The Dark Behind the Scene Look at the Japanese Manga Industry

Zach Bell insisting on giving the "proper value" towards manga drafts, to avoid the end of the manga magazines.

Although I feel like writing a different blog, I do believe people should take responsibility to the information they transmit. In some places, misinformation actually resulted in deaths. (check Note 1 at the bottom) And there are some people who learned about the issue through my blog.

The publishing company responsible for “Kannagi,” has made a public announcement on its site regarding the “indefinite hiatus.”
You can view it here:

http://www.ichijinsha.co.jp/information/index.html

To translate:
“We deeply apologize for causing the readers to be concerned in regards to Kannagi taking a time off. Ms. Takenashi has suddenly fallen ill after finishing her work for the December issue, and has been hospitalized immediately. The surgery was successful, and she is recovering gradually. After the publication of this month’s “Comic Rex,” a report stating that “Ms. Takenashi has taken a hiatus due to abuse” was circulating, but that is not true.”

Then it goes on about how they wish a speedy recovery.
They have not made it clear what exactly is this maligned illness is. That is for the author to divulge if she feels like it.

It is not rare for authors to take some time off from the regular publication due to illness, or “research.” For example, popular series Gantz was put on a hiatus for almost half a year, in order to give the author some time to work on for “Part II”, aggravating the fans with the edge-of-your-seat cliff hanger…. Which took about another year to resolve.

Saying that, the truth behind the exact nature of “hiatus” is still up in the air. None of the fans know what the “illness” is. Also, the reason why the rumor mill was spinning for this manga was because of the recent outburst among fanboys, as well as the fact that the readers became witness to the nasty struggle between the editor and the artists. The “Shogakukan Publishing Company Scandal” has made readers suspect foul play.

It all started when Shogakukan, publishing company famous for hits like “Doraemon” and “Ranma 1/2” lost five color-printed illustrations of “Zatch Bell!” The company proposed to reimburse the author with 500,000 yen (5,485 USD). The author insisted that as a piece of artwork, he should receive 3,300,000 yen (36,203 USD) as a compensation fee, considering the amount he can get off on a net auction. The author decided to bring the case to the court, for “entities called editors and publishers were beginning to take the artists not seriously.” He argued that the editors didn’t help out the authors, as they should, and he was treated badly.

Several artists who worked with Shogakukan started to come forth with their stories.

Masato Fujisaki, author of “Wild Life,” wrote on his blog “To be completely honest, there was no moment where I felt glad for writing “Wild Life” for five years. It is a forgettable work with no good memory what so ever.”

Mayu Shinjyo, author of real-life band spawning music romance “Kaikan Phrase,” confessed on her blog that once she was forced to miss a publication by her editor, because “her thinking was erratic,” after stating that she “didn’t want to draw any more risque manga.”

In July, manga “Shamo” was put on a hiatus after the dispute between the artist and the story writer over royalty was turned into a court case.

In October “HUNTER×HUNTER” came back from a long hiatus last year. Fans might be happy for its return, but critics have ridiculed the amount of times the author, Yoshihiro Togashi, takes a break for “sudden illness.” In some cases, he was later spotted by fans at comic market events when he was supposed to be ill. The critics question the stance of the publishing company for not hiring him after so many “breaks,” but he is after all, one of the top selling artist (and so is his wife, who created “Sailor Moon”). And this connects to the dark aspects of mega-publishing company, Shueisha.

Shueisha, a publishing company responsible for hits like “Dragon Ball” and “Yu Yu Hakusho,” has been pretty infamous for a while. Dubbed as “manga-artist killer,” manga artists contracted with Shueisha, can only work for them… Thus, if their popularity declined, they would suffer from lack of jobs, not being able to write for anywhere else. Also, manga that didn’t do well on the reader’s survey is quickly canned, whilst those that are doing well are forced to go on. The heavily unpopular ending of “Monster,” is rumored to be so, because the author was forced to continue, despite his wishes. And remember Dragon Ball, which went on and on after Kame Sennin, or Roshi, muttered “it’s going to continue for just a little bit more”? (I’m quite sure the author is glad that he went on about now).

It has been said that “Yu Yu Hakusho,” the previous manga of Yoshihiro Togashi, was supposed to end much earlier, but he was forced to continue due to the editor’s pressure. Towards the end of the series, his drawings become more rough and sloppier. Same goes to “Hunter X Hunter.”

