For the film, see Tokyo Pop
The Variety Building, the former location of the Tokyopop headquarters Tokyopop ( style TOKYOPOP ; once known as Mixx Entertainment ) is an american distributor, licensor and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa and western manga-style works. The german publication division produces german translations of license japanese properties and original English-language manga, a well as original German-language manga. Tokyopop ‘s US publish division publishes works in English. Tokyopop has its US headquarters near Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California. [ 2 ] Its rear ship’s company ‘s offices are in Tokyo, Japan and its sister company ‘s office is in Hamburg, Germany.
Reading: Tokyopop – Wikipedia
history [edit ]
early history [edit ]
Tokyopop was founded in 1997 by Stuart J. Levy. [ 3 ] In the late 1990s, the caller ‘s headquarters were in Los Angeles. [ 4 ] While the company was known as Mixx Entertainment, it sold MixxZine, a manga cartridge holder where popular serials like Sailor Moon were published weekly. Mixxzine late became Tokyopop before it was discontinued. [ 11 ] Capitalizing on the popularity of Sailor Moon, Mixx besides created the magazine, Smile, a magazine that was half girls ’ magazine, and one-half shōjo manga anthology, and besides continued the Sailor Moon story after being discontinued in Mixxzine. cultural anthropologist Rachel Thorn praised Stu Levy for opening up an untapped market for liveliness with the publication of Sailor Moon and other. Before Sailor Moon, the belief among entertainment executives was that “ girls do n’t watch cartoons. ” [ 5 ] Due to Sailor Moon’s huge popularity, Tokyopop discontinued the serial from its magazines, and released it individually as its inaugural manga graphic novel. They engineered big script distribution via retail stores, standardized book shave size, created a basic industry-wide rat system, and developed the first-ever retail manga displays and introduced the world of graphic novels to an consultation of adolescent girls. besides, together with Diamond, Tokyopop offered retailers free spinner single-foot displays for Tokyopop manga, thereby increasing the visibility of the culture medium in bookstores. [ 6 ] Tokyopop besides licensed and distributed japanese anime. In 1996, Mixx Entertainment acquired the rights to the anime biopic of japanese poet Kenji Miyazawa, and Stu Levy produced and directed the english version of the zanzibar copal movie, entitled “ form and Chaos. ” The film was directed and scripted by Shoji Kawamori, who created Super Dimensional Fortress Macross and The Vision of Escaflowne. [ 7 ] taste of Cinema ranked “ spring and Chaos ” thirteenth in its list of Top “ 25 Weird Animated Movies That Are Worth Your meter. ” [ 8 ] From 2000 to 2004, Tokyopop released multiple film and television projects such as Street Fury, which Stu Levy created, GTO ( english version for Showtime television receiver ), Rave Master ( english version for Cartoon Network ‘s Toonami ), and Reign: The Conqueror ( english adaptation for Cartoon Network ‘s Adult Swim. ) Tokyopop besides released english translation DVDs for : Initial D, Marmalade Boy, Saint Tail, Samurai Girl: Real Bout High School, Vampire Princess Miyu, Brigadoon, FMW, High School Ghostbusters. [ 9 ]
“ 100 % authentic Manga ” [edit ]
In 2002, Tokyopop launched its line of “ 100 % authentic Manga ”, which was printed in the original japanese right-to-left format and included the original japanese printed voice effects. In Japan, most published manga is written to read from correct to left, but when an english translation was published in the U.S., however, the common practice was to use computer-reversed or mirror images that allowed the books to read from left to right. As a result, this distorted the artwork. [ 10 ] Tokyopop ‘s decision to use the original right-to-left format allowed the artwork to keep its original form and besides enabled Tokyopop to release most graphic novel serial on a frequency three-to-six times faster than the diligence standard at the clock. Tokyopop volumes hit the shelves monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly versus the six months or longer typical of competitors. It besides allowed Tokyopop to sell books for an industry-leading price item of $ 9.99 per reserve, at a time when most competitors charged $ 12.99 to $ 16.99 per book. [ 11 ] Tokyopop was the first U.S. publisher to adopt such a sweep policy. While some japanese manga artists had required that the English versions of their manga be published from justly to left, Tokyopop was the beginning american publisher to unilaterally announce that it would maintain the original format for all of its future manga titles. An “ authentic manga ” how-to guide was included in each graphic fresh to keep readers from by chance reading the concluding page first, and the authentic manga besides featured particular packaging .
