Prosperous picture of manga in the UK

[Paul]

Antara News have published an article looking at the growth of manga in the UK; an industry where "sales of graphic novels and manga have shot up from just over 100,000 units ($2.8 million) in 2001 to nearly 600,000 units ($10.3 million) in 2005." The article quotes established UK publishers like Tokyopop and Gollancz and generally paints a healthy, prosperous picture of manga in the UK.

 

[Xelis]

I think people are finally seeing past the old 'Manga and Anime is for kids' now that pokemon has died down. Now that its growing it can only grow faster till its maybe on BBC 2.... maybe not... UK will be hit with more reality crap.

 

[That Man]

Well its good to see manga is getting more popular here the in the UK great news

 

[melonpan]

Excellent.

Come to think about it, i have been pestering my school library to get manga in, they got a few Rave Master ones in, but the old bitch who was one of the assistant people didn't like it and threw it away, then this new younger lady is the head now and i asked her about it and she is a lot more positive towards it. She said as well that next term (September), they are going to do a manga promotion thing, that will include a whole bookcase stand thing full of manga as far as i'm aware.

Also, a lot of the younger people on the coach i go to school on are reading it, which is a good sign i suppose, i think manga like FMA, Death Note, Monster, Bleach and Naruto should be promoted as for people ages ~16+, then it would take off even more.

I must say though, 100,000 to 600,000 in 4 years is something to be proud of, although i didn't know there was so much interest in it in 2001, i hadn't even heard of it then! I'm betting soon it will go to 1 million !, 2% of the population lol, yay. I just want the box sets to come out here! It's such a shame, because when i got into manga it was years after the Chobits manga artbox had been out of print, i can't find it anywhere >.>
I've ordered the Aquarian Age: Juvenille Orion artbox and Cowboy Bebop box set off Amazon but i doubt they will ever be in stock -.- The Rayearth box sets are long gone as well... It's such a shame... at least i got my hands on the Ragnarok 1-3 box set and the 2 Card Captor Sakura ones ^^. That was rather off topic, but hey

 

[melonpan]

I think people are finally seeing past the old 'Manga and Anime is for kids' now that pokemon has died down. Now that its growing it can only grow faster till its maybe on BBC 2.... maybe not... UK will be hit with more reality crap.

I know optimism is great, but for my time as being an anime enthusiast, i've slowly seen that it's impossible for people to change their minds, most of them are too closed-minded and virtually all of them ignorant, well at least people around my age, bar a few though. It seems that once people get an idea into their heads, they are too dumb to let go, i guess they can't realise they are wrong. Then there are the idiots who stand out from all the other idiots and try to make you feel bad for liking anime and the like; it's hard to love everyone . I try though.

Anyway, you said BBC2 for showing anime... i very much doubt that, as the BBC has always been a very British, well no, Western channel, as far as i know there have never been any East Asian films on it. However, Channel 4 seem to have a big interest in things like that. They showed Blood: The Last Vampire and something else (?) i can't remember, but they have shown a fair amount of East Asian films, like the Ring Triology etc. So Channel 4 is the best bet. I'm going to be optimistic as well and say that i think someday, i'm not sure when, but someday, anime will be shown on Terrestrial TV (which should be now because the analogue things will be turned off soon lol :S), i wonder when it will be :O.

EDIT: I couldn't help but notice that the news link you posted, Paul, was from an Indonesian news agency, i would have thought that this article was from a UK news paper... which is another sign that no one in this country has realised the fact that manga is growing... the UK newspapers would probably make another outrageous article about hentai.

But still, Indonesia is cool lol.

EDIT 2: I've just realised, i just checked my post count and it said 603, so i'm guessing this post was my 600th... yay for me! It's like another birthday all over again >.>

 

[Raujinn]

I know optimism is great, but for my time as being an anime enthusiast, i've slowly seen that it's impossible for people to change their minds, most of them are too closed-minded and virtually all of them ignorant, well at least people around my age, bar a few though. It seems that once people get an idea into their heads, they are too dumb to let go, i guess they can't realise they are wrong. Then there are the idiots who stand out from all the other idiots and try to make you feel bad for liking anime and the like; it's hard to love everyone Sad. I try though.

