CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

PostPosted: **Fri Apr 15, 2011 1:25 pm**

So, several months ago I posted about the big shake-up at Tokyopop. A big restructuring happened; some people were laid off and their Kodansha licenses lapsed. I feared for them, but people said not to panic.

Well, panic now.

ANN wrote:ANN has confirmed with Tokyopop Senior Vice President Mike Kiley that the company will shutter its Los Angeles-based North American publishing operations on May 31. The company's film and European operations will be unaffected by this closure, and its office in Hamburg, Germany will continue to handle global rights sales for the company.

In a post on the website for Tokyopop's America's Greatest Otaku reality web series, the company's CEO, Stu Levy, announced that he will spend the next year in the Japanese prefecture of Miyagi, making a documentary about the effects of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake disaster (Higashi Nihon Daishinsai) of March 11. The proceeds of the documentary will go to support the victims. He also posted a farewell message on the official Tokyopop website.

May 31 is less than three weeks after the first major feature film based on a Tokyopop property, Priest, will open in American theaters.

Levy founded the company, originally called Mixx, in 1997 and published manga in serial form in its Mixxzine magazine. The company's titles included Naoko Takeuchi's popular Sailor Moon magical girl manga, Hitoshi Iwaaki's Parasyte science-fiction/horror manga, and CLAMP's Magic Knight Rayearth fantasy manga.

Tokyopop later pioneered the publication of "unflopped" manga (shown in its original right-to-left reading format) and launched divisions in the U.K. and Germany, as well as an imprint devoted to Boys Love manga called Blu. Other Tokyopop endeavors have included a light novel line, the Rising Stars of Manga program, and more recently, digital and print-on-demand manga.

In 2006 the company announced that it had negotiated the rights to a live-action adaptation of Min-Woo Hyung's Korean manhwa Priest, which opens later this year. In 2008, the company underwent a major restructuring that split the company into the publishing division and a new media and films division. The company also toured the U.S. throughout the summer of 2010, shooting the America's Greatest Otaku web series.

In 2009, Tokyopop confirmed that all of its Kodansha licenses would lapse. Last month, Levy commented that the February bankruptcy of the Borders bookstore chain had played a significant role in its decision to lay off a number of the company's employees.

Clearly, Tokyopop's misfortune is largely its own doing. Dumb licenses, too many licenses and the whole Ameri-manga fiasco...I could go on. Still, it's sad for the U.S. manga market as a whole because it will likely discourage other companies from going into the market or expanding their market plans. Also, people that were reading TP titles won't get to legally support the industry/the creators.

PostPosted: **Fri Apr 15, 2011 1:29 pm**

Obviously, it's so they can focus on creating fine productions like America's Greatest Otaku.

PostPosted: **Fri Apr 15, 2011 1:35 pm**

Wait.

Wait.

Tokyopop was still alive?

PostPosted: **Fri Apr 15, 2011 1:37 pm**

"Clearly, ________'s misfortune is largely its own doing."

You can insert the name of every R1 anime/manga company in that space there.

PostPosted: **Fri Apr 15, 2011 1:44 pm**

I find no reason to care. I've read a few of their titles and didn't find them that great. Most of their lineup makes me go bleh.

Also their Amerimanga isn't very good.

PostPosted: **Fri Apr 15, 2011 2:01 pm**

FFFFFF-

I get two of my regular series from them.

I am not happy.

I love those series.

ARIA! GAKUEN ALICE! I will read you no matter what, but this really stinks!!!

PostPosted: **Fri Apr 15, 2011 2:36 pm**

Well I like that the Published Fruits Basket and a few other titles XD

PostPosted: **Sat Apr 16, 2011 5:17 pm**

Fish and Chips (post: 1471654) wrote:Wait.

Wait.

Tokyopop was still alive?

It was and still is. You will notice that they only shut down their publishing division, which leaves, uh, some other things that I'm sure are terrible (one of which I've already alluded to). So look forward to more of that in the future I guess (although not for long).

PostPosted: **Sat Apr 16, 2011 5:25 pm**

They only had 2 more volumes of Future Diary to go. 2! *depression*

Ah, well. At least I'll clean up in the sales.

PostPosted: **Sat Apr 16, 2011 6:37 pm**

I still miss ADV. THEY DID MAH FAVORITE SERIES AZUMANGA DAIOH!

