Seven Seas Cancels Controversial Manga
This story originally appeared in PW Comics Week on June 5, 2007 Sign up now!
by Kai-Ming Cha, PW Comics Week -- Publishers Weekly, 6/5/2007
Last week, after a barrage of online criticism from manga fans and a loss of support from the book store and comics direct market, indie manga publisher Seven Seas Entertainment canceled the release of Nymphet, a manga series about a precocious third-grader who attempts to seduce her teacher. Seven Seas Publisher Jason DeAngelis originally argued that Nymphet was an inoffensive mainstream hit in Japan, but his subsequent decision to cancel the series highlights the differences between American and Japanese cultures—especially when it comes to the portrayal of underage children in comics narratives involving sex. While translated Japanese manga can sometimes include edgy material involving sex and violence, this appears to be the first time a series has been canceled prior to publication because of potentially offensive material.
Unlike manga works aimed at adult readers, Nymphet was aimed at the teenage fans most mass market manga caters to. Although some die-hard manga fans have defended Nymphet on the basis of free expression—citing Alan Moore's adult-targeted erotic graphic novel Lost Girls as an example—other manga fans argued vehemently that the series was patently unacceptable and inappropriate for the U.S. market. While America's love of Japan and Japanese popular culture continues to grow and mature, there are clear divisions between the two cultures. PW Comics Week had a chance to speak with Seven Seas president and publisher Jason DeAngelis about his decision to drop the series.
PW Comics Week: What attracted you to this license in the first place?
Jason DeAngelis: Licensing from Japan is highly competitive among [American] manga companies. It's very common for a U.S. publisher to place [licensing] offers on manga still being serialized in Japan that haven't been collected into the tankobon [book format]. At the time we had only seen the first volume [of Nymphet]. It seemed like a funny and cute take on a mischievous student and her misunderstandings with her teacher. It was only later that I got to review other volumes—and the content in later volumes—some of it was borderline acceptable, but some crossed over the border and would be unacceptable in our culture. It sort of slipped through the cracks in the licensing process. Licensing manga is not a fail-safe process. [When] you are licensing dozens and dozens of titles, mistakes can be made. And it's difficult to anticipate how a series will develop over time. [Manga series that start out aimed at young readers sometimes divert to more mature themes in later volumes.]
PWCW: What drove you to finally cancel the series?
JD: Basically, I responded to fan outcry. From my perception, it started on various blogs and forums. There was angry, heated debate on both sides of the issue, and it was weighted equally on both sides. The response drew my attention. Based on those debates, I wrote an open letter telling the fans that I was going to discuss the situation with our distributor and vendors. We distribute through Diamond, and they contacted various vendors, also those in the direct market.
PWCW: Did Diamond shy away from the series?
JD: Yes. Our orders were dropping by the hour. [Including orders from] major book chains, major wholesalers and the direct market. Diamond didn't give me the reasons, but it seemed like some people looked over the debates and decided Nymphet was too hot to handle. But it became a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. Both sides of the argument have been so passionate and angry about this. But weighing all the various factors, understanding the content a bit more, we realized that it's not right for us to publish it.
PWCW: How has the Japanese publisher, Futabasha, reacted to this?
JD: We're still in talks with the licensor about how we're going to resolve this. [Futabasha has] faced these types of problems before over social mores. [But the series is] considered a mainstream title in Japan. The animated version of Nymphet will be televised starting in July. I imagine it will be pretty similar to the manga.
I lived in Japan for six years and I can see where they would think this is funny. It's just like Crayon Shinshan on Cartoon Network. Nymphet is essentially a story about a female student who is very young and who is trying to sexually entrap her teacher. Obviously, she doesn't understand the things that she says. She's acting out, and the humor is in seeing his shock and revulsion to what she's saying.
It's a story that's considered harmless and cute in Japan. I was [reading it in Japanese] and looking at it from a Japanese perspective. The more I delved into this title and considered people's arguments, the more I realized that there is a greater cultural divide in some areas than I expected. I realized that this isn't going to work in the U.S. We want to release great manga without offending people. A little walking on that line is fine, but if you cross it, it's time to reconsider what you're publishing.
