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Otakon 2002 Takahashi Report

Compiled by Margaux Zion, Keith Trudeau, and Spareblue



Three of our intrepid messageboard regulars paid a visit to the Viz Panel at Otakon this year and were able to bring back the latest news regarding Rumiko Takahashi's titles in North America. The following are the highlights of the question and answer segment of the panel.

  • Regarding the status of the Urusei Yatsura manga...
    Viz has no plans to restart the release of the Urusei Yatsura manga in English. They feel that people are more interested in "21st century Takahashi" rather than her older work. [1]

  • On the release of Inuyasha on Cartoon Network...
    Viz has been in contact with Cartoon Network for a few months now regarding Inuyasha appearing on the channel. The DVD has been held off until the series started airing, but with no new headway being made Viz has decided to proceed with the release of the anime before the year is through with or without a network deal. [2]

  • On the running length of the Ranma 1/2 manga...
    Viz feels that it will run close to 38 graphic novels since it ran for 38 tankobans in Japan. Originally Viz did not use the original tankobans as a guide for the length of their graphic novels, and the numbering was thrown off in comparison to the Japanese release. Viz now releases the same amount of chapters per novel as was originally released in Japan. [3] Another question was raised about whether the Ranma 1/2 manga would be completed in English. The Viz representatives saw no reason why it would not be, as it is one of their highest sellers and has always performed well for them in the past. The same was said for the Ranma 1/2 anime as well.
    [4] [5]

  • Regarding the possible release of The Executive's Dog and the new One Pound Gospel chapters...
    The Viz spokesperson "didn't know but appreciated the question." [6] [7]

  • Regarding the return of the Maison Ikkoku anime...
    Currently Viz has no plans to begin rereleasing the Maison Ikkoku anime in any format. They feel the market is not viable for this series, and recommend that fans try to convert their friends into fans of this series in order for it to gain popularity. The Viz representative did feel this was Takahashi's strongest series though. [8] [9]

  • On the possibility of Viz releasing Mermaid's Scar on DVD...
    Viz has no current plans to release this title on DVD. [10]

  • Discussing Ranma 1/2 products...
    Viz said they are releasing new watches, clocks and "polystone figures" this year. When asked though, they did not know what a "polystone figure" was exactly. [11]

So it was mostly a mixed bag of good and bad news. The Inuyasha anime has everyone excited, but a lot of fans are still clamoring for a Maison Ikkoku DVD release. As for manga, none of Takahashi's short stories or Urusei Yatsura seem to be on the horizon. Again, extra special thanks to Keith, Margaux, and Spareblue for their fantastic reporting job.




Footnotes
  • [1] In 2002 the English edition of Urusei Yatsura had been cancelled twice. In 1989 it was first published for a total of seven comic book sized issues (14 chapters) and then Viz ceased publication. It was brought back again under the title The Return of Lum * Urusei Yatsura from 1994 until 1998 making it through roughly one-third of the series before it was cancelled again. Consequently when this question was asked it had been four years since Viz had published any of Urusei Yatsura and they expressed no plans to do so. As a result of this response from Viz, two years later many of us coordinated via the Rumic World Messageboards and decided to launch Project ILM and finish translating the series. Viz finally committed to releasing all of the Urusei Yatsura manga with a fresh publication of the series with a new translation from 2019 through 2023 marking the first time the series was officially completely published in English.
  • [2] Inuyasha airing on television in the United States had a tremendous impact on Rumiko Takahashi's popularity (and the traffic to our website). While the Viz representative was saying negotiations with Cartoon Network had some sort of delay prompting the release of the DVDs to go ahead, it would be only roughly a month before Inuyasha would be airing on their network. The first episode debuted in America on August 31, 2002.
  • [3] As a result of this the English release of Ranma 1/2 has always been collected as 36 volumes rather than the 38 in Japan because early Viz collections were larger than their Japanese counterparts.
  • [4] These may seem like strange questions in hindsight but at the time they were very valid. Ranma 1/2 was indeed very popular but Urusei Yatsura's manga had been cancelled by Viz as had Maison Ikkoku's anime release. Because manga and anime were released quite slowly at the time there was a fear in the Takahashi English community that a series might not be "safe" until it was fully completed and could be cancelled at any time. When these questions were asked in 2002 Ranma 1/2 had been slowly being published in English for roughly 10 years already. The series only took nine years to be fully published in Japan (1987-1996). The manga would reach its English conclusion in 2006, four years after this article was originally written. The anime however was actually completed when these questions were asked, the final "season" of episodes were being released and all episodes had already been recorded in English as of September 2001. The English cast's wrap party for the show was actually held on September 11, 2001.
  • [5] Yusaku Godai, "Viz's Plans for the End of Ranma," Rumic World Messageboard, November 7, 2006, https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/ perfectedition/viz-s-plans-for-the-end-of-ranma-t1306.html.
  • [6] One Pound Gospel was very irregularly published in Japan and so the issues confronting Viz were similar to ones that Shogakukan had in Japan. Because years would pass between publication of One Pound Gospel stories it could often take many years before there was enough material for a new collected tankobon to be published. Viz had released the first three volumes, but the final volume (that had not been published in Japan at this point either) would comprise material from 1996, 2001 and 2006. Viz would ultimately publish this volume in December 2008. The other story mentioned here, The Executive's Dog was the latest short story collection at the time. This was originally written in 2002 and now, twenty years later in 2022, Viz has still not published this.
  • [7] Yusaku Godai, "Newest OPG Chapters! Brag, brag, brag!!," Rumic World Messageboard, May 23, 2006, https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/ perfectedition/newest-opg-chapters-brag-brag-brag-t2913.html.
  • [8] This was a very frustrating time to be a Maison Ikkoku fan. Viz had cancelled the release of the anime on VHS in stages. At first they announced they would cease production of the English dub of the series with episode 36. The series continued to be released as "subtitled only" through episode 60 before Viz announced that they would cease release of the series entirely. We're extremely proud of the work Dylan Acres of this website did to badger and harangue Viz into continuing the anime (both subbed and dubbed on DVD) eventually which you can see at the archived link below.
  • [9] Acres, Dylan. Alone Again Naturally - The Project to Save Maison Ikkoku. March 7, 2003. Accessed November 13, 2022. https://www.geocities.org/tokyo/temple/2144/save.html.
  • [10] Sadly this is still the case as of 2022. This series has not been released on anything other than laserdisc or VHS in Japan, and is VHS only in the United States.
  • [11] The Ranma 1/2 polystone figures from Kotobukiya were interesting because they were made specifically for the foreign market. By 2002 when they were released Ranma 1/2 had been concluded for six years in Japan and was not receiving much if any new merchandise, however it was a very hot property in the United States and so these were released through Viz (along with the aforementioned watches) to connect market to this market.


Margaux Zion is a marketing specialist based in Los Angeles, California.

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Rumic World
Published: July 30, 2002
Author: Margaux Zion, Keith Trudeau and Spareblue
Translated by: ---
Archived: ---
ISBN/Web Address: https://www.furinkan.com/ features/articles/otakon2002.html
Page numbers: ---