Tokyopop closing down.
By NatashaBird
@NatashaBird (640)
May 29, 2011 6:06pm CST
Major western manga puclisher Tokyopop is closing down on tuesday :'(
As the english transalation publishers of such manga titles as Frutis Basket, Trinity Blood and .Hack we can expect this to have quite an impact on the otaku community.
How do you think this will impact you and what do you expect for the future of some of their uncompleted titles?
Birdie
1 person likes this
6 responses
@frayeleo15 (97)
• Philippines
31 May 11
Ah, that's bad news then. It will decrease the motivation of the publishers of manga then. How sad it is.
@NatashaBird (640)
•
9 Jun 11
Whilst it is bad news indeed, especially for those trying to complete collections, I don't think it will neccessarily decrease motivation on other publishers. Publishers like Viz Media and Dark Horse Comics are still going strong.
Tokyopop was having a lot of problems regarding unfinished series' and inaccurate release schedules towards the end of their run. They also hadn't owned the licence to any big titles, other than Fruits Basket, in quite a while.
It could actually prove beneficial in someways to other publishers as they will have less competition and may also be able to buy the rights to publish some of tokyopops titles.
Birdie -
@CaptAlbertWhisker (32748)
• Calgary, Alberta
30 May 11
manga scanlations are the ones to blame because its free. It really harmed the translation industry, there many scanlation sites online and its really making people not buy translated manga. Should we learn Japanese now?
@NatashaBird (640)
•
9 Jun 11
I actually am learning Japanese :P but i think it will be a while before i can comfortably read an untranslated manga :)
I agree with you to an extent, but i don't think the blame lies soley at scanlators feet. It's mostly down to the readers, after all all the scanlations in the world wouldn't have an impact if nobody read them and everybody bought the physical manga.
I personally use scanlation sites frequently to keep up to date on big ongoing manga like naruto and bleach. But I also buy the manga whenever i have the money to do so in order to support the author and to complete my collections.
Birdie -
1 person likes this
@CaptAlbertWhisker (32748)
• Calgary, Alberta
12 Jun 11
I don't purchase genuine copies of manga too because it's an industry that I really love. I hope that you company will take over once Tokyo pop is gone. I do enjoy a lot of the glossy American comic book but I really enjoyed Manga. There's so many good series had never been an anime. I hope I can learn Japanese just in case no one will translate good Mangas.
@blindedfox (3315)
• Philippines
9 Jun 11
Oh noes! I am a fan of Fruits Basket. =( I hope they manage to bounce back again. God help Japan!
@NatashaBird (640)
•
9 Jun 11
I know their German office is still operating, so i suppose there is a possibility of them returning to english language publishing, but it looks doubtful. They've lost or sold the licences to most of their manga titles, so they'd have to start from scratch.
You can still find a lot of fruits basket volumes on ebay and some shops have yet to sell all their tokyopop stock yet, so you may still be able to get fruits basket.
There is also the possiblity of another publisher buying the rights to Fruits Basket and republishing, like Kodansha is doing with Sailor Moon in September this year (i'm excited), but it would probably be a while before that happens.
Birdie -
@allen0187 (58582)
• Philippines
30 May 11
Not a big manga fan but my brother is and he was a bit disappointed with the news. i think tokyopop closing down is a big blow to the manga fans and followers especially those who prefer the ones translated to english. i would imagine that tokyopop closing down would open the market to other publishing houses that would take a similar path and handle the publication of other manga titles.
anyway, fret not manga fans, once a door of opportunity closes, another one will open.
@keinah2 (301)
• Philippines
14 Jun 11
I'm not an Otaku, but I know some people who are. And I think the news of Tokyopop closing down is a big impact on them. I usually visit TokyoPop when I have nothing else to do that's why i'm not that familiar with that website. But I do hope that they will still continue considering they are one of the leading websites when it comes to mangas and animes. What's their reason for closing down anyway??
@ashleyccms (17)
• United States
14 Jun 11
Well, it won't impact me much, but I'm sad to hear it. I used to read manga all of the time and a lot of the manga that I read was published by them.
