Thongs = good
Sorry for the lack of updates this week, its kinda busy at the moment but I shall be back in a few days.
Anyway that’s not going to stop me picking up on this topic which was emailed to me recently, because well it is something that I had hoped that would happen here.
Remember back in July I wrote a post on Del Rey’s edit of volume 02 of Air Gear. Okay, so it wasn’t a major thing really but still it was a cover edit outside the original Japanese release. I wrote back then that I was wondering if it wasn’t time we could allow a little thong through on a cover, it is hardly more sexually explicit then any other type of material you could see just walking down a busy high street. But many people did make pertinent arguments about the fact that a title like this would get shelved amongst many other “safer” titles and really in the end it is just one change to an otherwise good manga so should we just lump it anyway?
Well Tanoshimi (the UK version of Del Rey) it seems has decided that it doesn’t have the same social concerns that the US market faces and is planning their release of volume 02 in all its thongy goodness.
From Justine Taylor;
I know that there was some talk about the Del Rey putting stockings on the girl on their edition on your website a few months ago. I’m pleased to say that Tanoshimi has decided to go with the original Japanese artwork. We take the view that we’re a different market to the US, and - although I can’t say that we would never amend artwork - we’ll try to go with the original if we think it’s appropriate, although changing the inside material is always going to be tricky as it comes from Del Rey.
I was fairly staggered by this. I had secretly really hoped that something like this would happen. As I wrote back in July, the UK doesn’t always have the same concerns about material like this and we are exposed to it more frequently through magazine covers and advertising that it seems rather futile to suddenly become shy when it is a manga cover, but I was still a little sceptical considering Tanoshimi, much like Del Rey, is also part of Random House. Thankfully it looks like my fears were unfounded, and if anyone was looking for a reason to support the UK releases then this is it.
This is the real reason why I am so keen to see a UK manga scene take off over here (outside of price too!). Whilst even here in the UK we could not get away with some of the works that Japan releases, there is a certain proclivity towards the material which allows a greater flexibility and understanding; the Air Gear cover is a perfect example of this in action. Could we get to see future titles here in the UK which aren’t edited compared to their US counterparts? I don’t think its unrealistic to suggest so.
Of course, I am curious now. Will Tanoshimi shift more copies of volume 02 then Del Rey? The insides are pretty much identical so it is just the cover image you are buying. Will Tanoshimi see a large export of volume 02’s to the US?
Wouldn’t that be a reversal of the usual trend. ^.~
Can’t say I’m entirely upset with that idea either.
October 18th, 2006 at 1:16 pm
Hey, I know how you feel. :)
I wish the Aussie manga scene would just take off as well. :P Nice to see that some companies ARE indeed making an attempt to preserve the original, despite potential backlash (less likely in the UK, for sure).
October 18th, 2006 at 1:24 pm
[…] More fanservice please, we’re British: Unlike its U.S. sister company Del Rey, the British publisher Tanoshimi will be putting the uncensored cover on volume 2 of Air Gear, which shows a young woman in leggings and a thong, seen from below. Del Rey will run the original cover inside the book. At Love Manga, David Taylor has the full story, complete with picture of said cover. […]
October 18th, 2006 at 4:53 pm
Ohh, well if I ever get around to reading AirGear I might have to take on the additional charges to import this one.
Can’t say I am too surprised that Tanoshimi even if it is a branch of Random House is making those little changes to set themselves apart from DelRey US but for it to happen with a title like AirGear is a surprise.
October 19th, 2006 at 1:28 pm
[…] To see something a British manga publisher can do that Del Rey Manga can’t, just look right: It’s a near-perfect copy of the original cover to the second volume of Oh! Great’s current manga series, Air Gear, complete with thong flash. Del Rey has already announced that it will be covering up the ass of the character in question (while, it should be noted, promising not to alter the book’s interior contents above and beyond the actual translation itself), but David Taylor presents the cover to the book as published by Del Rey’s U.K. cousin, Tanoshimi, in all its cheeky glory. As for the Del Rey version, well, they’re not showing it yet. […]
October 20th, 2006 at 1:57 pm
yeah, this inititally did not get me riled up but considering when I opened up the first page of the story and the echi humor — i am starting to think Oh Great!’s intention was for sexy/action series.
from reading scanlations of TenTen… He’ll only get more explicit, not less. so even though I consider DelRey high end, it’s not in the mature line. that means it’s going to be subject to these dorky edits.
can i also say that a lil thong is nothing compared to the rap videos on mtv these days? hell, compared to rap videos in my youth this cover is tame!
October 28th, 2006 at 1:39 pm
[…] Tanoshimi leaves thong unaltered in UK edition of Air Gear […]