Tokyopop

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Tokyopop (proper spelling tokyopop ), formerly known as Mixx , is a publisher of comics , especially manga , anime and related products. Its headquarters are in Los Angeles , although the Japanese Tokyopop KK is legally and officially the parent company of all Tokyopop international branches. Tokyopop's CEO and Creative Director is Stuart Levy. Publishing in the USA was discontinued in 2011 and then resumed in 2016.

American publisher

In 1997, Stuart Levy founded the publishing house Mixx Entertainment Inc. in Los Angeles , which published mangas in the USA. The publisher's first success, supported by the television broadcast of the anime version, was Sailor Moon in 1998 , which was still published in magazine and magazine form. The magazine in which the series appeared was the publisher's own MixxZine . Shōjo manga anthologies have been published under the label SMILE , among others . MixxZine later became Tokyopop Magazine . In 1998 the publishing house itself was renamed Tokyopop Inc.

In 2002, Tokyopop was the first American publisher to publish mangas in the original Japanese reading direction and with original phonetic words. In addition, explanatory pages on reading direction, Japanese terms and culture were added to the volumes. This strategy, which focuses on authenticity, was particularly popular with young readers. At the same time, localization costs could be saved by maintaining the reading direction. In terms of content, the publisher aimed its program specifically at the female comic book readers who had been neglected in the USA up to that point. The publisher's readership therefore soon consisted of over two-thirds of girls between eleven and seventeen. Part of the sales strategy was to be one of the first American comic book publishers to sell the titles through general bookstores and not just through comic book stores. Mangas have been successfully marketed as something different from other comics, so reservations previously cultivated did not carry over to Tokyopop's titles. This also contributed to the fact that the Japanese paperback format was adopted, which was previously not used for comics in the USA. This successfully addressed a broader audience that never visited comic book stores. Mangas were known to a larger number outside of the fan scene for the first time in the USA. With this strategy implemented from 2002, Tokyopop was able to quickly become one of the major American manga publishers, whose model in terms of sales and authenticity was followed by the others. The publisher thus had a significant influence on the further development of the manga market and its readership in the USA, especially the market for Shōjo -Manga. Their readership was always the publisher's core target group, and Tokyopop, in turn, shaped the American fan scene with its selection of titles. The publisher was also the first in the US to introduce a system of age recommendations for its titles.

The strategy also included intensive interaction with fans, through its own forum and surveys, as well as offering platforms for fan art , which, unlike other licensees, was tolerated or even supported by Tokyopop for series. The publisher's website also provided information about Japanese culture and space for fans to exchange ideas right from the start. In addition, the website informed the booksellers about special features of Manga in order to familiarize them with the medium, which is still new in the USA.

In 2000, the first animes were released on VHS in the USA, as well as soundtracks for games such as Final Fantasy IX . In the following years, other titles, in particular anime and manga, were added to the program. In 2003, an average of 25 manga volumes were published per month. Tokyopop's first foreign subsidiary in Great Britain sells the North American editions there, but does not do its own programming.

After 2000, the publisher also began to include American cartoonists who draw their comics in the style of manga, thereby specifically promoting so-called OEL Manga . The published titles were based on the choice of topic - often close to the young, female readership - narrative strategies and drawing style on the Japanese models. This sponsorship also included the Rising Stars of Manga competition , to which artists could submit their own manga-style comics. The competitions took place from 2002 to 2008. The top ten were then published in an anthology. This was also done in the UK in 2006, where British and Irish artists were able to participate. However, only a few artists emerged from the competitions who created further works for Tokyopop and the plan to transfer the Japanese forms of production with magazines and draftsmen with assistants to the USA did not succeed. The amount of work required for this in the long term could not be mastered by the newcomers and hobby artists.

On June 21, 2005, Tokyopop began publishing activities in Japan. It all started with the Star Wars anime comics , which are also available in the USA and Germany . In the same year, the publisher founded Imprint Blu in the USA , which published mangas of the Shōnen-ai and Yaoi genres . In 2008 the American publisher was split into two publishers, Tokyopop Inc. , which sells manga and comis, and Tokyopop Media , which publishes film products and games and manages the company's website. Both companies belong to the POP Media Holdings . 39 jobs were cut and the manga program was cut by half. This is also related to the expiration of a license agreement with Kodansha , which expired this year. The Japanese publisher founded a subsidiary in the USA in order to sell its titles directly from then on. The program in Great Britain was later reduced from 25 to 20 titles and in December 2008 eight employees were laid off again after a sharp drop in sales in the USA.

