Forum - View topicThe French manga market
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milcor1
 Posts: 337 |
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I was recently on vacation in Europe and while sightseeing around Paris I managed to sneak into some comic stores. To my amazement, the manga market there is just SO MUCH MORE BLEEPING INCREDIBLE, I practically wilted onto the floor in reverence.
The French are lucky bastards. Every manga comes with a dustcover (some people don't like them, some don't care, but I personally wish the American market used them as it keeps the manga from looking raggedy). Alot of their titles are caught up to the Japanese release or just about. For example Gantz is up to around volume 16 there and they've even released the freaking Gantz Manual book. The uber popular titles such as Dragonball Z have been released in numerous versions. Flipped, standard, wideban versions etc. For Akira I even saw a color version (goddamn). Battle Angel Alita had its uber large version, and it's called Gunnm there. They have almost all the cult hits that aren't exactly money bringers but have those cult followings such as anything by Matsumoto or Kuroda. I saw Japan Tengu Party Illustrated in a beautiful biggie size with dust covers. They've got the whole No.5 released over there (I died a little inside when I saw all 8 volumes on the shelf). One thing I noticed is that they rarely have any of those crappy third rate titles that the publishers here seem to license. Only the A-list and popular titles are stocked on their shelves. No vomit inducing material from Tokyopop. They've got stuff like ROOKIES from Jump (check it out, it's awesome), Ningen Kyouki Katsuo (the elephant dick manga!), Say Hello to Blackjack (medical manga), 20th Century Boys (UP TO VOLUME 19), Touch and Katsu! (Mitsuri Adachi manga!!!), Futari Ecchi (I'm not saying this is an A-list title, but... oh my god?!), and those are the ones just off the top of my head. The whole place looked like it came right out of a Japanese manga store. I mentioned Gantz but I've got to note also that nothing is shrinkwrapped over there and every titillating image is intact. They don't need any warning labels and there aren't any stickers on their 13th volume of Berserk. As a result, the kids there are doing just fine. I have a few ideas why their manga market is so much more pimp than ours but that's not really why I made this post. I just wanted to type this out because I am jealous, JEALOUS. I'm tired of seeing stupid C-list titles at my local bookstore such as Pichi Pichi Pichi, Gundam Seed, Galaxy Angel Party, or whatever dumb manga some two-bit publisher licenses to try and earn a few bucks from the sudden interest in manga by this continent. |
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Vantos
 Posts: 102 |
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Really? This sounds rather enlightening. And I know what you mean by nauseating C-list stuff. There are so many (bad) choices to fish through (thanks, Tokyopop) that I'm buying more Viz and Del Rey, since they have a little more restraint. Mind you, even those two companies don't produce super-duper hits all the time, but in my opinion it's better than what you get from the likes of incomplete-series (or so I've heard) Tokyopop.
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SharinganEyes92
 Posts: 816 |
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Hmm, when I went to a Borders in England, they seemed to have almost the exact same amount of manga on their shelves as the Borders I have seen here in America. I don't think it's all of Europe's book-stores that are like that. Or was it that you went into stores that specialized in only selling comics and not just books in general?
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Kagemusha
 Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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Yeah, France does have quite a bit of manga when compared to the US, especially when it comes to titles directed at mature audiences. In general their comic market is larger and more culturally accepted than ours, which naturally bleeds over into imported stuff. A couple of questions:
Ok, and how is this any better than most of the third-rate titles licenced in English? It probobly wouldn't be released here because of the sex though (certain small US publishers have no qualms about publishing sexually graphic material if it's actually good).
The color "version" of Akira was published in the US years ago by Marvel under the Epic label. They colored it themselves to improve sales, so it isn't like Otomo produced two versions. The colorist did a good job, but the original B&W is superior. In terms of stuff like Gantz being published, I really don't think it's that big a deal (if not for it being owned by Shueisha I suspect Tokyopop would have snapped it up a while ago). What about progressive stuff? I don't just mean Kuroda and Matsumoto, as they're big enough to be licenced in the US. Did you see and true underground manga over there? See any classics (aside from Tezuka; maybe Kamui-den if you have any idea what that is?) Oh, and DBZ does have numerous versions in the US too, as I'm sure you know. |
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Urd
 Posts: 317 Location: Paris, France |
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That's right. We're lucky for mangas, but not for anime.  If I'm not wrong, Italian and German markets are more developed than ours.
Just to have an idea : those are this month's releases.
I don't think so. Mangas have a pretty bad reputation in France. Manga readers are seen as pervert and violent people. :/ But I don't care and read mangas in buses. 
