CPM enters chapter 7

Wow, I think I actually went through net withdrawal the last couple of days.  I was hallucinating  funny cat videos while air-typing.

Well, you should have gotten Comic AG issue 103 and Mazo Chichi by Erect Sawaru yesterday.  If not, I suggest you do so before May 2nd… Free Comic Book Day.  You’d save yourself and the comic shop a lot of potential headaches, trust me.

+++

Anime and manga publisher Central Park Media has filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy.  Crains New York, Anime News Network, Anime on DVD, and ICv2 provide the grizzly details.

CPM was once a J-pop media powerhouse, with a catalog that encompassed everything from mainstream anime to pornography to live action.  It also was an early publisher of manga, including ero and BL through labels Bear Bare and BeBeautiful, although both suffered from what could best be called spectacularly rotten luck; an original comic adaptation of Demon Beast Invasion led to the obscenity prosecution of retailer Jesus Castillo, while BeBeautiful fought a protracted war of words with Japanese publisher Libre over licensing terms of yaoi titles acquired from the defunct Biblos, and languished as a resolution between it and Libre faded from sight.  The fortunes of CPM’s video division seemed to closely follow the decline of retail chain Suncoast/Musicland, an early adopter of anime that ultimately went bankrupt in 2006.

What an ignominious conclusion for a trailblazing company with so many firsts.  It’s always a shame to see another manga or anime company leave the scene, but this carries extra poignancy in the era of Funimation and Viz.  CPM was born in a time when anime and manga were still very foreign, even scandalous.  The business was colorful, grass-roots, and without rules; it wasn’t afraid to be sexy, violent, shocking… it actually embraced all of that.  Without companies like CPM, anime is a little more prudish.  Suits-and-ties.  Sterile.  And a lot less fun on dates.

There is only one more thing I’d like to say…

Someone please rescue Grave of the Fireflies.

+++

This is rather short on specifics, but this Computerworld article quotes a New Zealand censorship inspector (what a lovely title to have on your resume) saying that three people will soon be tried there for possession of “sexualised Manga cartoons”, which fall under the purvue of that country’s obscenity laws.  It is unclear whether said material consisted of animation or comics, but the context of the article suggests all of it was downloaded via peer to peer networks, which are apparently under constant surveillance by law enforcement officials there.

Moral of the story?  Don’t download hentai!

Instead, buy legitimate commercial hentai manga from your local specialty retailer and carry it home in a discreet, brown paper bag. 

+++

The Yomiuri writes about Yoshihiro Tatsumi, who is being “rediscovered” in Japan as his work gains acclaim internationally.

+++

Americans, as seen through manga.  Still think manga characters are all drawn to look “Western?”

No other commentary.  Ain’t gonna touch that, nuh-uh. (Found via JapanProbe)