Is ADV Manga Dead?

[RZetlin]

I haven't heard of any release announcements from ADV Manga for many months now.

When are they going to get around finishing releasing Chrono Crusade and Jinki: Extended?

[Jarred]

This was posted about a week ago (http://forums.animeondvd.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Number=1202324&page=1&view=c ollapsed&sb=5&o=186&fpart=1)

[The Pirate Queen]

*insert obligatory Louie post here*

[michaelwb]

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Dani said:
*insert obligatory Louie post here*

[/ QUOTE ]

*Insert agreement with addition of SAK.*

[MadL]

Interesting that this thread should appear around the same time as this (http://www.fortune.com/fortune/print/0,15935,1134596,00.html) Fortune interview with ADV co-founder John Ledford:

[ QUOTE ]
Ledford figures that if he can just keep up with the fans, the industry will take care of itself—and the fans will take care of ADV. "Everybody here in some capacity loves anime very passionately, or they love manga," says Ledford. "We've got businesspeople here who could care less—every company does—but you go to some of these big, mega-conglomerate media companies, and they go, 'Oh, anime is making lots of money.' But then they get into it and they don't do it right because they're not connected to the fans."

[/ QUOTE ]

If fans are wondering whether ADV is still publishing manga, something tells me that connection needs to be checked for static.

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michaelwb said:
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Dani said:
*insert obligatory Louie post here*

[/ QUOTE ]

*Insert agreement with addition of SAK.*

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*Insert double agreement, add requisite remarks about Aria and Those who Hunt Elves*.

[jecca-neko]

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michaelwb said:
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Dani said:
*insert obligatory Louie post here*

[/ QUOTE ]

*Insert agreement with addition of SAK.*

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And Aria! /images/graemlins/catgirl0.gif

[mk2000]

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MadL said:

If fans are wondering whether ADV is still publishing manga, something tells me that connection needs to be checked for static.


[/ QUOTE ]

Their panels are great for communicating about anime but anytime I ask questions to Matt or David about any of the Manga, they go "Uhhhh, Uhhhh...I don't know....ummm, we only know about the anime side of the house"
And I am thinking "Well how about bringing some ADV manga reps in so we can 'communicate' with them".

You are correct, they do need to check for static on the manga side of the house.

Anyhow, mainly a rant on the lack of "Yours and My Secret" releases.

They're pretty close to dead with me. I'll keep getting Yotsuba, since it's so good, but I've decided to stop getting the titles I like, but don't love (Chrono Crusade and Full Metal Panic) until they finish off Steel Angel Kurumi and continue Aria.

If ADV wants me to be a loyal manga purchaser, they need to be a loyal manga publisher.

[BART]

They're probably still more alive than DrMaster ATM.

[Sandstar]

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Mortimer said:
They're probably still more alive than DrMaster ATM.

[/ QUOTE ]

Except that, you know, DRMaster actually solicits new manga in previews, whereas ADV uses their space (in the comic section) to advertise their dvds, and occasionally, manga related to those dvds.

[Vertical_Ed]

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Mortimer said:
They're probably still more alive than DrMaster ATM.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm, at the very least DrMaster has released titles recently and they have announced releases for the next few months. They have also announced new acquisitions like Claws of Darkness.

Their biggest problem has been printing delays and keeping up with schedules, but I have always been able to find their stuff in stores.

[shannonleighd]

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osaka said:
Hmm, at the very least DrMaster has released titles recently and they have announced releases for the next few months. They have also announced new acquisitions like Claws of Darkness.

[/ QUOTE ]

Did you also notice that they've lowered some of their MSRPs as well? Claws of Darkness is only $5.95 - granted it's only a little over 60 pages. And also, Tsukihime Volume 2 and Pretty Maniacs Volume 3 are $7.55 - a very strange price if you ask me.

The only title that ADV is currently release that I buy is Chrono Crusade. I haven't bought volume 6 though because the way they have left most of their other titles hanging has left a bad taste in my mouth.

Another thing that makes me mad is how they haven't updated their manga website since 2004. It's like they could care less about that part of their company. Hopefully they're going to go about it like CPM and wait until 2006 to start rolling out more titles. It sure would be nice though, if they gave us any news at all, like CPM has.

Oh, and not to stray to far by talking about Dr.Master so much, but it also looks like they have a title called Stray Little Devil (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1597960438/103-1455933-9523035?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance) which I'm not sure has been mentioned yet since it isn't listed on the Comparison Chart.

[Mr. Nail Bat]

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Mortimer said:
They're probably still more alive than DrMaster ATM.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have a feeling that with ADV, Iron Wok Jan would have been cancelled a long time ago.

I got no beef with DrMaster.

