POP! Goes TOKYOPOP
Back when everyone was ranting and raving at TOKYOPOP I noted my suspicions that T-pop was having trouble making ends meet with much of its OEL, and judging by their press release, I may not have been too far off the mark: TOKYOPOP is going through a “progressive” (or at least agressive) reorganization, forming a new company called TOKYOPOP Media LLC for its comics-to-film and new media works, while TOKYOPOP Inc. will continue handling the manga and other graphic novels.
The news isn’t all good (or at least positive-sounding): T-pop plans to lay off 39 people, although it hasn’t stated who or from what departments. They also intend to scale back their output somewhat.
Some of the language of the press release, though, actually tells me they’re going to focus MORE on their own original works:
Pointing to prominent successes in online video (www.youtube.com/tokyopoptv and www.myspace.com/tokyopop) and mobile, both Levy and Kiley are optimistic about the future. Levy added “Our goal is for TOKYOPOP Media to become one of the go-to production entities in Hollywood by building global entertainment franchises across media platforms.”
I can’t help but think that TOKYOPOP is no longer getting the top-tier licenses it used to– the last announcement they had that made me go “OH!” was Manga Sutra –and that’s the reason for its dedicated focus on creating its own original works, which it can license into merchandise and films and whatnot as it pleases. But if I may say this without summoning the ghost of manga vs comics debates past, it seems like many of their most popular global titles are decidedly more western than manga-ish– the Warcraft books, I Luv Halloween, adaptations of The Warriors and whatnot…
Which is not to diminish them, by the way. It just seems that T-pop is developing into less of a manga publisher and more of a western comics publisher, and even Levy says that their output has been behind only Marvel and D.C. in quantity in the last few years.
I’m debating shipping out an e-mail to my contact at TOKYOPOP, but I expect they’re a bit busy right now, and probably wouldn’t have an answer for whether the scaling back was going to be more in licensed works or in original works.
Tags: TOKYOPOP, tokyopop media, western industry
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:42 am
“…to become one of the go-to production entities in Hollywood by building global entertainment franchises across media platforms.”
I think I gave myself a tumor trying to decipher that sentence.
June 3rd, 2008 at 11:07 am
So far the quality of OEL from Tokyopop is abysmal. So much good stuff is coming from Japan, I’m not going to bother with mediocre stuff only because Tokyopop wants to promote their original content because they want to make a movie out of it.
I have no doubt there is quality OEL out there, but to tell you the truth, I think the use of the term OEL is ridiculous. They’re grahpic novels. Just because it’s in book format and in black and white doesn’t’ make it manga. For me manga is simply Japanese comics. There are different formats when it comes to manga, such as the compilation of a 4-koma series and such.
Now I love graphic novels, but at the moment it seems that Tokyopop and other English publishers are simply releasing mediocre content just because of their connection with Japanese anime. It makes business sense, but that doesn’t mean people won’t notice the ruse. When I think of quality graphic novels (OEL’s are graphic novels) I don’t’ think Tokyopop. Sorry it doesn’t. Many of marvels and dc’s subsidiaries have a better collection of quality graphic novels. Just because a character has a tear drop and got “big anime eyes” doesn’t mean I’m going to drop everything and buy the release. It has to be good, or atleast good to my eyes.
I think Tokyopop needs to rethink their OEL strategy if they really want to compete with DC and Marvel. Their focus should be acquiring quality English graphic novels and less about whether the characters look like anime rejects. It’s honestly going to be tough, because Tokyopop has to fight against its own image. Those who are into American/European graphic novels don’t’ look at Tokyopop, they see them as nothing more than a collection of goofy kiddie comics or perverted porn comics with little kids in it. There is a definite breach between those who are into English comics vs Japanese comics and Tokyopop has to figure out how to bridge it. Releasing mediocre comics with anime style characters isn’t going to help.
If Tokyopop really wants to be more than just a US publisher for Japanese comics it needs to take graphic novels seriously. At the moment they are failing at both. By reducing the number of Japanese comic releases and increasing low quality “OEL” manga they are doing nobody a favor. At the moment Tokyopop is having a identity crisis and if they don’t’ figure out something soon, they are going to lose it big time.
