New US anime licenses; Manga is "over in Japan"; X-Men shojo

Paul

Paul

Ghost of Animes
Administrator
This weekend is like any other for the UK-based anime fans, but over in the US, otaku are currently enjoying their first ever "New York Anime Festival", which offers the usual mix of Western anime industry news and rumors.
<ul>
<li>Although the event hasn't given much in terms of new US anime licenses, Bandai <a href="http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-12-09/bandai-gets-girl-who-leapt-through-time">have announced</a> that they've picked up Mamoru Hosoda's acclaimed 2006 movie "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time", Mediablasters <a href="http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-12-08/media-blasters-goes-with-more-genshiken">were able to confirm</a> that they will be releasing otaku favourite Genshiken 2 and Viz Media <a href="http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-12-08/viz-acquires-busou-renkin-plans-set-only-release">have acquired</a> another Shonen Jump fighting anime in "Buso Renkin".</li>
<li>Despite this being an anime festival, the most controversial talking points were courtesy of Al Kahn of 4Kids when he went ahead and claimed that <a href="http://myriadissues.blogspot.com/2007/12/manga-is-over-says-al-kahn-of-4kids-at.html">manga was "over in Japan"</a> and that if "you&rsquo;re big in manga, you should be looking elsewhere, because it&rsquo;s going south", Rich Johnson of niche manga publisher Yen Press tried to argue for manga, but Kahn replied that "In your little niche, in your little world, you might be great, but in the real world, it&rsquo;s not working" before Gen Fukunaga of FUNimation decided to step in and diffuse the argument.</li>
<li>The other interesting tidbits of news include a couple of East/West collaborations. Basically, the likes of Studio 4&deg;C, Production I.G and Madhouse <a href="http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-12-08/japanese-anime-studios-confirmed-for-batman-video">will be working</a> on a collection of six Batman short films; "Batman: Gotham Knight", due out in the summer of 2008, is already being compared with the popular "Animatrix" project, given it's combining a popular Western franchise with the cutting edge of Japanese animation. On a slightly weirder note, <a href="http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-12-09/del-rey-and-marvel-comics-announce-collaboration-on-x-men-and-wolverine-manga">Marvel have joined forces with Del Rey</a> to produce a shojo-tinged version of "X-Men". Said to be heavily influenced by "Fruits Basket" and "Ouran High School Host Club", it will be set in an all-boys' school with a single female student.</li>
</ul>
 
That particular remark by Al Kahn is a good example of why anime fans love to loath him and 4Kids. His whole reasoning is based upon the merchandising prospects of manga rather than the medium itself. It makes perfect sense from his point of view given that merchandising is very much a part of the 4Kids model but that is not what drives the sales of manga. Of course we have all seen from experience that the actual story, the thing that truly drives manga, is less than important to Al Kahn than anything else.
 
I find it really strange that Al Kahn was there, 4Kids have no respect from the industry, They are marketing at a totally different audience, as he mentions once in there. I find it surprising that he thinks manga is dying, as far as I know, In its current state, Its bigger than it ever was.

I would love if "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" got a R2 release. I very much doubt it in the near future though. =/. The unmentioned here Code Geass information, including the dub voices are looking very good, Johnny Yong Bosch for Lelouch sounds about right in my head.
 
It's not like 4Kids have any kind of understanding about anime, and they don't have anything to do with manga, so I think it's safe to ignore Al Kahn's comments.

I agree, Jayme, Johnny Yong Bosch will be awesome as Lelouch!
 
The whole Lelouch dub cast sounds pretty good to me, as for Al Kahn's comments...well not much to say that hasn't been said in the posts above, i'm surprised he wasn't lynched at that event
 
If you guys are interested in Al Kahn's comments, check out the first episode of Anime News Network's video coverage of the event - they actually captured a part of this panel, including the moment he uttered those words above.

It's quite interesting, if just because his rants seem a little more logical in the actual context of the panel. To be honest, when you see him, you'll understand where he is coming from - he is basically this 50+ old man who's looking at everything from a high level business perspective. He's not interested in actual artistic endeavors, he's simply looking for the next massive multimedia franchise like Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh - manga, anime, card-games and toys. You can sense his frustration, probably because 4Kids lost Pokemon rights to a Japanese company and now it seems more and more likely that the Japanese are removing companies like 4Kids and trying to go it alone, hence his references to how it's all "going south".
 
