I need help finding out about Tokyopop

[StoneGold]

Please, tell me everything you know about the company.

[Sheldon]

They publish manga.

[Infinity Chameleon]

Specifically, among others, Ai Yori Aoshi, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Fruits Basket, Cheeky Angel, Real Bout High School, and many more that I'm not remembering at the moment.

[Infinity Chameleon]

Here (http://www.tokyopop.com/) is their front page.

[StoneGold]

Yeah, was hoping for any info anyone had that wasn't on the website.

[Inkthinker]

They're attempting to create a line of manga created by new-found artists here in the US... there's been a pretty diverse set of reported opinions over the satisfaction of the creators with their contracts, though. It would seem that anyone entering a business agreement with them needs to be pretty smart about it, but they can be a very valuable publishing asset. They certainly have some of the widest available distribution channels of any comics publisher in the US, which is not to be taken lightly.

[Melchior]

Seem to vary pretty widely on the quality of the stuff that they put out, but they put out so much in a single format that some other companies are changing their sizes to match them (gives the manga section in a bookstore a very uniform look). Very big people on the manga side of things.

[Tobei Miyake]

They're attempting to create a line of manga created by new-found artists here in the US... there's been a pretty diverse set of reported opinions over the satisfaction of the creators with their contracts, though. It would seem that anyone entering a business agreement with them needs to be pretty smart about it, but they can be a very valuable publishing asset. They certainly have some of the widest available distribution channels of any comics publisher in the US, which is not to be taken lightly.I was wondering about that, has anyone heard any release dates for any of these?

I know they had @Large by Ahmed Hoke -- I think it's third and final volume is due out late summer/early fall. (From what I saw of it though, I didn't really like; it wasn't what I thought it was going to be.)

I know Pop Mhan is doing something called Blank. I am interested in seeing that. I heard that it's planned for three volumes -- no release date yet, though.

Outside of those though, where are the Rising Stars of Manga winners?

[Sabrina_Fried]

Aside from what is already available on their website or mentioned here: They give out the biggest plastic bags for goodies at cons. They pretty much coined the term cine-manga, ummm....

They're financially in very good shape, as far as I have heard, which is more than can be said for alot of other publishers these days...does that count?

Sabrina

[Tobei Miyake]

Here's some Tokyopop releases (from Geoduck on the AnimeOnDVD forum (http://forums.animeondvd.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=947525&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&vc=1)):The TOKYOPOP people were very much in a hurry (their panel began exactly 2 hours before their plane was scheduled to depart), but did manage to have a good panel. The panel was run by Luis A. Reyes and a woman whose name I'm afraid I do not know.

They started off by talking about Takuhai, their free quarterly magazine that they are working on. They are planning to have it ready for the summer con season, starting with AX.

They then went through the list of upcoming titles:

RG Veda (April)
CLAMP no Kiseki (April, bimonthly)
Sakura Taisen
Beck
Blame! (August)
Scrapped Princess (August)
Saiyuki Reload (August)
Kanpai - Kimi No Unaji Ni Kanpai! (Sept.)
Devil May Cry 3 (Oct.)
Samurai Champloo (Nov.)
Earthian (Nov.)
Life (Keiko Suenobu) (Nov.)
Kamikaze (Satoshi Shiki) (Nov.)
Arcana
The Tarot Cafe
In Dream World
Warcraft
Sokora Refugees
Van Von Hunter
MBQ (July)
Princess Ai (July) (they mentioned a Princess Ai Cosplay Contest to be held at San Diego Comic Con)
Bizenghast
War On Flesh (Sept.)
I Luv Halloween (Oct.)

There was a question about the manga market slowing down, and they did admit that with so many players on the market that the market isn't expanding as much as in the past, and for that reason some releases have been slowed down. I asked about Fruits Basket and Get Backers future monthly release schedule, and they said that that was only going to be for the summer: presumably they'll go back to bimonthly after kids go back to school in the fall.

They were asked about the censorship issue that is very much in the news at present, and they answered that yes, they obviously knew about it. They did mention in the past that there had been censorship on TOKYOPOP titles (particularly Initial D), but that was just not something they did anymore.Of quick interest out of those listed:

MBQ (http://www.tokyopop.com/dbpage.php?propertycode=MBQ&categorycode=BMG). Like I said in my earlier post, I was looking for some manga by American creators; some of the Tokyopop Rising Stars winners stuff. Felipe Smith's (http://www.felipesmith.com/contest/tokyopop/) one of them, and the premise to MBQ sounds aiight.

Outside of that, looking forward to my copy of Takuhai to see what that's all about, and still waiting for Pop Mhan and Blank (http://www.popmhan.com/)...

***
Press Release for MBQ: TOKYOPOP SERVES MBQ MANGA (http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=37;t=004491)

[Daemon]

That said, from most people I've talked to, its either love TP or they hate TP.

Its always made me curious as to the practices of TP that could make their audience be at the extreme ends on the spectrum.

[Scubbily]

That said, from most people I've talked to, its either love TP or they hate TP.
It's the way it is. Just go to their website. Or just google "Tokyopop,info"

[Jack]

Beck is so unbeliveably awesome.

And the TP translation I expect to be very high quality, since they're using the same guy as did it for MangaScreener (best job ever - getting paid for something you already did for free)