English Spice & Wolf Ditches Horo
- Categories: Manga, News
- Date: Oct 14, 2009 23:41 JST
- Tags: Furries, Horo, Light Novels, Marketing, Spice and Wolf, Translation, USA, Yen Press
Horo fans are aghast at the decision of the English publishers of sagacious wolf light novel series Spice and Wolf to dump the titular spicy wolf Horo completely in an effort to appeal to “fantasy audiences,” who presumably cannot be expected to buy anything without a scantily clad lady or dragon on the cover.
Yen Press lengthily excuses their decision to dump the charming cover illustrations which formed the basis for a series of light novels, anime, games and manga, saying there is no way real Americans will buy books with funny Chinese cartoons on the cover:
What is a light novel, really? It’s a novel. It’s a book with spiffy illustrations.
Sure, there are some distinct challenges when it comes to positioning these books in our market, but ultimately there are a lot more readers of novels out there right now than there are readers of manga and comics.
That’s a huge potential audience, and we really want to help our novels realize that potential. These are great stories, and we’re proud to be introducing them to whole new readership.
Some of the “spiffy illustrations” currently getting in the way of marketing this book to the swords and sex hungry US fantasy market:
They are keen to spin the decision as one made “in the best interests” of Horo fans and light novel aficionados alike:
We think this design really captures Holo’s playful spirit in a way that will appeal to fantasy audiences. At the same time, though, we certainly know that some of the existing SPICE AND WOLF fans out there might have a harder time embracing this new direction.
What we hope, though, is that those fans understand our reasons for making these changes and will turn out to support this property that they know and love and in turn support the success of light novels in general in this market so that one day — hopefully! — we’ll be in a very different place where we can confidently and successfully utilize the original cover art for these books.
What I’d really like to see come to pass is the day where light novels are actually bringing new readers into the manga community!
Possibly not if all the existing fans of the franchise are aghast at the ruination inflicted upon poor Horo by a now almost universally vilified Yen Press.
Yen Press are attempting to appease actual Horo fans, whom they dismiss as “hardcore,” and hawk their own rag in the process, by offering a limited edition dust jacket featuring the original artwork packaged with their magazine, though it is hard to see many being satisfied by this…
Fans can however take scant solace in the fact that even Yen Press is not ready to start stripping out the interior illustrations yet – these will remain intact for now.
It is indeed curious that whilst some companies are desperate to copy Japanese visual styles in order to effectively market their own products, others actually dealing with licensing Japanese works are desperate to downplay the same visual elements, even to the extent of suppressing the art in favour of western styles or 3D CG…
Generic fantasy novel edition Spice & Wolf goes on sale in December.
What the shit yen press. Almost all book stores put light novels in the manga section any way so its gonna look so out of place and the original material is written for otakus and similar people, so if your marketing strategy alienates the audience the material is written for you are doing it wrong.
This, also I'm going to boycott these books now.
Yeah, let's boycott a good book because the cover sucks. That makes a whole lot of fucking sense.
Fucking idiot.
Rage doesn't make sense. Import the original, download a translation, use your kindle for better feeling.
Won't support this cover. It's a shame for the good book behind it.
hurrrr.. i are internet tough guys.
no - you just wait for a torrent and call it gg. you can avoid buying it altogether to get a point across imo.
not to mention that is one fucked up looking face if you ask me...
The object of a boycott is to show your displeasure with something, in this case a company.
I actualy understand the want to make it apeal to a larger audience. Manga and light novels sell horibly in the US. I do agree though that unless they can get the book into the fantasy section it's a waste of time.
If we don't support the original illustration besides those silly pictures dedicated for sex hungry American, one day every English-translated Japanese light novel will be raeped in such way. Can you imagine every light novel we like is with a stupid cover? So don't ever say book cover is not important, this simply shows that you are one of those raepist outside!!!!!!!!!!!!!Yeah, I'm talking to you, FUCKING IDIOT!!!
"The object of a boycott is to show your displeasure with something, in this case a company."
So you would rather make them fail because they got the fucking COVER wrong, instead of showing them your appreciation because they actually went ahead and brought the book to your market?
Congratulations retard, next time you won't even have a cover to bitch about.
couldnt they have just printed 2 versions ? ._. even if some say 'I dont want to read a boo with a chin-... ¬_¬ dont wanna say it xD ...with a 'cartoon' cover', they'd be contradicting themselves after seeing the fantasy-like one beside it...
Instead, we'll have online translations to still read.
Hey man don't judge a book by its cover.
Eh, it would of been nice to stick to the original cover since distorting it is changing the audience it is supposedly targetted to. If you're gonna spend the time/money to translate and bring a book over to the US, why distort the cover and abuse the base support of the light novel? Thats a bit ridiculous as even liberal/conservative politicians never attempt to lose the interest of their base.
Still am glad that the book is making it out to the good ole states, but am disappointed that Yen Press decided to forego base support and gamble for new audiences. Never a good way to do business and it insults Horo-sama.
going to lol when it is still put in the manga section of bookstores and still has shitty sales as a result
I knew I wasn't the only one thinking this. You bastardize the cover in an attempt to have it put in the fantasy section, but ultimately, once people see the illustrations inside, they'll put it right in the manga section ANYWAY. And if they risk changing the interior illustrations, they risk losing the entire base of the book, thus failing on an epic level. Yen Press, wtf are you thinking....
That... THING... isn't Horo. I won't ever touch that book.
Everybody sucks, everyone is epic fail. I hate yaw. =(
that thing isn't horo
that's a novel right?
i kinda understand them,
the imagine thing.
for the anime watcher, our image of horo will be the same regardless of the cover
and for the non anime watcher, the image will be on the cover, and the face will be another(because it didn't show the face much)
so, what they are actually trying to do is to attract both audience. which is a good market move.
well, it's true that some anime fan might get angry.
but if one's a true fan of spice and wolf... he will buy it regardless.
for me >> the original cover is so much win...
The real problem here is that if they are going to such lengths as to change the cover and alienate the foreign fan-base then the credibility of their translation itself seriously comes into question.
This is nothing more than a blatant lack of respect for the original literature (as are all attempts of localisation).
原作レイプ判定
Exactly. Once you leave the bounds of the original and begin to alter core principles (the image of Horo-sama), then it brings into question the legitimacy of everything although I doubt that the translation would be incorrect, it may be liberal translations that may or may not fully convey the original meanings. Sticking to the base is always a +.
Liberal translation is fundamentally incorrect. You'd be surprised what passes for 'translation' even when so called professionals are involved.
"We think this design really captures Holo’s playful spirit"
The cover pisses me off but them calling her "Holo" pisses me off even more.
I hate YP now! -.-#
I'll stick to my Japanese version. ^_^
correct
if your going to market something, make sure your keeping it as true to the original context as you can, let's not go back to the manga X-Men fiasco...
OMG
Now the book looks a lot like something it is not. I.E, one of the twilight books that are mentioned with contempt by a fair number.
Although that shit does sell supposedly.
To stay true to the original content, or mutate into some depraved mutant. The Western market is ruthless.
the west is a piece of shit, they make such shitty shit and its embarrassing to have that art in this world by now.
That's very true.
The west market is pretty fucked up.
