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Forum - View topicHouse of 1000 Manga - Vinland Saga
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Merxamers
 Posts: 720 |
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They're not continuing this after Book 5?! This is a crime against literature. Man, that depresses me so much. Vinland Saga is great, and i love it to death.
Nice article Shaenon; let us go meet this timid publisher in glorious battle! |
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here-and-faraway
 Posts: 1528 Location: Sunny California |
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I was totally blindsided and depressed when I heard that they wouldn't release volume 6. The story is brilliant and I assumed it was doing well.
I wonder if the amazon disaster with volume 1 (amazon cancelled all of the pre-orders) was partially to blame. I'm guessing a lot of the series' potential fans lost interest by the time it was up for purchase again. Great review! You highlight so many of the story's strengths. |
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Parsifal24
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I never like this series I can grasp that Makoto Yukimura obviously loves the subject matter but much like Kaoru Mori's work. If the author's enthusiasm for the work can't translate to making me care than it's little more than a fan enthusing about how much they love a thing even if it is expertly crafted.
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j Talbain
 Posts: 279 Location: Toronto, Ontario |
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I was about to order this series but knowing there won't be any new published volumes I guess it's not worth it. Too bad seems mad cool.
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Merxamers
Posts: 720 |
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That's like saying "If Berserk wasn't published beyond the Golden Age Arc, it wouldn't be worth picking up". The first 4 volumes form the first 'part' of the story, and are absolutely 100% worth buying. If you enjoyed part 1, keep getting them! |
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residentgrigo
 Posts: 2476 Location: Germany |
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My 10/10 MU/amazon review
As good as it gets today This phenomenal seinen manga is recommended to all fans of Berserk, Blade of the Immortal, Urasawa manga and historical fiction only found on HBO/Showtime or in a Bande dessinée. The first volume burns slow(it was a shonen manga then) but is full of promise and soon becomes a ravishing drama about revenge, slavery and the price of freedom. The mature tag is not only because of the unflinching violence but of the deep psychological anguish some of the leads go through. The art is also as good as it gets within monthly deadlines (my darling Berserk i am looking at you). The reviewers below me validly complain about the slow pacing of the farmlands arc and i understand but don´t agree. The slow pace was needed to properly show the mundanely and insignificance of the live of a slave and represented the leads inner turmoil rather well. When it finally kicked its gears up the manga delivered the best volumes jet, so get reading already and find out what this high rated masterpiece is all about. Ah yes good old Bersek bashing  . That will never get old. Oh no it´s Berserk praising. Ok.
It´s going on in germany as we get EVERYTHING. Get it together america! |
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Brainchild129
Posts: 307 |
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There is some good news for this series' future in America, however vague it may be. I keep up with Kodansha's Tumblr page, where they answer questions for readers. Vinland Saga has come up at least a few times (most recently on March 15th), and each time they've confirmed that it's not cancelled and from their most recent post expect to have an update on its status by the end of the month.
That's incredibly reassuring, because I liked this series from the get-go. I blame my fondness for good manga and Viking history in general. I mainlined the series after getting the last 3 omnibuses for Christmas and I too am desperate to see where the series go next. here-and-far-away: I'm sure that kerfuffle didn't help the series get a good start here, but my strong suspicion is that this series' sales was hurt primarily by piracy. It was no secret that this manga was a darling of the scanlation scene, and most presumed it would never get released due to the content and the fact that Planetes bombed on the manga market, so they felt no guilt about the matter. When it was finally was released, many of those who enjoyed it didn't pick it up because they had already read it years back. |
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Themaster20000
 Posts: 864 |
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That what it seems like. They took way too long in bringing this over. A shame since it is such a great series. |
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One-Eye
 Posts: 2263 |
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Well that's good to hear, but I'm worried that they may consider altering the format to save on costs which might mean that new releases wont match the old. I would still accept that.
I don't know about that. There's plenty of pirated stuff that's sold and finished its run here. Properties like Claymore, Gantz, etc. were not exactly niche and unknown thereby escaping the scanlation community. In fact they were scanlated to the very last chapter. I know that Wolfsmund hasn't been successful either, but after reading 2 volumes of that I could see why. On the other hand, its a puzzle to me why Vinland Saga has done poorly, but I wonder if it was in part an issue with marketing. Hardcovers and 5 omnibuses in a year? It seems a little ambitious and optimistic. Perhaps if the releases were slower and built on word of mouth more? If people really love a story they will still go out and buy a permanent copy to have even if its being pirated. Something else has to be going on. |
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Brainchild129
Posts: 307 |
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One-Eye: But was there a decade-long gap between when those series started and when it was released here? That's the big difference. The issue isn't just that it was pirated by those wanting to keep up with the latest chapters or anything like that, it was that scanlation was the only way for English-speaking readers to consume it for the better part of a decade, and thus those who might have picked up those omnibuses out of curiosity may not do so because they read those volumes years ago and they don't see any value in rereading them or purchasing physical copies.
As for the future of the release itself, I'm guessing they're just going to start spacing out those omnibuses a lot more widely. It's a perfectly sensible strategy, especially since they're two omnibuses away from being caught up with the Japanese release. I do hope they retain those nice library-style hardbacks, as they are both handsome and sturdy. |
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here-and-faraway
Posts: 1528 Location: Sunny California |
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I agree. Even though I would love to read more, volume 5 ends at a good place. It wraps up a story arc and doesn't end on a cliffhanger. |
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Cutiebunny
 Posts: 1755 |
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Pretty much this for me. I had been reading the scanlation version of this manga for years. By then, I had reached a point in the manga where spoiler[Thorfinn ends up working for a landowner, plowing a field full of rocks by hand, and not only gets physically abused and sees others getting abused, but yet does nothing.] For those that have read ahead, does Thorfinn ever get out of this funk? |
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Merxamers
Posts: 720 |
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Yes he does. That whole arc (the 2nd 'part', in my opinion) lasts a little too long and isn't as action packed as the first, but has some really interesting things to say about the themes Shaenon brings up in her article, and does some great character building. The story has since moved on, and adventure is afoot! |
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One-Eye
Posts: 2263 |
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You have a point there, but while it was only a 5 year wait for Claymore to come here it was 8 years for Gantz. Then there is something like Berserk which is ongoing, only took about 14 years to get over here, has inconsistent production schedule yet we've had 37 volumes released here and it still manages to attract new fans in spite of piracy and its length. Also there might be value in re-reading something if you enjoyed it and haven't read the early parts in a long time. Again I agree with you that people who have become acclimated to piracy might not want to purchase Vinland Saga, but that would also be for any other popular manga as well. I think the question is why aren't regular buyers of manga picking up Vinland Saga? I can tell you from my personal experience that there is a limit to how much music, movies, books, games, anime and manga that I can purchase or consume. There's more content out there than ever before and for myself I've placed a limit on how much manga I buy (space is also a consideration). I started picking up Vinland Saga after I finished collecting 2 other series. Perhaps I'm not the only one who budgets and limits their manga consumption? Again I wonder if they were a little too ambitious with their releases?
I do hope it works out and that they can keep the format. Hopefully with this article and maybe others the series will pick up some more attention and fuel more sales. |
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Brand
 Posts: 1028 |
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Hopefully, this doesn't end up in in my pile of English manga that will never be finished. Somehow I seem to love titles like that. And I love Vinland Saga, I'd really sad if it didn't get finished.
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