ASCII Media Works

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ASCII Media Works, Inc.
株式会社アスキー・メディアワークス
Type Kabushiki kaisha
Founded October 15, 1992 (as MediaWorks)
April 1, 2008 (merged with ASCII to become ASCII Media Works)
Headquarters Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan
Key people Kiyoshi Takano (president)
Industry Books, Computing, IT, Magazines, Manga, Video games
Subsidiaries Toy'sworks
Website http://www.asciimw.jp/

ASCII Media Works, Inc. (株式会社アスキー・メディアワークス Kabushiki kaisha Asukī Media Wākusu?) is a Japanese publishing company in the Kadokawa Group which formed on April 1, 2008 as a result of a merger between ASCII and MediaWorks where MediaWorks legally absorbed ASCII. Despite this, the former president of ASCII, Kiyoshi Takano, became the president of ASCII Media Works. The company specializes in publishing of books, entertainment and computer magazines, manga, and video games. ASCII Media Works is known for their Dengeki (電撃? meaning electric shock) brand magazines and book labels which include such well-known magazines as Dengeki Daioh, and Dengeki G's Magazine, along with the company's main light novel publishing label Dengeki Bunko.

Most of the company caters to the Japanese male otaku crowd, covering such topics as anime, light novels, manga, plastic modelling, and visual novels, along with computing and enterprises related to information technology. The company also publishes Monthly ASCII which is one of the oldest and most prestigious computer-oriented magazines, along with other PC and IT magazines. ASCII Media Works has also published three magazines targeted towards females — Character Parfait, Dengeki Girl's Style, and Sylph — though the first two are special edition versions of other magazines. The company runs yearly contests for original novel and manga submissions, such as the light novel Dengeki Novel Prize contest.

Contents

[edit] History

ASCII Media Works is the result of a merger between two Japanese publishing companies — ASCII and MediaWorks — on April 1, 2008. The company is a continuation of MediaWorks, but despite this, the former president of ASCII, Kiyoshi Takano, became the president of ASCII Media Works. The company is a member of the Kadokawa Group and is thus affiliated with Kadokawa Shoten, another Japanese publishing company. According to an official press release by Kadokawa Group Holdings, a holding company responsible for the stock of dozens of other companies affiliated with Kadokawa Shoten, the merger stems from a steady outgrowth in the Internet and mobile parts of society which leads publishing companies to branch out in order to encompass the ever increasing needs and demands of the consumers.[1] Due to mutual company interests, the merger went through in order to create a stronger company which has more outreaching possibilities than either company could have done on their own. ASCII brought their expertise with IT and computing, while MediaWorks brought their expertise of media pertaining to entertainment, such as with visual or printed media including anime, manga, light novels, video games, or magazines covering such media products.[1] In addition to making the combined company more diverse, company management is planned to become more efficient, base revenue is meant to increase, and the company may take on new business opportunities in the future.[1]

[edit] Magazines published

Cover of the first issue of Dengeki Bunko Magazine featuring Shana from Shakugan no Shana.
Cover of the first issue of Dengeki Bunko Magazine featuring Shana from Shakugan no Shana.
Main article: List of magazines published by ASCII Media Works
  • Macpower
  • Monthly ASCII
  • Network Magazine
  • Sylph
  • Unix Magazine
  • Weekly ASCII

[edit] Publishing labels

Dengeki Bunko
Dengeki Bunko (電撃文庫?) is is a light novel label aimed at a male audience established in June 1993. The editors in charge of this label have a reputation for welcoming new authors, and hold a yearly contest, the Dengeki Novel Prize, to discover new talent. The eighth volume of Kino's Journey, originally published in October 2006, was Dengeki Bunko's one-thousandth published novel. In April 2007, three movies based on separate light novel series published by Dengeki Bunko were produced; the three titles were Kino's Journey, Shakugan no Shana, and Inukami!.
Dengeki Comics
Dengeki Comics (電撃コミックス Dengeki Komikkusu?) is a manga publishing label aimed at a male audience. Aside from the main Dengeki Comics label, there is the related Dengeki Comics EX label which publishes a lesser number of manga volumes. A large amount of the manga published under Dengeki Comics was originally serialized in the seinen magazine Dengeki Daioh.

