Life of a (Rookie) Editor: Learn By Doing

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Daniella Orihuela-Gruber

“Learn by doing” is the motto of my alma mater, California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo. You’ve probably never heard of the place, but that’s alright.

Cal Poly, as everyone calls it, is a very practical school. In fact, the best way to describe it is a fancy vocational university mostly for majors that make a lot of money. The engineering, architecture, agriculture, math and science schools are the most popular and impacted, and they are known for graduating students who have the most hands-on experience. And I went there to study journalism. (I had my reasons!)

The teaching policy in the journalism department was still the same: You don’t teach kids how to do things, you tell them how to do it and then throw them into the fire.

What does this have to do with being a manga editor? Cal Poly taught me all my basic editing skills. They also taught  me some of the basics of blogging and, without blogging, I might not have as many clients as I do now. But that’s what I’m trying to get at, just give me a little bit more time to explain.

There is no school, except maybe in Japan, out there that specifically teaches you how to  be a creative professional working in manga. (As in editing, lettering, design, etc.) If you want to learn how to work on manga, there are two ways to do it: One, you get into publishing or a related field elsewhere and somehow find your way into manga; or two, you intern at a manga publisher and they hire you fresh out of college.

I know a number of people who got in the second way, even someone who wasn’t out of college yet before she was hired on.  A few of these people are even recognized as industry talents. And I bet you all of them think that some of their early work was really awful.

This is a pretty common thing. I’ve found that artists have the same problem, they look at their early work and gasp in horror and embarrassment that they made something they now consider to be shoddy work. I’ve seen a lot of professionals in manga reminisce about this feeling. I’ve certainly felt it too.

When I admitted to this a while ago, someone got kind of angry at me for suggesting that their manga was my training ground. It surprised me a little, but it’s perfectly natural to want to buy the best manga that can be produced. Of course, from my perspective, it’s completely different.

It isn’t that those new to manga production aren’t trying to make the best manga they can. Quite the opposite, I think, most are trying their hardest since their career has just begun and there is a need to prove their worth and talent. But working on manga is something one gets better at over time, just like the artists and writers who create manga. A professional learns with every mistake they make and every new thing that they notice they could be doing to make a better manga. So, looking back, a lot of these people see the mistakes they made and the things they didn’t know they could improve yet.

It’s basically all in the mind. If you, a regular manga reader, looked at the same book that we professionals think of as our worst example of our work, you might not be able to tell where we messed up. Professionals can see it because we have to look at manga every day and have to identify what is good and what is better.

But, you say, the manga I want to buy is still your training ground. I don’t think that’s cool!

Well, it might not be cool with you, the reader, but that’s kind of just how things go.

If publishers incubated and trained creative professionals until they became the best before letting them work on manga it would be extremely expensive for the company and the cost would be passed onto the reader. (Let me guess, you don’t want more expensive manga, right?) Not to mention the fact it would make working in manga almost as difficult as earning a law degree or becoming a doctor. People working in manga don’t  need a PhD before they’re allowed to touch manga. What manga professionals do need is to  build up experience working on manga to be the best. If they are still working on manga 5-10 years later, they’ll be like a perfectly-aged wine or cheese. But they have to be given the chance to work on manga and push through all the challenges that come with book publishing.

Incubating talent would also prevent new talent from entering the industry. For one, such strict adherence to the publisher’s idea of perfection would not only stifle that talent, but prevent fresh ideas from entering the industry as well. Only one or two translators and a teeny tiny handful of letterers, adapters, editors and designers would be working on any given manga. If you truly disliked the style of any one of these people, then you wouldn’t have too many other reading choices. Publishers wouldn’t be able to put out the variety or quantity of manga that they do now with such a small team. Some people would really, really like it if publishers put out less K-on! or Naruto, but that was manga publishing 20 years ago when manga was only for 30-something dudes. Now the market is much bigger and more diverse than before. Having a wide variety actually helps the bigger publishers in today’s market because it allows them to draw more readers in.

So allowing manga professionals to learn by doing rather benefits the industry in the long run.  You get a wide variety of manga to read and we get to build up our experience.  We apologize that you have to put up with our inexperience at times, but we’re always trying our best!

 

 

Posted in Discussion, manga, opinion | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Attention Bloggers: iPhone Manhwa App Needs Review

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Daniella Orihuela-Gruber

Hi, everyone!

