialty titles which have a very devoted audience, because while they can never reach the sales numbers of the latest Dragon Ball clone, they're still going to turn a profit because fans will buy them at a premium price. Look at yaoi of Darkhorse's old-school titles. The only real reason I think no one's touched Gantz (like Gatsu mentioned) is because Shueisha owns it and Viz basically has first dibs (and lets face it, Viz has some very questionable moves in the past).

I feel Jason's pain about the "Ugly Otaku", but really, I do think a lot of it is an age thing. If a 25-year-old were to act like that, it's a different story. But for now, the ugly otaku I know are usually between the ages of 12 and 18, and I can hope they will grow out of it with some mentoring by older anime fans. Part of what I do is "mentor" a 15-year-old girl about which anime she could consider watching, and the importance of not just being "OMG! That's RULEZ!", but rather to try to come up with coherent discussion that looks beyond how hot the bishounen are, etc. One can actually turn many anime into a very intellectual pursuit if one looks deeper.

A representative from a manga publishing company (who shall remain nameless) informed me that one of the reasons nobody's touching Gantz

Wait, I thought Shueisha owned Gantz.

is primarily because it's so adult; if you look at the top selling manga, it's all either aimed at girls (which Gantz is certainly not) or aimed at older kids and young teengers (also which Gantz is not).

Berserk and Lone Wolf aren't aimed at girls and teens, either,

Mylene wrote:

I feel Jason's pain about the "Ugly Otaku", but really, I do think a lot of it is an age thing. If a 25-year-old were to act like that, it's a different story. But for now, the ugly otaku I know are usually between the ages of 12 and 18, and I can hope they will grow out of it with some mentoring by older anime fans. Part of what I do is "mentor" a 15-year-old girl about which anime she could consider watching, and the importance of not just being "OMG! That's RULEZ!", but rather to try to come up with coherent discussion that looks beyond how hot the bishounen are, etc. One can actually turn many anime into a very intellectual pursuit if one looks deeper.

*thumbs up* I didn't read many posts, but yours managed to catch my eye (probably the "OMG that's RULEZ!"), and I agree for the most part.

As a high school student in all the nerdy advanced classes, I witness many ugly otaku firsthand. Lemme tell you guys that were already out of high school by the time the big anime boom hit; it's worse than you think. Here's an excerpt that never fails to make me cringe:

Ugly otaku girl: <ugly otaku boy's name>! I hate you, chibi baka!
Ugly otaku boy: Baka no <school name>.
Ugly otaku girl: What's that mean?
Ugly otaku boy: Idiot of <school name>.
Ugly otaku girl: *is defeated by the guy's original use of Japanese*

At that point I drove my pencil straight into my eardrums so I wouldn't ever have to hear such idiocy again. I'm actually still keeping my identity as a manga fan secret just because of their type ruining it for the rest of us. I know, I know, "you shouldn't care what other people think," but that's easier said than done in this case. Being grouped in with such loveable characters as "that girl that reads gay porn comics in math class" or "that guy that draws crappy bishounen with butterfly wings all day long" is not something that you want to allow.

I should change my name to shamefulfanboy :/

God, that was a bad play on words.

Golgo 13 isn't one tenth as violent or sexual as Gantz is. I have all.. what, 15 or so volumes of the Gantz manga and it's overloaded with extremely graphic deaths and too many sex scenes to count. Hell, the chapter stop splash pages are racier than anything you'd see in Golgo 13.

Berserk is basically a boutique title; you can't get it in a lot of major bookstores because it's been yanked thanks to the excessive violence and nudity.

It hits once every three months and isn't exactly burning up the charts...It has its fans and it sells just well enough to keep coming out but that's basically it.

Golgo 13 isn't one tenth as violent or sexual as Gantz is. I have all.. what, 15 or so volumes of the Gantz manga and it's overloaded with extremely graphic deaths and too many sex scenes to count.

The best comparison is Berserk, and from what I understand - from what many manga company employees have told me - is that more than a few publishers took a look at Berserk's numbers and decided that taking a financial risk with extremely gory or sex-filled manga (that you may not even be able to get on the shelves in the first place) might not really be worth it in the long run.

Plus, Gantz is a fairly expensive license; obviously the price might not warrant the potential sales in the US, based on existing data.

They also aren't "top selling manga."

They're selling decently well, but not in the top 10.

So flooding the market with harem, OEL and obscure titles was a better decision?