Agreed. It's gonna be a long LONG time before that notion is shaken off. Oh and the whole "LOLZ ANIME = PR0N" thing.

Personally I'm not sure I'll like anime becoming mainstream, usually that means changes and change isn't always good. I shouldn't imagine it'll happen but it's one of my little fears. Still on the upside it might encourage a newer comics industry in the british isles that's aimed at older audiences, manga-styled or otherwise. ARE there many british comics aimed at older folk? I mean outside political and newspaper strips.

Somewhat more on topic, I'm not suprised in many ways. I've seen manga in so many bookshops lately, Waterstones in particular (which isn't suprising with Toykopop getting their foot in each branch in britain. >_>; I and people in my local anime club actually bumped into the president of Tokyopop US as he was in the Birmingham Waterstones, though we didn't realise it was him and kinda told him that Viz was kicking their arses... It was only when we read his business card -LATER- that we realised :S) and of course not forgetting the Forbidden Planet whose comics shelves are being eaten up by the stuff. DVDs have become more readily available too I noticed, there any sales figures for those? Considering the prices, I wouldn't be suprised if it wasn't booming at quite the same rate...

 

[Gawyn]

I'm sure a lot of this growth can be attributed to the deal that Tokyopop struck with the Waterstones chain last year whereby manga would be made available in every Waterstones store nationwide. With support like that it would have been incredibly hard for manga to fail and I'm glad to see that it is paying dividends.

Anyway, you said BBC2 for showing anime... i very much doubt that, as the BBC has always been a very British, well no, Western channel, as far as i know there have never been any East Asian films on it. However, Channel 4 seem to have a big interest in things like that. They showed Blood: The Last Vampire and something else (?) i can't remember, but they have shown a fair amount of East Asian films, like the Ring Triology etc. So Channel 4 is the best bet. I'm going to be optimistic as well and say that i think someday, i'm not sure when, but someday, anime will be shown on Terrestrial TV (which should be now because the analogue things will be turned off soon lol :S), i wonder when it will be :O.

It was the BBC who dubbed the 60s/70s Monkey TV series (Saiyuki) and brought that to our screens. I remember growing up with that. (It is currently showing on ITV2 (or 3) on Friday evenings if anyone is interested. Brilliant, cheesy Japanese live-action ). They have shown these things in the past and I'm sure that BBC2 has shown some anime at some time in the past. They have also, in the past couple of years, aired Astro Boy so I wouldn't completely rule them out but it is a very long shot.

 

[Ryo Chan]

already beat u to it by 2 days paul

http://forums.animeuknews.net/viewtopic.php?t=4314

Edit:

also BBC was the channel to show mysterious cities of gold, ulysseas and Jayce and the wheel warriors

 

[melonpan]

Was meant to post this last night, but my internet went off >.>...

Agreed. It's gonna be a long LONG time before that notion is shaken off. Oh and the whole "LOLZ ANIME = PR0N" thing.

Heh, i doubt it will ever wear off, until the idiots are dead ^^ Lolbbq, it's actually quite amusing to see people make a fool of themselves saying it, when i can go and make fun of their ignorance of places like this. It's funny when they ask you 'how's your cartoon porn going?', i usually answer 'fine thanks', i've given up bothering trying to correct them and now most people think i'm a hentai lover, at school that is, oh how hilarious, anyway jokes on them as they will have missed out on something so amazing that they will never experience anything so good... Ergo Proxy opening, anyone?

Personally I'm not sure I'll like anime becoming mainstream, usually that means changes and change isn't always good. I shouldn't imagine it'll happen but it's one of my little fears. Still on the upside it might encourage a newer comics industry in the british isles that's aimed at older audiences, manga-styled or otherwise. ARE there many british comics aimed at older folk? I mean outside political and newspaper strips.

I personally hate English published manga-esque things, especially Tokyopop classing this Western 'manga' as manga, it's quite sickening to say the least (lol maybe that's over-reacting a bit too much, but still >.>)

I hope there is never a British Manga industry, i think it's unoriginal and pointless, sure people can go and draw their own manga, but it isn't manga if it isn't from Japan, it's stealing ideas... If the people can draw then they should send their work to a Japanese company, not get some ****** contract with Tokyopop... they're slowly Westernising manga, boo to them .