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:07 pm
[...] also sounds right to me. Tokyopop hasn’t had a mega-hit in a while. Giapet wonders about the same [...]
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Pretty disappointing stuff..
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:33 pm
… you know, if they cut my Keroro Gunso and ARIA in favor of more OEL stuff like “Boys of Summer”, I’m probably going to put ALL of my money on Viz. Any property Tokyopop touches will be verboten, period. Video, whatever.
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:01 pm
[...] to restructure Filed under: anime — Paul @ 8:01 pm The latest round of not-so-good news from the American anime and manga industry comes courtesy of Tokyopop. Tokyopop is restructuring, [...]
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Does anyone else have a helluva time navigating the mess that TP calls a website? From pop this to clip that (what is all that anyway?), most of the time I can’t even find their catalog of books that are offered (short of going into their ’shop’, which is its own nightmare).
Anything they’ve offered recently, I’ve only found through the creator’s website if the creator had the forethought to put a direct link to their specific book’s page on the TP site.
It’s annoying as hell, and tends to have me leaving the site in frustration. I could careless about all the tweenies that appear to infest TP’s webpage. As an adult with a hectic schedule, I do not want to ‘harmonize with the community, dude’. I simply want to see what is available and what is coming in the future, along with some preview pages and street dates. *is aggravated*
June 4th, 2008 at 7:36 am
Are they going to cancel a bunch of existing titles to bring their output down? I would really hate to see that happen. I don’t follow many TP series to begin with, but of the few I do 3 would probably be in real danger of being cut.
Jb: You’re not the only one that has trouble navigating TP’s website.
June 4th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Hey guys, love reading your opinions and thoughts on this. I was one of the 40 they tossed. And yes, their PR machine did a fantastic job with the press release. Right after which they also laid off their PR person (of 4 years)… Think of it like this, a sinking ship, the small rats got thrown overboard by the bigger rats who are clinging on to the debris trying to survive.
June 4th, 2008 at 9:14 am
@dude: Tough luck! Having been one of the small rats before, I can commiserate. How much notice did they give you?
June 4th, 2008 at 11:14 am
They didn’t give us any notice at all. I was told to go the one of the conference rooms the moment I stepped out of the elevator yesterday morning, and that’s when I found out.
June 4th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
[...] of you may have been following the comments on my post about TOKYOPOP’s split, which now include two Tpop employees who were among the ~39 to get axed. One of them tells us that [...]
June 4th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
yes, there was no notice. they actually smiled, played nice, and acted as if everything was normal the day before. The graphic design team didn’t even get a chance to get samples of their work for their portfolios (before everyone was locked out of their computers).
June 4th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
I’m another of those let go by TP. We literally got to work the morning of and were told that we had a meeting in a conference room where we were quickly told we had been laid off so they could move on to the next unsuspecting employee standing outside of the room, confused. Then, we had a few minutes to clean out our desks (but they had the servers, etc. shut down so we couldn’t retrieve computer data) and they handed us a folder and sent us out. We couldn’t even access e-mail, etc. I left an iPod charger and a mug in my stunned shock, but one of our unemployed peers reports that he was treated with almost stunning disrespect when he returned for something he left. Good riddance, I suppose.
June 5th, 2008 at 4:12 am
[...] room all at once. Lissa Pattillo quotes a BLU editor who is upset at losing a colleague, and Gia hears from some former employees (in comments) that they weren’t given any warning, just brought to the [...]
June 5th, 2008 at 5:47 am
OMG! That’s awful! There’s no excuse for treating y’all that way. Did TP come under some new management or something? It reminds me of a friend’s company, that came under new leaders and got rid of all the experienced people - now that company is struggling to stay open because they can’t find anyone to do the work since they’ve sullied their own reputation.
June 5th, 2008 at 9:18 am
Saddly people getting “let go” like this is not uncommon, i worked for a small oil company that had about 120+ people working there, eeryone was worried a lay off was coming but no one knew when. I worked at part of the company in a different city from the main office there were only about 8 of us there, al the others were at the main site.
The “firing” happened the same was, my boss (looking pretty upset) said we needed a quick conference, went in and there was one other supervisor and he said they had to let me go, i had to go clean out my desk and be escorted out. I was kinda stunned.. but at least the guys i worked with ALL walkd me out and shook my hand said please use them a references becuse i did a good job and it wasn’t their decision in the end.
