Uk tokyopop

The existing Tokyopop operations in the United States would be split into two subsidiaries: Tokyopop, Inc.

Tokyopop, Inc. The goals in each company are different and the achievement of those goals is more realistic, more possible if everyone working in each of those companies is very clearly focused. Most of the positions cut were those involved in the direct publication of its books. Tokyopop's Japan division was also to be split, with one unit operating under Tokyopop Media and the other becoming a subsidiary under the overall Tokyopop Group.

In December , citing "dramatically low sales" in the publishing industry as a whole, Tokyopop, Inc. Licenses from the Japanese manga publisher Kodansha historically were a large part of Tokyopop's catalog.

In the years leading up to , the number of Kodandha titles licensed by Tokyopop decreased. The final new Kodansha title was Tokko by Tohru Fujisawa , and the final batch of volumes of Kodansha titles appeared around March Around that time Kodansha began to consistently give licenses to its manga to Del Rey Manga. Deb Aoki of About. You get the idea.

If you've the type who reads the tea leaves of the manga publishing biz, you kinda sensed that things weren't quite the same as they used to be. On August 31, , Tokyopop announced that Japanese manga publisher Kodansha was allowing all of its licensing agreements with both the North American and German divisions of Tokyopop to expire for reasons unknown.

Due to this loss in licensing, Tokyopop was forced to leave several Kodansha series unfinished, including popular series Rave Master , Initial D , GetBackers , and Life. It also would be unable to reprint any previously published volumes, rendering all Kodansha-owned Tokyopop releases out-of-print. Tokyopop said that it expected the loss of the licenses to have minimal impact on the company economically due to its diversification of their holdings over the last few years, though they acknowledged the loss would hurt fans of the ongoing series who face uncertainty about the completion of those titles from other companies.

ICv2 reported that Tokyopop would continue to publish light novels from Kodansha, and that Kodansha appeared to be planning to publish its own titles through its partnership with Random House.

In an interview with the website Anime Vice, Tokypop Marketing Manager Kasia Piekarz noted that the company was not entirely surprised by the move, stating, "It wasn't completely unexpected as we haven't licensed anything new from Kodansha in quite some time. What surprised us most was that they canceled licenses for series that were almost finished, such as Samurai Deeper Kyo and Rave Master. From a fan and collector's perspective, that doesn't make sense to us.

In the summer of , Tokyopop founded its first foreign branch in Germany, headquartered in Hamburg. The first manga and manhwa by Tokyopop Germany were published in November, , and the first anime in fall, Tokyopop released an anime collection in the United Kingdom market in late , including titles such as Initial D and Great Teacher Onizuka. Tokyopop also distributes some of their titles to Australia and New Zealand through Funtastic, who recently acquired Madman Entertainment.

In Greece , Tokyopop-owned properties are licensed by Anubis Comics. The imprint was launched in Initially, the company denied that it owned Blu, stating that it was only distributing for another company. The company also released no editor names nor company contact info, out of fear there would be backlashes and hate mail from "moral crusaders.

Fans critical of possible mishandling of the Initial D property voiced concerns regarding "editorial changes" in the language localization of the manga and anime. They also felt that the series would reach a larger audience if it had a broader American appeal. We also know that we have a responsibility to be true to the spirit of the original Japanese version of Initial D.

So, we start having lots of late night sessions about how to present Initial D to the widest possible audience and yet still retain its core essence We are passionate about anime and manga, and we believe in helping spread the word to as many people as we can. The company alleviated some of the concerns by noting that the anime series would receive an "unedited, subtitled, Japanese language" DVD release.

The manga series remained edited except for the first volume, which was accidentally printed before the editing decisions were made. There are other criticisms of Tokyopop's editing of manga. According to Hellweg, the decision was made to "provide the fans with the best quality translation. Dave, a fan who runs the Light Novel Dungeon German light novel news website, told ANN that it was "basically unheard of" for modern German translations of anime, manga, or light novels to use English rather than Japanese as the base.

He said he was "not necessarily surprised" to hear that Tokyopop had adopted this strategy due to the company's lack of transparency. The use of a "pivot language" that is, basing a translation on an intermediary translation instead of the original language is controversial in the German literary scene.

A common complaint for pivot language translations is that they can tend to lose more in translation, because any misinterpretations or ambiguities introduced in the intermediary translation will be passed on to the next translator in line like a game of Telephone. Japanese-German translator Berlitz von Mandelbrot cited the early translations of Haruki Murakami's novels, which were based on the heavily abridged English versions, as a prominent scandal in the early s.

He also noted that although there are still examples of German translations of Japanese fiction and non-fiction that use a pivot language, Japanese is currently the third most popular source language for translations in Germany after English and French.

The issue is also one of marketing and transparency to the audience. For German fans who can also read English, a pivot language translation is a betrayal because they could have simply read the English version instead. Fans of anime, manga, and light novels are particularly sensitive about authenticity in translation. For them, these stories are gateways into Japanese culture, and so a translation that has already been through the filter of an often America-centric English localization rings false.

Why resort to a pivot language translation, then? According to von Mandelbrot, it's a matter of time and money. But translations from English can be done quicker, which is why some translators might accept those offers more readily," he said.

Even if that was the case, even if there was no capable translator in the whole German-speaking world or rather, no translator who would work for the pay , it does explain neither Tokyopop 's lack of transparency nor the wording of the statement. ANN reached out to Tokyopop for comment, but did not receive a response by press time. The article previously stated that Hellweg said that translators may "not be comfortable" with Japanese; this has been expanded to "may 'not be comfortable' with handling the content or format of a Japanese light novel, or may lack the appropriate 'background.

In addition, the German translator of Sword Art Online volumes claimed that she translated from Japanese, but the series was handed to a different translator from volume 13 onward. Tokyopop removed the "Translated from Japanese" in its credits starting from volume Unfortunately, this new concept didn't fit for me as a translator anymore. No account yet? Registering is free , easy , and private.