Tag Archives: JManga

Review: Pupa, Vol. 1

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pupa, Vol. 1
Written and Illustrated by Sayaka Mogi
Genre: Horror/Fantasy/Science Fiction
Published online in English by JManga
Originally published by EARTH STAR Entertainment
599 points ($4.80-5.99 based on points plan)

Horror, in all its forms, isn’t exactly my favorite thing. Half way through Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I decided it would be a better time if I watched the wretched film The Replacements, (happily, even Keanu Reeves was better than Chainsaw). I’ve never watched SAW, and I’m not big on any of the scholocky horror of the mid-80′s either. So pupa, a horror manga about a little girl who turns into a monster and eats human beings, isn’t really my cup of tea to begin with. Still, the price point was fine, and every once in a while, I try to things I have previously not enjoyed.

pupa is the story of Utsutsu and Yume Hasegawa, two children practically orphaned after the death of their mother and the negligence of their abusive father, who encounter a strange woman warning them of red butterflies. The two do not heed the warning, and tragedy soon follows.

The following chapters show us that Yume and Utsutsu have been infected with some unknown virus that causes people to mutate into gigantic monsters with a lust for human flesh. Utsutsu has not awakened as a monster, but can spontaneously heal any wounds, making him the perfect snack for his sister Yume.

Despite the horror elements of pupa (which are darkly drawn, bloody, and violent), I dislike Yume and Utsutsu’s relationship even more. Utsutsu’s friends comments make it clear that she is an obvious object of affection, and no one is enamored more with her than her brother. This was icky at first, but got worse when she is literally eating his flesh saying lines like, “Big brother your meat is so good!” and he is somehow relishing it. Creep signal, activate!

Other issues with the series is its fairly inconsistent artwork. I’m not a big fan of the way that Sayaka Mogi illustrates the darkest scenes. Likewise, character illustrations are disproportional in certain scenes, and profiles of each character a real sore spot. The character designs don’t have a whole lot of reasoning to them either – having your main character have a dark scar running down one of his eyes and things that are supposed to look like cigarette burns on his arms makes him stick out, yes, but he looks like a garbled mess.

The story also leaves a lot to be desired. The opening (the abusive father, the tragic family history illustrated with teddy bears) really has no bearing on the rest of the story. It feels superfluous. I can suspend some of my disbelief regarding the whole monster thing, but there are a lot of questions left hanging from the first chapter that aren’t ever mentioned again (why red butterflies,etc.) Ultimately, the mystery of the horror, and the tension of the unknown is just so dull that it doesn’t really work in the context of the rest of the comic.

There is one scene in the entire volume that really hits home for me – it’s a scene with a cocoon that’s been smashed – a character calls it a “sloppy mess.” My only thought was – yep, this scene, and every other one in pupa. I’m sure there is an audience for this kind of “entertainment,” but that audience isn’t me. The lack of consistency in art and storytelling, the big brother little sister relationship, and other factors make this a no go for me.

For Fans of: Attack on Titan, Those skeezy little sister anime shows
Verdict: Not Recommended

Review: Cousin, Vol. 1

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If you are like me, and you are constantly asking publishers like JManga, Yen Press, and Vertical to publish josei manga, you have to put your money where your mouth is. If any of my readers is a fan of josei manga and isn’t purchasing what’s available, then you aren’t voting with your dollars. And, luckily, JManga has a small, but nice selection of josei titles that are currently available to purchase. One of those titles is Cousin by Ryou Ikuemi, a three volume title which was originally published in Shodensha’s Zipper anthology.

The story revolves around a girl names Tsubomi (everyone calls her Bon for short) and her struggles with relationships and her weight. After graduating from high school, she takes a part time job at a video rental store and meets a few different guys – Shiro, a guy who works most of the same shifts with her at the store, and Nasukawa, a customer at the store and a friend of Shiro’s who owns a late night dive restaurant. Tsubomi’s relationship with Shiro starts when he compares her eyes to those of a famous model, who happens to be Tsubomi’s cousin.

Tsubomi, the main character of Cousin, a josei manga published by JManga.

