Tokyopop is Homegrown Japanimation

By Lisa Durante
February 2005

Tokyopop, the #1 largest publisher of manga in America, opened its Los Angeles home office in 1996 and branched out to Germany and the United Kingdom in 2004. With more American children and adults embracing the manga, anime, cine-manga style, publicist Susan Hale believes this is only the beginning.

Advertisements as well as children´s books, cartoons and games are filled with manga and anime. Tokyopop is an innovative, youth-oriented entertainment company that creates, licenses and published hundreds of books, DVD and music properties. They pioneered the Cine-manga ® book format, Tokyopop´s best selling releases, which feature "Finding Nemo," "Shrek 2," "Lizzie McGuire," "Spongebob Squarepants" and "Greatest Stars of The NBA" as well as a new music video for the rock band Linkin Park called "Breaking The Habit."

Successful Tokyopop Series

The "Sailor Moon" (Ages 10 and up; $12.99) fantasy novels were introduced in 1991 and soon became an animated cartoon on the Cartoon Network. The series centers on a sensitive 14-year-old junior high school girl who goes on a quest to fight evil. There are several Web sites dedicated to the storyline of "Sailor Moon" created by fans.

Tokyopop´s most successful series to date is "The Fruits Baskets" (13 and up; 9.99), a fantasy series for teens about teens. The main characters, Tohru Honda, Yuki Sohma, Kyo Sohma and Shigure Sohma, were created by Natsuki Takya in 1992 and have become a huge success. Toykopop has millions of books in print as well as the hit series "Princess Ai," "DNAngel," "Tokyo Tribes," "Love Hina" and "Chobits." Tokyopop also discovers and promotes new artists and writers, creating original manga.

A Few Fresher Titles

Some newer titles for young children were introduced in 1994, one of which is "The Stray Sheep" (all ages; 9.99) series by Nomura Sensei, an award-winning director and character designer. Protagonists include a cute little sleepy sheep named Poe, and a girl sheep named Merry.

Looking forward, Tokyopop Inc. is planning to publish books for tween readers and their parents, Hale said, since they make up part of the fastest growing consumer demographics.