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Moe is really the only genre I care about.

I think the real reason manga doesn't sell too well here is that kids are like "Ew, you mean those backwards comics?"

As a Square Enix producer, he's speaking from the manga publisher side. His purpose is to control the copyrights and co-finance adaptations of his company's manga (which then increases awareness of those series), not to groom anime creators.

Original anime productions may be rare these days, but that doesn't concern manga companies. The onus is on the anime companies to find a way of funding and successfully marketing original property.

So many of the Japanese business plans make no fucking sense whatsoever...actually so much of what the Japanese do makes no fucking sense whatsoever...and I wish I could give examples but Ive run out of patience after living here almost two years.

I used to buy Naruto but it's too expensive so I buy the Japanese version because I can read some Japanese, and recently I bought the 4th volume of Full Metal Alchemist. Oh wait I couldn't afford it my Dad bought it for me since it was like $12, I only get cash for my birthday I always spend it quickly though.

What? Seriously?! -_-

Oh, wow.

It's about 390-400 Yen, what is exactly 3€ then.

OMG i agree. seriously? for all you americans/europeans YOU HAVE I BETTER THAN AUSTRALIA. manga has to be shipped from america and thus, it costs more - more shipping.

your look $20 in aussie dollars each manga vol. its no wonder im poor.

Heh, great lecture.

Not really. There are some places that are $8-12 a volume. Though it depends on the series (or publisher, rather). But off the shelf at the likes of Borders, yeah, it'll be more like $20.

Damn thats like £2.80!! *sigh* it's normally £5-6 a volume..

You guys forget freight/shipping cost?

You can't compare it any way, because foreign releases need someone to transrape it :p

But it's still the fact, that a child has limited pocket money. And let's say it buys 3 mangas per month. 10€ vs. 15€, 5€ is a lot of money.

Well, how much is it in the US then?

wth, i thought in Germany they were already expensive, but actually they seem to be quite affordable, around 5-6€ each volume.


EDIT: No shipping cost included. There's only one really good Manga/Anime/J-Music/Lolitaclothes/Japan in general- store in my city, but thankfully it's about three minutes walking from my home. *lucky as shit*

Depends really. A lot of mangas also cost around 500/600 Yen, or at times even 800 yen. (4koma like K-On! or Kanamemo come to mind).

Interesting talk, although the actual profit of the industry, and his company specifically, is larger than the numbers he presented.

While it's true that increased manga sales are one major source of revenue, he completely ignored corporate sponsors, and money from television, downloads, etc. That being said, it's an excellent article for explaining the extremely poor quality of every anime in 2009.

Too bad they never gave this class in school.


Dammnn. + 00

That must be nice =___=
It's like at least $10 where I am. Usually $18.

Mod edit: Please don't double post.

Since Square Enix invests almost exclusively in late night anime, there's no corporate sponsorship or money from television broadcasts. Square Enix and their partners pay for the slots themselves, and the advertisements are their own.

OTOH, DVD and merchandise sales would be a source of revenue. However, I suspect that Taguchi ignored this since the profit to his company is miniscule (it's split among all investors, and only the most hardcore otaku actually buy those things. Additionally, Square Enix is rarely the main investor, so they might not even get a particularly large cut) compared to the money they make from increased manga sales.

@TJR
Perfect answer. I grant you a full mark in Anime Production Management course.