WE MISS TOKYOPOP

This is the group for those of us who will miss TOKYOPOP, and feel betrayed by the CEO, Stu Levy, who said he a fan like us and cared about the market. Rally, those who want to find out who murdered Tokyopop! Note: Even I didn't always like their translations all the time, but at least they happened. In May of 2011, American manga fans mourned the loss of the publisher TOKYOPOP from the bookstore shelves, meaning many series (like Hetalia) unfinished and incomplete for American book readers. This is particularly momentous because Tokyopop was, historically, the company that started selling manga as we now know it. Before Tokyopop, all titles were flipped to American reading order, instead of leaving the art as is, and all volumes cost around $20 each. Tokyopop turned the tables and started publishing their series unflipped in their original form, and lowered costs to $10 a volume. But now, it is dead. Series like "Hetalia" and "Fruits Basket" are now out of print, and OELs like "Dramacon" and "Princess Ai" will probably never see publication ever again. TOKYOPOP, Inc.: A Brief History MIXX: THE BIRTH OF TOKYOPOP 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. ---- THE GOLDEN AGE OF TOKYPOP Tokyopop is one of the biggest manga publishers outside of Japan and as such has been attributed with popularizing manhwa in the United States. 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. ---- THE DECLINE & DEATH OF TOKYPOP 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. In February 2011, Diamond became Tokyopop's new distributor, taking the business from Harper Collins. On March 1, Tokyopop continued layoffs. 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. 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. 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. -----