ABSTRACT
At the very height of the US manga market in the first decade of the twenty-first century, just before the global financial crisis hit publishers hard at the end of 2008 (Brienza 2009a), the research firm ICv2 surveyed bookstores and comics shops across North America and produced a list of the “Top 50 Manga Properties” for 2007. Included were four so-called Original English Language, or “OEL,” manga. In its analysis of the list, the following was noted:
While OEL titles have in general provoked negative reactions from hardcore fans who consider “OEL manga” to be an oxymoron, it is worth noting that some of them have been selling quite well, and that in spite of formidable competition from an unprecedented number of “true” manga releases from Japan, four OEL titles managed to make the list … ( ICv2 Guide to Manga 2008)
