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Why do people hate Tokyopop?

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Nekusagi

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Normally, I would stick this in the Other Anime and Manga subforum, but I decided given what the thread's about it would go here.

I've been noticing on a lot of anime/cosplay/Lolita (ESPECIALLY Lolita) forums/LJ communities, Tokyopop is the new villain of choice. The main reason?

They're selling American comics with no resemblance whatsoever to "the manga style". Apparently, this means they've "sold out" and are no longer a reputable manga publisher.

Am I the only one who thinks this is completely petty and ridiculous? Aren't these critics forgetting that 1. Manga simply means "comics" in Japanese and 2. Were it not for American comics, manga wouldn't exist in the first place? Maybe it IS a little misleading of Tokyopop to label them "manga" but honestly, I think by giving up and coming comic artists the chance, they're doing a great thing for the industry. And while not all their American titles are winners, there are some FANTASTIC ones at the same time (Bizenghast, Peach Fuzz, and Dramacon among my favorites). Heck, they published a 2-part Amy Kim Ganter series, and she's an accomplished artist who's been featured in Flight, which is pretty prestigious.

Am I the only one who finds this COMPLETELY ridiculous?
 
You are not the only person who finds it ridiculous, since manga is a form of comic. Besides, as long as what they publish is of good quality, does it matter where it comes from?
 
You mentioned them giving people a chance, have you read their 'Rising Stars of Manga'? I think it's awesome. Too bad I can't continue some of the stories.

I don't see why anyone should have a problem with TokyoPop.
 
Big LOLs on this one.
I can't believe people are hating Tokyo Pop! Out of all the manga companies... they are pretty much the purest and the cheapest.. and probably a main reason why Japanese comics are as big as they are now in the US!

What are the comics that are pissing people off anyways? I think there should be a fair chance given to all styles... (because "Manga" style isn't defined as well as most Americans want to think)

Personally, I think it's really ironic how American Comics are set up to make the character famous, while Japanese comics are set up to make the Artist famous. It kind of bugs me a bit on the American comics too, I think more Artist should be striving to do their own work and fans being more interested in venturing past safe territories of the tales of Batman or the X-men over and over again.
 
Bell02二世 said:
Personally, I think it's really ironic how American Comics are set up to make the character famous, while Japanese comics are set up to make the Artist famous. It kind of bugs me a bit on the American comics too, I think more Artist should be striving to do their own work and fans being more interested in venturing past safe territories of the tales of Batman or the X-men over and over again.
Click to expand...

Don't they keep changing artists and writers for every couple sets of issues though? So it's not like the same artist/writer has to keep working on the same franchise... They can work on tons of franchises and introduce lots of new characters and kill off other people's characters! XD (Though I wish they would stay on the same comic sometimes... >__> I hate it when great art and writing suddenly switches to bad art and writing and my favorite characters get killed off... T__T) But I have to admit that I tend to follow characters and stories more than artists/writers for both American and Japanese comics... >__>

On topic... I honestly don't see what's the big deal... :( Aren't the big American comic publishers (ie. DC and Marvel) publishing manga too? Well... I'm not too sure about Marvel but... still! :D
 
Manga in America as we know it wouldn't exist if Tokyopop hadn't started selling shoujo stuff like Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura under its Mixx label back in the early nineties, actually. People tend to forget that.

Yeah, that's what I don't get. No one freaked when DC or Darkhorse started publishing manga. And Darkhorse didn't even start a side label like DC did with CMX... they just publish stuff like Oh My Goddess and Trigun under Darkhorse Comics.

Yet a manga publisher goes the other way and OMG SELLOUT.
 
That's because far too many manga fans seem to have a stick shoved up their asses. Anything that's not strictly as it was in Japan is considered wrong/evil/whatever. Whereas DC and Dark Horse started as comic companies, and comic fans largely don't care about their favorite companies publishing manga (and I believe Dark Horse started off doing the manga versions of Star Wars, which was a nice little stepping stone), we're too worried about what they're doing to the stuff we're already reading to worry about what we're not.
 
Ah, but there could have just as easily been accusations of those FILTHY American publishers jumping on the bandwagon. Just like someone at a con I went to said Teen Titans was doing with anime because they drew it in a superdeformed style.

Yet there weren't.
 
The only thing I don't like about their site is that they've turned it into some kind of...fan-site/deviantart/fancfic.net kind of place. It's ridiculously difficult for me to navigate it.
 
Neku said:
Manga in America as we know it wouldn't exist if Tokyopop hadn't started selling shoujo stuff like Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura under its Mixx label back in the early nineties, actually.
Click to expand...

Um...Viz was selling stuff like Ranma 1/2 way before Mixx came on the scene.

There are plenty of reasons to dislike Tokyopop, but publishing American stuff ain't one of them.
 
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