Everybody’s talking about Tokyopop this week, as the publisher that brought us Mixx, Sailor Moon, and Rising Stars of Manga celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary. To mark the occasion, Brigid Alverson interviewed Tokyopop founder Stu Levy about the company’s history. “Not a single person believed it would work—and frankly many called us crazy,” Levy recalled. “Even internally, most of my team was against it—or at least wanted to test it. My view was we either had conviction and went all-in or we didn’t. Testing wouldn’t work because retailers would always favor the left-to-right reading books if they had a choice—so there would never be a true test of its potential. So, I bet the company on it.” Over at Drop-In to Manga, Tony reflects on how Tokyopop titles such as Chobits and GTO: Great...
May 27, 2022 • Subscribe
More like this
The Manga Review, 5/13/22
April sales figures are in, and manga continues to dominate the NPD Adult Graphic Novels list. Though the list includes some perennial favorites–Berserk, Demon Slayer, My Hero Academia—Spy…
The Manga Review, 5/20/22
This year’s Eisner nominations have just been announced. In the Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia category, VIZ Media garnered five of the six nominations with crowd-pleasers such as…
The Manga Review, 5/6/22
When it comes to manga commentary, I freely admit that I’m more of a reader than a listener. Mangasplaining, however, is helping change my mind about manga podcasts.…
Manga the Week of 7/27/22
SEAN: July is coming to an end. What have we got? Airship, in print, gives us Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling 4 and A Tale of the Secret…
Manga the Week of 4/27/22
SEAN: The end of April means the end of innocence, getting ready for the boys of summer, and other things that are not Don Henley songs. We start…
A Certain Magical Index, GOBLIN SLAYER, In the Land of Leadale, Laid-Back Camp
The Manga Review, 7/22/22
Great news for fans of Fumiyo Kouno: the crew at Mangasplaining has teamed up with UDON to publish Kouno’s Giga Town: Manpu Zufu (A Catalog of Manga Symbols). Giga…
The Manga Review, 4/22/22
Back in the roaring aughts–when earnest manga fans posted reviews on LiveJournal and Blogger–link posts were a simple, effective way to connect with like-minded readers. The widespread adoption…
Manga the Week of 5/27/20
SEAN: It’s the end of May, and the schedule is still not back to normal, but we soldier on regardless. ASH: Bring on the manga! SEAN: Ghost Ship…
Manga the Week of 5/11/22
SEAN: The week of Mother’s Day, and what manga will moms be reading? Yen On has a 5th volume of Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so…
Death Note, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? II, Juliet, Saga of Tanya the Evil
Manga the Week of 5/18/22
SEAN: It’s May, but the winds are blowing here like it’s March. What manga is blowing our way? Airship debuts The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes…
Adachi and Shimamura, Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man
Manga the Week of 5/22/24
SEAN: As May starts to dwindle... oh, wait, it's Yen week. No dwindling allowed. But first, Airship. In print, we see Modern Dungeon Capture Starting with Broken Skills…
Manga the Week of 5/4/22
SEAN: It’s May! A time to smell the fresh air, get outside, and continue to wear a mask. ASH: Pretty helpful for seasonal allergies among other things. SEAN:…
Manga the Week of 10/5/22
SEAN: It’s October, so all your manga tastes like pumpkin spice. Go one, try a page. MICHELLE: Why, it’s positively delightful! SEAN: Airship first. After a long wait,…
Manga the Week of 5/25/22
SEAN: It’s only the end of May but the heat here is making it feel like mid-July. What about the manga? Well… The debut from Yen On is…
High School DxD, Magical Girl Raising Project, Warlords of Sigrdrifa
Manga the Week of 1/5/22
SEAN: Welcome to 2022, a year unlike any other (and hopefully nothing like 2020 or 2021). What manga do we have? Well, we start with light novels, as…
![Featured image for The Frontline Report [2/27/22]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20220228/1646014714.32042.59994.jpg)
The Frontline Report [2/27/22]
The Frontline Report is a weekly column where I summarize my journey through anime, manga, and the related spheres of popular culture over the past week. Expect spoilers for covered …
![Featured image for The Frontline Report [3/27/22]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20220327/1648387114.33518.61716.jpg)
The Frontline Report [3/27/22]
This week: The finales of Ousama Ranking and My Dress-Up Darling. Plus, Princess Connect Just Really Really Rules
The Manga Review, 6/3/22
Two weeks ago, Seven Seas’ employees formed the United Workers of Seven Seas (UW7S). Their goal? To negotiate a standard benefits package that includes health insurance, retirement plans,…
The Manga Review, 10/7/22
Bust out that Sailor Moon costume–New York Comic Con is in full swing! If you’re looking for a good manga panel, I highly recommend This Manga Is Awesome!…
The Manga Review, 8/19/22
Attention manga shoppers! Kodansha is currently holding a blow-out sale on digital manga. And when I say “blow out,” I mean it: they’re offering deep discounts on over…
The Manga Review, 9/23/22
This has been a relatively quiet week on the manga beat, so I’m going to lead off with a question: what are you reading? Is there a series…
The Manga Review, 10/14/22
Historically, New York Comic Con was the event for big licensing announcements, but in recent years manga publishers have focused more on promoting their best-selling series than on unveiling…
The Manga Review, 7/8/22
By now, if you’ve been on Twitter or Facebook, you’ve undoubtedly learned that Kazuki Takahashi died on Wednesday. Media outlets from National Public Radio to the New York…
