Tokyopop
Encyclopedia
Tokyopop, styled TOKYOPOP, and formerly known as Mixx, is a distributor, licensor, and publisher of anime
, manga
, manhwa
, and Western manga-style works. The existing German publishing division produces German
translations of licensed Japanese properties and original English-language manga
, as well as original German-language manga. Tokyopop's defunct US publishing division previously published works in English
and Japanese
. Tokyopop formerly had its US headquarters in the Variety Building in Los Angeles
, California
, and branches in the United Kingdom
and Germany
. Tokyopop products are available internationally.
On April 15, 2011 the ComicsBeat website announced that US publishing operations at Tokyopop would be shutting down on May 31, 2011; the German branch of the company would continue to publish for the international market. Company president Stu Levy posted a farewell letter on the American Tokyopop website; however, this site was redirected to the Tokyopop Facebook page beginning in May, 2011.
Tokyopop's official twitter account has recently stated that its "ultimate goal is to start publishing manga again". With this Stu Levy implies that they might restart publishing manga.
.
When the company was known as Mixx, it sold MixxZine, a manga magazine. Mixx also sold the shōjo
manga anthology Smile
. Mixxzine later became Tokyopop
before it was discontinued. In 2002, Tokyopop began selling "unflopped" manga, branding it as "100%
Authentic Manga”, which permitted Tokyopop to undercut other companies. Matt Thorn
characterises Tokyopop as "cutting corners on everything" in order to bring the price of manga below $10 per volume, cheap enough for children to buy, and says that this has spread to other US manga publishing companies. In 2005, Tokyopop began a new, free publication called Manga
(originally Takuhai) to feature their latest releases.
Tokyopop is one of the biggest manga publishers outside of Japan
and as such has been attributed with popularizing manhwa in the United States
. Brad Brooks and Tim Pilcher, authors of The Essential Guide to World Comics. London, said that Tokyopop "published many Korean artists' work, possibly without Western fans even realizing the strips don't come from Japan. Series like King of Hell
by Kim Jae-hwan
and Ra In-soo, and the Gothic
vampire
tale Model
by Lee So-young
are both Korean, but could easily be mistaken for manga."
In March 2006, Tokyopop and HarperCollins Publishers announced a co-publishing agreement in which the sale and distribution rights of some Tokyopop manga and books, under this co-publishing license, would be transferred to HarperCollins in mid-June 2006. The agreement also enabled Tokyopop to produce original English-language manga (OEL) adaptations of HarperCollins' books. Meg Cabot
's books were the first to be adapted into the manga format, along with the Warriors series by Erin Hunter
. The first line of Tokyopop-HarperCollins OEL manga was released in 2007 with the goal of publishing up to 24 titles each year.
Tokyopop has released several series based on American games, films, and characters, such as Warcraft
, the Kingdom Hearts
video game series, and Jim Henson
films. They released the first volume of a series based on the Hellgate: London
video game in April 2008.
During the restructure, Tokyopop laid off 39 positions, equating to 35–40% of its total American workforce. Most of the positions cut were those involved in the direct publication of its books. The publication output from Tokyopop, Inc., was scaled back. Tokyopop reported that it would be cutting the volumes released per year by approximately 50%, to an average of 20–22 volumes per month.
Tokyopop's Japan division was also to be split, with one unit operating under Tokyopop Media and the other becoming a subsidiary under the overall Tokyopop Group. In response to Tokyopop's restructuring, declining sales, and losing 20% of its manga market share, Tokyopop UK cut its publication release schedule from approximately 25 volumes a month to 20.
In December 2008, citing "dramatically low sales" in the publishing industry as a whole, Tokyopop, Inc., laid off eight more employees, including three editors, and noted that the company would have to rearrange some of its upcoming publication schedules.
historically were a large part of Tokyopop's catalog. In the years leading up to 2009, the number of Kodansha titles licensed by Tokyopop decreased. The final new Kodansha title was Tokko
by Tohru Fujisawa, and the final batch of volumes of Kodansha titles appeared around March 2009. Around that time Kodansha began to consistently give licenses to its manga to Del Rey Manga
. Deb Aoki of About.com
said "Well, more or less. You get the idea. If you're the type who reads the tea leaves of the manga publishing biz, you kinda sensed that things weren't quite the same as they used to be."