I hate the way they do everything and anything to "hit the market". censoring parts to fulfill the wider audience age limit, changing covers of games and books and replacing them with their fail western art. etc.
The worst of all? FUCKING DUBBING anything and everything with that shitty voice acting industry.
Seriously, when can localisation company in the west stop being so egoistic and do what they think their audiences like? Just bring the fucking book over and change those japanese words to english, is that so difficult :/
When you all learn Japanese and buy the original like you should have done to begin with.
Hopefully by then the weeaboo market should have come crashing down because it doesn't make any money and consequently the localisation raep will stop.
With western companies being as fucked up as they are when it comes to localization, it gives me no remorse for pirating as much shit as I already have. Until these companies do a better job than the fans at translating, then I will support these companies. Unfortunately I don't see that happening any time soon.
lol @ "the original material is written for otakus". I can guarantee you that an average person can enjoy this book.
I wouldn't complain as much if they got a nice 3D nekkid version of Horo on the cover.
But NOOO. They make it look like a fuckin' furry fetish book. You can't even see Horo's ears! Just a nekkid chick and a GIANT BUSHY PHALLIC THING in the background.
And WTF? is it just me or does she have beaver teeth?
Plus that looks like a man, with an out-of-place shooped pouch necklace..
looks more like the cameraman was 4 years old
lol,make it 3!!! and what is the thing behind? Is it a tail?
No real woman can compare to Horo-sama.
Yes, but anyone anywhere can enjoy anything anywhere. But all things have target audiences when theyre conceived.
Concieved*
I agree unless they are trying to pass it off as some novel. But who are they aiming for?
Its more like some guy who cannot decide whether he is a guy or girl.
Not Haruhi.
I found that book over beside twilight in the teen fiction section.
Some haruhi fan must have moved them while the store clerks weren't looking.
I don´t see anything bad in the covers.
Them putting these things in the manga section is half the reason that novel readers aren't picking them up. It's nice to see that instead of fixing the problem at its source, they are performing questionable workarounds.
DIE you mother fuc**ng american retards...I seriously hope someone would throw a nuke the usa!FUCKTARDS!!
What the hell... were they thinking?
The question better asked is exactly the same while removing 'What the hell...'
Were they thinking?
They think all of you are "hardcore" and your opinions dont count.
now i dont know if i want to buy it anymore
These publishers that think consumers will buy anything that has been over westernised has left me in despair!!
But you have to admire their logic.
Used on politics, it would translate to something like:
We have to present the public with white uperclass condidates, so that one day a black man may be elected.
Does not compute.
dumping Horo for some stupid "western-fantasy-audiences" ? FAIL
She isn't even named Horo, its Holo. According to the news, the japanese publisher wanted it to be that way.
Then they better had her name pronounce holo. But they haven't. They called her horo and now they don't have a choice anymore. I won't accept Holo or hologram or anything else that differs from horo. Fuck the publishers. Won't accept later changes on a good product.
It's really Holo, it even appears in the anime... but who cares? I am still calling her Horo(-sama) and I will buy the book.
If a special version with original cover is out, I'll buy that one, obviously.
The Japanese ra/ri/ru/re/ro is a combination of both r and l. The r tends to dominate but the l is there too (kind of like rolling your tongue). If the author dictated "Holo" then I suppose I have no choice but to accept that as canon even though I prefer "Horo" for her name as opposed to "Holo" even if the latter summons things like "holographic" to mind.
Her name is KORBO.
I'm from 15-10-2009 01:34 and wanted to add: It wouldn't be the first spelling mistake in anime. They better call it off as a spelling mistake, otherwise I have to insult them as fucking idiots who can't write right. The texts in the show are supposed to be german and in germany an r is an r, like in deseRt or fReaky and a l is an l, like in disLike, doLL. If they want to use theire japanese excuse they better had placed the story in japan and not in a german-speaking country. Idiots.
If you want to complain about the spelling, complain to the author and his editing staff about it.
They misspell "meat" on the very cover of the Japanese edition (see above) so taking any notice of their English instructions is surely not a wise priority/
According to a few somewhat zealous posters on the yen press news post, it is apparently supposed to be significant in the future and was purposely spelled that way by the author as per some interview or something.
Retcon.
It doesn't matter how it's spelt. Because that doesn't change how it is pronounced.
hoɽo:
/ɽ/ is an apical post alveolar flap undefined for laterality and it is distinctly different from the alveolar lateral approximate /l/ which would be used by English speakers for the pronunciation of Holo (noting that this /l/ also does not exist in Japanese phonology anyways)
This is of course putting aside the fact that Japanese vowels are monophthongs. So from the very outset it doesn't matter whether they've spelt it with an l or an r, the vowels are already incorrect.
thank you.
Words aren't enough to express how pissed off I am right now...
Words aren't enough to convey how much I agree with you.
words aren't enough to destroy yen press
words aren-
words.......
w...
w..
......
..... B-Break.....
...o.r......
I was pissed til I started reading some of the posts. Then I laughed. But since you've brought my attention back to the topic at hand, I have a rage slowly building in my heart.
Is his a fucking joke? Who came up with this idea? Who woke up one morning and went "Hmm....you know what the Spice & Wolf light novel needs? A naked western chick on the cover. Man, I'm a freaking genius!"?
Look at her lips, she has a huge underbite, it even covers her overbite.
If they remove the mouth it's actually acceptable.
I just hope their next cover is more tasteful.
This actually makes a fair deal of sense to me. People are quick to ridicule here, and a cartoon on a book cover on top of your schoolbooks can lead to some unwelcome conversation.
I think the winning move here is a reversible cover sleeve, one side with the original artwork and the other side with the western blobitization. This way you could just swap to whatever you preferred, at least for the hard-back. No one cares about paperback covers.
And therefore promote the idea that manga-styled artwork is something you better hide from the general public?
Maybe they're trying to avoid the "furry" association?
... Did you even LOOK at the western cover?
If they wanted to avoid furry, they'd go with the original.
And the original Anon's point is fucking retarded. So a "cartoon on a book cover" is an unwelcome conversation topic, but a naked fantasy woman isn't?
I believe that the fantasy population is much larger in the west. Like those who wear capes and play DD and LOTR lovers etc. etc. Basically youre non-anime related fantasy population is larger in the western world so it does make more sense.
Twilight shows the huge fandom of stupid vampires with glitter.
I (another anon) wouldn't claim that manga styled artwork is something to hide from the general public, but I do love the idea with reversible cover sleeves. I (who am too used to the anime character design) find the artwork of her too cutesy on this page. And as long as a cover isn't a complete misrepresentation of the story I don't care much about if it's drawn or 3D. The 3D cover should have been done a lot better, but it's ok. I especially love the spotlight on her pouch.
TL;DR: The light novels are going to be available in English?! SWEEEEET! DO WANT! :-3
Light novels don't have hardcovers, by the way.
I call bullshit on this.
Haruhi light novels for example are available as hardcover and paperback.
that means i have to do something about the cover all the time.. wtf
And somehow a cover with a naked woman with a shopped-in looking tail isnt? Dammit the least they could have done is get better art on the cover. >_< rageface.jpg
I really don't have an issue with this.