Dengeki Game Bunko
Dengeki Game Bunko (電撃ゲーム文庫 Dengeki Gēmu Bunko?) is a publishing label established in 1994 when it was originally related with tabletop role-playing games. The label stopped production in September 1997 but was later restarted in December 1999 as a computer game and light novel publisher. The label succeeded the previous publishing label Dengeki G's Bunko.

Sylph Comics
Sylph Comics (シルフコミックス Shirufu Komikkusu?) is a manga publishing label aimed at a female audience. The manga that are published under this label were originally serialized in the shōjo magazine Sylph. The first bound volumes were published under this label starting on March 21, 2008.

[edit] Contests

Dengeki Comic Grand Prix
The Dengeki Comic Grand Prix (電撃コミックグランプリ Dengeki Komikku Guran Puri?) is is an award handed out annually (since 2001) by the Japanese publisher ASCII Media Works for original one-shot manga. Between the first and fifth contests held, there were two divisions: original, and anthology. This was changed from the sixth contest on to a Daioh/Gao! division which covers seinen manga, and a Sylph division which covers shōjo manga. There are four types of prizes given out each contest: the Grand Prix Prize (one-million yen), the Semi-Grand Prix Prize (five-hundred-thousand yen), the Excellence Prize (two-hundred-thousand yen), and the Honorable Mention (one-hundred-thousand yen). There was also once a Dengeki Moeoh Grand Prize division which was held twice with a Grand Prize and Honorable Mentions.[2]
Dengeki hp Novella Prize
The Dengeki hp Novella Prize (電撃hp短編小説賞 Dengeki hp Tanpenshōsetsu Shō?) is an award handed out annually (since 2000) by the Japanese publisher ASCII Media Works for exceptionally written short stories and novellas. The prize is associated with ASCII Media Works' light novel magazine Dengeki hp. Between the first and fourth contests held, the editorial department of ASCII Media Works' included the narrowed-down novellas in an issue of Dengeki hp, and the winner was decided from a reader-participation voting poll. This was changed from the fifth contest on by the use of a committee to award the prize.
Dengeki Novel Prize
The Dengeki Novel Prize (電撃小説大賞 Dengeki Shōsetsu Taishō?) is an award handed out annually (since 1994) by the Japanese publisher ASCII Media Works for their Dengeki Bunko light novel label. The contest has discovered many popular and successful light novelists, like Kouhei Kadono and Yashichiro Takahashi. Originally called the Dengeki Game Novel Prize, the name was changed in 2003. The Dengeki Novel Prize consists of the Grand Prize (one million yen), the Gold Prize (five hundred thousand yen), and the Silver Prize (three hundred thousand yen). There is also an illustration division. There are over two-thousand submissions annually, and it is considered the largest prize for light novels.[3]

[edit] Video games

ASCII Media Works has been in the business of developing and producing video games of series that have light novels or manga published by the company. These games are typically visual novels, a genre of adventure games, but some have also been sound novels, which has less attributes of an adventure game than a normal visual novel. The video games produced are ported to the PlayStation 2 or Nintendo DS. Since ASCII Media Works is a continuation of MediaWorks, the company includes the video games previously produced before the merger with ASCII on their official website for their video games.[4] The video games produced are organized into categories for similarly made games. Aside from the main class of visual and sound novels produced, three games were re-released in the Dengeki SP series at reduced prices from their original release; SP stands for "special price". Another class produced exclusively for the Nintendo DS are under the brand label series DS Dengeki Bunko, and are games based on light novels published under ASCII Media Works' male light novel label Dengeki Bunko. Five games have been produced under this brand, and the two games in the series based on Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu were re-released in a single package together. The company lists the titles which have been the most popular among the games they have produced which include releases based on Sister Princess, Dears, Kino's Journey, Futakoi, and Strawberry Panic!.[4]

Titles produced as ASCII Media Works

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Announcement of the merger between ASCII and MediaWorks (Japanese). Kadokawa Shoten. Retrieved on 2007-12-08.
  2. ^ Dengeki Moeoh Grand Prize winners (Japanese). MediaWorks. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
  3. ^ Home page for the Dengeki Novel Prize (Japanese). MediaWorks. Retrieved on 2007-02-23.
  4. ^ a b D-game, ASCII Media Works' video game portal (Japanese). ASCII Media Works. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.

[edit] External links


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ASCII Media Works
List of magazines published by ASCII Media Works
Video game magazines
Manga magazines
Other magazines
Publishing labels
Contests
Radio program
Languages