On August 31, 2009, Tokyopop announced that Japanese manga publisher Kodansha was allowing all of its licensing agreements with both the North American and German divisions of Tokyopop to expire for reasons unknown. Due to this loss in licensing, Tokyopop was forced to leave several Kodansha series unfinished, including popular series Rave Master
, Initial D
, GetBackers
, and Life
. It also would be unable to reprint any previously published volumes, rendering all Kodansha-owned Tokyopop releases out-of-print.
Several other titles licensed and published by Tokyopop, including best sellers Cardcaptor Sakura
, Chobits
, Clover
, and Magic Knight Rayearth
, were reacquired by Dark Horse Comics
, though two other titles Kodansha licensed to Dark Horse had since transferred to Random House
. Samurai Deeper Kyo
was relicensed by competitor Del Rey Manga
, a division of Random House, which published the remaining volumes of the series.
Tokyopop said that it expected the loss of the licenses to have minimal impact on the company economically due to its diversification of their holdings over the last few years, though they acknowledged the loss would hurt fans of the ongoing series who face uncertainty about the completion of those titles from other companies. ICv2 reported that Tokyopop would continue to publish light novel
s from Kodansha, and that Kodansha appeared to be planning to publish its own titles through its partnership with Random House.
In an interview with the website Anime Vice, Tokypop Marketing Manager Kasia Piekarz noted that the company was not entirely surprised by the move, stating, "It wasn't completely unexpected as we haven't licensed anything new from Kodansha in quite some time. What surprised us most was that they canceled licenses for series that were almost finished, such as Samurai Deeper Kyo and Rave Master. From a fan and collector's perspective, that doesn't make sense to us."
On March 1, Tokyopop continued layoffs, removing many high-profile employees such as long-time manga editors Lilian Diaz-Przyhyl and Troy Lewter. Tokyopop's management also eliminated the position of Director of Sales Operations. In an interview with ICv2, Stuart Levy revealed that the layoffs were due to Borders Group
, Tokyopop's largest customer, filing bankruptcy in March 2011, no longer carrying Tokyopop stock, and not paying debts that the company owed to Tokyopop.
. The first manga and manhwa by Tokyopop Germany were published in November 2004, and the first anime in the fall of 2005. In 2006, Tokyopop GmbH entered a "strategic partnership" with the Japanese publisher Shueisha
, allowing them to publish popular titles such as Death Note
, and Bleach
. According to then-sales manager Vincent Lampert, Tokyopop GmbH was the second-largest manga publisher in Germany in 2010. The company has also released a number of original German-language manga, including Gothic Sports, winner of a 2007 Sondermann
award. Tokyopop GmbH continues to operate as a publisher of German-language manga for the international market after the closure of the US publishing office.
, UK, office that mainly imports books from the U.S. and distributes them to bookstores in the United Kingdom. Tokyopop released an anime collection in the United Kingdom market in late 2006, including titles such as Initial D and Great Teacher Onizuka
. Vampire Princess Miyu
was released on DVD
by MVM Entertainment, and the Toonami
television channel aired the first half of Rave Master in early 2005. It was announced via the official Tokyopop facebook page that because the UK branch mainly imported the North American branch's translated titles, the UK branch will become defunct. Levy also mentioned that the only branch left open would be the German office.
Tokyopop also distributes some of their titles to Australia
and New Zealand
through Funtastic, who recently acquired Madman Entertainment
. In Greece
, Tokyopop-owned properties are licensed by Anubis Comics
.
manga titles. The imprint was launched in 2005. Initially, the company denied that it owned Blu, stating that it was only distributing for another company. The company also released no editor names nor company contact info, out of fear there would be backlashes and hate mail from "moral crusaders." In 2006, the company confirmed Blu was their own imprint. Blu Manga consider that they have "non-girly" branding which has enabled the imprint, in a genre stereotypically by women for women, to reach out to a male or gay audience. Early titles published by BLU were Earthian
, Love Mode
, and Shinobu Kokoro.
property voiced concerns regarding "editorial changes" in the language localization of the manga and anime. The changes included renaming of several characters and the removal of one character's involvement in enjo kōsai
, a practice in Japan where younger women are paid to provide older men with companionship. In a letter sent to Anime News Network
, Tokyopop responded to the criticisms, noting that they felt the edits were necessary because they were marketing the series to a younger target audience than it was originally designed for in Japan. They also felt that the series would reach a larger audience if it had a broader American appeal.