I mean do we really care what is on the cover. I might be pissed if they trashed the interior illustrations.
All it is, is an attempt to have the novels reach a wider audience. I don't have a problem with that, I don't think it will work, but I don't have a problem with them trying
EDIT:
Never mind, should have read more carefully.
Seconding.
It's just a cover.
It's just changing a character your already familiar with.
It was just a red button, now hiroshima is gone.
Won't support changes!
You know, I started thinking, "what color is the bomb release lever anyway?"
it was yellow with strips. the red one ejected the pilot.
Changes are meant for goodness, not to raep other's rights and settings...Cover is just like your skin, why wouldn't you try to change your skin?
because I like my skin white. to be black has certain disadvantages in various places. and the more obvious reason is of course that it's my freaking skin. It's mine and I won't change it.
Lucky you? Most people would love to change things about their skin, whether making it firmer, permanently bronze-toned/pale white, healthier, or even a completely different skin color. Tattoos, diet, and argyria is as close as we humans can get to changing our skin without surgery.
Actually the ability to change your skin color can be very useful.
Who cares? Last time I read a novel I'm pretty sure I read the text inside the novel, as opposed to staring at the front cover for hours. If they think it'll improve sales then you should deal with it because better sales means more novels get translated into English, and I'd rather have more novels available to read then only have the first volume available but with an anime cover.
Sounds like they even tried to meet everyone halfway with the anime dust jacker anyway, so I don't see there being much to complain about.
First of all, for a cover on a novel, it's not really a big deal.
But many of us will still object to this on sheer principle.
-
This boils down to the "Waiter, there's business in my art" problem. Which causes a divide between 2 polarized philosophical agendas:
1) The "Business influences art too much" crowd.
This side thinks marketing eventually corrupts the material.
By marketing to appeal to broader and broader crowds, future material in the "franchise" will be written "to sell", rather than "to make art".
2) The "Art needs business to grow more popular" crowd.
This side thinks marketing to keep a franchise alive and selling to wider audiences is more important than the actual content of the art.
The lifecycle of that media will last longer, but at the cost of distilling into platitudes and more primitive themes that general audiences can understand.
-
We end up with new material that is a ghost of what the story once was, or could have been if left to grow naturally without external influence.
Content "The niche/cult media crowd" vs. Popularity "The easier-to-appease masses"
exactly. Too bad so many people here are too stupid to understand that not buying the book means there won't be a second one.
The Japanese couldn't care less about foreign sales... If you're referring to official translations, I couldn't care less about them (at least if they are by a publisher that's nothing more than a bunch of arrogant assholes). It's not like I can't support the author directly...
+1
Exactly. It's not like we're required to buy the official English version just because we don't speak Japanese. We can still buy the original Japanese version and read a fan translation to get our moneys worth.
I seem to remember some kind of old saying that could have some relevance here.
It had something to do with a book, and it's cover, and not judging one based on the other. Sorry, it's a pretty obscure saying that you don't hear very often, so I'm having a little trouble recalling the exact wording.
"You cannot judge a book by its cover" a saying to refer to people that they may not always be what you think they look like... or that appearances can be deceiving.
way to miss the joke.
Don't judge someone if they have a cartoon character as opposed to a naked girl on the cover of their book?
I think they're trying to draw in the whole 'Twilight' crowd. A fucking sell-out if you ask me.
Changing things like that might work the way they (Yen Press) hope, but making the content inside different.... the exterior artwork..... and you have something VASTLY different than what was originally created. It's corrupted.
Too bad most people who buy books mainstream won't dig too deep into the subject matter to want to know more about it. People, for the most part, are complacent: unless it disrupts their comfortable, everyday lives (such as a 'terror attack', stock market crash, or ICECAPADES) they won't care all that much. -Some- of those new consumers MIGHT..... might dig deeper into it to explore more of how the author came up with this idea for a story.
More than likely though, all questions and answers will come about through Yen Press. AGAIN delineating horribly from what Spice & Wolf was originally: A manga/anime/light novel with 'cartoony' artwork.
Yeah! I can mentally deal with a terror attack or stock market crash, but the ICECAPADES? Never!
Seriously, I tend to believe LunarSD's "philosophy #1" over #2. Business does influence art too much (specifically, it corrupts it).
There will always be lots of sheeple to consume mainstream pablum.
The rest of us want our good stuff untouched.
That people get so riled up over what appear on the surface to be meaningless cosmetic changes (remember, we're talking about a medium which is TEXT, and NOT VISUAL ART) tells me that people have taken the characters and story to heart, and don't want them 'messed with' in any way.
To me, that sounds like artistic (if not monetary) success for the author.
What the hell does ICECAPADES mean?
Ice Capades [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icecapades]
Google and Wikipedia are your friends, anon. :)
/slap
2d ftw
not Moe enough anymore.
I like the new cover and as long as the pictures inside the novel aren't changed, it's alright with me.
The more I look at the Yen Press cover, the more it looks like porno.
Why would I be less embarrassed by other people on the bus thinking I'm reading porn rather than manga?
Wow. And here I was, convinced that Yen Press had a collective IQ of more than 10...
That thing on the cover is hideous.
It looks like some transexual nightmare.
wow...they managed to destroy the whole book.
Good job
"...complete with all of the original interior illustrations..."
If you're gonna stick with the regular illustrations in the book itself, why change the cover ? It looks odd if the cover is so different from the actual contents.
Trying to lure people in with the cover, or in this case, the lack thereof
I wonder if this would be considered faulty advertising?
I fear for the future of horo sama...May she fogive these bastards for they are mortals thus faileble....NOT!!
Burn in hell you damn Yen press!! Someday, when you get bankrupted you will look up to the sky and ask whyyyyyyy?!!
Then we'd say: YOU FAIL!!
ok, crossed the line a bit >.<
but im really pissed off right now...forgive me...
Are those... teeth? On the top left of the picture?
They look like buck teeth.
Goes for the 3D cover (even thought it's pointless if the rest of the art was maintained), but at least they could employ someone competent to do it!
They used the same people that did the Ralf Lauren woman-has-waist-photoshopped-to-be-narrower-than-her-head work.
There goes purchasing those.
They think they'll make more profit by going for the more casual readers. It's not a bad plan. If Wii is any proof that selling to casual fans does make a profit, maybe it'd work.
At least they're not rewriting the whole thing. Or censoring. That'd REALLY suck...
Ahh but the Wii was designed for casuals from the start where as spice and wolf was not written with a western trashy novel audience in mind.
The point is, no casual reader will go anywhere near the manga/light novel section of a bookstore. It just doesn't make sense.
That's probably next on their to do list.
Rewrite/censor it so that it meets Western/American tastes.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO
that's like dubbing anime!!! noOOOOOOOOO
"damn you!!! damn you all to hell!!"
And no casual reader will want to be seen reading a novel with that kind of cover.
what the fuck? as if westerners dont have enough fantasy novels around they want to take our 2D wifus and turn them in to disgusting 3Dpigs? what the fuck is next? Turning anime in to live action movies...
OH SHIT THEY DID ALREADY!
If you look carefully at the facial structure of the chin and mouth it suggests that the person on the westernized cover is way over 30 and not very attractive at that. Epic fail yen press!
