The Scarecrow of Oz Chapter 2

Here's the second "The Scarecrow of Oz" one-shot.  It truly is a follow-up to the first one-shot and ties up the lose end with the Tin Man.  In March we will release "The Scarecrow of Oz" serialization.  The serialization will only be three chapters long and is currently running in "Hana to Yume" magazine.  The serialization covers the third witch who chose the beast.  (The little lion beasty is adorable!).

Links to "The Scarecrow of Oz II": (Zip) (PDF)

As of now, I don't know what's up next.  We have a few projects that are well on their way to completion, but I don't know which one is going to be completed first.  Also, I start jury duty tomorrow, so unless I get dismissed tomorrow, I'll be busy with real life for the next two weeks and we will probably only be able to put out one release over that time.

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Thoughts on Borders Bankruptcy

Borders Books is in bankruptcy and I've seen all kinds of blame going around.  I was most irritated by people who blamed customers for Borders demise.  That's like saying the customer doesn't know what they want and that we as customers should be joyful for whatever Borders brings to our lives.

I haven't been to a Borders in months.  The last time I went, they were having a tent sale to get rid of awful books and the random non-book crap they sell.  Before that visit, I noticed that my Borders was selling fewer and fewer books in favor of the random non-book crap.  Most of this non-book crap is the random crazy-cat-lady crap you'd find at a Hallmark store.  If I can't find any books I want to read at Borders, what am I supposed to do?  The obvious means available to me is an online book seller like Amazon.  Case-closed:  Amazon wins and Borders loses and has to at some point unload all that random non-book crap at pennies on the dollar.

I read a lot of manga and lately I've heard a lot of manga publishers and their related sympathizers complain that with Borders closing they will have fewer places to sell books.
Shelf space is limited and expensive and how are smaller titles to get attention when a bookstore has to stock all 50+ volumes of a wildly popular series like "Naruto"?  And then on top of that, they complain that have to put series on hiatus and forgo renewing licenses because customers aren't buying the books from neither the physical bookstores or online bookstores.  It seems to me that something is fundamentally broken.  Here are some things that come to mind:

   1. How many of us have room for 50 volumes of any series before we even talk about reading multiple series?
   2. How many of us have $500 plus tax to spend on 50 volumes of any series.  Now ask yourself how many 12-year-olds have this kind of money?

The way manga is sold makes absolutely no sense and trying to sell manga like normal books is ridiculous.  I say to all the manga publishers out there, know your customers and take a commonsense approach to the space issue.  If there are more than 5 volumes, put it online, sell kids access they can buy for cash at a brick-and-mortar store, and charge a price that is commensurate with the age of your target audience (10 to 25-cents per chapter will do nicely).  Relying on a bookstore to push paper when shelf space is rare, manga is prolific and fractured, and the customers are used to reading stuff on the Internet is a losing proposition.  The Borders bankruptcy has nothing to do with manga publishers woes.  The manga publishers have yet to address their customers unmet needs and don't seem to realize that it's not the customers' job to address the unmet needs of the publishers. 

Back to Borders...What can Borders do to save itself.  Well...the obvious thing they can do is actually sell books.  In the end, though, I truly think there isn't much Borders can do.  They can sell books online, but they need something to differentiate themselves from and improve upon the experiences Amazon and Barnes and Noble offer.  They could get smaller and more community connected.  I like small spaces with books, magazines, pastries, and hot drinks.  I also like places where there are knowledgeable sales people who like and know about the books they sell.  There's nothing better than to go into a bookstore and ask what's popular with 5-year-olds and have somebody help me chose the perfect present for my niece or my friends' children.  Maybe they could position themselves as a "for profit library".  People need help doing research and finding that special book for their special need.

I wish Borders all the luck in the world and I will return to my local Borders Bookstore once they stock actual books again.

