An article in Publishers Weekly by Calvin Reid about cutbacks in ADV's publishing division has led some doomsayers on the Net to prophesize the 'end of the manga boom' -- a prediction that is not borne out by sales results from either bookstores or the direct market.  It turns out that the layoffs were made back in the fourth quarter, at a time when ADV, Tokyopop and other manga publishers told ICv2 that, in contrast to the robust increases in number of titles in previous years, they were holding steady or reducing the number of manga releases in 2005 (see 'Manga Market Continues Robust Growth').

ADV will release about 50 volumes of manga in 2005 in contrast to 80 in 2004, and will focus increasingly on properties for which it has both anime and manga rights.  While it is true that some financially weak manga publishers such as Studio Ironcat and Comics One have been shaken out of the increasingly competitive manga market, ADV, which has a host of strong manga releases lined up for the first half of the year including Cromartie High, Full Metal Panic: Overload! and Yotsuba&! (a potential blockbuster from the creator of Azumanga Daioh), is unlikely to be a casualty.

Although shelf space devoted to manga and graphic novels in bookstores continues to grow, the number of volumes released grew faster in 2004, leading to a very competitive situation at retail.  In such a competitive environment (for both manga and anime actually) marketing is especially important and ADV is planning a number of cooperative efforts to push its anime and manga titles.  The Full Metal Panic Fumoffu anime launches in May followed in June by the debut of the Full Metal Panic: Overload manga series.  Even in situations where ADV does not have both the anime and manga rights, such as with the D.N. Angel anime, ADV is working on cooperative marketing schemes with Tokyopop, which publishes the D.N. Angel manga.