Okay, its been about long enough we have been craving to get this piece of art licensed, lets try and make this happen with all the support I can get.
Now I know since YKK is serialised in Kodansha, my best bet would be proposing the license to Del Rey, since they have strong connections with Kodansha and they're not affraid of releasing a relatively unknown series (Looks at Genshiken ^_^)
Also, all of their releases have been excellent and their transition of manga to the English audience have gathered a lot of fans!
Here's what Im gonna mail to Del Rey, sticking to what is important and hoping to convince them with the facts.
______________
Hello,
I would like to put up a suggestion for a new US manga license.
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikõ, created by Ashihano Hitoshi, is a very unique and beautiful series that has run in the Kodansha Afternoon for more than a decade now. Although it is fairly unknown to the mainstream audience, it has a very loyal and enthousiastic following who have been yearning to see it published in English for many many years.
If there is one company that looks to bring high quality mangas in the best possible way to the English reading audience, I know it is Del Rey. With already so many excellent titles in Del Rey's catalog such as Negima, the recently announced School Rumble, and a personal favorite of mine, the cult otaku series Genshiken!
It is truly the thinking reader's manga, where one gets emerged into the dreamy world of Alpha and her little Café. Yokohama Kaidashi Kikõ (aka YKK among the fans) has been up untill now only been available by means of translated scans by the good people at http://ykk.misago.org/
Thankyou for taking the time to read my pledge,
and I sincerely hope you consider my suggestion.
Greetings, Carlo Vanstiphout
______________
Now all I need is a heck of a lot of support from all you fans out there! I dont care how you do it, but gather as much people you possibly can and email me names and email-addresses with their consent, or post them here.
We can make this happen; and if not I'll be damned if I dont try!
Now I've already got a couple of good people I know who have signed this, but I want to get as much as possible!
- Carlo Vanstiphout
Sunday, July 31, 2005
well i'm behind this idea
- maarten smekens
Sunday, July 31, 2005
*fingers crossed*
- Michael Willems
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Go go go! ^__^
- Sam Mallems
Monday, August 1, 2005
make it happen
- Fallout323f
Tuesday, August 2, 2005
yup yup do it
- R. Olson (tyca)
Tuesday, August 2, 2005
What is the address?
- Soyokaze
Tuesday, August 2, 2005
you can also just reply to me, which sends a mail
but just to make it easy
my email-address is:
[email protected]
;)
- Carlo Vanstiphout
Tuesday, August 2, 2005
First of all, you have something a bit wrong-- Genshiken is extremely popular in Japan, that's why Del Rey picked it up. (It had a TV anime and is on featured display in the local bookstores.) But it does run in the same oversize manga magazine as YKK.
I'd be glad to send a letter when you go for this.
- 莫囂圓隣
Tuesday, August 2, 2005
well, I say relatively... but yeh I know Genshiken is more popular (manga sales prove that very much so)
:)
- Carlo Vanstiphout
Tuesday, August 2, 2005
well, I say relatively... but yeh I know Genshiken is more popular (manga sales prove that very much so)
:)
- Carlo Vanstiphout
Tuesday, August 2, 2005
Sure we can make it happen.
-- kGo
- Kimoto Go
Wednesday, August 3, 2005
you have my vote ;)
- Frederik Vergult
Sunday, October 23, 2005
One vote from finland too.
- Antti Oksanen
Monday, October 24, 2005
Another vote from Finland
- Johannes Honkasalo
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
might as well say it out loud, too... so one more from Finland!
- lepinkainen
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Yet Another Vote
- Timo Wiren
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
My.. If it makes everyone happy.. Then do it, though in the end, if it ever get licensed, I, an outsider, would never get a hold of YKK again... There's just no way a manga such as this would get distributed around my place.
- Jax
Friday, November 4, 2005
why not buy it from an online bookstore, then?
- lepinkainen
Saturday, November 5, 2005
I hope that it never gets licensed. I think it was a rotten thing to do, to call it to the attention of a corporation that will just mangle the translation.
- anonymous
Saturday, November 5, 2005
I'm going to publish it in russian. Somewhere in the future... I wonder myself can it be licensed or not. There is no such a thing as licensed manga in Russia. Only one smal group of enthusiasts making first steps with 6 Ranma 1/2 vols. so far..
- Drake
Saturday, November 5, 2005
-why not buy it from an online bookstore, then?
I knew this would be coming.
Well.. To start with, I've never been involved in online transactions, or whatever it may seem like. Because I don't own credit card(due to the factor I'm still an adolescent). Which usually is a requirement for online purchase. Even if it doesn't require one, I think it'd still be a bit pricey for me, you know... money exchange rate.