I don’t normally do marketing for my clients on this blog, but in this case I just need to help get the word out to other anime and manga bloggers.

iSeeToon is looking to give out some redeemable codes for it’s Ill-Fated Relationship manhwa iPhone app. In return, those who receive the codes must review the manhwa on their own blogs. Obviously, I’m not going to try to tell you what kind of review you should write because iSeeToon really just wants to get the app some exposure, but I will be checking up on everyone who gets a code to make sure they post a review somewhere online.

I have about four codes at first posting, but I’m sure I can get more from iSeeToon if there are enough bloggers who want to read and review the app.

To repeat, in order to get a code you must have the following:

-An iPhone or an iPod Touch.

-A blog where you can review Ill-Fated Relationship after you read it.

Ill-Fated Relationship is a webtoon, or in other words, a manhwa that is made specifically for the digital medium. It’s not a motion comic and you don’t have to constantly zoom in and out of a page because everything is made to fit to the iPhone screen. The story is about two serial killers who meet and begin a romance that sends them into a strange downward spiral. The manhwa is very dark and creepy. I think it’s a refreshing departure from most manhwa that’s been published in English.

For more information, I’ve mentioned Ill-Fated Relationship on this blog before, and if you want a more unbiased take on this manhwa, check out Melinda Beasi’s review over at Manhwa Bookshelf.

Thanks so much to my non-blogging readers for putting up with this and to everyone who asks for a code.

Posted in manga, news, webcomics | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Anime Expo 2011- Day Two

Posted on July 3, 2011 by Daniella Orihuela-Gruber

My day started off with the Production I.G panel. With trailers for the Bunny Drop anime and Blood C, a collaboration with CLAMP and the Blood franchise. While the highlight of the panel is definitely Maki Terishima and her complete  honesty with the crowd, Maki revealed that Yen Press would be giving out lots of copies of Avi Arad’s The Innocent at Comic Con International.

Next up was the Anime Manga Trivia Battle: U.S. Executives vs. Japanese Executives panel. The panelists included Lance Heiskell of FUNimation, Patrick Macias of Crunchyroll/Otaku USA, Michelle Hwang of Crunchyroll, Mikako Ogata of Wowmax Media, Atsushi Yanai of Viz, Ken Iyadomi of Bandai and Henry Goto of Aniplex of America.

Although the title made it seem like it would be a battle of anime and manga knowledge, the panel run by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) was more like an audience feedback section. Interspersed between five or six trivia questions, the attending executives asked the audience their opinions about whether they would want to see classic anime or manga on the market, whether they preferred digital manga to print manga and what kind of online streaming sites they liked. Not only did the audience answer yes or no with signs passed out by JETRO at the beginning of the panel, but the industry folks called upon different audience members to state their opinions on the questions to get more insight into why the audience answered one way or another. There was also a paper survey given out asking about how the audience members bought and consumed anime and manga. While Anime Expo is too small a sampling to base corporate decisions on, I think JETRO and the executives should continue to poll con attendees around the country to see where the broader tastes of the U.S. Market lie. If nothing else, it was fun to interact with the bigwigs and feel like your opinion counts somewhere. Too often, industry panels are only a means to pump out trailers and release dates for new anime and manga hitting the market, so getting to actually share opinions and discuss them with higher-ups felt good.

Atsushi Yanai of Viz also stated that the company is looking to offer their manga app on systems other than the iPhone/iPad, so manga lovers who hate iOS might not be left without Viz’s growing digital manga catalog for much longer.

During the Anime Manga Trivia Battle, there was a suspected bomb threat in the South Hall food court of the convention center. It seems like most of the South Hall corridors and the food court itself were promptly evacuated, but not the Dealer’s Hall.  Anime News Network later reported that the object was an unmarked basket and that it was thankfully nothing serious.

Since the bomb scare didn’t affect anyone in the West Hall, I went on ahead to the Anime News Network panel and then to the Digital Manga Publishing panel. Unfortunately, the Digital Manga Publishing panel focused entirely on the Digital Manga Guild. While they announced the first 23 titles to be sent out for localization through the Digital Manga Guild, the publisher announced no new manga licenses for print.

