Answerman

Black Friday

Alright; Ms. Answerman is busy doing her thing this weekend so I'm filling in, yet again. Let's get to it, shall we? I have mall crowds to battle.

Dear Ms. Answerman,
You are doing a good job and get a gold star, etc., but, I am going to get right to the point because I really need to know the answer soon is possible. What is Viz doing! I have recently noticed that I can't find the higher volumes of many of Viz's tittles in 1st edition, the larger older releases. So, I need to know if Viz is messing around and only releasing higher volumes in their new smaller forums to promote them. Please tell me what's up soon.
-somebody

I wouldn't call it “messing around”, dude. They're following the market and re-releasing all of their old titles in the smaller 8.95-9.99 format. New volumes are ONLY released in this new format. It's money-saving and sells through way faster for Viz. It only makes sense. You'll never find new volumes of Inu-Yasha or whatever else you're looking for in the larger format. You can also replace your early volumes with the re-released versions of the earlier volumes in the new size. Why would you want to pay 6.00 more, anyway?

You can't please everyone all of the time, though. Even though Viz is now giving manga in higher volume at a cheaper price than ever before, some people still want it in the old expensive slow format because it matches the spines on the shelf or whatever other reason. If you tried to pass a law preventing puppies from being thrown over a cliff, some people would still vote no.

Dear Answearman,

I'm a huge fan of the I"s manga. The other day one of
my otaku buddies who usually knows his stuff pretty
well told me there was an anime for I"s. Was he right?

As long as I'm on the subject, what do you think the
odds of I"s being released in English? Considering
it's by the same guy who did Video Girl Ai, I
personally think it has a recently decent shot. The
only problem is that I"s is a Jump manga, and almost
everything they publish ends up being released by Viz.

While I like their stuff in general, I haven't been
too happy with Viz's treatment of Video Girl Ai. The
collected editions seem to come out at the rate of
about two per year. Not good when one considers that
VGA is 15 volumes. I'd hate for an English version of
I"s to get the same treatment.

Of course, being the fanboy I am I'd buy the book
anyway.

Any info/thoughts you might have I'd be grateful for.

Skyrocket

There is, in fact, an I”s anime series. It's a short OVA series and currently is only available in Japan. It sort of requires that you've read the manga and doesn't make much sense otherwise, so if you're already a big fan, it should be right up your alley. As for a North American license, nothing's been announced yet, but don't count it out. Virtually everything even kinda popular gets licensed nowadays, so I”s should show up in both manga and anime form here before too long. Since Viz already has a working relationship with the author's publisher, I'd expect Viz to get it, but you never know. The property could reasonably end up with anyone.

Video Girl Ai just isn't that popular. Manga publishers tend to focus on titles with quick sell-through rates, and the hot stuff gets churned out much faster than the stuff that warms the shelves. It'll take them a long time to get through Ai, but you should probably be happy that it hasn't been flat-out cancelled.

Dear Answerperson,

Why does AnimEigo take so long to release the next installment in a series?
I am specifically talking about Urusei Yatsura. I am going to have to wait
till June for the next box set. Thats like a year since box set 5 if im not
mistaken. The next movie doesn't come out until April. Thats along time
for a movie. ADV cranked out a volume of Noir a month at one point, and it
was quality product still. So why can't AnimEigo speed it up a bit?

In case you didn't notice, AnimEigo isn't ADV. They don't have millions of dollars and a huge dedicated production facility. They're a small company that releases titles based on fan demand; they can't do much of anything quickly because they just aren't a very big corporation. You should be thankful that you get as much Urusei Yatsura as you do instead of just complaining that it isn't fast enough for you. Yeesh.

Expecting every company on the planet to have the same level of output is silly. Think of AnimEigo as the Lion's GATE of the anime world, and ADV as the Time Warner. One of these companies can crank stuff out all day long and not break a sweat; the other is working on a much smaller budget and works on a much longer time frame.

Are there ever going to be anymore episodes of Berserk??? My
cousin's friend's grandma told me on AIM that there would be
more! I really really really like that anime and I would be so
happy if they were making more!

Thanks for your help,
Bell

Why do you lay these troubles on an already troubled mind? Can you not see? Your uncle is wearied by your.. malcontent.. your warmongering. You see much, Bell, asker of questions.. too much. You are banished forthwith from the Column of Answerman and all its domains, under pain of death.

Some people keep telling me that Gundam Wing is mostly shoujo than shonen making it a shojo series because of the fanbase,now I think different, I still as a shounen and the only shoujo aspects I see are only the pretty boys and war-friendships,but some people keep on insisting its a shoujo.

Am I wrong for calling it a shounen anime or is this just some fan blowing air?

Make no mistake, Gundam Wing is shounen. It happens to have a large female fanbase (mostly because of deliberately placed elements that they knew would appeal to female fans); that doesn't make it shoujo. Pretty boys and flowery dialogue alone don't make something shoujo. Gundam Wing is, at its core, still about giant robots beating the snot out of eachother. That makes it a shounen series, whether the fangirls think it is or not.

Remember, just because a lot of girls like something, that doesn't change what it is. Kenshin has a mostly female fanbase, but anyone who has any idea what they're talking about will tell you that it's shounen. Interpersonal relationship drama is a staple of shoujo anime, but it isn't exclusive. Any decent show will have some focus on character relationships, especially mecha shows that want to have some appeal outside of the hardcore mech-loving audience. Bishounen have been sneaking in to nearly every series for a while now, regardless of who the show is “supposed” to appeal to, since fangirls will generally flock to anything with a few hot guys in it.

Alright, I'm off. Have a decent holiday.