On Tokyopop, Futari Ecchi, the OEL + Otaku, Science Fiction, and 東方 Fever @ Otakon
… not in that order. Just piecemeal replies to a couple threads of thoughts going on:
On Tokyopop: So there’s this post here. I don’t know what’s behind Tokyopop’s business strategy the past few years, but at a glance it did seem that scooping up cheap OEL artists, they can produce material to sell to the manga market in the US that they have created, at a lower overhead. They would be making deals with authors directly, without oversea middlemen. I normally don’t follow manga much at all, although it’s one of the things that we can find good retail numbers for.
However I’m boggled about how someone can really say Dramacon is better than “manga in general.” Granted I only read one volume of Dramacon, but it was off-putting enough that I have no desire to read the next volume. I am not sure what I have read that can be fairly compared with it, but it’s not as good as Karekano, Nana, or even the very tame Furuba–just to rattle off some titles that I also read just 1 volume of and in the same general category of manga. Of course, those latter titles are proven, popular hits both in Japan and in the US, so that’s a high bar. But to me, that’s the level of standard and quality necessary for a manga if I’m going to spend money buying it.
And that is the real clincher, and TP themselves admit to it implicitly: a lot of manga in the US from TP are just subpar. It’s not a surprise an initial reaction from fans who read US released manga is that of “maybe they’ll focus on releasing good titles”? I’m just paraphrasing what I read on places like ANN forums, but my recent trips to the local big box bookstores reaffirm this notion. Tokyopop is cannibalizing its own sales? Yeah, duh.
It’s almost ironic that on one hand we have TP who kind of outspent itself, almost making the same mistake (ok, not really) (financially) ADV did with its anime side, where as ADV’s manga side clinches a few, very good titles but sells far short because it ran out of money.
Personally I don’t know Chmakova and I don’t really know Fred Gallagher either, and I am sure both produce work that are appreciated by many. But here’s a crackhead theory: if what Scott said was true in that people want that exotic bit (they want to be weeaboos, and not weeaboo-liking weeaboos?), then what makes Megatokyo tick (to give Author a hand) is because Fred is a huge otaku. And I mean huge. Comiket-level huge. In fact, I think this is the singular, redeeming eccentricity that elevates this guy above most OEL illustrators and authors. And what’s more, he’s the kind of otaku of the generation past. He is not the materialistic, buy-10-copies-on-opening-day, Akibakei type that is best symbolized by Aya Hirano worship and Heisei Democracy (just to point out both sides of the coin). It’s not to say he doesn’t enjoy those things (I wouldn’t know), but this guy talked about things like Device High and went sight seeing so he can find scenes in gamesspin out stories about sad girls in snow? Nuts. He even incorporates Japanese in his comics and make an effort to depict the actual cultural divide between Japan and America.
Most Japanese otaku of the past generation are a bit like Gallagher–fans who are living on the association and friendship with other fans; a part of a network that is true to the etymology of the word “otaku.” It is a hobby but tuned to a particular scene and a particular social context. On the other hand, we’re dealing with an entirely different kind of fandom with Chmakova’s Dramacon–one that is unique to North American, English-language fans, I’d even say. The motivation, perspectives and pitch are all different. It’s not to say one is better than the other, but somehow I think far most people can connect with the perspective from Gallagher’s point of view as that is the same point of view shared by a lot of Japanese creators and fans.
And all of that doesn’t even begin to touch on the important facts. For example, Gallagher is just older, more experienced, and has the social resources to support his passion. And to that I think TP, regardless of their “LOL moral rights LOL FRANCE” clause (…and I don’t think there anything wrong with waiving it as an artist, as long as you get reasonable considerations for it </lawyer>), they are trying to develop and grow the industry organically by offering something different. I think it’s better that they exploit unwitting artists than nobody does anything at all.