Here’s the DMG list that I found on Anime News Network:

Tired of Waiting for Love By author Saki Aida and artist Yugi Yamada
Rule of Standing on Tiptoe By Puku Okuyama
Again Tomorrow By Nabako Kamo
Second Night of a Thousand Nights By Keiko Kinoshita
You and Tonight by Keiko Kinoshita
Steadfast Candy Heart Love by Satomi Konno
Neck-Tie by Asahi Shima
I Love Love Too by Himeko Shindo
Only the Flower Knows by Rihito Takarai
My Sempai by Hebiko Habuyama
Courtesan Kings by Souya Himawari
The Reason Why He Loves Him So Much by Saori Mieno
The Faithful Dog Waits for Flowers by Mario Yamada
Chirp Chirp by Kotetsuko Yamamoto
Mad Cinderella by Kotetsuko Yamamoto
Blooming Darling by Kotetsuko Yamamoto
Full Bloom by Rio and Saori Mieno
The Kneeling Butler by Ikue Ishida
The Song of Rainfall by Nawo Inoue
A Passion of Oranges by Ruis Maki
Interval by Kanami Itsuki
Dokidoki Crush by Kotetsuko Yamamoto
Curve by Kahiro Kyouda

While I believe all of these titles are yaoi, Digital Manga Publishing tried to assure the small audience that future titles would not consist solely of BL titles.

Later, at the Bandai Entertainment panel, the company announced the only new print manga licenses of the con thus far, the Gundam 001 and Booboo Kagaboo manga. Meanwhile, they announced that they would be streaming Sacred Seven on Hulu and Crunchyroll starting on July 8th and that The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya movie and Turn A Gundam series would be coming out in the fall.

Unfortunately, that’s it for Day Two! I didn’t go to the Mikunopolis concert, but I heard that those in attendance had a great time.

Industry events for the rest of the convention are few, but perhaps that will give me time to roam the Dealer’s Hall for some great deals on cheap manga!

You can keep up with me on Twitter for live news and events.

 

Posted in manga, news | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Anime Expo 2011: Day One

Posted on July 2, 2011 by Daniella Orihuela-Gruber

I got to Anime Expo this year pretty early. Too early to partake in the Dealers Hall and too early for the first panel I wanted to see. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait in the crazy two-hour line snaking in and out of the convention center.  The benefits of being an industry member. Heh heh heh.

If you’re looking for a fun way to start a convention for most of the people attending your panel, may I suggest dressing up as some of the wackiest characters from your wackiest anime?

That’s what the “special guests” of the NIS America panel did with their costumes from Arakawa Under the Bridge and it certainly made the panel memorable. They were just two company executives, but it was a special touch that showed they cared about entertaining the crowd.

They talked a little bit about what kind of anime they liked to pick, specifically ones that are story-driven, a little bit silly and “anti-fanservice” (although the executive dressed as a Kappa said that he liked to see boobs and asses.) When asked about whether or not they considered the popularity of a title in Japan, the Kappa remarked in an excellent deadpan that they didn’t care about that kind of thing. Their license announcements included Family Restaurant Wagnaria (also called Working!), Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera originally by Go Nagai and my favorite license announcement of the day: Kimi ni Todoke. (SERIOUSLY, I’M SO EXCITED!!!)

Next up was the Right Stuf/Nozomi Entertainment panel. Although Right Stuf president Shawne Kleckner could not attend Anime Expo this year, he spiced up the panel by showing up in slightly cryptic messages throughout the panel, giving the panel a little bit of spice. Right Stuf revealed months ago that customers who purchased all three box sets of Revolutionary Girl Utena would receive a special gift with the third box set. Today they let fans know that the special gift would be a replica of the rose seal ring from the show. Right Stuf will also be bringing out more remastered versions of the original Dirty Pair as well as remastered versions of Dirty Pair Flash. Other highlights included a re-release of the complete collection of Gasaraki and a re-release and remastering of Martian Successor Nadesico.

Unfortunately, the Aniplex of America panel was mostly a rehashing of their Fanime announcements, including Rurouni Kenshin on Blu-ray and Durarara! showing on Cartoon Network. They did, however, reveal that they had licensed Puella Magi Madoka Magica, but most Twitter-savvy fans had discovered the news when a Madoka Magica website popped up under their name earlier in the day. Aniplex will also have their own channel on the newly released NicoNico.com, the English version of Nico Nico Douga.