The Manga Review, 4/29/22
Back in March, Titan Comics announced that it would launching its own manga imprint, Titan Manga, with the publication of a new “director’s cut” of Takashi Okazaki’s Afro-Samurai. This…
The Manga Review, 11/4/22
This week’s biggest news story: Kadokawa has purchased Anime News Network. On November 1st, publisher Christopher MacDonald posted an open letter to ANN’s readership to reassure them that the…
The Manga Review, 10/28/22
Over the last year, The Comics Journal has been translating essays by prolific manga critic Natsume Fusanosuke. The topics have run the gamut from Taiyo Matsumoto’s distinctive visual…
The Manga Review, 11/18/22
Last week, ICv2 publisher Milton Griepp sat down for a lengthy conversation with Dark Horse Comics’ CEO Mike Richardson. The two discussed the company’s history–particularly its early investment…
The Manga Review, 10/21/22
“Manga won”–that was Heidi MacDonald’s pithy assessment of New York Comic Con 2022, as she noted how much the show was tilting towards Asian comics. “We all know…
The Manga Review, 6/17/22
Big news from Yen Press: the publisher is launching IZE Press, a new imprint dedicated to Korean webnovels and webtoons. The imprint will debut this fall with three…
The Manga Review, 8/26/22
On Wednesday, Tokyopop released Peremoha: Victory for Ukraine, an anthology of nine stories written shortly after the first Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine on February 24, 2022. These stories,…
The Manga Review, 9/16/22
In an essay for The Nation, author Viken Berberian explains how manga became one of the world’s favorite forms of entertainment. He notes that in 2021, “manga made…
The Manga Review, 7/15/22
Do you know about Azuki? This year-old company is working hard to make it easy for you to read your favorite manga on a phone, tablet, or laptop.…
The Manga Review, 6/24/22
Hi, all! Its been a relatively slow news week manga-wise and a crazy week for me work-wise, so I’m going to dispense with the snappy introduction and get…
The Manga Review, 6/10/22
After Kentarou Miura passed away last year, fans feared that they would never see his long-running saga Berserk reach a proper conclusion. Then on June 7th, artist Kouji Mori announced…
The Manga Review, 7/1/22
Good news: The United Workers of Seven Seas (UW7S) achieved a major victory this week when the company agreed to recognize their union. Though management has not yet…
The Manga Review, 11/11/22
Earlier this week artist Kentaro Sato accused Musk of using an image from Magical Girl Site, which is currently being serialized in Weekly Shonen Champion. “Twitter’s new CEO…
Bookshelf Briefs 9/27/22
D-Frag!, Vol. 16 | By Tomoya Haruno | Seven Seas – This new volume (by now the series is annual) involves a massive parody of “trapped in a…
![Featured image for The Weekly Orbit [5/27/24]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20240527/1716852329.84804.124155.jpg)
The Weekly Orbit [5/27/24]
It’s the week of no regrets here on the Weekly Orbit, with gripping, emotionally intense episodes from Girls Band Cry and….Wonderful Precure? Plus, Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the…
Manga the Week of 6/22/22
SEAN: When a manga meets a manga, coming through the rye… ASH: None, they say, have I. (And they would be very wrong.) SEAN: Yen On gives us…
Bungo Stray Dogs, Bungo Stray Dogs 2, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Sword Art Online
Manga Chapter Review Dump Post #27: Exhaustion
Hey. So, um……….. I’m writing this Sunday, October 1st, 2023, at 1:15 pm. I had a VERY bad day at work yesterday; a guy came in and was just………. …
![Featured image for Anime Orbit Weekly [5/22/22]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20220522/1653250376.36712.65635.jpg)
Anime Orbit Weekly [5/22/22]
Anime Orbit Weekly is a weekly column where I summarize my journey through anime, manga, and the related spheres of popular culture over the past week. Expect spoilers for covered ma…
Manga the Week of 10/27/21
SEAN: BOO! ASH: Aaah! MICHELLE: Ack! ANNA: EEK! MELINDA: … erk? SEAN: We start with Yen On, which has The Detective Is Already Dead 2, the 15th KonoSuba,…
Manga the Week of 9/27/23
SEAN: Better wake up, September's ending. ASH: Somehow I thought it was both October already and too early for October... SEAN: No debuts for Yen, but a few…
The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten, Chainsaw Man, Sasaki and Miyano
Manga the Week of 1/27/21
SEAN: The end of January still has some choice titles coming out. Seven Seas has rolled out its Airship imprint, so given I separate Ghost Ship titles I…
Manga the Week of 12/27/23
SEAN: Ready to wrap up 2023? Scared of 2024? Let's go. MICHELLE: No and yes, respectively! ANNA: I'm scared! ASH: What meaning does time have these days anyway?…
Manga the Week of 11/27/19
SEAN: Happy Thanksgiving! We give thanks for this bounty of manga and light novels. ASH: We do, indeed. SEAN: Ghost Ship has a 7th volume of the infamous…
Manga the Week of 3/27/24
SEAN: As March ends, we should all sit back and take stock. Did we March enough this year? ASH: How is it that it seems like March went…
7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy!, The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash
School Rumble Volume 22 Manga Review (Finale)
AstroNerdBoy reviews School Rumble Volume 22 manga, which Del Rey never published and Kodansha only published digitally.
Manga Review: The Apothecary Diaries Volume 5
Title: The Apothecary Diaries 薬屋のひとりごと Kusuriya no Hitorigoto, “Apothecary’s Soliloquy” Volume: 5 Mangaka: by Natsu Hyuuga (Author), Nekokurage …
Higanjima (Manga) Volume 5 Review
Plot: Akira manages to free Atsushi from Miyabi’s mind control, and the group makes their escape. Most of them make their way across a rope bridge, but Atsushi…
