Forum - View topicNEWS: Media Blasters pulls out of Seinen / Older Shounen Market
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Espeon
 Posts: 105 Location: Australia |
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Oh dear god! Why bother..
We want our Eiken manga's not some silly man love books. Bleh. Ah well wierd people wierd idea's. |
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Captain Crotchspike
 Posts: 355 Location: Phoenix, AZ |
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I am greatly upset by this. Well, me and like one other person, and I guess that's the problem, but...BUT STILL! I will miss you and your brain-kicking adventures, Kakugo. ;_; |
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CCSYueh
 Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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I want my yaoi. Personally, I'm also cutting back on non yaoi to keep up with all the yaoi coming out now. If Eiken is selling, they'll probably keep it. I don't see how it's considered shonen. Yeah, I guess it is, but it's more hentai, isn't it? So it fits with their adult line. After the anime, I didn't bother. And I was buying Apocalypse Zero, Twin Signal & Kamugara(or whatever it's called). I was thinking they'd dropped them considering how long it's been since the last volumes came out |
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teh*darkness
 Posts: 901 |
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This makes me very sad... I was reading Kamunagara (they spelled it horribly wrong), and just special ordered volumes 2-4 recently... now they drop it... there went $30 dollars...
Well, as long as they don't drop Eiken... and wtf is the deal with yaoi!? Why are publisher's continually licensing these gay series, about gay guys? Half the manga readers I talk to read yaoi, and most of them are young teenage girls (i.e. 12-15), no where near old enough to where they should be able to buy this stuff... yet it still gets released... and perfectly good series get dropped... mainly because it's from a 3rd party releaser, that a lot of people see releasing mainly yaoi... like how, I won't be buying 'anything' from "GoComi!" since they've announced they are 'actively pursuing the licensing of yaoi and boy-love series'... This is a dark day indeed... PS> Let the flaming commence... |
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Beatdigga
 Posts: 4627 Location: New York |
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I felt ill reading how something like Apocolaypse Zero was going to be canned in favor of manga about gay people (not that there's anything wrong with that).
Is this the same MB that also distributes anime? Heaven help them if they go strictly yaoi. |
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Mephistophilus
 Posts: 200 Location: Fresno, CA, United States |
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Yes, because homosexuality in romance is by definition an "adults-only" subject. *sigh* Though I don't read or watch yaoi personally, I don't have a problem with it, and am perfectly okay with a company focusing on it. However, it is slightly disappointing when a company pulls out of other series as a result... Was it due to sales issues? |
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Stullz
Posts: 96 |
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This news sucks. I have not bought nor had planned on buying any of those titles, but for those who did this is a major slap in the face by MB. I personally don't care for yaoi nor do I care to become one of the people who bash it for homosexuality political crap. (even though I do think its wrong, I am content to them be.) But I agree with the poster who said that Yaoi should not be aimed at young teen girls. Many of the titles I see in stores that appear to be yaoi are all shrink wrapped with PA labels. If a publisher deems something to be explicit then the rating should be followed. This goes for all manga types be they violent (Basilisk) or yaoi or hentai. It's just common sense, some people are to young for some of the content that they read.
As far as MB taking the risk with titles aimed at older age groups I applaud them, though it was doomed from the start since they are a 3rd tier publisher that isn't picked up by many major stores. end ranting and ravings of a madman now... |
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bonbonsrus
 Posts: 1537 Location: Michigan, USA |
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OK, This I have to agree is sad... They are saying the titles they are dropping were only aimed at adults,and thus failed, but the yaoi will be better suited to the legions and hoards of swarming pre-pubescent girls clammering to get their sweaty hands on anything bearing the yaoi label. Know what's sad? I used to like yaoi (when yaoi meant yaoi, not shounen-ai) and I even used to call myself a fangirl... and the two terms weren't always thought of together... remember when that term didn't mean what it does now? anyone? I can't ever call myself that again, and fangirls have ruined much of the yaoi fandom for me. Anyway, I find it sad that they weren't able to sustain growth as a company this way, I hope it isn't too long before they are able to return regular titles to their line. (sorry, I got a little nostalgic and ranty there) |
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pat_payne
Posts: 179 |
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So, now we've seen a whole bunch of classic series (Urusei Yatsura, City Hunter, Gundam the Origin) languish on the shelves and be cancelled, and many other great manga (Doraemon, Kuni ga Moeru, Heurika!) never getting the chance to come over here, because the target audience appears to be a bunch of teeny-bopper girls who swoon over two guys kissing? I'm being denied more translated Lum and Ryo Saeba goodness because of some high-schooler with a dumb wooden paddle? O tempora, O mores!
(edit in: I'm not anti-gay or even anti-yaoi [tho' I do not read yaoi], but pro-UY and City Hunter) |
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sunflower
 Posts: 1080 |
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Because yaoi readers are some of the most supportive fans in the business. Yaoi makes money.
