5 Things Niche Companies Do Right

February 15th, 2009

In January, I wrote a short article about 5 Things Niche Companies Do Wrong. Things like not planning to suceed, failing to listen to expert advice, etc.

Today, I want to present the other half of that equation, things that niche companies use as natural advantages over larger, clunkier companies. I’ll do my best to present you with some examples as we go along. Bear in mind that every company in anime and manga is a “niche” company. Even the big ones.

Disclaimer – none of these examples were solicited, nor do the companies have the vaguest clue I’m using them as examples. They are giving me nothing for this, so don’t even start.)

5 Things Niche Companies Do Right

Treat Consumers like Friends

One of the undeniable facts about fandoms over general consumer markets is that your consumers are the “fans” of the product. They will act as if they have a personal stake in the product – even if they never support it finanically. If you take a second to think about it, you will have no trouble thinking of an example of someone publicly trashing a movie they haven’t (and won’t) see or a book they have no intention of buying because they felt betrayed by the contents.

As a niche company, we have the right and the power to be friendly with our consumers – to talk to them when they come into the store or up to a table at an event, or get emails from them, and respond personally. If we truly engage with the fans, they will feel even *more* involved with the product and if they like it, they will spread the word.

My best of breed example of this is Comic Fusion, a comic store owned by my friend Stacy. She’s taught me everything I’ve ever needed to know about networking. She isn’t smarmy or market-y. She just talks to people. She’s friendly to her customers and to people she meets. (She’s from California, so she can’t help it, really.) As a result, her clients *LOVE* her store. They bring friends, they bring family, they bring anyone they can drag along with them. And every single person who walks through the door is another new friend.

There was a dreadful article I read recently about ways to capture the young female comic market (Pink and flowery comic boxes? Seriously?) and I thought – all they need to do is have someone like Stacy at the counter. Their store does not have overstuffed chairs (another idiotic suggestion, as if comic store owners want people to sit there and read, not buy) but they have the friendliest, most welcoming customer service EVER. Now that’s how you get and keep customers.

Be flexible

When the standard methods lead to a shrinking market, looking way outside your comfort zone is the best way to grow.

Recently, all the press has been on the young teen female readers, but you know, manga’s already done there. The girls who got into that when they were 12 are 15, 18, 20 now. There’s damn little for them. Stuff for young teen male readers has enough of a “universal” appeal that those titles are doing okay. But who is actually *buying* manga the most right now? Adults. Yes, those of us who are way too old to be reading comics are the ones holding the damn industry afloat.

So, when while every company is scrambling to be the next Twilight, which is already a bad idea, Viz announced a bunch of licences at NY Comic Con that appealed to a more mature readership. And, I am assured, are mostly off-beat and unusual.

This is the company that made the tween/teen manga world explode here with utterly banal, insansely popular Shounen Jump and Shoujo Beat magazines. And now, all of a sudden, they are looking to more mature manga? Why? They had a winning formula! Because young people grow up and if you have a 15 year old, in a few years, that kid is not gonna want to read about 15-year old ninjas anymore. Viz took the leap out of the typical, to the real *next* audience. Adults. I have no doubt at all that it will be successful.

Listen to feedback

Provide instant response to a market change, then let people know you heard them.

Nozomi/Right Stuf announced this crazy idea. They were going to license a completely, utterly, shoujo title. It had no ninjas, or robots, or magical girls or…well…anything really. It was about a bunch of girls who go to a private school, where nothing really happens. (OMG. Lillian is The Talking Heads’ “Heaven!”) You may have heard of the series. lol

But Right Stuf knew that this particular fandom was built by a few key entities who actually encouraged purchase, so they took the risk and licensed Maria-sama ga Miteru. Now here’s the thing. They did a subtitles-only release, because it seemed obvious that the majority of the consumers wanted that over a dub. But when word of the subtitling started to spread, fans expressed concerns about the specific handling of honorifics and titles used in the story. RS was deluged with requests and entreaties for a non-tranlslated handling of the titles. And, they listened. Think about that. They changed the way they did their releases because fans asked politely for a different option. And they let the fans know – immediately. They didn’t keep fans guessing, they jumped right on it and responded with “We heard you! We’ll do it!” I can think of a number of issues that have *not* been addressed after waves of fan mail, but this is the first time I’ve seen an almost instant response of this magnitude.

