Forum - View topicThis Week in Anime - Can't Beat the Classics
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Aura Ichadora
 Posts: 2350 Location: In front of my computer |
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Saw the Glass Mask thumbnail, clicked on the article as fast as I could.
I live for the day that someone to get the rights and publish Glass Mask in English, but alas I have to agree with Chris... no one is going to do it if they aren't going to be able to make money off of it. The series does have a name to it, but nowhere near in the same way as The Rose of Versailles, Devilman, or the Tezuka works. I'm sure the series would sell decently well among enthusiasts of classic manga and the "acting as a sport" genre, but that's such a small niche that it wouldn't be anywhere profitable for a company to take on. It's a real shame, as the series is a delight and filled with some beautiful art, but sadly it's on the same level as how Sentai Filmworks will never release the 2nd half of the 2005 anime. Ah well... I'm still working on collecting the series, albeit in random Japanese volumes I find on Half Price Books runs. Can I read any of it? Nope, but I still love it. |
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GATSU
Posts: 16427 |
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As this column pointed out, They Were 11 is getting a limited run. So pick it up where you can if you want it. CR still has it in stock.
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mdo7
 Posts: 8250 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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Ah, I see we're touching under-rated classic manga and obscure one. Oh, and I'm glad you guys mention the Gorenger manga because I bought that manga a few years back from my local bookstore. There are other classic manga I would also like to own too.
There is one obscure manga that I wish would get license: the James Bond manga done by the late Takao Saito. When I first heard about it's existence a few years ago. I really wanted to read this because one, I'm a long time big James Bond 007 fan, and I've been reading 007 graphic novels from Dynamite Entertainment for the last 4-5 years. I know Dynamite Entertainment doesn't do manga, but I would love to see maybe Dynamite to team up with Seven Seas Entertainment, or Viz Media to pick up Saito's James Bond manga for a proper official US release and I would buy them on day 1 if they were properly translated and made available in the US. |
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Lord Geo
Posts: 3023 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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Denpa has also stated that, due to retailers not being as willing to stock it (due to Moto Hagio's past poor performance in English), they actually do have "A LOT" of stock for They Were 11! remaining. So don't wait too long, sure, but also don't act like it'll run out within a month. But, yeah, while classic anime has managed to get a bit of a new lease on life over the past decade (Discotek's SD-BDs no doubt helping make them look a bit more appealing to purchase, I'm sure), classic manga will always remain a tough thing because, in the end, "a page is a page is page". In other words, there's no way to make a long classic look like it takes up less space on a shelf, as omnibuses can only do so much, & releasing those titles as digital-only is risky, in & of itself. Seriously, there have been plenty of older manga from the 60s to the 90s that are available officially in English via digital-only means, but barely anybody knows that they exist. For example, Ginga -Nagareboshi Gin-, Sakigake!! Otoko Juku, Salaryman Kintaro, Magical Taruruto, & Peacock King/Kujaku-Oh all have complete English translations that you can read right now officially... but who even uses Manga Planet?! Beaglee offers titles like God Sider & Osu! Karate Club, but I know absolutely no one knows about those both being fully available in English; hell, I didn't even Osu! Karate Club had gotten finished until just now, myself. It's really a situation of there just being too much manga available right now, especially on the digital front, that the only way classic titles can get any chance to find an audience in English now is to either get a physical release or to be something so well known & at least being offered on the biggest name service, like Captain Tsubasa now being on the Shonen Jump app.
And if you a prior work from an influential creator has been known to bomb then no one's going to bother ever giving anything else from that mangaka a try at all. Like, I love Saint Seiya, but I have long been sick & tired of seeing companies only give Seiya a try over here when it comes to Masami Kurumada, despite it continually proving to be a financial bomb over & over. Or the simple fact that there are still major names that have never been given an official English release, at least with manga, like Mitsuteru Yokoyama. Really, it just comes down to someone at these companies wanting to be a champion for these creators, though that also means that if those same creators don't like certain creators then they won't even bother to look at them. It becomes too reliant on personal tastes of the people in charge, and not an earnest attempt at trying to expand fandom's knowledge & appreciation of the past. |
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Multi-Facets
Posts: 397 |
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Beg pardon, but "Lady Oscar - The Rose of Versailles" is no longer available on YouTube. It used to be, but now all that's left are clips, the opening theme, and episodes in Spanish or Italian; the English subbed edition was wiped out. I found out last night when I wanted to introduce a friend to it.
  
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GATSU
Posts: 16427 |
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Multi: It's on Retrocrush.
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Akcoll99
Posts: 464 |
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Also worth mentioning is the recent pickup of both Cat's Eye and City Hunter. I'm hoping they will lead to more of Hojo's work coming stateside.
There was also Digital Manga's release of Kimagure Orange Road they got out the door just before they closed up shop. I'm down for more classic manga licenses in general. There are also several titles from the 80s through 2000's I would love to see license-rescued, which is something else that happens much more rarely with manga than it does anime. Got my copy of They Were 11 in the mail yesterday and looking forward to sitting down soon and reading it. Amazon says my pre-order was originally placed in early 2022!! |
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Triltaison
 Posts: 943 |
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I'm terribly amused that I have or have preordered just about every physical release mentioned in the article.
