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Behold! Mah thread! (Pictures Coming Soon)
I made this thread to discuss Tokyopop manga and the like. Why? Because I feel like it. And I like Tokyopop.
Anyway, instead of always sending feedback to other people's threads, I thought I would just make my own and you guys can banter in it.
So. Let's get to know each more.
I've watched anime since I was seven years old and been collecting manga since I was twelve. Today, I have a manga collection of @ 120 books. Majority of which are Tokyopop series. Minorities include Viz, Dark Horse, CMX, etc.
I like Tokyopop manga for many reasons. They have great stories, great artwork, and are all around (90% of the time) bang for the buck. And when you have to fork out ten bucks for a volume, I say it better be worth it. The only downside to Tokyopop manga is that most of the time you have to buy it in order to read it. Not that I encourage piracy, but I see no reason to burn my bones on product of less quality. And quantity for that matter. But I'll get to that in a minute.
If you haven't already noticed a pattern on most free-manga sites, majority of their series are Viz and lesser known companies. Tokyopop and Dark Horse, as of the past few years, have stepped up their policies against piracy; therefore, you don't see too many of their products online. However, Tokyopop has managed to regulate online viewing of their work on their site. So, to an extent, you can still see them free.
Take note: There are a few exceptions to these facts. Manga like GTO, GetBackers, Love Hina, and Initial D. Why they have not been taken off people's sites? I do not know. Either Tokyopop has not noticed them, they don't care, too many people have copies of said series, or it might be because they did not want to lose their fans to an iron fist. Who knows?
What is my opinion to this? Well, I don't like the man bringing me down. And for some reason anti-piracy warnings make me want to do naughty things. But I also love Tokyopop goods to overlook the doled out harshness.
Now. To get to my earlier point of bang for the buck.
Please bear with me, as this is a rough-draft argument that I have preached for years.
I don't like Viz manga. I don't. And I don't like most Shonen-Weekly manga. Why? Let's take a gander shall we?
Most Viz series are mainstream and into an audience I'm not really part of. IE, boys, girls, teens, casual manga readers, etc. I don't like Naruto, Inuyasha, or DBZ. Bleach is only good in subtle doses and Fullmetal Alchemist barely held my attention. Why? Because they are overdrawn, over-dramatic (in a wrong way, to me), and full of filler most of the time.
I grew up on series that most everyone else grew up on. Pokemon, Ronin Warriors, Sailor Moon, Digimon on occasion, and the usual Toonami lineup like everyone else. But I also watched and read other, really amazing stuff.
Galaxy Express 999, Princess Mononoke, Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop, Hellsing, Serial Expermients Lain, Silent Mobius
My first manga was No Need for Tenchi: Chef of Iron. I read it because I loved Tenchi Muyo when it came on.
But not a couple of weeks later, I bought Battle Angel Alita: Killing Angel.
And those were real series. The classics. You can't just go back to former after seeing the latter. It's just not the same sometimes.
And I know, some of you smart people have caught on and noticed that my first two mangas were Viz products. Yes, I did like Viz stuff back in the day. But that was when they had awesome stuff! They had Tenchi, Silent Mobius, Battle Angel Alita, and Vagabond. And they were amazing! But then all this new stuff came in and I ended up defecting to Tokyopop because they weren't the same.
To this point, I shall conclude that Tokyopop stuff felt more mature and to my taste.
Another reason why I don't like Viz stuff is that almost every series they have exceeds 10, even 20 volumes. Despite public opinion, an epic manga is not measured in the books it spans. Manga is measured by the merit of its stories. And sometimes art.
Examples:
The Demon Ororon, a Tokyopop manga, was an epic series that concluded in a mere 4 volumes.
Hellsing, though not a Tokyopop series, but nonetheless epic, spanned 10 volumes, not counting The Dawn prequel.
FLCL only had two mangas, yet even now people say they like the manga more than the series.
Tokyopop manga costs, normally, around ten dollars per book. There are exceptions, but everything has an asterisk. Anyway, an average Viz manga costs about eight dollars. (Note: This is measured by retail, not with anything like ebay or amazon.com.) Old school Viz used to sell for about 11-12 dollars. But then the new stuff came in abundance and they lowered the prices. However, that does not make Viz stuff cheaper. Not when the series you like has it's volume amount in the 30's and 40's.
The highest I've seen a Tokyopop series reach is that GetBackers and Initial D are reaching the 30s. And that was it. The rest end at @ 5-10 volumes. Maybe even 26.
However, these numbers still don't beat Viz's stuff.
Dragon Ball- 42 Vol
Naruto- 46
One Piece- 53
Inuyasha- 58 AND IT FINALLY ENDED!
Do the math. How many paychecks would one have to spend to buy all that? And people wonder why we have scanlators and pirates in the world. Yeah, Viz has series that end between 10 and 20 mangas. But when Tokyopop's average is less then than 10 volumes per series, it's safe to say there is a huge ******** gap between the two companies.
When I think about all these factors, I can say that Viz is a company that is after the people's money. With all this taken in, and not even processing the factors of actual anime, I can say Viz a scam. They were once good people. But now I don't trust them. And, therefore, I don't give them my money. Tokyopop might be after my money, but at least they're not screwing me out of product.
Here is a new rule for all manga and manga-ka:
Anyone who makes a series that spans over 60 books should be ********' shot!
Conclusion:
I like Tokyopop Manga because it's:
Short
Has nice artwork
Does not cost that much
Of course, most of you have already reached this conclusion and feel as if I'm preaching to the choir. But if you have anything you'd like to say, feel free.
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