English Spice & Wolf Restores Horo, Almost
- Categories: Manga, News
- Date: Nov 22, 2009 01:37 JST
- Tags: Furries, Horo, Light Novels, Marketing, Spice and Wolf, Translation, USA, Yen Press
Calling those fans who objected to its decision to scrap Horo in favour of a buck-toothed fantasy maiden “opinionated,” English Spice and Wolf publisher Yen Press has partly relented and now offers proper original covers to online retailers who choose to include them, though bookshop shelves will still be graced by something suitably generic.
Yen Press describe their solution to the problem of placating irate Horo fans whilst ignoring their demands and going ahead with their original plan unmolested:
It’s taken some time, but I wanted to thank everyone who bore with us while we worked through the approvals and notifications necessary to put our plan into action. I’m very happy to report that the behind-the-scenes machinations have been resolved, and we can now fill you in on what we’ve come up with!
In order to provide fans with an option to obtain the Spice and Wolf novels with the original light novel cover art, we have decided to do a special limited print run dust jacket (already under way) that we will offer for free to our online retailers.
Those online retailers who choose to participate in this offer will be shipped the flat (uncreased) jackets to make them available at no additional charge to anyone ordering copies of the novel through their sites.
This is strictly a voluntary offer being communicated now to our online retail partners, so be sure to verify participation with your retailer of choice when placing your orders if you are interested in receiving the jacket, the design for which you can see here:
How difficult it must have been to include the original cover.
He goes on to attempt to placate the unreasonable souls who wanted Horo on the cover:
As we’ve said in the past, our customers are truly important to us. We do listen to your feedback and make every possible effort to insure that you are happy with our offerings.
While I am quite certain that not everyone will be satisfied with this solution for one reason or another, we are pleased to have been able to make these additional efforts on behalf of our Spice and Wolf fans, and we do not doubt for an instant that you will enjoy the book.
But not important enough for them to change the cover back to the overwhelmingly preferred original, it seems…
Spice and Wolf Vol. 1 is available for pre-order now, with release in mid-December.
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"Crapitalists" are ruining everything, everywhere.
TV executives are a prime example of this. If a show doesn't capture >50% of the available viewers it is normally cancelled after a season (unless it is a crappy cop show).
I also blame this effect on the fact that most viewers, seem to be too stupid to cope with even a slightly complicated plot. This means that the producers have to have asinine plots with lots of explosions and gunfire. If it is supposed to be SciFi, they spend too much money on expensive CG or special effects.
That is why Hollywood almost always fails when it tries to adapt a book, comic or movie. Now it seems like publishers are doing the same thing.
lehnerus2000
I would have preferred a limited edition hardcover with the original cover than trying to cover up poor art using a dust jacket.
I would prefer that they start calling her "Horo" like the fans call her instead of calling her "Holo". I won't buy it no matter what's on the cover if her name makes me think of trading cards every time I read it.
Unfortunately that is how she signed her own name so they are actually using the right spelling... I will still call her Horo.
Wouldn't be the first spelling mistake in anime. Besides the setting is german-speaking country and in german there isn't such a thing als R-pronounced, but L-written. Stupid typo is stupid. They should have the balls to admit their mistake and not going on telling everybody this is how they intended to be her name all the time.
WON'T BUY.
Well at least they launched the dust jacket, if they would've wanted, they would simply have ignored you, like many of u already said they just want money as averybody, maybe people who don't know anime, if they see the cover they could think its just a comic, I agree with that part, ignorance is bad
They could have made a cover featuring apples, y'know. Going all way with some naked chick isn't really the way to appeal to other consumers.
If changing the covers and whatnot means that light novels can make more money and become more easily sold here in the US, then I'm all for it. After all, aren't we supposed to not judge a book by its cover? I mean, I'll admit that the Yen Press cover is pretty bad, but I've seen worse. Way worse. Various shitty "hoodlyfe" books that my mom seems to absolutely love come to mind. Also, Twilight.
Also, I'd really love to see enough light novels coming into the US that they get their own section of shelf next to manga... Mainly so that idiots don't say "Lolol wutfux y dis magna dusnt hav piczzz??????? imma reed sum naurto". This has actually happened, and it's fucking terrible.
I don't really care for the cover, as I don't see it while reading. But always reading Holo instead of the correct Horo would make me furious anytime and I couldn't enjoy reading the book, so I won't buy unless Horo is written with R.
So what about the 8 Illustrations that are in the book are they going to take them out since they are done manga style?
Stop the hating, at least Yen Press went the extra mile instead of shrugging their shoulders. Redesigning covers, printing them out and sending them to retailers isn't free you know.
People don't buying their crap have told them. But their effort isn't nearly enough. And if she isn't called Horo I won't buy anyway.
Ugh, looks like a harlequin. I wouldn't want to be caught dead with that in my hands.
Every book retailer should add book covers their books like in Japan. I don't want to be judged for anything I read, including books that have anime girls on the cover.
Well, now they have to change the name from shitty holo to correct Horo.
