Good News for AMG fans

[Anubis]

I just picked up Oh my Goddess: Sora Unchained manga yesterday (Vol. 19/20), and at the end of the book it had a letter saying that this would be the last volume in the current format and the end of the single issues Dark Horse had been using.

They will finally start matching the Japanese version's size and right-left format, with a lower price finally. So Oh my Goddess will get to jump on the bandwagon finally.

About time they gave the manga the right treatment. I love the series, but the 18 bucks was pushing it.

Unfortunately/fortunately it also means they will be re-releasing the 20 previous volumes in the new format over time as well.

Wether or not I shell out that much money will remain to be seen, but I would have to wager not any time soon on my part. At least the remainder of the series will be done properly.

Also, I've got up to Episode 3 of the show, and it looks pretty good so far. It's not following the manga exactly, but keeping the essense of it. They seem to be taking their time as well which is good. In Episode 3 they just make it to and settle into the Shrine. They took time in Ep. 1 to build Keiichi's character some as well before Bell came out of the mirror at the end. So far the show looks like it'll come out ok. The goddess' outfits are the movie outfits.

Edited January 31, 2005 by Anubis

[MrDisco]

i would have preferred they flopped the book but kept the current book size format. either way i dearly hope they don't cheap out on the paper. the current OMG books are amongst the best paper quality i have ever seen in a north american manga.

[Fortress_Maximus]

I’ve been advocating with Viz and Dark Horse for over a decade to present the panels in the original format, IMO it’s about freaking time they got it right! I wouldn’t go back and rebuy the unflipped versions… I certainly didn’t do it for Maison Ikkoku, GUNNM, Sanctuary, Crying Freeman, Blade of the Immortal, Ranma, Mai, Nausicaa, Iczer, Urusei Yatsura or any other numerous titles I’ve collected over the years. IMO it really isn’t that hard to get adjusted to reading from right to left, it takes people time and practice to read left to right, so IMO that is all it really boils down to, practice. It is just like reading English subtitles, takes practice people… read more and your reading rate will improve too.

[JB0]

Thank goodness I never took my collection very far during the first release. Or updated when they re-released with stories they dropped for the first run added back in.

Now I can put off buying flipped books instead!

[Anubis]

Opps, I goofed. It's volumes 19/20 on the spine, not 20/21. I fixed it above.

Paying all over again for 20 volumes probably isn't something I'm going to do, but I'm still glad the rest of the series will be in the right format, seems like OMG was one of the last hold-outs.

Hopefully it'll be 9.99. That would be a nice.

Just got Episode 4 of the show yesterday, and that one brought in Sayoko, with her immediately seeing Belldandy as a threat. Keiichi and the two motor club guys manage to get Belldandy listed as an exchange student.

[JB0]

Opps, I goofed. It's volumes 19/20 on the spine, not 20/21. I fixed it above.

Paying all over again for 20 volumes probably isn't something I'm going to do, but I'm still glad the rest of the series will be in the right format, seems like OMG was one of the last hold-outs.

Hopefully it'll be 9.99. That would be a nice.

Just got Episode 4 of the show yesterday, and that one brought in Sayoko, with her immediately seeing Belldandy as a threat. Keiichi and the two motor club guys manage to get Belldandy listed as an exchange student.

Well, I need to update anyways. Most of my books are the old ones, and missing what in some cases are actually pretty important stories like how Keichi got his temple/house.

[JELEINEN]

Is Studio Proteus still doing the work? Last I heard, Torren Smith was adamantly opposed to both the non-flipped and TPB only formats.

[JELEINEN]

I’ve been advocating with Viz and Dark Horse for over a decade to present the panels in the original format, IMO it’s about freaking time they got it right! I wouldn’t go back and rebuy the unflipped versions… I certainly didn’t do it for Maison Ikkoku, GUNNM, Sanctuary, Crying Freeman, Blade of the Immortal, Ranma, Mai, Nausicaa, Iczer, Urusei Yatsura or any other numerous titles I’ve collected over the years. IMO it really isn’t that hard to get adjusted to reading from right to left, it takes people time and practice to read left to right, so IMO that is all it really boils down to, practice. It is just like reading English subtitles, takes practice people… read more and your reading rate will improve too.