The first thing you notice as you read Cousin is that the main character, Tsubomi, is not your typical shojo/josei girl – she’s chubby, and she has image issues. She doesn’t wear makeup and she hasn’t really figured out how to talk with boys. However, this atypical presentation works very well for the story Ikuemi is attempting to tell. Her artwork is, like most josei, fairly realistic. This is a big change compared to how most overweight people are drawn in manga – generally they are big fluffy caricatures of someone who is overweight, and not realistically proportioned at all. Ugly Duckling’s Love Revolution is a title I have reviewed previously which has a great example of how not to draw overweight characters.

This is not an overweight person. This is a caricature       of an overweight person. Published by Yen Press, Ugly Duckling’s Love Revolution.

The tone of Cousin sets it apart from the large majority of manga in English; there is a wistfulness and at the same time a playfulness that flows throughout the story. Tsubomi is attempting to make up for the things she didn’t accomplish in high school, and there is an abundance of humor (most of which is self-depreciating). The interaction between Tsubomi and Shiro is really fun, and there isn’t an abundance of male/female friendships in manga, which makes it all the more interesting. There isn’t any romantic overtone to their relationship either, which is a stark contrast to most josei and shojo titles.

The pacing for Cousin is the right type of steady – in a story about personal growth and development, Ikuemi finds a way to make things move in an organic way, and in a way that’s not really predictable. It’s exciting to see Tsubomi move through her small crises and work through her issues, and it feels natural. The art, while fairly standard for josei manga, expresses emotion very well, and the different settings are well illustrated. The story works in such a way as to potentially introduce some big changes in the next volume, but it’s hard to determine what will happen.

At 499 JManga points ($3.99-4.99 based on points plan), each volume is a steal, and at 3 volumes, it’s a relatively small investment for a good story. The JManga platform has its bugs (can’t be accessed on an iPhone or any other Apple device, Flash-based – with planned Apple and Android platforms to be released in the future) but overall it is a good reading experience very similar to that at VizManga.

I liked Cousin quite a bit for its unique main character, good pacing, and smart delivery. It is easily one of the better titles on JManga, and supporting josei on the platform means more josei in the future. Recommended.

(JManga titles are currently available via the JManga website, which is a digital only portal for Japanese comics. You can find more of their content at www.jmanga.com and can follow them on twitter at @JManga_official)

Manga Widget Retrospective 2011 Part 2: Electric Boogaloo

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At the beginning of the year, I posted my 2011 retrospective, hitting on a lot of the major news points of the 2011 year in manga and the publishing business, but I think that my retrospective had a large piece missing from it, that piece being the things that I really loved about 2011. As far as manga goes, there are quite a few things that were released or announced in 2011 that I have wanted for a long time, or found to be extremely wonderful. Today, instead of focusing on the “news” of 2011, let’s focus on the “renews” of manga – the things that renewed my enthusiasm and joy for comics.

 1. Drops of God is Licensed and Released in the USA by Vertical Inc.

 I have been writing about Drops of God well before its release in the USA. The series has always marveled me because of its wine economy-shifting powers and the way it champions the world of wine in an unpretentious, exuberant, and often fascinating way. Getting to read the first two volumes has been a fantastic ride, and a great reminder of why I love wine and comic books. I am looking forward to the identification of the disciples and the one wine to rule them all – but I am guessing I will be reading quite a while before I see that come to fruition.

2. Wandering Son Makes an English Debut

I have heard praise again and again for Wandering Son, a manga about two young children, a boy and a girl, who identify more with the opposite sex than they do with their own gender. This is a story of growing up, and of being different, and finding the support you need to live the way you want – volume one was one of my favorite manga in 2011, and having just purchased the second volume, I am looking forward to more of the simple slice-of-life that Wandering Son provides so well.

3. JManga Opens, and Actually Has Manga

I know I give JManga a lot of flak. I am a fairly demanding person when it comes to spending money on digital comics, and I don’t think that JManga is at a point right now where the service and selection are at a peak for their platform. They have been publishing 0-2 books per week now for the past few months, and while this is a fine pace, there are plenty of titles on the service that only have their first volume available to purchase.

