Warriors: The Lost Warrior
© TOKYOPOP

Related Links

0

Lost Cat, Lost Cause?

A few weeks ago in the Mumbling Kitsune, I pitched a funny idea: An anime adaptation of Michael Ende's classic tale, The Neverending Story. Most of us carry a nostalgia-fueled love of the movie, even if it's not the most accurate book-to-screen transition in the world. An anime (or manga) adaptation would allow for something closer to Ende's vision, and in the hands of a master such as Miyazaki (esteemed director of Princess Mononke, Howl's Moving Castle and a bunch of other stuff way worth watching), good times could be had.

Unfortunately, there's still no word of a Neverending Remake, but major manga publisher TOKYOPOP is undertaking a related journey by releasing manga adaptations of young adult novels.

The very notion has me half excited and half nervous. TOKYOPOP has teamed up with Harper Collins to publish their latest experiment, and I was recently sent one of their first chimeras; the first volume of Warriors: The Lost Warrior. I reviewed the title in-depth earlier in the week. You can read it here.

To summarise the review for those of you who worship at the Church of TL;DR. TOKYOPOP and Harper Collins have a good idea going, but if it's going to survive--and thrive--a lot of work has to be done in terms of presentation and pricing.

The Warriors novel series runs multiple volumes and is based around the struggles of forest-dwelling cats. The cats rule themselves with a caste system: There are hunters, fighters and healers, and each has their place in society. There are Clans with noble intentions (such as the Thunder Clan) and Clans with darker plans in mind (such as, believe it or not, the Shadow Clan). If you've ever read Tailchaser's Song by Tad Williams, you have a good idea of Warriors' flavour.

It might be incorrect to classify The Lost Warrior as a straight adaptation, because it seems to be a completely new tale simply based in the the Warriors world. Either way, the action and narration are fairly similar to that of the series' original author(s), Erin Hunter.

There's no doubt kids will like The Lost Warrior manga. As I mentioned in the review, there's a good mix of action, adventure and story. But the manga's simplified presentation will drive away young readers instead of drawing them in.

At 100 pages, there's about twenty minutes worth of reading for someone with a decent grasp of words. Each page has larger-than-average pictures and lettering, which makes the asking price of $6.99 a little steep (and $8.75 in Canada--yikes. Earth to Merchants, the Canadian dollar regained some respectability ages ago). For the same price, or less, a kid might pick up an actual YA novel, unless they're that desperate for pretty pictures. In either case, a parent is the one who's probably going to make the purchase, and we're all familiar with how notoriously picky grown ups can be when it comes to value. Even under favourable pricing conditions, manga often receives the automatic "comic book" black mark and has enough to fight against.

If The Lost Warrior was marked for five-year-olds, a meagre page count might be more acceptable. But the manga is being marketed for a "Youth" audience--ages ten and up, according to the rating on the back cover.

Any number of excuses can be offered for the lousy length. "Oh, kids don't like to read." "Oh, kids have short attention spans these days." Bzzzt. It's true kids have never been renowned for their ability to sit down long enough to read a book. Why else would have the well-worn stereotype of the "fat, antisocial kid" reading under a tree while his peers play baseball? On the other hand, there's a series of fantasy books kids go wild for, despite the fact each tome spans hundreds of pages. Hint: The hero's name rhymes with "Harry Plotter."

The Lost Warrior, sad to say, also carries the sneaky scent of an ulterior motive. Part of its whopping 100 page count is sacrificed for chapter excerpts from the actual Warriors books. It can't legitimately be said there's anything wrong promoting the novel within the manga, but it makes an otherwise enjoyable tale suddenly feel like a commercial.

I would love to see a company take a more serious attitude towards manga adaptations of novels. It doesn't matter if the artists and writers involved are Japanese or American, and it doesn't matter if the novels are for adults or young adults; a lot of YA series are entertaining. Remember the Animorphs? If it got the manga treatment, it'd be undeniably cool. But it's a wasted effort if the company (or companies) involved fret over formulas and focus groups instead of just cutting free and allowing the writers and artists to do credit to the books they love.     

(PS, I'm still hoping and praying for a manga adaptation of The Plague Dogs and you're still welcome to join me.)