Somewhat more on topic, I'm not suprised in many ways. I've seen manga in so many bookshops lately, Waterstones in particular (which isn't suprising with Toykopop getting their foot in each branch in britain. >_>; I and people in my local anime club actually bumped into the president of Tokyopop US as he was in the Birmingham Waterstones, though we didn't realise it was him and kinda told him that Viz was kicking their arses... It was only when we read his business card -LATER- that we realised :S) and of course not forgetting the Forbidden Planet whose comics shelves are being eaten up by the stuff. DVDs have become more readily available too I noticed, there any sales figures for those? Considering the prices, I wouldn't be suprised if it wasn't booming at quite the same rate...

I went to a Forbidden Planet, it was heaven! And the UK bookstores are doing brilliantly ^^.

 

[melonpan]

It was the BBC who dubbed the 60s/70s Monkey TV series (Saiyuki) and brought that to our screens. I remember growing up with that. (It is currently showing on ITV2 (or 3) on Friday evenings if anyone is interested. Brilliant, cheesy Japanese live-action ). They have shown these things in the past and I'm sure that BBC2 has shown some anime at some time in the past. They have also, in the past couple of years, aired Astro Boy so I wouldn't completely rule them out but it is a very long shot.

Lol, that's interesting to know, and now that i think about it, and the stress of thinking about exams is gone, i have a clear head.

I think you're right, there is still some possibility, but it's much more likely to be on more popular and for-young-people (heh fancy that, anime classed as something popular) Channel 4.

I just remembered about those old anime shows they showed on the BBC lol, remember Moomins anyone, that was pure class, oh how i long for the Moomins . Not forgetting Monster Rancher... another anime that i loved and grew up with, but it got cancelled!!!! I'm sure there are many more (i think there was that time-detective one or something, the cave man with this big rock hammer, but i doubt that's anime), and i've seen Astro Boy listed for CBBC, but i've never personally seen it...

 

[Gawyn]

I personally hate English published manga-esque things, especially Tokyopop classing this Western 'manga' as manga, it's quite sickening to say the least (lol maybe that's over-reacting a bit too much, but still >.>)

I hope there is never a British comics industry, i think it's unoriginal and pointless, sure people can go and draw their own manga, but it isn't manga if it isn't from Japan, it's stealing ideas... If the people can draw then they should send their work to a Japanese company, not get some ****** contract with Tokyopop... they're slowly Westernising manga, boo to them .

There already is and has been an English comics industry. I think what you really mean is that you hope there will never be an English "manga" (dammit it's not manga unless it comes from Japan *grr*) industry and I would agree with you wholeheartedly on that. There are some great British comics, including 2000AD (everyone knows Judge Dredd, surely ), Viz (not to be confused with the US manga publisher) as well as all of the kids' comics such as the Beano and Dandy et al.

Back in the 80s we published the best version of the Transformers comics (so much so the US fans preferred to import that than read their own version ). By no means is our own comics industry as big as that of the US but it does have its couple of gems.

 

[melonpan]

I personally hate English published manga-esque things, especially Tokyopop classing this Western 'manga' as manga, it's quite sickening to say the least (lol maybe that's over-reacting a bit too much, but still >.>)

I hope there is never a British comics industry, i think it's unoriginal and pointless, sure people can go and draw their own manga, but it isn't manga if it isn't from Japan, it's stealing ideas... If the people can draw then they should send their work to a Japanese company, not get some ****** contract with Tokyopop... they're slowly Westernising manga, boo to them .

There already is and has been an English comics industry. I think what you really mean is that you hope there will never be an English "manga" (dammit it's not manga unless it comes from Japan *grr*) industry and I would agree with you wholeheartedly on that. There are some great British comics, including 2000AD (everyone knows Judge Dredd, surely ), Viz (not to be confused with the US manga publisher) as well as all of the kids' comics such as the Beano and Dandy et al.