New Manga Purchases: Dec 8, 2010 to Feb 23, 2011

Here's my most recent purchases:

• "Gakuen Alice" Volume 15 -- One of my favorite volumes and the best sports arc in any series I've read so far 5/5.  I can't read the tiny font Tokyopop uses for the outside of bubble dialog, though.
• "Portrait of M&N" Volume 4 -- so cute, yet so strange 4/5 (Go Hijiri Ringo!)
• "Aion" Volume 1 -- Yuna Kasesaki's new series.  It's no where near as good a "Karin" but it's an entertaining read.  There seems to be some demographic confusion with this series.  The situations and the language indicate high schoolers, but the characters are drawn like 'tweens.  I found the disconnect disconcerting. 2.5/5
• "Mistress Fortune" -- I read the first chapter in Japanese back in 2008 and I wasn't impressed.  I'm still not impressed and found myself rather upset that anybody thinks it's normal for a 14-year girl to have DD sized breast and weigh 84-lbs.  That is mind poison!  Also the fact that they drink a lot of sugar water to get their powers was upsetting.   I got a few pages into the second chapter before I had to put it down. The drawing are beautiful and the book comes with a nice poster inside, however, I can't recommend this book for purchase and I think this book would be especially poisonous to any impressionable tween.  Every other series by Arina Tenemura is MUCH better than this sinker. 1/5
• "Black Bird" Volume 7 -- Chocolate sauce chapter!!!!  5/5
• "Stepping on Roses" Volume 4 -- it's so bad that it's kinda good...2/5/5
• "Black Lagoon" Volume 1 (for Hubby)
• "Natsume's Book of Friends" Volume 5 -- so nice before bed...5/5
• "Gunslinger Girls" Omnibus 1
• "The Black Gate" Volume 1 - 3 Omnibus -- It's good, but it's not something I'd typically read. I'm slowly working through it as a "bathroom reader".  I think folks who like slow developing shounen series will like this. 2.5/5
• "Arisa" Volumes 2 - 6 (Japanese Language)
• "Zettai Heiwa Daisakusen" Volume 4 (Japanese Language)
• "Ouran High School Host Club" Volume 17 (Japanese Language)
• "Nemurenu Kishi ni Hanataba wo" (Japanese Language) 

If you want to buy some of these books, please consider buying them from the Omari's Sister's Amazon Store.  Support your favorite manga series and put a nickel in my pocket.

Extras in "Zettai Heiwa Daisakusen" Volume 4

My gosh, that slow boat from Asia was EXTRA slow!

There are some cute extras included in the 4th volume of "Zettai Heiwa Daisakusen".  There's a thank you page with very nice drawing and a short omake about the baby prince!  So cute!  I love stories that end in marital and family bliss!  I'll try to get those out along with refreshed links to purchase your own copy of volume 4 in March.

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Kemono Kingdom: Zoo Chp 3

Lion and Eagle ...what's this I feel?  Could it be a touch of moe?

It's another wacky chapter of the cute animal civil war story!  It's hard to say who my favorite character is because I like all the characters so much for their individual quirks.  In terms of a pair, though, Lion and Eagle are easily my favorite.

Links to "Kemono Kingdom: Zoo" Chapter 3:  (Zip) (PDF)

This chapter ends the opening arc of the story. Next in the story, I can honestly say I haven't got a clue, but I'm sure it will adorably side-splitting.  I hope Mochi gets a cover or does a color image soon.  These cute furries deserve some special treatment.  Also, the story needs a speaking reptile of some sort...hmm...but what kind would be good?

The California Condor!

(Image courtesy of Wikipedia)

In this chapter a new character "Condor" is introduced.  The California Condor is near and dear to the hearts of some of us San Diegans who were bombarded in the 80's by the news of the California Condor's near extinction.  In 1987 the 22 known remaining California Condors were captured and put into a captive breeding program at the San Diego Wild Animal Park (now called "The Safari Park") and the LA Zoo.  It was rough going for them.  They were released back into the wild in 1991 and now there are around 400 known birds.

If you would like to know a little more about the California Condor, here's a nice web page from the San Diego Zoo about them. (Link) If you want to know more than a little something, follow the links within that web page.  The story of how the species was revived is quite interesting.  Oh, and here's a link to them on Wikipedia too. (Link)  The birds aren't much to look at close up, but they are, as Mochi-sensei points out, "The Rulers of the Sky" (They are HUGE birds and they can soar forever).

(Image courtesy of Wikipedia)

Next up is the second "The Scarecrow of Oz" one-shot to prepare us for the short 3-chapter long short series that will we present in April.

Comments Inquiring About Release Dates will be Rejected

From now on, all comments with inquiries about release dates will be rejected.  There is a detailed release schedule page on this blog to look at if you want to know when releases will occur.  The link is here or near the top of the first column of the right side panel on this blog.