After the Aniplex panel, I headed down to the food trucks and sampled the lomo saltado from Lomo Arigato. It might be too much starch for some people (the dish includes french fries and rice), but the Peruvian dish is like comfort food for me and it kept me going for the rest of the day.

After that came the Viz Media panel, which was delayed for almost an hour. Although many were expecting manga license announcements, Viz did not have anything new to share other than Grand Guignol Orchestra and Solanin were coming to their iPad app, and that Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan vol. 4 would be released digitally before it would be released in print. (Also that volume one of Nura will be available on their iPad app for free for a limited time to celebrate the second season of the anime.) Viz will also be releasing the Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva movie sometime this fall, as well as the first live action Gantz movie. It’s a shame that Viz didn’t announce any new manga licenses, but my guess is they’ll just have more to share with us at San Diego Comic-Con later this month.

Over at the FUNimation panel (also delayed), they announced a multi-platform Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood game called Fullmetal Battle. The game will be available on Facebook,  iPhone/iPad and Android, as well as a few other places. They also plan to release Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi this October. Some anime highlights included the release of Last Exile-Fam, the Silverwing-, which will be simulcast as well as released on blu-ray and DVD, plus season two of both Spice and Wolf and Baka & Test (which also includes the OVA releases.) FUNimation’s new licenses were Cat Planet Cuties, B Gata H Kei, Steins;Gate and Deadman Wonderland.

I wrapped up my day by listening to Casey Brienza talk about Tokyopop, their achievements and their demise at the Anime and Manga Studies Symposium before heading home. Unfortunately, I didn’t do anything but sit in panels all day, so I didn’t get a chance to check out anything else. Maybe tomorrow!

While day two will not be as filled with industry panels, the day does promise that there will be more manga licenses announcements than day one, what with the Digital Manga Publishing panel and the eigoMANGA panel.  As usual, I’ll be live tweeting most of the industry events and news as they happen.

Posted in manga, news | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

iSeeToon Releases Ill-fated Relationship

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Daniella Orihuela-Gruber

Hi, everyone! Sorry to push more press releases onto you, but this one happens to be special because I worked on Ill-fated Relationship.

Ill-fated Relationship is a serial killer drama/romance webtoon, a Korean manhwa  specifically made for the digital medium, and it’s one of the creepiest comics I’ve ever read! Definitely the creepiest I’ve ever worked on. But at the same time, it makes you question why people kill and why such behavior isn’t accepted by society. When a comic makes you think like that, it’s worth reading.

If you want to purchase Ill-fated Relationship, it is iPhone only, but right now iSeeToon is selling the comic for $4.99 instead of it’s regular price of $8.99. Jump on this deal when you can!

Dark Romance comics app, Ill-fated relationship released!

Unusual dark romance between serial killers, 20 chapters long.

(Seoul, South Korea, 29th. June. 2011) iSeeToon released Dark Romance comics app [Ill-fated relationship] for iPhone.

[Ill-fated relationship] is comics App for iPhone, about Dark Romance between 2 serial killers. It has unusual plot, dark & minimal but marvelous visual style. It follows indie art film style rather than usual comics. This App has 20 chapters + additional supplements for the fans. 148apps & Manga Bookshelf published very positive preview about that. You could check about them below.

There are 3 trailers for [Ill-fated relationship], (Side : M) & (Side : W) & (Side : T). Trailers shows new possibility of comics app for iPhone. Powered by Storyberry, which we used to edit [Ill-fated relationship] app. It was recorded for Youtube after that. So watching Storyberry trailer is better, even if Youtube version is also good. Music for trailers are chosen among Korean famous indie musicians as 500won project – The Invisible Fish. Those songs are not included in App, for trailers only.

[Ill-fated relationship] is available through App Store for iPhone. Launching sale price will be 4.99$,  full price will be 8.99$ after sale ends.

If you want redeem code to review, please send e-mail for to mrkwang@iseeyou.co.kr .