In 2010 the publisher accounted for around 24% of the manga market in the USA and thus around 1% of the comic market. Thanks to its marketing strategy, Tokyopop had a disproportionately high presence in bookstores. As of May 31, 2011, the Los Angeles publishing house was closed. The closure is attributed, among other things, to the end of the Borders chain of bookstores, which had a large proportion of manga sales in the country. The branch in Germany and the distribution in Great Britain as well as the activities in the film market were not affected. The international distribution of rights was relocated to the Hamburg branch.

In 2016, the publisher was reactivated in the USA and published a number of mangas based on Disney films from May 2016. In addition, there are individual publications of further manga titles in print and digital.

German publisher

Joachim Kaps, co-founder of Tokyopop Germany and publishing director until 2016

In April 2004, the publishing house founded its second foreign branch in Germany , based in Hamburg . Joachim Kaps, former head of the Manga segment at Carlsen Comics , became the publishing director , and at the end of the year the publishing house had 20 employees. The first titles of the German branch were presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair and published in November 2004. Not only mangas, but also Korean Manhwas were included in the program right from the start, as this section had previously been neglected by other publishers and they wanted to fill this gap. The first animes appeared in summer 2005. The free preview book for the Tokyo pop program with reading samples was called Sneaks and appeared every three months for the first three years.

In 2005, Yonen Buzz, the first German manga-style comic, was published by Tokyopop. The promotion of German cartoonists from the manga scene became an important part of the publishing program, for example through the anthology Manga Fieber in the same year. Also in 2005, Tokyopop Germany entered into a partnership with the Japanese Shueisha publishing house to implement new Shueisha themes in Germany in the future, which led to the publication of titles such as Death Note , Bleach and The Prince of Tennis and at the same time took away important licenses from its competitor Carlsen. so he had to discontinue his magazine Banzai .

Within a few years, Tokyopop became one of the four big manga publishers in Germany with around 20 new publications a month. In 2008 and 2009 the publisher brought the most manga titles onto the German market after Carlsen. The focus of the program was placed on titles for a female readership of all age groups and the inclusion of the media network with light novels , anime , computer games and toys. With toys and other merchandise as well as soundtracks, the publisher concentrated on products related to its own manga and anime titles. The publishing house's rapid success is attributed to the large economic capital that was available through the American mother, as well as to the experience and contacts of the German publishing house founders in the German market, which they brought with them from other publishers, especially Carlsen. The promotion of in-house productions also paid off, as these also allowed license sales abroad if successful. Income from merchandising products and generally greater added value through the publisher are also possible with in-house productions. In 2006, publishing director Joachim Kaps set the goal of increasing the proportion of in-house productions to 20% of the program. However, despite some successful series, this turned out to be unworkable.

In 2008, the release of anime was abandoned as sales fell. Tokyopop brought illegal downloads directly related to the declining sales.

In 2015, Popcom created its own sub-label for comics and graphic novels . At the end of 2016, Joachim Kaps resigned as head of the publishing house. At that time, Tokyopop was the largest publisher in the manga segment in Germany with a 33% market share.

program

The publisher publishes and licenses manga , anime , anime comics , but also Manhwa from Korea, Manhua from China and American, French and German comics in the manga style. The German publisher produced the anthology Manga Fieber for young German cartoonists. In addition to the comics, the program also includes novels and light novels . Some of the manga are distributed in Australia and New Zealand through Madman Entertainment .

Published titles (selection)