The company alleviated some of the concerns by noting that the anime series would receive an "unedited, subtitled, Japanese language" DVD release. The manga series remained edited except for the first volume, which was accidentally printed before the editing decisions were made.
The Otaku Six cast mates involved in the web-based documentary series include:
1. Andre Jeanjacques from San Antonio, TX, One of the Otaku Six
2. Diana Hsu from St. Louis, MO, One of the Otaku Six
3. Dominique Therese Kruse from Anchorage, AK One of the Otaku Six
4. Meera Marie from St. Charles, IL, One of the Otaku Six
5. Stephan Cho from New York, NY, One of the Otaku Six
6. William Sullivan Brown from Seattle, WA, One of the Otaku Six
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
, manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
, manhwa
Manhwa
Manhwa is the general Korean term for comics and print cartoons . Outside of Korea, the term usually refers specifically to South Korean comics. The term, along with manga, is a cognate of the Chinese manhua...
, and Western manga-style works. The existing German publishing division produces German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
translations of licensed Japanese properties and original English-language manga
Original English-language manga
Original English-language manga or OEL manga is the term commonly used to describe comic books or graphic novels in the "international manga" genre of comics whose language of original publication is English...
, as well as original German-language manga. Tokyopop's defunct US publishing division previously published works in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
. Tokyopop formerly had its US headquarters in the Variety Building in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and branches in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Tokyopop products are available internationally.
On April 15, 2011 the ComicsBeat website announced that US publishing operations at Tokyopop would be shutting down on May 31, 2011; the German branch of the company would continue to publish for the international market. Company president Stu Levy posted a farewell letter on the American Tokyopop website; however, this site was redirected to the Tokyopop Facebook page beginning in May, 2011.
Tokyopop's official twitter account has recently stated that its "ultimate goal is to start publishing manga again". With this Stu Levy implies that they might restart publishing manga.
History
Tokyopop was originally founded in 1997 by Stuart J. Levy. In the late 1990s the company headquarters were in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
When the company was known as Mixx, it sold MixxZine, a manga magazine. Mixx also sold the shōjo
Shojo
The term refers to manga marketed to a female audience roughly between the ages of 10-18. The name romanizes the Japanese 少女 , literally: "little female". Shōjo manga covers many subjects in a variety of narrative and graphic styles, from historical drama to science fiction — often with a strong...
manga anthology Smile
Smile (magazine)
Smile was a magazine aimed at teenage girls. At first it was supposed to be a mainstream teen mag similar to Seventeen, but with added manga; later, it became more focused on manga and removed most of its other features. It was discontinued in 2002. It was published by TOKYOPOP.Sailor Moon, Peach...
. Mixxzine later became Tokyopop
TOKYOPOP (magazine)
Tokyopop magazine, originally named MixxZine, was a manga anthology published in North America by Tokyopop .MixxZine at the start published four series, two of which were shōjo and two of which were seinen:...
before it was discontinued. In 2002, Tokyopop began selling "unflopped" manga, branding it as "100%
Authentic Manga”, which permitted Tokyopop to undercut other companies. Matt Thorn
Matt Thorn
Matt Thorn is a cultural anthropologist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Manga Production at Kyoto Seika University's Faculty of Manga in Japan. He is most well known in North America for his work dealing with shōjo manga. He has appeared at multiple anime conventions, including...
characterises Tokyopop as "cutting corners on everything" in order to bring the price of manga below $10 per volume, cheap enough for children to buy, and says that this has spread to other US manga publishing companies. In 2005, Tokyopop began a new, free publication called Manga
Manga (magazine)
Manga magazine, formerly known as Takuhai, is a free quarterly magazine published by Tokyopop, which gives preview chapters of a selection of the company's new manga titles, as well as fan art and short articles. It was first published in the summer of 2005, and readers can subscribe to the...