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milcor1
Posts: 337 |
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The futari Ecchi thing was more of a surprised reaction from me more than anything else. I know it's really nothing more than a "sex for dummies" kind of thing with a plot thrown in. I was just surprised that an outside country would even license it, as I got once of those "yup, only in Japan will you see that" kind of vibe from that manga. About the colour Akira, it was hardbound and I didn't look closely to see if it was the Epic version or not. http://www.glenatmanga.com/ The publisher's site shows the color version collected in 14 different volumes of about 200 pages each. Not sure if they're the same. I saw alot of pretty old looking stuff and classic stuff. I'm guessing almost all of Tezuka's work, barefoot stuff, Hiroshima stuff. There was one huge book by Jiro Taniguchi called K about some dudes mountain climbing. http://www.madein.mangakana.com/Univers.Series.List.cfm is the more obscure line of Kana, one of the manga publishers. Not sure how progessive those titles are, they just might be classic stuff from Japan I've never heard about. |
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milcor1
Posts: 337 |
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You've helped me remember some random observations I'd forgotten. -The French leave the hillarious Engrish quotes on the Bleach covers -They've got Real (#@%#!, hurry up Viz) -Homunculus... -But they also have tripe like Ichigo 100% so their shelves probably do have some turd in between the decent stuff I do have one question though. How long will it take our manga market to reach the level at which the French manga market is currently at? |
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shamelessfanboy
 Posts: 48 |
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I'm not sure how underground you're looking for, but Casterman is probably your best bet. I think somebody posted a link to their site on this forum not too long ago... You would love those guys. For example, soon they'll be releasing Witches and Daio (which is a Kuroda short story collection, apparently). I think the biggest difference is the French market has a better ratio of mature manga compared to the typical manga from Tokyopop, and I'm not talking about the gore/nudity kind of mature either (though there is certainly that too). I have to wonder if these titles are actually selling that well, since whenever I see a "post your manga collection" on a French forum I only see Blade of the Immortal and once in a while something like Blue or something by Taniguchi. On a somewhat related note (alright, it's just blatant bragging), I finally caved and ordered Nasu. You would think I would own more French manga, but I'm just cheap. I refuse to pay 26$ a pop on Amazon, even if it's for the more-than-likely awesome Number 5, when I could buy two volumes of Say Hello to Black Jack for the same price. |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9903 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Want a photo of licensed version in Taiwan? 
Trust me, in Taiwan you can find both the A-list classics and C-list crappy stuff; at least the latter ones give us some laughable, no-brainer moments. 
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Kagemusha
Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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But at least it has a reputation amoung the public. Despite an article here and there, manga in the US is still a very niche market with most of the public unfamilar with Japanese comics. As for the whole "all manga promotes violence" thing, isn't violence much less prevelant in French media (obviously not in terms of nudity) than American media? Or am I confusing you guys with Germany?
It isn't even that I'm only looking for underground stuff. Fantagraphics, Ponent Mon and D&Q have already published a good deal of art-manga and will continue to, so it isn't like we'll never see stuff from Garo in the US. Something like Witches would be great because it really has a potential to bring a new audience into manga. Had it been released half a decade earlier I doubt Viz would have just passed it over (I still wouldn't be shocked if they suddenly decided to release it). While I read just about every genre of manga there is and think that the market is definitally moving in a better direction than a few years ago, I'd just like to see more mature and progressive manga be published here. |
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Urd
Posts: 317 Location: Paris, France |
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That's true, but it's worse in Germany (Resident Evil is censured in Germany (green blood instead of red), it isn't in France). Video gamers are seen the same way as manga readers are... maybe worse.
A simple example to see how the situation is in France :
It's over now, but people's point of view hasn't changed. All thanks to "Famille de France" who still exists... |
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coolerimmortal
Posts: 522 |
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France has a great manga market, I know. They're even got Blitz Royale over there...
 about Futari Ecchi being over there. I can't see it ever coming out here. It's a decent series, actually.
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Kagemusha
Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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Eh...I guess it's so-so; could have been solid if it focused more on characters and how they're affected by Japan's modern perception of marriage. When I was talking about erotic manga in the US I meant that indie US publishers like Fantagraphics or even Ponent Mon certianly wouldn't be afriad to publish them as long as they're good. FE is nothing but sex and statistics with a so-so, very cliched story. It would be nice if stuff from Manga Erotics F saw its way over here, as that contains sex AND exellent (and fairly alternative) stories. |
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bennyb
 Posts: 477 |
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Man, I am jealous. Gantz manga is released and almost everything is way closer to Japanese releases. Hell I wouldn't need scanlations! Hrrm. I also know Germany is at like volume 40-41 or something ridiculous like that. So, so jealous.
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unhealthyman
 Posts: 306 |
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Yeh, the French are massively into manga.
I remember going there on holiday when I was a kid (I live in the UK, and its practically a given that every holiday when you are young is to go to France,) and there I saw my first ever anime on TV - I was about 8 or something and watching possibly DBZ (I'm guessing from my vague memories,) in French dub. But even more surprisingly when I went there again later once I was more into manga I went into a French bookshop and my jaw hit the floor. It was just a major shame I cant read French.
Trust me, it is not the same all over Europe, France has, for years, been far more open to graphic novels (not only manga.) In England the only manga I could buy from a shop when I was younger was the first three volumes of Ranma 1/2. Its only scarcely catching up now. (Went into Waterstones today, a reasonably major book shop, and they didn't sell FMA or Death Note, the two titles I was looking for. Although they did sell a reasonable selection of other titles.) |
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