Question about Yatsuba and my return

[Animefanboy]

Hello it has been a while since I last posted here, and by while I mean 2 years!!! Well I am going to try to get into it again, I ove the comrottery of fans of anime, manga, and all things Japanese. :)

Anyway enough lamenting, I have recently read all of Azuma's volumes of Yatsuba and was just wondering if anyone in the community knew if there is going to be anymore?

[Rove]

I have recently read all of Azuma's volumes of Yatsuba and was just wondering if anyone in the community knew if there is going to be anymore?

I'm assuming you're following the US releases by ADV. If you are, then you must have read the first three and wonder when the fourth one will come out. According to the ADV panel at Otakon, the fourth volume of Yotsuba&! should come out in the first quarter of 2007. There are 5 volumes released in Japan, (the last one was released in April of this year), and unless I'm mistaken, the manga is not over there yet.

[Yodatsubato]

I'm assuming you're following the US releases by ADV. If you are, then you must have read the first three and wonder when the fourth one will come out. According to the ADV panel at Otakon, the fourth volume of Yotsuba&! should come out in the first quarter of 2007. There are 5 volumes released in Japan, (the last one was released in April of this year), and unless I'm mistaken, the manga is not over there yet.

Awesome; that's the best news I've heard all week. Did they mention the reason for the delay? And also, did they mention if they're gonna try to make releases consistant from then on?

[Rove]

Awesome; that's the best news I've heard all week. Did they mention the reason for the delay? And also, did they mention if they're gonna try to make releases consistant from then on?
If you want to read the complete ADV panel report from Otakon click here (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/convention.php?id=371). They don't mention the reasons for the delay, but you might know that ADV has been on a tight spot since a couple years ago when they decided to buy almost all shows under the sun (both popular shows as well as complete unknown ones) and were a mayor contributor of the anime market oversaturation. Their whole manga line was stalled with the exception of a couple of titles, Yotsuba& unfortunately not included. The fact that several DVD retail companies went bankrupt or near-bankrupt didn't help either.

You also have to take into account the way mangas are published in Japan as well, for example the first volume of Yotsuba& was released in Japan in August 2003, second volume in April 2004, third volume in November 2004, fourth volume in August 2005, fifth volume in April 2006. See the pattern? If things go as planned, volume six should be released in November of this year, not counting any given reason that might make the mangaka place his/her creation on hiatus. So you see, even with all the delays by ADV the US releases are not that far away from the Japanese releases, and releasing all volumes too fast can make a series have an even odder schedule release, since the licensing companies have to adapt to the Japanese release dates.

I'm not trying to defend ADV, they completely shot theirselves in the foot with their 'lets buying everything and then we will figure out how to release it afterwards' strategy, but they were going to get problems releasing Yotsuba& anyways, since they wanted to release a volume every two months (June, August and October of 2005 were the release dates for the first three volumes). Although the delay for Yotsuba& has been awfully long, it is a bit encouraging to know that they do plan to release the rest of it at some point as opposed to the lack of news for the Kurau DVDs. ;_;

[Animefanboy]

I'm assuming you're following the US releases by ADV. If you are, then you must have read the first three and wonder when the fourth one will come out. According to the ADV panel at Otakon, the fourth volume of Yotsuba&! should come out in the first quarter of 2007. There are 5 volumes released in Japan, (the last one was released in April of this year), and unless I'm mistaken, the manga is not over there yet.


Thank you Rove.

[Yodatsubato]

If you want to read the complete ADV panel report from Otakon click here (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/convention.php?id=371). They don't mention the reasons for the delay, but you might know that ADV has been on a tight spot since a couple years ago when they decided to buy almost all shows under the sun (both popular shows as well as complete unknown ones) and were a mayor contributor of the anime market oversaturation. Their whole manga line was stalled with the exception of a couple of titles, Yotsuba& unfortunately not included. The fact that several DVD retail companies went bankrupt or near-bankrupt didn't help either.

