From: tnaran@no-more-virii-please.direct.ca   
      
   Ping Kuo wrote:   
   >> I'd vaguely heard of it for years, but just now checked it out.  Seems   
   >> like an interesting premise for a manga.  A manga about nothing so to   
   >> speak, but still exploring the decline of the human race (if I   
   >> understood the summary pages).  I'll wait for someone to publish it in   
   >> English.   
   >   
   > ?  it would be a long wait, from 2-3 years to infinity.   
      
   I forgot the smiley face. :-)   
      
   (P.S. I did find the scanlation site for it just before I posted, so   
   I'll give the manga a try later this week)   
      
   >> BTW, don't you feel that after the gold rush for manga, there's been a   
   >> trend to avoid licensing non-mainstream manga again?  When Tokyopop   
   >   
   > this is not just happening in manga, same in anime.   
      
   I still feel anime distributors will license anything and everything,   
   esp. with ADV in the market.  But for manga, that bold period of   
   experimentation seems to have crashed.  Now, it's "sure thing" titles   
   (big names, shounen, anime tie-ins) and shoujo that seems to be running   
   the market.  Anything that doesn't fit neatly into a marketing plan is   
   ignored.   
      
   > not only that, the release date between each volume is also stretching   
   > out longer and longer.   
      
   I wasn't sure if it was just the titles I was reading, but yes, I'm   
   noticing gaps of 3+ MONTHS between releases for some of the titles I'm   
   reading in English.  Yotsuba&! seems to be keeping to being 1 volume   
   behind.  I.e., when the new Japanese version comes out, I know to look   
   for the English translation of the last version. :-)   
      
   > the fact titles like Monster and Emma can get license is because they   
   > are highly touted by fans in the known (but NOT the general public)   
   > across the board, and if they don't do well then the publisher will shy   
   > away from similiar titles.   
      
   I've heard a lot of good things about Monster.  And I only know Emma   
   from the anime, but I'm hard pressed to see what separates it from the   
   usual things I see on Masterpiece Theatre.  Although I do love the   
   cultural notes the fansub group did -- I didn't know half of them myself   
   and I consider myself well-versed in Victorian England culture! :-)   
      
   > having a signature line, to have similiar titles "grouping" together,   
   > and promote a "brand" instead of each individual titles, all are good,   
   > correct commerical moves, but just about 35 years late compare to   
   > Japanese manga industry, and when Japan manga industry is in a slump,   
   > imagine the works facing the western publishers.   
      
   I'm not sure I follow your argument.  Do you think North American   
   publishers grouping and branding strategies will work or backfire?   
      
    From what I read, the takubons are growing in Japan while the   
   anthologies are declining.  For me, the anthologies usually have 1 story   
   I'd bother reading and the rest I wouldn't bother with.  I wonder if a   
   better approach would be more of a NewType approach: a general magazine   
   with some rotating selection of titles.   
      
   >> Oh well, just another incentive to keep studying Japanese. :-)   
   >   
   > BTW, I just browse the latest Tenjoh Tenge, (#14 and beyond), and all I   
   > am going to say is DC comic is screwed, when Negima and Air Gear all   
   > get the mature label, let's see how FUBAR the PG-13 Tenjoh Tenge will   
   > be.   
      
   Why did they license it then?  I find it strange that their Vertigo line   
   gets away with clearly R-rated material, but their manga line is   
   permanently ham-strung.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)