Still, JManga represents a powerful tool to allow readers to legally purchase translated manga from Japan. If JManga continues to expand, manga that is “essential Japan” or too niche to be picked by a big publisher in the USA will become more and more a part of the offerings of the service. There have been a few great series that JManga has published that do this, and for that reason, I have to commend the folks at JManga for creating and improving their digital service in 2011. I am looking forward to more improvements in 2012.

4. Interacting With the Manga Community

One of the things I tried to focus on more in 2011 was interacting with other bloggers and writers who were talking about manga. I tend to be an internet lurker at heart – I love to sit and read other people’s comments, but I rarely talk about my own thoughts or opinions. That’s something I have slowly tried to change, and I commented more on blogs, spoke more on Twitter, and had the privilege of speaking on the Manga Out Loud Podcast twice in 2011, which was a great way to get to know more of my fellow bloggers. (Thanks to Ed and Johanna for the invitations!)

5. Hosting the Natsume Ono Manga Moveable Feast

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about the Natsume Ono MMF a few months before November of 2011. Having never hosted before, I wasn’t sure of what the requirements would be, and how I would be able to do a good job. Following in the footsteps of some very talented bloggers, I managed to write and host the MMF, and I think that the whole thing was a great success. I feel great about the content we generated in that month, and I am looking forward to the next time I host an MMF.

6. Reading A Bride’s Story for the First Time

I have read quite a few comics since I really started getting into them about 8 years ago – but nothing, not a single book, has swept me into its world like A Bride’s Story. This manga is absolutely fantastic, and I can’t recommend it highly enough to anyone, ANYONE, who likes a good story. It is wonderful. The third volume comes out this year, and I am already impatient for it.

I hope that everyone has had a great start to their new year. Hopefully this is a year of great manga (and a year to possibly get to a convention for me!).

A 2011 Manga Widget Retrospective and Thoughts for 2012

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2011 was a fantastic year for me. I effectively doubled the content on my blog, and managed to do so while earning my Doctor of Pharmacy degree, starting a post-graduate residency, getting married, and conducting a large scale research project focused on patient compliance. It has been a busy year. It has also been a great year for me in terms of my hobbies. I have read quite a few volumes of good manga, have expanded my beer brewing setup and have done all of this while blogging and doing other writing that I love. As we reach the end of the old year, and the beginning of the new, it seems customary for bloggers to wrap up their years with a “Best of 2011″ list, and I was going to write one of these yesterday.

As I worked over my list, I came upon a sort of realization: blogging in general has a sort of perverse relationship with top 10 lists. Blogging is by its nature very quick and unseasoned. It can be excellent journalism, but more often than not is an assortment of opinions and a few pictures. Top 10 lists do this excellently. There are plenty of pictures, plenty of opinions, and it all turns into one quick article very nicely. Badda bing, badda boom. But this seems to have generated a sort of “need to make a top 10 list” mentality that many people are so quick to mention or notice, and some people have broken down the general formula of the list post and displayed it for all to see in a sort of “dissected-frog” sort of way.

I appreciate the idea of a backwards glance at the year as much as the next person, but there are plenty of great Top 10 lists already on the internet. (Your local flavor may vary) So instead of a Top Ten list, I just want instead to talk about things that I thought were important in 2011, along with a few thoughts for 2012.

1. Digital manga becomes mainstream:

The biggest change to manga in 2011, in my opinion, is the push towards the digital medium. We have been seeing a bit of this for some time, but with the advent of the iPad and the B&N nook, Viz Media, Yen Press, and Kodansha have started releasing a quantity of their manga into the digital realm for download. Viz shuttered Shonen Jump magazine, and announced the start of Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha, a weekly digital anthology offering the weekly releases of the newest shonen manga in Japan. Yen Press also moved Yen Plus online in 2010 and has continued to publish the magazine with seeming success.

Gen Manga, an online anthology of seinen manga written by independent mangaka in Japan, has also jumped into the fray this year and has released an impressive lineup of seinen manga available monthly in a very accessible format. The content delivered by Gen Manga is easily accessible on most devices, and its relatively low price has made it a great investment as far as entertainment/dollars spent goes. I have been extremely impressed with the latest releases, and hope that great content continues to grow and increase. Gen Manga is one of the first digital hybrid models, where content is released first digitally and then can be printed on demand once the content has been collected.

