Manga on DVD??

I don’t know if it’s the meds or maybe some headache induced hallucination but new details from Infinity seem to be suggesting that their planned eBook launch will not be a manga takeover of the interwebs. No, IS will be going back into the past, before CPM and ComicsOne turned to eManga, by burning their books onto DVD at a cost of $6.00 a pop!

I believe DMP started off distributing manga on disc ages ago. Don’t remember if it was CDr or DVD but that didn’t take off back then. And after many attempts to do the same in Japan, publishers over there are more likely to reprint back catalog now in micro-mini book (ie the Tezuka collection) or just give in to the power of Panasonic’s eBook initiative (which was supposed to expand to the US by now…). So why would any publisher now go through the trouble of authoring DVDs to increase sales on poorly selling titles?

There is a reason why Zero isn’t selling…It isn’t very good. Same could be said for PopoCan or NanaNana and I somehow doubt that having them on DVD will suddenly increase support for these titles. The problem with good titles like NOW and SWEETY is not that that they cost too much or their quality isn’t up to snuff. NOW was a solid seller for ComicsOne, and that was not entirely fueled by support from Waldenbooks. NOW was in many ways C1’s best property and it being a manhwa meant it got its support entirely from the grassroots of fandom - the readers. Delays killed that series.

When Infinity broke off from C1 in 2003 they promised NOW 6 in around six months with new releases of previously translated 1-5 to follow soon after. Volume 1 of that series wasn’t available until the summer of 2006 and the publisher has only released 3 volumes since. NOW 6 was published in 2006 but where are 7, 8….? Two volumes a year for any series for any publisher is bad news unless the title is currently in monthly production (as is the base with Blood Alone). And even in the case of Blood Alone or Iono-sama, it possibly isn’t prudent to announce series so early in production because the wait to catch up with Japan will eventually hurt sales.

So why the hold up? Broccoli Books is easily the best in the manga business as far as production values are concerned. Dollar for dollar they beat Infinity by $1 SRP and add BroBook’s extras and that turns into $2 quickly (and that is often more than enough to get you a dust jacket through their mail-in service). BroBooks don’t have a large staff. They don’t have the best titles either. But they generally meet most of their target dates and generally maintain their books on a quarterly schedule or better (when source material is available). I may be wrong but I believe ero manga pub Icarus is a small operation as well. Their production has improved greatly in the last two years. And while they might miss a deadline here and there, they are still good for two issues of AG a month and a GN a month as well.

How could Infinity not do the same? Poor management? Bad distribution choices? Poor judgement when licensing? This DiscBook initiative looks like their biggest flop yet. It lacks the convenience that an eBook is supposed to have. I occasionally get galleys on CDr and I generally forget them amongst music and eroge CDs.  This also gives Infinity even worse distribution as Infinity’s high shipping costs could discourage buyers from supporting the format altogether. And it might not solve their delay problems either. They can always say they had a problem burning those discs (menu issues, formating….).

Downloadable versions could have helped Infinity create a brand new model if their licensors permitted it. Imagine a situation where fans need not worry about 6-9 month turn arounds for tanks to be collected. A download format could have created a system where individual chapters could have been sold once they were available and translated. This system could have beaten many pirates at their game, potentially increasing Infinity’s sales. Then they could have judged by hits which titles to print and then sell those through their pre-order system. Now readers have to pay close to what they pay at Borders for a clunky disc…That CD case better have some nice art and a sweet booklet/poster cover cause  I don’t see how even the most obsessive of otaku would buy into this new format.