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 Interview: Adam Arnold (Seven Seas, AOI HOUSE)
Written by David Rasmussen
Rasmussen: First off for our new readers please introduce yourself, and tell us a bit about yourself and your work at Seven Seas.
Adam Arnold: My name's Adam Arnold and...I'm a DVD junkie. I go out every Tuesday and buy new movies, even if I never get around to watching them, and—
Rasmussen: Great! Can you loan me your MST3K DVDs? I always wanted those.
Adam Arnold: Actually, while I am a DVD junkie, for Seven Seas, I work as an editor on all of our licensed manga titles and help manage production for the rest of our line. I'm also the writer of the fandom harem comedy Aoi House, and I webmaster Seven Seas' website, Gomanga.com.
Rasmussen: Oh-kay then… (awww!) Best foot forward. I'm new to Seven Seas and I'm looking for the best of the best of your lineup to sink my teeth into on my first shopping trip for titles from you company. What would you recommend to me, and why should I start out with these titles in my to read list when getting to know Seven Seas better?
Adam Arnold: I'd have to say Aoi House, Amazing Agent Luna, Kashimashi, and the award-winning Hollow Fields.
I start with Aoi House because it's how a lot of fans first discover Seven Seas in the first place, since Aoi House was serialized as a webmanga first and then print editions were put out later. It's a fandom harem comedy about two straight guys that get kicked out of their dorms and have no other choice but to move into an anime club full of crazed yaoi fangirls. So if you're into anime and manga, then you really can't beat a light-hearted fandom series.
Amazing Agent Luna is also by the artist of Aoi House, but it's more for all-ages. The series is about a girl named Luna who was born in a test-tube and bred to be the world's best secret agent. But when a new mission calls for her to infiltrate a school, she has to learn how to be a normal girl for the first time. It's a fun Alias meets Kim Possible type series that will appeal to fans of both shoujo and shonen manga.
Next up is Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~, which is a really fun and touching gender-bending series. Hazumu was out in the mountains when an alien spaceship crashes into him. The alien feels bad, so he remakes Hazumu...but as a girl! So now Hazumu is stuck in a love-triangle between his best friend and the girl he likes.
Finally, there's Hollow Fields which was one of four winners presented with Japan's first ever International Manga Award in 2007. It's about a little girl named Lucy Snow who, in a macabre twist of fate, finds herself in a grim boarding school called "Hollow Fields" that's dedicated to raising the next generation of mad scientists and evil geniuses.
Rasmussen: Well then congratulations are in order for the team behind Hollow Fields for their International award! Congrats!
The convention season is coming up on us once again. When we go out to our nearest Anime/Manga conventions, and we visit the Seven Seas booth, can you give us a hint (without revealing too much) about what we can expect when we come paying a visit? What will be the big releases and returning favorites that Seven Seas is going to hype this coming convention season?
Adam Arnold: Back in December, we announced our partnership with Tor Books, which is the world's largest publisher of Sci-Fi and Fantasy novels. For this year's major conventions, we'll be sharing a booth with Tor, so it's going to be an exciting con season for us.
We're still working out our exact convention plans, but we will have booths at both the New York Comic-Con (a first for us), and we'll be at San Diego Comic-Con again this year. At San-Deigo this summer, our big push is going to be for our upcoming Afro Samurai manga, so we'll have some exciting promotional stuff to giveaway for that. On a personal note, the final volume of Aoi House (entitled Aoi House In Love! Vol. 2 – "Happy Endings") will also be out by then, and I'll be on hand to sign copies of it and the first Aoi House Omnibus which comes out in April.
Rasmussen: Seven Seas' agreement with Tor Books. What can you tell us specifically about that deal (what does each company get out of the deal)? First, does this mean we'll start to see crossovers in terms of company product down the line (Prose novels of Seven Seas' manga and OEL Manga versions of TOR novel series) and, by joining forces with Tor Books, does this mean Seven Seas/Tor are setting up to gun for Del Rey's manga line as rivals in the manga business (as they are the first primarily prose novel book company to start their own manga line if memory serves).
