Reading manga online isn’t for everyone. Looking at any screen for hours can make your head hurt and your eyeballs fell like they’ve been dipped in bleach. Luckily, I was designed in a lab specifically to avoid those symptoms. I love reading manga online. I love that I control the vertical and the horizontal, that I can sharpen a single image to crystal clarity. I love that no trees were killed in order for me to enjoy a particular volume. I love that I can read the many works of Makoto Tateno and not worry about where in my tiny house I’ll fit them.
But while I like reading manga on my computer screen, that doesn’t mean I give every manga company that posts their wares online a pass. In fact, because I enjoy it so much, I want to see it done right. For the most part there’s not a big difference between publishers’ online manga viewers. It’s a pretty basic concept: it’s manga, and it’s online. This article is to point out the tiny details that differentiate them, the little things that either makes reading manga online a pleasure or a pain.
Read more…
The recent press release regarding the manga coalition, which saw a slew of companies finally banding together to battle the evil that is manga aggregator sites, was met with the excepted amount of drama, assumption and protest. While the number of fans cheering the decision and understanding the positive implications of it came out in healthy force, the nay-sayers remained as always the prevalently loudest.
With the resulting week or so of virtual fandom butt-hurt across various forums and sites, I was finally compelled to finish my rough manifesto of why so many of those arguments are completely nutso. Some are sympathizable, many are wildly shared and all have been corrected a hundred times long before I decided to step into the ring of legality and logic. But, to try and take the edge off that voice in my head that constantly screams ‘do they even know what the heck they’re talking about?!’, I’ve conglomerated my brain-responses to hundreds of people’s emotionally-charged internet responses into one post of fairly-frank, honest and thus likely offensive-to-those-who-take-it-all-as-personally responses to those statements you never meant to be taken as a question.
And here we go…
Read more…
News travels fast in the manga-world and this is definitely news worth spreading – a press release circulated by Viz Media today outlines the creation of a publisher coalition teaming up to target illegal distribution of their work.
“Working together, the membership of the coalition will actively seek legal remedies to this intellectual property theft against those sites that fail to voluntarily cease their illegal appropriation of this material.”
Along with a list of Japanese license-holders, North American manga publishers Viz Media, Yen Press, Vertical and Tokyopop are also all on the list showing a crackdown on piracy that many had hoped (and some expected) was coming.
So what does this mean for the manga scanlation world? In some ways a lot, and in others probably not so much. While the specifics of this coalition isn’t addressed in much detail in the press release, it seems safe to say that Viz, Yen Press and Tokyopop aren’t likely to call out the big guns over things like individual scanlation groups unless they’re outright violating licenses they hold. The large aggregator sites that make money off of posting full series (many of which fully available in English) on the other hand, are something that’s been a huge eyesore in the entire industry and medium for ages, offending companies, fans and scanlators alike as they dropkick any percieved notion of nobility square in the proverbial balls.
Read more…
I recently shared my brief take on the recent manga company news in a post I titled ‘A Little Less Spring in Manga’s Step This Season’. Well, news sadly hasn’t gotten any better since then and that step has officially landed in a pile of shit (excuse the language). To no surprise, the situation stinks.
Via a brief and to-the-point announcement, DC Comics announced that as of July 2010, CMX Manga would no longer be publishing any new titles. The fate of its currently running series remains up in the air and no real reason was given short of the familiar catch-all answer of economic issue.
“Over the course of the last six years, CMX has brought a diverse list of titles to America and we value the books and creators that we helped introduce to a new audience. Given the challenges that manga is facing in the American marketplace, we have decided that CMX will cease publishing new titles as of July 1, 2010. “ (via AnimeNewsNetwork)
This comes as a shocker for sure, and as naturally distressing news not only as a loss of the series they possessed, but as a depressing loss of jobs for many and another rattle of the industry-stability cage.
But should this have surprised us as much as it did? Were there signs this was coming? It got me doing a lot of thinking about where CMX stood in my own life as a manga consumer. Has it really only been six years?
Read more…
Last week Yen Press announced on their website the future of their monthly manga anthology , Yen Plus – their upcoming July 2010 release will be the last issue that Yen Plus sees in print. The magazine, which has seen serialized chapters of some of Yen Press’s most popular titles including Soul Eater and Maximum Ride, has been in print for two years.
Yen Press does plan to continue the magazine online however, the details of which still pending. It’s too little surprise, however, that this comes at the displeasure of many readers of the magazine.
Looking at the upsides of this decision, the magazine going digital allows it to be available to a broader audience many of whom may not have been able to receive it in print. It also makes getting the magazine both on-time and simultaneously with other readers a controllable possibility. There’s also the possibility, one could hope, that this will allow some new content that they weren’t able to include when also dealing with the costs of printing.