(originally Takuhai) to feature their latest releases.
Tokyopop is one of the biggest manga publishers outside of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and as such has been attributed with popularizing manhwa in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Brad Brooks and Tim Pilcher, authors of The Essential Guide to World Comics. London, said that Tokyopop "published many Korean artists' work, possibly without Western fans even realizing the strips don't come from Japan. Series like King of Hell
King of Hell
, also known as Demon King in some countries, is a Korean manhwa written by Ra In-soo and illustrated by Kim Jae-hwan. In the United States, King of Hell is published by Tokyopop.-Plot:...
by Kim Jae-hwan
Kim Jae-hwan
Kim Jae-hwan is a Korean graphic novel author and artist. He is best known in English-speaking countries for his work on King of Hell and Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy.-Bibliography:* Dew Kai* Rainbow* King of Hell...
and Ra In-soo, and the Gothic
Gothic fiction
Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. Gothicism's origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, subtitled "A Gothic Story"...
vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
tale Model
Model (manhwa)
Model is a romantic thriller manhwa created by Lee So-young , which follows Korean artist, Jae, through 7 volumes as she dabbles into the vampire world of Michael, digging in his past to find how best to paint his portrait.-Plot summary:...
by Lee So-young
Lee So-young
Lee So-young is South Korean manhwa artist. Her works include Model and Arcana are licensed by Tokyopop.- Works :* Model * Check * Arcana * Horror Collector * Blue Bird...
are both Korean, but could easily be mistaken for manga."
In March 2006, Tokyopop and HarperCollins Publishers announced a co-publishing agreement in which the sale and distribution rights of some Tokyopop manga and books, under this co-publishing license, would be transferred to HarperCollins in mid-June 2006. The agreement also enabled Tokyopop to produce original English-language manga (OEL) adaptations of HarperCollins' books. Meg Cabot
Meg Cabot
Meg Cabot is anAmerican author of romantic and paranormal fiction for teens and adults and used to write under several pen names, but now writes exclusively under her real name, Meg Cabot...
's books were the first to be adapted into the manga format, along with the Warriors series by Erin Hunter
Erin Hunter
Erin Hunter is a pseudonym used by the authors Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, and Tui Sutherland, along with editor Victoria Holmes. Under this pen name, they have written two series of books. They are best known for the Warriors series, but the authors have also created another similar series called...
. The first line of Tokyopop-HarperCollins OEL manga was released in 2007 with the goal of publishing up to 24 titles each year.
Tokyopop has released several series based on American games, films, and characters, such as Warcraft
Warcraft
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is a real-time strategy game , developed by Blizzard Entertainment and published by Blizzard and Interplay Entertainment. The MS-DOS version was released in November 1994 and the Macintosh version in late 1996. Sales were fairly high, reviewers were mostly impressed, and the...
, the Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts
is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square in 2002 for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The first game in the Kingdom Hearts series, it is the result of a collaboration between Square Enix and The Walt Disney Company. The game combines characters and settings from Disney...
video game series, and Jim Henson
Jim Henson
James Maury "Jim" Henson was an American puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, and created advanced puppets for...
films. They released the first volume of a series based on the Hellgate: London
Hellgate: London
Hellgate: London is a dark fantasy themed action role-playing game originally developed by Flagship Studios, released on October 31, 2007. It was developed by a team headed by former Blizzard Entertainment employees, some of whom had overseen the creation of the Diablo series...
video game in April 2008.
2008 restructuring
In June 2008, the company announced that it was being restructured, with its name being changed to Tokyopop Group, a holding group for several new subsidiaries. The existing Tokyopop operations in the United States would be split into two subsidiaries: Tokyopop, Inc., and Tokyopop Media. Tokyopop, Inc., consists of the company's existing publications business, while Tokyopop Media focuses on the company's digital and comics-to-film works. Tokyopop Media will also manage the Tokypop website, which will continue to promote its publications. According to Tokyopop representative Mike Kiley, the division into two companies would allow the company to "set things up in ways that would very clearly and definitively allow those businesses to focus on what they need to do to succeed. The goals in each company are different and the achievement of those goals is more realistic, more possible if everyone working in each of those companies is very clearly focused."During the restructure, Tokyopop laid off 39 positions, equating to 35–40% of its total American workforce. Most of the positions cut were those involved in the direct publication of its books. The publication output from Tokyopop, Inc., was scaled back. Tokyopop reported that it would be cutting the volumes released per year by approximately 50%, to an average of 20–22 volumes per month.
