The Anime Thread

[PureYeti]

I love the Fullmetal Alchemist series and this news made me shed a tear   :'(

(click to show/hide)

FMA is going to end in 2 months

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-05-06/fma-irie-confirms-animating-manga-end-in-2-months

[V-Slasher]

I've finished saint seiya lost canvas. I hope there will be a second series.

now I am just rewatching some anime I liked in the past at HD resolution. I am impressed how stand alone complex on 1080p doesn't look old all and it was released in 2002.

[*riot_iori*]

State of the Industry - Another Manga Imprint Leaves Us Hanging
 
More bad news from the Anime Economatrix this week. From ICv2:

"DC Comics is closing down its CMX manga unit, effective July 1st. The company will cease publishing all CMX titles other than Megatokyo (its OEL title) which will continue under the DC Comics imprint. We asked DC whether U.S. publishing rights would revert to the Japanese publishers or if DC was planning to try to sell or sub-license the rights, and received a 'No comment' from a DC spokesperson. In a statement on the shutdown, DC Co-publishers Dan Didio and Jim Lee said, 'Over the course of the last six years, CMX has brought a diverse list of titles to America and we value the books and creators that we helped introduce to a new audience. Given the challenges that manga is facing in the American marketplace, we have decided that CMX will cease publishing new titles as of July 1, 2010.' "

The news story speaks for itself, but this one has really caught us by surprise. Having about 70 manga series currently in print and being the subsidiary of US comics giant DC, we felt CMX was one of the few imprints we considered 'large' and 'safe'. It's not just the little guys that are getting hammered by the bad economy now, and this news comes on wake of last weeks announcement that Viz was reducing their staff by 40%, and that both the Video Game and Domestic Comic sales crashed in April. Still, this news is a great disappointment to us.

As for the fate of ongoing series, the folks at CMX said that they will ship the following volumes in June:

Musashi #9 Vol 17
Orfina Vol 8
Polyphonica: Cardinal Crimson Vol 1
Stolen Hearts Vol 2
Teru Teru X Shonen Vol 7
Two Flowers for the Dragon Vol 6
Venus Capriccio Vol 4

These will be their final volumes published, and I think we can assume that their entire back catalog will effectively fall out of print as of July. A complete list of the titles CMX publishes can be found here on ANN or by searching the store site for CMX. We'll be updating those items to 'stock on hand' on the store site as warranted, but we will continue to restock them from distributors and other sources until replacement stock is no longer available.

So again, where is that economic recovery I keep hearing about in the news? Ugggg!

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU~!!!

EDIT: Then again I hated Megatokyo with a good passion and them fucking up Tenjou Tenge with huge censorship ala how Tokyopop censored Initial D was completely unforgivable!

[Running Wild]

Fuck CMX. After the bullshit and faggotry they pulled with Tenjou Tenge, fuck them.

Hopefully DarkHorse will pick up Tenjou Tenge and release it uncensored.

But really, CMX picked alot of titles nobody ever heard of (Save for Tenjou Tenge and Shin Chan), they were just flooding an already extremely saturated market with more crap. They were taking way too many risks with a bunch of obscure unknown titles. The manga market is just flooded. Viz is probably the only company staying afloat because of their Shonen Jump line-up, and Tokyopop because they cater so heavily to female audiences.

It's the same deal with the anime industry currently, market is flooded with crap, no AAA titles worth buying, so everybody just downloads. Not like most people are willing to blow 25-30 bucks for a dvd with only 3 episodes a piece anyways.

The industry is fucked. Mostly thanks to anime being streamed for free and manga scanlations being so readily available. Nobody is really interested in buying "OEL Manga", MegaTokyo? What a pile of shit. American's can't draw manga. Just look at Nick Simmons lol.

Besides, everything is gonna be digital eventually. Books/Comics/Manga are gonna be obsolete. It's already happening to anime with streaming. Only a matter of time before the circle is complete.

However.

I will say this.

I want City Hunter and Fist Of The North Star translated in english in graphic novel format! No other company has managed to complete either series. Sure I can read scanlations, but I wanna own'em.

[*riot_iori*]

Fuck CMX. After the bullshit and faggotry they pulled with Tenjou Tenge, fuck them.

Hopefully DarkHorse will pick up Tenjou Tenge and release it uncensored.

^THIS

I agree with everything else with you on my love with Tenjou Tenge, and that says a lot for the majority of what CMX offered or what the EPIC FAIL of TOKYOPOP even releases now after losing their license of Kodansha-related manga last October (and yeh, I fucking DESPISE censorship with a passion even before the separatist group of EqualityNow raised the fucking bar of feminist hate on the internet)

Oh well, you might as well also be glad that Go Comi! also went the way of the dodo recently too!