But the question many have been wondering – will these now-magazine readers pay for this future-online edition? The overwhelming response from fans after even the quickest look at forums, blogs and even Yen Press’s own website seems to be no. (Read more for whats, whys and what-ifs under the cut)
Read more…
Omnibus releases are not a new thing to the manga world but with recent changes in the economy and buyer habits, they’re becoming more and common. In fact in the past year alone it’s become evident that more than a few publishers are turning more and more of their attention to the omnibus format.
With tactics changing, buyers shifting and bookstore shelves reorganizing, are the omnibus editions we’re seeing now just the beginning of a new era of manga publication – could they be the future of manga in print?
Read more…
Originally written sometime last week, this post suffers from forgot-about-it-itis:
It’s no exageration that I’m a huge fan of Nickelodeon’s recently finished animated series, Avatar: The Last Airbender. As one of the most original and well-animated shows to play on television in my memory, I’ll forever be impressed and amazed by the creative team behind it and their visual and story-telling prowess that brought the unique series to life. You can see some screenshots of the multiple characters and gorgeous background paintings thanks to a “visual essay” of the series here.
That said, casting news of its upcoming live-action movie has created more than a little stir, a ripple of disbelief, that reaches far beyond its loyal fanbase. This of course comes from the fact that the entire cast of this live-action movie are caucasian. As a series starring pre-dominantly Asian characters in beautifully rendered Asian locales, this doesn’t only seem completely inaccurate but also unneccessary. Is it to say there aren’t any talented ethnic actors and actresses out there? Because goodness knows that isn’t true.
Read more…
With only a day until 2008 is officially behind us, it’s no wonder people are taking the time to look back at the year with reflection. It’s been an incrediable journey for me and my website this year and even more so for the manga industry and its loyal fans. I couldn’t help but sit down and write some of my thoughts of the year. Truely they only scratch the surface of a long but satisfying year and I hope that others have reason to remember the year as fondly as I have :)
Read more…
… as spoken about by Rivkah, creator of Steady Beat. Yesterday she posted a pleasantly long and detailed, informed and interesting write-up in light of the recent shutdown of DC’s comic line-up, Minx. She not only shares some inner workings of the graphic novel industry as she’s witnessed it, but offers insightful ideas and thoughts of the future of the industry and what both creators and publishers should do to see it flourish more successfully.
In light of lots of different articles and blog posts that I’ve been reading recently, I took a minute to sit down and write down some of my thoughts on boys’ love. I realize the more I write, the more I seem to find I have to say, so it seems safe to say this definitely won’t be the last boys’ love breakdown post of mine you’ll see (lucky you, hmm?).
My editorial-of-sorts post today is a focus on some thoughts of the sexual side of yaois and what I feel draws its readers to it, as well as notes on rape as an erotic story device.
Obligatory disclaimer: Some of the following is of a sexual manner and may not be appropriate for younger readers! Also keep in mind that these are my opinions, based on thoughts of my own and expressed by others. It in no way reflects all fans all the time, nor do I claim, via this disclaimer, that they do.
Read more…
Many thanks to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday! It’s much appreciated and did turn out to be a pleasantly happy one.
As a random bout of this 22-years-alive appreciation day, I’ve written down some random facts about me that come attached with some commentary! So if you’re a little curious about me, past my thoughts on 179 manga books (hard to believe I’ve written that many since March 2007…), then check it out after the jump! Maybe you’ll discover we have some more stuff in common; the misunderstood, multi-hobby geeks that we are!
Read more…
Time for part four, the last chunk of my look at English manga publishers. Aren’t you glad it’s the last time you’ll have to see my lazy reuse of the same header image? Today it’s my take on DramaQueen, Aurora Publishing, Go!Comi, Kitty Media and Del Rey.
Read more…
Part three of my opinions of manga publishers. Today it’s yaoi publishers: DMP, 801Media, BLU and Yaoi Press.
Read more…
Today it’s part two of my little manga publisher look-ats. Part two shares my thoughts on Dark Horse, Seven Seas, Yen Press and ADV Manga. See here for part one.
Read more…
After receiving so much response to my previous editorial-type post about global manga, I’m at it again (sort of?). Today I sat down and wrote some of my thoughts on manga publishers and here I am again to share them with you. Everyday I review their books, so why not take a moment to comment on the companies themselves? Because this ended up being a bit long, I’ll be splitting it into several parts spanning over separate days.
Readers, as usual I welcome your thoughts so feel free to respond in the comments section. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the publishers that bring us our translated mangas and manhwas: what you enjoy about them, what you dislike about them or maybe what you wish some would change. Both positive and negative responses are okay, but I ask you to please keep comments mature and avoid any outright flaming or bashing.
Read more…
