Forum - View topicANNCast - Guy Kiley
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_V_
 Posts: 619 |
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Jaymie
Posts: 915 |
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Who cares about Hetalia? That shit's getting license rescued within the next 365 days. Other (and 300% better) series like Deadman Wonderland and Future Diary are screwed. |
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Sewingrose
 Posts: 579 |
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Fun Episode, probably going go give this a re-listen later.
Okay serious question about the fish logo, what were some of the newer titles you said you changed it recently on? I have Hetalia which had the first volume published in October of 2010 and Volume Two which came out January of this year, and it's the same red fish which is on my GTO volumes from 2005-ish. Unless what you meant was the red bulges on the bottom with little icons for the genre (laughing smiley, unicorn head, skull). I'm actually not really torn up about the mis-matching of the spines, but I was just genienly curious about why a change like that is made. OH Kino no Tabi, the prices for the OOPs on Amazon hurt me so. WTF random Crows in the background around 1:29:00 Now I'm stuck trying to place the guessing game about what Shojo title it was you wanted that Viz got. |
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Crisha
Moderator
 Posts: 4290 |
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I have really enjoyed listening to this podcast. It's great seeing it from an employee's POV, especially from an employee who was so passionate about his work and who has such a varied history with the company. Thank you, Mike, for speaking on ANNCast. It was very informative.
"Hit 'Reply to all'." You are such an evil stinker. I love it. 
I got a big laugh out of that one. I love how you get a thrill from some of the hate mail messages, Mike. .... On the topic of receiving back so many unsold copies that sat on shelves... that really sucks, but I'm glad to have a better understanding where some of the places Tokyopop got hit financially. Especially in 2008, and then later with Barnes and Nobles closing. .... On the corporate identity of taking risks, being aggressive, and looking towards the future... I can appreciate this. I work for a medical device company that is always looking for new markets and ideas, so innovation and a future-mindset is always important to us. At the same time, I don't think we take quite as big risks, but I guess this would be an apples to oranges comparison. On the whole, I personally put more value in comfort and safety versus adventure and risks, so hearing about Tokyopop's environment and vision makes me, err, appreciate more where I am. Then again, I have the same feelings about freelancing. I don't know how well I could ever adapt to that kind of life and work style. But it's fascinating to hear about it from your POV. .... OMG, what was the shoujo title, Mike? The name you couldn't recall that you thought you'd screw up? Agh, the curiosity. Back in 2003... Please Save My Earth first started being released in America at that time. .... "Good job, Viz." 
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tuxedocat
 Posts: 2183 |
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ANNCast: Angry Birds edition!
I can't say that I really had "fun" listening to all of this, since the closure of Tokyopop still makes me sad. I know that probably no one cares, but the thought of new installments of Petshop of Horrors no longer arriving in my hands makes the shortening days of Fall even shorter. 
I'm starting to agree that physical publishing is mostly going away. It will nearly all be digital in the future. Probably a good thing for our environment, but I will miss printed tankobon/volumes. I am going to go out on a limb here and predict that the only physical book publishing that will be around in 10 years will be premium, hardback editions, sold in independent brick and mortars. I think the "big-box" type bookstore will no longer be sustainable for the more expensive and exclusive product that print publishing will become. And yeah, Tokyopop took ridiculous risks for a publisher. Having been employed both in book and periodical publishing, I know for a fact that the best method to ensure survival in book publishing is to carefully control your growth. Plus, there were all those side projects that, anywhere else, would have been considered a terrible financial risk. So, did the OEL creators sell their Movie rights when signing the contract? Every book publisher I ever dealt with let the author retain movie rights. Those rights were/are usually pedaled by the author's agent. Another example of Tokyopop taking risks. *sigh* The OEL folks need to hire lawyers, at least to explore their loopholes if nothing else. America's Greatest Otaku, no matter the reasoning behind it, ended up looking like a vanity project for Stu Levy. It will probably always be viewed by the fandom as the embarrassing punch-to-the-face that knocked Tokyopop out of business, regardless of what occurred with Borders Books. |
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Peebs
Posts: 423 |
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[quote="_V_"][url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qyNzoN9G_Y]Hitler is informed of the Tokyopop shutdown ending the Hetalia manga.[/url][/quote]
Thank you so much for that! I am still a very angry person and not because Hitler won't be getting his next volume of Hetalia. Rather, it's because there are several series on my shelves that will be left unfinished. There is a finite number of publishers, I'd think nil is closer to it, out there that will pick up all of these titles again and finish what Tokyopop didn't. Incidentally, today I was going through the Tokyopop catalog on Amazon and I sorted them by release date. I was seeing titles I'd never heard of. The cover artwork was fugly to say the least. I wondered how manga that's not pretty* was getting licensed and who was actually buying it. I also thought to myself that OEL must have been part of the reason the ship sunk. The only OEL I read and got into was Dramacon and not because I bought it, but because I read it at my local library. It's sad that BLU wasn't mentioned at all. I must've been under my customary rock when the call went out for questions for Mike. I would've asked about BLU. It's doubly disappointing that Deb Aoki didn't ask and if she did, that her question wasn't included in the interview. I do understand everything Mike said. It doesn't make me feel better about the whole thing. Sure we might get the next 2 Hetalia volumes, but what about Vassalord and Momo Tama and all the books on my shelves? * I read somewhere that the majority of the America manga reading public likes to read manga with "pretty" artwork. It's just one of those Internet things that can't be substantiated, but I believe. I certainly like "pretty" artwork. |
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neocloud9
 Posts: 1178 Location: Atlanta, GA |
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Ouran, perhaps? |
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wyntre_rose
 Posts: 111 |
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Yeah, Ouran was my first guess, too.