Damn them. I get the feeling they want Spice and Wolf to fail just to prove everyone that light novels won't sell to western customers. What a pity. I would be willing to pay up to 15€ for this book. (Original Cover with Kanji and HORO, not holo).
Damn them. May they burn in hell!
I was reading their twitter feed in which someone asked if all the rest of the novels will have alternative covers.
http://twitter.com/yenpress
So apparently it does matter if you choose to buy it or not.
Couldn't they have just had an "alt" cover (that wasn't just a damn dust jacket)? >_> They could at least have thrown that much of a bone...
I don't like yen press that much. They have some good titles but I don't like how they do things. They're trying to market spice and wolf to a wider audience by leaving out the anime style art. I wonder if it'll even work since it's quite clear that most of their sales are gonna be coming from the otaku community.
I dont mind them changing the cover art for spice and wolf but that art is tarabol and missreprasents the story anyone that looked at it wood think oh god this is just another over sexulaized manga/novel and pass it over or pike up and deside its crap when horos not on her back in the firt five minits
Hey Artefact, if they're releasing the book three weeks from now, there would probably be no way to change the actual cover of the book without printing a whole new stock at a huge loss to the publisher. Would you really ask them to do that? Look, I hate the current cover a lot, but I'm also happy that Yen Press is willing to make concessions to its dedicated readers. Most publishers couldn't care less.
The decision was made and known months ago.
How difficult it must have been to include original cover?
this is "why" USA sucks
I own all the current Japanese novels because I collect and I like the art. I've already read all of them so I will not buy this for the sake of being a fan of Ayakura Ju.
I grew up with an Asian family but in a western community, so I pronounce both kinds of words accordingly. Holo and Horo going by western pronounciations are both wrong, so seeing either won't bother me too much.
Also, I'm pretty sure light novels don't do that well in the west because they aren't a great number of widely available translated material. Japanese style manga nowadays sell better than Western style comic books, so won't keeping the original covers be a better business choice?
I'd like the 3D-cover if 2 issues were fixed:
1) Teeth, please close your mouth
2) Wear a real little sack, not a badly photoshopped one
As long as the spelling is how it is intended to be, I don't mind how it is pronounced. This is not the first case where the name does not match how it is pronounced.
Else, we'd be going anal over Yagami Light which is the correct spelling and Yagami Raito if we want the name to match how it was pronounced.
So the original japanese cover is gonna be nothing more than a dust jacket ?
I have a better idea, how about they put horo on the cover the same way as the original and they put their stupid cosplay slut on the dust jacket...
Horo is wrong (spelling-wise).
Holo is correct (spelling-wise).
http://wgrajna.net/uploads/22-11-2009-7286.jpg
Only thing is Japanese can't get their pronunciation correct (pronouncing the "l" as it should be) due to that well known "r" and "l" issue. If the pronunciation was meant to be Horo, then she would have signed "HoRo" instead of "HoLo".
Right or wrong, I just can't shake the feeling that "Horo" simply SOUNDS better and more appropriate. Maybe it's because it reminds me of Moro the wolf goddess from Princess Mononoke?
I don't blame Yen Press for this problem. In the past, light novels have failed in the US because traditional mana readers don't read novels. The only other route is to attempt to sell some novels to the traditional buyers of the genre each light novel belongs to.
I'm now torn over whether to buy this or not. I do need something else to read and it's cheap enough, but the cover is UGLY (ugly enough to actually put me off), so I'd have to be very sure that the version I get has the dust cover.
Is it really good? It'll need to be for me to consider it.
Still not satisfied. They only addressed the people who were irritated with paying for their magazine to get a dust cover, not those disgusted with the very choice of cover.
My pre-order remains cancelled. I hope their decision works out for them. Sadly, I believe it'll do the opposite and we'll end up with another shitcanned English light novel series.
While it is not the best solution, it is a HELL of a lot better than the butchered cover.
I hate hearing the logic that their "Westernized" cover will bring a larger audience into light novels. Bottom line: It won't, and it's flipping a middle finger for any established fans of the series or of anime or manga.
Light novels have a crossover audience from manga and anime fans and a LARGE amount of them would be very happy reading light novels. As a few have said in the comments, the problem with light novels are not the novels themselves. The covers aren't making them bad. The update schedules are horrendous.
No publishers are willing to take a chance. Boogiepop died. Kino still has only one volume. Some of the best light novels are still completely untranslated. I have no idea how Haruhi Suzumiya, Toradora, or Read or Die have never had any official translations yet. And I'm still waiting for Case of the Dragon Slayer after it mysteriously was never released.
Low sales doesn't mean there is no audience. Light novels have never been focused on so of course sales will be low! They were never given a chance to take off and every time they release some, they get a very good niche following, but it's not NY Times bestsellers, so they give up.
Most people don't know light novels are out there and here's the wonderful catch-22 that causes it: When publishers curtail novel releases and let a series die before it's finished or just take three years to translate one book, then they just hurt their market even more. That market has releases at a trickle and people start ignoring it. And they see low sales margins and stop releasing, thinking there's no market. When they themselves shrunk that market first.
