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NEWS: Tokyopop to Release Chinese Comic Bloodivores Digitally


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Lady Multi



Joined: 11 Dec 2004
Posts: 673
PostPosted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 7:32 pm Reply with quote
So they'll probably release it like they did their manga back when. Release it on regular schedual and then drop it off for 6--12 months before not releasing anymore.
...I have so many half-collections of manga still because of Tokyopop. Because they snapped it up when it was fresh, it prevented others from getting it. Now that they're older, most people won't get them unless they retain popularity. And some have been so long now.

Tokyopop lost my respect long ago. I wish these foreign companies would do research on them before signing any time of agreement with them. It means their work is now tied up with an unreliable company that already peaced-out years ago.

Don't get me started on their halfarse animation venture.

In perfect honestly, I hope Tokyopop DOESN'T get any licences.
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ArnisEnthusiast



Joined: 12 Jul 2017
Posts: 74
PostPosted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 9:05 pm Reply with quote
TokyoPop... A name I never wanted to hear again.
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jenny10-11



Joined: 25 Jun 2015
Posts: 98
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 10:13 pm Reply with quote
They're still around? Hope this is one last gasp before sinking back forever into the murky depths from whence they came.

At least it's only bloodivores. When it doesn't sell well, they may finally give up for good.
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CatSword



Joined: 01 Jul 2014
Posts: 1489
PostPosted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 11:12 pm Reply with quote
Remember when Tokyopop was king of the Borders manga section?

Now they're lucky to get their Disney tie-ins in a random Books-a-Million.
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Tenebrae



Joined: 26 Apr 2008
Posts: 485
PostPosted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 11:55 pm Reply with quote
Tokyopop and Bloodivores... in a match-two game they'd be a rules-legal pairing for a multitude of reasons.
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Weazul-chan



Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 625
Location: Michigan
PostPosted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 12:30 am Reply with quote
Lady Multi wrote:
So they'll probably release it like they did their manga back when. Release it on regular schedual and then drop it off for 6--12 months before not releasing anymore.
...I have so many half-collections of manga still because of Tokyopop. Because they snapped it up when it was fresh, it prevented others from getting it. Now that they're older, most people won't get them unless they retain popularity. And some have been so long now.

Tokyopop lost my respect long ago. I wish these foreign companies would do research on them before signing any time of agreement with them. It means their work is now tied up with an unreliable company that already peaced-out years ago.

Don't get me started on their halfarse animation venture.

In perfect honestly, I hope Tokyopop DOESN'T get any licences.
personally I'm still miffed at how Tokyopop handled most of their novel releases. even the one they did the best job with, Twelve Kingdoms, had crap issues like the entire missing chapter in the hardcover version of the fourth one. no real apology to that other than what was basically a "well, if you really want a version that's not missing that chapter just buy the softcover version when that comes out. otherwise tough luck loser."

and personally after Stu Levy called people still buying printed media (which of course included people buying the printed manga they were making profits from) morons they lost my respect with no way to get it back, not unless someone decent buys it out and takes it over anyway. so long as Stu Levy is still involved with Tokyopop in any way they could start releasing something I really wanted and I'd rather import the Japanese editions and read fantranslations than support them, even with my low income due to not being able to work much because of health issues.
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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
Location: Another Kingdom
PostPosted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 12:53 am Reply with quote
jenny10-11 wrote:
They're still around? Hope this is one last gasp before sinking back forever into the murky depths from whence they came.

At least it's only bloodivores. When it doesn't sell well, they may finally give up for good.


They DID go out of business. It's just that they popped back up from the dead. I'm sure they got Bloodivores, though, either because the Chinese publisher hasn't yet realized TokyoPop's habit of dropping series midway through or because it's the only English-language publisher that decided to try for it.
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harminia



Joined: 24 Aug 2015
Posts: 1987
Location: australia
PostPosted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 1:00 am Reply with quote
Weazul-chan wrote:
personally I'm still miffed at how Tokyopop handled most of their novel releases. even the one they did the best job with, Twelve Kingdoms, had crap issues like the entire missing chapter in the hardcover version of the fourth one. no real apology to that other than what was basically a "well, if you really want a version that's not missing that chapter just buy the softcover version when that comes out. otherwise tough luck loser."


I have a slight bit of respect for Tokyopop in that they took on translating Japanese novels and stuff quite early in the game, which was great and probably helped pave the way to the increase in novel translations happening nowadays.
But now that stuff (like Gosick novels........) is probably in license hell so who knows if we'll see more of it.
Too bad their German branch was aces (even after the main branch died, I think) and translated heaps of volumes of books, and I can't speak German.
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Drachenkind



Joined: 12 Jan 2017
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 2:51 am Reply with quote
harminia wrote:
Too bad their German branch was aces (even after the main branch died, I think) and translated heaps of volumes of books, and I can't speak German.


Mhmm ... StuLevy has become the deputy CEO of TokyoPop Germany last year after the original one left for unknown reasons (there are rumors, but who knows ...). This is quite worrying to me, combined with his newly (re)found interest in Manga publishing.

