Serypti wrote...
GODsHandOnEarth wrote...
Please Jacob, can you buy project h too?
Well, in principle, I'd prefer that there be competition, and I'd like to see tankouban released at a higher rate than FAKKU does. Also, Project H
used to do good stuff. So, it wouldn't be all good if they were absorbed by FAKKU, but they seem to be on life support at this point.
Originally, they were releasing all kinds of great stuff, but a few years ago, they hit a point where they killed off several impending physical releases, and ever since then, they only rarely do physical releases, and while they have been doing digital-only releases (including for at least some of the volumes that were going to have physical releases but were canceled), they don't release much consistently. And they have unfinished series that just languish (Parasite Doctor Suzune in particular comes to mind - they've only ever released two volumes even though they've since licensed more, and there are at least 8 volumes that have been released in Japan), which really ticks me off. Fortunately, they
have increased how many doujinshi they've been releasing, but many of them come from an artist that I don't particularly like, and as nice as doujinshi can be, they really don't make up for the lack of tankouban releases - especially for the series that they've already started but just never gotten around to finishing.
So, I don't know. Ideally, both FAKKU and Project-H would be releasing tankouban and doujinshi on a regular basis, and they'd be competing, but for whatever reason, Project-H is withering on the vine, and if FAKKU buying them meant that I could finally get more Parasite Doctor Suzune, I'd be all for it. However, I question that them buying Project-H would really help us much aside from a series or two that we might then finally get more of, because FAKKU really doesn't release tankouban very quickly, and they seem to have a decent backlog of them to get through already. So, them buying Project-H would probably mainly result in the backlog getting bigger. FAKKU would first need to increase the rate at which they release tankouban for it to really help - though that's something that I'd really like to see regardless. In fact, as cool as it is that FAKKU is going to now be doing stuff with hentai anime, what I really want to see is FAKKU releasing more hentai tankouban at a faster pace.
This. A hundred times this. While my initial thought is that I would love Fakku to purchase ProjectH and give its IP some proper attention, it's just not a perfect idea in the long run. From a consumer perspective, it's always better to have competition in any market as it encourages improvement in all companies involved as they try to move product and expand marketshare. When a single company achieves a monopoly, things almost inevitably stagnate resulting in higher prices for fewer options in product. With such an immense untapped wealth of unlicensed hentai (manga and anime) available in Japan, a competition results in a greater portion of that material available to us in the marketplace.
While ProjectH is clearly an inferior product, and I hate their customer service and poor treatment of their material, their existence in the marketplace is preferable to a complete absence. FAKKU has definitely earned my brand loyalty over the years; I own dozens of their manga, many doujins, apparel, posters, and even started buying figures from them. But wishing for the existence of a monopoly, by any business, in what is admittedly a niche marketplace strikes me as unwise. The only purchase I've made from ProjectH recently was a few Mizuryu Kei Land doujins, and I really want FAKKU to have access to Yamatogawa and a few other artists. But if FAKKU buys ProjectH, then devotes resources to releasing better versions of material already released, then those resources will not be working to bring new material into the market. I'll take the ongoing release of great new properties like Z-Ton's Does This Strange Body Please You and the upcoming Boshi's Futabu.
Tl:dr, I'm rooting 110% for FAKKU, but I'm not exactly in favor of a monopoly in any marketplace.