Anime NYC is back! Just you and 140,000 of your closest friends at the Javits Center in New York City, here to celebrate anime, manga, light novels, manhua, manwha, webtoons, danmei, etc. As ever, most of the meat of this con is on Saturday, but there were several items worthy of interest. First of all, the con actually began on Thursday, with a couple of screenings and a few hours of the exhibit hall and Artist’s Alley available. Alas, I was across town at the Japan Society, but will have to wait on telling you about that till later. For the purposes of my blog, the journey begins Friday, with a panel I had not planned to attend but which ended up being very interesting.
Mangamo! Which I almost missed because it was advertised as being about My Love Story with Yamada-kun Is Level 999, but I noticed that they were also tied into the new Random House imprint Inklore, so they were also talking about the new title I Wanna Be Your Girl, which debuted last month. On the panel were Kwok-Wai Hanson of Mangamo, as well as a representative from Comikey. Mangamo is one of those $5 per month digital manga by chapter apps, with 400+ titles. I Wanna Be Your Girl is coming out here with 1-4 (eventually) in print, which is more than it got in Japan. It’s rare we get print but Japan is digital only.
The author was not present, but shared some thoughts in slides. They were dealing with being a “troubled student”, who had class in a room separated from other students, and also dealing with identity issues. They also talked about how they love readers yelling at the characters when they screw up and make mistakes. They were shocked but delighted when they heard the series was licensed in English. We then got a video (meant for phones, so it was a bit small) advertising Yamada Level 999. The author (also via slide) thanked everyone for the messages and notes they got last year from the ANYC 2024 panel, and will treasure them.
Mangamo went over their recent series, and then gave us some new announcements. My Gyaru Wife’s Secrets (Gal Yome no Himitsu) is an office romcom where the married couple have to keep things a secret, as their office forbids romance! It runs in Ganma! 12cm Promise with a Cool Girl (Kakkoi Onnanoko to 12 cm no Yakusoku) is one of those “short cute boy/tall handsome girl” series. Also from Ganma!. I’m That Monster Girl You Once Helped Out: A Middle-Aged Teacher Finds Unexpected Popularity in Another World (“Ano Toki Tasukete Itadaita Monster Musume Desu.” Isekai Ossan Kyōshi Totsuzen no Moteki ni Konwaku Suru) is another Ganma! title about a guy who was isekai’d 20 years ago and is now a teacher, then a monster girl transfers into his class.
Damedol and the Only Fan in the World (Damedol to Sekai ni Hitori Dake no Fan) is a manga about an idol who can’t sing, can’t dance, and is kind of unpleasant… but she has one fan who really loves her. Ganma! again. I Offer My Manliness To You (Kimi ni Sasageru Otokomae) is also a cute guy/handsome girl title, and like all the other announcements, it runs in Ganma! This may be a one-magazine publisher, but if you like cute romcoms, they’re right up your alley. They also promised that they’re going to start doing some webcomics soon, as they’ve worked out how to use the app to show them.
After this, it was time for the panel devoted to recent American Manga Awards Hall of Fame recipients Studio Proteus! If you read any manga in the 1980s or 1990s, chances are that they were behind a lot of it. Nausicaa, Appleseed, Ghost in the Shell, Oh My Goddess, Dirty Pair, etc. It was the brainchild of Toren Smith, who sadly passed away in 2013. However, they did manage to get Tom Orzechowski on the panel, and he had plenty of stories to tell about its history and what things were like back in the day. Deb Aoki moderated, and we also had Carl Gustav Horn of Dark Horse Comics and Patrick Crotty of Peow.
The panel started with some Peow announcements. They told us about the November release of classic 80s shonen manga Stop!! Hibari-kun!. The story of a young man who moves in with four daughters, only to find that one of the daughters is a boy. This is very “of its time” while at the same time being incredibly ahead of its time. It’s worth checking out. They also announced a huge reprint of SF3D Chronicles, the old history of 80s model kits by Kow Yokoyama. This also looks like a labor of love, as well as a brick. They’re working with Zimmerit on this, and it has articles from Hobby Japan from 1982-1985.
After this we got into the nitty gritty of Studio Proteus, back in the days of 32-page floppy comics, analog art, and photostats galore. There was simply not a market for unflipped, 200-page manga titles in 1987. Toren was right, the only way to sell manga at that time was the way that they did. Their first title was Outlanders, back in 1987. Black and white comics were a niche at the time, and one that dark Horse Comics was uniquely suited for. Carl pointed out that a lot of the huge deluxe editions of manga we get these days are simply the same size as the old comics of the late 80s/early 90s.
We then got the history of Studio Proteus. This starts back in the days well before anime cons, when they had anime rooms at science fiction conventions. The best rooms were always the ones run by Toren, who went above and beyond and even printed show notes for people, as these were raw Japanese shows – no fansubs yet! Carl met Toren when Carl was just 14 years old. Tom met Toren in 1987, also at a convention. Tom had been lettering X-Men for Chris Claremont for years by this point. Tom felt excitement while reading manga that reminded him of the times reading underground comics in the 1970s.
They talked about photostat, which was an oversized film print – how they made tankobons back in the day. Tom had to glue SFX directly to the page, and it was a lot of hard work. The biggest of their titles was, of course, Ghost in the Shell. Which came out flopped, and in color, very rare for manga at the time. It made the cover of Wizard Magazine, the only manga to do so. Nowadays, manga has long outlived Wizard Magazine. Toren never even considered not flipping the manga, as he felt the learning curve would be too difficult. Ten years later, Tokyopop proved that it was a lot easier than everyone had thought.