Tokyopop's Japan division was also to be split, with one unit operating under Tokyopop Media and the other becoming a subsidiary under the overall Tokyopop Group. In response to Tokyopop's restructuring, declining sales, and losing 20% of its manga market share, Tokyopop UK cut its publication release schedule from approximately 25 volumes a month to 20.
In December 2008, citing "dramatically low sales" in the publishing industry as a whole, Tokyopop, Inc., laid off eight more employees, including three editors, and noted that the company would have to rearrange some of its upcoming publication schedules.
Loss of Kodansha licenses
Licenses from the Japanese manga publisher KodanshaKodansha
, the largest Japanese publisher, produces the manga magazines Nakayoshi, Afternoon, Evening, and Weekly Shonen Magazine, as well as more literary magazines such as Gunzō, Shūkan Gendai, and the Japanese dictionary Nihongo Daijiten. The company has its headquarters in Bunkyō, Tokyo...
historically were a large part of Tokyopop's catalog. In the years leading up to 2009, the number of Kodansha titles licensed by Tokyopop decreased. The final new Kodansha title was Tokko
Tokko
', often shortened to ' was a police force established in 1911 in Japan, specifically to investigate and control political groups and ideologies deemed to be a threat to public order....
by Tohru Fujisawa, and the final batch of volumes of Kodansha titles appeared around March 2009. Around that time Kodansha began to consistently give licenses to its manga to Del Rey Manga
Del Rey Manga
was the manga-publishing imprint of Del Rey Books, a branch of Ballantine Books, which in turn is part of Random House, the publishing division of Bertelsmann. It was formed as part of a cross-publishing relationship with Japanese publisher Kodansha. Some of the Del Rey titles, such as Tsubasa...
. Deb Aoki of About.com
About.com
About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....
said "Well, more or less. You get the idea. If you're the type who reads the tea leaves of the manga publishing biz, you kinda sensed that things weren't quite the same as they used to be."
On August 31, 2009, Tokyopop announced that Japanese manga publisher Kodansha was allowing all of its licensing agreements with both the North American and German divisions of Tokyopop to expire for reasons unknown. Due to this loss in licensing, Tokyopop was forced to leave several Kodansha series unfinished, including popular series Rave Master
Rave Master
, is a manga series written and illustrated by Hiro Mashima. The manga was serialized in Shōnen Magazine from July 1999 through July 2005, and published in thirty-five tankōbon by Kodansha. The manga series was licensed for an English release in North America by Tokyopop until Kodansha allowed...
, Initial D
Initial D
is a manga by Shuichi Shigeno which has been serialized in Kodansha's Young Magazine since 1995. It has been adapted into a long-running anime series by OB Planning, Studio Comet, Studio Gallop, Pastel, and A.C.G.T, and a live action film by Avex and Media Asia...
, GetBackers
GetBackers
is a manga series written by Tadashi Agi and illustrated by Rando Ayamine. The series was serialized and is published by Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from 1999 until 2007, totaling 39 volumes. The plot follows the "GetBackers", a group that retrieves anything that was lost...
, and Life
Life (manga)
is a shōjo manga series created by Keiko Suenobu, a manga creator well known for her work on Vitamin and Happy Tomorrow. Life was serialized in Bessatsu Friend, a publication of Kodansha, and deals with many controversial topics such as self-mutilation, bullying, rape, suicide, and manipulation...
. It also would be unable to reprint any previously published volumes, rendering all Kodansha-owned Tokyopop releases out-of-print.
Several other titles licensed and published by Tokyopop, including best sellers Cardcaptor Sakura
Cardcaptor Sakura
, abbreviated as CCS and also known as Cardcaptors, is a Japanese shōjo manga series written and illustrated by the manga artist group Clamp. The manga was originally serialized monthly in Nakayoshi from the May 1996 until the June 2000 issue, and later published in 12 tankōbon volumes by Kodansha...