PostPosted: **Sat Apr 16, 2011 9:02 pm**

BUT WAIT!!?!?! They published the Kingdom hearts manga!

I was looking forward to reading the rest of that series.

PostPosted: **Sat Apr 16, 2011 9:32 pm**

Hmmm....I don't think I have very many TokyoPop titles in my collection. There's Dream Saga and Angelic Layer, but I'm not worried 'cause those are already completed.

Then again, there's CLAMP's "Kobato" which so far, only 3 volumes are out, and I STILL haven't purchased them and I think TokyoPop licensed it O.O

But most of my faves are Del Rey and Viz. <333

PostPosted: **Sun Apr 17, 2011 12:03 am**

OH MAN! I was collecting DnAngel and Immortal Rain...D8 (Although, the authors seemed to have gone on hiatuses)

Still, what do you guys think this means for the manga industry?

PostPosted: **Sun Apr 17, 2011 12:11 pm**

AnimeGirl (post: 1472220) wrote:Hmmm....I don't think I have very many TokyoPop titles in my collection. There's Dream Saga and Angelic Layer, but I'm not worried 'cause those are already completed.

Then again, there's CLAMP's "Kobato" which so far, only 3 volumes are out, and I STILL haven't purchased them and I think TokyoPop licensed it O.O

But most of my faves are Del Rey and Viz. <333

Kobato is Yen Press, so you're fine.

Also, the only Tokyopop title I have is Love Hina lolololol. It was a joke gift, for the people who'd look down on me.

I'm personally hoping this causes other companies to avoid making such awful releases as Tokyopop's. Viz does a wonderful job with most of the stuff I care about, and Yen Press and Del Rey's stuff is suitable for the cover job. I'm not too afraid about Tokyopop's death having that big of an impact on the manga industry. I'm guessing someone will license their better sellers like Fruits Basket and then we'll forget all about their other stuff.

PostPosted: **Sun Apr 17, 2011 1:03 pm**

Atria35 (post: 1471677) wrote:FFFFFF-

I get two of my regular series from them.

I am not happy.

I love those series.

ARIA! GAKUEN ALICE! I will read you no matter what, but this really stinks!!!

Crap I forgot they did Aria. I loved that manga series!

TheMewster (post: 1472156) wrote:I still miss ADV. THEY DID MAH FAVORITE SERIES AZUMANGA DAIOH!

The manga was re released by Yen Press

PostPosted: **Mon Apr 18, 2011 12:29 am**

Tokyopop hasn't really been that relevant for a few years now. Not since Fruits Basket ended and Kodansha took all of their licenses back leaving Tokyopop with a severe lack of major titles.

Still, this was a pretty big surprise. The restructuring/layoffs seemed to imply they were taking measures to avoid something like this.

PostPosted: **Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:16 am**

This sort of stuff makes me pause for a bit and think about whether I want to be buying a series that isn't done yet and is projected to be finished in like five years. Like, iirc, this is the second time that Aria fans have been screwed over by publishers tanking.

PostPosted: **Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:31 am**

I'm really depressed about the Aria manga, but I'm still happy I bought it when I could. For me, having what I do on my shelf says that I've supported them and shown that I want that series enough to buy it- upping the chances of someone else picking up the license. Even if I have to read the rest through scanlations, I did what I could.

PostPosted: **Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:10 pm**

This blog has collected a list of articles/blog posts about this on the blogosphere and news sites. Some of them are worth a read. The more I read about Stu Levy, the less impressed I get with the way he ran the company.

PostPosted: **Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:33 pm**

I'm hoping D.N.Angel and Fruits Basket go to somebody after this happens... :-/

PostPosted: **Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:36 pm**

mysngoeshere56 (post: 1472809) wrote:I'm hoping D.N.Angel and Fruits Basket go to somebody after this happens... :-/

They're guaranteed to. They're pretty much TP's biggest titles, and why turn down something guaranteed to make you money?

It's the smaller titles (Aria, Bizenghast) that I'm really worried about.

PostPosted: **Mon Apr 18, 2011 9:57 pm**

So... what will happen to D.N. Angel now?

I wonder if RightStuf will have a sale for Tokyopop manga.

PostPosted: **Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:49 pm**

So wait... TOKYOPOP'S TOTALLY DEAD NOW!!!!????????? Well....curse words. STU LEVY HOW COULD YOU?!?!?!?

I would agree that the Borders thing was a big influence though, since Borders was the first mainstream bookstore to carry their unflipped manga, and kinda their corporate sponsor in a way. :'( RIP Borders.

