Tokyopop

• Main
• All Subpages
  • Trivia
  • YMMV
• Create New

Tokyopop, formerly Mixx, is a translator and distributor of Manga, aka Japanese comics. It was one of the most prolific manga publishers in the US, along with Viz Media and Del Rey, and was one of the first publishers to print their manga "back to front", i.e. in the original Japanese format. They promoted titles printed under this format as "100% Authentic Manga!", although it may have been done for economic as much as artistic reasons.

In translating, Tokyopop has a habit of leaving word bubbles blank, not translating sound effects, and excluding honorifics in their translations. This makes them targets of fannish rage, because Japanese honorifics are Serious Business.

They tried to expand their line by sponsoring "Original English Manga," including manga-styled Star Trek stories, a sequel to Labyrinth, and CEO Stu Levy's Ugly Baby Project, Princess Ai. It also included genuinely original work, like Brandon Graham's King City and Becky Cloonan's East Coast Rising. Some of these titles were more successful than others.

Tokyopop formerly published Anime DVDs, but no longer. Some of their back catalog was acquired by FUNimation. They have also expanded into translating Korean Manhwa. Their output was recently slashed by nearly 50%, possibly due to cannibalization at retail. The competition from other publishers might have also had something to do with it.

Also, they used to have the most User-Unfriendly website in all the interwebs. They must've taken this criticism to heart, since the new website it much easier to understand.

For a few years, they ran a Rising Stars Of Manga competition, inviting people to send in short one-shot mangas (though some people would send in prologues to larger stories...TokyoPop figured that as long as it stood on its own as a story, it was fine) and publishing ten winners each year. Many of those winners were offered to do full series: examples are Peach Fuzz, Atomic King Daidogan, Dogby Walks Alone, and even the famed Endling won the second competition! Unfortunately, after seven contests, the entire competition seems to have ceased, and most of the artists who were offered deals have had their series pulled.

As of 4/15/11, the company has closed down all American operations, leaving only their international office in Germany open; however, they have recently confirmed that they intend to return to the American industry. However (again), they entered the realms of Trolling Creator as this wasn't the cause and they were merely creating a newsletter on Asian pop-culture.

Not to be confused with the otherwise-forgettable 80s movie Tokyo Pop that featured the first film appearance of a Visual Kei band.

---

Notable Manga and Comic Series:

• .hack (manga, 4koma, Alcor, G.U.+, Legend of the Twilight, XXXX; and for novels, AI Buster and Another Birth.)
• +Anima (manga)
• Ai Yori Aoshi (manga)
• Angelic Layer (manga)
• Aria (manga)
• Battle Royale
• B't X (manga)
• Brigadoon Marin and Melan (both anime and manga)
• Cardcaptor Sakura (Manga)
• Cherry Juice
• Chobits (though it seems Dark Horse Comics has the rights now)
• Ciel the Last Autumn Story (manhwa)
• Cowboy Bebop (manga adaptations)
• D.N.Angel (manga)
• Drama Con
• Faeries Landing (manhwa)
• Fate/stay night (manga)
• Fruits Basket (manga; one of its best-sellers)
• Futari Ecchi (manga, as Manga Sutra Futari H; on hiatus since volume 4)
• Gakuen Alice (manga)
• GetBackers
• Goth (manga, plus the original novel by Otsuichi)
• Great Teacher Onizuka
• Gundam titles
• Hekikai no Ai ON
• Axis Powers Hetalia
• Ikki Tousen (Manga, as Battle Vixens. Macekred.)
• Initial D (Manga and anime. Blatantly Americanized and Bowdlerized. To compound this, the manga has a prominent "100% Authentic Manga" on the cover.)
• Jiraishin (Americanized under the title of Ice Blade)
• Junjou Romantica (manga)
• Kaitou Saint Tail (both anime and manga)
• Karin (manga and novels, as Chibi Vampire)
• Kedamono Damono (manga)
• Keroro Gunsou (The manga, as Sgt. Frog.)
• Kyou Kara Maou
• Life
• Lizzie McGuire (laughable manga adaptation)
• Love Hina (Manga)
• Lupin III (The original 1967 Manga as well as the 1977 sequel)
• Maid Sama!(Manga)
• Magic Knight Rayearth (Manga)
• Mai-HiME (manga)
• Mamotte Shugogetten
• Mirai Nikki (translated as Future Diary)
• Parasyte (Later retranslated and re-released by Del Rey.)
• Peacemaker Kurogane
• Pet Shop of Horrors (with a translation that's often only 'loosely based' on the original text)
• Planetes (Manga)
• Rave Master (manga and anime. They however dropped the series just as they were nearing the end of the manga. It has since been picked up by Del Ray, who publishes Fairy Tail in the U.S.)
• Reality Check
• Reign the Conqueror (a.k.a. Alexander Senki)
• Rozen Maiden (original manga)
• Rure (Manhwa)
• Saber Marionette J (The manga adaptation. Macekred.)
• Sailor Moon (Manga, Macekred in an effort to match the Macekred dub. Until it overtook the anime and some stuff was the same as the original leading to an odd mix of dub and original terms and names.)
• Scrapped Princess (manga and some of the novels)
• Slayers (Translations of the Light Novels.)
• Tactics
• The Tarot Cafe
• Tokyo Mew Mew (one of their most popular shoujo titles, but their decidedly revisionist translation has drawn a lot of Canon Dorf rage -- even more than the usual Tokyopop fare does)
• Trinity Blood
• The Twelve Kingdoms (novels; three of seven have been released, with one new release every year)
• Van Von Hunter (the print companion to the Web Comic.)
• Vassalord
• Warrior Cats (manga adaptations)
• Your and My Secret (the last volume, volume 8, remains unpublished)
• Zone-00 (written by Kiyo Kyujyo, the author of the Trinity Blood manga. Currently at nine volumes. Unfortunately, Tokyo Pop only published the first four volumes before they shut down...)

...and many, many, many more