Jouhou Shisou

ShockTillYouDrop.com recently conducted an interview with Shutter Island screenwriter  Laeta Kalogridis, and its sister site ComingSoon.net picked up a tidbit about her progress on the live-action adaptation of Shirow Masamune’s Ghost in the Shell manga.

Here’s what she had to say:

I’ve got Ghost in the Shell, which is an adaptation of another manga and anime with DreamWorks and Steven’s producing that and I’m hoping that the draft will come in pretty soon and I’m hoping he’ll like it. DreamWorks had the material and I have loved it for years and years and years. They contacted me about it when they found out that I was interested. I mean, there’s just no other property quite like it. It could actually be three two-hour movies, which is what I would vote for, but it’s the seminal cyberpunk text as something like Neuromancer. I mean, it really just is, and there’s nothing else like it.

Of course, it’s not likely that the studio will listen to the screenwriter on the idea of making the film into three parts (although it should be noted Kalogridis was also executive producer on James Cameron’s Avatar).

That being said, we did have the recent news that the live-action Akira adaptation could be split into two films.

It seems a number of manga and anime Hollywood projects have been picking up steam of late. There’s even the report earlier this month from Anime News Network that the live-action Evangelion movie might not be as dead as we all assumed.

Of course, there is still Cameron’s forthcoming (?) adapation of Battle Angel Alita, if it doesn’t get bumped by the Avatar sequels.

I would venture to guess that this renewed interest in all three titles (not counting Alita) has less to do with Hollywood suddenly finding the anime/manga jackpot of material, and more with the spectacular year science fiction in general had at the box office in 2009.

Of course Avatar is just steamrolling its way through the record books, but don’t let that overshadow the success of Star Trek ($247 million domestic/$385 million worldwide) and District 9 ($115 million domestic/$204 million worldwide).

Even better, both movies received mostly positive reviews from most of the mainstream press.

It’s not all rosey, however, as the last three big named anime/manga adaptations have all more or less flopped: beginning with 2008’s Speed Racer and continuing with Astro Boy and Cirque du Freak, both from last fall. Be sure that the studios are keeping that in mind as well.

The next such project will likely be Priest, from director Scott Stewart, whose recently release Legion was panned by critics but at least looks to be making its money back… barely.

The good news it seems there are solid teams being built around the Akira and Ghost in the Shell projects. It shouldn’t be overlooked that the anime films of both titles help launch the anime/manga revolution here in the U.S. Perhaps the live-action versions can do it again.

Further reading from the world of manga (and similar interests) over the past week.

• Anime News Network has the latest on the Christopher Handley obscenity trial involving manga showing children being sexually assaulted.
• MangaCast has the latest weekly Taiyosha rankings.
• Kadokawa Shoten’s Asuka magazine announced three new titles will debut in February, including a new Evangelion manga depicting Shinji Ikari as a detective.
• The Young Adult Library Services Association, part of the American Library Association named its 2010 Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens. The list included three manga titles: Children by the Sea, Volume 1, by Daisuke Igarashi; Pluto by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki; and Ooku: The Inner Chambers, Volume 1, by Fumi Yoshinaga.
• ICv2 has a three-part interview with Viz Media’s president of sales and marketing Gonzalo Ferreyra.
• Helen McCarthy discusses how to navigate Tokyo while not being able to speak Japanese.

The biggest news of the week, and probably the year so far, was the announcement that the first volume of Yen Press’ upcoming manga/graphic novel adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight would be released in March with an initial press run of 350,000 copies.

Of course, the Internet has been abuzz since the news, with everyone examining how the title and release can positively affect the manga market… or why it won’t. Whether you love it, hate it or try in vain to ignore it, Twilight has become a cultural phenomenon. With more than 85 million books sold, the series has legions of rabid, vampire-loving fans. While I’m not one of them, and have no plans to join them, you can’t deny that this represents a lot of potential manga fans as they sample the new graphic novel.

Much has been made about Yen Press’ decision for an initial print run of 350,000 copies, a massive amount for any graphic novel, let alone an OEL manga-style book from a relative newcomer Korean artist. Considering today is the fifth day the book has already been in the top 10 bestselling books on Amazon.com with a month and a half until release, it should sell well.

And really, any manga fan should hope it does.

Firstly, the books will be a cash cow for Yen Press, allowing them to continue to bring over additional Japanese and Korean titles as well as develop new OEL works.

But it could be a win for everyone involved with many teens picking up their first manga book. Even if the Twilight graphic novels are only able to entice a handful of these one-time ventures into repeat business as fans sample other works, it could be a boon across the industry.

Sure, similar arguments have been made in the past, with the Harry Potter series (and Twilight for that matter) supposedly sparking a new reading craze among kids. There have been mixed results from studies trying to examine whether it actually happened or not. The argument has also been made about previous OEL adaptations, but none of the level of popularity as Twilight.

Either way, the potential is here. Here’s an example of why I think this could really work this time. I know of a someone (in her late 30s) who isn’t interested in manga at all, but when her favorite romance author announced a manga adaptation of one her works, she eagerly sought it out. This didn’t develop into any further manga sales beyond the one, but her tastes would also fall into the josei genre, one that is still developing here in the U.S.

The shoujo market, however, is ready and willing to take in all of the possible converts with a wide variety of titles, including plenty of vampire ones. It is interesting that the first volume of Vampire Knight popped back into the top 10 best selling manga books on the New York Times‘ list this week, although the data was compiled from the week prior to Yen Press’ announcement.

Only time will tell how much impact it will have, but I for one can say it’s the first time I’m hoping Twilight does well.

We had two particularly big news stories today over at Manga Jouhou, namely the 2009 Japanese magazine circulations figures and the announcement that 21 major publishers were joining together to form an electronic book organization. And it’s easy to see how they’re linked.

With the new figures revealing little good news for the biggest magazine titles, it’s obvious why the publishers are working to retain as much say as possible in the emerging e-book market.

With Apple’s iTunes dominating the digital music market these days and Amazon attempting to do the same for e-books with its Kindle, the publishers are trying a proactive approach here. Whether or not it makes a difference in the end remains to be seen.

While we’re on the subject, Simon Jones over at Icarus Publishing had some interesting thoughts on the development.

“An organization like this could influence the design of e-readers, or give publishers more leverage in pricing, but the real purpose is to lock-in digital rights, which until now have been negotiated separately from print rights, allowing authors to self-publish online if they so choose,” he said in his blog yesterday.

He goes on to talk about how this could be a bad development for Japanese writers and artists, but also points out that here in the U.S., it’s pretty much the way it goes.

Welcome to Jouhou Shisou, the official blog of Manga Jouhou.

Along with all of the new features being unveiled this week at the main site, this blog will allow us to interact more directly with our readers and fellow manga fans.

Keep an eye here for all kinds of news, briefs, op-eds and commentary about everything going on in the world of manga.

We hope you enjoy.