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NEWS: Dōjin Chain Reports Rising Sales Despite Recession




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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 3:37 pm Reply with quote
Well, that's not too surprising. The otaku are not human. They will actually sacrifice everything, living, food, friends, etc, for the sake of anime and goods. The recession won't phase them at all so long as they hold on to their jobs, they will keep buying.
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edzieba



Joined: 13 Dec 2006
Posts: 704
PostPosted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 4:05 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
and aims to develop a conduit for spreading the "Akiba" culture and dōjin (self-published) works overseas in the near future.
Now THAT'S good news. Courier/escrow services are disproportionately expensive for single-doujin orders. Now maybe Volks will stop their "we won't ship outside of Japan but we will also actively prevent the reselling of our goods outside of Japan" policy.
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Ashen Phoenix



Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Posts: 2953
PostPosted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 4:13 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
and aims to develop a conduit for spreading the "Akiba" culture and dōjin (self-published) works overseas in the near future.

Huzzahs all around. Indeed tho the anime bubble has popped and many an anime and manga company in the US have been shut down or forced to restructure, I'd say if handled right this could be a very, very good step for such a store to take.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14893
PostPosted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 4:18 pm Reply with quote
walw6pK4Alo wrote:
Well, that's not too surprising. The otaku are not human. They will actually sacrifice everything, living, food, friends, etc, for the sake of anime and goods. The recession won't phase them at all so long as they hold on to their jobs, they will keep buying.


Freeters! Laughing
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Zin5ki



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 4:50 pm Reply with quote
walw6pK4Alo wrote:
They will actually sacrifice everything, living, food, friends, etc, for the sake of anime and goods.

Considering how low my food budget is, that which benefits the industry and that which benefits my health often seem incompatible.

Perhaps this move will give skilled Otaku the option to make their own dōjin. I don't know how much one can expect to earn from doing such, but prima facie it'd help both the industry and themselves.
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domino



Joined: 25 Nov 2004
Posts: 373
PostPosted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 5:04 pm Reply with quote
I'd love to see doujin culture spread overseas. I love the toranoana atmosphere and doujin event atmosphere. It feels like conventions could be good for doujin sellers, but few take advantage of the events. Then there are those armies of idiots who think that doujinshi are "unoriginal" and "evil copyright-infringing books" to deal with...

I wonder if greater availability of cheap doujin supplies and doujin communities would boost book creation?

I think doujinshi are probably recession-proof. There will always be fans of something :p And doujinshi are so cheap that they're a good inexpensive way to relax...

toranoana will do well overseas if they don't try to rip people off like doujin sellers at american conventions usually do (selling $3 doujinshi for $20+ without even allowing customers to look inside...)
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loka



Joined: 05 Nov 2006
Posts: 373
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
PostPosted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 8:48 pm Reply with quote
domino wrote:
toranoana will do well overseas if they don't try to rip people off like doujin sellers at american conventions usually do (selling $3 doujinshi for $20+ without even allowing customers to look inside...)


$20+ is indeed too high, but i usually see them for 10-15. and double - triple price isn't too bad considering they are one-time printing runs. also, it is assumed that if you are buying doujinshi at the conventions here, you are hunting for specific ones you have seen and taken a liking to after the latest comikets.
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Draneor



Joined: 19 May 2005
Posts: 355
PostPosted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 8:51 pm Reply with quote
walw6pK4Alo wrote:
Well, that's not too surprising. The otaku are not human. They will actually sacrifice everything, living, food, friends, etc, for the sake of anime and goods.

Or you know, they could just be young, single professionals with decent paying jobs and thus plenty to spend on their hobbies and still live comfortably.

domino wrote:
toranoana will do well overseas if they don't try to rip people off like doujin sellers at american conventions usually do (selling $3 doujinshi for $20+ without even allowing customers to look inside...)

