| The Cons of "Shonen Jump" |
For my last editorial I raved about all of the good things there were to like about "Shonen Jump," Viz's monthly manga anthology that is currently in the nearest bookstore, grocery store, and video game shop near you (This magazine has been making some rounds). However despite how great this magazine is, there are still some problems with it, problems I think shouldn't really exist but do, and if they didn't exist maybe this magazine would be "that much" better then it already is. This editorial will be about those flaws, and even though it might sound like I'm changing sides as compared to last month don't worry, I'm simply expressing my opinion on things that could be better about this magazine. So get a fire extinguisher ready, this may be a hot editorial. I guess I'll tackle the biggest problem I have with this magazine, and that is that with the exception of "Sand Land" all of the series they picked up for this magazine are quite simply too long. I know this may be seen as I dumb complaint as long series tend be some of the best, but look at it through my eye's and you'll see where I'm coming from. This magazine only comes out once a month, each story usually only has two chapters in it (Three for "Yu-Gi-Oh" and "Yu Yu Hakusho"), and the chances of this series becoming bi-weekly anytime soon are still up in the air. Two chapters are all we get for most of these series? I'm sorry, but considering the length of these series that is quite simply not enough. Look at "Naruto" for example. This manga has close to 100 chapters in the series so far, if not more. We are currently at chapter 15 after eight months of the magazine being on store shelves ("Naruto" wasn't included in the magazine until issue 2...and even then it was only one chapter). At this point it will be five years or more until we even catch up to where Japan currently is, and by then there might be five more years worth of chapters to go through by the time we get to this point. Will I really want to still be reading "Naruto" at this point? I mean, I love the series and probably always will, but at one point I'll want to move on from "Naruto" and on to something else. All the other series are more or less in the same position as "Naruto" is. While "Shaman King," "Dragon Ball," and "Yu Yu Hakusho" have all ended, "Yu-Gi-Oh!" and "One Piece" are still going strong, and we have about five years to before we catch up to those series too now that I think of it. I can understand there being a series or two that people might want to last forever, but will people really want to read a magazine who's stories never seem to end...or change? At one point someone might be begging for at least one of the to end so that we can read something new. And even though some of these titles are finished in Japan, they are still incredibly long, and will take somewhere between three to seven years before one of these concludes, and that can be frustrating for a number of reasons. For starters while "Dragon Ball" still has a way to go before the comic concludes, the entire anime from "Dragon Ball," to "Dragon Ball Z," and in a few months "Dragon Ball GT" (Which can't last too long seeing as how it's a short series that a third of the series was cut out by FUNimation) will have aired on TV and have concluded. Am I being wrong to assume that the general public won't be a bit put off by this comic in three years? By then everyone will know what has happened, they won't want to spend a few years reading a comic that really has no surprises in store for them, and despite having a totally different script compared to what's on TV, "Dragon Ball" might seem like more of a chore to read then anything. Same thing goes with the rest of the series here. "Yu Yu Hakusho" the anime is already WAY ahead of the manga (Although to some credit, that's because the anime skipped a LOT of the earlier chapters in the series anyway)! There may be some major differences, but when you can watch something on TV who's to say reading something that has no surprises won't be frustrating? Knowing how fast 4Kids Entertainment airs their anime "Shaman King" the show will most likely conclude within a year, which means the manga will still be going, and with the general public I can pretty much guarantee you that this WILL become an issue with everyone! Plus what happens after this magazine turns five years old. It's easy for people to get into the magazine now because it's new, the main stories haven't quite begun yet, and whatever you missed can be bought in just a couple of graphic novels that will bring you up to speed. But what happens in five years? In five years we are in the middle of all the main stories for all these series, there will be a handful of graphic novels to buy for each series, and there most likely won't be anything new to show newcomers. Now Viz's goal of making "Shonen Jump" the most mainstream manga anthology in America has fallen into a trap that limits the sales of the magazine to fans of these series, and these series only. Viz would be wise to hold back on adding too many long series and make sure to ALWAYS have some short series in the mag, so that there's always something there to attract new comers who don't want to feel left out of the loop when it comes to the current series! However considering that in January of 2004 "Hikaru no Go," another long