Tokyopop... (lights cigarette) Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time...

Red: Tokyopop is dead Me, a German dude: What? Half of my manga are from Tokyopop. How can this be? Red: But the german branch still exist. Me: aaaaaaaaah

Whenever I find a vendor booth or a shop selling Tokyopop manga from before the 2008 layoffs I look through books to find ones with my older sister's name on the credits page. She used to do graphic design work for the book covers and when I was in my biggest weeb phase it was a point of pride to show off that my big sister worked for Tokyopop.

As a teenager, I used to measure my income in ten-dollar "this could buy me one Tokyopop manga" increments.

I remember giving my Tokyo Pop Love Hina collection to my local library. I wanted under privileged kids to enjoy the series as much as I did. When I walked in, an elderly black lady was in charge of the "Teens Section" where manga was shelved (bless their hearts, they didn't know), and when I showed her my original first run Tokyo Pop Love Hina that I was just giving to her, she said suddenly "You do realize they don't publish this anymore. They're collector items. Furthermore, we couldn't replace them when they're inevitably damaged." I told her my reasoning, and insisted she put them up there anyway. She did, and only a few days ago did I return to see most of the collection remained! Regardless, I thought it was very funny an old black lady was more "in tune" with the manga craze of yester year than even I was. In my mind, I imagine her more of an otaku than myself, and that makes me smile.

TokyoPop and Borders... two brands that take me right back to middle school.

"Disney Manga" I haven't heard a such vile mixture of words in my life before

Yoooo I’ve been reading manga forever and didn’t realize Tokyopop was gone until I went to a thrift store and looked at all the Tokyopop manga they had. I was like woah hold up what happened to them?!? It was everywhere when I was little!! Then this video popped up on my recommendations! So perfect, thank you, great video :)

The Fall of of Tokyopop (incomprehensible German in the distance)

Talking about Tokyopop made me realise how absolutely old I am

America's Greatest Otaku sounds like the biggest cringe known to man.

Wait, MixxZine had Parasyte right next to Sailor Moon? ...damn, that's brutal.

I guess you could say that Tokyopop's bubble... Tokyopopped.

What's that gonna do, cause me to totally go bankrupt? -Tokyopop when Kondansha pulled out their titles probably

As soon as you said "Borders", a massive wave of nostalgia slapped me in the face. God, I miss that store. :(

I'm just sitting here mourning for "+Anima", one of my first and favorite manga which will now forever be obscure because of Tokyopop going under.

Tokyopop hasn't been on my mind for well over a decade, despite those terrible contracts I think they deserve credit for what they did for the industry. I'm glad the initial video concept evolved into something like this, it really reflects your skill as a researcher and as a video producer by bringing to light stories that were otherwise lost to obscurity. Excellent video Yaoi Paddle Historian.

We definitely need a second video about their OEL shadiness...

"Disney manga" sounds like one of their divisions where they just never check on it and havent noticed if it's even making money or not.

This really explains everything when I was back in high school and finding manga was hard, because there was no Borders in my town, but Barnes and Noble. Even though Barnes and Noble had manga, it was just two small shelves full of maybe a few volumes of Shonen Jump, Shojo manga, and Korean comics. Today, there is entire row of manga and Tokyopop was no where to be found.

Tokyopop: I. Am. Inevitable. Kodansha: And I. Own. The licenses

Damn, weird gothic titles from Tokyopop was my childhood

As a kid in the early 2000s, I would buy those "How To Draw Manga" books and just gobble them up! I can't believe it's been almost *10 YEARS* since Borders closed!

*deep sigh* Ah, Tokyopop.... their fall led to my absolute favorite manga series never getting its last two volumes getting translated. It's one of those series that Kodansha doesn't want to put money in, and I'm super sad.

Tokyo Pop was the pioneer to spreading japanese entertainment to young weebs everywhere during the 2000s.

I still have my Borders card despite it being useless now lol How I wish manga was still 8-10$....

I remember Tokyopop. That name brings up old memories. For me, the loss of Tokyopop meant the loss of D.N Angel. We are still 1 book short of the Japan series because they closed their doors. RIP D.N. Angel.

Me, a Spaniard weeb who has barely heard of Tokyopop before: Let's check how this company fell from glory! :D

This title surprised me, because Tokyopop is still alive and kicking in Germany, it's one of the big three here!

Tokyopop is a name that formed my early, admittedly weeby, years as an anime fan.

