Sleep Is For the Weak

PG-13/16 for violence, maybe some sexuality, and alcohol/tobacco, like the magazine itself; I couldn’t find an entry on the Viz website, which is probably saying something about how this book probably wasn’t meant for much “sale”; informational article

Viz sent me this for free. Thank you, Viz! I will love it forever. Please don’t scroll down.

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You, reader, probably don’t want this book.

BUT - if you’re a huge fan of Shonen/Shounen Jump magazine, AND you’re one of those rare manga fans who is also a Collector (and I capitalize the term to emphasize that is the sort of person who must have the special edition of every aspect of a series s/he loves, and/or must keep all of his goods in Unwrapped Mint Condition), you’ll be thrilled with this book. It’s a lovely reprinting of the first English-language issue of the magazine yet also reprints the first issue of Naruto (from the second issue of the magazine), it includes some decent articles – including interviews with a lot of the big Jump mangaka – it has little features on a ton of other Shonen Jump titles, it has a fancy dustjacket with a timeline on the back, and the cover of the book under the dustjacket is the ORIGINAL cover of that fateful first issue. Like, the whole package is very cool.

But I doubt the vast majority of the Shonen Jump readership cares. What’s the average Shonen Jump reader? A 14-year-old boy? Not to say 14-year-old boys are the only ones who like Shonen Jump, obviously, but the bright covers, ads for video games and anime, slew of pages for a low price, and even the trade paperbacks that are 20% cheaper than most other manga on the market are all good at pleasing the magazine’s sizable teenage audience. So is that audience going to pay $25 for an anniversay edition of an issue of their magazine that doesn’t even include all the currently serialized titles, such as Bleach?

25-year-old manga critic: “This is an excellent hardcover. I find the interviews very enlightening. What beautiful reprints.”

14-year-old boy: “I DON’T HAVE A JOB. I ATE NOTHING BUT FRIES ALL WEEK AT LUNCH SO I COULD POCKET THE MONEY MOM GAVE ME FOR LUNCH. NOW I’M FULL OF FRIES AND HAVE $25. I’M GOING TO BUY THREE VOLUMES OF NARUTO AND THEN DO SOMETHING RECKLESS WITH MY PEERS BECAUSE THE FRY OIL IS IMPAIRING MY JUDGEMENT.”

I think this brings up a bigger issue – that the average manga fan isn’t a Collector, so s/he isn’t going to be interested in Collector goods. Manga fans (especially the younger ones) love taking out manga at libraries, skimming through various volumes in bookstores, and reading scanslations. They don’t want the book, they want the story. The book would be nice, but it’s more important to find out DOES SANO EVER KISS MIZUKI OMG?! And that’s similar to the attitude about Shounen Jump in Japan – buy a manga magazine with hundreds of pages for $2, read it, throw it away, and some homeless guy will collect it from the trashbins and resell it on the side of the street for $1. That’s where I bought my first Japanese issue of Shounen Jump – off a very polite Tokyo street urchin.

My guess is that Viz made this book to show investors and other publishers, since the timeline under the dustjacket includes landmarks for the magazine and landmarks for Viz as a company, there are descriptions of “What is manga, exactly?” on the inside flap, and the general branding of Viz is very present everywhere. And that’s cool, because I love Viz, and Viz is a Super Important International Brand, and this book is good at showing that. This is a handsome hand-out that Viz or its affliliated ad companies can hand to people to show what a big deal Shonen Jump and its English-language publisher are.

42-year-old rich guy: “Boy, this is an impressive book. The cartoons in it are strange, but I see them on TV all the time now and my nephew is obsessed with that pirate stuff. It seems Viz is good at tapping that market. I’m going to invest, and then I’m going to buy fries and eat them in my limo to celebrate money well invested.”

Educated impression: if you’re a Shonen/Shounen Jump fan and Collector, or you’re important and want to know what the kids like these days and who’s selling it to them, this book is for you. The rest of you can safely pass and settle for…I was going to say fries again, but I think that’s just because I’m really craving fries. (Lianne)

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