This will be extremely difficult as most of what he has to say bears a great amount of relevance and is both interesting and humourous. So I'm going to stick two fingers up to the space limits of Quench and print the interview in it's entirety here.
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Congratulations on the publishing of your book! How did you come to write A Rough Guide to Manga? Did the company approach you? (And if so) How did you feel about being approached as the leading expert on manga?
Thank you very much! I'm sorry it took me so long to respond to your questions.
How The Rough Guide to Manga came to be: My colleague/friend/tag-team partner in anime and manga fandom Wilma Jandoc and I have been writing columns about anime and manga for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, one of two daily newspapers serving Honolulu and the island of Oahu, since 2001. Wilma, who started working at the paper before I did, was part of the original rotation of columnists for "Drawn & Quartered," a Sunday feature that focuses on sequential art works (anime and manga being covered under that umbrella). I joined that rotation in 2002 -- and I still write pieces for that column, too -- before starting my own weekly column, "Cel Shaded," in June 2005. (To my knowledge, "Cel Shaded" is still the only anime- and manga-focused weekly column running in a daily newspaper in the United States ... which is a bit like being the only harp player on the Titanic, but let's not get into that whole "death spiral of print media" issue.) It was through our paper's online archives that Sean Mahoney (at the time an editor for Rough Guides' New York office, now with DK Publishing) saw what we had written and believed enough in us to e-mail us in early 2007 to offer us an opportunity to write their manga guide.
The next thing we both remember was someone splashing buckets of water on us.
... well, okay, so it wasn't quite that dramatic. Still, though, it was quite a shock. Us? Two humble l'il copy editors and manga fans working on a small rock in the middle of the Pacific, being asked to work on a manga primer that would be available at finer book retailers worldwide? I could probably rattle off at least 10 names of people who had more expertise on the subject than I did. Still could today. Still, Sean picked us to do it, and we felt honored and humbled that he thought so highly of our work.
Some of you may be wondering, "So if Sean approached you and Wilma to write the book, why is only your name listed as the author?" Wilma ended up bowing out of the project shortly afterward for personal reasons. But I feel that she still was a big part of this project anyway -- she was the one who first raised awareness of anime and manga in the Star-Bulletin, after all. I'm not sure exactly when I started referring to her in print as "the official tag-team partner in anime/manga fandom," but that's what she is, and I greatly value her friendship and support to this day.
It is obvious that a huge amount of work went into the writing of the Rough Guide: where did you begin writing it? Were you given a format to follow or was it a very open project for you?
The Rough Guides people sent me sample copies of some of their other pop-culture guides -- their comedy, science-fiction and gangster movie guides, to be specific -- to get a sense of how those books were structured. The concept of the Canon 50 was part of the book from the beginning; a section providing historical background on the covered topic also was a key part of those books, so I felt I needed to include that as well. Beyond that, it was largely up to me to pick and choose what I wanted to cover, with some guidance from my editors, Kate Berens and Andrew Lockett, on how to structure things.
I had a few neat experiences to kick off writing the book. It happened that the same year I began writing (2007), there was a traveling National Gallery of Victoria (Australia) exhibit, "Tezuka: The Marvel of Manga," on display at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. When I knew I was moving forward with writing the book, my first instinct was to take some vacation time and fly over from Hawaii to visit that exhibit -- rather apropos, considering how Osamu Tezuka is so highly regarded as history's "God of Manga." It was quite an experience looking at all of the original pages of artwork and assorted displays and learning about his various series, many of which have never been translated into English. (Personally, I would love to see someone translate Ludwig B, even though it's incomplete. But I digress.) I admit that I did the totally geeky thing and bought several pieces of Tezuka-related merchandise from the museum gift shop ... including an Astro Boy notebook.