* App Store Link : itunes.apple.com/us/app/ill-fated-relationship/id444716710

* Critic says :
http://www.148apps.com/news/dark-graphic-app-illfated-relationship/
“The videos and screenshots certainly show off a great looking style that will hopefully provide a pretty mature and dark experience. It’ll certainly make a change from the more Western offerings of the likes of D.C and Marvel.” – 148apps.
http://manhwabookshelf.com/2011/04/10/ill-fated-relationship/
“Hwang’s style is sparse, both visually and narratively, creating an environment that feels both intimate and detached at the same time. While the limited use of color suggests a similarly subdued emotional palette, the lack of detail (both background and foreground) brings each emotional beat into sharp focus” – Manhwa Bookshelf

* Trailer  : They have linear storyline in the row, M -> W -> T.
– Youtube
Side M : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr_jbLTuW-8
Side W : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLkWcHzTlm0
Side T : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfVQRN2VeUk
– Storyberry
Side M : http://iseetoon.com/en/entry/Trailer-Ill-fated-relationship-Side-M
Side W : http://iseetoon.com/en/entry/Trailer-Ill-fated-relationship-Side-W-Storyberry-edition
Side T : http://iseetoon.com/en/entry/Trailer-Ill-fated-relationship-Side-T-Youtube-Storyberry-edition
– Vimeo :
Side M : http://vimeo.com/25224414
Side W : http://vimeo.com/25228286
Side T : http://vimeo.com/25436942

* Screenshot :
Screenshot of Comics : http://iseetoon.com/en/entry/Ill-fated-relationship-How-it-looks-screenshots
Screenshot of App : http://iseetoon.com/en/entry/Ill-fated-relationship-Screenshot

* 1 page description about [ill-fated relationship] : This page has basic information & link to screenshots and trailers.
http://iseetoon.com/en/entry/Introduction-Ill-fated-relationship-in-1-page

* Media Contact : Request review copy (redeem code), Interview, or another contact.
mrkwang@iseeyou.co.kr (Kim Jin Sung aka mrkwang)

* About iSeeToon : http://iseetoon.com

iSeeToon is comics(manhwa) branch of iSeeYou. iSeeToon publishes Korean Web Comic(Webtoon) through iPhone App Store in English. iSeeYou is Korean venture company which services Storyberry.

* About Storyberry : http://storyberry.com (Korean language only)

Storyberry is web authoring tool & portal. iSeeToon used Storyberry to edit comics App & trailers. It is serviced for Korean local until now, not available for worldwide yet.

Posted in comics, manga, news | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Gen Manga Brings Indie Manga Stateside

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Daniella Orihuela-Gruber

Last week I was contacted by Robert McGuire, editor-in-chief of GEN Manga Entertainment about their new indie manga anthology. He offered me  a chance to read it both digitally and in print, which I happily accepted. (I don’t get review copies that often, you see.)

Having just received a copy of the printed edition, it seems like the perfect time to post this.

GEN is a short seinen anthology with four stories from different indie manga artists. The stories range from boxing to aliens to the supernatural. So far I’ve read two volumes of the anthology online as well as the print version of the first volume.

First up is Wolf by Nakamura Shige, which starts with a young man named Shota taking a train to make his fortune in Tokyo as a sumo wrestler. But the story isn’t about the soon-to-be sumo wrestler, but the man he sits next to on the train, Naoto.  Naoto tries to ignore the earnest Shota, but after some small talk, he readily admits he’s going to Tokyo to kill a man. After an altercation on the train,  Naoto is forced to stay at Shota’s stable for a night. Instead, he sneaks off and finds the man he’s about to kill. This man happens to be his father, a retired star boxer at a gym. Naoto immediately tries to go in for the kill and punches his dad straight in the face, but isn’t able to touch him after the two enter the ring. Defeated, but not willing to give up yet, Naoto stays at the gym where his father also lives and trains to one day defeat him.

Next is VS Aliens by Suzuki Yu. A boy named Kitaro is surprised when a classmate he’s never spoken to pulls him over, informs him that she’s seen an alien in the class next door and asks him to do something about it. Aya is adamant that Sana, one of the prettiest girls in the school, is an alien. Kitaro and Aya confront Sana, who handles it reasonably. The twist begins comes when Sana goes home and tells her mother, who freaks out and leaves the next day, causing poor Sana to think she might be an alien after all. Determined to help Sana, Aya and Kitaro help her run away from the unknown threat to her life.

