Comments on: What’s Up With Tokyopop? New Book Unavailable

By: Aria Book 4 » Comics Worth Reading

Aria Book 4 » Comics Worth Reading — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 16:18:29 +0000

[...] After some trouble, I finally found a copy of the latest chapter of this gorgeous series. [...]

By: Johanna

Johanna — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 02:09:27 +0000

Brigid, thank you so much for following up, but I'd be more reassured if the answers weren't quite so generic. It reminds me of what ADV Manga was saying a while back, and we still haven't seen any new books from them. I think your supposition, about readers coming back, is likely accurate.

By: Rivkah

Rivkah — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 02:04:49 +0000

“sales exceeded projections and they ran out.”

Which really doesn’t say anything at all. It could mean demand went up as easily as it could mean they projected demand to go down and printed fewer books.

Gotta love corporate speak: talk without actually saying anything.

By: Brigid

Brigid — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:06:39 +0000

I asked Marco Pavia directly and he said that the sales exceeded projections and they ran out. Given that ADV published the first three volumes of Aria a while ago, longtime readers may have just picked up the series again with volume 4. I posted his answer in full over at MangaBlog.

By: MangaBlog » Blog Archive » Where is Aria?

MangaBlog » Blog Archive » Where is Aria? — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:05:43 +0000

[...] Comics Worth Reading, Johanna Draper Carlson reports having trouble getting a copy of vol. 4 of Aria. What’s up with that? I asked Tokyopop [...]

By: Ray Cornwall

Ray Cornwall — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:14:17 +0000

It could also be that Tokyopop is having the same issue that many businesses are having today: The credit markets are not available for many businesses. It may not even be a Tokyopop issue, but rather the printer they’re using. It could be anywhere in the supply chain.

Or it could be that, once again, Tokyopop made a mistake. They seem to be good at that…

By: Journalista - the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » Jan. 29, 2009: We’ll all be milking goats in the end

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:34:40 +0000

[...] Tokyopop only printing to initial orders? That’s the question that Johanna Draper Carlson is asking, after the almost immediate sellout of the fourth volume of Kozue Amano’s charming [...]

By: Tokyopop in Trouble: More Cancellations, Including Aria » Comics Worth Reading

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:15:16 +0000

[...] that answers that question. I’m having a hard time finding Aria 4 because Tokyopop has given up on the series, along [...]

By: Sebastian

Sebastian — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:35:17 +0000

Additionally the Diamond cancellation list for February (available at their website) shows a “cancelled by publisher” for Aria volume 5 (along with 15 other, mostly freshly solicited titles).

By: Adam

Adam — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 03:58:53 +0000

I’m guessing that Tokyopop is having the same problem that other manga publishers are facing with order numbers where one of the big B&M bookstores will place an order for a title and another may choose to pass on the book completely (and vice versa). The results is that print runs are getting smaller and more to order leaving few copies left for reorders and backlist.

By: Matt Blind

Matt Blind — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 03:17:55 +0000

With Nozomi, an independent producer, finally coming through with the Aria anime series — it would be the height of stupidity for Tokyopop to not support the manga with everything they’ve got.

I’m not saying that Tokyopop is going to reverse itself here.

I guess what I’m saying is that Tokyopop is stupid.