That notebook came in handy for the second neat experience I had. Back when I was a fledgling young journalist in 1999, I served as a summer intern as a copy editor at Newsday, a daily newspaper serving Long Island, New York. One of the landmarks I visited during that internship was the World Trade Center and its top-floor observation deck. Since I had to sign the contract for the book anyway, I thought I'd make a vacation out of it and return to New York City for the first time in eight years. I wrote the first drafts for my first two Canon entries -- Azumanga Daioh and Oh My Goddess!, if I remember correctly -- while commuting on the train back and forth between lower Manhattan and my hotel in Newark, New Jersey. The end point for my commute that week: Ground Zero. I felt it was rather symbolic of how the world -- and I -- had changed since the last time I had visited the city.
From the time I signed the contract through the final deadline, it was just a matter of what I felt most inspired to work on that day -- some days it would be researching the various Canon entries, while other days I'd work on other areas. I knew that I wanted to include sections on the different styles and genres, the anime/manga/video game connection, the links to various resources and the profiles of different publishers. I must confess, I'm not the type of person to remain on one consistent train of thought for lengthy periods of time, so it took a bit of wrangling on the part of editor Kate to keep me in line. (Sorry, Kate!) Some things just didn't make it in time as a result; for instance, I originally envisioned writing a more substantive section on manga creators and industry personalities. The profiles of Osamu Tezuka, CLAMP, Rumiko Takahashi, Leiji Matsumoto, Shotaro Ishinomori, Takehiko Inoue and Yuu Watase are all remnants of that section; a profile of Naoki Urasawa was written but couldn't really come together for me, and I just never got around to writing any profiles of any of the key figures on the international side of the equation.
Since the manga market has become so vast (hence it getting its own Rough Guide) it can be quite daunting getting into it. Where would you suggest the average university-age student (18-22) with little or no knowledge of manga begin?
Ooh, very good question. I started reading manga when I attended the University of Hawaii, and the first manga series I ever read was one a friend shared with me in 1997: Maison Ikkoku by Rumiko Takahashi, the story of a struggling university student, his quirky neighbors in a run-down apartment complex and the new apartment manager -- and young widow -- who captures his heart. I still dearly love the series and would certainly recommend that as a good starter series -- the characters are normal people leading normal lives (as normal as Takahashi manga can get, anyway), the situations are realistic, and the comedy and drama are evenly paced. I got into that series in the middle of Viz's first-edition graphic-novel run of that series -- the pages were "flopped" to read from left to right; a second run earlier this decade restored the pages to its native right-to-left orientation and added back content that had been deleted in the first run -- and after I caught up to what was available, my friend and I would trade off buying volumes as they became available at a local comics shop, eager to read what happened next.
The advantage of coming into fandom now -- or perhaps the DISadvantage, depending on how much you value hanging on to your money -- is that there are so many more translated manga options than there were in 1997. Yet my recommendation now would be to stick with the same kinds of stories that I started off with and loved back then -- down-to-earth, well-told slice-of-life stories. Maison Ikkoku, of course, would be high on that list. Yotsuba&! by Kiyohiko Azuma, being published by Yen Press, is a series that many manga reviewers (myself included) have fallen in love with over the past few years; that one stars an inquisitive, imaginative, rather energetic little girl and her daily escapades with her father and the girls living next door. It's a series that takes you back to the simple days of childhood, which is why I think it appeals to so many people. If you want an edgier love story, try NANA by Ai Yazawa, published by Viz; that one's about two young women named Nana finding their way, getting into relationships with guys (some beneficial, others harmful) and discovering themselves in Tokyo. Fans of suspense-filled stories and mysteries will want to check out a recent trilogy of series by Naoki Urasawa -- Monster, 20th Century Boys and Pluto, all published by Viz. For historical fiction, I like The Summit of the Gods by Yumemakura Baku and Jiro Taniguchi, available from Fanfare/Ponent Mon, about a Japanese expedition photographer in Nepal and his search to find out what happened to explorer George Mallory on his Everest expedition. And finally, there's Black Jack ... but you can read more about that series a little later.
