AnimeNation Anime News Blog

Question:
Many of the manga I buy in the United States cost about $10, but a similar volume in Japan costs only $5 or less. I know that when a manga is printed in the United States, there is some effort for translation and research, but it seems like the profit margin on US printed manga must be very high. Is that true? Do you know how much it costs a US publisher to produce a manga?

One of the reasons manga is so popular in Japan is that it is very cheap. Even people who aren’t especially interested in manga can follow a series they like without spending a fortune. I wonder if US publishers aren’t shooting themselves in the foot. Only otaku are willing to pay $10 per volume, so manga will always be just a niche market. It can never become popular among the general public at the current prices. Do you have any insight into the pricing of US published manga?

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Crunchyroll is now streaming the first 4 episodes of Production I.G’s current fantasy drama anime series The Beast Player Erin (Kemono no Souja Erin). New weekly episodes will premiere on Crunchyroll every Sunday, 24 hours after their Japanese broadcast, beginning with this week’s episode 34. The remaining episodes will be filled in over the next several weeks.

The fantasy drama about a teen girl with an unusual empathy for wild animals is an adaptation of the novel series by Seirei no Moribito author Nahoko Uehashi. The anime adaptats the first two novels that premiered in 2006. The series’ concluding two novels were released in Japan last month.

This is a nice show, provided you can deal with the slow pace and excessive flashbacks & recycled animation.

Sony has issued a press release announcing the September 29th US digital release of vocalist BECCA’s debut EP “Kickin’ & Screamin’.” The 20 year old Portland, Oregon based singer’s 5 song debut American release includes “Guilty Pleasure,” & “I’m Alive!”, the opening and ending themes of last year’s Kuroshitsuji TV anime, and “Falling Down,” the opening theme for the Ultraviolet: Code 044 TV anime. The announcement continues to state that BECCA’s full length debut album ALIVE!! will be released domestically next year. Furthermore, BECCA will provide the English voice for title character “044″ in the American release of the Ultraviolet: Code 044 anime series that is “coming out in US soon.”

Source: Anime News Network

Japanese producer/distributor Media Factory has officially added the first trailer for the upcoming Dance in the Vampire Bund TV anime to YouTube. The anime is an adaptation of Nozomu Tamaki’s gothic action/drama manga about internal and international conflicts that arise as a result of vampires establishing an independent island nation on an artificial island in Tokyo Bay.

The trailer contains mild nudity and graphic violence.

It’s nice to see that the trailer footage looks very faithful to the original manga, complete with the graphic content. Hopefully this adaptation won’t get sanitized the way the Kaibutsu Oujo anime did.

Source: Anime News Network

Animate.tv is now streaming two trailers for next month’s ToHeart 2adplus volume 2 OVA, a 45 second sukumizu (swimsuit) trailer and a minute long Karin trailer. The OVA will go on sale in Japan on October 7th.

Source: Moon Phase

The winners of the prestigious 14th Animation Kobe award for productions hailing from mid-2008 to mid-2009 have been formally announced.

Individual Award: Kunio Kato (director and creator of La Maison en Petits Cubes)
Special Award: Shun-ichi Yukimuro (screenwriter for Sazae-san, Ashita no Joe, Candy Candy, etc.)
Theatrical Film Award: WALL-E
Television Award: Higashi no Eden ~ Eden of the East
Network Award: Suzumiya Haruhi-chan & Nyoron Churuya-san
Theme Song Award: K-On! ending theme “Don’t Say ‘Lazy’”

The judging panel consisting of knowledgeable experts within Japan’s anime industry explained their decision to give the theatrical award to American animated film WALL-E “because there was no Japanese anime contender that was as ‘completely packed with the sheer enjoyment of cinema’.”

Source: Anime News Network

The official homepage for this fall’s Sora no Otoshimono television series has announced that one episode of the 14 episode series has been deemed “too dangerous” for TV broadcast and will therefore be a DVD exclusive. The adaptation of Suu Minazuki’s romantic comedy manga about a high school boy who has an angel literally fall into his lap will premiere on October 4th.