Rising Stars of Manga [edit ]
Tokyopop launched their ball-shaped Manga publishing program in 2003 via the introduction of its “ Rising Stars of Manga “ talent competition. [ 12 ] The contest called for American manga artists to submit 15-25 page English-language stories of any genre. The top 10 entries, as judged by Tokyopop editors, received cash prizes ( between $ 500 – $ 2500 ) and were published in an anthology of the gain works. The grand prize winners were besides given the luck to pitch full-length manga projects to Tokyopop for a casual to become professional manga-ka. Tokyopop launched its first “ Rising Stars of Manga ” contest on August 15, 2002 and ended it on December 16, 2002, [ 13 ] with more than five hundred american artists submitting their 15–25 page, English-language stories. [ 14 ] The 5th Rising Stars of Manga rival added the People ‘s Choice award, where the top-20 finalists had their stallion entries judged by the fans on the Tokyopop web site. “ We are truly pleased to open up the Rising Stars judging to the fans, ” commented Tokyopop editor program Rob Valois. “ Since so many people have been vocal music on the message boards and at industry conventions, we ’ rhenium offering them all a chance to shape the future of manga. I ’ m personally activated to see how the fans ’ favorite will compare to our own. ” [ 15 ] Tokyopop held eight Rising Stars of Manga competitions between 2002 and 2008, american samoa well as one in the UK in 2005. [ 16 ] several Rising Stars of Manga winners went on to publish full-length graphic novels with Tokyopop, including Josh Elder with Mail Order Ninja, M. Alice LeGrow with Bizenghast, Mike Schwark and Ron Kaulfersch with Van Von Hunter, Lindsay Cibos and Jared Hodges with Peach Fuzz, Wes Abbot with Dogby Walks Alone, Felipe Smith with MBQ, Nathan Maurer with Atomic King Daidogan,. [ citation needed ]
rise of Tokyopop [edit ]
Tokyopop became one of the biggest manga publishers outside Japan, and as such, was attributed with popularizing manga in the United States. By 2004, it boasted the largest market share of manga sales in the U.S., reaching a high as 50 % of manga exports to the United States, according to Nissei Weekly. [ 17 ] Tokyopop was besides instrumental in the insertion of manhwa to western audiences. 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 do n’t come from Japan. Series like King of Hell by Kim Jae-hwan and Ra In-soo, and the Gothic vampire narrative Model by Lee So-young are both Korean, but could easily be mistaken for manga. ” [ 18 ] In 2005, Tokyopop began a newly, unblock publication called Manga ( in the first place Takuhai ) to feature their latest releases. 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 enabled Tokyopop to produce original English-language ( OEL ) manga 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. [ 19 ] The first line of Tokyopop-HarperCollins OEL manga was released in 2007 with the goal of publishing up to 24 titles each year. [ 20 ] Tokyopop has released several series based on american english games, films, and characters, such as Warcraft, [ 21 ] [ 22 ] the Kingdom Hearts video game series, and Jim Henson films. [ 23 ] They released the first volume of a series based on the Hellgate: London video plot in April 2008. [ 24 ] Tokyopop besides helped to pioneer the Cine-Manga format, a blend of cinematic properties and consecutive artwork that uses imagination from movies and television receiver series. Levy secured licenses to publish Cine-Manga with major entertainment brands including Disney, Nickelodeon, DreamWorks, Paramount, Universal, and the NBA. [ 25 ]
2008 restructure [edit ]