But now I'm kinda duhpressed. What about Gakuen Alice and Maid-Sama!?!?!? The only things of theirs I even bought any more was their shoujo series. ohh......no........I just realized that they also have the RIGHTS TO HETALIA TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dx Ok now im ****. The very first manga-related forum I ever joined was Tokyopop.com. But... if their European offices still exist does that mean that indirectly they still live? that they still publish right...right? What I hope they do is finish their series they have rights to indirectly, in other words, finish their series one by one.....then die. I hope.

Its also sad cuz I learned my first real manga skills from a Rising Stars of Manga winner.

Stu, I'm very mad mad mad at you.

I just had another thought....what will happen to the OELs? I liked Dramacon, so I dont want that one to die...and especially Furuba.

PostPosted: **Tue Apr 19, 2011 10:12 pm**

I didn't really care about this news since I rarely buy manga and what I do buy isn't the kind of stuff that Tokyopop usually picks up. But then, I suddenly remembered that they licensed flat earlier this year...now I am pretty upset. I was really looking forward to that, since it is a personal favorite. And reading manga is a lot more enjoyable when you have an actual physical copy in your hand...

Goodbye, Tokyopop; it has been fun. (Â´；ω；`)

PostPosted: **Fri Apr 22, 2011 11:42 am**

Wow on one hand Im not surprised (didnt they lose their Clamp licenses?) but at same time it feels like just yesterday I saw they were gonna do the Print on demand service and Stu Levi had another one of his wacky ideas(reality show). Its gonna feel wierd not having Tokyopop around but I mostly own Viz and Darkhorse manga anyway so Ill get over it eventually. Everyone listen to the Anncast episode on this if you havent aready its pretty entertaining!

PostPosted: **Fri Apr 22, 2011 12:37 pm**

Guys, stop talking like Borders is gone. They're not. They filed bankruptcy but they're not closing all their stores. At least not yet.

PostPosted: **Fri Apr 22, 2011 12:39 pm**

bakura91 (post: 1473743) wrote:Wow on one hand Im not surprised (didnt they lose their Clamp licenses?) but at same time it feels like just yesterday I saw they were gonna do the Print on demand service and Stu Levi had another one of his wacky ideas(reality show). Its gonna feel wierd not having Tokyopop around but I mostly own Viz and Darkhorse manga anyway so Ill get over it eventually. Everyone listen to the Anncast episode on this if you havent aready its pretty entertaining!

Yes, they did lose their CLAMP licenses. Well, they ones they had anyway... They never did Tsubasa or xxxHOLiC for some reason (those are through Del Rey). They also lost all other manga that they had licensed with Kodansha.

Overall, I think I agree with you. It'll be weird not having Tokyopop around for awhile, but in time, we'll see that the otaku community can thrive without them now. They really have gone downhill over the years, and when they lost their Kodansha licenses as well as all other CLAMP stuff, it was just a matter of time. They still have D.N.Angel and Fruits Basket, but only having two major titles really won't cut it in this day and age. Those two could just get licensed to somebody else, and then their fans would still have them while Tokypop would be left dry, save the fans that are into the less popular series they'd still have licenses for.

Viz, Dark Horse, and Del Rey's manga industries seem to be thriving very strongly, and Dark Horse has picked up most (if not all?) of the rights to the CLAMP series that Tokyopop has lost. I think that between these companies, manga in North America will still be running strong.

PostPosted: **Sat Apr 23, 2011 8:08 pm**

I'm just worried about Deadman Wonderland. It just recently got a show so it might be big enough that someone else might pick it up so I have that to comfort me.

airichan623 (post: 1473159) wrote:ohh......no........I just realized that they also have the RIGHTS TO HETALIA TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dx

Wait.. Hetalia? ... That's right, they do have Hetalia! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! I don't want to loose Hetalia!

PostPosted: **Sat Apr 23, 2011 8:11 pm**

You mean, no more Hetalia manga series!?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWaLxFIVX1s

As for Gakuen Alice and Mirai Nikki (which I didn't know Tokyopop owned), most likely another company will take them up.

PostPosted: **Sat Apr 23, 2011 8:13 pm**

Guys, Hetalia is a huge juggernaut over here and will certainly be picked up by someone else.

CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Tokyopop Closes North American Publishing Division

Tokyopop Closes North American Publishing Division

Tokyopop