The other big digital player this year was JManga, which opened its doors this summer. While I feel JManga had an okay starting platform, it is clear that there is a lot of work that needs to be done this year if they are going to survive as a digital content provider. Digital content has a price ceiling, and it seems as though JManga has realized that. Still, the major problem with the platform right now is a lack of continuation of content already on the service, and hopefully that will change in 2012. Additionally, JManga can only do itself good if it releases apps for the Apple and Android devices in 2012.

2. DMP utilizes Kickstarter to reprint Swallowing the Earth:

While this may not seem like much on the surface, I feel like microniche publishing has now found a unique and powerful tool to publish what would normally be considered unpublishable manga in the United States and all across the world. Microniche publishing through crowd-sourced funding can be the source of some really off-beat and fantastic comics, and I hope that DMP and other publishers try to use the Kickstarter model to their own advantage.

Think about Kickstarter as the method to get josei manga published in English. Just think about that for a second. Or, if you would prefer, how about obscure horror manga, classic shojo, or yuri? Kickstarter has proven to be a successful market for comics, and if Swallowing the Earth is any indication, DMP will be using the service again to fund future projects.

3. TOKYOPOP shuttered, Stu Levy sells TOKYOPOP brand to GeekChicDaily:

TOKYOPOP, the publisher I loved to hate, and sometimes loved, shut down after being one of the longest-lived companies in the business. While financial woes were certainly caused by the 2011 Borders closing, it also seemed as though Stu Levy was tired of publishing books. He is now off in Japan shooting a documentary of the hurricane disaster from this year.

I can understand not wanting to stick with something for your entire life. People’s interests change over time, and I can’t blame someone for wanting to stop doing what they have been doing. However, I do think that TOKYOPOP didn’t need Stu Levy at the helm to publish books, and I think shutting down the company instead of selling it or transitioning it to another CEO or publisher would have been more pleasant for the community.

The real nail in the coffin is the GeekChicDaily newsletter, which it appears Levy has sold the TOKYOPOP name to, utilizing what I am sure is the last ounce of public goodwill towards Levy for either a license or a lump sum payment for the name. Additionally, TOKYOPOP has promised to return to publishing comics, however nothing has really come of this except promises for more work and pleas for purchases of old content from current retailers. Hmmmmmmm.

4. Kodansha prints money with Sailor Moon:

This is a series that many people have been waiting on for quite some time, and Kodansha took advantage of its reverted TOKYOPOP rights to republish a new set of reprints of the books, which quickly sold out and went to second printing. It appears that a lot of people who liked the Sailor Moon anime as kids (me being one of those kids) wanted to read the manga and didn’t want to fiddle with the old versions that TOKYOPOP printed in the early 2000′s.

5. Less content was published in 2011:

This is mostly a function of a stagnant economy, the shuttering of TOKYOPOP, and the closure of Borders Booksellers, but it bears repeating that manga publishing is down from where it was in its peak days and even down from two years ago. As a function of this publishing environment, it seems as though more risky titles are not getting an opportunity in the USA, at least from larger publishers. New shonen releases have been fairly formulaic, which is fine, but some of the diversity of previous years is sorely lacking this year.

6. But even though less was published, there was still some fantastic new content published in 2011:

New series or one-shots include: A Bride’s Story, Drops of God, Onwards Towards Our Noble Deaths, A Zoo in Winter, Wandering Son

Continuing series of note include 20th Century Boys, Bunny Drop, Chi’s Sweet Home, Cross Game, and Twin Spica

7. And I am looking forward to some fantastic comics in 2012:

Books that have been announced that are sure to please: Heart of Thomas, Sakuran, 5 Centimeters Per Second, A Message to Adolf, Fallen Words, Cigarette Girl

Continuing Series I’ll be reading in in 2012 not already mentioned: Sailor Moon, Blue Exorcist, The Story Saiunkoku, Kimi ni Todoke, Itazura na Kiss

I hope that everyone has a fantastic new year, and that this year is a great year for manga. I am looking forward to reading more great comics in 2012!