I'm not sure who you buy doujinshi from, but most of the sellers I've seen at Otakon allow you to leaf through the doujinshi, if you show ID. Doujinshi are marked up mainly because of the cost of importing along with convention fees, travel, etc. Prices range from $10-$15. Newer doujinshi and ones by more famous circles can be more expensive (although it's that way in Japan too). All in all, it's not really more expensive than importing it directly, which is certainly an option. Many doujinshi shops will ship overseas (ironically, Tora no Ana won't).
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bleuster



Joined: 22 Sep 2005
Posts: 455
Location: Orange County
PostPosted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 12:04 am Reply with quote
I can only hope that they keep the price as low as they are in Japan if a doujin shop opens up outside Japan. If they make regular shipments of doujins I can see that happening and being a success - pass the savings to the consumers. I know I would save a fortune.

More importantly, I hope no child porn lawsuits will pop up all at once and catch the country by storm.
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zanarkand princess



Joined: 27 Oct 2007
Posts: 1484
PostPosted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 12:12 am Reply with quote
[quote="Draneor"]
walw6pK4Alo wrote:
Well, that's not too surprising. The otaku are not human. They will actually sacrifice everything, living, food, friends, etc, for the sake of anime and goods.

Or you know, they could just be young, single professionals with decent paying jobs and thus plenty to spend on their hobbies and still live comfortably.

No that's usually not the case. I doubt the stigma of being an otaku would be so terrible if it was. These are people who frequently say they prefer anime girls over real ones (and they wonder why the birthrate in japan is so low.)

This does seem like an interesting move though. I hope nothing gets into copyright disputes with the american license holders.
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einhorn303



Joined: 20 Nov 2006
Posts: 1180
PostPosted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 12:21 am Reply with quote
>and aims to develop a conduit for spreading the "Akiba" culture and dōjin (self-published) works overseas in the near future.

I would be [expletive] elated if this meant a Toranoana in Boston.
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fighterholic



Joined: 28 Sep 2005
Posts: 9193
PostPosted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 1:18 am Reply with quote
Dojin makers are not connected to companies, first off. Second of all, if other otaku are willing to spend money on that type of stuff while they still have jobs, then they're in good shape.
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bleuster



Joined: 22 Sep 2005
Posts: 455
Location: Orange County
PostPosted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 1:44 am Reply with quote
fighterholic wrote:
Dojin makers are not connected to companies, first off.

The doujins themselves, no, but there are a few that write/illustrate/etc. manga for magazines and then do their own stuff that they sale themselves to the public.
Range Murata, for instance. Works in the industry, does freelance work, and publishes his own stuff every so often.
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cetriya



Joined: 20 Sep 2008
Posts: 156
Location: NJ
PostPosted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 10:14 am Reply with quote
domino wrote:
I'd love to see doujin culture spread overseas. I love the toranoana atmosphere and doujin event atmosphere. It feels like conventions could be good for doujin sellers, but few take advantage of the events. Then there are those armies of idiots who think that doujinshi are "unoriginal" and "evil copyright-infringing books" to deal with...


a great majority of artists at cons sell things because thats what sell not what they want to draw.

now, would you rather sell 1 illustration print for 5$ or a book of doujinshi 20 pages for 5-10$ ? the first one is a lot less work. or even a chibi key chain for 3$ is a lot less work and you'd sell a lot more.

this is mainly why there is armies of idiots who think that doujinshi are "unoriginal" and "evil copyright-infringing books" because its a known fact that unlike the japanese doujinshi-ka makes (who sometimes sells at a lost and are not there to make profit) the US ones are only seeking profit. they are not satisfied to only making the table and printing cost back. what happens when you only do things for money? it ends up being unoriginal.

the biggest thing though is printing. In japan the pro printers are allowed to print doujinshi but in america, because of copyright, we cant print it unless you get your own printing press which goes into 1000$ s of dollars. Thats a lot of hours on top of drawing it and learning how to use the press for a print run of 50-100 books selling at 5$. prints and small stuff can be printed in your printer but not books. And printing is expensive. it gets to be about 5-8$ per book just to print and it wont come out as nice as the japanese one because there is not a large market here to warrant that (and never will be because of copyright).

you can order english doujinshi from europ or malaysia. there is only 2 groups that I know in america that makes doujinshi (I'm sure there is a few more). 1 sneaks it through her publisher (wont work much longer) and the other is a group of 4 korean girls that has a uncle in korea that owns a print shop so they 'outsource' there books.
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