Forum - View topicREVIEW: Harlequin Violet: Response (manga)
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GATSU
Posts: 15607 |
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You're on a roll with your bad reviews today.
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mufurc
 Posts: 612 |
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Judging from the cover, the art is beautiful and wasted on such a story. What I don't understand is why they feel a need to develop this kind of manga, when there are tons of josei manga that tackle the same topics with much more sensitivity and finesse, and less cheese.
(And then, there are josei manga like Darling wa namamono ni tsuki...  )
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Wyvern
 Posts: 1606 |
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Is there even a market for this kind of thing? I used to work at a bookstore, and almost 100% of the people who bought Harlequin books were women (usually moms with kids in tow) in their fifties and sixties-who are old enough to remember the pre-feminist days the books harken back to. I don't think that kind of nostalgia exists in the average female manga reader, who's going to be a good deal younger, and would probably just laugh at the cheese factor if anything. And I don't see too many middle-aged soccer moms picking up manga. Maybe I'm wrong, since as a male I'm clearly not Harlequin's target audiance, but I doubt too many people are going to be picking these up.
Also: http://www.achewood.com/index.php?date=04262004 |
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Kagemusha
 Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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Yeah, I was a bit puzzled too with Darkhorse's decision to go with the Harlequin line rather than just licence a bunch of shojo titles. I guess they though they couldn't compete with other companies since they're associated with manga like Berserk and Hellsing. Still, I'd be interested to see the sales figures for these titles.
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sunflower
 Posts: 1080 |
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People here seem kind of ignorant about the romance industry, (not to mention romance novels in general). Romance sales in North America are 50% of all books sold. That's a huge market to potentially be captured.
There's also the fact that the romance is just beginning to age. Contrary to some assumptions here, women with children in tow are not in their 50s and 60s -___-. Romance readers tend to be in their 30s and up (and well educated working women - go look at stats at the RWA). But romance is very interested in capturing younger readers right now, and manga seems the obvious place to start. I think the reason that they chose such outdated examples of romance is that they're already published in Japan. And until very recently, most shoujo romances in Japan were on par with 80s Harlequin romances like these. The plots devices and character types are identical. If they prove to be popular, though I'm not sure they'll fly with American women, we can only hope that Harlequin will begin using some of the better examples in its arsenal in the future (because also contrary to popular belief, there are good ones written). |
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Wyvern
Posts: 1606 |
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What are you talking about? I didn't say that women who have children are in their 50's and 60's. I said that the women who tended to buy them where I used to work generally: A) Were in their 50's and 60's B) Had kids with them I wasn't suggesting a correlation between the two. I never even hinted at anything like that. I don't know where you're getting this from.
Okay, so "30's and up" doesn't include women over fifty? Does "up" stop at 49 or something? And no one here said anything about anyone's education level, either. That was all you, pal. It's all well and good if you want to defend romance novels, but don't go putting words in people's mouths. |
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sunflower
Posts: 1080 |
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I glad to hear you say that. But if I were to say "almost all of our pets are cats (usually calicos) that have been neutered.", that would mean our neutered cats are mostly calicos. The correlation was in what was written, whether intended or not.
Of course not. But you said, referring to the quote above, that almost 100% of the women were in their 50s-60s. Perhaps your store was an odd one, but stats show that the mean age for romance readers is 38. Women in their 50s-60s actually comprise only 25% of romance sales. I wished to point out the discrepancy to those who might think your experience was normal.
You did not, but it was implied by the subtext of the article.
Am I your pal? Really? How sweet. Honestly, I didn't have to put words in your mouth. I simply used words that were already there. |
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