I was so confused when you said Tokyopop is gone, cause I’m from Germany and it feels like the publish about a quarter of our mangas 😅

When you mentioned that they struck a deal with Borders, my heart sank. I miss Borders so much. :(

I can defintely agree with Borders being ground zero of the manga boom. I was in middle school around that time. Initially to buy manga, I remember going to local movie shop having to walk all the way to the back of the store and they have a super small rack of like 20 manga or something. Was same for the few bookstores that carried them, super hard to find, and almost impossible to find the volume you actually needed. But when Borders came it was a game changer. Aisles of manga with basically every volume offered. Which doesn't sound like a big deal these days but back then it felt like a miracle.

God, I remember seeing entire walls of the TokyoPop logo

god, I remember going to borders and plopping down in the little seating area they had in the manga section and just reading Tokyo Pop titles for hours. Those were the days :')

Very interesting...and sad as hell. I worked for a Borders during the manga boom, and you couldn't keep manga on the shelves. Boy's Love/yaoi was also becoming big at the time as well, and Tokyopop pretty much clinched that market with their Blu line. Yaoi is pretty well-known about now, but at the time, it was still pretty taboo. And it sold. Boy did it sell. I was in charge of the manga section, and it took me years to convince my boss to expand the manga section. He didn't listen until he looked at our profits one day and saw that manga accounted for 40% of our sales. 40%. Like, holy shit! That's an incredible amount, for those who don't realize. It also explains why the manga bust hurt Borders so badly. But Borders had problems even before the new CEO. They were always, ALWAYS too top heavy when it came to management, and that became a major issue later. They were never shy when it came to promotions, which was both good and bad. Good, because, yay, upward mobility! Bad, because eventually the demands of supporting so much management became a drain on the company. They pushed sales, but cut jobs at the store level.

*shows off all those fruits basket volumes* MY WIG

Just saying I appreciate you making videos less about specific anime, and more about aspects of anime culture

I had a Borders nearby during my late teens/early 20's, and I was sad to see it go. Like, I was just starting to enjoy the whole vibe of a bookstore mainly for the draw that manga had on me, and then it was all suddenly ripped away. And yeah, I did in fact notice how much manga was published by Tokyopop, but didn't think much of it afterwards. This video definitely educated me on this. Thank you!

True Story: My senior year of high school they added manga to the library. I went through four a day.

Me a german: thinks "tokyopop is dead? really?" and looks up their german website Several minutes later: exactly that website with the picture of a dog sitting besides a shipping box shows up in the video. Coincidence... i think n- Just kidding.

RIP Tokyopop... but also, welcome back (to America) Tokyopop?

This was so well-researched! I always wondered what happened to Tokyopop. Subscribed!

Anyone remember when people would upload their own manga to the Tokyopop website? In the late 2000s I spent so much time reading what other people created and it was a fun platform for me as a young artist :) It was a cool time to be an otaku!

I love your documentary style dissections of otaku culture and history. They really help give context to the media we consume. Keep up the good work!

I think a few more factors contributed to Tokyopop's downfall. First, if my memory serves me correctly, the mid to late 2000's was a great time to read fan translations on scan sites. Meaning you could be up to date on your favorite series before everyone else and not be out ten bucks. And there's the fact that Tokyopop, when compared to other localization companies (like Viz media), didn't always have the most solid translations. As a person who's gone through and read old Tokyopop manga recently, there's some pretty weird/obvious mistakes (like some spelling, putting certain dialogue in the wrong box) and just weird decisions (like deciding for Sailor Moon to call/translate Usagi to Bunny). Also after some of their major series were done, it didn't seem like they tried to pick up any new titles (most likely due to finances) or they decided to try and publish older (sometimes not as good) works of some of the mangaka behind their more popular series.

I understand that Tokyopop is hanging by a Disney thread, but Kilala Princess is an underrated masterpiece and deserves more recognition. It was one of the first manga that I ever read and it inspired me to start doing art and create my own stories and eventually put me on the path I'm on now which is wanting to be an animator.

It's nice that you discussed the history of Tokyo Pop. Some titles will never finish being licensed in English that's the sad part about Tokyopop ending licenses with most of their Manga titles.

God I remember when Tokyopop was big. What a time to be alive.

RIP Borders. I read so much manga there without paying a single cent, save for coffee.

I remember high-school me sitting in Borders reading Neon Genesis Evangelion manga...

I remember them mostly for their cine manga titles (the ones using screencaps and speech bubbles instead of new art). I also have some of the old Junjou Romantica manga published by their Blu sector, and am on the hunt for the Star Trek manga they did (I can't believe I strung those words together). Side note, hearing their name and Borders makes me feel old.

I hope that enough interest is generated in .hack books that Kodansha can bring them back to the West and hopefully not do a a lackluster localization job like Tokyopop did.

A good friend of mine was actually one of the contestants for America's Greatest Otaku. Some of the stories they told me about behind the scenes were crazy! Looking back over 9 years later, my friend has many cringe-filled regrets lol

I just found your channel recently- love it! Fascinating! Hearts!