Yeah, whoever they outsourced to is not very good at their craft. Should have gone to an art school and picked one of the upper-levels who would have put this cover to shame.
well, sure, it IS stupid to change the cover "just for the western"..., but as long as the content is still "normal", i would still buy it.
I buy the book for the content, not for a "nice" cover...
''I buy the book for the content, not for a "nice" cover...''
Typical Western saying.
Personally when I am looking for books the first hook is the spine of the book and it's title since that's usually what I'll be presented with first. The second is the cover. After that, the summary of the book on the inside cover/back of the book and then finally the actual selection of the book for purchase/check out.
^this
also, never heard that saying, and people routinely ignore the "don't judge a book by it's cover" saying
Why so serious?
I don't have anything against superficially trying to appeal to a larger audience. At least when they changed the softcover Haruhi covers, it was still classy, and you could still see Haruhi's silhouette. This just looks garish though.
WOW this was news over a month ago seriously who cares? They keep the original cover for the Haruhi Novels[hard cover] and now they're looking to aim at those people who read things like twilight to help their sales out big deal they wont change the interior which is all that matters.
Yes but this isn't written for twifags, this is written for standard jpn light novel audience, which in an English environment translates into otaku and related people. Trying to aim for a broader market is a great idea, but not when your risking alienating the intended market and the only people that would have been guarantied sales.
yeah, and those sales barely break a couple hundred copies. you need to sell a few THOUSANDS to break even.
When I saw the cover that is exactly what I thought, it looks like Twilight.
That was my first impression, given the picture on the cover, hyperknuckles.
I think they'll still try to draw in the Twilight crowd.
vampires to holo??? nope, wolf & spice is an acquired taste, either you like it or you don't..
Correction:
Sparkling vampires
Sparkling Vampires? Sooo... they're all bishies then?
THIS IS MADNESS!
Madness?
THIS IS SPARTA!!!!!!!
Sorry I had to say it. lol
Typical western saying? Are you fucking kidding me? So you buy books to look at the pretty cover and not READ ITS CONTENT? You guys are a pathetic bunch.
I know for me with anime and manga i buy it for the box art/cover art as iv already read/seen it online months/years ago and i only buy it to look good on my shelf and support the industry. But i refuse to buy inferior/raped products.
The big problem is manga-style illustrations on novels have been a great trademark and identity to Japanese light novels. Removing it is just like serving cookies made out of margarine instead of butter.
Well, I like to have a plesant cover to a pleasant book.
The cover; I swear I can see something under the shadow...
What about the models teeth? Almost buckteeth, these ain't a predators teeth.
You are right, there is something seriously wrong with her teeth
argh
Looks like bad angle and lighting. And the lip looks pretty thin. Could be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetal_alcohol_syndrome#Facial_features
LOL
Look is the targeted audience was planning on buying this when it was announced I guaranfuckingtee that they will still be buying it now even with the cover change hell I bet the they buy that damn monthly yen press manga book just to get the dust cover too which is hilarious. Yen press are one of the best manga/light novel/manwha distributors in America and people are ragging them for this? Good luck ever seeing these novels here without them.
Wow...is there nothing that they can't tarnish with their stupidity? This time, the divine awesomeness of Horo has been watered down...The original cover conveys the rustic, warm feeling one gets from the title and the elegance of Horo. On that remake cover, it almost looks like a freaking ero-parody movie.
I can just imagine Bandit Keith sitting somewhere laughing and going 'Another victory for America!'
Epic fail is epic
Last I checked when you put a book on shelf you can only see the spine so whats the point displaying it? What? You want to show off how weeaboo you are?
Also novel=/= manga/anime which are heavily art induced light novels have all of 6 - 10 images in them the point of them is to READ.
Even though you only see the spine, you'll know that it's on your shelf with a terrible cover. If I had that the fact would probably eat away at me.
Thats because you're a loser.
hurrrrrrrrrrr.. i are also internet tough guy.. like guy near top of comments.
/flex i r tuff
hulk sleep now
I've never heard of Yen Press before. And I read novels... alot. Anyway it's really stupid to accept a title and kill the original writer's work with some blah shit that nowhere near the original.
So the fans are "hardcore". Yeah, we are.. we our favorites to stay favorite. It's like if we've been eating (choose your flavor) Ice Cream for years and a whole new company brings out something with the title of (same flavor first choice) and it tastes like Peanut Butter. Then of course people will be mad and complain.. It's like that.
I'm amazed they didn't change her name, since it's so close to the word 'whore'. rofl.
They did. She's called "Holo" now.
Idiots.
Why do they always have to do that with anime, manga, and the like. Not every "R" is an "L" damn it. Most of the time it just makes the names sound funny anyway.
Ahh, so now she's just 'hollow'. Well, at least it'll mean the fantasy people who walk around saying her name will just sound like idiots rather than weeaboo.
They did not change her name. The Fansubs did.
We shouldn't place light novels in the manga section of bookstores. Since they are 95% text, they should belong in their respective sections they belong, such as romance, mystery, fiction, teen, etc. That way, casual readers will get to know more about good Japanese novels.
FYI, Yen Press is actually using her real name as in HOLO not Horo like the weeaboo community suggest.
Yup, It's Holo. It's just that in Japanese there is no letter "L", so it is spelled with the letter "RO".
It's both based on the wishes of whoever is writing something at the time. You even pronounce it with a combined r/l sound.
That cover looks terrible and I dont even read this, except for a few bits here and there, if I saw this at the shop I'd probably skip and look at something else.
Scared myself just now thinking there was a eye on the breast... was just my reflection xD
After seeing the picture, the thought occurred to me that a live action wolf and spice would be an awesome idea!
As long as Hollywood would not be the ones doing it, HELL YES! Minimal computer graphics would be great too. I hate it when they use CG just for the sake of CG, rather than because it is better for that particular shot.
WON'T SUPPORT WON'T SUPPORT WON'T SUPPORT
WON'T SUPPORT WON'T SUPPORT WON'T SUPPORT
WON'T SUPPORT WON'T SUPPORT WON'T SUPPORT
WON'T SUPPORT WON'T SUPPORT WON'T SUPPORT
Silly Americans
Are you sure that we and/or Yen Press haven't somehow traveled back in time to the early 90s, when doing this to video game covers was en vogue?
Changing the cover of a translation is nothing special. But the cover they choose sucks, if I saw it in a store I would think "third rate erotik fantasy trash" and put it away.
wow that cover looks like a cheap dime romance book.
all it needs is Fabio in there somewhere.
GODDAMMIT THIS IS WHY WE CANT HAVE NICE THINGS!
What's this fucking cover !
Boycott !
I lol'd hard.
When Tokyopop released the Scrapped Princess novels, they essentially did the same thing. They put a generic crown on the covers of all three.
http://www.amazon.com/Scrapped-Princess-Novel-Tale-Destiny/dp/1595329846
They made it to volume three of thirteen before they stopped releasing them.
The Kino no Tabi novels they released were a bit better, as they integrated some of the original interior artwork as the cover. However it was highly stylized, and without the distinct feature of anime-style artwork. It could "pass" as a "regular" novel.
http://www.amazon.com/Kino-Tabi-BEAUTIFUL-WORLD-Fiction/dp/1598164554/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255538565&sr=1-1
And they were only able to release the first volume of eight.
