wut screw you
I’m one of the few that doesn’t see the point of Tumblr. Maybe I’ll get with it eventually, but me getting a Tumblr will be as farfetched as NBC, Fox, or any of those big major networks airing an anime series. (Now just watch me get a Tumblr in two weeks). But I had been interested enough to stalk the Tumblr feeds of various publishers, though I ended up forgetting about it extremely quickly. Then I had my chat with Conner (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3), and I finally committed to getting on track with following all the publishers that have Tumblrs. How’d that experience go? Time to share…
Monster Musume Keeps On Selling — Seven Seas Tumblr
“It’s an ecchi pandering slime fest! It’s just a harem but only with monsters! It’s definitely terrible!” Yet I liked the preview of Monster Musume included in A Centaur’s Life more than the entirety of A Centaur’s Life. Yeah, I’m still not terribly interested in picking up Monster Musume (unless someone hands it to me for free), doesn’t look like something I’d want to buy in my current state, and no, I didn’t intend to take a shot at the seemingly safer title (ok maybe I did). But whatever my opinion is or whatever other people’s opinions are, it’s been selling for Seven Seas. I don’t think that’s going to change for a while.
Wait, Hange (Hanji for you Shingeki no Kyojin peeps) is not who we think??? — Kodansha Tumblr
She’s so hap–wait he’s so happy?!?
Cue the, “Wait Hange’s is not a woman??” speak from me. Yeah, I was pretty surprised at finding this out. And in essence, it’s almost a question of “Is Isayama being thoughtful, planning to set us up somehow,” or “Is Isayama growing to be an elite troll thanks to all the fame?” Granted, I thought this was something that had been brewing for a while (and to an extent it has), but it went widespread over the next couple of days after I found out, to the point Muse was going to write something about that. She got beat by a Daily Dot reporter. Well, stuff happens! Whatever the case, it apparently has divided the fandom like no other. I wouldn’t know exactly how much, since I heard about it from word of mouth. But I can guess it got ugly (and stupid). I don’t think I need to worry about that.
So all that said, it’s interesting Kodansha USA answered that, and responded that they changed any allusions to Hange being a female. There’s only one thing that this means: My volume 5 will be worth millions — millions I tell ya — 30 years from now. Oh yeah~
Morning International Comic Competition is Over — Vertical Tumblr
Hey, this was good enough for me to write not one, but two posts about this. I don’t why, but it did. I guess it’s just me thinking about the past, and how I basically used to believe a competition like that would then thrust the winner into the manga industry. But you know what happens when you grow older and– yeah, I guess I need not say anymore. But despite that, it looks as if those who were runner-ups managed to carve out their own track record since then, without having to be in the manga industry. Just making comics (and working with publishers for some of them) is for the best.
Also, these people really are good at writing in English…it’s not cool. Makes me wish I could learn other languages…
Gundam the Origin Rocks, Is The Best Manga of 2013 — Vertical Tumblr
Basically that’s the sense I got. And uh, I have yet to get on the Gundam Origin bandwagon. There are reasons for this.
- I have enough manga to read
- I’m not made of money (yet)
- I haven’t gotten into the Gundam universe
Yeah, I’m good at making excuses aren’t I? Well, whatever the case, the series is doing very well for Vertical, so while I can’t currently support it, I bet you all could go support the series in my stead.
Manga Reborn Gets The Rights To Scanlate Space Brothers, Nobody Gives a (F—, S—, D—, what—-) — MR Tumblr
That other title doesn’t matter trust me
See, this is how I learn about how things work when it comes to anime and manga. Manga Reborn, a growing but still kind of mystery to everyone “legal” site, announced that they had talked to Kodansha and had the right to scanlate Space Brothers. I mean, it’s Space Brothers! It’s actually a current title! This is a big coop…and yet this wasn’t reported. ANN didn’t report it, it wasn’t seen on Twitter, etc. Basically everyone seemed to miss out on this, all because it’s Manga Reborn, basically. I know they may have their issues, but for no one to say they did it is somewhat startling. The only way this gets brushed aside is if they don’t actually put it up.
Well guess what: it was never put up. This isn’t very dramatic, since MR said they could scanlate Space Brothers 10 months ago. You now have to start asking if they have the license, if they do but they’ve stalled on working on it, if they ever had in the first place, etc. But no, it’s just Manga Reborn, nobody cares.
…Or maybe it’s because it’s Space Brothers that nobody cares. (Cue imaginary tears.)
So what have I learned from the Great Tumblr Industry Experience?
There really is a lot of information that some of these companies elaborate on that doesn’t really get talked about much, and you should consider following tehm. Of course, what information you really care about depends on the person and matters to you. But hey, not everyone cares about the UK market for Vertical, so who knows right?
Anyways, the companies that I know of with a Tumblr: Toonami, Manga UK, Vertical Inc., eManga, Funimation, Seven Seas, Sentai Filmworks, Kodansha USA, Project-H (Which, btw, isNSFW)
As I ended up learning by following/checking them out, each of them manage to be useful to pretty useless. Let’s start with the useless (to me):
eManga
All this Tumblr has done so far is advertise their products. That’s fine in of itself, except that’s literally the only thing that’s come out of their account. Nothing even out of the ordinary too (like announcing a title or showcasing their office or something random). So there’s no real reason to follow it, unless you’re hoping they eventually change their ways.
Funimation and Sentai Filmworks
Both get placed in here because from what I can tell so far, they’re just drumming up their products. Sentai has recently been answering questions, but they’re still on a wait and see from me. For now, both are not very useful.
Manga UK
To be fair to Manga UK, this is a UK company, so their efforts are focused on things there. All that said, I haven’t seen much that interests me, though there is a bit of variety in what they post (from their own releases to articles that have to do with anime).
Project-H
If you’re into Hentai, then you probably should be following this one already, since you not only get to hear about what Project-H has in store, you get previews. The previews are not censored. And that’s why it’s nsfw.
Toonami
This account takes questions and answers them, has some stuff that advertises their shows, and they make their announcements there. This is kind of what you’d want a company Tumblr to be. I think.
Vertical Inc, Seven Seas, Kodansha USA
But so far, these three have been the ones that have been readily useful with information, while also advertising their products and doing other stuff. Thankfully it feels like humans respond at these Tumblrs, for better or worse. These are probably the main accounts to check out…assuming you’re into manga. If not, then you can forget about that.
Aside from that, don’t know who or what else I should follow. Are there any others I should keep in mind? Any Tumblr accounts I should actually be following? Otherwise, feel free to convince me I should get a Tumblr. Or convince me not to!