Following Friday’s announcement by Rivkah that much of Tokyopop’s OEL output would be moving to the web, some dissenting voices were heard. Christy Lijewski posted that her re:PLAY #3 will see print:

Contrary to what all the manga and anime news sites are reporting not EVERY OEL from TokyoPop is canceled/direct to web.
I’m happy to say that RE: Play made the cut and that the 3rd volume will be coming out in print, on schedule, as planned!

So please don’t think I’m out of the game ha ha ha, I’m still around and the series will be going on as planned :3

However the fact still remains that most of my friends series have been canceled and/or delegated to the web, so please if you know any OEL artists that have been sacked, don’t be rude about it. Even if you don’t like OEL know that the people behind these series, we all work REALLY hard to do our best to get books out that we really have love for. So please, if you know a TokyoPop OEL artist now would be a great time to give them your support, because dammit, if times aren’t tough!


Brigid has a thorough round-up of other news and notes; apparently Shutterbox #6 is a go, while Psy-Comm is still up in the air. Bettina Kurkoski says that My Cat Loki #3 has been cancelled but she’ll continue working on TP’s licensed manga.

In other developments, we’ve heard from a couple of good sources that Tokyopop is releasing several creators from their contracts, and negotiating with others for their publishing rights. Expect to see some movement there over the next month or so.

Finally, one other bit of news: Tokyopop has signed with Big Tent Entertainment as their licensing agent. The complete release is in the jump, but at the Licensing show last week we were surprised to see a big Tokyopop display at the Big Tent booth and even snapped a few pictures:

Img 4664
Img 4665
Img 4667
Also part of the display: a video loop on “Manga culture” that included such things as James Jean’s store displays for Prada, which don’t have much to go with manga or Tokyopop, but as we always say, don’t distance yourself from success.

Big Tent Ent., the New York-based branded entertainment company, has been appointed the worldwide licensing agent of record for manga publisher and global pop culture brand TOKYOPOP.

Through the long-term agreement, Big Tent will represent the master brand as well as their sub-brands of highly popular manga publishing titles including PRINCESS AI, BIZENGHAST, I LUV HALLOWEEN, DRAMACON and VAN VON HUNTER.

Manga has become one of the most important cultural phenomena to hit the U.S. market this decade. From television and film to high-end couture fashion brands, manga has proven to be the creative inspiration behind some of today’s hottest brands including the highly-anticipated Steven Spielberg flick GHOST IN THE SHELL, Prada, Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton.

As the company at the forefront of this burgeoning trend, TOKYOPOP has been hailed by TIME MAGAZINE, USA TODAY and THE NEW YORK TIMES as the leader in the market.

Big Tent plans to develop a comprehensive licensing program for the entertainment brand by utilizing the unique design aspects and revolutionary artistic vision for fashion and the sub-brands for collectibles and toy. Other merchandising rights include stationery, food and beverage, footwear, gifts and novelties, gift cards, health and beauty products, hobby and model products, home decor, house wares, paper products and sporting goods.

“TOKYOPOP is a creative powerhouse for manga entertainment globally and we’re very excited to further expand their brand recognition and to be part of the manga revolution, said Richard K. Collins, CEO, Big Tent Ent. “We plan to leverage the TOKYOPOP brand name, their array of popular characters and titles, and the upward trends in manga consumption to take the brand into exciting derivative products and new merchandising concepts.”

Stuart Levy, CEO and COO, TOKYOPOP added, “We selected Big Tent Entertainment to represent our brands because they’ve proven themselves as a valuable leader and an out-of-the-box thinker in the licensing community both in North America and worldwide.”

9 COMMENTS

  1. Was cleaning the apartment this weekend, and discovered some manga/anime promo DVDs. What made me wonder is this… the English translation copyrights are owned by the English publisher. Can these rights be repurchased by the original, foreign publisher? Or are the rights actually part of the licensing agreement, that they automatically revert if the title goes out of print or the company goes out of business?