The third manga in the anthology is Kamen by Mihara Gunya. It starts out, unsurprisingly, with a guy in a mask. The mask speaks to him and warns him not to remove it or else they’ll both die. Then we meet a group of imprisoned refugees being carted off by a group of soldiers. For no apparent reason, the guy in the mask attacks the soldiers and is promptly scolded by his sentient mask for trying to get them killed. The man is handcuffed and everyone heads to the soldiers’ final destination. Once there, the refugees learn that their imprisonment is a rather kind one, where they get two meals a day, no one is executed and they only do light repair work. It could be worse. But at the same time, the leader of the soldiers, Simba, meets with her uncle who seems interested in toppling the young noble from her seat of power.

Finally, Souls by Karina Arisa is the story between a troubled daughter and her strict mother. One day, as it begins to rain, the daughter lets in a stranger and angers her mother. While the mother tries to send Harue off to her dance lesson and the mysterious female stranger off on her way, the stranger tries to explore and exorcise the dark secrets of the family.

In future volumes, starting I don’t know when, there will be a new story called AKA by Abe Yousuke. Here’s the description from the site:

It was discovered long ago by an ancient people that the struggle to survive and the death that results from this struggle creates energy. After centuries, a way to harness and use this force has been found. The secret to this energy, produced from the deaths of countless living things, holds limitless power and so was to be guarded and kept hidden. But now that secret had been given to only one special child. This is his story.

GEN bills itself as indie manga from the Tokyo underground, but I feel like that’s a little bit of a misnomer. There’s nothing I associate with underground manga in GEN. The art is all solid and fairly  mainstream. Many of the plots are also something you wouldn’t be surprised to see in mainstream manga. I don’t know if it’s just me, but when I think underground, I think of Garo and AX. Because of this, I expected something more nitty gritty than the current stories in GEN. That isn’t to say the manga are bad, but that I expected something darker and more subversive than what’s actually there. I’m actually OK with the fact that GEN isn’t AX, which I found to be a mixed bag of interesting and disgusting.

My favorite stories are VS Aliens and Kamen, both of which have the greatest possibility of heading into exciting dramatic territory. With VS Aliens, it feels like there’s a good capacity for suspenseful scifi story, which is possible even with the cutesy, K-ON! style art. (Anyone ever watch Noein?) Kamen has lots of potential for political drama and samurai action, although I’m note entirely sure if falls under the category of samurai manga. The female leader Simba, who immediately stands up for her choice of lifestyle, totally won me over in that very same moment. Wolf isn’t my favorite, but I do want to continue to read it. I haven’t gotten the chance to read much boxing manga, so I’m hoping Wolf doesn’t fall into a strict repetitive formula. Unfortunately, Souls does nothing for me. The art is lumpy and the story awkward to the point that when the plot tries to explain itself, it doesn’t help the reader understand much at all.

There are three things I wish GEN had more or less of. First up, I wish GEN had included some extra material in the magazine, especially since the print anthology is half the size as a regular manga, but priced the same. (The digital version is a nice $2.99) While GEN does sport a nice smooth, matte cover which I rather like, it doesn’t seem like the paper quality is spectacular. So if I was actually paying $9.95 for the print edition, I would want something extra. A foreword explaining GEN’s take on manga, bios about the creators featured in the magazine, an interview with one of the creators or anything else GEN could think of. It would just be a nice touch for a reader’s money, especially since they already seem to be doing short essays that could turn into extra anthology content on their tumblr.

Second, I wish there were fewer spelling and grammar errors. I received my review copy of volume 1 with a note explaining that the text had been corrected after the advanced reader copies were printed, but I still found plenty of typos and misspellings in the digital version that’s free to download on GEN’s website. The digital copy of volume 2 that I read had plenty of grammatical problems too. I know this is a personal bias, but I think it’s extremely important that GEN improves its editing procedures. The credits page does not say how many editors work on the anthology, but my suggestion is to get a devoted copy-editor who might be able to help out with manga adaptation too as the dialogue reads a little stiff here and there.  I also felt a little put off by the way the sound effects are awkwardly subtitled as “SFX: THUMP”, but there isn’t exactly an industry standard for dealing with sound effects. It might not even bother most people, it just takes me out of the manga more than I’d like.

