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Manga Releases Plateau in 2005
Anime Market Rebounds Date: 5/19/2005 |
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In issue #10 of The Retailers Guide to Anime/Manga published by ICv2 this month, we noted that the after several years of meteoric growth, the number of volumes of manga released by U.S. publishers has finally leveled off and may actually decline slightly in 2005. The demise of several publishers including Gutsoon, Studio Iron Cat and Comics One is one of the reasons for the dip in the number of new manga titles, but the loss of their titles has been balanced by increased output from successful manga publishers like Del Rey and Dark Horse. But other publishers are cutting back. Even after its successful manga publishing debut in 2004, ADV is planning to scale back its offerings for 2005 by about 40% and concentrate on its best-sellers and titles it can cross-promote with its anime offerings and CPM is dropping its regular manga line to focus on its Be Beautiful "yaoi" titles. Tokyopop, which published more volumes of manga than any other U.S. manga house, has indicated to ICv2 that it plans on releasing 400 books in 2005 compared with around 450 in 2004, while Viz, which published 300 volumes in 2004 is planning to release a similar (or only slightly larger) number this year. As the number of manga volumes has increased over the past few years so has the number of genres they represent -- and one of the major trends we discuss in the new Retailers Guide is growth in popularity of "yaoi" titles -- stories of male homosexual love that target a primarily female audience. Just as is the case with manga aimed at an older male demographic and loaded with "fan service" (Tenjou Tenge is a good example), "yaoi" titles present risks for both retailers and publishers -- a topic we discuss in the new Guide in an article entitled, "The Trouble With Manga." Manga publishers are cutting back on both the number and frequency of their releases, but their overall output for 2005 will still be prodigious -- with close to 1,000 volumes heading into the market place -- and the underlying market remains strong. Manga continues to dominate sales of graphic novels in bookstores (movie-based titles such as Sin City and Star Wars Episode III are the exceptions that prove the rule) and manga sales are up in the direct market as well. Competition remains ferocious however, and there is a growing gap between the weaker titles and the "hits," which indicates that a further contraction in the number of manga volumes released is a definite possibility in 2006. With more than 18 new volumes of manga coming out every week it is more important than ever to be able to identify the hits, which is why we include our heavily researched "Top 50 Manga Properties" and "Top Manga Launches" sections in the new Retailers Guide. The Top Ten Manga Properties from our list for Q2 2005 are: 1. Fruits Basket 2. Rurouni Kenshin 3. Tsubasa 4. Inuyasha 5. D.N. Angel 6. Negima 7. Trigun 8. Bleach 9. Imadoki 10. Shaman King On the anime side -- the market finally rebounded somewhat, showing a 7% gain in the first quarter after a lackluster performance in 2004. In addition to the Top 25 Anime Properties, we cover the primary sales driver for anime titles in the U.S. -- in our "Anime on American TV" section. The Top Ten Anime Properties for Q2 2004 are: 1. Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind 2. The Cat Returns 3. Porco Rosso 4. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 5. Dragon Ball GT 6. Inuyasha 7. Full Metal Alchemist 8. Initial D 9. Yu-Gi-Oh! 10. Samurai Champloo |
| Source: ICv2 |