Adam Arnold: Tor Books is the leading science fiction and fantasy publisher in the world, and has a very strong bookstore presence. Our partnership allows Tor to make the leap into the manga market by partnering with an existing company that's already well versed in the manga business, and gives Seven Seas access to new channels of distribution that were previously unavailable to us. For fans, this means that they'll have an easier time finding out books, which will in turn help to increase sales and brand awareness. We'll also be working with Tor on a number of co-published titles that will be released under our new "Tor/Seven Seas" imprint. The first of these will be the previously mentioned Afro Samurai, followed by Hayate X Blade and Inukami in late 2008. As for your other question, it's too early to comment on specific future plans outside of the titles we've already announced, but we are in the planning stages of several exciting projects that combine both Tor's and Seven Seas' strengths.
Rasmussen: Convention 101. Surviving an Anime/Manga convention. From your past experiences at conventions, what has been, to date, the most hectic experiences with fans/con staff and the general public you ever had at these conventions? (And do you sometimes want to shut yourself away in your office never ever to leave the safety of home the next time convention season comes
about due to these experiences?)
Adam Arnold: To be honest, I've been attending cons for years as either a fan, a member of the press, or in an industry capacity and have never had a bad experience while actually at a con. The worst experiences tend to all happen before the con ever gets underway when you're trying to fight to get the booth space you were promised, or get your panel rescheduled because something like CLAMP is at the same time, or just trying to get those registration problems sorted out.
If there is ever a time I want to just shut myself away, it's when I'm faced with the prospect of driving or flying. I hate the "traveling to the con" part. That's always a real hassle. The actual con stuff tends to always be a blast, though! I mean, what's not to like about meeting people that enjoy the same hobbies you're into?
Rasmussen: How was fan reaction to the last Aoi House release, Aoi House in Love (the convention volume)? Were sales what you expected them to be or better?
Adam Arnold: We recently went back to press with Aoi House In Love! Vol. 1, so sales have been right on target with it. There's always a sloped decline in sales from volume to volume, so Aoi House's third release has been right in line with that. What's great about Aoi House, though, is that since we serialize it online as a webcomic, we always have new people discovering the series. So sales remain steady throughout the year.
And fan reaction to the latest book? Oh, it's been great. The fan's really got a kick out of the introduction of rival yuri club Uri House, and seeing all the adventures the Aoi House crew had while at Hatsu-Con that volume. There was also a lot of character developments that happened in that book as well, and fans have been debating them ever since, which is always a lot of fun for Shiei and me to drop by our forum to see.
Rasmussen: With the coming end of Aoi House are fans becoming a bit… fidgety about it yet? Any signs that fans might start petitioning for a new series or something somewhere down the line?
Adam Arnold: My view has always been that I didn't want the series to outlast its welcome, or to get stale. So while, yes, the series could've kept on going for a long time, I just didn't want to keep the book going until it ran out of steam or got stale. Yes, I have heard from a lot of fans who are a bit sad that they know Aoi House is coming to an end, they're also really exciting to see how everything wraps up. But no, no petitions yet!
Rasmussen: Once the series ends will that truly be it? Or do you think it might be possible one day you'll wake up and say "I want to do more with Aoi House"?
Adam Arnold: Yep, everything gets all wrapped up and "concluded-ed" in Aoi House In Love! Vol. 2 – "Happy Endings." So yes, this final book really will be it for Alex and the gang. As for me waking up one day and wanting to do more, I do have a desire to do more stories set in the same universe, but nothing that directly involves the cast of Aoi House.
Rasmussen: Without telling us too much can you hint a bit about how the final volume will turn out? Any hints as to what's going on, and where the story will be when the final volume releases?
