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Decline in english manga releases?

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akiranyo

akiranyo

Astraea Kisaragi

I have mentioned this a few times already in the shoutbox, but now I want to dig into a bit deeper.

As a avid collector of retail manga volumes, I start to have concerns about the undeniable fact that there slowly more releases of manga in german or french, despite that there are multiple times more english speakers worldwide as french & german combined.

Another fact that I researched, the smaller Germany has the same number of manga publishing companies as USA & Canada together. Also, in Germany no publisher ever defuncted, in USA there is a quite long list - Tokyopop US, Aurora Publishing, Media Factory, ADV Manga, Comics ONE and DrMaster.
And due many defuncts where sudden, they left a lot of manga unfinished and now they are too old to being picked up (example would be Aria, Code Breaker, Deadman Wonderland, Ikkitousen, Mirai Nikki and Princess Ressurection) All those have been released in german until the last volume.

The overtake is noticable mostly in newer manga, but often even really popular and not-that-new manga wasn't picked up by a english publisher - the best example would be To Love-Ru. Hentai-edge ecchi here or there, it was insanely popular a few years ago. And still is.
And now the shocking list of fairly new releases which have a german, but not a english release - Hyouka, Shiki, Highschool DxD, Sora no Otoshimono, Maken-Ki, Kämpfer, To Love-Ru Darkness, Mirai Nikki Mosaic, Beelzebub and World God only knows.
But if we are here, I would also thank to the american publisher Yen Press and the canadian publisher Seven Seas (who are pretty new in the manga business) for picking up many new and good titles, cause without them this list would be much-much longer.
And in reverse you can barely name any new series which have a english, but no german release. 5-6 years ago that list could be huge. Not anymore.

And is not only about the number but also the speed of the releases. Blood-C, Secret Service, The Sacred Blacksmith, Omamori Himari, Btoom! in Germany where started in same time or even much later and many of them already publishing a higher volume number as their english comrades do.

About french releases I don't have too much information, but I know that they are releaseing Freezing, which for the US was "unsuitable for public release" And as I know, not due the nude scenes.

To say the truth I don't know what the matter. Either americans don't like to read anymore, or simply is more comfortable to read manga online. And while that can be a good thing by less popular titles which doesn't will have a release outside of Japan, probably it hurts the business by the others. Or simply the US companies wanted to create a huge profit on translations without any QC, because the hurr durr manpower costs too much? If anybody has read Battle Vixens, will know what about I speak.

Any opinions or commentaries on this subject?

Since I write satires, my whole life is one huge inspiration. (Horatius)
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Cirru

Cirru

Interstellar Force

Well, as a US manga reader, I stopped buying from US distributors due to their arbitrary editing of what was actually said and for content that was portrayed in a scene. The one that stands out most is Smoker's cigar in One Piece being replaced (with a pipe, believe it was). Quite a few manga, the language was toned down from what was actually said.

Don't feel it is the publisher/editor's place to change the original content to what they think it should be for release, so I will not support them. Online Scanlators tend to do a better job with translating and also make available manga that we would not see otherwise.

Mmmm... cake
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akiranyo

akiranyo

Astraea Kisaragi

About that one, as I heard it was replaced with a lollipop. Pretty stupid isn't it? Especially with the fact that USA is between the TOP5 in cigarette production & exporting.
I didn't had a german version of that manga in my hand, but my german ecchi manga series are quite revealing, even with visible nipples, without any pixelation or blurring.
So probably the censorship there is not so hard on stuff what they can control to who they sell (Is not rare there that the clerk asks you for a ID card about your age) On other hand they heavily censored the anime series (until they became unwatchable)

Since I write satires, my whole life is one huge inspiration. (Horatius)
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Germans like animus. There are 3+ countries speaking german.
Germans are the true cultural core of Europe. Get good, Aki-chan, learn deutsch.
German language is culture itself.

Taurec

Taurec

BAKA^2

Quote by CirruWell, as a US manga reader, I stopped buying from US distributors due to their arbitrary editing of what was actually said and for content that was portrayed in a scene. The one that stands out most is Smoker's cigar in One Piece being replaced (with a pipe, believe it was). Quite a few manga, the language was toned down from what was actually said.

Don't feel it is the publisher/editor's place to change the original content to what they think it should be for release, so I will not support them. Online Scanlators tend to do a better job with translating and also make available manga that we would not see otherwise.

So I guess you just downloaded the manga? Bad company how dare you blur that nipple ..That will teach them.

It boils down to something simple: Tze Germans (close neighbours) simply buy more manga.
True you US peeps are screwed by hypocrite laws but the publishers don't have a choice, well they might be able to rate everything 18+ but that is shooting themselves in the foot because sales would go down even more.

And while "official" scanlation groups honor publishing companies there are a lot of manga aggregator websites that are killing the companies.
So why should a publisher spend money on a product that doesn't sell anymore or isn't profitable .. They have to eat too.

Fact is Kodansha pulled out of a lot of deals with US publishers due to piracy.

In the end it comes down to the consumer, you and me.


@merynoko NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN.


- Too bad stupidity isn't painful

Airrrrrrr

rotten180

rotten180

Time Travel Is Never Easy

well im not too sure on this, but as a guess, this is done for profit, and cause people mostly read manga online i presume

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Darthas

Retired Moderator

Darthas

レキシコン

Quote by merynokoGermans like animus. There are 3+ countries speaking german.
Germans are the true cultural core of Europe. Get good, Aki-chan, learn deutsch.
German language is culture itself.

Coming from the clown who looks like the same people who live with camels.
Retrace your roots Mery.

The lack of releases can supposedly be due to economic status and the fact that everyone reads it online these days or in the store so they don't buy it or collect it. People also rather watch the anime than buy the book, and everyone has to think 3 times before buying every single manga release of Bleach or One Piece for eg.

Can't comment much on why German and French releases were in greater quantity since I don't follow the releases. Scans are about the only way I know of that a good majority of the people I know are getting manga read. Generally you can ask the same question on why people don't really purchase and read books very much any more.

Perhaps in america, buying books is more tedious than in Germany or other parts of the world and that the americas are based entirely on their television and internet whilst the rest of the world still knows how to enjoy physical copies of things?

The outcome for the decline is mostly due to funds and how the animes get spread around. Yet for all the manga not published in america, it's still not unheard of. Maybe they see not very much point with the publishers in-charge if being known is their goal whilst some don't want to distribute in america because of some form of conflict?

Yea, they do many things to the manga which is arguably beyond stupid but for every unoriginal thing ported over, I'm sure it has it's side effects to the people in charge of the anime when making a decision to port it over or have it translated for distribution. See NisAmerica for the games, some times they translate the game so badly that I buy the raw version or order it online.

Nobody likes butchering.

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UsagixKitsune

UsagixKitsune

nsɐƃıxʞıʇsnuǝ

I gave up on English manga a few years ago. I was caught in a cycle where I would start a new series, peruse all the volumes and then find that the English translation is discontinued 2 or 3 volumes from the end. This happened with Tsukuyomi and Ichigo 100% to name two.

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