However, the Twelve Kingdoms novels have some decidedly anime looking characters on the cover, and they've made it to volume three, the most recent being printed in March 2009, with word that Tokyopop is still dedicated to publishing them.
http://www.amazon.com/Twelve-Kingdoms-Paperback-Sea-Shadow/dp/1427802572/ref=pd_sim_b_3
So in conclusion, by removing the original distinctive covers and putting an anonymous naked wolf girl on the cover:
A) Already has a history of fail (see above)
B) Is not gonna get me, a straight female (I know, what am I doing on Sankaku huh?), interested in buying. In fact, I'm gonna speak for all straight women and gay men and say that it's going to turn us away. The original cover was cute, and would probably warrant a leaf through from even fantasy fans SINCE I'M PRETTY SURE THE ANIME AND FANTASY COMMUNITY OVERLAP SOME WHAT. (Yeah, some regular nerds hate otaku, but they're not gonna pick up anything by an author with a Japanese name anyway.)
C) Makes this look like some furry fucking manual. Anime animal ears are expected, but nobody likes IRL furries.
THIS woman knows what she is talking about and she is 100% right. History has proved that changing cover does not sells make.
Someone should send a mail like that to Yen Press !!!
Yeah, I copypasta'd it and it's buried their comments section.
marry me????
Wow a woman making sense. Could it be....trap?!
Well, at least the Scrapped Princess covers are at least presentable...
Shit! beaver girl? The teeth man! Teeth!!! damn....
at least try to make horo beautiful will ya?
Spice and beaver ! On sale !
What infidel abomination is this? I declare jihad!
Glad I'm not the only one who remembers the past efforts of light novel translations. Kind of sad a post of this significance is doomed to sit buried under all the other replies, though.
What are you people talking about? The new cover is awesome! It's like reading porn while using public transport. And look at that thing around her neck. It looks like fucking CGI.
IT SUCKS!.... that girl is damn ugly look at her mouth!
Its a demon! Horo is da best!
Now Yen Press.., if you idiots ever try to touch and abuse my Shana and Victorique(Gosick) and replace them with fugly bitches..
Doesn't Tokyopop already have Gosick?
Yep, that's why i said "IF"...
Any hope of my buying this series in English is now thoroughly trashed.
OMG... Why Yen Press? Why !?!??
I really wanted to buy it... but now... meh.
I Facepalmed, and the Facedesked, and now I have a headache. But I digress.... WHY?!?!?!?! WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS?!?!?!?! Those lousy limey bastards. "What is a light novel, really? It’s a novel. It’s a book with spiffy illustrations." Spiffy illusrations.... Right, then why not leave it intact; the way it was originally? Bastards.
The new cover looks like crap anyway. Shitty photoshop job, I mean I'm no photoshop master but i coulda done a better fucking job. The tail looks like shit, the colors are all off. Urg... Whatever, this is one less person who will be spending money on this. I'd actually be embarrassed to take that up to the counter, and I mean shit; I've bought a lotta porn (even hentai) from all kinds of places, and always held my head high. Even when it's the cute goth chick or the 60 year old lady behind the counter; I have no shame damn it. But this, this looks like one of those trashy romance novels.
I'd but it regardless of the cover because Spice and Wolf is a fantastic story that should be shared.
But the reasoning behind the cover change turns me off.
~ I am NOT amused...
This cover is a bane to all humanity and Horo/Holo fans everywhere...
(Personally) ~
If I - (already) - know what the content/subject matter is - *inside* - a book... I would expect a catchy, beautiful, artful cover to be associated with said content.
This is NOT IT! ~ this is an ABOMINATION!!
If Horo/Holo is depicted/illustrated inside, (then) place a ~ CORRECT and BEAUTIFUL ~ picture - OF HER - on the cover!
If I wanted to see ~ carly simon ~ on a book, then place carly simon on a music book, CD, CD cover, or something and keep her there!! and - NOT - on the cover of Goddess Horo/Holo's book!
*Googles Carly Simon*
.....
......
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!
*Googles Carly Simon*
...
am i reading this right? tried to sue starbucks for not selling her music album?
.PDF version with the original cover.
Im feeling smart now.
Really smart.
IMO a black book with the Spice and Wolf logo would sell better than that beavery thing.
especially bound in leather! xD
THIS IS NOT OUR BEAUTIFUL LIGHT NOVEL. THIS IS NOT OUR BEAUTIFUL HOLO. WHAT HAVE YEN PRESS DONE?
I look forward to reading this in public and getting weird stares from everyone. I mean, come on. A naked chick with a tail and the words "SPICE & WOLF" in all caps. I don't see how this will pass for anything else than ero-literature.
the US cover made her look like a guy/girl....
What. Yen Presssssssssssss you used to be cool!!
Whats with you idiots? Her name has always been Holo in EVERY SINGLE official spelling ever. Also as if you wont get stares reading the book in public with the original cover aswell to the fucking idiot talking about a boycott, Yen press is an amazing company the only other company I can think of that compared to their quality is Del Rey so fuck off.
Now they've chased off even more potential readers with their shitty cover.
Anyone else think the cover they decided on is incredibly ugly?
Really, if I didn't already know what Spice was, I would not be overly interested with a cover like that. I know you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but honestly, the cover art really does influence the sales in many cases.
Basically they're shooting themselves in the foot either way, if you think about it.
Maybe theyll put another live action cover on spice and wolf manga as well to match the novel?
Of course the wont manga and novels are not the same thing, Manga needs the art to tell its story, Light Novel are 99% text with 5 - 10 images total.
Frankly, I don't really care. As long as the content is kept the same, I'm still buying it.
Now if they removed the illustrations then that'd be a completely different matter.
Some would say that the artwork on the cover is also "content." =\
yen press is pretty shit. how are they going to explain the mismatch from the inside illustrations with the new cover? fail. consistency bitches. consistency.
I expect to be seeing some nice western style comic art being commissioned later on, or the art just being stripped out entirely.
Wait, wait, let me get this straight... they plan to get people to read it by DROPPING THE TITULAR CHARACTER? I'm sorry, but... there is no excuse for that. That is made of epic fail, through and through.
Good decision. Really! Now alot of western dumbfuckers gonna buy it. Profit!!
And also, japanese otaku are just as sex hungry as their western contrapart, the difference is that americans liek to fuck big old hags with silicon tits and huge lips
Say, would the translations be any good? Better than Baka Tsuki's?
on par with
LOL EPIC FAIL!
damn Americanization!
From a marketing standpoint it makes sense...it's not like they're changing her name to shelly or something so I find the integrity of the work preserved. Though light novels are often in the manga section, it's probably because most of them have the manga artwork on the front no?
Uh, what the hell are they going to do about the illustrations IN the book? I don't think people will be stupid enough not to notice the difference.
Always changing the story, changing the premise, changing the meaning, the translators do. Why don't they just go ahead and call it something new and put whatever they want inside, like pictures of foxes and wolves jumping over each other in fields? It doesn't matter to me if they name her Horo or Holo. But if they change her name to Brenda as well like some anime translator / dubbers do, its just a complete rewrite and not the original.
