Nymphet [Kodomo no Jikan]

[Lordshade]

Originally Posted by MakubeX2

?
PS :- Our ETA is that we tend to releases our version at a pace of a chapter a week, maybe 2 if we aren't tied up in real life.

Thanks, I just wanted to know if the project was still alive is all...

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by bleakessence

Anyways, I also agree that KnJ isn't as taboo as the flamers have portrayed it to be, but there ARE some slightly questionable parts to the manga. Although not enough to warrant a book burning or something (lol), chap13 and chap 17 made me begin to see SSE's PoV regarding KnJ. Both chapters have gags on the first page that are, to be frank, pretty inappropriate for some (if not most) people... no matter the context of the situation. Sure, we who are not so prudish can look at it and dismiss it as harmless jokes... but I can see why the conservative types have some objections to it. As I said, though... it's not enough to warrant a cancellation of the series. Perhaps a warning or a more mature rating would have better been in order rather than straight-out cancellation (if the reasons behind it were as SSE's head explained before)

Aye.... in my opine... a 16+ rating and *maybe* a shrinkwrap would have been more than sufficient.

[Risaa]

Hnn... I'd say shrinkwrap it, most definitely. I see so many young kids reading in the manga aisles... and if they're anything like I am, the moment they see the cute art work, they're grabbing it off the shelf and reading it.

Well, now there isn't going to be any shrinkwrappage or anything.... I wish I could start my own company and license titles no one else will (like *cough*Mahoraba*cough* too). :T

[Vexx]

If you start with Mahoraba, I've got lots of extra paper and a garage

[Risaa]

You know I want to. I'd definitely nab Kodomo no Jikan as well... even though I don't care for it, I don't think it's "inappropriate" for NA readers. And besides, I'd love to show people that I don't have a stick up my ...

So many good titles out there continue to go unlicensed. Saddening.

[Hayami]

Originally Posted by Risaa

Well, now there isn't going to be any shrinkwrappage or anything.... I wish I could start my own company and license titles no one else will (like *cough*Mahoraba*cough* too). :T

I feel the same! Sadly the guys who translated Nymphet for 7S seem to have other priorities ;_;
Here is their article about the cancellation, my comment and their reply:
No Lolitas For The U.S.
Sure the reply isn't serious, but I'm sure I'd at least try something if I translated it already, even if it's just vol.1. For example put a donation button/link on the site and advertise a bit. I know I would donate and help with advertising too, at least a little, I'm sure quite a few people would help.

Randall Fitzgerald posted 8 June on japanator.com this comment to the KnJ cancellation news article:

I’m considering getting some money together to try to pick up the KnJ license. I’ve got some people. Finding a printer. Yessir. I wonder if SevenSeas will even mail me back. BWAAHAHAHAHA!

But I can't find any news regarding his plans on his site... except this:

Someone donate me $10k so I can start up a manga company. I'm assuming that will do it.

Haha.

Btw. thank you Shade543 / Lordshade for posting on this blog & here the info regarding Adam Arnold.
Funny quote:

Originally Posted by Jason DeAngelis

(...) Soon after, Adam Arnold, senior editor and top otaku at Seven Seas (...)

Anyone knows how much could it cost to publish at least vol.1?

- license costs
- translation costs
- printing costs
- distribution costs (?)
- anything else?

Actually there's a chance that this cancellation by 7S will have a positive effect. There are so many people who are disappointed by this turn of events. Should we allow the people like Zac and A. Arnold speak for the Western anime fans? I guess for many Japanese it looks like THE FANS caused this cancellation. Even if it's just a loud minority it makes us all look bad.

Isn't at least one of the true otaku & anime fans rich enough to start a new publishing company that would print anything as long it's not illegal? Not sure about the games like Popotan or Sacred Plume (my fav. games) or loli H manga, but at least anything 100% safe according to Miller Test!

[FatPianoBoy]

Originally Posted by Hayami

Isn't at least one of the true otaku & anime fans rich enough to start a new publishing company that would print anything as long it's not illegal?