Oh, and a postscript: A few years ago, that friend and I had a chance to chat over lunch and catch up on our lives. She's fallen away from reading manga over the years, so she wanted to offer me that original, complete Maison Ikkoku run that we traded back and forth so many years ago. Even though I ended up buying Viz's second edition, I graciously accepted her offer. I find it rather appropriate that my manga collection now actually does include the first manga I ever read. It's nice to have life come full circle like that.
You cite Black Jack as your 'top' manga; what is it about this manga which makes it stand out above any other for you?
Manga artist Osamu Tezuka was called the "god of manga" for a good reason: Much of what he did in his time still resonates today; just look at the new computer-animated Astro Boy movie for proof of how audiences keep returning to his work after all these years. Astro Boy, Princess Knight, Jungle Emperor Leo (aka Kimba the White Lion) ... memorable franchises, one and all.
And all of them were created in the 1950s.
But while the '50s were a particularly fruitful time for Tezuka in manga, the '60s were less than kind. Sure, he did quite well for himself in the field of anime that decade, but the audience that read his series in the '50s was growing up, creating their own manga and finding their own mature alternatives to what he was producing. While he created his own magazine to meet the challenges that the changing market were presenting, and he kept experimenting with stories and drawing styles during this time, the truth is that it didn't really resonate as much with audiences as his signature works did. I'm not sure if anyone but the more dedicated Tezuka scholars could name any series he produced during this period. That's not to say that he didn't do any good manga during this time; it's just that there wasn't really anything that had any staying power.
Black Jack was different. Here was a series that not only contained a memorable lead -- a doctor who operated outside of accepted medical practices and performed dramatic surgeries, all the while adhering to his own code of ethics -- but presented his exploits in a way that showed how Tezuka had evolved and matured as an artist and storyteller after all those years. What makes it all the more interesting is that Tezuka was himself a medical student, so many of the procedures and views of internal organs were based on what he had learned (albeit taken to far more imaginative extremes -- I doubt any real-life doctor could take parts from a tumor and build a fully formed little girl, after all). I love the whole unpredictable "anything goes" vibe of the series and how he manages to work in some kind of message of social relevance into his stories yet still manages to surprise readers every now and then, and how those stories are more or less self-contained in each chapter -- quick-hit, easily accessible entertainment. It's a mature medical drama that stands the test of time, and that's why I feel it's the best one from the Canon.
Is there any manga you have come across that you find you can't appreciate in any way?
Oh, there's plenty of stuff that I have a difficult time appreciating. A few years ago, there was this one manga publisher (who shall remain anonymous save for how (a) it remains in business to this day and (b) it once declared itself the leader of the manga revolution) that sent us these huge envelopes full of their new releases every month. What was in those envelopes seemed representative of the strategy of the day, which was to take anything that looked/acted like/contained a single pen or brush stroke characteristic of manga, translate it and send it out to the masses -- masses that it assumed would gobble up anything manga. That was in 2005. Four years later, I don't think Wilma and I have gotten around to touching 95% of what they sent us. And for good reason: Those series were eminently forgettable, largely undiscussed, and often lost in time only to reappear in bookstore closeout sales at 80 to 90 percent off cover price. I'm not even sure if some of those series even completed their full English-translated runs; I'm pretty sure some of them ended up being canceled midway.
That said, two specific examples come to mind. The first one is from a publisher that has since gone out of business, yet I still feel the need to warn people away from it lest they find it at a used bookstore or a library: Di Gi Charat: Dejiko's Champion Cup Theatre. What you have to realize about the Di Gi Charat franchise is that they feature very, very cute characters. It's what puts food on the table for artist Koge-Donbo, after all. Lead character Dejiko, with her large ear-ornament bells, her cat-ear hat and tail, her maid costume, and her tendency to say "nyo" at the end of every sentence, is supposed to be cute. She is not supposed to speak like a gangster rapper. Yet there she is on one of the first pages of Champion Cup Theatre, saying, "YO YO YO PEEPS! >nyo!<>nyo!<" And with bunny girl Rabi-en Rose talking in, like, Southern California valley girl slang 'n' some junk, choo c'n call me totally repulsed.