I for one, as a reader, look forward to my favorite manga/TV episode each week. After I finish from the long day’s work, I look forward to something that I know I can look forward to. Whether it is a new episode of Simpsons, or “The world only god knows” (Kamino mizo shiru sekai, currently on “Weekly Shonen Sunday,” published by Shogakkan), these entertainment does put my mind at ease. As a reader, I have no idea what goes on behind the scene, and the struggles the authors and other creators have to go through. It is sad if any of the products get damaged due to dirty side of the entertainment industry. But in order to create works that consumers are willing to use their hard earned cash, the managements need to successfully complete the arduous task of making the people in the company, the creators, and the readers happy.

“Not Being a Virgin,” Shocks Fans, Author Forced to go into Hiatus

It had a massive fan base. It had its own anime show. The author, Eri Takenashi, thought everything was going well. Then she made a grave mistake of making her heroine “not a virgin.”

Popular manga series, “Kannagi,” hit the headlines of geek media outlet… I meant IT and entertainment news source, puzzling the readers, when apparently fans were upset over the latest issue published earlier last month. The buzz was that the fans were so outraged by the latest issue that they vented their anger onto the web. One fan went as far as shredding all five volumes of his prized collection, taking pictures of them, and posting it online. He apparently later sent the ruined copy to the author.
And now, the once-favorable manga has announced to go into an “indefinite hiatus.” Although officially, it is for “health reasons” of the author, people cannot help but to speculate about the recent outbursts of fans sending massive angry letters to the poor authoress to be the cause. The spokesperson refusing to divulge the specific details make this speculation more likely.

Yep, she is one of those "Britney Spears virgins."

The tale spins like a modern version of a Greek love story. A male high-schooler makes a beautiful sculpture of a spirit, which in turn starts to move and talk and claim that she is “Nagi.” An attractive geek favorite, she has acted suggestively towards the main character, but last month, her hot ex-boyfriend made an appearance, and it was hinted that the realationship wasn’t simply platonic.

One critic suggested that making a tree spirit “not a virgin,” made the readers feel betrayed. I can’t think of a Western equivalent, but I suppose it is like having Smurfette finally caving in on the peer pressure of her male counterparts, or Lucy from Peanuts offering more than counseling service to console Charlie Brown…. I really don’t want to think about such a plotline.

According to an article on IT Media, (http://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articles/0812/09/news074.html)

a journalist who covers net extensively has been quoted saying, “men who can’t form a decent relationship with actual women get fixated on 2-D beauty, and starts to believe that they can engage in a “mock romance” with these beauties in a safe environment. Then they start to hold a stringent “virginity worship,” where they firmly believe that there is no way in the world these beauties will have an affair with other men.”

Geeks and lack of female conquest have been a butt of jokes for a while. In a chilling news, the Akihabara murderer was reported as a virgin and frustrated by it by the media who likes to stigmatize sub-culture fanatics. Recently, an urban legend has popped up in the geek mecca of Japan, Akihabara, that if you are a virgin by the age 30, you become a wizard. Obviously, no one believes in such a ridiculous tale (I really hope), but this legend has caught on fire, and lonely geeks would post online that “I will become a wizard soon if I don’t get any action before my next birthday,” as a joke. One posts read “if you decide to lose your virginity using prostitution, you become a wielder of black magic.” In Christian tradition, maintaining one’s virginity before marriage was held highly, as seen in the story of birth of Jesus. Perhaps that sentiment is reflected on this urban legend.

Needless to say, not all geeks have troubles getting some action behind the sheets.

I am a geek, and I will stand up and shout. NOT ALL GEEKS ARE LIKE THIS! Some geeks NEVER have any problem when it comes to dating.

The next blog post will cover Japanese geeks who have gained wide popularity and attention in different field, astonishing viewers.

Whilst Eri Takenashi is “recovering,” she may want to watch some American soaps to see how the other side of the world copes with bad plot progression.  She may want to use some of these old tried devises when the editors decide that the storm is gone:

*Nagi has been hypnotized!

*Nagi has an evil twin sister called “Guina.”

*Gasp!  It was all a dream.

*Nagi was lying, and simply wanted to make the poor guy jealous.

*Or the author can pretend that the whole thing didn’t happen, and continue from the episode before the “not a virgin” episode.

PS

I have tagged this blog with the word “wizard,” but I really hope none of the Harry Potter fans stumble onto this blog because of it.