Third, I wish all the stories in GEN didn’t remind me of other anime and manga I have seen or read. I cannot pinpoint what reminds of Wolf, but I do get the occasional whiff of Rumiko Takahashi’s One Pound Gospel from it. VS Aliens reminds me of a cross between The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Noein with, as I said earlier, the art from K-ON! The art in Kamen seems akin to the art in Blade of the Immortal and the story of a mysterious man suddenly at the center of political schemes and violence in a feudal society feels pretty familiar too. Souls might as well be Ayakashi or Hell Girl with different characters. Thus it is my fervent hope that future chapters of these manga begin to feel more original to me. The possibility is there for each of them, so it really depends on the creators. (Who probably don’t have editors to bounce ideas and plot points off of, which is the double-edged sword of freedom of working in indie manga. Editors, in this sense, are meant to help the creators make a more coherent story.)

In the end, these are all perfectly normal issues for a fledgling manga publisher and easily fixable. Even manga published by Tokyopop or Viz had stylistic or grammatical problems when they first started. Yen Press totally does things that annoy me with sound effects. Thus, I don’t think it’s any reason to dismiss GEN and not read it. Although I am concerned about the originality of the stories in the anthology, I fully expect them to even out and have the creators really come into their element, as most mangaka do improve drastically the more they work on manga.

I want to keep an eye on GEN as I feel like the anthology has a great potential to grow and I really enjoy most of the stories so far. It seems like the sort of thing that will remain underground on the U.S. scene, although it seems like GEN’s staff might prefer it that way, but I hope they achieve commercial success none the less. It would be great to get an entirely different style of making manga published regularly in North America, where the publishers’ focus usually lays only with manga that’s already popular.

If you are interested in GEN, you can get a discount on the digital download of the second volume and Manga Maniac Cafe interviewed Gen’s editor-in-chief Robert McGuire in case you are interesting in learning more about GEN’s unique take on manga publishing. I’ve included their press release below in case you’re interested in the details.

GEN Manga Entertainment, Inc. Announces the Release of GEN
GEN will be available nationwide June, 2011

NEW YORK, NY – GEN Manga Entertainment, Inc. announces the upcoming release of GEN. GEN 1 (ISBN: 978-0-9836134-0-4, Trade Paper, 136 pages, black and white, $9.95, Category: Graphic Fiction) will be available where fine books are sold June, 2011.

GEN 1 is presently available in digital format for FREE on the official website (www.genmanga.com).

Indie manga from the Tokyo Underground released in North America, GEN, marks a shift in manga publishing strategy. This original work of graphic fiction boldly challenges the industry while breaking new ground. It presents what manga readers are hungry for, the release of fresh underground work from Japan. GEN marks the release of a new serial publication that will continue to introduce a variety of new underground stories to readers as it progresses.

GEN stories are published no where else in the world. They come straight from the artists in Japan to readers in America. GEN presents this rough yet vibrant work as “seinen” the next step up from “shonen” for the maturing manga reader.

Four hard-lined, unpolished stories are presented in the first of GEN. Wolf is the emotional story of a young man that heads to the city to avenge his childhood abandonment. VS Aliens is the story of an average student duped (or not?) into going on a wild alien chase. A mysterious masked stranger in KAMEN holds secrets to hidden powers to protect innocents from massacre. And a young woman explores her psyche in the metaphysical journey of Souls.

GEN puts on no airs about how grand their authors are. In fact, they readily admit that their authors are underground. GEN is manga the way it should be without the flash, for the fans, raw and fresh.

Presenting new indie manga circles from Japan, GEN, a monthly publication, will be released in the US in June. Digital format for GEN is available on genmanga.com. Based in New York, GEN Manga Entertainment (www.genmanga.com) endeavors to publish new and unseen graphic work from Japan, being in the unique position to bring readers work first, more original and untamed manga will be sure to come!

For more information, please contact Robert McGuire by phone – (646) 535-0090, or by email – editor@genmanga.com

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Review: Sundome vol. 1-6

Posted on June 23, 2011 by Daniella Orihuela-Gruber

Sundome, by Kazuto Okada, is a manga about extremes.

The first extreme begins when Hideo Aiba, the main character, falls intensely in love with the new transfer student, Kurumi Sahana, and gets a hard on within five minutes of meeting her. It’s made clear that Hideo is shunned as a perverted otaku, so it seems even more unlikely that Kurumi becomes interested in Hideo’s club, the extremely weird Roman Club. (An occult club that requires its members to remain virgins until graduating high school and whose alumni will actively attempt to deflower the all-male members.)  Despite the fact that the members of the Roman Club are so outwardly perverted, Kurumi joins as an unofficial member.

