Aligator Pop - Favorite Things 2002

It's that time, again. You know. The time of year when every publication, web site and program comes out with its "Best Of" list. All of this is purely subjective, and everyone has his or her opinion, which is why I couldn't let the opportunity pass without contributing my own two-cents. Without further ado, I unveil Favorite Things 2002.

The North American anime and manga market is positively exploding with the distribution companies and publishers cranking out more products on a monthly basis than ever before. Sure, there have been some growing pains, but, overall, 2002 was a banner year where so much went so right.

Special Edition DVDs
Fans limited to R1 (North American) releases are always hearing how bare-bones domestic releases are when compared with their exotic Japanese counterparts. For whatever reason, licensing or otherwise, we weren't receiving the art boxes, extra footage, action figures, soundtracks, pencil boards — you name it — that came with the respective Japanese DVD releases. Never mind the exchange rate. ;-)

BOOGIEPOP PHANTOM
ESCAFLOWNE: THE MOVIE
JIN-ROH: THE WOLF BRIGADE
See (1) for image credits.

Pioneer Animation set a standard in 2001 with its special-edition packaging of Akira, and this is the year all of the other companies responded to the challenge:

- The Right Stuf's Boogiepop Phantom box (with music CD);

- Bandai Entertainment's Escaflowne Movie - Ultimate Edition (extras disc, memorial booklet and soundtrack album, all housed in art box-styled packaging);

- Bandai and Viz's', Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (extras disc, soundtrack CD and booklet);

- Pioneer Animation's Fushigi Yûgi: Eikoden (packaging coordinating with the series' other box set releases, series guidebook and commemorative pencil boards) and Hellsing, volumes three and four (coffin-like packaging with action figures of the series' vampire anti-hero and heroine);

- AnimEigo's sub-only Kimagure Orange Road TV Box Set (madly-detailed and much-appreciated liner notes); and

Finally, ADV Films produced special editions of another sort: discounted, no-frills releases of catalog titles such as Martian Successor Nadesico and Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040.

Another positive offshoot of this trend: More companies are offering simultaneous special-edition and regular-edition releases, box-plus-volume-one combos and box-only releases for the early adapters who made the series popular in their initial, single-disc incarnations. It is always a good thing when consumers are given more choices.

Manga Published Right-to-Left
Manga was created to be read right-to-left. But for years, manga imprints for English-speaking audiences have been reformatted and "flipped," often modifying the art, to read left-to-right. The year 2002 marked a turning point in the natural evolution of the North American manga market and in retailer attitudes toward publications, which — to domestic audiences — are read "backwards."

Viz and I.C. Entertainment/Studio Ironcat, L.L.C. led the charge with their respective releases of Yoshiyuki Sadamoto's Neon Genesis Evangelion and Narumi Kakinouchi's Vampire Princess Miyu, and TOKYOPOP made an all out attack on the bookstore market with the Spring 2002 launch of its "100% Authentic Manga" line of titles.

Publishing is a business where changes made today end up in consumer's hands six months to a year later. (At the earliest.) As future properties are purchased and contracts are signed, more companies are making the commitment — as I.C. Entertainment has, during convention appearances — to more books, published in an unflipped format, in their original size and (hopefully) with full translations of sound effects and the like.

DER MOND -
YOSHIYUKI SADAMOTO'S ART COLLECTION
NARUMI KAKINOUCHI'S ILLUSTRATION COLLECTION
See (4) for image credits.

Domestic Art Books
Another significant development was the domestic release of coffee table-quality anime/manga art books … specifically those which are almost exact duplicates of their Japanese editions. Highlights include Narumi Kakinouchi's Illustration Collection, published by I.C. Entertainment, and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto's Der Mond, published by Viz. In addition to being published in a right-to-left format, they were printed on equivalent paper stock to that of the Japanese release. (Der Mond even included the dust jacket!) The only difference: English-speakers can enjoy the pictures and read the text and production notes that accompany them.

Domestic art books could mean U.S. editions that look like scans of the original, complete with moiré patterns and bleeding colors. Viz and I.C./Ironcat show that it doesn't have to be that way.

(1) Image Credits
BOOGIEPOP PHANTOM © 2001 Kouhei Kadono | Mediaworks | Project Boogiepop. Packaging and translation © 2001 The Right Stuf International.

(2) Image Credits
FUSHIGI YÛGI - EIKODEN © 2002 Yû Watase, Megumi Nishizaki | Shogakukan · Pierrot · FCC · PEAI. Artwork and Design © 2002 Pioneer Entertainment (USA) Inc.

KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD
© 1987 Toho · Studio Pierrot | KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD and its character designs TM and
© Matsumoto Izumi | Shueisha · NTV · Toho. Subtitled and released by AnimEigo.

(3) Image Credits
NEON GENESIS EVANGELION, VOL. 6 (SPECIAL COLLECTOR'S EDITION) © 2000 Gainax | Story and art by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto.
New and adapted artwork and text
© 2002 Viz Communications, Inc.

VAMPIRE PRINCESS MIYU, VOL. 1 © 1989 Narumi Kakinouchi. Originally published by and English translation rights arranged through Akita Pub. Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan. English translation and adaptation
© 2001 Studio Ironcat, L.L.C./I.C. Entertainment.

GTO: GREAT TEACHER ONIZUKA, VOL. 1 © 1997 Tohru Fujisawa. First published by and English publication rights arranged through Kodansha, Ltd., Tokyo.
English text © 2002 TOKYOPOP/ Mixx Entertainment, Inc.

(4) Image Credits
DER MOND - YOSHIYUKI SADAMOTO'S ART COLLECTION © 2000 Yoshiyuki Sadamoto.
© Gainax. Published by and English translation rights arranged through Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co., Ltd., Tokyo.
English edition © 2001 Viz Communications, Inc.

NARUMI KAKINOUCHI'S ILLUSTRATION COLLECTION
© 1998 Narumi Kakinouchi. Originally published by and English translation rights arranged through Akita Pub. Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan. English translation and adaptation
© 2002 Studio Ironcat, L.L.C./I.C. Entertainment.