.:My 2 Yen:.
TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 2004
Unpopular Manga Mag Seeking New Path
Raijin Magazine, circulated, unfortunately for itself, at the height of Shonen Jump USA's popularity, is going on a hiatus. Publications, though popular among certain fans, hasn't reached a broad enough market. All subscribers (all 18 of you) will be getting their money back.
WHAT!?!? THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!! How could I live without my monthly viewing installment of Bow Wow Wata... or... uh... First President Of Japan!?!?.... Revenge Of The Mouflon??? WTF?
Maybe this isn't such a bad thing, seeing that Raijin didn't pick many good titles to begin with. Only 2 on here have reached any heights of popularity:
City Hunter - made extremely popular throughout Chinese speaking parts of the world from the 1992 live action adaptation starring Jackie Chan as Ryo Saeba, City Hunter does have somewhat of a cult following today. Dated as it is, this series is definitely enough to peak an interest in.
Slam Dunk - unfortunately for Raijin, the anime adapation of this story of basketball is much more popular than the manga. Sports anime hasn't had a huge American following as of yet, though back in the days of Mixx Harlem Beat, a similar manga, was definitely appreciated.
If those are the best Raijin can do, maybe its good they take a long enough brake to hire someone who actually knows something about manga made past 1993. Don't get me wrong, old manga can be good, but its the newer titles like One Piece and Naruto that spark interest.
A discontinuation such as this doesn't mean that Gatsoon! Entertainment will give up entirely on distributing manga. Many companies have benefitted from similar riffs. TokyoPop used to be known as Mixx Entertainment, and at the time the only known series they circulated were Sailor Moon, Magic Knight Rayearth, Harlem Beat, Parasyte, and Ice Blade (circulations of that last one are now really hard to find, but if anybody happens to see a dated manga copy of it anywhere, pick it up and give it a look! It was one of my early favorites!) In attempt to make a wider appeal to the sexes, Mixx split into Mixx and Smile!, the latter being a shoujo magazine with Sailor Moon as its forerunner. The promise of a Sailor Moon Stars manga anthology through Smile! is what made me want to subscribe, but both Mixx and Smile! were out of circulation before I did so (I believe I still have the subscription form somewhere). Deciding to merge back together and use the collective profits from both magazine anthologies, TokyoPop was formed to become the anime/manga mecca we know of today. Harlem Beat and Ice Blade were never reintroduced through TokyoPop, but the Mixx graphic novels, though now out of print, can still be found.
At leat the manga in Raijin is better than Pulp's. Anybody here up for reading an anthology of Even a Monkey Can Draw?