As reported by Brigid at MangaBlog, Tokyopop has announced that its license to print titles from Kodansha has expired and will not be renewed. That means that they will not continue with new volumes or reprint previous volumes (after they have sold out) in the affected series. A full list of Kodansha Tokyopop books can be found at David Welsh’s blog. Some CLAMP series — Cardcaptor Sakura, Chobits, Clover — have already been announced as coming in new omnibus editions […]

At Robot6, Brigid Alverson interviews Marco Pavia, Tokyopop Director of Marketing, about the company’s plans to release completed OEL manga online. Much of it is typical marketing talk — and I wouldn’t expect anything else, since that’s his job, to present Tokyopop’s story in a positive light — but I found this section intriguing, in response to questions about how readers will find earlier volumes of the promoted series: [W]e will always have at least one chapter of these series […]

After Tokyopop reorganized in June of last year, word leaked out that they would not be printing any more of their OEL (original English language) manga, instead releasing them online. Finally, over a year later, comes the confirmation: Tokyopop is pleased to announce the release of a number of its original series exclusively on Tokyopop.com. Modernizing the magazine serialization made famous by Charles Dickens, today Tokyopop will debut Psy*Comm volume 3, with a new chapter serialized weekly for free until […]

John Jakala rounds up discussion of Tokyopop’s price increase while cutting back on print quality. They’ve gone to a thinner, newsprint paper which allows image bleed-through, disturbing the reading experience. (He’s got pictures that show what he means.) He’s also rounded up links to Tokyopop responses, which are, as expected, noting that times are tough. Although competitors have also raised prices, the obviously cheap paper and lower quality books makes Tokyopop’s $1 increase seem worse. Plus, Tokyopop’s pricing is more […]

I’m looking at four title launches Tokyopop has coming out in June. (All prices in U.S. dollars.) Takeru: Opera Susanoh Sword of the Devil volume 1 is a standard format manga title, which means 192 pages for $10.99, their new price point. (But it’s selling at 20% off on Amazon, which puts it at $8.79. That may be why they shifted from $9.99 — under $10 books don’t get discounted as much as over $10 books do, so even though […]

Well, that answers that question. I’m having a hard time finding Aria volume 4 because Tokyopop has given up on the series, along with others. Commenter Sebastian pointed out that Diamond’s latest cancellation list includes a number of just-solicited books. DEC084265 ARIA GN VOL 05 4 DEC084271 CAUSE OF MY TEACHER GN 4 JAN094444 DEMON FLOWERS GN VOL 05 4 JAN094443 DEMON SACRED GN VOL 01 4 SEP084286 DOT HACK SIGN MANGA NOVEL SPECIAL ED 4 JAN094447 ELEMENTAL GELADE GN […]