Back in the 80s we published the best version of the Transformers comics (so much so the US fans preferred to import that than read their own version ). By no means is our own comics industry as big as that of the US but it does have its couple of gems.

Hehe, when i was re-reading my post i found that i had put english comic industry with out the manga in the middle, i thought no one would notice so i didn't change it lol. But yeah, i meant english manga industry, it's quite interesting to find out about all those english comics, i've never been a fan of them myself, and until just now, i very ignorantly thought that it all came from America... how silly i was lol, the Beano is an English classic though ^^, never heard of Viz i don't think though.

I'll change my post too lol.

 

[Raujinn]

Ergo Proxy opening, anyone?

Yes please!

I personally hate English published manga-esque things, especially Tokyopop classing this Western 'manga' as manga, it's quite sickening to say the least (lol maybe that's over-reacting a bit too much, but still >.>)

Well what would you call it then? I mean we have Manhwa for Korea. And considering pretty much all we have is sweatdrop so far it's hardly fair to judge the british side of things, anyway. Personally speaking, I think the trouble with western manga is the authors more than the artwork. The artwork can be good, yeah, but I get the feeling that most of them SERIOUSLY need to learn how to tell a good story first. You need more than the right eyes to have a good manga. They also really lack innovation...

I hope there is never a British Manga industry, i think it's unoriginal and pointless, sure people can go and draw their own manga, but it isn't manga if it isn't from Japan, it's stealing ideas... If the people can draw then they should send their work to a Japanese company, not get some ****** contract with Tokyopop... they're slowly Westernising manga, boo to them .

It's hardly fair to say they're stealing. As far as artwork goes, ferom what I've seen there's been a lot of original takes on anime, and I LIKE that. It's my personal belief that if you're gonna try and draw in anime style, fair enough, good for you. But please for the love of all that is mighty, don't just base it on what's in "How to draw manga" word for word. Develop your OWN take on manga, it's what the japanese artists do and it's what all artists should do. Lets face it, there's nothing wrong with influence, pretty much all of art lives on influence.
As for ideas, yes, I've seen very little original stuff from western manga writers. Which is a pity seeing as really the writing and characters for me are the very soul of manga.

And as for westernising, welcome to business! Wanna make your stuff more accessible to a wider audience you have to make stuff more accessible to em! And that sometimes means dumbing it down.

I went to a Forbidden Planet, it was heaven! And the UK bookstores are doing brilliantly ^^.

Ahh, I had the benefit of having one just a 10 minute walk away. FP is indeed awesome, though the one in Wolves has only JUST caught up with the naruto craze.. a year too late. :<

EDIT: Tags fix'd

 

[Gawyn]

I personally hate English published manga-esque things, especially Tokyopop classing this Western 'manga' as manga, it's quite sickening to say the least (lol maybe that's over-reacting a bit too much, but still >.>)

Well what would you call it then? I mean we have Manhwa for Korea. And considering pretty much all we have is sweatdrop so far it's hardly fair to judge the british side of things, anyway. Personally speaking, I think the trouble with western manga is the authors more than the artwork. The artwork can be good, yeah, but I get the feeling that most of them SERIOUSLY need to learn how to tell a good story first. You need more than the right eyes to have a good manga. They also really lack innovation...

I would call them comics since that is what they are. It is not a dirty word and refers to the overall concept of pictorial storytelling using sequential frames. I class manga as comics when I am speaking in broad terms. If I want to specifically refer to Japanese comics I call it manga since that is a shorthand term for them.

I hope there is never a British Manga industry, i think it's unoriginal and pointless, sure people can go and draw their own manga, but it isn't manga if it isn't from Japan, it's stealing ideas... If the people can draw then they should send their work to a Japanese company, not get some ****** contract with Tokyopop... they're slowly Westernising manga, boo to them .

It's hardly fair to say they're stealing. As far as artwork goes, ferom what I've seen there's been a lot of original takes on anime, and I LIKE that. It's my personal belief that if you're gonna try and draw in anime style, fair enough, good for you. But please for the love of all that is mighty, don't just base it on what's in "How to draw manga" word for word. Develop your OWN take on manga, it's what the japanese artists do and it's what all artists should do. Lets face it, there's nothing wrong with influence, pretty much all of art lives on influence.
As for ideas, yes, I've seen very little original stuff from western manga writers. Which is a pity seeing as really the writing and characters for me are the very soul of manga.

