Goodbye, Comics Publisher...

This is one of the saddening news in Singapore.

Chuang Yi's logo before Defunct

People who have grown up in the 2000s as teens and read comics, they will surely know the Singapore Comics Publisher, Chuang Yi 创意。They are the only company that translates Japanese Manga in Taiwanese Traditional Chinese Language (繁體) to Simplified Chinese (简体). Providing many Manga for Singaporeans for many years since 1990s. However, the Publisher gradually started to stop published for a few months in 2013, until they were announced defunct.

A Little Background
Taiwan has successfully helped many non-Chinese language media from Asia to be streamed into their Chinese speaking countries. Many one of the Animes that have made popular by Taiwan is Doraemon. I'm sure people are quite familiar of how the Chinese Dub Doraemon sounds. They also have made many Manga popular, even until now. Unfortunately, the country is using Traditional Chinese Writing (繁體), while Singapore is using Simplified Chinese Writing. Hence, importing Taiwanese version of comics might be a problem for Singaporeans since they might not be able to recognize Traditional Writing. And that's why Chuang Yi is a considered a dream come true for Singaporean Manga Reader.

2000 - Rise of Manga in Singapore
Ever since I got hooked by the first book of Detective Conan when I was in Pri 6, I began to collect the comics from Chuang Yi. When I was growing up during the 2000s, Manga began to rise its popularity. The famous Comic Chains in Singapore "Comic Connection" gradually opened up many branches around Singapore. I have many friends who also bought comics too. Comics Connection could be considered as one of my favorite hangouts when I'm alone. Like a typical Otaku.

2008 - Downfall of Chuang Yi
I believed the downfall begun ever since online free Manga portal started to emerge in the internet. People started to stop buying comics since they could just read online for free. And there are many factors that contributed to the fall of the publisher.

1. Online Manga Portal are translated in English
This would increase the readership as non-chinese speakers will have more accessibility to English Manga.

2. The Standard of Chinese in Singapore is getting too low
There seemed to be a trend of falling standard of students who are studying Chinese as their Mother Tongue. More and more people are heard communicating in Singlish rather than in Chinese. Due to the low passing standard for Chinese set by the Ministry of Education in Singapore, many do not really care about Chinese. Most would be just satisfied once they passed the 50% mark. And truthfully, not much emphasis is placed on Mother Tongue either. As Chuang Yi publishes Chinese Manga more, the readership will surely decrease over the years.

3. Chuang Yi did not published all famous Manga and was slow in translating the comics
To be honest, I am not just buying Manga by Chuang Yi, I also bought comics imported by Taiwan as well. Sometimes, I was so eager to read the next volume that I just could not wait. It could take one month for them to produce the comics after Taiwan has published them. Most probably they have to take time to acquire the license to print them. Chuang Yi also did not published some of the titles that I was looking for. It was pretty obvious Chuang Yi did not want to publish titles that are not so popular, unlike Naruto or One Piece which are just widely popular across the whole world.

4. Many Faithful Manga Readers in Singapore could actually read in Traditional Writing
This is also a personal opinion. When I mentioned I bought Taiwan imported comics, it would obviously mean that I could read in Traditional Writing myself. And also why Comic Connection imported them as well. HOWEVER, what kept Singaporeans actually buy Chuang Yi Comics would of course be the price, which is always cheaper than Taiwan Comics.

Because of these various reasons, frequent patrons of Comic Connection would realize the shops have also prepared to change their shops to sell something else too. And less than half of the shop now selling comics, while the rest of the shops are selling game consoles, accessories, and Korean Fan stuff...

Nevertheless, this news still struck me badly, and would definitely discourage some of the comic artists in Singapore. But I would like to say:

Thank You Chuang Yi for bringing me many wonderful Manga to my life.
From the bottom of my Heart.
Thanks.