I just wish they'd do a release of Gunnm with the correct names.

[Anubis]

Opps, I goofed.  It's volumes 19/20 on the spine, not 20/21.  I fixed it above.

Paying all over again for 20 volumes probably isn't something I'm going to do, but I'm still glad the rest of the series will be in the right format, seems like OMG was one of the last hold-outs.

Hopefully it'll be 9.99.  That would be a nice.

Just got Episode 4 of the show yesterday, and that one brought in Sayoko, with her immediately seeing Belldandy as a threat.  Keiichi and the two motor club guys manage to get Belldandy listed as an exchange student.

Well, I need to update anyways. Most of my books are the old ones, and missing what in some cases are actually pretty important stories like how Keichi got his temple/house.

Tey released a trio of volumes to replace the incomplete 1-555-GODDESS. Those are the new 1-3. Wrong Number, Leader of the pack, and Final Exam are the titles. Did you get those 3?

[JB0]

Opps, I goofed.  It's volumes 19/20 on the spine, not 20/21.  I fixed it above.

Paying all over again for 20 volumes probably isn't something I'm going to do, but I'm still glad the rest of the series will be in the right format, seems like OMG was one of the last hold-outs.

Hopefully it'll be 9.99.  That would be a nice.

Just got Episode 4 of the show yesterday, and that one brought in Sayoko, with her immediately seeing Belldandy as a threat.  Keiichi and the two motor club guys manage to get Belldandy listed as an exchange student.

Well, I need to update anyways. Most of my books are the old ones, and missing what in some cases are actually pretty important stories like how Keichi got his temple/house.

Tey released a trio of volumes to replace the incomplete 1-555-GODDESS. Those are the new 1-3. Wrong Number, Leader of the pack, and Final Exam are the titles. Did you get those 3?

1 of 'em. I thought htey were running through and redoing the whole series.

Guess I was mistaken.

[chrono]

OLD OLD news.

They released this info back in July 2004.

Going to the un-flopped version was solely a business move and has virtually nothing to do with fan demands. The demand for unflopped books is only 2% higher then flopped books the last time I saw and that was for the entire industry not just a single book line.

Smaller books. Cheaper paper. Lower quality. Slightly lower price. And these equal massive monetary gains for the publisher. Unfortunatly english readers now have to deal with poor quality books. Hell I can get equally garbage translations and equal quality scans from the internet for free! One of the main reasons why I've stopped buying Darkhorse manga. It's reduced quality and high price.

[Bub]

AMG Series

[JELEINEN]

OLD OLD news.

They released this info back in July 2004.

Going to the un-flopped version was solely a business move and has virtually nothing to do with fan demands. The demand for unflopped books is only 2% higher then flopped books the last time I saw and that was for the entire industry not just a single book line.

Smaller books. Cheaper paper. Lower quality. Slightly lower price. And these equal massive monetary gains for the publisher. Unfortunatly english readers now have to deal with poor quality books. Hell I can get equally garbage translations and equal quality scans from the internet for free! One of the main reasons why I've stopped buying Darkhorse manga. It's reduced quality and high price.

What's the source for the 2% statistic?

I prefer the way things are now with manga releases in the US than they were even five years ago.

[Fortress_Maximus]

I’ve been advocating with Viz and Dark Horse for over a decade to present the panels in the original format, IMO it’s about freaking time they got it right! I wouldn’t go back and rebuy the unflipped versions… I certainly didn’t do it for Maison Ikkoku, GUNNM, Sanctuary, Crying Freeman, Blade of the Immortal, Ranma, Mai, Nausicaa, Iczer, Urusei Yatsura or any other numerous titles I’ve collected over the years. IMO it really isn’t that hard to get adjusted to reading from right to left, it takes people time and practice to read left to right, so IMO that is all it really boils down to, practice. It is just like reading English subtitles, takes practice people… read more and your reading rate will improve too.

