Translator Discusses "Wandering Son" Manga Status
Scholar/translator Matt Thorn explained when asked about plans for the series following the June 2015 release of the eighth English hardcover.
The Fantagraphics Books North American release of Takako Shimura's Wandering Son has been critically well received, earning a 2012 nomination for the prestigious comic industry Eisner Award and The Young Adult Library Services Association's Great Graphic Novels for Teens listing. Apparently, it hasn't been doing as well commercially as scholar/translator Matt Thorn explained when asked about plans for the series following the June 2015 release of the eighth English hardcover.
The 2003-2013 manga ran for 15 volumes in Comic Beam.
@darkrad_10 Sadly, sales of the Wandering Son books have been disappointing. Lots of people express interest, but not so many buy the books!
— Matt Thorn (@matt_thorn_en) November 8, 2015
When sales are expected to be low, per-unit prices have to be high, or you're in the red. That's a universal law of capitalism...
— Matt Thorn (@matt_thorn_en) November 17, 2015
...but you can't justify high prices w/o high production values and high quality. That's why publishers first print in hardcover.
— Matt Thorn (@matt_thorn_en) November 17, 2015
Paperback editions are not feasible w/o proportionately high sales.
— Matt Thorn (@matt_thorn_en) November 17, 2015
Big Japanese manga publishers (Shueisha, Shogakukan, Kodansha) can sell 200-page books for 400 yen because the volume is enormous.
— Matt Thorn (@matt_thorn_en) November 17, 2015
But smaller Japanese manga publishers selling more obscure titles have to do the same thing we do at Fantagraphics: slick hardcover editions
— Matt Thorn (@matt_thorn_en) November 17, 2015
It's a Catch 22. It's hard to generate more sales when prices are high, but prices can't be lowered until sales are high enough.
— Matt Thorn (@matt_thorn_en) November 17, 2015
I don't know if the unauthorized scanlation of Wandering Son is still online, but if it is, it bears a lot of the blame for low sales.
— Matt Thorn (@matt_thorn_en) November 17, 2015
It's ironic that scanlations are seen as an act of love, when they deny the artist deserved income and kill the work for English audiences.
— Matt Thorn (@matt_thorn_en) November 17, 2015
Scanlations don't "generate interest." They make a proper translation all but unsellable.
— Matt Thorn (@matt_thorn_en) November 17, 2015
Yes, some scanlation groups remove titles once they're licensed, but it's too late. Copies live on in BitTorrent forever.
— Matt Thorn (@matt_thorn_en) November 17, 2015
It's sadly ironic that one natural audience for Wandering Son, transgender folks, are generally poorer than cis folks.
— Matt Thorn (@matt_thorn_en) November 17, 2015
@kt_on_the_shore Wandering Son Vol. 8 is available now. We'll definitely share information about subsequent volumes as it becomes available
— Fantagraphics Books (@fantagraphics) November 5, 2015
Fantagraphics introduces the series
The fifth grade. The threshold to puberty, and the beginning of the end of childhood innocence. Shuichi Nitori and his new friend Yoshino Takatsuki have happy homes, loving families, and are well-liked by their classmates. But they share a secret that further complicates a time of life that is awkward for anyone: Shuichi is a boy who wants to be a girl, and Yoshino is a girl who wants to be a boy. Written and drawn by one of todays most critically acclaimed creators of manga, Shimura portrays Shuishi and Yoshinos very private journey with affection, sensitivity, gentle humor, and unmistakable flair and grace. Volume one introduces our two protagonists and the friends and family whose lives intersect with their own. Yoshino is rudely reminded of her sex by immature boys whose budding interest in girls takes clumsily cruel forms. Shuichis secret is discovered by Saori, a perceptive and eccentric classmate. And it is Saori who suggests that the fifth graders put on a production of The Rose of Versailles for the farewell ceremony for the sixth graders with boys playing the roles of women, and girls playing the roles of men.
Check out their site for a PDF preview.
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Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.
