Goodbye, Tokyopop, Goodbye

31 May 2011. If you don’t know what happens today, then to be quite honest I’m not too surprised. Unless like me, you keep up with things to do with manga, in which case something quite significant happens today. Tokyopop, one of the publishers that brings us some great manga, will close its North American office today….
So what’s the big deal? Whenever a small manga publisher goes bust, it normally won’t be any big deal. But Tokyopop is one of the largest and most common publishers we see out there

Closing announcement goes “Today, we are sad to inform our loyal community of manga fans, our passionate creators of manga content, our business and retail partners, and other stakeholders who have supported us through the years that as of May 31, 2011, TOKYOPOP is closing its Los Angeles-based North American publishing operations.”
Tokyopop’s founder Stu Levy says “I'm laying down my guns. Together, our community has fought the good fight, and, as a result, the Manga Revolution has been won –manga has become a ubiquitous part of global pop culture.” The full statement is below in a spoiler tag because its quite long.

Dear TOKYOPOP Community:

Way back in 1997, we set out to bring a little-known form of Japanese entertainment to American shores. I originally named our little company "Mixx", meaning a mix of entertainment, mix of media, and mix of cultures. My dream was to build a bridge between Japan and America, through the incredible stories I discovered as a student in Tokyo.

Starting with just four titles -- Parasyte, Ice Blade, Magic Knight Rayearth, and, of course, Sailor Moon -- we launched MixxZine, aspiring to introduce comics to girls. These four series laid down the cornerstone for what would eventually become TOKYOPOP and the Manga Revolution.

Over the years, I've explored many variations of manga culture – "OEL" manga, "Cine-Manga", children's books we called "Manga Chapters", the Gothic-Lolita Bible, Korean manwha (which we still called "manga" at the time), video game soundtracks, live-action films and documentaries, anime, and various merchandise. Some of it worked, some of it didn't – but the most enjoyable part of this journey has been the opportunity to work with some of the most talented and creative people I've ever met.

Many of you also allowed me the indulgence to not only produce works but also to take a swing at creating some of my own. I've learned that it's much easier to criticize others than it is to create from scratch – but in doing so, I've also in the process learned how to better communicate with creators.

Fourteen years later, I'm laying down my guns. Together, our community has fought the good fight, and, as a result, the Manga Revolution has been won –manga has become a ubiquitous part of global pop culture. I'm very proud of what we've accomplished – and the incredible group of passionate fans we've served along the way (my fellow revolutionaries!).

For many years Japan has been my second home, and I have devoted much of my career to bringing my love for Japan to the world – and hopefully in my own way, I can give back to the culture that has given me so much joy.

In closing, I simply want to thank all of you – our incredibly talented creators from all over the world, our patient and supportive business partners and customers, our amazingly dedicated TOKYOPOP team – full-timers, part-timers, freelancers and interns, and of course the greatest fans in the entire world. Together, we've succeeded in bringing manga to North America and beyond.

Arigatougozaimasu!!


Stu Levy
Founder, TOKYOPOP

Only the North American office will be shutting. The office in Germany will carry on, and so will its film division. The office in Germany will still handle liscencing rights for Tokyopop. I don’t know
So what will be going? A list of some of some manga produced by Tokyopop….

- Sailor Moon
- Fruits Basket
- Battle Royale
- Love Hina
- Hetalia Axis Powers
- Alice in the Country of Hearts
- Bizenghast
- Chibi Vampire
- D.N.angel
- .hack// *insert series name here*
- Maid Sama!
- Pet Shop of Horrors
- Priest
- Tokyo Mew Mew
- Trinity Blood
- The Gothic Lolita bibles
- Vampire Kisses
- And theres a lot more…

What do we think will happen? Well, seeing as we don’t know if the Germans will publish manga in English, so we have to go from there. Let’s assume that the German’s will produce manga in English. The cost of manga, being imported from Germany, will (for the Americans at least) go up (before they didn’t have to import it). No idea what that will do to the price of manga in England seeing as it’s already imported.
Now let’s assume that the Germans don’t publish manga in English. Then what will we do? We’re hoping that somebody else will obtain the English rights to some of these titles, especially the more popular ones like Hetalia once they realise that they are goldmines and to licence them is a great investment.
Now let’s assume Tokyopop refuse to sell the licenses. In which case we will not be getting any manga from some amazing series and therefore we will have lost a whole host of great manga.