One more thing for why I don't agree much with licensing YKK, though this might seem like giving the elves a whole lotsome of gratitude for their effort.. It'd still seem a bit disturbing since even if they do start licensing it, I afraid official translation releases would be so slow(just imagine them translating YKK all the way from volume 1, how long could that take...).
Besides, I've always liked this place. I afraid when YKK's got licensed, this site could possess the possibility of getting banished, or at least, it'd get reduced to limited content(I believe the elves' works would be restricted to the public) which would reduce visitors' visits around here.
Hopefully I really don't want this to happen. But if things happen, then it couldn't be helped. I'd go with it.
- Jax
Sunday, November 6, 2005
I'm behind this. And while I do have a credit card, I can't read Japanese very well so buying YKK from Sasuga bookstore won't do it for me. I would love to support Ashinano Hitoshi with my money since YKK is a "peculiar" manga.
While I'm certainly fond of the standard action and comedy animations (Rurouni Kenshin, Naruto, Inuyasha, Ah! Megami-sama etc.), YKK is special in that it gives the reader a calm and thought-provoking picture of a post-apocalyptic humanity quietly dying out. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about an end-of-humanity story that didn't involve angst-ridden mecha pilots bent on killing those who have doomed them all. The market for YKK are those who are tired of the same stressed-out philosophicly violent action titles from both Japanese and American publishers. We need a change.
- Steven Sandoval
Sunday, November 6, 2005
I've actually purchased the Japanese volumes of YKK, but unfortunately, volumes 7, 9, and recently volume 13 are now unavailable with no date as to when another print run will take place. Can anyone recommend when a person might locate these missing volumes?
Other than that, I'd love to see YKK get the recognition it's truly deserves, especially here in the States. Best regards to all...
- Babbit
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
Howdy,
Try sasuga books or aclimate solutions. Links here:
http://ykk.misago.org/Links
Best,
Dave
- dDave
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
Babbit, have you tried ordering those volumes from Kinokuniya. I ordered my copies from that book store, and upon checking their website, they have all the volumes.
- painsama
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
I too am up to support licensing. If there's action, email me.
I was introduced to YKK thru the Chinese DVD copy - bootleg, probably - of the 2nd OAV set, "Quiet Country Cafe". Immediately loved it, but had to puzzle my way past the excruciatingly bad english subtitles. The manga finally explained the OAV to me, & since then I've downloaded fansubs with much better subtitles (thank you, New Life Anime & Anime Coalition!) Yet the downloads have that lo-rez jpegging look that mars the great artwork, and the clean bootleg DVD has those Engrish subtitles.
I long to see a clean DVD with good subs that actually financially benefits the studio & the manga-ka. And who knows, maybe that's the encouragement they need to get a third OAV out!
- terry
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
Count me in. OVA license would be great, too, eh?
- David Mirai Edwards
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Noticed something just now:
http://www.kodanclub.com/promising_works.html
How does Kodansha know what's "promising"? Are they reading this forum? Hi Kodansha!
On the other hand they do list weird things like "Hato no Oyomesan" on that page which nobody really considers interesting.
- 莫囂圓隣
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Hello there. My name is Dirk Deppey, and I'm the Managing Editor of The Comics Journal (www.tcj.com). I'm a big fan of this series -- thanks to all concerned for the scanlations.
I'm afraid that I don't think we're going to see an English-language release of YKK any time soon. Understand that the American manga-publishing biz is overtly focused on teenage readers, right now; publishers are rushing headlong into it because they're convinced that there's serious money to be made, and they're quite specific about the demographics to which their product is targeting. YKK doesn't quite fit that demographic. The likeliest audience for this series, oddly enough, is devotees of the American alternative-comics movement (I've had some success in introducing YKK to readers on our message board) or perhaps the sort of people who listen to Garrison Keillor's radio shows to hear the latest news from Lake Wobegon, and neither fits the current market.
It's possible that such an audience might make itself known in a few years' time, when the current readership grows up a bit and looks for work with a little more substance and/or less flash. It's also possible that one of the aforementioned alt-comics publishers -- Top Shelf, Fantagraphics, Drawn & Quarterly or the like -- might pick it up, but the chances of that happening aren't too good, as none of these publishers really has a handle on non-hentai manga (Fantagraphics owns EROS Comics, which publishes manga smut).
It might happen eventually, but I'd be awfully surprised if it happened in the next year. Sorry.
- Dirk Deppey
Friday, December 2, 2005
Howdy,
Thanks for the professional assesment. Personally, I have also been dubious about YKK's near-term chances of getting licensed in the US.