There was a brief quote from Frederick Schodt, who could not be at the panel. Once, he was completely flummoxed about what a line in GitS meant, and faxed Shirow to ask. Shirow responded “I’m not sure what I meant either. Make something up.” Deb was able to speak with Tomoko Saito (who was a famous mangaka in her own right) for one of the few times after Toren’s death. She spoke about how Toren, who had sold everything he owned to get money to go to Japan, was broke, and Gainax let them stay free at their filthy, FILTHY apartments, which Toren was in charge of cleaning. Landlords would not rent to manga artists. they were too messy.
Studio Proteus’ offices were in Tom’s house, as Toren was usually broke in some way or another. He had offices below Tom’s washer/dryer. He slept in a room of purples and pinks, which, as Toren was slightly color blind, ended up making him sick! Tom admitted that dealing with manga artists was a lot easier than dealing with Chris Claremont. He had no idea how well the titles were doing at the tie, as he just kept working. They also discussed the Studio Eros manga that Studio Proteus did for Fantagraphics – the sales of which kept that company in business! They had to de-mosaic and draw in some censored art – Tom asked Toren what to do, and Toren responded, “Well, you’ve got a penis, use it as a reference.”
Tom was a great panelist. He talked about dropping Marvel titles if he didn’t like them, which stunned everyone in that work for hire culture. He also says that manga have actual endings, as opposed to most US comics, which are not allowed to end. Overall, it was a fantastic panel, I was enthralled.
The final panel I attended on Friday was Seven Seas Entertainment, which was packed and full of raffle giveaways. We had publisher Lianne Sentar, marketing person Lauren Hill, and licensing person Lena LeRay. Seven Seas is the #1 independent manga publisher, with oodles of separate imprints, which they broke down. Seven Seas itself, Ghost Ship (naughty manga for guys), Airship (light novels), Steamship (naughty manga for girls), and Siren (audiobooks). There’s also their danmei, webtoons, boys’ love, and girls’ love. They went over many of their recently licensed titles out later this year, including their first baihe (Chinese yuri) title, The Beauty’s Blade.
New licenses started with the main imprint. Dungeon Elf: What’s a Dungeon without Treasure Chests? (Dungeon Elf – Dungeon ni Takarabako ga Aru no wa Atarimae desu ka?) is a seinen manga from good! Afternoon, which has been on the K Manga app. It’s about the girl who places the treasure chests in dangerous places in the dungeon. A Prince of a Friend (Ouji-sama no Tomodachi) is a shonen comedy from Dra-Dra-Sharp#. An unlucky guy is bad at romance. Can his super hot friend who is a girl (but not a girlfriend) help him out? Catnaps, Catnaps Everywhere! (Acchikocchi Necchi!) is the latest title from PANDANIA, the cat author whose titles Seven Seas has been pouring out.
Girl Meets Rock! (Futsu no Keionbu) was the big get for me. A Shonen Jump + title about a musical girl who tries to get a band going in high school despite being, well, awkward, it’s got an incredible amount of buzz. They also announced an omnibus version of Dai Dark, by the Dorohedoro author. 3-in-1 editions. They then announced a bunch of new Siren titles, including The Twelve Kingdoms, which was the one that interested me the most. We’re also getting Love Between Fairy and Devil, Riverbay Road Men’s Dormitory, Astrolabe Rebirth, and Legend of Exorcism.
The one big Airship title was History of the Kingdom of the Orcsen: How the Barbarian Orcish Nation Came to Burn Down the Peaceful Elfland (Orcsen Oukokushi ~Yaban na Orc no Kuni wa, Ikanishite Heiwa na Elf no Kuni wo Yakiharau ni Itatta ka~). We’re also getting the manga for this. A dark elf driven out of her country by those she trusted must now ally, somehow, with Orcs. We’re also getting a short story collection for the popular manga The Dangers of My Heart. There was also a Webtoon announcement, How to Survive As a Maid in a Horror Game. It’s a basic shoujo “reincarnated into a game” series, only the game is horror, and the murderer has already found her.
The first BL series announced was His Little Amber, which ran in a magazine with the name (not making this up) of NUUDE. A yakuza picks up a leopard cub five years ago. Now, the leopard cub is… a guy? Who is sexy? Who would have thought it? Dear Sister, I’ve Become a Blessed Maiden (Zenryaku, Onii-chan wa Seijo ni Narimashita) has another great magazine name, BL Screamo core. A young man who adores his sister saves her when they’re both isekai’d. Sadly, now the man has to take his sister’s place as a sexy magic dispenser. Wild Love: A BL Guide to the Animal Kingdom (Ikimono BL Zukan – Sekai wa XX ni Michiteiru) runs in Pureri, and is a genuinely researched guide to animals… it’s just the animals are portrayed as gay couples.
The one yuri title announced was The Delinquent and the Transfer Student (Sukeban to Tenkousei ga Kudaranai Asobi o Suru dake no Hanashi), a Comic Action title that’s an “old-school 80s comedy” between a sweet transfer student and a rough delinquent girl. Their last announcement was danmei, and it was Panguan: The Twelfth Gate. This runs in the same universe as Copper Coins. Best described as “what if the man who rowed people across the River Styx got a roommate?”.
And that’s the end of Friday! Saturday is longer, much longer – my last panel ends at 9:45pm. I apologize if the next post drags into Sunday.
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