Retailer loses apartment to fire | Anime industry in doubt?

Comic AG issue 100 - that’s right, three digits – is in stores now, along with two trade releases, Evanescent Passion by Kirikaze and Ero Sister by Kaoru Hodumi.  See, we’re helping you guys out by combining all of your manga porn purchases into one week.  You’re welcome.

Expect previews for both books in the next issue of Comic AG Digital, coming in, oh, two or three weeks.  We’re really busy over here. m(_ _;)m

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Comics Conspiracy owner and pod-caster Ryan Higgins and his girlfriend suffered an apartment fire last week, losing almost all of their personal possessions.  Those who are interested in helping out can donate through the Geekbox website.  (Via Robot 6)

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Also on Robot 6/CBR, continuing coverage of how Diamond’s minimums are affecting publishers… here’s SLG’s Dan Vado speaking about it at WonderCon, and an interview with Eric Reynolds of Fantagraphics by Chris Mautner.  Both of these publishers are as far as one can get from “folks that aren’t doing much to support themselves“, but SLG’s mood is somber, while Fantagraphics isn’t sweating because they’ve largely moved away from the pamphlet format for years.

And one more potential addition to the morbid comics cancellation watch… Injury by Ted May, published by Buenaventura Press.  (Via The Comics Reporter)

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Does Amazon already have a contigency plan for ebooks in case Kindle fails to catch on?

Yes.  Yes it does.

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Spotted via MangaBlog… The Eastern Edge rants about the artificially contentious relationship between manga and comic fandoms, and the misinformation campaigns on both sides.  The sentiments are commendable, but there is a very real “fence” between manga and comic fans… the physical segregation of the two markets at retail.  Not sure if there’s anyone you can blame for that…

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The Japan Times has an article about the run-down state of Japanese animation that begins with the story of an in-betweener who earns only $800 a month while working 10-hour days… and she’s lucky, because her job hasn’t been offshored.  So you want to be an animator, huh?

This I find interesting… later in the article, fingers are pointed at the usual suspects of online piracy, drop in ad revenue, and global recession as being responsible for the ailing anime industry, but one advertiser also credits the increasing sexual content in anime as a factor.  What he’s really refering to, of course, is the proliferation of fan-servicey fluff such as moe.  Anime is really caught between a rock and a hard place… the reason anime companies are doing those types of shows is because the very hard-core set of otaku are the most dependable customers; these are the people most willing to pay money for legit DVDs, merchandise, etc (that seems to be the conventional wisdom among anime producers, at least).  Yet this comes at the expense of casual, family viewers, and sponsors, and therein lies the problem for proponents of the free model, be it on TV or broadcast on the internet… the more dire the state of the industry, the less able producers are to take on risk, the more things get recycled, and the vicious cycle feeds itself.  This really is the logical outcome of the “survival by patrons” model so many online goers propose.  If the casual or non-paying viewers are no longer enough to support IP, then they will no longer have a say in the kind of content produced.

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Now reconcile that with manga’s boom in South Korea, at least so says Asahi Shimbun.