tokyopop

TOKYOPOP, formerly known as Mixx, is a distributor of many very popular manga in the United States, headquartered in Los Angeles, California. TOKYOPOP also publishes and licenses manhwa, anime, and novels, as well as the Cine-Manga (another term for "animanga") line of graphic novels using still shots taken from children's television shows and movies (both live-action and animated). TOKYOPOP sells both traditional Japanese style manga as well as Western book style in local bookstores across the U.S. In summer 2004, TOKYOPOP founded its first foreign branch in Germany, headquartered in Hamburg. The first manga and manhwa by TOKYOPOP Germany were published in November 2004, the first anime have been announced for late summer 2005. TOKYOPOP, back when it was known as Mixx, sold MixxZine, a manga magazine. Mixx also sold the shōjo anthology SMILE. Mixxzine later became TOKYOPOP magazine before it was discontinued. TOKYOPOP has plans to start another magazine about manga that isn't a manga anthology named Takuhai. TOKYOPOP also distributes some of that manga to Australia and New Zealand through Madman Entertainment.

Success and Criticism

Many people in the industry credit TOKYOPOP for transforming the American manga market to its current state of popularity. The company achieved this by first lowering the price of their manga to a consistent price point of about 10$ (US) per volume. They achieved this by not translating sound effects (which required much touching up of the original art), and not flipping the pages like is done in most english manga editions. In addition to lowering prices of manga they took a shotgun approach to marketing allowing for a previously unprofitable general shōjo to appeal to teenage girls (a previously un-targeted market in the current comics industry). The lower price point was also more appealing to bookstores, because lower prices meant better sales. As a result the manga section in most mainstream bookstores has increased exponentially. Other manga companies like Viz Communications have restructured and lowered their prices as a responce to this move. The company has been criticized by most notably Toren Smith of the competing company Studio Proteus which was published as part of an analysis of the industry in The Comics Journal. The main criticisms by detractors of TOKYOPOP are its lack of good quality control with translations being full of typos and other rudimentary errors, and its quantity over quality approach to liscensing titles from Japan. Some feel that this would eventually lead to a bubble in the manga industry unless something was done to make the comics less disposable.