As much as I hate Champion Cup Theatre, though, at least I kept my copy of that ... mostly as an example to trot out whenever anyone asks if there have ever been any really bad English translations. But the second, Eiken from Media Blasters, I just had to get rid of right away. Eiken is, to put it bluntly, the breast manga ever. Not best, mind you ... breast. As in, the characters have the largest breasts I've ever seen for something barely on the conservative side of the line drawn between hentai/live-action porn and material for more ... general audiences, shall we say. And that, along with the frequent panty-flashing, was pretty much the entire draw of the series. Oh, sure, there was some flimsy story about some guy who's forced to join his school's all-girls club, but OH HEY LOOK MORE GIANT BREASTS. Fun if you're into that sort of thing, perhaps, but if you're a mainstream manga reader? Please, please, please pass on it. I'm at the point where I can now judge the success of The Rough Guide to Manga by how much it's outselling the first volume of Eiken; as long as my book outsells that, all will be right with the world.
(Dis)honorable mention goes to something that wasn't a manga, but was published material translated and released in English: the Onegai Teacher novel, from ComicsONE. Imagine the worst fanfic you've ever read and couple it with a dubious translation, and you have that novel.
If you could live a day in the life of any character from any of your 50 essential manga who would you pick and why?
Wow, there are so many good ones to choose from! I think we can start by tossing out all the characters in shoujo and josei manga right away, because come on -- while it's great to get together with the hottest guy/girl around, these people have enough emotional issues to fill a psychology textbook. And who wants to be saddled with that kind of baggage?
But yeah, this was a tough choice for me. I could write someone out of existence, a la Light Yagami in Death Note; be the toughest butt-kicker on the planet, alternately respected and feared by all who face me, as in far too many series to keep track of; or race around with poop on a stick shouting "KIIIIIIIIN" and indiscriminately smashing into mountains, like Arale in Dr. Slump. When you get down to it, though, the best character to be for a day would be Nobita Nobi from Doraemon. Sure, he's just an average boy wearing glasses -- which is just like me, except, you know, younger -- but the kid has a robotic cat from the future. And one with a "four-dimensional pouch" from which any manner of fanciful gadgets and doodads can be pulled, to boot! If you've ever read Otsuichi's "F-sensei's Pocket" in the first English volume of Faust from Del Rey, in which a high school girl gets a hold of that four-dimensional pouch and creates chaos (and gains a measure of revenge over those who wronged her as well), you know how cool having such power at hand would be. I think it would be fun to have that technology available to me for a day ... or perhaps even several days, if you manipulate Doraemon's gadgets just right. If he can pull from his pouch interdimensional doors, helicopter hats and memory-enhancing bread, wouldn't it stand to reason that he'd also have something that could extend time? It would certainly come in handy for anything involving deadlines!
There is a section in Rough Guide to Manga on anime. What is your opinion on anime in general and which anime adaptation, would you say, stays most faithful to the original manga?
I love anime, although I will say that it's getting harder to find anything good to watch. Part of the problem could be pinned on the industry in Japan -- it seems to me like there isn't as much motivation for innovation as there used to be, resulting in a number of productions that feel similar and either play up the moe factor or go so overboard on the fanservice factor that they're nigh unwatchable for all except the most perversely curious (Queen's Blade, I'm looking at you ... through mostly covered eyes, of course). The other part is that more English-language publishers hitting tough economic times are simply shutting down -- ADV Films, Geneon and Central Park Media being the most notable examples in the United States in recent years, which means the flow of anime coming into English-speaking territories is being restricted even more. (I'm speaking of the legal flow of anime, of course; fansubs are an entirely different story.)