That actually sounds like a good idea. XD
WTF? Yen press is dead to me now.
I for one pefer a wholesome animated wolf girl on my shelf rather than a naked chick when people come into my room and look around
2 words.....Public Burning!!!!
You name the time and place.
I'll second that. They have gone to far this time. ;3
When I first saw the cover I seriously thought it was our good friends over at TMA doing another live action anime ero flick.
just the same thing I thought
I fail to see how any potential success due to the change in art direction will promote future release of light novels with original artwork. Now, I'm no business man but to my knowledge their thought process goes something like this:
"Let's change the art to appeal to Americans who don't like funny Chinese drawings."
If this fails,
"Hmm, maybe it the original art may have worked better. At least the original fans would buy it."
However if it succeeds,
"Hey, this sells! Let's keep using this art style until they don't sell anymore, in fact, let's change all the art since it'll probably sell even better!"
Perhaps a proper businessman or business major could correct me if I'm wrong?
Sorry guys, I just can't imagine any of you here to be a real novel reader who actually read books for their contents rather than look at their pretty pictures.
IMO, Yen Press has made the right move. This way, they are widening the appeal of the series to a potentially larger range of audience, so more people will get to actually read the novel. I you're a real fan, then you should be happy that there are more people who also enjoy the work that you liked.
I doubt that any of those people who butt-hurted and bawwed here actually read novels regularly. So I don't think it's a loss to any of you kids anyway. You can just go back to your children's picture books and fap to Kanokon.
I read 1000 page novels regularly, and I still enjoy Spice and Wolf. But besides that, this isn't really going to work because of the crappy cover. I'm not objecting to the fact that they changed, I'm objecting to what they _used_. That picture looks like some drunk guys first test of Photoshop on a transsexual model with buck teeth. It's nightmarish. That said, how many people are even going to pick it up, much less look through it, with that _thing_ on the cover?
At the same time, would an avid novel reader be interested in a light novel? I know for a fact that the me before I became interested in manga/anime wouldn't bother with a book with illustrations outside of LotR and such as I'd "graduated" from this books in 4th grade. And would prefer 700-1000 page walls of text with maybe a single map illustration.
Light novels would seem to me more suited for the yuppie/hipster crowd who can't put aside the time to sit through a real novel and yet can't abandon reading some sort of novel in fear of seeming unsophisticated. At least that's the type I mostly see reading novellas and short story digests.
Then you're in the wrong discussion topic.
Wished I can help you find your way back to your Twilight and Harry Potter portals..
I appreciate the sentiments but I'm quite content with my diet of the Sword of Truth and Dhampir series with a side of Victor Hugo classics for now. Maybe one day I'll pick up an HP novel though I can't say the same for Twilight.
Ewww, Sword of Truth. Yes, run back to your amoral objectivist fantasy.
Currently a lot of the books I read are of the 300-600 page count and with a lot more nonfiction than not nowadays. Average time to read is somewhere between 5-7 days, less if it is an author I like (but can be longer if they write something that isn't as good as their old work - cough Jacqueline Carey). I picked up a light novel (one of the Scrapped Princess books, and only because I knew what it was already) and easily went through it in a day. They're definitely for people who want something "light."
They might find success in the Young Adult section of the bookstore/library but I'm not sure the economic contents of Spice and Wolf will mesh well with that audience. I would assume they would like the goddess-meets-human elements but since the female is the supernatural hook it will have less success than say, vampire boy meets girl as girls are going to be more the buyers of this sort of thing than boys would, especially English speaking boys.
Fail comment is fail.
If the novel has 0% illustration at the first place, ppl wouldn't complain at all. The terrible sin that Yen Press has done is REMOVING and REPLACING stuffs that are initially and already there into their own shitty version. It's equivalent to buying a PS3 set but ended up finding a Wiimote, an Xbox360 powerblock, a free MicroGenius catridge with the main console missing in the package.
Actually I think it would be more like Playstation 3 releasing say an special edition pink FFXIII PS3 slim with Lightning decal for Japan, and then announcing they'll also bring a FFXIII edition PS3 to US, but then before release reveal that the US version will be a white/blue ps3 slim with Snow decal because Americans prefers manly men and the color blue to effeminate women and the color pink. Those who were anticipating getting a pink Lightning ps3 would obviously be disappointed, but regardless the blue edition would likely sell better in US.
While I don't like the particular picture they've used with the cover, I do understand and agree with the publisher's method of trying to cater to a more mainstream audience. The cover is after all, the first impression a reader gets of a book. From my understanding of the article the illustrations within the book and it's content have been left untouched so besides the first impression, the experience of the light novel should be quite similar.
First of all, I'm sure there are tons of people here that either read novels, or read light novels.
I, personally, am a bookseller, and have been for years. I read everything from classical literature to psychology.
Secondly, they made the wrong move. They changed the cover to have Holo (or Horo, or however anyone wants to spell her name ) with her ears and tail (terrible photoshop job with that too, btw ) on the cover. People in general have a massive fear of furries, so that's a no-go. Also, light novels get shelved in the manga section at most bookstores (if they even carry the light novels to begin with - the B&N across the street from where I work doesn't carry them at all, period ), so that'll put off anyone who doesn't already know of Spice & Wolf (aka 99.9999% of the people who enter the manga section to begin with - because I know from years of experience that most people don't go past what they see on TV ).
I can tell you what sells and what doesn't sell at my store, as well as at other bookstores around the area. This one won't last for a month before it gets RPL'd (aka sent back to the warehouse because people haven't bought it ).
Short stories are, in some ways, more difficult and complex to write than a novel. Just having 1000 words doesn't make it a great book. Look at where the late Robert Jordan's meandering series left off at... they were getting to be so long and complicated that he died before he could finish it. :)
Dizzamn that shit is ugly. Look at her distorted scary face in the upper corner. Brrrr.
They should have just gone for a more discreet cover with less scary realism shit. The face could have been completely cropped out, and less shitty photoshop work on the bag. Fuck, I'm a guy, and I could start with a naked camwhore pic of myself and photoshop some shit that still manages to be better than this cover. =(
Hell they could have just gonna for a cover with no nudity and it might have done the job. If they get rid of the internal illustrations though - my god, imagine the rage.
I was considering buying these novels, but if they start out by removing one of the most charming parts of the novel then I'm not wasting my money.
Old news, rage'd and calmed down already.
I came, I saw, I rage'd
Came, Saw, Raged, Raged again, Raged some more, Will not stop raging till Fail Press burns to the ground.
To some degree Square-Enix is attached to Yen Press so they have a good backer in them.
Needless to say, they won't be getting my money.
I hope this fails like Obama.
I hope you fail like your ignorant comment
You're right. You can't fail if you don't do anything.
I hope this flails like your mama...
That said, I'll stick to the anime and hentai...
MaidNiac you're a fucking retard what they changed was the cover big fucking deal the point is everything inside is intact, I can't believe you fags complain about the cover do you buy books for the cover alone?!
Nope, in this case and when it comes to Japanese light novels, we buy them BOTH for the content and the fresh looking cover/illustrations.
