BL publisher promises to publish books | Scourge of the hentai threatens Vietnamese teens

Dear Author examines the current e-book hardware offerings, and concludes manufacturers have been pricing themselves out of the market.  The $399 price tag for the Kindle will become even harder to justify once sub-$100 OLPC clones with VGA resolution become commonplace.

On the other hand, I don’t agree with adding more functionality, other than touch-screen.  E-books need to focus on doing one thing exceptionally well, which is deliver a reading experience comparable to books.  People will continue to listen to music on their iPods and browse the internet on their laptops; there’s little point in duplicating those functions when they’re already done so well by devices that are already ubiquitous.  And this may sound age-ist (or maybe I’m just showing off my premature aging), but I think e-books must appeal to the older set to truly succeeed, and too many non-essential functions would just add frustration.  The e-book is out to replace the most user-friendly mass medium ever; it shouldn’t come with a manual as thick as one for a VCR. (Hat tip to Tina)

Edit: Manga Xanadu reviews the newest Sony offering, the very slick but still preppy-priced PR-700.  Make a dual-screen version of this, and I’m so there.

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Gia Manry interviews Yaoi Generation, the new BL company promising such industry innovations as shipping products solicited, shipping on time, and keeping its catalog size manageable.  Will such daring level-headedness produce results?

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I read MangaBlog’s review of Kasumi with great interest not out of any special enthusiasm for the book itself, but for Brigid Alverson’s suggestion that the title’s biggest shortcomings may be a result of its mixed pedigree… Kasumi is a collaborative project between an American writer and a Japanese artist.  Aside from technical details such as the inclusion of honorifics and wasei-eigo, Brigid was uncomfortable with certain story contrivances… in the context of an American-made manga.  Is this holding oel manga to a different standard, or is there really an authenticity issue with authors trying to write about Japan, likely with knowledge gleaned purely from other manga, such that the book may not pass the smell test even for readers whose understanding of Japan is equally limited?

Also, and I ask this without any disrespect to the writer, is there any point in having an American (or French, or British, or wherever) writer create a script from a Japanese perspective without taking any advantage of the creator’s own world view, then practically “re-import” it?  (Not that this is necessarily the case here. I wouldn’t know since I have not read this book.)  Certainly, there’s no reason such a thing cannot be done well… but to me, it still seems as awkward as having an American artist draw the comic to read from right to left for the sake of “authenticity”.

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Sankaku Complex summarizes efforts by Japanese otaku to combat proposed bans on adult manga featuring underage characters… with a signature petition.

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I think I may know why Kodansha USA’s launch has been delayed… parent company Kodansha is currently being sued by 33 very large and very dangerous individuals.

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The Vietnamese public is outraged… Outraged… that the hentai – a kind of Japanese pornography featuring child-like characters engaged in such deviant acts as frenching - are being sold to teenagers.   Among the the hentai officials are condemning is a book with the lascivious title of Ichigo 100%…

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The Comics Reporter issues 24 hypothetical decrees to make the world of comics a better place.  ADV would do well to heed the last one.