In June 2008, Tokyopop announced that it was being restructured, with its name being changed to Tokyopop Group, a holding group for several new subsidiaries. The Tokyopop operations in the United States were split into two subsidiaries : Tokyopop, Inc., and Tokyopop Media. Tokyopop, Inc. consisted of the party ‘s existing publications business, while Tokyopop Media focused on the company ‘s digital and comics-to-film works. [ 26 ] Tokyopop Media managed the Tokyopop web site, which continued to promote its publications. [ 27 ] According to representative Mike Kiley, the divisions would allow the company to “ set things up in ways that would very intelligibly and definitively allow those businesses to focus on what they need to do to succeed. The goals in each party are different and the accomplishment of those goals is more realistic, more possible if everyone working in each of those companies is very intelligibly focused. ” [ 27 ] During the restructure, Tokyopop laid off 39 positions, equating to 35 % –40 % of its american work force. Most of the positions cut were those involved in the calculate publication of its books which resulted in a scale back of publication output from Tokyopop, Inc. [ 26 ] [ 27 ] Tokyopop reported that it would be cutting the volumes released per year by approximately 50 %, to an average of 20–22 volumes per calendar month. [ 27 ] [ 28 ] [ 29 ] Tokyopop ‘s Japan division was besides to be split, with one unit of measurement operating under Tokyopop Media and the early becoming a subsidiary company under the overall Tokyopop Group. [ 29 ] In response to Tokyopop ‘s restructure, declining sales, and losing 20 % of its manga commercialize share, Tokyopop UK cut its publication release agenda from approximately 25 volumes a calendar month to 20. [ 30 ] In December 2008, citing “ dramatically low sales ” in the print 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 approaching publication schedules. [ 31 ]
Loss of Kodansha licenses [edit ]
Licenses from the japanese manga publisher Kodansha, historically, were a large part of Tokyopop ‘s catalogue. In the years leading up to 2009, the total of Kodansha titles licensed by Tokyopop decreased. The final examination 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 systematically give licenses to its manga to competitor 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 publication game, you kinda sensed that things were n’t quite the same as they used to be. ” [ 32 ] On August 31, 2009, Tokyopop announced Kodansha was allowing all of its license agreements with the union american and german divisions of Tokyopop to expire for reasons unknown. due to this loss in license, Tokyopop was forced to leave respective Kodansha series unfinished, including the popular Rave Master, Initial D, GetBackers, and Life series. It would be unable to reprint any previously published volumes, rendering all Kodansha-owned Tokyopop releases out-of-print. [ 33 ] 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 by then. [ 32 ] [ 33 ] Samurai Deeper Kyo was relicensed by rival Del Rey Manga, a division of Random House, which published the remaining volumes of the series. [ 33 ]
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Tokyopop said that it expected the loss of the licenses to have minimal impingement on the company economically due to its diversification of their holdings over the concluding 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 clean novels from Kodansha and that Kodansha appeared to be planning to publish its own titles through its partnership with Random House. [ 34 ]
Resignations and layoffs [edit ]
In February 2011, the president and head operating military officer, John Parker, resigned from the company and took the status of vice president of the united states of occupation development for Diamond. This came shortly after Diamond became Tokyopop ‘s newfangled distributor, taking the clientele from Harper Collins. Tokyopop did not name a substitute for Parker. Parker ‘s passing left only three remaining executives : the founder and CEO, Stuart Levy ; Publisher, Mike Kiley ; and Vice President of Inventory, Victor Chin. On March 1, Tokyopop continued to layoff workers, removing many high-profile employees such as long-time manga editors Lilian Diaz-Przyhyl and Troy Lewter. Tokyopop ‘s management besides eliminated the placement of conductor 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 long carrying Tokyopop lineage, and not paying debts that the company owed to Tokyopop. [ 35 ]
north american publication closure [edit ]
