Forum - View topicDo you like Viz having all these different "lines"?
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zawa113
 Posts: 7360 |
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The publisher breakdown thread got me thinking on all the different line that Viz has. Currently, they have the Sig, Sig Ikki, Shojo Beat, Shonen Sunday, Shonen Jump, Shonen Jump Advanced, Viz Kids, and just plain Viz, and in the past they've had Shojo (one with the girl in the crescent moon), Action, Pulp, Editor's Choice, Viz Spectrum, Cadence, and probably others I'm missing.
My question is, do you like having all of these lines? Most of the other publishers out there just have their company logo on the spine (Yen Press does have Yen +) and nothing more, but Viz still goes out of their way to put everything into a category. I must admit, I sorta do. I don't really know why, I don't even put like lines next to each other most of the time (I don't have the room to do so). Maybe it makes the spines look pretty? I suspect it's because I secretly want things to be categorized, it's obviously why I put all my PS2 or Gamecube games together on the shelf instead of intermingling them, since it does make it easier to find. But I just said that I don't put like lines next to each other most of the time, but even then I still seem to like to have basic categories. I remember that Tokyopop put like genre pictures on the bottom of the spines (comedy, drama, romance, action, mystery), but I found most of them to be wildly inaccurate, like it was both too specific and too wrong. They might put a comedy one on something I thought was more romance, or vice versa, all the time. Perhaps the Viz lines are generic enough that it's easier for me to see things fitting into them most of the time? For example, Seiho Boys High School is definitely a shojo, and it's in the SB line. It doesn't tell me that it's comedy or drama, so maybe I don't feel wrong either way where the Tokyopop genres thing ticked me off for that very reason. It's like it's only telling me what demographic I'm getting while not telling me the genre, so it guides me enough without flat out telling me whatever the person working there thought it should be. But if there's one thing that got put in the wrong category, gotta be Banana Fish. I bet it would've sold better in the Editor's Choice line. The first 7 volumes were in the Pulp line (that line had a lot of variety, it had Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga for Celestia's sake), but once they got rid of it, it went to the Shojo Moon line where it continued to be the least shojo shojo ever. So I guess at the same time where I like having categories, I also like the idea of having a Signature line where they can throw anything. For example, Emma (not Viz I know) is a seinen, but it sure doesn't feel like it, so that's where a Editor's Choice or Sig line is useful. So what are your thoughts on the Viz lines? Do you like them, or find them annoying? |
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st_owly
 Posts: 5234 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland |
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I quite like them. I'm a compulsive sorter and order-er and hoarder, so having things broken down into categories for me is nice, although up till now I've largely kept everything in alphabetical order, with a few prolific authors having their own shelves. The one thing that does annoy me though, is the changing of lines partway through a series, like when they introduced the Shonen Sunday line. The Shojo Beat line became much nicer when they stopped using that awful generic red font on all the spines and started actually designing them to match the series.
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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I really like all the imprints because which imprint a title is under does tell you a fair amount about the series. The large majority of my Viz manga are from the Shojo Beat imprint, with a few Sigatures thrown in. I pretty much avoid anything from Shonen Jump because I just don't care for most shonen series, with a few exceptions.
I definitely do agree that the old Shojo Beat spines were pretty terrible though - I don't mind the logo being there but I don't want all the spines on my books to look the same. Sadly, I think all the series I'm currently collecting still have that original design. |
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littlegreenwolf
 Posts: 4796 Location: Seattle, WA |
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They don't have enough. They need a josei line. The guys have an older guy line, girls need one too.
Or at least that's what I always whine to myself. |
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st_owly
Posts: 5234 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland |
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Seconded. I'm still amazed Butterflies, Flowers was published as Shojo Beat. Last edited by st_owly on Wed Feb 13, 2013 10:46 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Touma
 Posts: 2651 Location: Colorado, USA |
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I do not really like them because I do not pay any attention to the intended demographic, but I do not actually dislike them either.
I just ignore them. |
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RAmmsoldat
 Posts: 1261 Location: North wales coast |
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I think the lines would be helpful for people in terms of content they like, if you like stuff all from one particular line you are going to pay attention to new releases in it. personally i seldom even pay attention to what line a series is in as i just judge each manga case by case.
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marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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A josei line would be awesome.