And as for westernising, welcome to business! Wanna make your stuff more accessible to a wider audience you have to make stuff more accessible to em! And that sometimes means dumbing it down.

My biggest problem with calling western comics manga is that manga cannot be defined as a style. Neither does it refer to a particular page-size since the size of a manga book is different to the size they appear in their serialized form. It is purely being used as a buzz word designed to lure the unwary into buying something they otherwise may not. I would personally prefer honesty in these things and tell it like it is. As I stated earlier there is nothing wrong with comics; I like comics and am somewhat offended by the impression given off by this labelling that seems to make out there is something inherently bad about comics and calling them manga suddenly makes them "better".

 

[melonpan]

I personally hate English published manga-esque things, especially Tokyopop classing this Western 'manga' as manga, it's quite sickening to say the least (lol maybe that's over-reacting a bit too much, but still >.>)

Well what would you call it then? I mean we have Manhwa for Korea. And considering pretty much all we have is sweatdrop so far it's hardly fair to judge the british side of things, anyway. Personally speaking, I think the trouble with western manga is the authors more than the artwork. The artwork can be good, yeah, but I get the feeling that most of them SERIOUSLY need to learn how to tell a good story first. You need more than the right eyes to have a good manga. They also really lack innovation...

Gawn got to it first, but i have the exact same opinion on it... i think they should just be called comics, as the name comic is a Western term... they shouldn't have some other special name like manga because they aren't, they're just comics. And if they're influenced by manga then they should also be called comics...

I hope there is never a British Manga industry, i think it's unoriginal and pointless, sure people can go and draw their own manga, but it isn't manga if it isn't from Japan, it's stealing ideas... If the people can draw then they should send their work to a Japanese company, not get some ****** contract with Tokyopop... they're slowly Westernising manga, boo to them .

It's hardly fair to say they're stealing. As far as artwork goes, ferom what I've seen there's been a lot of original takes on anime, and I LIKE that. It's my personal belief that if you're gonna try and draw in anime style, fair enough, good for you. But please for the love of all that is mighty, don't just base it on what's in "How to draw manga" word for word. Develop your OWN take on manga, it's what the japanese artists do and it's what all artists should do. Lets face it, there's nothing wrong with influence, pretty much all of art lives on influence.
As for ideas, yes, I've seen very little original stuff from western manga writers. Which is a pity seeing as really the writing and characters for me are the very soul of manga.

And as for westernising, welcome to business! Wanna make your stuff more accessible to a wider audience you have to make stuff more accessible to em! And that sometimes means dumbing it down.

I agree with you here... most of the stuff i've seen from Sweatdrop is, well, different, but that meaning a bit cheap and tacky in my mind... Sweatdrop are a new company and kudos to them for trying so hard to make it big, but it's just not... Yes, 'some' of their authors can draw; very well to say the least, but as you said they lack the 'X-factor' that makes it good. Thinking about all the different types of proper manga is hard, but i was just thinking about the amazing story and artwork from, say, Alichino (in fact is that Manhwa?), then go to a manga like Pita-Ten. The stories are completely different and so is the artwork. Then take a look at a 'Tokyopop manga', like Warcraft >.> Yep, the artwork is sexy to say the least, but there seems to be no real story, it's just (from what i've read), a spin-off of the game and has none of the manga X-factor.

Western COMIC companies like Sweatdrop and Tokyopop's own manga infuenced authors need to really work at it, and imo stray away from trying to copy manga or be as good as manga artists, but try and make their own new style, maybe it could actually work.

On another note though, from what i read of Bizengast or however it's spelt, in that Tokyopop Sneaks book, it was certainly different, and quite a lot better than most other comics i've seen, it was certainly on the way to making something different and not trying to copy manga... the artwork was different too, kudos to whoever made it ^^.

I went to a Forbidden Planet, it was heaven! And the UK bookstores are doing brilliantly ^^.

