Tokyopop
 |
|
| Status | Active |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1997 |
| Founder | Stuart J. Levy |
| Country of origin |
 United States
|
| Headquarters location | Los Angeles, California |
| Distribution | United States; Germany |
| Publication types | Manga, Japanese light novels, graphic novels, original English-language manga |
| Official website | tokyopop |
Tokyopop, styled TOKYOPOP, and formerly known as Mixx Entertainment, is an American distributor, licensor, and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa, and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licensed Japanese properties and original English-language manga, as well as original German-language manga. Tokyopop's defunct US publishing division previously published works in English and Japanese. Tokyopop had its US headquarters in the Variety Building in Los Angeles, California, and branches in the United Kingdom and Germany.
Tokyopop was originally founded in 1997 by Stuart J. Levy. In the late 1990s, the company's headquarters were located in Los Angeles.
While the company was known as Mixx Entertainment, it sold MixxZine, a manga magazine where popular serials like Sailor Moon were published weekly. Mixxzine later became Tokyopop before it was discontinued.[11] Capitalizing on the popularity of Sailor Moon, Mixx also created the magazine, Smile, a magazine that was half girls’ magazine, and half shōjo manga anthology, and also continued the Sailor Moon story after being discontinued in Mixxzine.
Cultural anthropologist Matt Thorn praised Stu Levy for opening up an untapped market for cartoons with the publication of Sailor Moon. Before Sailor Moon, the belief among entertainment executives was that "girls don't watch cartoons." Due to Sailor Moon’s immense popularity, Tokyopop discontinued the serial from its magazines, and released it separately as its first manga graphic novel. They engineered prominent book distribution via retail stores, standardized book trim size, created a basic industry-wide rating system, and developed the first-ever retail manga displays and introduced the world of graphic novels to an audience of teenage girls. Also, together with Diamond, Tokyopop offered retailers free spinner rack displays for Tokyopop manga, thereby increasing the visibility of the medium in bookstores.
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