Some Updated Thoughts On J-Manga

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We have had a little time to get used to the J Manga service, and now that I have had the chance to work with it, actually read some titles, I have a few thoughts about the future of the service and my current opinion of it. Every new medium needs some time to grow, and I think we have gotten a good introduction to the services that J Manga is currently providing (or, in some cases, not providing) for its customers.

First, is the pricing: at $4.99, volumes of digital manga are much easier to purchase and are much more reasonable than their previous $8.99 price point, but I have no idea if this price point will stay the same. Right now I am paying 4.99 for a volume on Viz Media’s manga app, which i can take on my iPhone, iPad, or any laptop computer. The manga available for purchase on the Viz site is, by far and large, better translated and better adapted. There are no graphical glitches or unreadable text, which puts it a step ahead in quality, price, and convenience, all things that I am very sensitive to when it comes to digital content. I will be interested to see if the content goes back up to $8.99 on Tuesday – I imagine that if the price does go back up, I will be discontinuing my subscription. I didn’t buy Yen Press manga for that price digitally, and I won’t pay $8.99 for digital manga.

Second is content availability: there are plenty of books listed on the J Manga site, but very few are actually available on J Manga, The majority of shonen titles in the J Manga store are just the digitally localized volumes from the Viz Media app, and the selections that are available are sparse. This needs to change immediately. If you are going to list a series as available for purchase, it needs to be available to purchase. I understand the idea that these pages are a stand in for when the manga finally comes down from the Japanese companies on high, but nothing is more frustrating or off-putting than to attempt to buy a volume of manga that isn’t actually on the site.

Third: previews – these need to be at least a chapter long. Other digital services are pretty consistently allowing consumers to try the first chapter of a given manga before having to purchase. This is a system that J Manga needs to enact as soon as possible. As it stands, they aren’t meeting industry standards, and it is not helping them sell content.

Finally is a pet peeve of my own, which I don’t think many share: the josei section, which I am extremely interested in as a reader, is mostly yaoi. Not that yaoi is a bad thing. I just think it needs its own section. It clearly caters to women as a genre, but the stories that appear in josei manga anthologies and those that appear in yaoi anthologies are extremely variable. I also find that many series appear in multiple headers. For example, some books labelled as seinen are also available in the josei section. This is misleading at best, and confuses me as a consumer.

I am certainly not giving up on J Manga all the way, despite my gripes. I am interested in the content they can provide as a matter of wanting to read content unavailable in the USA. I am also interested to see if J Manga can provide license rescues that other print publishers have been unable provide. Still, J Manga has a long way to go before I will consider them a successful publisher and not just a flash in the pan. Let’s hope they can bring things around in the next two months.

Reader’s Choice: eManga, NetComics, JManga – Help!

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I realize lately that I have been talking a lot about digital comics, but don’t really have a great number of non-Viz experiences with them. I have occasionally used eManga as a reviewer, but have never used the NetComics platform, and only have one volume of manga on JManga (Anesthesiologist Hana Vol. 1, for anyone who is interested).

With all this in mind, I’m coing to my audience today with a big question: What digital series should I read next?

So, here’s the plan: I am going to list a book from each of the digital services, and leave it for you to vote in the comments. The votes will be tallied, and I’ll buy/rent the winner, and give you a review of it. Each of the pictures below links to the volume’s website, so you can read about the books if you don’t know much about them. I’ve tried to pick a wide selection here (including a yaoi title) so hopefully there is a good selection here.

Here are the picks:

eManga:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NetComics:

                    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
JManga:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear and kind reader, I leave the decision up to you. Please be gentle.

Rescue Me! The Stellar Six of Gingacho

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I know what you all are thinking – Alex hasn’t been updating his blog lately, so he probably forgot about some of his ongoing series of articles. Well, dear reader, I am happy to prove you wrong this week with an update to my Rescue Me! series, where, for the new reader, I talk about some of my favorite and incomplete manga series published by now defunct publishers. I try to explain the reasons I liked the series and the reasons why I think the series should be rescued (and sometimes even suggest what publisher might benefit from licensing the series). This week, I am taking a look at a really low-key shojo slice-of-life series, The Stellar Six of Gingacho (Kirameki Gingachou Shoutengai, キラメキ☆銀河町商店街).