[michaelwb]

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Geoduck said:
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Mortimer said:
They're probably still more alive than DrMaster ATM.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have a feeling that with ADV, Iron Wok Jan would have been cancelled a long time ago.

I got no beef with DrMaster.

[/ QUOTE ]

Cancelled would involve actual announcement on ADV manga's part, which isn't their style.

They'd just stop soliciting new volumes and never mention a thing.

Kind of like an evil ex who breaks up with you by not calling or returning your calls...

[ShadrachAnki]

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sailor_moon said:
Another thing that makes me mad is how they haven't updated their manga website since 2004. It's like they could care less about that part of their company. Hopefully they're going to go about it like CPM and wait until 2006 to start rolling out more titles. It sure would be nice though, if they gave us any news at all, like CPM has.

[/ QUOTE ]

The fact that ADV hasn't updated their manga site in over a year is just one more reason why I have some issues with the company. I hope they get their act together in the coming year, but I'm not holding my breath. Still, some news would be nice.

Maybe they're in the middle of a major site redesign and are going to wait to update everything when they roll it out? *unreasonable hopefulness*

~Shadrach Anki

[akcoll99]

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Mortimer said:
They're probably still more alive than DrMaster ATM.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, I think Infinity would be a more apt comparison, like Osaka said, at least DR Master keeps licensing and soliciting things, even if they run late.
Right now, the only titles I can list that ADV is actively releasing/promoting are: RAY, Chrono Crusade, Full Metal Panic (both regular and Overload!), Yotsuba, Orphen, and Cromartie High. And apparently 50 Rules For Teenagers is on their list of upcoming releases again. Kid's Joker and Noodle Fighter Miki were just cancelled, according to their solicitations in Diamond's Previews. But the requests I've seen for more Aria, Kurumi, Louie, Happy Lesson, Maburaho, Jinki, and others have so far gone unheeded. /images/graemlins/sad.gif
And I agree, why doesn't ADV ever seem to have a manga 'rep' with them at conventions?

[SafetyGirl]

As a fan of Peacemaker Kurogane, Tactics, and More Starlight to Your Heart... *sigh* I wish they would commit to being a manga publisher or not.

PMK at least had the anime, one would think they would be trying to give it a push. Vol. 4 has a date on Amazon for August but it's still MIA... I know it's stalled out in Japan but can't we at least be catch up to that?

Tactics I have little hope for since they dropped the anime... and given the sloppy translation work maybe I'm just better off buying the imports and enjoying the eyecandy.

And More Starlight is fluff... but I'm a sucker for historicals so I accept that it's not -great- literature. But it's so different than the rest of ADV's manga line (only other fluffy shoujo they did was what, Princess Tutu and Pretear?) that I think it's lost and overlooked.

Even if they were coming out with new titles, I would be -wary- of starting anything, given how they can't seem to finish a single series. One complain about Tokyopop slowing down the less popular series, but hey, at least we are still -getting them-.

[The Pirate Queen]

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SafetyGirl said:
(only other fluffy shoujo they did was what, Princess Tutu and Pretear?)

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The Princess Tutu manga isn't shoujo.

[barbapapa]

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Dani said:The Princess Tutu manga isn't shoujo.

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lol.

[The Pirate Queen]

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barbapapa said:
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Dani said:The Princess Tutu manga isn't shoujo.

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lol.

[/ QUOTE ]

Amusing but true - have you read it?

[doink-chan]

The problem with ADV Manga, I think, is that they licensed too much in a short time. doinkies thinks that they should have only began with a couple things (like AzuDai and the Mag Garden stuff) before moving on to other titles...that's what other manga publishers have done. But doinkies doesn't really think the people in charge of the manga part of ADV really thought about those kinds of things.

The only title on hiatus that I really want to see them continue is Aria. I don't think that Yotsuba & will ever go on hiatus since it's been selling well for them. Though once they catch up to the Japanese release (which will be when vol. 4 is released), we'd probably have to wait a long time for Media Works to release the next tankie in Japan...

[barbapapa]

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Dani said:
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barbapapa said:
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Dani said:The Princess Tutu manga isn't shoujo.

[/ QUOTE ]

lol.

[/ QUOTE ]

Amusing but true - have you read it?

[/ QUOTE ]

No,
But I cant quite imagine that this is a manga that is aimed at a male audience. Tho there are offcourse males that read shoujo, but you know what I mean.

[Noodle]

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SafetyGirl said:
PMK at least had the anime, one would think they would be trying to give it a push.

Tactics I have little hope for since they dropped the anime... and given the sloppy translation work maybe I'm just better off buying the imports and enjoying the eyecandy.