I love your channel. This kind of documentary style video is great, and your content is just as good

You wouldn’t need to watch this video if you *READ THE MANGA*

I think there's one more aspect of this whole story that your video didn't touch on. With regards to the Kodansha-Tokyopop split in 2009, the writing was on the wall about half a decade before it happened. As you may recall, around that time, Kodansha established a partnership with Del Rey Manga. So while Tokyopop could still publish their older Kodansha titles, anything new (which included such hits as Genshiken, Tsubasa Chronicle, and Negima) went to Del Rey. That, combined with the fact that Viz was basically co-owned by the other two Japanese publishing giants (Shogakukan and Shueisha), meant that in the mid-2000s, Tokyopop was basically barred from licensing any of the biggest names in the industry. So what did they do? They doubled, nay, tripled down on the OEL shit, which never really caught on in the United States. The whole thing was really scummy, and this goes beyond the atrocious contracts they forced their artists to sign. Do you remember the title Tokyopop was pushing the hardest around 2006 and 2007? It was Princess Ai. Nobody ever cared about Princess Ai, yet they pushed it HARD. Princess Ai, aside from being an abysmal comic, was co-created by one "DJ Milky." "DJ Milky" is, in fact, a pen name of Stu Levy, the CEO of Tokyopop. So while the writing of Tokyopop's demise was clearly on the wall, Stu Levy made the executive decision to allocate a not-insignificant percentage of their resources to promote...himself. Yeah. Combine that with the horrible music replacements they did for their anime releases, their attempts to trick American artists into believing they could become manga-ka, and the aforementioned atrocious contracts, I was thrilled to see that company burn. I hope they remain but a bit player in the manga scene from now on, despite what Stu Levy may wish for himself. Sorry for the long comment, but there's obviously a lot that can be said about Tokyopop.

It's amazing how you destroy my childhood and make me feel so nostalgic for it over and over again with every video.

I still have appreciation for Tokyopop for I own the 8 volumes of my favorite manga by far: Welcome to the NHK. The Tokyopop release has Satou's hand written monologues an the end of each volume translated into English. Let me tell you, the monologues were not vital to the plot, but boy they were amazing pieces of Satou's mind deterioration throughout the series. The author's note at the end of the last volume was also a really nice touch. You can't find that in most re-releases or scanlations online.

I know Tokyopop from the Kingdom Hearts manga that they published. In fact, the very first Manga I read was the adaptation of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. Good times.

In 07-08, I was at the peak of my weeb phase in middle school and I spent many a weekend at Borders picking out entire stacks of manga. Almost everything I picked and a good half of the collection I retained through the years is published by Tokyopop. From my obsession with Peach girl to more obscure one off horror manga, I could find nearly anything from Tokyopop. I think I want to dig up my manga collection again. I never did finish collection all the volumes of the various Peach Girl series. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. RIP Borders.

I watched one of your videos on a whim and now I can't stop watching them. Your work is phenomenal!!

I think my sister still has the first issue of MixxZine laying around somewhere...

To add to the layoffs, TokyoPop was also infamous for licensing & releasing a crap ton of various series, so when the layoffs happened, tons of stuff wound up being left unfinished. Even series that had only a single volume left to go, like Saiyuki Reload or Culdcept, were never finished by TokyoPop, which only damaged their reputation with the fans. I can understand not getting back to lesser-selling series that still had at least 4 or 5 volumes left to go, but they really should have made sure to finish up the series that they were literally at the very end of, if only to maintain a feeling or reliability during troubling times.

Hey, talk about the controversies of their original manga series. You just mentioned the creators didn't have full custody of their intellectual property.

damn I am so old I remember discovering Tokyopop's warrior cat manga :,(

I recognize tokyopop because I was a student librarian at my high school and they had 4 bookcases of manga, the majority with tokyopop spines

Id love to hear more about the western manga market from 2005-2010. Reminds me of my high school days and how I was known as that guy who had a bunch of manga in his locker always.

Didn't tokyopop release a "cine-manga" for malcolm in the middle

I remember my sister and I going anywhere we can go (we're sisters) to get the latest Fruits Basket manga when it was released. We went into dinky comic book shops, and we even had a Borders book store, which I loved going and bought other kinds of books too back then. Those were my high school days, manga gave us sisters something to share. :)

"Disney manga" is a statement I never thought I'd hear before...

Tokyopop is still prevalent in the german Manga Market

All I remember from Tokyopop is those original comics drawn in "manga" style. So basically precursor to RWBY style stuff in comic form.

I hadn't heard the name Loveless in... Years.

