4Kids CEO: 'Manga Is a Problem'

Paul

Paul

Ghost of Animes
Administrator
During a discussion panel organised to celebrate the growth of graphic novels in the US, the much maligned CEO of anime distributor 4Kids, Al Kahn, has again succeeded in stirring up anime and manga fans by declaring that "manga is a problem."

Kahn's stark comments are a direct response to having been asked about the future of manga (in the US, we assume). He went on explain that "It will never be a big deal here (in the US), for the kids that are in the computer or the Internet generation, because they're not going to read. They haven't read, and they're not going to start now."

Click here to read Al Kahn's and others' comments on the future of the graphic novel (and more specifically - manga in the Western world).
 
Yeah, that's why Naruto got 29th place in the USA Today booklist. Nope, it's not getting popular at all and isn't likely to get more popular. Alas, naive 4Kids.
 
I think Western reading has certainly upped since the beginning of the mid-90s internet revolution. It seems like everyone is reading now, whether it be news articles or DVD reviews- it's an improvement over how things were say 10 - 15 years ago. That said, the Harry Potter franchise must have done it's bit for children's literacy too.
 
That said, the Harry Potter franchise must have done it's bit for children's literacy too.
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and Lord of the rings

as .hack//aibusters vol 2 points out (80% of the world hadn't even heard of the book before the movie) TV is good :)
 
I have a word that I would like to use to describe this man.
However, it is not a word that I would even consider using in a public forum. Because it is not a polite word, not polite at all. It is in fact downright obscene.

I'll leave it to you folks to decide what that word might be.

And no, it's not dogf***er :)
 
However, it is not a word that I would even consider using in a public forum. Because it is not a polite word, not polite at all. It is in fact downright obscene.
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Poo brain? Whoops I shouldn't have said that.
 
What an idiot. He's one of those types of people who think they know what kids want, and how they think.
 
Paul said:
the Harry Potter franchise must have done it's bit for children's literacy too.
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Indeed, the internet generation will queue-up for the chance to read a 700 page tome. After that a 200page graphic novel will hardly be a problem - they might even want to read it in the original language. And, of course, it was a bookshop that was one of the first sucess stories for online shopping.

I suspect the gentleman's lips move when he reads.
 
That's great because he has just insulted everyone who watches shows licensed by his company.
 
Is this guy serious? I thought I'd seen the height of stupidity after reading about George W Bush getting hit by a tennis ball but this guy doesn't so much take the biscuit as make off with the whole barrel.

His views are so wrong on so many levels I'd be insulting the intelligence of everyone who reads this by explaining it.
T4rn14 said:
That's great because he has just insulted everyone who watches shows licensed by his company.
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Pretty much. Hopefully he's gotten rid of his own job in the process.
 
This guy sounds a little out of step with the current anime/manga climate, you only have to walk into a comics store to see just how popular manga has become over the last couple of years. My local comics emporium, for example, only stocked a handful of flopped manga titles a few years ago and now they have an entire section stuffed to the gills with Viz, Tokyopop, Del Ray and CPM titles. Besides, it's common knowledge that manga is the faster growing sector in comics today, for someone so closely involved with the manga'anime community I find his comments and lack of knowledge a tad disconcerting.
 
'Internet Generation'? Isn't most of the internet in written form, or does he think we just stare at a blank screen?

He shoudn't assume that everybody's as stupid and narrow-minded as he seems to be.
 
T4rn14 said:
That's great because he has just insulted everyone who watches shows licensed by his company.
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Nothing usual there - judging what the company does to those shows.

Are these remarks his prawn sandwich? (Ratner reference)
 
Maybe he's not exactly sure what manga is... I mean, I find that a lot of the story in a manga is portrayed by the pictures, and the words only act to support them. It's a pretty accessible medium, really (not to say that it's 'simple', but it can be read that way by some readers, while others while read it in a different, deeper way. I'm sure you all know what I mean)

It's amazing how such a narrow minded person can get the job he has and be allowed to humliate a company like that! Grrr
 
4Kids never cease to amaze me with their callous stupidity. It makes you wonder if they have ever understood the phrase, "don't bite the hand that feeds you," since they seem to enjoy antagonising not only the people they should be trying to sell to (the existing fans of the shows they ultimately destroy) but also the companies they are licencing (some of) their products off and potentially the kids who they are actually trying to sell to. Saying that manga is a problem when you are dealing with companies who are heavily involved in that industry and see manga as a respectable and widely used media. Saying that your viewers are too stupid to be able to read a book filled mostly with pictures is practically asking people not to watch any of your shows or buy any of your products. Pehaps they should start hosting a fansub torrent tracker to their website to aid their downfall :p.

It beggars the question, once again: Why do 4Kids bother to licence anime at all if the media it is largely based upon is, in their own minds, so fundamentally flawed, useless and unpopular? The comments they are making of late seem to be geared as an attack against the fan community who disparage their lacklustre attempts to localise anime. Whatever it is they are trying to accomplish it certainly seems to be galvanising the community against them.

where's my cow? said:
It's amazing how such a narrow minded person can get the job he has and be allowed to humliate a company like that! Grrr
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I don't think 4Kids would be humiliated by that statement since that appears to be a valid representation of their viewpoint. They are merely a company that distributes, licences, sells and produces animation and have no real passion for the medium short of the money it brings in. That in itself is fair enough; most people who go into any industry is most interested in making money out of it but to be so openly against the core media seems somewhat beyond odd to me.
 
He's certainly the life of the party. I think they invite him to these things just for the jesture. In the universe that is 4Kids, you're only a child up to the age of 8. After that you're an annoyance to be ridiculed.
 
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