On April 15, 2011, Tokyopop announced that it would close its Los Angeles, CA–based north american publish operations on May 31, 2011. According to the release, Tokyopop ‘s film and television projects, angstrom well as european publish operations and ball-shaped rights sales, would not be closing. The UK branch would cease to operate after May 31 due to their reliance on the import of the union american branch ‘s merchandise. Stuart Levy, Tokyopop ‘s founder, released a personal affirmation reaffirming Tokyopop ‘s function in introducing manga to the mainstream North american hearing and thank fans, creators, and employees for their dedication. [ 36 ] On May 24, Tokyopop stated that the manga they licensed would revert to their original owners, who may license the titles to other companies. [ 37 ]
New personification [edit ]
In October 2011, Tokyopop ‘s official Twitter account released a message stating that its “ ultimate goal is to start publishing manga again. ” [ 38 ] On December 10, 2012, Tokyopop ‘s web site relaunched with a letter from management stating that the company was gloomy to a few choose employees who were starting a ‘new incarnation ‘ of the party. Partnered with ‘ Right Stuf on Demand ‘, they began offering ebooks of respective titles for which they retained the rights. [ 39 ] Their ship’s company blog article stated :
fortunately newfangled technologies that have only very recently become practical are enabling us to re-emerge. conventional publish has irrevocably changed, and it is impractical for all but the largest and most established companies to pursue publish as it has gone on for centuries. But by embracing ebook and print-on-demand technologies, we believe we can move ahead and continue to produce some amazing manga american samoa well as institute you asian Pop Culture in many forms. [ 40 ]
A letter from Levy on January 6, 2013 stated :
Digital technology has transformed many industries including print. This reach TOKYOPOP identical hard since we did n’t have ebook rights to most of our serial ( except OEL ). unfortunately our japanese licensors did not move fast enough to provide a legitimate alternate to piracy, and piracy shows no mercifulness. As a result, TOKYOPOP had to shut down its LA function and the licenses to japanese titles expired, reverting to the japanese licensors. What that means is TOKYOPOP is evolving as a company. I know many fans would prefer us to return to being a manga publisher like we were for most of our history. however, manga will never disappear – we will do what we can to deliver manga. I plan on experimenting with new ways to bring you asian pop culture. Please keep an assailable mind – and give feedback ( not good damaging when you do n’t like something but besides positive when you like something ) so we can tweak our access. [ 41 ]
Throughout the publish closure, Tokyopop Media remained open for business, continuing its efforts to produce film and television adaptations of Tokyopop ‘s manga, a good as reinvigorating the Tokyopop YouTube duct, launching respective master network series and adding trailers for japanese film and television receiver. In 2013, Tokyopop partnered with MondoMedia to release an enliven short-circuit film based on the Tokyopop manga Riding Shotgun, [ 42 ] which was directed by Michael Davis and starred the voices of Yuri Lowenthal and Jessy Schram. The curtly film garnered over a million views in its first calendar month, and led to an IndieGoGo crusade to finance a full enliven series. [ 43 ] In 2015, at Anime Expo and San Diego Comic-Con, Tokyopop announced that it would be relaunching its publish operations in North America in 2016 and hinted that its first base major licensor would be Disney. [ 44 ] [ 45 ] In January 2018, Tokyopop announced the exhaust dates for three raw properties : Konohana Kitan, Futaribeya: A Room for Two, and Hanger. [ 46 ] Additionally, TOKYOPOP initiated “ International Woman of Manga ” to showcase female manga writers with the publication of five titles : Ocean of Secrets, Goldfisch, Kamo, Undead Messiah, and Sword Princess Amaltea. [ 47 ] Tokyopop ‘s “ Nightmare Before Christmas : Zero ‘s Journey ” was nominated for two 2018 Diamond GEM awards in the categories “ 2018 Best All Ages Series ” and “ 2018 accredited TP or HC of the year ”. [ 48 ] [ 49 ]
Foreign markets [edit ]
Tokyopop Germany [edit ]
