Comments on: March Manga Madness Reviews

By: Tim Beedle

Tim Beedle — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 23:51:11 +0000

“And I can’t picture any librarian awarding MBQ anything!”

Probably not a librarian, but Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review and chose it as one of the Best Comics of 2005. The only other OEL titles to achieve that are Dramacon and Scott Pilgrim.

By: Howard Brown

Howard Brown — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 22:11:07 +0000

*chuckles

By: Erin F.

Erin F. — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 21:46:43 +0000

It could also be that I haven’t read much OEL outside of Fool’s Gold and… the others in that one column. Of the titles you’ve mentioned:

The Abandoned, Re:Play, Boys of Summer, Kat & Mouse, Afterlife, MBQ, My Dead Girlfriend and 12 Days – I’ve only ever heard of two of them, and I’ve never read any of them (beyond sample pages in the TP magazine).

I met the author of Boys of Summer, but I still haven’t read it. And I can’t picture any librarian awarding MBQ anything! I’ve flipped through it.

You’re probably right, I could’ve qualified the statement better, like “touted by teh internets” (of which I am a part).

By: Katherine Dacey-Tsuei

Katherine Dacey-Tsuei — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 21:21:20 +0000

Tim, I think your comments point to something that ought to be more prominently displayed on the Tokyopop site: a list of recent reviews, honors, etc.

I knew about the YALSA and Cybil Award nominations from reading MangaBlog (and your blog), but I don’t remember seeing much about either on Tokyopop’s own home page. In fact, the only recent announcement that comes to mind is a “thank you” note addressed to all the TP site users who voted Fruits Basket the AAA Best Manga of 2006.

By: Tim Beedle

Tim Beedle — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 20:47:29 +0000

Just to clarify, I have absolutely no issue with the review. It’s fair and well written. It was just the one statement that I objected to. It’s true that the wording doesn’t indicate that Erin personally feels it’s the one good TOKYOPOP OEL title, but I question why she felt the need to include that statement, which reads like a swipe at our original manga program. I expect those sort of statements to be made in otaku forums (and on ANN, which has earned the reputation of being unable to review an OEL title without turning it into a rant about whether non-Japanese artists can draw manga), but it was disappointing to find one here, especially when I’ve recently been discussing putting together features on OEL titles with Katherine.

By: Katherine Dacey-Tsuei

Katherine Dacey-Tsuei — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 11:26:04 +0000

Whatever one thinks of Tokyopop's OEL initiative, it has generated a positive response from librarians, childrens' book sellers, and critics. A quick look at the list of titles nominated for YALSA or Cybil awards turns up plenty of other series besides Dramacon. And Tim's right: Kat and Mouse, a title aimed at younger readers, has earned kudos galore; ithe most recent honor was Anime Bordeom's 2006 Best Amerimanga award (which, incidentally, it shared with Dramacon). That said, I had a similar experience of the book as Erin: a lot of it read more like ANN Forum discussions about manga than organic drama. Of course, I didn't like Genshinken either, so maybe I'm just categorically predisposed to disliking meta manga.

By: Howard Brown

Howard Brown — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 08:25:36 +0000

“In the days since I reviewed Dramacon volume one it’s won awards and been touted as the one good OEL title from Tokyopop that’s on the market.”

She said it has been TOUTED as such. That looks a heckuva lot different than someone making a statement of what it is or isn’t.

By: Tim Beedle

Tim Beedle — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 07:12:50 +0000

I have to say that it irks me to hear you say that Dramacon is “the one good OEL title from Tokyopop that’s on the market.” No offense to Svetlana, but that’s not true. Titles like The Abandoned, Re:Play, Boys of Summer, Kat & Mouse, Afterlife, MBQ, My Dead Girlfriend and 12 Days have won critical acclaim from a variety of different publications including Publisher’s Weekly, YALSA, Entertainment Weekly and School Library Journal. I don’t expect every original book we publish to appeal to everyone, and surely some titles will be better than others, but to suggest that Dramacon is the only one with any real literary value is wrong and does a disservice to the many other talented and hard-working artists and writers we have creating books for us.