, Chobits
Chobits
is a Japanese manga created by the Japanese manga collective Clamp. It was published by Kodansha in Young Magazine from February 2001 to November 2002 and collected in eight bound volumes....
, Clover
Clover (manga)
is a manga series created by Clamp, a creative team made up by Satsuki Igarashi, Ageha Ohkawa, Tsubaki Nekoi, and Mokona. The manga takes place in a dystopian future, where the government is out to control the "Clovers", a race of children with special powers....
, and Magic Knight Rayearth
Magic Knight Rayearth
is a Japanese manga series created by Clamp, a manga artist team made up by Satsuki Igarashi, Ageha Ohkawa, Tsubaki Nekoi and Mokona. Rayearth combines elements from the magical girl and mecha anime genres with parallel world fantasy....
, were reacquired by Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
, though two other titles Kodansha licensed to Dark Horse had since transferred to Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
. Samurai Deeper Kyo
Samurai Deeper Kyo
is a manga series written and illustrated by Akimine Kamijyo. The manga was serialized from October 15, 1999 to May 10, 2006 in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine, and collected over 38 volumes....
was relicensed by competitor Del Rey Manga
Del Rey Manga
was the manga-publishing imprint of Del Rey Books, a branch of Ballantine Books, which in turn is part of Random House, the publishing division of Bertelsmann. It was formed as part of a cross-publishing relationship with Japanese publisher Kodansha. Some of the Del Rey titles, such as Tsubasa...
, a division of Random House, which published the remaining volumes of the series.
Tokyopop said that it expected the loss of the licenses to have minimal impact on the company economically due to its diversification of their holdings over the last few years, though they acknowledged the loss would hurt fans of the ongoing series who face uncertainty about the completion of those titles from other companies. ICv2 reported that Tokyopop would continue to publish light novel
Light novel
A is a style of Japanese novel primarily targeting junior high and high school students . The term "light novel" is a wasei-eigo, or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language. Light novels are often called or for short...
s from Kodansha, and that Kodansha appeared to be planning to publish its own titles through its partnership with Random House.
In an interview with the website Anime Vice, Tokypop Marketing Manager Kasia Piekarz noted that the company was not entirely surprised by the move, stating, "It wasn't completely unexpected as we haven't licensed anything new from Kodansha in quite some time. What surprised us most was that they canceled licenses for series that were almost finished, such as Samurai Deeper Kyo and Rave Master. From a fan and collector's perspective, that doesn't make sense to us."
Resignations and layoffs
In February 2011, the President and Chief Operating Officer, John Parker, resigned from the company and took the position of Vice President of Business Development for Diamond. This came shortly after Diamond became Tokyopop's new distributor, taking the business from Harper Collins. Tokyopop did not name a replacement for Parker. Parker's departure left only three remaining executives: the founder and CEO, Stuart Levy; Mike Kiley, Publisher; and Victor Chin, Vice President of Inventory.On March 1, Tokyopop continued layoffs, removing many high-profile employees such as long-time manga editors Lilian Diaz-Przyhyl and Troy Lewter. Tokyopop's management also eliminated the position of Director of Sales Operations. In an interview with ICv2, Stuart Levy revealed that the layoffs were due to Borders Group
Borders Group
Borders Group, Inc. was an international book and music retailer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The company employed approximately 19,500 throughout the U.S., primarily in its Borders and Waldenbooks stores....
, Tokyopop's largest customer, filing bankruptcy in March 2011, no longer carrying Tokyopop stock, and not paying debts that the company owed to Tokyopop.
