From: tnaran@no-more-virii-please.direct.ca
Ping Kuo wrote:
> the problem is not bring over a range of works, the problem is they
> should bring over, in the first wave, the best representation of each
> genre in order to establish a "fad" or "brand name" and show that a
> genre that is not sex/fighting can be good read for the readers and do
> well in sale for the publisher, then bring over the lower quality
> titles later after momentum was built up.
>
> instead they try all the junk titles because licensing fee were low for
> them, thinking as long as it is manga, it will sell, and one of them
> might just turn out to be a hit, (the same thinking behind OEL.) the
> massive selection means people got too many choices, (and most of them
> junks.) while publishers got too many titles to hype, so they basically
> fullfill part of Toren Smith's words, killing the market by
> flooding it, (but not the big name, good titles, which will always do
> well.) right now it would be like suicide to bring over cooking and
> sports titles,
Excellent point. I noticed after Tokyopop put out their Big Titles
(e.g., Love Hina and GTO), they then flooded the market with any old
crap. It took them awhile to get Ai Yori Aoshi licensed and out too
despite the fact it was a popular anime even on this side of the pond.
It would be nice if they took the best title in EACH genre even if it's
an old one and brought that out instead of just licensing any random thing.
> the working solution, at least in Japan, is through magazine, when one
> buy SJ for one title, they might catch other low profile titles that
> might interest them if they ever get a chance to read it, it is not
> working in the US because they are releasing the compilations too fast
> in the beginning, there is no point to buy the magazine if the
> compilation is fast enough, you usualy have to wait anywhere from 3-6
> months for a particular chapter in a weekly to show up in a
> compilation, the fact that people don't want to wait that long is what
> made magazine selling possible, (it is like watching movie in theatre
> then buy it on DVD.) in this case by offering lot's of titles in one
> magazine give more incentives for readers to read junk titles beside
> the one they want, and print them on ultra cheap paper to make the
> price ultra cheap and not worth keeping long term encourage readers to
> pay TWICE for the same materials.
Yes. That's what really keeps me from buying the anthology magazines,
even in Japanese: the cost. It would be nice to have something cheap
and disposable (i.e., I can guilt-free put into the recycle bin) and
then get the takubon if I really liked it. But why wait for the chapter
in the anthology if I can get 5 chapters at a time right there on the
shelves. Shonen Jump USA seems to have the right price point if you
subscribe to it ($2.50 US), but unfortunately, I don't care about ANY of
the stories in SJ.
On the other hand, I'd gladly pay that amount for an English version of
Dengeki Daioh which has at least 2 titles I'd want to read and the
others seemed interesting (I've only read one volume of DD).
> the slump of Japan magazine sales had more to do w/ the slump of manga
> industry, (that is because of internet and video gaming.) and the
> prolific of manga scaning/dl on the net, e-manga, and rental cafe on
> the street, technology is offering people more choices, it is like
> said, the gigantic rating for old TV shows like MASH, Dallas against
> today's TV show when they have to go up against cable, or popularity
> of baseball in Japan before compare to now against soccer, there were
> no competition then. but now people have choices.
True. It's harder and harder to justify publishing on paper. I like
the fact some publishers are experimenting with digital distribution.
>> But Emma is kind of odd that (judging by the anime) it's not exploitive
>> like other maid-fetish stories.
>
> the question is would the target audience, said 15-25yo American males,
> get it? especially since Emma is good because it is not a low brow
> title like He is My Master, etc. playing it straight w/ good art, but
> no obvious sexual fan services? the fan service in this case, are just
> that, authentic Vitorian customs and uniforms, (kind of like civil war
> buffs reenact a battle engagement and do everythings, from uniforms to
> actions historie correct.) which could be too "deep" or hard core for
> non cos players/fans. most high school boys probably will get bore w/
> it is my guess. (but more girls might like it? even thought they are
> not the intended readers?)
I suspect fans in the West would get something ENTIRELY different from
Emma. To them, it would be a Victorian romance story. Not a
"hard-core" maid fetish series.
> btw, I have to admit, maid fetish is one thing that escape me, so is
> nurse uniform, etc. they work on me only on the level of being funny,
> as I read through them in the latest Negima when they cos all the
> girls. or in the case of Asuna in maid uniform, a good one that is at
> least different than most non-descriptive maid uniform I had seen,
In manga? Yeah, it's not that exciting. On a real, hot looking woman? ;-)
> (hack, like I said here before, it is only after I read what Akamatsu
> said on his blog that I knew there is a term Gothic Lolita, and a
> magazine name after it, my first thought is what "Lolita" can be legal?
> ^^; )
Heheh.
>> 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.
>
> they know, they just want to make more money, thinking a mature lable
> will work against it.
Unfortunately, who is the real market for TT? Are they people who would
object to a more mature manga? Or in fact, be drawn to it for precisely
that?
> they must bid a lot of money for that title.
Heh. Don't you get the feeling when the Big Boys (DC, Del Ray) stepped
in, they just threw money at their start up labels and didn't think
about how it would actually fair in the market?
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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