In case you’re thinking  Sundome will run off into wacky high school romantic comedy territory and Hideo will spend the next three or so years pining after Kurumi, it will, but not in the way you think. The second extreme is that Kurumi doesn’t just join the club, but that she also makes Hideo her sex slave on her first day. Unfortunately for Hideo, she’ll never let him actually have sex with her (even if they were the last two people on Earth,) nor will she ever let him come (no matter how much he cries and begs for her.) And Hideo is apparently just fine with that because, before she even offers him the job, he nearly stabs his urethra with a nail because she wants him to.

Are you sufficiently creeped out by Sundome yet? Good, it’s a creepy manga.

Sundome is a hard read, while many parts of the manga actually go into the normal spectrum of “wacky high school comedy,” the sexual adventures of Kurumi and Hideo are the main focal point and they can make you feel very squicky.  Every outing to an abandoned building or cursed shrine that the Roman Club takes is a  set up for sexual experimentation between the two. After getting about half way through the series, you realize that, like Hideo, this manga has no shame whatsoever.

I picked up Sundome after Ed Sizemore spoke about it on his  Manga Out Loud podcast, which somehow piqued my curiosity about this intensely sexual series. I have to say that reading it makes me wonder if I’m now in possession of child pornography, but no matter how you put it, the manga is about a really twisted love story hidden under a journey of sexual experimentation. It’s the thing that kept me reading Sundome, actually.

Yes, deep down under all the touching, teasing and peeing, Hideo really does love Kurumi. He adores her to no end and is genuinely happy to be with Kurumi in whatever way she lets him. Kurumi, despite the fact that she’s got something suspicious going on the side, really seems to love Hideo too. It’s very sweet when you think about all the depraved stuff they do together and once you reach this though, you realize this part of Sundome is actually cute.

The squick factor, admittedly, mostly comes from the art. There are panty shots, camel toes and nipples peaking out through shirts every where you go, especially after the big-breasted Kyouko is introduced to the club. The way Kurumi is drawn is particularly sexual and she often looks malnourished due to all the shadowy lighting Okada prefers. But her almost grotesque, lolita-like body does tie into her story, which I won’t go into detail here. Liquids also abound, especially in the sexual scenes, and Okada does not shy away from showing Hideo’s frequent boners either.

Getting away from the sexual aspect of the art, I do like the way the characters’ faces are depicted, as the art often goes into deformed modes during the more humorous scenes. Each character in the Roman Club has a distinct, cartoon-like face that you easily recognize, even as the characters make some crazy expressions. You can also recognize most of the characters by their haircuts, which is sometimes hard to do in other manga.

In the end, Sundome is a manga about a subject I think a lot of people want to avoid: teens having sexual encounters with other teens. But, let’s face it, it happens whether we like it or not. If you didn’t have sexual encounters in high school yourself, you probably knew people who did or people who really wanted to. Personally, I have no moral conflicts with the idea of teens practicing (hopefully) safe sex with other teens. It’s teens having sex with adults that is more of a concern for me. (And Sundome seems to hint at that too.)

Sexual awakening in high school is a pretty common thing and so it’s not the idea of teens having sex that bothers me in Sundome so much as the hardcore fetishes that are put on display in the manga. Perhaps if Kurumi and Hideo didn’t have a dominatrix/slave relationship or if there were fewer golden showers, it might be an easier manga to read, but that would kill the whole point of Sundome- shocking the readers with the extreme lengths their relationship goes to.

If this isn’t the manga for you, it’s perfectly understandable. Since my work sometimes revolves around graphic manga such as this, I have built up some tolerance for it. But even so, I don’t find the idea of the manga to be squicky, just the things that I’m not sexually attracted to. (And to each their own.)

If you do find your curiosity piqued by this review or Ed’s podcast, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. This is a solid manga that uses all the details to tell its story. Even the fanservice.

All eight volumes of Sundome have been released by Yen Press. Good luck finding this manga anywhere but online. (The only bookstore I’ve seen it at is Borders & they’re gone now.)

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