NYCC08: CMX
More technical difficulties, but I think I’ve only missed previous announcements and stuff– Jim Chadwick and Asako Suzuki are running the panel; they’re on Classical Medley which is one I’m NOT familiar with, but the previous titles were all stuff I knew.
Next up is Astral Project from Enterbrain, a mature title from author Marginal, a pen name of Oldboy creator Garon Tsuchiya’s.
Also a cutesy title called Suihelibe! (say that ten times fast) about an alien girl who comes to earth to hunt certain monsters. A boy who wants to re-establish his school’s biology club agrees to help and together they start up the new club.
Fire Investigator Nanase is a “hidden gem” they hope we’ll like, about a rookie fire investigator whose parents died from arson. It should hit streets January ‘09.
Jihai, by Flat Earth/Exchange creator Toshimi Nigoshi, has also been licensed…wait, this one isn’t new. Have any of these been new? I don’t really know any of them anymore so I’m not even sure. =P Sorry guys. I can only google so fast.
Next up are Venus Capriccio by Mai Nishikata and the manga of Ballad of a Shinigami (Seven Seas has the light novels).
That’s it for the titles, new and old, so now they’ll open it up to the Q&A. They are looking into doing some cross-promos with FUNimation for Shin-chan– FUNi has a sampler at their booth and there’ll be a slip for the manga in with the new DVD box set.
Someone just asked if they have thought about releasing manga that’s a bit smaller than a standard American manga; CMX’s Shin-chan is actually slightly smaller than the Japanese copies, and for the rest of the books they’re trying keep everything the same trim sizes.
On Shin-chan they’re mostly doing footnotes but they’re keeping translation notes at the end in mind if necessary.
Someone else just asked why their Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo translated title (The Girl Who Ran Through Time) has a different name than the recent popular anime film, whose translated title is The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Apparently the story for the latter is slightly different than the former’s, though both are based on the same concept.
With Shin-chan, they went with the Japanese name Crayon Shin-chan and FUNimation dropped the “Crayon” for reasons everyone doesn’t know. (I’d hazard a guess that it was so no parents thought Shin-chan was a show for little kids, personally…) They also aren’t calling one character “Action Bastard” (although they’re rating it M so they could if they wanted). They decided that in the manga’s world, a show called “Action Bastard” doesn’t make any sense (because his mum wouldn’t let him watch it anyway) so they’re calling it “Action Mask” instead.
MangaBlog’s Brigid asked a question about FlexComics, whether the comics were serialized in print in Japan or if they were digital. They started out being serialized and then eventually transitioned to digital. You can buy some of the book (as much as half) for a buck or two, and then buy a tankobon version now.
The Girl who Ran through Time iteration was apparently serialized in Shonen Ace but Chadwick notes that it feels shoujo to him, so it can probably appeal to both demographics.
Next comes a question about Zuda, a new effort by DC to reach out to the webcomic artists and readers, with no collaborations currently in mind. Tenjho Tenge (love CMX’s version or hate it) has caught up to the Japanese volumes so they’re waiting for Oh Great to finish up books to print them.
Apparently their booth is hidden in the Wild Storm section of the D.C. booth, with some free swag, so I guess I’ll have to pop by there tomorrow. They also now have a newsletter called CMXtra! that you can sign up for on the official website. (*is signing up now*)
Someone asked about 70s manga like Eroica, and Suzuki commented that in addition to 70s she is particularly interested in manga from the 80s, so maybe we’ll see some new licenses to that effect soon, seeing as she’s the acquisitions manager…
God, that panel had excitement written all over it… (-_-)zzz
But I am looking forward to that Girl Who Leapt Through Time. I guess I should have been a little more upfront and asked if it was moé instead of shounen or shoujo.