JP talked about Futari Ecchi (and so did Scott) as one title that TP did try to cherry pick out and grow their market in a different way. I digged the anime OAV that came out some years ago, and as a result I did also took a look at the manga (back then). But when I was leafing (literally; wasn’t reading it) through the 20-or-so volumes of it at Book-Off, it was just a sea of, well, softcore porn. Pages after pages of skin. Not my kind of thing. I do agree that there is a particular niche that Futari Ecchi can sell to, but it certainly won’t be any of those niches that Tokyopop created as audience below the age of 18. I think the majority of TP’s market is below that age.
Maybe in 3 more years?
Some ideas are time-limited. Like Denno Coil. There’s this post on AnimeSuki forums that you guys should read even if Denno Coil wasn’t the best thing since sliced bread for you. It’s quite insightful if you like science fiction. Augmented reality is here today, believe it or not. Thanks introspect.
Lastly, let’s wrap this up with some Touhou news. I hope you know what Touhou is, because, speaking of Japanese fandom, it’s the latest bastion of doujin madness. God knows when it will capitulate to commercial mass media? It’s so much more than just curtain fire shooters now–it’s a monster that spins into doujinshi, (other) doujin games, music, video mashups, cosplay, its own line con, and many more things fans do.
A couple friends are going to run a panel about Touhou at Otakon this year, so I hope you guys can make it. Imagine that–fan franchise gets a fan panel as a (nearly) free cultural export. How cool would it be if ZUN was a guest at Otakon? Actually, probably not that cool. IOSYS probably makes better guests.
Yeah, the one thing that sets Fred apart is his true blue nerd cred. Too bad his comic makes no sense at all anymore!
LOL, true blue nerd. Who came up with that phrase? I like it.
Hell, it probably even goes past softcore since it shows spooge.
You mean COOL&CREATE (of Help me, ERINNNNNN!! fame), not IOSYS, right? They put on the Flowering Night concert and would certainly be a sight to see at Otakon. I’m not even sure if IOSYS has ever done a live concert before. :v
You’re underestimating ZUN as a guest. He’s about as wanted as Shinbo, ABe, Sadamoto, Anno, and other popular industry figures.
I don’t know if those people qualify as “cool” guests in my book. They’re fanboys just like you and me! (Well, maybe not Sadamoto) But COOL&CREATE is another option, sure.
JP: I can’t say because I have not had the chance to scrutinize the manga, so I’ll defer to your judgment to the hardness or softness of such cores.
As a man who just got into Futari Ecchi I have to disagree with you slightly on the book being just about softcore porn and skin. After reading a few volumes I have to admit that tag it gets on being more of a “sexual manual” than just a few volumes of porn is rightfully earned. It shows loads of information on different issues pertaining to sex and relationships. (Premature Ejaculation, asking to try out new things, etc.) that really could be helpful. Its toobad that I don’t think TokyoPop has the creativity and risk taking skills required to really make this book a profitable hit much less a big hit in the coming years.
*Wish I had these books back in my teen/early college years. Could have really helped me out and not in the perverted locked in the bathroom type of way either.*
I don’t think it’s just about softcore porn, but whatever else that makes Futari H work for you is amid all that porn.
You have a point about OEL, but you can’t truly compare it to such titles as Nana etc because OEL is still pretty young. Those titles you mentioned aren’t debut published stories like Dramacon, although comparing to OEL, Dramazon is considered a success and is well done. Give the OELers some more time to have a few more titles under their belt or for the industry to grow, and I’m sure there will be some great stories by then.
And that is exactly what I mean by growing the industry organically.
However, the other distinction I am making is the one Scott is making: Dramacon (and a lot of other OEL stuff) is distinct from imported wares in terms of content. It can be better or worse but it’s definitely unique. I pointed out one important way that they are different from the creator’s perspective.
There’s also a matter of marketing. I don’t believe there’s a shortage of people who are willing to draw and take the comic artist path seriously. It’s a matter of developing them. However if you take the second manga some person has ever done professionally and sell it one shelf down from some really, really polished works like the titles I compared Dramacon to, you can’t really expect to make much money off it. That’s what cannibalization means.