Although the anime and manga markets have had a mixed year in 2009, with consolidation and downsizing, it was belied by the enthusiastic fan participation at this years New York Anime Festival, held Sept. 25-27. With an attendance of 21,388 people, a 16% increase over last year, NYAF 2009 was precisely that, an anime festival with less of a manga focus than in previous years.The exhibit floor was dominated by dealers selling discounted manga, anime, T-shirts, and other merchandise. Only two manga publishers had booths at the convention, Del Rey and Vertical. New York-based Yen Press had neither booth nor panel, an absence that was noted (and speculated upon) by many convention-goers.In addition,Small Press Expo, which was also held the same weekend, may have lured indy-comic artists who would otherwise have taken tables in Artists Alley.(NYAF is put on by a sister company of PW Comics Week.)
Nonetheless, the mood was upbeat with a general sense that manga publishing was turning around. Both Tokyopop and Viz held panels, and all four manga publishers in the hall had new title announcements, some of which were greeted with great enthusiasm by fans. Bandai Entertainment also featured manga prominently in its panel.
After sharply cutting back on its publication schedule earlier this year, Tokyopop has staged something of a comeback. During their panel, senior editor Lillian Diaz-Przybyl and marketing manager Kasia Piekarz reminded the audience that a number of series would be coming off hiatus in the next few months, including the josei title, Suppli about a young woman's career and love-life; the romantic and futuristic Aria, and VB Rose.
Tokyopop had a number of new titles to announce, many of them licensed properties based on other works. Priest: Purgatory is an original global manga based on the movie Priest, which is itself based on a manhwa series published by Tokyopop. Cory Goodman and Min-Woo Hyung are the creators of the original story, which will tie the series together with the movie.
Other global manga announcements include The Cabin in the Woods, set in the world of the feature film of the same name; Shutter Island, by Dennis Lehane and Christian de Metter, a full-color graphic adaptation of the Shutter Island movie; Seekers, the first of a series of manga based on Erin Hunter's children's novels; and Warcaft: Mage, part of a series of books based on the different levels of the Warcraft game.
New Japanese manga include Songs and Laughter, a book of short works by Fruits Basket creator Natsuki Takaya; Ratman, by Inui Sekihiko; .hack//Link, by Megane Kikuya; and Qwasar of Stigmata, a fanservice-heavy story from Hiroyuki Yoshino, the creator of My-Hime. New Blu titles include Cute Demon by Hiro Madarame; Love Story in the Isolated Island by Duo Brand; Croquis by Hinako Takanaga; Blood Honey by Sakyo Yozakura; and Love Knot by Lemon Ichijo.
In response to a question about paper quality, Diaz Przybyl said that Tokyopop had switched to thinner paper in order to both save money and do reprints more efficiently, but that complaints from fans as well as their Japanese licensors had led to a change of heart, so the company will be switching to thicker paper beginning with their October releases. Diaz-Przybyl also said that original global manga and tie-ins to existing properties make up 15 to 20 percent of Tokyopop's market.
At the Vertical panel, Ed Chavez announced that the small publisher had licensed Felipe Smith's Peepo Choo; Kanata Konami's cat manga Chi's Sweet Home; and two science fiction titles, Needle by Nobuaki Tadano, and Twin Spica by Kou Yaginuma; and. Smith is an American artist whose first manga, MBQ, was an early entry in Tokyopop's global manga line, but he has been creating Peepo Choo in Japan for Kodansha's Morning 2 magazine. Chavez, who formerly worked for Kodansha, helped edit the title, and he said Smith had written the manga in Japanese and English and would be handling the translation himself. As for Chi's Sweet Home, an all-ages title popular with manga bloggers, Chavez said that Vertical will flip the work, translate the sound effects, and publish it in full color, and he reassured the audience that the creator has seen the flipped version and approved it. Looking toward the future, Chavez said that Vertical is looking or two “retro titles” to be published in late 2010 or early 2011, possibly works by two of the group of manga artists known as the “Fabulous 49ers”, a generation of female manga creators that revolutionized comics for girls in 1970's Japan.
Del Rey began the convention with a party on Thursday night at Dave and Busters in Times Square featuring a cake from Baltimore's Charm City Cakes, the same cake shop portrayed on the Food Network reality show Ace of Cakes. Dallas Middaugh cut the cake with an authentic katana sword donated by Dragon Song Forge. Video of the cake cutting can be seen on Suvudu.com. NYAF Programming Director Peter Tatara was on hand to host a large raffle with a variety of anime and manga prizes.
In publishing news, Del Rey has acquired the license Rave Master from Tokyopop, finishing it out with the last 3 volumes in one deluxe omnibus edition. They have no plans to reprint earlier volumes.
