DRAWN & QUARTERED
ADV’s manga foray not to be continued
It certainly seemed like a promising idea at the time. When ADV, already a proven market leader in anime, announced that it was expanding to become a manga publisher in 2003, the expectation was that the company could carve its own niche, perhaps even making a dent in the sales of Viz and Tokyopop. ADV President and CEO John Ledford told ICv2.com in 2004 that the company had licensed more than 1,000 volumes of manga and Korean manhwa.
Indeed, the company has carved its own niche ... but for all the wrong reasons. Analysis of an animeondvd.com database and Diamond Comics shipping lists shows that out of 79 series the company has announced since 2003, 43 have been canceled outright or put on indefinite hiatus. Another 11 were announced in 2004 but never released.
Was it a case of too much too soon, or a gross overestimation of what the market could bear? We can neither confirm nor deny what exactly happened, and repeated efforts to contact the company were unsuccessful.
For its part, ADV has tried to get back in the good graces of manga fans in recent months, completing "Full Metal Panic" and "Full Metal Panic: Overload," continuing "Chrono Crusade" and "Cromartie High School" and rolling out "angel/dust," "Lagoon Engine Einsatz," "Anne Freaks" and "Evangelion: Angelic Days." But we have to admit we're a bit skeptical.
Here are a few samples of what we call the "Doomed 54" ...
'Blue Inferior'
Last volume released: May 2004
Missing in action: Volume 2
In the future, the land is barren desert, with few places fit for civilization. Between these oases, or "blessed lands," stretch miles of desolate regions that hold polluted cities in which the savage subhumans live.
Fourteen-year-old Kazuya Misaki and 3,000 others live in the blessed seaside land of Liber. One day, Kazuya finds a girl washed up on the beach. She says her name is Marine and that she was caught in a storm several days earlier, but she doesn't remember anything else.
As Marine slowly starts to regain her memory, it becomes clear that she is the key to something that also involves Kazuya's parents, explorers who have been missing for five years.
At the end of Volume 1 of this so-called "definitive edition" of "Blue Inferior," Kazuya and Marine are about to set sail in search of Kazuya's parents. What comes of the youngsters' plans? Who knows? ADV canceled the series shortly thereafter, so unless you can understand Japanese, you're out of luck.
'Noodle Fighter Miki'
Last volume released: March 2005
Missing in action: Volume 2
Miki Onimaru never wanted to be a part of her family's ramen shop. When she was younger, she dreamed of a day when she could ditch the family business and work somewhere else.
This ... is not the story of that day. Nor does it seem like that day is coming any time soon, as she's stuck being Onimaru's poster girl -- the person whose pleasant demeanor is supposed to bring in customers.
But what Miki lacks in job satisfaction, she more than compensates for with an energetic, enthusiastic spirit and a strong sense of justice. Unfortunately, this energy often gets applied to such matters as squabbling with the poster girl for the bakery across the street or getting boys fighting outside Onimaru to settle their score with an eating contest.
The end of the first volume featured the introduction of a new foil for Miki whom we'd love to learn more about but probably never will: Kankuro Nishiyama, a boy who wants to avenge the humiliation he suffered from her at a young age.
'R^2'
Last volume released: 2004
Missing in action: Volume 2
This fantasy story by Maki Hakoda begins with a nearly forgotten amusement park in the middle of the desert and new employee Kano Mutsuki, who is determined to help bring the park back to its former glory. On her first day there, she hears an ocarina being played by a serious young boy.
Fast-forward some time, and the boy, Kenta Akagi, is now a youth with a job delivering pizzas in the city of Lutzheim.
One night, a battle leads to an explosion at the city's huge gothic cathedral. At the core of the battle is a sleeping girl, Meme. Two sides are after her: her captors and their forces, intent on breaking the spell on the girl; and others comprising a so-called rebellion, led by a woman named Carmine, who want Meme to remain asleep.
When Kenta is dumped in the cathedral by an unexpected teleportation spell, Meme reacts to him -- and awakens.
Meme's striking resemblance to Kano triggers Kenta's memories of the amusement park. Certain trinkets leave no doubt that Meme and Kano are somehow related.
Rebellion leaders hint at catastrophes linked to Meme's awakening, a struggle for world domination and Kenta's role in the whole affair. The mysteries surrounding Meme and Kenta are enough to spur you straight to reading the next volume -- which doesn't exist in English.
To add insult to injury to a series that's just two volumes long, at the end of the book is a "trailer comic" with scenes from presumably the next volume, and ending with the words, "The wait is over!"
'Ruler of the Land'
Last volume released: July 2004
Missing in action: Volume 4
Bi-Kwang Han is a master of the Art of White Lightning and possessor of the Sword of the Flowers, one of the Eight Treasures of the Land sought by many people. He also loves the ladies like nobody's business.
Hwa-Rin Dahm is a fellow Art of White Lightning master who wants to learn about what happened to her grandfather, who also happens to be Bi-Kwang's teacher. She first meets Bi-Kwang disguised as a man, but later gives him strong hints that the "he" he knows is actually a "she."
Problem is, Bi-Kwang is far too dense to realize the truth about his traveling partner.
And so the two travel the land, fending off those who would threaten them and occasionally running headlong into multiple complicated subplots that take some effort on the parts of the reader to decipher.
Yet this Korean tale of swords and salaciousness does have its moments. It's just a pity that like the other three titles in this roundup, readers might not get to see the completion of this tale for a long time, if ever.