Adam Arnold: You know, I'm usually very chatty about upcoming plotlines and such, but I've actually been keeping a very tight lip when it comes to spoilers about the final book. I really want fans to be surprised when they read the book for the first time, so that's why I haven't said much at all about it other than the book picks up where "The Great Con Caper!" left our heroes. Pages from the final book started appearing at Gomanga.com on March 5th, so fans don't have to wait all the way until June to get a taste of how the final volume is starting to play out, though!
Rasmussen: Now that Anime/Manga movies seem to be slowly coming back on track again, do you think you'll be ready should the theoretical Hollywood visit happen?
Adam Arnold: Actually, Seven Seas is represented in Hollywood by management firm Circle of Confusion, so it's less of an "if" one of our titles will get optioned, and more of a "when." So I'm pretty confident that we'll see one of our series get turned into a movie at some point.
Rasmussen: So then, if you were a betting man which Seven Seas properties do you think would have the best chances of a live action movie option (hmm -- the top three, in order, and why they would be on Hollywood's possible to do list)?
Adam Arnold: We'd rather not speculate. We don't want to jinx ourselves! I personally have always seen Aoi House as American Pie for the manga generation, but maybe I'm just biased.
Rasmussen: So do you think the recent Hollywood screenwriter's strike was opportunity missed for OEL Manga companies (to catch the attention of Hollywood
producers when they were in the most need of new scripts to put to
film during the ever lengthening strike that only recently finished)?
Adam Arnold: No, everything pretty much hit a standstill in Hollywood. If you were going to have your concept greenlit as a movie, then it would've been prior to the strike (like Joss Whedon's Dollhouse), not during.
Rasmussen: DragonBall Z The Movie… good idea that will catch fire and herald a new age of manga/anime inspired movies, or campy schlock that people are going to regret making (let alone forcing people to see)?
Adam Arnold: I think we should wait and see how Speed Racer does. That's really the movie that is going to either make or break the anime big screen revolution. And from how it looks to be shaping up...it's gonna be huge.
As for DBZ though, since there has been so little that has even been said about the DragonBall Z film, it's something that I'm going to just wait for a trailer on before I start deciding if it'll be worth my time to see. I do like the cast line-up, though.
Rasmussen: Now that we've seen the rival "Yuri House" do you think they might ever get their own spin-off (One Shot) manga? Any interest or do they just seem to be one trick ponies (not enough interest by readers or creators to warrant a title of their very own)?
Adam Arnold: Oh, fans have really taken to the Uri House club members in a big way. It's the fun dynamic that they bring to the series that makes them so compelling. They might've started out as rivals, but the two clubs were able to get past their differences and have really formed some very solid relationships with one another, and that's really what has helped to keep Aoi House, as a series, fresh and interesting.
As for an Uri House spin-off, the idea to do a single stand-alone volume has come up before—in fact, it was Jason DeAngelis (Seven Seas' President) that first suggested it. The thing is, in terms of the "Aoi House Universe," doing an Uri House one-shot isn't something that I'm really leaning towards due to the sheer amount of time it takes to create a single volume of manga from scratch is a minimum of 8 to 12 months. That's really a long time, and I have some other stories that I'd really like to tell instead.
Rasmussen: Hypothetical Question: Aoi House the final book comes onto shelves, the series closes its doors once and for all and fans realize it's over so… now that time has passed and we are nearly upon the end question, do you expect any great outcry from the fan base for more, or do you think the series will be missed but allowed to come to its conclusion gracefully with a
minimal of fuss or begging/pleading for more from fans?
Adam Arnold: As with anything, I think there's always going to be a desire from fans to want more from a series, or for things to have worked out differently. Part of the fun of being a fan is being able to debate those things with other readers, or even writing your own fan fiction to show how you would've had things turn out. So there will always a way to keep a series alive even when the original creators have brought everything to an end. It's part of the fun of being a fan—exploring all the what ifs.