TP holds about 1/3 of that country's market.
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Polycell



Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Posts: 4623
PostPosted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 3:30 am Reply with quote
leafy sea dragon wrote:
They DID go out of business.
My understanding is that Stu Levy, Entrepreneur™ shut it down just because he got bored, which I'm not quite sure can be described as "going out of business".
Quote:
I'm sure they got Bloodivores, though, either because the Chinese publisher hasn't yet realized TokyoPop's habit of dropping series midway through or because it's the only English-language publisher that decided to try for it.
If TP fronted the cash, I can see the original publisher not asking questions. That's probably about the only way they can get anything these days.
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Lady Multi



Joined: 11 Dec 2004
Posts: 673
PostPosted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 7:28 am Reply with quote
Weazul-chan wrote:
personally I'm still miffed at how Tokyopop handled most of their novel releases. even the one they did the best job with, Twelve Kingdoms, had crap issues like the entire missing chapter in the hardcover version of the fourth one. no real apology to that other than what was basically a "well, if you really want a version that's not missing that chapter just buy the softcover version when that comes out. otherwise tough luck loser."

and personally after Stu Levy called people still buying printed media (which of course included people buying the printed manga they were making profits from) morons they lost my respect with no way to get it back, not unless someone decent buys it out and takes it over anyway. so long as Stu Levy is still involved with Tokyopop in any way they could start releasing something I really wanted and I'd rather import the Japanese editions and read fantranslations than support them, even with my low income due to not being able to work much because of health issues.


The most key debacle to me on their releases were the Slayers novels, which only stands to be 8 of the whole released. The novel series was complete when Tokyopop picked it up, they released the first 6 fine on regular schedule and then stopped.. releasing the next 2 over a period of I think 2 or 3 years before stopping.

I recall a couple of other manga series doing the same. Completed series getting released monthly or bi-monthly for the first 2-3 volumes and then the next volume would come MONTHS later.

The fact that they made agreements to release has tied these things up and prevented other companies from releasing them. For a company that snatched up so much, they seemed to be just pandering for quick cash on hot titles now that I look back to it not really caring about the actual fans they were selling to.
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mgosdin



Joined: 17 Jul 2011
Posts: 1302
Location: Kissimmee, Florida, USA
PostPosted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 8:08 am Reply with quote
CatSword wrote:
Remember when Tokyopop was king of the Borders manga section?

Now they're lucky to get their Disney tie-ins in a random Books-a-Million.


Living in the Land that Disney Built ( Kissimmee, Florida ) it's interesting to note that the BAM nearest to Disney World has almost everything Disney but I've only ever seen one TokyoPop / Disney manga. That's one copy mind you.

TokyoPop in Europe is a Joint Venture with Bertlesmann which is a huge publishing house there. So the titles that TokyoPop held a near - worldwide license for are tied up being published there. Getting the license for North America split off from that would be a nightmare, even if the Japanese publishers wanted to do so.

Mark Gosdin
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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
Location: Another Kingdom
PostPosted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 11:21 am Reply with quote
Polycell wrote:
My understanding is that Stu Levy, Entrepreneur™ shut it down just because he got bored, which I'm not quite sure can be described as "going out of business".


Oh yeah, he wanted to move towards TV and movie production, didn't he? If that's the case, I wonder why he's getting back into this.

Lady Multi wrote:
The most key debacle to me on their releases were the Slayers novels, which only stands to be 8 of the whole released. The novel series was complete when Tokyopop picked it up, they released the first 6 fine on regular schedule and then stopped.. releasing the next 2 over a period of I think 2 or 3 years before stopping.

I recall a couple of other manga series doing the same. Completed series getting released monthly or bi-monthly for the first 2-3 volumes and then the next volume would come MONTHS later.

The fact that they made agreements to release has tied these things up and prevented other companies from releasing them. For a company that snatched up so much, they seemed to be just pandering for quick cash on hot titles now that I look back to it not really caring about the actual fans they were selling to.


That sounds like a structural or workplace environment problem (if TokyoPop considers it a problem at all). Either the translation and localization teams were quickly shifted to some other project leaving them little to no time to work on whatever they were doing before (while TokyoPop continues to own the rights to them, renewing them time and again), or the workplace environment quickly drains people of their enthusiasm and causes them to become apathetic (such as through hostility).

I do notice when TokyoPop stopped publishing manga though, Viz snatched up a number of them, most notably Sgt. Frog.

Polycell wrote:
If TP fronted the cash, I can see the original publisher not asking questions. That's probably about the only way they can get anything these days.


Fronted the cash? Like as in helping to pay for the original publication in China in the first place?
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harminia



Joined: 24 Aug 2015
Posts: 1987
Location: australia
PostPosted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 5:37 pm Reply with quote
Drachenkind wrote:
Mhmm ... StuLevy has become the deputy CEO of TokyoPop Germany last year after the original one left for unknown reasons (there are rumors, but who knows ...). This is quite worrying to me, combined with his newly (re)found interest in Manga publishing.

TP holds about 1/3 of that country's market.


oh dear... R.I.P germany's TP legacy then.
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Lady Multi



Joined: 11 Dec 2004
Posts: 673
PostPosted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 8:09 pm Reply with quote
leafy sea dragon wrote:

I do notice when TokyoPop stopped publishing manga though, Viz snatched up a number of them, most notably Sgt. Frog.


The rights reverted back to the original rights holders. Some could imagine though that some of the creators may not have been happy about the handling of their creations and felt it a great disrespect and probably jaded them, and their publishers, from wanting to deal again.

Especially considering timing on some of the titles. The NEW and FRESH had now sat on the back-burner of Tokyopop for years and were no longer hot topics. Fans had moved on at this point.

This jaded relationship may have prompted Kodansha to publish on their own in the US and pull back from handing over rights. They have a reputation to uphold, they didn't need that 3rd wheel screwing it up. If anyone screws up a relationship with their customer base, only they have the rights to do so.
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