There’s been a lot of talk recently regarding the upcoming dive-bomb into the murky, oft shopping trolly-infested, depths of fandom that is the Manga Alliance.  This can be summarized by the work posted up here which gives a relatively objective examination of the group with comments from both sides.  Somewhere in that you can probably find my opinion summed up pretty well on the concept thus giving me leeway to look at something else.  Namely the question of: What exactly is this alliance going to achieve?

The preamble - background on the “Manga Alliance”

Summarizing its goals in a nutshell firstly - the “Manga Alliance” as their website claims:

1. To bring in events, groupings and sites that are not traditionally a part of the scene, and help them.
2. To encourage new events, sites, and groups which can only help the industry and fans in the long-term.
3. To share resources, expertise, contacts and knowledge within the alliance.
4. To help ALL events, sites, groupings and industry regardless if they join or not - in doing this we benefit us all. We will welcome everyone with open arms, whether they join us or not!
5. To give anime and manga a higher profile, and thereby to help it to break into the mainstream of UK culture.
6. To establish the UK as a respected country for anime and manga across the international scene.

Describing itself as:

Only by working together can we defeat the credit-crunch and continue to move anime forward in this country! The Manga Alliance consists of conventions, events, meet-ups, news sites, communities and groupings which will by their united efforts break anime and manga into the mainstream culture of the UK! We have secured the support of Manga Pulp, and Impact Magazine who will be heavily promoting this venture, and this will also be covered in Neo Magazine. Moving forward together we will revolutionise and change the face of anime and manga!

This post is to examine the goals of the “Manga Alliance” split over three categories (in no particular order).  Unfortunately as you will see below, the examination highlights that however well meaning (or not) this notion is, ultimately it is ineffectual as anything but a shiny hat to look more important at events.

Point 1: Re-inventing the wheel is a waste of time, as are cotton wool promises.

If you take a look at the points the Manga Alliance lists then points 1-4 seem like cotton wool just for the following reasons:

1. To bring in events, groupings and sites that are not traditionally a part of the scene, and help them.

With anime/manga seen as the next big thing - you could argue that any site that would be sympathetic to anime but not traditionally from there has either evaluated then rejected or is already adding anime/manga coverage.  I’m unsure of how exactly an alliance can help this - unless you’re going to take turns calling sports websites to persuade them Prince of Tennis is as valid as watching Wimbledon, so maybe they should cover that in a lull between games.

If you mean to bring in events like the UK Film and Comic Con as part of the Manga Alliance (or in fact really the only community element to it) Anime League’s bringing voice actors, artist alley and videogames to the event - then I ask you how do moves like this help move anime forward in the UK?

From a business perspective - UK Film and Comic Con saw the success and money that MCM London Expo have brought in with the whole Anime thing and decided they wanted in on that sweet money. Please note at this point, this is not a jab at UK FCC - I have the utmost respect for them as a Sci-Fi signing event and think that even if I am right then it’s nothing to be ashamed of. There’s just one problem with the implementation AL has offered from a common sense business perspective: Income from this new element.

How pretty much any profit event makes money from anime is selling space and advertising to the actual industry. Sure getting another 1500 anime fans or so into an event like UK FCC isn’t going to hurt the fan scene per se - but if you look at ticket cost vs cost of those two guests you have then you’re looking at little benefit to bringing anime to the event.  Certainly you are looking at no benefit with regards to making anime more mainstream nor are you moving anime forwards so what benefit is there to bringing 1500 (or so) folk who are already anime fans to it?

Cynically I’d say if the paying industry does not come in the droves to support this new venture now - then you’re at best looking at a few runs with anime before it’s dropped on its head for not being profitable.

2. To encourage new events, sites, and groups which can only help the industry and fans in the long-term.

Blatant filler goal here, as a general love of anime as cultivated by the MANY anime clubs, conventions and in fact just media available across the UK (be it DVD, manga or newspaper articles on the subject) will encourage events, sites and groups which help the industry and fans long term too.  What specifically will an alliance provide that the above would not already.

This is a classic attempt to try and re-invent a wheel that has been working very well already.  Case in point, in the last 3 years we have seen events such as Auchinawa, Kitacon, Fuyucon and others spring up without an alliance alone.  We have seen websites grow and evolve as well as internet broadcasting such as EyeonAnime.co.uk’s podcasts and Otascotia’s upcoming radio station.

Ergo unless there is some magic formula being devised, this is just an attempt to re-invent and dress the wheel up.

