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What Do you think it will take for Manga to build on growth


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darkhunter



Joined: 13 May 2004
Posts: 2992
Location: Los Angelas
PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 4:37 am Reply with quote
If you think manga is fine the way they are now, what measure would you take to increase it's readership? Even if it will likely not happen, what do you think it will take for manga to continue to expand in the future?

My opinion:
-I think manga should be cheaper. Sure 10 dollar per book is very reasonable, but maybe at 7 dollar per title seem more attractive to new reader? Also current reader would be able to afford to check out more title now that it's cheaper.

-More cheap anthology magazine? I know people hate anthology because it mean slower graphic novel release. I think that having a magazine with a lot of well known manga works really well as sampler if it was to come bi-weekly and introduces new title while rotating current title. This would introduces new title to people that might might wan to read 2 or 3 title in the anthonology but also found the other title be great and well deserving.

-More mature (sienen) manga that appeal to adults. As times passes and shounen manga fan becomes older, they will seek for something that would appeal more to their age. Also it's an outlet to let people look at manga in a more serious light.

-"Pay per chapter online". Like what Netcomics is doing, you can pay a 25cent to read a chapter online. A great way to preview manga or read license manga if you don't have easy access to them in your area/country.
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Kagemusha



Joined: 20 Feb 2004
Posts: 2783
Location: Boston
PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 7:51 am Reply with quote
Quote:
-I think manga should be cheaper.

Right now more companies are going the "higher price for higher quality" route. Manga is a specialized market; no matter how much companies try to expand it it's probobly always going to be a specialized market. Having some titles priced lower that appeal to broader audiences (Shonen Jump titles) and some more expensive ones that target more devotes readers is probobly a good idea.
Quote:
-More cheap anthology magazine?

It couldn't hurt. The only problem is NOTHING is going to exceed the sales of Shonen Jump, which makes starting a new magazine a difficult move. Even something like PULP is hard since your really only going to sell it in specialty stores.
Quote:
-More mature (sienen) manga that appeal to adults.

Don't forget josei. The market is releasing more adult titles now anyways, so if Ponent Mon has success selling to the Pantheon crowd, I could see more companies jumping on the "art-manga" bandwagon.
Quote:
-"Pay per chapter online".

Who's going to do this when you can just as easily find a site to download it for free? It could work for specialized genres like yaoi or the type I mentioned above, but for the more popular titles that have already been scanned I doubt it would work.
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apple pro



Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 190
PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 7:52 am Reply with quote
I think it's already growing quite fast and we just have to continue to buy the books we like and it'll shake out from there.

IMO:
• Anime on TV. Naruto sales go through the roof because of the show. Do that with Bleach, Prince of Tennis and some others and you can have lots more manga on the "top 150" booklist thing

• more easy to buy. i am going to predict more manga/anime specialty shows will be springing up. i was at NYCC this weekend and borders had a booth where they sold manga/trades. HOLY CRAP! I think a manga/anime store opening(s) will further legitimize the phenomenon and make it easy for fans to buy and unite

• price point — shonen manga should stay at $8 for the kiddies but I can't say the $10 price point bothers me at all. my fav publisher sis del ray and they charge 11!
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Kagemusha



Joined: 20 Feb 2004
Posts: 2783
Location: Boston
PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 8:02 am Reply with quote
Quote:
• more easy to buy. i am going to predict more manga/anime specialty shows will be springing up. i was at NYCC this weekend and borders had a booth where they sold manga/trades. HOLY CRAP! I think a manga/anime store opening(s) will further legitimize the phenomenon and make it easy for fans to buy and unite

Specialty stores is the wrong direction to take if you want manga to become more popular. Most people don't have very high opinions of the fanboy lairs known as Comicbook Shops, and the Anime Specialty store I've been to drives non-otakus away like the plauge (I myself only went there once).
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Coffeeman



Joined: 21 Jun 2005
Posts: 298
PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 8:25 am Reply with quote
If manga was to build on it's current popularity and growth, I think it would have to be much more... American.