Then again, I haven't touched a manga in about the last time I made imports over 3 months now.

[Running Wild]

Tokyopop is really fucked now without Kodansha, and even then, they picked a crap ton of terribad titles, and it was pretty much their fault in the beginning for flooding the manga market in the West with so much manga, most it really below average stuff, and many of them were translated/adapted poorly (lol Initial D). The only titles Tokyopop released that I cared about was Love Hina (Which I now hate, Mitsune was the only cool character and her role was completely wasted. This series pretty much made me despise harems), Chobits (Still hilarious), GTO (Easily Tokyopop's best title), and Real Bout High School (I just like it for the thick n' curvy artwork of the gals).

Right now, I think the only manga I wanna finish collecting is Rurouni Kenshin, which Viz finished years ago, and I've already read all of it, but I don't own it all yet... they got omnibus releases running now for it. I also wanna finish Trigun and Battle Angel Alita: Last Order. I may finish Hellsing too eventually, although I spoiled myself with scanlations.

[nunubx]

The reason why the Manga Industry is in shambles is because scans are so readily available than official Volumes can ever come out. However, thanks to the SUPER HARDCORE otaku who want a 100% PERFECT TRANSLATION (even though this is next to impossible), the scan translation takes a nose dive in quality, resulting in most fan translations ranging in horrible to decent while most official translations range in good to great. When people realize the massive difference between a professional and a dude who didn't even pass his first year in a Japanese language class, watch the Manga Industry's profits skyrocket.                   

[Running Wild]

Yeah, but even the "Professional's" take liberties, or stray away from what is really being said, or tone down the language. One of my biggest peeves with manga releases in the West is censorship. Alot of Viz's titles are censored, especially if they are Shonen Jump.

[hybridial]

Personally I'm just immensely pissed over the way Dark Horse handled 3x3 Eyes (i.e. never release 3/4s of it) and Cannon God Exaxxion (stopping at like 5 and a half volumes (Just of 7) because of lack of sales... seriously guys, if your gonna go that far you might as well bite the bullet and finish it, because Exaxxion kicked ass and was far better than most of the manga released in the west).

[V-Slasher]

The reason why the Manga Industry is in shambles is because scans are so readily available than official Volumes can ever come out. However, thanks to the SUPER HARDCORE otaku who want a 100% PERFECT TRANSLATION (even though this is next to impossible), the scan translation takes a nose dive in quality, resulting in most fan translations ranging in horrible to decent while most official translations range in good to great. When people realize the massive difference between a professional and a dude who didn't even pass his first year in a Japanese language class, watch the Manga Industry's profits skyrocket.                   

I am not too sure about this. scans and fansub for me made the whole industry make a huge boost. I ended up buying manga and dvds of series I already read/watched that I would have never bought otherwise.

[nunubx]

Yeah, but even the "Professional's" take liberties, or stray away from what is really being said, or tone down the language. One of my biggest peeves with manga releases in the West is censorship. Alot of Viz's titles are censored, especially if they are Shonen Jump.

Well, back in the 90's, the rules censorship were alot more strict in America than in Japan. Of course, now the laws are alot more relaxed than back then. Also, the one golden rule most professional translators is this; You can not literal translate EVER. You can only local translate. What's the difference?

Literal translation = translating the words

Local translation = translating the words and the meaning

There's no way to get a 100% PERFECT TRANSLATION, but if you local translate, you have everyone understand your translation and not scratching their head every three seconds. However, if you just literal translate, you might as well call it a fan translation because there is no way your translation can ever be approved.     

[Running Wild]

There's a difference between a translation that conveys whats originally being said and a translation that is just completely ruined and makes no sense. Take Tokyopop's Battle Vixens (aka Ikkitousen) for example, so much is lost in translation, it makes absolutely no sense at all, and obscenities are randomly inserted for no reason other than to look hardcore.

Or how about one of the famous cases, DragonBall Z? Where entire lines were completely re-written and change everything that is being said -

Example, when Freeza kills Krillin -

Freeza (English Dub) - "Pop goes the weasel!"

Freeza (Japanese) - "You're son is next!"

Funi raped DragonBall Z to make it as corny as possible and take away all the seriousness from the mood.

hybridial - I agree on 3x3 Eyes, I bought the first several volumes and was mad when Dark Horse stopped releasing it.

[Kyo]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! New CODE GEASS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Code Geass Gaiden: Boukoku no Akito
http://www.anime-access.com/articles/Code_Geass_Gaiden:_Boukoku_no_Akito   

[Running Wild]

Blah, more like Code GAY ASS.

Fuck that anime.

Only thing good about it was C.C's pizza butt.

[V-Slasher]

I liked the first series. the second was unbearable.