I am quite happy looking at the other thread and seeing how many people have Shojo Beat making up a good portion of their Viz titles. I think Viz really has done a lot to bring more shojo series over and I would love it if they could do the same with josei and maybe find a way to get the sales for that type of series which haven't been there in the past. Also, by having different imprints, you can get news on just one imprint easier. I follow Shojo Beat on Facebook, for example, and so I know they are going to be announcing a license tomorrow for Valentine's Day. |
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Dessa
 Posts: 4438 |
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*glances at some of her Japanese books, for which some publishers have multiple lines, and all the spines look the same.*
*glances at her English copies of said books, which are ALL published by Viz* They're following the Japanese standard. As long as I can read the books, I don't care. |
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lys
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 1020 Location: mitten-state |
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Yeah, I knew the generic red-text spines on Shojo Beat titles matched the original Japanese releases. But it still looks boring. For my Japanese books, I guess I don't mind because all the publishers are pretty consistent about doing it (except for a few special editions). But English releases already had a different standard (of individually designed spines), so Viz's decision to match the Japanese didn't fit so well. Anyway, it's not like the boring spines ever prevented me from buying a series. And they've more or less gone back to pretty spines for new series, so whatever :)
Viz's Signature line could probably be used for josei as well as seinen (Ooku is somewhere in between—serialized in a josei magazine, collected and published under a seinen imprint). Or they could do Shojo Beat Advanced(?) line, like they do with Jump? I think there's still going to be considerable overlap with readers of shoujo and josei, so it would be a little silly to separate them too much. |
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marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Yeah, following Japanese standards that suck doesn't exactly make it okay
 I mean, I'll still read and buy them but cover design-wise I think it's pretty lazy. And far too visually homogeneous when on a bookshelf with the spines facing out.
And yeah, I definitely think a Shojo Beat Advanced line might be the best fit. It could be advertised in some of the more mature Shojo Beat titles (for example, NANA, assuming at some point more volumes of that one come out, and thus that series could help launch two imprints!). |
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ZepysGirl
 Posts: 470 Location: NY, NY |
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The different lines never really bothered me? I mean, they're a useful distinction at first, I guess, but it's not like after ten minutes of reading something you can't tell what the demographic is anyways (most of the time, yes I know there are exceptions). Other than being shorthand for which new series I look forward to (Shojo/Shonen = I'll probably like it, Sig/Kids = probably not), it's not something I think about all that much. Though I agree, it's still worlds better than what Tokyopop was doing. Boiling a whole series down to just one genre really doesn't work with manga.
...Though I guess I have Shojo Beat to thank for this stigma against shojo manga that I see so often. >_> I've had too many people tell me that they "Don't like shojo because I don't like romance" and it makes me want to fume. Not all shojo are like that, and even the ones that do have romance as the main aspect vary widely. Shojo Beat seems to almost exclusively publish romance-focused shojo... |
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OniTasku
Posts: 79 Location: Santa Barbara, CA |
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I'm a bit at odds with them.
I like the breakdown in genre or demographic, and I understand it helps [some] fans move from title to title (as far as what they like). Though my main issue, or gripe, is that VIZ has introduced too many imprints to service and maintain. Of the active imprints right now, Shonen Jump and Shojo Beat are the main offerings and obviously bring in the bulk of sales/attention. However, what of lesser imprints like Shonen Jump Advanced or Shonen Sunday? Shonen Sunday hasn't seen a new license since 2009, and SJ Advanced only just received Nisekoi (prior to that it was Blue Exorcist in 2010). VIZ has quietly given up on the Sig IKKI website, which hasn't seen an update since December 2011, and the Signature Series line has seen better days. More than half of its current line-up will be done within the next year or two and/or has already caught up to JP releases (some face indefinite hiatus in Japan). It's great that VIZ has a diverse catalog and that they've split their licenses under different imprints, but what is the point when your resources are spread so thin that you can really on support a fraction of them? Obviously seinen doesn't exactly do the best in sales, and its not really brain surgery to figure out why they've been neglecting adding much of any new material to the imprint [Signature Series], but it can be frustrating at times. Perhaps even more so when you know VIZ is the only company that can release a Shueisha or Shogakukan title (very few exceptions to this clandestine rule). tl;dr - It's a great concept and idea, but in actuality it feels somewhat discouraging by segregating specific genre/demographics into a line and neglecting to support them. |
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Covnam
 Posts: 3893 |
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That's my thinking. I'm sure having different lines helps more people then it hurts, but for me I don't really pay attention to which line a title is in. I also only buy my manga online, so other than a press release I really have no idea what line something is a part of until it's already in my hands. |
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Tamaria
 Posts: 1512 Location: De Achterhoek |
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It's a series aimed at young girls, of course there was a very, very big chance it wasn't going to do well. I'm not happy with it either, but shojo anime didn't sell well back then and it didn't get any better in recent years. Spelling mistakes in subs are a pet peeve of mine as well, but I'm with littlegreenwolf, your other complaints aren't exactly justified.
And yeah, I can't say I'm a big fan of Arina Tanemura either. I'm just not a fan of the artstyle and I prefer series with older heroines. And no, that doesn't mean I like
I like stuff like Basara, From Far Away, Immortal Rain and Apothecarius Argentum, thank you very much. |
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