Saddly the people at the main site where about 49 were let go, they were all treated worse, quick conference.. told your fired, you have 15 minutes to get your perosnal belongings while you are observered by security, then they escorted them off the site. If you could not get all your personal belongings in that time, then they woudl be sent to you if requested by this form *rolls eyes*
I asked (i was given as long as needed really to get my personal stuff) my boss and his supervisor if this was normal, and he said if 30%+ of a company is let go at once it is pretty standard policy to fire them with less than 15-45 minutes of notice, and have them escorted off, the companies actually fear a spontanous revolt if all the employee’s got together and started damaging electronic data. That is also why people were locked out of their accounts etc etc..
Really depressing to hear this happening to another group of people in a field that i may not work in, but i that i support….
June 5th, 2008 at 11:33 am
A fish rots from the head. There have been 4 layoffs in 6 years yet the head remains. Employees are not respected by the three leaders. Employees are merely tools to be used up and spit out. Wonder where the problem is?
Hollywood hates this leadership group because they are full of themselves. The producer-wanna-be CEO shat on the WM relationship by demanding creative control on deals acting as if Hollywood needed him more than he needed them.
Until the three are replaced, this company will continue down the going out of business path it has set for itself.
June 5th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
dude looking for work Says:
“June 4th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
yes, there was no notice. they actually smiled, played nice, and acted as if everything was normal the day before. The graphic design team didn’t even get a chance to get samples of their work for their portfolios (before everyone was locked out of their computers).”
Are you serious? thats sucks complete balls. Being a graphic designer myself, I know how hard it is to put together a good portfolio and Im sure you guys worked very hard on those print/web materials. I pray to u and all of those who got the boot. Hopefully you guys will find a job asap in this crappy job market.
June 8th, 2008 at 1:51 am
Well, I feel really sorry for all you guys who’ve been booted out. (It wasn’t dignified enough to be called a sacking.) I personally am never going to buy another book from Tokyopop again after this. Second hand copies on Amazon for everything I need to finish, then my money’s going elsewhere.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:18 am
To the two people whom Tokyopop fired: that really sucks. There is no excuse for treating employees with so much disrespect, and I hope y’all get cooler, better-paying jobs that you love really soon.
And Tokyopop’s dumping actual manga titles to focus on shite like the Meg Cabot Avalon ‘manga’? (I’ve seen it, and it sucks). I think I’ll take my money elsewhere..
June 30th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
o the two people whom Tokyopop fired: that really sucks. There is no excuse for treating employees with so much disrespect, and I hope y’all get cooler, better-paying jobs that you love really soon.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:12 am
I’ve seen news articles about something going on at TP and have been putting off diving into it until now. I actually count three ex-employees (four if “Former VP” is another) and since even thinking about being laid off like that gives me an immense chill to the stomache my heart goes out to you as well.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Two words. Princess Ai. Ugh!
That’s an awful way to treat your own employees, although honestly, I’m not surprised (I have a VERY low opinion of the money-hungry Tokyopop). Building a portfolio is not fun, and it sounds like TP is practically stealing the designers’ work.
@boukie.bree: Let’s hope that those three titles are dropped and picked up by a better publisher (^-^;;)> Considering the inverse ratio of advertising to quality (meaning TONS of ads in a book of crap), and Tokyopop’s plans to monopolize all media becoming ever clearer, I find it harder and harder to look at their products. I think Hotel Africa was the first TP title I bought in two or so years.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:33 am
omg!! just read that for the first time. I hope tp won’t do such things in germany… the german tp website is very tidied up and you don’t have to search for the releases. but they also try to sell their graphic novels such as war angels, bizenghast and I luv halloween. I don’t want to insult the drawers but there are many better mangas from japan that could be released instead of them. there are some nice releases.. I really like studio kôsen’s work (daemonium, although it hasn’t been released in germany yet) but most of the rest actually doesn’t look like manga.. it looks like american comic with anime-eyes (I know this was said before, but I have to repeat it:mrgreen:). what I like is that tp is the only main publisher here that hasn’t stopped titles so far. hope everything ends good for you:wink: