State of the Manga Industry

Here are excerpts from the excellent retailers at the Anime Corner Store newsletter:

"This may be happening under the radar for many of you, but the US manga market is quickly transitioning into a 'rare' books model similar to what regular US Comic book dealers have been for decades. Hundreds of older manga issues have already gone out of print, and this year the process has been accelerated by a truly awful consumer economy. And a lot of this has been happening under the radar because past print runs were too large and the overhang of book inventory has remained in the supply chain for a long time, even after the decision as been made not to re-print them, at least until now. We, on the other hand, see the process in real time as every week manga volumes sell down and when we go to re-order some copies, that might have been available last week, are now sold out and listed as no longer in print. The manga publishers, for the most part, don't usually give us official lists of what's going 'out of print' either, they just decide not to reprint and once existing stocks dry up the books are no longer available for 're-order'. Tough luck Mr. Retailer if you didn't buy enough copies to begin with. Tough luck Mr. Customer if you didn't buy it when it first came out.

Now before you manga collectors out there start going crazy over this, let me remind you that there have probably been around 8,000 or 9,000 manga volumes published in the US over the last 10 years, and those backissues could not stay in print forever, so it was inevitable that the manga companies would eventually reach a point where they just start letting series go off the market en-mass as their sales cycles wind down. The process has really accelerated in 2009 though, and I'd guess that by years end there will probably be at least 1,500 older manga volumes that are no longer in print, and I would estimate by the end of 2010 fully half of the previously released catalog of English language manga will be out of print."

I guess that I'd better pick up the pace with collecting the Swan.

Fool for the Old Skool

Hades: Project Zeorymer is the perfect name for this ode to bombastic mediocrity. Yet, it still tickled me to watch giant robots blast off with names like Zeorymer of the Heavens or Rose C'est la Vie of the Moon. That last one probably made me loose a few brain cells.

However, there is something about the character designs, the mecha direction, and the unabashed gung ho spirit. Zeorymer does focus on the villains, making them the protagonists of each episode and imbuing them with a spirit that is usually reserved for the heros. This role reversal is reinforced by Zeorymer's overwhelming dominance.

I also see strains of Raxhephon & Eva, but then they may just be tropes of the genre that first drew me into the madness: Giant Robots.

Defending the Canvas

Different genre and media move different people, this may seem like a truism, but I've been told that one of my friends asked "what is the point of animation?" I believe that the gist of his argument ran: after all, movies show basically everything that animation can, but with real stuff. I was trying to put together a good explanation, when I saw Kseniya's Simonova's performance sand art from a clip on Youtube that she did for Ukraine's Got Talent.

NPR mentioned the Guardian article [1]. Kseniya draws the portrait of a young couple that met on the eve of Ukraine's bloody invasion by Germany during WWII and the subsequent occupation. Ace of Spades mentions that 1/4 of the population had been murdered [2] by the end of the war.

Young Couple at the eve of war

From some of the Youtube comments, I gather that the husband is sent away to war, and she bears his child. The young wife recieves a letter telling her of his death. An old woman mourns a fallen soldier in the war torn city. The young wife still remembers him.

Soldiers go off to war


The Sorrowful Letter


Mourning


Memories of the Fallen Remain

Kseniya's performance is different from animation in several respects. First, this is a live creation of sand art. Also, the images tell a story, but is not the incremental frame animation that we are used to. However, the essence of the sand art is that it starts from a blank tableau and uses opaque sand and stark whiteness to tell her story. Instead of paint, she used sand. Instead of a canvas, she used a tabletop. Yet the picture she paints becomes shear force to the tear stricken audience. Her spare lines are stark against the whiteness. The image is powerful, like a whisper is loud in a hushed room.

In the vast majority of live action, the director's camera captures a reality that is already exists, whether it is the onsite shot, the arranged set, or the actors brought. I recall reading a film philosopher who likened the camera to stealing the audience's eye. The angling & centering of the lens and zoom all are used to focus the stolen eye on key visual elements. By contrast Kseniya and animators craft a world starting from pure nothingness and working their way up from there. And the effects can be quite startling.

[1] Which I found through the Ace of Spades Blog.
[2] WWII & the Soviet years helps to begin explaining the happy-go-lucky attitude of your average Slav.

Haruhi Season 2 End

I just watched the ending of the 2nd Season of the Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi [1]. While reading the Baka-tsuki fan translations of the novel, I had considered the movie making arc to be the middle child between the roaring opening of the original Melancholy (1st 6 episodes) and the Disappearance storyline.