In Asia, there is the same kind of appreciation of YKK's brand of slow-paced magic and the same acceptance of manga as literature as in Japan. However, in the US, manga (and comics in general) are not accorded the same respect. Things are changing of course, but pretty slowly in the mainstream market.
I could see YKK getting optioned for a movie before I see it getting licensed here. Just think of the mind-blowing CGI effects on the "bunny ears" and coffee steam. And no doubt they'll be sure to stay true to the spirit of YKK by casting Angelina Jolie as the wisecracken', gun blazing, scantily dressed Alpha. Sean Connery would play Ojisan, the bitter old man who supplies her deadly gadgets. Johnny Depp would be Nai, Alpha's romantic interest since they both broke out of the oppressive robotic slave colony. Demi Moore would play the despotic Sensei trying to regain control of important state assets run amok.
In more prosaic matters, please note that in the case of YKK getting licensed in the US, I have been told that the elves will pack up their toys and go home.
- dDave
Saturday, December 3, 2005
I don't think it's so much a case of manga not getting respect as manga still being in its "gold rush" phase. There are editors at Viz who clearly would like to see a wider variety of work in print -- witness the recent release of Iou Kuroda's "Sexy Voice and Robo" -- but something like YKK would require a longterm commitment in order to get the full series in print, which would entail justifying the economics to a greater degree than a one-off volume.
This isn't necessarily an unreasonable hurdle, either; ADV tried to release "Aria," a title fairly close to YKK in sensibility, but had to stop after three volumes due to lack of sales. I suppose it's possible to translate and sell YKK in today's market, but it would require a certain amount of trailblazing to make it work. The question becomes: Is there a publisher willing to put forward that kind of effort for a single title?
- Dirk Deppey
Saturday, December 3, 2005
Ashinano could formally release his life work to be circulated freely throughout the world as well as being archived in the great receptacles of human knowledge (i.e. Library of Congress, Google Print, etc.).
(In short, give it away so people like us can freely translate and publish his work on the Internet, or perhaps in a physical volume if we can find a philanthropic donator.)
I believe it would be for the benefit of the collective knowledge of humanity for all artists of thoughtful works of art and literature to eventually publish their collected works on projects such as Google Print before they themselves or their life's work fade into the past. The resulting sum of human knowledge would persist far into the future when their messages may play a critical role in shaping new philosophies and ways of thinking.
But if no new translation was made, is the current english translation on ykk.misago.org up to snuff? I'm asking this since I am doubtful publishers will take up YKK (not crammed with action, comedy, rommance, etc.). The elves' english translation may be the only english translation *EVER* to be made. Google Print may be the only chance YKK has to survive. :(
~baltakatei
P.S. I guess "Google Print" is now known as "Google Book Search"
- baltakatei
Saturday, December 3, 2005
To Mr. Deppey: Do you know how much a license costs? I asked this question back in May, but got no answer.
To baltakatei: Actually, YKK is not listed on Google Print. Right now they don't take user submissions and aren't scanning comics (not to mention Japanese ones). I sent them an e-mail about that, but it was related to 19th century "penny dreadfuls" like The Magnet which you can't find at universities or libraries-- copyrighted works are a whole different ballfield.
- 莫囂圓隣
Sunday, December 4, 2005
Hello,
I've been a long time fan of this series like the rest of you though not as long as some, and first learned about the series existence back in 99. However I didn’t follow the series with enthusiasm until about 03 when I came across this place. I truly enjoy this series, and in firm belief of supporting the author I have bought an art book and buy any of the manga books when they come out. It is a story that I hold dear to me, and I find myself always thankful of its existence with every page I read.
However I cannot agree to it being licensed. Its availability on the internet might cease unless the current translators were willing to continue their work even after a licensing. I don’t believe that I am mistaken in saying that it would take years, yes years my friends, for any publisher to reach the current chapters we are reading today. So because of that, and because that there would be no guarantee that they would be able to fully capture many of the subtleties in it’s text, I believe that we should not be so quick to wish and hope for a publisher to pick up this title.
I believe that if it is to be translated and distributed, it should be done only by those who love the series as much as we do. Also, I am aware of the common saying amongst many other forums… that I should not complain, and if the idea of this being licensed bothers me so much I should learn to read Japanese. To that I would willingly do so if anyone offered classes where I live, yet even in 2 hours drive in any direction they do not. I’ve attempted to teach myself, yet I seem to be deficient in the ability to do so. My loss, yet I digress.