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lys
 Posts: 1017 Location: mitten-state |
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Looking back at my release calendar, the new-new cover designs were implemented with new series starting January 2011 (or late Dec 2010, I guess). The series I have that used it are Secret Notes of Lady Kanoko and Clean Freak Fully Equipped (Eensy Weensy Monster 1, released late November, still had the red fish). The new layout used black spines with white text for all series and a 1" black bar along the bottom of the front cover for author/vol number. And now I'm sad, seeing the books on my calendar that Tokyopop had scheduled to come out this month. Ah, what could have been! Still, I think overall I am happy for the books I've got on my shelves, even those belonging to unfinished series. I'd love to read the end someday, but even if I never do, I don't regret starting them. My guess(es) for the shoujo title are Ouran or Skip Beat!... or maybe W Juliet, going farther back? OH, or Hana Kimi, that was pretty big, right? Wow, 2004 was so long ago... This was a really good, informative talk. Last week's was great too. I appreciate the manga industry focus!! |
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lys
Posts: 1017 Location: mitten-state |
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Sorry! I double-posted.
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Sewingrose
Posts: 579 |
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Ah, thank you! I guess I wasn't watching any of the newer titles coming out of Tokyopop to see the difference. Which I guess in retrospect is a good thing, since I don't have more titles to be disappointed that they won't be finished. |
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5925 Location: Virginia, United States |
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Don't think so. Paperback books will be around for a long time. While the Kindle and other readers will make inroads and create their own bastions, they will not supplant paper books. Paperback books are still easier to read and you can take them anywhere. Kindles are required to be charged, are vulnerable to EMP fields, have to be turned off during takeoff and landings, and can be destroyed by dropping them, much like cell phones. So in the post apocalypse world, you can still read paper books, while the Kindle and their like will be paper weights. 
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GWOtaku
 Posts: 678 |
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Considering his former position and his stubborn "business perspective" I suppose it's hardly surprising, but nonetheless Kiley's comments on the OEL issue rather disgusts me. He's technically correct but in essence the idea is that Stu Levy can & should hold on to the work of these people in perpetuity, absent any action or even actual activity on the part of the company, because after all maybe one day he'll actually bother doing something with one of them (hands up: who honestly thinks he will?).
Editing in another comment...while I can understand the assertion that it's not over yet and all that, I can also see how Tokyopop can make that rationalization indefinitely, and I really don't like that scenario. Yes, it's certainly Levy's prerogative...but it's still pretty rotten. It's telling how at the end of that part he didn't (couldn't) really contest that it was a situation that was simply screwing over the people involved. To end on something positive, this was an informative podcast all in all. Good stuff. |
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ljaesch
Posts: 299 Location: Enumclaw, WA |
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I liked this week's ANNCast, especially getting to hear from someone who had been involved with Tokypop as long as Mike had. There's been so much speculation about various aspects of Tokypop in recent months, it was insightful to hear from someone who was involved with the company, even if they weren't directly involved in some of the issues being speculated on.
One thing that really struck me while listening to this podcast was when Mike made the comment about the two manga successes that bookended the company's history being two shojo manga (Sailor Moon and Fruits Basket). And I also enjoyed the visual image of setting a car on fire and sending it over a cliff (I think it was Zac who made that comment). It gave me a nice little chuckle, which I really needed after the rather crappy and stressful week I've been having.
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SethMosrite
 Posts: 173 Location: Boston, MA |
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Fascinating stuff, thanks Zac & Justin.
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