You also have to take into account the way mangas are published in Japan as well, for example the first volume of Yotsuba& was released in Japan in August 2003, second volume in April 2004, third volume in November 2004, fourth volume in August 2005, fifth volume in April 2006. See the pattern? If things go as planned, volume six should be released in November of this year, not counting any given reason that might make the mangaka place his/her creation on hiatus. So you see, even with all the delays by ADV the US releases are not that far away from the Japanese releases, and releasing all volumes too fast can make a series have an even odder schedule release, since the licensing companies have to adapt to the Japanese release dates.
The article says that it is "tentatively scheduled." I hope that doesn't mean that they BS'd an answer to please the populace at the time.

Anyway, I knew about ADV's picking-up-liscences-like-there's-no-tomorrow scheme, but I still don't quite see how that messes up a company like that. I mean, a company like ADV Manga has got to have more than three translators working for them. How much manpower does it take to put out one volume?

[Mana]

Quite a bit, considering that a lot more goes into publishing a book of Manga in the US than simple translations: a literal translation becomes a translation that makes more sense to an English reader; that text all has to be editted into the manga itself cleanly; add in any footnotes/headers, as well as sound effects; adjust artwork accordingly; have it read through proofreaders with a fine-tooth comb to notice any mistakes; decide on and text-i-fy a cover work; determine how many books to actually make before having them printed, and then run a test volume to also be combed through for any print errors; then comes the printing and the shipping, as all of the books are supposed to reach stores before the sell date....

And I'm sure that's not even everything. Now, multiply that for every volume for every series their trying to run; that's a lot of personel, especially for a company who picks up lisences left and right instead of trying to judge audiences and react accordingly.

[Yodatsubato]

Quite a bit, considering that a lot more goes into publishing a book of Manga in the US than simple translations: a literal translation becomes a translation that makes more sense to an English reader; that text all has to be editted into the manga itself cleanly; add in any footnotes/headers, as well as sound effects; adjust artwork accordingly; have it read through proofreaders with a fine-tooth comb to notice any mistakes; decide on and text-i-fy a cover work; determine how many books to actually make before having them printed, and then run a test volume to also be combed through for any print errors; then comes the printing and the shipping, as all of the books are supposed to reach stores before the sell date....

And I'm sure that's not even everything. Now, multiply that for every volume for every series their trying to run; that's a lot of personel, especially for a company who picks up lisences left and right instead of trying to judge audiences and react accordingly.
But still, those're the kinds of problems that can be fixed simply by throwing more people onto the team. The work that each person would have to do is clear cut. I know it would cost money to pay each person, but the profit made off each manga should more than subsidize that.

I guess I'm just not good at business models.

[Mana]

When confronted with shaving profits or adding a couple months onto the release time of something, what decision do you think a company would make? :p Whether the volume comes out now, or a month from now, the same people will still be buying it.

[Yodatsubato]

When confronted with shaving profits or adding a couple months onto the release time of something, what decision do you think a company would make? :p Whether the volume comes out now, or a month from now, the same people will still be buying it.
Well, that's true, but the faster they do each manga, the more manga they can release per year. However, I see where this tactic would begin to go sour: they'd eventually run out of good stuff to release and start to fertilize the market with crap.

Which I guess ADV found themselves in danger of doing, considering all the liscences they ended up with.

I'm convinced that the president of ADV just got inexplicably intoxicated one night and went on a drunken liscencing stint. When he woke up in the morning, his hangover was the only thing left to comfort him in light of all the responsibility he found himself in. Similar to when a guy wakes up and finds out that he got fifty girls pregnant the night before. Except instead of babies, he has manga. Bouncing, baby manga.

[Mana]

I wonder if it takes more money to fully liscense, produce, and distribute a single manga; or to fullt raise a child from the womb until adulthood.

...I'd bet it depends on the length of the manga.