Reward engagement

Everyone wants to be a hero. I claim my own Okazu blog as best of breed in this. I love the fact that you, my readers, are so engaged. I started the Wish List as a result of *your* emails and comments, asking if you could help support Okazu. And I know that people want to be heros. Well – you are my heros. And so I created the “Okazu Hero” roll and sent you badges to let you and anyone who drops by this blog, that I consider you all my heros.

The result? I can’t keep items on my freaking wishlist! You all are so crazy generous, I have 4 piles of things to read and watch and review here, and 5th building. I didn’t give you a free car – but I let you know you are my heros. And honestly, that’s all anyone ever wants.

Go with your gut

Recently on LinkedIn, I answered a question. The person asked what he should do now that the result of a market feasibility study had proved that his concept wasn’t going to work. In short, I told him that consumers rarely know what they want until after it exists. (Quick, summarize your favorite series, and synopsize it. Now tell someone about it. Would you have wanted it with that description? Probably not.) So, he had two choices – to rethink everything based on a market feasbility study, or to go with his gut. Both would be equally as risky, but only one would make him happy.

ALC Publishing is a boutique publisher, which focuses on bringing doujinshi Yuri artists to the view of the reading audience. We’re not trying to license Strawberry Panic. My gut tells me that when other companies are long gone, we’ll still be around, because we don’t do alot – but we do what *I* love and many people have come to love it as well. That’s all we ever wanted, so…I’m going with my gut.

(And speaking of ALC Publishing – Yuri Monogatari 6 is on sale now on Amazon and the Yuricon Shop!)

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So, there you have it 5 ways that niche companies do the right thing, for the right reasons with the right results.

This essay is once again brought to you by Yurikon LLC – Intelligent Business Promotion.

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One last thing – this was just me having a little fun this AM. Looking for a little Social Marketing humor? Get the Social Marketing is…People! T-shirt from Yurikon. It’s the hottest, newest word in Social Marketing Fashion! :-)

Posted in Microniche Marketing | 9 Comments »


This Week in Yuri – February 14, 2008

February 14th, 2009

Happy Valentine’s Day! It’s been a decent week for Yuri, we have lots of stuff to be all love-love about, so away we go!

Yuri Manga

Erin is pleased to tell you all that Aoi Hana (Sweet Blue Flowers) Volume 4 will be out in April! (I know you are all loving the scanlations, but allow me to remind you that scans don’t pay bills, so if you *can* please buy the actual manga, so the artist that draws it and the company that publishes it make actual money on it.)

And for your shopping convenience, the Yuricon Shop now has entries for the upcoming Volume 2 of Octave, Yuri Hime Wildrose Volume 3 and Manga no Tskurikata (a story about girl who wants to become a manga artist and, since yuri is so popular now decides to draw that.)

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Yuri Anime

The big news for the week was that Right Stuf has announced the license for Maria Watches Over Us Season 4. I wonder what gewgaw we’ll get with the 4th season? :-) And by the way – Yay! The trailer for the fourth season can be seen here. Not so crucial to them as are actually watching the season, but fun, nonetheless.

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Other Yuri News

y_y-san reports by Twitter that the Girls Love Festival doujinshi event this month was a success and that there are plans for a second GLF event to be held in Japan in September. That makes three such Yuri-specific events that have been held in Japan more than once. Hopefully one day I will be able to actually make one.

Grisznak just wants everyone to enjoy this Yuri-themed AMV that melds the timeless, classic sound of Elvis and the timeless, classic romance of Yumi and Sachiko. :-)

And Sylwia wants all Polish Yuri fans to know that the Comix Grrrlz website is relaunching with a shiny new look, and they plan on adding more Yuri info and materials, and more articles about lesbians in comics. Very cool, I think. I’m always impressed by the Polish Yuri fandom. :-)

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Other News

Follow this blog on your Kindle! If you want to get your Yuri news and reviews hot off the press on your shiny new Kindle Reader, take a look at Kindlefeeder, a nifty way to get your favorite RSS feeds delivered directly to your Kindle.

The Media Blasters store in Secaucus, NJ is officially open! Serge and I stopped by on a lark today and found the store fully functional, full of friends and we weren’t the first customers! Drop by – here’s the map of the location – they are listed as #5 “Rareflix.” And here are directions to the Harmon Cove Outlets. (We talked again about a Yuri Monogatari 6 launch party in April – looks like we’ll be doing that, so keep an eye out for details!)

