eigoManga Release Sakura Pakk

Date: 2004 November 08 17:41

Posted by Joe

eigoManga have just sent us a press release for their latest pseudo manga for girls. It's a bit odd, because they've sent it to us almost a month late. Their pseudo manga is called Sakura Pakk and is out now.

Full Story

Press release as follows:

Women Manga Artists Educate New Generations of Fans

San Francisco, CA --October 15th, 2004-- Fandom comes full circle for women artists featured in Sakura Pakk, an anthology of short manga stories that takes a new approach to furthering the black-and-white graphic novel as a medium in the United States.

Manga has been an entertainment staple for sub-cultures of American fans for over two generations, but only for those who are either able to read Japanese, or have taken the time to investigate and immerse themselves in the language and culture. Book series were only available in specialty Japanese bookstores or by mail order straight from Japan.

Over the past decade, mainstream readership of manga has increased due to widespread availability of popular manga titles translated into English. According to a recent article from a national publication, manga "is the fastest-growing segment of the publishing industry, with 2004 sales estimated at more than $120 million, up 20% from 2003."

Set for release in early November by multimedia company eigoMANGA, Sakura Pakk aims to stand out from the abundance of manga already available to fans and new readers. Sakura Pakk stories are not translated from Japanese, but are written and drawn by primarily English-speaking artists who are enthusiastic manga fans themselves.

As a result, literary elements that usually get lost in translation are virtually non-existent. Writers and artists make it a point to define any obscure Japanese terms or historical references in order to educate readers who are unfamiliar with the nuances of Japanese culture.

Columns dispersed between stories feature activities for manga fans, such as basic drawing lessons, articles on Japanese traditions, holidays and customs, and costume competition events known as "cosplay." The range of artistic styles and stories from artist to artist reflect an evolution of the art form t hat has taken place here within the U.S.

Melissa K. Smith, anthology editor comments, "I hope that we can offer a wide variety of quality stories and art to our readers. I like the anthology style books because they offer the opportunity for many artists to be discovered and for the reader to possibly find something they may not have picked up had it been a single title manga."

Founded in August 2000, eigoMANGA is an independent media and publishing company committed to developing, producing and marketing original American "manga," or Japanese-influenced comic books and graphic novels. eigoMANGA's integrated media offerings include anime-themed television programming and anime-themed live events.