Forum - View topicNEWS: Tokyopop's Employee Ranks Shrink This Week
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_V_
 Posts: 619 |
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...based on ANN's knowledge, how many employees does this leave at Tokyopop? Or at least, how many other major "editors" are left?
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jrnemanich
 Posts: 238 Location: Denver |
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Sad news, my thoughts go to the people that lost their jobs.
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RestLessone
 Posts: 1426 Location: New York |
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This is too bad. My sympathy goes to the ones who lost their jobs, and I wish them luck in finding new ones.
I also can't help but think that this does not bode well for TP or their manga. Especially considering how the quality in editing decreased dramatically after they downsized last time. I do wonder how many major employees are left. Heck, how many workers in general are left. |
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The Xenos
 Posts: 1519 Location: Boston |
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I feel bad for people let go, especially right now. Though I think the writing on the wall has been there for some time at TokyoPop. It's been very clear even as a consumer that they've been cutting waaaaay back. Like all markets in America, manga isn't growing right now. Yet even more so than others, TokyoPop has been really withdrawing. Of course even before the market crash I questioned TokyoPop's publishing choices. A friend even commented the other day how they were just as bad if not worse than ADV at flooding the market with a glut of titles. Now that they realize they can't handle (not to mention are simply not getting) a ton of licenses, they're shedding editors and employees. Hopefully these people can find work with better publishers like Yen or Viz (aka Shogakukan and Shueisha) or the upcoming US division of Kodansha that seems to be greatly expanding right now to get a foothold in the US market.
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Sailor S
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The wording here is kind of confusing. "No longer working at Tokyopop" could mean they were fired/let go, or it could mean that they left on their own terms. I suppose either way it means that things aren't good at Tokyopop, and with the way Stu Levy had been driving the company into the ground that shouldn't surprise anyone.
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Jaymie
Posts: 915 |
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I don't think Stu Levy cares anymore. He's just an insane middle-aged man bent on self-destruction. He squanders Tokyopop's money to produce garbage like Van Von Hunter and America's Greatest Otaku, and he fails to realize that Tokyopop is, first and foremost, a manga publisher.
It's like letting a child run a giant company. It's all fun and games for him, while the people below him are being fired left and right due to money shortages that he caused by spending their limited funds on custom tour buses and t-shirts! |
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Deacon Blues
Posts: 401 Location: Albuquerque, NM |
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I don't think it's really a loss for the company considering most of the "editors" didn't really properly edit their releases anyways... then again most of the freelance translators who worked for the company that I talked to were shafted by the editing staffs "changes" to their work.
Oh well. When TokyoPop goes under I'll raise a drink to them and say "sorry to see you lasted this long". |
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RASCO
 Posts: 13 |
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I saw this coming miles away no suprise for me here
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lys
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 1017 Location: mitten-state |
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@Deacon Blues, please be a little gracious. At least two of the editors let go today (Lillian Diaz-Przybyl and Asako Suzuki) were really awesome about connecting with the fans through various means, and made Tokyopop (and formerly CMX with Asako) seem a lot more open/friendly/willing to listen to their readers. Knowing they were there gave me some confidence that Tokyopop was dedicated to its manga output and valued its readers. As a big fan of Tokyopop's shoujo manga line, which I believe Lillian had a lot of influence with, I'm really sad to hear about this loss.
I think whatever problems you had with their editing (at least in the last couple years) may have been more a result of understaffing than lack of skill. And now that understaffing problem's just gotten worse. I hope all who got cut today will be able to find new and hopefully even better work as soon as possible. |
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Sunday Silence
 Posts: 2047 |
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Any chance we can fire Stu Levy instead and reinstate these guys back?
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Jaymie
Posts: 915 |
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He`s basically a dictator, so booting him out would be near impossible. Tokyopop isn`t like Viz, Yen, or Vertical - it`s not part of a bigger company. Nobody has any power over Stu, so he would have to leave on his own. The best case scenario would be that a bigger publisher buys Tokyopop, like what Kodansha did with Vertical. |
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14889 |
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From the source: Freelancer Daniella Orihuela-Gruber has been tweeting all afternoon about the shake-up. She reports: “There’s still Cindy Suzuki and a managing editor, but now the rest of editorial and most of design and production are freelance.” Tokyopop has seen lots of waves of layoffs before, the last one about a year ago, when previous marketing manager Marco Pavia left, among others. According to Orihuela-Gruber, “Before Nov. 2008, it was a 100-person company. Afterward it was more like 30-50. Now it’s like 20-30 or something.” |
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Wiesteria
Posts: 141 |
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Things are just getting worse and worse. Poor Asako Suzuki especially! First CMX closing down, now this.
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Jaymie
Posts: 915 |
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Wait, Marco Pavia  He was so awesome. He always answered my concerns about titles, and he was the one who got Tokyopop to reprint all of their OoP titles back in 2008.
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Sunday Silence
Posts: 2047 |
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Well then, looks like us fans will have to go "Egyptian" on his ass. |
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