After all, the actions were already completely defined and had already been shown in detail as episode zero. However, Kyoto Ani really kicked up the intensity in episode 13 during the argument at Tsuruya's house. Sugita nailed the scene and the animation was nothing less than inspired. Their reconciliation was also natural and well done. Haruhi trying to tie a ponytail recalls his complement in closed space. We can only hope that Mikuru doesn't go around in a ponytail or the world might end.

All in all, the first episode of the second season was good and the last three were excellent. The middle was interesting from an innovation standpoint, but was a bit overdone. Here's to a third season, soon.

[1] AFK fansub.

Umino Chika Does it Again

In March comes in like a Lion [1], Chika blew me away with the final chapter of volume 1. The series is still slice of life, but quickly culminates into a poignant story of an orphan growing up.

Her art transitions from the goofy to the sublime.

While there was a sharp dividing line between the personal and the derivative sides of Honey & Clover, 3gatsu seems more natural and united. I hope that this works comes over. I guess that I've got to do my part - cha-ching.

[1] 3gatsu no Lion - currently scanlated by Be With You Scans & SCX Scans.

Cool Links

Here are some cool links that I didn't want to loose:

Cool bento boxes:

• http://www.aibento.net/
• For Lost fans: http://www.aibento.net/2009/02/25/i-put-the-ben-in-bento-316/

Washington Post article on Target Forensics:

• http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/28/AR2006012801268_3.html

Natsume hits the Spot

A great story with an unfortunate name, Natsume Yujincho [1] is the story of a boy who inherits his grandmother Reiko's book of yokai (spirt or monster) names and her ability to see spirits. In the past, this power made Natsume an outcast, but he meets a powerful yokai Madara and begins to interact with yokai and humans. The series is organized into single and two episode stories, where Natsume usually encounters a new yokai or human and becomes involved with their problems.

While the premise of an object of power and spirits is familiar, as anyone who's seen Ghost Stories can atest to, the magic is in the delivery. True to its shoujo roots [2], the story focuses on the characters' emotions. Unlike most modern manga, the central feelings and theme is not romance, but estrangement and fellowship. The main character Natsume attempts to connect to the yokai and people around him despite his fears of rejection. He finds that helping others is a good way to get to know others, but wonders if he is just using those he helps. While there is introspection, the author manages to keep it from becoming an angst-fest.

Overall, the animation and character designs are delightful. The stories are well plotted and are written with real feeling. It is clear that both the original author and the anime writers believe deeply in this work. This isn't an enervated re-hash like Hajime no Ippo, where the only new energy came from the Engrish theme song.

Despite the name and the sense deja-vu with the set-up, Natsume Yujincho is a winner. Better yet, Viz is releasing volume 1 in English in January 2010.

[1] Available via Crunchyroll, which is now one of my favorite websites.
[2] The original was a shoujo manga written by Midorikawa Yuki and published by Hakusensha under the Lala imprint.

Between the Act and the Audience

Last month or so, I wrote about the sweet spot between accessibility and epic-ness. If you swap adventure for epic, then you have a generalized description of narrative fiction. The audience must have enough to grab onto to enter the imaginary world. Without any connection in the characters or, secondarily, the setting or plot, the audience is an uninvited outsider. Any who watches French or Chinese art house film probably feels as alienated from the film as the obscure director did from general society.

Yet, the story must have enough difference with real life to to be worth the price of admission. Too much similary creates a banal storyline that the audience can see out of their window.

This dichotomy seems like a truism, but number of misses that come to mind makes me think that there's something too this.

Big News

ADV films went down. A moment of silence. However, Animenewsnetwork's ANNCast has a quick and clean summary of what happened after the 16:15.

Also, the Otaku-chief has stepped down, the last hope of the enervated LDP, which was never Liberal nor Democratic. Truth in advertising would have called it the Centralized Technocratic Party, but that could have been confused with CPT, which has already been claimed many times over.

2nd Stage Lensmen

You know a book is bad ass, when the enemy fleet brings along seven planets, armed with engines and guns, to a space battle. I thought that Gundam was getting raw when one colony got converted to a space cannon, but back in 1953, E. E. Smith had his heroes hurling planets as projectile, and all calculated with slide rulers (though they started using computers in book 5).

In other randomness, Endless Eights has supposedly ended after the eighth iteration.

Also, I saw this comment at Crunchyroll for Kurokami episode 13: Hawkeye_666 said. "And did Ketia just become beastily????? SURVEY SAYS!!!!!! BIG MOTHERFING YES!!!!!!!!!!"

Oh, Mother English, weep as I laugh in joy.