RightStuf’s Weekly Specials: Yaoi Edition

YAOI PUBLISHER/TITLE UPDATE: Kitty Media

Back on October 14th I posted a 'rumor' about Crimson Spell V3 based on some twitter dialogue between myself and Media Blasters, Kitty Media's parent company. Shortly after YaoiCon and again on Twitter it was brought to my attention by @Shelly_LR that Media Blaster's employee(s) had said they were shutting down their manga division and selling their licenses. I shot off an email to Donna Lopez, Media Blaster's Sales Department Manager asking for clarification of both their manga division as well as Crimson Spell. Here was her response:

Hi Jennifer,

 

Thank you for your inquiry.  Please be advised that the Yaoi division is not closing and will restart in 2011.  We are just trying to figure out a new way to handle our Yaoi division in 2011, which has not been confirmed.  Please feel free to follow up with me again in 2011. On another note we are planning on doing more Crimson Spell but [not] exactly sure of those plans yet.  We will make any announcements necessary once we determine what direction we are going in.  Thank you again for your inquiry and please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.

 

Thank you,

 

Donna

Well, I for one love Kitty Media and their titles so I'm happy for any hope. They are only one of two publishers that publish hard yaoi so without them our options are limited and small. I'll be sure to follow up with them in 2011 and keep you posted.

Sensei: Do you say that the sequel of Media Blaster 'S" Crimson spell "will be published? RT  @TheYaoiReview:http://bit.ly/ba5LHj @mediablasters

Sensei: There is no clear answer from Media Blaster 's to the publisher in Japan.

TYR: @yamaneayano They said they are planning on publishing more but are unsure of the plans.

TYR: @yamaneayano I think finances are the problem at this point.

Sensei: @TheYaoiReview Thank you! I wish economy to improve early.

TYR: @yamaneayano You are welcome and we hope so, too!

RUMOR MILL: Crimson Spell Volume 3?

As you may or may not know, I'm an avid tweeter (on Twitter) so I was surprised and thrilled to see Media Blasters AKA Kitty Media starting a Twitter account. Anyway, it wasn't long before someone asked them about Crimson Spell V3's potential release (thank you @Shelly_LR from the Yamane Ayano LiveJournal Community for asking!) Here was their initial response:

@Shelly_LR Our manga publishing is on hold for the moment.

Well, I'm not sure what happened but this was their response later in the day:

@TheYaoiReview @Shelly_LR @yamaneayano Re: Crimson Spell 3 -

we're hoping to have it in 2011. We're hoping to reprint Crimson Spell 2 soon.

Perhaps it was because Ayano Yamane was included in a retweet? Who knows! All I know is that we now have some hope for getting more of this fabulous series!

So, what do you think? Excited to see there's hope? Excited to hear anything related to Kitty Media? Make your voices heard!

~Jennifer LeBlanc

YAOI NEWS: Publisher Updates

Good news, bad news and worse news. Let's start with the worst and end with the best…

On May 9th, @kuriousity on twitter tweeted that the Go!Comi website appeared to be down and sure enough, the home page is parked on the Go Daddy site now. Then today ANN reported that Go!Comi's Creative Director Audry Taylor confirmed she is no longer with the company. CEO David Wise had not yet provided any confirmation regarding the company's status.

Publishers Weekly reported today that Viz Media shut down its small New York office, which had five employees and laid off another 55 employees at its San Francisco office, which in total represents approximately 40% of its workforce. Viz announced the layoffs but did not confirm the numbers as reported by Publishers Weekly.

In better news, @YaoiPress tweeted today that Media Blasters rehired one of the 13 employees they put on hiatus as of March 8th.

So what do you think? Do you believe a turn for the better in the economy will bring our publishers back or will it simply be too late?

~Jennifer LeBlanc

YAOI NEWS: Media Blasters Layoffs

ANN reported yesterday that Media Blasters is going through some layoffs due to decreasing vendor orders. Kitty Media is a part of Media Blasters and a publisher of yaoi. This explains why they have been slow or delayed on some releases. Unfortunately, Kitty Media holds the license for Crimson Spell so I'm thinking it will be a long time before we see Crimson Spell V3 IF we see it at all. I'm not saying they are on their way out, just that I don't think yaoi is top on their list of priorities right now but I could be wrong. I've sent off an email to them so if they respond with any further information, I'll let you know. This also makes me question if they are still in the running for the Viewfinder license. That's going to be one pricey license and I can't imagine them shelling out money for it at a time like this. I guess we'll see.

Your thoughts?

(As I was typing this I received an email from Rightstuf telling me Wintertime Love's release date is now 12/12/12 (this is a Kitty Media title). I've seen Rightstuf do this before and that usually means they don't have a release date for it anymore. Their site says "Coming Soon, Date to be Determined". ANN stated Media Blasters didn't think the layoffs would affect their current release schedule. I find it hard to believe this is a coincidence though.)

~Jennifer LeBlanc

RELEASE DATES: Kitty Media for March

Kitty Media has two new releases slated for March, Drawn to Him and Because of Love. 

Lissa at the newly launched Boys-Luv.com (a sister site to Kuri-ousity.com) has more details.

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