Viz got Buso Renkin. I'm not sure weather to just be happy its been licensed or sad that it had to be Viz >_>
Buso Renkin is a good anime. Lets just hope its not ocean group.
And LOL at the 4kids guy. I'm surprised any Japanese company ever allowed 4kids anywhere near they're series, pity that for some inexplicable reason they did -_-
 
Paul said:
This weekend is like any other for the UK-based anime fans, but over in the US, otaku are currently enjoying their first ever "New York Anime Festival", which offers the usual mix of Western anime industry news and rumors.
<ul>
<li>Although the event hasn't given much in terms of new US anime licenses, Bandai <a href="http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-12-09/bandai-gets-girl-who-leapt-through-time">have announced</a> that they've picked up Mamoru Hosoda's acclaimed 2006 movie "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time", Mediablasters <a href="http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-12-08/media-blasters-goes-with-more-genshiken">were able to confirm</a> that they will be releasing otaku favourite Genshiken 2 and Viz Media <a href="http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-12-08/viz-acquires-busou-renkin-plans-set-only-release">have acquired</a> another Shonen Jump fighting anime in "Buso Renkin".</li>
<li>Despite this being an anime festival, the most controversial talking points were courtesy of Al Kahn of 4Kids when he went ahead and claimed that <a href="http://myriadissues.blogspot.com/2007/12/manga-is-over-says-al-kahn-of-4kids-at.html">manga was "over in Japan"</a> and that if "you’re big in manga, you should be looking elsewhere, because it’s going south", Rich Johnson of niche manga publisher Yen Press tried to argue for manga, but Kahn replied that "In your little niche, in your little world, you might be great, but in the real world, it’s not working" before Gen Fukunaga of FUNimation decided to step in and diffuse the argument.</li>
<li>The other interesting tidbits of news include a couple of East/West collaborations. Basically, the likes of Studio 4°C, Production I.G and Madhouse <a href="http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-12-08/japanese-anime-studios-confirmed-for-batman-video">will be working</a> on a collection of six Batman short films; "Batman: Gotham Knight", due out in the summer of 2008, is already being compared with the popular "Animatrix" project, given it's combining a popular Western franchise with the cutting edge of Japanese animation. On a slightly weirder note, <a href="http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-12-09/del-rey-and-marvel-comics-announce-collaboration-on-x-men-and-wolverine-manga">Marvel have joined forces with Del Rey</a> to produce a shojo-tinged version of "X-Men". Said to be heavily influenced by "Fruits Basket" and "Ouran High School Host Club", it will be set in an all-boys' school with a single female student.</li>
</ul>
Click to expand...


Al Kahn is such a prick.

Wow can't wait for the short Batman films, well looking forward to those.

Even the X-men manga intrigues me, will be nice to see what they do with it.
 
Paul said:
<ul><li>Despite this being an anime festival, the most controversial talking points were courtesy of Al Kahn of 4Kids when he went ahead and claimed that <a href="http://myriadissues.blogspot.com/2007/12/manga-is-over-says-al-kahn-of-4kids-at.html">manga was "over in Japan"</a> and that if "you’re big in manga, you should be looking elsewhere, because it’s going south", Rich Johnson of niche manga publisher Yen Press tried to argue for manga, but Kahn replied that "In your little niche, in your little world, you might be great, but in the real world, it’s not working" before Gen Fukunaga of FUNimation decided to step in and diffuse the argument.</li></ul>
Click to expand...
Whether his right or wrong, probably right from his perspective but wrong in terms of the bigger picture, if it means 4Kids will leaving manga/anime alone I won't be unhappy.

Paul said:
<ul> <li>The other interesting tidbits of news include a couple of East/West collaborations.....On a slightly weirder note, <a href="http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-12-09/del-rey-and-marvel-comics-announce-collaboration-on-x-men-and-wolverine-manga">Marvel have joined forces with Del Rey</a> to produce a shojo-tinged version of "X-Men". Said to be heavily influenced by "Fruits Basket" and "Ouran High School Host Club", it will be set in an all-boys' school with a single female student.</li>
</ul>
Click to expand...
I didn't like the sound of that at first (Xavier School Fruit Club?) but then I remembered that it wasn't too different from original X-Men scenario where Jean Grey, who arrived at Xavier's school in the first issue of Uncanny X-Men, was the only girl alongside Cycops, Angel, Beast and Iceman - all of whom were trying to get her attention (I discovered the X-Men et al long before I discovered manga.)
 
I was happy when reading somewhere on ANN that 4Kids are slowly starting to step down from the anime industry and begin to focus on other things, I think that Monster Hunt or something is probably their only current series on which they are working. This has got to be a good thing.

Although I was a bit put off by the point Kahn made about anime slowly loosing its creativity and then continuing on to say about looking for the animation and the likes from Korea. =/ I'm sure Korean animation is nice and all, Its just not the same.
 
New X-Men Manga

"Today at the first ever New York Anime Festival, publisher Del Rey Manga announced a new project to produce original English manga (OEM) based on some of Marvel Comics' biggest characters. X-Men: The Manga and Wolverine: The Manga are both due in Spring 2009. Each will be two volumes, published in the traditional manga style: roughly 200 pages at the 5 X 7 ½" size with a black and white interior. The books will read left-to-right."

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source: http://uk.anime.ign.com/articles/840/840435p1.html
 
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