Also for our NY/NJ/CT area folks, a friend of Rica Takashima’s, Yasushi Tamaki, is offering Japanese language classes in New York City this spring using one of the hottest, most brilliant Japanese manga around. If you’re in the area, give it a try! Here’s the info:

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NEW YORK JAPANESE LANGUAGE SCHOOL
www.ny-japanese.com | [email protected]

Learn Japanese with MANGA!

The New York Japanese language school is offering a SPECIAL CLASS! Learn Japanese and Japanese culture with the newest manga, “Saint Young Men.”

Beginners are welcome!
Please apply by email at [email protected]

Date:Special Course1 (Wednesdays):February 18th, 25th, March 4th &11th
7-8pm (total 4hours)

Special Course2 (Saturdays)February 21st, 1-3pm &February 28th
2-4pm(total 4hours)

Location:CAP2118 W.18th St, 6f l. NYC 10011

Free trial Lesson!

Text Book:Saint Young Men (聖★おにいさん)In this popular comic Christ and Buddha enjoy a comical holiday in Tokyo in the 21st century. This is a hugely comic in Japan which feature the funny adventure of these two friends as they experience Japanese culture on their zany vacation.

Tuition:One Lesson $20/a hour (Including material)

Other Services:The Survival Japanese Class for Beginners
New class starts in March!

Private Lesson in Manhattan

Learn Japanese one-on-one at a coffee shop in Manhattan!

Any questions? Send us email!
NEW YORK JAPANESE LANGUAGE SCHOOL at CAP21(18 W.18th St, 6fl. NYC 10011)
[email protected]

Posted in Maria-sama ga Miteru, Yuri Network News | 8 Comments »


Strike Witches Anime

February 12th, 2009

Once more, my sincere thanks to a guest reviewer, this time a guy I only know as Bob. (Sounds like I buy reviews on the street, doesn’t it? “Hey, ya wanna buy a review, I got some in the trunk, right here…” lol) Bob is filling in for an Erica who is halfway out the door to go teach martial arts again for the first time in eight years. Can’t wait. Take it away, Bob!

(I would like to preface this by saying that this would normally be a loser fanboy review, but I’m not a fan of the material covered and so it’s just a loser boy review.)

Sex and violence, as the old saying has it, are reliable sellers. Without that expression, the lasting popularity of Strike Witches would be one of life’s great mysteries, up there with Fermat’s last theorem, Fermi’s paradox and why people can’t believe it’s not butter. I don’t clearly remember why I picked this series up, but it must have seemed like a good idea at the time – maybe I was just desperate for something that seemed likely to be high-yuri in content and wasn’t another season of Ikki Tousen.

The year is 1944 and Strike Witches is all about an international crew of magical mecha-shoujo moe cat-lolis with guns fighting Borg-Angels week after week in a world where Manchukuo, Katyn and Auschwitz-Birkenau never happened. You see, in the world of Strike Witches – hereafter shortened to SW – 1939 saw, not the invasion of Poland and the beginning of World War II, but an invasion of the entire planet by mysterious beings called Neuroi, whose way of life is to hit things with death rays and make more Neuroi out of the charred remains. Having discovered that fighter aircraft et cetera are useless, humanity falls back on Plan B: the magical girl.

Enter our young hero Yoshika Miyafuji, yanked out of her happy pants-free school life by a woman with a disturbing laugh and a patch-covered demonic eye who wants her to join an elite squad of underage witches on the frontline of the war against the Neuroi. Witches, that is, who confront the enemy not with wands and broomsticks but with machine guns and Striker Units – the latter being a miraculous invention of Yoshika’s MIA father, whose stroke of brilliance was to combine the essentials of a piston-engine monoplane with a magical boot. Yoshika, who of course wants to find said father, is badgered into accepting. When the baddies attack en route to England, still holding out against Neuroi-occupied mainland Europe, she establishes herself as the heroine of the series by hijacking a spare set of Strikers and growing furry ears and a tail before taking to the sky. Once in the UK proper, she finds herself inducted into the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, which suffers from a chronic shortage of actual fighters and whose other members hail from thinly-veiled analogues of Japan, Canada, France, Russia, Finland, Italy, Germany and the United States. The rest of this mercifully short series follows a generic monster-of-the-week format with comic interludes as Yoshika uses the power of naïve affection to win over her comrades one by one.