Even if they were coming out with new titles, I would be -wary- of starting anything, given how they can't seem to finish a single series. One complain about Tokyopop slowing down the less popular series, but hey, at least we are still -getting them-.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed. I understand their position and can even (sort of) respect their desire to sell what the have before they keep printing new stuff, but I won't be buying anything new from them and --even worse for them-- dropping Peacemaker has screwed them for me buying *either* versions of their property. I was looking forward to buying/watching Peacemaker anime but only wanted to after I'd read the manga (for obvious reasons) .. so I was waiting for it. Now that they've stopped releasing the manga, I won't bother with either. Lose-Lose for ADV.

Tactics, I'm disappointed that they passed on the anime (and can only hope someone else picks it up) but I knew when we heard that news that the manga release was doomed. Shame though, and I will keep hoping because I want the manga... but you're probably right in that I'll just need to import. I bought the artbook just for the candy, so I guess I can spring for another few hundred yen for some used manga. /images/graemlins/relief1.gif (Incidentally I'll do the same for Gate.)

I'd really like to finish Gamerz Heaven and Aria, though. What a waste.

[MadL]

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Noodle said:
[ QUOTE ]
SafetyGirl said:
PMK at least had the anime, one would think they would be trying to give it a push.

Tactics I have little hope for since they dropped the anime... and given the sloppy translation work maybe I'm just better off buying the imports and enjoying the eyecandy.

Even if they were coming out with new titles, I would be -wary- of starting anything, given how they can't seem to finish a single series. One complain about Tokyopop slowing down the less popular series, but hey, at least we are still -getting them-.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed. I understand their position and can even (sort of) respect their desire to sell what the have before they keep printing new stuff, but I won't be buying anything new from them and --even worse for them-- dropping Peacemaker has screwed them for me buying *either* versions of their property. I was looking forward to buying/watching Peacemaker anime but only wanted to after I'd read the manga (for obvious reasons) .. so I was waiting for it. Now that they've stopped releasing the manga, I won't bother with either. Lose-Lose for ADV.

Tactics, I'm disappointed that they passed on the anime (and can only hope someone else picks it up) but I knew when we heard that news that the manga release was doomed. Shame though, and I will keep hoping because I want the manga... but you're probably right in that I'll just need to import. I bought the artbook just for the candy, so I guess I can spring for another few hundred yen for some used manga. /images/graemlins/relief1.gif (Incidentally I'll do the same for Gate.)

I'd really like to finish Gamerz Heaven and Aria, though. What a waste.

[/ QUOTE ]

And really, that's the most frustrating thing about all this -- the whole left-in-midair-ness about it all.

Well, that's not true. The most frustrating thing is not getting to read the end of Kurumi, Louie, Aria, etc. (I finally gave up and imported Kurumi's last two volumes -- now I've got that much more incentive to learn Japanese, eh?)

As SafetyGirl and Noodle mentioned, ADV's setting up a beautiful Catch-22 for their manga titles; they put the titles on hiatus to wait and see if sales improved, but who's going to start a series if they don't think they'll get to see how it ends? Sure, Yotsuba&!'s a pretty safe bet to continue (Yay!), since it seems to be a bona-fide hit, and FMP! fans can breathe a bit easier now that ADV's announced the last volume (wouldn't wait too long to get those back issues, though), but with all the series out there competing for the manga dollar, I'm guessing a lot of people will think twice about starting ADV-published series until they can be sure the series will be published to the end.

(Edit: one more thought...) I seem to remember ADV saying a while back that they were going to focus on manga with cross-promotional possibilities. And yet, some of the most obvious candidates for cross-promotion -- Louie the Rune Soldier and Those Who Hunt Elves (thinpak collections recently released, no less) and Kurumi -- are still stuck in hiatus. I just wish an ADV manga rep would give us some info as to what their plan is.

Sigh. Sorry to rant there, just a little frustrated. From the interview and from postings by ADV reps on the AoD boards, the company overall really does seem to be genuinely interested in anime and in their fans, but the manga division is starting to get that afterthought feel to it. Pity.

[Mrdini]

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sailor_moon said:
Another thing that makes me mad is how they haven't updated their manga website since 2004. It's like they could care less about that part of their company. Hopefully they're going to go about it like CPM and wait until 2006 to start rolling out more titles. It sure would be nice though, if they gave us any news at all, like CPM has.


[/ QUOTE ]
Hear hear! A friend recently asked me "When is Yotsuba&! #4 coming out?". So, naturally, I went to check on ADV's site, only to find out that Yotsuba isn't _even_ listed!!! WTF? The first volume came out in June '05, so that gives six months at least that the website hasn't been updated for....

[The Pirate Queen]

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barbapapa said:
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Dani said:
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barbapapa said:
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Dani said:The Princess Tutu manga isn't shoujo.

[/ QUOTE ]

lol.

[/ QUOTE ]

Amusing but true - have you read it?

