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NEWS: Right Stuf to Release First 3 Hetalia Manga Volumes

If Stu Levy is getting money for this, then I refuse to support it, even if they did get titles I wanted. I'd rather go the rest of my life without finishing Aria or Gakuen Alice than to give that flake any more of my money.

I'm never giving Stu Levy another penny of my money. I don't think Hetalia is worth $15.99 a volume anyway.

I wish they could release Gosick #3 like this, it was only a month away from being released when Tokyopop ceased publication... I'd pay five times its worth for a copy, you know I would.

st_owly wrote:

I'm never giving Stu Levy another penny of my money. I don't think Hetalia is worth $15.99 a volume anyway.

Your money is going to Gentosha and to the author.

We are selling the items discounted for the moment so we can build preorders for the release. The cost to make these in a POD type format, with much higher grade paper, means we have to bump the price up a bit to cover this and the royalties due.

We're gathering a list of most requested titles, I will make sure to add this to it. I know that Gosick is popular amongst our staff.

I think it's an interesting development. Obviously there was a good response to TokyoPop asking about Hetalia. I just hope RightStuf partnering with TokyoPop isn't going to cause problems for them. RightStuf has always been on top of their game, however, so I believe they will be all right.

As neocloud9 said I'd much rather see Gosick back in production, along with finishing up Future Diary and Battle Vixens, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves just yet. I like that RightStuf is willing to try new stuff and I hope it works out for them.

I am sooo confused. Is this, like, TRSI experimenting with printing manga? Might this mean they might eventually publish more, and specifically more without Stu Levy's involvement? And moreover, I do indeed like the idea of TRSI getting manga titles and doing print on demand for if they're unsure how they might sell. Maybe this could lead to more print on demand manga from them, who knows? That I would like.

Or is this Stu Levy's way of trying to get Tokyopop back into publishing because he liked having that pet around and really noticed now that it's gone?

Either way, I have no plans to buy any of the three volumes.

While I understand that you are unhappy with Stu, frankly, he has been helpful to us in facilitating getting this property back into circulation. We are utilizing Tokyopop's materials here, and therefore I have to get clearance from them to do so.

I hope that if you're a fan you'll support this release; we want to get the remainder of Hetalia published, as well as show that this model is worthwhile to bring titles back into print that are keeping people from being able to enjoy the series that they enjoy. Nothing sucks more (for the fans and for us as a retailer) to be told that an item is not currently scheduled for a reprint and may never be reprinted. If, and usually this is the case, it's smack in the middle of the series, why would anyone pick up volumes around it? This is our concept - how do we get volumes of titles back into print, as well as get the fans what they want - the completion of those series they have been enjoying.

Eternal Lover wrote:

Wait, why do people hate Stu Levy?

Sure there are plenty of people going "I want my manga series completed"... my overall problem is how the company is holding onto the licenses with an iron fist.

They have plenty of titles that will sell pretty well such as Gakuen Alice, Aria and Maid-sama.... Hetalia is a money maker itself. I am not sure myself if they are holding onto them just to hoard them, to co-publish them to make a larger profit, waiting for the right offer, or hoping to go into publishing again.

I really want vollume 3 of Hetalia, I just don't want Tokyo Pop's release, they should be giving up the lisence soon so maybe I'll wait because I don't want to give anymore money to that Weasel Stu Levey. Also I bought the first 2 vollumes and the quality was crap!

I am also on team "I'm not giving Levy a penny." I've hated the dude for years for running Tokyopop into the ground with his terrible management (Princess Ai Notebooks and Stickers... *shudder*), and I think his manga empire crashing down upon him was a fitting punishment.

It sucks that Future Diary wasn't completed though.

don't buy it, he can't clutch onto the licences forever and then somone who actually knows what they're doing can publish stuff.

I really want somone to get hold of deadman wonderland.

st_owly wrote:

I'm never giving Stu Levy another penny of my money. I don't think Hetalia is worth $15.99 a volume anyway.

Your money is going to Gentosha and to the author.

While I understand that you are unhappy with Stu, frankly, he has been helpful to us in facilitating getting this property back into circulation. We are utilizing Tokyopop's materials here, and therefore I have to get clearance from them to do so.