Tokyopop to shut down O.O

Started by Candyness, April 15, 2011, 18:06

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Candyness

April 15, 2011, 18:06 Last Edit: April 15, 2011, 18:08 by candyness
Tokyopop's headquarters in LA is going to shut down on May 31, 2011.

Animenewsnetwork: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-04-15/tokyopop-to-close-north-american-publishing-division
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyopop
Farewell letter from the founder: http://www.tokyopop.com/Stu/tp_article/3203033.html

Apparently the German branch is going to continue the international releases. But I'm not sure exactly what that means (as in which languages they are going to release manga in). Does that mean there's going to be a lot less translated English manga then? This is a huge shock that such a big manga publishing company could close down like that. I wonder if scanlation groups will be picking up projects licensed by Tokyopop.

It's kinda weird seeing this happen. Its still really hard to believe. I wonder what's gonna happen to the future of published manga in North America >.< What do you guys think?
« On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux. »

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Shiki

#1
April 16, 2011, 14:53
That's just so weird... I don't even know what to say. lol

Privilege is the greatest enemy of right.

icewing

#2
April 16, 2011, 16:17
 :omg: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WAAAAAAAAY!!  :omg:
:touched:  WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY!?!?!?!? WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY  *SOB*

                                

Kataki

#3
April 16, 2011, 17:58
Yes, according to their forum the German branch will continue international releases. Also their business is running well so they won´t be closing down. If you want me to I can translate the post, but it´s not realy worth reading.

Look at the bright side, the German ones I´ve got here are better then the english ones so you can expect a better quality in the future :P

Shiki

#4
April 16, 2011, 22:51
@Kataki: Release will be in English? XD

Privilege is the greatest enemy of right.

Kataki

#5
April 17, 2011, 10:39
International should include English, French, Spain, etc. And they have already released their own productions in English. [Yonen Buzz, Gothic Sports & Grimms Mang]

If you have any questions I can ask in their forum.

Greta

#6
April 17, 2011, 10:59
german branch... so carlsen is going to release international  ???
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please click![/spoiler]

Furgeson

#7
April 19, 2011, 17:16
Aw, Candy beat me to it! And here I was, all ready to report more lovely manga news. *pouts*
Tokyopop's NA offices are closing. A little prayer for all the employees that will lose their jobs come July.
This definitely is a shock to the system. I mean it's no surprise that the small publishers faulter, but it's no joke when even Tokyopop is...I guess we really weren't buying enough manga XD

Shiki

#8
April 19, 2011, 22:56
To be honest I don't even think its the fault of scanlation. First of all its their own fault for not bringing in more variety of manga outside of Japan. They only stick to mainstream or manga that no one really pays attention to. Why couldn't they just arrange something with Japanese publishers to begin brining out more variety of manga like the ones scanlation does? It might sound selfish but I think its their own fault for not trying hard enough to get profit. I mean I would buy a manga in a store if I really liked the series even though I read it online. I like having hard copies anyway. BUT sadly the stores have nothing of what I like. They can't blame people for not buying things when there's nothing GOOD to buy. People can also buy online but more than half the series we want are untranslated. So buying them has no meaning. I mean why would you buy something that you can't read or understand unless you follow translated scans online while looking at your book at the same time.

That's just in my opinion...

Privilege is the greatest enemy of right.

Candyness

#9
April 21, 2011, 21:50
QuoteTo be honest I don't even think its the fault of scanlation. First of all its their own fault for not bringing in more variety of manga outside of Japan. They only stick to mainstream or manga that no one really pays attention to. Why couldn't they just arrange something with Japanese publishers to begin brining out more variety of manga like the ones scanlation does? It might sound selfish but I think its their own fault for not trying hard enough to get profit. I mean I would buy a manga in a store if I really liked the series even though I read it online. I like having hard copies anyway. BUT sadly the stores have nothing of what I like. They can't blame people for not buying things when there's nothing GOOD to buy. People can also buy online but more than half the series we want are untranslated. So buying them has no meaning. I mean why would you buy something that you can't read or understand unless you follow translated scans online while looking at your book at the same time.

That's just in my opinion...

Yeah I agree. It seems as though all of their new projects were really popular scanlated mangas... which forced caused scanlation groups to drop those projects. I think it was the scanlation groups which made manga popular in the Western countries more than the manga publishers. And a lot of people just sit down and read all the manga at a bookstore for free anyways so it's not only us who provide free manga reads. And I also think that the publishers didn't preserve enough of the Japanese culture in the manga, such as keeping the honorifics and translator notes (like puns and expressions) which loses the meanings. Some manga have them, but some don't. And I don't know if they tried hard enough to make profit, but I think they tried pretty hard keeping their licensed projects unavailable on the internet (the closing of OneManga, a bajillion mangas that can't be read on Manga Fox). Maybe they could've used some of that effort elsewhere...?
But I guess I'm just biased...
« On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux. »

Currently working on:
[spoiler]
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Gal Kadou ch01 TS
Galism ch22 CL
Migawari ch14 QC[/spoiler]
Last updated 14/02/13

Nicole

#10
June 12, 2011, 20:37
And don't forget about libraries...

I've found that sometimes I get more out of the scanlated versions than I do the official versions.  Not to mention that "official" doesn't mean "perfect."  I just read Tokyopop's "Corrector Yui" and I was a bit disappointed.  In the first volume, the page that listed upcoming volume titles had many errors: spelling, capitalization, even the wrong word!  Then, there were at least TWO pages they forgot to mirror-image (this was back when they still did that)!

Regarding the translator notes, some companies do some of those but they put them in the BACK of the volume!  And there usually (at least that I've seen) isn't any indicator to tell you it's there in the first place!

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Sharwin

#11
June 15, 2011, 18:09
To be honest, scanlation and manga are a double edged sword. Scanlation and the community has really made most of the popularity in manga over here, yet at the same time, it doesn't exactly promote sales of official volume releases because of how accessible manga is on web viewers. Accessibility is really the key thing, because with the internet and scanlation, a chapter that is just released in Japan within a couple hours can be brought to everywhere, whereas the turnover for the company might take a few months for that chapter to appear over here.

As to what Shiki said about 'variety' of manga, from a business sense it isn't feasible unless manga is actually more mainstream here in general. They don't have the finances to get the rights, publish and translate some niche titles in hopes that it could be popular here. That's why they choose the big titles like Naruto/Bleach/One Piece. While I would love for them to pick up some other titles I think are good, popularity really will determine what ultimately comes over here. Kind of true even in Japan, many times you'll start reading something and you'll think it's very good only to get some axed ending.

There is also the issue of 'quality' but I wouldn't really put that as the prominent issue. I would have to say accessibility speed of scanlation and online readers really will deter sales of official releases. No one wants to wait months to end on a cliff hanger to wait a few more months.


Diaya

#12
September 11, 2011, 11:21
noooooooooooooooooooooo! this cant be.  :donwan:
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Koyue

#13
October 26, 2011, 13:46
So upset over this still. So many manga series that weren't finished and in the middle of reading.

Yuukii

#14
October 27, 2011, 23:22
Why?  :donwan:
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