Updates on the Tokyopop situation, along with some of canceled manga/novels and some speculation.
ICv2 has an article that gives a little more details over the whole Tokyopop business stuff that is going on. I’m sure you’ve all heard by now that they will be cutting down to around 225 volumes released per year, or about 20 per month, from the 470ish they were doing.
Confirmed dropped titles:
- Gosick
- Missing
- Chibi Vampire light novels
- Kingdom Hearts II*
Speculated dropped titles:
- if it’s manwha, just assume that its gone
- it its a light novel, just assume that its gone
- .hack//G.U.+
- +Anime
- Battle Club
- Burst Angel
- Dazzle
- Elemental Gelade
- Elemental Line
- Foxy Lady
- Gakuen Alice
- Genju no Seiza
- GTO: The Early Years
- Harukaze Bitter Bop
- J-Pop Idol
- Jyu Oh Sei
- King of Thorn
- Kyo Kara Maoh!
- Legend of “Zipangu” BLOOD SUCKER
- Love Attack
- Missile Happy!
- Mamotte Shugogetten
- Never Give Up
- Nosatsu Junkie
- Pick of the Litter
- Platinum Garden
- Rave Master
- Satisfaction Guaranteed
- Sgt. Frog
- Shin Megami Tensei
- Short Sunzen!
- Silver Diamond
- Speed Grapher
- Suppli
- The Third
- Tokko
- Vassalord
- Your and My Secret
- Zyword
As you can see, except for a few titles, these are mostly manga that no ones ever heard of. Some of them have not even begun their release yet. The only ones I’d be upset by are Jyu Oh Sei, Your and My Secret, and maybe Dazzle. I do know that a lot of people’ll be pissed if Sgt. Frog or GTO gets canceled, though.
Of course, the sheer amount of unrecognizable titles just goes to show that Tokyopop has slipped far into the “throw at wall, see what sticks” business model, which is what has helped to diminish the anime market. And this isn’t even including the amount of crap which has already concluded.
It might also be worth noting that Tokyopop will also let a lot of lesser-selling older titles go out of print to save money.
Links to relevant entries on other blogs:
- Borderline Hikkikomori: tokyopop dividing into two separate companies
- Otaku Times: Tokyopop Restructuring; Laying off 39 Employees
- Tokyopop talk, yaoi speculation, and more
- also of interest is this post over on a geek by any other names which quotes a still-employed Tokyopop employee, and links to a previous post that a few of the axed employees had commented on
* this is from a tip from an acquaintance in the industry… yeah, vague, I know, but I’m not gonna get someone fired
June 9, 2008 at 16:29 |
“Vassalord” ;___; WHY? (someone’s going to get hurt~) @\-_-
June 9, 2008 at 23:02 |
Depth: @ meows – Because it hasn’t been released yet, so its easier to get rid of.
June 9, 2008 at 23:03 |
Like you, I’ll be ticked if Jyu Oh Sei gets dropped. But I’ll also miss Shin Megami Tensei, .hack//GU+ (anything .hack actually) and all the light novels.
I guess this might mean that Kino no Tabi’s really gone… ;~~~~~; And there were rumors surfacing that they’d be bringing it back, too.
June 14, 2008 at 18:45 |
WHYY!! I need my Chibi Vampire Novels and Gosick! And KH II D:
But I wish they’d just finish Satisfaction Guaranteed, Pick of The Litter, and Nosastu Junkie!! Those are probably my 3 favorite (other than chibi vampire) of tokyopop manga!
I do have some volumes of Dazzle and Never Give Up as well.. and maybe some other things u__u