Anime & Manga Publishers, Going Up & Down

Contrary to the morbid trend set by Viz Media's major staff cuts, or the closure of CMX Manga and (allegedly) Go! Comi, not all manga publishers are going down. Dark Horse Comics and Vertical Inc., for example, are enjoying a healthy growth. A recent ANN report attributes a 13% increase in manga sales from May 2009 to May 2010 for Dark Horse, and an even more solid 18% increase in revenue over the last year for Vertical.



Those two companies, however, are just the lucky few who managed to escape the trend. The book and media store chain Borders Group was less fortunate, reporting a 15.4% drop in sales for the first quarter of 2010, compared to the same period last year. On the bright side, Borders' financial fall does seem to slow down, following a couple of staff cuts earlier this year, and the arrival of a new chairman who brought a $25 million capital infusion.

FUNimation's parent company Navarre Corporation also went down by 15% in sales, despite their computer software net sales having increased by over 50%. Much of the blame falls down on FUNi's declining anime sales, "as a result of a weaker release schedule". No wonder they're trying to get rid of FUNimation and focus on their software business.

Getting back to Viz Media, they are currently offering the first episode of the supernatural TV anime series Kekkaishi as a free Download-to-Own (DTO) through their partners: iTunes, Xbox Live's Zune Marketplace, PlayStation Network, and Amazon Video on Demand. The offer lasts until June 17, "to celebrate the recent domestic broadcast launch of Kekkaishi on Adult Swim".

Also from Viz Media, it looks like January 2011 will bring a Mardock Scramble book (by Tow Ubukata), according to a listing posted by the North American book distributor Simon & Schuster (via ANN). In the meantime, we're anxiously waiting for the first Mardock Scramble anime film in studio GoHands' upcoming trilogy, which is set to premiere in Japan this autumn.