For anyone interested in looking at older entries in the series, here are the links!

1. Stolen Hearts
2. The Secret Notes of Lady Kanoko
3. The Stellar Six of Gingacho
4. Skyblue Shore
5. Happy Café
6. Argentis Apothecarium
7. The Lapis Lazuli Crown
8. Suppli

The Stellar Six of Gingacho is a shojo manga series from author Yuuki Fujimoto, and it ran for a total of 10 volumes published in Hakusensha‘s Hana to Yume. It was part of Tokyopop‘s last wave of releases and licenses before Stu closed up shop and took the business out behind the woodshed. They managed to print two of the ten volumes en masse, and the third volume is somewhat of a manga rarity – copies do exist, but finding them is somewhat of a difficult proposition.

The series follows the lives of six friends whose parents all work at the Gingacho Street Market; each of the characters is a unique piece of a giant friendship puzzle. All together, they conquer their fears and the problems of the Street Market in their own way. As the group moves into middle school, they start to drift apart, but Mike (pronounced “Mee-kay”) is bound and determined to keep the group together. Mike is the lead of the series, and she is a food obsessed, emotional girl who is a lot of fun to read. Each of the other five street market kids is also really fun to read, and each has their own little quirks.

Other shojo “group of friends” manga certainly exists, but I have yet to come across a series that does it as well as The Stellar Six of Gingacho. It is a fun romp that still manages to capture a healthy dose of mono no aware and not be too dramatic about it. The Stellar Six of Gingacho is a great “growing up” story, and it’s a definite comfort manga – nothing too deep, but it certainly evokes a feeling of peace and contentment.

I would certainly love to continue reading this series, and I am certain a publisher like Yen Press would benefit from having this series in its stable. If no one bites to do a physical print run, I could certainly see JManga bring this to their digital storefront. It is a fun series that needs to find a new home.

My Belated Thoughts on JManga

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Since I’ve been thinking about digital comics recently (you can hear me talk about digital at Manga Out Loud with a whole host of excellent manga bloggers), I thought it would be good to give my more formal thoughts on the JManga. I don’t really need to write a long essay, since that sort of thing has already been done, so I think a list should suffice:

The Good:

1. The title selection – JManga has a large number of series that have not yet been translated into English in any format, and have been given the full workup by JManga. Series like Edo Nekoe Jubei Otogizoshi and Anesthesiologist Hana prove that digital opens doors to manga that is basically not going to be profitable in print form but can make it in a digital world. JManga is also using original trade dress and it seems like translations from series from defunct publishers like CMX, which gives me hope that series published by Tokyopop, Go! Comi, CMX, and other defunct publishers will make reentrance into the world of digital.

2. Website Usability – I have not had any problems with the site. It is cleanly constructed, easily navigated, and generally a pleasant experience to use. The Flash reader that they have put in place to read comics with is uncluttered and works well for its purpose. The digital files are high quality, and are generally easy to read.

The Bad:

1. Price– JManga is essentially charging what amounts to print price for their books. Some books are going for even more – a good example is Hawking, a Takao Saito manga which is retailing for about $20 for 400 pages of comics. That’s absolutely insane for digital items, which have already shown a huge price sensitivity. You are not going to convince me to try vintage digital manga at this price, JManga. Viz’s pricing structure is much more reasonable, and I suggest it to J Manga in the future.

2. Translations/Editing – While most of the time this isn’t a problem, there are some issues with the readability of the site (the manga explanation blurbs that show up on each series’ individual page is a good area to reference) because the translation is a little stilted. There have been some comics where the text runs outside of word bubbles, etc. There is plenty of freelance talent in the USA that does work in manga, JManga, and you would do yourself well to tap into this talent.

3. Unavailable content – there are quite a few series that are showing up in the JManga store that you cannot actually purchase. This is a problem. I want to be able to buy a book if it is in your store. Please let me do this. I understand that with Viz, you are redirecting to the Vizmanga.com website. That’s fine. But some series are just plain unavailable, and that is an irritation.

