Research Task: Manga Publishers

For this research task, I was to look into any narrative themes or artwork styles I find interesting or I feel correspond to my own visual aesthetic or interests. Making note of what the produce in their business...

Seven Seas Entertainment

Upon inspecting Seven Seas Entertainment, I saw popular titles such as Monster Musume, The Ancient Magus' Bride and My Little Pony. The age ranges of all the manga's seem to range a lot from 8+ to Mature, which is always nice to see since it's for everyone. The few genres that I kept seeing pop up a lot as I flicked through different books which were romance, fantasy and mystery.

The styles were varied in styles of manga, still maintaining the big eye and slim noses-- but it varied in exaggeration of shapes like bigger eyes or bigger body aspects. Considering the genres and the style of the manga's, typically most of them have a lot of 'spice', mature content that would either appeal directly to teenage/older men or women-- so even though you do have a few comics aimed for the younger audience, Seven Seas Entertainment seem to appeal to the older demographic.

I would say that my narrative style could fit into this publishers, since I like romance but not spicy content as much as the titles shown in their website. Style-wise I would say that some of my work could be seen in similar titles, probably the younger aimed style manga.

Tokyopop

Coming from the research of Seven Seas Entertainment, there were a few similarities that I could such as the spicier content through their best sellers, with some titles being aimed at child with Disney titles like 'Descendants'. Other popular titles that they're known to create is 'Star Crossed' and 'Lullaby of the Dawn'. The main theme of the manga's being released are romance with sub-genres ranging from slice of life to mystery to fantasy; there appears to be a lot of 'yaoi',* 'yuri'* and 'shoujo'*.

*Yaoi: Male characters romance with explicit sexual content.

*Yuri: Romance between female characters that range from romantic, strong friendships or/and spiritual connections.

*Shoujo: Manga aimed at young girls.

A lot of the styles shown are varied from the common style of manga to a softer style less graphic style, a lot more softer than the intense dark manga I've read in the past-- probably due to the genre and narrative of the manga.

Just like Seven Seas Entertainment, the genre's of the manga isn't what I particularly strive to create, but the art styles are what I think I'm capable of creating.

UDON Entertainment

Udon Entertainment produce/distribute comics, manga, pins, patches and shirts; working with well-known titles/IPs such as 'Street Fighter', 'Mega Man', 'Monster Hunter' and 'Persona'. Those are famous IP's that have either come from Video Games or turned into Manga. The typical manga they seem to produce is fighting, sci-fi and romance, if they have romance they tend to be a sub-genre of the fighting or sci-fi narrative.

The art style of the manga is very different from one another, in particular the 'Persona' manga still has the round head and sharp chin but the eyes are smaller, the style is more graphic-look and bold with contrasts. Looking at the front covers compared to the other publishers, the manga's are bold and very colourful, and have a very strong composition style which really stands out to me.

If I was good enough I could see my work among these titles, I like strong lines and shapes with bold colour-- but sci-fi isn't really what I think I could create.

Viz

Viz (along with the next publisher) is one of the leading publishers of manga and for Asian culture, by releasing Anime Movies, TV shows and Manga. Looking at their website, they also allow the chance to submit your own manga. Very popular titles such as Pokemon, Animal Crossing, Beastars, Demon Slayer and Naruto (to name a few) have become household names; producing shows on Netflix, Disney+ and more.

The website hosts Shonen Jump, a very well-renowned manga company that has taken on famous artists like Eiichiro Oda, Yukinobu Tatsu and many more; showcasing titles like One Piece, Dandadan.

Throughout the website, they publish a wider variety of genres and style of manga, with genres ranging from action-adventure, comedy, drama, family, school life all the way to supernatural and thriller. They present one shots, series and anthologies throughout their website; with such a range it's clear why they are so successful.

The art style of the manga ranges, but the most common artwork style I see is high contrast of black shapes and lots of texture from the screen tone, with the bold black shapes and texture the white/cream of the page really packs a punch and grabs your attention.

It would be nice to think that I could see my work among these titles, however, I am very very far off from being good to that level.

Yen Press

Another well-known publisher, Yen Press is known for many popular titles such as Wolf Children, Black Butler and Delicious in Dungeon to name a few. Just like Vis, most titles have ended up being produced into anime tv shows and movies which has helped expand their viewer base; I've seen a few titles like Delicious in Dungeon and K-ON.

They also have a lot of different genres, with a dedicated sections of their website for Junior Manga, Novel, Comic and Romance Genre-- they also include a section of subgenres so you can really narrow down what you want based on your preferences. Yen Press have genres such as Romance, Slice-of-Life, Special Interest, Sci-fi, LGBTQ and Drama-- with more genres to suit your preferences.

The art styles range but more recent titles have similar styles to that of VIS, with the bold black background/shape to make the subject pop more; however lighter genres like slice-of-life have less contrast and focus on line-work and characterization of character/emotions/action.

I could see my work in the slice-of-life section of Yen Press, or the drama category, but again if I was good enough-- I could see my traditional inking style in titles.

Reflection

Looking at my small collection of manga, a lot of the manga I have are either from Yen Press and VIZ, which says to me that they're the more chosen publishers for titles to reach outside of Asia.

Titles I have from Yen Press are: K-ON and K-ON!, and Delicious in Dungeon (which I have recently got into the TV Show on Netflix). K-ON being slice of life and the styles are very simple with little contrast between the line-work and the white page. Delicious in Dungeon (Fantasy) is more recently released than K-ON, and has that updated style, with lots of use of screen-tone and lots of inking which creates really nice texture.

Titles I have from VIZ are: Chainsaw Man and Choujin X. Both of these are dark fantasy, action-based genre; and it reflects that in the style, there is a lot going on in the pages, with lots of texture and use of screen-tone, lots of inking and shading. Really beautifully made manga.

Looking at all these publishers and what they create, its really nice to see how broad manga is, with different target audiences and different art styles. Reflecting on my work about the publishers, and seeing how I wrote about the narrative styles and the art styles, I should've done a lot more-- however, manga is something I've not delved into as much as comics or graphic novels and so I struggled to figure what areas I should've talked about. So I'm not too sure I was able to do what was intended of me for this research task.