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Tokyopop recent quality issues


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kyokun703



Joined: 06 Jan 2005
Posts: 2505
Location: Orgrimmar
PostPosted: Sun May 17, 2009 11:54 am Reply with quote
I just got Gakuen Alice v. 7 in the mail, and I have to say, I'm disappointed in the sudden drop of quality. The book is noticeably thinner than previous volumes, due to the much lighter stock paper they switched to. I wouldn't mind that so much, except it's too transparent. I can see the art from the previous page print through to the page I'm trying to read. This makes the art look blurred or smudged and not very pretty at all. This is timed badly with their price increase. Price increase I can deal with, but when it also is accompanied with a drop in quality, that is what I find bothersome.

In another thread, a TP rep said that they had to stop using their preferred paper mill due to some problems, but I don't know why they went with this terrible new choice. They also offered an exchange, but I don't know what for--you'd just get the same manga printed on the same cheap, see-through paper.

Once Fruits Basket ends, I will only be buying GA and the 12 Kingdoms novels from TP, since they decided to cancel/put on hiatus V.B. Rose. The low quality of their recent output combined with their decision to cancel ongoing series makes me extremely reluctant to start anything new with them.

Hmm, after I posted this in manga, maybe it should go in retail. Please feel free to shift there if that is more appropriate.
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slickwataris



Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 1334
Location: Carol Stream, Illinois
PostPosted: Sun May 17, 2009 5:13 pm Reply with quote
I wouldn't know, all the manga I ordered during rightstuf's last sale is still on backorder!
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Mushi-Man



Joined: 17 Nov 2008
Posts: 1537
Location: KCMO
PostPosted: Sun May 17, 2009 5:47 pm Reply with quote
I haven't realized this yet, then again I don't really buy tokyopop manga. The fact that something like this is occurring with such a large manga company is sad. Lot's of people trust tokyopop to deliver a quality product and from the sounds of it they are failing big time.

Does anyone know if tokyopop's recent release of Future Diary has the same low level of quality? I've been looking forward to finally buying this series for some time now and I don't want to pay for a product of such poor quality.
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Kruszer



Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 7983
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Sun May 17, 2009 10:46 pm Reply with quote
Well it wouldn't be the first time Tokyopop has failed at something. Their novels are littered with typeos, they need a proofreader.

Last edited by Kruszer on Fri Aug 28, 2009 2:30 am; edited 1 time in total
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KrisEllieOphi



Joined: 02 Apr 2007
Posts: 111
Location: Texas
PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2009 12:09 am Reply with quote
Their quality issues are far from recent.

But I noticed the drop in paper quality when I picked up the new Return to Labyrinth last week (yeah...it's not that good, but I'm a whore for the film and thought I might get something out of it). Not only was it thinner, it was the same page count, and the price jumped up three bucks from the last volume. Instead of it being 9.99 (and I've noticed recently, though I think it happened at least a year ago, that all their titles have jumped to 10.99), it was 12.99.

Are they hurting that badly? I know the economy is bad, and the industry is suffering in various ways, but geez. If they quality was better I wouldn't be too upset, but the Labyrinth books are so-so. And as a whole, well, their editing problems have been mentioned above, and there are some print quality issues (cut text, images, etc) much too often.
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Tamaria



Joined: 21 Oct 2007
Posts: 1512
Location: De Achterhoek
PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2009 1:12 am Reply with quote
Kruszer wrote:
Well it wouldn't be the first time TOkyopop has failed at something. Their novels are littered with typeos, they need a proofreader.


I think they solved that problem by dropping almost all their light novel series... -_-'

A $3 pricejump and much lower quality paper? They're desperate. Tokyopop is going to hit rockbottom in 3... 2...
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Agoston



Joined: 22 Aug 2008
Posts: 225
PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2009 2:08 am Reply with quote
Yeah, paper quality isn't the only issue tokyopop has been having lately. They've cut countless mangas that they're halfway done publishing, or even worse, just a few volumes away from finishing. I wouldn't be surprised if they went out of business in the near future.
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HyugaHinata



Joined: 25 Jun 2005
Posts: 3505
PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2009 5:11 am Reply with quote
Agoston wrote:
Yeah, paper quality isn't the only issue tokyopop has been having lately. They've cut countless mangas that they're halfway done publishing, or even worse, just a few volumes away from finishing. I wouldn't be surprised if they went out of business in the near future.


I`m at least partially looking forward to this (it seems inevitable were it not for my mass purchases of Furuba manga).