I'd actually say that we're in a bit of a golden age for older manga right now. Lots of reprints or new editions for long out of print favorites alongside finally releasing an English edition for beloved classics overseas for the first time. Fantagraphics and Drawn & Quarterly have already been milking my wallet with the wealth of Moto Hagio and Shigeru Mizuki titles, but I try and shove fistfuls of dollars down any publisher's throat when we suddenly get a physical release out of left field like Legend of Kamui or Her Frankenstein. Red River and Neighborhood Story both started about 30 years ago originally too, so I absolutely made sure to order those new omnibus editions ASAP. Glass Mask and Aim for the Ace are also dream titles for me as well, but at least I can try and support some other worthy releases when I can. ...But Kodansha's Vertical seriously needs to reprint volumes 4-17 of Black Jack already. It's so baffling that they keep 1-3 continually in print and none of the others. |
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Multi-Facets
Posts: 397 |
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Good to know it's being preserved somewhere. Thank you for telling me. |
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mdo7
Posts: 8250 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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Well Manga Mavericks has joined the manga publishing game, I hope to see them picking up not only indie manga, but also old obscure manga from some many decades ago. I'm hoping more US comic/graphic novel publishers could join on the manga publishing which could lead to older classic manga that never had a US release get license. I mean we already saw and witness Titan Comic doing manga, and Alien Books dipping into publishing manga. I would love to see other publishers like Image Comic, Boom! Studio, and IDW Publishing to open up a manga publishing division/studio to help pick up manga title that big name one won't publish like Viz, Seven Seas, Yen Press, Kodansha USA, etc... and also they can pick up obscure classic manga that way and that include classics that never got an official US release. The reason I mentioned Image Comic because they picked up and published Ken Niimura's Henshin, their subsidiary company, Top Cow was responsible for Witchblade which got both manga, and anime adaptation. So I could see this company opening up a manga publishing division if they're to joined the other comic book companies that jumped on the manga publishing game. Boom! Studio could be another one that could get involved with manga given that they were bought out by Penguin Random House last July, and this is the same Random House that has launched a subsidiary company to publish manga and manhwa. So how long do you think until we get an announcement that Boom! Studio will open up a manga publishing division to not only license and publish manga but to help and aid Random House when it comes to manga? I could see that happening. And the reason I think IDW may jumped into the manga publishing game is because they did published an old manga title back in 2007. They never touched manga since then. IDW is the current licensor for the Godzilla, Sonic the Hedgehog comic. Also let's not forget the Naruto/TMNT crossover comic which I know was so successful. Given their experience with licensed IP, and the way they do comic and the crossover title involving anime/manga character like the Naruto/TMNT, I could see IDW joining in on the manga publishing game given that now they have enough confidence they can license and publish manga. And I have to assume they're aware of the Godzilla, Sonic the Hedgehog manga that hasn't got an official English release in the US and IDW is the only company that has comic/graphic novel publishing right to to both properties, so opening a manga publishing division could help get those Sonic and Godzilla manga to get a US release properly. And given that IDW did published a manga from 1967 in 2007, and the current environment for manga in the US market, I think IDW could have a huge potential to dip into the manga publishing game. |
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Juno016
 Posts: 2597 |
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I've read both Glass Mask and Aim for the Ace twice while in Japan, or almost twice in full, and I picked up all of Neighborhood Story a few months ago to add to my Yazawa-sensei collection and read for the first time. I've found the Red River omnibuses for 1-3 and 4-6, but I don't know if there are anymore out yet, as I can't find them. It was a series I passed on picking up in Book Off years ago when I lived in Japan. The art seems gorgeous. Frankly, though, I'd like the older, more obscure CLAMP or partial CLAMP works to re-release, like Cluster, Duklyon, Man of 20 Faces, Chun Hyang, Shira-hime Shou, The One I Love, etc. I do like the new releases with new covers of their more popular series, but I already own at least two different releases of some of them, so I can't justify another. ): |
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Triltaison
Posts: 943 |
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7-9 just came out in April! I was able to pick it up from my local bookstore last month. You're definitely right that some more availability for CLAMP titles would be nice, too. At least Tokyo Babylon is getting a new release, even after the new anime project ceased to be. Pet Shop of Horrors, Mushishi, Saiyuki, Spriggan, Planetes, Tekkonkinkreet, Gravitation, Gunsmith Cats, Marmalade Boy... so many '90s and early '00s series are getting new editions. I'd love to get some more '60s and '70s stuff, but it's still nice to get 20+ year old series in such abundance. |
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FireChick
 Subscriber Posts: 2777 Location: United States |
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And the blu-rays are still readily available. I recommend you get on those fast, though. |
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Fluwm
Moderator
 Posts: 1644 |
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I agree, and not just for manga -- but anime, light novels, and even video games, too, to an extent (Mother 3 notwithstanding). Friendly reminder that the 12 Kingdoms license was rescued from the scrap heap and new editions of the novels are coming out in a few months!!!! (The only thing I can really still gripe about is the continuing, inexplicable absence of Mitsuru Adachi titles. How on earth can it be 2025, and Touch *still* hasn't been localized?) |
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whiskeyii
 Posts: 2484 |
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I assume it’s “old-fashioned” style is why SWAN never gets licensed rescued. I still have all 15 English volumes from the CMX days on my shelf. But hey, I never thought we’d get RoV stateside, so never say die, I guess! Also, time to snag a copy of They Were 11 for myself!
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