With regards to the idea you put forward of the manga publishers playing catch up, i think this is a really good idea, i collect a number of series, and find myself chomping at the bit waiting for the translators and the publishers to get the next books out, and feel that maybe a lot of people dont get into manga because the prospect of starting a series which may 23 volumes and have finished in japan, but is only on volume 11 in english (i'm looking at you HIkaru no Go) can put people of buying a series when they could just as easily (and FAR more cheaply) read the whole series online (not that i'm advocating such behaviour).
Its kind of muddled, but I think my overall point is that I think manga companies need to sort out the series they have out now, get them to completion, or as up to date as possible, and then maybe go out and try to find new manga to entice all those readers who now have that extra cash floating around now that their must read series has come to a satifactory finish.

I actually kind of want to do a TP score card -- "would I buy this or even look twice at it?" may be the criteria for that particular chart....

And while I certainly have a few Tokyopop gems I'd like to share with an audience since the sheer amount of mediocre titles they put out is kind of staggering....I don't know if TP is really in trouble or if just appears that way from the outside because they have sooooo many titles we just haven't heard of / been exposed to (& wouldn't care to be to be honest.)

"I don’t think it is too presumptuous of me to say that that the hope we all share for the U.S. manga market is that when kids graduate from Naruto they will continue to their love affair with manga and that what is currently a popular culture for young teens will slowly but steadily become a popular culture for young adults and later adults as well. "

I think the kids that are *only* buying Naruto probably won't continue buying manga when they get older. Just like the kids that only like Harry Potter but haven't went on to read any other fantasy books. But the ones that buy Naruto plus other titles...I think there's a better chance of them continuing as they get older.

I'd like manga to just become a mainstay of book culture. Why can't the six year olds of today discover and enjoy manga themselves in a few years? I'd like the more youth orientated manga to become a constant thing, just like prose young adult fiction is. Just because kids grow out of young adult fiction (although a lot of adults still read that too!) it doesn't just stop. The titles may change but the genre doesn't disappear. So I hope it's the same for shojo and shonen.

As far as more mature adult titles catching on....I don't know. I belong to this community on livejournal (keep in mind that the members are from all over the world though & not just the U.S.):

http://community.livejournal.com/garagesalejapan/

where people sell their various Japanese items (manga, anime, jrock, etc.) and I've noticed that teens sell a lot of their manga when they go to college because they need money & they don't have room for it anymore. So I guess all we can do is hope that the ones that completely give it up during their college years come back to it when they have more time & money.

I hear ya on Nana....one of the great things about Viz (for people like me who mostly do online shopping since there's no comic book store here & just small bookstores) is how online booksellers get their titles about two weeks before their release date. So I'll definitely be ordering the new Nana & Skip Beat probably...today!

Coudln't agree more with you about Tokyopop -- the "see what sticks" metaphor is quite apt. I have a "Is Tokyopop in Trouble?" column in just dying to get out...maybe this will convince me to actually write it...

Also, I think we are very alike when it comes to picking up an "unknown" title -- The small publishers I "trust" a little more are Go! Comi and Aurora/Deux. Duex in particular has been a surprise and while I haven't adored everything I've gotten from them I've certainly appreciated the effort the put into smart licensing and their releases.

I think my general point here is that my loyalty to certain TITLES (as opposed to publishers) is really what keeps me from picking up new series. There are enough good titles being released keeping my attention that sometimes I have a hard time justifying picking up even more just because I'm curious (for the record, I too got suckered into buying two June titles last week (the Vampire one and the Glasses one. What can I say -- I'm weak when it comes to yaoi titles that look even half-decent.) If I have to choose between a new volume of NANA or an unknown title, it will probably be NANA everytime.

So many of the series I'm following are from Viz so it's harder for me to criticize them. But on the other hand I really haven't started any *new* series from them lately. Most of the ones I'm following are ones they've been putting out for awhile.

I really respect companies like 801 Media, Blu (yeah I know it's Tokyopop related), and Deux because I really get the feeling that they take a lot of care & thought into the small number of titles they release. I'm more likely to pick up a title I'm unsure of from them than a title I'm unsure of say at June just because those companies have a better track record with me. I'm able to keep track of what their upcoming releases are. With June, like Tokyopop, releasing so many titles it's harder for me to weed out the good from the crap.

But to be fair I gotta say that I bought three new June books last week that I enjoyed a lot. But a lot of that has to do with:

1. Hot vampire dudes making out on the cover

2. This other title featured a mermaid. Merman. Although he doesn't actually have a fish tail.

3. And the last one was by a mangaka that I already liked from her previous work.

"Good" doesn't necessarily mean it has to be all that deep and profound for me. I'm all for manga teaching me more about the human condition but sometimes I just want to be entertained.