(One) retailer drops manga over Libre

In this Ask John column at AnimeNation, John takes a request for “lolita” anime and artfully takes it into a deeper examination of the appeal and prevalence of such characters in mainstream manga and anime.

BTW, when’s Seven Sea’s Nymphet coming out again?  April?  Yeah…

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Uh-oh… Rabbit Valley, specialty furry and anime/manga online shop, is the first retailer I know of to drop CPM/Be Beautiful from its catalogue over Libre-gate:

It has come to the management’s attention that several items we sold by the publisher “Central Park Media” doing business as “Be Beautiful” were not authorized, licensed reprints of an artist’s work. We have pulled the following items from our catalog: “Golden Cain,” “Embracing Love Volume 1,” and “Selfish Love” volumes 1 and 2. It is the policy of Rabbit Valley (R) Comics to NEVER endorse piracy of any kind. Until the licensing issue is cleared up, these items have been pulled from the site.

Their zero-tolerance policy for pirate material is very, very respectable, even though the situation isn’t all that clear-cut just yet (not to mention the titles they pulled might not be the ones in dispute.)  Also worth noting, CPM has their man in Japan right now trying to set things right.

Despite how publically Libre admonished CPM (the announcement was posted on the very front page of their website), it is not known whether Libre has officially contacted distributors in the states.  (And hopefully for CPM, they can diffuse the situation before this next logical escalation.)  Has any other retailer taken, or has plans to take similar action thus far?

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The BBC makes documentaries like nobody’s business.  (Via Manga Talk–> MangaBlog)

Thankfully the producers spend most of their time in Japan, and gives a much wider view of manga.  Romance for senior citizens?  That’s the next big thing!  Seniors still like paper!