The Life manga has the least text among any manga I`ve read, and I`d love to see it released. It`s certainly shocking and controversial, but it recently finished in Japan with 20 volumes.

Edit: Kare Kano also needs to be given the ultimate/big edition treatment. At least Viz kept going with Rurouni Kenshin.
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Dargonxtc



Joined: 13 Apr 2006
Posts: 4463
Location: Nc5xd7+ スターダストの海洋
PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2009 6:50 am Reply with quote
kyokun703 wrote:
Once Fruits Basket ends, I will only be buying GA and the 12 Kingdoms novels from TP, since they decided to cancel/put on hiatus V.B. Rose. The low quality of their recent output combined with their decision to cancel ongoing series makes me extremely reluctant to start anything new with them.


You probably already know this but, Twelve Kingdoms has suffered from the quality drop as well. Yep, the "Hardcover" edition for volume three uses paperback edition paper quality despite being more expensive with less page count versus the first two volumes.

This change particularly pisses me off because hardcovers are supposed to be the nicer editions... that's why they're more expensive!
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Agoston



Joined: 22 Aug 2008
Posts: 225
PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2009 12:25 pm Reply with quote
HyugaHinata wrote:

The Life manga has the least text among any manga I`ve read, and I`d love to see it released. It`s certainly shocking and controversial, but it recently finished in Japan with 20 volumes.
Really? I didn't know Life finished. I agree though, Life is my main priority from tokyopop, although I've given up hope on volume 10 ever reaching North America, at least under tokyopop's label, I'd love it if it did. 1-9 were really good, and very shocking like you said. Too bad 9 ended on such a cliffhanger.
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Faceman



Joined: 11 Jul 2005
Posts: 300
Location: Boston
PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2009 2:53 pm Reply with quote
You know, I picked up Sgt Frog 17 this month, along with a FMA and YuYu Hakusho volumes, and I thought the Sgt Frog seemed thinner. I thought there were maybe less pages, but I'll have to check it when I get home.
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FeralKat



Joined: 06 Jan 2005
Posts: 402
PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2009 3:43 pm Reply with quote
I agree. I'm only buying Gakuen Alice though and I was dissapointed to find that the paper is now toilet paper quality. It's see through! I almost can't read it due to my extreme disgust that I actually paid $10.99 for this crap.
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slickwataris



Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 1334
Location: Carol Stream, Illinois
PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2009 4:43 pm Reply with quote
KrisEllieOphi wrote:

But I noticed the drop in paper quality when I picked up the new Return to Labyrinth last week (yeah...it's not that good, but I'm a whore for the film and thought I might get something out of it). Not only was it thinner, it was the same page count, and the price jumped up three bucks from the last volume. Instead of it being 9.99 (and I've noticed recently, though I think it happened at least a year ago, that all their titles have jumped to 10.99), it was 12.99.


That's terrible. I was hoping the price increase was due to larger page count, perhaps the cancellation of the fourth volume, but clearly I was wrong. I don't know if I want to complete this series now.

Mushi-Man wrote:

Does anyone know if tokyopop's recent release of Future Diary has the same low level of quality? I've been looking forward to finally buying this series for some time now and I don't want to pay for a product of such poor quality.


I got Future Diary in the mail today and it definitely looks like shit. You can definitely see through the page wherever there's white space.
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Mushi-Man



Joined: 17 Nov 2008
Posts: 1537
Location: KCMO
PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2009 5:44 pm Reply with quote
slickwataris wrote:
Mushi-Man wrote:

Does anyone know if tokyopop's recent release of Future Diary has the same low level of quality? I've been looking forward to finally buying this series for some time now and I don't want to pay for a product of such poor quality.


I got Future Diary in the mail today and it definitely looks like shit. You can definitely see through the page wherever there's white space.


Crap, that's disappointing to hear. I was hoped it would be a good release, but I guess my hopes and dreams have been crushed by Tokyopop.
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kyokun703



Joined: 06 Jan 2005
Posts: 2505
Location: Orgrimmar
PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2009 6:06 pm Reply with quote
I wrote to TP, and got this answer from their customer service rep:

Quote:
I understand your concern. Paper, printing, freight has increased in price over the past ten plus years we have been in business. One of our competitors announced last week that they are raising prices higher than we did. We felt in order to keep the price of our manga down, we would change paper and only incease the average price by only 1 dollar. The other paper we used has not only increased in the cost but is getting harder to get. Sorry if there are spelling errors. I'm home sick and I'm usung my Bberry. Thanks, Allyson
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