Some, if not all, of the above will sound familiar to those who have consumed a fair volume of entertainment material, because there isn’t a shred of originality in SW from start to end. Yoshika is textbook love-and-peace magical girl material. The other characters are equally stock – which is particularly disappointing because I’d heard over and over that they were based on actual historical figures – though not so much that they can’t be endearing now and then. And of the plot itself? If you’ve seen Star Trek‘s Borg episodes and the first half of Evangelion, you’ll know what the Neuroi are. If you’ve seen the last few episodes of Blue Drop or Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, you’ll see the backstabbing conspiracy coming from kilometers away. If you’ve seen Sakura Taisen: The Movie, you’ll not only know how SW ends but even what the final boss looks like. Like Evangelion, the series implies that the Neuroi are more than relentless, mysterious foes, but runs out of episodes before actually making anything of this development. I have no doubt that a second season is in the works somewhere out there.

To its credit, SW doesn’t waste much time pretending to be anything other than what it is: a light fanservice show that crams in enough tropes to make Kaishaku jealous, albeit in a more coherent fashion. Its particular forte, like Agent Aika and Najica Blitz Tactics, is panties. The viewer who makes it through all twelve episodes will be well and truly inundated with them, because the League of Nations apparently banned women’s pants in order to divert cloth supplies to frontline hospitals. There’s also fanservice of the swimsuit and breast-groping varieties, along with an episode of panty-swapping.

Where’s the Yuri, you ask? Also under the purview of the fanservice bureau, for the most part: the French teamster is blatantly intent on keeping the demon-eyed officer to herself, the Finn and Russian regularly sleep together – in an innocent fashion, of course – and Yoshika herself is heavily implied to have erotic dreams about her well-endowed Canadian partner. It rarely gets further than heavy subtext, but it’s more than some ‘Yuri’ series have offered.

On the technical side of things, the animation quality is decent: while there are occasional bouts of very obvious CGI and some pretty blatant corner-cuts, it didn’t make my eyes bleed. The sound likewise is generally unremarkable and unoffensive.

I started SW with rock-bottom expectations, which is good because it didn’t surpass them by any great measure. If you, unlike me, have a taste for magical girls, moe lolis, gratuitous panties or any of the other items mentioned above, there’s no harm in checking out this series. If you can tolerate said fetishes and are merely looking to watch something inconsequential and get a few laughs, there are probably worse choices – ditto if you just want the Yuri. Don’t watch it for the faux-WWII setting, which is pure gimmick, and fans of girls-with-guns can find far better material elsewhere. If Gonzo et al intend to add to this franchise without it becoming more stale than the bread I ate today, my hearty recommendation is to swap the airscrews for sea screws, bump the timeline forward to 1962 or thereabouts and give us a series called Strike Fishes.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 2
Characters – 7
Yuri – 8 if you have a good imagination, 6 if you don’t
Service – 12

Overall – 7

Thanks Bob! No one told me there was a woman with an eyepatch. Now I guess I’ll *have* to watch it. Bleah.

Posted in Miscellaneous | 24 Comments »


My-Hime Manga, Volume 2 (English)

February 11th, 2009

The cast of characters grows, the battle rages and, unexpectedly, there’s at least one something that we can twist into a Yuri-ish thing in Volume 2 of My HiME.

In Volume 1, as you may remember Tate, the least interesting character since Tenchi learned that a peaceful life will never be his, with his magical ability to call disaster and calamity from the heavens down upon himself and everyone around him. By which I mean he’s the most important person in the story.

After formally introducing Nao, Mikoto and Akane, an inexplicable duel pops up between Natsuki and Haruka in which they are each meant to represent their own team of HiMEs but is, in some more nefarious way, the by-product of Chairwoman Mashiro’s meddling. Nagi appears, has his name spelled two different ways, is waved over everyone’s head as a threat, then disappears. And finally, with a lot of sound and fury, Midori arrives.

(Thanks god for Akane, who remains the closest to a normal human. It’s good to know that at least one HiME isn’t completely broken.)

Shizuru’s affection for Natsuki is set on the back burner of the story, taken out only to provide a light Yuri coating to the two panels they spend in each other’s company.