3. To share resources, expertise, contacts and knowledge within the alliance.

Being industry-side I may be getting confused here, but from what I have seen from the many friends who work hard for no profit within the fandom…isn’t that the point of the fan community as is?  Many conventions work together and share staff between events to name just one example.  Websites are expected to have a friendly rivalry to some extent but I have never seen them not share when they sit down to discuss it all.  How exactly will having an Alliance be of any benefit sharing contact details etc compared to the systems already in place?

At best this point is again cotton wool to fluff out an otherwise sparse list of goals.  At worst what is being implied is that you are talking about forming a clique within the community that shares its (currently unquantified) resources among its members only.  I don’t give any credit to the latter point though and wholly believe it to be another well

4. To help ALL events, sites, groupings and industry regardless if they join or not - in doing this we benefit us all. We will welcome everyone with open arms, whether they join us or not!

Not that I need to point out, but this effectively is filler too - as if they did not “help” all events regardless of membership they would effectively be openly trying to sabotage the work of everyone else.  Ironically though by saying this you have to ask yourself too what the benefit of joining really is then?

Of all the points that this Alliance puports to be aiming towards, the only two which are not cotton wool filler on their website are points 5 and 6.  However these are misguided points or just misinformed, which I will go into more depth about below.

Matt Damon's portrayal in Team America seems strangely fitting for this group...

Point 2: The mainstream, or raised profile, status of anime and manga in the UK.

Of the two non cotton wool goals, this is perhaps the most baffling.  Not meaning to jab pins into things here but while magazine coverage is a good idea with any initiative - acquiring it in the niche areas you are trying to raise is hardly breaking it out into the mainstream. This is admittedly not the point I would imagine of getting coverage in Neo or Impact though nor do I claim to see it as that, it’s just a point that it does nothing towards their fifth goal.  Why?  Because anime/manga is already square in the eyes of the “mainstream” and has been for some time now, it’s just not sticking.

For example if you look at media beyond Neo, Impact etc (which as great as they are focus on our industry by default) you can find articles across the popular press.  Take broadsheets for starters with examples below:

The Guardian:

Going Krazy in New York : anime, manga and the language of videogames

Japan looks to manga comics to rescue ailing economy.

A choice few triumphs keep the Lido afloat

Paprika - the stuff of dreams for filmgoers

The Times:

Outward looking Hong Kong looks to capture animation crown.

Funuke: Show some love, you losers!

Oscar-winning-film-maker brands manga-loving Japanese PM ‘an embarassment’

Karl Marx goes manga in a Kapital comics strip

One step for a robot, a giant leap for tin-mankind

The Observer:

Girl geeks find manga haven

Manga comes of age

Just a few examples of articles covering Japanese animation overtly or not so overtly covering the area over the past few years out there, there are many more less overt pieces too*. if there was more of a demand based on those you’d see more articles out there from them or other broadsheets/tabloids based on it.  Like many entertainment fields there’s only so much you can write on it, in fact you probably get as much coverage of anime as many other niche areas do so it could be worse frankly.

What do you expect from the mainstream media now relating to manga/anime - weekly coverage of the latest titles hot from Japan?  Perhaps you’d like a dedicated page for Japanese culture per week.  You can infer at least that the area is given a good deal more coverage than many areas of animation or art that aren’t western in mainstream magazines.  Do you, for example, see manghawa getting covered as frequently in the media?  Do you see lots of exhibitions coming up across the UK devoted to them?  No.  Although I digress that, as was pointed out to me by Jonathan Clements, there is an exhibition on Chinese comics (Manhua) exhibition on in Durham just now.

The answer is anime and manga are already basically in the mainstream culture now, from advertisments to editorial.  It’s just that it is and likely always will at best be a niche in the same way that Star Trek and Doctor who was for so many years.  Effectively manga and anime’s profile is already relatively high considering everything, it’s just the majority of the mainstream does not care.  Much in the same way they aren’t in works like Judge Dread or other 2000AD works but are familiar with them.

Case in point - send the Manga Alliance to the streets and ask the public how many are familiar with Japanese animation or comics.  See how many people come back with “Oh I saw Spirited Away, I *loved* it!  But I’d never watch Tentacle Molester 8 or My Little Shonen Fighter, it’s just not that interesting to me.”

In the end, it’s the individual elements of a genre that deserve a high profile, if you look how many genres do you see getting a high profile on the basis of being that genre?  You see your TV shows like Star Trek, Lost etc getting coverage in the mainstream usually but not wealths of Sci-Fi generically except in niche magaines nor do you see Crime as a genre getting masses of space but The Wire, CSI etc getting coverage.  It’s the same for anime - Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Spirited Away/Ghibli works and such are on the tips of tongues in the mainstream often.

You could of course argue that anime deserves a higher ratio of coverage and discussion in the mainstream.  This would not be entirely fair though as unless more AAA quality works come out then you can’t peddle what in the eyes of many in the mainstream is teenage junk as diamonds.