Note: The release dates at the end of manga are the dates the manga comes out in Japanese and not English.

(comment for this posting are closed)

Halloween in February: "The Devil Mansion's Teacher"

(Joint with The Zero Alliance)

This one-shot was supposed to come out last Halloween, but because I underestimated the amount work needed to do the image editing and redraws, we couldn't get it done in time.  Fortunately, things came together now, so we'll have a little bit of Halloween in February.

Again, this is another project that is a little different from want we usually do (one more project like this, then I can't say that anymore...haha).  This story isn't actually all that spooky, it's more of a spooky motif.  The story itself is quite heartwarming and I really like Nayuta. Like Pika Ichi, this one-shot is a collaboration between sisters.  I hope to see more from them.  In the past they've done short shounen series in the Gan Gan Magazines.

Links "The Devil Mansion's Teacher": (Zip) (PDF)

Next up is "Kemono Kingdom: Zoo" Chp 3.

"Furou Kyoudai" to be Serialized!

"Furou Kyoudai" will be serialized in Hana to Yume magazine starting in issue 7 (March 5, 2011)!  We will, of course, pick up the series.  Like "The Scarecrow of Oz" it should be a short serialization. I will update this post with a preview image when I get Hana to Yume issue 6.

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Series Debut: "The Ghost Apartment Manager"

 

"The Ghost Apartment Manager" is a little different project than we usually take on.  This series is about the friendship between two male protagonists and involves a bit of tragedy.  And now for the links:

Links to "The Ghost Apartment Manager" Chapter 1: (Zip) (PDF)

My Thoughts on the Chapter:

What attracted me to the story is the relationship between the two boys.  Sekka is obviously emotionally stoppered and Leo seems to be one of those shallow happy-go-lucky guys with lots of acquaintances.  Why are they friends? And how will they proceed in the situation they currently find themselves in.  This is a story about life and death and learning to live.  There's a lot of truth in this series as well as a lot fun and humor.  I look forward to continuing this series monthly.  Oh, and please feel free to give us some feedback on the series debut.

Next up is "The Devil Mansion's Teacher".  

Other Announcements:

• We are postponing "The Scarecrow of Oz" series until the tankouban are released.  The image quality from "Hana to Yume" magazine is too poor to reasonably work with.  My cleaners' time is precious and I don't think we would be doing the series justice by putting out something that only looks decent.  I expect the first volume to be released sometime this spring.
• I am compiling one-shots for the spring and summer.  I've found a lot of one-shots from some of our favorite artists and hope to bring you as many as we reasonably can without compromising our series.

Announcement: The Big Spring One-Shot!

Our Big Spring one-shot will be "Nanairo no Mukou" ("The Other Side of the Rainbow") by Sora Kakeru.  It's a fantasy story in which a boy finds himself in a world without adults beyond the rainbow.  There's a magical fan, a dragon, rainbows, flowers, demons, a miko, action, and a little romance.  There's no unicorns, though.  A unicorn would be epic! Ah...springtime and childhood fantasies.  I hope this is a story that adults and children will both like and I hope it's something some of the parents who read this blog can share with their children :).  We are aiming for a late April release.

Omari's Sister Blog Stats Fun

Here's some stats from Google Analytics about this blog that I thought were cool.

A pie chart showing the regions you all are from (number of visitors blacked out)(click on to see larger image)

It's sad to see that very little traffic comes from Africa.

Top Ten Visiting Countries for the month:

1. USA
2. Canada
3. France
4. Philippines
5. Germany
6. UK
7. Australia
8. Malaysia
9. Singapore
10. Poland

Top 5 Traffic Sources

1. Direct
2. Google
3. Manga-updates
4. Mangafox
5. Feedburner

Top 5 Searches

1. Omari's Sister (or some variation)
2. Pureblood + Boyfriend (or some variation)
3. Magnolia Manga
4. Pika Ichi
5. Orange Chocolate Manga

Top 5 Browsers

1. Firefox
2. Chrome
3. IE
4. Safari
5. Opera

Fun Facts:

• This blog is viewed in 135 countries
• 1% of you are using dial-up
• 2% of you are using an Apple mobile device
• A handful of visitors are assessing the site on a PS3, PSP, or Wii
• 32% of visits are first time visits to the site
• Less than 1% of visitors are from Japan
• 84% of you are using Windows

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