About half the yaoi being released these days, mainly by DMP, contains no graphic sex and is merely romance. These titles are suitable for teens to read by US ratings standards. However, MB's yaoi titles have all been adult in nature, so they should not be implying they're appropriate for all ages. And bonbonsrus, yaoi over here never meant what yaoi really means in Japan, where it's almost an insult to use it. However I understand the choice of US publishers to use this term to describe the genre. They didn't have many choices, BL, yaoi, shounen-ai, gay. Gay would aim the books at the wrong audience. BL has very negative connotations in English, and shounen-ai translates to BL. That left yaoi. I do agree that the fangirls are incredibly annoying, but I don't let that stop me from buying and reading the kinds of books I enjoy. Though it does stop me from going to conventions and forums and any place where I'd have to encounter them.
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theoriginalbilis
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Damn, I was looking into reading Apocalypse Zero at some point. Thanks, Media Blasters, you've just lost a customer, thanks to your cancellations of non-yaoi manga titles.
This reminds of the Guyver manga all over again... (incomplete and cancelled US release) - Bilis |
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Viga_of_stars
 Posts: 1240 Location: Washington D.C. in the Anime Atelier |
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i love yaoi a lot ...a whole lot but.........
i dont like how now companies are really trying to expose it more than need be. i mean it was better in a more underground aspect of american otaku life than now when theyre screwing reg manga and anime for more of it. whole companies devoted to yaoi were created and even american manga-ka jumped on the craze making badly drawn yaoi (see yaoi hentai book 1-3 i think) i love yaoi a lot but i dont like it when something i like is becoming to mainstream or is overshadowing others things i love like non yoai/hentai titles and manga. also...its kinda sucks that yuri is being passes over. i love yoai but i have to be on the other side of the debate. |
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CCSYueh
Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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Sounds like they didn't have you in the first place & THERE'S the problem. Cold, hard fact. Obviously there weren't enough of us buying Apocalypse Zero, Kamunagara, etc. to warrant continuation of the releases. I still damn Dark Horse for charging $14-$18 for 3X3 & then cancelling it for lack of sales (when most would figure they could get 2 manga for the price of that one?). There are several other companies licensing shonen titles & MB apparently is backing out of the crowded market. And yes, it is the same Media Blasters that does anime & hentai & yaoi & live action releases. I didn't think there was anyone who didn't know MB is heavy into the adult titles. As the market becomes saturated, they apparently are choosing to dive into the adult side not serviced by Geneon, Bandai, ADV, Funimation, etc. It seems anything & everything to do with yaoi brings out a small contingent of bashers who hate it already. It sells. Sorry. If you want them to license other stuff, buy that stuff. A bookstore in the Valley comments the day yaoi comes out, the ladies are usually lined up before the store opens to buy it & in general are very supportive of yaoi. Bottom line-money talks. Those of us who buy yaoi often buy it with a minimum of publicity. We support the genre. As I recall someone(7 Seas?) is putting out a yuri line. If that meets with similar support, then I'm sure everyone will rush to license yuri. That interview in PW Comics Week with the DMP's Hikaru Sasahara I believe ANN linked to some time back pointed out- "PWCW: Tell us about your early support for yaoi, or boys' love, and the rest of your publishing list. HS: I didn't even know there was a genre called boys' love until an old man, the president of [Japanese publisher] Tokuma Shoten, told me, "It's like homosexual manga." He told me it was the most lucrative genre. It's had over 30 years of business in Japan. I thought anything going on over five to 10 years has got to be something. The otaku mentality is the same all over the world. They eat the same kind of junk food, they like the same TV, they play the same video games and read the same manga. So if something is happening in Japan, I figured it could be the same in the U.S. Only the Ring Finger Knows [an early yaoi series] sold instantly, almost 12,000 units with almost no promotion. I figured, oh, man, this is something. I grabbed another five titles in the boys' love genre without even checking their marketability. All [sold] tremendously well. Some people told me "If you tap into homosexual manga, you are almost labeling your company as a porn company. I don't care. I'm careful not to release manga with anything too explicit in the sexual scenes. They're all relatively soft porn titles. But after publishing three years, we had a big debate within the company and started 801 Media, a hardcore yaoi manga publisher. [These titles are] not going into bookstores—just to online stores, specialty stores and comic book stores. I'm very appreciative that Tokuma Shoten introduced me to boys' love. " Most of the sources I've seen (including yaoi-con's site) indicate yaoi moved into being the all-encompassing term it is now & that shonen ai had fallen out of use by 2005. I know I ordered a bunch of yaoi manga with BL in the title thinking it would be mild & several were on the hardcore side. |
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Tempest
 I Run this place.ANN Publisher  Posts: 10463 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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I really wish the word Yaoi hadn't been expanded in North American to include BL, Shonen-ai and etc.... -t |
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AyumiHamasaki
Posts: 219 |
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How is YAOI silly? I think you're silly and dumb for insulting yaoi. Obviously you've never read it so you have no idea what you're talking about. It's just a genre. If you're not interested in reading it, then don't bash it.
Because it's selling like hotcakes. It's on the best seller's ranking every month.
You must be really ignorant to suggest that the people around you means the whole America.
So just because a company releases yaoi, you will stop buying anything from them? Are you that shallow? C'mon, grow up.
Not for the people who read and enjoy shounen ai. ----- It saddens me to see that a few people here not only bashed yaoi for being yaoi, but they even bashed it because it's related to homosexuality. You would think that in this day and age, people, especially, anime fans, would be more open to this. I hope that no one else will follow the few uneducated bigots and start spreading hate. Leave homosexuality out of this. |
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