In the summer of 2004, Tokyopop founded its foremost foreign arm in Germany, incorporated as Tokyopop GmbH and headquartered in Hamburg. The beginning manga and manhwa by Tokyopop Germany were published in November 2004, and the foremost anime in the fall of 2005. In 2006, Tokyopop GmbH entered a “ strategic partnership ” with the japanese publisher Shueisha, allowing them to publish democratic titles such as Death Note and Bleach. [ 50 ] The party has besides released a number of original German-language manga, including Gothic Sports, winner of a 2007 Sondermann prize. [ 51 ] Tokyopop GmbH continues to operate as a publisher of German-language manga for the international market after the closure of the US publish office. In addition to publishing popular manga titles, Tokyopop GmbH besides expanded the marketplace by producing newfangled and exciting cross-media content, including licensing popular video recording game franchises such as Assassin’s Creed and Zelda and bestselling novels such as James Patterson and Warrior Cats. In 2013, the caller launched a prestige plan called Manga Library, which adapted classical literary novels into manga. According to GFK Entertainment, as of 2014 in the core segment of manga, Tokyopop GmbH is presently the second largest provider, with a marketplace share of 27 %. additionally, in the last two years, Tokyopop GmbH had the fastest growth rate out of the big three manga suppliers in the german market, with a growth rate of 29 % in 2014. This compares with Egmont Ehapa at 6.5 % and Carlsen Verlag at 1.8 %. [ 52 ]
other oversea markets [edit ]
In 2004, Tokyopop set up a division in the United Kingdom based in London that chiefly imported books from its original american counterpart and distributed them to bookstores in both the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Tokyopop released an anime collection in both countries in former 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 receiver channel aired the first half of Rave Master in early 2005. It was announced on the official Tokyopop Facebook page that because the british division chiefly imported the north american branch ‘s translate titles, it would become defunct with the only open branch being the german division. Tokyopop distributed some of its titles to Australia and New Zealand via Madman Entertainment /Funtastic and in Greece, Tokyopop properties were licensed by Anubis Comics. Tokyopop partnered with IDW International in February 2018 to license its original intellectual property ( IP ) and manga in overseas markets. [ 53 ]
Imprints [edit ]
Logo for Blu Manga .
Blu Manga [edit ]
Blu Manga is an depression under which Tokyopop published shōnen-ai and yaoi 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 released no editor name calling, nor party contact information out of fear there would be recoil and hate mail from “ moral crusaders ”. [ 54 ] In 2006, Tokyopop confirmed Blu was their own imprint. [ 54 ] [ 55 ] Blu Manga considered that their “ non-girly ” brand had enabled the depression, in a genre stereotypically created by women for women, to reach out to a male and gay audience. [ 56 ] early titles published by BLU were Earthian, Love Mode, and Shinobu Kokoro. [ 57 ]
criticism [edit ]
Fans critical of potential mismanage of the Initial D place voiced concerns regarding “ column changes ” in the lyric localization of function of the manga and anime. [ 58 ] The changes included rename of several characters and the removal of one fictional character ‘s involvement in enjo kōsai, a practice in Japan where younger women are paid to provide older men with company. [ 58 ] [ 59 ] In a letter sent to Anime News Network, Tokyopop responded to the criticisms, noting that they felt the edits were necessity because they were marketing the series to a younger target audience than it was primitively designed for in Japan. In an interview by Anime News Network, Tokyopop staff stated they besides felt that the series would reach a larger audience if it had a broader american appeal. [ 58 ] The company alleviated some of the concerns by noting that the anime series would receive an “ unedited, subtitled, japanese lyric ” DVD acquittance. The manga series remained emended except for the first volume, which was incidentally printed before the edit decisions were made. [ 58 ]