North American publishing shutdown
On April 15, 2011, Tokyopop announced that it would close its Los Angeles, CA-based North American publishing operations on May 31, 2011. According to the release, Tokyopop's film and television projects, as well as European publishing operations and global rights sales, will not be closing. However, it was later announced via the Tokyopop facebook pages that the UK branch would cease to operate after May 31st due to their reliance on the importing of the North American branch's product. Stuart Levy, Tokyopop's founder, also released a personal statement reaffirming Tokyopop's role in introducing manga to the mainstream North American audience and thanking fans, creators, and employees for their dedication. On May 24, Tokyopop stated that the manga they licensed would revert to their original respective owners, who may license the titles to other companies.Tokyopop Germany
In the summer of 2004, Tokyopop founded its first foreign branch in Germany, incorporated as Tokyopop GmbH and headquartered in HamburgHamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. The first manga and manhwa by Tokyopop Germany were published in November 2004, and the first anime in the fall of 2005. In 2006, Tokyopop GmbH entered a "strategic partnership" with the Japanese publisher Shueisha
Shueisha
is a major publisher in Japan. The company was founded in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The following year, Shueisha became a separate, independent company. Magazines published by Shueisha include Weekly Shōnen Jump, Weekly Young Jump,...
, allowing them to publish popular titles such as Death Note
Death Note
is a manga created by writer Tsugumi Ohba and manga artist Takeshi Obata. The main character is Light Yagami, a high school student who discovers a supernatural notebook, the "Death Note", dropped on Earth by a god of death, or a shinigami, named Ryuk...
, and Bleach
Bleach (manga)
is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Noriaki "Tite" Kubo. Bleach follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki after he obtains the powers of a —a death personification similar to the Grim Reaper—from another Soul Reaper, Rukia Kuchiki...
. According to then-sales manager Vincent Lampert, Tokyopop GmbH was the second-largest manga publisher in Germany in 2010. The company has also released a number of original German-language manga, including Gothic Sports, winner of a 2007 Sondermann
Sondermann
Sondermann is a cartoon character of the painter and cartoonist Bernd Pfarr, which appeared, until August 1994, in a column of the same name by the writer Simone Borowiak and, from 1987 to August 2004, regularly in the satirical magazine Titanic...
award. Tokyopop GmbH continues to operate as a publisher of German-language manga for the international market after the closure of the US publishing office.
Other overseas markets
Also in 2004, Tokyopop set up a LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, UK, office that mainly imports books from the U.S. and distributes them to bookstores in the United Kingdom. Tokyopop released an anime collection in the United Kingdom market in late 2006, including titles such as Initial D and Great Teacher Onizuka
Great Teacher Onizuka
, officially abbreviated as GTO, is a Japanese shōnen manga written and illustrated by Tohru Fujisawa. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine from May 1997 to April 2002. The story focuses on 22-year-old ex-bōsōzoku member Eikichi Onizuka, who becomes a teacher at a private high...
. Vampire Princess Miyu
Vampire Princess Miyu
is a Japanese horror manga series by Narumi Kakinouchi and Toshiki Hirano, as well as an anime adaptation by the same creators. The anime was originally presented in a 4-episode OVA licenced by AnimEigo in 1988, and was later adapted into a 26-episode television series licensed by Tokyopop and...
was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
by MVM Entertainment, and the Toonami
Toonami
Toonami was a registered trademark of Cartoon Network, used initially for action-oriented programming blocks on Cartoon Network television channels worldwide, mostly showing American cartoons and Japanese anime, originating in the United States on March 17, 1997 and ended on September 20, 2008.The...
television channel aired the first half of Rave Master in early 2005. It was announced via the official Tokyopop facebook page that because the UK branch mainly imported the North American branch's translated titles, the UK branch will become defunct. Levy also mentioned that the only branch left open would be the German office.
Tokyopop also distributes some of their titles to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
through Funtastic, who recently acquired Madman Entertainment
Madman Entertainment
Madman Entertainment is an Australian company that distributes international films as well as Japanese anime and manga in Australia and New Zealand. The company is owned by Funtastic Limited and is one of the major entertainment companies in Australia. It employs 130 people and has an annual...
. In Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Tokyopop-owned properties are licensed by Anubis Comics
Compupress
Compupress is a Greek publishing company formed in 1982. Originally the company was formed in order to publish computer magazines and books. Following the decline of the computer magazine market, the company expanded to publish fantasy and science fiction, comic books and graphic novels, manga and...
.