I've always felt that anime adaptations of manga work best in a compact format, kept to a season of around 12-26 episodes; reason being, it's difficult for an anime production staff to maintain quality over a long period of time. Anything longer than that runs the risk of outpacing production on the manga, leading to those dreaded "filler" episodes where, say, a fight between Goku and Vegeta in Dragon Ball Z ends up lasting for 1-1/2 seasons ("In this exciting episode of Dragon Ball Z, Goku throws a punch! Tune in next time, when Vegeta dodges it!") The very best anime takes the source material and, while remaining faithful to the manga creator's original vision for the characters, enhances it to where it can stand on its own merits, not just as something that virtually mumbles, "Okay, this is the anime based on the manga, yay, can we have our paychecks now?" Excel Saga was a good example of the anime production staff enhancing the source material, where JC Staff and Shinichi "Nabeshin" Watanabe took Koshi Rikdo's ideas and really had some fun with the story and parodying anime tropes in general (so much fun that Rikdo gets killed off several times in the first episode, then makes repeat cameo appearances to approve each episode's parody). The first Fullmetal Alchemist anime also had a good story in its own right, even as Hiromu Arakawa's manga diverged from what the anime production staff had laid out.
As far as anime that stays the most faithful to the manga, though, the first that comes to mind would be Azumanga Daioh. What makes it even more remarkable is that the story, such as it is, is strung together from a bunch of yon-koma (four-panel) comic strips. As Lucky Star would prove later, it's very difficult to get a quality half-hour program out of yon-koma; I think what saved that anime from oblivion was a combination of the "Motteke! Sailor Fuku" dance, the countless otaku- and Kyoto Animation-related inside jokes, the "Lucky Channel" segments and the constantly changing ending sequences. Otherwise, what you had was a series of monologues among the characters -- some of which relied more heavily on Japanese cultural knowledge than others -- and that was pretty much it. I was actually rather disappointed at how dull the Lucky Star manga was. Azumanga Daioh, by contrast, seems to flow so much better in its presentation; Kiyohiko Azuma's strips seem to lend themselves more to the one-event-after-another progression that the animated medium offers, and the comic pacing just feels right.
Another is the anime adaptation of Yuki Urushibara's Mushishi. I watched the anime around the same time I read the manga because I was working on a piece for the Star-Bulletin, and I was amazed at how faithfully the anime follows the manga. Urushibara sets a rather methodical, meditative pace to her story that is enhanced by the anime's quiet soundtrack. Definitely recommended.
Who would win a fight between Naruto and Serena from Sailor Moon? (And of course, how?)
Aww, do they have to fight? I actually think they'd hit it off pretty well -- they'd joke around, share tips on how to protect the people they love and care about the most from the lurking evil that threatens to erase their way of life forever, have a nice dinner of ramen with some cake for dessert ...
But okay, let's say they had to fight. What it boils down to is a battle between chakra and the power of the moon, inner power versus magical power. I'm really tempted to say that Naruto just sticks in his fist or his foot while Serena's going through her transformation sequence, thus making her fall flat on her face and knocking her out. But that would violate one of the cardinal rules of mahou shoujo (magical girl) manga/anime: "Under no circumstances is anyone allowed to interrupt the main character's elaborate transformation sequence, even though doing so would make it so much easier for evil to advance its cause because, come on, at least you have a chance at defeating the 'civilian' form, but 'powered-up' form means you're just a few panels away from being 'MOON HEALING ESCALAAAAAAAATIONed' into oblivion."
Now, most people may think that Naruto would completely dominate in a fight against Sailor Moon, what with the chakra, the various jutsus, the pure physical fighting power and a driving determination to succeed at everything. But I think the key to this battle rests in the nine-tailed fox demon that dwells within Naruto. Demons portend evil. Sailor Moon cleanses evil. While Naruto may have the upper hand at the outset with his physical attacks, I don't think two of his most effective attacks would work on her: She could see through the Clone Jutsu, and the Sexy Jutsu ... well, I'm sorry, but that would only work on Sailors Uranus and Neptune, if you know what I mean. Serena would just have to do one of the things she does best -- namely, run like heck -- until she finds the opening she needs and MOON HEALING ESCALAAAAAAAATIONs him loopy. After which, of course, they have a nice dinner of ramen with some cake for dessert.