I just wish they'd do a release of Gunnm with the correct names.

Considering most GUNNM fans know about this oversight, we can manage even though they do not see the need to correct translate things. This is one reason why I keep on forcing myself to learn Chinese but the translations are much more accurate than any English versions will be.

[chrono]

OLD OLD news.

They released this info back in July 2004.

Going to the un-flopped version was solely a business move and has virtually nothing to do with fan demands. The demand for unflopped books is only 2% higher then flopped books the last time I saw and that was for the entire industry not just a single book line.

Smaller books. Cheaper paper. Lower quality. Slightly lower price. And these equal massive monetary gains for the publisher. Unfortunatly english readers now have to deal with poor quality books. Hell I can get equally garbage translations and equal quality scans from the internet for free! One of the main reasons why I've stopped buying Darkhorse manga. It's reduced quality and high price.

What's the source for the 2% statistic?

I prefer the way things are now with manga releases in the US than they were even five years ago.

Darkhorse, MegaTokoyo, AnimAmerica and several other sites and company's themselves did a survey as to whether to flopped vs unflopped was a large issue. The MT, Darkhorse, and AniAmerica survey's showed 46% prefered flopped vs 48% prefered UN-flopped.

2% on nearly any consumer product is no where near enough for any major chance, unless their was an increase of profit involved.

But then again this IS the disposable generation!

[JELEINEN]

What's the date for the survey? Is there somewhere online I can read up on it.

There's also another reason for not flipping manga. Many of the artists don't want their artwork flipped and were refusing to allow it to be licensed in the US when flipping was common.

[Fortress_Maximus]

Again these people who need flipping to read translated manga need to learn how to read from right to left, it is NOT that hard. Practice is all it takes and by doing so the companies maintain the original layout and content of the artwork without disturbing it too much. Some people are just plain lazy.

[chrono]

The survey's were from around 8-10 months ago. Not really that hard to look up if your so inclined too.

Oh pleaze!

These people, and a large majority of 'artist' in general, are business people first and artists a far second. The ONLY reason that they can refuse is because they were in a position to from the beginning. Also many of the 'artists' are starting to keep control over their works more and more so they won't be taken by their publishers. Where the publishers were fine with getting the materials out of country and not caring how it was handled, unless it was very damned poorly. Supply and demand.

.... and of course now poor quality books.

Have you seen the CRAP that DC's manga line is! It looks like a 3rd grader pasted the books together. Viz's quality has taken a MASSIVE nosedive in not only book quality but also in translation. TokoyoPop well is being typical TP.

So far only the DelRey, CPM Manga, Shonen Jump(a VIZ subdivision), and ADV manga lines are being responsible to their audiences.

[JB0]

OLD OLD news.

They released this info back in July 2004.

Going to the un-flopped version was solely a business move and has virtually nothing to do with fan demands. The demand for unflopped books is only 2% higher then flopped books the last time I saw and that was for the entire industry not just a single book line.

Smaller books. Cheaper paper. Lower quality. Slightly lower price. And these equal massive monetary gains for the publisher. Unfortunatly english readers now have to deal with poor quality books. Hell I can get equally garbage translations and equal quality scans from the internet for free! One of the main reasons why I've stopped buying Darkhorse manga. It's reduced quality and high price.

What's the source for the 2% statistic?

I prefer the way things are now with manga releases in the US than they were even five years ago.

Darkhorse, MegaTokoyo, AnimAmerica and several other sites and company's themselves did a survey as to whether to flopped vs unflopped was a large issue. The MT, Darkhorse, and AniAmerica survey's showed 46% prefered flopped vs 48% prefered UN-flopped.

2% on nearly any consumer product is no where near enough for any major chance, unless their was an increase of profit involved.

But then again this IS the disposable generation!

The Megatokyo one was really silly.

I seem to recall Piro going off at one point about people that kept saying Megatokyo needed to be printed right-to-left. There's a good rant somewhere about how stupid it would be to flip Megatokyo just to make it more japanese and how they were missing the whole point of printing books "backwards" in the first place.