Manga En Español Gets U.S. Debut

Public Square Books brings Spanish translations of the popular Japanese comics to the States.

By Gabriella Salas -- Críticas, 11/15/2005

"This is a natural extension of our successful launch of graphic novels in Spanish a year ago," said Public Square Books's (PSB) president and founder, Larry Bennet, regarding PSB's initiative to distribute manga books in Spanish. Manga, the Japanese word for comics, is a genre already popular around the world and especially in the States, where it constantly dominates Bookscan's chart of best-selling graphic novels in English. U.S. sales almost tripled last year in comparison to 2000. PSB's effort will make manga available in Spanish in the United States for the first time.

Created in 2003 by the National Children's Book Project, PSB is the exclusive U.S. distributor of Spanish-language comics published by Spain's Norma Editorial. Bennett purchased the company on September 2004, and hired marketing and sales manager, Katelin Trowbridge, and a sales rep to take care of the business. Among the more than 150 titles PSB has released in the States in the past year, the translations of The Hobbit, Hellboy, Sin City, and Persepolis, are doing very well, particularly with libraries.

The manga initiative will launch next March with multiple volumes of Tokyo Mew Mew and Rave Master, two internationally best-selling series that are also popular in the States. With this established popularity and a list price of $10.95, comparable to the English-language editions, Bennett expects the books to appeal to the retail market.

In terms of manga's library appeal, Bennet said "they are particularly well suited to libraries because they are all-ages titles with no objectionable content." Also, Spanish-language comic books have been successful in the library market because they attract reluctant readers.

According to Trowbridge Japanese manga and anime are already very popular among Spanish-speakers in Spain, Mexico, and Latin America. "All of the major children's TV networks in Latin America, including Fox Kids, the Cartoon Network, and Disney, already air Japanese animation," she said. "In fact, the Mew Mew power animated TV series will premier on Cartoon Network Latin America this fall."

Rave 1.
(Rave Master #1)
192p. ISBN 84-96325-24-5.
Yoshida, Reiko & Mia Ikumi.
Tokyo Mew Mew 1.
176p. ISBN 84-96415-34-1.
ea. vol.: tr. by Annabel Espada. U.S.: Public Square Books. March 2006. illus. pap. $10.95. GRAPHIC ART

Gr 2-YA–Japanese comic books, or manga, enjoy an avid readership worldwide. Thanks to Public Square Books, pocket-size translations of dozens of popular manga series will be available to Spanish-speakers in the States starting March 2006. These two series are among the best known. The Rave Master series focuses on a young man's struggle to save a futuristic world from the forces of darkness with the aid of a magic sword and a singular group of companions. The pink-covered, relentlessly cute Tokyo Mew Mew follows a group of young women who fight against evil using super powers derived from animal DNA (think Sailor Moon). This series is the work of two female manga veterans. Their fast-moving storylines and splashy graphics keep the pages and the action moving right-to-left, Japanese style (Rave 1 has an explanation for the uninitiated, printed on what Western readers would expect to be the first page). Though the translations are recognizably peninsular Spanish, that presents no obstacle to American readers. One of the leading English-language manga publishers, Tokyopop, assigns useful age ratings to its titles—Rave gets a 10+ (and likely more males), while Tokyo Mew Mew is aimed at those seven years and up. Highly recommended for all libraries and bookstores serving young readers.—Bruce Jensen, MCLS/Bibliotecario a su alcance, Hollywood, CA