You know what would make a better fight, though? Sakura versus Lita/Makoto (Sailor Jupiter). Ever see one of those mixed martial arts matches (the good ones with all the punching and kicking, not the ones with so much grappling that it looks like an extended yaoi pairing)? I could imagine their fight being like that. Bonus aggression points if the impetus for this fight is Lita going after Sasuke. Ooh, that would be fun! Any fanfic writers wanna take up that one?
How do you think the publicity and culture around manga will continue to grow? Which mediums can it further expand into?
I think you're always going to see a two-tiered approach in any future expansion of the manga industry -- there will be series marketed toward casual readers who are just learning about manga and series marketed toward the more experienced readers, with sales from the former group providing the money that enables publishers to pick up more series for the latter group. It seems to me that every successful manga publisher follows this "signature series" model -- so, for instance, you have Viz and its Shonen Jump franchises (Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dragon Ball, et.al.); Del Rey with Negima, Tsubasa and xxxHolic; Tokyopop with Fruits Basket (that series ending is a concern, although it does seem like it would be a lasting property for them if they manage it properly); Dark Horse with Oh My Goddess!; and Yen Press with the Haruhi Suzumiya manga and light novels. One common thread you notice about all of those series, though, is how much the multimedia element plays into it; all of them had either a popular animated equivalent that got heavy broadcast play or something else that raised awareness of the franchise (Yu-Gi-Oh! and the collectible card game and video games, for example). I think the best way to market a manga is to team up with someone publishing the multimedia equivalent and ride each other's coattails, because it works. What concerns me, though, is that it seems like anime's losing its cachet in broadcast television ... streaming Internet video is certainly nice, but it doesn't draw in that guaranteed large audience that TV does. So if manga publishers are teaming up with anime publishers in this fashion, they both have to work that much harder to attract casual audiences.
As for marketing toward more experienced readers, that''s where the culture of the Internet helps greatly. There's a rather tight-knit group of manga bloggers online -- when one of them, David Welsh of Precocious Curmudgeon (http://precur.wordpress.com) recently noted that the New York Times left manga off its graphic novel gift guide (all together now: boooooooooo), he and Erica Friedman (http://okazu.blogspot.com) rallied a bunch of us to create our own manga gift guides; I think there were 23 as of last count. It's the feeling of a virtual community that the Internet nurtures, a community that can help get word out about series that might otherwise fall through the cracks (and conversely, series that we ought to let fall through those cracks as soon as possible) The savviest of publishers take advantage of the medium -- several have a presence on Twitter or Facebook, and the best of the best, like Vertical, CMX and DMP, also actively communicate with their audiences)
I doubt printed books will ever go away, but I can see potential for growth for digitally distributed manga. It's not a matter of infrastructure -- Sony recently added digital comic-reading software to the PlayStation Portable firmware, comic-reading apps exist for iPhones, and there's a comic channel on the Nintendo Wii in Japan. It's just a question of how many companies are willing to take that next step ... and whether the Japanese publishers from whom the Western publishers are licensing manga will be willing to go along. (I sense it's extremely difficult, but still possible.) Viz has already started distributing some new series, taking its Shonen Sunday and Signature Ikki imprints online, and gauging interest in the various series to see if it's worth their while to bring out printed editions of those series. Rin-ne, of course, you know they had to bring out in print by virtue of it being a Rumiko Takahashi series, but Children of the Gods was a nice addition. And I'm hoping for all the best for Kingyo Used Books and I'll Give It My All ... Tomorrow.
Do you have any gossip or tip-offs about the “next big thing” in manga? Which manga – new or old - do you think will (or deserves to) become popular in the near future?