  2. It’s like a Katamari rolling up marketing BS. From TokyoPop and now to these yahoos.

    “Big Tent will represent the master brand as well as their sub-brands of highly popular manga publishing titles including PRINCESS AI, BIZENGHAST, I LUV HALLOWEEN, DRAMACON and VAN VON HUNTER.”

    Okay, I question the terms sub-brands, popular, and manga in that damn statement. I like a couple of those, but they’re not THAT popular compared to the sales actual manga. I wish they were. I wish kids were buying OEL ‘manga’ (OGN original graphic novels), but most are hooked on books direct from Japan. Plus, sub-brand? TokyoPop owns them lock stock and barrel? What about the damn authors.

    I was looking through the dollar manga clearance bin at a local comic store. I saw a number of good titles and especially saw many ‘OEL manga’.

    “Manga has become one of the most important cultural phenomena to hit the U.S. market this decade. From television and film to high-end couture fashion brands, manga has proven to be the creative inspiration behind some of today’s hottest brands including the highly-anticipated Steven Spielberg flick GHOST IN THE SHELL, Prada, Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton.”

    Well television and film would be anime. There’s a whole system of companies and studios behind that. TokyoPop has only ever licensed a couple of anime and don’t get me started on that failure. I liked GTO, Initial D, and even Reign. I can’t even find most of those in discount bins today. Hell, that’s how I found the few DVD volumes I did find. TokyoPop anime is dead. Same with their soundtrack division. Plus I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but it’s amazing how they name drop Speilberg and Ghost in the Shell, just because of the word manga. Just because their product manga was produced in the same country as the same country as the GitS manga. Oh wait. It wasn’t even since these are Amerimanga or whatever they want to call it now.

    And Louis Vutton? I don’t think it’s James Jean, but artist Takashi Murakami they’re talking about. (Funny, I saw a woman today with one of those Vutton bags with Murakami’s color scheme.) I saw the guy speak and almost got his autograph at an art museum. TokyoPop’s products don’t even come close to being similar to what he’s been doing. TokyoPop is jerking themselves off more than his sculpture My Lonesome Cowboy. (Google it, just not at work.)

    This has got to be one of the worst BS press releases I’ve seen since.. well.. since TokyoPop’s. It’s like their BS multiplied with Hollywood glam. Guh.

  3. I’m so pissed. Dammit, I have as closer six-degrees connection to Louis Vuitton than they do. I have a Murakami print framed and hanging in my room. I can draw some big eyed big characters standing on mushrooms if you want. Bah.

    Oh and then this quote.
    “We plan to leverage the TOKYOPOP brand name, their array of popular characters and titles, and the upward trends in manga consumption to take the brand into exciting derivative products and new merchandising concepts.”

    What? All half dozen of them? Like was posted, they’re releasing some creators from their contracts. Points to them for that. Still, what does TokyoPop bring to the table? Maybe they should have made themselves a better publisher first. Bah. Poor DramaCon. I honestly would love to see that as a film. It’s Mallrats for the manga crowd. (You can quote me on that Big Tent. Okay, Mallrats wasn’t a hit when it first was released . Yet it has since proven to be the greatest cinematic achievement of our time. Okay, you may want to toss in some Chasing Amy comparisons for more cred. Joking aside, I do think Drama Con is their best bet and I look forward to it. I just hope its creator maintains control.

  4. Torsten Adair said, “Can these rights be repurchased by the original, foreign publisher? Or are the rights actually part of the licensing agreement, that they automatically revert if the title goes out of print or the company goes out of business?”

    They can and they have. I know of two TokyoPop books that have gone out of print and whose license is up. Clover is an old TP book that has now been announced in a new edition from Dark Horse with a new translation. Parasyte has been out of print at TokyoPop and I think Viz is now publishing it. Those are two examples off the top of my head.

    The English translation and, for anime, dub may be still owned by the US company, but the Japanese company obviously always keeps the rights to the original work. As soon as their contract is up, they can resell the rights to another company.

  5. Hello can I inquire is there any new about Gakuen Alice??I mean is there a second season for Gakuen Alice??
    Thank you…

Comments are closed.