They can and they have. I know of two TokyoPop books that have gone out of print and whose license is up. Clover is an old TP book that has now been announced in a new edition from Dark Horse with a new translation. Parasyte has been out of print at TokyoPop and I think Viz is now publishing it. Those are two examples off the top of my head.

The English translation and, for anime, dub may be still owned by the US company, but the Japanese company obviously always keeps the rights to the original work. As soon as their contract is up, they can resell the rights to another company.

Oh and then this quote.
“We plan to leverage the TOKYOPOP brand name, their array of popular characters and titles, and the upward trends in manga consumption to take the brand into exciting derivative products and new merchandising concepts.”

What? All half dozen of them? Like was posted, they’re releasing some creators from their contracts. Points to them for that. Still, what does TokyoPop bring to the table? Maybe they should have made themselves a better publisher first. Bah. Poor DramaCon. I honestly would love to see that as a film. It’s Mallrats for the manga crowd. (You can quote me on that Big Tent. Okay, Mallrats wasn’t a hit when it first was released . Yet it has since proven to be the greatest cinematic achievement of our time. Okay, you may want to toss in some Chasing Amy comparisons for more cred. Joking aside, I do think Drama Con is their best bet and I look forward to it. I just hope its creator maintains control.

“Big Tent will represent the master brand as well as their sub-brands of highly popular manga publishing titles including PRINCESS AI, BIZENGHAST, I LUV HALLOWEEN, DRAMACON and VAN VON HUNTER.”

Okay, I question the terms sub-brands, popular, and manga in that damn statement. I like a couple of those, but they’re not THAT popular compared to the sales actual manga. I wish they were. I wish kids were buying OEL ‘manga’ (OGN original graphic novels), but most are hooked on books direct from Japan. Plus, sub-brand? TokyoPop owns them lock stock and barrel? What about the damn authors.

I was looking through the dollar manga clearance bin at a local comic store. I saw a number of good titles and especially saw many ‘OEL manga’.

“Manga has become one of the most important cultural phenomena to hit the U.S. market this decade. From television and film to high-end couture fashion brands, manga has proven to be the creative inspiration behind some of today’s hottest brands including the highly-anticipated Steven Spielberg flick GHOST IN THE SHELL, Prada, Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton.”

Well television and film would be anime. There’s a whole system of companies and studios behind that. TokyoPop has only ever licensed a couple of anime and don’t get me started on that failure. I liked GTO, Initial D, and even Reign. I can’t even find most of those in discount bins today. Hell, that’s how I found the few DVD volumes I did find. TokyoPop anime is dead. Same with their soundtrack division. Plus I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but it’s amazing how they name drop Speilberg and Ghost in the Shell, just because of the word manga. Just because their product manga was produced in the same country as the same country as the GitS manga. Oh wait. It wasn’t even since these are Amerimanga or whatever they want to call it now.

And Louis Vutton? I don’t think it’s James Jean, but artist Takashi Murakami they’re talking about. (Funny, I saw a woman today with one of those Vutton bags with Murakami’s color scheme.) I saw the guy speak and almost got his autograph at an art museum. TokyoPop’s products don’t even come close to being similar to what he’s been doing. TokyoPop is jerking themselves off more than his sculpture My Lonesome Cowboy. (Google it, just not at work.)

This has got to be one of the worst BS press releases I’ve seen since.. well.. since TokyoPop’s. It’s like their BS multiplied with Hollywood glam. Guh.