UK Manga Thoughts

I was in Ottakars today enjoying its less pompous take on book selling (while it lasts) and took a moment to browse through their sizable manga selection. They had a number of the UK published series from Gollancz (who deal with most of the Jump favourites, although not Naruto inexplicably) and the recent arrival of Tanoshimi (Del Rey’s UK sister company). Being more than familiar with US imports, the comparison between the two products was fairly prominent in my mind and it led to a number of dissatisfied conclusions when weighing them up against each other. Not good when deciding the merits of supporting the domestic releases.

My familiarity with Gollancz’s output is much more direct, with a purchase of the first three volumes of Rurouni Kenshin from a recent play.com sale allowing for a prolonged examination. With this my initial (and somewhat superficial) reaction related to the noticeable drop in paper quality. It may have been fastidiousness on my part but the paper quality definitely felt lower in quality, producing a dinginess similar to your favourite novel after it's been read a few times and left on the shelf for countless years. There could be a host of explanations for this - relating to British bylaws on using recycled paper for printed media, for instance – but my knowledge of these things is too limited to use as a legitimate excuse. I’m more inclined to think it was a cost-cutting measure and this really soured my motivation to ‘buy British’.

After looking over a couple of Tanoshimi manga, including xxxHOLiC and Tsubasa, their presentation standards were a little higher but still not on par with the US equivalents. With xxxHOLiC there were no colour pages to speak of and a few of the nice touches featured on other US releases were missing. The reduced cost could easily explain this, or perhaps more likely the lack of a discerning audience to demand it, but these minor things have a bizarre amount of prominence when deciding which version to buy. I also found it insulting that they decided the UK audience wouldn’t be as interested in these things as Americans. Seeing as Random House cited the reduced price as a counter-measure to tempt people away from importing you’d think they’d be more aware of the other enticing aspects of doing so and cover all their bases. Sadly no, and it's another mark against them.

Still, my criticism of Tanoshimi’s work is founded on a slightly unfair flick-through. From what I could see the content, what really matters, is reproduced faithfully. All the meaningful touches that make Del Rey such a great publisher were there, including the top translation and the always-informative linear notes. Gollancz honours its no-frills Shonen Jump approach, too, perhaps to its detriment.

The fact there isn’t much else to Viz’s line of Jump manga probably makes it so easy to concentrate on superfluous issues such as paper quality. Yet, when it comes down to deciding which versions to buy – whether to support the home team and buy domestic or import and generally get more for your extra quid - this stuff is important. And it’s a deal-breaker. Until both companies learn from Tokyopop and Dark Horse, who both offer identical domestic products without any needless, ugly rebranding and production corner-cutting, my patronage is sticking with the yanks. And I’m honestly disappointed to admit it. Let's hope feedback will alert them to the error of their ways and things will change for the better.

Comments

[Karura]

My buying habits are based mostly around convenience; I can buy a single Gollancz volume from play.com and not have to pay postage, so I can live with the quality level. I have to admit, though, that I was more wary of Tanoshimi given that Del Rey do such a good job, but Negima #1 seemed fine. Noentheless, I'll probably keep getting the US versions for Tsubasa, xxxHolic and School Rumble.

About the xxxHolic colour pages, iirc the first few volumes of the US versions didn't have them either (or at least the volumes I have don't).

[Hige]

Yeah, they definitely fit the bill as disposable entertainment, but having been spoilt by American page quality it's quite hard for me to take these 'lesser' versions seriously as collectible items.

And you're right, xxxHOLiC didn't have colour pages initially, and it was just the first volume I checked. I think a Tanoshimi employee responded on Love Manga saying there wasn't a market demand for them, though, so they probably won't make an appearance at all...

Colour pages aren't a make or break deal for me. It acted more as a point of criticism when comparing to Del Rey's stuff, and the subsequent wonderings of 'why not us?' Plus, most people who import anyway would have that as one more reason not to support the domestic release.

[Karura]

In principle, I do agree that it's preferable to have the shiniest version, even if it does mean importing (I used to feel some guilt over picking the US version but now I'm a hardened offender). As I said above, though, there are times when I'll just pick the cheap and easy play.com version; for something like Fushigi Yugi, all I need is a copy I can read- it's not an important enough series to merit much more than that.

From a distributor point of view, I can see that little things like colour pages may not be worth the expense for the smaller market, but as you say, at the same time it's making the product less desirable. Personally I'm a sucker for some eye candy, so I hate to miss out on any coloured artwork that might be on offer.