Point 3: The UK’s status for anime and manga internationally.

> 6. To establish the UK as a respected country for anime and manga across the international scene.

Now I can understand the logic in this goal in a way.  Presuming “international scene” refers to the Anime community worldwide then I would say it is already there.  People across Europe and America come to UK events for starters, giving an example I know a large group of cosplayers and event organizers from AnimeFest over in the Czech Republic coming over for London Expo based on how large and good for anime it is said to be!  Does that not suggest the UK is in fact already a respected country for anime and manga across the international scene.

In fact if anything should be a goal - it should be for a significant portion of the UK fandom to retrieve it’s head from its backside that it is the only Anime community in Europe worth a damn.

This does not refer of course to the folk I know who *do* travel over Europe for conventions to see what anime conventions are like in other countries.  But there is a large segment who when I tell them France has a bigger, better market than them look at me with disbelief.  Imagine that segment’s faces if I turned round and said “Actually your fanbase is about on par with Hungary or the Czech Republic for example?

I digress for a second from the point of my post to say you want proof?  Well let’s take France for example next to the UK now.  Who does the UK have guests so far this year?  US VA’s as well as I know two events with Japanese guests lined up tentatively (to be announced shortly I imagine). Who do French conventions have coming this year?

Japan Expo alone has:

- Ai Yazawa

- CLAMP

Yes, this July they will be bringing CLAMP to Europe.  How many of you UK fans can hand on heart honestly say until you read this blog post that you knew CLAMP would be in Europe, in the next few months, until you read this?

If the UK really wants to grow to a level like France or America in its status as a “respected country” then it has a lot of work to go.  Try starting with developing a bit more comic book culture in the mainstream.  Too difficult for a small organization?  Try going abroad to these events like some UK folk I know and talking to events organizers at these events, learn how they cultivate such an amazing amount of guests and attendees.  I already know the answer to this, but giving it out here would deprive anyone serious of the hard work involved required to get the point on it.

In conclusion:

Ultimately the point I am driving at is simply this - forming a convention cabal will not rescue the UK Anime industry or fandom.  It will not bring Jesus back to life either for that matter, which would be a similarly impressive miracle given the aforementioned goals.  It is the actual distribution side and real artists, be they DVD distributors or Manga publishers who will save or consign doom to the industry.  So instead of milling around trying to send smoke signals, how about go that extra mile - form a group that lobbies for what will keep the fandom growing in the UK.  Namely ways to keep the actual industry who brings anime and manga both in touch with fans and alive.

One example would be to lobby fans and sympathetic people about what DVD release format that 10-20k people regularly would buy and are profitable (complete break down of costings would of course be helpful). Greater sales at a profitable rates would lead to more adverts in magazines as well as sponsorship for well PR’d events, helping the fandom and industry alike.

Not to your taste, perhaps you’d rather help some home-grown artists work grow appreciation for pseudomanga/manga in the UK?  Perhaps you could look into persuading more schools to make use of the Manga Shakespeare range?  If, as they claim, the Manga Alliance is for everyone whether they are a member or not) then they should have no issue with pushing non-Dimensional Entertainment/Manga’s work.  Afterall arguably on a manga front the excellent work done by the likes of Emma Vicelli, Sonia Leong, Paul Duffield, Patrick Warren, Kate Brown and Faye Yong to name but a few stand the best chance of raising an entire generation of children to be curious about the world of manga-styled art at the very least**.

Such moves above would be far more useful as an effort than effectively flapping ones hands and expecting to fly, however well intentioned it is.

Until the above happens, I suggest removing any shine to the proverbial hats being worn by the heads of the Manga Alliance are just beams of sunshine reflecting off tin-foil wrapped around cardboard.  As without the paid industry there would arguably be no Neo (no ad revenue would make it very difficult to run a profitable magazine), no easy access for anime or manga in the mainstream*** or many other events that rely on industry participation or finances to continue.

* covering perhaps points about Anime/manga within them or by writers who very much sympathize with them.

** I could go on about this for longer, as the irony is it’s pseudomanga, but if it links kids into manga itself then I think it’s acceptable. Also if pushing any work as a true figurehead of the UK pseudomanga crowd then I think Shakespeare’s works are far more fitting than a panda, who has as much relevance to the UK as I would blogging about a bunch of badgers savaging a circus midget on here.

*** The mainstream who do not know of piracy methods for anime - which is likely a higher percentage than you would think from what I have seen.

Disclaimer: This post is more centred around the actual reason for a Manga Alliance etc, I do not think any less of the people or groups involved than I did before the Alliance started so you can breath easy if you feel this is some kind of personal attack.