I Can Has an ‘Our Kingdom’ Keychain.

I was talking to a blogger about DMP’s co-branding thing this morning. The first thing I thought about was...wow, Oakla Shuppan, Shinshokan, and Taiyo Tosho want to get their books over here on their own…then I thought, wait–the market right now is a hair close from saturation because the fan base can only get so big, what a stupid move.

BL is not a ‘gateway drug’ to Japanese comics, it’s a specific genre of erotica from Japan that requires a certain ‘fan inclination’. If you’re looking for it, you’ll find it–but it’s not general reading. So, just like in Japan, where the market is much healthier because of certain cultural allowances [and by healthy market, I don't mean HUGE market], it’s still just a sub-genre.

Why would they want to push their way in here personally, when other companies over here are all ready jumping on the licensing horse? I asked my editor at DQ about this, and she said…’dude, merchandising.’ Duh. I’ve been to cons, I see what these girls buy in the dealer rooms. They spend money on 1 yaoi-manga at best [they're pricey] but the lionshare of their cash is spent on stupid crap like keychains, shirts, stationary, stickers, notebooks, cellphone shields, and whatever else they can get their hands on, that show their favorite bishies–or characters from their favorite manga. 0_0. I guess I didn’t see the shrewdness of DMP’s taking this deal until I realized why he might’ve really done it. There’s a number of factors that are going to affect sales in the future market [and no Heidi--none of them have to do with backlash!]: 1. Fans aren’t going to blindly buy a ‘yaoi manga’ because it’s there…they’re going to decide what they like and what they don’t. 2. Some of them are going to gravitate toward gloBL, thus causing ‘Japanese fandom stray’. 3. Licensing is getting harder because Japanese pubs are becoming aware of western fan trends, and asking higher prices for popular licenses–that’s just good business–this will make pubs more frugal about new acquisitions. All these things combined, look to make licensing and publishing BL from Japan in the future, bleak.

So yeah… ‘merchandising’. DMP lost the yaoi-paddle when Hen Da Ne decided to patent their own [if I recall, DMP co-branded with Hen Da Ne on that whole thing, right?] and as much as we hate those paddles–those bastards DO SELL. Merchandising sells…I just bought playing cards with Maiden Rose characters on them, and I’m 36 YEARS OLD! Imagine what some pre-18 girl is going to spend her money on at the next convention… When DMP co-brands with these companies, it’s going to be more than just about the ‘manga licenses’, it’s going to be about the ‘merchandise.’ The playing cards, the cell phone covers, the stationary, the keychains, the otaku badges, CD’s, games, and the BL pocky!! Oakla Shuppan, Shinshokan, and Taiyo Tosho all ready have these things for each successful title they publish–and if DMP licenses those titles [or has them all ready ^_^v] then they’re going to get to sell all those little fan goodies…

Impressive.

~ by gynocrat on September 22, 2007.