They can trumpet their cover experiment all they want, but they're ignoring an established audience and they're worrying more about appearances than they are about the materials they are translating. And, being completely frank, the "Western" cover is a turn-off whether it's actually light novel or not. It's too typical. I would pass right over it with the rest of the crap in the fantasy section.
But what does it matter? American companies have been screwing over light novels for years. Why should I expect any different now?
A-freakin'-men.
People sometimes underestimate the niche market of anime, anyway..
There are a _lot_ of borderline, non diehard anime fans who may still not know who Haruhi is, but just kind of take a second look at anything anime-like because it's anime-like, even if they know or own rather little of it.
These are the sort of people who's eyes easily bypass the generic porn novel look of this new cover, but would have looked at the original cover, and probably either recognized it for what it was, or just given it a chance.
So while actual 'anime fans' may be smaller in scope, there's still a lot of people who actually would have been intrigued a bit by the original cover as opposed to turned off.
Trust me, I know the type, and they're everywhere.
Anyway, the whole issue really is sad.. One of the reasons why fans of something buy the localizations of media they like is just to have it on their shelves, as these days subs/translations/piracy are so fast and easy that they've probably already read or watched them.
Thus, when a localized version of a product has ugly cover or packaging, it kind of kills one of the main reasons some people would have wanted to buy it.
Actually, the first two Haruhi novels have been officially translated in English. Haven't read the second book, but the translation of the first is perfectly reasonable. That being said, I agree with everything else stated in your post.
I'm happy that they finally decided to do this. But I'm not sure how it affects me, as I already pre-ordered the book from Amazon. I hope Amazon includes the slip cover, does anyone know if they will? And if they'll include it with those that already pre-ordered?
Try contacting them. If they know what is going on they may offer the cover or a refund. If not then let them know and they might contact Yen Press to find out what is going on and try and fix it.
I'm not trying to be a dick or a troll, cause i really wanna know. whats the difference between a novel and a light novel?
Basically, light novels have a huge crossover with anime and manga, for one. A LOT of manga and anime were originally light novels, including Haruhi Suzumiya, Read or Die, Tordora, Kurenai, Kino's Journey, Full Metal Panic, and Shakugan no Shana.
Light novels are typically serialized - just like manga - before being put together into novel form, and are also illustrated. The illustrations aren't always numerous, but this is a key distinction most of the time.
For the most part, though, a light novel is meant to imply lighter reading. They tend to be equivalent to novellas in length, use easier to read language, and are usually written with teens or young adults in mind. Light novels tend to be very brief. When you read them, you can tell why they work so easily into manga and anime.
My understanding is that the original term was used to distinguish heavy scifi from lighter fantasy works (sort of how "shoujo" and "shounen" meant whether it was published in a girls' or boys' magazine before everyone decided it meant stuff that matched the stereotype of things found in such magazines)
Nowadays, though, I think you're pretty much right on the mark. I'd add that many of the light novels are heavy on dialog, and heavy on using internal monologue for exposition (3rd person psychic POV).
They're also really fucking short. Anyone used to "normal" novels will breeze through a light novel in half the time if not less.
Perhaps you could simplify further and call a light novel "a novel with an anime style illustration on the cover," along with those inside. Not sure there are any without them...
Also, light novels, unlike novels, tend to have illustrations. Generally anyway.
Other than that, it's more or less similar to a novel. Only with less content. There's a reason why it's called 'light' novel.
Honestly speaking, an animated cover would sell less than one with a more human look.
That's why the phrase "Don't judge a book by it's cover" is so popular. Most would pass it off as "childish" by the cover alone being a drawing.
Am I one of the select few who never checks out the cover, and only look at the name on the spine?
I look at the back cover, inside the covers, then the front cover.
Who the fuck reads books anyways?
Actually many people read novels, special fantasy ones.
No one reads light novels though =(
If light novel series like Full Metal Panic were actually officially translated in a timely fashion maybe then people would read them more, especially in the case where the anime hasnt been made yet. I've read all the FMP novels that have been released since it was nicely fan-translated, and while I was very happy for that, they could do with some editing. Mind you, I'm really grateful that someone actually took the time to translate it and it's much better than nothing (just another reason for me to yell at KyoAni to get their assets in gear and make me some more FMP seasons)! Either way, light novels are nice, fast reads, but since people read at the speed of light, well...I guess it's just too short for them.
light novels are good, more indepth and descriptive, anime are good too - voice, colors and action
but just because you guys arn't motivated enough to read dosent mean light novels are bad, many animes exist now because their light novel originals were a big hit, (fmp, spice n wolf, bakemonogatari, nogizaka haruka, suzumiya, darker than black, seitokai, these are just off my head)
and all the eroges you play are actually visual "novels"
darker than black bases on nothing, anime original.
I do I read Welcome to the N.H.K & Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Casesfiles to name a few.