From: tnaran@no-more-virii-please.direct.ca   
      
   Ping Kuo wrote:   
   >> 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.   
   >   
   > which made small, selective publisher like Del Rey that much more   
   > smarter compare to Tokyopop.   
      
   But that means a lot of the manga that doesn't fit clearly into a   
   marketing plan will never see the light of day as an English release.   
   Which is sad, in my books.   
      
   >> 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   
   >   
   > try 5+ months in some cases.   
      
   Heh.  I think I noticed that for a couple titles I'm not following but   
   see on the shelves.   
      
   >> 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! :-)   
   >   
   > that really depend if maid fetish can translate as well here as in   
   > Japan.   
      
   Oh please!  Men EVERYWHERE love the maid fetish!  Think about the French   
   Maid stereotype in North America. ;-)   
      
   But Emma is kind of odd that (judging by the anime) it's not exploitive   
   like other maid-fetish stories.   
      
   > it is much easier to promo, said, "Shonen Jump", than to promo each   
   > single titles separately, if you do that, then while some will success,   
   > some will also fail, if you promo them as a group, the "hot" title like   
   > Kenshin, DB, and One Piece will "drag" the rest of titles in that   
   > magazine w/ them,   
   >   
   > big name titles will sell well no matter what, the profit margin is at   
   > the lesser known, less popular title licensing, and it is just   
   > impossible to hype every single one of them and do it well.   
      
   Gotcha.  That does make sense.  It's the only way to do it really.   
      
   > NT Japan is not rotating titles because they want to, but out of   
   > necessarity, FSS take periodically a year or two off.  hance the need.   
      
   Heh.   
      
   > NT USA, on the other hand, is simply rotating titles so you can see   
   > different titles, it is a promotion that works, because 1, it is not a   
   > manga magazine,  2.  none of the rotating titles are big name, good   
   > title like FSS, or old Animag's Nausicaa that can hold down a spot and   
   > sell an animation magazine by that one manga title ALONE!   
      
   Yes, and I think that might be the salvation for manga that aren't being   
   licensed by the other companies.  Let a magazine like NT give it some   
   exposure and see if anyone's interested.   
      
   >> 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.   
   >   
   > they outbid everyone and think they got themselves a guarantee money   
   > maker, then they want to sell it w/o the mature label to recover the   
   > money, (samething w/ changing a R movie into PG13) because they think,   
   > 1.  the American readers have no other way of getting it beside them,   
   > that is what "exclusive right" means, 2.  they think the people who   
   > will buy them would not know any better, the people who know better   
   > probably won't bother in the first place anyway.   
      
   But I'm under the impression it was the R-rated material that made it   
   popular in the first place.  Sounds like CMX is being run by people   
   without any taste or understanding.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)