Other people’s opinions? Well, Luvable Nutcase says something like “I suppose that the manga that is completed will be released and the ones that aren’t will be picked up by someone else. I’m going to miss the Gothic Lolita bibles, they never released number six did they…AAH! Who’s going to translate Hetalia???. The GOOD news is that its only the American office that’s shutting so likely it will still be released but will be expensive. Since manga is such a huge moneymaker in the US, they wont THINK about shutting it down completely.”
Amamizu says”Tokyopop doesn’t have a reputation for treating artists/creators well so I’m not sure I feel too bad for them shutting down.”
Maryspam/Mimz (depending on how nice we’re feeling on the day we contact her) says “I wanted to read that manga….now I have nothing to look forward to.”
Iza says “I think its *censored, profanity*”

Nina and Katy say ”Well we still have anime of various things and the stuff that we wanted to read most of it we’ve read. Hetalia will probably get picked up by someone else (Viz media, Yen Press, Dark Horse and others : TIP- Pick it up! It’s a goldmine!!) and some other popular titles may or may get picked up. We’ll be sad to see Fruits Basket and Alice in the Country of Hearts go, and Chibi Vampire we got through anyway. Maid-sama! We would have liked to read (we liked Ouran and Maid-sama is in a similar genre), but most now we probably won’t. In conclusion, we think that Tokyopop have a great selection of manga and we're pretty disappointed that they're going".

And where will this leave us in the world of manga? Well, we still have Viz Media (you may know it by its imprints Shojo Beat and Shounen Jump, and these guys are responsible for Death Note, Naruto, Bleach, Vampire Knight, Nana, Godchild and other things. We have Yen Press responsible for Black Butler, Bamboo Blade, Pandora Hearts, Haruhi, Soul Eater and a lot more. We have Dark Horse manga responsible for Reiko the Zombie Shop, Mail, The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service and some other things.
So yes, there will still be some manga out there, and some pretty good manga at that. But we’ll still miss Tokyopop, and all the great titles it brought us.

Book Review- Alice in the Country of Hearts vol 5 by QuinRose and Hoshino Soume

 Title: Alice in the Country of Hearts volume 5

 Author: QuinRose and Soumei Hoshino

Series: Alice in the Country of Hearts #5

 Published:  by Tokyopop

 Length:192 pages

Warnings: suggestive situations, mild violence, alcohol

 Other info: If you haven’t read this series before, it’s probably best if you read the review of volume 1. I’ll keep this spoiler free though, so read on if you want!

Summary :

 Review:  A ball is going to be held in the Country of Hearts, and Alice does not want to go at all. especially once she knows that Blood Dupre, mafia boss/mad hatter/irritating person will be there. However Boris the Cheshire Cat, Gowland the Duchess and Julius the Clockmaker  get her there, where she meets with Blood, Vivaldi (the Queen of Hearts), Peter White (the Rabbit) and others. Somehow she ends up in Blood’s territory,   where she is invited to his rose garden, and learns about the relationship between him and Vivaldi. It ends on a cliffhanger that makes me think that Quinrose is trying to bring Alice in the Country of Hearts to an end.

So the plot was interesting, slightly slowed down from other volumes and a bit boring. Theres a bit more serious stuff going on here, but there’s still a good dose of comic relief that makes it a quick light read. The characters all have distinct personalities that are completely different to those  of their corresponding characters in Alice in Wonderland, but still recognisably them.

The comedy probably isn’t to everyone’s liking. I enjoyed it though-this is one of my favourite comedy mangas. Theres some that the majority of people will like (ie Julius asking Ace to lead  him and  Alice to the ball, in the hope they will get lost enough that they miss it completely), but some jokes are slightly more mature which will be completely lost on younger readers.

The art is pretty, as always. Most of the time its simple and realistic, which really work for this manga and its storyline, theme,  etc. However the use of chibis (super deformed characters used for comic effect normally) that comes up occasionally also suit the manga, and the situations and they’re not too overdone. Its interesting seeing the characters in formal wear-especially Boris, now in a suit as opposed to his normal punk wear and pink feather boa. He still has the tail piercing though *laughs*

The ending makes me want the sixth volume NOW. I’m not going to giveaway spoilers, but if you read it, you will want to read it too.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a quick light read that WILL make you laugh. Recommended especially to those who enjoy classics re-done, Alice in Wonderland, cute things and a bit of romance.

PS: Why does Julius the Watchmaker and Elliot the March Hare look so much like Acheron and Kyrian from Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunter series?

Book Hop #6

 The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly event hosted by Jennifer at Crazy for Books where we get to go visit other blogs.
Welcome to Death Books and Tea, where we review young adult books, mainly those with a little death in it, while enjoying tea. Current favourite books of ours are Black Butler, Hetalia, and the Chronicles of Nick.
As you're here, I'd like to saythat if you want to swap some books and you are in the UK, I have some books that you may want. Its a pretty random selection, so look here for details.

And on with this week's question...

Summer is coming quickly - what 2011 summer release are you are most looking forward to?

First, what actually counts as summer? I'm going to say June to August because that makes it easy. Now... There's loads of summer releases I'm looking forwards to!
Theres this weeks WoW, Falling for Hamlet. Theres Alice inthe Country of Hearts volume 6. There's Forbidden, book 2 in the Demon Trappers series. And there's Anna Dressed in Blood.
And theres a lot more, but I won't name them now.