In any case please remember that this is, of course, only my honest opinion. So please do not allow it to bother you if you do not agree. To all those involved in this translation project I offer my most sincerest and profound thanks for providing us with quality translations of YKK, none of us shall ever take your work for granted but I hope to look forward to your continued work on this series. Goodnight.
- Zetser
Monday, December 5, 2005
There's no one, set fee for licensing; it's a question of how much the rightsholder thinks it's worth and how much the would-be licensee is willing to pay, which in turn depends upon how many copies the licensee thinks can be sold. It varies from title to title.
- Dirk Deppey
Monday, December 5, 2005
Howdy,
>I don't think it's so much a case of manga not getting respect as manga still being in its "gold rush" phase.
I like that phrase - "gold rush phase" - it seems pretty apt. However the point I wanted to make was in the US there is an growing mass market acceptance of manga as entertainment, but not yet as of literature. Personally, I think it's more the literature reader that YKK needs to be successful as a licensed product in the US.
As Dirk mentioned, until a publisher sees a way to make money on YKK, licensing the series will not happen. Perhaps the thing to focus on would be to get the Anime OVAs licensed first to build the fan base.
In any case, I hope that the series does get licensed in the US eventually. Ashinano sensei deserves to have a bump in his income for all his labors.
For those people suggesting that YKK get put into the public domain, I really don't see that happening. As much as it is a shame that YKK is not officially available in English, the work belongs to Ashinano sensei, and he makes his living from it. I don't see any artist walking away from a source of income, or potential source of income. It's hard enough to make a living as it is.
If YKK does get licensed, the elves, who are currently working on these YKK scanlations, will cease operations. The elves wish nothing more that to see Ashinano sensei succeed here in America too. The elves understand that will cause a lot of pain and suffering to people who have come to rely on misago.org and cafealpha.org to provide their monthly YKK fix, but the elves' loyalty is to Ashinano sensei first.
Now, as is often the case, other groups may pick up YKK as a project even though it's licensed, but the elves won't have any part of that. If you search carefully, you will find that misago.org and cafealpha.org are not the only group who have worked on YKK (the elves do take a certain pride in accuracy of translation, and give a respectful nod to Neil's work in that aspect as well), so it's possible that other groups may jump in at that point. Be that as it may, it's the elves' fondest wish that everyone here support Ashinano sensei and his magical storytelling should YKK come to be licensed.
However, in the meantime, the elves have said that they will continue to provide monthly scanlations until such licensing may happen. In fact, they encourage you to get your friend hooked on YKK too.
And should YKK get licensed, a certain elf wouldn't mind being the official translator....
Best,
Dave
- dDave
Monday, December 5, 2005
Mangaka don't draw manga for altruistic purposes. Besides, his publishers have a thing to say about the commercial usage of the YKK property too. And English manga publishers don't publish stuff if they don't think they would make money from it. So the idea of putting it out for free for the good of mankind is nonsensical and unrealistic.
I really hope the YKK manga and anime get licensed in English. It doesn't seem likely, but I'll be first in line to buy it if it is. I'm glad the elves will be doing the right thing when it is licensed.
So what can we do to make sure it does get licensed? Writing a letter would help. Letting more people know about it does too. Scanlations of the manga and fansubs of the anime are useful for this purpose (it's also a double edged sword as a lot of freeloaders will be content with these free but technically illegal distributions, and will not bother to buy commercially licensed products). Anyway, show it at anime clubs, show it at conventions, make people aware it exists and if enough like it, make the English companies aware of the fact that there is a demand. Failing that, let's hope there's a YKK fan out there with enough cash to burn and feels like licensing the manga/anime.
- Tempy
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Well, at least the OVAs will be shown at our local anime club due to my efforts \o/. And i'll be damned if there won't be any new fans after that.
- lepinkainen
Thursday, December 22, 2005
i hope ykk (manga) will never get licensed, because if it will ever be licensed, i have no idea how to get it.
1) almost every "real manga" is not as good translated as the "scans". i bought love hina manga and i hated the translation. they even changed the names of islands/people.
2) they wouldn't sell the official manga here in europe, only us. and the chances, that ykk manga will be licenced in europe too are lower than low.
- mr.aufziehvogel
Monday, December 26, 2005
Mmmmmm... personally I always dread the idea of manga or anime I'm following getting licenced. Not only do you have a chance of it being butchered (I'm not railing against the industry, it's just the way things currently are, though happily it's changing), but there's also the wait. For YKK... well, how long would it be until they caught up?
Meh, if I ever get any actual hard copies (which I'd like to, I'm just strapped for cash & that's not going to change any time soon), I'd want the original Japanese anyway.
