Forum - View topicNEWS: UK Manga Demand Growing
|
Goto page 1, 2 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Deltakiral
 Posts: 3338 Location: Glendora, CA (Avatar Hei from Darker than BLACK) |
|
|||
|
Dear lord
That quote right there tells you how popular Manga is becoming. And this is for the UK, I thought that other places like France had a high demand for Manga, but damn. In a four year span half a million unit increase, that is great business if you ask me. Question to our UK fans here, did you notice a change in bookshelf space for Manga? Till next time, Delta Kiral |
||||
|
||||
|
bazurk
Posts: 2 Location: england |
|
|||
|
there has always been a big potential manga market in the uk the thing that changed is the avalability of manga in mainstream bookshops
|
||||
|
||||
BorgmanJayce
 Posts: 298 Location: Hades via UK |
|
|||
|
I'm glad that there's an increased demand for manga in the UK but I'm concerned at the fact that certain anime distribution companies [one in particular being the distributor of a certain show involving alchemy] treat the UK market as a second rate one compared to the likes of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa of all places...
I find it silly that Viz won't let me subscribe to Shonen Jump but they'll let me order back issues from their online store and as for ADV, they won't let me order from their online store either because I live in the UK and yet I find myself buying imported DVD's from the States due to there being a wider choice plus they're much cheaper than the UK releases... |
||||
|
||||
|
bazurk
Posts: 2 Location: england |
|
|||
|
i agree completely the uk market is getting better but its got a long way to go and its a uphill battle for companies to recognize the huge uk market
at the moment the uk anime market is in the same place the uk video games market was 5 or 6 years ago i think more tv coverage would help but thats a discussion for another time and place |
||||
|
||||
Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
|
|||
I too have seen more manga on the selves in UK book stores and more is coming as well. I still get mine on-line because of discounting but it's still good to see it on the Shelves. I was in my local Ottakar's last December checking out what they had available. When I arrived there were a few tweeny girls fingering through a few titles but shortly after I was there I noticed more adults coming over and fingering a few titles as well. One bloke asked me "are these any good?" I said "yes very good" and recommended "Fruits Basket". He was still reading the first volume when I left. 
|
||||
|
||||
cultnirvana
 Posts: 13 Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland |
|
|||
|
Yeah, the shelf space that manga has been taking over has really grown at an astonishing rate lately over here. I got into manga around 1999, and back then there was only a small section of manga in a local comic store, stocking US imported stuff (God, how glad I am that the day of paying at least £12 for a single volume of manga is gone).
Now said comic store has a full section stocking a couple of hundred manga volumes at a time, and most bookstores stock the UK releases of titles. And with the amount Tanoshima are geared to publish over the next few months so they can quickly catch up to the North American releases, it's going to get even more crowded. But us Brits do need to make sure to buy the UK releases (not just in relation to manga but DVDs as well) as much as possible to keep things going the way they are. |
||||
|
||||
|
BorgmanJayce
Posts: 298 Location: Hades via UK |
|
|||
|
As I said, I'm glad that there's an increased demand for manga but what concerns me a lot is the fact that the DVD's are not only a lot more expensive than the releases in America, we don't even get a choice of regular or limited edition versions a lot of the time whereas the Aussies [damn you guys for beating Japan a few days ago!] get releases similar to those in the States.
I'd love to see a situation where we can have cons equal to those in the States and DVD's available at reasonable prices, but sadly as long as certain companies see the British market as a second-class one [as I mentioned in my original post], it won't happen anytime soon even if manga is the biggest growing market comics-wise here. Yes, I know about how if more people buy the DVD's, the more releases we'll get but considering how a lot of the UK releases are missing certain extras that are in the US ones plus the prices of them, I think I'll take my chances with the US releases. Don't get me wrong, I'll support UK manga releases in the form of the TokyoPop releases [I'd rather burn in Hades than support Viz's UK releases considering the way they treat us Brits and I'll get their US ones instead] but I'm truly concerned about the UK anime DVD market more than anything. On another note, I'd rather have the chance to buy from ADV's US store because of the wider choice of anime not available over here [St Seiya and Borgman anybody?] plus they have some kickass sales that the UK store don't even have... *Still wonders why Funi's online store won't ship to the UK when they'll ship to practically everywhere else in the world... And before the Funi-fanboys get on their drokkin high horses and flame me, I have nothing against the company, I just don't like the fact that they won't ship to the UK unless I get a friend in the US to buy the stuff for me and I pay him for the items plus P+P] |
||||
|
||||
SoulSlayer
 Posts: 14 Location: Tokyo/Kansas |
|
|||
|
Just showing the overall popularity of manga catching on worldwide. Is it any wonder that Hollywood has taken notice and started working on anime based movies?
|
||||
|
||||
|
IanC
Posts: 685 Location: Essex, England |
|
|||
Oh yes, over the last year or two manga has taken over the Graphic Novels section at 3 bookstores i go to. |
||||
|
||||
|
MIBlackburn_d6
Posts: 19 Location: UK |
|
|||
|
Over the past few years, the size has dramatically increased. Manga now occupies at least 6 to 8 shelves in my local major bookshops (Ottakas, Waterstones, Borders).
|
||||
|
||||
|
Gawyn
Posts: 19 |
|
|||
|
It's not particularly surprising that the manga market has shot up somewhat last year given that that was the first year in which the UK saw its first domestic manga publishing. Tokyopop worked hard with one of the largest bookstore chains in the UK, Waterstones and got an agreement from them to have manga selling from every one of its store across the UK. Other stores have also been trialling the manga market and many now seem to have a similar policy of stocking manga.
What Viz UK releases? There is no Viz UK. They sublicence their product to UK companies (MVM and Manga Entertainment have both licenced anime from them and Gollancz publishing have made a deal to publish many Viz manga titles). Manga Ent's Naruto box is an absolute bargain at £25RRP for the first 13 episodes. You hugely overestimate the UK anime market. It is not even close to the size of that in the US and the strength of GBP to the USD is a massive factor as to why imports are so much cheaper. |
||||
|
||||
|
ojamajolilac
Posts: 22 |
|
|||
|
I agree, the UK market for anime and manga had "grew" but still no match compare to the US market.
From 2 years span, the shelf for mangas from Borders (the one I go to) has grew from 1 shelf to 3 shelves. The comic store also stock much more manga then before. I remember 1 year ago there was only Battle Royale in Water Stones (And the one I go to is as big as a cathedral) Now they have some shelves all for manga. I notice that on Tokyo pop's manga now also have the UK's price tag in pounds (As seen on ma Pita Ten Art Book and Magical x Miracle) |
||||
|
||||
|
IanC
Posts: 685 Location: Essex, England |
|
|||
Cheaper than the US boxes RRP ($49.99) as it goes 
|
||||
|
||||
Armagguedes
 Posts: 41 Location: Lisbon, Portugal |
|
|||
|
Now all i need is for UK shops to start shipping for the rest of EU for cheap (otaku.co.uk is wayyy to expensive, and archonia.com (belgium) charges handsomly in S&H).
Does anyone know of good UK stores btw (US is too expensive)? |
||||
|
||||
|
Mohawk52
Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
|
|||
Then you want to try DVDpacific.com, or Amazon.co.uk mate and you'll get a better price and all.
|
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group