VIZ Media
For those of you who are a bit more time-sensitive, a few highlights:
- Amusingly, when Ferreyra is asked about what manga are doing particularly well, all three are vampire-related: Vampire Knight, Black Bird (there's demonic blood-drinking), and Rosario+Vampire. I guess we live in a post-Twilight world, after all.
- Also of note, ICv2 mentions that there are "several conversations happening" relating to possible original material from VIZ. A little insider info here: I know someone who was just encouraged to submit a series for consideration, so they're clearly still looking, but we don't know if they've found a title they like just yet.
- Ferreyra also points out something I've mentioned a few times: that anime-wise, VIZ focuses primarily on A-list titles for release. He also thinks that the market that is shrinking is specifically the market for B- and C-list titles.
- It doesn't look like VIZ is going to release any Blu-Ray anime in 2010; they're still hammering out the best way to do it without ruffling the feathers of the Japanese owners due to counter-importation problems.
- Aaaand Ferreyra says he's heard "anecdotally" that simulcasting is having a positive effect and that piracy is shrinking somewhat.
Whew, that should more or less cover it. Looks like VIZ is in for a year of some tough navigation, but with plenty of fun titles-- which actually I think may apply to the North American fandom as a whole.
VIZ Sucks @$$!!............Ohhh, So close.
FWIW, though, this is a Sales & Marketing guy, so he wouldn't be able to say anything interesting about editorial. It'd be kinda like asking the sales guy at Best Buy why the company that made the washer and dryer blue. ;)
Hey, they butcher my all time favorite manga while leaving others relatively untouched. They deserve every bit of it.
You have no idea how much I enjoy reading Detective Conan. To me, it's like having modern day Sherlock Holmes novels once a week. I read the cases online and I use the evidence to try and solve the case. In a few weeks the solution chapter comes out and I get to see if my deduction is right. No other manga is that interactive.
@gia:
I behaved myself.......to a certain extent. I wouldn't say it's anger and hatred. That's a bit extreme. More "venomous spite".
One of the reasons why I didn't volunteer for the MOD position was due to the fact that I wasn't sure you'd want a moderator who had such open hostility toward VIZ. Well, that and the fact that by the time I even noticed the thread it was over. lol
Interesting little read, but why am I not surprised to see vampire-related stuff doing well? The sad thing is, I like vampire-related stuff too, I just try to hide it now that it gets me associated with Twilight, and that's not an association I want.
Not only do they frequently get the translation wrong so there are mistakes in the cases. They also took every single repeating character and stripped away their Japanese name to replace it with a European style name. (Ran=Racheal Kogoro=Richard Heiji=Harley Ai=Anita and so on.) It's as if they are trying to remove as much Japanese culture from the series as possible. Which is ridiculous when you consider how important Japanese culture is to the series.
Though in series like Naruto and Bleach they keep the Japanese names. Stick to the Japanese version that doesn't contradict itself.
That blows, I know exactly what you mean. When I was heavier in my Naruto/Bleach habit I had to admit that I thought the over drawn fans were wayyyyy too much, at the same time suppressing my actual enjoyment of such material. Well, at least the public knowledge of it at the time.