It's a nice idea (a really nice idea, actually), but the fact of the matter is that a company must make money. I honestly doubt KnJ was really and truly canceled because of content alone; they announced the cancellation was due to "inappropriate content," but it took them a week to tell us just what that content was (). I still maintain that the retailers bailed and SSE later tried to save face and do their best to not sound like they canceled it due to limited sales potential.

I'm not sure how serious anyone is about starting their own publishing company (I'd venture somewhere between 'not very' and 'if everything clicked, maybe'), but there's a lot to think about with such a thing. The only way this could possibly work is if it were ran like a scanlation group, except with actual licenses and actual hard copies being made. It'd have to be non-profit, the volumes would be sold online, and 100% of the proceeds would go towards printing costs, bandwidth, and licensing. The problem with this is that I doubt it'd be able to get a license, as in order for the Japanese companies to sell you one of those, they have to take you seriously. If someone has a large enough cash pool to get the ball rolling, I don't see why we couldn't try, but saying I'm skeptical is forced optimism.

[Hayami]

Well, just look how many people say "I would buy it just to be able to judge myself if it's really that bad". Not sure how many of them would still buy if after it's scanlated by few groups but quite a few people would buy. From the online sales alone (amazon, archonia, etc.) they would get enough money to cover the costs. Do you think they most customers would buy a title like Nymphet in a book store?
And sooner or later even some stores would grab the title it if it's widely available anyway.


The reason why 7S could have lost some money is that it some fans and even stores could boykott them for publishing Nymphet. But their image is damaged either way (some other fans wouldn't buy their manga because of the cancellation)


If it was a company that concentrates on the most controversial titles and planes to distribute them mostly online from the beginning, it could be quite profitable. Many people would buy it because of the controversy alone. And the fans of these controversial genres would love them and quite a few would even donate if they asked (let alone to pay a slightly higher price)


I think the main reason why no one did it so far is that people are afraid of the witchburners.

[Lordshade]

Originally Posted by Hayami

I feel the same! Sadly the guys who translated Nymphet for 7S seem to have other priorities ;_;
Here is their article about the cancellation, my comment and their reply:
No Lolitas For The U.S.
Sure the reply isn't serious, but I'm sure I'd at least try something if I translated it already, even if it's just vol.1. For example put a donation button/link on the site and advertise a bit. I know I would donate and help with advertising too, at least a little, I'm sure quite a few people would help.

Randall Fitzgerald posted 8 June on japanator.com this comment to the KnJ cancellation news article:
But I can't find any news regarding his plans on his site... except this:

Btw. thank you Shade543 / Lordshade for posting on this blog & here the info regarding Adam Arnold.
Funny quote:

Anyone knows how much could it cost to publish at least vol.1?

Actually there's a chance that this cancellation by 7S will have a positive effect. There are so many people who are disappointed by this turn of events. Should we allow the people like Zac and A. Arnold speak for the Western anime fans? I guess for many Japanese it looks like THE FANS caused this cancellation. Even if it's just a loud minority it makes us all look bad.

Isn't at least one of the true otaku & anime fans rich enough to start a new publishing company that would print anything as long it's not illegal? Not sure about the games like Popotan or Sacred Plume (my fav. games) or loli H manga, but at least anything 100% safe according to Miller Test!

Um, Randall was saying he wishes he could run a company, but he doesn't have the time/money to do so.

Anyway, thanks for mentioning me

I think the REAL reason they canceled was because they went to retailers about this the wrong way. And after they backed out, they couldn't make enough money of it, but since they have to keep there "fan-friendly" reputation, they looked for a scapegoat in some pages that looked "over the line" at a glance...

That's my theory.

[bleakessence]

Hm. Could anyone post a link showing what pages SSE cited as inappropriate? Because if I can recall that announcement from the head over at ANN correctly, he only said that the content of later volumes was unacceptable or something... without citing what, exactly, was unacceptable (or something... XD)

Spoiler for chap21:

Ohohoho! It seems Shirai is going to have her own little side-story, and isn't just another expendable character. Also, I'm really wondering what's going to happen to the story with 'kind' Rin... and something tells me a big plot-device is coming up in the next few chapters

[MakubeX2]

Originally Posted by bleakessence

Spoiler for chap21:

Ohohoho! It seems Shirai is going to have her own little side-story, and isn't just another expendable character. Also, I'm really wondering what's going to happen to the story with 'kind' Rin... and something tells me a big plot-device is coming up in the next few chapters

Rin.....matured after that talk with Hoin. That's about it.