- SirPavlova
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
This is why YKK will never get licensed. Too many freeloaders who have this misconceived notion that the commercial product will be inferior. Sad.
- Tempy
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Going back to the start of the thread, I did ask a rep from Del Rey about YKK this year, since they are the ones who seem to have the Afternoon connection now. As anticipated above, the reply is that it is highly unlikely since there isn't an adequate commercial potential. That's pretty much the same answer I got from Toren Smith years ago when I asked him about it, back when Dark Horse (and then Studio Proteus) were the ones harvesting Afternoon. He said the perception was that in Japan the audience consisted of catatonic salaryman who were looking for an escape (as best as I can remember it and he was actually sympathetic). We catatonic salaryman need to increase our economic clout. BtW I once asked Viz about YKK and they nodded and went on to the next subject.
- oji
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
I'd support a license. I'd send a letter, if I had a mailing address at Del Rey or whatever.
- Brent P. Newhall
Thursday, December 29, 2005
These free scanlations do not benefit Mr. Ashinano. Licensing would. As a content creator myself, I'm uncomfortable with the idea of providing the author with no support for the hard work he put in to drawing all this beautiful content.
Also, if YKK gets licensed in America, there's a greater chance that YKK merchandise (like the artbook) would be released outside Japan.
And as to those outside both Japan and the U.S.: I've noticed that a license in the U.S. increases the chance that a product will be licensed outside the U.S. It would at least increase the series' visibility to publishers in your country.
Hmmm. Related question: How about contacting anime companies about licensing the OVAs? That might have a better chance of getting licensed, which would make the manga more desirable for a publisher.
- Brent P. Newhall
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Brent P. Newhall>
"These free scanlations do not benefit Mr. Ashinano."
It does benefit him somehow. This does not apply only to YKK scanlation alone, but to many other scanlations. There are some people who, after reading the scanlation, go out and buy the japanese manga of the respective scanlations. This includes me myself. Free scanlation is one way to introduce manga to the people all over the world, since no way you would know which manga is good/bad if you never read it even once. Buying manga randomly? No. Secondly, with this free scanlations, more people got to know YKK, and more demand for the licensing. But, really, the licensing will benefit him most.
- painsama
Thursday, December 29, 2005
I bought the artbook, but do feel a little bad about just getting this stuff for free. I wish there was an easy way to send Mr. Ashinano the $10 or so that would be his cut. What is the mailing address for him anyway? Is there one listed in Afternoon, or for fan mail to him in Afternoon?
- Soyokaze
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Sasuga Books (see the links page) has the original Japanese tankouban -- I ordered three volumes from them a week ago, and they arrived in the mail fairly promptly.
- Dirk Deppey
Thursday, December 29, 2005
FWIW:
The paper referred to in this link:
http://ssrn.com/abstract=347620
is an explaination of why copyright lawyers in Japan are not as quick to act as are their counterparts in the US.
It speaks to many of us here who buy each volume as it becomes available, as well as waiting for those hard-working elves to translate each chapter.
- Doulish
Friday, December 30, 2005
Speaking of "let's make it happen," we could always make Kodansha an offer.
- 莫囂圓隣
Saturday, January 21, 2006
In order to benefit the author of YKK it would seem more logical to create a wide interest in the OAVs first. First of all there are only 2 of them and they are, in their atmospheric ways, somewhat free standing.
The manga has been running for close to 12 years, anyone who wanted to license that would possibly have to commit themselves for quite a lot, in what very clearly is a very narrow niche. This is the Twin Peaks or Wild Palms kind of manga: it may be maxed out in the sophistication department but we all know how big a market that is.
In order to reduce risks I am sure the right approach is to aim for a licensing of the OAVs first, a success there would probably lead to the manga being licensed.
- codename_paragon
Friday, February 3, 2006
Hmm.. Haven't been here for a long time. It's good to be back.
Anyway, my purpose of stopping by is mere yet may seem purposeful, depending on how you people look at it, ok, let's begin.
Like you guys already know, there are 2 YKK OVAs entitled Quiet Country Cafe:-
http://animeacademy.com/finalrevdisplay.php?id=146
Even I used to thought these 2 are the only OVAs YKK have to offer, but wait, there's more. Generally speaking, Quiet Qountry Cafe's the new OVA series and there's actually an older one existing, namely Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, released in 1998:-
http://animeacademy.com/finalrevdisplay.php?id=147
Hope this may prove somewhat useful to you guys, though I'm against YKK getting licensed. But I'll just go with the flow, no offense against this, cool. Chill. >_' d
- Jax
Saturday, February 4, 2006
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