manga, will be joining the "Shonen Jump" family, I don't think we'll be seeing too many short series for awhile until it becomes apparent that they are in fact needed. This is the biggest issue, and everything else from here on will seem like small potatoes compared to this. Another problem I have with this magazine (And this has always been a problem with Viz's manga in general) is that when people write in letter's asking why the show is different then the comic (Just to let you know, most of the stuff they are asking about is edited anime like "DBZ"), Viz NEVER tells people the truth about the edited anime on TV! They never tell people that "DBZ" on TV has been horribly dubbed, they'll never tell you "Yu-Gi-Oh!" has an entire season missing, they'll never tell anyone that their favorite shows are really edited to the point where you can only see a glimpse of what their former glory was. And if they do bring up any of this, they bring it up in a way that makes it sound like the changes are no big deal. They'll never tell people the whole truth, and not only do they don't tell the truth, but they defend the dubs of these great shows. Whenever there's a DVD review for "Yu-Gi-Oh!" they will always give it high marks, even though the dub is complete crap compared to the uncut version...heck, the dub is complete crap even "without" comparing it to the uncut version. And whenever Viz gives a review to the latest "Dragon Ball Z" movie, they never tell you which version of the film they are reviewing (They list all versions of the film, which isn't any better), and their reviews never quite sound like real reviews, but more like advertisements...who knows, maybe the reviews ARE advertisements, but if that's the case then that's another problem I have with this magazine! I have no doubt that the dubbing companies pay Viz a certain amount of money to make sure they never say anything bad about their products, but it would be nice if Viz showed a little more back bone to the dubbing companies by saying "See people. THIS is how your shows are SUPPOSED to be!!! Not that crap on TV, that's not even same script, this is the only place you can read what "Yu-Gi-Oh!" is REALLY about!" I'm sure this would cause a lawsuit to fly somewhere along the line, but this would be the perfect chance to have people write in letter's to the dubbing companies and demand that this stuff be released uncut if they want us to buy their DVD's and stuff. I think something along the lines of "I read this in 'Shonen Jump,' looked it up, found out they were right about this show, and I'm here to tell you I won't be watching your shoddy product anymore until you dub it properly." Oh sure a few hardcore fans know the difference and could send these letters out, but the only way the companies would pay attention to such letters is if there was mainstream attack on them. Viz is in the perfect position to put the dubbing studios in their place, but they seem pretty content to not do anything, which I think is a shame. I guess I would also like to address the whole advertisement problem too, in which Viz has actually brought it upon themselves to turn "Shonen Jump" into a walking ad slowly but surely. I know that they want to sell their graphic novels, and I have no problem with them advertising that. However when I see a reminder that "Yu-Gi-Oh! Vol. 2" is coming out September 15th, every few pages, over the course of 60 pages, I start to get tired of it. Viz, all you need is a couple of pages telling everyone that the graphic novels are coming out on this date, you don't need to put a reminder there every two fricken pages (Okay so that's a mild exaggeration, but you get my drift)! One page is all you need, PERIOD!!! Don't remind people about your products to the point where they want to close the book in disgust, just remind them about the graphic novels at the end of the magazine and leave it at that. And the fact that only one chapter of "Rurouni Kenshin" will be printed in "Shonen Jump" as an ad for the graphic novel line speaks volumes in itself. With all that said (And boy was that a mouthful) I'd like to remind people that despite how all this sounds, I do not hate "Shonen Jump," I am not trying to stop people from picking it up, and I don't think ill of it. I just see at least one major problem with the mag that I would like to see fixed before it comes back to bite Viz in the butt. I don't want this magazine to fail, I want it to succeed and be everything anime fans want it to be: The magazine that forever changes the way America looks at manga. And while it's done a good job of that so far, unless they take care of a few annoyances this could all go to waste in a few years when there is a new generation of people to introduce this magazine to. And to Viz I write this: I know I'm not a business man, but I hope you will seriously consider the things I said. I love your magazine overall, but I'm looking at the future and seeing some major downfalls, and I would like you to fix the down falls now before the problem becomes to big to control. And that's that. *phew* NEXT TIME: 4Kids Entertainment got a big "F" for their job for the "Yu-Gi-Oh!" dub, but how do their new series "Sonic X" and "Shaman King" fare? Find out as I do an in depth look at these two new dubs. And until next time the balcony is mine. |
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