United States

Blu

OEL manga

  • Dramacon

Germany

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b N.C. Christopher Couch: International Singularity in Sequential Art: The Graphic Novel in the United States, Europe, and Japan . In: Toni Johnson-Woods (Ed.): Manga - An Anthology of Global and Cultural Perspectives . Continuum Publishing, New York 2010, ISBN 978-0-8264-2938-4 , pp. 213 f .
  2. ^ A b c Wendy Goldberg: The Manga Phenomenon in America . In: Toni Johnson-Woods (Ed.): Manga - An Anthology of Global and Cultural Perspectives . Continuum Publishing, New York 2010, ISBN 978-0-8264-2938-4 , pp. 283, 287 f .
  3. ↑ a b c Brian Ruh: Creating 'Amateur' Manga in the US: Pedagogy, Professionalism, and Authenticity . In: International Journal of Comic Art . 7 (2), Fall / Winter 2005, 2005, pp. 375, 387 f .
  4. ↑ a b c Jennifer Prough: Marketing Japan: Manga as Japan's New Ambassador . In: Asianetwork Exchange . tape XVII , no. 2 . Illinois Wesleyan University, 2010, pp. 58-61 .
  5. ↑ Paul Gravett: Manga - Sixty Years of Japanese Comics , p. 156. Egmont Manga and Anime, 2004.
  6. ↑ Kristin Anderson Terpstra: Spreading the word: fan translations of manga in a global context . Ed .: University of Iowa. 2012, p. 19th f., 30 ( uiowa.edu ).
  7. ↑ a b c Kerim Yasar: Marketing Manga in the US: Translational Strategies, Transnational Flows . In: Manga at a Crossroads: Classic Manga - Development and Globalization of Manga . The Ohio State University, 2016, pp. 25-27 .
  8. ↑ a b Kristin Anderson Terpstra: Spreading the word: fan translations of manga in a global context . Ed .: University of Iowa. 2012, p. 54-66 ( uiowa.edu ).
  9. ↑ Kristin Anderson Terpstra: Spreading the word: fan translations of manga in a global context . Ed .: University of Iowa. 2012, p. 124 ff . ( uiowa.edu ).
  10. ↑ Jason Bainbridge, Craig Norris: Hybrid Manga, Implications for the Global Knowledge Economy . In: Toni Johnson-Woods (Ed.): Manga - An Anthology of Global and Cultural Perspectives . Continuum Publishing, New York 2010, ISBN 978-0-8264-2938-4 , pp. 245 f .
  11. ↑ a b Fusami Ogi: Manga Beyond Japan: How the Term Manga Has Globalized . In: Orientaliska Studier . 2018th edition. No. 156 , p. 50 f . ( orientaliskastudier.se [PDF]).
  12. ↑ Emma Hayley: Manga Shakespeare . In: Toni Johnson-Woods (Ed.): Manga - An Anthology of Global and Cultural Perspectives . Continuum Publishing, New York 2010, ISBN 978-0-8264-2938-4 , pp. 268 .
  13. ^ Tokyopop Confirms Blu Label. Anime News Network , accessed March 17, 2009 .
  14. ^ Tokyopop to Restructure Update. Anime News Network , June 4, 2008, accessed March 17, 2009 .
  15. ^ Inside the Tokyopop Restructuring. ICv2, June 8, 2008, accessed March 17, 2009 .
  16. ↑ Kristin Anderson Terpstra: Spreading the word: fan translations of manga in a global context . Ed .: University of Iowa. 2012, p. 137 ( uiowa.edu ).
  17. ^ Tokyopop to Cut Manga Output in United Kingdom. Anime News Network , June 12, 2008, accessed March 17, 2009 .
  18. ↑ Manga publisher Tokyopop Lays Off Eight More Staffers. Anime News Network , December 12, 2008, accessed March 17, 2009 .
  19. ↑ Kristin Anderson Terpstra: Spreading the word: fan translations of manga in a global context . Ed .: University of Iowa. 2012, p. 51-54 ( uiowa.edu ).
  20. ^ News: Tokyopop to Close North American Publishing Division. Anime News Network , April 15, 2011, accessed April 21, 2011 .
  21. ^ Tokyopop Announces 5 New Releases for the Holiday Season. In: Anime News Network. October 16, 2016, accessed on May 27, 2020 .
  22. ↑ a b c Animania 11/2004, p. 26f.
  23. ^ Paul M. Malone: The Manga Publishing Scene in Europe . In: Toni Johnson-Woods (Ed.): Manga - An Anthology of Global and Cultural Perspectives . Continuum Publishing, New York 2010, ISBN 978-0-8264-2938-4 , pp. 326 .
  24. ↑ a b Bernd Dolle-Weinkauff: Fandom, Fanart, Fanzine - Reception in Germany . In: German Film Institute - DIF / German Film Museum & Museum of Applied Arts (Ed.): Ga-netchû! The Manga Anime Syndrome . Henschel Verlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-89487-607-4 , pp. 223 .
  25. ↑ Patricia Minks: Mangamarkt - A comparison between Japan and the German-speaking area . In: Paul Ferstl (ed.): Kobuk: Manga in the German-speaking area . No. 1/2011 . Societa, Vienna 2011, p. 42 .
  26. ↑ Patricia Minks: Mangamarkt - A comparison between Japan and the German-speaking area . In: Paul Ferstl (ed.): Kobuk: Manga in the German-speaking area . No. 1/2011 . Societa, Vienna 2011, p. 32-34 .
  27. ↑ Paul M. Malone: Shinfting Ground and Shifting Borders in the German-speaking manga Cape . In: Paul Ferstl (ed.): Kobuk: Manga in the German-speaking area . No. 1/2011 . Vienna 2011, p. 78 .
  28. ↑ Animania 03/2008, p. 6.
  29. ↑ Katrin Aust: The new home of the elves. In: Comic.de. February 25, 2015, accessed May 27, 2020 .
  30. ↑ Tokyopop® Announces Interim Managing Director for Europe. In: Anime News Network. November 17, 2016, accessed May 27, 2020 .