But the big fight between Haruka and Natsuki offers a pleasant dollop of implied Yuri, when it quickly becomes a battle between Natsuki and Mai, who can’t play nice and share Tate, and Haruka and her own beloved key and another HiME in her own right, Yukino. Since we’ve already seen some less-than-subtle sexual implication about HiMEs and keys, we can draw our own conclusion about Haruka and Yukino. I’m sure you all know what my conclusion is. ^_^

In a few places in this volume, I found myself completely befuddled by either the story or the translation of the story but, after a moment, when I realized that I really honestly don’t care at *all* what the story itself is, it was a fine volume. Good luck if you do actually care what’s going on. My takeaway was that the writer didn’t really know what was going on, either and was making it up as he went along. ^_^ (My wife says, “Good for him for filling a book with derivative fluff!”)

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 6
Characters – 6
Yuri – 3
Service – 5

Overall – 6

Many thanks to today’s sponsor and brand new Okazu Hero, Katherine H.! Your heroic efforts will be eternally memorialized on the Okazu Hero Roll – and email me for your very own Okazu Hero Badge!

Posted in English Manga, Mai Hime | 2 Comments »


Yuri Drama CD: Blue Drop, Lovers Side

February 9th, 2009

Blue Drop: Lovers Side Drama CD is a voice renactment of two of the chapters from the first volume of the Blue Drop manga, with an extra story for good luck.

For newcomers to the story, our world has been invaded and subjugated by an alien race of females who are, since there are only females, lesbian. The aliens uses children as test subjects for reasons that are entirely obscure and probably pretty annoying if we knew what they were. And the resistance is constantly after these kids, usually to eliminated them.

The first story “Kami no ko” is also the first chapter of the manga, in which we follow the short, poignant and ultimately, tragic relationship between Mami and the boy she’s always loved, Ryouhei. Unfortunately for her, Ryouhei is an alien and is about to leave, probably to die. Mami and Ryouhei sleep together before they say goodbye, the result of which is a child. All of this is the same as in the manga, with the addition of a female classmate of Mami’s confessing her feelings for Mami to her, then asking her out. Mami is forced to say no because of her feelings for Ryouhei.

The second track, “Kaijin” again, is almost exactly the way it appears in the manga. Kyomi befriends, then resents Rumi, and belatedly learns that Rumi is a weapon against the Kaijin. She is able to save Rumi once, but ultimately loses her before she can express her feelings. The drama CD once again adds a little extra to the story; this time, continuing the conversation when Rumi reappears several years later. “Rumi” is now a construct created by the combination of weapon and the Kaijin that she was sent to neutralize. She finds Kyomi sitting at the waterside, and explains that she is not exactly the Rumi Kyomi remembers, but she knows everything Rumi knew – and she knows how she felt about Kyomi…. The story trails off there, with a distinct feeling of possibility.

The final track is an original story that did not appear in the first volume of the manga, but Bob assures me that it was an extra in the Tenshi no Bokura series. “Tenshi no Itazura,” tells the story of Hana. The track begins (again) with a classmate, Tomo, confessing her feelings to Hana, but Hana is conflicted because she has a crush on Saki-sempai. Even though Saki-sempai is currently an alien, she’s still cool, and her blue eyes are so beautiful. Hana apologizes to Tomo, and pursues Saki-sempai. Saki, an alien, is “afflicted” with alien desires and is more than glad to have Hana. She visits Hana at her home and kisses her. Hana realizes, too late, that she really doesn’t feel “that way” about Saki-sempai. Saki-sempai backs off and tells Hana to follow her true heart’s desire. The next day, Hana finds Tomo and tells her that she likes her, too.

The extra in the CD insert is a short manga of the scene between Hana and Saki drawn by Yoshitomi Akihito – completist fans (I mean you, BobBQ) will want to own it. ^_^

While the Drama CD definitely injects extra Yuri into an already Yuri-riffic series, it doesn’t add much to the story – and before you ask, no Yui.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 5 I pretty much find almost all Yoshitomi’s manga characters to be entirely cookie-cutter.
Yuri – 6
Service – 4

Overall – 6

It was pretty challenging trying to decipher the quasi-military/scientific terms and I pretty much failed completely to do so. ^_^

This DCD was slightly better Yuri-wise than the manga, but overall, less satisfying than the manga and nowhere as fun as the anime. Nonetheless perfectly pleasant for an hour’s worth of entertainment. ^_^

And thanks to the obsessive fans who helped me fix the errors in this review!

Posted in Drama CDs & Audiobooks | 10 Comments »