And keep in mind, chances that the illustrations inside are most likely already removed so "new" readers would believe that Holo is a trans man with beaver teeth.
Nerds are a hoot
That cover seriously puts me off picking the novel off the shelf :|
I reckon it doesn't look good or appealing, if they want to change the cover do it properly and hire better artist.
The current one looks more creepy than appealing...
This is an insult to the genius of Ayakura.
Do they even have the legal rights to alter content to such degree when distributing material? Seriously, I dunno, so I was just wondering.
Talk to Japanese side of things
Explain objectives and reasoning
Get okay to change cover
Hire a horrible artist
Result.
I was always thinking that the cover should represent something from the story, in this case its Holo.
HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE THOUGHTS.
Two words describe the publishers perfectly in this case: Blasphemous Fucktards.
They violated the godess ;_;
This is great all the clowns of this place come to shine now, Guess what you wouldn't even be given the chance to buy light novels without companies like Yen Press, Hell if any of you can read in the December issue of Yen Plus you can get a slip cover for the novel with the original illustration Christ stop bitching for nothing.
That doesn't help anyone that buys these light novels overseas. As far as I'm aware of, you can't get the magazine anywhere outside of the US. Tons of people have been pissed for that reason.
As for me, I refuse to buy the subscription or just that issue of Yen Plus, since I probably have all the volumes of the manga series shown in it that are worth reading anyway. What a waste of money.
The thing it that the cover represents Holo.
I wonder how would the readers react when they see the illustrations, as they get the wrong impression with the cover.
well, i dont think changing the images and cover of the novel is a capital sin, i do like horo illustrations but i think what really makes this novels so good is the text on int more than the images, i know that takeing away the effort of the illustrators is bad, and thats what displeases me the most but its good to have this book on english... so north-americans can read it........ damn, i am not north american TT. (but i have read the first 5 ones)
Wrong impression? HELL if she was on the cover they would get the wrong impression. ECONONICS =/= fox eared girl standing in a wheat field.
where once american use to touch things and turn them into gold (money) , they seem to have lost that gift or more precisely mutated, and now everything they touch they turn it into crap.
What the hell? The original cover image was beautiful, I can't believe they decided to ditch it.
They release a jacket if you buy their magasine... The best from both world, no?
This is redonkculus....
that being said, this is a bad move for yen press. I mean, tokyopop kept it's original cover for the .hack series (i never read it myself, but it seems to be doing great without me reading it) and Bandai has kept the Code Geass light novel's original cover along with all of its spin-offs(not sure about Kara no Kyouhai seing as del rey licensed it but I have yet to see it in stores). So why did this happened?
WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY MUST US FANTASY PUBLISHERS ALWAYS GO OUT OF THEIR WAY TO RAPE MY EYES? WHY! KEEP THE GODDAMN FOREIGN COVERS! YOU USELESS AESTHETICALLY RETARDED FUCKS! First the First Law Trilogy and now this. The American covers are always so fuckawful. I just don't understand. Is it an American lack of basic aesthetics? Someone explain this to me. Seriously, I'm an American and I just don't get it.
Well, apparently the light novel market in the States hasn't been doing very well. Tokyopop and several other publishers have attempted to push light novels (like Slayers and Chibi Vampire) but it's never caught on, and failed on most occasions.
Yen Press figures they can trick the market into unwittingly getting into the light novel scene by changing the cover to look more like a mainstream fantasy novel (by Yen Press' reasoning, the regular novel market makes a lot more money than manga by a large margin, so they figure it's a more profitable move too).
What they REALLY ought to be doing instead of this cover-changing business is to not clump the light novels with manga in the first place, and just try to fill up a shelf of light novels in the Young Adult section of bookstores. When people are in the manga section and they have a choice between pure words (light novel) or words with pictures (manga), they almost unanimously choose manga, it just makes sense since it's an easier format and that's what they were there for in the first place. Remove that kind of comparison shopping by separating the two formats physically from each other and you'll get respective audiences for the different types.
Course, it could be that they've tried that in the past and stores just don't 'get' that the books should be separated. =\ Can't really say for certain.
Anyway, it sucks, and I sure as hell ain't supporting a cover change.
Isn't this exactly what was done for the Suzumiya Haruhi novels? Was it really so hard to anticipate this coming?
(FWIW, the Haruhi covers were more tasteful than these, though the principle is the same.)
Yeah, but they haven't mentioned about different covers for different versions. So far, this is the only 'official' American version, where you only get the original art if you choose to get it from their magazine.
For Haruhi, at least they told you right out original=hardcover, other version=paperback.
Why did you have to post this? It makes me FUCKING RAGE.
That is not my HORO!!! Yen press is retarded if they think they are going to broaden the sales base by putting some 3d ugly on the cover.
Fans of Spice and Wolf will buy the light novels....and the 3d ugly makes us cringe!
The cover is ugly,
but Horo will never be yours.
this is BLASPHEMY
fuckers
P.S.
----> HORO <----
What's all the commotion about? It would make perfect sense for them to broaden the reader fanbase by using a more socially-acceptable cover. Remember that anime are Chinese cartoons for kids and people do not want to be seen walking around reading books with Chinese cartoons on it.
I don't mind they did away with the cover but the one they replaced it with is just awful. Really tacky.
Cover is fine.
You're all dumb.
Get over it.
I learned to distrust localization companies a long time ago. Then I bought the Tokyopop Slayers novels against my better judgment and that cemented my position. I won't be buying anything "officially translated" anymore. I'm learning Japanese now so I don't have to deal with fuck-ups like them anymore.
I learned to distrust localization companies a long time ago. Then I bought the Tokyopop Slayers novels against my better judgment and that cemented my position. I won't be buying anything "officially translated" anymore. I'm learning Japanese now so I don't have to deal with fuck-ups like them anymore.
What were they thinking? I can't read something with a cover like that on the subway!
It would look creepy as opposed to a more childish cover in which people would just assume you're just immature.
I guess the west loves censorship as much as equality now too.
A bit unrelated but japanese people fuck up with L's and R's all the time Holo/Horo L being pronounced eru in Death Note Light being pronounced Raito in one episode of Death Note an american F.B.I. agent is named Larry Conners and on the computer screen it says Rally Conners in short japanese fail at L's and R's in english even one of my japanese friends who is very good at english spells helicopter as hericopter
Mmmmmm, sideboob.
Also outrage, of course.
Siiiiiiidebooooooooooob...
while the original cover says i'm a manga reader the new cover screams i'm a creepy fantasy nerd furry who faps to transvestites and is gonna rape you your children and your pets with my +5 1inch dick of fagging while I roll a set of 20-sided dice in your asshole
while the original cover says i'm a manga reader the new cover screams i'm a creepy fantasy nerd furry who faps to transvestites and is gonna rape you your children and your pets with my +5 1inch dick of fagging while I roll a set of 20-sided dice in your asshole ^ THIS
wow the actual novel must be terrible if the cover matters this much
that bitch looks like a buck toothed hermaphadite
I bet she's a 43year old transsexual with a withered twat and a 12in futanari schlong
I still believe in Yen Press :p
Fail.