Del Rey's other new licenses rely heavily on manga creators whose other works have already provensuccessful in the American market: Here I Am by Pixie Pop creator Ema Toyama; Yokai Navi Runa by Miyoko Ikeda and illustrator Michiyo Kikuta, the creator of Mamotte! Lollipop; and Arisa by Kitchen Princess creator Natsumi Ando.
Marketing director Ali T. Kokmen also announced that the next volumes in its Cartoon Network tie-ins Ben 10 and Bakugan Battle Brawlers will have original art and stories, rather than the screen grabs used in earlier volumes. Peter David will write the next Ben 10 manga, and Gyakushu creator Dan Hipp will supply the art, which will be in his own style, albeit still recognizable as Ben 10. The writing team of Nunzio deFillippis and Christina Weir (Amazing Agent Luna) will take over on Bakugan Battle Brawlers, with Kriss Sison handling the art. Kokmen also announced that Del Rey would publish a manga prequel and adaptation of M. Night Shyamalan's movie The Last Airbender. Dave Roman, who has experience with the Avatar property from his work as an editor at Nickelodeon magazine, and Alison Wilgus, who has also worked with CN and Nickelodeon properties, will write both graphic novels; Nina Matsumoto (Yokaiden) will illustrate the prequel and Joon Choi will do the art for the adaptation.
While Bandai is best known as an anime publisher, editor Robert Napton devoted nearly half of his panel to the company's manga, all of which are tie-ins to its anime properties. Current titles include Gurren Laggann, Code Geass, Lucky Star, and the newly released The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. While he had no new titles to announce, Napton did say that the company would be reprinting Eureka 7 and the Witchblade manga in three-volume omnibus editions rather than as single editions.
New manga announced in the Viz panel include two new series for their SIGIKKI website, What's the Answer? and Bob and His Funky Crew; and one new title in their Signature line, Gente, a followup to Ristorante Paradiso, by Natsume Ono—the first volume is due out in January. New titles in the Shojo Beat imprint were Library Wars by Kiiro Yumi (adapted from Hiro Arikawa's novels); Grand Guignol Orchestra by Kaori Yuki; and Nice to Meet You Kamisama by Julietta Suzuki, creator of the Tokyopop title Karakuri Odette.
Programming offered many crowd pleasers. With Gundam celebrating its 30thAnniversary, the creator of the incredibly popular anime series, Yoshiyuki Tomino, spoke Friday night with a change in room location due to the large number of people. Tomino extolled the importance of cinematography and storytelling and claimed no work can be made based merely on a good idea without a strong story.
On the convention floor sales seemed to be good. John Fuller at the Kinokuniya booth, who had prime real estate at the entrance of the convention, said, sales were going “really well, better than last year,” claiming anime illustration books were selling particularly well for them. Frank Pannone of Media Blasters said sales were “bangbusting” on Saturday with the packed floor, and that “this was definitely a better show.” However, he was unsure whether sales would cover the large $6000 price of the booth. Pannone also mentioned that because the Javitts Center was around the corner from their offices, it was feasible to be there.
Other attendees were even more worried. John Peterson of Media Blastersfelt that "business is definitely down. We've diversified—anime, manga, life action—so we're doing okay. It's like a spider. If one leg is down, maybe the others are up, so we can hold on."
Hans Tseng, self publisher and creator of Directions of Destinyalsofelt the pinch. "It's been slower than usual for a convention this size." And Lizbeth R. Jimenez, self publisher and creator of Sacrednoted that sales were down from both last year's show and June's Anime Next convention.
Part of the reason may have been the admission cost. Gary Conner, the v-p of television, sales, and new media at Media Blasters noted that the admission to NYAF was high for the young crowd and believed that it impacted vendor sales. "They're tapped out once they get in the door." He said. Likewise,one attendee on the floor was overheard tocomment "I want this, but I need money for lunch." As for next year, Pannone worried about the merging of NYCC and NYAF into one weekend, stating it might be difficult since there's “crossover with anime fans into comics but not comics into anime.” He continued that “anime dealers may stay away” next year due to the assimilation.
With the large attendance, it's clear that NYAF is truly evolving into a very social event.Evan Minto, 18, a student at Rensseloer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, was on the Blogger Roundtable panel representing his website, anigamers.com. Minto thought it was exciting to see Yoshyuki Tomino, but it wasn't the main reason he came to the convention. "I came to hang out with friends," Minto said. Minto plans on attending New York Comic Con next year when it is combined with NYAF, and said, "It's going to be crazy, because it's way too many things for me to go to." "I like [American] comics, but I don't know much about them," Minto said. He explained that the video game company presence at NYCC would make the convention much harder to cover for his website, which reports on both anime and games.
Additional reporting by Kai-Ming Cha and Kate Fitzsimmons