Shirai gets pestered by Kuro and see's a mirror of herself in Kuro.

[bleakessence]

BOOO! Spoilers! D:>

Hmm... strange... considering the wacked-out thinking processes of the characters (especially Rin) killing off her promiscuity would seriously take the manga in another direction than its original premise o_o;

[MakubeX2]

On the contrary, by the Chapter 20-lish, you can see why Watashiya had titled the series as such. "Child's time" or maybe "Childhood".

Every of the main cast started as a child of sort gorwing up and coming to term with their role in life. Aoki as a rookie teacher with no experience at dealing with kids. Rin and her infatuation, trying to learn about emotional matters. Kuro, learning how to let go of her puppy love with Rin. Usa and her advance physics....

This is just a simple tale about everyone maturing and growing up.

PS :- Your thoughts reflects the sentiments of Otakus in the east regarding the series losing it's shine.

[bleakessence]

well... going in another direction doesn't necessarily mean that the manga will lose its shine. I mean, if the manga focuses on gags, panty-shots, and green jokes right now, uses it to draw controversy and attention to itself, and then shifts to a more thought-provoking turn of events, it doesn't mean it will lose anything... it's also not necessarily a bad thing too.

One example of a manga that had pretty much the same premise as KnJ is Negima. Negima also started out as a simple 10-year old kid who, wanting to be a licensed mage, had to serve as a teacher in a junior-high class. Plenty panty-shots, plenty gags, plenty of green jokes... up to a certain point. Then the author (more or less) turned it from a magical-comedy into a fighting manga.

Though I wouldn't say I agree with the new turn of events, the author was successful in suckering me in with the initial light-hearted premise of the story, attach me to the characters, and then go with the story he wants to tell for the characters.

From what I can see, this is also what Watashiya is doing with KnJ.

[Vexx]

Its pretty common in a lot of the stories I see in japanese manga/anime ... start out "light hearted and comedic", get you attached to the characters --- and then slip into the drama, more serious matters, or even tragedy.

[bleakessence]

@Vexx
True... very true. Most comedy+action/drama/slice-of-life anime/manga turn serious after a time, but don't stray too far from the original premise of the plot. Negima made me go "eh?" when it suddenly became like a tournament-fighting manga...

One example of a comedy anime that made the mistake (at least for me) of becoming *too* serious in the last story-arc was Inukami.

@releases
Hmm... saha is slowing down on their releases. Up to what volume are the raws?

[Vexx]

Aye... I realize that "magical combat" was what Ken A. wanted to do in Negima, but I read it to watch the relationships and character development so I did have to grit my teeth through a lot of the "pokemon"-type moments of the last few volumes.

The original source has had 3 volumes released, the 4th is due out in September I think.

[bleakessence]

Oh... that's months away, then

"Pokemon-type moments"... that made me both chuckle and nod in agreement

[digiwombat]

Hey,

Randall Fitzgerald here.

I'm actually looking into it more seriously than Lordshade says. Haha.

As it is, before moving forward on it, I need to get some money together, then get my people together and start working things out.

By the time I get all that shit together, however, someone else may grab up KnJ (could take me a year... yeesh.). BUT I HAVE PLANS, DAMNIT. Might now count for much, but there you go. I'm missing a lot of the luck other people have, but, hey, I'm working on it. Of course, my day job and other projects slow things down, but I AM ONLY ONE MAN!

Ok, back to work. Haha.

[Vexx]

Hmmmm, unless you plan on offering a "dead tree" version, its likely the scanlations would prevent any success with an electronic version. But hey, you might consider it under a non-profit business structure (for those unfamiliar - you pay yourself a fixed salary but the business entity re-invests all proceeds back into the business ... the way museums and other 503C organizations do it).