If you don’t know what a bitch fit is, it’s basically an arm waving and flailing tantrum. And since this is American news, you can bet it’s not good for TOKYOPOP. Anyway, apparently, not to long ago, TOKYOPOP decided that having their books in retail outlets was far too convenient for people who read manga. Especially people who read manga from more than one company (heaven forfend). Anyway, not taking the whole thing very lightly, a couple of retailers have issued angry responses to the asshole move. And that makes sense. It’s taking money out of the pockets of smaller retailers and it’s sort of like saying “Oh, you like one of the manga we happened to license? Well, sign up for our shitty website and buy it there and pay for shipping and don’t get it immediately.” to their customers. Robert Brown’s response goes a good deal in that direction. I have to say, I absolutely agree. Exclusivity is not something that the manga crowd is looking for. Just because you licensed Ai Yori Aoshi doesn’t mean that you will get the next book by that author, so it causes problems. People tend not to be buying manga from the company so much as they are buying from what looks interesting to them. It’s a bit of a unique market in that respect. There’s no brand loyalty because the brand isn’t the creator. Anyway, I tend to buy DelRey, and TOKYOPOP knows why. You know what you did, TOKYOPOP! Australian company Serenity Studios also got into it. J. Carmody takes a look at the business sense behind it, and how TOKYOPOP isn’t cool. Haha. Man, I love when people do my job for me. Brown mentions TOKYOPOP’s inability to restock, but I think ADV has the market cornered on that little gem. Yotsubato vol.4, please? According to my contact at Borders, the chain has over 50,000 people on a notify list for the fourth volume. Way to go.
August 31st, 2006 at 5:19 pm
man Tokyopop just proves once again what a bunch of asswipes they are. I already hate them for telling me that my manga sucks and I cant draw (in a polite way)
August 31st, 2006 at 7:34 pm
They're fuck ups for sure. Not as bad as Viz, I would say, but still pretty awful. And juding from the shit they release into print, I wouldn't say they're qualified to judge anyone's art.
August 31st, 2006 at 9:38 pm
Tokyopop are jumping on the retarded exclusivity bandwagon now? Just last week I was bitching about Seven Seas pulling the same shit with Boogiepop Phantom.
It's like these people don't want you to buy their stuff.
September 1st, 2006 at 5:40 am
Yeah, once I like how Tokyopop handled things (what, 3 years ago) and now they are rolling in shit with their overblasted ego. The only publisher that can really do a good job in my eyes is DelRey, but that's it. I rofled when TP started flooding my mail box with shit, they didn't send anything for a year and then comes terrible spamfest with their "news" being "New hit manga!" (OEL) "A nigger with a goddamn spraycan in a urban story" = @large or whatever, that trick made me lose all the respect I once had for them. "manga is a state of mind", my ass. Maybe in 20 years they craft something original from the "manga influence", but I'm being so sarcastic that let's raise that into 100 years.
September 1st, 2006 at 6:50 am
Yotsubato vol4 was announced for early 2007 a month or so ago I believe, just FYI
September 1st, 2006 at 9:48 am
Negative:
Yeah, it's a damn shame places keep doing that stuff. I mean, I seriously don't even give consideration to buying my manga online. I need instant gratification, but I hate TOKYOPOP enough that if their manga wasn't right in front of me, I'd not be bothered to seek it out.
Chronos:
Hahaha. I totally saw that fucking book in the store. The art in it is a fucking joke. It's like some gangsta, b-ball, prison book drawn in "anime style." Oh man. It's so bad. It's like… even indie comics are better than that shit.
Cray:
Thanks for the info! Like I say, I don't pay a whole lot of attention to American market. Still, I'm torn. On the one hand, I'm happy to get Yotsubato 4, but on the other hand, I want to whipkick the people at ADV for sitting on it. TOKYOPOP better not keep doing the same thing with Battle Club. I NEEDS me some Battle Club. Though, I will admit that BC has had a pretty sporadic set of Japanese release dates. Ah well!
September 8th, 2006 at 11:11 pm
[…] Yotsuba&! fans, better get in line, if there's anything to this post at Ikimashou, According to my contact at Borders, the chain has over 50,000 people on a notify list for the fourth volume. […]