Rasmussen: What's the "Next Aoi House" for you? Not in content but what are you working on now which you feel will be that next big work from you? That audience grabbing read that people will talk about next?
Adam Arnold: I completed a proposal for a stand-alone book that's based on something I can't talk about. We're waiting to hear back about it right now, so it's something that may or may not happen. But I'm crossing my fingers that we will as it's something that I've wanted to do for a while now.
The other thing that I have in mind is a new comedy set in the Aoi House Universe, but that would be neither a harem, nor about fandom. In fact, it might just be set in the past and center around the parents of one of the Aoi House cast members. I don't want to get fans' hopes up about it too much as my plans could change as I continue to work out the various story elements.
Rasmussen: So, about the series you're working on (that you're keeping under wraps): if the worst case scenario happens, do you believe enough in the project to possibly take it to a rival company (TOKYOPOP, Antarctic Press, etc) or possibly take it to the web and charge people to read it there? Is there a next move if Seven Seas doesn't show interest in the title (or would it be jinxing things to think of that too soon?)
Adam Arnold: Since all of our original manga titles are created from the ground up by Seven Seas, we're very dedicated to keeping them a part of our line. As for taking series exclusively to the web to try them out, we do have an unannounced series that we're working on currently that we're going to release as a webcomic. If enough interest is there, then we may consider publishing it in print form at a future date.
As for charging people to read content online... that's just not something that we believe in. We're trying to build up interest in our titles and get people excited about them, so charging to read them online really goes against what we're trying to do.
Rasmussen: Recently a few of Seven Seas' titles have been having a wee bit of problems of late. Delays in Captain Nemo and (though I could be wrong) Destiny's Hand, for instance (just one example though I am not aware of others that might be relevant to this question). To the fans of these delayed titles is there anything you can say to them about what's going on with them, and what you can tell us about these delayed titles futures?
Adam Arnold: When you're producing an OEL series, you're essentially creating an entire manga from scratch. So it's always hard to project just how long different artists will take to draw a given volume. Some are quick, and some take longer than others. But this is very much something that we're very much concerned with, and have taken the initiative to limit these delays by building more time into our schedule to ensure that a given book will be finished and ship on time.
To cover your two examples, Captain Nemo is a series that is written by Jason DeAngelis, who, unfortunately, has very little free time to himself to write anymore. So that series is, sadly, on indefinite hiatus.
As for Destiny's Hand, the artist, Melvin Calingo, is progressing at a nice speed, so the third and final volume is very much on target for its January 2009 release.
Rasmussen: The recent trend towards cost effective mini-mangas ($5-$6 for 100 or so pages), do you see Seven Seas ever following suit (if Seven Seas haven't already) and come up with your own line of more affordable titles. If so… when?
Adam Arnold : In the world of printing, nothing is cost effective. Ha ha! As for recent trends, we are starting to repackage some of our best selling titles as omnibus. Aoi House and Amazing Agent Luna are the first two that we're coming out with. Aoi House Omnibus Collection I collects Aoi House Vol. 1-2 into one 352-page book for $10.99, and Amazing Agent Luna's omnibus collects Volumes 1-3 into one 496-page edition for $11.99.
Rasmussen: OOOhhhh! I definitely have to order and review Amazing Agent Luna's Omnibus when it comes out.
When people think about what companies Seven Seas should worry about in the marketplace they often focus on the major companies, but is there cause to consider the possible threat of the smaller, lesser-known companies (and their growing readership)? Companies like Papercutz, Realbuzz Studios, and the like (who are slowly fostering their own strong fan base for their particular
titles), also will there come a time when the large mega companies can no longer ignore the threat they (the smaller faster growing and expanding companies) pose in the Manga Marketplace, and plan accordingly?
Adam Arnold: What makes or breaks a company is its ability to get their titles onto bookstore shelves (i.e. Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc). Unless a company is able to do that, and do it consistently to the point where they can gain market share, then big companies have nothing to worry about other than the state of the market itself and how not to flood.