I wish I had some inside information about the "next big thing." I'd be a much richer man! But you're talking to someone who thought he could create a respectable pile of money off the secondary market for Beanie Babies ... and believe me, that did not end well. My crystal ball is in serious need of repair. (Anyone want to buy a mint-with-mint tags Princess bear? Please?)
Seriously, though, the truth is that I think all of us in the industry are just throwing darts at a large dartboard hoping that something sticks. You can't necessarily go with what's popular in Japan and hope that popularity carries over to English territories; sure, Naruto turned out to be a major sales boon on both ends of the Pacific Ocean, but One Piece, which I believe for all intents and purposes will smash whatever sales records Dragon Ball set during its run in Japan, barely makes overseas fans raise an eyebrow. That's why I think Viz's One Piece push -- where, similar to what it did twice for Naruto, multiple volumes will be released each month for several months to bring the Japanese and international English translations closer to each other -- is so key for that franchise: If an increased marketing push doesn't boost sales across the board for that title, nothing will. That would be a shame, because One Piece is a fun little story. With pirates! Who doesn't love pirates?
That said ... I hate to think that the next big thing is going to be Yen Press and its upcoming Twilight and Gossip Girl manga, but I have a feeling that it's going to be just that. The thought will make hard-core fans throw up a little, I'm sure. But you have to realize that as I noted in my answer to the last question, signature franchises help publishers in the
One thing that I would love to see happen would be to see more older series licensed. Rose of Versailles is one of those series that frequently gets mentioned on licensing wish lists. Tezuka's Princess Knight and Jungle Emperor Leo are two others. Ashita no Jo is one I'd love to see. And the way Viz has brought over the long-running Oishinbo -- in "best-of" anthologies rather than a straight serialization from the beginning -- has me hoping someone will do something similar for Doraemon and Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Koen-mae Hashutsujo (the latter because I really want to see what the Japanese see in that series for it to be as old as I am and in continual serialization). I doubt any of those series will be licensed, though, for several reasons: Either the creators want too much money, there are scenes that may be objectionable to Western audiences, or there's a perception that older material just won't sell to a readership always searching for the latest series straight from Japan. It's too bad, really. More success stories like Black Jack and Oishinbo are quite nice.
As for my top license request of the current manga generation? Easily Kami no Shizuku (The Drops of God). You would think that Western manga publishers would be climbing all over themselves to pick up a series already mentioned in the New York Times, capitalizing on the whole buzz over a manga about wine culture, but nary a peep has been uttered. Maybe it doesn't fit into the whole publishing strategy of focusing on audiences in the 13-24 age bracket, but then again neither does Oishinbo.
And then there's my "no chance this is ever happening, but if it ever does, it'll preserve the industry for at least the next 50 years" wish: If Masashi Kishimoto decides he wants to reboot Naruto again, he teams up with Vampire Knight artist Matsuri Hino for a crossover for the ages. The resultant project, Vampire Knight Naruto, would simultaneously break all sales records, make fangirls' hearts melt over all the possible yaoi doujinshi pairings and create a whole new range of inter-franchise battles over which fanboys can drool.
Have you any plans for future publications about manga (excluding your Cel Shaded column)?
***Jason holds up "Will write books about anime and manga for Pocky and Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya merchandise" cardboard sign***
Seriously, though, I don't have anything planned for the foreseeable future. Perhaps it's just as well, since I don't really have the same time and/or the energy to devote to writing a full-fledged book as I did two years ago. I've added a blog, "Otaku Ohana" (http://blogs.starbulletin.com/otakuohana, please stop by and say hello) to my writing duties, and layoffs at the paper have meant more work for the people left behind to do. That said, if Rough Guide to Manga does well enough in sales, I wouldn't mind returning to do a second edition if they asked, to fill in some of the holes I felt were in this edition, and update some information with what I've learned since the book went to press. (ADV and CPM Manga, decisively dead! Kodansha formally publishing English translations ... for what it's worth!)
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