Not that I doubt this series will be risqué, but this sounds suspiciously like a clever promotional stunt since 14 episode broadcasts are almost unheard of, but 13 episodes broadcasts with a bonus DVD exclusive episode are common.

Source: Anime News Network

Question:
Why is the niche market business model no longer treated as viable in the anime industry? The niche model of the 90′s proved to be highly lucrative and successful for many companies. Yet as we continue on, corporations seem to be avoiding the idea of anime as a niche market like the plague.

Instead we see companies dropping features considered basic a decade ago, such as dubs. At the same time we see companies like Geneon preferring to pursue a broad market to the point of bankruptcy without scaling back; even companies that have always been niche such as Animeigo seem to no longer think the market can be sustained in such a way and have moved onto different projects.

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Section23 Films has announced November release plans for the Blue Drop, Polyphonica, Special A, Tears to Tiara, and You’re Under Arrest Season 2 (2001) anime television series along with the live action J-horror films Ki-Gai and Nu-Meri ~Book of the New Spawn.

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Tokyopop has announced plans to release an English translation of Koichi Sumimaru’s .hack//4Koma gag manga on April 6, 2010. The manga is a collection of 4 panel comic strips parodying .hack//G.U. game series.

Source: Anime News Network

Japanese film distributor Shochiku has released a new 30 second trailer for Madhouse’s upcoming feature film Mai Mai Miracle (Mai Mai Shinko to Sennen no Maho). The adaptation of Nobuko Takagi’s children’s novel, from Princess Arete director Sunao Katabuchi, is scheduled for Japanese theatrical release on November 21.

This film really looks like fantastic entertainment!

Source: Affenheimtheater

The official website for the double feature Duel Masters: Lunatic God Saga & Penguin no Mondai: Shiawase no Aoi Tori de Gopennasai movies is now streaming a full trailer (left button) and two teaser trailers (right-hand side buttons). The “Duepen” movie double-bill hits Japanese theaters on the 19th.

TV Tokyo has announced plans to begin airing the Cheburashka Arere? TV anime series on October 7. Animation studio GoHands (Princess Lover) will produce the series of 26 three-minute episodes based on the popular Russian children’s book character – a little brown monkey – created by Eduard Uspensky in 1966. The anime TV episodes will air as a segment within TV Tokyo’s children’s animation anthology program Nori-Suta 100%.

Source: Anime News Network

While snooping around the net I recently bumped into the Flash animated feline anti-hero Ankoku Cat (officially translated as “Dark Cat”). This amusing series of short web anime about the self-serving heroic villain Dark Cat and his friend Kiki is available in two varieties. The regular Ankoku Cat series has 6 six minute episodes so far while the spin-off Ankoku Cat VS first episode is a little bit shorter and English friendly. The regular series episodes are in untranslated Japanese, but they’re not difficult to follow.

Ankoku Cat episode 1
Ankoku Cat episode 2
Ankoku Cat episode 3
Ankoku Cat episode 4
Ankoku Cat episode 5
Ankoku Cat episode 6

Ankoku Cat VS episode 1

To make a long story short, A.D. Vision is splitting up its subsidiaries and assets among a variety of new companies created specifically for that purpose. Reportedly all of ADF Films’ anime titles have been transferred to AEsir Holdings, which will continue to have them shipped to consumers by SXION 23, LLC (“Section 23 Films”). ICv2 confirms that Section 23 Films will also take over distribution of DVDs from the Sentai Filmworks and Switchblade Films labels. Valkyrie Media Partners will own and operate The Anime Network. Seraphim Studios will own and operate the Amusement Park Media production unit. The former owners and significant staff of A.D. Vision own these new companies and have transferred to employment with these new companies. In effect, the company and brand names “A.D. Vision” and “ADV Films” are now obsolete, but consumers should not notice any change in the operation and availability of goods and services that A.D. Vision distributed or had scheduled for future release.

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss. From a practical consumer perspective, “ADV Films” is simply changing its name to “Section 23 Films.”

Source: Anime News Network