Only so many will buy manga because it's exotic and Japanese.
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slickwataris



Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 1334
Location: Carol Stream, Illinois
PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 10:27 am Reply with quote
Libraries
there's nothing like reading something for free. Check out manga, request manga from other libraries, ask them to order things etc. Obviously the more people who will do it the more manga you'll find in the library. The library I go to actually has a ton of manga already the best part being that they stick it with all the other comics. It forces the American comic fans to notice manga more since it's right next to their Marvel comics. Of course comics as a whole are in a seperate section, the teen section. However I always manage to bump into an adult non-worker there plus they have cozy chairs.

stop promoting on anime sites!!!!!!
For the love of god everyone here knows what manga is start promoting on websites that don't. It wouldn't kill them would it?
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Kouji



Joined: 01 Oct 2005
Posts: 978
PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 11:22 am Reply with quote
I think they should have more special discount deals specifically for manga. I know Walden's has their buy four, get one free deals on paperback books which usually includes manga, but it'd be nice to have more deals specifically for manga if only for the sake of highlighting the fact that they're there. I also wish bookstores would have those discount cards they usually have for regular books but for manga. For a while, Walden's had this card thing where you get a stamp for any manga you buy, and if you get ten stamps, you get $10 off on any manga. I really liked that card because it was only for manga. I always took advantage of it whenever I could, but then for some reason, Walden's stopped giving them out. I really wish they would bring it back. Another thing I think could help manga is that bookstores should either stop manga lounging all together or become a lot stricter about it. While I imagine it must be nice to read manga for free, in the end manga lounging just ends up discouraging customers from actually purchasing the manga and there are many other problems with it that you can read about in the other thread about manga lounging. I think bookstores should have more special events for manga too, like the special events they have for the Harry Potter books or a manga bookclub or something like that. And while I'm mostly satisified with the current prices of manga, having them priced cheaper certainly wouldn't hurt any, at least for more popular series like Shounen Jump manga or Clamp's works. Viz ceasing their editing in manga would be a great deal of help too, since many people refuse to buy certain manga series simply because it's been edited no matter how small or big the edit was.
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apple pro



Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 190
PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 1:02 pm Reply with quote
Coffeeman wrote:
If manga was to build on it's current popularity and growth, I think it would have to be much more... American.

Only so many will buy manga because it's exotic and Japanese.


OEL manga is out there now. If it sells well — good. Right now, I think the opposite is true. Japenese manga sells much better overall.

I think the whole point IMO is that japanese manga is foreign and exotic and has it's own special spirit to it that american comics lack. (American comics of course have it's own special feel that manga lacks.)
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DemonEyesLeo



Joined: 20 Feb 2005
Posts: 844
Location: Japan
PostPosted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 12:29 am Reply with quote
Definitely get the anime adaptations on TV. This is already proven to work with Naruto and Fullmetal Alchemist.

I'd also have to agree with more mature titles. This could bring in more adults. Also there's the maturity of the readers, I myself have done this, most of my manga is rated T to OT, but I needed more adult stuff, so I started getting Berserk and I'm anticipating Monster.

I think the free "sampler" books that Viz and Tokyopop give out also help greatly. Most of the time these have about 6 or so different titles, and it's free. More of these could provide a boost.
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LydiaDianne



Joined: 28 Jan 2006
Posts: 5634
Location: Southern California
PostPosted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 1:00 am Reply with quote
I have to agree about the sampler booklets. That's a good idea. But the bookstores and movie stores have to hand them out to EVERYBODY! Not just the people who are buying anime and manga. The only way the audience base will expand is to bring it to the attention of the non-buyers.

I think that manga reviews in high school and college newspapers would help as well. It's been 20 years since I was in high school but I think that if I saw a manga review that said "This is the best story ever!" I might have been inclined to buy it to see what it was all about. Especially if the review was about a CLAMP or Yuu Watase title.
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satti



Joined: 16 May 2005
Posts: 11
PostPosted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 1:32 pm Reply with quote
darkhunter wrote:

-More mature (sienen) manga that appeal to adults. As times passes and shounen manga fan becomes older, they will seek for something that would appeal more to their age. Also it's an outlet to let people look at manga in a more serious light.