Ahh, I had the benefit of having one just a 10 minute walk away. FP is indeed awesome, though the one in Wolves has only JUST caught up with the naruto craze.. a year too late. :<

I went to their home store i think it was in London, it's this massive place with a massive underground bit... i found the anime/manga section and it was totally amazing, and packed full of people, but the prices were all £20 >.> I saw the Ghost in the Shell Official Log 1 there too! but i didn't have any money I must get that soon!

EDIT: Sorry if this is a little muddly, i just got up ^^.

 

[Raujinn]

I would call them comics since that is what they are. It is not a dirty word and refers to the overall concept of pictorial storytelling using sequential frames. I class manga as comics when I am speaking in broad terms. If I want to specifically refer to Japanese comics I call it manga since that is a shorthand term for them.

Sucks to be us really, doesn't it? Personally, I see manga as comics too, really, likewise I see anime as cartoons. It's morelike being picky with the terminology though, which fair enough, but the fact of the matter is the popular opinion atm is that manga IS a style and seeing as that's how the market in general percieves it, for now that's gonna be how it'll be. I understand how annoying it is though to have the term minced like it is though, especially with Tokyopop's frankly offensive lineup of Cinemanga. And were manga to go mainstream I can only wonder how much -further- minced it'll get.

It is purely being used as a buzz word designed to lure the unwary into buying something they otherwise may not.

As much I dislike it too, if it helps sales why -shouldn't- they use it?
And I wouldn't worry, no-one here's saying "lols comix suxxorz". Least I'm certainly not anyway.

I went to their home store i think it was in London, it's this massive place with a massive underground bit... i found the anime/manga section and it was totally amazing, and packed full of people, but the prices were all £20 >.> I saw the Ghost in the Shell Official Log 1 there too! but i didn't have any money Sad I must get that soon!

Ah yes, I've heard the London FP is supposed to be something special. Must go there someday...

 

[melonpan]

likewise I see anime as cartoons.

But we all know that anime literally means animation, and yes cartoons are a form of it, there are also games, that come from Japan, which can be classed as anime, and 3D movies too that can be classed as anime. Anything that comes out of Japan, and is animated is anime...

especially with Tokyopop's frankly offensive lineup of Cinemanga

I agree totally with this, i have never seen such a weird looking catalogue of crap before... how terrible they are for classing it as manga, it just takes the piss, what was it, Spongebob Square Pants as manga, wtf comes to mind -.-

EDIT: Hahahaha, i just checked my other most recent most on the Ghibli topic, and it got deleted, oh how this is such a Communist forum, freedom of speech my ass.

 

[7zark7]

also BBC was the channel to show mysterious cities of gold, ulysseas and Jayce and the wheel warriors

ahem.... it was Channel 4 who aired the rather enjoyable Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors series.


...but the BBC did broadcast Battle of the Planets back in t'day! ...and Akira!

 

[Orthus]

I went to their home store i think it was in London, it's this massive place with a massive underground bit... i found the anime/manga section and it was totally amazing, and packed full of people, but the prices were all £20 >.> I saw the Ghost in the Shell Official Log 1 there too! but i didn't have any money I must get that soon!

Yep thats the London one, which is hellalot better than the their old London store I can tell you. Althrough I do miss its dark broody comic and it small cosy manga section where I used to buy my manga when it was hardly avialable in the UK. ( now I feel old ).

Anyways Forbidden Planet is not the best for picking up bargains since they stick very closely to the RRP on the dvds. They hardly ever have sales on anime or manga. But sometimes you can pick up dvds a week or two before the release date there if your lucky and their manga tends to have a lot of us imports mixed in.

 

[melonpan]

Anyways Forbidden Planet is not the best for picking up bargains since they stick very closely to the RRP on the dvds. They hardly ever have sales on anime or manga. But sometimes you can pick up dvds a week or two before the release date there if your lucky and their manga tends to have a lot of us imports mixed in.

I don't tend to buy things in shops at all to be honest, i just love searching around, especially in that FP shop. Walls and walls of anime and manga, wow i've posted that about 3 times now.