Yen Press is the sexually abused and confused child struggling for identity in the world of manga magazines
Holo/Horo is cute in the original but new cover model = fugly man Leave Holo/Horo (and all anime/manga/light novel/video game characters) alone in original format and leave 3D modeling to hot girls like my Aki Hoshino for things things unrelated to 2D
the cover represents what is included inside.. it isn't going to catch fan's eyes, but it'll scare teh F outta the new fans, so who cares
if i get my hands on it, just might tear off the cover and cry at my new doorstop
You're all faggots. The new cover is much better. Get out of your basements and suck a dick.
This sucks, but I'll probably buy a limited edition, though.
So just make the fans deal with it? Yen press, I'm disappointed in you. That's why I'm gonna work for delrey.
Anon at 12:18 it is obvious that the hermaphadite buck toothed model both sucks and has dicks
And you are thoroughly aroused by said genital features. Amirite?
do i spot armpit hair?
"What is a light novel, really? It’s a novel. It’s a book with spiffy illustrations."
Yeah, A NOVEL WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. WHICH ARE AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE PRODUCT.
I definitely understand why they did that. It is unfortunate, but I can see their point. The book will most likely sell much better in the United States with that cover. Before I started reading manga, I was a bit of a novel fan. And I definitely would not have picked up the book if it had the anime/manga inspired cover. Which would be unfortunate since I know that Spice and Wolf is has a great story, one of my favorite.
Judging a book by its cover? Fucking pussies. Even while I'm a hardcore Horo fan, I understand that this could be a necessary measure in order to pave way for more light novels released on this side of the pond. I will support this decision and buy this book. Not only to have something to read and support the author, but to put a bit of effort into having more of these novels released in the west. Perhaps one day we could see a new print with the original cover.
Purist "hardcore fans" are usually the worst kind of idiots... YES, I'M TALKING TO YOU.
If you really want to support the author, you should buy the original novels instead of the 'fake' ones. Don't encourage them to publish this stuff. There are many ways to get the original books for western fans.
I guess you are one of those guys who also watches dubbed anime on tv, am i right?
OH? HOWS THOSE SLAYER NOVELS DOING? HOW ABOUT SCRAPPED PRINCESS? HUH WHATS THAT? OH CAN'T FORGET FULL METAL PANIC?! Point is if Yen Press doesn't do good with these then no one will and they will NEVER be released here again so yeah go ahead don't buy them don't support one of the few companies who even bothers to release light novels in the us.
Wow, yeah.. cause American males DISLIKE half nekkid chicks.
fucking idiots.
The new cover looks butt ugly even for a geneic fantasy novel and not that appealing for even an average fantasy novel fan/reader.
Does anyone notice the teeth???
The horror.....
the English version cover looks bad. Whats with the big teeth? D:
while the original cover says i'm a manga reader the new cover screams i'm a creepy fantasy nerd furry who faps to transvestites and is gonna rape you your children and your pets with my +5 1inch dick of fagging while I roll a set of 20-sided dice in your asshole ^ THIS
Don't delude yourself pal, the kids laughing at Borders while you stand in the manga aisle are in fact laughing at you.
Yen Press, huh?
So this is what they do.
WTF are they trying to say with Americans not wanting to see "Chinese characters" or whatever?
They are so gonna bastardize the first volume of Kuroshitsuji / Black Butler and turn it to a real Crawl-SHIT-Sue-Gee.
Ugh...
Should I cry or Vomit? really man WTF evidently someone needs to be fired :(
Complete utter bullshit. Spice & Wolf isn't SnW if there is no Horo.
For those planning to 'boycott' the cover, please keep in mind that this cover will help the novel stay alive in this market. If it can make it's way into fantasy section and cement itself, there will come a time when you can have your original cover as the default. It's fact that the hardcore alone will not bring revenue for this book, other audiences need to be pullled in.
Until then, the original is being offered in Yen Plus. You don't have much to complain about.
In their fucking up, Yen Press got the hair and fur color wrong.
I used to respect them more as a company.
I guess maybe I'll just stick with the DVDs being released by Funimation.
I actually like that cover, but they should have tried to use the same fonts from the original cover.
....
OH SHII--- Just noticed that monstrous head, GIMME MY ORIGINAL COVER!
While Yen Press just lost more of my respect for them, at least this cover doesn't look like Brave Story's novel English edition cover, which is so fucking ugly that I simply cannot bring myself to buy that abomination. It's a whole different case of judging a book by its cover, because I know I will like the contents but the cover itself is absolutely disgusting.
why americans always want to make shit? (´◉◞౪◟◉)
Are you people honestly this retarded? It's JUST a cover illustration. It's not like they've rewritten the book. As long as you like the story inside, it doesn't matter what they put on the front.
Sure it matters.
It's not just what they put on the cover, but WHY they did it. That's the point of a lot of rage here.
Strange.. I do not have any problem with the new cover.
Sure, just for my animesque tastes and to fit in with others original would be better, but oh life goes on.
BTW any news on Season 3?
I hope we don't have to wait a year again :S
All us "hardcore" fans can go ahead and boycott this cover if we want. If this gamble by Yen Press pays off, it will have lots of "mainstream" fantasy novel fans buying the book. As they are a "huge potential audience" they outnumber us "hardcore" Spice & Wolf fans by a lot. Our "hardcore" support won't be necessary to Yen Press at all by that logic.
amirite?
buy the book, cover it up with a print out. that way you don't have to stare at that creature's beaver teeth and bushy phallic thingy in the background.
or you can just learn to read nihonggo and order the original online. =P
I hate the cover but then again I'll be looking at the content most of the time anyway
All for Horo!
I hate the fact that they are calling her Holo more than I hate the cover.
I’m not exactly fond of this, especially with the idea of attempting this first with Horo-sama! I see the need to do so as sad as it is, I at least hope it works out for the better.
wow , great job making the cover of this novel into something people just ignores, great marketing strategy, dickheads
The new cover looks aweful, badly shopped wheatbag, weird hair/tail colour and a deformed chest area.
The new cover is absolutely awful, but the headline suggested they were dumping Horo from the story altogether as opposed to just from the covers. Don't scare me like that, for God's sake.
So just so i got this right... the only thing they are changing is the cover? If so i can live. As long as all the content on the inside is the same.
Yen Press is 4Kids' bastard son
putting a naked woman on the cover of a book instgead of a cartoon character makes Yen Press similar to 4Kids? i wonder if there's a term for when a localization is actually more adult than the original.
this article is too sensationalist. they didn't ditch Horo, they just put a 3D version of her on the cover.
Fucking yen press. And Might i remind you no. That's not Horo or even a 3d cover of her. It's what i call a fugly bitch on the cover where it looks like she's shitting smoke or something while having an orgasm. Geezuz horrible.
Did Yen Press just call Spice and Wolf a Chinese cartoon character?!?
THIS IS JAPANESE ANIME NOT COMMUNIST CHINA BOOTLEGER-COPYCATS!!
No fuckhead, that was just a joke. Wow you're an idiot. Fucking learn english you worthless dick.
They were saying what the average American would say if they saw it. However, I sure that if they are going for the science fiction crowd then the people that would be looking at this book would be a little familiar with anime and at least know that it's Japanese.
Bad Move, Yen Press... very bad...