I think time is important.
Reading manga was shameful hobby for adults in onetime Japan.
But at present, middle-aged men in a suit buy "Weekly Shounen *whatever*" at kiosk and read it in train.
I can't say it's good or bad...

It seems to me that some of popular seinen manga for adult readers don't attract international readers.
Especially manga without gun action/romance/samurai, and manga focuses on Japanese social/economic problems.
Only US-bred writer can make mature manga that appeal to US adults. and time will provide it, I guess.
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Rolito



Joined: 28 Feb 2006
Posts: 20
Location: Costa Rica
PostPosted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 4:48 pm Reply with quote
I think it should be cheaper. But think it like this...
Imagine you could barely buy supplise to make a manga comic people would buy.. Its set at a price. Might be expensive, but thats the only way (usually) to get money. Not all manga writers, but newbies and even pro's. I don't think the big writers like the one for Pokémon, they are pretty much millionares. In conclusion, yes maybe it should be cheaper, but as I said it wouldn't be so easy to make that happen if your the writer.

:.:Rolo:.:
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wanirose



Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 128
PostPosted: Fri Mar 03, 2006 10:50 am Reply with quote
In our daily newspaper, they had a huge article (like almost three pages) on manga and how it is growing. They also commented on what manga companies are going to have to do to increase sales. I thought that it was pretty good. They started out by saying what was the big anime titles that really brought people's attention to anime and manga series (like Arika, Spirited Away, and a couple others). The biggest thing that they mention was that young adults, mainly from 12-17, are the biggest buyers of manga. After that, their interests start to fad. I don't completely agree with that, but if companies were to produce more adult manga, people would continue collecting the series. Also, I don't have the article with me at the moment and it was published last week, so I forget most of the rest of it, but I can check on it if anyone wants me to.

But for right now I think that manga prices should be lowered. Also, Borders has the "buy three get one free deal," and that is really nice to have that.

Promotion should also become greater.
As LydiaDianne said:
Quote:
I think that manga reviews in high school and college newspapers would help as well. It's been 20 years since I was in high school but I think that if I saw a manga review that said "This is the best story ever!" I might have been inclined to buy it to see what it was all about. Especially if the review was about a CLAMP or Yuu Watase title.


I have tried, but the farthest that I have ever gotten was a very short discussion on Kenshin. The whole thing died when someone said that a random tiger died in the end (I have to say that person who said it is a jerk, and huge self-promotor). And then we had a really good manga artist who always did a drawing in the school newspaper, but she left and no one has filled her position. Lastly, in a comic book store (that also sales some manga) called Riot, the owner has signings, usually for comic books though, but it does spread awareness because he always has huge articles in the newspaper about it.

Maybe we could start a manga/anime day or something to spread awareness, like they do for breast cancer or heart diesease or something. It is just an idea but I think we could do something. You never know, it could be fun!!!
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bobobobobobobo
SPAMMER


Joined: 02 Oct 2005
Posts: 54
PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 5:47 pm Reply with quote
The best thing that people could do to make more people read manga is to bring Gantz to America, but make sure VIZ doesn't get it. This idea is very logical and i think it could work.
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huh?



Joined: 10 Apr 2005
Posts: 130
Location: playing trumpet w/ jesus
PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:04 pm Reply with quote
i hope you dont seriously think that gantz is going to make the manga market huge. it'd be getting released now if that were the case. i think gantz is a good series, nothing above average, although i enjoy it a lot. anyway, gantz will not open up the market simply because people are going to be oblivious to what gantz is. it will look like more "japanese comics" to everyone that see it.

personally i dont think there is a way to make manga appeal to much wider audiences. manga has definitley grown in popularity since i started collecting, but it can only get so big. it is a subculture type of thing. people are attracted to certain things and manga doesnt have mass appeal.
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