Rasmussen: A day in your life. Tell us about a typical day at work for you.
Adam Arnold: It really depends on the day of the week. Every day has lots of e-mails that need to get answered (which sometimes pile up because I'm focused on other things), and Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday nights always involve getting the website updates posted for the next day. Other things that come up can be the occasional script that needs to be reviewed, lettered pages that need to be proofed, layouts that need to be checked, crises at the printer that have to be handled, covers that need to get made, and lots of cover copy that has to get thought up...among other things.
Have you ever seen that animated short by Richard Condie called "Getting Started"? It's this twelve-minute cartoon from Canada, but it's all procrastination and the weird things we do to waste time instead of doing what needs to be done. My life's kinda like that at times. I'm really good about getting work done, though. It's just keeping myself from obsessively checking about a dozen blogs and forums while I'm working. Yes, it breaks up the monotony of reviewing a script, but it also kills any kind of flow I had going.
Rasmussen: Can you tell us a bit about the lineup scheduled for 2008 from Seven Seas and what we can look forward to in terms of upcoming releases that you have coming down the line (that you haven't told us in the earlier answer)?
Adam Arnold: We have the first three titles in our Light Novel line-up hitting stores in March (Ballad of a Shinigami, Pita-Ten, and Strawberry Panic), so those are definitely something that manga fans should be keeping an eye out for.
Afro Samurai is also really fun title that we have in the works for this summer. It's the original manga that the anime is based on, but it also offers a new and unique experience, so fans of that show will get a kick out of that.
I should also mention Dance in the Vampire Bund, which is hands-down my favorite new Japanese manga. It's this completely original take on the whole vampire genre that involves vampire princess Mina Tepes founding a special district off the coast of Japan as a sanctuary for vampires the world over and now humans and vampires alike want her dead. The artwork is just gorgeous, and the characters are a total blast, so I highly recommend that one when it comes out in May.
Rasmussen: The Afro Samurai manga... What can you tell us about this upcoming release? So far we know it's going to be the manga that inspired the Anime but is there anything you can tell us about it that you haven't said already?
Adam Arnold: The best way to describe it is that it's canon for Afro Samurai. It's the original creator's vision of Afro's quest to avenge his father's death at the hands of Justice. The story starts out the same as the anime, but then diverges drastically. So expect a completely different showdown with the Empty Seven and Kuma (the guy with the teddy bear head).
Rasmussen: In terms of content, would you say the manga version was able to get away with more or less than what SPIKE TV did with the Anime version?
Adam Arnold: I've only had a chance to see the "Director's Cut" version of Afro Samurai that was released on DVD, but the manga matches the feel of what I've seen. So expect gallons of blood from severed limbs, and tons of Ninja Ninja's trademark swearing. As a side note, I should probably mention that the Afro Samurai manga will be printed using two-tone printing. This means that the book will be in black and white, but will also feature red ink!
Rasmussen: Recently TOKYOPOP joined forces with KAPLAN to create a series of Vocabulary study mangas (mangas from their line like Warcraft, Van Von Hunter and Psy-Comm) which act as both a means of entertainment (the aforementioned manga) and a study guide (as the books are supposed to be good study for the vocabulary section of the SAT/ACT test). What do you think of this team-up, and do you ever see Seven Seas ever taking this route (producing manga with a dual educational purpose)?
Adam Arnold: I can just see it now...the Aoi House gals in a strip tease computer game designed to help you learn higher math.
Honestly though, the KAPLAN thing was just an obvious way to cash in on the manga wave. Merchandising and building up a franchise can be a good thing, even when it stretches your brand in some really stupid directions. Just look at any issue of Ultimate Spider-Man and you'll see some of the off-the-wall things they've licensed Spidey's likeness to as of late—padlocks, bottled water, etc. Not that there's anything wrong with cashing in... Will Seven Seas do some kind of team-up? I dunno. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
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