This Week in Anime

Can't Beat the Classics

Coop
Bara wa, bara wa indeed, Chris. Which is to say, classic manga aficionados are occasionally treated to lavish menus filled with meals crafted by chefs such as Lady Oscar's iconic creator, Riyoko Ikeda, shoujo legend Moto Hagio, and of course, the granddaddy of manga, Osamu Tezuka. However, the circumstances surrounding the North American releases of these classic titles (the Europeans are always eating well) vary wildly. And more often than not, they involve the emergence of champions internal to a publisher for these titles to hit our market, one that seems to be focused more on looking forward than looking back... Unless you're Tatsuki Fujimoto.

Not to mention that most of these titles, like the aforementioned Udon releases of Rose of Versailles or Kodansha USA's recent releases of Fighting for Tomorrow: Ashita no Joe, carry a premium price point that tend to be out of the average book buyer's budget. Though with a title like Joe, it feels like you're getting what you paid for, as it is one of the finest BOOKS I've handled in years. Thanks again to the kind friend who gifted it to me.

I'll also take this moment to say that if a certain title has priced you out, check out your local public library! Even if they don't have the specific titles we're talking about today, they might be able to nab it for you through their Interlibrary Loan Program. The library's a good way to read any manga that's caught your eye—modern or classic!

I'm thrilled for Ed Chavez and the team at Denpa for finally getting this one out the door. If you've followed Denpa's Bluesky and Twitter account over the past few years, the publisher has been refreshingly candid about the process of bringing this and other titles like Mitsuru Adachi's SHORT GAME to market over the past few years. While that wait can be frustrating to some, that's just how these things can go sometimes.

As we've been heavily alluding to, Rose of Versailles is in a similar situation to many other classic series—it's only one title out of a creator's entire catalog to be released in North America. In the case of Riyoko Ikeda, the heart-wrenching Claudine is her only other work I've personally encountered in the States. Which also becomes bittersweet when one considers that her other best-known work, Dear Brother, has only had its anime adaptation released here. While I love the series, I'd be curious to read Ikeda's original vision for the story before the legendary Osamu Dezaki stepped in to work his anime magic.

Hi, it's me, your local Aim for the Ace! sicko who regularly sees the vintage omnibus on their shelf and thinks about getting serious about those Genki books they bought in March 2020.

Aim for the Ace! is more or less my dream title—a series I'd love to see serve, smash, and volley its way into bookstores. We've been lucky enough to have most of its anime adaptations arrive here, and I was blessed with the opportunity to be a small part of its legacy by writing the box copy for Aim for the Ace!: Another Match (Aim for the Ace! 2). But before I was even involved with the series in that capacity, I fell in love with Hiromi's struggles on the court when Dezaki's original series hit Blu-ray in early 2023.

With art like this, you better believe it when I say I'd love it if Aim for the Ace! got the full "Ashita no Joe" treatment—complete with era-appropriate lettering techniques courtesy of Evan Hayden or one of his many talented colleagues.

Seven Seas' releases of Ishinomori's Gorenger and Kamen Rider, reminds me of the publisher's ongoing efforts to keep the light on for the works of Gō Nagai (Devilman, Cutie Honey), Monkey Punch (Lupin the 3rd), and Leiji Matsumoto (Captain Harlock). However, it is a tricky task to foot the electric bill required to do that. According to translator and writer Zack Davisson (who translated a good handful of these Seven Seas titles), Gō Nagai's body of work seems to have some trouble selling stateside, except Devilman.

No kidding! Vertical has done a solid job with releases of Tezuka standouts like Black Jack and MW, but I've heard more than a few folks mention that the availability and printing of these volumes is sporadic. Which, again, given everything we've mentioned so far, makes sense. Why put the resources behind a big print run when you know your title is catering to a niche audience? It's financially wiser to apply those same resources to a smaller run that has a better chance of selling out.

It's a bummer that the general rule with these things is "will it sell?", but that's unfortunately how it is. If folks purchase these bespoke collections, it might put enough grease on the publisher's wheel to look into a more comprehensive series of releases down the road. However, it also depends on the size of the publisher and what they can handle. For instance, Star Fruit Books announced that they'd be releasing Chikae Ide's The Final Strike, but they're looking at using a crowdfunding campaign to make it happen.

Many folks have very understandable misgivings about crowdfunding of any kind, just look at the ongoing Dirty Pair Kickstarter saga, but for a small publisher looking to put out a classic sports title, it seems like a good fit.

While my watch is always telling me that it's time for a publisher to license Aim for the Ace!, there's a large lesson I took away from speaking with Chavez, Justin Sevakis, and the crews behind Slam Dunk's North American manga releases last year: sports titles don't sell here unless you've got some hunky boys, sexy ladies, or standout element behind it. Add in the general public's adverse reaction to older titles, and that makes for a problem stateside. Even if it's an international smash hit created by modern-day manga legend Takehiko Inoue.

Oh, how I wish Slam Dunk was right next to Captain Tsubasa on the SJ app, but alas. Tsubasa is an excellent example of a classic series that's been officially translated, adapted, and lettered with the proper care (and without the use of caustic tools that remove the human touch), but released digitally. I'll personally always prefer the feeling of a book in my hand, but I'm thrilled it's available at all. While not the type of classic we're talking about today, Kodansha USA recently started offering a print-on-demand release of the first volume in Moare Ohta's Teppu series through their Kodansha Print Club program. From a business standpoint, this model might be worth experimenting with for classic titles... However, the inherent quirks of print on demand can have detrimental effects on the perception of the product overall as explored in my review of Teppu's first volume. In the case of older titles, especially ones with heavily involved creators, the final print-on-demand product would be seen as unacceptable.

To reiterate what I said earlier, smaller print runs sound like the best way to thread the quality and price needle. That is if you're a smaller company that can't tank the financial hit of producing a premium release like Ashita no Joe or Rose of Versailles.

And perhaps offering up an allocation of those smaller runs for libraries to have first dibs on for their collections. Not everyone is crazy about reading on their phones, nor is internet access a given in more rural areas.

Absolutely! I just remembered that I have Pluto volumes waiting for me to pick up this week. On the topic of boosting the profile of certain titles, I'd think we'd be remiss if we didn't shout out of the work of Jason Thompson and Sheanon Garrity on House of 1000 Manga —a legacy column that highlighted manga from across the decades.

Reading about Thompson's experiences at VIZ in the early aughts during the brief rise of Raijin Comics was an invaluable resource while investigating Slam Dunk. Think of all the manga industry insights I haven't discovered yet, just waiting to be found in this house of treasures.

I'm right there with you, Chris, and as an orange cat enjoyer, I want more people to know What's Michael? Dark Horse's omnibuses and your local library might be able to help you with that query, along with many more manga questions.