Manga's 1st podcast is up...

I finished listening to this on the way to work this morning, and I have to admit that it was a lot better than I thought it was going to be, it was quite interesting to hear from a distributor's viewpoint.

Jonathan Clements made some good points but Jerome ranted a bit too much for my liking at times,
 
The awkward moment when even they laugh at how expensive Samurai Girls is....

So 70% of blu-ray players in the world are owned by Japan...no wonder the blu-ray market is small.

Now, I'm kinda iffy with the K-ON! question, because it was the same question I asked...but asked by someone else T_T. Interesting news, but as Manga are still undecided, I'll import Sentai's release...or else I'll be waiting for years.
 
The responses I've heard from Manga about Samurai Girls always felt like they were insinuating buyers should pressure Kaze about it rather than that they supported the release pattern, in order to keep their reputation as a cheap distributor. Perhaps I read too much into it.

I wonder how well it did, though.

R
 
Oh, thanks, nice of them to summarise both. The stuff about the secrecy is embarrassing to read.

It worries me that so much is riding on DBZ being a smash hit here. There's a world of difference between releasing a current Toei show and 're'releasing DBZ, even if it does have some enviable brand name recognition.

R
 
I don't understand for the life of me this NDA stuff. Once a deal is agreed, it's agreed isn't it? "Sign here Mr. Manga, and you sign here Toei-san... Right, excellent. Manga now have the rights to release DBZ in the UK. But remember! You can't talk about this for six months ON PAIN OF DEATH!" I mean, what possible reason could there EVER be for that?

If those figures are correct then that's terrible takeup for BD outside Japan. There are a billion people in Europe and America, and together they own less than half the number of BD players owned by under 130m in Japan? That is pathetic, Western World.
 
Is Blue Exorcist really "so hot right now"? I can't claim to have my finger right on the pulse or anything, but I don't get that impression from my internet travels. My prediction: bomba.
 
I know what you mean Rui. Sure, Dragonball Z has the huge name and the Toonami nostalgia behind it, but will nostalgia be enough to drive it being a smash hit? Doubt it.

If anything though, I'm getting the feeling that this urge for it to be a hit (and the extra marketing they said they'll be doing, like magazine adverts and such) is for Toei, as they don't seem to be the most reasonable Japanese anime company out there (for example, wanting DBZ released before Kai). Hell, it's starting to sound like they're frantically trying to get more sales as they want to be able to secure a good relationship with Toei.

There's also little doubt in my mind that while the Americans will chew up anything Dragonball Z related that FUNimation puts on shelves, the UK industry just won't bite. So if they release DBZ now, I expect they'll have a hard time selling Kai in the future.
 
fabricatedlunatic said:
Is Blue Exorcist really "so hot right now"? I can't claim to have my finger right on the pulse or anything, but I don't get that impression from my internet travels. My prediction: bomba.
Click to expand...

It's very hot with certain demographics (and the manga seems to be doing well if the shelf space it's allocated in UK comic shops is representative), however the same demographics don't have a great track record buying Manga releases. I think it could be a minor hit with the FMA/Bleach crowd here, if it's sold right, but I anticipate that it will just be released with no fanfare and swiftly forgotten when it doesn't shift tens of thousands of copies in its first week >_<

Manga at least have the fact that no US blu-ray exists on their side, for once.

R
 
Personally, the only people I've spoken to who have seen the Blue Exorcist anime from start to finish have all labelled the last few episodes (from where it splits from the manga) as absolute bullcrap - in fact, they are (Satan falling in love with Rin and Yukio's mother?! Bon's magic mirror plan that seems to fail to account the amount of time needed to travel between the Vatican and Japan for example).

Personally, it was the ending that stopped me buying Aniplex's sets. I will probably buy MangaUK's cheaper release, but I'm in no rush to do so and the second volume will merely be there for the collection.
 
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Just listened to both this and the Kanzenshu (Daisenshu Ex) podcast appearances and it strikes me that Jerome wants it both ways; he wants to be viewed as poor me small time anime company who's five pounds away from bankruptcy at any moment and then as one of the big boys who without them, we'd never knew there was a Japan for there for anime to come out from.

He's going to have to pick one and stay with it.

Also; his fact checking is atrocious. Dragonball NEVER aired on ITV and Naruto's run on Jetix was something closer to 52, if not 75, episodes)

His excuse about his behaviour on Twitter (Oh, we have to have EMOTIONS and not be ROBOMEN FORM MARZ) was a crock too. You can market using those methods, but calling your fan base idiots at every turn is not professional behaviour and, frankly, I'm amazed he's had that potion for as long as he has.

As far as I'm concenred with DBZ, it needs to ether be on TV or though an easy to obtain streaming method for it to get off the ground and Manga has rested on it's STARZ connection, the same one that took Gurren Lagann and not only gave it a US Release after a year of ADV screwing around but a TV Deal on top of that, for far too long. There's not a channel for Teenagers? Do something about it, you lazy goits. Put up or Shut up.
 
I kind of like that they call him "Mazandarani" rather than Jerome, makes him sound like an evil wizard or something.

As for Blue Exorcist, I dropped it after one episode despite loving FMA, so hopefully that isn't indicative of anything.
 
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