4. No apps?? – JManga is not on iPad or iPod. This should be addressed as soon as possible.

The Ugly:

1. Subscription model – First, it seems ridiculous that users can not just buy a la carte points. Signing up for a subscription for points and then being able to buy a la carte is ridiculous and not that intuitive. If you want to encourage subscriptions, make users pay for multiple months at a time and give them a better deal on points or some other bonuses, but don’t make having a subscription mandatory to get points.

2. Points expiration – this is pretty sleezy. Dollars don’t expire. Forcing your users to use up points within the calendar year that they were purchased is just absolutely poor form. There is no other good explanation. I am sure it make sense in some lovely corporate world, but it doesn’t make sense for regular users, and it shouldn’t be a part of any digital company’s platform.

—-

I honestly think that JManga will have a hard time with the American market until they fix some of the problems I have mentioned here. Granted, the site has worked well for me, and this is only a few weeks into their opening, so much of this could change. The issue is that JManga needs to change in order to make itself into a really profitable venture. For now, I will be keeping a close eye on the site. I really have liked the content I have bought, but I am holding out until the site gets more of its act together.

Not a Citizen, But a Customer – A Response

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If you haven’t already read Lori Henderson’s fantastic essay at Manga Xanadu regarding Viz Media’s digital comics initiative and her assertions that users not using the iOS platform are second class citizens, I encourage you to do so, since this essay is a response to her article. I respect Lori quite a deal more than most manga bloggers on the net (we both write for the manga review flagship Manga Village) and I understand (and somewhat agree with) her arguments, but I have a few points that I would like to bring up here in regards to that recent post.

Essentially, Lori brings Viz Media to task for treating those who would use their non-iOS digital services as second class citizens, stating that it isn’t fair that Android users and PC users don’t have the same download capacity that iPod/iPad users have.

One part of me agrees. I think that buyers should be able to OWN their content, so as much as I am excited about JManga bringing new material to the USA, I am also not that thrilled that I don’t have the ability to download it to my computer. At the same time, there are certain risks that are inherent in this delivery system. Giving someone a professionally translated pack of manga images on a PC where file manipulation is rampant and easy just seems like a losing bet when some 2-bit wanker can just get on the web and upload it to a scanlation site. It isn’t “fair” in the sense that iOS users can download their content, but iOS doesn’t have a way to easily pirate these images onto the web from an iWhatever. I think it is a matter of feasibility in that regard. Is it the best? No. But Viz has delivered the service to a platform rife with the problems they have to fight as an industry in order to survive.

And, although a very dedicated person could possibly capture the images from the iPad or iPod and deliver them to a MangaFox or OneManga, just like anyone could use screen captures to grab images off of the web-only portal, the amount of time and dedication to perform such an act would probably require more wherewithal than your average bear has. On PC, where downloading a file to your computer is pretty much an open door for instant sublimation to the various seedy and illegal aggregators, I can understand (even if I don’t approve of) Viz’s position in the PC market.

The bigger issue I want to get at here is that despite the fact that Viz has tried to accommodate as many digital markets as it can (I would bet that a Viz Manga app for Android will soon appear on the Android Market) it really didn’t have to. The fact that they have created this web interface is a step in the right direction, and for some people, that is certainly going to be enough. For me, since I am an iUser, I have no issues with the iWhatever experience or the website.But I understand those who don’t like the service of the Viz Manga site.

If you don’t like their current offerings, I invite you to NOT BUY. Don’t buy something you don’t want to support. You aren’t a citizen of MANGA OF VIZLAND, and nor should you consider yourself one. Don’t consider yourself a citizen, let alone a “second class citizen“ – you are a customer, a much more powerful position. I don’t think it is reasonable or expected for customers to support a business model that goes against their beliefs on financial transactions. and their disagreement with paying for what is essentially a license to read a book without actually owning the book.

Still, I think that this service, while not perfect, is a far cry better than the alternative, which is theft and non-support of great artists who deserve to get paid if people consume their work. Kept in perspective, the web-only service Viz provides is similar to DMP’s eManga and the new collaborative site JManga and at a price point that is comparable or better than these other services.

If you don’t like the pay-to-read service of these web-only sites, the final story on them is that you shouldn’t be paying for them. Use your “citizenry” (AKA money) to vote yes or no for these services.

Frankly, I am fine with voting yes.