So what do you think? Leave a link and I'll  visit you some day.
Nina xxx

In My Mailbox (3)

 In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by the Story Siren where we get to show off what books we got. 

Once again, I got a large collection of books. At this rate, I’m not going to be able to keep up....

From the library

-          Full Metal Alchemist vol 1 by Hiromu Arakara

-          Forsaken by Jana Oliver

-          Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison

-          Bloody Kiss vol 1 by Kazuko Furumiya

-          Pegasus and the Flame by Kate O’Hearn

-          The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service

-          The Death Defying Pepper Roux by Geraldine McCaughrean

-          Prisoner of the Inquisition by Theresa Breslin

And this is what I bought when I went to London.

-          Lenore Rebirth vol. 1 by Roman Dirge

-          Grand Guingol Orchestra vol. 1 by Yuki Kaori

-          Alice in the Country of Hearts vol. 5 by QuinRose

-          Hetalia vol. 2 by Hidekaz Himaruya

My thoughts.... I’m already halfway through the Death Defying Pepper Roux and I’m really enjoying it....I’ve already read Alice in the Country of Hearts and will review it some day....I got Hetalia vol.2 because I’m still waiting for the library to process volume 1...I’m taking Grand Guingol Orchestra on holiday so I won’t review that until some time in June...I got The Death Defying Pepper Roux and Prisoner of the Inquisition because they’re shortlisted for the Carnegie Award....I’ve been waiting for ages to read Forsaken and Once Dead Twice Shy so I’m looking forward to that...I know Lenore isn’t really a book (its got about 30 pages, if that) because its a comic, but there are collections (Noogies, Wedgies, Cooties) that I’ll review some day.

Thats my mailbox this week. What did you get this week?

And on a side note, have you noticed the banner? Big thanks, hugs and cake goes to Emily Happywise and Miley Madwise, who drew the Grim Reaper enjoying a book and a cup of tea. We (Katy and I) attempted to do this, but both looked funny and Emily offered to draw one for us. Which turned out much much  better. Anyway, Emily, (and Miley), we love you! Check out their blog here!

Book Review- Alice in the Country of Hearts vol 1 by QuinRose and Hoshino Soumei

Title: Alice in the Country of  Hearts

 Author: QuinRose, Hoshino Soumei

Series: Alice in the Country of Hearts #1

 Published: 1^st March 2010

 Length: 184 pages

Warnings: suggestive situations, a little gore, a little violence, kissing, half the characters trying to chat up Alice.

 Other info: Started off as a computer game. There are five volumes currently published. An anime film has been announced to be produced at some time.

Summary from external site: The girly but bloody otome game re-imagining of Lewis Carroll's classic fantasy novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with bishounen characters and added romance.

In this story, Alice is not all what she seems. She is practical, strong, yet a cynical person. Instead of the tradition story, Alice is kidnapped unwillingly by a mysterious (yet somewhat bishie-looking) man with bunny ears into a place call Heartland. Stuck in Heartland due to a trick by the mysterious bunny eared man, she meets the residents of this world. Along the way, Alice meets Blood, handsome mafia leader; Ace, the psycho yet charming knight and more…What should Alice do in such a world!?

 Review:  Alice has stumbled into Wonderland and has been forced to play the 'game' by the White Rabbit. She must fill up a small container by getting everyone to love her if she ever wants to escape. But this is no simple matter as the Blood (the head of the mafia), the owner of the theme park and the Queen of Hearts are all at war with each other and many of the inhabitants of Wonderland have very sadistic natures -the chances of Alice succeeding are very slim.

Katy's thoughts: I love the updated versions of each character  and the introduction of a new one: Julius the watchmaker as god. Alice is just as naive as the original and twice as funny too. It is violent and many of the characters are highly bloodthirsty and have on respect for life. It is interesting to see Alice attempt to change their attitudes while trying not to get killed by them.

Nina's thoughts: I love the updated characters too, they are extremely funny and they make you rethink the way you saw Alice. My favourite has to be Boris, a punk version of the Cheshire Cat. I also like the new version of the duchess, Mary go land whose violin becomes a gun, and the Mad Hatter, mafia boss Blood. And Julius, who I say is not supposed to be God(I don't remember God being in the original story), but Old Father Time(who defiantly was) Anyway, no matter who he's supposed to be, I like Julius. The plot is simply Alice being carried down the rabbit hole and being forced to make everyone in wonderland love her, meaning she has to meet them all. She meets them all in comedic and awkward circumstances, them gets into a lot more comedic and awkward circumstances. And the art is pretty, detailed, clean and the style works well with the story. I recommend this to anyone wanting a quick light read with lots of laughs, and fans of Alice in Wonderland.

 Rating: 5 hilarious, interesting plot and a brilliant parody of Alice in Wonderland. 

P.S. If you know of any more Alice in Wonderland parodies, whether they be of a light comedic or twisted macabre nature, please share. I love reading them, and I think Katy does too.