[/ QUOTE ]

No,
But I cant quite imagine that this is a manga that is aimed at a male audience. Tho there are offcourse males that read shoujo, but you know what I mean.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, it's really shounen - panty shots, fanservice, the whole nine yards - the Princess Tutu manga is nothing like the anime, at all.

[quenelf]

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sailor_moon said:
Another thing that makes me mad is how they haven't updated their manga website since 2004. It's like they could care less about that part of their company.


[/ QUOTE ]

Just a thought, but when ADV laid off about a third of the company or whatever it was, wasn't that about a year back? I would assume their manga wasn't selling very well (a lineup with 90% so-so and 10% titles people might want doesn't sound like a great way to enter a market), possibly the manga department might have mostly vanished - leaving just one or two people to manage the few remaining titles they're actually publishing, and nobody with time to update the website.

Of course it could be nothing to do with that at all /images/graemlins/happy.gif This is complete speculation.

--quen

[Libertus]

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akcoll99 said:
Right now, the only titles I can list that ADV is actively releasing/promoting are: RAY, Chrono Crusade, Full Metal Panic (both regular and Overload!), Yotsuba, Orphen, and Cromartie High.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm surprised and somewhat relieved that Ray hasn't been cancelled (which I assumed it had). On the other hand, I think I'll wait until I have volume 3 in-hand before I get too pleased.

As for Cromartie...ADV needs to work on distribution if they hope to remain competitive. I haven't seen a volume of Cromartie (a series I love) in stores since #1, and my volume 4 has been 'ships in 4-6 weeks' from Amazon since it was released in early October. Another book I suppose I will believe exists when it is in-hand. (Alas, my hope for the whole Cromartie series to be localised is fading fast...)

robert

[akcoll99]

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Libertus said:
I'm surprised and somewhat relieved that Ray hasn't been cancelled (which I assumed it had). On the other hand, I think I'll wait until I have volume 3 in-hand before I get too pleased.


[/ QUOTE ]

I'm quite relieved and pleased that RAY has somehow managed to survive the great ADV manga purge. It's an excellent title. IIRC, it's only got a few volumes out in Japan (3? 4 maybe?), so it's slowdown can be attributed to catching up to the Japanese release.

As for ADV manga in general, I remember reading sometime ago that the original editor-in-chief for ADV manga had absolutely no experience in publishing, hence the chaotic mess that was their licensing and release schedule. New people are in charge now and they seem to be playing things much more conservatively with their books, instead of finding a happy medium of putting out best selling titles and anime tie-ins but also finishing off some incomplete series like Kurumi and Louie. Hell, a little communication from them would be nice. The last person I remember ever posting here from ADV manga was Cory and he no longer even works at ADV... /images/graemlins/sad.gif

[Pelianth]

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Noodle said:
I'd really like to finish Gamerz Heaven and Aria, though. What a waste.

[/ QUOTE ]
Has Gamerz Heaven even finished running in Japan?

[Pelianth]

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Dani said:
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barbapapa said:
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Dani said:
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barbapapa said:
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Dani said:The Princess Tutu manga isn't shoujo.

[/ QUOTE ]

lol.

[/ QUOTE ]

Amusing but true - have you read it?

[/ QUOTE ]

No,
But I cant quite imagine that this is a manga that is aimed at a male audience. Tho there are offcourse males that read shoujo, but you know what I mean.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, it's really shounen - panty shots, fanservice, the whole nine yards - the Princess Tutu manga is nothing like the anime, at all.

[/ QUOTE ]
Kraehe's Amazing Inflatable Boobs!

[Vertical_Ed]

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akcoll99 said:
I'm quite relieved and pleased that RAY has somehow managed to survive the great ADV manga purge. It's an excellent title. IIRC, it's only got a few volumes out in Japan (3? 4 maybe?), so it's slowdown can be attributed to catching up to the Japanese release.

[/ QUOTE ]

Seven (http://www.akitashoten.co.jp/search/images/230369.jpg) actually /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

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Hell, a little communication from them would be nice. The last person I remember ever posting here from ADV manga was Cory and he no longer even works at ADV... /images/graemlins/sad.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I would like to see updated site, at the very least.

[Noodle]

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Pelianth said:
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Noodle said:
I'd really like to finish Gamerz Heaven and Aria, though. What a waste.

[/ QUOTE ]
Has Gamerz Heaven even finished running in Japan?

[/ QUOTE ]

Beats me, but I'd heard somewhere that vol 4 (finally) got published a bit ago, and she'd had enough trouble with that as it is. Now, I'd already figured ADV would be releasing it slowly since there was so little out when they started (like a lot of their titles..), but how good a seller was it, and long has it been since #2, and has anyone heard anything about it...?

(Those are rhetorical questions, btw....)