Anime Vice Anime/Manga News

In the wake of yesterday's announcement, TOKYOPOP Marketing Manager Kasia Piekarz actually managed to find time to answer a few questions about life after Kodansha-- and why it's not quite as catastrophic as it may sound.

Anime Vice: Was Kodansha's move expected, or was it an unpleasant surprise?

Kasia Piekarz: It wasn't completely unexpected as we haven't licensed anything new from Kodansha in quite some time. What surprised us most was that they cancelled licenses for series that were almost finished, such as Samurai Deeper Kyo and Rave Master. From a fan and collector's perspective, that doesn't make sense to us.

AV: What are TOKYOPOP's plans in the wake of this Will TOKYOPOP be cutting down on its release schedule, or will we see them ramping up licenses from other publishers and on original works instead?

KP: As I say above, at this point, we actually didn't have a lot of new Kodansha titles on our list, even with the continuing volumes. We were down to a handful a month, if that. So, no new changes aside from those that have already happened prior to this announcement.

AV: What happens to TOKYOPOP's translations of the works? By that I mean-- will Kodansha own the translations (and therefore be able to publish the same translations at another time), or do they remain with Tpop, meaning Kodansha (or a new licensor) would have to re-translate any volumes Tpop has already released?

KP: As this is contractual information, I can't discuss how the translations for each series will be treated.

AV: This question might not be answerable, but: do you think these licenses are being stored up for an eventual Kodansha-owned US-based manga publisher?
 
KP: We have no idea and so can't speculate. We hope so!

AV: What title will you most miss getting to work on?

KP: Personally, I will miss working on Love Attack. That series is so funny!