You have a wonderful voice and style for this. :) Thanks for the vid.

Great video perusal, Bard. But this part bugs me a bit. 2:06 "Keep in mind it's 1997 at this point. Anime is currently experiencing an unprecedented boom in western popularity thanks to shows like *Pokemon* and Sailor Moon." As someone who grew up in the 90s, and remembers each year of it quite vividly. The Pokemon Anime would've had little barring on the western anime boom in 1997. Yes, the Anime first aired in Japan in 1997, but it wouldn't start airing in English until late 1998, and at that point it was only on very early in the morning, it was a pain to catch, and only the first handful of episodes. Local networks had little faith in it at this time. The Pokemon Phenomenon wouldn't hit it full stride until 1999. That's when the Anime, Movies, Games, Toys and Cards were everywhere. For those of us who remember it, 1999 was the year of Pokemon. Oh, and Y2K...

I still question to this day where my Tokyopop World of Warcraft manga even came from.

This 00s anime culture content is fantastic. I was there in that period and to see retrospectives of parts of my life is concerning cuz I'm getting old, but also really lovely. I think it's good work you're doing. I forget if you ever covered ADV Films but that would be a good video.

I discovered your channel via your segment on Gaia and I'm totally hooked. Also, my personal favorite Next Gen character was Ryker.

Girl yes, another fascinating editorial

Almost 20 minutes long. This day is truly blessed. Thank you for making such amazing content!

5:46 Ha, that's the Borders on Rt. 114 in Peabody! It's still sitting there, rotting away. I loved your panels at Anime Boston by the way.

Your channel is everything and I'm PISSED that I'm just now seeing your content. Also LOVE your Gaia Online video. Teach me senpai.

I wish I swiped up all the decent Tokyopop titles while I still have the chance. Now I'm left with going to the few cons that are nearby praying for a used manga booth and broken dreams of being able to have all the Kare Kano and GTO manga. By the way you HAVE to talk about the fall of ADV. It too had a HUGE manga and anime collection with quality titles but fell from grace.

Star Trek TNG manga. We need to send these to Mike from RedLetterMedia

Thanks for putting out this video. While shopping for manga at a book store, I came across some book published by Tokyopop. It got me to dig through my old manga and look into it.

I remember riding/driving for an hour from my rural small town to the nearest Borders just to buy Tokyopop manga, and discussing the stories/drawing fanart with my friends. Those are fun memories and it's sad that both institutions are pretty well gone now.

TokyoPop nows sells Disney and yuri and yaoi manga (and Aria). Oof. I really enjoyed the footage of the manga! Very comforting!

You should do a video about the fall of ADV. Also, how could you not mention Tokyopop's cringeworthy tv commercials?

tfw you became an anime fan in the 2010's :(

Fantastic video! I was there in the salad days of Tokyopop! I always wondered what the full story was, and I'm glad you filled me in! In fact, I was shocked when I saw them published the Nightmare Before Christmas tankuban. Also, this totally explains why Kodansha magically showed up!

another awesome and interesting vid kennedy awesome job as always this was an interesting dive GG to dan for getting the abandoned borders footage and was the fighterZ footage him as well? cuz i thinks thats his team right lol

What I loved about Tokyopop is that they didn't mirror the book to fit western audiences. They let it play out the way Japanese audiences read it.

I enjoy your upbeat tone throughout!

I love this video on Tokyopop and seeing Borders again brings back the feels. But Those Rupaul Drag race clips XD super hilarious Thanks for them

I am SO glad that you brought up the issue about the OEL creators. I was there for that whole thing, and completely side with the creators. Tokyopop did SO wrong by them. One artist I had been following for SO long before her working with Tokyopop had been working on her story for a VERY long time. I was BEYOND pissed for her when she pretty much lost ALL rights to her story, her artwork, her characters.

Ah, Tokyopop, I remember how many manga series I was introduced to from that company, and this was in my middle school days when I was EXTREMELY obsessed with anything and everything Japan related. It's a shame that they pretty much lost everything and was resurrected to be a slave of Disney (probably through the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu), since many of their manga I ended up never finishing. Though in all fairness, by the time they went bankrupt I pretty much fell out of interest in anime and manga until around 2014-2015 or so, mostly because of the cancellation of the original Toonami block and the fact that most of my friends were more into gaming than anime. That and we live in a time when anime and manga are far more acceptable as a medium outside of Japan, so there are more companies that are going to capitalize on that market rather than back then when it was just Tokyopop and Viz.

im not interested in anime but you are very engaging to listen to! i love your more businessy videos like this! keep up the great work

Bravo!! I love this! I still have MixxZine collection. Totally got me into reading Manga and shopping at Borders, with my mom's money.