Blu Manga
Blu Manga is an imprint under which Tokyopop publishes shōnen-ai and yaoiYaoi
In careful Japanese enunciation, all three vowels are pronounced separately, for a three-mora word, . The English equivalent is . also known as Boys' Love, is a Japanese popular term for female-oriented fictional media that focus on homoerotic or homoromantic male relationships, usually created by...
manga titles. The imprint was launched in 2005. Initially, the company denied that it owned Blu, stating that it was only distributing for another company. The company also released no editor names nor company contact info, out of fear there would be backlashes and hate mail from "moral crusaders." In 2006, the company confirmed Blu was their own imprint. Blu Manga consider that they have "non-girly" branding which has enabled the imprint, in a genre stereotypically by women for women, to reach out to a male or gay audience. Early titles published by BLU were Earthian
Earthian
is a shōnen-ai manga by Yun Kouga about angel watchers of earth which was made into a J.C.Staff-produced anime OVA. The angels' roles are to assess the progress of humans giving them positive and negative scores based on their everyday actions...
, Love Mode
Love Mode
Love Mode is a yaoi manga series by Shimizu Yuki.It was first serialized in the Japanese monthly yaoi magazine Be x Boy in 1995 and released in 11 individual paperback volumes by the now defunct publisher Biblos...
, and Shinobu Kokoro.
Americanization
Fans critical of possible mishandling of the Initial DInitial D
is a manga by Shuichi Shigeno which has been serialized in Kodansha's Young Magazine since 1995. It has been adapted into a long-running anime series by OB Planning, Studio Comet, Studio Gallop, Pastel, and A.C.G.T, and a live action film by Avex and Media Asia...
property voiced concerns regarding "editorial changes" in the language localization of the manga and anime. The changes included renaming of several characters and the removal of one character's involvement in enjo kōsai
Enjo kosai
means "compensated dating" and is a practice which originated in Japan where older men give money and/or luxury gifts to attractive women for their companionship and, possibly, for sexual favors. The female participants range from primarily school-aged girls to housewives. A common misconception is...
, a practice in Japan where younger women are paid to provide older men with companionship. In a letter sent to Anime News Network
Anime News Network
Anime News Network is an anime industry news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, Japanese popular music and other otaku-related culture within North America, Australia and Japan. Additionally, it sometimes features similar happenings throughout the Anglosphere and elsewhere in the...
, Tokyopop responded to the criticisms, noting that they felt the edits were necessary because they were marketing the series to a younger target audience than it was originally designed for in Japan. They also felt that the series would reach a larger audience if it had a broader American appeal.
The company alleviated some of the concerns by noting that the anime series would receive an "unedited, subtitled, Japanese language" DVD release. The manga series remained edited except for the first volume, which was accidentally printed before the editing decisions were made.
Tokyopop Tour
The Tokyopop Tour is a web-based documentary series created to search for "America's Greatest Otaku." The company developed the idea for the Tour back in 2009. It was to feature a group of Tokyopop Interns, called the "Otaku Six" and Tokyopop's CEO, Stu Levy. Filming them as they traveled across America. The show was filmed in summer of 2010 documenting various "otaku" culture hotspots from July 1, 2010, to August 25, 2010. Filming in over twenty-cities, in order of travel, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Denver, Dallas, Kansas City, Albuquerque, Phoenix, San Diego, Oklahoma, Nashville, Baltimore, Washington D.C., New York City, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Louisville, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Chicago. The show was advertised as also a competition. Applicants were filmed all over the U.S in hopes of gaining the title "America's Greatest Otaku" and to win a trip to Japan.The Otaku Six cast mates involved in the web-based documentary series include:
1. Andre Jeanjacques from San Antonio, TX, One of the Otaku Six
2. Diana Hsu from St. Louis, MO, One of the Otaku Six
3. Dominique Therese Kruse from Anchorage, AK One of the Otaku Six
4. Meera Marie from St. Charles, IL, One of the Otaku Six
5. Stephan Cho from New York, NY, One of the Otaku Six
6. William Sullivan Brown from Seattle, WA, One of the Otaku Six
See also
External links
- TOKYOPOP at FacebookFacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
- America's Greatest Otaku (Archive)
- Mixx Entertainment (Archive)
- Blu Manga imprint Official site (Archive)