animefreak_usa wrote...
We're close to being the monopoly of hentai magazines. Feels ok.
Well, technically, at this point, no one else is legally releasing translations of hentai magazines in English (or at least, I haven't heard of anyone else doing it). Other publishers have mostly stuck with tankoubon and doujinshi - especially in recent years. So, arguably, FAKKU
does have a monopoly on hentai magazines in English even if it doesn't have a monopoly on hentai manga in English - though given how little life Project-H has these days and the lack of other competitors, FAKKU isn't far off from having a monopoly in hentai manga in English. Given how well FAKKU is doing though, I'm not sure why Project-H has faltered so thoroughly. There's clearly demand. FAKKU does do nicer releases than Project-H has ever done, but they're also more expensive as a result. Surely, Project-H should be able to put out some tankoubon and do well enough to continue to do so. They're not acting that way though.
Maybe the fact that FAKKU has the subscription service is what's made the difference (either that or just internal problems at DMP / Project-H). Not only does FAKKU bring in money via the subscription service, but it gives folks a reason to visit the site all the time, so folks see the announcements about new books and snatch them up, whereas there really isn't a big reason to visit Project-H's site on a regular basis, making it easy to miss the rare cases where they do release something new, which could easily lead to poor sales. Right now, it seems like all they release is the occasional doujinshi, which is sad - especially when you consider all of the stuff that they licensed but have yet to fully release - like Parasite Doctor Suzune. If FAKKU were to license-rescue anything from Project-H, that's the series that I'd like to see rescued. That's the series that makes me keep hoping that Project-H would revive itself, though with how inconsistent they've been, I doubt that we could ever trust them to keep on top of things the way that FAKKU has.